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News For May, 2010

  • Memorial Data

    by Matt Stiles and Niran Babalola

    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. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Matt Stiles, Jacob Villanueva

  • Crank Cases

    by Ross Ramsey

    Texas voters are cranky about immigration, public schools, Democrats, and Washington, but they say they're doing better personally than the country is doing, that they're open to legalized pot, and that the state government is a model other states should follow. Full Story 

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    by Evan Smith

    Ramsey on what the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll says about the governor's race, education, immigration, and other issues; Grissom on a far West Texas county divided over Arizona's immigration law; Ramshaw talks health care reform and obesity in Texas with a legendary Dallas doctor; M. Smith on the Collin County community that's about to break ground on a $60 million high school football stadium; Aguilar on the backlog of cases in the federal immigration detention system; Philpott of the Green Party's plans to get back on the ballot; Hu on the latest in the Division of Workers' Comp contretemps; Mulvaney on the punishing process of getting compensated for time spent in jail when you didn't commit a crime; Hamilton on the fight over higher ed formula funding; and my sit-down with state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin: The best of our best from May 24-28, 2010. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacqueline Mermea

  • TribBlog: It's Lehrmann

    by Morgan Smith

    Gov. Rick Perry has appointed Judge Debra Lehrmann to the Place 3 seat that Harriet O’Neill will soon vacate on the Texas Supreme Court. Lehrmann, a Fort Worth District Court judge, won the Republican nomination for that seat in a runoff against former state Rep. Rick Green, R-Dripping Springs. Full Story 

    Debra Lehrmann

  • TribBlog: The 10 Percent Solution

    by Ross Ramsey

    Fresh off of asking for five percent cuts from state agencies and actually approving $1.2 billion of what was proposed, the state's top three leaders are asking for ten percent cuts in the amounts the agencies will be seeking next time the Legislature meets. Full Story 

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  • "Accidents Happen Sometimes"

    by Morgan Smith

    In the wake of the BP catastrophe, former Railroad Commissioner Barry Williamson is defending the federal Minerals Management Service, which he led during the Exxon Valdez spill. “Was there a failure of regulation? I don't know," he says. "There may not have been." Full Story 

    Elizabeth Birnbaum, who resigned on May 27, 2010, as director of the federal Mineral Management Service.
    Credit: Minerals Management Service

  • Hudspeth County, Arizona

    by Brandi Grissom

    A commissioner's court resolution supporting Arizona's controversial immigration law has split rural Hudspeth County in far West Texas, whose 3,000 residents are largely Hispanic. Commissioner Jim Ed Miller, who introduced the resolution, says he simply wants the federal government to do its job and stop illegals from crossing the border. "Now what the hell is wrong with upholding the law?" he asks. But commissioner Wayne West, who opposed it, describes the prospect of law enforcement asking people to prove their citizenship as “nothing but pure harassment.” Full Story 

    A driver from Chihuahua, Mexico, waits to cross the border into Fort Hancock in rural Hudspeth County.
    Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre

  • Kenneth Cooper: The TT Interview

    by Emily Ramshaw

    The world-renowned Dallas doctor who essentially invented jogging as exercise talks with the Tribune about health care reform, the crisis of obesity in Texas, and what lawmakers must do to shore up the physical-education legislation they passed last session. Full Story 

    Dr. Kenneth Cooper
    Credit: Emily Ramshaw

  • TribBlog: Making a Buck Off "Kill Obama" — Updated

    by Brandi Grissom

    The Victoria Advocate, like many other papers, uses a photo service that allows readers to buy the pictures it publishes in a variety of formats. So now readers can purchase T-shirts, mouse pads, coffee mugs, even a puzzle featuring a photo of the words "Kill Obama" spray-painted on pavement. Full Story 

    Screen shot of Victoria Advocate graffiti photo that is for sale on the newspaper's Web site.
    Credit: Brandi Grissom

  • Waiting Their Turn

    by Julián Aguilar

    The number of unresolved cases in the federal immigration detention system has reached an all-time high, driven in part by surging backlogs in Texas, especially in San Antonio and El Paso. Blame it on not enough judges. Full Story 

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  • T-Squared: We Know Who You Are

    by Evan Smith

    As we fan out across the state to solicit memberships, major gifts and corporate underwriting, we're hearing only good things about the size of our audience — a 25 million page view run rate in the first year is no small potatoes — but we're increasingly getting questions about who that audience is. Who's reading the Trib? Full Story 

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  • Are You Ready for Some Football?

    by Morgan Smith

    Allen High School is a study in bigness: A 5,000-student campus with a 650-member marching band supporting a football team that draws 8,000 fans to away games. And now — the pinnacle of suburban spoils — the Collin County community will break ground on an 18,000-seat stadium, the largest occupied by a single team. Pricetag: $60 million. Full Story 

    Clockwise from top left: an architect's rendering of the new stadium; Allen players after the 2008 state championship in Houston; Allen students at a game in the current stadium; the front of Allen High.
    Credit: Graphic by Jacqueline Mermea

  • We Like It Better Here

    by Ross Ramsey

    A majority of Texans believe the state is on the right track, while a plurality thinks the country is on the wrong track, according to a new University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva