So far, the Legislature has been writing a budget for a state in a center-right position on the political spectrum. As debate opens in the House, can the leadership hold off challenges, particularly from the right?
Austin
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Senate Backs Bill Increasing Punishment for Fatal Hit-and-Runs
UPDATED: The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill to increase the range of potential punishment for hit-and-run accidents that result in deaths.
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Politics
The Polling Center: No Backlash to Public Education Cuts?
Polling over the last two years from the University of Texas/Texas Tribune suggests that education has not become more salient to Texas voters, nor have perceptions of school quality suffered significantly.
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Public Education
A Head Start on the Big Stuff
With eight weeks to go in the legislative session, lawmakers got a running start at their big issues: water, education and the budget.
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State Government
Cable and Satellite Providers Square Off Over Tax Break
Cable TV providers are asking lawmakers to let them out of $200 million in sales taxes to offset local franchise fees their satellite competitors don’t have to pay. Some lawmakers are worried about the state programs that would go unfunded as a result.
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Health care
Texas Lawmakers Fight Over Medicaid Expansion
Gov. Rick Perry and other top GOP leaders said Medicaid is broken, and adding more Texans to the program would bankrupt the state. Expansion advocates said it would reduce the state’s uninsured population, largely on the federal dime.
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Higher Education
Is Perry-Powers Tension About Rivalry or Policy?
The undercurrents of the bickering between Gov. Rick Perry’s administration and UT-Austin President Bill Powers offer a gold mine for the conspiratorial set, with fuel for every obsession: politics, deep school rivalries, policy and governance.
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Energy
Texas Weekly Newsreel: Education, Water, Faith and Family
This week in the Newsreel: The Legislature makes progress on key education and water bills; Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, is busted for barratry; and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst bares his partisan teeth.
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Demographics
Narco Cinema Finding Loyal Audience in Austin
Austin has become a growing market for Mexican narco cinema, hastily made films inspired by the cartels. The videos are popular in Austin partly because of the city’s increasing population of Hispanic immigrants and Texas’ proximity to Mexico, where the movies are made.
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Higher Education
Guest Column: Only Regents Can Reform Higher Education
In their efforts to prevent a micromanaging crisis at the University of Texas at Austin by the UT System’s regents, lawmakers will instead prevent regents from managing a crisis in higher education.
