The latest politics news from The Texas Tribune.
Dave Carney, Perry's top political consultant, told the Tribune on Thursday that the Super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited money on political contests, isn't affiliated with the governor of Texas or with his explorations of the presidential race. Full Story
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Naomi Schaefer Riley, author of the book The Faculty Lounges ... And Other Reasons You Won’t Get the College Education You Pay For, and Daniel Hamermesh, economics professor at the University of Texas at Austin, debate the merits of tenure. Full Story
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Today, in one of his first acts as the new Texas A&M University System interim chancellor, Jay Kimbrough discontinued a controversial Teaching Excellence Awards program. Full Story
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Randy Diehl, the dean of the University at Texas at Austin’s College of Liberal Arts, has released a response to the so-called "seven breakthrough solutions" for higher education, calling them "the wrong approach.” Full Story
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CNN is anticipating another redistricting showdown in Texas. The Mexican American Legislative Caucus, led by state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, is preparing for a court battle over the newly-passed congressional map. Full Story
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You can let your children out of the storm cellar — the Texas Legislature has gone home. Better still, our insiders don't think lawmakers will be back in session before January 2013, when the 83rd Legislature will convene. Full Story
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The Trib's been keeping track of the key issues throughout the special session. From budget measures to school finance, health care and airport groping, here's our final rundown of bills that passed, and the ones that died. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder this week calling plans by pro-Palestinian activists to protest and potentially disrupt Israel's naval blockade of Gaza an "unacceptable provocation." Full Story
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Weatherford car dealer Roger Williams switched from the U.S. Senate race to a race for Congress this morning, finishing up a swap that began last week with calls to supporters in and around the new CD-33. Full Story
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Will they or won't they? That's the question lawmakers, who seem to have met for a matter of minutes in the waning days of the special legislative session, face today on a series of controversial measures Gov. Rick Perry added to the call. Full Story
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San Antonio State Rep. Joaquin Castro will take on veteran U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett to vie for a newly-created congressional district that spans from San Antonio up to southern Travis County. Full Story
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There might be more than one Williams in the race for that new Arlington-based congressional district. Former Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, who had been after Kay Bailey Hutchison's Senate post, switched officially this morning. Now Roger Williams is looking at it. Full Story
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Which groups in Texas believe most strongly that their members of Congress don't represent people "like them"? Liberal and moderate whites. Full Story
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Earlier this week, we published a quiz to see if readers could distinguish between comments made about higher education by Gov. Rick Perry, University of Texas President Bill Powers, and others. It turns out: They (sometimes) can’t! Full Story
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Likely voters in Texas approve of President Barack Obama almost as much as they approve of Gov. Rick Perry, according to the third and final release of poll results from the Texas Lyceum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group of civic leaders. Full Story
The current controversy dominating the higher education headlines in Texas is nothing if not nuanced. See if you can read between the lines and figure out who made what comment in our latest quiz. Full Story
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The Texas House tentatively passed SB 4 on Tuesday afternoon, following nearly four hours of debate in which Democrats argued the congressional redistricting plans under consideration would "ensure" minority voters will lack proper representation in Congress. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry, in New York for a speech that’s fueling speculation about a possible run for the White House, said today that voters seem hungry for more candidates to pick from in the presidential contest. Perry, in an interview with the Tribune, said there's still ample time to get in the race. Full Story
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The report on UT teachers' productivity by Richard Vedder and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity is technically accurate — but substantively misleading. A deeper analysis raises troubling questions about how Vedder would change UT. Full Story
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Newt Gingrich lost his presidential campaign staff Thursday, adding to rampant speculation that Gov. Rick Perry will scoop them up to launch his own White House bid. Two of the aides, Gingrich campaign manager Rob Johnson and consultant Dave Carney, have extensive links to Perry. Full Story
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