On the eve of a noisy election year, the former lieutenant governor of Texas takes us on a tour through voting and demographic statistics.
Texas Legislature
Posted in
Demographics
TribBlog: Less Vitriol, More Laws on Immigration
The inflamed immigration rhetoric of the past couple of years has waned, but a report the National Conference of State Legislatures released today shows that state lawmakers still have passion for the issue.
Posted in
State Government
Never Can Say Goodbye
Texas voters won’t be offered a real chance at change in the Legislature and Congress next year. Four out of five state and federal lawmakers face no real competition in their primary or general elections.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Mapmaker, Mapmaker
Think like the political pros and your mind will go to the long game instead of the short one. The short game is the elections of 2010. The long game is redistricting in 2011, when maps are drawn that corral the voters into the districts that will elect legislators for the next ten years.
Posted in
Public Education
TribBlog: El Paso ISD Embraces Honest Grading, Sort Of
The El Paso school board this week dumped a controversial policy requiring teachers to give automatic grades of 50 to students who didn’t earn them. But teachers are still allowed to do so at their discretion.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: A Data Challenge for Texas
What are state and local governments in Texas doing to make raw data available to the public? Not much.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: A Felony For You, a Felony For Me
Criminal justice blogger Scott Henson is reporting on Grits For Breakfast that lawmakers put 59 new felonies on the books during the last legislative session.
Posted in
State Government
2010: Paxton Ducks
Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, is not, Not, NOT running against Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, in spite of reports that he was planning a challenge.
Posted in
State Government
Debtors’ Treadmill: Treasure Map
Short-term, high-interest lenders are clustered in neighborhoods where the median household income is less than $50,000 a year.
