Proposed cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's budget could shutter the Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center, where researchers work to ensure the safety of products that cross from Mexico to the U.S. Full Story
Aaronson interactively asks if stimulus funds created jobs in Texas, Aguilar on new voter registrar rules that could decrease voter turnout, Galbraith on a UT professor's debunking of climate change "myths," Grissom on an epic clash of El Paso political titans, Hamilton on the right's new higher ed guru, Murphy maps household data from the 2010 Census, Ramsey on a coming rules fight in the Texas Senate, Root and M. Smith on Rick Perry's performance at the New Hampshire debate and M. Smith talks public ed cuts with the state's Superintendent of the Year: The best of our best content from October 10-14, 2011. Full Story
Congress — including much of the Texas delegation — is poised to approve three trade agreements as soon as today that could boost the state’s exports. Full Story
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, attempted to turn up the heat Tuesday on Gov. Rick Perry by condemning a controversial proposal to offer Texas license plates with the image of the Confederate flag. Full Story
Texas’s congressional Republicans seized on new unemployment numbers to decry President Obama’s economic policies days after he stopped in Mesquite to sell his jobs plan. Full Story
A nonpartisan group of Texas lawyers, law professors and other legal advocates today called on the U.S. Senate to quickly fill judicial vacancies that are slowing down the justice system in Texas and nationwide. Full Story
Protesters gathered outside the Headliners Club in Austin to urge U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and Congress to pass the American Jobs Act. Boehner was in Austin to attend a reception with several GOP congressmen from Texas. Full Story
Rep. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, will run for Steve Ogden's Senate seat. Ogden isn't running, and Williamson County has become the 300-pound gorilla of that district in terms of population. Rep. Larry Gonzales, R-Round Rock, won't run. Full Story
Proposed legislation that would require employers across the country to use the electronic employment-verification program known as E-Verify passed out of a congressional House committee today. Full Story
General elections in Texas will be less competitive than ever under the redistricting maps approved by the Legislature earlier this year. The political threats to incumbents, if any, will come in primaries and not in general elections. Full Story
Lots of things affect election outcomes. Candidates. Money. Issues. Surprises. But some of the results are wired into district maps, through redistricting. Here's our charting of the political atmosphere — Republican or Democratic — in each of the House, Senate and congressional districts drawn by the Legislature this year. Full Story
State Rep. Randy Weber, R-Pearland, wants to go to Congress: He announced today he'll run for the seat now held by U.S. Ron Paul, R-Surfside. And state Rep. Rodney Anderson made his intentions for state Senate official. Full Story
President Obama sent a $447 billion jobs bill to Congress today — his latest attempt to revive the struggling economy. How will Texas be affected? Full Story
Full video of my 9/9 conversation with U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz. We talked about President Obama's jobs speech, the future of Social Security and the debt ceiling debate, among other topics that could impact his 2012 GOP primary race. Full Story
At this morning's TribLive conversation, U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz explained why the presumed frontrunner in the GOP primary race, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, is the wrong man for the job. Full Story
Austin Democrats are pretty unhappy with the Republican Legislature’s redistricting maps, and Rep. Lloyd Doggett is the poster child for their frustrations. Their anger might save him. Full Story