At last Thursday's TribLive, state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, and state Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, the chairs of the Senate and House redistricting committees, respectively, talked about their approach to redrawing Texas House district lines.

Tan on the budget standoff between the House and Senate, Ramsey on budget cuts that cost us money, Philpott on Hispanics and redistricting,  Stiles visualizes speed limits by state, Grissom on a liberal social justice organizer who became a conservative hero, M. Smith on even more student social security numbers at risk, Ramshaw on whether family planning equals abortion, Aguilar on what circumcision has to do with citizenship, Murphy on how much Texas university adminstrators are paid, Hamilton on the latest in the higher ed reform saga and Galbraith on Texas energy lessons from the 1970s: The best of our best content from April 4 to 8, 2011.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, and state Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, acknowledged that there's no way to take politics out of the mapmaking process.

At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, talked about whether being black and being Republican were incompatible.

At last Thursday's TribLive, State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, talked about what her party needs to do to regain its electoral mojo.

At last Thursday's TribLive, State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, made the economic development case for legalized gambling in Texas.

For our most recent TribLive conversation, I interviewed state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, about gambling, how Democrats can regain their mojo and whether being black and being Republican are incompatible.

For our most recent TribLive conversation, I interviewed state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, the longest-serving woman the longest-serving African American in the history of the Legislature — and the longest-serving Democratic member currently in the House.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, the longest-serving woman, African American and Democrat in the Texas House, forcefully argued that state funding of public education should not be cut — unless school districts are made to tap into their own reserves.

Mansour O. El-Kikhia, chair of the political science department at the University of Texas at San Antonio, cited the threat to perhaps 50,000 of his fellow countrymen — including members of his own family.

M. Smith on the continuing controversy over Beaumont's school administrators, Tan on the deepening divide over the consequences of the House budget, Hamilton on the latest in the fight over higher ed accountability, Grissom on young inmates in adult prisons, Aguilar on the voter ID end game, Tan and Hasson's Rainy Day Fund infographic, Ramsey on the coming conflict over school district reserves, M. Smith and Aguilar on Laredo ISD's missing Social Security numbers, Galbraith on environmental regulators bracing for budget cuts and Ramshaw on greater scrutiny of neonatal intensive care units: The best of our best content from March 21 to 25, 2011.

Full audio of our TribLive conversation with Speaker Joe Straus on March 10, 2011.

Full video of our TribLive conversation with Speaker Joe Straus on March 10, 2011.

For our latest TribLive conversation, I sat down with the Speaker of the Texas House, Joe Straus, to talk about budget cuts, possible sources of revenue, hot-button social issues and more.

At our TribLive conversation last Thursday, Speaker Joe Straus talked about whether the Texas House would consider raising taxes to pay down part of the budget shortfall.