From patients and parents to nurses and practitioners, the many faces of Texans affected by health care budget cuts gathered at the Capitol today to give an earful to lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee.
Becca Aaronson
Becca Aaronson was the first product manager at the Tribune, where she worked from 2010 to 2018. As product manager, Becca managed the Tribune's website redesign, coordinates cross-departmental projects and conducted user research to improve reader experience. She previously worked on the Tribune's data visuals team as a developer and project manager, contributing to several award-winning investigative projects. She covered health care from 2012 to 2014, making waves with her coverage of women's health and the Wendy Davis abortion filibuster.
She has a bachelor’s degree in cultural theory from Scripps College in Claremont, Calif.
Posted in
Energy
ERCOT Ends Emergency Blackouts
Power out at your house? You’ve got good company — 400,000 other Texans, as of noon today. But as of this afternoon, the lights (and heat) should be coming back on. The demand for power exceeded generation capacity around midnight last night, causing more than 50 generators to shut down statewide
Posted in
Health care
Suehs Warns Lawmakers On Health Cuts
Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs pulled no punches when he warned Senate lawmakers today what proposed budget cuts will mean: either cutting the number of people served, or the money paid to those who care for them.
Posted in
Health care
TribBlog: How Deep Do Medicaid Cuts Go?
Lawmakers have proposed cutting Medicaid provider rates 10 percent to help meet the state’s budget crisis. But health care groups suggest the cuts are far deeper.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: LBB Makes Criminal Justice Recommendations
Criminal justice in Texas got a fourfold performance review from the Legislative Budget Board today. From incarceration projections to the cost per bed for prisoners, the board broke down the state’s public safety performance in cold, hard numbers.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Interactive: Where Texans Go To Drink
A sizable chunk of the state’s general revenue — $635 million — in 2010 came from the mixed beverage tax. Texans drank 1.1 gallons of distilled spirits (liquor) each in 2010, which at 1.5 ounces a shot equals 94 mixed drinks a year. Check out our interactive map to see where Texans are going out for drinks.
Posted in
Transportation
TribBlog: Report: Texans Wasted Nearly $9 Billion In Traffic Jams
Road rage and fender-benders aren’t the only reasons to hate traffic jams — Texans wasted $8.96 billion on congested roadways in 2009, according to the Urban Mobility Report released today by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) at Texas A&M University.
Posted inState Government
TribBlog: Grin and Beer It
As the inauguration parties kick off with a big party for lawmakers sponsored by the beer lobby, we looked into just how much Texans love their brewsky.
Posted in
State Government
On the Records: Inaugural Word Clouds
Texans heard from two familiar pols today: Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. We turned their prepared remarks into word clouds to help visualize the tone and rhetoric of their inaugural speeches at the Capitol.
Posted in
Health care
TribBlog: Steady Medi(caid)
Thirteen states expanded Medicaid or CHIP eligibility last year, and 14 states made improvements in enrollment and renewal procedures. Texas didn’t fall into either of these categories, but the state held steady in 2010, while making improvements in technology to prepare for the roll-out of federal health care reform.
