The president’s in Texas again today, but this time he’s all business — or, rather, no business.
Demographics
Explore population trends, diversity, and data shaping Texas communities, politics, and policy.
TribBlog: “La Barbie” Captured
Authorities in Mexico have detained the alleged Texas-born cartel leader Edgar Valdez Villarreal, also known as “La Barbie.”
TribBlog: Send in the Drone
State lawmakers have long been clamoring for an unmanned drone to boost security on the border. On Wednesday they’ll get their wish, as an unmanned drone begins patrolling the Texas skies.
The Huddled Masses
Five years after Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana exiles have fundamentally changed Houston, and vice-versa. The uneasy arrangement was a shotgun marriage: Many evacuees had no choice in whether or where they went, and Houstonians had no choice, for humanity’s sake, but to take them in.
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Hu compares and contrasts the official schedules of four big-state governors (including Rick Perry) and picks the 21 Texas House races to watch, Ramshaw on a 19-year-old with an IQ of 47 sentenced to 100 years in prison, Stiles on Perry’s regent-donors, Galbraith on a plan to curb the independence of the state’s electricity grid, Thevenot on the turf war over mental health, Grissom on whether the Texas Youth Commission should be abolished, Aguilar on a crucial immigration-related case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, Ramsey’s interview with GOP provocateur Debra Medina and M. Smith on how changes to campaign finance law will affect judicial elections in Texas: The best of our best from August 23 to 27, 2010.
The Road to Candelaria
State lawmakers looking for guidance on how to draft immigration legislation that can withstand legal challenges may not have to wait for resolution of the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Arizona. A case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court could light the path.
Austin, Arizona
Undocumented immigrants are more likely to be deported from the Travis County jail because of their immigration status than from any other jail in the country, according to federal data obtained by the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. Mose Buchele of KUT News reports.
TribBlog: Cross-Border Fire Draws Perry’s Ire
Following a weekend shootout near the Rio Grande in El Paso, Gov. Rick Perry has once again lambasted the Obama administration over border security.
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Galbraith on grass, federal money and efforts to prevent another dust bowl, Ergenbright on school suspensions and who gets punished; Aguilar’s interview with Alan Bersin, whose job is to keep the U.S./Mexico border secure, M. Smith on why it would be harder than you think to ditch the 14th Amendment, Adler and me on whether controversy is politically contagious, Ramshaw on the flap over funding for the state’s institutions for the disabled (it’s not about the money), my meditation on the state’s fiscal woes (including a $1.3 billion deficit in the current budget), Philpott on proposed cuts to the state’s food stamp program, Grissom on the push by Hidalgo County officials for a special election that might not be legal; Hamilton on the seven Texas universities that are making a play for Tier One status and Stiles on the mid-year cash-on-hand numbers reported by campaigns and political action committees: The best of our best from August 16 to 23, 2010.
TribBlog: Alberto Gonzales: Leave the 14th Amendment Alone
The former U.S. Attorney General and Texas Supreme Court Justice told Dallas radio host Scott Braddock this afternoon that it would not be wise to “tinker” with the 14th Amendment.

