Calling on Washington to fix the country’s “discriminatory” immigration system, Hispanic Republicans in the Texas Legislature also fired off the first salvos in what could be a divisive battle within the party over immigration legislation. Full Story
Legislation banning “sanctuary city” policies in Texas was voted out of the House State Affairs Committee today, sending the controversial bill to the full House for consideration. Full Story
Conversations about the coming Hispanic majority and the 82nd session from our New Day Rising symposium, M. Smith on the latest tort reform battle, Galbraith on greater scrutiny of the gas industry, Ramsey on whether lawmakers will cut their own pay and benefits, Ramshaw and Aguilar on what's holding up abortion sonogram legislation, Aguilar on the ag commissioner's controversial new website, Philpott on what $9.8 billion in public education cuts looks like, Hamilton on a snippy exchange of higher ed letters and Grissom on the latest court decision in the Hank Skinner case: The best of our best content from March 7 to 11, 2011. Full Story
At the Tribune's New Day Rising symposium on Feb. 28, Henry Cisneros, the first Hispanic mayor of a major American city, reflected on three decades of demographic change. Full Story
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples has no plans to pull down a state-run website that allows border ranchers and farmers to document their daily struggles with drug cartels and undocumented immigrants. Full Story
At the Tribune's New Day Rising symposium on Feb. 28, four public policy experts talked about criminal justice, education, health care and other issues and the impact of the coming Hispanic majority. Full Story
State Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, today asked Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples to take down the border website his office launched last week, protectyourtexasborder.com, saying it has become a “forum for promoting violence.” Full Story
At the Tribune's New Day Rising symposium on Feb. 28, four members of the Texas House talked about the issues affecting the Hispanic community — and all Texans — during the 82nd Legislative Session. Full Story
Texans advocating extreme solutions to secure the border — including land mines and booby traps on Texas farmland along the Rio Grande — have a new forum to share their views: a website operated by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Full Story
At the Tribune's New Day Rising symposium on Feb. 28, four political consultants talked about how the emerging Hispanic majority in Texas will impact voter turnout and candidates and campaigns in 2012, 2014 and beyond. Full Story
At the Tribune's New Day Rising symposium on Feb. 28, former state demographer and former U.S. Census Bureau director Steve Murdock talked extensively about demographic change in Texas. Full Story
Ramshaw and Stiles on the tepid growth of Big D during the last decade, Hamilton talks immigration with state Rep. Leo Berman, M. Smith on Texas education's Race to the Top efforts and more: The best of our best content from Feb. 28 to March 4, 2011. Full Story
The U.S. and Mexican governments announced today that they have reached a tentative agreement to re-start the cross-border, long-haul, trucking program. Full Story
Our new interactive map visualizes population changes by House and Senate district for the total population and residents who are of Hispanic origin. These totals are important now given that lawmakers are preparing to redraw all 181 districts based on their growth, demographics and election histories. Full Story
On this week's episode, Evan, Reeve, Ben and Brandi discuss Gov. Rick Perry's Twitter feed, the state's changing demographics and issues of innocence. Full Story
Tonight, the Texas House took on another of the issues that Gov. Rick Perry has designated an emergency: sanctuary cities, or cities where police do not enforce federal immigration laws. Full Story
On Friday, at an event held by the Tribune and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, I interviewed the senator from South Carolina about federal immigration policy and reform. Full Story
The Texas Department of Public Safety is recommending — again — that Texans avoid traveling to Mexico for vacation. It's the second warning in less than five weeks. Full Story
Protecting education and recognizing that the rapidly growing Hispanic population will gain a major political voice in Texas were themes that emerged Monday at the Tribune's “New Day Rising” forum. Full Story