Another State Agency Data Breach Reported
The Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services said today that the personal data of about 4,900 current and former state employees may have been exposed in a security breach. Full Story
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Texas Inmate at the Nexus of Execution and Abuse
A small church in an impoverished south side San Antonio neighborhood became a place of fear and shame for children who allege they were victims in the 1980s of sexual abuse by a prominent priest. One of those alleged victims is death row inmate Humberto Leal. Full Story
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Family of Longview Woman Who Died in Jail Sues
The family of Amy Lynn Cowling today filed a lawsuit against Gregg County, alleging the inaction of jail officials there led to the death of the 33-year-old mother of three just after Christmas last year. Full Story
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Updated: Another Methadone Addict Dead in Longview Jail
Officials at the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and the Gregg County Sheriff's Office confirmed today that 30-year-old Micah Aaron Garner died at the Longview lockup on Monday night. Full Story
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"On the Records" Under New Management
Data journalism guru Matt Stiles may have left the building but Ryan Murphy and Becca Aaronson will be keeping the tradition and spirit of @stiles alive by continuing to update the data blog On the Records and the @TribData Twitter account. Full Story
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Session's End Creates Graveyard of Failed Legislation
The system is meant to kill legislation: That’s the old line often heard around the Capitol. As the session's end slams the coffin door on a slew of bills, more than a few lawmakers are taking solace in the fact that their dead bills have lots of company. Full Story
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20 Weeks in Which the Budget Held Sway
The 82nd Texas Legislature’s regular session ends as it started, with lawmakers arguing about a shrunken state budget and redistricting. Full Story
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Data App: 27 New Entities, 30 Updated in Public Salaries Database
We've added 27 new entities — including university systems, transit authorities, and appraisal and school districts — to the Tribune's government employee salaries database and updated 30 others, bringing the total number to 129, with salary data for 660,000 public employees. Full Story
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Senate Approves Loser-Pays Bill
The Senate unanimously passed a major tort reform bill today that would allow courts to grant attorneys' fees to prevailing parties under certain circumstances. Full Story
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Woman's Death in East Texas Jail Sparks Legislation
Beginning next year, jails like the one in Gregg County where Amy Lynn Cowling died could be required to tell state officials how many staff members leave their jobs every month. Experts say there likely is a correlation between high staff turnover rates and increased deaths. Full Story
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How Do You Solve a Problem Like a Data Breach?
It’s been more than a month since state officials acknowledged they'd exposed millions of Texans' Social Security numbers and other information online. Matt Largey of KUT News reports what the state's been doing to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. Full Story
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Updated: Forensic Science Commission Bill Revived
A bill that would clarify and expand the jurisdiction of the Forensic Science Commission appeared to have fizzled in the Texas House. But tonight lawmakers revived the bill and voted it out of committee. Full Story
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Updated: Wentworth Blasts Straus Over Campus Carry
State Sen. Jeff Wentworth charged today that his San Antonio colleague, House speaker Joe Straus, used undue influence last night to strip an amendment allowing concealed handguns on college campuses out of a fiscal matter's bill. Full Story
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Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Eyewitness ID Reform Headed to Perry's Desk
The Senate today approved a measure that would reform the way law enforcement officers conduct identification lineups, a measure that criminal justice advocates hope will mean fewer wrongful convictions in the future. Full Story
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Senate Approves Anthony Graves Compensation Bill
The Texas Senate today passed a bill that would finally compensate Anthony Graves for the 18 years he spent behind bars convicted of grisly murders he did not commit. Full Story
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TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson on pork choppers, Aguilar on sanctuary cities legislation, Galbraith on Brownsville's ban on plastic bags, Grissom on Delma Banks and prosecutorial misconduct, Hamilton on a tough week for higher education in Texas, Philpott on wildfires and politics, Ramshaw on the state's pursuit of a federal Medicaid overhaul, M. Smith on what would happen if lawmakers don't rewrite school finance formulas, yours truly on the Lege as schoolyard and Stiles with interactive graphics on how the proposed Senate redistricting maps compare with current ones: The best of our best content from May 9 to 13, 2011. Full Story
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House Approves Four Loko Ban
The Texas House passed a bill today on malt liquor drinks that contain caffeine, ginseng, taurine or guarana. The bill prohibits the sale, manufacture, import and possessing of alcoholic energy drinks, like the infamous Four Loko. Full Story
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On the Records: Complaints Lead Valley Paper to Pull Salary Data
In an apology issued Thursday morning, The Monitor announced that, in response to reader complaints, it will remove public school district salary data it posted earlier this week. Full Story
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30 Years Later, Banks, Prosecutor Face Off Again Over Death Penalty
In a Texarkana courtroom Monday, Delma Banks Jr. faced again the district attorney's office that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled committed misconduct when it successfully fought to send him to death row in 1980 for the shooting death of 16-year-old Richard Whitehead. Full Story
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Amendments Piled Onto Education Finance Bill
Senators today amended an education finance reform bill to allow community college students to carry concealed handguns on campus, increase the cost of cigarettes and allow drastic changes to university administration. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich
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