Health care in Texas prisons is already so abysmal it borders on being unconstitutional, according to a report released today by the Texas Civil Rights Project. The cuts lawmakers are now considering, they said, will almost certainly spark lawsuits that could cost Texas more money than it would spend to simply improve the system. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: House committees announced; eminent domain bill moves through Senate; abortion sonogram testimony under way Full Story
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Speaker Joe Straus appointed members to committees today, shuffling the assignments in a Texas House where one in four members is a freshman and where Republicans have a two-to-one numerical advantage. Full Story
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More than 100 Texas doctors made a deal with the state: For four years, they would practice in underserved communities and treat the neediest patients — in return for having their med school debt forgiven. But now state officials may be backing down from their side of the bargain. Full Story
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Even before state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, tweaked a bill requiring a woman seeking an abortion to have a sonogram performed, he said lawmakers and the media had misunderstood his intent. Full Story
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Cries of "Texas fight" and "It's 8:45, and we're still underfunded" rang across a crowd of nearly 100 students, who marched to the Capitol this morning to rally for adequate funding for the University of Texas. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry's glass-half-full view of the state's affairs was on full, defiant display on Tuesday. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry's State of the State speech on Tuesday was part pep rally, part budget proposal, with a dash of national politics. And, as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, Democrats weren't charmed. Full Story
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One state senator calls it "a 20 percent backdoor secret tax" on those paying for college. Another argues that eliminating it would help create a Texas with a "have-and-have-not culture." And some students say the the tuition set-aside program mandated by the state in 2003 is just plain theft. Full Story
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We already know that the major-party candidates in the governor's race spent more on advertising than others on last year's ballot, thanks to the cost of television. But some other ad vendors also received lucrative business from the competitive state House races, with mixed results. Full Story
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State Democratic lawmakers responded to Gov. Rick Perry's State of the State address Tuesday, calling his budget proposals a "Ponzi scheme." Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry told lawmakers Tuesday he is against tapping the state's $9.4 billion Rainy Day Fund to close the budget shortfall: “That approach would not only postpone tough, necessary decisions." Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry wants two state agencies — the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Texas Historical Commission — defunded because they don’t provide “mission-critical” services. But what do they do? Full Story
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That "certain Texas congressman" whom Gov. Rick Perry called out in his address today for blocking federal education money responds. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett says Perry's jibe "says less about the state of the state and more about his own state of denial." Full Story
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University of Texas President Bill Powers has been hospitalized with a pulmonary embolism. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: State of the State wrap-up, Historical Commission controversy and prison cuts Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry had the ultimate guest to further his border security message at today's State of the State: the young woman whose husband was apparently murdered by a band of Mexican pirates on Texas' Falcon Lake. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry delivered his sixth State of the State speech today, addressing a joint session of the Texas House and Senate, and selling the state's fiscal troubles as an opportunity to make government more efficient. Full Story
The talk of budget woes may be inescapable, but don't expect gloom from Gov. Rick Perry during his State of the State speech today. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry has delivered five previous State of the State speeches. Has his emphasis on certain words and themes changed over the years? We created word clouds of the past addresses to find out. Full Story
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