For the latest installment of our unscientific survey of political and policy insiders, we asked whether lawmakers ought to revise the state's main business tax, whether they'll extend a major small business tax exemption, and what they think are the smartest and dumbest cuts in proposed state budgets. Full Story
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The 2006 tax swap — lowering local school property taxes and creating a new business tax to make up the difference — is at the center of Texas' current budget troubles. The architects are still pointing fingers over what and whom to blame for the state's “structural deficit.” Full Story
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Now there are maps, and the chairman of the House Redistricting Committee, Burt Solomons, appears to be in a hurry. He unveiled his proposed House map on Wednesday and could ask his committee to vote as early as Monday after hearings over the weekend. Full Story
An unexpected casualty of the drug-cartel-fueled lawlessness in Mexico: the cattle industry. Full Story
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Hamilton on Victoria's efforts to divorce the University of Houston, Ramshaw on a disagreement between right-to-life groups over laws governing when life ends, E. Smith's TribLive interview with Sen. Kel Seliger and Rep. Burt Solomons on redistricting, Aguilar's interview with the mayor of Juárez, Tan on the continuing hunt for money to buy down budget cuts, Grissom on a psychologist who found more than a dozen inmates mentally competent to face the death penalty, Stiles and yours truly on the House redistricting maps and Galbraith on cutting or killing a tax break for high-cost natural gas producers: The best of our best content from April 11 to 15, 2011. Full Story
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Nine SBOE members say there's a potential $2 billion for public schools in the state's Permanent School Fund — but they need a constitutional amendment to get it. Full Story
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There are 101 Republicans in the Texas House. But according to the map released by Redistricting Committee Chair Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, not all of them will get re-elected. Full Story
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Members of a state forensic board today accepted an amended version of a report on convicted arsonist Cameron Todd Willingham's case, but won't rule on professional negligence until the attorney general says whether they have jurisdiction to do so. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: Faster speeds on the highway; more authority for Susan Combs; EPA cuts in Texas Full Story
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Texas faces a hefty reduction in federal funding for drinking water and sewer projects as a result of a recent budget cut to the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington. Full Story
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One reason companies move from California to Texas is the Golden State's higher tax burden. But are taxes really lower here than there? Depends on how you look at it. Full Story
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With gasoline costing $1 more than a year ago, budget planners can add fuel expenditures to their list of worries. However, it's also true that oil companies will also pay more in taxes to the state as they beef up their drilling operations. Full Story
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A state commission wouldn't rule Thursday on what's become one of the highest-profile death penalty cases in the nation. Full Story
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A psychologist who examined 14 inmates now on Texas’ death row — and two others who were subsequently executed — and found them intellectually competent enough to face the death penalty has agreed never to perform such evaluations again. Full Story
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The Texas Legislature is faced with a budget challenge that pits the Republican majority’s desire to cut government spending against a vulnerable target: the frail and the elderly covered by Medicaid and housed in nursing homes. Full Story
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Redistricting can change the odds in legislative and congressional races, but in statewide races, it's all about turnout. Full Story
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After releasing a draft report on the case of convicted arsonist Cameron Todd Willingham, state forensic board members refused again today to rule on whether investigators in the case were professionally negligent in deciding the fire that killed Willingham's three daughters was intentionally ignited. Full Story
For those betting on the horserace to be the next state's next public national research — or tier-one — university, the winners are about to be crowned. Today, the House tentatively passed House Bill 1000, which creates a mechanism to claim the prize money. Full Story
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After a fierce fight, the state’s leading physician groups won a change in legislation backed predominantly by Texas chiropractors that could have prevented one health care licensing agency from challenging the ruling of another in court. Full Story
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The Texas Forensic Science Commission has released its draft report on the Cameron Todd Willingham case without ruling on the central question before it — whether fire investigators were negligent or committed professional misconduct. Full Story
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