TribBlog: Kinky, Willie, and the Price of Friendship
Country music legend Willie Nelson's voice in your radio ad: $5,000. Willie Nelson's friendship: Priceless. Full Story
Country music legend Willie Nelson's voice in your radio ad: $5,000. Willie Nelson's friendship: Priceless. Full Story
In an unexpected reversal, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out Charles Dean Hood's death sentence on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court appeal and national media attention. Full Story
Your afternoon reading. Full Story
New numbers from Rasmussen have Gov. Rick Perry teetering on the brink of an outright victory with 48 percent. Full Story
It’s Christmas every day for political junkies in these last moments leading up to the March 2 primary. Full Story
Three of the biggest social services messes of Rick Perry's ten-year tenure — the sexual abuse scandal at the Texas Youth Commission, fight clubs at state institutions for the disabled and deaths of children on Child Protective Services’ watch — have been noticeably absent from the campaign trail. Is it because Texans don't hold him accountable for these tragedies? Or because his opponents think GOP primary voters simply don't care? Full Story
Embattled state Rep. Ismael “Kino” Flores is quitting, and two Democrats are vying to replace him in one of the state's poorest and least-educated districts — where old-school border politics rule, where no Republicans bothered to file for the general election. After all, this is the Rio Grande Valley. Full Story
"Teachers should be chasing us around," the Texas high school senior told the official from the U.S. Department of Education. "We shouldn't be chasing them. But that doesn't always happen here." Full Story
Through the close of business on Monday, 119,195 Texans had voted early in the big counties, a 98 percent increase over four years ago. GOP primary voting was up 146 percent, to 86,179; Democratic primary voting was up a mere 52 percent, to 33,016. Full Story
The GOP gubernatorial candidates have already gone head to head to head in televised debates put on by KERA and BELO. But why settle for two debates, when you can have three? Full Story
A Supreme Court appeal has breathed new life into a two-decade-old scandal — this one with details a little less banal than a judge’s strict adherence to closing time. Full Story
The latest Rasmussen Poll has Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White still trailing Republicans Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in hypothetical general-election contests this fall. Full Story
It's a battle of the "reformers" — Texans for Lawsuit Reform and Texans for Insurance Reform — out in El Paso, and the two are neck-and-neck. Full Story
Your afternoon reading. Full Story
Kinky Friedman is hoping some star power will help his campaign, so he's called in a favor from an old friend named Willie Nelson. Full Story
Whether he crosses the 50% threshold or is forced into a run-off when the polls close next Tuesday, the results of the last UT/Texas Tribune Poll suggest that Rick Perry's synchronous orbit over a big chunk of the Republican primary electorate has helped him prove many observers — not to mention KBH boosters and donors — very wrong. Full Story
The latest Public Policy Polling numbers show Bill White way up and Gov. Rick Perry holding his lead. Full Story
March 2 picks from the Texas State Rifle Assocation (yes to Dora, no to Delwin) and Texas Right to Life (no to Kays). Full Story
There’s plenty for Texas-focused Supreme Court watchers to gnaw on today. Also, there’s this election going on, and people really want to vote in it. Full Story
The five major candidates in the governor's race spent $24 million from Jan. 22 to Feb. 20. Full Story