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Ross Ramsey co-founded The Texas Tribune in 2009 and served as its executive editor until his retirement in 2022. He wrote regular columns on politics, government and public policy. Before joining the Tribune, he was editor and co-owner of Texas Weekly. He did a 28-month stint in government with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Before that, he reported for the Houston Chronicle, the Dallas Times Herald, as a Dallas-based freelancer for regional and national magazines and newspapers, and for radio stations in Denton and Dallas.
Travis County prosecutors have issued subpoenas in their investigation of the so-called Ghost Worker case. The primary House committee investigating that affair has, as a result, pulled up (a second committee hasn't changed course, but could). And the piles of Open Information Requests from politicians, partisans and the press should start yielding some results in the next week or so. Full Story
By now, Texas businesses were supposed to have already filed returns and written checks for the newish business margins tax. They got a one-month reprieve from Comptroller Susan Combs, who decided the level of confusion was high enough to give everyone another month to calculate and pay up. Full Story
It's the kind of Special Deals for Politicians saga that can taint the whole institution: Texas lawmakers are accused of lying about their employees to obtain benefits to which those workers would not otherwise be entitled. Full Story
While other states are facing deficits large and small, the Texas Legislature will start its next session with a surplus of almost $15 billion, according to House Speaker Tom Craddick. Full Story
You'll hear Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst mentioned if you start a conversation about the next governor's race, but the stars are aligning to send him to Washington, if he's interested. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry, talking to reporters from The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, became the first candidate to say — without reservations — that he'll be on the gubernatorial ballot in 2010. Full Story
In the only statewide runoff race — the Democratic battle for Railroad Commission — political novice Mark Thompson outran Dale Henry, who was making a third run for a job on that regulatory panel. Thompson got 59.2 percent of the vote, and will challenge Republican incumbent Michael Williams. Full Story
We take you now to Runoff Land, where a handful of candidates are still smacking each other for a chance at their party's nomination. Full Story
Early voting in the April runoff elections runs Monday through Friday of next week (that's March 31-April 4). The pickings are slim, and you're loopy if you think turnout will look like it did in the first week of March. Full Story
Nothing like a proposal to cut $262.8 million from a state program to get negotiations going. Full Story