Congress

Jack McDonald isn't running for Congress after all.

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Search the privately funded trips taken by Texas congressmen and their staffs during the last two years.

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Stiles and Thevenot collaborate on the salaries paid to superintendents, and even compare them on price per student… Ramsey’s look at redistricting and next year’s elections… Aguilar’s report on jails, brought to you by the federal agency that’s in the ag business… Rapoport’s peek at the power behind Texas pre-kindergarten programs… Smith’s conversation with Dan Patrick, in three parts… Grissom’s narrative on a circular immigration and deportation route financed by two governments… Ramshaw finds doctors agreeing on public policy and split on strategy and tactics… Hu’s latest Stump Interrupted puts the camera on Farouk Shami… Hamilton’s story on two retired cops who are taking on cargo theft in Texas… And Kreighbaum and Stiles pop open the itineraries of your folks in Congress. The best of our best from December 12 to 18, 2009.

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Writing about congressional travel required days of tedious work because the information isn't easily accessible.

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Members of the Texas congressional delegation took more than 200 privately funded trips, at a cost of more than $350,000, in 2008 and 2009.

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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.

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Tom DeLay, the former Houston congressman and U.S. House majority leader and ertswhile booty-shaker, is Texas Monthly's 2010 Bum Steer of the Year.

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Bill White's expected to announce for governor today. We'll get you caught up to speed on what led to this day, help flesh out what it all means, and take a quick look ahead.

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How many Texas congressional seats are competitive enough to merit a mention? Three, according to sayer of sooth Charlie Cook.

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Today is the first day for people wanting to run in the Democratic or Republican primary to file their candidacy. The month-long period is often a mix of the expected — like Governor Perry filing to run for re-election — and the unexpected. Houston Mayor Bill White running for governor could set off a chain reaction among Democrats to enter other statewide races, for instance. But one of the most interesting phenomena this year is the number of so called Tea Party Republicans entering the primaries. Ben Philpott, covering the Texas governor's race for KUT News and The Texas Tribune, has this report.

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KBH is out with her second television ad of the campaign cycle. "Texas Tough", as it's called, highlights the KBH record with the help of a tough-talkin' male voiceover.

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Congressional Quarterly's latest rankings of congressional races has only three Texas contests in the "likely" category, two on the Democratic side and one on the Republican side.

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Multi-part stories from Ramshaw and Grissom and Stiles on mental health services for detained immigrants and on payday lenders who provide exorbitantly priced credit to people with nowhere else to turn... Twitter, word clouds and the race for governor — a Stiles joint... Farouk Shami is in and Hu was there to watch... Philpott went to Bastrop for a gather of Republican governors... Rapoport finds a State Board of Education that's trying to control itself... and we have the skinny on legislative races that are likely to be competitive (only about 5 percent of the races on the ballot). It's the best of The Texas Tribune from November 14 to 20, 2009.

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Kay Bailey Hutchison won't resign from the Senate to run for governor. Hutchison and her aides began calling other Republicans Friday afternoon to tell them to make other plans.

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U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison talks the Texas economy, the latest Rasmussen poll and her resignation timetable. Watch the full exchange with reporters Friday morning.

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One little speech and everybody’s all atwitter.

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We've set up our first Twitter list, aggregating the feeds of 58 tweeting Texas elected officials

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Texans say immigration tops their list of state concerns. Nearly half of them say illegal immigrants should be deported, as against 41 percent who think the immigrants should be allowed to keep their jobs, assimilate, and eventually be allowed to apply for legal status.

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