Laura Bush on Midland
As part of a special report for KUT News, Texas Monthly editor Jake Silverstein talks to former first lady Laura Bush, whose memoir, “Spoken from the Heart,” hit bookstores this week. Full Story
As part of a special report for KUT News, Texas Monthly editor Jake Silverstein talks to former first lady Laura Bush, whose memoir, “Spoken from the Heart,” hit bookstores this week. Full Story
The insurance plan for state employees will have a $140.4 million shortfall next year — and that's the least of its problems. The projected shortfall for the two years after that is $880 million, and it will take another $476 million to replenish the legally required contingency fund. The Employee Retirement System and state leaders are surprisingly mellow about the red ink, saying growth in the cost of health benefits has actually stabilized at around 9 percent. But steady and large increases in costs threaten to erode the program, leaving policymakers to consider cuts in benefits, to negotiate lower prices or to find vast amounts of new money. Full Story
Your afternoon reading. Full Story
Susan Combs' new texastransparency.org includes an Open Data Center, where anyone can download dozens of raw data sets, much like the federal government's data.gov. Full Story
The young mayor of San Antonio gets his global 15 minutes this weekend in a glowing 4,600-word New York Times Sunday Magazine profile. Full Story
If Bill White’s ad buys are any indicator, we’ll have plenty of political TV to get through the summer. Full Story
Bill White, the Democratic nominee for governor, watched Rick Perry make mincemeat of Kay Bailey Hutchison in the GOP primary by painting a devastating picture of her before she could introduce herself to prospective voters. How to avoid the same fate? By travelling incessantly, trying to make himself known everywhere in Texas. By dismissing snippy press releases as interesting only to Austin insiders and pundits. By running bio ads on TV. In other words, by working the problem. Full Story
At tonight's Rose Garden celebration of Cinco de Mayo, Barack Obama said he intended to begin work on "comprehensive immigration reform" this year, even though many administration observers predicted the issue was too controversial to tackle following the bloody battle over health care reform legislation. Full Story
The latest Texans for Rick Perry web video gives us an idea of how the campaign will frame Democratic opponent Bill White. But what is Yao Ming doing in there? Full Story
State Rep. Debbie Riddle defends the comments she made about minorities and immigration reform. Full Story
With health care reform expected to place up to 1 million more Texans on the state rolls in the next several years, experts predict a surge in the number of doctors who opt out of accepting Medicaid and Medicare patients, thanks to reimbursements well below private-payer rates. Full Story
If you're wondering about the economic impact of the federal military base realignment and closure effort, look only as far as Texas, where two cities with shuttered bases are struggling to keep residents employed and spirits up, while one city with an expanded base is booming. Full Story
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and University of Texas professor, whose latest book is a modern history of capital punishment in America, says he doesn't oppose the death penalty — but he believes it's scandalously implemented in Texas. Full Story
The Speaker doesn't have anyone studying gambling in advance of the next legislative session, and a leading Democrat says legislators ought to get together on their own to consider the issue. Full Story
Did state Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, really say minorities were used to entitlements? Full Story
The El Paso County attorney wants the state's top lawyer to tell her whether she can issue a marriage certificate to a woman and a biological male who had a sex change operation to become a woman. Full Story
Arch-conservative state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, has two points he’d like to clarify. Full Story
State Sen. Kirk Watson's spoof of the governor's coyote adventure ... Full Story
Rick Perry and Janet Napolitano: just a couple of old border governors talkin' homeland security. Full Story
For the eighth event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the tenth chancellor of the University of Texas System about the big three concerns of anyone in a leadership role in higher education these days: access, affordability and excellence. Full Story