State Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, wants proof that Gov. Rick Perry’s $9,000-per-month rental property was recommended by state legislators and DPS officials.
Austin
Posted in
Energy
TribBlog: Let’s Hear It for Building Codes
Texas will adopt stricter energy efficiency requirements for new buildings, the State Energy Conservation Office announced today. They will go into effect in 2011 and 2012.
Posted in
State Government
The Pollution Wars
Since last week’s announcement that the EPA is getting tough on Texas, the state and the feds have been going at it. But does alll the hubbub mean that the air we breathe is dangerous?
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Perry Takes a Knee [Updated]
Gov. Rick Perry’s having knee surgery on Friday. In an e-mail sent out this afternoon, Dana Parish, deputy finance director for Texans for Rick Perry, notified supporters that a campaign event had been rescheduled because of the impending surgery.
Posted in
Public Education
Tickets for 10-Year-Olds
With the rise of get-tough juvenile crime policies across Texas, the municipal courthouse has become the new principal’s office for students who fight, curse their teachers or are generally “disorderly” — even in elementary schools. Campus police in the Austin, Houston and Dallas ISDs, among others, write thousands of citations per year, with young students tickted egularly and minority students targeted disproportionately. Fines of $250 or $500 are not uncommon, court officials say.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Memorial Data
Since our November launch, we’ve published more than 30 web applications made from government records, including the most comprehensive public payroll database in the state, an interactive database with all 160,000 inmates serving time in the 100-plus state prison units, rankings of more than 5,800 public schools, a comprehensive list of every red-light enforcement camera in Texas, and databases with state-level fundraising and spending for members of the Legislature and statewide elected officials. Readers have viewed these pages more than 2.3 million times — more than a third of the site’s overall traffic.
Posted in
Politics
The Polling Center: Bill White’s “Everywhere Else” Problem
Bill White’s problem is an “everywhere else” problem, which is only partly rural in nature.
Posted in
State Government
Here Comes the Sun
The state Division of Workers’ Compensation has uncovered “tens of millions of dollars in unnecessary medical care” in the last several years, but its commissioner failed to sanction the doctors involved, a key former employee told members of the Sunset Advisory Commission on Tuesday night.
Posted inState Government
Collared Greens
Texas has among the most restrictive ballot access laws of any state, which is why the Green Party hasn’t put its candidates before voters here since 2002. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports that party activists hope to end the dry spell this year.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: TAB Joins Workers’ Comp Debate
The state’s largest business group is opposing proposed recommendations to change up the review process for unscrupulous workers’ comp doctors, a process at the center of the controversy over how the Division of Workers’ Compensation operates.
