State Sen. Jeff Wentworth surprised his colleagues and brought the Senate to a standstill today when he tried to tack his controversial campus carry bill onto another measure.
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.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Guns on Campus Could Cost Colleges
Allowing students to bring guns to college could cost universities a pretty penny in insurance premiums — one of the hitches that is keeping the campus-carry bill stalled in the Texas Senate.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Outside Group Wants Investigation Into Data Exposure
The Texas attorney general and the FBI are already investigating the accidental release of personal information by the comptroller’s office. Now, as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, an outside group wants to start its own investigation.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
County Used Doctor After Methods Challenged
Harris County paid a forensic psychologist who was reprimanded earlier this month more than $300,000 to test defendants for intellectual disabilities from 2002 until 2008.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Combs Hasn’t Mastered Fine Art of Eating Crow
The comptroller of public accounts has been ducking responsibility ever since revealing that her agency had put the names and Social Security numbers of 3.5 million people in a publicly available spot on its website.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Comptroller Offers Help After Data Mishap
Frustrated state employees continue to search for help — and answers — after the comptroller’s office accidentally left sensitive personal data on an open server for anyone to see.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Bassett: Politics Stymied Willingham Investigation
The former chairman of a state forensic board applauded the current commissioners’ report on the arson investigation used to convict Cameron Todd Willingham, but said he’s deeply concerned that politics stymied their ability to take a stronger stance.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Hamilton on Victoria’s efforts to divorce the University of Houston, Ramshaw on a disagreement between right-to-life groups over laws governing when life ends, E. Smith’s TribLive interview with Sen. Kel Seliger and Rep. Burt Solomons on redistricting, Aguilar’s interview with the mayor of Juárez, Tan on the continuing hunt for money to buy down budget cuts, Grissom on a psychologist who found more than a dozen inmates mentally competent to face the death penalty, Stiles and yours truly on the House redistricting maps and Galbraith on cutting or killing a tax break for high-cost natural gas producers: The best of our best content from April 11 to 15, 2011.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Board Approves Report on Willingham
Members of a state forensic board today accepted an amended version of a report on convicted arsonist Cameron Todd Willingham’s case, but won’t rule on professional negligence until the attorney general says whether they have jurisdiction to do so.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Psychologist Reprimanded in Death Penalty Cases
A psychologist who examined 14 inmates now on Texas’ death row — and two others who were subsequently executed — and found them intellectually competent enough to face the death penalty has agreed never to perform such evaluations again.