The Health and Human Services Commission has canceled a second contract involving Jack Stick, who resigned as the agency’s top lawyer amid concerns over a $110 million contract that was not competitively bid.
Terri Langford
Terri Langford is the Tribune's health services reporter based in Austin. Langford is a veteran journalist, having worked at the Florida Times Union, The Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, WNYC, Honolulu Civil Beat and Texas Standard/KUT. Langford has a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin. She has covered various city and state agencies, criminal justice and health and human services for the Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, The Associated Press, WNYC and Texas Standard at KUT.
Posted inState Government
Court Tells TDCJ to Name Lethal Injection Drug Suppliers
The name of the compounding pharmacy supplying lethal injection drugs for Texas executions must be released because it is public information, a judge ruled late Thursday.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
CCA Offers Guidance to Courts Trying Teens as Adults
The state’s highest criminal court on Wednesday ruled that a Houston teen should not have been tried as an adult and spelled out better guidance for courts to consider before transferring youth defendants into the adult court system.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Panetti Doesn’t Need Mental Health Treatment, Prison Doctor Says
As the state and Scott Panetti’s defense team battled over whether his execution should be halted last week, a four-page affidavit provided a tantalizing peek into the mental health care Texas has provided for the schizophrenic death row inmate.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas Prisons Make Family Visits Easier
The Texas prison system is making it easier for family members to visit loved ones behind bars, hoping to strengthen social networks inmates need when they are released.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Federal Appeals Court Stays Panetti’s Execution
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday halted the execution of a Texas death row inmate with a history of schizophrenia, just hours before he was to be put to death in Huntsville.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Panetti Fate in Hands of Perry, Appeals Courts
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles won’t recommend a reprieve for convicted killer Scott Panetti, leaving it up to Gov. Rick Perry to decide if he will delay Wednesday’s scheduled execution of the schizophrenic death row inmate.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Abbott: Immigration Lawsuit Could Come in Two Weeks
A state lawsuit challenging President Obama’s executive order shielding as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation could come from Texas in the next two weeks, Gov.-elect Greg Abbott says.
Posted in
Economy
Supreme Court Declines to Review “Pole Tax”
The Texas Supreme Court will not review whether a $5-per-patron fee at live nude entertainment clubs is an occupation tax in disguise, letting stand a ruling that found alcohol-serving strip clubs must pay up when it comes to the “pole tax.”
Posted inState Government
Execution Stay Sought for Schizophrenic Inmate
Attorneys for schizophrenic death row inmate Scott Louis Panetti on Thursday asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to halt his impending Dec. 3 execution, saying their client is too incompetent to be legally put to death.