Advocates for people with disabilities want the U.S. Justice Department to investigate state employees who were fired for abuse, but never criminally prosecuted for it.
Greg Abbott
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Abbott launches trafficking task force
Twenty percent of the nation’s 17,000 human trafficking victims each year come through Texas, and Attorney General Greg Abbott said today the state should take the lead in collaboration among agencies to fight the scourge of modern-day slavery.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Abuse of Power
State employees who commit heinous acts against Texas’ most profoundly disabled citizens rarely get charged with crimes, let alone go to jail. A Texas Tribune review of a decade’s worth of abuse and neglect firings at state institutions found that just 16 percent of the most violent or negligent employees were ever charged with crimes.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: January 8, 2010
Many Texans may be in need of some good news today.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Perry Indicates He’ll Pardon Timothy Cole
Gov. Rick Perry appears willing to sign a posthumous pardon for the exonerated Timothy Cole after Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today issued an opinion that said the governor could grant one.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Time’s Up
The political window is about to close: Today’s the last day to become a candidate in the 2010 state elections. What we know so far is that the ballot will have a fireworks show at the top, with contested and well-financed gubernatorial primaries on both sides. A couple of statewide Democratic races will be competitive, but with incumbents seeking reelection on the Republican side, there’s little action there.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: December 23, 2009
A major chapter of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s fight in DC may be drawing to an end.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Mapmaker, Mapmaker
Think like the political pros and your mind will go to the long game instead of the short one. The short game is the elections of 2010. The long game is redistricting in 2011, when maps are drawn that corral the voters into the districts that will elect legislators for the next ten years.
Posted in
Higher Education
Caven’s Quest, Part Two
In 2008, the file at DPS headquarters in Austin still said Scotty Caven III caused the August 2004 car crash that killed him and two others. Officials there had declined to reopen and investigate the case. But his father, UT System regent Scott Caven Jr., wouldn’t take no for an answer.
