The latest criminal justice news from The Texas Tribune.
The U.N.'s top human rights official says that the U.S. broke international law when the state of Texas executed a Mexican national last week. Matt Largey of KUT News reports on what that could mean for Gov. Rick Perry as he nears a presidential run. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Perry_Shadows.jpg)
Aguilar on a change in law that affects applications for state-issued IDs, Galbraith on how the drought is taking its toll on wildlife, Hamilton on an outsider's attempt to lower the cost of higher ed, Murphy visualizes the partisanship of House members, Ramsey on who becomes Lite Guv if David Dewhurst takes another job, Ramshaw on life in the colonias and three stories about Rick Perry — Grissom on how his death penalty stance might play in a 2012 presidential race, Root on how he cemented his reputation as one of the state's most powerful governors and Tan on the growing demand for him to speak elsewhere: The best of our best content from July 4 to July 8, 2011. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Tribweek_07042011.jpg)
Despite the Obama administration's plea for a stay, the U.S. Supreme Court won't stand in the way of Texas' plans to execute Mexican citizen Humberto Leal Jr. tonight. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/HumbertoLeal.png)
In tough-on-crime Texas, Rick Perry has overseen the executions of 230 prisoners — more than any other modern governor. As he eyes a White House bid, his support of the death penalty could have mixed consequences. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6c82b6591f409a21e8697bd2173cad2c/DONT%20USE%20Perry%20Death%20Penalty%202011)
Anthony Graves got a check for $1.45 million today from Texas Comptroller Susan Combs, money the state owed him for keeping him behind bars for nearly two decades for a crime he did not commit. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/A_Graves_StillFrame.jpg)
Ten days before death row inmate Humberto Leal's scheduled execution, his attorneys and the Mexican government have asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution. Full Story
A new data visualization tool, the Tweet Topic Explorer, makes analyzing a user’s Twitter feed quick, painless and beautiful. Check out what Gov. Rick Perry tweets about most on his personal twitter feed, and see how his tweets compare to others. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/PerryTweetTracker.jpg){kind=tracking}
An Everybody-in-the-Pool effort on what's left to do in the special session, Ramshaw on a doozy of a congressional race shaping up, Aguilar on the debate over sanctuary cities and other immigration proposals, M. Smith on the state's used-up Rainy Day Fund, Grissom on efforts to kick the special interests out of an insurance fight, Dehn and Tan on whether the special session helps or hurts the governor's national ambitions, Galbraith and KUT Radio team up for a series on the long-term outlook for Central Texas water, Aaronson on government attempts to balance openness and privacy with data releases, yours truly on Amazon's run at a sales tax break, and Hamilton on an ethnic gap in higher education: The best of our best from June 20 to 24, 2011. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Tribweek-June20-1024x678.png)
Your afternoon reading: Could ghosts of Gov. Rick Perry's past affect his presidential intentions? Meanwhile, parents prepare for budget cuts in the classroom, and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst says he'll reveal his next campaign move in July. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/PerryWithFlag.jpg)
Advocates for a $5 "pole tax" on strip club patrons that raises money for state services say their effort to change which programs benefit from the fee is dead. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/StripTax.jpg)
In the wake of high-profile data breaches that left the personal information of millions of state workers exposed, state lawmakers are trying to strike a balance between promoting transparency and protecting records. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TransDocs.jpg)
Prosecutors will be able to punish kids who send explicit photos to each other without resorting to putting them on the sex offender registry, under a bill Attorney General Greg Abbott lauded in a press release today. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TxTrib_StudentsUT_MS_4.jpg)
Aaronson and Murphy visualize what happened to the nearly 5,800 bills introduced in the 82nd Lege, Aaronson, Hasson and Swicegood interactively recap the budget battle, Aguliar on the surge in illegal re-entry cases prosecuted by the Obama administration, Galbraith on a coal plant that wants a water deal from the LCRA, Grissom interviews a man wrongly imprisoned and nearly executed — twice, Hamilton on a controversial UT regent who wants a do-over in the debate over higher ed reform, Ramshaw on the continuing fight over pre-abortion sonograms, Root on Rick Perry's newsmaking trip to NYC and M. Smith on whether cash-strapped school districts will raise taxes: The best of our best content from June 13 to 17, 2011. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Triblive06132011.jpg)
Diabetic cowboy outlaw Roddy Dean Pippin thinks his ride out of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Carole S. Young unit should have started Thursday. Prison officials plan to keep him until 2013 — and so taxpayers continue paying for his extensive health care needs. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/RoddyPippin.jpg)
The state of Texas incarcerated him for nearly two decades — and nearly executed him twice — for murders he didn't commit. Now, the state is balking at giving him the $1 million he's owed for all the years he spent wrongfully imprisoned. Despite it all, Anthony Graves remains positive. Full Story
The state of Texas incarcerated him for nearly two decades — and nearly executed him twice — for murders he didn't commit. Now, the state is balking at giving him the $1 million he's owed for all the years he spent wrongfully imprisoned. Despite it all, Anthony Graves remains positive. Full Story
Likely voters in Texas approve of President Barack Obama almost as much as they approve of Gov. Rick Perry, according to the third and final release of poll results from the Texas Lyceum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group of civic leaders. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/_KCB0198.jpg)
We have a special update to the Tribune's government employee salary database, adding recently acquired salary data from the last six agencies missing from the the University of Texas System, Texas Woman's University and the Sabine River Authority. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/SalaryDatabaseUpdate.jpg)
Texas inmates may soon get more phone time — lots more. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/PrisonPhones_b.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/filesandfiles.png)