The talk of budget woes may be inescapable, but don’t expect gloom from Gov. Rick Perry during his State of the State speech today.
The Brief: Top Texas News for Feb. 8, 2011
Posted in
Energy
Electricity Price Cap in Question After Blackouts
When blackouts rolled through the state last week, wholesale electricity rates skyrocketed to more than 50 times their normal price, finally hitting a set limit. But as Matt Largey of KUT News reports, the timing of changes to that limit is raising questions.
Posted in
Economy
Perry to Push Colleges to Offer $10,000 Degree
Gov. Rick Perry will challenge the state’s colleges and universities to offer a $10,000 bachelor’s degree, including books, in his State of the State speech later this morning, according to sources familiar with some of the proposals.
Posted in
State Government
Visualizing Rick Perry’s State of the State
Gov. Rick Perry has delivered five previous State of the State speeches. Has his emphasis on certain words and themes changed over the years? We created word clouds of the past addresses to find out.
Posted in
Economy
Senators Grill Education Agency Over Cuts
At the Texas Education Agency’s first appearance before the Senate since the release of a budget that reduces school funding by $9.3 billion, senators called for a “full picture” of the state’s spending on public education.
Posted in
State Government
Hartnett Expected to Recommend HD-48 Winner Friday
After three days of testimony and today’s closing arguments, state Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, is expected to recommend a winner of the disputed HD-48 seat on Friday.
Posted in
Health care
Report: Cost of Obesity Rising
Obesity cost Texas businesses $9.5 billion in 2009, according to a report released today by Comptroller Susan Combs. It could cost them $32.5 billion annually by 2030.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Veteran Who Shot Baby Seeks Clemency
He was an Army veteran and a Houston security guard who had never been arrested until February 2002, when a fight with his wife sent Timothy Adams into a suicidal spiral. During a stand-off with police, Adams fatally shot his 19-month-old son twice in the chest — landing him a spot on death row.
Posted in
Public Education
Rob Eissler of the Size of Public Ed Cuts
The chairman of the House Public Education Committee on whether the cuts to public ed will be as bad as everyone says they’ll be.
Posted in
Public Education
A Conversation with Rob Eissler
For our latest TribLive conversation, I sat down with the chairman of the House Public Education Committee to talk about the coming cuts to public ed: how big they’re likely to be, the prospect of tens of thousands of teacher and non-instructional-staff layoffs and whether new revenue sources are on the table.
