Latest Contributions

• The Three-Party System

  By Ross Ramsey April 11, 2013

  The House debate on the budget flushed out a new coalition in a Legislature split between traditional and populist Republicans, and Democrats. The losers? The populist Republicans, many of them freshmen. Full Story 

• Inside Intelligence: About Those Tests...

  By Ross Ramsey April 9, 2013

  For this week's nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked about standardized tests in schools, about graduation requirements and about whether the tests should be given in private schools that get state money. Full Story 

• Texas Roads Paved With Taxes, Tolls and Debt

  By Ross Ramsey April 8, 2013

  Voters want better roads. Lawmakers want happy voters. Roads require taxes, tolls, debt or some combination of the three, which is why conservative officeholders are using those three dirty words. Full Story 

• TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

  By Ross Ramsey April 6, 2013

  Batheja on a House budget without vouchers or Medicaid expansion, Aguilar on obstacles to a new power plant in El Paso, Permenter on deer breeder regulations, E. Smith’s interview with San Antonio’s Castro twins, Galbraith on proposals for new underground water reservoirs, Root finds holes in a UT regent's appointment files, M. Smith on a planned school rating system that defied recommendations, Murphy maps oil and gas disposal wells in Texas, Dehn on objections to a bigger Medicaid program and Hamilton on efforts to lure gun makers to Texas: The best of our best for the week of April 1-5, 2013. Full Story 

• A House Less Susceptible to Political Stampedes

  By Ross Ramsey April 5, 2013

  In 2011, state lawmakers fresh from a Tea Party election surge were hypersensitive to the opinions of and instructions from conservative activists. But as Thursday's House budget debate showed, this session isn't quite the same. Full Story 

• Reluctance to Expansion of Health Care in Texas Has a Familiar Ring

  By Ross Ramsey April 5, 2013

  If the state government's resistance to expanding Medicaid sounds familiar, it's because something like this happened when George W. Bush was governor, and conservatives were wary of the Children's Health Insurance Program. Full Story 

• Inside Intelligence: About That UT Fracas...

  By Ross Ramsey April 2, 2013

  For this week's nonscientific survey of insiders in politics and government, we asked about the public fussing between the University of Texas System regents, the governor and the administration at UT-Austin. Full Story 

• A Head Start on the Big Stuff

  By Ross Ramsey April 2, 2013

  With eight weeks to go in the legislative session, lawmakers got a running start at their big issues: water, education and the budget. Full Story 

• Is Perry-Powers Tension About Rivalry or Policy?

  By Ross Ramsey April 1, 2013

  The undercurrents of the bickering between Gov. Rick Perry's administration and UT-Austin President Bill Powers offer a gold mine for the conspiratorial set, with fuel for every obsession: politics, deep school rivalries, policy and governance. Full Story 

• For Perry, School Trumps Party and Politics

  By Ross Ramsey March 29, 2013

  Gov. Rick Perry torments Democrats and disparages trial lawyers, but he likes Aggies. Even if they're Democratic trial lawyers. Full Story