State officials said Friday they can’t reveal how much money taxpayers are spending to protect Gov. Rick Perry — and that records of security costs compiled before 2008 have been “purged.”
Courts
Stay up to date on Texas courts with in-depth coverage of major rulings, judicial elections, criminal justice, and the judges shaping state law from The Texas Tribune.
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Criminal Justice
On the Records: Shifting Unemployment Rates in Texas
New Texas Workforce Commission stats show that Texas has gained more than 220,000 jobs since last year. Check out this visualization of unemployment rates broken down by city for June 2010 and June 2011.
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Criminal Justice
Thompson Feeds Her “Little Dogs” and Throws a Bone to Bigger Ones
Rep. Senfronia Thompson’s almost 40-year House tenure is defined by her defense of the underserved. But her legislative career is peppered with occasional paradoxes.
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Criminal Justice
Updated: Court Declines Stay for 9-11 Revenge Killer
U.S. Distict Judge Lee Yeakel today denied Rais Bhuiyan’s request to the stay the execution of Mark Stroman, the man who shot him and killed two others and is scheduled to die tonight for his crimes.
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Criminal Justice
State Seeks Clearance for Political Maps
Texas bypassed the Obama administration’s Department of Justice on Tuesday, opting to ask a panel of federal judges in Washington, D.C., to review the state’s new maps for congressional, legislative and State Board of Education districts.
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Criminal Justice
Inside Houston’s Harris County Jail
Lt. Ronny Taylor talks about some of the security measures in place to prevent inmates from escaping from the Harris County Jail in Houston.
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Criminal Justice
In Texas, Jailbreaks Aren’t Like the Movies. Usually.
A favorite plot device on television and in movies, jailbreaks, at least in Texas, are pretty rare. But that doesn’t stop inmates from trying. And trying.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Check our new Perrypedia — a home for stories and data about you-know-who, Ramshaw on health care in the colonias, Root’s look back at Rick Perry’s years as a Democrat, M. Smith on the pressures facing the TEA, yours truly on David Dewhurst’s impact on the U.S. Senate race, E. Smith’s panel discussion on the Cameron Todd Willingham case, Hamilton on Perry and higher ed, Murphy on who’s paying the pole tax, Grissom on Alto’s decision to close its police department, Aguilar on labor and security worries over trucking on the border and Galbraith on what government can’t do during a drought: The best of our best content from July 11 to 15, 2011.
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Criminal Justice
A Naked Gamble That the Pole Tax Gets Stripped
Four years and one seemingly endless lawsuit after Texas lawmakers passed a $5-per-patron strip club fee, just 111 of the state’s 176 strip clubs have paid any money. (View our interactive here.)
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Criminal Justice
Lawyers, Guns and Money
The Department of Justice’s decision this week to require firearms dealers in Texas and three other border states to report the multiple sales of long rifles will come down to a funding battle in Washington.