It’s like finding out the last season of your favorite TV show was a dream sequence: Kay Bailey Hutchison was never really leaving the U.S. Senate after all.
State Government
Stay informed on Texas state government with The Texas Tribune’s in-depth coverage of the governor, Legislature, state agencies, and policies shaping the future of Texas.
2010: Shapleigh, Moreno Back Naomi Over Norma
State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, and former state Rep. Paul Moreno, D-El Paso, will endorse challenger Naomi Gonzalez over incumbent state Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso, in the April 13 runoff that will decide the winner of the House District 76 seat, according to the El Paso Times.
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Hamilton on Tarleton State’s fuss over a play featuring a gay Jesus and how it never got to the stage, E. Smith and a gang of political types with unsolicited advice for Bill White, Stiles on Texans’ slothful approach to the census, Aguilar on immigrant detention policy and mentally ill inmates, Grissom on federal immigration reform, Rapoport on an effort to protect the state’s prepaid college tuition program, Stiles and E. Smith interview Houston Mayor Annise Parker on NASA and the economy and staying out of state politics, Hu on the final move in U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s long and very public fretting over whether to stay in office, Ramsey on Hutchison’s ripple through the political pond, Ramshaw on how federal health care legislation looks to Texas budget-writers, Garcia-Ditta on shrinking capacity at Texas mental hospitals, E. Smith has a conversation with former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, and Hamilton, Ramshaw and M. Smith on primary runoffs in Plano, San Antonio, and Central Texas. The best of our best from March 29 to April 2, 2010.
The Brief: April 2, 2010
Want to see some regulatory muscle in action? See Exhibit A: The Environmental Protection Agency.
Admission Impossible
The wait to get into one of Texas’ 10 state mental hospitals — already long — may be about to get longer. Last month, as part of its attempt to comply with Gov. Rick Perry’s request that each state agency reduce its budget by 5 percent, the Department of State Health Services proposed eliminating 50 beds from four of the state’s 10 mental hospitals: San Antonio, Rusk, Terrell and North Texas Wichita. The state’s mental hospitals are already almost at full capacity, with nearly 2,500 self-admitted patients and allegedly criminal patients awaiting treatment so they can stand trial.
The Brief: April 1, 2010
Kay stays, census or bust, “no” to the AG and another battle in the badlands.
Resign of the Times
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison finally ended the will-she-or-won’t-she drama, saying she’s staying put through the end of her term in 2012. But ever since she first announced she’d resign, she’s been shifting positions. We take a look back.
Making History
Wednesday was the birthday of the late Mexican-American civil rights leader Cesar Chavez. Hispanic state legislators in Texas marked the occasion by launching a new challenge to the State Board of Education’s social studies curriculum adoption process. Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports.





