After a 2006 bus accident in Beaumont that killed two students and injured several more, parents and legislators successfully demanded the state finance seat belts in school buses. Today, four years later, the Legislative Budget Board finally gave approval for a grant program — but the rules the board set likely will exclude the Beaumont area from getting the money, even though the grassroots movement started there.
Texas Department Of Transportation
Posted in
Transportation
The 100 Most Congested Roads
A new Texas Department of Transportation study names Texas’ 100 most congested roadways, which are heavily concentrated in Houston and the Dallas Metroplex; Bexar is the only one of the big five counties without a top-10 trouble spot. Policymakers hope the study will focus the public and lawmakers on the state’s problem areas.
Posted in
Transportation
TribBlog: Pick Your Plate
Twenty-eight new Texas specialty license plates are up for a public vote by My Plates, the company that markets them.
Posted in
Economy
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramshaw and the Houston Chronicle’s Terri Langford on incidents of abuse and mistreatment at residential treatment centers, M. Smith on the state Republican Party platform and 10th Amendment embracers, Galbraith on a pipeline project raising crude concerns and the most important word in water law, Ramsey on former officeholders who are now lobbyists and the possibility of a speaker’s race, Grissom on a fight over solar power in Marfa, Hamilton and Aguilar on the TxDOT audit, Philpott on budget cuts affecting school districts and my conversation with Dallas County D.A. Craig Watkins: The best of our best from June 7-11, 2010.
Posted in
Economy
TribBlog: Holding Out for a TxDOT Hero
Lawmakers have said it before, and today they said it again: Sweeping top-down change is needed within the Texas Department of Transportation.
Posted in
Transportation
Been Down This Road Before
As the Texas Department of Transportation heads into a House Transportation Committee hearing today to review a highly critical 628-page audit, the value of the $2 million report is being called into question.
Posted in
State Government
The Brief: June 8, 2010
Efforts to contain the oil still gushing into the Gulf of Mexico finally seem to be making headway, but the government is now warning that the remaining slick may have a mind of its own.
Posted in
State Government
The Weekly Tribcast Episode 31
In this week’s TribCast, Ross, Evan, Ben and Reeve discuss the summer political fundraising season, TxDOT’s audit, how population projections will impact into redistricting and the politics of pollution.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Search Perry’s People
Search our updated database of Gov. Rick Perry’s more than 2,000 current appointees to state boards and commissions.
Posted in
Transportation
A Conversation with Deirdre Delisi
For the seventh event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the chair of the Texas Transportation Commission on the size of the road funding hole, the toll-versus-tax debate and whether the governor she once served as chief of staff is really not running for president.
