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  • Handout City

    By Tristan Hallman

    Over the last five years, cities and counties in Texas have shelled out $17 million more to hire lobbyists in Washington, D.C., according to disclosure forms analyzed by the Tribune. “Just like anyone else in the nation, we pay federal taxes, and we expect a return on those dollars,” says Larry Gilley, the city manager of Abilene, which paid $320,000 to lobbyists between January 2006 and October 2010. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Traffic Patterns

    By Julián Aguilar

    Texas has the dubious distinction of being home to one of the busiest human trafficking routes in the country: the stretch of Interstate Highway 10 that runs from El Paso to Houston. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • TribBlog: Straus to Chisum: "Have You No Shame?"

    By Elise Hu

    The speaker's race drama continues! House Speaker Joe Straus is hitting back — hard — at challenger state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, calling on Chisum to "stop the threatening letters, mean-spirited emails, and angry phone calls." Full Story 

    House Speaker Joe Straus and the man in the running to unseat him, state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller/Bob Daemmrich

  • Gene Green on "Leader" Pelosi

    By Evan Smith

    During his TribLive interview Wednesday morning, U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, was asked if — in light of his party's Election Day disemboweling — he would support outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bid for minority leader. Full Story 

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    Credit: Justin Dehn/Todd Wiseman

  • TribBlog: UTB-TSC Split [Updated]

    By Reeve Hamilton

    At a meeting today in Austin, the University of Texas System Board of Regents voted unanimously to terminate its partnership with Texas Southmost College in Brownsville. Now, a four-year process of phasing out the partnership will go into effect with an August 2015 deadline. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • "Fed Up" Frenzy

    By Justin Dehn

    After a media tour in New York, Gov. Rick Perry returned to Texas to promote his new book, "Fed Up!" San Antonio supporters were not only eager to read the book but hopeful that the governor would run for president. Full Story 

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  • The Most Unpopular Fraction

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Whatever the size of their majority in the Texas House, Republicans in the Texas Senate have to contend with the rule requiring two-thirds of members to agree to bring a bill up for vote. That's 21 out of 31 — and there are only 19 Republicans in the upper chamber. As Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, some in the GOP want the rule changed. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • Going Head to Head

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Whether reconditioned football helmets sufficiently protect young players from concussions and other serious injuries has become a subject of fierce debate. Texas parents are torn between the desire of their kids to play and increasingly hard-to-ignore studies about the relationship between football and long-term brain damage. Coaches struggle to balance safety with fans’ cries for harder hits, bigger players and crushing wins. And at least one upstart manufacturer is contributing to the public's unease by challenging the industry’s long-standing practice of refurbishing old helmets. Full Story 

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    Credit: Tom Pennington