Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is making a run for a state Senate seat. But her opponent in the GOP primary, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, is challenging her on residency. That dispute is among this week's top political news items.

Four of the state's top officeholders each raised more than $1 million during the second half of 2011. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who is running for the U.S. Senate, raised $1.5 million for his federal campaign account during the fourth quarter alone.

Rules requiring the disclosure of chemicals used in the controversial hydraulic fracturing process will take effect in Texas in February, the Texas Railroad Commission decided on Tuesday.

Employees of the agency that regulates the Texas oil and gas industry will now be able to carry concealed firearms as they go about their work, following a unanimous vote on Tuesday by the three commissioners.

Christi Craddick, daughter of former House speaker and current state Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, on why she wants to run for the Texas Railroad Commission, whether her dad's politics will get in the way, and why the oil and gas industry needs her as a regulator. 

Gov. Rick Perry is moving Barry Smitherman from the Public Utility Commission to the Texas Railroad Commission, replacing Michael Williams, who resigned earlier this year to run for Congress.

State Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, walked the floor shaking hands and receiving hugs from his colleagues in the waning hours of the 82nd regular session, which — after 22 years in the Texas House — will be his last.

The 82nd Texas Legislature’s regular session ends as it started, with lawmakers arguing about a shrunken state budget and redistricting.

Members of the Texas Railroad Commission would be allowed to meet behind closed doors to discuss the details of disputed cases under a bill tentatively approved by the Texas House on Monday.

The Senate approved a bill today that would change the name of the Railroad Commission to the Texas Oil and Gas Commission and reduce the size of the commission from three elected members to one elected commissioner.

A recently introduced bill would make Texas one of only a few states to require natural gas companies to disclose, for a public website, what chemicals they use in the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing.

In a meeting this morning punctuated by harsh denunciations of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Texas Railroad Commission voted unanimously to clear a natural gas driller, Range Resources, of charges that it contaminated two water wells in Parker County. The EPA, however, said it stands by its charges against the driller.

With drilling on the rise, the Texas Railroad Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality answer questions about whether Texans need to worry about radioactivity in their water. 

What’s in a name? The Texas Railroad Commission — and the elected officials who run it — may soon find out.

At a state Senate hearing this morning on Texas's rolling blackouts earlier this month, ERCOT released the first list — albeit a very partial one — of power plants that failed during the Feb. 2 crisis.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams joined The Texas Tribune's Evan Smith for a TribLive event this morning in Austin. Williams made it official that he's running for the U.S. Senate in 2012.

More than 40 people crammed into the Texas Railroad Commission’s hearing today on what caused two water wells in Parker County to become contaminated by natural gas. Missing: the Environmental Protection Agency.

Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams will resign this week, allowing him to work full time on a race for U.S. Senate — and to avoid a potentially bruising legislative fight over the future of his agency.