The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
The stark differences between state Sens. Dan Patrick and Leticia Van de Putte, the Republican and Democratic nominees for lieutenant governor, were front and center Saturday as they appeared at the Texas Tribune Festival. Full Story
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We're liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival's Immigration track. The sessions include panels on border security, Latinos and the Republican Party, the comprehensive immigration reform debate, and what to do with the DREAMers. Full Story
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We're liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival's Public Education track. The sessions include panels on education reform, the new math requirements for high school graduation, early college high schools, and insight from superintendents. Full Story
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We're liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival's Health Care track. The sessions include panels on mental health, the Affordable Care Act, medical education and women's health. Full Story
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We're liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival's Transportation track. The sessions include panels on road funding, high-speed rail, future transportation planning and the new urban mobility. Full Story
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We're liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival's Justice track. The sessions include panels on criminal justice reform, the Texas Supreme Court, same-sex marriage and the death penalty. Full Story
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We're liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival's Energy track. The sessions include panels on the state's power grid, the potential impact of energy reform in Mexico on Texas, the debate over hydraulic fracturing and a deeper look at the state's drilling boom. Full Story
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We're liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival's Open Government track. The sessions include panels on disclosures by legislators, open records in Texas, transparency and the Texas budget, and the issue of donor privacy. Full Story
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We're liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival's Environment track. The sessions include panels on the state's water needs, the Texas coast, agriculture in the state and Texas' battles with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Full Story
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We're liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival's Higher Education track. The sessions include panels on progress on the "Closing the Gaps" plan, the completion crisis, the state of community colleges and the affordability of higher education. Full Story
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Ahead of Friday's gubernatorial debate in Edinburg, supporters of Wendy Davis staged a fake welcome rally Friday to mark the arrival of Greg Abbott’s out-of-town volunteers to the Rio Grande Valley. Full Story
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The State Board of Education took its first vote Wednesday on an amendment that would require teachers in the state to adhere to the state's curriculum standards when teaching Advanced Placement courses. Full Story
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Midland school officials and area businesses are excited about a planned high school program that will focus on preparing high schoolers to work in the region's booming oil industry. Full Story
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Texas continues to rank as the state with the highest rate of residents without health insurance, with 22.1 percent of the population lacking coverage, according to early U.S. Census Bureau figures released Tuesday. Full Story
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The Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County is cutting its ties with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The move is an attempt to reclaim state dollars for women’s health care for impoverished women. Full Story
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It can be jarring for a political movement built around restraining the legal system to spawn a collection of officeholders eager to use the courts to get their way. Full Story
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During a Spanish-language townhall on Univision, state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, advocated for raising the minimum wage in Texas. Full Story
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It's like a variation on a famous advertisement about energy: "If you don't have an oil well, get one!" But a new Austin venture is about the more prosaic business of government, and about how to get policy ideas in front of lawmakers. Full Story
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State Rep. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, has won Tuesday's special election for Senate District 28, avoiding a runoff in the six-candidate race. He will take the seat vacated by Robert Duncan, who is now the chancellor of the Texas Tech University System. Full Story
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In her memoir, state Sen. Wendy Davis talks about the difficulties of her childhood, her two failed marriages and her political career. Full Story
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