Phil King

A shift in the public debate over the relationship between oil and gas production and earthquakes happened Tuesday with a new study in Texas and a turnabout by the Oklahoma government on the issue.

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The House gave the OK on Monday to legislation overhauling the way public corruption cases are handled in the state, but not before criticism that the new mechanism creates "a new protected class" of elected officials.

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State politicians, high court judges and top bureaucrats would get public corruption cases against them moved to their home counties under a controversial bill that cleared the Texas House on Monday. 

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After Denton voters decided to ban fracking, other Texas cities could weigh similar moves. Legislators are expected to look at ways to avoid a city-by-city fight over drilling regulations. This is the fourth video in our eight-part State of Mind series.

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The special prosecutor overseeing the criminal case against Gov. Rick Perry let his frustration be known on a request by Perry's attorneys to excuse him from appearing at an Oct. 13 pre-trial hearing.

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Lots of people want to take prosecutions of state officials away from the Travis County district attorney's office. But agreeing on a place to put it is not going to be easy.

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The value of a four-year college degree is becoming less apparent to Texans, according to the latest installment of the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

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UPDATED: The Texas Public Utility Commission on Friday heard oral arguments in the case of a Wise County rancher protesting a power line that he says was built in the wrong place on his property. The commission is poised to vote on the line’s fate on May 30.

 

 

 

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More than six months after a series of earthquakes surprised parts of North Texas, the mayors of two shaken-up towns told a state House subcommittee Monday that the state has moved too slowly in investigating what’s behind the phenomenon.

 

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With expectations that state lawmakers will have a budget surplus of several billion dollars, lawmakers, activists and business groups are already discussing what to do with the money.

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State Rep. Phil King on Tuesday pulled an amendment that would transfer power over the state’s public integrity away from Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg. But King said he has the support to attach it to future bills.

 

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In an effort to cut administrative costs, state Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, filed a group of bills last week that would eliminate four state agencies.

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Nobody's openly campaigning right now, but there's talk of who might succeed Joe Straus if he stumbles before January. Attribute the speculation to inertia: The House's top job was in play for at least four years before Straus won it 17 months ago, and members and the lobby and the press and other gawkers have been trained to study every new complaint, slight, reward and compliment for signs of a coup. While he appears to be on solid ground going into his second session behind the podium, don't erase the possibility of a contest. It's an uncertain environment: It's an election year, Straus is green and the Capitol is full of people who are constantly looking for a better deal than the one they've got.

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It's time to harvest the political speculations of the last several months: Democrats and Republicans have until January 4 to put their names on the ballots, or not, in anticipation of the March 2 primaries.

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