Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

When contributors write policy, or in Bush’s case de-regulate to create their own policy—as we now know happened at Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Finance Commission and a host of other agencies—you can see how the stage was set for the credit crisis.

Over the past two decades Mexico’s drug mobs have accumulated enormous firepower and wealth, and corrupted local police forces and politicians, especially along the northern border with the United States. Mr Calderón has unleashed the army and the federal police against them, in an attempt to “recover public space” from the traffickers.

In all its forms, early voting has been an election year hit. Enormous lines in Florida led Gov. Charlie Crist to issue an executive order extending early voting hours statewide from eight hours a day to 12, while in Georgia an elderly woman in Cobb County stood in the sun so long to vote that she collapsed.

The EPA on Oct. 16 said it would dramatically reduce the highest acceptable amount of airborne lead from 1.5 micrograms of lead per cubic meter to 0.15 micrograms. It was the first revision of the standard since EPA set it 30 years ago.

Payday lenders are fighting back with the ballot measures. They are pouring $30 million into initiatives that will be on the Nov. 4 ballot in Arizona and Ohio, where payday-lending branches outnumber Starbucks and McDonald's outlets combined. The two states have laws that kicked in this year that cap annual interest rates at 36% and 28%, respectively,

What happens when Joe the Plumber meets Grover Norquist? What happens is this—Joe’s kids pay more to go to college, pay more in taxes and can't get a break.

A Texas Senate committee this week quietly withdrew recommendations that would require the state's environmental agency to adopt stringent new limits on hazardous air pollutants.

Nine states, including Washington, along with the U.S. Department of Justice have sought to block Grupo Mexico S.A. de C.V. from reclaiming Asarco. In a filing before a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas, they said it would lead to "multiplicitous litigation" that could threaten already negotiated settlements of billions of dollars worth of environmental claims.

As record numbers of early voters flock to polls across North Texas, it has not been all smooth sailing. In some cases, election workers appear to have applied voter laws inconsistently.

Less than two weeks before Election Day, McCain's appeal to Hispanic voters appears to have evaporated. Recent Gallup polls show Mr. McCain running far behind Senator Barack Obama among Hispanic voters nationwide, only 26 percent of whom favor the Republican.

Last week Newspaper Tree talked to District 78 state Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso. Below are excerpts from the conversation.

The Texas Association of Business pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, unlawful direct campaign expenditure, and will pay a $10,000 fine. That was a lesser charge than the felony District Attorney Ronnie Earle had sought.

For the first time in at least a decade, the nation’s consumers are trying to get by on fewer prescription drugs. As people around the country respond to financial and economic hard times by juggling the cost of necessities like groceries and housing, drugs are sometimes having to wait.

North Texas hasn't been a major player on the national medical research and biotechnology scene – but that may be about to change.

Bill and Melinda Gates say they are unsure how the “amazing” success of Hidalgo Early College High School, which they visited on Wednesday, can be replicated across the country.

Your child is less likely to graduate from high school than you were, and most states are doing little to hold schools accountable, according to a study by a children's advocacy group.

When the U.S. took control of failing mortgage titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it prohibited them from lobbying. But it hasn't banned the practice at AIG, a huge insurer that is still 20%-owned by public shareholders.

The Texas Youth Commission, under fire for spending more than $1 million over three months on an empty juvenile prison, said Friday that it will no longer pay start-up fees to the companies it contracts with.

Texas' bright economy has dimmed somewhat in recent weeks as the state has been hit by the twin blows of the national financial crisis and Hurricane Ike.

Every month we publish a new chapter for our bi-annual policy report, "Texas Borderlands—Frontier of the Future." Texas Borderlands examines various areas of daily life in Texas' 43-county Border region.