Like ringing the bell at the boxing ring, the Senate today approved a bill that is all but certain to restart a brawl with the House over how to reform the state's windstorm insurer of last resort. "I intend to fight for this tougher than I’ve ever fought for anything," said state Sen. John Carona. Full Story
Prosecutors will be able to punish kids who send explicit photos to each other without resorting to putting them on the sex offender registry, under a bill Attorney General Greg Abbott lauded in a press release today. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry has added Transportation Security Administration (TSA) anti-groping legislation to the agenda for the special legislative session. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry fired up the party faithful at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans on Saturday. Watch C-SPAN's video of his speech, which clearly shows he's nodding to a national audience. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry, who has acknowledged thinking about running for president in 2012, fired up Republican voters Saturday in New Orleans, where conservative activists were anxious to hear a game plan for beating Barack Obama. Full Story
Want a quick recap of some of the happenings this week in the Texas Legislature? We've made it easier for you with our weekly video rundown of the action under the dome. Full Story
The Rick Perry 2012 button is a hot item at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, where several major presidential contenders are fighting to win the who-is-most-conservative contest. Full Story
Rick Perry’s top strategist said Saturday that the Texas governor is still “at least weeks” away from making a decision about whether to run for president, a daunting financial and logistical undertaking even without the time pressures of a late entry. Full Story
Aaronson and Murphy visualize what happened to the nearly 5,800 bills introduced in the 82nd Lege, Aaronson, Hasson and Swicegood interactively recap the budget battle, Aguliar on the surge in illegal re-entry cases prosecuted by the Obama administration, Galbraith on a coal plant that wants a water deal from the LCRA, Grissom interviews a man wrongly imprisoned and nearly executed — twice, Hamilton on a controversial UT regent who wants a do-over in the debate over higher ed reform, Ramshaw on the continuing fight over pre-abortion sonograms, Root on Rick Perry's newsmaking trip to NYC and M. Smith on whether cash-strapped school districts will raise taxes: The best of our best content from June 13 to 17, 2011. Full Story
It’s about as unscientific as you can get, but the Rick Perry 2012 button is a hot item at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, where several major presidential contenders are trying to win the who-is-most-conservative contest. Full Story
The 82nd Legislature has ended its regular session, and that means it's time time to keep an eye out for the bills Gov. Rick Perry dislikes enough to veto. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry gave his seal of disapproval to 24 bills today, two days before the veto deadline for all legislation passed during the regular session. Measures that didn't meet Perry's approval include a ban on texting while driving and bills that would continue the operations of two state agencies. Full Story
The controversial Secure Communities initiative, aimed at deporting criminal aliens but criticized for removing mostly minor offenders of lesser crimes, may undergo considerable changes, according to the director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Full Story
Earlier this week, we published a quiz to see if readers could distinguish between comments made about higher education by Gov. Rick Perry, University of Texas President Bill Powers, and others. It turns out: They (sometimes) can’t! Full Story
The veto deadline for the 82nd legislative session — June 19 — is quickly approaching, and Gov. Rick Perry is expected to announce a slew of vetoes any moment. Explore our latest data visualizations to find out which Texas governors vetoed the most bills during their tenure, and see the total number of vetoes from sessions past. Full Story
Credit:
Illustration by Becca Aaronson / Todd Wiseman
In a "Power Play Live" webcast posted on Fox News' website, host Chris Stirewalt discusses the GOP's fast-growing fascination with Perry's potential presidential candidacy with Dana Perino, past press secretary for former President George W. Bush, and Democratic strategist Joe Trippi. Full Story
Likely voters in Texas approve of President Barack Obama almost as much as they approve of Gov. Rick Perry, according to the third and final release of poll results from the Texas Lyceum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group of civic leaders. Full Story
A powerful group of individuals — including former regents, former university system chancellors and former university presidents — from around Texas have joined together to address the state's ongoing higher education controversy. Full Story
In a trip to New York City on Tuesday, Gov. Rick Perry replaced Donald Trump to speak at the Manhattan GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner. Here's the full audio of his speech before prominent Republican New Yorkers at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Full Story