State government

Lobbyists from across the Republican party come out to support one of their own for State Board of Education, forsaking former chair Don McLeroy.

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Forget what I said on this week's TribCast, parroting the chatter around the Capitol: The state senator from Houston is not considering a primary challenge to his fellow Republican, Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs.

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Hank Gilbert got out of the race for the Democratic nomination for governor, saying there are "two credible candidates" in the race. And he said he'll be a candidate for agriculture commissioner — the office he tried unsuccessfully to win in 2006. And then came the real surprise: Gilbert said he is endorsing Farouk Shami for the Democratic nomination.

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State health officials are considering lifting a requirement that Texas emergency rooms have a physician on-site at all times — as long as one can get there within 30 minutes.

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How many people could you feed with $2.7 million?

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Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, is not, Not, NOT running against Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, in spite of reports that he was planning a challenge.

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Short-term, high-interest lenders are clustered in neighborhoods where the median household income is less than $50,000 a year.

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Wednesday could be the day voters in SD-5 find out whether Steve Ogden has changed his mind about getting out of the Legislature. Maybe.

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Removals of Texas children from abusive homes have reached their highest point since the 2008 polygamist sect raid, when hundreds were taken into custody in a single day.

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The Rainy Day Fund seems like weather word play waiting to happen. It can plug holes in the budget, defend against an economic perfect storm and keep the deficit clouds at bay. That’s certainly how some see it when looking at the next biennium's projected shortfalls.

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Rep. Dan Gattis says state Sen. Steve Ogden is running for reelection after all. But Ogden has maintained radio silence, not commenting (except through staff, who are happy to tell reporters that there's no comment available).

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Dan Patrick is changing the programming at his Dallas station exclusively to Indian music.

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