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The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.

  • 2010: Re-recount

    By Ross Ramsey

    Republican Dan Neil will take his battle for a Travis County seat in the Legislature to the full House to decide. Full Story 

    State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, and her GOP challenger, Dan Neil.
    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • A Tale of Two Switchers

    By Ross Ramsey

    Now that state Reps. Allan Ritter of Nederland and Aaron Peña of Edinburg have ditched the Democrats, attention turns to how they'll hold on to their seats. The former is following a time-tested strategy that has worked for others. The latter is challenging political history. Full Story 

    State Representatives Aaron Pena and Allan Ritter announce their switch to the Republican Party in a press conference at Republican Party of Texas headquarters in Austin.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • The People's Choice

    By Julián Aguilar

    Three years after a crackdown that resulted in federal conspiracy charges against Laredo's former police chief, the city's electronic gaming parlors are back — most tucked in nondescript strip malls. Their resurgence owes to their popularity, says state Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo, who has offered a solution: Let the voters decide. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Inside Intelligence: Party Switchers Should...

    By Ross Ramsey

    For this week's installment of our nonscientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we asked whether more House members will change parties, how switchers should make the change and whether (and which) Republicans will peel off to vote with the Democratic minority during the coming legislative session. Full Story 

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  • Unnecessary Nursing?

    By Emily Ramshaw

    A class-action suit being filed in U.S. district court today alleges that thousands of Texans with severe mental and physical disabilities are confined in nursing homes with no access to rehabilitative care. Full Story 

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  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Ramsey on what a GOP supermajority means, Ramshaw on a crime victim not eligible for crime victims' compensation, M. Smith on grave matters and state regulation, Hamilton on the college pipeline at San Antonio's Jefferson High, Hu on a senator's anticlimactic return, Grissom on the coming closure of juvenile lockups, Aguilar on the return of residents to their drug-war-torn Mexican town, Galbraith on next session's energy agenda, Philpott on the legal fight over federal health care reform and Stiles on the travel expenses of House members: The best of our best from Dec. 13 to 17, 2010. Full Story 

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  • Crime Doesn't Pay

    By Emily Ramshaw

    British tourist Thomas Reeve's murder in an Amarillo bar last fall shattered his family, which has been unable to claim financial assistance from the state’s Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund because he wasn't a U.S. resident. Full Story 

    British tourist Thomas Reeve was shot and killed in an Amarillo bar last fall by an armed robber, leaving behind an infant daughter. His parents’ efforts to claim financial assistance from the state’s Crime Victims Compensation Fund have been rebuffed because their son wasn’t a U.S. resident.
    Credit: Thomas Reeve's family

  • Atmospheric Politics

    By Kate Galbraith

    Every politician needs a villain. George W. Bush had Saddam Hussein; Barack Obama had George W. Bush. Gov. Rick Perry has the EPA., which has had the audacity to order Texas to do more to clean its air. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Bob Daemmrich/Todd Wiseman

  • Him Again

    By Elise Hu

    State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, wasn’t expected back at the Capitol this session after seeking two high-profile higher education jobs over the summer. But both opportunities fizzled, and now the 70-year-old says he’s “gunned up and ready to go” for his seventh term in the Senate — even if he'll return with clout resembling that of a freshman. He’s without the aides who knew him best and stripped of the Jurisprudence Committee he used to chair. Still, his insistence on putting his own political views ahead of his party's could make him a key player at a time when Senate Republicans are a few votes short of a two-thirds majority. Full Story 

    State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, at the Texas GOP Convention in June, 2010
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Audio: Sunset on TCEQ

    By Erika Aguilar, KUT News

    With a panel of state legislators set to decide the future of a number of Texas agencies, the state's environmental agency seems likely to get the green light to operate for another 12 years, but with some changes. As Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, environmentalists are calling the situation a mild victory. Full Story 

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  • No Setting Sun on the TCEQ

    By Erika Aguilar, KUT News

    With a panel of state legislators set to decide the future of a number of Texas agencies, the state's environmental agency seems likely to get the green light to operate for another 12 years, but with some changes. As Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, environmentalists are calling the situation a mild victory. Full Story 

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  • Mental Math

    By Brandi Grissom

    Texas sheriffs fear that the looming budget shortfall will turn the growing shortage of bed space for their psychologically disturbed inmates at state mental hospitals into a crisis. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Achieving Closure

    By Brandi Grissom

    Lawmakers, bureaucrats and criminal justice advocates all agree that the state’s trouble-ridden Texas Youth Commission ought to close down two of its correctional facilities. Like other state agencies, TYC has been asked to cut its budget for the next biennium by 10 percent, or $40 million. But no one at TYC is saying which lockups should get shuttered. “They don’t want to bite that bullet and show leadership,” says state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. Full Story 

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  • Pete Gallego: The TT Interview

    By Ross Ramsey

    The 10-term Democratic state representative from Alpine on what he thinks of Tuesday's newly minted Republicans, the perils of party switching, the potential death of the middle and what the 49-member minority does now. Full Story 

    State Sen. Pete Gallego
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich