Grissom’s three-part series (here, here and here) on prosperity and peril along the U.S.-Mexico border, Hu on the Division of Workers’ Compensation audit report, Stiles puts more than 3,000 personal disclosure forms filed by politicians, candidates and state officials online, M. Smith on attempts to curb the practice of barratry (better known as ambulance chasing), Ramsey interviews the chair of the Texas Libertarian Party, Hamilton on attempts to improve the success rates of community colleges, Galbraith on whether electric deregulation has helped or hurt Texans, Aguilar talks to a chronicler of the bloody narco-wars and Ramshaw on doctors who most often prescribe antipsychotic drugs to the state’s neediest patients: The best of our best from July 12 to 16, 2010.
Higher Education
Coverage of universities, colleges, student issues, and education policy shaping Texas’ campuses, from The Texas Tribune.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: Goodbye, Simkins
The University of Texas System Board of Regents voted unanimously this morning to rename an all-male dorm Creekside Residence Hall after weeks of debate about the man the building was originally named for: William Stewart Simkins, a dead UT law professor and Ku Klux Klan organizer.
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Higher Education
Naming Rights
The University of Texas once admired Ku Klux Klan organizer and law professor William Stewart Simkins. Today the UT System’s regents meet to consider whether the tree-shaded all-male residence on San Jacinto Boulevard that bears his name still should.
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Health care
TribBlog: Not That Kind of Shot
What do college students and preschoolers have in common?
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Higher Education
A Dream Preferred
The majority of students who enroll in community colleges never make it out with a credential. Some Texas schools are turning to Achieving the Dream, a national initiative that requires them to own up to their problems and improve those success rates.
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Criminal Justice
Age of Innocence
More than 120 college students worked 12,300 hours-plus on Innocence Project of Texas cases from 2007 to 2009, according to the Task Force on Indigent Defense. As student participation has increased, so have exonerations.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: Not OK With the KKK
University of Texas President Bill Powers has decided it’s time to rid the campus of a name that is a reminder of white hoods and racist atrocities: Ku Klux Klan leader William Stewart Simkins.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: Money for the Mouse Lab
The Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine — essentially a high-level mouse lab that has been a tangential topic in the race for governor — just won a grant that could quiet its detractors.
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Energy
How the Human-Powered Gym Works
At Texas State University, one 30-minute workout can generate enough electricity to power a laptop for three hours. Watch as the director of campus recreation explains how elliptical machines and treadmills are harnessed into alternative energy.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: No Raises at UT
The latest victim of the budget crunch at the University of Texas at Austin? Employee raises.