The Midday Brief: June 18, 2010
Your afternoon reading. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading. Full Story
Capitol staffers report that they're being evacuated. Staffers say state troopers notified them that there was a possible bomb threat about 30 minutes ago. Full Story
The recently released map of Texans' access to high-speed internet is a new flashpoint in the race for state Agriculture Commissioner. At issue is the nonprofit behind it, Connected Nation, which received $3 million in federal money for the project under current commissioner Todd Staples' auspices. Full Story
The latest Rasmussen Report poll results show incumbent Gov. Rick Perry with an 8-point lead over his Democratic challenger, Bill White. Full Story
Does the GOP have a Joe problem? Full Story
After shocking abuse was uncovered at Texas Youth Commission facilities in 2007, lawmakers successfully overhauled the state juvenile justice system. Three years later, advocates worry that budget woes will halt that progress. Full Story
While the right and left don't agree on much, both sides stipulate that the state's budget mess is a multibillion-dollar problem. In the debut of our new video series, the executive director of the progressive Center for Public Policy Priorities, former state district judge Scott McCown, and the director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, former state Rep. Talmadge Heflin, debate the best way to dig us out of the hole — and how we got into it in the first place. Full Story
State Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, has asked the House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics to review how the Department of Family and Protective Services licenses, reviews and oversees residential treatment centers for foster kids. Full Story
Your afternoon reading. Full Story
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton apologizes to BP chief executive Tony Hayward, saying that the $20 billion escrow account for spill victims set up by the White House and BP on Wednesday amounts to a "shakedown." Later Thursday, he retracted his apology to BP, and apologized himself. Full Story
Is the boiling battle between Texas and the Environmental Protection Agency slowing to a simmer? Full Story
Within Texas, the Ogallala Aquifer accounts for about 40 percent of all water use, but its levels are declining sharply. In a dry growing season, the High Plains Water District recorded an average drop of 1.5 feet. Meanwhile, the 2007 state water plan projects that the Ogallala's volume will fall a staggering 52 percent between 2010 and 2060. Full Story
In 2000, higher education in Texas languished compared to other states, and a plan was adopted to “close the gaps” by 2015. A decade later, the commissioner of higher education tells the Tribune that bold steps still need to be taken. But can we afford to take them? Full Story
More than 250,000 Texas homes, mostly in rural areas, don’t have access to high-speed internet, according to a new broadband services map commissioned by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Full Story
The Senate Committee on Education got a painful preview today of the problems in special education that they’ll have to tackle during the 2011 legislative session. Full Story
Your afternoon reading. Full Story
See how Texas' fastest-growing areas compare with the 3,000 other counties across the country. Full Story
This morning we learned that the Tribune won two national Edward R. Murrow Awards: for best use of video by a local news operation — for Elise Hu's Stump Interrupted series — and for best website. Yes, we're psyched. Full Story
As the dust settled Tuesday, details of the college football kerfuffle-that-wasn't became a little clearer. Full Story
Texas now has about 24.8 million residents, an increase of 3.9 million, or almost 20 percent, since 2000, and trails only California in the proportion of its residents who identify themselves as Hispanic. We're also the third-youngest state, with a median age of 33; only Utah and Alabama have younger populations. These and other fun facts can be discovered in a new database application that helps explain and visualize how the makeup of Texas counties has changed since the last U.S. Census. Full Story