The blazing stars of Texas politics at the moment, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and the Castro brothers, once again did a turn on the Sunday talk shows.

Our first-of-its-kind news app detailing the financial interests of state lawmakers, Ramshaw asks in whose interest our part-time Legislature operates, Root on how public and private blur for Sen. John Whitmire, M. Smith on why politicians regulating themselves means not much chance of ethics reform, Aaronson on the Women's Health Program provider list, Murphy and Batheja on the growth in Texas' spending, Galbraith on water and fracking, Ramsey talks to George P. Bush and Rocha and I separately talk water with Todd Staples and Allan Ritter: The best of our best content from Jan. 14 to 19, 2013.

Full video of my January 17 TribLive conversation with state Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, state Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, talked about what it will take to make local communities recognize the magnitude of the state's water crisis.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, state Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, the chairman of the House National Resources Committee, talked about his desire to withdraw $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to jump-start the state water plan.

On last night's edition of On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren, U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Friendswood, repeated his calls for the possible impeachment of Barack Obama if the president pushes for gun control legislation.

On Friday afternoon, the Republican state representative from Longview talked about why he ran for speaker, the real reason he quit the race and what happens next.

Full video of my Jan. 10 TribLive conversation with Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams addressed the hottest topic in public education in Texas today: the state's standardized testing regimen.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams talked about possible legislation that would increase access to firearms for teachers and other school personnel.

Use these seating charts to locate where the 150 members of the House and the 31 members of the Texas Senate sit in their respective chambers.

As 181 members of the Texas Legislature work during the 83rd session, use this application to navigate the Capitol and locate lawmakers' offices.

Here's a list of the Twitter handles of the 120 state lawmakers who do the communications thing 140 characters at a time.

A few days after they were sworn into Congress, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, appeared on the Sunday talk shows.

Aaronson with the latest on Texas vs. Planned Parenthood, Aguilar on Mexico's push for sovereignty, Galbraith on water conservation ideas, Grissom on the state's rape kit backlog, Hamilton on UT's plans for a new Valley university, Ramsey on legislating interrupting politicking, Ramshaw on how Texans in Congress voted on the fiscal cliff, the first two parts of Rocha and Dehn's multimedia series on community concerns coming to the Capitol and M. Smith on what the school finance trial means for the 83rd session: The best of our best content from Dec. 31, 2012, to Jan. 4, 2013.