Politics
Perry refuses to debate until White releases income tax returns
By Wayne Slater, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 27 April 2010
Gov. Rick Perry is refusing to debate Bill White unless the Democratic challenger releases income tax returns covering his years in public office.
Taylor council candidates united in support for city's growth
By Claire Osborn, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 26 April 2010
Chris Osborn wants to encourage growth in Taylor's downtown and save the historical buildings that make the area special, he said. His opponent for the District 4 seat on the City Council, Arthur Moreno, said he also wants to discourage sprawl but that the city also needs to work harder to attract new businesses.
On-again, off-again Dallas school board candidate Jesse Diaz is back in the race
By Tawnell D. Hobbs, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 26 April 2010
Real estate broker Jesse Diaz, who dropped out of the Dallas ISD board race for the District 4 seat, now says he's back in.
Government
Is state jobs program luring employers?
By Laylan Copelin, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 26 April 2010
The Texas Back to Work program targets low-wage workers (less than $15 an hour) who are drawing unemployment or have exhausted their jobless claims. Dewhurst said the money is intended to be "a push" for reluctant employers to hire, not a subsidy for jobs they would be filling anyway.
Dallas County justice officials OK new court for property crimes
By Kevin Krause, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 26 April 2010
Dallas County moved quickly Monday to find a new way to clear up clogged jails and hasten trials for several hundred repeat offenders believed responsible for most of the property crime in the area.
Smaller is Better
By Brian Thevenot, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE, 27 April 2010
In a new statewide ranking of public schools that The Texas Tribune published yesterday, the Dallas Independent School District boasts seven of the top 25 high schools but also 18 high schools in the bottom quartile. Not surprisingly, the best ones have a small student population, while the worst ones are megacampuses.
Texas' truthful grading law put on hold
By Ericka Mellon, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 26 April 2010
Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott vowed Monday through his attorney that he would not sanction school districts that give failing students a boost on their report cards until a lawsuit challenging his interpretation of the state's new truthful grading law is settled.
Grade Stagflation
By Brian Thevenot, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE, 27 April 2010
Hundreds of school districts across the state can continue giving failing students inflated grades, after a Travis County Civil Court judge declined to rule Monday in a lawsuit challenging the state’s interpretation of a new law mandating “honest grades.”
Raving Arizona
By Ben Philpott, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE, 27 April 2010
There's been plenty of intense reaction across the country to new immigration laws passed in The Grand Canyon State. Ben Philpott, who covers public policy for KUT News and the Tribune, reports on how both sides are already looking ahead to future battlegrounds.
City of El Paso has projected $1.5M deficit
By David Burge, EL PASO TIMES, 27 April 2010
The city government could face a budget deficit of $1.5 million by the end of the fiscal year on Aug. 31, Deputy City Manager Bill Studer said Monday.
Plans for SAISD closings approved
By Lindsay Kastner, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 26 April 2010
Trustees of the San Antonio Independent School District voted unanimously Monday night to move forward with the first phase of a district restructuring plan that could close as many as 13 schools.
Three military installations become one
By Sig Christenson, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 27 April 2010
The Air Force took over Fort Sam Houston on Monday, and it didn't have to drop a bomb or fire a shot.
No more soda, snacks for federal monitors visiting state supported living centers
By Corrie MacLaggan, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 26 April 2010
Monitors are reviewing 13 state supported living centers as part of an agreement between Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice designed to ensure that the state improves health care and more quickly investigates reports of abuse or neglect at the facilities.
Texas' steep surcharges for driving violations clog courts, increase DWI dismissals, ex-judge tells panel
By Terrence Stutz, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 27 April 2010
A steep surcharge program for drunken driving and other driving violations is clogging state courts and causing the dismissal rate for DWI cases to skyrocket, a former state judge told the Texas Public Safety Commission on Monday.
Rebate deadline extended
By Vicki Vaughan, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 26 April 2010
Texans who couldn't reserve a rebate for buying an energy-efficient appliance April 7 may be in luck after all — if they made the waiting list.
Audit cites 'good faith' in Dallas crime data
By Steve Thompson, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 26 April 2010
A city audit of how the Dallas Police Department collects crime statistics found that the department "makes a good faith effort" to comply with federal guidelines and that its numbers "appear substantially correct," according to a report released Monday by the city auditor.
News
March against immigration law is planned in Dallas on Saturday
By Dianne Solís, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 27 April 2010
Under a banner of "We Are All Arizona," activists are predicting that a tough new immigration law in that state will fuel activism and protests nationwide, including a march already planned Saturday in downtown Dallas.
7 arrested in Juárez attack: 2 others sought in deadly ambush
By Diana Washington Valdez, EL PASO TIMES, 27 April 2010
Mexican authorities said Monday they arrested seven members of the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel in connection with last Friday's shootings that claimed the lives of seven law officers and another man in Juárez.
Report: Hays County Jail has adequate space for growth
By Patrick George, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 26 April 2010
Last year, Hays County officials were mulling building a new jail as substandard conditions nearly led the state to shut down the current one. However, a new report commissioned by the county says the Hays County Jail is an adequate facility and should have space for the next 10 years.
Plans for S.A.-to-Austin-area passenger trains take shape
By Josh Baugh, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 27 April 2010
The Lone Star Rail District's vision of a passenger train chugging along Interstate 35 on tracks between San Antonio and Austin is slowly picking up steam, officials told the Metropolitan Planning Organization at a meeting Monday.
Violence alters how Shriners run clinic
By Maggie Ybarra, EL PASO TIMES, 27 April 2010
Several hundred people used to flock to Hospital de la Familia from all over Mexico for the opportunity to see one of the U.S. doctors working at a two-day clinic that specializes in pediatric orthopedics. But concerns about the drug war violence in Juárez have caused the clinic to require pre-approval before families travel to it for care.
It's game time for Texas students: TAKS has begun
By Susan McFarland, FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 26 April 2010
The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills began Monday and continues for the rest of the week for elementary, middle and high school students.
Spill in 1979 was bigger — but not necessarily worse
By Matthew Tresaugue, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 26 April 2010
The Gulf of Mexico's biggest oil spill is perhaps best known for then-Texas Gov. Bill Clements' response: “There's no use crying over spilled milk.”
New solar-energy program for Dallas-Fort Worth homes sees big response
By Jack Z. Smith, FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 26 April 2010
TXU spokesman Michael Patterson said the company has received more than 4,500 inquiries about the solar energy program, but might do only 200 to 300 residential solar installations this year, beginning in May.
Bastrop County's property values hold steady
By Suzannah Gonzales, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 26 April 2010
For the most part, Bastrop County property owners shouldn't see much of a change in their appraisals this year, Chief Appraiser Mark Boehnke said, even as new construction boosts an overall growth in values.
Turtle advocates urge halt to shrimping
By Harvey Rice, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 26 April 2010
A group devoted to saving endangered sea turtles Monday asked state and federal officials to halt all shrimp trawling on the upper Texas Gulf Coast because a large number of dead Kemp's ridley turtles washed ashore this month.
People
Inman Inside
By Reeve Hamilton, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE, 27 April 2010
Every Friday since a blast at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 miners, graduate students at the University of Texas have been treated to an insider briefing. The name of their course is “Managing Crises,” and their professor, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, is dealing with a big one.