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  • TribBlog: Coleman on Continental

    By Reeve Hamilton

    Amid reports that a merger deal might soon be struck between Houston-based Continental Airlines and United Airlines, with the latter as the surviving company headquartered in Chicago, state Rep. Garnet Coleman discusses Houston's long-standing relationship with Continental. Full Story 

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    Credit: Garnet Coleman

  • Smaller is Better

    By Brian Thevenot

    In a new statewide ranking of public schools that we published yesterday, the Dallas Independent School District boasts seven of the top 25 high schools but also 18 in the bottom quartile. Not surprisingly, the best ones have a small student population, while the worst ones are megacampuses — an example of a larger trend in school rankings data. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva

  • Grade Stagflation

    By Brian Thevenot

    Hundreds of school districts can continue giving failing students inflated grades, after a Travis County Civil Court judge declined to rule in a lawsuit challenging the state’s interpretation of a new law mandating “honest grades.” Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • Inman Inside

    By Reeve Hamilton

    Every Friday since a blast at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 miners, graduate students at UT's LBJ School of Public Affairs have been treated to an insider briefing. The name of their course is Managing Crises, and their professor, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, is dealing with a big one. Full Story 

    Admiral Bobby Ray Inman
    Credit: Reeve Hamilton

  • TribBlog: Traffic Surcharges Attacked

    By Brandi Grissom

    Criminal justice advocates today told the Texas Public Safety Commission that their proposal to fix the broken Driver Responsibility Program fell far short of the comprehensive approach needed to help more than 1.2 million Texans who have lost their licenses because of the program's steep surcharges. Full Story 

    A Texas Department of Public Safety official seal.
    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • 2010: The Debate Delay

    By Elise Hu

    Setting a date for a tete-a-tete between Gov. Rick Perry and Democrat Bill White will take awhile. The Perry camp is refusing to debate White until the former Houston mayor releases more of his income tax returns. Full Story 

    Republican Rick Perry and Democrat Bill White
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Peace Bend?

    By Alexa Garcia-Ditta

    Even as violence near the border rages and security becomes a more pressing issue, discussions about unifying Big Bend National Park with Mexico may be gaining momentum. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • The Big Stall

    By Morgan Smith

    Since his appointment, the alternately amiable and peevish, typically cowboy-boot-shod chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission has comported himself as a virtuoso of the bureaucratic dawdle. With the commission's investigation of the now-notorious Cameron Todd Willingham case "still in its infancy," John Bradley has this to say about when it might conclude its review: "However long it takes, that’s however long it takes.” Full Story 

    John Bradley, left, is the new chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. Cameron Todd Willingham, right, was executed for setting a house fire that killed his three daughters.
    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • Data App: 5,800+ Schools Ranked

    By Matt Stiles and Brian Thevenot

    We've built a searchable database of public school rankings based on data collected by the Houston-based nonprofit Children At Risk. In contrast to the Texas Education Agency's "ratings," which rely almost entirely on the percentage of students passing the TAKS test, the rankings blend 12 different measures for elementary schools, 10 for middle schools and 14 for high schools — including TAKS results, ACT and SAT scores, AP exams, attendance rates, graduation rates and the percentage of economically disadvantaged students on every campus. How does your school stack up? Full Story 

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  • What's in a Name?

    By Ross Ramsey

    Ask Gov. Rick Perry’s chief spokesman, Mark Miner, a question on any issue these days and the answer will invariably begin, “Liberal trial lawyer Bill White …” Full Story 

  • 2010: Wentworth Says It Ain't So

    By Ross Ramsey

    Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, says he isn't going anywhere. A hot rumor has him quitting office or giving up his bid for reelection to pursue other ventures, but the senator says there's nothing to it. Full Story 

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    Credit: Texas Senate

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    E. Smith interviews Gov. Rick Perry for the Trib and Newsweek, Philpott dissects the state's budget mess in a weeklong series, Hamilton looks at whether Bill White is or was a trial lawyer, M. Smith finds experts all over the state anxiously watching a court case over who owns the water under our feet, Aguilar reports on the battle between Fort Stockton and Clayton Williams Jr. over water in West Texas, Ramshaw finds a population too disabled to get on by itself but not disabled enough to get state help and Miller spends a day with a young man and his mother coping with that situation, Ramsey peeks in on software that lets the government know whether its e-mail messages are getting read and who's reading what, a highway commissioner reveals just how big a hole Texas has in its road budget, Grissom does the math on the state's border cameras and learns they cost Texans about $153,800 per arrest, and E. Smith interviews Karen Hughes on the difference between corporate and political P.R. — and whether there's such a thing as "Obama Derangement Syndrome." The best of our best from April 19 to April 23, 2010. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacqueline Mermea