TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

We started the week with maps, specifically with a look at redistricting and what it portends for next year’s elections, which will pick the people who draw the maps that pick the people, and… you get the idea.

Sheriffs who want to build jails are looking to an unlikely source: The United States Department of Agriculture. Including one sheriff who’s brother the congressman is helping put the deal together.

Dan Patrick on power and politics and why he loves being in the Legislature.

Kinky Friedman decided he doesn't want to be governor after all, and pointed his plow at commissioner of agriculture.

The federal  government buses people from Arizona to Texas, to Mexico. Mexico takes them back to where they started, and the game begins anew.

A rich candidate runs for office. Are the consultants there because of the money, or the candidate?

The highest-paid public school superintendent in Texas is in… Beaumont. Here’s what he and the others make.

Two doctors’ associations, a more or less unified take on health care reform, and divergent schemes on what to do.

The kids raised on the Texas border are doing the same thing farm kids did when the nation industrialized — moving to the cities for higher pay, better jobs, and more fun.

Kids at flunking schools can transfer to better campuses. But mostly, they don’t.

Farouk Shami gets the treatment this week, taking his turn in Stump Interrupted, our video analysis of his campaign speech.

Cargo gets stolen in Texas at an alarming rate and law enforcement is trying to find a way to cut into that business.

And finally, a story on congressional junkets — the ones paid for by third parties and not by taxpayers.