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The latest economy news from The Texas Tribune.

  • The Weekly TribCast: Episode 55

    By Elise Hu

    In this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Ben discuss the latest in the race for House speaker, ongoing budget woes and how governing may prove a lot harder than campaigning come January. Full Story 

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  • The End of Pork?

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says she will join U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in calling for a ban on all Congressional earmark spending. In the past, both used the controversial budget maneuver to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars back to Texas. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Guest Column: Put Up or Shut Up

    By Bill Ratliff

    If major-party leaders are not willing to make tough-love decisions on the ballooning national debt, and if the Tea Partiers are not willing to endorse painful measures, the American people must ask them, "Okay, what is your solution?" Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Cuts and Caps

    By Ross Ramsey

    Lawmakers want state agencies to cut another 2 to 3 percent from their current budgets — on top of the 5 percent cuts that were already ordered. The Legislative Budget Board — comprised of members of both the House and Senate, along with the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House — also adopted a spending cap for the next budget. Full Story 

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  • "Grandiose Cuts" to Higher Education?

    By Elise Hu

    The session hasn't started yet, but the battles have. In a heated exchange over possible cuts to higher education at a post-election debrief, Democratic consultant Matt Angle spars with Gov. Rick Perry's campaign manager, Rob Johnson. Full Story 

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  • Size Matters

    By Ross Ramsey

    How big is the state’s budget shortfall? It all depends on who's doing the math. A big number means the coming session will be all about what’s cut — what programs and services won’t be offered. A smaller one puts lawmakers in the position of deciding, in hard times, what they can add to current spending. Full Story 

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  • Majority Rules

    By Elise Hu

    Whether you call it a wave, a rout or a tsunami, one thing is clear: Republicans in the Texas House won a massive mandate for conservative bills — and budgeting — in the coming legislative session. Full Story 

  • The History of the Shuttle Program, Part Four

    By Matt Largey, KUT News

    What happens after Discovery, the next-to-last shuttle mission, blasts off Monday from Kennedy Space Center (with an Austin astronaut aboard)? For thousands of engineers and support staff at the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake, the answer isn’t certain. Matt Largey of KUT News contemplates the impact of the transition to the next phase of NASA's mission in space. Full Story 

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  • The History of the Shuttle Program, Part Three

    By Jennifer Stayton

    NASA lost two shuttles, Challenger and Columbia, during the space shuttle program’s 30-year history. After each accident, the agency was never quite the same. Jennifer Stayton of KUT News recently talked about those tragedies with Pat Duggins, who reports on NASA for NPR and is the author of Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program. Full Story 

    Members of the Los Padres and INYO C-25 firefighting teams from Oregon and California walk shoulder-to-shoulder through fields outside this north Texas town as the search for Columbia space shuttle debris Photo
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • The History of the Shuttle Program, Part Two

    By Mose Buchele, KUT News

    Discovery is on the launch pad and prepped for a Monday blast off — the second-to-last confirmed mission. For many Americans, the finale of the space shuttle program is poignant and yet somewhat suspenseful. What comes next? In part two of our week-long series on what the shuttle has meant to Texas, KUT’s Mose Buchele reports that, despite its lofty goals, the program has always had a down-to-earth side. Full Story 

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  • What We're Worried About

    By Ross Ramsey

    The economy, unemployment and jobs are the most important issues facing the country, according to the new UT/Texas Tribune poll, while immigration and border security top the list of the biggest problems facing the state. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • The History of the Shuttle Program, Part One

    By Nathan Bernier, KUT News, and Jennifer Stayton, The Texas Tribune

    The nation's space shuttle program is being retired next year after three decades and more than 133 flights — including the final voyage by Discovery, which is set to blast off in a few days. All this week, KUT News is reconstructing the program's history: how it started, how it will end and what that means for Texas. Reporters Nathan Bernier and Jennifer Stayton kick off our five-part series. Full Story 

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  • Where They Stand: The Governor's Race

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    In the absence of a real debate between Gov. Rick Perry and his Democratic challenger, Bill White, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune has created the next best thing: a mash-up of their answers to questions asked Friday by the Tribune's Evan Smith during one-hour interviews of the candidates sponsored by the Trib, KUT and Austin public television station KLRU. Full Story 

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  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Ramsey on whether Bill White at the top of the ballot helps Houston-area candidates, Aaronson and Stiles present a treemap of Texas political ads, Stiles and Ramsey on the latest campaign finance filings, Aguilar on the Laredo mayor's race, Hamilton on anonymous tweeters who make mischief, Ramshaw interviews a disability rights activist with a thing for iPads and bibles, Hu on the accidental release of Rick Perry's "secret" schedule, M. Smith on the bitter back-and-forth over a voter registration effort in Harris County, Philpott's micro-debate on education between two House candidates, Grissom on this week's twist in the Cameron Todd Willingham investigation and, in our latest collaboration with a big-city Texas newspaper, Stiles, Grissom and John Tedesco of the San-Antonio Express News on what kind of Texans, exactly, are applying to carry concealed handguns: The best of our best from Oct. 4 to 9, 2010. Full Story 

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  • A Schoolyard Brawl

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Tension between Texas and the federal government has been a major focus of Rick Perry's re-election campaign. But on Monday, two top Democratic leaders in the Texas House ganged up on Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott and, by proxy, the governor over the recent federal education funds fight. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story 

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