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The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Business: Hands Off Public Education

    By Erika Aguilar, KUT News

    Lawmakers will soon take an ax to the state budget, but business leaders are hoping one big-ticket item will be spared. At its annual conference in Austin this week, the Texas Association of Business sounded warnings about potential cuts to public education. Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports. Full Story 

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  • The Constant Gardeners

    By Kate Galbraith

    From the highways of Texas to the San Jacinto Battleground, state agencies now aim to maximize the use of native grasses rather than opting for whatever was cheapest or fastest-growing, as they did decades ago. Full Story 

    Bill Neiman, owner of Native American Seed, at his seed-cleaning facility in Junction, TX, Jan. 18, 2011.
    Credit: Callie Richmond

  • Testing the Evidence

    By Brandi Grissom

    In police departments across Texas, tens of thousands of rape kits have been sitting on the shelves of property storage rooms for years — thanks to strained budgets, overworked crime labs and a law enforcement philosophy that such kits are primarily useful as evidence if a stranger committed the assault. Victims’ rights advocates and some lawmakers say they'll work to pass legislation this year to take that evidence out of storage and create a DNA database that would help track rapists and perhaps even identify those who have been wrongly convicted. "I think we owe it to every person who has been raped," says state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth. Full Story 

    A sexual assault evidence collection kit
    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • Mental Notes on Budget Cuts

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    For community mental health and retardation centers like Round Rock's Bluebonnet Trails, cuts in the state budget will have a direct effect on the number of people they serve — and help keep in school or employed and out of state hospitals and emergency rooms. For KUT News and The Texas Tribune, Ben Philpott reports. Full Story 

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  • John Zerwas: The TT Interview

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The state representative and anesthesiologist from Simonton on why he filed the House's first bill to implement a key piece of federal health-care reform and was the first in his party to openly suggest that dropping out of Medicaid wasn't such a great idea after all. Full Story 

    State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton
    Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera

  • Controversial? Just Wait

    By Julián Aguilar

    The voter ID legislation passed by the Texas Senate on Wednesday night may be controversial, but it’s a familiar debate, as is the issue of “sanctuary cities.” Less well known but no less controversial are many of the provisions found in more than three dozen immigration-related bills filed so far. Some Hispanic Republicans in the Texas House say they are not going to support bills they believe are too extreme. Full Story 

    Protesters hold signs reading "No Arizona Hate in Texas" — a reference to a recently passed law in that state — during a 2011 demonstration against "sanctuary city" legislation in Austin.
    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • Mental Notes on the Budget

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    For mental health and retardation centers like Round Rock's Bluebonnet Trails, state budget cuts will have a direct effect on the number of people they serve — and help keep in school or employed and out of state hospitals and emergency rooms. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • Voter ID Passes: The Highlights

    By Justin Dehn

    Watch our abbreviated version of the daylong Senate debate, the dismissal of three dozen amendments and the ultimate passage of Senate Bill 14, a.k.a. the voter ID bill. The measure's now headed to the House. Full Story 

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  • The Pre-K Predicament

    By Morgan Smith

    Just how important is full-day pre-kindergarten for the state’s youngest and most disadvantaged kids? Is it more important than after-school tutoring? Than canceling music and art classes? As public school officials brace for a proposed $10 billion less in state funding, that’s one decision they'll have to make. “It's choosing between bad and worse and bad and bad,” says one superintendent. “It's definitely not a good day when we are sitting around talking about whether class size going up could help salvage all-day pre-K, or vice-versa.” Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Keeping the Faith

    By Christopher Smith Gonzalez

    Like many other Texas groups, faith organizations that lobby lawmakers are bracing for a brutal budgetary session. It’s not only a moral issue for the religious groups; it concerns their own bottom lines, too. Because when the government doesn’t provide for the needy, the needy look to the church. Full Story 

    Imam Islam Mossad of the North Austin Muslim Community Center recites the Islamic call to prayer to start Texas Impact's interfaith prayer service on the capitol steps on the first day of session. Members of Christian, Muslim and Jewish faith traditions gathered to pray for legislators and to ask that they act as responsible shepherds for the people of Texas.
    Credit: Todd Wiseman