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  • Fishing in Fatigues: The Texas Guard in Afghanistan

    By Douglas Wissing

    U.S. soldiers are taking on the Taliban off the battlefield as well. Members of the Texas National Guard’s Agribusiness Development Team — or ADT — are trying to win the trust of Afghan civilians by helping them build a sustainable agricultural economy. Full Story 

    The ADT assists on agricultural development projects in Ghazni such as this warehouse. Here the contractor and a supervisor wait while the ADT does the final inspection. ADT security soldiers stand guard at the rear.
    Credit: Doug Wissing

  • TribBlog: Leaders OK Capitol Security Upgrades

    By Brandi Grissom

    The big three state leaders approved seven new security measures for the Capitol, and none of them are X-ray machines or metal detectors that the director of the top Texas police agency said are critical to keep the pink dome safe from armed intruders. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • 2010: White Starts the Argument [Updated]

    By Ross Ramsey

    Democrat Bill White said he won't rely on "Soviet-style budgeting" and "hot air politics" if he's elected governor, and said the state should make education its first priority and would be better off with a governor who's got business experience when it comes to economic development. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • Farmers in Fatigues: The Texas Guard in Afghanistan

    By Douglas Wissing

    The Texas National Guard is on a five-year mission in Afghanistan to help farmers build sustainable agriculture. In part one of this four-part series for KUT Radio, Douglas Wissing reports on the team's mission in this complicated war zone. Full Story 

    The ADT assists on agricultural development projects in Ghazni such as this warehouse. Here the contractor and a supervisor wait while the ADT does the final inspection. ADT security soldiers stand guard at the rear.
    Credit: Doug Wissing

  • "Big Government Conservatism"

    By Tom Pauken

    Sound economic policy was sacrificed on the altar of short-term political gain in the George W. Bush administration. This buying of political support with taxpayers’ money brings to mind the words of Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America: “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” Full Story 

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  • Starving for Reform

    By Julián Aguilar

    For two months, inmates in a South Texas immigrant detention facility have been on a staggered hunger strike — what the government calls “voluntary fasting" — to protest alleged abuse, lack of medical care and near-nil access to legal resources. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • Data App: Homeland $ecurity

    By Matt Stiles

    Loving County, in far West Texas, spent about $1,100 per resident in U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant funds from 2003 to 2008. Compare that with Harris County, which spent less than $6 per resident. Contemplate the disparity — and search for individual purchases with DHS grant money — using our latest data application. Full Story 

  • DNA Destruction

    By Emily Ramshaw

    In the weeks before state health officials incinerated more than 5 million baby blood samples that they stored without consent, privacy advocates, parents and legislators reached a last-ditch accord to save them but couldn’t convince the Department of State Health Services to sign on. A Texas Tribune investigation found that the agency had turned hundreds of such samples over to a federal Armed Forces lab to build a DNA database — and hadn’t been upfront about it with lawmakers or the public. Full Story 

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  • The Brief: March 8, 2010

    By Abby Rapoport

    Counting, apparently, is not quite as easy as it seemed in school. With the primaries over, cities and counties are turning their attention to the upcoming U.S. Census. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • George W. Bush Was No Ronald Reagan

    By Tom Pauken

    When the George W. Bush administration turned out to be a failure, “conservatism” got the blame — even though Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney (like so many others who served alongside them) had been part of the anti-Reagan wing of the Republican Party. Full Story 

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