Since his appointment, the alternately amiable and peevish, typically cowboy-boot-shod chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission has comported himself as a virtuoso of the bureaucratic dawdle. With the commission’s investigation of the now-notorious Cameron Todd Willingham case “still in its infancy,” John Bradley has this to say about when it might conclude its review: “However long it takes, that’s however long it takes.”
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 in
State Government
TribBlog: More Time for Willingham
Forensic Science Commission says consideration of Willingham case “still in its infancy.”
Posted in
Criminal Justice
A Watershed Case
On the surface, it’s about an oat-and-peanut farm and two South Texas men who wanted enough water to operate it. But underneath lies a century-old tug-of-war over who really owns the water beneath the land.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: April 21, 2010
Today, the Texas Ethics Commission votes on a rule reacting to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allowing corporations to spend money in elections.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: April 20, 2010
As Bill White continues to drill Gov. Rick Perry over the state’s education record, poll numbers show the former Houston mayor is gaining some traction against the decade-long incumbent.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Access Denied
“Sad and tawdry” affair between judge and prosecutor or not, the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear Charles Dean Hood’s case.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
2010: Hey, Wait a Minute
Late last night, Rick Green took to his Facebook page to dispute comments attributed to Debra Lehrmann claiming he had pledged to have his supporters back her in the general election campaign.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: April 15, 2010
Exactly a year after the Tea Party movement asserted its might, its sympathizers want you to know something: they’re still Tea’d.