The latest Greg Abbott news from The Texas Tribune.
Holiday redistricting stories, not unusual things if you've watched this for a while, always start with three wise persons in the guise of federal judges. It's super-sized this year, with six wise men, three in San Antonio and three in Washington. Full Story
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Facing a Wednesday execution date, convicted murderer Hank Skinner is again appealing to the state's highest criminal court to allow for new DNA tests he says could exonerate him. But the court previously has ruled against him — twice. Full Story
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The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to let Texas enforce its new abortion sonogram law while the measure is under appeal, following a similar ruling from a federal appeals court on Wednesday. Full Story
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David Dewhurst is the Mitt Romney of the U.S. Senate race. He's the candidate who has climbed the ladder in an orderly way. If you go for this sort of thing — and the Republican party often does — it’s his turn. Full Story
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Members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission today agreed that they will use an attorney general’s opinion that severely limits the panel’s jurisdiction as a guideline for future investigations — whether they like it or not. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Attorney General Greg Abbott may well use a court ruling against the abortion sonogram law to their political advantage — to lure anti-abortion voters to the polls, and fuel their fire against so-called “activist” judges. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry is running for president. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is running for U.S. Senate. And it seems like everyone else in Texas politics is making plans based on one or both of those offices opening in 2012. What if they lose? Full Story
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Our all-hands-on-deck series on new laws — 31 Days, 31 Ways — continues, Root covers a challenge to the governor's school finance fix and the tax that makes it work, Philpott forecasts a presidential media tsunami will hit Texas, Murphy with a look at midyear campaign reports from candidates and PACs in Texas, yours truly on the quiet spot at the top of the 2014 ballot, Hamilton on government-required vaccinations against meningitis, Grissom reports on the heat wave in un-air-conditioned Texas jails, Aguilar on the private security business along the state's border with Mexico and M. Smith's interview with Nicole Hurd on how to get more high school students into college: The best of our best content from Aug. 8 to 12, 2011. Full Story
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A federal appeals court today ruled that the individual insurance mandate in President Obama's health care reform plan is unconstitutional, a decision Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott lauded as a step toward ending "Obamacare." Full Story
The prospect of an open lieutenant governor’s seat in 2014 is attracting candidates and a lot of conversation. Almost no one is talking about who might fill an open seat for governor. Full Story
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The business tax overhaul that Gov. Rick Perry and fellow GOP leaders championed in 2006 as a fix for the school finance system is now under attack in the Texas Supreme Court — as an unconstitutional state income tax. Full Story
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The Texas Forensic Science Commission’s investigation of the science used to convict Cameron Todd Willingham may be at an end after the state’s top attorney ruled that the panel cannot consider evidence in cases older than 2005. Full Story
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Texas bypassed the Obama administration's Department of Justice on Tuesday, opting to ask a panel of federal judges in Washington, D.C., to review the state's new maps for congressional, legislative and State Board of Education districts. Full Story
Hey, Texplainer: Who becomes governor if both Rick Perry and David Dewhurst are elected to other offices? Citizens, meet state Sen. Mike Jackson. Full Story
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State lawmakers have fired back against a Federal Trade Commission letter suggesting Senate Bill 8 — a key piece of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's health reform push — violates antitrust laws. The measure is expected to come up for a vote in the House on Tuesday. Full Story
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Frustrated state employees continue to search for help — and answers — after the comptroller's office accidentally left sensitive personal data on an open server for anyone to see. Full Story
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The former chairman of a state forensic board applauded the current commissioners' report on the arson investigation used to convict Cameron Todd Willingham, but said he's deeply concerned that politics stymied their ability to take a stronger stance. Full Story
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Members of a state forensic board today accepted an amended version of a report on convicted arsonist Cameron Todd Willingham's case, but won't rule on professional negligence until the attorney general says whether they have jurisdiction to do so. Full Story
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After releasing a draft report on the case of convicted arsonist Cameron Todd Willingham, state forensic board members refused again today to rule on whether investigators in the case were professionally negligent in deciding the fire that killed Willingham's three daughters was intentionally ignited. Full Story
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott just released two opinions expected to force Planned Parenthood out of the state's Women's Health Program, which provides family planning, but not abortions, to Medicaid patients. Full Story
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