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The Brief: Top Texas News for April 1, 2011
In the House budget battle, it's two bills down, one to go. But this one's a doozy. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
State Senators in Tricky Search for More Money
It’s not just that state Sen. Robert Duncan doesn’t like gambling. He doesn’t think he could get legalized casinos approved. But Duncan's got a mission: Find $5 billion to $6 billion. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Guest Column: Of Course We Can Cut the Budget
Today, as we vote on House Bill 1, we are in the position of squeezing water out of rock, and the process is hard and dirty work. Democrats will say there is no water in the rock. They are wrong. Full Story
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T-Squared: Our Q1 Stats
In March we broke our previous records for monthly uniques and monthly page views — by a lot. And we're ahead of where we should be year-to-date in every category of fundraising. Full Story
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Execution Drug Switch Ignites Controversy
Texas' decision to change one of the drugs used for lethal injections has sparked a lawsuit, calls for federal investigation of the criminal justice department and pleas from the drugmaker not to use its product for executions. Full Story
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A Look Back at Lives Touched by a Troubled Youth Center
Jennifer Stayton of KUT News talked with author Sherry Matthews about her new book on the Waco State Home, a troubled youth facility that operated until the 1970s. Matthews says that for some alumni of the youth facility, life there remains too painful a memory to recount. Full Story
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![A central Texas woman writes about the Texas children that lived in a Waco state home.]()
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Insurers Drop Child-Only Plans, Blame Health Reform
Insurers in Texas have stopped offering new child-only policies in protest over a provision of the federal health care overhaul. For children being raised by their grandparents, there are few options left. Full Story
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![Phil and Diann Green at home with their granddaughter Aria, who they've raised since infancy. The Greens, who are retiring and will soon switch from employer-sponsored insurance to Medicare, have been unable to find a child-only health insurance policy for Aria. Insurers in Texas and many other states have stopped offering the policies in protest over federal health reform rules.]()
Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller -
Guest Column: A Last-Minute Plea to Minimize Harm
We cannot solve this budget crisis with blind, across-the-board cuts. There are better choices. If we return to the pragmatic political approach that once defined our politics, we will keep alive the tradition of each generation sacrificing for a better Texas. Full Story
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House Lawmakers Propose Privatizing All State Jails
House lawmakers are considering a plan to privatize all of Texas' state jails for low-level felony offenders, a move they say could save the state up to $40 million. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmerich -
Texas-Like Budget Debates Have Already Played Out Around U.S.
Heated debate over the state budget is already under way, but as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, similar fighting has been playing out for at least three years across the country. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Supporters Rally Around Texas Historical Commission
With the strum of a guitar and the whine of fiddle strings, Ray Benson and two other members of his band Asleep At The Wheel kicked off a rally Thursday to support the Texas Historical Commission, which faces deep budget cuts. Full Story
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House Gives Early OK to Bills Balancing '11 Budget
House lawmakers voted this afternoon to preliminarily pass HB 4 and HB 275, two bills that together will balance the state's budget for the remaining months of the fiscal year through a mix of spending cuts and use of the Rainy Day Fund. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Plenty of Politics in Budget Amendments
Numbers aren’t all that’s buried in the budget. Lawmakers have filed hundreds of amendments that are political in nature, from repealing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants to trying to push Planned Parenthood out of the family planning business. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Guns on Campus Bill Heads to Senate Floor
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee today approved a controversial bill that would allow students to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. Full Story
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The Midday Brief: Top Texas Headlines for March 31, 2011
Your afternoon reading: slew of amendments go down in House budget debate; freshman Republicans break ranks on funding for deaf and blind Full Story
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TribLive: Don't Cut Public Ed, Thompson Says
At this morning's TribLive conversation, state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, the longest-serving woman, African American and Democrat in the Texas House, forcefully argued that state funding of public education should not be cut — unless school districts are made to tap into their own reserves. Full Story
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Denton Paper Takes Close Look at Fracking
The Denton Record-Chronicle, a newspaper in the heart of the Barnett Shale gas-drilling region, has produced a series about "what it means to live in the midst of a modern gas boom" that is worth reading. Full Story
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The Brief: Top Texas News for March 31, 2011
House debate over this session's heavyweight bills — the only legislation that has to pass this year — gets under way today. Full Story
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Texas' Complicated School Finance System: A Primer
The Texas public school finance system, responsible for underwriting the education of the nation’s second-largest student population, is notoriously byzantine. Here’s our layman’s guide to figuring it out. Full Story
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Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman
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