The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
El Paso's Democratic state representative on the media's portrayal of her hometown, why the grassroots is key to making gains for her party, and why she thinks immigration legislation will hurt Gov. Rick Perry on the campaign trail. Full Story
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The Innocence Project is urging the Texas Forensic Science Commission to forge ahead with its investigation of arson cases despite a recent ruling from the state’s top lawyer that seemed to limit the panel’s authority. Full Story
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Phyllis Taylor survived the 1995 shooting spree that ended with two others dead and Duane Buck on death row. Buck is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 15. Today, Taylor asked state officials to halt his execution. Full Story
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As wildfires continue to sweep across the state, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has authorized seven more grants to help Texas manage the flames. Although the figures for the grants given to Texas after June are not yet available, the Tribune has a look at the $3.8 billion FEMA has given Texas to mitigate disasters. Full Story
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Christi Craddick, daughter of former House speaker and current state Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, on why she wants to run for the Texas Railroad Commission, whether her dad's politics will get in the way, and why the oil and gas industry needs her as a regulator. Full Story
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Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who is running for the U.S. Senate, has released a new ad attacking the president and Washington, D.C. Full Story
The state's new political maps are now in the hands of the federal government. An army of lawyers lined up before the start of federal hearings on Tuesday, lugging boxes of papers and briefcases bulging with the scribbled notes and other arguments they'll present over the next two weeks. Full Story
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Because — as both Democrats and Republicans know well — the drawing of congressional, legislative and State Board of Education district lines determines, to a large extent, the outcomes of future elections. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry thanked emergency responders and urged Texans to remain on guard against wildfires, after touring a massive blaze near Bastrop that he described as being "as mean-looking as I've ever seen." Full Story
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Even as the Obama administration delighted conservatives last week by pulling back on a broad regulation to combat ozone pollution, the controversial "cross-state" rule that would also reduce smog-forming pollutants in Texas remains on track. Full Story
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In this week's edition of our nonscientific survey of political and government insiders, we asked who the state's 31 senators would pluck from their own ranks to run the Senate, and perhaps to serve as governor, should the state's top officials move on to bigger and better things. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry’s early opposition to the Obama administration’s education policies — whose bipartisan backers include former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — make him something of an ideological outlier among Republicans. Full Story
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Aaronson on the stats behind the Texas Miracle, Aguilar on an area of the budget that didn't get cut during the session, Dehn and Tan wrap-up our 31 Days, 31 Ways project, Galbraith talks to Todd Staples about the drought, Grissom on controversial executions during Rick Perry's tenure (plus a visualization by Murphy and Seger), Hamilton on the Rodney Dangerfield of Texas universities, Philpott on the search for clues in past Perry debates, Ramshaw on Perry's opposition to abortion rights and Root on Perry's assurances to conservatives that his past won't embarrass them: The best of our best content from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2, 2011. Full Story
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Lawmakers are long gone from the statehouse, but their decisions have consequences that will be seen throughout the next two years. The Tribune's Thanh Tan spent the month of August explaining 31 ways Texans' lives are going to change. Full Story
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This morning @TribData released a visualization of all executions in the state of Texas since Gov. Rick Perry took office in late 2000. Here's how we made it happen. Full Story
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As Gov. Rick Perry touts his tough-on-crime policies on the national stage, the case of Cameron Todd Willingham remains in the headlines. But Willingham’s execution is hardly the only controversial one Perry has presided over. Full Story
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Specialty services for thousands of Texans with disabilities are on the chopping block, yet another casualty of the significant budget cuts state lawmakers passed in May. Full Story
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Hand a bunch of insiders a list of 31 senators and ask what's going to happen next, and you turn them into outsiders. Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Attorney General Greg Abbott may well use a court ruling against the abortion sonogram law to their political advantage — to lure anti-abortion voters to the polls, and fuel their fire against so-called “activist” judges. Full Story
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On the national stage, Texas' economy is its best selling point. But this so-called "Texas Miracle" doesn't extend statewide: In the border region, unemployment reaches as high as 13.2 percent, and the median income is 30 percent lower than the statewide average. Full Story
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