Harris County — home to the largest city in Texas — will be without all 10,000 of its voting machines on Election Day after they were destroyed in a fire. County commissioners held an emergency meeting this week to figure out how to move forward. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune has this report.
The Smoke Clears
Posted in
Congress
Dick Armey: The TT Interview
The former University of North Texas economics professor, U.S. House majority leader and hired-gun Washington lobbyist, now the head of the conservative activist group Freedom Works and the co-author of the new book Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto, on what the Tea Party is and isn’t, why a GOP majority in Congress isn’t enough, where George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush went wrong, what Rick Perry did right and why Barack Obama won’t be re-elected in 2012.
Posted in
State Government
A Big Dam Issue
The fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina has people thinking about whether the state and coastal cities are prepared for another big storm — especially with peak storm season again upon us. As Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies reports, there’s concern in particular over the sturdiness of dams.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Jail the Jail Official?
The head of the state’s Commission on Jail Standards could do time for being too open about a suicide in the Nueces County lockup. Is the indictment of Adan Muñoz retaliation by a sheriff his lawyer describes as a “crazy little bastard”? Regardless, an open government advocate calls it “outrageous.”
Posted in
State Government
Iraq to the Future
President Obama is in El Paso today, visiting Fort Bliss before tonight’s White House address on the draw-down in Iraq. Against that backdrop, about 800 men and women of 36th Infantry Division of the Texas Army National Guard will ship out for Fort Lewis, Washington, to prepare for a nine-month tour in Iraq and the role they’ll play in bringing the U.S. presence there to a close by December 2011. Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports.
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: “La Barbie” Captured
Authorities in Mexico have detained the alleged Texas-born cartel leader Edgar Valdez Villarreal, also known as “La Barbie.”
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: Send in the Drone
State lawmakers have long been clamoring for an unmanned drone to boost security on the border. On Wednesday they’ll get their wish, as an unmanned drone begins patrolling the Texas skies.
Posted in
Congress
2010: Canseco Snubs Express-News [Updated]
Echoing Gov. Rick Perry’s refusal to interview with editorial boards across the state, Republican congressional candidate Francisco “Quico” Canseco says he won’t meet with his hometown paper.
Posted inState Government
Ads Infinitum: White’s “Rick Perry’s Lobbyist Ball”
The latest ad from the Bill White campaign attacks the governor’s well-placed friends.
