Texas is one of nine states that automatically classify 17-year-olds as adults when they’re accused of crimes. Campaigns to “raise the age” are gathering momentum in some states, and Texas is facing a spirited debate of its own.
John Whitmire
Posted in
Economy
Senators Show Interest in Ditching Margins Tax
As a key Senate committee prepares to hear public testimony on tax cut proposals Wednesday, senators expressed strong interest in repealing the state’s unpopular margins tax on businesses, which has raised $4.7 billion annually.
Posted in
Energy
The Brief: Feb. 19, 2015
Senate budget writers on Wednesday lit into Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek, a former senator himself, in a hearing that concluded with another call for him to resign.
Posted in
Politics
The Brief: Dec. 23, 2014
A clutch of Southern states are in talks to hold 2016 presidential primaries on the same day, according to a story by James Hohmann of Politico.
Posted in
Health care
One Fired, Three Sent Home as 21CT Fallout Widens
Gov. Rick Perry on Friday fired HHSC Inspector General Doug Wilson as fallout widened from the selection of a relatively unknown company for a $110 million Medicaid fraud software contract.
Posted in
Energy
The Brief: Dec. 19, 2014
Is Texas in danger of recession next year because of the current swoon in oil prices? An economist with J.P. Morgan Chase is raising an early warning flag about that possibility.
Posted in
State Government
Whitmire Seeks Inquiry Into HHSC-21CT Contracts
State Sen. John Whitmire asked the state’s public integrity unit on Thursday to investigate deals between the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and 21 Century Technologies.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Parole Commissioner Accused of Falsifying Records is Indicted
A Texas parole commissioner has been indicted for tampering with a government record after a lawyer complained that at least five inmates were denied parole after she falsely said they had refused to sit for required interviews.
Posted in
Energy
The Brief: Sept. 3, 2014
Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott on Tuesday reaffirmed the watchdog role of the Public Integrity Unit while also defending his agency’s investigation of a Houston voter registration group in 2010.
Posted in
Politics
The Brief: Aug. 22, 2014
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that in the days before Gov. Rick Perry’s indictment over his veto of funding for the public integrity unit, the Travis County DA’s office had requested the next Legislature to restore most of the unit’s funding.