Texans for Lawsuit Reform is the biggest and richest tort reform group in the state. But as its PAC has become the dominant financial engine for legislative races, it has helped create a Legislature that’s not only more conservative about legal issues, but more conservative, period. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TLRRepDem.jpg)
DAY 28 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: Under a new tort reform law, the Texas Supreme Court will make rules to expedite certain lawsuits and to allow judges to dismiss meritless ones early on. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/b7619b535caf929a45793624a2921160/BD%20INC%20Supreme%20Court%2001%202011)
County jail inmates are often released in the dark of night with little or no money and no transportation. Despite tragic stories of death and assaults, lawmakers this year failed to approve legislation that would require releases during daylight hours. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TxTrib-JailRelease-008.JPG)
DAY 27 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: Lawmakers didn't cut spending for the Texas HIV Medication Program, but it remains nearly $20 million short. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/HIV-Drugs-in-Hand.jpg)
Tan on coming prison school cuts and online sales taxes, Root on Rick Perry's support for tax increases when he was a lawmaker, Ramshaw and Serafini on what "Perrycare" would entail, yours truly on the differences between Perry and George W. Bush, Philpott on the passions of the Paulites, Murphy and Seger unveil the Trib's Texas Public Schools Database, Hamilton on UT's answer to calls for improvements in higher ed, Galbraith on predictions that the record heat in Texas will be a long-term problem and Aguilar on the legal shootout over gun sales in Texas: The best of our best content from Aug. 22 to 26, 2011. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/08222011_Tribweek_1.jpg)
Just days before announcing his candidacy for president, Gov. Rick Perry sent a letter to the Obama administration saying Washington owes Texas more than $349 million for the state's incarceration of illegal immigrants. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/b191abd1a2f6246544c538af9c56ae60/BD%20INC%20Perry%20Fists%202011)
This weekend, the San Antonio physician and prolific donor to conservative candidates and causes hosts a Hill Country gathering for Gov. Rick Perry and some of his evangelical supporters. Who is Leininger? Here's a primer. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/07972b2d9fe11f52f2a4e853c5eb1f06/BD%20INC%20Leininger%202011)
Anne Heiligenstein, the commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services, is retiring from the agency after three years. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/annepic.jpg)
Your afternoon reading: Perry signs anti-gay-marriage pledge; Patrick leaning toward lieutenant governor run; Texas Supreme Court OKs strip club tax Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Cap_sized2.jpg)
DAY 26 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: 23 of the state's 94 parks face reductions in staff or operations. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Kickapoo-Cavern-SP-visitors-at-Stuart-Bat-Cave.jpg)
The Texas Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that a $5-per-patron tax on strips clubs does not violate the First Amendment, adding the latest chapter to a four-year legal battle. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/StripTax.jpg)
Rick Perry's swipe at Mitt Romney on Thursday revealed the careful line both candidates will have to walk on health care reform. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/7e780d0c5f9e8a7e7bbd8dd2466b2e5f/BD%20INC%20Trio%2001%202011)
Watching Rick Perry can cause flashbacks. Both he and George W. Bush were governors of Texas, but Perry isn’t running the same government Bush was running in 2000. The problems are different. Their strengths are different. And the pitch is different, too. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/PerryBush.jpg)
Are the drought and record heat due to climate change? Scientists hedge, especially on the drought question, but there's no question it's been getting hotter in Texas — and it's going to continue to do so. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TxTrib-DroughtTrees-013.JPG)
To hear him tell it on the presidential campaign trail, Gov. Rick Perry has never met a tax increase he liked. But over a political career that reaches back to the 1980s, he has embraced billions of dollars worth of them. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/PerryTalksOnFloor.jpg)
Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, says he'll seek another term in 2012. Fun facts from his announcement: "Among his younger-life experience, he worked as a paper boy, TV station copy boy, waiter, dishwasher, library clerk, and taxicab driver." Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/_KCB8198.jpg)
What a difference a year makes. Gov. Rick Perry wouldn't debate Bill White in the governor's race, but he's agreed to a couple of debates already in his presidential quest. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/46917f140d49355e7930096f8968fd09/BD%20INC%20Perry%20Listens%202011)
It's a synergy thing. Super PACs can spend all they want to advance a candidate or cause, with certain limitations and — importantly — without talking to the candidate or the campaign. So here's Make Us Great Again, a new Perry-centric Super PAC releasing a poll of Iowa voters that shows — surprise — the governor doing well there. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/b7d548e9509beebe3f1bb234372a6667/BD%20INC%20Perry%2080%202011)
His supporters wouldn't necessarily agree, judging from our phone calls and emails, but our insiders think U.S. Rep. Ron Paul — the other Texan in the presidential race — is getting all the attention he deserves. More than a third, however, don't agree with that. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/inside_intelligence-logo.png){kind=logo}
For some Texas congressmen, the long-awaited recess from Washington might not be as pleasant as they anticipated. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/US-Cap-Building.jpg)