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The latest health care news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Is David Dewhurst Goofy — or Goofy Like a Fox?

    By Ross Ramsey

    It’s funny that you can win four statewide elections and still have people think you’re a goofball, in over your head. But maybe Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s fumbles leading to the Texas Senate’s budget vote give the lie to that. Maybe he’s goofy like a fox. Full Story 

    Lt. Governor David Dewhurst listens to members after the Texas Senate voted, 19-12, to pass the budget on May 4, 2011.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Playing by the Rules

    By Ross Ramsey

    The real rule of the Texas Legislature is that there are no rules when the rules get in the way. If the Senate needs to pass a budget and can't get a two-thirds vote to do so, and if there's a way to squint at the rules and do it with a simple majority, then that's what they'll do. Full Story 

  • Kathleen Sebelius: The TT Interview

    By Justin Dehn and Thanh Tan

    In an exclusive on-camera interview with The Texas Tribune on Friday, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius discussed the federal government's efforts to cooperate with a state like Texas, where GOP leaders have been hostile to the Affordable Care Act. Full Story 

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    Credit: Justin Dehn

  • Bills Targeting Teen Pregnancy Making Little Headway

    By Gretch Sanders

    According to researchers, Texas taxpayers would save about $57 million per year if the state cut its teen birth rate. But as Gretch Sanders of KUT News reports, proposed legislation to curb the state’s teen pregnancy problem — and save taxpayer dollars — hasn’t gotten much traction. Full Story 

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  • Institutions for Disabled Unlikely to See Major Cuts

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Advocates for shuttering Texas’ institutions for the disabled thought they had the numbers on their side: a budget crisis so severe that lawmakers would have to close some state-supported living centers. With less than a month left in the session, their hopes are largely dashed. Full Story 

    Austin State-Supported Living Center employee Tamika Mays is shown with resident Rebecca Hadnot in 2011.
    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • How Good a Job is Texas Doing to Prevent Teen Pregnancy?

    By Gretch Sanders

    Every 10 minutes a teen in Texas gets pregnant, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. With groups observing the 10th Annual National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy today, Gretch Sanders of KUT News reports on the search for ways to bring that rate down. Full Story 

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  • In Hunt for Revenue, It's Big Tobacco vs. Little

    By Emily Ramshaw

    It’s big tobacco vs. little in the effort to smoke out new revenue for the Texas budget. Large tobacco companies, which fork over half a billion dollars to the state every year as part of a 1998 lawsuit settlement, want small cigarette manufacturers to pay their share. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Bill Aims to Expand Organ Registry, Save Lives

    By Julián Aguilar

    Lawmakers are hoping nonprofit organizations can do a better job of recruiting organ donors and saving lives. HB 2904 would transfer management of the state-run organ-donation registry from an agency to a new collaboration of nonprofits, a shift supporters say will reduce the number of Texans who die while waiting on the list. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • David Dewhurst: The TT Interview

    By Ross Ramsey

    With less than five weeks left to go in the session, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst sat down with the Tribune to talk about his future political plans, the status of the budget in the Senate and in the biennial parley between the Senate and the House, redistricting and the tug-of-war over the Rainy Day Fund. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • Senate Budget Debate Stalls Over Vote Count

    By Thanh Tan

    Waiting for the Senate budget debate? Get comfortable. Plans to bring the Senate’s substitute for the House’s budget, HB 1, up for a vote on the floor on Thursday have for now been pushed back to Friday or later, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said. Full Story 

    Sen. Steve Ogden R-Bryan during Senate Finance Committee hearing on April 19th, 2011
    Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera

  • Dewhurst Makes Budget Pitch to Senators

    By Ross Ramsey

    Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, trying to build enough support to bring the budget up for consideration this week, appealed in writing to state senators, supporting the plan and a provision that would allow the state to spend $3 billion from the Rainy Day Fund. Full Story 

    Lt. Governor David Dewhurst (c) goes over legislation with colleagues on the Senate floor April 18, 2011
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich