The Runoffs: CD-17
It's money versus geography and name ID in the race between the two top finishers in the five-way GOP primary in this conservative-leaning congressional district. The winner will face U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco. Full Story
The latest Rick Perry news from The Texas Tribune.
It's money versus geography and name ID in the race between the two top finishers in the five-way GOP primary in this conservative-leaning congressional district. The winner will face U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco. Full Story
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White today called on GOP Gov. Rick Perry to remove claims on his public and campaign Web sites that crime on the Texas border has dropped 65 percent. Perry campaign spokesman Mark Miner defended the claims. He said Perry's claim refers to temporary crime drops in discreet areas during so-called "border surge" operations. Full Story
Hank Skinner was set to die Wednesday for the 1993 murders of his live-in girlfriend and her two mentally disabled adult sons — a crime he insists he did not commit. About an hour before he was to have poison pushed through his veins, the U.S. Supreme Court spared his life. Full Story
Former Secretary of State James Baker, one of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's highest-profile primary supporters, says he now supports Gov. Rick Perry's re-election bid. And, as it happens, much of Barack Obama's foreign policy. Full Story
State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, wrote Gov. Rick Perry letters today urging him to grant a 30-day reprieve for death-row inmate Hank Skinner, who is scheduled for execution tomorrow. Full Story
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn wants to join the Mexico discussion and is urging fellow U.S. senators to lend him an ear. Full Story
Where are their friends? Bill White wants Rick Perry to reject the State Board of Education's social studies amendments, while a state senator pushes to do away with the board altogether. Full Story
Behind the fiery health care rhetoric is a measure expected to dramatically expand Texas’ Medicaid program, adding up to 1 million adults to the state’s insurance roll — but at a steep cost. Texas will have to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue to foot its share of the bill. Full Story
The seven-member Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles today unanimously rejected death-row inmate Hank Skinner's request for a reprieve from his execution, which is scheduled for Wednesday. Full Story
Leaders from one end of the Texas-Mexico border to the other want Gov. Rick Perry to tone down the scary rhetoric and get real about solving problems in their hometowns. And, by the way, they would like to be consulted about security plans that affect their communities. "We know what's going on on the border," says Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas. "Our needs were not taken into consideration." Full Story
The federal government seems to be warming to Gov. Rick Perry's demands for an unmanned drone on the Texas-Mexico border. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry's campaign team has been asking for Democrat Bill White's tax returns. They've got them — or at least one of them. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus sent a firmly-worded letter to members of Congress today, urging them to vote against health care reform in Washington, or, as they dub it, "the federal government's takeover of health care." A vote is expected on Sunday. Full Story
Barring the intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is Hank Skinner’s last hope for reprieve from the poison-filled syringe he is set to meet on Wednesday. The board makes life-or-death decisions, recommending to the governor whether an execution should be delayed, called off or carried out, yet it’s one of the least transparent agencies in state government. Full Story
I suppose if you're a Texas politician this week you just have to make hay out of the situation on the border. Today, it was Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White's turn. Full Story
Revealing more details about the first phase of the border spillover prevention plan that he activated Tuesday, Gov. Rick Perry today announced he is sending two helicopters to the Texas-Mexico border, an OH-58 Kiowa and a UH-72 Lakota. The exact locations of the choppers, however, will not be released for security purposes. Full Story
Chromosal Laboratories, a DNA testing lab in Phoenix, Ariz., told Gov. Rick Perry that it will test evidence in the Hank Skinner case for free and within 30 days if he grants a reprieve of the convicted murderer's March 24 execution date. Full Story
It’s not just Gov. Rick Perry who wants the President to make a trip south. Full Story
Voters in South Dallas and Central Texas will have special elections on May 8 to pick new legislators. Gov. Rick Perry called those to replace Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, in HD-100, and Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, in SD-22. Full Story
U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, both Republicans, sent President Obama a letter today, calling for him to get busy trying to quell the violence on the U.S.-Mexico border and stop it from spilling into Texas. Full Story