In an effort to help juveniles forced into sex trafficking, state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, has filed a bill that would allow more counties to set up specialty courts for minors charged with prostitution.
April 2013
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Lawmakers Attempt to Change Truancy Laws
Some parents and advocacy organizations say the state’s truancy laws are too harsh. The Senate passed a bill last week to change these laws, compromising with judges and district officials who said the reforms were too broad.
Posted in
Politics
The Brief: April 29, 2013
Gov. Rick Perry has taken aim again at California — this time over a controversial political cartoon.
Posted in
Energy
In Texas, Exploration of Shales Fuels Bullishness
Texas is already the top oil-producing state — and excitement about a new era is pervasive, thanks in part to improved technology. Exploration of new shales like the Cline in West Texas is underway, and some oilmen say it’s like the old wildcatting days.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Travis County DA: “Hope to Complete My Term”
The embattled district attorney of Travis County, Rosemary Lehmberg, apologized Saturday in an open letter to her constituents — and insisted she hopes to complete her term in office.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas Weekly Newsreel: West, the Lottery and the Rainy Day Fund
In this edition of the Newsreel: The conversation in West turns to regulation, the Senate wants to ask voters to use Rainy Day Fund money, the House undoes the state lottery and then puts it back together, and some Texas prosecutors are in hot water.
Posted in
Public Education
Hot Seat: A Conversation With Farney and Schwertner
At our 4/26 Hot Seat conversation at Southwestern University in Georgetown, state Rep. Marsha Farney, R-Georgetown, and state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, talked about public education, water, the budget and other issues in play in the 83rd session.
Posted inState Government
The Playlist: Dallas
With the country’s attention focused on one of Texas’ major cities for the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, we begin our weekly news-inspired playlist with Joe Ely’s “Dallas.”
Posted inState Government
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson on Medicaid fraud, Aguilar on critics of a federal immigration reform bill, Batheja on Rick Perry and the Rainy Day Fund, Galbraith on a nuclear reactor’s return, Hamilton on campus carry, Hooks on free breakfasts for poor students, Murphy and Rocha interactively track gun legislation, Ramsey on prosecutors behaving badly, Root on the oil lobby’s lizard, my school finance sit-down with four public ed vets, M. Smith on the A-F school ratings plan and White on Galveston five years after Ike: The best of our best content from April 22-26, 2013.
Posted in
Politics
Perry Willing to Call Special Session
Gov. Rick Perry is warning state legislators that it could be a long, hot summer in Austin if they don’t pass his top priorities: funding water and transportation projects and cutting business taxes.