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
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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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Hours after the state Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would merge the state's two juvenile criminal justice agencies, a House committee passed a similar bill. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: Senate approves teen "sexting" ban; puppy mill bill derailed; map would add five Latino seats Full Story
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A bill that would regulate so-called puppy mills, and has dog breeders and animal rights groups at each other's throats, got derailed from the fast-track to passage in the Texas House today. Full Story
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Two bills regulating teenagers’ sex lives passed on the Senate floor today — one would outlaw “sexting” by minors; the other would exempt young adults caught having consensual sex with a minor from registering as sex offenders. Full Story
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At a Thursday morning press conference, Gov. Rick Perry discussed his priorities on higher education, including a four-year tuition freeze, $10,000 degrees and outcomes-based funding. Full Story
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Last year, after the Republicans won large majorities in the Texas House, state Rep. Aaron Peña of Edinburg left the Democrats to join the GOP. Is he now being rewarded with a district that a Republican can maintain? Check out these maps. Full Story
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One University of Texas student leader who recently visited Arizona State University as part of a university system task force was not encouraged by the excursion — and let the regents know in a new letter. Full Story
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A coalition of Latino groups unveiled a redistricting map that would add five Latino-majority districts to the political map used to elect state representatives in Texas. Full Story
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In a Texas House Appropriations Committee hearing this morning, natural gas producers fought back against suggestions that a major tax exemption they receive be rolled back. Full Story
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The president and chief operating officer of the Sam Houston Race Park on legislation that would allow slot machines at horse and dog tracks in Texas, why she believes that's a good idea, and why it has a chance this year. Full Story
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The maps are out, and the race is on. Full Story
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