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  • 2010: What's on the Special?

    By Ross Ramsey

    Voters in Central Texas, Dallas and Plano will get to vote for the third month in a row in May, in special elections for the Texas House and Senate. Three officeholders — Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, and Reps. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, and Brian McCall, R-Plano — resigned before their terms were up. Today was the deadline for candidate filing. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Gay Jesus Resurrected

    By Emily Ramshaw

    A theater student's production of Terrence McNally's play Corpus Christi — canceled amid protest at Tarleton State University — will see the stage after all, at Fort Worth's Rose Marine Theater, according to The Dallas Morning News. Full Story 

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    Credit: Reeve Hamilton

  • The Applicant

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Can an energy regulator who’s on the board of an entity he oversees make a play for the top job there? Industry and government sources say that’s what Barry Smitherman, the chairman of Texas’ influential Public Utility Commission, is doing, though Smitherman won't say whether he's in the running. Full Story 

    Barry Smitherman

  • Counting the Counties

    By Matt Stiles

    Only three states — Louisiana, New Mexico and Alaska — are returning the census form at lower rates than Texas. But two dozen Texas counties are outperforming the national average, according to our interactive map. Full Story 

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    Credit: Matt Stiles

  • TribBlog: Drop-Out Throw-Down!

    By Brian Thevenot

    Bill White and Rick Perry fought over the hotly contested high school drop-out rate on Tuesday. Is it 30 percent (White)? 10 percent (Perry)? Or, more likely, somewhere in between? Full Story 

    Rick Perry, Bill White
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller, Callie Richmond

  • The Senate's Biggest Spenders

    By Erin Mulvaney

    The 31-member body spent nearly $16 million last fiscal year on travel, staff and office expenses, according to records from the office of the Secretary of the Senate. Overall spending by individual senators ranged from $206,000, by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, to $637,000, by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Matt Stiles

  • TribBlog: Small Businesses Fear Effect of Healthcare Reform

    By Erin Mulvaney

    The uncertainty over the Congressional healthcare bill has incited fear among some small business associations in Texas. They gathered with U.S. Chamber of Commerce representatives on Tuesday to say they're worried about ripple effects from the national healthcare reform — and unintended consequences for small businesses. Full Story 

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  • 2010: Lubbock or Leave It

    By Morgan Smith

    Low voter turnout means that in a downballot statewide race like that between Debra Lehrmann and Rick Green the winner could be decided by chance — whose name comes first, or whose name sounds the friendliest. Green and Lehrmann are working to combat that dynamic in an unlikely place: Lubbock. Full Story 

    Rick Green and Judge Debra Lehrmann at a Young Republicans debate in San Antonio.
    Credit: Morgan Smith

  • 2010: Trouble in the Chavez Camp

    By Brandi Grissom

    Three sources close to the campaign of Democratic state Rep. Norma Chavez in Austin and El Paso today are reporting that some of her closest local campaign staffers are abandoning ship just a week before the April 13 election. Full Story 

    Norma Chavez works attaches a campaign button to the sweater of one of her supporters at an El Paso senior center before the 2010 Democratic primary election.
    Credit: Brandi Grissom

  • To Dump or Not to Dump?

    By Erika Aguilar, KUT News

    Andrews County's hazardous waste holdings might be expanding soon. A proposed rule would allow more low-level radioactive waste to be transported, processed and stored in West Texas, and regulators are listening to public comments, Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports. Full Story 

    State Representative Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, speaks out against a proposed rule change at the State Capitol. The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission will decide whether more states can send their waste to West Texas.
    Credit: Erik Reyna, KUT

  • Two Hours in Juárez

    By Brandi Grissom

    What I saw was not entirely what I expected. I expected charred buildings. I expected soldiers with automatic weapons everywhere. I expected empty streets and residents skulking around in fear. To be sure, there were signs of danger — but in many parts of Juárez, there were also people determined to remain, to do their best to live as normally as possible. Full Story 

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    Credit: Brandi Grissom

  • "I Won't Stop Dispensing Justice"

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins won’t go so far as to compare his support to the near-divine fervor of President Obama’s. But Watkins, who gained national prominence for using DNA evidence to exonerate nearly two dozen wrongfully convicted people in one of Texas’ notoriously tough-on-crime jurisdictions, will come close. “It’s a religious experience to vote for Craig Watkins,” Texas’ first African-American D.A. says without irony. Like Obama, he says, other Democratic candidates are “hanging their hats” on his re-election — and on the minority voters he draws to the polls. Like Obama, he’s got “a big target” on his back. “I’ve got to fight the political attacks coming at me from all directions," he insists. “I’ll say it publicly: If you throw punches at us, we’ll drop a bomb on you.” Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • 2010: HD-66 Special Election Set

    By Reeve Hamilton

    State Rep. Brian McCall, R-Plano, the soon-to-be Chancellor of the Texas State University System, resigned his seat at the end of last week. That means the voters of House District 66 have a special election coming their way . Full Story 

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  • HuTube: Inside TribLive

    By Elise Hu

    We have a busy month of TribLive events ahead, featuring lengthy chats with the likes of Karen Hughes, Deirdre Delisi, and Francicso Cigarroa. To mark the occassion(s), our latest HuTube vlog entry features footage of our dress rehearsal for the very first TribLive. Full Story 

    Evan Smith speaks to the crowd during TribLive, a monthly conversation with Texas public officials.
    Credit: Jacqueline Mermea