“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.
T-Squared: About the Tribune-Chronicle Partnership…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”



