TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

The Texas Tribune's five-part Undrinkable series looks at border communities that lack reliable, clean water despite a multibillion-dollar effort that has spanned decades.

Full video of our conversation with Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. Topics discussed: transportation, education, guns, same-sex marriage and liberty vs. local control.

In the first episode of Budgetline, an occasional TribCast series on the Texas budget, Ross and Aman start where state officials started — with the revenue estimate. It sounds simple, but it's a complicated stew of economics, politics and risky forecasting.

Texas lawmakers are considering different approaches to transforming the state's unwieldy, loophole-ridden system of contract oversight into something that can be properly tracked, analyzed and, when needed, restrained.

Two of the three candidates on the short list to be president of the University of Texas at Austin remain in the hunt, sources say. The front-runner comes with a very good pedigree — and a very large price tag. 

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which is nearly out of its current lethal injection drug, pentobarbital, has stockpiled the sedative midazolam. That drug could be part of a backup execution method in Texas, but it is at the center of a legal challenge.

If you listen to the early speculation about the 2016 presidential race, you won't hear Rick Perry's name mentioned much among national analysts. But Perry is taking on a strategy in Iowa that has proved successful in recent Republican contests.

As the state tallies the tax dollars spent on former Gov. Rick Perry's security while he was running for president, a lawmaker wants future elected officials to reimburse Texas for out-of-state trips that don't involve official business.

With prices stumbling and crude oil backing up in refineries and tank farms across the state, Texas lawmakers are raising a cry for repeal of the 40-year-old ban on most crude oil exports.

As legislators considered several early education bills, testimony was dominated by a debate over what standards school districts should meet to get additional state funding for pre-kindergarten programs.

Gov. Greg Abbott declared five emergency items in his State of the State speech, clearing the way for lawmakers to act quickly on them if they so choose. Here's a guide to the five items, related bills and where things stand.

Lawmakers have filed two competing bills about who should have the authority to decide whether to terminate a brain-dead pregnant woman's life — a preview of what promises to be a fiery legislative battle over end-of-life medical care in Texas.

We've given your go-to resource for the 84th legislative session a new look. With easier navigation, larger videos and a better mobile experience, the Texas Legislative Guide is the best place to learn more about the session.

In the Roundup: A state lawmaker says a clash over signs posted at some Capitol offices signals the end of the “kumbaya” part of the session, Planned Parenthood rallies to keep state funding and singer-songwriter Phil Collins becomes an honorary Texan.