Texas House proposes massive increase for public school funding
The proposed budget would increase state funds for education by about 17 percent but cut funding for health and human services by about 3 percent. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dennis Bonnen presiding over his first votes as speaker of the house. Jan. 9, 2019. Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / The Texas Tribune.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / The Texas Tribune -
Medicaid, opioids and abortion: Health care issues to expect this Texas legislative session
Amid uncertainty about the federal health law, state legislators will tackle a variety of issues during the session, from abortion to mental health to opioids to funding for Medicaid. Full Story
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Here are 9 things to know about 2020 presidential candidate Julián Castro
Now that Julián Castro has announced he's running for president in 2020, here's a look at some of Castro’s political and financial history. Full Story
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![Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro speaks with Tribune Editor-in-Chief Emily Ramshaw at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 29, 2018.]()
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Watch Julián Castro announce his presidential run
Julián Castro announced his 2020 bid for president in San Antonio on Saturday. Full Story
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![Former U.S. housing secretary and San Antonio mayor Julián Castro talks to reporters about his potential run for president in 2020. Castro held the press conference in his home in San Antonio on Dec. 12, 2018.]()
Credit: Robin Jerstad for The Texas Tribune -
Oprah to interview Beto O'Rourke in New York in February
Oprah Winfrey is set to sit down with Beto O'Rourke on Feb. 5 as part of a series of conversations she's holding in Times Square in New York City. Full Story
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![Talk show host Oprah Winfrey and former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke.]()
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Tarrant County GOP’s vice-chairman survives recall vote over his religion
County party officials overwhelmingly rejected attempts to remove Shahid Shafi because he's Muslim. The 139-49 vote in his favor came after the state's top Republican officials denounced the failed move to oust the trauma surgeon. Full Story
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![Shahid Shafi, his family behind him, speaks to the press on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. He said the vote result to keep him in his position of vice chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party reaffirmed his belief in the country and his party.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune -
Point of Order: How Dan Huberty wants to fix school finance
In our new podcast, Point of Order, Evan Smith asks Dan Huberty, chairman of the House Public Education Committee, what it will take — and what it will cost — for state lawmakers to solve the state's most intractable problem. Full Story
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In the Rio Grande Valley, Trump's visit to push for wall funding draws cheers and protests
Amid signs, shouts and waving flags, a veteran says Trump's talk of the border as a war zone is overblown and an immigrant from Mexico says she supports the president's push to protect the border. Full Story
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![President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he visits the banks of the Rio Grande River with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and agents during the president's visit to the U.S. - Mexico border in Mission on Thursday, January 10, 2019.]()
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Bill would curtail criminal prosecutions of rent-to-own customers
Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston, wants to restrain the practice of prosecuting people who default on rent-to-own contracts for household items like TVs and sofas. The proposal comes in the wake of an investigation of rent-to-own prosecutions by The Texas Tribune and Nerd Wallet. Full Story
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![Sen. Boris Miles D-Houston during a February 22, 2018 Committee on Election Security]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune. -
In increasingly diverse Texas, the Legislature remains mostly white and male
Here’s a look at the demographics of the 86th Legislature by lawmakers’ race, gender, age, education and religion. Full Story
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![Texas Senate.]()
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Watch Greg Abbott, Dennis Bonnen and Dan Patrick speak at a joint news conference
Watch live coverage of a news conference featuring Gov. Greg Abbott, House Speaker Dennis Bonnen and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, courtesy of KXAN-TV. Full Story
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![The Texas state Capitol on the first day of the 86th legislative session on Jan. 8, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Tarrant County GOP set to vote on whether to remove vice-chairman because he's Muslim
Some local party members say Shahid Shafi's faith isn't representative of all Tarrant County Republicans. But many Texas GOP officials have denounced the attempt to oust the trauma surgeon and called the move bigoted. Full Story
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![Shahid Shafi is the vice-chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party.]()
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James Talarico, youngest state representative in Texas Legislature, settles in for the 86th session
After besting Republican Cynthia Flores for his open Williamson County seat, the 29-year-old Democrat from Round Rock joined the Texas House on Tuesday amid plenty of jokes and words of wisdom. Full Story
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![State Rep. James Talarico, D-Round Rock, greets guests at his office in the state capitol. Jan. 8, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr. -
Texas House names Dennis Bonnen new speaker on celebratory opening day
Bonnen’s unanimous election marks a new era of Texas House leadership for the first time in a decade. Meanwhile, the leader of the Texas Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, was conspicuously absent on opening day. Full Story
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![State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, is sworn in as House speaker by U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019. Looking on is Speaker Bonnen's wife Kimberly.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Harris County's first Latina county judge takes the helm
Democrat Lina Hidalgo — a 27-year-old Colombian immigrant with a rich life story — will preside over her first Harris County Commissioners Court meeting as county judge on Tuesday. The political newcomer rode into office on a Democratic wave that swept the state's most populous county. Full Story
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![Newly-elected Harris Co. Judge Lina Hidalgo at the Harris County Administration Building in downtown Houston on Dec. 3, 2018.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Here’s how the federal government shutdown is affecting Texas
Court cases are slowing down and it’s taking some people longer to buy a home, but national parks are open and the Border Patrol is still working. Full Story
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Trump to visit U.S.-Mexico border Thursday
President Donald Trump is making a trip to the United States' border with Mexico on Thursday. It wasn't immediately clear whether he would visit Texas. Full Story
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![President Donald Trump arrives at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston on Oct. 22, 2018. Trump is in Texas to attend a rally at the Toyota Center.]()
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Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar gives lawmakers cautiously optimistic revenue estimate for 2019 session
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Monday that the state will have $119.1 billion for lawmakers to use in putting together the state's 2020-21 budget. Full Story
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![Comptroller Glenn Hegar discusses the Biennial Revenue Estimate for the 2020-21 biennium at the state Capitol on Jan. 7, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Two years ago, the Texas Legislature started with a bang. This year, it's quieter.
Lawmakers have coalesced behind school finance and property taxes as top priorities, a stark contrast with the hot-button social legislation that headlined the 85th Legislature in 2017. Full Story
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![Left to right: Outgoing House Speaker Joe Straus, presumptive House Speaker Dennis Bonnen and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick at a Legislative Budget Board meeting in Austin on Nov. 16, 2018.]()
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After years of Trump’s dire warnings, a "crisis" has hit the border but generates little urgency
A political stalemate over the president’s border wall plan makes small-bore immigration fixes more remote. Full Story
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![Families from Guatemala and Honduras wait for their opportunity to apply for asylum. The said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on the American side of the bridge have not given them much information other than they need to wait here.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune
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