Lawmakers want state agencies to cut another 2 to 3 percent from their current budgets — on top of the 5 percent cuts that were already ordered. The Legislative Budget Board — comprised of members of both the House and Senate, along with the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House — also adopted a spending cap for the next budget. Full Story
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Austin-based Public Strategies is merging with Hill & Knowlton, a venerable New York-based public relations firm. Jack Martin, PSI's founder and chairman, will be the global executive chairman of the new firm. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: KBH in 2012, protests at the Bush library groundbreaking, textbook censorship in Plano, and Arizona's Hispanic exodus. Full Story
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Five private university presidents in Texas banked more than $1 million in 2008, according to a new report by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Full Story
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Want a straw poll in the Speaker’s race? Not so fast. Full Story
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The State Board of Psychologists will decide whether an architect of Bush-era "enhanced interrogation techniques" developed for use in so-called black prison sites violated the profession's rules of practice. Full Story
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For this week's installment of our non-scientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we asked two main questions: "Do you think Joe Straus will win another term as Speaker of the House next year, or do you think it will be someone else?" and "Should the Senate keep or abandon its practice of requiring approval from two-thirds of the senators before raising an issue for debate and approval?" And we asked an open-ended third: "How do you think the election outcomes will affect the legislative session ahead?" Full Story
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For the 16th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the Democratic U.S. Congressman from Houston about why his party got slaughtered on Election Day, whether Nancy Pelosi should continue in a leadership role, why the Obama administration has been forced to play defense and what health care reform should look like going forward. Full Story
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Now that the Republicans have a huge majority in the Texas House, they aren't sharing power with the Democrats; they're sharing power with themselves. More precisely, one faction of Republicans is sharing power with another faction of Republicans. However you label it — moderate vs. conservative, country club vs. country, Bush vs. Perry — it's bumpy. Full Story
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Is it possible that the inventors of adult diapers had been through a Texas speakers' race? Whatever the answer is to that question, there's little doubt they have a market for their products in Austin this week. Full Story
More than 280 inmates in county jails died from illnesses while in custody over a four-and-a-half-year period, according to data provided by the Texas attorney general and analyzed by The Texas Tribune. Many died of heart conditions, some of cancer or liver and kidney problems and others of afflictions ranging from AIDS to seizure disorders and pneumonia. There are no state standards for health care in county jails, but criminal justice advocates and correctional facility experts say the large number of illness-related deaths prove they're needed. Full Story
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Galbraith on energy conservation and basketball, Ramshaw (and Serafini of Kaiser News) on what would happen if states abandoned Medicaid, Hallman on cities and counties lobbying the feds (and a Stiles data app visualizing what they're spending), Aguilar on legislative attempts to stop human trafficking, Aaronson on cuts in Senate office spending, Philpott on the latest run at a Senate rule that empowers political minorities, yours truly on how the GOP landslide will change the way things work at the Capitol, Hu catches the first day of bill filing and finds immigration at the top of the agenda and Hamilton on a wobbly partnership between two Texas universities: The best of our best from November 8 to 12, 2010. Full Story
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The session hasn't started yet, but the battles have. In a heated exchange over possible cuts to higher education at a post-election debrief, Democratic consultant Matt Angle spars with Gov. Rick Perry's campaign manager, Rob Johnson. Full Story
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According to a rosy new study, Texas taxpayers see a 6.9 percent rate of return on their investment in community colleges. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: updates on the GOP, TSC and UTB, and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. Full Story
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On the heels of a defection by state Rep. Tan Parker, R-Denton, House GOP chairmen release a letter supporting the re-election of House Speaker Joe Straus. Full Story
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Two’s company, but three’s a crowd. Full Story
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How big is the state’s budget shortfall? It all depends on who's doing the math. A big number means the coming session will be all about what’s cut — what programs and services won’t be offered. A smaller one puts lawmakers in the position of deciding, in hard times, what they can add to current spending. Full Story
For five years, the director of UT's Frank Erwin Center has been on a crusade to save energy. Fans may not notice the changes, but athletics officials on campus and around Texas are paying heed — and going green themselves. Full Story
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A week after newly emboldened Republicans in the Texas Legislature floated a radical cost-saving proposal — withdrawing from the federal Medicaid program — health care experts, economists and think tanks are trying to determine just how possible it would be. The answer? It’s complicated. But it’s not stopping nearly a dozen other states, frantic over budget shortfalls and anticipating new costs from federal health care reform, from exploring something that was, until recently, unthinkable. Full Story
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