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  • Does Every Vote Count?

    By Morgan Smith

    It's the stuff of an Orwellian dystopia: a voting machine hacked, an election stolen, the public none the wiser. Yet some civil rights groups believe it's a legitimate threat in Texas, one of only 12 states that still use paperless electronic voting machines. Ensuring the purity of the ballot box has been a point of concern for lawmakers since "hanging chad" entered the lexicon. Congress passed the Help America Vote Act to improve the administration of federal elections, but an irony of post-2000 reforms is that the electronic machines brought in to replace outdated lever-and-punch-card-based systems have their own flaws. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • David Blumenthal: The TT Interview

    By Julie Chang

    The national coordinator of Health Information Technology on why it's important for Texas doctors to make the transition to paperless medical records, how they can do it while protecting patient privacy and why rural areas are not entirely on the e-bandwagon. Full Story 

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  • College Orientation

    By Reeve Hamilton

    More than a quarter-century has passed since a landmark suit against Texas A&M University established the right of gay student groups to form on college campuses. Yet all these years later, half of the university systems in the state — the Texas A&M University System, the Texas State University System and the Texas Tech University System — do not include sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Closing for Good?

    By Tristan Hallman

    A barrage of abuse scandals, a federal investigation and the shrinking state budget could be just what disability advocates need to achieve a longtime goal: fewer state institutions and more community-based living services for developmentally disabled Texans who can’t care for themselves. Full Story 

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    Credit: Samantha Mesones

  • TribBlog: Delay of Game

    By Julián Aguilar

    A federal judge on Wednesday declined to rule on a request for an injunction filed by a group of high school sports officials seeking to prevent what they call a government takeover of an independent contracting agency. Full Story 

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  • 2010: White Accuses Perry of "Milking" TRS

    By Ross Ramsey

    Top appointees and employees at the state Teacher Retirement System overrode staff recommendations in order to hire political cronies and business associates for investment work there, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White charged Tuesday. A spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry's campaign says White is "throwing everything at the wall to see what will stick." Full Story 

    Republican Rick Perry and Democrat Bill White
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Data App: Even More Salaries

    By Matt Stiles and Ryan Murphy

    This week we added more than 20 new public agencies to The Texas Tribune's government employee salary database. The application now features payroll data on more than 620,000 employees from 88 school districts, cities, community colleges, universities, state agencies and transit authorities. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller, Jacob Villanueva

  • Friday Night Lights Out?

    By Julián Aguilar

    The drama of the gridiron has found its way into a federal courtroom in a standoff between the Texas Association of Sports Officials and the University Interscholastic League. With the threat of a lockout of referees and their ilk, the result could be the hiring of scabs to replace them — or even the halting of games — just weeks before one of the year's most eagerly anticipated moments in Texas: the start of high school football playoffs. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman