Can a $3 million marketing campaign to promote higher education change the culture of a country-sized state in which just 27 percent of the population has a college degree or certificate? It worked for cancer ...

Private, for-profit colleges, which offer professional certificates at a steep cost, have come under fire for peddling big student loans to vulnerable Texans in exchange for credentials of dubious value.

The majority of students who enroll in community colleges never make it out with a credential. Some Texas schools are turning to Achieving the Dream, a national initiative that requires them to own up to their problems and improve those success rates. 

As he has taken on natural gas companies and the agencies that regulate them, DISH mayor Calvin Tillman has become a media darling, an unlikely face of oil and gas reform and a public speaker crisscrossing the country. Now he’s ready to give up — and to leave town entirely.

Though he gave a memorable speech, Bill White wasn't the only candidate at the Democrats' state convention in Corpus Christi. The question is whether he's the only one of consequence, or if this is a legitimate statewide ticket that can return the party to power.

Two years after the party’s hybrid primary/caucus system allowed Barack Obama to win more presidential delegates than Hillary Clinton, Texas Democrats voted at their convention this weekend in Corpus Christi to keep the controversial “Texas two-step.”

The Texas Democratic Party State Convention is underway in Corpus Christi, and the Tribune is there to cover the whole shebang. Follow along with reporters Ben Philpott, Brandi Grissom and Reeve Hamilton as they bring you live updates and photos from the weekend.

The newest state senator talked to the Tribune on Wednesday about being a 9/11 survivor, whether he's really eligible to serve, his ties to the Tea Party, why he'd eliminate property taxes and the Texas pols he'll model himself after.

A decisive victory for political novice Brian Birdwell over Capitol veteran David Sibley in a Senate special election reflects a no-compromise attitude among GOP voters — but may not be the final word on who represents District 22 come January.

Two little words — “I apologize,” uttered by U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, to Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP — have upgraded the status of David Cozad’s campaign from Sure Loser to Longer-Than-Longshot.

In 2000, higher education in Texas languished compared to other states, and a plan was adopted to “close the gaps” by 2015. A decade later, the commissioner of higher education tells the Tribune that bold steps still need to be taken. But can we afford to take them?

The chair of the Texas Democratic Party on why he should keep his job, whether Matt Angle is really running things, why zero out of 29 statewide offices held by Democrats isn't his fault, why he's optimistic about 2010 and what he thinks of Barack Obama.

As the Texas Department of Transportation heads into a House Transportation Committee hearing today to review a highly critical 628-page audit, the value of the $2 million report is being called into question.