The halls of public universities are buzzing about the push for accountability, especially as Texas works to catch up with states that have already taken up the mantle — and dealt with some of the inherent difficulties — of a data-driven examination of higher education.
Austin
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Justice on the Cheap
As part of an occasional series looking into how shortfall-inspired budget cuts could affect different state agencies heading into the 2011 legislative session, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on the likely impact on the state’s criminal justice system.
Posted in
State Government
Wind Storm
In a courtroom Monday, a Galveston County judge will decide whether to release details of millions of dollars in fees earned by attorneys in the largest class-action settlement paid out by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association.
Posted in
Public Education
HuTube: The SBOE Debate on Islam in 70 Seconds
For our latest HuTube post, we picked out memorable testimony from Friday morning’s five-hour State Board of Education debate. SBOE members ultimately approved a resolution instructing publishers to limit a perceived “pro-Islamic, anti-Christian bias” in Texas textbooks.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: No-Show Ed Commish Peeves Legislators
Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott’s absence from joint hearing at the Capitol today left some lawmakers annoyed.
Posted in
State Government
Full Audio: Linda Chavez-Thompson at TribLive
Raw, unedited audio from Linda Chavez-Thompson’s Wednesday morning appearance at our TribLive breakfast series. Features questions from Evan Smith and the audience.
Posted in
State Government
A Conversation With Linda Chavez-Thompson
For the 13th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor on running for office for the first time in a tough year, how she’d deal with the budget shortfall, whether she’d mess with the Senate’s two-thirds rule and what’s wrong with the Texas Enterprise Fund.
Posted in
Economy
A Tax Increase for Small Businesses?
Despite the prospect of a $21 billion budget shortfall, the governor, the lieutenant governor and several state lawmakers have insisted that the upcoming legislative session will be a “no-tax-increase session.” But as Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, small businesses in Texas could still end up paying more taxes.
Posted in
T-Squared
T-Squared: A Time of Renewal
Six weeks and counting: November 3, 2010, is the day when we reset the Trib membership clock to zero, when anyone who’s been with us for a year or more needs to stand with us again to remain an active member. There are a bunch of good reasons to re-up.
Posted in
Demographics
DREAM Deferred
The defense bill blocked by Republicans in the U.S. Senate could impact Texas. One of the measures that failed to move forward was an amendment that would have given some undocumented immigrants a path to legal status through education. Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports.
