The Weekly TribCast: Episode 57
In this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Reeve discuss the freshman class at the Lege, the ongoing speaker's race and potential cuts to higher education. Full Story
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The latest higher education news from The Texas Tribune.
In this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Reeve discuss the freshman class at the Lege, the ongoing speaker's race and potential cuts to higher education. Full Story
Woody Hunt Audio Clip Full Story
Unregistered high school umpires will keep their stripes on, for now. A U.S. district judge granted an injunction today requested by the Texas Association of Sport Officials, halting a University Interscholastic League mandate that all high school sports officials register with the agency. Some officials were refusing to register, risking a lockout. Full Story
With the threat of massive budget cuts looming on the horizon, state higher education leaders are looking for ways to get more out of what few dollars they may ultimately get to spend. One program that may see some changes is the Toward Excellence, Access, and Success Grant program, the state’s largest financial aid program. Full Story
Ask House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, and he'll tell you: The budget he and his fellow finance types will put forward in a few weeks confirms fears that carnage is looming. "We're making huge cuts," he told a Tea Party group last week. Full Story
Grissom (with Tedesco of the San Antonio Express-News) on high-speed police chases on the Texas-Mexico border, Hu and Hamilton draw a roadmap through the tangle of the Speaker's Race, M. Smith on the trouble with electronic supplements to science textbooks, Ramshaw interviews patient privacy advocate Deborah Peel, Aguilar on Cuba and Texas and trade, Hamilton on the latest in biotech from Texas A&M University, Stiles on who's in the money in Congress, Hu on the controversial renewal of the state lottery contract, yours truly on Tom DeLay's victory in the face of his conviction on money-laundering charges, and E. Smith with a Thanksgiving cornucopia of TribLive videos: The best of our best from November 22 to 26, 2010. Full Story
One hundred miles from the nearest major city, where there was nothing but flat earth seven months ago, a 145,000-square-foot facility has sprung up on the Texas A&M Health Science Center campus. Starting in January, its cavernous rooms will be filled with racks of tobacco-like plants expected to produce as many influenza vaccines in a single month as a traditional lab does in one year, at a fraction of the cost. Dr. Brett Giroir, the vice chancellor for research at the Texas A&M University System, calls it the most exciting project of its kind in the world, the potential savior of the next pandemic. And, he says, “it’s in Bryan. Go figure.” Full Story
For this week's installment of our non-scientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we focused on the budget. Specifically, we asked how big the shortfall is going to be, how the Legislature will close the gap and which areas of the budget are most likely to be cut. Full Story
Hu on the Perry-Bush rift, Ramshaw on the adult diaper wars, Ramsey's interview with conservative budget-slasher Arlene Wohlgemuth, Galbraith on the legislature's water agenda (maybe), M. Smith on Don McLeroy's last stand (maybe), Philpott on the end of earmarks (maybe), Hamilton on the merger of the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Education Agency (maybe), Aguilar on Mexicans seeking refuge from drug violence, Grissom on inadequate health care in county jails and my conversation with Houston Mayor Annise Parker: The best of our best from November 15 to 19, 2010. Full Story
Texas A&M University's Student Senate is set to take a final vote this evening on a controversial measure to oppose in-state tuition for undocumented students. Full Story
With a budget shortfall of historic proportions looming and legislators looking desperately for savings, state Rep. Fred Brown, R-Bryan, is proposing a drastic step: the elimination of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Full Story
Five private university presidents in Texas banked more than $1 million in 2008, according to a new report by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Full Story
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
According to a rosy new study, Texas taxpayers see a 6.9 percent rate of return on their investment in community colleges. Full Story
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
At a meeting today in Austin, the University of Texas System Board of Regents voted unanimously to terminate its partnership with Texas Southmost College in Brownsville. Now, a four-year process of phasing out the partnership will go into effect with an August 2015 deadline. Full Story
Today, University of North Texas System Chancellor Lee Jackson announced his intention to nominate V. Lane Rawlins as the sole finalist for the presidency of the University of North Texas. Full Story
After a month of contentious debate, the future of a partnership between the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College that has flourished for the last two decades remains up in the air. Full Story
Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes wants to change the way public universities and colleges are funded in Texas. Today, at a meeting of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, he will lay out his latest plan to do just that. Full Story