The Evening Brief: March 25, 2013
Your evening reading: women's coalition wins federal family planning money; House adopts rule restricting budget amendments; Senate OKs Medicaid overhaul Full Story
Your evening reading: women's coalition wins federal family planning money; House adopts rule restricting budget amendments; Senate OKs Medicaid overhaul Full Story
The Texas Education Code lays out the state's expectations for regents of public university systems, and state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, is now questioning whether the University of Texas System board is living up to them. Full Story
The federal government has awarded family planning dollars that used to go into state coffers to a coalition of Texas women's health providers instead. Full Story
On today's Agenda Texas from KUT News: Bills are flying out of committee and onto the House and Senate floor. This week the House will take up legislation that would fund the state's water plan with $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund. Full Story
A pair of bills recently introduced to the Texas Legislature could make it easier for landowners to cut down trees on their property, overriding certain local laws that extend protection to tree populations. Full Story
The Texas Senate unanimously approved an overhaul of long-term and acute care Medicaid services on Monday in an effort to expand care to more Texans with disablities while saving millions of state dollars. Full Story
Nearly a month after the Harris County DA dropped barratry charges against Rep. Ron Reynolds, the Montgomery County DA has issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with an alleged quarter-million-dollar kickback scheme. Full Story
A bill advancing through the state Legislature could drastically decrease the number of legal abortion facilities in the state. Full Story
With obesity rates still soaring in parts of the state, lawmakers and local communities are looking at ways to combat the health crisis, especially among the state's fast-growing Hispanic population. Full Story
The state's drought and the resulting need for conservation is starting to affect voters who are not usually aware of water shortages — people in the suburbs, with lush, thirsty lawns. Full Story
A new revelation in a high-profile power struggle has sent a jolt through the discord unfolding within the state's largest university system. Full Story
Halfway through his first legislative session as chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, and after a year and a half on the job, the benefits of John Sharp’s political savvy are on full display. Full Story
In honor of Gov. Rick Perry's desire to bring the state’s gold reserves back from a New York vault to Texas, this week's news-based musical playlist leads off with the Shirley Bassey classic "Goldfinger." Full Story
This week in the Newsreel: The flap between University of Texas regents and UT-Austin President Bill Powers rages on, Attorney General Greg Abbott calls for pre-trial DNA testing for capital cases and legislators are talking of arming teachers in public schools. Full Story
At the Texas Legislative Conference in New Braunfels on Friday, newbie political candidate George P. Bush was smooth, cautious and unremarkable. His aim was to get used to the spotlight without making a bad impression, and he got the job done. Full Story
Ramsey discusses efforts to address budget diversions, Ramshaw on a Tea Party leader's previous title, Galbraith on recycling oilfield water, Grissom with complete coverage of the Norwood trial, Murphy maps district voting age populations, Ramshaw and Batheja on a gold rush, M. Smith finds that gains on state tests don't guarantee success nationally, Hamilton on a tense UT System board meeting, Aguilar profiles a successful Democratic strategist, and Schneider on the potential impact of sequestration on special education programs: The best of our best content from March 18-22, 2013. Full Story
Prosecutors in the murder trial of Mark Norwood on Friday presented evidence linking him to another killing in Austin. Earlier Friday, Norwood's ex-wife took the stand and testified in front of jurors. Full Story
Your evening reading: Cruz's attempt to repeal health care reform fails; crash victims want Gonzalez to step down; George P. Bush steps up fundraising efforts Full Story
Some Texas lawmakers are renewing an effort to make Texas’ stance on Washington policies official through resolutions reaffirming the state’s sovereignty. Full Story
Full video of Ross Ramsey's 3/21 TribLive conversation with three first-term lawmakers: state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, and state Reps. Scott Turner, R-Frisco, and Gene Wu, D-Houston. Full Story