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.
Debra Lehrmann: The TT Interview
Posted in
Demographics
Gimme Shelter
Despite the drug war raging on the other side of the border, the number of Mexican nationals applying for asylum in the United States is declining. Approvals are down even further.
Posted inState Government
Geriatric Prison Care: A Slideshow
Photographer Caleb Bryant Miller visits a geriatric prison unit to describe life on the inside for Texas’ elderly inmates. A follow-up to “Dying On The State’s Dime.”
Posted in
T-Squared
T-Squared: Partnering with the Chronicle
Coming this Sunday, the first of hopefully many joint projects between the Tribune and the Houston Chronicle will see publication — both on our site and on the Chron’s front page.
Posted inState Government
Ads Infinitum: Perry Goes After “Cap & Trade” [Updated]
Gov. Rick Perry’s latest web ad sits challenger Bill White next to someone he might not want to be pictured with right now — Barack Obama.
Posted in
Energy
TribBlog: The Spillover Effect
The oil spill has so far bypassed Texas, but Houston could still see a big impact — in the courtrooms.
Posted inState Government
Ads Infinitum: White Animates Perry
Bill White’s campaign has gone back to the drawing board and returned with a brand-new take on Gov. Rick Perry.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: June 3, 2010
For Gov. Rick Perry, the fight between the state of Texas and the Environmental Protection Agency — a textbook example of states’ rights versus federal authority — may be heating up at just the right time.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Dying on the State’s Dime
Texas’ “geriatric” inmates (55 and older) make up just 7.3 percent of Texas’ 160,000-offender prison population, but they account for nearly a third of the system’s hospital costs. Prison doctors routinely offer up the oldest and sickest of them for medical parole, a way to get those who are too incapacitated to be a public threat and have just months to live out of medical beds that Texas’ quickly aging prison population needs. They’ve recommended parole for 4,000 such inmates within the last decade. But the state parole board has only agreed in a quarter of these cases, leaving the others to die in prison — and on the state’s dime.
