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News For November, 2010

  • What 99 Means

    By Ross Ramsey

    When a party wins everything, as the GOP has in Texas this year, it gets almost everything its way. It also has everything to lose. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Didn't See THAT Coming

    By Ross Ramsey

    In retrospect, everything on our Hot List should have been Red. In the Texas House, all seven Republicans on that list survived, and easily, along with two of the Democrats. The two congressmen got booted, along with the 19 other Democrats on that roster. Three Democrats who weren't on our list went down on Tuesday, including David McQuade Leibowitz of San Antonio, and every officeholder named Solomon Ortiz (that's a father and son, in the U.S. and Texas Houses, respectively, if you just came in). Full Story 

  • Bullish on Batteries

    By Kate Galbraith

    The impoverished border town of Presidio is home to the largest battery system in the country: a $25 million contraption that's the size of a big house. That's not as weird as it seems. Partly because of an affinity for wind energy, the state has a number of experiments going in "energy storage" — often referred to as the "holy grail" of energy technology, because it can modernize the grid by more efficiently matching people's demand for power with the generation of electricity. Full Story 

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    Credit: Kate Galbraith

  • No More Medicaid?

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Some Republican lawmakers are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state’s massive budget shortfall: opting out of the federal Medicaid program. But experts say the rhetoric may be more of a middle finger to Washington than sound public policy. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Our wall-to-wall Election Day coverage — complete results up and down the ballot and county by county, the all-hands-on-deck Trib team on the Republican tsunami, my conversation with George W. Bush's media adviser and Rick Perry's pollster about what happened on Tuesday, Stiles and Ramsey on what 194 candidates spent per vote this election cycle, Hu on how the GOP rout will affect the substance of the next legislative session, Hamilton on the Texas Democratic Trust's unhappy end, Ramshaw and Stiles profile the new arrivals at the Capitol in January, M. Smith on what's next for Chet Edwards and Ramsey and me on six matters of politics and policy we're thinking about going forward — plus Thevenot and Butrymowicz on a possible solution to the high school dropout problem: The best of our best from Nov. 1 to 5, 2010. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • TribBlog: Straus on the Offensive

    By Elise Hu

    House Speaker Joe Straus is moving quickly to squelch any talk of a speaker's race. His office released two letters this afternoon — one from conservative leaders expressing support for him, and another that emphasizes his strengths as House leader. Full Story 

    House Speaker Joe Straus and the man in the running to unseat him, state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller/Bob Daemmrich

  • TribBlog: Ethics Reform a Nudge at Hodge?

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Embattled former Dallas state Rep. Terri Hodge hasn't even finished serving her year in prison for lying on her tax returns. But her successor, freshman Democratic Rep. Eric Johnson, is already pledging to file legislation that would prohibit lawmakers who commit felonies from receiving state pension benefits. Full Story 

    Democrat Eric Johnson campaigns to replace incumbent Dallas Rep. Terri Hodge in House District 100. Hodge has pleaded guilty to lying on her tax return.
    Credit: Eric Johnson campaign

  • Solving the Dropout Problem?

    By Brian Thevenot, The Texas Tribune, and Sarah Butrymowicz, The Hechinger Report

    Across Texas, credit-recovery courses — self-paced online makeups offered to any student who fails — are expanding rapidly. In the spring and summer, 6,127 students in the Houston Independent School District earned nearly 10,000 credits in such courses, and another 2,500 are taking them this fall. Austin ISD and Dallas ISD enrolled about 4,000 students last year. For districts, they're a cost-effective way to bolster graduation rates, but questions remain over whether the digital curriculum offers the same quality of education as traditional courses. Little research exists on how much, or how little, learning is actually going on. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • Frenemies: A Love Story

    By Ross Ramsey

    More than in any past campaign, Rick Perry showed himself to be adept at what you might call the friendly attack, striking on one level while making nice on another. He did it to the press, and he did it to the federal government. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmerich

  • What Victor Carrillo Problem?

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Republican victories in Texas House races included several by Hispanic Republicans. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, those freshman members may have to perform a bit of a balancing act in a party that seems likely to push hard-line immigration legislation. Full Story 

    The group Hispanic Republicans of Texas at a news conference Nov. 3, 2010.
    Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera

  • What Your Vote Cost

    By Ross Ramsey and Matt Stiles

    Carol Kent, a freshman Democrat who unsuccessfully defended her north Dallas seat in the Texas House, spent $64.06 per vote — the most of any of the 194 candidates running for state offices in this year’s general election, according to an analysis of campaign-finance data by The Texas Tribune. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • A Conversation With Mark McKinnon and Mike Baselice

    By Evan Smith

    For the 15th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the former George W. Bush and John McCain media strategist and Rick Perry's pollster about what happened Tuesday night: how the Republicans took back the majority in the U.S. House and upped their number of seats in the Texas House by 30 percent, what that portends for the next two years in Austin and Washington, D.C., and whether the governor is really running for president. Full Story 

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    Credit: Justin Dehn/Todd Wiseman

  • TribBlog: Kuempel Dead [Updated]

    By Ross Ramsey

    State Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, died this morning of an apparent heart attack. He was taken to Austin's Brackenridge Hospital with heart problems; an aide in his Capitol office said his defibrillator went off and said he was taken to the hospital. Full Story 

    Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin