With the Senate set to debate the state budget this week, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports that several outside groups want to shape the conversation.
Austin
Posted in
Economy
Video: Conservative Coalition Expands Ad Campaign (UPDATE)
One day after the Senate passed its version of the budget for the next biennium, the Texas Public Policy Foundation expanded its media campaign for a “conservative budget.” They produced a series of new ads now running on statewide television. The timing appears to be strategic, as the Senate and House prepare to reconcile their spending plans in conference committee.
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Health care
Audio: Lance Armstrong at TribLive
At Thursday’s TribLive conversation, I interviewed Lance Armstrong about the need to protect cancer research funding in austere times and his advocacy on behalf of an indoor workplace smoking ban.
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Economy
Video: House Unlikely to Support Senate Budget
The Senate Finance Committee passed a budget this week that proposes spending about $12 billion more than the House in the next biennium. At first glance, House Appropriations Chair Jim Pitts says there’s no way his chamber can meet the Senate halfway.
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Criminal Justice
Combs Hasn’t Mastered Fine Art of Eating Crow
The comptroller of public accounts has been ducking responsibility ever since revealing that her agency had put the names and Social Security numbers of 3.5 million people in a publicly available spot on its website.
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Demographics
Updated: Do Mexican Cartels Qualify as Terrorist Organizations?
A Texas congressman is seeking to designate seven of the top Mexican cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations.” Critics of the proposal fear such a designation could harm Mexico’s ability to wage its own fight against the cartels.
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Economy
Senate Panel Approves $176.5 Billion Budget
A $176.5 billion budget for the 2012-13 biennium — 5.9 percent smaller than the current budget but almost $12 billion larger than the version passed earlier by the House — won approval from the Senate Finance Committee Thursday.
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Health care
Liveblog: A Conversation with Lance Armstrong
We liveblogged this morning’s Triblive with Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor who was instrumental in creating the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, and is pushing smoke-free workplace bills in the Legislature.
Posted in
Economy
Ogden Proposes Taking Additional $3B From Rainy Day Fund
Senate Finance Chair Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, has dropped the news many have been waiting to hear: He wants to attach a contingency provision to the 2012-13 budget that would withdraw $3 billion from the Rainy Day Fund.
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Health care
Cornyn Won’t Take “Nickel Tour” of Planned Parenthood
Sen. John Cornyn will not be “taking the nickel tour” of any Planned Parenthood branch, his office said Wednesday, in response to an offer by one of the organization’s Texas branches to arrange an informational visit.
