A day before the start of the 2013 legislative session, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs delivered much-improved budget news compared with two years ago. Lawmakers will have $101.4 billion for their next two-year budget. Full Story
Doctors in the Rio Grande Valley are leading the charge to restore cuts to Medicaid in the last session. They want lawmakers to ensure that Medicare and Medicaid benefits add up to 100 percent of dual-eligible patients' bills. They're expecting a fight. Full Story
The most observant Trib fans may have already noticed: There are some small-to-the-eye but big-for-the-site changes to how we organize news and information. Full Story
An upcoming expansion of the Panama Canal will boost Texas exports but not do as much for imports, according to a report commissioned by the Texas Department of Transportation. Full Story
With the 83rd Texas legislative session beginning Tuesday, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune looks at the priorities and challenges facing legislators as they head into the 140-day lawmaking scramble. Full Story
A few days after they were sworn into Congress, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, appeared on the Sunday talk shows. Full Story
With improving fiscal conditions and redistricting in the rearview, lawmakers are approaching 2013 with pressing policy questions, from whether to introduce private school vouchers to whether to implement key provisions of federal health reform. Full Story
Aaronson with the latest on Texas vs. Planned Parenthood, Aguilar on Mexico's push for sovereignty, Galbraith on water conservation ideas, Grissom on the state's rape kit backlog, Hamilton on UT's plans for a new Valley university, Ramsey on legislating interrupting politicking, Ramshaw on how Texans in Congress voted on the fiscal cliff, the first two parts of Rocha and Dehn's multimedia series on community concerns coming to the Capitol and M. Smith on what the school finance trial means for the 83rd session: The best of our best content from Dec. 31, 2012, to Jan. 4, 2013. Full Story
Your evening reading: eight Texas Republicans vote against Sandy relief bill; Cornyn open to government shutdown in debt ceiling debate; Joaquin Castro elected president of freshman Democratic class Full Story
Lawmakers will descend on the state Capitol next week to kick off the 83rd legislative session, and a host of issues related to energy and the environment — from funding a state water plan to reforming regulatory agencies — awaits them. Full Story
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear a major cross-border water case that pits Tarrant County against Oklahoma. North Texas wants water, but Oklahoma doesn't want to sell. Full Story
The Texas attorney general's office secured $36 million Friday in a lawsuit settlement with Pfizer Inc. and Endo Pharmaceuticals, which had been accused of illegally inflating the market prices of certain drugs in reports to the state. Full Story
State officials are optimistic about the new Texas Women’s Health Program, which launched this week amid a long-running legislative fight. But at least one state lawmaker thinks there’s a problem with the program’s list of providers. Full Story
A little-noticed piece of the fiscal cliff deal approved by Congress this week could mean a windfall for the new Formula One racetrack in Austin. The so-called NASCAR tax credit allows racetracks to potentially write off millions of dollars in costs. Full Story
It feels like the 2013 legislative session, which gets under way Tuesday, is a five-month interruption of the election season. At some point, elections expanded to fill all of the space between the biennial sessions. Full Story
There is a significant amount of excitement in the Rio Grande Valley about a proposal to combine the University of Texas at Brownsville and the University of Texas-Pan American into a new university that would also have a planned medical school. Full Story
It could cost Texas up to $11 million to clear the backlog of some 20,000 untested rape kits in police agencies statewide. If Congress doesn't come through with funding, lawmakers here in Texas will search for funds to help solve the crimes. Full Story
Your evening reading: Cruz, new Texas congressmen sworn in; Gohmert votes for Allen West for speaker; TxDOT suspends use of road signs for gun shows Full Story