Perry: We Have a Tort Reform Emergency
With the House set to take up a loser-pays bill for the second time tomorrow, Gov. Rick Perry has added an item to his emergency list: tort reform. Full Story
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![Rep. Brandon Creighton R-Conroe during the State Sovereignty Committee on March 17th ,2011]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Senate Approves Rape Kit Testing Bill
Some of the thousands of untested rape kits lining evidence storage room shelves statewide would finally get testing under a bill the Texas Senate approved today. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman -
Juvenile Justice Merger Heads to Governor
A bill to merge Texas' two state juvenile justice agencies is headed to the governor for a signature. Full Story
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Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman -
Update: First Texas Execution Done With New Drug Protocol
Less than a month before his scheduled execution, Cary Kerr had no attorney. And the ones he had had up to that point, he argued, didn’t do him much good. Tonight, his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution was turned down. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Video: Bill Powers and Bowen Loftin at TribLive
At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed Bill Powers and Bowen Loftin, the presidents of the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, respectively, about the need for higher education reform, the impact of budget cuts, the predicament of middling graduation rates and more. Full Story
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TribLive: Powers and Loftin on Higher Ed Reform, Budget Cuts
At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed Bill Powers and Bowen Loftin, the presidents of the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, respectively, about the need for higher education reform, the impact of budget cuts, the predicament of middling graduation rates and more. Full Story
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![William Powers Jr., UT President and R. Bowen Loftin, Texas A&M President at TribLive on April 28, 2011.]()
Credit: Jacob Villanueva -
Audio: Bill Powers and Bowen Loftin at TribLive
At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed Bill Powers and Bowen Loftin, the presidents of the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, respectively, about the need for higher education reform, the impact of budget cuts, the predicament of middling graduation rates and more. Full Story
![William Powers Jr., UT President and R. Bowen Loftin, Texas A&M President at TribLive on April 28, 2011.]()
Credit: Jacob Villanueva -
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aguilar and Weber on a subdued debate over homeland security, Galbraith on rising concern about natural gas drilling, Grissom on a controversial psychologist, Hamilton on the aftermath of the Rick O'Donnell episode, Philpott on the comptroller's apology, Ramshaw with more on the statewide database of child abusers, E. Smith interviews Lance Armstrong, M. Smith on what House budget cuts would mean for school districts, M. Stiles on how redistricting would change things for each House member, Tan on the Senate's wobbly attempts to approve a budget and my interview with David Dewhurst: The best of our best content from April 25 to 29, 2011. Full Story
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House Tentatively OKs New Juvenile Justice Agency
Texas youths who get crossways with the law could soon find themselves under the supervision of a new state juvenile justice agency whose main mission is to keep young offenders close to home and quickly headed in a more positive direction. Full Story
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Credit: Callie Richmond -
TribLive: Powers and Loftin Oppose Campus Carry
At this morning's TribLive conversation, UT President Bill Powers and A&M President Bowen Loftin explained why they oppose legislation that would allow concealed hanguns on college campuses. Full Story
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Wentworth Surprises Senate With Campus Carry
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. Full Story
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Credit: Texas Senate -
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. Full Story
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Bill to Test Rape Kits Comes With Big Price Tag
Thousands of untested rape kits could be examined for DNA evidence, but a bill considered today by a Senate panel carries a hefty price tag. The result could be that the boxes remain stacked on shelves in police storage rooms across the state. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman -
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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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![Dr. George Denkowski conducted psychological exams for more than a dozen current death row inmates. 1) Anthony Pierce 2) Virgilio Maldonado 3) Calvin Hunter 4) John Matamoros 5) Derrick Charles 6) Kim Ly Lim 7) Coy Wesbrook 8) Joel Escobedo 9) Jamie McCoskey 10) Warren Rivers 11) Tomas Gallo 12) Steven Butler 13) Alfred Brown]()
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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![Picture of one of millions of letters sent you by the Comptroller's office after it was discovered that the personal information of more than three million people was left unprotected for a year.]()
Credit: Ben Philpott -
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. Full Story
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![John Bradley, left, is the new chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. Cameron Todd Willingham, right, was executed for setting a house fire that killed his three daughters.]()
Credit: Jacob Villanueva -
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. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman -
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. Full Story
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![Presiding Officer of the Texas Forensic Science Commission John Bradley during a commission meeting April 14th, 2011]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
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