Skip to main content

News For May, 2010

  • The Graduation Gap

    By Reeve Hamilton

    For years, Texas universities have focused on getting more students onto to their campuses. The hard part, it turns out, is getting them to leave in no more than six years. Full Story 

    Texas Southern University had the state's lowest six-year graduation rate — 12 percent in the most recent data. But colleges throughout Texas have struggled to get more students to the finish line.
    Credit: wikipedia.org

  • State of Readiness

    By Kate Galbraith

    Could a BP-style oil spill happen closer to our shores, threatening our fisheries and beaches? Of course. But Texas reformed its process for dealing with such a catastrophe two decades ago, and state officials say we're better prepared than other states to respond to — or better still, prevent — a major spill. Full Story 

    The Deepwater Horizon fire in 2010.
    Credit: Marc Morrison

  • T-Squared: The Six-Month Stats

    By Evan Smith

    Last week we celebrated our half-year birthday — and what we've learned from then until now is truly mind-blowing, beginning with the information we've gleaned about the size of our audience (huge), where they come from (everywhere), and what areas of the site they like best (data). Full Story 

    Article thumbnail

  • Of Mice and Men

    By Reeve Hamilton

    When Gov. Rick Perry announced the establishment of the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine, a public-private partnership between the Texas A&M University System and Lexicon Genetics, he said the $50 million high-level mouse laboratory, paid for through the Texas Enterprise Fund that he controls, would “attract millions of dollars for medical research and lead to the development of life-saving medical treatments and therapies” for everything from diabetes to cancer. Five years later, depending on who you ask, TIGM has either been a massive taxpayer-subsidized boondoggle or a blessing to scientists across the globe. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail

  • A Matter of Trust

    By Ross Ramsey

    The D.C.-based Texas Democratic Trust began as an attempt to revive flagging Democratic institutions in Texas and is now a critical source of funding for them and a host of consultants. That has made its director, Matt Angle, as powerful as most political bosses in other states. Maybe too powerful, his critics say. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail

  • Unhealthy

    By Ross Ramsey

    The insurance plan for state employees will have a $140.4 million shortfall next year — and that's the least of its problems. The projected shortfall for the two years after that is $880 million, and it will take another $476 million to replenish the program's legally required contingency fund. Keeping score? That's $1.5 billion. Full Story 

  • TribBlog: Diane Wouldn't

    By Evan Smith

    Barack Obama will apparently name his solicitor general, Elena Kagan, the former dean of Harvard Law School, to replace the retiring John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court, once again bypassing UT Law grad Diane Wood, who has now been on the president's short list twice. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail
    Credit: Linda Rux

  • 2010: Jackson Beats Taylor [updated]

    By Ross Ramsey

    Mabrie Jackson, who pulled out of the race for state Rep. Brian McCall's unexpired term, beat Van Taylor in Saturday's special election, winning 56 percent of the vote to his 44 percent, according to Collin County's election results. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Aguilar and Miller on the immigration rally in Dallas; E. Smith interviews T. Boone Pickens and, in a two-on-one matchup, Jerry Patterson and Hector Uribe; Ramsey on how to make $2 billion disappear from the budget shortfall with creative accounting and on the $1.5 billion problem with health insurance for state employees; Kreighbaum on money bombs; Hamilton and Stiles on the remarkably similar policies for policing immigration in Texas and its largest city; Ramshaw on doctors ducking government health care programs; Kraft on the ups and downs of base closures; Grissom interviews Pulitzer-Pize wine David Oshinsky on the death penalty; M. Smith on the three Texans who want to run the state GOP; and Philpott on the lawsuits already in motion over the oil spill that's still underway in the Gulf of Mexico. The best of our best from May 3 to 7, 2010. Full Story 

    Article thumbnail

  • TribBlog: O'Neill Signs Off

    By Ross Ramsey

    Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O'Neill, who isn't seeking reelection to the court, also isn't finishing her term. She told Gov. Rick Perry and the other members of the court today that she will step down from the bench on June 20. Full Story 

    Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O'Neill
    Credit: Texas Supreme Court