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All Coverage

  • Changing the Odds

    By Ross Ramsey

    Signing anti-tax pledges — as both of the leading Republican candidates for governor have now done — warms the hearts of gambling promoters. Not because Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison suddenly become proponents of casino gambling, but because gambling often gets stuck in a threesome with program cuts and tax increases and that setup is what made it legal to bet on bingo, horses, dogs, and the lottery in Texas. Full Story 

  • Reluctantly out in front

    By Abby Rapoport

    Most elected officials greet a chairmanship with some excitement. Gail Lowe, the Lampasas Republican who recently became the chair of the State Board of Education, is approaching her new title with some apprehension. Full Story 

    Gail Lowe
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • States struggling to fund Medicaid

    By Emily Ramshaw

    States are struggling mightily to fund Medicaid services in one the deepest recessions in recent history, according to a 50-state health care study released by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. States, many of them strapped by budget shortfalls, overwhelmingly reported being saved by the federal stimulus package, and said without it, they would have been forced to make serious cuts in Medicaid eligibility. Full Story 

    Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the uninsured. Report: The Crunch Continues: Medicaid spending, coverage and policy in the midst of a recession. Results from a 50-state Medicaid budget survey for state fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

  • Too busy for a review

    By Elise Hu

    Just days before it was set to review a case in which the state has been accused of executing an innocent man, Gov. Rick Perry replaced the chairman and two other members of an independent state forensics panel. Full Story 

    Perry shakes hands after a speech in the Texas House.
    Credit: Ross Ramsey

  • Help Wanted

    By Matt Stiles

    More than two-dozen people have asked Gov. Rick Perry to appoint them to replace former Texas Supreme Court Justice Scott Brister, who resigned recently to return to private practice. Full Story 

  • State technology chief resigns

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The executive director of the state's data and information technology agency stepped down last month. Brian Rawson, who spent the last three years overseeing the state's data consolidation and telecommunications efforts for the Department of Information Resources, will run "statewide data initiatives" for the Texas Education Agency. Full Story 

    Perry shakes hands after a speech in the Texas House.
    Credit: Ross Ramsey

  • Watch That Date

    By Ross Ramsey

    Monday is K-Day. If Kay Bailey Hutchison quits before then, the election to replace her can be held on November 3. If she quits after that date, the replacement race will be held later. Full Story 

  • Looking for the Levers

    By Ross Ramsey

    Kay Bailey Hutchison rebounded in the most recent poll from Rasmussen Reports, but one of Gov. Rick Perry's hottest arguments rests on the rhetoric of "I'm from Austin; she's from Washington." And while the latest polling has the two gubernatorial candidates locked in a tight race, it's a contest that initially — almost a year ago — was polling strongly in Hutchison's favor. Full Story 

  • What lawless hordes?

    By Brandi Grissom

    Border officials say their communities aren't being overrun with "lawless hordes" of Mexican drug runners and people smugglers, and they said Gov. Rick Perry is painting an inaccurate scary picture of their home. Full Story 

  • Both bases covered

    By Brandi Grissom

    Gov. Rick Perry and former New York Mayor and GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani are traveling the state this week, touting anti-gang legislation and state border security efforts. Full Story 

  • Border Cameras: The Sequel

    By Ross Ramsey

    AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry gave Texas border sheriffs another $2 million for a virtual border wall of web cameras that in its first full year failed to meet nearly every law enforcement goal his office originally set. Full Story 

  • Perry: More boots on the border

    By Brandi Grissom

    Gov. Rick Perry is expanding Operation Border Star, a multi-agency border security effort he launched in 2007, sending teams of Texas Rangers and National Guard troops to curb border crime and prevent spillover violence from Mexico. Full Story 

  • Border cameras: Take two

    By Brandi Grissom

    Gov. Rick Perry gave Texas border sheriffs another $2 million for a virtual border wall of web cameras that in its first full year failed to meet nearly every law enforcement goal his office originally set. Full Story 

  • Political Startups

    By Ross Ramsey

    It's the Labor Day break, a traditional starting point for political adventurers (as opposed to explorers) who will face the judgment of primary voters in six months. Full Story