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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Brandi Grissom Reporter

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Brandi Grissom joined the Tribune after four years at the El Paso Times, where she has been a one-woman Capitol bureau during the last two legislative sessions. Grissom won the Associated Press Managing Editors 1st place award in 2007 for using the Freedom of Information Act to report stories on a variety of government programs and entities, and the ACLU of Texas named her legislative reporter of the year in 2007 for her reporting about immigration issues. She previously worked for the Alliance Times-Herald, the Taylor Daily Press, the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung and the Associated Press, and was managing editor at the Daily Texan. A native of Alliance, Nebraska, she has a degree in history from the University of Texas at Austin.

bgrissom@texastribune.org
512-716-8618

Recent Contributions

Accidents Will Happen

by Brandi Grissom  |  an hour ago

State troopers turned in hundreds of error-riddled crash reports in 2007 and 2008, according to an internal audit by the Department of Public Safety.

Department of Public Stimulus

by Brandi Grissom  |  2/5/2010

The Department of Public Safety, which is struggling financially, is planning to use $16 million of the federal stimulus dollars that Gov. Rick Perry begrudgingly accepted to plug a hole in the border security budget. The decision follows a mandate by Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Joe Straus that state agencies cut 5 percent out of their budgets to meet an anticipated shortfall.

Border Blues

by Brandi Grissom  |  2/3/2010

In blood-red Texas, 19 border legislative races are up for grabs in 2010 — but Republicans are running in only 6. And only 2 GOP candidates have raised any significant cash so far.

Case Open: The Investigation

by Brandi Grissom  |  1/29/2010  |   1

It took a crew of eight Northwestern University students to bring national attention to questions about Hank Skinner's death sentence. But his legal pleas for more DNA testing of crime scene evidence — and his lawsuit against the Gray County district attorney — have gone nowhere. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, he'll be executed on Feburary 24.

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Hank Skinner interview

by Brandi Grissom  |  1/29/2010

I interviewed Henry "Hank" Watkins Skinner, 47, at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice — death row — on January 20, 2010. Skinner was convicted in 1995 of murdering his girlfriends and her two sons; the state has scheduled his execution for February 24. Skinner has always maintained that he's innocent and for 15 year has asked the state to release DNA evidence that he says will prove he was not the killer.

Case Open

by Brandi Grissom  |  1/28/2010  |   1

Hank Skinner is set to be executed for a 1993 murder he's always maintained he didn't commit. He wants the state to test whether his DNA matches evidence found at the scene, but prosecutors say the time to contest his conviction has come and gone. He has less than a month to change their minds.

Slow Medicine

by Brandi Grissom  |  1/13/2010  |   1

As El Paso begins to wear the new off its hard-fought medical school, another Texas border community is starting on the long road to establishing its own. University of Texas System officials are evaluating how long it will take and how much it could cost to train the next generation of doctors in the Rio Grande Valley.

Fighting for Security

by Brandi Grissom  |  1/8/2010

Immigration advocates say the feds are deporting thousands of illegal aliens who are minor offenders and some who've committed no crimes at all. But federal officials and local law enforcement argue that they're simply making Texas streets safer.

Big Border Business

by Brandi Grissom  |  1/7/2010  |   2

For the last year and a half, Tom Barry visited immigrant detention centers in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Here's what he found.

Tom Barry interview

by Brandi Grissom  |  1/7/2010

The Texas Tribune talks with Tom Barry, senior policy analyst at the Center for International Policy, about immigration detention centers on the border.

Narco Terror

by Brandi Grissom  |  12/22/2009

U.S. Border Patrol agents launched Operation Detour to shock kids away from Mexican drug cartel recruiters. Now they're expanding the program across the entire southwest border.

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Operation Detour

by Brandi Grissom and Elise Hu  |  12/22/2009

The U.S. Border Patrol's gritty and graphic effort to turn young Texans away from narco-trafficking. Coming soon to a classroom near you?

Shock Therapy

by Brandi Grissom  |  12/21/2009  |   1

Border Patrol agents are combatting cartel recruitment with a graphic film designed to scare high school students straight. But some experts say the program misses the mark.

Slideshow: Border Bus

by Brandi Grissom  |  12/16/2009

On both sides of the border, there are calls to end the U.S. Border Patrol's Alien Transfer and Exit Program. But Border Patrol officials say their plan to break the connection between smugglers and immigrants is working.

Road to Nowhere

by Brandi Grissom  |  12/15/2009  |   1

The U.S. Border Patrol says its illegal immigration repatriation program is working to break the crossing cycle in Arizona, but officials in Texas and Mexico worry the program creates more problems than it solves.