All Coverage | The Texas Tribune

Look Back in Anger

By Ben Philpott, KUT News Feb. 23, 2010

With only a week to go before the GOP primary for governor, Debra Medina is pressing forward with her insurgent candidacy — despite the controversy over 9/11 truthers that temporarily upended her campaign. Her core supporters remain strongly with her, unfazed by and miffed at the media's scrutiny. How the whole thing ends is anyone's guess. Ben Philpott, covering the 2010 elections for KUT News and the Tribune, spent Monday on the trail with Medina and her flock and filed this report. Full Story

February 21, 2010. Debra Medina, flanked by supporters at an event at Texas Pride BBQ in Adkins, TX. — Credit: Justin Dehn

TribBlog: The Dallas Tea Party's Olbermann Invite

By Reeve Hamilton Feb. 22, 2010

Will the MSNBC host accept? Full Story

Screen shot of the Dallas Tea Party's video challenging Keith Olbermann.

TribBlog: Staples Hacked

By Matt Stiles Feb. 22, 2010

Don't click that link! Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples is the latest "phishing" victim on Twitter. Full Story

TribBlog: AG's Office Fires Back At Blood Spot Attorney

By Emily Ramshaw Feb. 22, 2010

The Texas Attorney General's office is throwing its own punches at the attorney who sued the state over its storage of infant blood samples, saying all he wanted was the headlines. Full Story

Article thumbnail — Credit: Rodolfo Clix

2010: A Crash of RINOs

By Ross Ramsey Feb. 22, 2010

Republican candidate Milton Rister says he's got nothing to do with the speaker-bashing in an email making the rounds in Georgetown. Full Story

TribBlog: More "Federal Takeover" of Texas Schools?

By Brian Thevenot Feb. 22, 2010

As Texas education officials predicted when objecting to federal Race to the Top grant rules, the feds may now be moving to tie billions more in federal funds to the adoption of national curriculum standards, according to an Education Week report. Full Story

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott — Credit: Elise Hu

The Midday Brief: February 22, 2010

By Morgan Smith Feb. 22, 2010

Your afternoon reading. Full Story

On the Records: 10 Days, Give or Take

By Matt Stiles Feb. 22, 2010

Did it just get easier for governmental agencies in Texas to delay releasing public information? Full Story

Ads Infinitum: Perry's "The Queen"

By Reeve Hamilton Feb. 22, 2010

Move over Helen Mirren, there's a new woman starring in "The Queen." That's the name of Rick Perry's latest ad attacking Kay Bailey Hutchison. Full Story

Screen shot of Gov. Rick Perry's ad, "The Queen."

Ads Infinitum: Perry Releases "Tenth Amendment"

By Reeve Hamilton Feb. 22, 2010

Gov. Rick Perry's tapping into an anti-government groundswell with his latest ad. It's called "Tenth Amendment." Full Story

Screenshot of Rick Perry's "Tenth Amendment."

Ads Infinitum: KBH Touts Endorsements

By Ross Ramsey Feb. 22, 2010

Kay Bailey Hutchison's newest commercial touts her endorsements from Texas newspapers, emphasizing their scorn for Rick Perry rather their praise for her. Full Story

The Brief: February 22, 2010

By Morgan Smith Feb. 22, 2010

Today marks the start of the last full week before the March 2 primaries. Accordingly, the papers are spilling some serious ink on down-ballot races. Full Story

2010: Newspaper Endorsements: Chron for Gilbert

By Evan Smith Feb. 22, 2010

"[S]omeone who began working at age 10 on the family cattle ranch." Full Story

2010: Newspaper Endorsements: EPT for KBH, White, Kinky

By Evan Smith Feb. 22, 2010

The El Paso Times backs the favorite gubernatorial candidates of edit boards elsewhere and makes its pick in the anybody's-guess Democratic primary for Ag Commissioner. Full Story

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Houston mayor Bill White.

Signs of Shami

By Brandi Grissom Feb. 22, 2010

Without El Paso, you know, it'd be like a campaign without sunshine for Farouk Shami. The Palestinian immigrant running as a Democrat for governor has made public overtures to Latinos, and it's working: He's drawing some of his most significant support from Hispanic Democrats in the Sun City. Full Story

Primary Color: HD-7

By Abby Rapoport Feb. 22, 2010

Is this the year that independent-minded state Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, finally gets his comeuppance from conservatives? Full Story

Rep. Tommy Merrit (left) and his Republican primary challenger David Simpson (right) unexpectedly run into each other as both court Longview's Chick-Fil-A breakfast club. — Credit: Abby Rapoport

TribLive: A Conversation with Julián Castro

By Evan Smith Feb. 22, 2010

For the third event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the mayor of San Antonio about the big issues facing the nation's seventh-largest city, how his early notions of the job squared with the reality of being in it, his age, his ethnicity, his party affiliation in a nonpartisan office and, of course, his future plans. Full Story

DNA Deception

By Emily Ramshaw Feb. 22, 2010

When they were sued last year for storing baby blood samples without parental consent, Texas health officials said they'd done it for medical research. They never said they turned over the blood spots to the federal government to help build a vast DNA database. A Texas Tribune review of nine years' worth of e-mails and internal documents on the Department of State Health Services’ newborn blood screening program, released after the state settled the case so quickly that it never reached the discovery phase, shows an effort to limit the public’s knowledge of the program. Full Story

A Little Something for the Economy

By Ross Ramsey Feb. 22, 2010

This really would be sort of a sweet time to own a television station, wouldn't it? Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Bill White, and Farouk Shami spending, combined, something upwards of $1 million a day, with much of that going on the air or in the mail? Full Story

2010: EPT Endorses Gonzalez over Chavez in HD-76

By Brandi Grissom Feb. 21, 2010

The El Paso Times endorsed challenger Naomi Gonzalez today in her bid to unseat HD-76 incumbent Norma Chavez in the March 2 Democratic primary. Full Story