The insiders answered questions from the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll for the second week in a row, this time on the death penalty, education, top issues facing Texas, and whether the people they know would vote for a Mormon candidate with whom they agree on issues. Full Story
Environmental groups are fighting a proposal that would grant U.S. Border Patrol greater authority to operate in public parks and on environmentally protected land, saying it would circumvent regulations designed to protect natural resources. Full Story
More than one in five Texas voters say most of the people they know would not vote for a Mormon presidential candidate even if they agreed with him or her on the issues, according to the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. Full Story
With a new state law designed to protect workers from wage theft now in effect, organizations and lawmakers in at least three Texas cities are facing a new challenge: how to ensure that prosecuting it is a priority. Full Story
Texas voters started going to the polls this week to decide whether to add 10 amendments to the state's massive Constitution, potentially taking the total number of amendments to 477. A few of them have drawn the ire of anti-tax groups. Full Story
The same state law that allows illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at Texas universities also allows some to be given publicly funded grants to pay for their education. Full Story
The French photographer on why he documented the construction of the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and what he learned as he trekked through four states photographing the multi-billion dollar effort. Full Story
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed a lawsuit in federal district court today on behalf of three women who were allegedly sexually assaulted at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center in Taylor. Full Story
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced this week it deported more immigrants during the 2011 fiscal year than it did in any year since the agency's 2003 inception. Full Story
Aaronson interactively asks if stimulus funds created jobs in Texas, Aguilar on new voter registrar rules that could decrease voter turnout, Galbraith on a UT professor's debunking of climate change "myths," Grissom on an epic clash of El Paso political titans, Hamilton on the right's new higher ed guru, Murphy maps household data from the 2010 Census, Ramsey on a coming rules fight in the Texas Senate, Root and M. Smith on Rick Perry's performance at the New Hampshire debate and M. Smith talks public ed cuts with the state's Superintendent of the Year: The best of our best content from October 10-14, 2011. Full Story
Members of the Tea Party Caucus of Texas said at a press conference today that they are "fed up" with Gov. Rick Perry for not taking action to ban sanctuary cities, a measure he declared an emergency item during the legislative session this year. Full Story
Accusations that Iranian citizens allegedly planned a terrorist plot in the U.S. and engaged people they believed were Mexican cartel operatives to help carry out the attack brought swift reactions from Texas lawmakers. Full Story
A student organization at Gov. Rick Perry’s alma mater, Texas A&M, has started a petition requesting that the governor immediately call a special legislative session to end in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. Full Story
Following allegations about a racial slur on land his family leased for hunting, Gov. Rick Perry’s critics are dissecting his history with race — from his early campaign ads to his defense of Confederate symbols. Full Story
Full video of the keynote speech by U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., in the Race and Immigration track at the 2011 Texas Tribune Festival. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry’s suggestion he might be in favor of sending the U.S. military into Mexico to quell cartel-related violence elicited a variety of reactions, from outright dismissal to praise that he had brought the issue to the forefront of the presidential campaign. Full Story
Wallace Jefferson, the first black chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court and a descendant of slaves, calls the hunting ranch name controversy "much ado about nothing." He says the implication that Rick Perry is insensitive to race is "false." Full Story
Texas Tribune CEO and Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith weighs in on Gov. Rick Perry's hunting ranch race debacle in the New York Times video segment "The Caucus." Full Story
Immigration looked likely to dominate Rick Perry's visit to New Hampshire this weekend — and dominate it did. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on Perry's attempt to reformulate his answer to a question that has dogged his campaign. Full Story