The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest county population estimates show that Texas is getting more racially and ethnically diverse. Texas minority population now exceeds 50 percent, as it does Hawaii, New Mexico, California and the District of Columbia. These are the last county estimates to use 2000 Census results as a base. The 2011 population estimates will be the first in the estimates series to be based on the 2010 Census population counts.
Matt Stiles
Matt Stiles covered government and politics for the Tribune, with a focus on data journalism, from 2009 to 2011. He oversaw and developed the Tribune’s library of web applications and interactive graphics. Previously, he was a government reporter at the Houston Chronicle. While there, he won the newspaper’s Jesse Award for service journalism and beat reporting and was its reporter of the year in 2007. Before joining the Chronicle, Stiles worked as a reporter for nearly four years at The Dallas Morning News.
Posted inState Government
Texas Red-Light Cameras
Explore Texas red-light camera intersections statewide or drill down to individual intersections to see images, crash figures and citation totals.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Memorial Data
Since our November launch, we’ve published more than 30 web applications made from government records, including the most comprehensive public payroll database in the state, an interactive database with all 160,000 inmates serving time in the 100-plus state prison units, rankings of more than 5,800 public schools, a comprehensive list of every red-light enforcement camera in Texas, and databases with state-level fundraising and spending for members of the Legislature and statewide elected officials. Readers have viewed these pages more than 2.3 million times — more than a third of the site’s overall traffic.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Search Perry’s People
Search our updated database of Gov. Rick Perry’s more than 2,000 current appointees to state boards and commissions.
Posted in
Energy
On the Records: Mapping Refinery Violations, Fines
An analysis by the The Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, D.C., shows that BP is responsible for almost all of the nation’s “willful” safety violations at refineries. Check out their interactive map.
Posted in
Higher Education
Data App: More University Pay
The top professors and administrators at Texas universities routinely earn between to $250,000 and $500,000 year, while presidents and chancellors earn up to $900,000, according to salary data for more than a dozen universities and university systems added today to the Tribune’s public employee salary database. Some 57 employees at the University of Texas make more than $250,000; by contrast, only 13 employees at Texas Tech make that much.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: The Capitol in 3-D
The next legislative session is more than eight months away, but that doesn’t mean you can’t explore the Capitol grounds — from your desk — thanks to Google Maps.
Posted in
State Government
On the Records: FEC Drops New Data
On Tuesday, the Federal Election Commission for the first time released detailed records for all congressional candidates’ campaign spending. These records tell us who the candidates hire for advertising, consulting, etc., and can often be more interesting to politics junkies than lists of campaign donations. We’ve made spending by the Texas delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives searchable.
Posted in
State Government
Data App: Hey, Big Spenders
It’s not only rich people and lobbyists and interest group activists who make political contributions. Texas congressional candidates gave at least $1.3 million to other campaigns and causes over the last 15 months, according to itemized records of campaign expenditures released for the first time by the Federal Election Commission. Topping the list of big spenders in the Texas delegation were U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Surfside, who contributed at least $240,000 — the highest dollar amount — and Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, who gave more than 60 contributions — the highest number. Search our database to see who gave what to whom.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Come and Take Our Data
Records in the Texas Tribune’s data library are licensed under Creative Commons, which means you’re free to download them, remix them and republish them — so long as you comply with our simple terms.
