The state Legislature heads back to work in less than a year. And as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, the state’s improving economy won't likely save legislators from the protracted budget battle that awaits them.

Texas cut nearly 8,000 state jobs over the last year, according to a new report from the state auditor's office. Use this interactive to compare how the $15 billion in cuts passed by lawmakers in the last session has affected state-funded organizations within each article of the budget. 

The state's finances are in better shape than previously believed, the state comptroller said Monday, with a new projection showing $1.6 billion more than lawmakers expected, even after the state covers part of the its Medicaid shortfall and restores some cuts to state agencies and universities.

The promoters and track owners trying to put on a Formula One race in Austin apparently overcame their differences just in time — the F1 race for November 2012 is officially on the calendar.

Voters clearly want good schools and nice roads and low taxes. It's a political and policy question straight out of a business textbook: What's the right balance of price and quality?

Texas Republicans are playing with the old Milton Friedman line: There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Anticipating the $15 billion in budget cuts lawmakers passed during the legislative session, state agencies have been dropping employees for more than a year. This table shows employment changes at state agencies from May 2010 to May 2011.

We spent the month of August telling you 31 ways the Legislature's decisions will affect Texans. It's your turn to weigh in. Tell us how the decisions made by lawmakers this session will affect you or someone else you know. 

DAY 10 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: Losing $31 million in state aid leads UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas to lay off more than 100 employees and eliminate 250 vacant positions.

DAY 5 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: The Rio Grande Valley’s longest-running helicopter ambulance will be permanently grounded this fall — and state budget cuts were the final straw.

Nine Texas government borrowers including Dallas, Bexar, Tarrant and Travis counties could face costly downgrades in their bond ratings if the federal government doesn't quickly resolve its debt ceiling problems.

The Trib's been keeping track of the key issues throughout the special session. From budget measures to school finance, health care and airport groping, here's our final rundown of bills that passed, and the ones that died. 

Aaronson and Murphy visualize what happened to the nearly 5,800 bills introduced in the 82nd Lege, Aaronson, Hasson and Swicegood interactively recap the budget battle, Aguliar on the surge in illegal re-entry cases prosecuted by the Obama administration, Galbraith on a coal plant that wants a water deal from the LCRA, Grissom interviews a man wrongly imprisoned and nearly executed — twice, Hamilton on a controversial UT regent who wants a do-over in the debate over higher ed reform, Ramshaw on the continuing fight over pre-abortion sonograms, Root on Rick Perry's newsmaking trip to NYC and M. Smith on whether cash-strapped school districts will raise taxes: The best of our best content from June 13 to 17, 2011.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker has released an interactive budget balancing tool on her personal website, giving citizens a chance to see if they can close the city's $130 million deficit.

Rep. Donna Howard's proposal to direct surplus Rainy Day Fund money to Texas schools for enrollment growth survived to fight another day during debate on the House floor this morning, but not before a Republican attempt to derail it.

Lengthy debate on a key budget bill featured many retreads of contentious topics from the regular session — but it was Rep. Wayne Christian's revival of his famous "pansexual" amendment around midnight that almost killed the whole thing.

After last ditch efforts from Democrats to increase funding for schools through closing tax loopholes and tapping the Rainy Day Fund failed, two budget bills quickly cleared the Senate Friday night. 

Want a quick recap of some of the happenings this week in the Texas Legislature? We've made it easier for you with our weekly video rundown of the action under the dome.