Monday’s the day candidates can begin filing for office, and after a flurry of legal activity over the holidays, they now know what districts they’re seeking to represent. Probably.
Greg Abbott
Posted in
Politics
Pins and Needles
Holiday redistricting stories, not unusual things if you’ve watched this for a while, always start with three wise persons in the guise of federal judges. It’s super-sized this year, with six wise men, three in San Antonio and three in Washington.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Skinner, Running Out of Time, Awaits DNA Ruling From Skeptical Court
Facing a Wednesday execution date, convicted murderer Hank Skinner is again appealing to the state’s highest criminal court to allow for new DNA tests he says could exonerate him. But the court previously has ruled against him — twice.
Posted in
Health care
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Reinstate Abortion Sonogram Law
The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to let Texas enforce its new abortion sonogram law while the measure is under appeal, following a similar ruling from a federal appeals court on Wednesday.
Posted inState Government
A Candidate Without a Worst-Case Scenario
David Dewhurst is the Mitt Romney of the U.S. Senate race. He’s the candidate who has climbed the ladder in an orderly way. If you go for this sort of thing — and the Republican party often does — it’s his turn.
Posted in
State Government
Science Panel Grudgingly Abides by AG Restrictions
Members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission today agreed that they will use an attorney general’s opinion that severely limits the panel’s jurisdiction as a guideline for future investigations — whether they like it or not.
Posted in
Health care
Something to Talk About
Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Attorney General Greg Abbott may well use a court ruling against the abortion sonogram law to their political advantage — to lure anti-abortion voters to the polls, and fuel their fire against so-called “activist” judges.
Posted in
Politics
Here’s a Question: What if They All Lose?
Gov. Rick Perry is running for president. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is running for U.S. Senate. And it seems like everyone else in Texas politics is making plans based on one or both of those offices opening in 2012. What if they lose?
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Our all-hands-on-deck series on new laws — 31 Days, 31 Ways — continues, Root covers a challenge to the governor’s school finance fix and the tax that makes it work, Philpott forecasts a presidential media tsunami will hit Texas, Murphy with a look at midyear campaign reports from candidates and PACs in Texas, yours truly on the quiet spot at the top of the 2014 ballot, Hamilton on government-required vaccinations against meningitis, Grissom reports on the heat wave in un-air-conditioned Texas jails, Aguilar on the private security business along the state’s border with Mexico and M. Smith’s interview with Nicole Hurd on how to get more high school students into college: The best of our best content from Aug. 8 to 12, 2011.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Court Rules Against Individual Health Care Mandate
A federal appeals court today ruled that the individual insurance mandate in President Obama’s health care reform plan is unconstitutional, a decision Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott lauded as a step toward ending “Obamacare.”
