Jose Reyes Ferriz on what he’ll do next, why his successor isn’t corrupt and why the violence in his crime-ridden city will continue.
July 2010
Posted inState Government
Interactive: Annotated Court Documents
A federal appeals case involving race-based admissions at University of Texas at Austin threatens to reinvigorate an ideological skirmish of the late 1990s. Fisher v. Texas — the first lawsuit of its kind brought against a university since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a pair of landmark decisions in 2003 — has observers across the country wondering if the state’s troubled history with race-based admissions have made it the ideal incubator for the next round of affirmative action battles.
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: UH-Downtown Favors DREAM Act
Bill V. Flores, president of University of Houston-Downtown, is joining calls for the passage of the DREAM Act, which clears a path to permanent-residency status for undocumented students.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: July 20, 2010
It’s back to back-and-forth in the governor’s race this week.
Posted in
Energy
Water, Water Anywhere?
This month, parts of Central Texas will decide how much water will be in the aquifers below the land for the next 50 years. The decisions will affect Dripping Springs, Johnson City, Wimberley and other towns south and west of Austin that rely on groundwater supplies. Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports.
Posted in
Higher Education
The “Career” Path
Private, for-profit colleges, which offer professional certificates at a steep cost, have come under fire for peddling big student loans to vulnerable Texans in exchange for credentials of dubious value.
Posted in
Health care
A Shot in the Arm
Most of Texas’ health insurance companies have fully covered the costs of the infant vaccine Prevnar 13, which prevents deadly cases of bacterial pneumonia and meningitis. The exception has been Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, which has forced physicians to make up the difference or turn babies away. But no more: On Monday, the same day The Texas Tribune asked about the reimbursement gap, BCBS reversed course. It will now cover all costs associated with the vaccine.
Posted in
Demographics
Ports of Prosperity
After a sluggish 2009, Texas’ top trade districts — Houston, Laredo and El Paso — are rebounding well from the national recession and witnessing huge increases in the value of trade passing through their ports this year.
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: Troops to Texas Aug. 1
Of the 1,200 National Guard troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border, Texas will see 250 — fewer than half of the 524 ordered to Arizona.