Analysis: A Texas sales tax rule hinges on a question: What’s local?
This is the kind of question that makes tax consultants wealthy: If a Texan buys something online, should the local sales tax go to the seller's city or the buyer's? Full Story
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![Comptroller Glenn Hegar discusses the Biennial Revenue Estimate for the 2020-21 biennium at the state Capitol on Jan. 7, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: In 2020’s Texas legislative elections, competition is tricky business
Special interest groups and their lobbyists don't like to campaign against incumbent legislators, for fear they'll suffer if those incumbents return for another session. That "friendly incumbent" policy has spread to lawmakers themselves. Full Story
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![The Texas House of Representatives chamber on Nov. 20, 2018.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Stepping into GOP primaries, Dennis Bonnen donates to seven Texas House incumbents
The contributions mark the first notable movement from Bonnen's PAC since he announced in October he wasn't seeking reelection. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dennis Bonnen during a press conference on a Domestic Terrorism Task Force roundtable held at the Capitol on Jan. 7, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Fort Bend’s special election was just the first battle of the 2020 war between Texas Democrats and Republicans
The Republican elation and Democratic misery over this week's special election in Fort Bend County is just the first wave of the 2020 election year. The parties have dozens of challenges ahead of them. Full Story
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![Republican candidate for House District 28, Gary Gates, speaks to supprters in Katy Jan. 25, 2020.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won't defend state agency in gay marriage case
The attorney general's office is charged with defending state agencies when they are challenged in court. But Paxton will not defend a commission sued after it issued a public warning for a Waco judge who refuses to perform same-sex marriages. Full Story
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![Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to the convention delegates at the Texas Republican Convention in San Antonio.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Bernie Sanders endorses Jessica Cisneros, primary challenger to Henry Cuellar
Cisneros was one of nine candidates Sanders endorsed early Wednesday, in addition to incumbent Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Peter Welch of Vermont. Full Story
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![Jessica Cisneros introduces U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachussets, at Warren's town hall in Austin, Sept. 10, 2019. Warren announced her endorsement to Cisneros' campaign against U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, on Sept 11, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Voting in Texas on Super Tuesday: Everything you need to know
Primary election day is March 3. Here’s an overview of everything you need to know about casting a ballot in Texas. Full Story
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Tom Steyer hires a Texas state director
He’s the fourth Democratic presidential candidate who’s still in the race to announce such a hire. Full Story
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![Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer speaks during a fundraising dinner in Clear Lake, Iowa in December of 2019.]()
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CBD products are everywhere in Texas since the state legalized hemp. Experts warn: buyer beware.
Much of the sudden spike in popularity is thanks to a Texas law last year that legalized hemp, the plant from which CBD is derived. Full Story
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![The Custom Botanical Dispensary in Austin, Texas on Jan. 16, 2019.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Trump restores funding that was cut over targeting Planned Parenthood
The Trump administration announcement reverses an Obama-era decision in 2012 to cut federal women’s health funding to Texas. That came as punishment after the Texas Legislature excluded Planned Parenthood from the Healthy Texas Women program in 2011. Full Story
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![From left, Gov. Greg Abbott reacts as President Donald Trump speaks at a church relief center during a visit with flood survivors and volunteers of Hurricane Harvey in Houston on Sept. 2, 2017.]()
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Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas nonprofits helping refugees should focus on homelessness. Refugee groups say it doesn't work that way.
"Resettlement funding cannot simply be reallocated to other problem areas such as homelessness," said the CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Full Story
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![A discarded sign and mattress sit in a dumpster in downtown Austin after city crews cleaned up homeless encampments on Nov. 4, 2019.]()
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Analysis: Cheating spoils the results — in baseball, and in Texas politics
Cheating ruins victory, creating questions about what might have happened. It's true in sports, and it's true in politics, too. Full Story
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![Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman lifts the trophy next to starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel during the World Series championship parade for the Houston Astros in downtown Houston on Nov. 3, 2017.]()
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Warren reveals more endorsements from former Castro, O’Rourke supporters
The Massachusetts U.S. senator’s latest endorsements come from four state lawmakers who represent O’Rourke’s native El Paso and previously supported him or Castro. Full Story
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![Presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts, takes the stage at a campaign town hall meeting in Grimes, Iowa on Jan. 20, 2020.]()
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Meet the Texas-based church security business training worshippers to fight back in mass shootings
Texas has seen two mass shootings in churches in three years, which has some churchgoers exploring training programs to take down an attacker. Full Story
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![Members of church security teams from across Texas gathered in Krugerville, near Denton, to get certified in church security and trained for an active shooter situation by the National Organization of Church Security and Safety Management, on Jan. 11, 2020.]()
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Analysis: Voters elect Texas' judges. The state might take that power — but it's risky.
Even the Texas lawmakers who want to change the way the state selects judges are wary of taking that power away from voters. The politics are more difficult, in some ways, than the proposed policy changes. Full Story
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![The Texas Supreme Court on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
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Analysis: A seasonal change in Texas politics, as November trumps March
For a long time, the party primary elections in Texas have been more competitive than the general elections in November. Not anymore. Full Story
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![A voting sign outside Austin CIty Hall on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2019.]()
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Advocates have long tried to change judicial selection in Texas. Is Dan Patrick their newest obstacle?
A new commission had barely begun to study Texas' partisan judicial election system when the leader of the Texas Senate signaled skepticism of reform. Full Story
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![The Texas Supreme Court on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge blocks policy that allowed Gov. Greg Abbott to ban refugees in Texas
The decision comes just days after the Texas governor became the first state leader to opt out of the program. The move drew a harsh rebuke from Texas' Catholic bishops. Full Story
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![A Syrian refugee boy sits on a bike at a camp in Bar Elias, in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon on Jan. 13, 2020.]()
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Round two of fight over online voter registration for Texas drivers reaches federal court
The state won the first round on a technicality. Now disenfranchised voters are again asking that they be allowed to complete their voter registrations through the online driver's license portal. Full Story
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![Voting signs at the Travis County Granger Building election site on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2019.]()
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Analysis: A bad day for Planned Parenthood, a good one for Ken Paxton
The Texas attorney general got a political gift in the form of a friendly request for his opinion: a chance to take a swipe at a political nemesis. Full Story
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![Attorney General Ken Paxton walked across the Supreme Court plaza to hold a press conference in 2016.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Bill Clark