On this week’s TribCast, Aman talks with Ross, Aliyya and Alex about how David Briscoe tricked media outlets into believing he was a survivor of the Santa Fe school shooting, why Texas teachers are worried about pay raises and who will be the last Texan running for president.
Aman Batheja
Aman Batheja was a political reporter and editor for the Tribune from 2012 to 2019. Previously he worked for eight years at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, most of that time covering state and local politics. A native of Cedarhurst, New York, he has an undergraduate degree in journalism and psychology from New York University and a master's in economics from the University of Texas at Arlington.
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Texas Legislature 2019
TribCast: How did that tax swap fall apart?
On this week’s TribCast, Aman talks to Ross, Matthew and Shannon about how Texas lawmakers’ plan to raise the sales tax collapsed, why the 2019 session is like the 1997 one and what we’ll be watching out for in the session’s final three weeks.
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TribCast
TribCast: Are Texas Republicans ready to back a sales tax hike?
On this week’s TribCast, Aman talks to Ross, Shannon and Emma about why the top three Republicans in Texas just got behind raising the state sales tax, why national Democrats are suddenly pouring so much money into Texas and which Texas Senator you should be keeping a close eye on as the session enters its final weeks.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Tribcast: Dan Patrick’s stance on medical cannabis, Castro’s struggles, O’Rourke’s first week
On this week’s TribCast, Aman talks to Alex, Aliyya and Ross about the mood in the Texas Capitol halfway through the session, why Dan Patrick has some pot advocates feeling paranoid and how the two Texans running for president are doing — and yes, there are still two.
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Texas Legislature 2019
TribCast: Is the “Kumbaya” phase of the legislative session over?
On this week’s TribCast, Aman talks to Evan, Aliyya and Alexa about the teacher pay and school finance proposals circulating in the Texas Lege, the latest finger-pointing over the voter citizenship review and the pushback Beto O’Rourke might face in a Democratic presidential field.
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Texas Elections 2018
6 ways Beto O’Rourke’s Senate bid is like Ted Cruz’s first bid for Congress
Back in 2012, Ted Cruz was the underdog who managed to beat out the better-known David Dewhurst for a U.S. Senate seat. Now, as Cruz is running for re-election, there are echoes of that earlier campaign in Beto O’Rourke’s bid to unseat Cruz.
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TribCast
That time Oprah beefed with the Texas cattle industry (podcast)
In this special edition of the Tribcast, reporter and producer Neena Satija talks with editor Aman Batheja about his story on Oprah Winfrey’s beef with the Texas cattle industry.
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Criminal Justice
Gov. Abbott, other Texas Republicans silent on Trump’s embrace of gun control
It’s a striking contrast to their responses to then-President Barack Obama’s gun control efforts, which were less aggressive in some areas than President Donald Trump’s.
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Texas Elections 2018
We asked 40 Texas Republican candidates about Trump. They like him. The tweets? Not so much.
President Donald Trump is the elephant in the room of Texas Republican politics. In some GOP primaries, he’s everywhere. In others, candidates don’t want to talk about him. But many we talked to agreed: They wish he’d stop tweeting.
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Politics
The time Oprah Winfrey beefed with the Texas cattle industry
The six weeks Oprah Winfrey spent in Amarillo defending herself in a lawsuit from the beef industry highlight the media mogul’s natural political gifts.