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All Coverage

  • The People's Courthouses

    By Kate Galbraith

    Since 1999, dozens of county courthouses — some dating to the 19th century — have been spruced up with the help of state funding, and workers have uncovered old artwork or other historic features. But advocates fear that the renovation program will be yet another casualty of the coming biennial budget shortfall. Full Story 

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    Credit: Sandi Halley

  • The Most Important Perry

    By Matt Stiles

    Over the last decade, two Republicans with the last name Perry have dominated the Texas political landscape. One is Rick, the state’s longest-serving governor. The other is Bob (no relation), the state’s largest individual political donor during that time — with no close second. Since 2000, the wealthy Houston home builder has contributed about $28 million to more than 400 candidates and political action committees in Texas, according to an analysis of campaign-finance data by The Texas Tribune. During that time, he's also contributed at least $38 million more to candidates and groups outside of Texas. Full Story 

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    Credit: Randal Ford

  • A Conversation With Tom Leppert

    By Evan Smith

    For the 14th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the mayor of Dallas on the challenges of leading the state's third-largest city, why he endorsed Rick Perry despite being a nonpartisan elected official, what he thinks of federal health care reform and whether he'll run for the Senate in 2012. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: The Paredes Plan

    By Reeve Hamilton

    Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes wants to change the way public universities and colleges are funded in Texas. Today, at a meeting of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, he will lay out his latest plan to do just that. Full Story 

    Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Commissioner Raymund Paredes speaks at the podium during the Generation Adelante college fair.
    Credit: Office of the Governor Rick Perry

  • Blood and Money

    By Julián Aguilar

    Each year, billions of dollars are smuggled into Mexico through Texas ports by drug cartels for the purpose of bribing government officials, hiring assassins and purchasing arms. For now, at least, there's not much that the U.S. or Mexican governments can do about it. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • The History of the Shuttle Program, Part Four

    By Matt Largey, KUT News

    What happens after Discovery, the next-to-last shuttle mission, blasts off Monday from Kennedy Space Center (with an Austin astronaut aboard)? For thousands of engineers and support staff at the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake, the answer isn’t certain. Matt Largey of KUT News contemplates the impact of the transition to the next phase of NASA's mission in space. Full Story 

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  • Sign Language

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    With just a few days left in the 2010 campaign, political signs are littering streets across Texas. But are they saying something other than "vote for me"? Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune asked Brent Ladd of GSD&M's Idea City to demystify color and font choice and the decision to feature a candidate's picture. Full Story 

    Voting signs in Austin during the 2010 election cycle.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • TribBlog: War of Attrition Rates

    By Tristan Hallman and Becca Aaronson

    A new study by the nonprofit education advocacy group Intercultural Development Research Association says 29 percent of Texas students who enter high school as freshmen do not graduate. The attrition rate is the lowest in the 25 years since the IDRA began performing the annual study. But the group notes that while the trend is declining, millions more Texans will drop out by 2040. Full Story 

    The original data used for this visualization can be found here: http://www.idra.org/images/stories/IDRA_Attrition_Study_2010.pdf
    Credit: Becca Aaronson

  • The Mother's Milk

    By Ross Ramsey

    The state's political economy hummed with $43.5 million in contributions to and between candidates and political action committees between Sept. 24 and Oct. 23, according to the most recent reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. The biggest contribution: $3 million to Rick Perry's re-election campaign from the Republican Governors Association. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • The Sex Offender is Offended

    By Brandi Grissom

    Marvin Brown is a convicted sex offender who was released from jail in 1999. Today, he's ill and elderly, suffering from diabetes, stage-four renal disease and congestive heart failure. He's had three mini-strokes in the last two months alone. On good days, he walks with a cane. Other times, he gets around with a walker or an electric wheelchair. But according to Gov. Rick Perry, he poses such a threat to society that he has to wear an ankle bracelet so he can be continuously monitored. Brown says that's a violation of his civil rights, and on Tuesday he filed suit in federal court. "They can't give you freedom and then take it away," he says. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • The History of the Shuttle Program, Part Three

    By Jennifer Stayton

    NASA lost two shuttles, Challenger and Columbia, during the space shuttle program’s 30-year history. After each accident, the agency was never quite the same. Jennifer Stayton of KUT News recently talked about those tragedies with Pat Duggins, who reports on NASA for NPR and is the author of Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program. Full Story 

    Members of the Los Padres and INYO C-25 firefighting teams from Oregon and California walk shoulder-to-shoulder through fields outside this north Texas town as the search for Columbia space shuttle debris Photo
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich