Increasing numbers of college students are attending classes, and even completing some degree programs, online — an innovation that could be welcome in an era of rising enrollments and shrinking budgets. But virtual higher ed has its critics, who say the distance learning model will never match what one lawmaker terms the “interpersonal Aristotle style” of education.
Going the Distance
Posted inState Government
Again?
The beginning of a real race for speaker of the House looks the same as a dud. The proper mix includes one or more popular people who want the job, a high level of dissatisfaction with the person currently in the post, and a level of frustration in the rank and file that is sufficient to overcome every member’s natural reluctance to get involved in a political knife fight.
Posted in
T-Squared
T-Squared: About the Tribune-Chronicle Partnership…
“On some wide-ranging stories, two news organizations are certainly better than one in pursing the truth,” Houston Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen says. We couldn’t agree more.
Posted in
Health care
Forced to Fight
Workers at a center for distressed children in Manvel provoked seven developmentally disabled girls into a fight of biting and bruising, while they laughed, cheered and promised the winners after-school snacks. The fight was one of more than 250 incidents of abuse and mistreatment in residential treatment centers over the last two years, based on a Houston Chronicle/Texas Tribune review of Department of Family and Protective Services records.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramshaw on geriatric care in state prisons, with Miller’s photo essay inside those walls; M. Smith interviews the state’s newest Supreme Court justice, Debra Lehrmann; Aguilar finds fewer Mexicans seeking asylum in the U.S; Galbraith sorts out the politics of pollution and whether our air is dangerous to breathe; Thevenot discovers authorities writing tickets for misbehavior to elementary school kids; Philpott reports on early hearing about political redistricting; Kreighbaum examines fines levied against polluters and finds they’re often smaller than the economic benefits of the infractions; and Stiles and Babalola spotlight some of our data projects from our first seven months online: The best of our best from May 31 to June 4, 2010.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Show Me Proof, Dunnam Tells Perry
State Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, wants proof that Gov. Rick Perry’s $9,000-per-month rental property was recommended by state legislators and DPS officials.
Posted in
Energy
TribBlog: Let’s Hear It for Building Codes
Texas will adopt stricter energy efficiency requirements for new buildings, the State Energy Conservation Office announced today. They will go into effect in 2011 and 2012.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
The Brief: June 4, 2010
Physician-owned hospitals, which provide some of the best health care in the nation but have been in danger since health insurance reform passed, are taking their case to court.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Debra Lehrmann: The TT Interview
The Texas Supreme Court justice-to-be (she’ll take retiree Harriet O’Neill’s seat on June 21) talks about about judicial elections, the recent ethics complaint filed against her and what happens when she disagrees with the law.
