Texas Poised to Cut Some Specialty License Plates
If fans of Dr Pepper and the Fort Worth Zoo don't get it in gear, their chance to buy specialty license plates might soon be gone. The Houston Rockets are hanging by a thread. Full Story
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The Playlist: The Best is Yet to Come
For this week's playlist of the news, we’re using our reporters' own predictions for 2015. Kicking things off: “The Best Is Yet To Come,” by Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, backed up by the Count Basie Orchestra. Full Story
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A Toll Road Strategy That's "as Big as Texas"
There's no doubt that Gov. Rick Perry has left his mark on the state’s approach to funding roads. Aman Batheja writes that under Perry's leadership, Texas has been the country’s most aggressive supporter of tolling and private-sector investment in transportation. Full Story
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Analysis: Skill or Luck, It Has Worked for Perry
Thirty years is a lot to attribute to mere luck. Like Rick Perry or not, his considerable political skills have sustained him throughout his career in state politics. Full Story
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![Gov. Rick Perry laughs at a question during the final keynote of 2014 TribFest.]()
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Video: New Senators on Transportation
At our 12/11 conversation, incoming Texas Senators Konni Burton, R-Colleyville, Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, and Van Taylor, R-Plano, talked about the need for and possible sources of greater transportation funding. Full Story
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Lawmakers Set $7 Billion "Floor" for State Savings Account
Lawmakers on Thursday chose $7 billion as an appropriate minimum balance for the Rainy Day Fund in a meeting that took just a few minutes but will have far-reaching consequences. Full Story
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Abbott Plans to Add $4 Billion to Road Funding
Gov.-elect Greg Abbott wants to add $4 billion each year to build and maintain Texas roads, nearly closing the annual budget shortfall at the Texas Department of Transportation. Full Story
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![Greg Abbott said boosting transportation funding would be a priority for him during his first term as governor.]()
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Lower Speed Limits Coming in Drilling Areas
A rule change will allow the Texas Department of Transportation to move more quickly in lowering speed limits on particularly dangerous roads in the state's drilling regions in West and South Texas. Full Story
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Prop 1 Passed. Now What?
With the support of 80 percent of Texas voters, Proposition 1 is expected to add billions to the state highway fund without raising taxes or fees. For lawmakers, state officials and local stakeholders, now the real work begins. Full Story
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Revisit The Shale Life
The challenges the oil and gas boom present for communities across South and West Texas are immense. Revisit our 15-part multimedia series to see how surging energy production is changing lives and fortunes across Texas. Full Story
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Reaction to Train Plan Less Rosy in Rural Texas
A private company's plan to spend billions of dollars to develop a bullet train connecting Dallas and Houston has drawn strong support from the two cities. But reaction from communities along the 240-mile route has been mixed. Full Story
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![Japan Central's N700 high speed train, the same train that a private firm wants to bring to Texas.]()
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Business Group: Legislature Should Stop Gas Tax Diversions
The Texas Association of Business' 2015 agenda calls for the Legislature to end diversions of state gas taxes from road funding and to dedicate half of motor vehicle sales taxes to road construction and maintenance. Full Story
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![Bill Hammond is the CEO of the Texas Association of Business.]()
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On First Day Allowed for Filing, Legislators Submit More Than 350 Bills
Two months ahead of the first day of the 84th legislative session, eager lawmakers on Monday filed bills addressing issues including guns, texting while driving, health, transportation and much more. Full Story
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UT/TT Poll: Green Light for Transportation Plan
Using oil and gas tax money for transportation — instead of sending all of that money to the state's Rainy Day Fund — appears to be just fine with the state's voters, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story
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TxDOT Ends Program That Converts Paved Roads to Gravel
The Texas Department of Transportation has ended its controversial program aimed at converting some badly damaged paved roads to gravel, more than a year after the launch of the initiative drew national attention to the agency's budget troubles. Full Story
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![Before and after images of of the frontage road on I-37 in Live Oak County. The Texas Department of Transportation converted the badly-damaged asphalt road to an unpaved road the week of August 19, 2013.]()
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TribLive: A Conversation With Nichols and Clardy
Full video of my 10/23 TribLive conversation with state Rep. Travis Clardy, R-Nacogdoches, and state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University. Full Story
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At First Bullet Train Meeting, Location is Everything
Attendees at the first public meeting on a proposed high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston told federal officials they're for the project — so long as the stations are conveniently located downtown. Full Story
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![The Japanese Shinkansen is a high-speed trail used by JR Central in Japan. A private company is planning to build a rail line between Dallas and Houston using the same trains.]()
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State Supreme Court to Decide Just What a Billboard is Worth
Public officials are nervously awaiting the high court's ruling in a fight between TxDOT and Clear Channel Outdoor that could drive up future highway project costs. Full Story
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Analysis: A Simple and Very Expensive Proposal
It's one thing to say highway funds should go to highways. The problem is with all of the other programs those funds support. Full Story
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Animation: What is Proposition 1?
If a statewide proposition on this year's ballot passes, the Texas Department of Transportation could pull in billions of dollars in additional funding for new highway projects. So what is Proposition 1, and how would it work? Full Story
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