A prediction that one of the most notorious cartels operating on the Texas-Mexico border could soon meet its demise was premature, according to a new report on Mexican cartels, which now predicts violence will continue. Full Story
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The Texas Department of Public Safety said Monday it had preserved certain travel records associated with the cost of providing security to Gov. Rick Perry before 2008, contrary to information it provided on Friday. Full Story
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State Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, says her current term — her ninth — will be her last; she's not running for re-election next year. Full Story
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To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, the analysis suggests Rick Perry did not leave the Democratic Party so much as it left him, although compared to Reagan, Perry was (ideologically) much less of a Democrat to begin with. Full Story
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President Obama today blamed Republicans for his administration’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, saying several conservative lawmakers who once supported the measure have buckled under political pressure. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: who loses if Perry gets in; Woolley to retire; Texans' donations to presidential candidates Full Story
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Texans are already opening their pocketbooks to show support for their favorite presidential candidates. The Tribune’s visualizations of data from federal campaign finance reports reveal who has collected and spent the most in Texas. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry's first test as a presidential candidate may come in the form of a write-in campaign. Full Story
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Maybe it’s because he was a mayor, a position with some executive authority and a low need for rhetorical flame throwing. But Lanham Lyne, a freshman member of the Texas House, is seriously reconsidering his decision to work in the Capitol. Full Story
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This will be the first year school accountability ratings will not contain a mechanism that, for some schools, had boosted their scores and led to higher ratings. Now they'll have to explain to parents what the change means for their kids. Full Story
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With Texas facing dramatic population growth and constraints on its water supplies, interest in the use of sewage — or "reclaimed water," as those in the industry prefer to call it — to provide for a variety of water needs is growing. Full Story
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Ramshaw on the lioness of the Texas House, Dehn and Tan review 20 years of Rick Perry's political ads, Murphy's latest database includes the governor's political accounts over the last decade, Aaronson's visualizations of what was said in the biggest legislative debates, M. Smith on the woman in the middle chair at the State Board of Education, Galbraith on how the drought is forcing ranchers to sell their herds, Grissom has the story on a cattle rustler who's asking the courts to give him an old-fashioned sentence, Hamilton covers Rick O'Donnell's latest salvo at higher education, Aguilar on whether and how the sanctuary cities issue will translate at the ballot box next year, yours truly on Ron Paul's candidacy and the candidate in his own words: The best of our best from July 18 to 22, 2011. Full Story
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State officials said Friday they can’t reveal how much money taxpayers are spending to protect Gov. Rick Perry — and that records of security costs compiled before 2008 have been “purged.” Full Story
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We have prepared a series of graphics and tables that examine Gov. Rick Perry's success in growing his war chest from year to year and from campaign to campaign, and which cities and individuals or entities have done the most to ensure the governor's electoral success in Texas. Full Story
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New Texas Workforce Commission stats show that Texas has gained more than 220,000 jobs since last year. Check out this visualization of unemployment rates broken down by city for June 2010 and June 2011. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: Hutchison tepid on Perry; official wants Perry, Palin on straw poll ballot; Combs announces $5.3 million in the bank Full Story
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Comptroller Susan Combs isn't a 2014 candidate yet, but she wants you to know that some of the Republican Party's money people are on board and that she's got a pile of cash in her campaign treasury. Full Story
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After battle appeared to be brewing between the state education board's left and right factions on contested language on evolution in one publisher's biology lessons, members found a compromise: Let the education commissioner decide. Full Story
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Two new polls show Rick Perry — who's done little so far but send rumor mills churning — already within striking distance of Mitt Romney. Full Story
Rep. Senfronia Thompson’s almost 40-year House tenure is defined by her defense of the underserved. But her legislative career is peppered with occasional paradoxes. Full Story
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