The drama of the gridiron has found its way into a federal courtroom in a standoff between the Texas Association of Sports Officials and the University Interscholastic League. With the threat of a lockout of referees and their ilk, the result could be the hiring of scabs to replace them — or even the halting of games — just weeks before one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated moments in Texas: the start of high school football playoffs.
Rio Grande Valley
The Rio Grande Valley sits along the Texas-Mexico border, where agriculture, trade and a rapidly growing tech sector shape daily life. The region includes communities such as McAllen, Brownsville and Harlingen. The communities are on the front lines of some of the state’s most consequential immigration and border-policy debates.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
ICE Under Fire
A year after Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it would reform immigration detention, advocacy groups say the agency has fallen short on a few key counts: addressing alleged human rights violations and expanding alternatives to incarceration.
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: Los Libertarios
Libertarians launch a new political action committee, Texas Libertarios, to show Latinos they have more choices than just Republicans and Democrats.
Posted inState Government
Gubernatorial Debate, R.I.P.
That deadline set by Rick Perry has come and gone. The governor gave his Democratic challenger, Bill White, until midnight last night to release tax returns from his days as Deputy Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration. So, for now, it looks like Texas voters will not get to see the two men duke it out on the same stage. Ben Philpott KUT News and the Tribune has this report.
Posted in
Demographics
Ads Infinitum: White’s “Border Security” Pitch
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White promises 1,000 more security officers on the Texas-Mexico border in his latest TV spot, appropriately titled “Border.”
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: Iraq Hand-Me-Downs to Texas?
Eighteen Democrats in the Texas House have asked President Obama to send U.S. surveillance aircraft from Iraq to Texas to help guard the state’s border with Mexico.
Posted in
Demographics
2010: Bill White’s Border Security Plan [Updated]
Gubernatorial candidate Bill White unveiled a border security plan today and chided Gov. Rick Perry over border cameras and his “unauthorized” spending of security money.
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: Illegal Immigration Down in U.S.
The number of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. has declined considerably in the past few years when compared to the first half of the previous decade, according to a new study by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Posted in
Demographics
The Road to Candelaria
State lawmakers looking for guidance on how to draft immigration legislation that can withstand legal challenges may not have to wait for resolution of the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Arizona. A case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court could light the path.
Posted in
Demographics
The Optimist Club
Along the border, the beheadings and bombings carried out by drug cartels are drawing comparisons to murders by Muslim extremists — not surprising, given the war-like death toll of 8,100 so far this year in Mexico, including about 50 casualties last weekend. Yet diplomats from both sides reject the notion raised regularly by government officials and media outlets that Mexico is a “failed state.” The horrors of some communities, they told a border security conference last week in El Paso, overshadow the fact that parts of the country remain stable and are thriving economically.
