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News For May, 2010

  • Border Bickering

    By Julián Aguilar

    Five members of the U.S. House are lashing out at Gov. Rick Perry for what they say is his refusal to allocate more of the federal funding that moves through his office to the border. Perry claims his hands are tied and insists the congressmen need to check their math. While the back and forth continues, residents of the border fear for their lives. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich, Caleb Miller

  • Separation Anxiety

    By Brian Thevenot

    At a public hearing today, the State Board of Education's social conservative bloc is expected to launch attacks on the church-state “wall” as part of hundreds of changes to the social studies curriculum standards, which could provide the outline for tests and textbooks years into the future. The board expects to take a final vote on the entire curriculum on Friday. Full Story 

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    Credit: Marjorie Cotera

  • Obama for ... Texas?!?

    By Reeve Hamilton

    Which part of "this is a red state" doesn't Luke Hayes understand? Undaunted and optimistic, the 26-year-old state director of Organizing for America, the forward operating base for the president's re-election bid, sees blue in our future — perhaps as soon as 2012. Full Story 

    Luke Hayes
    Credit: Jacqueline Mermea

  • TribBlog: Room at the Top, and Then Some

    By Ross Ramsey

    Jan Newton — who chairs the board of directors at the state's electric utility grid operator — is stepping down from that post, leaving the agency with interim officeholders and holes in key positions at the top of its organization chart. Full Story 

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    Credit: ERCOT

  • TribBlog: History Paige

    By Brian Thevenot

    Former U.S. Secretary of Education and Houston Superintendent Rod Paige this morning asked the State Board of Education to delay adopting its standards, saying they had “swung too far” to the ideological right and diminished the importance of civil rights and slavery. Asked if the board should delay a final vote expected Friday, he said, "Absolutely." Full Story 

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    Credit: Wikimedia

  • Generation Next

    By Ross Ramsey

    Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, may be 50, but he's only been in the House for three sessions. He's part of a youth movement in the power corridors of the Legislature — one that's less about age than lack of seniority. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacqueline Mermea

  • Lame Ducks Unlimited

    By Brian Thevenot

    Four members of the State Board of Education who are exiting their seats in January are preparing to cast decisive votes this week on controversial curriculum revisions that will alter social studies textbooks for 4.7 million public school children in Texas. But, just maybe, not so fast: Two Republicans who'll likely win election to the SBOE this fall, and a Democrat who is vying for another soon-to-be-vacated seat, said in interviews that they'd support reopening the standards process if consensus emerged on the newly constituted board. Full Story 

    Cynthia Dunbar and Don McLeroy
    Credit: Jacqueline Mermea

  • Defenseless

    By Brandi Grissom

    Before adopting the Fair Defense Act in 2001, Texas was considered abysmal in legal circles when it came to providing representation for the poor. Proponents and critics of the current system agree the situation has improved since lawmakers started requiring counties to implement minimum representation standards. But has it improved enough? Full Story 

    State Share of Indigent Defense Costs 2001-2009
    Credit: Graphic by Task Force on Indigent Defense

  • 2010: Poll vs. Poll

    By Ross Ramsey

    On the heels of a Rasmussen Poll that had Democrat Bill White well behind incumbent Republican Rick Perry in the race for governor, Austin-based Opinion Analysts released a survey showing a nine-point lead for Perry. But that Democratic polling firm adds a fat caveat, reading the Guv's favorability ratings as negative and pointing out that 48 percent of voters want a change in the state's top office, when asked if they prefer Perry or "someone else." Full Story 

    Rick Perry, Bill White
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller, Callie Richmond

  • The Next Deepwater?

    By Morgan Smith

    While Congress investigates the April 20 explosion that killed 11 people and spiked an underwater oil leak that continues to spill more than 210,000 gallons a day, another BP rig is at the center of its own firestorm. Full Story 

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  • Workers' Comp: What's Next?

    By Elise Hu

    Lawmakers are pledging to take a closer look at the Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers' Compensation in light of allegations by former employees that their higher-ups failed to sanction or remove dozens of doctors accused of overmedicating patients and overbilling insurers. The chairman of the House panel that oversees workers' compensation says he's planning a hearing on the matter this summer, and the chair of the Sunset Advisory Commission plans to question the division's commissioner at a public hearing next week. Full Story 

    Joe Deshotel, Rod Bordelon, Glenn Hegar
    Credit: Graphic by Bob Daemmrich, Caleb Miller

  • Uninformed Consent

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Lawmakers said Monday that the state's newborn disease screening program — which has been used to warehouse infant blood samples for biomedical and forensics research — has misled parents and given them few options to protect their babies' DNA. Full Story 

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