The Department of Public Safety, which is struggling financially, is planning to use $16 million of the federal stimulus dollars that Gov. Rick Perry begrudgingly accepted to plug a hole in the border security budget. The decision follows a mandate by Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Joe Straus that state agencies cut 5 percent out of their budgets to meet an anticipated shortfall.
Economy
Get the latest on jobs, business, growth, and policy shaping the state’s economy with in-depth reporting from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
On the Records: Combs Studying Open Data
Her office is studying efforts to release raw data in New York and San Francisco for ideas.
Posted in
Economy
Burned Orange
A clash over a beloved campus music club at UT-Austin portends the gnashing of teeth at schools statewide as a budgetary winter threatens to envelop higher education.
Posted in
Economy
No Experience Necessary
Few members of the State Board of Education have finance expertise. Should we be concerned that they manage the investments of the $23 billion Permanent School Fund?
Posted in
Demographics
Ticked
The worst outbreak of fever-tick infestations in South Texas in four decades has ranchers and animal-health officials scrambling to prevent not just a loss of billions to the state cattle’s industry but an outright ban on our cattle.
Posted in
Economy
TribBlog: Where’s the Stimulus?
Texas ranks poorly among the states when it comes to letting taxpayers know how it’s using federal stimulus dollars, according to a report released today by several nonprofit public interest groups.
Posted in
Economy
Their State of the State
Governors across the country have been delivering their state report cards in January — but not in Texas, where the State of the State address is only given during odd-numbered years, when the Legislature is in session. Ben Philpott, reporting on politics for KUT News and the Tribune, asked people from different sectors of the economy to offer their own outlook for Texas in 2010.
Posted in
Demographics
Latinos and the Pay Gap
In Texas, they earn 35 percent less than their Anglo counterparts — a disparity that’s bigger here than elsewhere. Is it because of education, age, discrimination, or some combination of the above?