Brad Levenson, newly hired director of the soon-to-be-opened Texas Office of Capital Writs
state agencies
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Capitol Reopened After Bomb Threat
The Texas Capitol has been evacuated because of an early morning bomb threat. A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety says someone called 9-1-1 and said there is a bomb in the building. Everyone inside was ordered out and people showing up for work this morning are being turned away for now.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: Hegar: No PUC Revolving Door
When reports surfaced that the Public Utility Comission chair was being considered for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ top job, watchdogs questioned whether he could legally — or ethically — apply for the job. If Sunset Advisory Commission Chair Glenn Hegar’s recommendations stick, the answer will soon be no.
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Health care
TribBlog: Failing at Fitness
Less than a third of the state’s 3rd-to-12th-grade students can pass a physical fitness test — and that’s an improvement.
Posted in
Energy
Balking at Bacteria
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has voted not to allow higher levels of E. coli bacteria in the state’s water sources, despite staff concerns that the current rules are unnecessarily stringent.
Posted in
State Government
Sunset Grill
Physician fraud investigators inside the troubled Division of Workers’ Compensation say state examiners failed to uncover serious problems there — and then recommended changes that would take key decisions away from trained physicians and give them to bureaucrats.
Posted in
Health care
TribBlog: Staples, TDA Respond to Gilbert’s Attack
Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples’ camp calls a recent attack by Hank Gilbert’s campaign “the lowest a political campaign has ever stooped in Texas politics.”
Posted in
Health care
Con Jobs
Criminal records don’t always exclude job applicants from working with the most vulnerable foster care children, according to a Texas Tribune/Houston Chronicle investigation. At Daystar Residential Inc., where workers forced developmentally disabled girls to fight each other, dozens made it through the state’s background check process in the last three years despite records of arrests.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Marketing Murderabilia
Ted Bundy’s fried hair. Sperm from college campus shooter Wayne Lo. Dirt from the crawl space where John Wayne Gacy stored 26 bodies. All are collectors’ items in the macabre world of murderabilia. The more infamous the killer, the bigger the price tag — at least for now. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and a Houston city official are working to exterminate the industry they say allows murderers and rapists to make money from their crimes. Murderabilia peddlers insist they operate in good taste. “We don’t push this into anyone’s face,” says the owner of murderauction.com.
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Health care
TribBlog: Gilbert: Staples Has “Blood on His Hands” [Updated]
The latest twist in the ag commissioner race: Democratic Challenger Hank Gilbert is accusing incumbent Todd Staples of killing nine people.
