The latest state agencies news from The Texas Tribune.
On Monday, 15 years after a U.S. Supreme Court decision that paved the way for some people with disabilities to move out of institutions, advocates for Texans with disabilities called on state lawmakers to speed up that process. Full Story
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Warning of the dangers faced by undocumented and unaccompanied children crossing the border into the U.S., Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday called on the Obama administration to more strictly enforce immigration laws. Full Story
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Texas ranks third-worst in the nation on quality of long-term care for elderly and disabled people, according to a new AARP report released Thursday. Full Story
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UPDATED: The Texas Water Development Board’s release of draft rules Tuesday afternoon offered Texans a clearer sense of how the board will prioritize and fund competing water supply projects. Full Story
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After a state Senate committee hearing Thursday in which veterans and others talked about excessive wait times at VA clinics, lawmakers said a plan expanding the Texas Veterans Commission's "strike force" was moving forward. Full Story
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The Texas Racing Commission voted Tuesday to take steps toward allowing state racetracks to tap into a controversial technology known as historical racing. Full Story
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A recommendation from the state's Sunset Advisory Commission to shutter six of Texas' 13 state-supported living centers has reopened a giant divide in the disability community that had seemed to narrow in recent years. Full Story
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A new treatment for hepatitis C is considered a breakthrough for people with the liver disease. But the high cost of the drug has complicated efforts to get the medication to Texans who receive government-subsidized health care. Full Story
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Three days after a legislative committee said there were grounds to impeach University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall, the chairman of UT’s board of regents said Hall should resign. Full Story
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While the federal Bureau of Land Management spends the next several years figuring out whether it owns some 90,000 acres of land along a 116-mile stretch of the Red River, landowners will continue paying taxes, at least for now. Full Story
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As a federal agency decides what to do with the 90,000 acres it says it controls along a 116-mile stretch of the Red River, Texans who have been managing land in the area say they feel paralyzed. Full Story
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After a presentation in Clay County on Red River land that's the subject of a dispute with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Texas officials and lawmakers on Monday sought to reassure Texans who have managed some of the land for decades. Full Story
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On the heels of an expansion of Fort Bliss, El Paso is seeing an increase in the number of children who can't be placed in foster homes because there aren't enough English-speaking homes available. Full Story
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The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services approved a set of new regulations Friday that are meant to provide more protection for foster children. Full Story
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It will be months before the state can begin drug testing certain unemployment insurance benefit applicants, and some Texas lawmakers and business leaders are frustrated with the delay. Full Story
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At our 3/20 TribLive conversation, Kinky Friedman, a Democratic candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner in 2014, talked about why he wants to legalize marijuana — and what it would mean for the state. Full Story
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The Department of Family and Protective Services has ramped up its efforts to conduct predictive data analysis and reduce the high turnover of CPS caseworkers, the agency’s commissioner told a panel of senators on Thursday. Full Story
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At Thursday's TribLive conversation, former state Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, a 2014 candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, discussed the proper balance between strengthening border security and maintaining the agricultural industry's labor force. Full Story
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At Thursday's TribLive conversation, former state Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, a 2014 candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, talked about why he would have opposed the farm bill recently passed by Congress. Full Story
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Full video of my 2/13 TribLive conversation with former state Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, a 2014 candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner. Full Story
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