Peace Bend?
Even as violence near the border rages and security becomes a more pressing issue, discussions about unifying Big Bend National Park with Mexico may be gaining momentum. Full Story
The latest demographics news from The Texas Tribune.
Even as violence near the border rages and security becomes a more pressing issue, discussions about unifying Big Bend National Park with Mexico may be gaining momentum. Full Story
E. Smith interviews Gov. Rick Perry for the Trib and Newsweek, Philpott dissects the state's budget mess in a weeklong series, Hamilton looks at whether Bill White is or was a trial lawyer, M. Smith finds experts all over the state anxiously watching a court case over who owns the water under our feet, Aguilar reports on the battle between Fort Stockton and Clayton Williams Jr. over water in West Texas, Ramshaw finds a population too disabled to get on by itself but not disabled enough to get state help and Miller spends a day with a young man and his mother coping with that situation, Ramsey peeks in on software that lets the government know whether its e-mail messages are getting read and who's reading what, a highway commissioner reveals just how big a hole Texas has in its road budget, Grissom does the math on the state's border cameras and learns they cost Texans about $153,800 per arrest, and E. Smith interviews Karen Hughes on the difference between corporate and political P.R. — and whether there's such a thing as "Obama Derangement Syndrome." The best of our best from April 19 to April 23, 2010. Full Story
Only 20 percent of 750 Harris County residents surveyed said their personal situation had gotten better this year — the lowest rate in nearly three decades. 32 percent said things were getting worse. Full Story
Border lawmakers are asking Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars for border security before "the violence unfolds across the Rio Grande." Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry has invested $4 million in the Texas Border Watch Program over two years. Twenty-nine cameras have been installed on the 1,200-mile Texas-Mexico border, or one camera for every 41 miles of border. Internet viewers have helped police make a total of 26 arrests — that’s about $153,800 per arrest. Full Story
"The fact is, we shouldn't have to be doing anything. The federal government's responsibility has always been to operate the security mechanism along the border." Full Story
The Census deadline, a Texas-style Tea Party and NASA's moon program. Full Story
The mayor of Ciudad Juárez was in Austin on Monday to discuss his city's plight at a University of Texas forum. He took a few moments to talk with the Tribune. Full Story
Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz sits down with Tribune reporters Brandi Grissom and Julian Aguilar to discuss the economy and security situation in his border city. Full Story
Just days after the withdrawal of the majority of military troops deployed to patrol the streets of the most violent city in the Americas, the city’s mayor concedes his local police force is still infiltrated with elements of organized crime. Full Story
Grissom on her two hours in Juárez, Grissom, Ramshaw and Ramsey on four of the runoffs on Tuesday's ballot, Ramshaw on the religious experience that is voting for Dallas County's DA and an energy regulator's play for a job at the entity he regulates, Mulvaney on the Texas Senate's biggest spenders, Aguilar on whether — as U.S. officials claim — 90 percent of guns used in Mexican crimes really flow south from Texas, M. Smith on the continuing Texas Forensic Science Commission follies, Stiles on how inmates spend their money behind bars and how counties are responding at Census time, Hamilton on the creative accounting and semantic trickery that allows lawmakers to raise revenue without hiking taxes when there's a budget shortfall, and Hu on Austin's first-in-the-nation car-sharing program. The best of our best from April 5 to 9, 2010. Full Story
The mayor of El Paso on how the drug war raging in Juárez is affecting his city (and the national media's perception of it), whether violence is really spilling over and how state and federal leaders are doing at addressing the problem of border security. Full Story
U.S. officials claim that most firearms used in crimes in Mexico are flowing south from Texas — with Houston, Dallas and the Rio Grande Valley as the top sources. Full Story
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
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
Check out Census 2010's latest pitchman, Karl Rove. The man known as Bush's Brain draws on his appreciation for James Madison to sell the Census to those who haven't mailed in their forms yet. Full Story
Republican and Democratic members of the Texas congressional delegation are discussing a possible compromise designed to cool off the overheated politics of congressional redistricting by dividing the expected spoils once U.S. Census figures are in and the reapportionment process begins in 2011, two members of the delegation say. Full Story
Census Day isn't until tomorrow, but residents in some Texas cities and counties got a significant head start, according to the latest questionnaire response rates. Full Story
A midterm Congressional report released today by the National Latino Congreso asserts Texas’ U.S. House delegation votes against progressive immigration reform proposals 63 percent of the time. Full Story
That's how Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw described the violence raging in Mexico’s drug war at a House hearing on Tuesday. Full Story