It’s election day and TT launch day. The video brief features a quick look at the day ahead, each weekday.
The Video Brief: November 3, 2009
Posted in
Politics
The Polling Center: Our Inaugural Election Survey
The results of the first UT/Texas Tribune poll, which was in the field from October 20-27 and sampled 800 Texans who identified themselves as registered voters, shows Texas slowly turning their attention to the 2010 elections. Perhaps more to the point, they have become extremely skeptical about the direction of the federal government. Today we’ll focus on the election match ups and what they tell us about the state of play a little less than six months out from the March primaries.
Posted in
Politics
Bartlett: GOP is “losing a great opportunity” with Latinos
Dan Bartlett, George W. Bush’s communications director and counselor, talks with the Tribune’s Evan Smith about the GOP’s missed opportunity to reach out to Latino voters. (To listen to the full thirty-minute interview with Bartlett, see related stories.)
Posted in
Politics
Perry leads KBH by 12
In the inaugural University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, Rick Perry has the support of 42 percent of self-identified GOP gubernatorial primary voters to Kay Bailey Hutchison’s 30 percent — but Debra Medina could be a spoiler in March. On the Democratic side, Undecided and Kinky Friedman lead the pack.
Posted in
T-Squared
T-Squared: Day One
For those of us who willingly quit good jobs with big media companies to join an untried journalism start-up with an untested business model, this site, this thing, is the expression of our ideals, the realization of our dreams, and the validation of our faith. We’re enormously proud, every one of us, of what we’re doing and why. We’re awed and cowed by what we’ve been able to produce so quickly and on a relative shoestring (relative, that is, compared to the budgets we lived within and among just a few months ago). And we’ve barely gotten started.
Posted inState Government
The Chairman Speaks: Why We’re Nonprofit
The provider of most public goods is government. But even though the U.S. ranks somewhere between Burkina Faso and Uranus in our per capita federal spending on public media, Congress will not come rushing to the aid of capital-j journalism anytime soon. There are simply too many competing priorities, and the deficit hawk in me recoils at proposing another one. Besides, obvious fox-in-the-henhouse issues arise—to mix animal metaphors—from government watchdogs funded out of government coffers. So with both commercial and governmental fixes in serious question, maybe that leaves you and me.
Posted in
Politics
El Paso shuffle
State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh’s decision not to run for reelection in 2010 sets the stage for Democratic showdowns among El Paso politicos.
Posted in
Health care
Disabled students restrained, injured in public schools
Texas educators routinely pin down students with disabilities to control them, according to state data. Disability rights advocates say the restraints point to a crisis in special education, and that teachers are resorting to physical violence because they aren’t properly trained.
Posted in
Demographics
Shuffling the deck
State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh’s decision not to run for reelection creates many opportunities for El Paso politicians, but in this Democrat-dominated city, the cards are stacked against Republicans.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: Permanent School Fund Rebounds. But Will Schools Benefit?
The state’s permanent school fund, which spins off money for textbooks and the like each year, has recaptured billions of dollars after a frightening downward spiral this spring. Trouble is, the increase in the fund may produce no increase at all in education spending. The real beneficiaries of the fund often are the state legislature and its priorities outside education.
