The latest John Whitmire news from The Texas Tribune.
Texas is one of nine states that automatically classify 17-year-olds as adults when they're accused of crimes. Campaigns to “raise the age” are gathering momentum in some states, and Texas is facing a spirited debate of its own. Full Story
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As a key Senate committee prepares to hear public testimony on tax cut proposals Wednesday, senators expressed strong interest in repealing the state's unpopular margins tax on businesses, which has raised $4.7 billion annually. Full Story
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Senate budget writers on Wednesday lit into Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek, a former senator himself, in a hearing that concluded with another call for him to resign. Full Story
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A clutch of Southern states are in talks to hold 2016 presidential primaries on the same day, according to a story by James Hohmann of Politico. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry on Friday fired HHSC Inspector General Doug Wilson as fallout widened from the selection of a relatively unknown company for a $110 million Medicaid fraud software contract. Full Story
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Is Texas in danger of recession next year because of the current swoon in oil prices? An economist with J.P. Morgan Chase is raising an early warning flag about that possibility. Full Story
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State Sen. John Whitmire asked the state's public integrity unit on Thursday to investigate deals between the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and 21 Century Technologies. Full Story
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A Texas parole commissioner has been indicted for tampering with a government record after a lawyer complained that at least five inmates were denied parole after she falsely said they had refused to sit for required interviews. Full Story
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Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott on Tuesday reaffirmed the watchdog role of the Public Integrity Unit while also defending his agency's investigation of a Houston voter registration group in 2010. Full Story
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The Houston Chronicle is reporting that in the days before Gov. Rick Perry's indictment over his veto of funding for the public integrity unit, the Travis County DA's office had requested the next Legislature to restore most of the unit's funding. Full Story
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New court data show that the number of tickets written by public school police officers for student misbehavior has fallen 71 percent since new laws designed to reduce the procedure went into effect late last year. Full Story
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Amid heated controversy over the placement of dangerous sex offenders, the presiding member of a board that oversees an agency that manages civilly committed violent sex offenders resigned on Tuesday. Full Story
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The release of more than 2,000 email documents by the University of Texas System to news outlets is providing a fuller — albeit heavily redacted — picture of the various conflicts between regents and administrators. Full Story
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Attorney General Greg Abbott demonstrated his fundraising prowess over the last half year with 25 six-figure donations, including a total of $900,000 from the late Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons. Full Story
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The Tribune's Morgan Smith has a must-read piece on what's next for the education reform group funded by tort reform champions that left a big imprint on policy debates during last year's legislative session. Full Story
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U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Amarillo, could be a lot closer to gaining the chairmanship of one of Congress' most powerful committees — House Armed Services. Full Story
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The constitutional provision of a part-time Legislature whose members have full-time jobs back home blurs the line between public responsibilities and personal ambition — as the story of a certain powerful state senator illustrates. Full Story
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Take a photographic trip through Sen. John Carona's career in the Texas Legislature, from his swearing in as a freshman House member in 1991 to his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Committee on Business & Commerce. Full Story
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Some parents and advocacy organizations say the state’s truancy laws are too harsh. The Senate passed a bill last week to change these laws, compromising with judges and district officials who said the reforms were too broad. Full Story
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The bizarre tale of a prison gang's plot to murder a Texas state senator has quickly come to an end. Full Story
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