The higher education track at The Tribune Festival featured discussions about the future of higher education, what's happening at non-flagship universities, the role of regents and whether to pay student-athletes. You can hear the sessions here.

Well over half of the money raised so far by the Water Texas PAC came from heavy contractors, Dow Chemical Co. and Energy Future Holdings/Luminant. Use our analyzer to take a closer look at the donors. 

The state of Texas last performed a study on the economic impact of undocumented immigrants in 2006. The majority of the candidates running for comptroller in 2014 say it's time for that analysis to get an update.

Details of an expensive, privately funded high-speed rail project connecting Dallas and Houston will come out next year, just in time for candidates for office to weigh in. 

The Longhorns and Sooners won't be the only ones looking for a win this weekend in Dallas. More than 30 Texas legislators are hoping to turn the Red River Rivalry game into campaign cash.

Battleground Texas says it's focused on resurrecting the moribund Texas Democratic Party over the long term. The group's focus on helping Wendy Davis in her race for governor shows how much those hopes rest on her candidacy.

With the politics of the government shutdown still engulfing Washington, immigration has managed to edge its way back into the spotlight — if only briefly.

Republican Todd Staples' first commercial in the race for lieutenant governor, running on the web and statewide on TV, touts his conservative credentials as an obstacle to Democratic efforts to turn Texas blue. 

Your evening reading: national Democrats to use Cruz against Republicans in 2014; Tea Party activist Lisa Fritsch joins governor's race; senator says government shutdown impeding West probe 

UPDATED; More than 200 protestors were arrested after blocking a street during an immigration rally on Tuesday, including U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston.

For this week’s nonscientific survey of insiders in politics and government, we asked about the politics of the federal government shutdown and the federal Affordable Care Act.

The public education track at the Texas Tribune Festival featured panel discussions about early childhood education, charter schools, innovations in teaching and the future of public schools. You can hear the sessions here.

Republicans in Texas have recently used crowdsourcing initiatives to gather public opinion and engage with Texans. But political scientists say such efforts tend to miss the mark in helping candidates gain new supporters.

For University of Houston President Renu Khator, the biggest challenge in her ongoing effort to raise the institution's reputation may be the public perception that it is merely a commuter campus in the middle of a dangerous urban area.

Announcements from state Sens. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, and Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, doubled the number of senators who won't be back in 2015. And there could easily be more.

In the shadow of the governor's race, the fight for the state's second-highest office lit up on Monday.

While in San Antonio on Monday, state Sen. and gubernatorial hopeful Wendy Davis praised the city's new ordinance offering protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, providing a stark contrast with Attorney General Greg Abbott. 

The lieutenant governor's race heated up Monday when Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson accused state Sen. Dan Patrick of lying about Patterson's stance on in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants.

Your evening reading: Davis, Cornyn release first ads; Democrat enters comptroller's race; new Patrick ad touts his opposition to in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants

Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said Monday that they will not heed a request to return a supply of execution drugs from the pharmacist who sent them to the state.