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  • Sun on the Horizon

    By Matt Stiles

    A small but growing number of state officials are warming to the idea of greater transparency and open access to raw government data, following a budding trend across the country. In the latest example, state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, wrote to numerous Texas agencies, urging them to post "high-value" databases online in open-standard formats. Full Story 

    State Sen. Kirk Watson sent a letter urging more government transparency to the Texas Department of Information Resources, one of several agencies who received it.

  • Admission Impossible

    By Alexa Garcia-Ditta

    The wait to get into one of Texas' 10 state mental hospitals — already long — may be about to get longer. Last month, as part of its attempt to comply with Gov. Rick Perry’s request that each state agency reduce its budget by 5 percent, the Department of State Health Services proposed eliminating 50 beds from four of the state's 10 mental hospitals: San Antonio, Rusk, Terrell and North Texas Wichita. The state's mental hospitals are already almost at full capacity, with nearly 2,500 self-admitted patients and allegedly criminal patients awaiting treatment so they can stand trial. Full Story 

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  • The Runoffs: CD-23

    By Morgan Smith

    Cut through the routine Republican primary rhetoric about government spending and job creation and a narrative about the new and old guard emerges in the April 13 runoff in Texas' 23rd congressional district. Full Story 

    Will Hurd (left) and Fransisco "Quico" Canseco (right) at a Bexar County Young Republicans debate.
    Credit: Morgan Smith

  • The $27 Billion Question

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The debate over how much federal health care reform will cost Texas put the state’s health and human services chief on the defensive on Wednesday, as he presented a budget estimate that is 20 times higher than federal projections. Full Story 

    HHSC Commissioner Tom Suehs testifies before lawmakers.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Kay in 2012?!?

    By Ross Ramsey

    She said she would limit her time in the U.S. Senate to two terms and is currently serving a third. She said she would resign her federal office to run for governor and didn't. She said she would quit after the primary and hasn't. So who's to say she won't reconsider in two years and run for a fourth term? And what of all those would-be successors? Full Story 

  • TribBlog: A Redistricting Compromise?

    By Evan Smith

    Republican and Democratic members of the Texas congressional delegation are discussing a possible compromise designed to cool off the overheated politics of congressional redistricting by dividing the expected spoils once U.S. Census figures are in and the reapportionment process begins in 2011, two members of the delegation say. Full Story 

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  • 2010: Kay Stays [UPDATED]

    By Elise Hu

    Surprising almost no one, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced in San Antonio that she will not resign her Senate seat. She'll stay through the end of her term in 2012. Full Story 

    March 31, 2010. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in San Antonio, announcing she will keep her Senate seat through 2012.
    Credit: Elise Hu

  • 2010: Flo Says No

    By Ross Ramsey

    State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, is no longer a candidate for U.S. Senate and says she'll refund about $1 million to her contributors. Full Story 

    State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano
    Credit: Shapiro campaign

  • Worse Than Colombia

    By Brandi Grissom

    That's how Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw described the violence raging in Mexico’s drug war at a House hearing on Tuesday. Full Story 

    Steve McCraw
    Credit: texasranger.org

  • Tomorrow Never Dies

    By Abby Rapoport

    Lobbyists and lawmakers are fighting to preserve the terms of the contracts signed by parents who enrolled in the Texas Tomorrow Fund prepaid college tuition plan. Full Story 

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  • The Runoffs: HD-66

    By Reeve Hamilton

    She says he's a carpetbagger. He says she's a moderate. We'll know what voters in this North Texas district say on April 13, when they decide whether former city councilwoman Mabrie Jackson or businessman Van Taylor will succeed state Rep. Brian McCall, R-Plano. Full Story 

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