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News For April, 2010

  • Slideshow: Borderline IQ

    By Caleb Bryant Miller

    What's a mother to do when her autistic, suicidal son is too dangerous to live on his own — but has too high of an IQ to qualify for state care services? A day with Karen Bartholomeo and her adopted son, Cameron. Full Story 

  • Slipping Through the Cracks

    By Emily Ramshaw

    What's in an IQ score? For autistic or profoundly mentally ill Texans: everything. A growing number of disabled young adults are considered too high-functioning for state care services, but their families say they’re too dangerous to go without them. Admission to state-supported living centers is limited to disabled people with IQs under 70 — and community-based care is generally capped at an IQ of 75. Full Story 

    Cameron Maedgen enters his apartment in San Angelo. Maedgen, an autistic, brain-damaged, 19-year-old, is ineligible for state services because his IQ is too high — but too low-functioning to live without assistance.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • $153,800 Per Arrest

    By Brandi Grissom

    Gov. Rick Perry has invested $4 million in the Texas Border Watch Program over two years. Twenty-nine cameras have been installed on the 1,200-mile Texas-Mexico border, or one camera for every 41 miles of border. Internet viewers have helped police make a total of 26 arrests — that’s about $153,800 per arrest. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Net Neutrality Neutralized

    By Ross Ramsey

    FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell on why people who use more bandwith should pay more, what he thinks of the recent court decision preventing restrictions on "information service" providers, and more. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • 2010: The Apostate's Mouthpiece

    By Evan Smith

    Mark Sanders, the long-black-coat-from-The-Matrix-clad spokesperson for Republican-turned-independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn in her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, is throwing his weight and help behind another apostate Republican, according to Peggy Fikac of the Express-News. But not in Texas. Full Story 

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    Credit: Along Came Kinky/David Hartstein

  • TribBlog: Perry Finishes 23rd

    By Reeve Hamilton

    The #71 “Texans for Rick Perry” car driven by NASCAR racer Bobby Labonte finally had its day on the track in this afternoon's Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Full Story 

    #71 "Texans for Rick Perry" car racing at the Samsung Mobile 500.
    Credit: Scott McKenney

  • Borrow and Mend

    By Andrew Kreighbaum

    New federal student loan reforms, passed along with controversial health care reform legislation, will shore up Pell Grants for tens of thousands of college students in Texas — and save the feds a projected $68 billion by cutting private banks out of financial aid. Full Story 

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  • Rick Perry: The TT Interview

    By Evan Smith

    A Newsweek/Texas Tribune exclusive: The governor talks about the Tea Party, his beef with the federal government, health care reform, the state budget, redistricting, and whether he plans to run for the White House himself. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Voting with their Middle Fingers

    By Ross Ramsey

    It's embodied in the Tea Party movement, in this week's runoff election results from Lubbock and Plano, in last month's primaries, in Gov. Rick Perry's embrace of state's rights and the 10th Amendment, even in Barack Obama's campaign against the status quo in 2008. Voters aren't happy, and politicians are doing their best to get in line, to accommodate the movement, or to get out of the way. Full Story 

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Grissom on the fall of Norma Chávez; M. Smith and Ramsey on the runoffs, the results, and the aftermath; Hu on the Tea Party's birthday party; Thevenot and Stiles on the path between schools and prisons; Ramshaw on prosecutors' reaction to helping hands from Austin; Hamilton on self-appointed lawyers; Galbraith on property rights and power lines; Aguilar and Grissom sit down with the mayor of Juárez to talk about his crime-ridden city; Kraft on telling the stories of Texans and other Americans who died in Vietnam; Ramsey on slots and horses and casinos; and Hamilton goes on a field trip with Jim Hightower to hear the history of populism. The best of our best from April 5 to 9, 2010. Full Story 

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  • The Middle-Finger Vote

    By Ross Ramsey

    It's embodied in the Tea Party movement, in this week's runoff election results from Lubbock and Plano, in last month's primaries, in Gov. Rick Perry's embrace of states' rights and the 10th Amendment, even in Barack Obama's campaign against the status quo in 2008. Voters are furious, and politicians are listening. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacqueline Mermea

  • The Last Populist

    By Reeve Hamilton

    Like his hero Little Richard, Jim Hightower knew how to scream and piss off the establishment. As a tour of his archives led by the man himself reveals, his is the story of a Texas-style progressive movement that peaked before the young Texans of today can even remember. Full Story 

    Jim Hightower viewing his archives at the Wittliff Collections.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller