The Williamson County district attorney this afternoon withdrew a motion he had filed seeking to quickly dismiss the Michael Morton case. Morton's attorneys worried that he was attempting to quash investigation of allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Full Story
A sea of 150 elementary and middle school students from Austin and Waco met on the steps of the Capitol today to sing, cheer and kick off the Texas No Kid Hungry Campaign. Full Story
The outspoken head of the state's fourth-largest school district— newly crowned as Superintendent of the Year — on school finance lawsuits, the impact of cuts to public education funding and the upcoming transition to end-of-course exams. Full Story
A new law imposing citizenship restrictions on deputy and volunteer voter registrars has voting rights groups worried that fewer Texans — in particular, fewer minorities — will cast a ballot next year. Full Story
A student organization at Gov. Rick Perry’s alma mater, Texas A&M, has started a petition requesting that the governor immediately call a special legislative session to end in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. Full Story
On Friday, Gov. Rick Perry spoke at the Family Research Council's annual "Values Voters Summit" in Washington. Watch his remarks, courtesy of C-SPAN. (Note: The speech begins in progress due to a signal loss.) Full Story
The redrawing of political district lines — which ideally happens just once a decade after a federal census — could create a series of crazy election cycles for Texas voters and candidates. It happened in the 1990s, and it could happen again now. Full Story
In the wake of Michael Morton's release from prison last week based on DNA testing that shows someone else killed his wife 25 years ago, defense lawyers are calling for reforms to ensure prosecutors must turn over exculpatory evidence. Full Story
Murphy, Ramshaw and Root on Rick Perry and race, Philpott on Perry's vague economic plans, Tan and Wiseman on Barack Obama's foray into Texas to defend his jobs plan, Aguilar on Perry's proposal to send U.S. troops to Mexico, Ramshaw on efforts to leash rising health care costs, M. Smith on upcoming legal challenges to the state's school finance system, Aaronson interactively explores Medicare spending proposals, Galbraith on efforts to pass — and to oppose — a $6 billion water program, Grissom on the release of a man wrongly convicted of murder and Hamilton on efforts to let the public write some legislation: The best of our best content from October 3 to 7, 2011. Full Story
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann's proposal came ahead of the Family Research Council’s Values Voters Summit on Friday, a chance for the candidates to showcase their social-conservative credentials. Full Story
The Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee is hoping to bring the state Capitol into the 21st century by experimenting with crowdsourcing, using the internet to gather input from the public on bills they're considering. Full Story
The concept of crowdsourcing — soliciting information from a wide range of people responding to an open call over the internet — could play a significant role in the way Texas lawmakers handle a key issue next session. Full Story
The federal redistricting panel in San Antonio is sharpening its crayons and asking the pack of lawyers in that case to make suggestions about corrective maps. Full Story
The possibility of five or more new Republican senators in 2013 opens a tactical door for conservatives who'd like to gain control of the Legislature. Full Story
The lawsuits over public education funding that are currently taking shape will be the latest in a long history of court intervention in Texas' school finance system. But how much can the judiciary do to fix it? Full Story
After an emotional day in court, Michael Morton left prison today, almost 25 years after he was convicted of murdering his wife. His release came after prosecutors agreed his conviction should be overturned based on the results of recent DNA testing. Full Story
Michael Morton, who served 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife Christine, now will be released after DNA evidence linked another man to the crime and to another murder 16 months later. Full Story