Governing magazine has recognized two Texas lawmakers in its 2010 class of Public Officials of the Year.
Austin
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Keller Case Not Over Yet
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct isn’t giving up on its attempt to reprimand Sharon Keller — in an unexpected move today, it appealed a court’s dismissal of its sanction against Keller, the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Sharon Keller: The TT Interview
The soft-spoken and — until now — media-shy presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals sat down with The Texas Tribune last week to talk about capital punishment in Texas, what she was doing on the afternoon she closed her office at 5 p.m. to a last-minute death row appeal, the flaws in the way the state sanctions judges, what it’s like to be known as Sharon “Killer” Keller and the “ridiculous” idea that she doesn’t care about defendants or indigent defense.
Posted in
Public Education
Mike Feinberg: The TT Interview
The co-founder of the KIPP charter school network on why its approach to education reform has flourished in Texas, whether the model can work for any kid or any family and if teachers’ unions are really the villain they’re made out to be in Waiting for Superman.
Posted inState Government
2010: An Hour in the Spotlight
A televised debate offered voters a chance to see and hear from Libertarian Kathie Glass and Green Deb Shafto, gubernatorial candidates who are usually overshadowed by Rick Perry and Bill White.
Posted inState Government
TribBlog: Partisan, White, Female, Older Voters Get to Polls Earlier
If you voted today — the first day of early voting for the Nov. 2 elections — you’re probably more partisan, Anglo and a woman, according to a report released by the Center of Public Policy and Political Studies at Austin Community College.
Posted in
Demographics
Where They Stand: The Governor’s Race
In the absence of a real debate between Gov. Rick Perry and his Democratic challenger, Bill White, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune has created the next best thing: a mash-up of their answers to questions asked Friday by the Tribune’s Evan Smith during one-hour interviews of the candidates sponsored by the Trib, KUT and Austin public television station KLRU.
Posted inState Government
Laura Bush: The TT Interview
The former first lady on life in the Governor’s Mansion vs. life in the White House, her newfound freedom living in Dallas, why she kept her personal politics out of her husband’s presidency, the role she’s playing at the Bush Library, the two works of fiction she’s reading now and her fondest memories of the Texas Book Festival, which she launched when she was living in Austin 15 years ago — and whose annual gala she’ll headline tonight with a reading from her best-selling memoir, Spoken from the Heart.
Posted inState Government
2010: Hack Attack?
Anti-Rick Perry websites run by the Back to Basics PAC are crashing all around them this morning. The group blames hackers for the server meltdowns.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Inquiring Minds
Judge Charlie Baird will decide today whether to recuse himself from an investigation into the innocence of Cameron Todd Willingham, the Corsicana man executed in 2004 for the arson deaths of his three young daughters. But with or without Baird, a bigger question is in play: Is a court of inquiry the appropriate venue to consider Willingham’s guilt or innocence?
