Ramshaw’s question about an insurance company denying coverage for an infant vaccine prompts a reversal; Stiles’ new app lets you poke through mid-year campaign reports on donations and spending; Ramsey finds foreshadowing of the state’s big fall races in the campaign finance reports; Aguilar interviews Henry Cisneros about current politics; Dawson finds Texas environmentalists getting advice from an unexpected place; Galbraith on “demand response” that might cut the need for power plants and on the next wave of electric cars; Aguilar on increasing trade through Texas ports of entry; M. Smith on affirmative action battles in higher education; Titus on Mexican college students’ drift from border universities to UT-Austin and Texas A&M; and Hamilton on controversy over private, for-profit colleges: The best of our best for the week of July 19 to 23, 2010.
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Posted in
T-Squared
T-Squared: Take Our Content — Please!
Effective immediately, inspired by ProPublica, we’ve added a “republish” button on most of our pages.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Not Who, But What?
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst made some new committee assignments last week to cover the resignation of state Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco. But the rejiggering created as many questions as it answered: Not about who went where, but about what went where. For instance: What committee will have legislative oversight of electric utility companies?
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: In Reversal, SBOE Passes Charter Financing [Updated]
After getting shot down in committee, SBOE member David Bradley, R-Beaumont, and other members succeeded Friday in pushing through a plan to purchase school buildings and lease them back to charter schools in a split vote, with two Democrats absent. The decision, however, is contingent upon a favorable attorney general’s opinion on the legality of the controversial move — which would pull money from the Permanent School Fund.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: A Matter of Jurisdiction [Updated]
While delivering their report, members of the subcommittee charged with reviewing the Cameron Todd Willingham case said that though they believe the science used to convict the Corsicana man was flawed, they aren’t prepared to say the fire investigator, whose testimony was used to convict him, committed professional misconduct.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: July 23, 2010
Two Democratic congressman from Texas have their party sweating in Washington.
Posted in
Demographics
Courting Hispanics: The Future
For the final part of his three-part series, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune sat down with Hispanic student leaders to find out whether Texas Democrats and Republicans can attract first-time voters in November.
Posted inState Government
Henry Cisneros: The TT Interview
The former San Antonio mayor and HUD Secretary on what Bill White has to do to win the Latino vote, what Rick Perry should say about the Arizona immigration law and how Julián Castro’s star can continue to rise.
Posted in
Energy
Electric Avenue
Plug-in cars — which are touted as green because they use little if any gasoline and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 49 percent and 75 percent compared with a conventional vehicle — will soon be a viable option in Texas. By the end of this year, Austinites should be able to buy the new electric car from Chevrolet, called the Volt. By next February, hundreds of Leafs, Nissan’s plug-in car, will be on the roads around Houston. The new influx, fueled by government subsidies, should more than double the number of plug-in vehicles in the state.
