The flap in the House and Senate this week over a political flyer showing an infant nursing at a bare breast has rekindled an age-old discussion: Is there sexism in the Texas Capitol?
Kate Galbraith
Kate Galbraith covered energy and environment for the Tribune from 2010 to 2013. Previously she reported on clean energy for The New York Times from 2008 to 2009, serving as the lead writer for the Times' Green blog. She began her career at The Economist in 2000 and spent 2005 to 2007 in Austin as the magazine's Southwest correspondent. A Nieman fellow in journalism at Harvard University from 2007 to 2008, she has an undergraduate degree in English from Harvard and a master's degree from the London School of Economics. She is co-author of “The Great Texas Wind Rush,” a book about how the oil and gas state won the race to wind power.
Posted in
Energy
Senate Passes Fracking Disclosure Bill
After a lengthy discussion, the Texas Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would require drilling companies using hydraulic fracturing techniques to disclose on a public website the chemicals they use in the process.
Posted in
Energy
Prospects Dimming for Bill to Aid McDonald Observatory
A bill aimed at reducing the glare from outdoor lighting in a large swath of West Texas in order to help the McDonald Observatory is currently stuck in the Senate, though its sponsor hopes to get it to the floor by the tomorrow’s legislative deadline.
Posted in
Energy
Texas Files Challenge to EPA “Endangerment Finding”
Acting on behalf of 14 other states, the state of Texas today filed an opening brief in its case seeking to overturn a finding by the Environmental Protection Agency that greenhouse gases pose a danger to public health and welfare.
Posted in
Higher Education
Panel Debates Future of Research Universities
A panel of higher education and business executives at the University of Texas at Austin reflected high anxiety about the future of research universities — especially in Texas, which has just three of the nation’s top research universities compared to California’s nine.
Posted in
Energy
Texas Smart-Grid Experts Head to the White House
On Friday morning, a small group of Texans, including the chairman of the Public Utility Commission, will brief White House representatives on the smart-meter rollout and related issues in the state.
Posted in
Energy
Drought Gripping State Shows No Sign of Easing
The Lower Colorado River Authority, a major supplier of water for Central Texas, warned today that the drought gripping the state is likely to continue for months and urged its customers to conserve water.
Posted in
Energy
With Vote, Texas Moves Closer to Expanded Nuclear Waste Dump
The House gave preliminary approval today to a bill that will give more flexibility to an operator at a planned West Texas disposal site for low-level radioactive waste. An effort to curb the company’s potential profits failed.
Posted in
Energy
Dallas Billionaire Nears Nuclear Waste Dump Win
Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons could get a little richer if state lawmakers hand him what he wants today: a bill expanding the right of his company to accept low-level radioactive waste from several states — and the power to set the rates it charges them.
Posted in
Energy
Senate Discusses Fracking Disclosure Bill
A Senate committee heard testimony this morning from Halliburton and others on a bill that would require drilling companies to disclose the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing. The bill has been left pending until the House takes a final vote on its version.
