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An unmanned aerial drone will begin patrolling Texas’ border with Mexico next month.

This afternoon we pushed changes to the Trib site that better and more aggressively incorporate aspects of Facebook into our, and your, everyday lives.

When they meet in Austin next week, social conservatives on the State Board of Education — some now lame ducks — may be going even further with amendments challenging the separation of church and state, entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, landmark desegregation cases and the work of muckraking journalists such as Susan B. Anthony and W.E.B. Du Bois. Another amendment amplifies a long-running effort to resuscitate the reputation of communist-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Your afternoon reading.

Opposites attract and all that, but Annise Parker and Rick Perry still make very strange bedfellows.

The next legislative session is more than eight months away, but that doesn't mean you can't explore the Capitol grounds — from your desk — thanks to Google Maps.

Your afternoon reading.

Sales tax collections up slightly last month, Perry's take on gambling, Cornyn and predator drones and more U.S. citizens killed in Mexico.

On Tuesday, the Federal Election Commission for the first time released detailed records for all congressional candidates' campaign spending. These records tell us who the candidates hire for advertising, consulting, etc., and can often be more interesting to politics junkies than lists of campaign donations. We've made spending by the Texas delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives searchable.

Texas has nearly eight times as many people with serious mental illness in jails and prisons as it does in psychiatric hospitals, according to a new study by the Treatment Advocacy Center and the National Sheriffs’ Association.

Your afternoon reading.

The state won't need new taxes or expanded legal gambling to cover a budget shortfall next session, but higher fees and more budget cuts are a possibility, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said at this morning's TribLive interview in Austin.

State lawmakers could have 18 billion reasons to worry about next year's session.

With more and more state employees and elected officials using websites like Facebook and Twitter the onslaught of social media use within governmental bodies brings with it a lot of questions.

Texas lawmakers have been fishing for ideas on how to fill a looming budget deficit when they return to Austin in 2011. Based on new projections out today, they’re gonna need a bigger boat.