Essay: Life on the trail with Kinky
A Texas Tribune editor recalls working on the 2006 independent gubernatorial campaign of Kinky Friedman. Full Story
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![Kinky Friedman poses for a photo though a cloud of cigar smoke at home on his ranch in Medina on Dec. 12, 2013.]()
Credit: Todd Wiseman/The Texas Tribune -
Years ago, Texas hustled to get kids on state health care. Now it’s kicking them off.
Texas’ recent unwinding of Medicaid and CHIP has been criticized, dropping more than a million people eligible for the health insurance programs. Decades ago, Texas officials got kids health insurance in record time. Full Story
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![August Johansen looks through the glass door of the birthday venue while cradling a balloon on Dec. 9, 2023. He had inoperable brain cancer and depended on Medicaid to pay for full-time home nursing care from a private agency to help his mother take care of him throughout years of health crises. But in December, he became one of 810,000 children dropped from Texas’ Medicaid program in the previous five months, but was reinstated through his mother's efforts.]()
Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune -
Rick Perry stumps for Speaker Dade Phelan in final days of primary election
Donald Trump endorsed Phelan’s opponent, putting Perry at odds with the former president he served under as energy secretary. Full Story
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![Former Gov. Rick Perry and Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan mingle with supporters during a Get Out the Vote Rally on Thursday, February 29, 2024, in Vidor, Texas. Deep fissures within the Republican Party have placed Phelan as the No. 1 enemy of Texas’ far-right conservatives.]()
Credit: Callaghan O'Hare for The Texas Tribune -
In debate, GOP candidates for Texas House special election mirror statewide intraparty tensions
The two feuding Republicans were the top two finishers in a November special election to succeed expelled state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, in House District 2. Full Story
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![Republicans Jill Dutton and Brent Money are running in a special election for state House District 2 seat, empty since former state Rep. Brian Slaton, R-Royse City, was expelled from the House.]()
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Watch: 25 years after James Byrd Jr. was killed for being Black, his loved ones question how much has changed in Texas
The quiet East Texas town of Jasper came together immediately after the racist murder of James Byrd Jr. Now, Texas is leading the nation in incidents of white supremacist propaganda. Full Story
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![Jasper, Texas: James Byrd Jr’s burial plot May 29, 2023 at the Jasper City Cemetery in Jasper, Texas. Mark Felix/The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
“These allegations are completely untrue”: Paxton attorney Tony Buzbee promises vigorous defense in Senate trial
The boisterous and outspoken attorney will be matched against two legal icons who will prosecute the attorney general in his upcoming trial before the Texas Senate. Full Story
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![Tony Buzbee, the attorney representing suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton, speaks during a press conference at the Travis County Republican Party suite in Austin on June 7, 2023.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
A former NFL player persuaded politicians that his child ID kits help find missing kids. There’s no evidence they do.
Texas is among at least 11 states that have agreed to distribute fingerprinting kits sold by Kenny Hansmire’s Waco-based National Child Identification Program. Some are spending millions even though similar kits are available for free. Full Story
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Credit: Lauren Crow for The Texas Tribune and ProPublica -
“Who ever thought I would be chief?” Texas’ Alabama-Coushatta tribe elects first female chief
Millie Thompson Williams was elected the tribe’s first female second chief, a lifetime appointment, last year. For the first time, her accession comes as women make up the majority of the tribe’s council. Full Story
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![Myra Battise helps newly elected second chief Millie Thompson Williams with her official regalia after a press conference on Monday, January 3, 2023. Battise nominated Williams for the leadership role. Williams is the first female elected as a chief in the tribe’s history.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Two Texas businessmen pitched Trump on plan to overturn 2020 election, Jan. 6 report reveals
Morgan Warstler and John S. Robison, who have ties with former Gov. Rick Perry, met the president at the White House one week after the 2020 election. They advanced a fringe theory that state legislatures could overturn election results. Full Story
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![Members of the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol sit beneath an image showing former President Donald Trump speaking on the telephone in the Oval Office during the final meeting of the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 19, 2022.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein -
Rick Perry noncommittal about Trump run: “Show me what you got”
“For me personally, it’s kind of like, show me what you got. Whether it’s Donald Trump, whether it’s DeSantis, whether it’s somebody that we haven’t seen yet,” Perry told The Texas Tribune. Full Story
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![President Donald Trump talks with Energy Secretary Rick Perry after delivering remarks during an "Unleashing American Energy" event at the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. on June 29, 2017.]()
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In Texas, where money has long dominated politics, Greg Abbott is in a league of his own
The two-term governor’s donors enjoy access, appointments to boards and commissions, and a chance to bend the ear of a politician who may harbor bigger ambitions. Full Story
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![In an illustration, Greg Abbott overlooks the Texas Capitol and reflected buildings representing Texas cities.]()
Credit: Rebecca Mock for The Texas Tribune -
Texas has spent billions of dollars on border security. But what taxpayers got in return is a mystery.
Since 2005, Texas Govs. Rick Perry and Greg Abbott have launched a multitude of widely publicized and costly border initiatives, which usually kicked off during their reelection campaigns or while they were considering bids for higher office. Full Story
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Credit: Photo illustration by John Whitlock for The Texas Tribune/ProPublica/The Marshall Project -
Analysis: Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the power of Us vs. Them
A week into early voting in the Texas party primaries, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick launched his latest culture-war volley, an attack on college professors whose teachings about race don’t match his notions about what they should be teaching. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks at a press conference concerning the recently passed Election & Ballot Security Bill, also known as Senate Bill 7, at the Texas Capitol on April 7, 2021. "Senate Bill 7 is about voter security, not about voter suppression, and I'm tired of the lies and the nest of liars who continue to repeat them," said Patrick.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Trump’s man in Texas, has quietly amassed influence — to the detriment of fellow Republicans
Patrick urged former Gov. Rick Perry to mount a challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott, who is seeking a third term. He’s taken the already considerable power concentrated in the state’s No. 2 job to another level, forcing opponents from races and tightening his grip on the Senate. Full Story
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
A Rick Perry — no, not that Rick Perry — files to run for Texas governor
A Springtown man with the same name as the former governor filed Monday to run for the state's top post against Gov. Greg Abbott, raising the prospect of dirty political tricks. Full Story
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![A view of the U.S. and Texas flags flown on the south side of the Texas Capitol from the Capitol Dome in Austin on Aug. 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: When the Texas state seal doesn’t signify trust
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is using the state seal to shield himself against accusations by former top aides. And former Gov. Rick Perry is using it as well — as a backdrop for a sales pitch. Full Story
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![Then-State Senator and current Attorney General Ken Paxton during the 2014 Red State Gathering in Fort Worth.]()
Credit: Cooper Neill for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Ken Paxton’s attractive troubles
The 2022 political season is just starting, but there are already three Republicans with statewide experience running for attorney general — including the incumbent. Full Story
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![Attorney General Ken Paxton spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 27, 2021.]()
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Rick Perry returns to the Texas Capitol to pitch study of psychedelic drugs for PTSD in veterans
The former Republican governor is throwing his weight behind a bill by state Rep. Alex Dominguez, D-Brownsville, that would order a clinical study of using psilocybin — found in "magic mushrooms" — to help veterans with mental health problems. Full Story
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![Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks at U.S. Sen. John Cornyn's, R-Texas, campaign bus tour stop in College Station on Oct. 28, 2020.]()
Credit: Amna Ijaz/The Texas Tribune -
West Texas is on track to get even more nuclear waste — thanks to the federal government
A hazardous waste disposal company in Andrews County wants to handle more dangerous levels of nuclear waste. Federal agencies are pondering new rules that could allow more of it to come to Texas. Full Story
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![The entrance to the Waste Control Specialists site where radioactive and hazardous waste is being stored on Jan. 17, 2021.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
As energy secretary, Rick Perry mixed money and politics in Ukraine. The deals could be worth billions.
When the then-energy secretary accidentally helped lead the president into impeachment, he was simultaneously trying to help his friends cash in on a big gas deal. Full Story
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![U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry at a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq on Dec. 11, 2018.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani
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