The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.
Anglo Democrats — an endangered species when the political mapmakers were working in 2001 — might be a protected species this year. Many of them represent districts full of minority voters they say are protected from disruptive redistricting. Full Story
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State health officials, searching for solutions to Texas’ budget shortfall, are eying neonatal intensive care units, which they fear are being overbuilt and overused by hospitals eager to profit from the high-cost care. Full Story
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Grissom on threats to re-entry programs for criminals, Hamilton on the tempest over the direction of UT, E. Smith's interview with Joe Straus, Stiles and Chang's new lobbying app, M. Smith and Weber on where state officeholders send their children to school, Aaronson on allowing new nuclear power plants, Aguilar on how Hispanic Republicans are handling immigration issues, Ramshaw talks abortion with Planned Parennthood's Cecile Richards, Tan and Dehn on tapping the Rainy Day Fund and Galbraith on San Antonio and its water: The best of our best content from March 14 to 18, 2011. Full Story
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Dan Neil conceded to Democrat Donna Howard of Austin in the House District 48 race Friday afternoon, just days after a House committee turned back his challenge to the November election results. Full Story
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No time to follow every twist and turn of the Texas Legislature? We've made it easier for you with our weekly recaps of the action under the dome. Full Story
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The Hispanic Republican Conference has thrown its weight behind the controversial voter ID legislation slated to hit the House floor next week. Full Story
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Anyone in the habit of calling state legislators has probably had the pleasure and/or pain of the hold music to which staffers must occasionally subject them. Is the music the lawmakers' choice, or is it out of their hands? Full Story
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Legislators have to choose between mobs — one under the Gadsden Flag with the snake and motto “Don’t Tread on Me”, the other a recent phenomenon under signs like, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” Full Story
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The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new national standard this week that will require coal-fired plants in Texas to reduce mercury emissions. As Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, the tighter regulations could prove costly for Texas' electric companies. Full Story
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Lawmakers today heard heated testimony on a number of bills targeting hospitals' ability to hire physicians. Full Story
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A Texas law dating back to the 1800s that keeps hospitals from directly hiring doctors comes before lawmakers today, in a flurry of bills designed to remove the ban — either for an individual hospital district, or for all the state's rural hospitals. Full Story
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Does tapping the Rainy Day Fund have 90 House votes to move on to the Senate — and how much will the process of getting there damage the even bigger task for lawmakers of setting the next biennium's budget? Full Story
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The president of Planned Parenthood and daughter of the late Democratic Gov. Ann Richards on Republican lawmakers’ efforts to defund her organization, a Texas attorney general’s opinion she says will keep low-income women from preventative care, and how her mother would’ve handled all of this. Full Story
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This week on the TribCast, Ross, Reeve, Ben and special guest Jim Henson discuss the Rainy Day Fund, Hispanic Republicans, Tommy Lee Jones and a good deal more. Full Story
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Supporters and opponents of allowing concealed handguns on college campuses packed a House committee room today where a number of bills that would allow it were being discussed. Full Story
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The Texas Senate unanimously approved a bill today that would revamp eyewitness identification policies used by law enforcement agencies. Full Story
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Cleve Foster will be the first Texas inmate to receive the anesthetic drug pentobarbital — instead of sodium thiopental — in the three-drug cocktail that will be used in his execution on April 5. Full Story
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Tribune readers, wondering what was personally at stake for the state’s education policy makers, asked us to check where lawmakers send their children to school. We obliged, and posed that question to all 181 members of the Legislature and 15 members of the State Board of Education. Full Story
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The House Election Contest Committee unanimously voted today to uphold Rep. Will Hartnett's determination that Donna Howard won the long-disputed HD-48 seat. Full Story
The House Calendars Committee voted this evening to place the voter ID bill, SB 14, on the schedule for Monday. Full Story
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