Alaska officials sent 16-year-old Richard DeMaar 4,000 miles away from his parents to a psychiatric facility in San Antonio because his home state wasn’t equipped to handle his severe depression. Within six weeks, he had tied a makeshift noose around his neck, strangling himself to death. He’s one of roughly 900 out-of-state kids sent to residential treatment centers in Texas in the last five years, part of a national compact that allows states that don’t have adequate psychiatric services to send kids to states that do. But the practice has come under fire from children’s health advocates, who say it takes kids away from their families and their communities — two things they need to make a full-fledged recovery.
Far From Home
Posted in
Congress
Congressmen Push Bill to End Offshore Drilling Moratorium
Congressional Republicans — led by members of the Texas delegation — are poised to file a bill lifting Barack Obama’s moratorium on offshore drilling. Ben Philpott filed this report for KUT News and the Tribune.
Posted inState Government
The Chair Yields
The ouster of Cathie Adams as the titular head of the Republican Party of Texas was the biggest news at its biennial convention this weekend. There was also open hostility toward Speaker Joe Straus, predictable fretting about a rift between moderates and conservatives and, of course, a laser-like focus on the state GOP’s common enemy: Washington.
Posted in
Health care
Sacrificing Care?
For the past 16 years, the medical needs of Texas’ 160,000 prison inmates have been outsourced to the University of Texas Medical Branch and Texas Tech University, which have worked hard to provide care at the lowest possible cost. But with steep budget cuts and anticipated layoffs, critics contend the state could soon sacrifice the quality of that care — and could even face a legal challenge. Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports.
Posted inState Government
Boyd Richie: The TT Interview
The chair of the Texas Democratic Party on why he should keep his job, whether Matt Angle is really running things, why zero out of 29 statewide offices held by Democrats isn’t his fault, why he’s optimistic about 2010 and what he thinks of Barack Obama.
Posted inState Government
2010: The Third Candidate for Governor
On Saturday, the Libertarian Party of Texas chose Houston attorney Katherine Youngblood Glass to challenge Gov. Rick Perry and Bill White this November.
Posted inState Government
2010: “The Tea Party Folks are Like Barbara Jordan”
The humorist, singer, and sometime Democrat Kinky Friedman addressed delegates of the Libertarian Party of Texas yesterday. On his mind: what Debra Medina should have said to Glenn Beck, why the “Tea Party folks are like Barbara Jordan” and sex with horses.
Posted inState Government
2010: Carney: It’s Blarney
Dave Carney, general consultant to Gov. Rick Perry, says he had nothing to do with efforts to get the Green Party’s candidates on the Texas ballot.
Posted in
Economy
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramshaw and the Houston Chronicle’s Terri Langford on incidents of abuse and mistreatment at residential treatment centers, M. Smith on the state Republican Party platform and 10th Amendment embracers, Galbraith on a pipeline project raising crude concerns and the most important word in water law, Ramsey on former officeholders who are now lobbyists and the possibility of a speaker’s race, Grissom on a fight over solar power in Marfa, Hamilton and Aguilar on the TxDOT audit, Philpott on budget cuts affecting school districts and my conversation with Dallas County D.A. Craig Watkins: The best of our best from June 7-11, 2010.
Posted inState Government
The Polling Center: Green Pastures Yield a Small Harvest
The potential Green Party drain of votes away from the Democrats is probably pretty small.
