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News For August, 2010

  • The Big House Isn't Big Enough

    By Brandi Grissom

    At today's hearing of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, Sheriff Adrian Garcia will be grilled about efforts to control overcrowding at Harris County's four jail facilities, which have seen a dramatic population spike. At the urging of Houston lawmakers, Garcia will be pressed to explain why he wants to keep housing more inmates than the facilities can accommodate, and why some recommendations by the county's own consultant for ways to reduce its jail population have gone unheeded. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • Weed All About It

    By Julián Aguilar

    For nearly a decade, advocates of expanded use of medical marijuana have been spurned by the Texas Legislature — but giving up isn't how they roll. So they're trying again with a limited proposal. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • TribBlog: Driving While Lobbying [Updated]

    By Julián Aguilar, The Texas Tribune, and Keegan Kyle, Voice of San Diego

    Former State Rep. Pat Haggerty was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in San Diego on Saturday after failing a sobriety test at a police checkpoint. State Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, was in the car with Haggerty when the driver was allegedly operating a rental car with a blood-alcohol level exceeding the .08 state limit. Full Story 

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  • Special Needs

    By Kate Ergenbright

    After a decade in which Texas has seen a 400 percent increase in the number of children with autism, lawmakers are wrestling with how best to educate the afflicted — and how to pay for it. Full Story 

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    Credit: Justin Dehn

  • T-Squared: The Kids Are All Right

    By Evan Smith

    Our remarkable crop of summer interns — optimistic and high-spirited at a low moment for our business — are the future of this thing we do. Their schools should be proud of what they accomplished over the last two months. They themselves should be. We certainly are. Full Story 

    The Trib's 2010 summer interns.
    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • Reservoir Dogged

    By Morgan Smith

    In 2004, two brothers thought they had found the perfect ecologically friendly business venture: create a wetlands preserve on 4,000 acres of neglected farmland along the Sulphur River in Northeast Texas and make a pile of money selling mitigation credits to developers who build over environmentally sensitive lands elsewhere. Seven years later, the only thing stopping them from realizing that dream is the state of Texas, which has plans to submerge their property under 80 feet of water. Full Story 

    The Hearts Bluff Mitigation Bank as pictured with the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir.
    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • Kip Averitt: The TT Interview

    By Ross Ramsey

    The McGregor Republican — who quit the Texas Senate earlier this year — talked to the Tribune on Tuesday about politics and parties, redistricting, things left undone and how the Legislature changed during his time there. Full Story 

  • T-Squared: The Nine-Month Stats

    By Evan Smith

    Monthly uniques and page views are much higher than we projected; more of our visitors are from outside Austin than we ever could have hoped; and our search engine optimization strategy is paying off: All is better-than-well here at the Trib. Full Story 

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  • State of Pay

    By Brandi Grissom

    According to a review by the State Auditor’s Office, the salaries of state law enforcement officers in DPS, the Alcoholic Beverage Commission and other agencies lag as much as 20 percent behind those of big-city police. Full Story 

    Poor pay and strict training and promotion standards have contributed in no small part to a large vacancy rate at DPS.
    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • Interactive: Kay's Cash

    By Ross Ramsey and Matt Stiles

    When U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison lost the Republican primary for governor, her supporters became political orphans. But many of them have landed with either Rick Perry or Bill White. A Texas Tribune data mash-up shows that more than $1 million has flowed to Perry from Hutchison supporters since March, while at least $600,000 has gone to White. Full Story 

    Numerous contributors who supported U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's unsuccessful campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in March are now backing other candidates.
    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • "A Big Step Forward"

    By Bobby Cervantes

    A change in policy by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs granting extended benefits to soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder should disproportionately impact Texas: Seven PTSD treatment programs are located in the state, and an estimated 13 percent of the 2 million troops who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11 are from here. Full Story 

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