In this week’s TribCast, Evan, Ross, Reeve and Ben discuss the budget’s structural deficit, the effort to repeal health care reform, the back-and-forth over House District 48 and if 2011 will be the year Texas bans smoking.
Greg Abbott
Posted in
Health care
Abbott: Why “Obamacare” is Unconstitutional
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says the reason is simple: Never before have Americans been mandated to buy a product for a specific reason.
Posted in
Health care
Abbott: No Limits To Congressional Authority?
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says there will be no limits to congressional authority if the constitutionality of health care reform is upheld.
Posted inState Government
Who’s Next?
Kay Bailey Hutchison’s announcement that she won’t run again for her U.S. Senate seat wasn’t entirely unexpected, but it still has the potential to overturn the state’s political apple cart. To separate the would-bes from the could-bes in a 2012 race, we’ve created a guide to certain, likely and plausible candidates — as well a few who are plausible only to us here at the Trib.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Capitol Insecurity
When Andrew Cuomo took office as governor of New York earlier this month, he ordered the removal of the security barricades limiting access to his state’s Capitol. “This Capitol has become a physical metaphor for the isolation and alienation of our people,” he said in his inauguration speech. He could easily have been talking about Texas.
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
Criminal Justice
Pomp, Circumstance, Consequences
The 82nd Texas Legislature convenes in Austin this week, and while it’s not as much fun as the circus — usually — it’s more important and does have its share of comedy and drama.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Abbott 1, Gay Divorce 1
Over the objections of state Attorney General Greg Abbott, an Austin appellate court has upheld the divorce of a lesbian couple married in Massachusetts.
Posted in
Energy
Atmospheric Politics
Every politician needs a villain. George W. Bush had Saddam Hussein; Barack Obama had George W. Bush. Gov. Rick Perry has the EPA., which has had the audacity to order Texas to do more to clean its air.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Diagnosis: Unconstitutional
A federal court’s ruling on Monday declaring parts of federal health care reform unconstitutional elicited plenty of reaction in Texas, which is part of a separate attempt to repeal the new law. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports.
