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The latest state agencies news from The Texas Tribune.

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Ramshaw's question about an insurance company denying coverage for an infant vaccine prompts a reversal; Stiles' new app lets you poke through mid-year campaign reports on donations and spending; Ramsey finds foreshadowing of the state's big fall races in the campaign finance reports; Aguilar interviews Henry Cisneros about current politics; Dawson finds Texas environmentalists getting advice from an unexpected place; Galbraith on "demand response" that might cut the need for power plants and on the next wave of electric cars; Aguilar on increasing trade through Texas ports of entry; M. Smith on affirmative action battles in higher education; Titus on Mexican college students' drift from border universities to UT-Austin and Texas A&M; and Hamilton on controversy over private, for-profit colleges: The best of our best for the week of July 19 to 23, 2010. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • TribBlog: In Reversal, SBOE Passes Charter Financing [Updated]

    By Elizabeth Titus

    After getting shot down in committee, SBOE member David Bradley, R-Beaumont, and other members succeeded Friday in pushing through a plan to purchase school buildings and lease them back to charter schools in a split vote, with two Democrats absent. The decision, however, is contingent upon a favorable attorney general's opinion on the legality of the controversial move — which would pull money from the Permanent School Fund. Full Story 

    Cynthia Dunbar and Don McLeroy
    Credit: Jacqueline Mermea

  • TribBlog: A Matter of Jurisdiction [Updated]

    By Morgan Smith

    While delivering their report, members of the subcommittee charged with reviewing the Cameron Todd Willingham case said that though they believe the science used to convict the Corsicana man was flawed, they aren't prepared to say the fire investigator, whose testimony was used to convict him, committed professional misconduct. Full Story 

    John Bradley, left, is the new chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. Cameron Todd Willingham, right, was executed for setting a house fire that killed his three daughters.
    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • Texas Schools Have a Math Problem

    By Matt Largey, KUT News

    A new study suggests that while the state's English curriculum is among the best in the nation, our math curriculum doesn't measure up to a set of new national standards. Matt Largey of KUT News reports. Full Story 

  • The "Career" Path

    By Reeve Hamilton

    Private, for-profit colleges, which offer professional certificates at a steep cost, have come under fire for peddling big student loans to vulnerable Texans in exchange for credentials of dubious value. Full Story 

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  • The Off Switch

    By Kate Galbraith

    Rather than building new power plants just to meet peak electricity demand on hot summer afternoons, why not just persuade people and companies to use less electricity? "Demand response" is quickly taking hold in Texas. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Grissom's three-part series (here, here and here) on prosperity and peril along the U.S.-Mexico border, Hu on the Division of Workers' Compensation audit report, Stiles puts more than 3,000 personal disclosure forms filed by politicians, candidates and state officials online, M. Smith on attempts to curb the practice of barratry (better known as ambulance chasing), Ramsey interviews the chair of the Texas Libertarian Party, Hamilton on attempts to improve the success rates of community colleges, Galbraith on whether electric deregulation has helped or hurt Texans, Aguilar talks to a chronicler of the bloody narco-wars and Ramshaw on doctors who most often prescribe antipsychotic drugs to the state's neediest patients: The best of our best from July 12 to 16, 2010. Full Story 

    The best of our best from the week of July 12th.

  • TribBlog: Suspending Driver Suspensions

    By Brandi Grissom

    The Texas Public Safety Commission on Thursday approved changes to the Driver Responsibility Program that would include an amnesty program for drivers with outstanding surcharges, reduced fines for poor drivers and new incentives to encourage more people to pay up. Full Story 

    A Texas Department of Public Safety official seal.
    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • "This Report Backs Us Up"

    By Elise Hu

    State auditors found muddled chains of command, missing files and a massive backlog of cases when they dug into the enforcement process at the Division of Workers' Compensation, according to a report released Thursday. The findings support the claims of former employees who exited the division this year amid complaints of stalled action on dozens of cases against workers' comp physicians accused of abusing the system. Full Story 

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    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Texas has long been a “tough on crime” state, but there has been a movement in recent years to change the system known more for its executions than for its rehabilitations. Robert Perkinson talked with Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune about the history of the state’s prison system and the possible changes ahead. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmerich

  • TribBlog: New Doc at Workers' Comp

    By Elise Hu

    After the exodus of at least half a dozen employees and swirling questions about its lack of enforcement against unscrupulous doctors, the Division of Workers' Compensation has put a new man in charge of the investigations. The former executive director of the Texas Medical Board, Dr. Donald Patrick, started Monday. Full Story 

    Dr. Donald Patrick, neurosurgeon and Medical Advisor at the Division of Workers' Compensation.

  • TribBlog: Not Cool With School

    By Forrest Burnson

    Texans overwhelmingly reject the way the State Board of Education sets requirements for textbooks and curriculum, which ignited a nationwide controversy earlier this year, according to a statewide survey the Texas Freedom Network released today. Full Story 

    An observer holds a protest sign during testimony at the State Board of Education (SBOE) textbook hearings on Wednesday, May 19, 2010.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Data App: Personal Finance

    By Matt Stiles

    Politicians, candidates and other state officers are required to disclose their personal finances, to discourage conflicts of interest and, according to the law, "strengthen the faith and confidence of the people of this state in state government." Yet getting these documents isn’t easy, so we've put all 3,070 available online. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Justin Dehn/Todd Wiseman

  • Age of Innocence

    By Kate Ergenbright

    More than 120 college students worked 12,300 hours-plus on Innocence Project of Texas cases from 2007 to 2009, according to the Task Force on Indigent Defense. As student participation has increased, so have exonerations. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva

  • Alternating Current

    By Kate Galbraith

    Since 1999, when then-Gov. George Bush signed a law that deregulated the Texas electricity market, a debate has raged about whether and how much the move has benefitted ordinary Texans. Who's right? Full Story 

    Sunrise after a night of thunderstorms on June 19, 2010, in Alpine, Texas.
    Credit: Spencer Selvidge