Want a straw poll in the Speaker’s race? Not so fast.
The Brief: Nov. 15, 2010
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Congress
TribLive: Gene Green
Full audio and audience Q&A from our TribLive interview with U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston.
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State Government
Grand Old Parties
Now that the Republicans have a huge majority in the Texas House, they aren’t sharing power with the Democrats; they’re sharing power with themselves. More precisely, one faction of Republicans is sharing power with another faction of Republicans. However you label it — moderate vs. conservative, country club vs. country, Bush vs. Perry — it’s bumpy.
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Congress
A Conversation with Gene Green
For the 16th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the Democratic U.S. Congressman from Houston about why his party got slaughtered on Election Day, whether Nancy Pelosi should continue in a leadership role, why the Obama administration has been forced to play defense and what health care reform should look like going forward.
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State Government
Inside Intelligence: The Next Speaker Will Be…
For this week’s installment of our non-scientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we asked two main questions: “Do you think Joe Straus will win another term as Speaker of the House next year, or do you think it will be someone else?” and “Should the Senate keep or abandon its practice of requiring approval from two-thirds of the senators before raising an issue for debate and approval?” And we asked an open-ended third: “How do you think the election outcomes will affect the legislative session ahead?”
Posted inState Government
License to Torture?
The State Board of Psychologists will decide whether an architect of Bush-era “enhanced interrogation techniques” developed for use in so-called black prison sites violated the profession’s rules of practice.
Posted inState Government
The Spoils of Victory
Is it possible that the inventors of adult diapers had been through a Texas speakers’ race? Whatever the answer is to that question, there’s little doubt they have a market for their products in Austin this week.
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Criminal Justice
Dying for Care
More than 280 inmates in county jails died from illnesses while in custody over a four-and-a-half-year period, according to data provided by the Texas attorney general and analyzed by The Texas Tribune. Many died of heart conditions, some of cancer or liver and kidney problems and others of afflictions ranging from AIDS to seizure disorders and pneumonia. There are no state standards for health care in county jails, but criminal justice advocates and correctional facility experts say the large number of illness-related deaths prove they’re needed.
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Health care
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Galbraith on energy conservation and basketball, Ramshaw (and Serafini of Kaiser News) on what would happen if states abandoned Medicaid, Hallman on cities and counties lobbying the feds (and a Stiles data app visualizing what they’re spending), Aguilar on legislative attempts to stop human trafficking, Aaronson on cuts in Senate office spending, Philpott on the latest run at a Senate rule that empowers political minorities, yours truly on how the GOP landslide will change the way things work at the Capitol, Hu catches the first day of bill filing and finds immigration at the top of the agenda and Hamilton on a wobbly partnership between two Texas universities: The best of our best from November 8 to 12, 2010.
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Economy
“Grandiose Cuts” to Higher Education?
The session hasn’t started yet, but the battles have. In a heated exchange over possible cuts to higher education at a post-election debrief, Democratic consultant Matt Angle spars with Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign manager, Rob Johnson.
