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The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Marc Levin: The TT Interview

    By Brandi Grissom

    The director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation on the criminal justice challenges lawmakers will face next session (and how they can get the greatest return for each dollar spent), why eliminating prisons could be the most cost-effective way to improve safety and why creating new criminal offenses is the wrong thing to do. Full Story 

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Grissom (with Tedesco of the San Antonio Express-News) on high-speed police chases on the Texas-Mexico border, Hu and Hamilton draw a roadmap through the tangle of the Speaker's Race, M. Smith on the trouble with electronic supplements to science textbooks, Ramshaw interviews patient privacy advocate Deborah Peel, Aguilar on Cuba and Texas and trade, Hamilton on the latest in biotech from Texas A&M University, Stiles on who's in the money in Congress, Hu on the controversial renewal of the state lottery contract, yours truly on Tom DeLay's victory in the face of his conviction on money-laundering charges, and E. Smith with a Thanksgiving cornucopia of TribLive videos: The best of our best from November 22 to 26, 2010. Full Story 

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  • The Shipping News

    By Julián Aguilar

    The prospect of unabashedly Republican Texas becoming communist Cuba's leading U.S. trade partner seemed almost too good to be true. And, indeed, the relationship between two very different kind of red states hasn’t quite lived up to expectations. Full Story 

    Barbour's Cut Container Terminal
    Credit: Louis Vest

  • Tom DeLay Wins!

    By Ross Ramsey

    Yes, a jury convicted the former U.S. House majority leader of money laundering. But his maps — the ones that upended the careers of Democrats and helped the GOP take over Congress — are still in place. No amount of jail time can change that. Full Story 

    Tom DeLay, shown after his trial in 2011. DeLay, who was convicted of conspiracy and money-laundering, was found innocent of all charges by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2014.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • TribBlog: DeLay Convicted

    By Ross Ramsey

    Tom DeLay, the former U.S. House majority leader from Sugar Land, was convicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering this afternoon. Full Story 

    Tom DeLay, at the Travis County courthouse following his conviction on money-laundering charges.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • TribBlog: RINO Hunters

    By Ross Ramsey

    The latest salvo in the speaker race is a slick internet video that argues the House should have a more conservative speaker than Joe Straus. And it suggests the fight to come, knocking over dominoes with the pictures of "Republicans In Name Only" who could be targets in the GOP primaries two years from now: Keffer, Truitt, Geren, Solomons, Eissler, Cook... Full Story 

    Joe Straus' face on a slot machine. Screen grab from internet ad.

  • The Techbook Wars

    By Morgan Smith

    Penny-pinchers at the State Board of Education opted to incorporate changes to the high school science curriculum via lower-cost electronic supplements to existing textbooks instead of spending up to $500 million to have new ones printed. Trouble is, many schools lack the technological capability to use them. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • No Ethics Violation in House Speaker's Race

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    A House committee heard testimony yesterday on whether or a lawmaker used the threat redistricting as a tactic to coerce a colleague into supporting Speaker Joe Straus. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on the testimony — and what's next in the investigation. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • House Ethics Panel on Speaker's Race Threats

    By Elise Hu

    In a House Ethics Committee meeting Tuesday, state Rep. Chuck Hopson, R-Jacksonville, revealed that state Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, is the man behind an alleged threat that lawmakers who fail to support Speaker Joe Straus for re-election could face retribution through redistricting. Hopson named Phillips before the panel went into a closed executive session to discuss the allegation. Full Story 

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  • State of Overdose

    By Brandi Grissom

    Deaths from accidental overdoses increased in Texas by more than 150 percent from 1999 to 2007, according to a recent report from the Drug Policy Alliance. Accidental poisoning during that time was the third-leading cause of injury-related deaths statewide, behind only car crashes and suicide. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • TribBlog: AG to TWIA: Make Numbers Public

    By Elise Hu

    The Texas attorney general's office is weighing in on the back-and-forth between the Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency and Democratic attorney Steve Mostyn, who has been fighting in the courts to keep Hurricane Ike settlement details private. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Pitts Sees Deep Cuts Ahead

    By Ross Ramsey

    State budget writers will propose eliminating agencies, cutting others to a quarter of their current size and mandating furloughs for state employees to balance the budget without raising taxes or using the state's Rainy Day Fund, Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts told a hometown crowd. Full Story 

    Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie)
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Inside Intelligence: The Budget Will Be Balanced By...

    By Ross Ramsey

    For this week's installment of our non-scientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we focused on the budget. Specifically, we asked how big the shortfall is going to be, how the Legislature will close the gap and which areas of the budget are most likely to be cut. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • We Lose?

    By Elise Hu

    Citing performance issues and alleging a conflict of interest, critics blasted Friday's decision by the Texas Lottery Commission to renew a 10-year operations contract worth up to $1 billion with Rhode Island-based GTECH Corporation, the state’s primary lottery vendor since its 1992 inception. Full Story 

    "Check your ticket" lottery machine in an Austin, TX gas station.
    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • Holding Steady

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Texas added almost 48,000 jobs from September to October this year according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Ben Philpott reports for KUT News and the Texas Tribune on the numbers below the job gains. Full Story 

    More jobs in Texas...but more people looking too.
    Credit: Ben Philpott

  • Holding Steady

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Texas' unemployment rate stabilized in October at 8.1 percent as the state added almost 48,000 jobs. That rate, the lowest we've seen in 2010, is 1.5 points below the national average. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on the numbers behind the gains. Full Story 

    More jobs in Texas...but more people looking too.
    Credit: Ben Philpott