The latest politics news from The Texas Tribune.
A new political action committee has made its mission to guard parents’ rights to opt out of immunization requirements — whether that means targeting legislators who seek to close non-medical exemptions or pushing for policies that otherwise protect parents who choose not to vaccinate. Full Story
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A state tax that imposes a 55-cent fee on each pack of cigarettes produced by small tobacco manufacturers is constitutional, even though Big Tobacco manufacturers do not pay the tax, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday. Full Story
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In the Roundup: Donald Trump scores an unprecedented endorsement, Rick Perry’s Republican primary ballot might have gotten lost in the mail and a higher ed admissions policy goes under the microscope. Full Story
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Convincing Congress to lift a 55-year-old trade embargo with Cuba could dramatically bolster the fortunes of struggling Texas farmers and cattle raisers, state lawmakers were told Thursday. Full Story
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This week on The Ticket podcast: KUT’s Ben Philpott and the Tribune's Jay Root talk with presumptive Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson about the struggle third party candidates have breaking through the two-party political system. Full Story
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Jaime Rodríguez Calderon, the charismatic governor of Nuevo León known as "El Bronco," visited Texas on Thursday to talk immigration, gun running and the future of politics in Mexico. Full Story
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Over four lawsuits, the state is potentially facing billions in legal expenses at a time when stubbornly low oil prices are simultaneously threatening to blunt its coffers. Full Story
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Ted Cruz and John Kasich still aren't really attacking one another, at least by the standards of a remarkably vicious Republican presidential race, but a heated proxy war is being waged on their behalf. Full Story
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As many UT-Austin administrators say the Top 10 Percent Rule hurts the university's national prestige, the college is focused on helping UT-Austin students who might not have otherwise been admitted. This is part of the Tribune's "The Price of Admission" series. Full Story
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Ted Cruz's presidential campaign is zeroing in on female voters in Wisconsin following a chapter of the Republican race for the White House that shed more light than ever on Donald Trump's problems with the opposite gender. Full Story
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The national union that represents more than 16,000 agents of the United States Border Patrol issued its first-ever endorsement of a presidential candidate on Wednesday by throwing its support behind Republican Donald Trump. Full Story
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Texas women will be able to obtain medical abortions later into their pregnancies under newly approved changes by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Full Story
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Records related to the mental health of state Rep. Susan King, R-Abilene, will remain sealed at least until Nov. 21, punting a potentially thorny issue for the Texas Senate candidate until after the election. Full Story
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Politicians won’t say it but the fact is, voters are ignorant. They are truly terrible at sorting good from bad information, at checking things out, at questioning their own assumptions when new information comes in. Full Story
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Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush told the Energy Thought Summit in Austin on Tuesday that protecting the Texas coast will be his priority during the 2017 legislative session. Full Story
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State lawmakers are considering whether to tighten eminent domain laws to help landowners battling pipeline companies, electric utilities, public agencies or other entities seeking to condemn land their land for public use. Full Story
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Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry may have stumped for Ted Cruz for president, but there's no record he voted in this year's Republican primary in Texas. Full Story
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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday endorsed Ted Cruz for president, lending his support to a former Republican presidential rival a week before his state's primary. Full Story
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By the time Donald Trump holds his first rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Ted Cruz's campaign will have held almost a dozen events in the state in advance of the April 5 primary. Full Story
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Texas Republicans currently hold seven chairmanships in the U.S. House, giving the state an outsized role in moving forward key legislation. But almost all of those members are due to to hand over their gavels in the next five years. Full Story
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