A sea of 150 elementary and middle school students from Austin and Waco met on the steps of the Capitol today to sing, cheer and kick off the Texas No Kid Hungry Campaign.

The former head of the U.S. Armed Forces Southern Command said Monday that if the U.S. does not provide more support to Mexico, that country's next presidential administration may have no choice but to make a deal with cartel leaders.

At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples about the impact of drug-fueled violence on border farmers and ranchers, what he thinks about the Senate's two-thirds rule, his run for lieutenant governor in 2014 and more.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples talked about his plans to run for lieutenant governor in 2014 — and offered his assessment of the other likely candidates in the race, Comptroller Susan Combs and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson.

Conversations about the coming Hispanic majority and the 82nd session from our New Day Rising symposium, M. Smith on the latest tort reform battle, Galbraith on greater scrutiny of the gas industry, Ramsey on whether lawmakers will cut their own pay and benefits, Ramshaw and Aguilar on what's holding up abortion sonogram legislation, Aguilar on the ag commissioner's controversial new website, Philpott on what $9.8 billion in public education cuts looks like, Hamilton on a snippy exchange of higher ed letters and Grissom on the latest court decision in the Hank Skinner case: The best of our best content from March 7 to 11, 2011.

State Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, today asked Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples to take down the border website his office launched last week, protectyourtexasborder.com, saying it has become a “forum for promoting violence.”

Urban luxuries — say, running water — aren’t guaranteed everywhere in Texas. The state Department of Rural Affairs helps rural Texans get basic amenities, but the agency is on Gov. Rick Perry's budget chopping block. 

A proposal by the Obama administration that would grant Mexican truckers greater access to Texas roadways would be a boon for business in the state, supporters say, since three of the top five ports for trade between the U.S. and Mexico are Laredo, El Paso and Houston. But unions contend the plan would cost American jobs. “This cheap-labor program comes at too high a risk and at too large a cost to middle-class American workers who work long, hard hours to help maintain a safe commerce system in our nation,” says a spokesman for the Texas AFL-CIO.

Republican Gov. Rick Perry leads his Democratic challenger, Bill White by 10 points — 50 percent to 40 percent — in the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. Libertarian Kathie Glass has the support of 8 percent of respondents; Deb Shafto of the Green Party gets 2 percent. In the last UT/TT poll, conducted in early September, Perry led by 6 points, 39 percent to 33 percent. In a red state in a red year, GOP incumbents in other statewide races are beating their Democratic opponents by between 13 points and 20 points, the new poll found.

Thevenot on the fastest-growing charter school chain in Texas, Hu on the continuing legal fights between tort reformers and trial lawyers over the state's windstorm insurance pool, Hamilton on the push for accountability in Texas colleges, Philpott on legislative skirmishing over federal education funds, Grissom on misdemeanor convicts choosing jail time instead of probation that's more expensive for them but cheaper for the state, M. Smith on Bill Flores' challenge in what's billed as the hottest congressional race in the country, Ramshaw looks at scandals that have put some otherwise safe statehouse incumbents in deep electoral trouble, yours truly on the closest and ugliest race on the statewide ballot and Galbraith and Titus on pollution from idling vehicles and why it's so hard to control: The best of our best from September 27 to October 1, 2010.

Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples’ camp calls a recent attack by Hank Gilbert’s campaign “the lowest a political campaign has ever stooped in Texas politics."

The latest twist in the ag commissioner race: Democratic Challenger Hank Gilbert is accusing incumbent Todd Staples of killing nine people.

More than 250,000 Texas homes, mostly in rural areas, don’t have access to high-speed internet, according to a new broadband services map commissioned by the Texas Department of Agriculture.

Texas' participation in the federally funded summer food service program is dismally low compared to the national average — meaning only a small percentage of the state's 2.5 million low-income kids are getting free meals.

The Port of Houston Authority is poised to make the Lone Star State the top U.S. trade partner with communist Cuba after gaining permission for its container vessels to sail there.

He may be able to address complex issues in his two-minute radio broadcasts, but some of Jim Hightower's distinctive storytelling begs for more time.

Hank Gilbert maintains a sizable lead over Kinky Friedman with nearly half of votes counted.