Top Stories
- School funding is last, trickiest piece of budget puzzle – Kate Alexander, Austin American-Statesman
- Analysis finds small number of UT faculty teach most students – Eric Dexheimer, Austin American-Statesman
Twenty percent of University of Texas at Austin professors instruct most of the school’s students, while the least-productive fifth of the faculty carry only 2 percent of the university’s teaching load, according to an analysis of recently released data by a researcher with ties to an Austin organization promoting controversial changes in how the state runs its higher education system.
- Foreign polluters costing Texas industries – Matthew Tresaugue, Houston Chronicle
- Battling over Boeing: Jobs in Texas threatened – Tom Leppert, Houston Chronicle
- Texas drought: Texas farmers struggle to survive brutal drought – Julie Cart, LA Times
- A Winding Route to New Texas Congressional Map – Ross Ramsey, Texas Tribune
- Texas board hoards millions amid budget gap – Danny Robbins, AP
- Battle to hammer out Texas budget hitting home – Peggy Fikac, Houston Chronicle
Jones was part of the small but vocal group of about 50 that provided a counterpoint as lawmakers publicly worked their way through legislation and budget negotiators worked behind closed doors.
50 people? Really??? Hearst Austin is stretching here trying to drum up opposition to the Republican budget.
- Conservative outsiders, Perry, tea party Republicans force severe budget cuts – Robert Garret and Karen Brooks, Dallas Morning News
“A handful of conservative anti-tax groups, aligning themselves with Gov. Rick Perry and a clutch of tea party-backed Republicans in the House, has steered the Legislature’s decisions on spending and taxes, lawmakers and analysts say. About half a dozen activist groups are using legislative report cards, threats of helping opponents mount challenges in party primaries, and the perception of a hard-right mandate to dominate the agenda — much to the frustration of GOP pragmatists.”
Tease via Jason Embry (part of it is behind the DMN’s silly paywall). This would seem to be another example of the phenomenon we discussed this weekend, in which some Texas political journos love to portray taxpayer advocate groups as somehow radical (“hard-right”) and tax/spend advocates as much better (“pragmatists.”). These are not editorialists, but reporters — not that one can always tell the difference.
- Parent-Directed Education: A Next Session Priority – Weston Hicks, AgendaWise Reports
- Ex-teammate: I saw Lance Armstrong inject EPO – Scott Pelley, 60 Minutes/CBS News