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The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.

  • TribBlog: Perry Takes a Knee [Updated]

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Gov. Rick Perry's having knee surgery on Friday. In an e-mail sent out this afternoon, Dana Parish, deputy finance director for Texans for Rick Perry, notified supporters that a campaign event had been rescheduled because of the impending surgery. Full Story 

    October 19, 2008. Gov. Rick Perry before the IBM Uptown Classic road race in Austin, TX.
    Credit: Mohammad Khursheed

  • TribBlog: Boosting Broadband

    By Rachel Kraft

    Most Americans can access broadband internet services where they live, but in rural Texas, some still lack the kind of connectivity that allows them to get online without the hassles of dial-up. On June 14, the Texas Department of Agriculture will release information on the state of connectivity in Texas, including maps of where Texans have the best — and worst — internet access. Full Story 

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  • Tickets for 10-Year-Olds

    By Brian Thevenot

    With the rise of get-tough juvenile crime policies across Texas, the municipal courthouse has become the new principal’s office for students who fight, curse their teachers or are generally “disorderly” — even in elementary schools. Campus police in the Austin, Houston and Dallas ISDs, among others, write thousands of citations per year, with young students tickted egularly and minority students targeted disproportionately. Fines of $250 or $500 are not uncommon, court officials say. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva

  • The Pollution "Police"

    By Andrew Kreighbaum

    The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has nearly doubled its number of administrative enforcement actions against polluters in the last five years — yet critics charge the agency still levies penalties too small to act as a deterrent. Full Story 

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  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Ramsey on what the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll says about the governor's race, education, immigration, and other issues; Grissom on a far West Texas county divided over Arizona's immigration law; Ramshaw talks health care reform and obesity in Texas with a legendary Dallas doctor; M. Smith on the Collin County community that's about to break ground on a $60 million high school football stadium; Aguilar on the backlog of cases in the federal immigration detention system; Philpott of the Green Party's plans to get back on the ballot; Hu on the latest in the Division of Workers' Comp contretemps; Mulvaney on the punishing process of getting compensated for time spent in jail when you didn't commit a crime; Hamilton on the fight over higher ed formula funding; and my sit-down with state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin: The best of our best from May 24-28, 2010. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacqueline Mermea

  • TribBlog: The 10 Percent Solution

    By Ross Ramsey

    Fresh off of asking for five percent cuts from state agencies and actually approving $1.2 billion of what was proposed, the state's top three leaders are asking for ten percent cuts in the amounts the agencies will be seeking next time the Legislature meets. Full Story 

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  • Kenneth Cooper: The TT Interview

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The world-renowned Dallas doctor who essentially invented jogging as exercise talks with the Tribune about health care reform, the crisis of obesity in Texas, and what lawmakers must do to shore up the physical-education legislation they passed last session. Full Story 

    Dr. Kenneth Cooper
    Credit: Emily Ramshaw

  • We Like It Better Here

    By Ross Ramsey

    A majority of Texans believe the state is on the right track, while a plurality thinks the country is on the wrong track, according to a new University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva

  • Here Comes the Sun

    By Elise Hu

    The state Division of Workers' Compensation has uncovered "tens of millions of dollars in unnecessary medical care" in the last several years, but its commissioner failed to sanction the doctors involved, a key former employee told members of the Sunset Advisory Commission on Tuesday night. Full Story 

  • A Lousy Grade

    By Ross Ramsey

    More than two-thirds of Texans say their confidence in the state's public schools ranges from shaky to nonexistent, according to the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. A majority of Texans believe that crime, low academic standards, lack of parental involvement and not enough funding are "major" problems that public schools face — but two-thirds say "too much religion in the schools" is not a problem. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva

  • Justice Delayed

    By Brandi Grissom

    Death row inmate Hank Skinner bought himself some time Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to address whether he can bring a federal civil rights lawsuit instead of making a habeas corpus claim. But legal experts say he's unlikely to escape his ultimate punishment. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • TribBlog: TAB Joins Workers' Comp Debate

    By Elise Hu

    The state's largest business group is opposing proposed recommendations to change up the review process for unscrupulous workers' comp doctors, a process at the center of the controversy over how the Division of Workers' Compensation operates. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Workers' Comp War of Words

    By Elise Hu

    As lawmakers on the Sunset Advisory Commission prepare to publicly review the Division of Workers' Compensation on Tuesday, the Commissioner and his former physician fraud investigator are waging a war of words in their letters to lawmakers. Full Story 

    April 29, 2010. Dr. Ken Ford at his Houston home.
    Credit: Nathan Lindstrom

  • TribBlog: Gambling 101

    By Ross Ramsey

    Coming soon to a large pink state capitol building in this very state: A day-long seminar on slot machines and casinos and all that, especially as it pertains to the state budget. Full Story 

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  • The Price of Innocence

    By Erin Mulvaney

    Let's say you served time for a crime you didn't commit: How much is each year you lost really worth? A new law increases the state's payout to exonerees, but the process of getting compensated is its own form of punishment. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva