TribBlog: Still Not Racing to the Top [Updated]
Gov. Rick Perry wasn't interested in federal "Race to the Top" money before — and he isn't now, either. Full Story
The latest Rick Perry news from The Texas Tribune.
Gov. Rick Perry wasn't interested in federal "Race to the Top" money before — and he isn't now, either. Full Story
The governor, lieutenant governor and speaker directed all state agencies on Friday to cut their budgets by an additional 10 percent. Last week, those same agencies had their current budgets trimmed by a total of around $1.2 billion in an effort to close a projected $18 billion budget shortfall in the next legislative session. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
Fresh off of asking for five percent cuts from state agencies and actually approving $1.2 billion of what was proposed, the state's top three leaders are asking for ten percent cuts in the amounts the agencies will be seeking next time the Legislature meets. Full Story
Bill White’s problem is an “everywhere else” problem, which is only partly rural in nature. Full Story
A majority of Texans believe the state is on the right track, while a plurality thinks the country is on the wrong track, according to a new University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story
What the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll says about the governor's race and Texans' views on public education, etc. Full Story
At this point, anti-incumbent sentiment in Texas appears to be dwarfed by party identification and opposition to the national Democratic Party. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry leads his Democratic challenger, former Houston Mayor Bill White, 44 percent to 35 percent in the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, which was conducted May 14 to 20. Fifteen percent of the 800 registered voters surveyed are undecided about which of the gubernatorial candidates to support, while 7 percent prefer "someone else." Perry leads among men, women and Anglos. White leads among African-Americans and Hispanics. In five other statewide races polled, each Republican leads his Democratic opponent by a double-digit margin. Full Story
Let's say you served time for a crime you didn't commit: How much is each year you lost really worth? A new law increases the state's payout to exonerees, but the process of getting compensated is its own form of punishment. Full Story
Full video of Evan Smith's May 19 TribLive conversation with state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. Full Story
Thevenot on the ideological backbiting at the internationally famous State Board of Education; Stiles, Narioka and Hamilton plumb employee salary data in Texas colleges and universities; Grissom looks at the problem of insufficient indigent defense; Cervantes on the push for "veterans courts" emphasizing treatment and counseling over punishment; Aguilar finds border congressmen asking the governor for a fair break on federal homeland security dollars; M. Smith on another BP rig in the Gulf; Ramshaw reports on nurse practitioners trying to get permission slips from doctors; Hu follows up with lawmakers poking at whistleblower allegations of trouble in the state's workers' compensation regulation; Hamilton stops in on Luke Hayes and his efforts to turn Texas into a political powerhouse for Obama; and Ramsey writes on generation changes at the Capitol and on political pranksters: The best of our best from May 17 to 21, 2010. Full Story
Details of life inside Rick Perry's temporary digs made headlines this week, revealing that — in addition to $9,900 a month in rent — taxpayers foot the bill for Neiman Marcus curtains, $700 clothes racks and a subscription to Food & Wine magazine. How much of a political problem are the governor's posh trappings? Full Story
Search our updated database of Gov. Rick Perry's more than 2,000 current appointees to state boards and commissions. Full Story
Calderon and Obama talk immigration and cartels, fun times with the SBOE, Bill White's cheat sheet and the smoking ban that wasn't in San Antonio. Full Story
Five members of the U.S. House are lashing out at Gov. Rick Perry for what they say is his refusal to allocate more of the federal funding that moves through his office to the border. Perry claims his hands are tied and insists the congressmen need to check their math. While the back and forth continues, residents of the border fear for their lives. Full Story
In this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Ben talk about the latest in the 2011 budget crisis, the "nerdiness" of Bill White and Gov. Rick Perry's subscription to Food & Wine magazine. Full Story
On the heels of a Rasmussen Poll that had Democrat Bill White well behind incumbent Republican Rick Perry in the race for governor, Austin-based Opinion Analysts released a survey showing a nine-point lead for Perry. But that Democratic polling firm adds a fat caveat, reading the Guv's favorability ratings as negative and pointing out that 48 percent of voters want a change in the state's top office, when asked if they prefer Perry or "someone else." Full Story
Rick Perry made national headlines last year when he announced Texas was turning down unemployment insurance benefits available as part of the federal stimulus package. Attempts by state lawmakers to get their hands on the money anyway ran out of time at the end of the Legislative session, but as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, the $555 million is still there for the taking. Full Story
The governor reveals that and other nostalgic tidbits to Texas Monthly. Full Story
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has filed a lawsuit challenging Arizona’s controversial new immigration law. Full Story