TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
The best of our best content from Feb. 21 to 25, 2011. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/tribweek-feb262011.png)
-
![Article thumbnail]()
-
TribLive: A Conversation About Health Care
For our latest TribLive event, I talked about federal health care reform with state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, Anne Dunkelberg of the Center for Public Policy Priorities and Tom Banning of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/_MG_3001.jpg)
![State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, at TribLive on February 23, 2011.]()
Credit: Muliadi Soenaryo -
Audio: A Conversation About Health Care
For our latest TribLive event, I talked about federal health care reform and the consequences of the state's budget shortfall on health and human services programs with state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, Anne Dunkelberg of the Center for Public Policy Priorities and Tom Banning of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. Full Story
![State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, at TribLive on February 23, 2011.]()
Credit: Muliadi Soenaryo -
Zerwas and Zerwas and Dunkelberg on What's Good and Bad About "Obamacare"
At Wednesday's TribLive conversation about health care, state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, and Anne Dunkelberg of the Center for Public Policy Priorities talked about what they like and don't like about federal health care reform. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/_MG_3001_1.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
-
The Weekly TribCast: Episode 68
This week's TribCast features Ross, Reeve, Ben and Emily discussing the University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, the buzz about Medicaid and concealed carry on college campuses. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TT-TribCast-002.png)
![Article thumbnail]()
-
Liveblog: Reform or Bust?
We liveblogged this morning from the Austin Club, where the subject of today's TribLive was health care: the costs — and solutions — for Medicaid, payment reform in Texas vs. the federal health overhaul, and what kind of hit Texas' neediest patients will take. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Banning-dunkelberg-Zerwas_800x530.png)
![Article thumbnail]()
-
Senate Committee Targets Payday Lending
If a set of bills filed by Sens. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, and Royce West, D-Dallas, passes this session, consumers who take out short-term, high-interest loans could be protected from exorbitant interest rate charges. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/111809_padayloans001_jv.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
-
TPPF, State Leaders: Medicaid Growth Is "Unsustainable"
A conservative think tank and Republican state leaders gathered this morning to offer their solutions to the state's "unsustainable" Medicaid cost crunch. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Garnet Coleman: The TT Interview
The Democratic state representative from Houston on his Republican colleagues' quest for a federal Medicaid waiver, the problem with block grants and what realistically the feds could do to help Texas and other states. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/GarnetMedicaid_no_needle_babies.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
UT/TT Poll: Voters Want Budget Cuts but Don't Like Options
By more than 2 to 1, Texas voters believe lawmakers should solve the state's shortfall by cutting the budget, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, but they're divided on specific cuts. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/BalanceTheBudget001_1.png)
![Article thumbnail]()
-
Energy or Railroad: Are the Politics Different?
What’s in a name? The Texas Railroad Commission — and the elected officials who run it — may soon find out. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/RailRoadCommissioner_2.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
Credit: Illustration by Jeramey Jannene/Paul Lowry/Todd Wiseman -
Facing Budget Crisis, Should Texas Be in the Cancer Business?
To solve the state’s budget crisis, lawmakers are considering sweeping cuts to almost everything, from school funding to child welfare services. But a $300-million-a-year cancer institute championed by Gov. Rick Perry and Lance Armstrong has so far escaped the budget knife. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Cancer-Research.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
House Committees Named
Speaker Joe Straus appointed members to committees today, shuffling the assignments in a Texas House where one in four members is a freshman and where Republicans have a two-to-one numerical advantage. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Straus_Happy.jpg)
![House Speaker Joe Straus, R-Alamo Heights, in January 2011.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
What They'd Do About the Budget Shortfall
We asked three big thinkers in the Capitol community — Talmadge Heflin, Eva DeLuna Castro and Bill Hammond — to tell us what they'd do if they had the power to take on the budget shortfall themselves. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Threeway_Heflin_Castro_Hammond.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
-
Heflin: Most Sensible Solution Is Reduced Spending
More money is not the answer to our current woes. Just as anyone managing a household budget knows, when a family’s expenses grow beyond its income, the solution is to cut back — particularly if its spending habits resemble the state's. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Heflin.jpg)
![Former state Rep. Talmadge Heflin is the director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Fiscal Policy.]()
-
Castro: Start by Casting Aside Wishful Thinking
We need a balanced approach that uses our reserves and adds revenue. And we have to start by casting aside wishful thinking; we are writing the 2012-13 budget, with higher costs and increased enrollment in education and health care services — not some past budget. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Castro.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
-
Few Obstacles Face Voter ID in the Legislature
Both sides cite stats and research papers to support their positions, with Democrats saying the photo voter ID law will suppress minority voting, and Republicans saying it won't do anything but stop fraud. Whatever it is, it's on its way into the law books. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/VoterID2.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Disputed Howard-Neil Contest Goes to the House
Travis County Republican Dan Neil lost his first race for elective office in November by just 12 votes. Now he's asking the Texas House of Representatives to declare some of the voters in that election ineligible and to put him in first place and state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, in second. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/DanAndDonnaHouseFloor.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Lawmakers Propose Raiding Auto Theft Fund
House and Senate budget writers have proposed closing a little-known state agency that helps prevent and solve automobile theft and burglary. The catch? While they’re planning to kill the agency, they're not planning to stop collecting the fee you pay to keep it going. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/AutoTheftRate.011.png)
![Article thumbnail]()
Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman -
Donna Howard on Dan Neil's Election Contest
Donna Howard discusses Dan Neil's election contest. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/d7ff44a10d39e7cc92c7ddc8f1ac998a/BD%20INC%20Dewhurst%2004%202011)