TribBlog: 13 Months of Sunset
For a certain kind of animal — i.e., the Policy Wonk — this is a gift: Sunset reports on insurance and utility regulators and on the capital city's transportation authority hit the internet this morning. Full Story
The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
For a certain kind of animal — i.e., the Policy Wonk — this is a gift: Sunset reports on insurance and utility regulators and on the capital city's transportation authority hit the internet this morning. Full Story
Sign up for state agency e-mail alerts from, say, the Comptroller or TCEQ and they'll let you know when meetings are being held and when proposed rules are ready for review. But click a link in those e-mails and they have the ability to see who looked at which rule and which web page and who didn't look at all. Full Story
The Mexican American Legislative Caucus, the Senate Hispanic Caucus and the House Black Caucus are throwing a "special hearing" to stoke backlash to the State Board of Education's recasting of American history. Full Story
What's in an IQ score? For autistic or profoundly mentally ill Texans: everything. A growing number of disabled young adults are considered too high-functioning for state care services, but their families say they’re too dangerous to go without them. Admission to state-supported living centers is limited to disabled people with IQs under 70 — and community-based care is generally capped at an IQ of 75. Full Story
A West Texas town is challenging an oil tycoon and former GOP gubernatorial nominee over the depletion of its municipal water source. Whether David defeats Goliath is up to an 11-member groundwater conservation district. Full Story
What's a mother to do when her autistic, suicidal son is too dangerous to live on his own — but has too high of an IQ to qualify for state care services? A day with Karen Bartholomeo and her adopted son, Cameron. Full Story
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell on why people who use more bandwith should pay more, what he thinks of the recent court decision preventing restrictions on "information service" providers, and more. Full Story
A Newsweek/Texas Tribune exclusive: The governor talks about the Tea Party, his beef with the federal government, health care reform, the state budget, redistricting, and whether he plans to run for the White House himself. Full Story
Grissom on the fall of Norma Chávez; M. Smith and Ramsey on the runoffs, the results, and the aftermath; Hu on the Tea Party's birthday party; Thevenot and Stiles on the path between schools and prisons; Ramshaw on prosecutors' reaction to helping hands from Austin; Hamilton on self-appointed lawyers; Galbraith on property rights and power lines; Aguilar and Grissom sit down with the mayor of Juárez to talk about his crime-ridden city; Kraft on telling the stories of Texans and other Americans who died in Vietnam; Ramsey on slots and horses and casinos; and Hamilton goes on a field trip with Jim Hightower to hear the history of populism. The best of our best from April 5 to 9, 2010. Full Story
He may be able to address complex issues in his two-minute radio broadcasts, but some of Jim Hightower's distinctive storytelling begs for more time. Full Story
Unemployment in Texas remained at 8.2 percent for the fifth consecutive month in March. According to the Texas Workforce Commission, 995,200 people were looking for work last month. Full Story
Karen Hughes, a communications advisor to Speaker Joe Straus, told our TribLive audience this morning that it was "a little undemocratic" of the newly formed Independent Conservative Republicans of Texas not to invite every Republican in the House and Senate to join. Full Story
Former HHSC Commissioner Albert Hawkins has a new job — working for the speaker of the Texas House. Full Story
Depending on whom you ask, Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins’ repeated refusal to allow Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott into a local corruption investigation is either bold or stupid. Either way, it’s unusual. Abbott has offered prosecution assistance to local district attorneys 226 times since 2007, when lawmakers first gave him permission to do it. In all but 16 cases, he’s been invited in. And Watkins didn't decline politely. Full Story
From the Department of You Can't Make This Stuff Up: The Arab world's favorite news source takes on the State Board of Education. Full Story
A new report by Texas Appleseed spotlights two troubling trends: the high number and proportion of discretionary expulsions by school districts, often for low-level "persistent misbehavior," and the disproportionate severity of discipline meted out to African-Americans. Full Story
Voters routed state Reps. Delwin Jones and Norma Chavez on Tuesday, turned back former Rep. Rick Green's bid for a spot on the Texas Supreme Court and handed victories to at least three candidates who appeared to benefit from the Tea Party insurgency in Texas. Full Story
Fred Brown won another term in the Texas House, after getting himself into a four-way primary and surviving that and today's runoff against Gerald "Buddy" Winn. Full Story
Charles Perry is on his way to the Texas House, having defeated Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, and fellow Republican John Frullo won the GOP nomination for an open seat in his predominantly Republican district. Perry has no opposition in November. Frullo will face Democrat Carol Morgan. Full Story
Smitherman says while it's probably legal for the state's top energy regulator to seek the ERCOT chief executive job, "it just doesn't feel right to go forward." Full Story