Pomp, Circumstance, Consequences
The 82nd Texas Legislature convenes in Austin this week, and while it’s not as much fun as the circus — usually — it’s more important and does have its share of comedy and drama. Full Story
The latest demographics news from The Texas Tribune.
The 82nd Texas Legislature convenes in Austin this week, and while it’s not as much fun as the circus — usually — it’s more important and does have its share of comedy and drama. Full Story
Proposing state enforcement of immigration laws can produce strange bedfellows. "Who would imagine that after 28 years of law enforcement the ACLU would be talking so nicely about me,” Sheriff Richard Wiles joked after being introduced as a common-sense sheriff by ACLU of Texas Executive Director Terri Burke for his opposition to proposed legislation patterned on Arizona’s. Full Story
The Democratic congressman from El Paso on what life will be like with the Republicans in control of the U.S. House, why the information released by WikiLeaks shouldn't be public, whether we should be sending troops to Mexico and why Gov. Rick Perry talks so much about spillover violence. Full Story
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who survived the GOP rout last November, didn’t mince words Wednesday when asked if he’d considering throwing in with the other guys. Full Story
Alan Bersin, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol commissioner, will be headed to Big Bend National Park on Thursday for an announcement that might please residents of that remote area of the border. Bersin is set to meet with National Park Services staff to discuss the opening of a border crossing in Boquillas Canyon. Full Story
Texas alternates election years with governing years, with legislative sessions set in the odd-numbered years after voters choose their leaders. There are variations, but it’s got a rhythm: Choose them, watch them govern, choose, watch. The elections behind us, it’s time to see what this particular bunch will do. Full Story
In August, 60 years after the University of Texas admitted its first black student, the school welcomed the first incoming freshman class in its history in which white students were in the minority. The state’s flagship university passed the demographic milestone earlier than some had anticipated, reflecting a similar shift that is rapidly taking place at other top-level universities across the country. While the changing demographics of college campuses may grab the headlines, the more compelling issue is how the growing number of minority students presents serious social and academic challenges for financially strapped universities, even as they are under pressure to boost graduation rates. Full Story
The Webb County Sheriff's Department has released the names and photographs of 151 inmates who escaped from a Mexican state prison on the border this month. So far, he says, there is no evidence the convicts have fled to Texas. Full Story
Politics, like football, is a full-contact sport — and the 2010 election was filled with the kind of brawling you would expect. It also had plenty of bizarre moments of the sort that make the rest of the nation believe Texas really is a different country. Full Story
The asylum case of a Mexican family whose matriarch was assassinated during a political protest could “define the politics of refugee detention” and shape how the U.S. weighs future cases of those wishing to flee political persecution in Mexico, an El Paso-based immigration attorney said Tuesday. Full Story
For the seventh consecutive decade, Texas will gain seats in the U.S. House of Representatives after the decennial apportionment process, which means extra clout after the 2012 elections. With Republicans in control of redrawing the state's congressional districts — and adding the four new seats — they stand to benefit the most. Full Story
As he sat in traffic last Saturday on the final stretch of I-35 in Laredo in a truck loaded with U.S. goods, Higinio Navarrette was a microcosm of the holiday season on the border: an area where the local economy is as affected by security and cartel-related violence as it is by the nationwide economic slowdown. Full Story
Should Texas gun sellers be required to notify the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when they sell two or more semi-automatic rifles to one person within a five-day period? The feds, desperate to stem the flow of weapons into Mexico, say yes. Gun rights advocates like Gov. Rick Perry say such a policy would be misguided. Full Story
For our final TribCast taping of 2010, we offer Texas political predictions for 2011. Full Story
Texas won big Tuesday with the release of 2010 census data. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune takes a look at the numbers, which will have legislators redrawing state maps to add four new congressional seats. Full Story
Texas won big Tuesday with the release of 2010 census data. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune takes a look at the numbers, which will have legislators redrawing state maps to add four congressional seats. Full Story
Texas will get four extra seats in the U.S. Congress in the decennial apportionment process, bringing the total to 36, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. Full Story
The inmates who escaped from a prison in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, which sits across from Laredo, are likely part of a plan to bolster the ranks of the Zetas cartel, says Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar. Full Story
At least 140 prisoners escaped from a Nuevo Laredo prison today, though that number is believed to be a conservative estimate. Mexican media outlet El Universal reported this morning that the number of escapees could exceed 190. Full Story
A month after cartel warfare forced residents of the Mexican city of Ciudad Mier to abandon their homes and seek refuge on the Texas side of the border, they have tentatively started to make their way back, buoyed by the presence of three military battalions. What happens when the soldiers leave is anyone's guess. Full Story