The latest economy news from The Texas Tribune.
Education has emerged as one of the more contentious fronts in the gubernatorial campaign, with Kay Bailey Hutchison this week releasing a barrage of school proposals and attacks on the status quo. But the differences between the candidates have more to do with execution than with design. Full Story
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Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up for your chance to see the incredible, shrinking Rainy Day Fund. Full Story
The Rainy Day Fund seems like weather word play waiting to happen. It can plug holes in the budget, defend against an economic perfect storm and keep the deficit clouds at bay. That’s certainly how some see it when looking at the next biennium's projected shortfalls. Full Story
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The stimulus money increased funding for education last session. But can the state keep it up next session without more federal money? Full Story
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Hoping to push a wide array of digital content and teaching tools to public schools, the Texas Education Agency has cut a deal with a division of The New York Times for an electronic curriculum portal and searchable access to the newspaper’s content since 1851. Full Story
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State Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, is dropping his bid for state Senate and won't seek reelection to the Texas House next year, he said Sunday. Gattis said State Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, will seek reelection after all. Full Story
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Comptroller Susan Combs says the state will have $77.7 billion in general revenue for the current budget, which calls for $77.6 billion in general revenue. Full Story
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The number of Mexican-born professionals living in the United States has more than doubled since 1995. They're not the undocumented workers you see in evening-news mug shots or aerial photographs of a littered and barren desert. They're college graduates — some with multiple degrees — who join their blue-collar counterparts in their journeys north. Full Story
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Balancing the next state budget may be more a political exercise than a technical one. Full Story
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We should pay attention to what my old boss, Bob Bullock, used to call the thorns among the roses here in Texas. Full Story
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Multi-part stories from Ramshaw and Grissom and Stiles on mental health services for detained immigrants and on payday lenders who provide exorbitantly priced credit to people with nowhere else to turn... Twitter, word clouds and the race for governor — a Stiles joint... Farouk Shami is in and Hu was there to watch... Philpott went to Bastrop for a gather of Republican governors... Rapoport finds a State Board of Education that's trying to control itself... and we have the skinny on legislative races that are likely to be competitive (only about 5 percent of the races on the ballot). It's the best of The Texas Tribune from November 14 to 20, 2009. Full Story
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The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent in October, up from 5.2 percent a year ago. Full Story
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Speaker Joe Straus has given committees their assignments for the next year. Full Story
Will there be enough money to cover the current state budget? "Fortunately, it's too early to tell," jokes House Speaker Joe Straus. He and other state leaders are well aware of the numbers, and although they think it's not yet time to act, they're focused on the big question. Full Story
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The Obama administration’s economic stimulus package has failed to create any jobs in Texas’ 52nd congressional district, despite pouring nearly $9 million into it. This would be a problem — if CD-52 existed. Full Story
It’s beginning to look a lot like primary season. Full Story
Texas probably started its version of the recession in the second half of 2008, and October of this year might turn out to have been the low point. Full Story
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Our searchable database of public employees' pay — now featuring data from universities and eight of the state's largest cities. Full Story
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The federal government is giving away $4.35 billion to state education systems through Race to the Top. But is Texas already out? Full Story
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Idea for seminars at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the Baker Institute of Public Policy, and the Bush School of Government and Public Service: How do you fire a cheerleader? Full Story
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