At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly's biennial Best and Worst Legislators story, senior executive editor Paul Burka and senior editor Nate Blakeslee, assessed the performance of Speaker Joe Straus.

At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly's biennial Best and Worst Legislators story, senior executive editor Paul Burka and senior editor Nate Blakeslee, explained why no Democrats appeared on the Ten Worst list.

At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly's biennial Best and Worst Legislators story, senior executive editor Paul Burka and senior editor Nate Blakeslee, explained why state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, appears on neither list.

At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly's biennial Best and Worst Legislators story, senior executive editor Paul Burka and senior editor Nate Blakeslee, explained why state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, made the Ten Worst list.

At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly's biennial Best and Worst Legislators story, senior executive editor Paul Burka and senior editor Nate Blakeslee, defended their 2011 picks.

Aaronson and Murphy visualize what happened to the nearly 5,800 bills introduced in the 82nd Lege, Aaronson, Hasson and Swicegood interactively recap the budget battle, Aguliar on the surge in illegal re-entry cases prosecuted by the Obama administration, Galbraith on a coal plant that wants a water deal from the LCRA, Grissom interviews a man wrongly imprisoned and nearly executed — twice, Hamilton on a controversial UT regent who wants a do-over in the debate over higher ed reform, Ramshaw on the continuing fight over pre-abortion sonograms, Root on Rick Perry's newsmaking trip to NYC and M. Smith on whether cash-strapped school districts will raise taxes: The best of our best content from June 13 to 17, 2011.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly's biennial Best and Worst Legislators story explained why they put Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on the Ten Worst list.

On Wednesday night, I sat down with four leading intended GOP candidates for the U.S. Senate: Ted Cruz, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Tom Leppert and Roger Williams. We talked about Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, the war in Afghanistan, the Tea Party and more.

On Wednesday night, I sat down with four leading intended GOP candidates for the U.S. Senate: Ted Cruz, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Tom Leppert and Roger Williams. We talked about Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, immigration, the Tea Party and more.

Former Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, who has been running a GOP primary campaign to succeed Kay Bailey Hutchison in the U.S. Senate, has begun actively soliciting endorsements for the congressional seat he intends to seek instead, according to an email obtained Monday night by the Tribune.

Aaronson and Grissom on a freshman lawmaker who didn't mind making waves, Aguilar on E-Verify's new lease on life, Galbraith on the state's plodding progress toward solar power, Hamilton on Warren Chisum's exit, Philpott on the remapping of Lloyd Doggett's district, Ramsey on a proposed change to ethics laws for Texas pols, Ramshaw on efforts by the state to take control of Medicaid and Medicare, Root on why a Rick presidential bid shouldn't be underestimated, M. Smith on the unraveling of school finance legislation and Tan and Dehn on the highs and lows of the 82nd legislative session: The best of our best content from May 30 to June 3, 2011.

"We're convinced he'll be a leader," the bellwether conservative group's president tells the Tribune. "He's committed to pro-growth issues. When we find someone like him, we move quickly."

Former Railroad Commissioner Michael Wiliams, who announced his intention back in January to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison, is likely to drop out of that race and instead run for a newly created congressional seat, multiple sources tell the Tribune.

Several members of the Legislature bucked their parties Saturday night in voting for or against the state budget. In their own words, here's why.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Lake Dallas, state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands — about how they and their GOP colleagues fared this session.