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The latest state government news from The Texas Tribune.

  • No Experience Necessary

    By Abby Rapoport

    Few members of the State Board of Education have finance expertise. Should we be concerned that they manage the investments of the $23 billion Permanent School Fund? Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • Ticked

    By Julián Aguilar

    The worst outbreak of fever-tick infestations in South Texas in four decades has ranchers and animal-health officials scrambling to prevent not just a loss of billions to the state cattle's industry but an outright ban on our cattle. Full Story 

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  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    The death penalty and DNA testing in a 16-year-old triple murder in the Texas Panhandle. The second debate between the three Republican candidates for governor. Charter schools are having a hard time hanging on to the employees that matter the most: Teachers. The possibilities and perils of a switch to electronic medical records. A rundown of top races. Who's giving to candidates, and how much? Social networks and politicians. Ballots: The slow reveal. And a new and highly requested feature makes its debut. The best of our best from January 23 to 29, 2010. Full Story 

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  • File Not Found

    By Ross Ramsey

    In the Information Age, it still takes the major political parties in Texas three weeks to figure out who should be listed on their state ballots. Full Story 

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  • Case Open: The Investigation

    By Brandi Grissom

    It took a crew of eight Northwestern University students to bring national attention to questions about Hank Skinner's death sentence. But his legal pleas for more DNA testing of crime scene evidence — and his lawsuit against the Gray County district attorney — have gone nowhere. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, he'll be executed on Feburary 24. Full Story 

  • Case Open

    By Brandi Grissom

    Hank Skinner is set to be executed for a 1993 murder he's always maintained he didn't commit. He wants the state to test whether his DNA matches evidence found at the scene, but prosecutors say the time to contest his conviction has come and gone. He has less than a month to change their minds. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant MIller

  • Charter Churn

    By Brian Thevenot

    Teachers quit Texas charter schools at nearly three times the rate of traditional public school districts, according to state data. Dozens of individual schools lost well over half their teachers in the latest year. Full Story 

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  • Social Studies

    By Reeve Hamilton

    Thanks to sites like Facebook and Twitter, we know the elected officials who represent us better than ever — sometimes in weirdly intimate ways. You can find out that Dan Patrick had to put his dog down, that Wayne Christian is a fan of real estate wunderkind and reality TV star Chad Rogers, and that Bill White just finished listening to a book on tape. But woe to the pol who hasn't updated her status in a year. Full Story 

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  • 2010: Michael Williams Rails

    By Evan Smith

    ... against Washington, of course, and the less-than-resolute wing of his party: An interview with the Texas Railroad Commissioner, who'd like very much, thank you, to be the next Marco Rubio. Full Story 

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  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Hu explores on the schism between Bushworld and Perrywold and the increasingly curious question of what Debra Medina wants; Stiles goes all Shark Week on gubernatorial campaign finance, with searchable databases, bubble maps and word clouds; M. Smith on what happens if there's a GOP runoff; Rapoport on the sniping between Perry and KBH on transparency; Hamilton on KBH's abortion issue odyssey; Ramshaw exposes the disgracefully low percentage of state school employees who abuse or kill profoundly disabled Texans and are then prosecuted for their acts; Thevenot on higher ed's tuition time bomb; Aguilar on the Latino pay gap; Ramsey on Farouk Shami's "gift" to Hank Gilbert; Ramsey and Philpott on the the Supreme's Court's corporate campaign cash fallout; and E. Smith's interviews with House Speaker Joe Straus with retiring Republican state representative — and future Texas State chancellor? — Brian McCall. The best of our best from January 18 to 22, 2010. Full Story 

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  • Who's Got What

    By Julián Aguilar

    A review of campaign finance reports for the period from July to December 2009 reveals that some candidates for the Texas House are capable of raising serious money. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva