Rick Perry, trying to rescue his presidential campaign in South Carolina, got some unwelcome news Saturday from back home, where influential evangelical leaders threw their support behind former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Full Story
Tan and Root on the Texas presidential candidates returning to the state where Rick Perry started his campaign, Philpott on Perry's swipes at Mitt Romney, Ramshaw on Griffin Perry's tweets, M. Smith on the next round of fights over student testing, E. Smith's TribLive interview with Michael Quinn Sullivan, yours truly on the sliding primary election calendar, Hamilton on higher-education efforts to bolster the Texas work force, Grissom's interview with John Raley, Galbraith on the greenhouse gas wars and Aguilar on making it easier for immigrants to return to the U.S.: The best of our best content from January 9 to 13, 2012. Full Story
The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation today wrapped up its annual legislative primer, which has become a must-attend for state Republican leaders. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on how the group is already working to influence next year's legislative session. Full Story
A federal judge's decision not to allow Rick Perry and three other presidential candidates onto Virginia's GOP primary ballot "disenfranchises" the state's voters, Joe Nixon, the Texas governor's lead counsel, said Friday. Full Story
Texas abortion providers were hoping they'd have a few more weeks to start abiding by a state law requiring them to play the heartbeat of the fetus and describe its image on a sonogram before performing the procedure. They're not going to get it. Full Story
Your afternoon reading: Paul's relaxed schedule draws scrutiny; Perry again flubs government-agencies question; evangelicals scale back goals for anti-Romney meeting Full Story
Two weeks after it was originally scheduled to go in to effect, Texas’ voter ID law is back in the hands of the U.S. Department of Justice. Full Story
At yesterday's TribLive conversation, conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan explained why Empower Texans doesn't post its financial records or disclose its donors on its web site. Full Story
In a radio interview Friday morning, Rick Perry was asked again which federal departments he planned to shut down if elected president. This time he remembered to name three — but not the same three as before. Full Story
As the economy begins to show signs of life, efforts are under way at two-year colleges across Texas to make the state's higher ed offerings more responsive to the labor market. Full Story
Rick Perry’s 28-year-old son, Griffin, has propelled himself into the headlines — and injected some much-needed energy into his father’s decidedly downtrodden candidacy — with his Twitter missives from the campaign trail. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry launched his campaign for president exactly five months ago in Charleston, S.C. Once a front-runner in the Palmetto State, Perry is now hoping for a comeback to get some much-needed momentum. Full Story
Online piracy is hurting the nation's economy and putting lives at risk, says U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith. He wrote the Stop Online Piracy Act to address the problem, but his bill has gotten the cold shoulder in his home state. Full Story
Once they have maps, election administrators say they need 60 to 80 days to put an election together, and the April 3 primaries won't be possible, they say, if they don't have maps by the end of the month. That's just a couple of weeks. Full Story
The major Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate knocked heads Thursday night in a debate that was a good deal livelier than the presidential forums that have become a TV mainstay. Full Story
For this week's edition of Inside Intelligence, we asked about election delays, redistricting maps, who is hurt and helped by delays, and whether Texas still ought to be covered by the Voting Rights Act. Full Story
The major Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate got together for a spirited debate Thursday night. We bring you highlights from the play-by-play. Full Story