Gov. Rick Perry wants an end to “sanctuary cities,” but in a press conference Wednesday morning, he didn’t name specific cities he wants Texas lawmakers to target. Nor did he address whether the Department of Public Safety’s policy of state troopers not inquiring about the immigration status of people they pull over should be changed.
Department of Public Safety
Posted in
Criminal Justice
The General at War
Rick Perry might be the state official most publicly doing battle with the the federal government, but Greg Abbott is quietly leading the charge on behalf of Texas. The Attorney General, who was just sworn into his third term in office, talked recently with Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: DPS Says Capitol Is Secure; Lawmakers Wary
Police at the Capitol say the state’s lawmakers and their guests will be safe under the pink dome as the 82nd Legislature gets underway tomorrow. But lawmakers are encouraging vigilance after the Arizona shooting this weekend that left a congresswoman critically injured and 14 others dead.
Posted in
State Government
Blood Sport
Cockfighting in Texas has been illegal for decades, but a lengthy Humane Society investigation uncovered more than a dozen active rings throughout the state. What’s not illegal is raising fighting game cocks, attending a cockfight or possessing paraphernalia related to cock fights — such as gaffs, the razor blades owners strap to the birds’ legs to make them even more lethal. Animal rights activists came close in the last legislative session to getting such activities criminalized, which they say is critical to putting an end to cockfighting. They plan to try again next year.
Posted inState Government
On Your Left
Despite its relatively low number of people who walk and bike to work, Texas ranked 10th-highest among states in fatality rates for bicyclists and pedestrians in a recent survey. Lawmakers who worked on a failed 2009 measure to create a buffer zone, giving bicyclists more room on the road, will try again in 2011.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Dollars For Data
The goal of the legislation was lofty: to help people who have been exonerated clear their criminal records, quickly and completely. The unexpected result? News organizations must pay hundreds of dollars in monthly fees to keep a copy of the state’s criminal records database.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Chuck Norris, Texas Ranger
After years of playing one on TV, Chuck Norris is now a Texas Ranger in real life, at least honorarily.
Posted in
Transportation
TribBlog: Life in the Fast Lane
More than a third of Texas drivers think roadways are less safe than they were five years ago even though data shows that deaths have steadily decreased, according to a survey by the Center for Transportation Safety at the Texas Transportation Institute.
Posted in
Higher Education
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Grissom (with Tedesco of the San Antonio Express-News) on high-speed police chases on the Texas-Mexico border, Hu and Hamilton draw a roadmap through the tangle of the Speaker’s Race, M. Smith on the trouble with electronic supplements to science textbooks, Ramshaw interviews patient privacy advocate Deborah Peel, Aguilar on Cuba and Texas and trade, Hamilton on the latest in biotech from Texas A&M University, Stiles on who’s in the money in Congress, Hu on the controversial renewal of the state lottery contract, yours truly on Tom DeLay’s victory in the face of his conviction on money-laundering charges, and E. Smith with a Thanksgiving cornucopia of TribLive videos: The best of our best from November 22 to 26, 2010.
Posted in
State Government
State of Overdose
Deaths from accidental overdoses increased in Texas by more than 150 percent from 1999 to 2007, according to a recent report from the Drug Policy Alliance. Accidental poisoning during that time was the third-leading cause of injury-related deaths statewide, behind only car crashes and suicide.
