More money is not the answer to our current woes. Just as anyone managing a household budget knows, when a family’s expenses grow beyond its income, the solution is to cut back — particularly if its spending habits resemble the state’s.
February 2011
Posted inState Government
The Brief: Top Texas News for Feb. 7, 2011
The causes may have been explained away, but the fallout from last week’s rolling blackouts may just be heating up.
Posted in
Inside Intelligence
Inside Intelligence: A Pro-Choice GOP Candidate Will…
For the latest installment of our nonscientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we asked whether a Republican who supports abortion rights can survive a statewide primary, whether the sonogram bill on the governor’s list of emergency items addresses a real or a political problem, whether it will pass and what other issues of interest to social conservatives might win approval from this Legislature this year.
Posted in
Health care
Can a Pro-Choice Republican Win in Texas?
State Comptroller Susan Combs may test that question. She is considering a run for lieutenant governor in 2014.
Posted in
Public Education
In West Texas, a Town’s Fate Tied to Its School
With just 56 students, Marathon ISD is one of the state’s smallest. But its fate is critical to the West Texas town’s survival. And if what is happening here works, it could serve as a model for other towns looking to shield their way of life from the death knell of school closures.
Posted in
Health care
Pretty Good Forecasting
The keepers of numbers over in the LBJ Building, north of the Capitol, have confirmed to lawmakers what they warned them about in 2006: The legislation that cut local school property taxes and revised the state’s corporate franchise tax didn’t balance, to the tune of $10 billion a biennium.
Posted in
Guides
Texplainer: Could Texas Fire Up Old Sparky?
The short answer is yes — and no. It’s still around, and would work if it was plugged in. But it can’t be used for executions in Texas anymore.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Last Words: “All Right, Warden, Let’s Do It.”
Before prison officials administer the lethal cocktail of drugs used to carry out executions, the condemned may say their final piece. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice keeps a record of these last statements.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Will Europe Thwart Texas Executions?
Texas has enough supplies of a key drug to carry out only two more executions. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is exploring its options, including what other states are doing. But the drug alternatives are limited and would most likely still leave Texas reliant on nations that oppose the death penalty.
Posted in
Health care
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
The best of our best from January 31 to February 4.