Eric Johnson

Starting in September, Texas law enforcement agencies could be fined $1,000 a day if they don’t report police shootings to the state in a timely manner.

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After failing by one vote on the House floor Wednesday night, a bill to penalize law enforcement agencies that don't report police shootings to the state was reconsidered and passed. 

 

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As a bystander's video of a South Carolina cop shooting and killing an unarmed black man reignites a national debate over police brutality, Texas lawmakers are set to discuss police body cameras in a public hearing.

 

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Two lawmakers in the Texas House have presented a plan for a major overhaul of early education in the state. The measure would create an incentive payment system for school districts offering full-day pre-kindergarten programs. 

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State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, speaking at the Texas Democratic Party convention on Friday, referred to the GOP using Spanish profanity. The line drew gasps and laughs from the audience and anger from conservatives.

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Ahead of a possible vote on impeachment on Monday, members of the House select committee investigating UT System Regent Wallace Hall appear split on how to proceed.

 

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The Longhorns and Sooners won't be the only ones looking for a win this weekend in Dallas. More than 30 Texas legislators are hoping to turn the Red River Rivalry game into campaign cash.

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With the help of a new law, the Dallas Independent School District is designing a program that will funnel money saved when students graduate early into expanding pre-kindergarten offerings.  

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A new report out Tuesday urges lawmakers to reduce penalties for prostitution and send more defendants to diversion and intervention programs. Advocates argue it will save the state money.

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Today brings the latest step in the state's ongoing higher education debate: the inaugural hearing of the Joint Oversight Committee on Higher Education Governance, Excellence and Transparency.

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Embattled former Dallas state Rep. Terri Hodge hasn't even finished serving her year in prison for lying on her tax returns. But her successor, freshman Democratic Rep. Eric Johnson, is already pledging to file legislation that would prohibit lawmakers who commit felonies from receiving state pension benefits.

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A U.S. district judge has sentenced embattled former state Rep. Terri Hodge to a year in prison in a Dallas City Hall corruption scandal that has already netted several other convictions.

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Voters in Central Texas, Dallas and Plano will get to vote for the third month in a row in May, in special elections for the Texas House and Senate. Three officeholders — Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, and Reps. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, and Brian McCall, R-Plano — resigned before their terms were up. Today was the deadline for candidate filing.

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Voters in South Dallas and Central Texas will have special elections on May 8 to pick new legislators. Gov. Rick Perry called those to replace Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, in HD-100, and Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, in SD-22.

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With 60 percent of precincts counted, Dallas attorney Eric Johnson has a more than 40 percentage point lead over incumbent Rep. Terri Hodge in the District 100 Democratic primary. Hodge pled guilty last month in a citywide corruption scandal. Because there is no Republican or Libertarian running for the seat in the general election, Johnson doesn't have to wait until November to claim victory.

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Thevenot on the abysmally low community college graduation rate and higher ed's coming budgetary winter. Ramshaw on Terri Hodge's guilty plea and hasty exit. Grissom on the Department of Public Safety's use of dreaded federal stimulus funds to plug a hole in the state's border security budget. Hu on the first of the intraparty face-offs in our Primary Color series. Ramsey and Stiles on the congressional candidates with the most money on hand. Ramsey on whether Farouk Shami's accent and name are an obstacle to his election. Aguilar on the fever-tick epidemic overwhelming South Texas. Rapoport on TxDOT's hard road and the State Board of Education's lack of finance expertise. Philpott on how Barack Obama's budget will impact Texas. M. Smith on whether lawyers giving to judges is a good thing. Hamilton on the latest transportation innovations on the drawing board. The best of our best from February 1 to 5, 2010.

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State Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, dropped her reelection bid on Wednesday to plead guilty to lying on a tax return. But it's too early for Eric Johnson, her West Dallas-born, Ivy League-educated primary opponent, to claim victory.

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A review of campaign finance reports for the period from July to December 2009 reveals that some candidates for the Texas House are capable of raising serious money.

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