Check our new Perrypedia — a home for stories and data about you-know-who, Ramshaw on health care in the colonias, Root’s look back at Rick Perry’s years as a Democrat, M. Smith on the pressures facing the TEA, yours truly on David Dewhurst’s impact on the U.S. Senate race, E. Smith’s panel discussion on the Cameron Todd Willingham case, Hamilton on Perry and higher ed, Murphy on who’s paying the pole tax, Grissom on Alto’s decision to close its police department, Aguilar on labor and security worries over trucking on the border and Galbraith on what government can’t do during a drought: The best of our best content from July 11 to 15, 2011.
Immigration
In-depth reporting on border issues, policies, communities, and the impact of immigration across the state, from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Demographics
Update: Fifty-Nine On the Run After Nuevo Laredo Jailbreak
At least 59 inmates escaped from a state prison in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo today.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Lawyers, Guns and Money
The Department of Justice’s decision this week to require firearms dealers in Texas and three other border states to report the multiple sales of long rifles will come down to a funding battle in Washington.
Posted in
Demographics
U.S. Rep. Smith: Obama Plotting “Backdoor Amnesty”
A senior member of Texas’ congressional delegation wants to strip the Obama administration of its immigration enforcement duties, alleging the president is attempting to create a “backdoor” amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Posted in
Demographics
Trucking Program Raises Border Policy Questions
Some Texas Republicans are embracing a cross-border trucking agreement between the U.S. and Mexico that labor unions worry could kill jobs and drastically reduce border security.
Posted in
Inside Intelligence
Inside Intelligence: When It’s Insiders vs. Outsiders…
In the latest edition of our unscientific poll of Texas insiders, we turn to a pollster to tease out some differences in how the insiders and the voting public answer the same questions. Spoiler alert: They disagree.
Posted in
Demographics
I.D. Overreach?
The idea was to rein in the amount of unauthorized immigrants with IDs or driver’s licenses. But steps lawmakers took in that direction have some concerned they cast too wide a net.
Posted in
Demographics
Conditions, Health Risks Sicken Colonias Residents
Along the Texas-Mexico border, colonias residents tell identical stories: of migrating with dreams of safety and prosperity, of getting swindled into buying worthless land, of sticking it out so their children will get educated. And of getting sick.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aguilar on a change in law that affects applications for state-issued IDs, Galbraith on how the drought is taking its toll on wildlife, Hamilton on an outsider’s attempt to lower the cost of higher ed, Murphy visualizes the partisanship of House members, Ramsey on who becomes Lite Guv if David Dewhurst takes another job, Ramshaw on life in the colonias and three stories about Rick Perry — Grissom on how his death penalty stance might play in a 2012 presidential race, Root on how he cemented his reputation as one of the state’s most powerful governors and Tan on the growing demand for him to speak elsewhere: The best of our best content from July 4 to July 8, 2011.
Posted in
Demographics
Video: Health and Conditions in Texas’ Colonias
On the Texas side of the U.S. border with Mexico, an estimated half a million people live in colonias, impoverished subdivisions that often lack basic services. Take our video tour of some of the worst — and most improved — conditions.