Never Can Say Goodbye
Texas voters won't be offered a real chance at change in the Legislature and Congress next year. Four out of five state and federal lawmakers face no real competition in their primary or general elections. Full Story
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The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
Texas voters won't be offered a real chance at change in the Legislature and Congress next year. Four out of five state and federal lawmakers face no real competition in their primary or general elections. Full Story
Humorist and author Kinky Friedman is setting his sights on a new prize: the agriculture commissioner post. Full Story
Some Texas sheriffs are looking to an unlikely source to get them out of the hole as private prisons win away federal contracts for inmates and put the financial squeeze on county jails. Full Story
Think like the political pros and your mind will go to the long game instead of the short one. The short game is the elections of 2010. The long game is redistricting in 2011, when maps are drawn that corral the voters into the districts that will elect legislators for the next ten years. Full Story
Congratulations, Mayor-Elect. Now you get to govern a great city — Houston — that’s much bigger than the electorate and much more complicated than the campaign. Perhaps you’d like some aspirin? Or a re-count? Full Story
One education model — with unproven results — serves almost a third of pre-kindergarteners in Texas. Its grade? Incomplete. Full Story
Alberto Gonzales — remember him? — in Esquire. Full Story
The feds want Texas to sign onto a movement toward national education standards in order to get up to $700 million in "Race to the Top" money. Texas officials say our students —and our curriculum — aren't for sale. Full Story
As anticipated, Cynthia Dunbar has officially announced that she will not seek re-election to her spot on the State Board of Education Full Story
Explore red-light camera intersections across Texas, or drill down to individual intersections to see images, crash figures and citation totals. Full Story
The El Paso school board this week dumped a controversial policy requiring teachers to give automatic grades of 50 to students who didn't earn them. But teachers are still allowed to do so at their discretion. Full Story
Even if Cynthia Dunbar doesn't seek reelection to the State Board of Education, another conservative Republican stands ready to take up the cause. Full Story
Benjamin Ligums was born with a rare degenerative brain disease that left him immobile, non-verbal and legally blind. His family has found a second home at Baylor's Transition Medicine Clinic, which specializes in treating profoundly disabled young adults. Full Story
In 2008, the file at DPS headquarters in Austin still said Scotty Caven III caused the August 2004 car crash that killed him and two others. Officials there had declined to reopen and investigate the case. But his father, UT System regent Scott Caven Jr., wouldn’t take no for an answer. Full Story
Rick Perry attacked the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision yesterday to declare carbon dioxide a public danger, arguing that the ruling lacks scientific evidence. The EPA's move could propel the cost of carbon reduction onto the list of issues in play in the governor’s race. Full Story
When kids with disabilities transfer from children’s Medicaid to the adult program, they lose services, health care and medical expertise. A few committed doctors and social workers are stepping in to ease the transition. Full Story
The Texas Ethics Commission wants candidates and elected officials to come clean about their spending, and it's adopted new rules that require them to do just that. Full Story
After his son and two others died in a horrific car wreck in 2004, former UT Regent Scott Caven Jr. set out to prove that his namesake, Scotty, wasn't to blame. He eventually persuaded the Texas Department of Public Safety to change its accident report — a rare feat: In the last five years, DPS has changed the final reports in fewer than 1 percent of fatal crash investigations. Full Story
The pro-charter National Center for Education Reform cites state's lack of financial support for facilities, a cap on the number of charters and a restrictive regulatory environment. Full Story
The Texas Departments of Family and Protective Services and State Health Services are launching a "Room to Breathe" campaign to educate parents about the dangers of co-sleeping, a controversial subject that they appear to be approaching with caution. Full Story