We’re liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival’s Energy track. The sessions include panels on the state’s power grid, the potential impact of energy reform in Mexico on Texas, the debate over hydraulic fracturing and a deeper look at the state’s drilling boom.
Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa
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Health care
“Three-Strikes” Proposal Spurring Debate over Nursing Home Regulation
Legislators in 2015 are poised to take up a proposal that would have the state close nursing homes that rack up high-level federal violations on three separate days over a two-year period.
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Bypassed by the Miracle
Swelling School Districts Find a Costly Way to Grow Within State Debt Limits
Leander and other fast-growing school districts have relied heavily on a controversial financing tool called capital appreciation bonds to borrow money to expand even as they bump up against state limits on school district debt.
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Health care
Uncertain Future for State’s Division of Blind Services
The state is considering a proposal to integrate its Division for Blind Services with other rehabilitation services. While lawmakers are largely supportive of a consolidation, advocates for the blind are voicing concerns.
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Energy
The Brief: June 23, 2014
The discovery of a mass grave in Brooks County containing unidentified immigrants already has a couple of state lawmakers calling for an investigation of what happened.
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Health care
A&M’s New Health Program to Initially Focus on South Texas
Touting a new program as the first in Texas to be directed at reducing preventable diseases, Texas A&M University officials on Tuesday announced their Healthy Texas Initiative, which will first launch with a focus on South Texas.
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Health care
The Brief: March 26, 2014
The release of more than 2,000 email documents by the University of Texas System to news outlets is providing a fuller — albeit heavily redacted — picture of the various conflicts between regents and administrators.
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Economy
Liveblog: Transportation at The Tribune Festival
We’re liveblogging this weekend from The Texas Tribune Festival’s Transportation track, which features panel discussions on planning, high-speed rail, road funding and rural transportation.
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Higher Education
UT Regents Approve Land Deal for New University
UPDATED: The University of Texas System’s Board of Regents on Wednesday approved a nearly $50 million land deal for the new school’s Brownsville campus.
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Public Education
The Hot Seat: A Conversation with Valley Lawmakers
At our Hot Seat conversation at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg on 1/24, state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and state Reps. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, and Aaron Peña, R-Edinburg, discussed cuts to public education, redistricting and other by-products of the 82nd Legislative Session.