Rick Perry planning to step down as energy secretary by year end
The departure of the energy secretary and former Texas governor makes him one of about a dozen Cabinet members to leave their post during President Trump’s administration. Full Story
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![Energy Secretary Rick Perry attends the opening of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference at its headquarters in Vienna, Austria on Sept. 16, 2019.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger -
Texas has the most people without health insurance in the nation — again
For the second year in a row, the number of Texans without health insurance increased, and fewer people enrolled in Medicaid. Full Story
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![A medical clinic in Austin.]()
Credit: Martin do Nascimento for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Transparency can be downright hazardous to Texas lawmakers
A state senator decided to run for U.S. Senate and had to disclose information about his income and assets that isn't required of Texas officials. Just think what we might learn if Texas politicians had to meet the more stringent federal standards. Full Story
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![State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Senate Bill 2 on March 14, 2017.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Bigger stages demand better contestants — in politics, as in everything else
Julián Castro and Beto O'Rourke, the Texans in the scrum of Democrats seeking that party's presidential nomination, have been on big stages before. But not this big. Full Story
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![U.S. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro speaks during a campaign stop at The Livery Deli, in Boone, Iowa on Feb. 23, 2019.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Scott Morgan -
Analysis: How to turn a weak Texas governor’s office into a strong one
Gov. Greg Abbott, continuing a quiet project started by his predecessor, is making his office more powerful — at the Texas Legislature's expense. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott gives the keynote speech at the Republican Party of Texas convention in San Antonio on June 15, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
How Joe Barton's downfall led to two competitive Texas races
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton's startling retirement amid unsavory headlines — coupled with a turbulent national political environment — makes the open-seat race to replace him uncharted territory for candidates from both parties. Full Story
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![In the race for Congressional District 6, currently held by outgoing U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, both the Republican and Democratic primary races went to a runoff. Top, left to right: Republicans J.K. "Jake" Ellzey and Ron Wright; bottom row, left to right: Democrats Jana Lynne Sanchez and Ruby Faye Woolridge.]()
Credit: Facebook campaign pages -
Donald Trump nominates Texan Ronny Jackson to lead Department of Veterans Affairs
The announcement comes after weeks of speculation that another Texan — Energy Secretary Rick Perry — might land the post. Full Story
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![Ronny Jackson is a rear admiral in the Navy and a longtime White House physician.]()
Credit: U.S. Navy official portrait -
Analysis: Why Texas Republicans hope 2018 won’t be like 1990
Texas Republicans busted through a Democratic wall in 1990, but only because their candidate in the big race that year came close enough to make other victories possible. Texas Democrats haven't been able to get that close. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso (left), and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding: O'Rourke/Douglas Young: Cruz -
Audit: Company behind Texas "clean coal" project used federal funds for liquor, limousines and lobbying
The U.S. Department of Energy's inspector general says that a now-bankrupt company behind a defunct West Texas "clean coal" power plant spent more than $1.3 million in federal stimulus funds on things like spa service, alcohol, first-class travel and limousine services. Full Story
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![U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry joins the Petra Nova carbon capture and enhanced oil recovery system partners — NRG Energy, JX Nippon Oil and Gas and Hilcorp Energy — for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the NRG/Petra Nova Power Plant in Thompsons on April 13, 2017.]()
Credit: Spike Johnson for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: There's a reason Texas governors keep failing to lower property taxes
Anguish over property taxes is at or near the top of the list of what politicians hear most often from Texans. This is not a complicated part of the civic compact: Voters are peeved. Politicians aim to please. Lowering taxes would make a politician popular with voters. Full Story
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![Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, left, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry appeared at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Petra Nova Power Plant in Thompsons on April 13, 2017.]()
Credit: Spike Johnson for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Would you hire these people?
The easiest way to judge public officials is the same way you judge the people where you work: Are they doing a good job? Full Story
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![Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at the grand opening of McKesson Corporation's campus in Irving on April 6, 2017. Abbott's office granted McKesson — the nation's largest drug distributor— $9.75 million to help build the campus. Texas has since joined a 41-state investigation into whether McKesson and other drug companies helped fuel an opioid addiction crisis.]()
Credit: Office of the Governor -
Rick Perry ties fossil fuel use to sexual assault prevention
Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said in an interview Thursday that increasing fossil fuel use could prevent sexual assault. Full Story
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![U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry testifies at a Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 12, 2017.]()
Credit: Screenshot/Committee on Energy and Commerce -
A $10,000 degree that freshmen are discouraged from pursuing
At the urging of Gov. Rick Perry, Texas A&M University-Commerce developed an online degree program that can be completed for less than $10,000. So why doesn't it want its freshmen to sign up? Full Story
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![Lavelle Hendricks, a professor at Texas A&M University-Commerce, teaches a "signature course" on mental health, drugs and alcohol to a class of freshmen. University officials have reimagined the first-year experience at A&M-Commerce, and each freshman is required to take at least one signature course.]()
Credit: Texas A&M University-Commerce -
Perry pursuing policy on coal, nuclear power at odds with Texas record
As multiple Texas coal plants wind down operations, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is pushing a widely decried proposal to subsidize coal and nuclear plants in the name of grid resiliency. Full Story
![U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry testifies at a Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 12, 2017.]()
Credit: Screenshot/Committee on Energy and Commerce -
Report: Trump considering Perry for secretary of Homeland Security
A new report says Rick Perry is in consideration to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Full Story
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![U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry speaks to employees at Daikin Texas Technology Park in Waller, Texas, on July 28, 2017.]()
Credit: Austin Price / The Texas Tribune -
Rick Perry: "I totally support" Trump's ban on transgender troops
"The idea that the American people need to be paying for these types of operations to change your sex is not very wise from a standpoint of economics," U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said during a stop in Waller, Texas, on Friday. Full Story
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![U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry speaks to the press after touring the Daikin Texas Technology Park in Waller, Texas, on July 28, 2017.]()
Credit: Austin Price / The Texas Tribune -
Trump administration awards $2.3 million to Texas for border security
The Texas Military Department has received a $2.3 million boost from the federal government to help with the state's border-security efforts. Full Story
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![Texas National Guardsmen from C Co, 3-124th CAV go through jump drills.]()
Credit: Malcolm McClendon -
Analysis: A governor’s executive order doesn’t go very far in Texas
As Texas legislators began to speculate about whether and when they will be called into a special session for unfinished business, lawyers and others started looking for ways to avoid it. The simplest idea — an executive order — won't work. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 7 into law on May 25, 2017. The bill toughens penalties for inappropriate student-teacher relationships.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Senate passes "second chances" bill for nonviolent offenders
The Texas Senate has approved its version of House Bill 3016, which would make it easier for people to apply for jobs if they have low-level offenses on their records. Such applicants would not be required to disclose their offenses. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Rick Perry throws support behind bills to reform criminal justice in Texas
In a Houston Chronicle op-ed, Perry endorsed two measures moving through the Texas Legislature: one that would seal certain offenders' records and another that seeks to make the grand jury process more fair. Full Story
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![Gov. Rick Perry addresses media at a press conference following the unveiling of his official portrait at the Texas Capitol on May 6, 2016]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
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