Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Special-interest groups angling to play a role in the 2009 Texas speaker's race filed suit in Austin on Wednesday, saying a law that all but prohibits them from advocating for candidates for the top House post violates their free-speech rights.

Entrusted with the custody of thousands of Texas teenagers with behavioral problems, the agency (TYC) remains a ship adrift in need of a strong captain rather than another deck chair shuffle.

Travis County prosecutors are right to examine whether House Speaker Tom Craddick tried to boost his return as leader of the Texas House by channeling tens of thousands of dollars to fellow lawmakers who have supported him over the years. If Craddick did that, he has violated state law that forbids a person, including a speaker, from making contributions “to aid or defeat a speaker candidate.” The outcome of the probe might well determine whether moneyed interests can easily subvert the law by using a third party.

Calls to a hot line at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services averaged 373 per month during the first 5 1/2 months of the 2008 fiscal year. The monthly average was 308 calls during the entire 2007 fiscal year, which ran from Sept. 1, 2006, to Aug. 31, 2007.

Caseworkers did not dispute the importance of fulfilling legal requirements. But they left CPS, the report says, because of the message to the front lines: "If you don't like it, quit and there will be someone else graduating from training class to take your place."

Rumors that Ms. Pope would be removed started shortly after Mr. Nedelkoff was named conservator in December. The conservator, appointed by the governor, has executive authority over TYC.

While reports of abuse and neglect are less common in these settings than in the state's institutions for people with disabilities, a Dallas Morning News review of Dallas County inspection records shows that the quality of these independent living services varies widely – from decent to deplorable.

The top 10 percent policy is not perfect. Yes, there will be some students from elite, competitive high schools that do not get into UT — or Texas A&M — and have to choose to attend a different school. Yes, picking 10 percent as the cut-off is (somewhat) arbitrary. We can agree that the policy, to a certain degree, constrains the ability of UT to choose its matriculating class; in 2006, top 10 percenters represented 70 percent of UT's freshman class.

Texas grew so Republican in the intervening years that it's almost impossible to remember that 16 years ago, we had a Democrat as governor in Ann Richards, a Democrat as senator in Lloyd Bentsen, a Democrat as lieutenant governor in Bob Bullock, a Democrat as Texas House speaker in Gib Lewis, and a bevy of white male Democrats playing key roles in the Legislature like Pete Laney, David Cain and Rob Junell.

Gov. Rick Perry told members of an influential Hispanic organization on Monday that building a fence down the entire length of the Texas-Mexico border, from El Paso to Brownsville, is "absolutely not the answer" to solving the immigration problem. Perry's comments before the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce came less than two weeks after he told reporters in Austin that "there is some strategic fencing that we support" and "that you can use strategic fencing to help control the flow of illegal activities."

The embattled acting executive director of the Texas Youth Commission, Dimitria Pope, resigned Monday, reportedly after being told that she would be fired if she didn't quit.

The poor are among the hardest hit. Some have lost their homesteads over tax loans as small as $4,000. But owners of more expensive homes also have fallen victim, including a Dallas mortgage broker.

Amid a high number of child deaths, and an even higher turnover rate at the agency tasked with overseeing the state's abused and neglected children, the local Child Protective Services remains troubled, according to the findings of a judicial report released Friday.

Proposed rules expected to be adopted Tuesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety Commission would set up an amnesty and incentive plan to encourage drivers to pay up. The plan would offer reductions of 10 to 25 percent to those who have a clean record and pay on time. Drivers also would be able to stretch out their payments -- which can amount to thousands of dollars -- under new installment options.

The Supreme Court decision yesterday allowing execution by lethal injection eventually will free the nation's busiest death chamber – the one in Huntsville, Texas – to pick up where it left off.

Say the words "Texas" and "health insurance," and it's pretty certain that "worst," "last" or "lost chances" will follow close behind. Last year, though, Texas leaders got fed up with the selfishly politicized plight of uninsured children and made two powerful changes.

About 900,000 Texas businesses — including 200,000 that were not subject to the previous franchise tax — will pay the margin tax. It is the first major revision of the tax since 1991, when the original 1907 version was updated to reflect the modern economy and address a number of legal issues.

One might imagine that America's politicians would do all that they could to prevent Mr Judge's dystopian vision “Idiocracy” from materialising. But when it comes to immigration they are doing exactly the opposite—trying their best to keep the world's best and brightest from darkening America's doors.

If children don't get routine medical care, their parents probably don't either, according to Jennifer Tolbert, Kaiser Family principal policy analyst. In Texas, more than 39 percent of working-poor parents are living without insurance coverage, according to foundation research. Ofelia isn't covered, but her husband, the family's main wage earner, has health insurance through his employer.

Texas regulations against cactus poaching and enforcement are lax compared with oversight in Arizona, which requires legally harvested wild cacti to be tagged, according to state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso.