Texas Reading Exams Fail the National Test
Federal officials say Texas' testing standards in reading are below the “basic” proficiency standards — and that low bar means those passing the TAKS may not be as proficient as advertised. Full Story
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Credit: Jacob Villanueva -
The Midday Brief: November 9, 2009
Your afternoon reading. Full Story
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The Brief: November 9, 2009
With 220 approving U.S. House votes down and the U.S. Senate to go, healthcare reform is now closer to becoming a reality — but that’s no easy hurdle ahead. Full Story
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Texas Weekly: Are Republican candidates ignoring Hispanics?
What concerns me as a Republican is that the race for governor may be focusing too much on the personalities of the candidates and the highly charged nature of the race rather than the long-term vision and consequences. I worry that either candidate could win the race but lose the future — too much focus on the politics of the next year, rather than the policies of the next decade. Full Story
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Credit: Mark McKinnon -
Stump Interrupted: Kay Bailey Hutchison
Remember VH1's "Pop-up Video"? We loved it, too. It inspired us to launch a new feature we call Stump Interrupted, a twist on the traditional stump speech. U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is the first to get the S.I. treatment. We take her seven-minute monologue from a Waco campaign event and put it into context. Full Story
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Broken Border, Part Two: The Checkpoint Conundrum
Texas’ chain of inland checkpoints has created a border within a border, separating abused and sometimes undocumented children in counties adjacent to Mexico from services north of the invisible line. Full Story
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Credit: Jacob Villanueva -
Broken Border, Part One: Justin's Story
Drugs are abundant in border communities. Poverty is rampant. Substance abuse treatment is scarce. What's a 16 year old to do? Full Story
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Poll: Perry Leads
The new University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll debuted this week with a survey that puts Kay Bailey Hutchison 12 points behind Rick Perry in the race for Texas governor, that says the Democrats are mostly unknown and trailing that perennial frontrunner, Undecided, and that finds the Maybe Race for U.S. Senate dominated by three candidates who are all, in turn, losing to Undecided. Full Story
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2010: White sits tight
Bill White is still running for the U.S. Senate, according to aides and to White himself, in response to a flurry of weekend rumors that he's switching to the race for governor. Full Story
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2010: El Paso County Attorney announces Senate candidacy
Today in El Paso, County Attorney Jose Rodriguez announced he is running for the state Senate seat that Democrat Eliot Shapleigh is giving up. Full Story
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T-Squared: Houston, We Have a Partner
This afternoon, the Chronicle reprinted a Tribune story, in its entirety, online -- and the world did not end. Full Story
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T-Squared: Ask and Ye Shall RSSeive.
One of the persistent comments we heard after going live last Tuesday was: Why can't you provide an RSS feed for your original news stream, and, more broadly, why isn't the site set up in a way that enables the RSS habits and preferences of your users? Done and done. Full Story
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2010: Rodriguez Senate announcement Sunday
El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez is expected to announce tomorrow at an El Paso press conference that he will run for the Texas Senate seat that state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh is vacating. Full Story
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TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramshaw's multi-parter on restraints in schools, Thevenot's reading on the future of textbooks, Ramsey's take on a Democratic defection, Rapoport's profile of self-described "religious fanatic" Don McLeroy, and Henson and Shaw's thoroughly noncontroversial poll on the governor's race (kidding!): The best of the best from November 3 to November 6, 2009. Full Story
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Case Open
If you're waiting for closure on questions of Cameron Todd Willingham's guilt or innocence, get comfortable. The Texas Forensic Science Commission's new chair tells the Tribune that he doesn't yet have the rules or resources to investigate whether faulty science led to the Corsicana man's conviction and execution. Full Story
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Credit: Jacob Villanueva -
TribBlog: A Conversation With the State Schools Chief
Rather than deliver curriculum by book or even CD — one product per student — “We’re going to buy content and get a statewide license and deliver it to anyone who wants it” over the web, says Robert Scott. Much of that content will come from “smaller content providers who have been shut out of the market.” Full Story
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TribBlog: Medical Board holds off on telemedicine changes
The Texas Medical Board has temporarily tabled a proposal that would cut EMTs and entry-level nurses out of the telemedicine equation, saying the issue needs more study. Full Story
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The Polling Center: Texas vs. Washington?
The UT/Tribune poll results convey some very intense disapproval of political leadership. Full Story
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The Midday Brief: November 6, 2009
Your afternoon reading. Full Story
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TribBlog: Education Department could make restraint reporting mandatory
The U.S. Education Department is considering making restraint reporting mandatory for school districts nationwide, starting this school year. Full Story
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