New in The Texas Tribune

โ€ข ย  ย Feds Award $10.8 Million to Help Texans Find Coverage:ย “With the rollout of many Affordable Care Act provisions approaching, the federal government announced Thursday that eight Texas organizations will receive a combined $10.8 million to hire and train ‘navigators’ to help the uninsured find coverage.”

โ€ข ย  ย Cruz Staging Number of Events Across Texas:ย “U.S. Sen.ย Ted Cruzย will press the flesh with Texans over the next couple of weeks with town hall meetings and visits with business leaders across the state.”

โ€ข ย  ย Pauken Attacks Abbott for Opposing Airline Merger:ย “Tom Pauken, waging a longshot bid to be the GOP nominee for Texas governor, attacked front-runner Greg Abbott Thursday for joining forces with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to block a proposed airline merger.”

โ€ข ย  ย State Board of Education Will No Longer Approve Charter Applicants:ย “For the first time since the charter school system was created in 1995, the state education board will no longer play a central role in determining which charter schools get approved.”

โ€ข ย  ย We’ve updated ourย Texas Campaign Financeย Databaseย with the most recent figures from theย Texas Ethics Commission. Use it to find out how much high-profile candidates like Attorney Generalย Greg Abbottย and stateย Sen.ย Wendy Davisย are raising and spending for the 2014 campaign, or to just check up on your local lawmakers.

Culled

โ€ข ย  ย Non-Clinton Dems ask: Why not me? (Politico):ย “And on Sept. 15, both Vice President Joe Biden โ€” no stranger to the voters, or to the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner Circuit โ€” and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will both speak at Iowa Sen. Tom Harkinโ€™s annual steak fry, a traditional stop on the road to a presidential primary campaign.”

โ€ข ย  ย A&M chancellor: Manzielโ€™s ‘heart in the right place’ (Fort Worth Star-Telegram):ย “Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp defended his schoolโ€™s embattled star quarterback, calling Johnny Manziel ‘a good kid’ and questioning why a college athlete canโ€™t make money off his name.”

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David Muto was the editor of TribTalk, The Texas Tribune's opinion page. He is also the Tribune's copy editor. A Richardson native, he attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned degrees...