The latest economy news from The Texas Tribune.
Texas' unemployment rate stabilized in October at 8.1 percent as the state added almost 48,000 jobs. That rate, the lowest we've seen in 2010, is 1.5 points below the national average. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on the numbers behind the gains. Full Story
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An interview with Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and Empower Texans. Full Story
The former budget-slashing Texas House member and current executive director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation on how she reads the mood out there, what reductions in state spending should be on the table, whether cost-shifting to local school districts is a plausible option, why lawmakers should forget about new sources of revenue, the trouble with Medicaid and what members of the Republican near-supermajority in the Legislature must do to keep the confidence of voters — and get re-elected. Full Story
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An interview with Arlene Wohlgemuth of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Full Story
The former Texas House member and current director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation on how lawmakers should address the state's multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. Full Story
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In this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Ben discuss the latest in the race for House speaker, ongoing budget woes and how governing may prove a lot harder than campaigning come January. Full Story
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U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says she will join U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in calling for a ban on all Congressional earmark spending. In the past, both used the controversial budget maneuver to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars back to Texas. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
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If major-party leaders are not willing to make tough-love decisions on the ballooning national debt, and if the Tea Partiers are not willing to endorse painful measures, the American people must ask them, "Okay, what is your solution?" Full Story
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Lawmakers want state agencies to cut another 2 to 3 percent from their current budgets — on top of the 5 percent cuts that were already ordered. The Legislative Budget Board — comprised of members of both the House and Senate, along with the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House — also adopted a spending cap for the next budget. Full Story
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The session hasn't started yet, but the battles have. In a heated exchange over possible cuts to higher education at a post-election debrief, Democratic consultant Matt Angle spars with Gov. Rick Perry's campaign manager, Rob Johnson. Full Story
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How big is the state’s budget shortfall? It all depends on who's doing the math. A big number means the coming session will be all about what’s cut — what programs and services won’t be offered. A smaller one puts lawmakers in the position of deciding, in hard times, what they can add to current spending. Full Story
Who will be the most important legislators in Austin in 2011? UT Vice Chancellor Barry McBee has an answer. Full Story
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State senators reduced the amount they spent on office expenses by $830,000 this year, or an average of nearly $26,000 per senator, an analysis by The Texas Tribune found. Full Story
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Whether you call it a wave, a rout or a tsunami, one thing is clear: Republicans in the Texas House won a massive mandate for conservative bills — and budgeting — in the coming legislative session. Full Story
As the nation's shuttle program moves toward its scheduled end next year, observers are asking: What's next for manned space exploration? Ben Philpott reports on how federal funding changes for NASA will determine the answer. Full Story
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What happens after Discovery, the next-to-last shuttle mission, blasts off Monday from Kennedy Space Center (with an Austin astronaut aboard)? For thousands of engineers and support staff at the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake, the answer isn’t certain. Matt Largey of KUT News contemplates the impact of the transition to the next phase of NASA's mission in space. Full Story
NASA lost two shuttles, Challenger and Columbia, during the space shuttle program’s 30-year history. After each accident, the agency was never quite the same. Jennifer Stayton of KUT News recently talked about those tragedies with Pat Duggins, who reports on NASA for NPR and is the author of Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program. Full Story
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Discovery is on the launch pad and prepped for a Monday blast off — the second-to-last confirmed mission. For many Americans, the finale of the space shuttle program is poignant and yet somewhat suspenseful. What comes next? In part two of our week-long series on what the shuttle has meant to Texas, KUT’s Mose Buchele reports that, despite its lofty goals, the program has always had a down-to-earth side. Full Story
The economy, unemployment and jobs are the most important issues facing the country, according to the new UT/Texas Tribune poll, while immigration and border security top the list of the biggest problems facing the state. Full Story
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The nation's space shuttle program is being retired next year after three decades and more than 133 flights — including the final voyage by Discovery, which is set to blast off in a few days. All this week, KUT News is reconstructing the program's history: how it started, how it will end and what that means for Texas. Reporters Nathan Bernier and Jennifer Stayton kick off our five-part series. Full Story