Barring the intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is Hank Skinner’s last hope for reprieve from the poison-filled syringe he is set to meet on Wednesday. The board makes life-or-death decisions, recommending to the governor whether an execution should be delayed, called off or carried out, yet it’s one of the least transparent agencies in state government.
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I suppose if you're a Texas politician this week you just have to make hay out of the situation on the border. Today, it was Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White's turn.
Full StoryRevealing more details about the first phase of the border spillover prevention plan that he activated Tuesday, Gov. Rick Perry today announced he is sending two helicopters to the Texas-Mexico border, an OH-58 Kiowa and a UH-72 Lakota. The exact locations of the choppers, however, will not be released for security purposes.
Full StoryChromosal Laboratories, a DNA testing lab in Phoenix, Ariz., told Gov. Rick Perry that it will test evidence in the Hank Skinner case for free and within 30 days if he grants a reprieve of the convicted murderer's March 24 execution date.
Full StoryGov. Rick Perry said he's activating the "first phase of the state’s spillover violence contingency plan" in the wake of increasing drug violence on the Texas-Mexico border. But the next sentence of the press release says he's not telling anyone what the plan is, for security reasons.
Full StoryThevenot on the non-stop wonder that is the State Board of Education and its latest efforts to set curriculum standards, E. Smith's post-election sit-down interview with Bill White at TribLive made some news and got the November pugilism started, Ramshaw on whether it makes sense for the state to call patients and remind them to take their pills, and on the state's botched attempt to save baby blood samples for medical research, Hamilton's interview with Steve Murdock on the state's demographic destiny, M. Smith on whooping cranes, fresh water, and an effort to use the endangered species act to protect them both, Grissom on potties, pickups, and other equipment purchased with federal homeland security money and Stiles' latest data and map on where that money went, Aguilar on the "voluntary fasting" protesting conditions and treatment at an immigrant detention facility, Kreighbaum on football, the new sport at UTSA, and Philpott on Rick Perry and Bill White retooling their appeals for the general election. The best of our best from March 8 to 12, 2010.
Full StoryThe big three state leaders approved seven new security measures for the Capitol, and none of them are X-ray machines or metal detectors that the director of the top Texas police agency said are critical to keep the pink dome safe from armed intruders.
Full StoryDemocrat Bill White said he won't rely on "Soviet-style budgeting" and "hot air politics" if he's elected governor, and said the state should make education its first priority and would be better off with a governor who's got business experience when it comes to economic development.
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