The 2010 political campaigns are over, but looking back at the fundraising and spending that financed them is now fully possible thanks to records made public by the Texas Ethics Commission after Tuesday’s filing deadline. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/cf-timeline-thumb.jpg)
During a meeting today of the Public Utility Commission, chairman Barry Smitherman said that the Environmental Protection Agency was attempting to "disarm the U.S. economy," with a raft of rules covering everything from fly-ash waste from coal plants to new rules on greenhouse gases. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/barry-smitherman.jpg)
Your afternoon reading: more emergency items, Medicaid and the Supreme Court, and The Daily Show Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f9ba9744b69347f5d2cef978537257c9/BD%20INC%20Perry%2006%202011)
Today, Gov. Rick Perry added two more issues — voter ID legislation and a call for a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget — to his list of "emergency items" that state legislators can begin deliberating on right away. Full Story
In case you missed it, we mashed up Wednesday's speeches for and against the Texas Senate's hallowed "two-thirds rule," which senators ultimately preserved. Members voted to keep an exception to the rules that allows a simple majority to consider changes to voter identification laws. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/Screen_shot_2011-01-20_at_10.05.06_AM.png)
Road rage and fender-benders aren’t the only reasons to hate traffic jams — Texans wasted $8.96 billion on congested roadways in 2009, according to the Urban Mobility Report released today by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) at Texas A&M University. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Screen_shot_2011-01-19_at_6.10.26_PM.png)
In a case that could directly affect Texas' planned budget cuts, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether states have the legal right to reduce the rates they pay to health care providers who accept Medicaid patients. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/scotus_chamber.jpg)
It's getting messy, and lawmakers — even the budget writer's fellow Republicans — aren't keeping quiet. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f7db99fe48a232b9e4c2dc534b22b591/BD%20INC%20House%20Floor%202011)
There are two paths to asylum in the United States. Mexican journalist Emilio Gutiérrez, whose life was threatened by the Mexican military, may have taken the wrong one. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Asylum_Fence_Sign.jpg)
The Texas judicial system can do a better job handling the cases of kids in long-term foster care, according to a study released today by Texas Appleseed. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Gavel003.jpg)
In a match made in Longhorn athletics heaven, the University of Texas and ESPN have struck a deal to launch a 24-hour TV network that’s all UT, all the time. As Ian Crawford of KUT News reports, it's a lucrative venture for UT, which says it'll use the network for more than just athletics. Full Story
As House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, laid out the first grim round of proposed cuts on Wednesday, even some of his Republican colleagues couldn't stifle their objections. House Democrats went a step further, calling the cuts "akin to asking an anorexic person to lose more weight." Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/budgetcuts004.jpg)
In a move seemingly at odds with the state's budget woes, the Texas Facilities Commission voted Wednesday to consider expanding the Capitol complex in downtown Austin. But as Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, the commission says it could actually save the state some money. Full Story
Every chancellor of a university system in Texas knows — down to the exact, excruciatingly precise percentage point — how much worse higher education fared than other agencies when their current budgets were cut. With the state facing a massive budget shortfall in the next biennium, the chancellors know they're in for another round. But this time they're adamant that they not bear a disproportionate share of the pain. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Chancellors_RoundUp.jpg)
In this week's TribCast, Ross, Elise, Ben and Reeve discuss budget numbers, Senate rules, the U.S. Senate race and the inaugural buzz heard around Austin. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TT-TribCast-002.png)
Michael Williams is leaving the Railroad Commission in April and preparing to announce his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. In an interview today with the Trib's Ross Ramsey, he talked about the 2012 race and about his confidence that minorities don't face any special hurdles in Texas GOP primaries. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/Screen_shot_2011-01-19_at_5.13.34_PM.png)
Among the most controversial issues in House Bill 1, the base budget, is its denial of state funding to four community colleges. While the bill does not represent a final decision, critics say presenting the proposed budget executions this way is as dangerous as the methodology behind the decision is misleading. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/pittsbudgetlayout_1.jpg)
The way Texas is currently providing care for people with disabilities — keeping all its state institutions in operation, despite increasing demand for community-based care — is not cost effective, and should be changed, according to an analysis released by the Legislative Budget Board on Wednesday. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/AustinStateSchool_wideroom.jpg)
Most people know that Gov. Rick Perry, inaugurated to a third term Tuesday, has served longer than any other chief executive in Texas history. What's remarkable, though, is just how much longer than the state's previous governors — even those who've served during the modern era. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/gov-terms.jpg)
Your afternoon reading: the budget (and backlash), the two-thirds rule and another entrant to the Senate race Full Story