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  • Unfunded But Vital?

    By Morgan Smith

    Get acquainted with a phrase that will be oft-repeated in the upcoming 82nd Legislature’s brawls over public education: unfunded mandate. To help schools cope with any reduced funding, lawmakers will look to relax state regulations that create costs local school districts bear on their own or with limited help from the state. But will dropping these requirements hurt educational quality? Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman, Brent Hoard/Elizabeth Albert

  • Michele Deitch: The TT Interview

    By Brandi Grissom

    The jail conditions expert and professor at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs on why maintaining treatment programs that keep offenders in their communities and reducing some of the harsh, long-term jail sentences often doled out in Texas' notoriously tough criminal justice system could be more cost-efficient and allow Texas to close prisons. Full Story 

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    Credit: Justin Dehn

  • A Taxing Problem

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    It's not hard to find strange bedfellows in the Texas Legislature when the bills start flying. Republicans and Democrats frequently cross the aisle to support legislation that they feel will help their constituents. As Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, the same could be true as lawmakers try to figure out how to balance the state budget. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Big Bend Border Crossing

    By Brandi Grissom

    Alan Bersin, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol commissioner, will be headed to Big Bend National Park on Thursday for an announcement that might please residents of that remote area of the border. Bersin is set to meet with National Park Services staff to discuss the opening of a border crossing in Boquillas Canyon. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • T-Squared: Our 2010 Stats

    By Evan Smith

    It was a very interesting and newsworthy year for Texas politics and public policy, so it makes sense that traffic on our still-new-ish site would be robust — but even we optimists at Trib HQ didn't imagine that it would be this robust. Full Story 

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  • Memories Lost

    By Emily Ramshaw

    When foster kids bounce from placement to placement, they leave their belongings with state child welfare workers — where advocates say they often get misplaced, given to the wrong child or even stolen. Full Story 

    Crystal Martinez sits with items recovered from Child Protective Services at her home in North Austin, Dec. 21, 2010.
    Credit: Callie Richmond

  • Now What?

    By Ross Ramsey

    Texas alternates election years with governing years, with legislative sessions set in the odd-numbered years after voters choose their leaders. There are variations, but it’s got a rhythm: Choose them, watch them govern, choose, watch. The elections behind us, it’s time to see what this particular bunch will do. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Shades of Burnt Orange

    By Reeve Hamilton, The Texas Tribune, and Jon Marcus, The Hechinger Report

    In August, 60 years after the University of Texas admitted its first black student, the school welcomed the first incoming freshman class in its history in which white students were in the minority. The state’s flagship university passed the demographic milestone earlier than some had anticipated, reflecting a similar shift that is rapidly taking place at other top-level universities across the country. While the changing demographics of college campuses may grab the headlines, the more compelling issue is how the growing number of minority students presents serious social and academic challenges for financially strapped universities, even as they are under pressure to boost graduation rates. Full Story 

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    Credit: Spencer Selvidge

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Galbraith on why the Lege meets only every two years, Hu picks the year's best political moments on video, Ramsey on the personalities who mattered in 2010, Stiles on lobbyists with conflicts of interest and what the census means for redistricting, yours truly on the new Cameron Todd Willingham documentary, Grissom on cockfighting and Trillin on Sissy Farenthold: The best of our best from Dec. 23 to 27, 2010. Full Story 

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  • Face Time

    By Ross Ramsey

    2010 didn't turn out like it looked a year ago. Unexpected people showed up. The political environment bloomed red instead of blue. The Tea was strong. And big shots turned into paper tigers. Here are some of the political personalities who mattered. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Confidential Conflicts

    By Matt Stiles

    Lobbyists are required by law to notify their clients if they represent two or more groups with clashing agendas. They are also required to notify the Texas Ethics Commission. Scores of lobbyists have done so in recent legislative sessions. What is not required is for the public or elected representatives to be informed. Full Story 

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    Credit: Matt Stiles

  • Biennial Blues?

    By Kate Galbraith

    Come January, as Texas lawmakers begin work to pass bills and tackle the yawning budget gap, they will go up against a simple but implacable barrier: time. Texas is one of a dwindling number of states whose legislatures hold scheduled meetings only every two years. Just three other, far smaller states — Montana, North Dakota and Nevada — still have biennial legislative sessions. Lawmakers differ on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, especially for budgeting. Regardless, Texas seems unlikely to change anytime soon. Full Story 

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    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • The Best Political Video Moments of 2010

    By Elise Hu

    Politics, like football, is a full-contact sport — and the 2010 election was filled with the kind of brawling you would expect. It also had plenty of bizarre moments of the sort that make the rest of the nation believe Texas really is a different country. Full Story 

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