TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

The careful restoration of the historic Texas Governor’s Mansion, nearly obliterated in 2008 when an arsonist tossed a Molotov cocktail on the front porch, will soon be complete.

When Rick Perry recently attacked entrenched politicians for living large at taxpayers' expense, critics were quick to turn the tables on the governor. A Tribune review shows how much Perry's arrangement costs.

At our TribLive conversation at the University of Texas at El Paso on 11/16, state Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, and state Reps. Naomi Gonzalez, D-El Paso, and Dee Margo, R-El Paso, discussed cuts to public and higher education and other byproducts of the 82nd Session.

The TEA has released new guidelines that set tough thresholds for school districts hoping to take advantage of special legal exemptions passed by the Legislature and intended to help schools cope with significant budget cuts.

Thousands of Texas doctors, researchers and medical experts — including more than 100 who are employed by the state and are paid with taxpayer dollars — routinely supplement their salaries with income from pharmaceutical companies.

A panel of three federal judges in San Antonio proposed new congressional districts for Texas this week. Among the headlines: It looks like U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and state Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, won't be running against each other.

Federal judges in San Antonio ordered the state to conduct its 2012 House and Senate elections using political maps drawn by the judges and not those drawn by the state, issuing final maps that give minority voters — and Democrats — more power.

Budget cuts may have taken more than $30 million out of the Brownsville Independent School District’s budget for the next two years, but administrators say they are working to preserve financing for one key pot of money: the chess budget.

Mayors of cities along the Texas-Mexico border intent on protecting the images of their communities are drawing vastly different conclusions about a proposal that would bring in equipment from overseas war zones to bolster border-security efforts.