A battle over legislation that would create an innocence commission to review wrongful conviction has turned personal — and potentially deadly for a handful of bills authored by state Sen. Joan Huffman. Full Story
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UPDATED: Facing a laundry list of record votes, lawmakers tacked on several amendments to an Ethics Commission reform bill on Monday that would strengthen the disclosure rules that govern them and their contributors. Full Story
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University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers was a popular topic Monday as the Senate Nominations Committee had several questions for the three nominees for the UT System's Board of Regents. Full Story
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Correctional officers in a statewide union say that a 5 percent pay increase lawmakers have proposed in the state budget is not sufficient to stymie the corruption and reduce physical dangers they face every day. Full Story
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Senate Education Chairman Dan Patrick announced on Monday that CSCOPE, the state's curriculum delivery system, would no longer offer lesson plans to Texas school districts. Full Story
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It's easier, it seems, for lawmakers to regulate others than to regulate themselves. Ethics and transparency legislation has had a bumpy ride in the current legislative session. Full Story
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The U.S. Department of Energy announced on Friday that it would allow a Texas facility to become the second place in the country that can export liquefied natural gas to new markets. Full Story
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Take a photographic trip through Sen. John Carona's career in the Texas Legislature, from his swearing in as a freshman House member in 1991 to his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Committee on Business & Commerce. Full Story
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Smart electricity meters have long been criticized by those who say they present a health risks and infringe on individual rights. Now, with legislative action to allow property owners to deny meters failing, municipalities are picking up the slack. Full Story
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The constitutional provision of a part-time Legislature whose members have full-time jobs back home blurs the line between public responsibilities and personal ambition — as the story of a certain powerful state senator illustrates. Full Story
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With a budget deal struck, the spotlight now shifts to Gov. Rick Perry. Full Story
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Legislators are preparing to dedicate hundreds of millions more dollars to mental health care for the first time in years. Haven for Hope in San Antonio serves as a model of the services and success they aim to emulate. Full Story
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From the budget bill to a new university in South Texas, a number of big agreements were reached in the Capitol this week. Fittingly, our playlist inspired by this week's Texas news opens with The Format's "The Compromise." Full Story
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In this edition of the Newsreel: Will lawmakers finish the budget? Will the governor call for a special session? And when this is over, who will be running for office in 2014? Full Story
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M. Smith on a key player in education policy, Ramshaw on an "Obamacare" critic putting his frustrations to music, Aguilar finds that misclassification bills are losing steam, Murphy adds the latest financial statements to our Ethics Explorer, Grissom on Perry's signing of the Michael Morton Act, Aaronson on the fight over end-of-life legislation, Galbraith and Batheja discuss Texas' infrastructure challenges, Root on a bipartisan effort in D.C., and Ramsey leads an ethics discussion and looks at the proposed budget's impact on legislators' pensions. The best of our best content from May 13-17, 2013. Full Story
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A House bill designed to curb Medicaid fraud became a vehicle to save floundering health care legislation on Friday. Full Story
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Independent pharmacists struggling to keep their doors open could soon expect more transparency in negotiating rates with Medicaid managed care organizations. Full Story
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An amendment that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain a permit to legally drive and purchase insurance in Texas was derailed Friday on a point of order. Full Story
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Managed care plans would be required to offer more mental health services to Medicaid recipients under a bill tentatively approved by the House on Friday. Full Story
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On the latest Agenda Texas, from KUT News and the Tribune: A look at how quickly things can change in the waning days of a Texas legislative session. Full Story
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