The latest politics news from The Texas Tribune.
Two legislators from Hidalgo County and two from Cameron County recall what it took to come up with a compromise on the bill to create a new university in South Texas, which Gov. Rick Perry recently signed into law. Full Story
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Texas politicians and institutions are getting much better marks from the state’s voters than the president and Congress, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story
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In a new video, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, a declared candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014, vows that he will fight back against progressives who want to turn tomorrow's Texas into the California or Washington, D.C., of today. Full Story
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As two Texans eye a 2016 presidential bid, one has already emerged as an early front-runner among the state's Republicans. Full Story
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Barry Smitherman, the chairman of the Railroad Commission and former chairman of the Public Utility Commission, has earned praise as a smart and competent regulator. But he is also ambitious, and speculation is rife that he will make a bid for attorney general. Full Story
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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz starts as the Texas favorite in a fantasy 2016 Republican primary for president, well ahead of Gov. Rick Perry and a number of other big-name candidates in the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story
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As Gov. Rick Perry puts an end to the so-called Kumbaya Session, we begin our weekly news-inspired playlist with Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy." Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry issued more than two dozen vetoes Friday, including a line-item veto that wipes out funding for the Travis County prosecutors who investigate government fraud and public corruption. He also vetoed a bill that would have had Texas law mirror gender wage protections in the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Full Story
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Though Senate Democrats argued that their objections and the testimony from public hearings were being ignored, the Texas Senate approved redistricting maps Friday. Full Story
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Full video of Thursday's TribLive conversation about Texas Monthly's list of the Best and Worst Legislators, with Paul Burka, Erica Grieder, Sonia Smith and Brian D. Sweany. Full Story
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After a relatively calm regular session, Gov. Rick Perry is flexing his partisan muscles as the special session presses on. Redistricting, abortion-related issues and a threat to cut off state funding for the Public Integrity Unit are ratcheting up tensions. Full Story
Republicans in Texas have their near-supermajorities. They could forfeit many of their arguments over redistricting, make the courts and most of the Democrats happy, and still get what they want. Full Story
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The 2014 election cycle is shaping up as a busy one, with open seats across the statewide ballot. Republicans are lining up fast for those spots, but so far, the Democratic side of the ballot is empty. Full Story
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A water war between the U.S. and Mexico dominates headlines amid a record drought. But some experts caution that a larger issue is boiling beneath the surface: the mining of unregulated transnational aquifers. Full Story
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This week in the Texas Weekly Newsreel: Lawmakers said it would take seven to 10 days to deal with redistricting during the special session, and that turned out to be wildly optimistic. Full Story
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Texas lawmakers set out to do a quick fix on the state's political maps. They soon found out there was nothing quick about it. Full Story
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Young Texans are less likely to vote than the 30-and-older set, but they do volunteer work and take part in conversations about politics. Full Story
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The fastest-growing population in Texas is also one of the least civically engaged populations in the state. Amid the talk about how new Hispanics in Texas will vote, it's worth asking how many of them will vote at all. Full Story
Texas is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to civic participation in the U.S., according to the Texas Civic Health Index. Only a few states had lower voter registration, political discussion and contact between public officials and the public. Full Story
When it came to passing major ethics reforms that would have increased transparency for elected officials, the 83rd Legislature didn't make much headway. Lawmakers, it seems, didn't have the appetite for increased public disclosure. Full Story
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