For the latest installment of our nonscientific survey of political and policy insiders, we asked whether the Legislature will finish its redistricting chores or will need help, whether Republicans will be able to ensure future supermajorities, and how lawmakers will split four new congressional seats between the political parties.
March 2011
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Looking Back on a Life as a Death House Warden
Jim Willett had not intended to spend the better part of his adult life working in Texas’ sprawling prison system. But the business student turned prison guard worked 30 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and oversaw 89 executions.
Posted in
Health care
Skimpy
The House Appropriations Committee, on a party-line vote, advanced the next state budget, sending to the full House a bill that spends $164.5 billion — about $23 billion less than state officials say they need to maintain current services.
Posted in
Health care
Cost of Procedures Varies Widely by Hospital, Area
The cost of common medical procedures paid for by Medicaid varies dramatically from hospital to hospital and region to region, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of claims by and payments to hundreds of hospitals across the state.
Posted inState Government
Interactive: What Texas Hospitals Charge
Use our interactive to compare how much Medicaid paid individual hospitals in fiscal year 2009 for 17 common medical conditions and procedures.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
M. Smith on the continuing controversy over Beaumont’s school administrators, Tan on the deepening divide over the consequences of the House budget, Hamilton on the latest in the fight over higher ed accountability, Grissom on young inmates in adult prisons, Aguilar on the voter ID end game, Tan and Hasson’s Rainy Day Fund infographic, Ramsey on the coming conflict over school district reserves, M. Smith and Aguilar on Laredo ISD’s missing Social Security numbers, Galbraith on environmental regulators bracing for budget cuts and Ramshaw on greater scrutiny of neonatal intensive care units: The best of our best content from March 21 to 25, 2011.
Posted in
Demographics
Latino Leaders Eye Redistricting Changes
Organizations from across the country have come together at the annual National Latino Congreso in Austin to strategize on legislation affecting the Latino community. And as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, all eyes are on redistricting this year.
Posted in
Higher Education
Research “Extremely Valuable,” UT Regents Tell Texas Exes
Responding to a warning by the president of the Texas Exes that an anti-research mindset “would do irreparable damage” to UT-Austin, the UT System’s Board of Regents insisted today that research is “extremely valuable.”
Posted in
Demographics
On the Records: Mapping U.S. Population Growth by County
The U.S. Census Bureau released its final batch of state-by-state redistricting data this week, making it possible to visualize population growth by race and Hispanic origin across the country.
Posted in
Guides
Texplainer: What Is a “Point of Order”?
Calling a point of order is a parliamentary delay tactic, but it can be a deadly one.
