Economy

Texas budget writers are hoping December will ring in stronger retail sales — after getting the news Friday that sales tax collections were down 14 percent from this November to last. The state’s economy is always a hot topic in the governor’s race. Ben Philpott is covering the Texas governor's race for KUT News and the Texas Tribune. He takes a look at how the economy's playing so far.

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Sales taxes are down and the recession in Texas hasn't bottomed, so financial concerns will almost certainly factor into the governor's race. Ben Philpott, covering that contest for KUT News and the Tribune, takes a look.

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Rick Perry attacked the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision yesterday to declare carbon dioxide a public danger, arguing that the ruling lacks scientific evidence. The EPA's move could propel the cost of carbon reduction onto the list of issues in play in the governor’s race.

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It was a political week, with a full-court press from our staff on Bill White's switch to the governor's race and all of the fallout; the moves during the first week of filing for political races; Philpott's look at Republicans challenging Republicans; Hu's latest in the popular Stump Interrupted series; Ramshaw on emergency rooms, family doctors, and child protection; Stiles and Grissom mapping payday lending locations juxtaposed with family income data; Rapoport on the state budget and education; Thevenot on KBH's plans for schools; and Hamilton on the power (or not) of political endorsements. The best of the best from November 28 to December 4, 2009.

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State Sen. Steve Ogden, who said earlier this year he would leave the Legislature after his current term, will seek another two years in office after all. And he may have drawn the first primary opponent of his political career.

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Education has emerged as one of the more contentious fronts in the gubernatorial campaign, with Kay Bailey Hutchison this week releasing a barrage of school proposals and attacks on the status quo. But the differences between the candidates have more to do with execution than with design.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up for your chance to see the incredible, shrinking Rainy Day Fund.

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The Rainy Day Fund seems like weather word play waiting to happen. It can plug holes in the budget, defend against an economic perfect storm and keep the deficit clouds at bay. That’s certainly how some see it when looking at the next biennium's projected shortfalls.

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The stimulus money increased funding for education last session. But can the state keep it up next session without more federal money?

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Hoping to push a wide array of digital content and teaching tools to public schools, the Texas Education Agency has cut a deal with a division of The New York Times for an electronic curriculum portal and searchable access to the newspaper’s content since 1851.

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State Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, is dropping his bid for state Senate and won't seek reelection to the Texas House next year, he said Sunday. Gattis said State Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, will seek reelection after all.

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Comptroller Susan Combs says the state will have $77.7 billion in general revenue for the current budget, which calls for $77.6 billion in general revenue.

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The number of Mexican-born professionals living in the United States has more than doubled since 1995. They're not the undocumented workers you see in evening-news mug shots or aerial photographs of a littered and barren desert. They're college graduates — some with multiple degrees — who join their blue-collar counterparts in their journeys north.

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Balancing the next state budget may be more a political exercise than a technical one.

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We should pay attention to what my old boss, Bob Bullock, used to call the thorns among the roses here in Texas.

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Multi-part stories from Ramshaw and Grissom and Stiles on mental health services for detained immigrants and on payday lenders who provide exorbitantly priced credit to people with nowhere else to turn... Twitter, word clouds and the race for governor — a Stiles joint... Farouk Shami is in and Hu was there to watch... Philpott went to Bastrop for a gather of Republican governors... Rapoport finds a State Board of Education that's trying to control itself... and we have the skinny on legislative races that are likely to be competitive (only about 5 percent of the races on the ballot). It's the best of The Texas Tribune from November 14 to 20, 2009.

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The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent in October, up from 5.2 percent a year ago.

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Speaker Joe Straus has given committees their assignments for the next year.

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Will there be enough money to cover the current state budget? "Fortunately, it's too early to tell," jokes House Speaker Joe Straus. He and other state leaders are well aware of the numbers, and although they think it's not yet time to act, they're focused on the big question.

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The Obama administration’s economic stimulus package has failed to create any jobs in Texas’ 52nd congressional district, despite pouring nearly $9 million into it. This would be a problem — if CD-52 existed.

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