TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

The Texas attorney general’s office said that President Obama’s own actions should convince a federal judge to keep a controversial immigration plan on hold.

There's a lot of ways you can spend $4.6 billion in tax cuts, and the Senate Finance Committee learned that a wide range of special interest groups think the current proposal could use some work. Senate leaders joined Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to announce a plan to allow lawmakers to cut property taxes and pay down the state's debt without busting the state’s politically charged spending cap.

After meeting behind closed doors for almost seven hours, the University of Texas System Board of Regents did not name a finalist to replace Bill Powers as president of the University of Texas at Austin.

After a recent report showed that some University of Texas at Austin applicants received help securing admittance over the admissions office’s objections, conservative activists are calling Texans at home and asking them to take action.

Doctors, law enforcement officers, and family members of crash victims gathered Thursday at the Capitol to testify in support of a statewide texting-while-driving ban. Forty-four states now ban text messaging while driving.

The new chief watchdog for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission told lawmakers Monday he plans to right the embattled department by going after fraud and waste outside and inside the $37 billion state social services empire.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush just picked up a serious GOP fundraiser in East Texas. Gaylord Hughey Jr., the top GOP bundler of East Texas, said in an interview with the Tribune that he is backing Bush, should he follow through on a presidential run.

Virtual learning, A-through-F school ratings and teacher quality were among the topics covered by broad slate of education reform bills announced by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Education Chairman Larry Taylor.

No clear front-runner has emerged days before the State Republican Executive Committee meets to vote to replace Texas GOP chairman Steve Munisteri.

The state’s population is expected to double in size by 2050, with projections putting its population at 54.4 million, according to figures released Thursday.

Leading Texas Republicans asked the Obama administration for greater flexibility to administer Medicaid — a move that has gotten little traction in the past — while reiterating that they would not participate in an expansion of the program under the Affordable Care Act.

In the Roundup: The Texas Senate passed its first legislation this week, state Republican leaders again addressed Medicaid expansion and reforms, and new bills aim to preserve the federal health subsidies in question in a U.S. Supreme Court case.