A recently introduced bill would make Texas one of only a few states to require natural gas companies to disclose, for a public website, what chemicals they use in the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing.
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Economy
Deep Rift in Beaumont on School Administration
Beaumont’s Carrol A. Thomas, who makes $347,834 annually, is the highest-paid superintendent in Texas, even though his district of about 20,000 students is considerably smaller than those in other Texas cities.
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Economy
Analysis of House Budget Divides Lawmakers
Lawmakers offered dueling interpretations Thursday of a Legislative Budget Board analysis predicting that the state could lose hundreds of thousands of jobs if the House’s budget bill is passed.
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Public Education
Senate Finance Adds $5.7 Billion for Public Ed
Senators tried to improve the funding picture for public education on Thursday when the Senate Finance Committee voted 13-2 to add $5.7 billion to its initial proposal. But that’s still about a $4 billion reduction from current levels.
Posted inState Government
The Midday Brief: Top Texas Headlines for March 24, 2011
Your afternoon reading: committee votes to reduce health care cuts; study says budget could force hundreds of thousands of layoffs; judge’s decision could impact voter ID
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Health care
Leo Linbeck III: The TT Interview
The Houston builder and Health Care Compact Alliance vice chair on how an interstate compact could fix health care in Texas — and give the state some semblance of local control over what he calls an unsustainable health care system.
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Higher Education
UT System Redefines Adviser’s Position, Sets End Date
The University of Texas System leadership has officially reassigned controversial new hire, Rick O’Donnell, to a new position — one that will only exist for a matter of months.
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Health care
Committee Votes to Restore $4.5 Billion for Health Services
Deliberation about what to cut — and whom to save — ended with a vote to restore $4.5 billion to state health agencies at a Senate Health and Human Services subcommittee hearing this morning. The issue now goes to the full Senate Finance Committee.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: Top Texas News for March 24, 2011
After more than 11 hours of draining debate, and years of Republican-led efforts, a voter ID bill appears headed toward the governor’s desk.
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Criminal Justice
Report: Hundreds of Youths in Adult Prisons
Judges across the state, and particularly in Harris County, are sending youth offenders to adult prisons even when they have few prior offenses, according to a study by a University of Texas criminal justice expert.
