The Week in the Rearview Mirror

State Rep. Jonathan Stickland’s GOP primary challenger, Scott Fisher, has found more than 3,000 of the Bedford Republican’s old posts on the fantasy football site FFtoday.com. The posts offer a rare glimpse at the unscrubbed online life of a political candidate before he took office. 

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is kicking into high gear in Texas with the opening of its first office in Houston Thursday.

Travis County health officials on Thursday confirmed the first case of the Zika virus in the county. A man under the age of 50 contracted the illness while traveling in Colombia, according to the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department.

Anti-abortion activists indicted after infiltrating a Houston Planned Parenthood facility were offered probation deals by Harris County prosecutors. David Daleiden, one of the videographers, rejected the offer and plans to fight the charges.

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia's arraignment on a perjury charge related to his arrest of Sandra Bland will be held in March, the Waller County District Clerk's office confirmed. In the meantime, lawyers for the state are trying to hold off a civil lawsuit filed by Bland's family.

Oncor, the state’s largest utility, is warning state regulators that electric rates could increase for millions of Texas customers if they approve a complex reorganization plan offered by the Ray L. Hunt family.

Citing an increasingly diversified Texas economy, former Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday boasted about the “Texas Miracle” and said there’s no reason to be overly concerned about the plummeting price of oil.

Ted Cruz on Wednesday began winning over supporters of Rand Paul in Texas following his Senate colleague's exit from the race for the White House. Most prominent is state Sen. Don Huffines, the Dallas Republican who had chaired the Paul campaign in Texas.

Austin, Galveston and Midland are facing serious questions about how much to alter local statutes in order to persuade Uber, an app-based vehicle-for-hire company, to continue operating. Uber has battled the three cities over approved and proposed rules this week.

A record number of people wrongly convicted of crimes were exonerated in 2015, with 42 wrongful convictions in Harris County drug cases boosting the nationwide tally to 149, according to the National Registry of Exonerations' annual report.

Public health officials in Dallas County have confirmed the first sexually transmitted case of the Zika virus, said to be linked to birth defects.

Ben Carson's campaign said it has accepted an apology from Ted Cruz over messages Cruz's campaign sent to supporters Monday evening in Iowa suggesting that Carson might be about to drop out of the race.

Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign announced his Texas leadership team Tuesday. The team includes current and former state representatives James Frank, Larry Gonzales, Jason Isaac, Linda Harper-Brown, Martha Wong, Peggy Hamric and Myra Crownover.

Lubbock Mayor Glen Robertson and former Texas Tech University Vice Chancellor Jodey Arrington were the two highest fundraisers in the nine-person race to succeed U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Lubbock, according to newly filed campaign finance reports.

With his win Monday night in the Iowa caucuses, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is riding a wave of momentum that can boost his prospects in New Hampshire. Before Monday night, the Texan presidential hopeful was already poised to beat expectations in the Granite State as the beneficiary of a splintered race for establishment support there. With his victory over billionaire Donald Trump in Iowa, however, Cruz now heads to the next state with a wider opening than ever.

Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, pressed the Department of Homeland Security on Monday to explain why the agency plans to reduce its aerial surveillance on the Texas-Mexico border.

A Texas Ethics Commission opinion that would have allowed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to fund his ongoing legal battle through out-of-state donors failed to pass by one vote Monday.

In the six-way Democratic primary to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Edinburg, Dolly Elizondo received a boost Monday from EMILY's List, the influential organization that backs exclusively female Democratic candidates.

What is the definition of "tangible personal property?" The arcane question is at the center of a lawsuit that could reap energy companies a multibillion-dollar windfall and drain the state's budget surplus. “This is very serious, real money," Comptroller Glenn Hegar said.

Texas Tech University, the University of North Texas, the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington have been designated as “Carnegie Tier One” schools, by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

Disclosure: Texas Tech University, the University of Texas at Arlington and Uber are corporate sponsors of The Texas Tribune. The University of North Texas was a corporate sponsor in 2014. Oncor was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune in 2012. Planned Parenthood was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune in 2011. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.