Two weeks before the gubernatorial election, the season premiere of Frontline features a timely topic: the Cameron Todd Willingham case. All PBS stations in Texas will air it, despite initial hesitation over running the episode — portions of which question the actions of Gov. Rick Perry — so close to Election Day.
Morgan Smith
Morgan Smith was a reporter at the Tribune from 2009 to 2018, covering politics, public education and inequality.
In 2013, she received a National Education Writers Association award for “Death of a District,” a series on school closures. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English from Wellesley College, she moved to Austin in 2008 to enter law school at the University of Texas.
A San Antonio native, her work has also appeared in Slate, where she spent a year as an editorial intern in Washington D.C.
Posted inState Government
Ads Infinitum: NRCC’s “Chet Edwards’ Real Record”
The National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee’s second CD-17 ad strikes a familiar theme: U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards’ support of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Posted inState Government
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The first TV ad from Attorney General Greg Abbott references the accident that left him in a wheelchair — and touts his crime-fighting credentials.
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Posted inState Government
TribBlog: King Street Patriots in Court, Again
The Texas Democratic Party takes on the Houston-area Tea Party group for “1960s style” voter intimidation.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Partisan Patriots?
A Houston-area tea party group may have illegally supported GOP candidates for office, according to a complaint filed with the Texas Ethics Commission today.
Posted inState Government
Ads Infinitum: Jerry Patterson’s “Monster”
In a new radio ad running statewide, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson says there’s something taking over Texas — “the tax monster!”
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Willingham Inquiry Will Proceed [Updated]
As former Gov. Mark White ended his argument before the Willingham court of inquiry calling for a change in the way the state carries out the death penalty, an appellate court issued an order demanding that Judge Charlie Baird stop the hearing.
Posted inState Government
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In a new ad, state Rep. Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock, features testimonials playing up her leadership on business and education issues.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Inquiring Minds
Judge Charlie Baird will decide today whether to recuse himself from an investigation into the innocence of Cameron Todd Willingham, the Corsicana man executed in 2004 for the arson deaths of his three young daughters. But with or without Baird, a bigger question is in play: Is a court of inquiry the appropriate venue to consider Willingham’s guilt or innocence?
