What the proposed Formula One project means for Comptroller Susan Combs, the future of taxpayer-financed events — and Texas.

In which we asked in the insiders about redistricting and, separately, about Formula One racing in Texas.

The state won't spend any taxpayer money on Formula 1 in advance of Texas races, Comptroller Susan Combs announced this morning — days after racing officials expressed doubt over a Grand Prix here. It's not clear how that will affect the track.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, Comptroller Susan Combs talked about the billions cut from the state budget during the last legislative session — and whether kicking the can down the road on health care costs was a sound financial decision.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, Comptroller Susan Combs talked about her late-in-life switch from pro-choice to pro-life and the impact of cutting family planning funding.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, Comptroller Susan Combs talked about the data breach on her agency's web site that inadvertently exposed the personal information of 3.5 million state employees and retirees.

The state comptroller talks about the flip in her position on abortion, the data breach at her agency this spring, what office she might seek next and how all of the politics of those subjects mix.

Hey, Texplainer: What are the State Comptroller’s Events Trust Funds, and how do they work? 

It’s been more than a month since state officials acknowledged they'd exposed millions of Texans' Social Security numbers and other information online. Matt Largey of KUT News reports what the state's been doing to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.

Comptroller Susan Combs added $1.2 billion to her estimate of state revenues, making that much more money available to budget writers who are scrambling for cash. She said the state's income is up.

For the latest installment of our unscientific survey of political and policy insiders, we asked whether the state should pay the costs if identities are stolen using state data, whether the state is can be trusted with data, and whether the comptroller will suffer politically for the latest data breach.

Aguilar and Weber on a subdued debate over homeland security, Galbraith on rising concern about natural gas drilling, Grissom on a controversial psychologist, Hamilton on the aftermath of the Rick O'Donnell episode, Philpott on the comptroller's apology, Ramshaw with more on the statewide database of child abusers, E. Smith interviews Lance Armstrong, M. Smith on what House budget cuts would mean for school districts, M. Stiles on how redistricting would change things for each House member, Tan on the Senate's wobbly attempts to approve a budget and my interview with David Dewhurst: The best of our best content from April 25 to 29, 2011.

Aaronson on a freshman lawmaker's rogue antics, Aguilar on how cartel violence affects tick eradication, Galbraith on Midland's water woes, Hamilton on the exit of a higher ed reformer, Murphy maps voting age by county, Philpott on the data breach at the Comptroller's office, Ramsey on why Susan Combs needs to eat crow, my TribLive interview with U.S. Sen John Cornyn, Ramshaw on Cornyn's refusal to take the "nickel tour" of Planned Parenthood, M. Smith annotates the contracts of superintendents, Stiles on a GOP-friendly redistricting map and Tan on a possible Rainy Day Fund raid: The best of our best content from April 18 to 22, 2011.

The comptroller of public accounts has been ducking responsibility ever since revealing that her agency had put the names and Social Security numbers of 3.5 million people in a publicly available spot on its website.

A new phone scam has highlighted the possible trouble ahead for Texans who had their personal information exposed — and, as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, for Comptroller Susan Combs, whose office mistakenly leaked the data.

News that the state comptroller's office exposed the personal data of 3.5 million Texas has many wondering, as Mose Buchele of KUT News reports, whether the state should be doing more to assure internet privacy — and how the comptroller's office will be held accountable. 

Want to throw a Super Bowl-sized event in Texas? Try asking the state comptroller for funding. Since 2004, the comptroller's office has provided more than $162 million to help bring sporting events, trade association meetings and other potential economic drivers to Texas. 

Obesity cost Texas businesses $9.5 billion in 2009, according to a report released today by Comptroller Susan Combs. It could cost them $32.5 billion annually by 2030.