DAY 16 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: Gun owners in Texas will not have to leave their weapons at home while they are at work anymore.
Criminal Justice
Get the latest Texas Tribune coverage on criminal justice, including crime, courts, law enforcement, and reforms shaping the state’s justice system.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Skinner, Awaiting DNA Ruling, Gets New Execution Date
For the fourth time, the state of Texas is scheduled to execute death row inmate Hank Skinner for the 1993 murders of his live-in girlfriend and her two sons, potentially quashing his ability to request DNA testing under a new state law.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Our all-hands-on-deck series on new laws — 31 Days, 31 Ways — continues, Root covers a challenge to the governor’s school finance fix and the tax that makes it work, Philpott forecasts a presidential media tsunami will hit Texas, Murphy with a look at midyear campaign reports from candidates and PACs in Texas, yours truly on the quiet spot at the top of the 2014 ballot, Hamilton on government-required vaccinations against meningitis, Grissom reports on the heat wave in un-air-conditioned Texas jails, Aguilar on the private security business along the state’s border with Mexico and M. Smith’s interview with Nicole Hurd on how to get more high school students into college: The best of our best content from Aug. 8 to 12, 2011.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Court Rules Against Individual Health Care Mandate
A federal appeals court today ruled that the individual insurance mandate in President Obama’s health care reform plan is unconstitutional, a decision Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott lauded as a step toward ending “Obamacare.”
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Supreme Court is Elected, but Bears Perry’s Stamp
Judges are elected in Texas, but Gov. Rick Perry has picked the winners on the state’s highest civil court almost without fail since he took office in 2000.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Executions Probably Not an Issue — for Now
This week, Martin Robles became Texas’ ninth execution of the year. Convicted in a Corpus Christi gang shooting, his death was not among the most controversial to happen on the watch of Gov. Rick Perry. During his decade in the Texas governor’s office, Perry has overseen more than 230 executions, more than any governor in modern history.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
31 Days, 31 Ways: Protective Orders May Cover More Texans
DAY 9 of our month-long series on the effects of new state laws and budget cuts: Lawmakers expanded protective orders to include pets and victims of teen dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Inmates Complain of Sweltering Prison Conditions
As the heat index statewide soars above 100 degrees day after day, Texas inmate advocates say complaints about sweltering conditions are increasing along with concerns about prisoners’ health.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Stay of Execution Could Give Death Row Inmate Another Day in Court
A rare stay of execution from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals could give death row inmate Larry Swearingen the chance he’s always wanted to use science to prove his innocence.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aguilar on the denial of asylum petitions by border judges, Galbraith on the history of wind, Grissom talks to the head of the Jail Standards Commission, Hamilton on plans for the state’s new online university, Murphy and Ramsey on political warchests at midyear, Philpott on Texas’ trucker shortage, Ramsey talks data privacy and abortion with Susan Combs, Ramshaw on the Rick Perry’s experimental adult stem cell procedure, Root on the response to The Response, M. Smith on the country’s could-be next first lady and Tan on a few of the ways Texas will change on Sept. 1: The best of our best content from Aug. 1 to 5, 2011.