The weekend slaughter in Mexico of two U.S. citizens with ties to the consulate’s office in Ciudad Juarez has sparked outrage from Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have publicly condemned the attacks that left a pregnant consulate employee, her husband and a Mexican national dead.
The Brief: March 15, 2010
Posted in
Demographics
Let the Counting Begin
Census Bureau questionnaires arrive at 8.4 million Texas homes this week. “Fill that sucker out,” the bureau’s regional director says, “so we don’t have to come and knock on your door.”
Posted in
Public Education
The SBOE vs. Itself
When no one was paying attention to the State Board of Education, the theory goes, the reelection of incumbents was virtually assured, just as it is in any down-ballot races. Now that its controversial doings are the stuff of national headlines, change is in the air. Or is it?
Posted in
Economy
Read My Lapse
“You have to do a few things when you run for office in Texas,” says one of Rick Perry’s allies. “You have to debate. You have to release your tax returns. And you have to say you won’t raise taxes.” Bill White will surely debate the governor before November’s general election, but at the moment he hasn’t done the other two. The former probably won’t sink him, but the latter could — by declining to drink the no-new-taxes potion, he’s handing his opponent a weapon to use against him. Unless, of course, he’s successful at changing the way the argument goes.
Posted in
State Government
Driven to Repeal
The Driver Responsibility Act, which levies hefty surcharges on minor offenders, has cost 1.2 million Texans their licenses, and most of the fees that were supposed to be collected have not materialized. At the direction of state lawmakers, the DPS is trying to get people to pay up and square things with the law. But critics want the program ended altogether.
Posted in
Economy
The Polling Center: Is Texas a Good Economic Model?
What do Texans think about the fiscal and economic model for the rest of the country? Do they agree with Gov. Rick Perry that the Texas way is the better way?
Posted inState Government
Same as It Ever Was
Twenty years ago, Clayton Williams Jr. demonstrated the difference between someone trained in business and someone trained in politics. Talking to a small group of reporters about a looming budget shortfall and the hefty price tags on programs he wanted to start, he was asked what remedies he’d be willing to consider.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Thevenot on the non-stop wonder that is the State Board of Education and its latest efforts to set curriculum standards, E. Smith’s post-election sit-down interview with Bill White at TribLive made some news and got the November pugilism started, Ramshaw on whether it makes sense for the state to call patients and remind them to take their pills, and on the state’s botched attempt to save baby blood samples for medical research, Hamilton’s interview with Steve Murdock on the state’s demographic destiny, M. Smith on whooping cranes, fresh water, and an effort to use the endangered species act to protect them both, Grissom on potties, pickups, and other equipment purchased with federal homeland security money and Stiles’ latest data and map on where that money went, Aguilar on the “voluntary fasting” protesting conditions and treatment at an immigrant detention facility, Kreighbaum on football, the new sport at UTSA, and Philpott on Rick Perry and Bill White retooling their appeals for the general election. The best of our best from March 8 to 12, 2010.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Skinner Asks Perry for Reprieve
Lawyers for death row inmate Hank Skinner sent Gov. Rick Perry a letter yesterday asking him for a 30-day reprieve from Skinner’s scheduled March 24 execution. The lawyers also asked Perry to order DNA testing on evidence that Skinner says could prove his innocence.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: SBOE = State Beatniks of Education
State Board of Education conservatives stand up for the sex-and-drugs Beat Generation, but still can’t stomach the sex-and-drugs Hip-Hop generation.
