Updated: Mentally Ill Man Faces Arson Charge in Attack on Davis' Office
A mentally unstable man has been charged with throwing a bag filled with six Molotov cocktails at the door of the Fort Worth office of state Sen. Wendy Davis. Full Story
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The latest Texas Senate news from The Texas Tribune.
A mentally unstable man has been charged with throwing a bag filled with six Molotov cocktails at the door of the Fort Worth office of state Sen. Wendy Davis. Full Story
Texas has scored a 68 out of 100, placing 27th in a national state integrity study. The state got high marks for auditing and for monitoring pension funds, but not as high for accountability of the governor and legislators. Full Story
The February 2012 University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll shows a riptide of very conservative opinion is exerting a strong pull on state politics. Full Story
The political action committee of Dallas billionaire waste magnate Harold Simmons is asking 18 lawmakers to return about $65,000 in contributions after admitting that an oversight led to illegal campaign contributions. Full Story
Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is making a run for a state Senate seat. But her opponent in the GOP primary, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, is challenging her on residency. That dispute is among this week's top political news items. Full Story
Pending any legal intervention, the three court-issued redistricting maps (House, Senate and Congress) and the State Board of Education map drawn up by the 82nd Legislature are now in effect. Use our interactive to see which district you live in now and who represents you. Full Story
Texas senators cut their expenses by just 1 percent from August 2010 to 2011 — a total of $101,000. That’s not much compared to more than $1 million they saved in 2010. Use our interactive to find details on senators' 2011 spending. Full Story
Monday's the day candidates can begin filing for office, and after a flurry of legal activity over the holidays, they now know what districts they're seeking to represent. Probably. Full Story
State campaign news, candidate announcements, retirements and rumors from the past week. Full Story
Federal judges proposed new political maps for the state late Thursday and hope to have new congressional and legislative maps in place for Texas on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Full Story
A panel of federal judges in San Antonio proposed new redistricting maps for the Texas Senate and the Texas House late Thursday, asking for comments by noon on Friday. They're trying to finish maps before candidates start filing on November 28 — a date set by the court. Full Story
A panel of federal judges in San Antonio proposed new redistricting maps for the Texas Senate and the Texas House late this afternoon. Full Story
Next year's congressional and legislative elections in Texas will probably be conducted using political maps drawn by federal judges instead of those drawn by lawmakers. Full Story
Railroad Commission Chairwoman Elizabeth Ames Jones will end her campaign for the U.S. Senate to run instead for the Texas Senate against incumbent Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. Full Story
Every time a student drops out of public school, taxpayers save money. That’s one fewer student, at an annual savings of more than $11,000 per year from state and local sources. Full Story
Aaronson interactively asks if stimulus funds created jobs in Texas, Aguilar on new voter registrar rules that could decrease voter turnout, Galbraith on a UT professor's debunking of climate change "myths," Grissom on an epic clash of El Paso political titans, Hamilton on the right's new higher ed guru, Murphy maps household data from the 2010 Census, Ramsey on a coming rules fight in the Texas Senate, Root and M. Smith on Rick Perry's performance at the New Hampshire debate and M. Smith talks public ed cuts with the state's Superintendent of the Year: The best of our best content from October 10-14, 2011. Full Story
The easiest way to win an election is to have the votes. The next easiest way is to change the rules of the election. Some political folks, inside and outside the Texas Senate, are looking at the rules. Full Story
Another veteran is retiring from the Legislature, special election candidates are flinging endorsements at each other, and a doctor is leaving the House. Full Story
The redrawing of political district lines — which ideally happens just once a decade after a federal census — could create a series of crazy election cycles for Texas voters and candidates. It happened in the 1990s, and it could happen again now. Full Story
A looming special election in Bryan, and movement in Fort Worth and El Paso top the list of political moves this week. Full Story