Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

The Senate, in a vote laden with history and partisanship, confirmed Sonia Sotomayor on Thursday as the 111th justice and the first Hispanic to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

The government's "Cash for Clunkers" program won a much-anticipated extension Thursday night as the Senate voted to give an additional $2 billion in funding to the popular initiative aimed at boosting stagnant auto sales.

A significant number of Americans do not have health insurance. In 2007, 46 million Americans—about one in six—were uninsured. Given that these data were gathered before the national economic downturn, this number is likely to be an underestimate.

Mormon pioneer Alma Dayer LeBaron had a vision when he moved his breakaway sect of polygamists to this valley 60 years ago: His many children would live in peace and prosperity among the pretty pecan orchards they would plant in the desert.

Let’s just start out by reviewing what has happened so far. As those who have followed the debate know, $555 million in federal stimulus funds was available for Texas, provided that the Legislature agree to make several changes that increased the number of people who would be eligible for UI benefits. These changes were:

Poverty, lack of health insurance, other social ills complicate the challenge.

On Wednesday of last week, Gov. Rick Perry invoked the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the concept of states' rights as a strategy for opposing federally driven health care reform. And on Thursday, he was sending out a press release almost thanking the U.S. Department of Education for additional stimulus dollars.

What's missing here is a coherent and consistent approach to federalism. Without that, Perry is merely playing politics.

Which American states still support the Republicans?

By the late 1990s, Texas was plainly falling behind other states in higher education, which economists had long warned would erode our competitiveness.

Jim Strachan’s property taxes have more than doubled since he bought his Westworth Village home in 1999, putting a strain on his limited income.

Advocates for the poor said Monday that they hope a class-action lawsuit spurs swift repair of the state's system for screening Texans for social programs.

After Beth Lutz returned to Denton from a California vacation, her eyes began itching and burning again. Her throat is always irritated, too.

The caricature of 'socialized medicine' is used by corporate interests to confuse Americans and maintain their bottom lines instead of patients' health.

Here's the latest in the data revolution, the Next Big Thing in education. This Obama administration proposal isn't something Texas Education Agency officials should turn up their nose at, either:

Democrats leave town for the August recess with frayed nerves and fragile agreements on health-care reform, and a new bogeyman to fire up their constituents: the insurance industry.

With Republicans mobilizing against the proposed health care overhaul, President Obama, Congressional Democrats and leading advocacy groups are laying the groundwork for an August offensive against the insurance industry as part of a coordinated campaign to sell the public on the need for reform.

Millions of U.S. children have disturbingly low Vitamin D levels, possibly increasing their risk for bone problems, heart disease, diabetes and other ailments, according to two new studies that provide the first national assessment of the crucial nutrient in young Americans.

Northeast should begin to see work on new shelters beginning in November

Part of the stimulus package passed by Congress in February is providing summer jobs for more than 2,800 El Paso youths and valuable training that could lead the participants to worthwhile careers, organizers say.

Gov. Rick Perry came to Carrollton last week for the ceremonial signing of a major piece of school legislation. But students in that district and many others across the state could be disappointed if they expected one provision of the new law to take effect immediately.