The State of Texas: December 15, 2014
A court rules that the state needs to disclose where it gets its execution drugs, and the Condoleezza-Rice-as-next-UT-president rumors are squashed.
Jeff Winkler's work has appeared in the New Republic, Vice magazine, Playboy, The Daily Caller, The Awl, the Oxford American, and elsewhere. He has covered gun-toting carpetbaggers, attempted an alcohol enema, and ridden in the country's largest chuckwagon race. He is a college dropout living in Austin.
A court rules that the state needs to disclose where it gets its execution drugs, and the Condoleezza-Rice-as-next-UT-president rumors are squashed.
By Jeff Winkler
TxDOT gets $1.7 billion in funding, and lotto players want to take a game to court.
By Jeff Winkler
Lawmakers want to make the “affluenza” defense impossible, and RadioShack continues its slow, painful demise.
By Jeff Winkler
Map of the DayNon-discrimination ordinances are a real hip topic these days, and it’s hard to keep up with which city council is doing what. Thankfully, Texas Tribune has a solution for that: a great interactive map showing exactly where such ordinances exists, are being discussed, or aren’t being
By Jeff Winkler
The Texas Supreme Court to weigh in on a flag-burning case, and more news of the sputtering oil industry.
By Jeff Winkler
TCU and Baylor get snubbed, and SCOTUS will hear the case of Texas’s Confederacy license plates.
By Jeff Winkler
Some crazy stuff went down in Texas in the past thirty days. Here are a handful of headlines you may have missed.
By Jeff Winkler
More surveillance cameras at the border, and the Ebola task force makes its recommendations.
By Jeff Winkler
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals halts the execution of Scott Panetti, and Ebola cost Dallas $155,000.
By Jeff Winkler
The outcry against Scott Panetti's scheduled execution, and reclaiming Texas's fast dwindling prairie lands.
By Jeff Winkler
Plummeting oil prices weaken parts of the state's economy, and the Lege agrees to pay the $86 million price tag the latest border surge.
By Jeff Winkler
Fran and Dan Keller fight for exoneration, and more cities in Texas are considering fracking bans.
By Jeff Winkler
San Augustine County is the "hardest county in Texas to live in," and Galveston remains vulnerable to hurricane damage.
By Jeff Winkler
The EPA proposes new pollution controls for Texas coal plants, and a mockingbird gets a private jet ride to Texas after being swept away to Minnesota.
By Jeff Winkler
Nearly ninety books receive approval from the SBOE, and two earthquakes rock North Texas in two days.
By Jeff Winkler
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in Texas's same-sex marriage ban case in January.
By Jeff Winkler
Leticia Van de Putte announced her intention to run for mayor of San Antonio, and the social studies textbook approval process slogs on.
By Jeff Winkler
Some crazy stuff went down in Texas in the past thirty days. Here are a handful of headlines you may have missed.
By Jeff Winkler
Funding the continued border surge, and a new report from ERCOT says the EPA's recent clean energy plan to reduce carbon dioxide could mean a 20 percent increase in electricity bills.
By Jeff Winkler
Details from the fatal LaPorte accident, and the obsession with Texas tea is in full swing.
By Jeff Winkler
School districts seek to buy books not approved by the SBOE, and the Dallas Safari Club's rhino hunt could be off.
By Jeff Winkler
Daily RoundupBig Health — Although one would think our politicians hate the idea of super-sized governmental agencies, there is that whole bigger-in-Texas mentality we tout. As such, lawmakers are now looking at creating a “mega-agency” for five of the health and human services agencies “so massive that it would have
By Jeff Winkler
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital settles with Thomas Duncan's family, and the book ban drama in Highland Park continues.
By Jeff Winkler
Bush 43 thinks his brother, Jeb, should run for president, and Katy, Texas, approves a $58 million high school football stadium.
By Jeff Winkler
Legislators file bills, and the Weather Channel calls Galveston one of the worst places to live.
By Jeff Winkler
George W. Bush enters the media circuit, and Weird Al becomes RadioShack's spokesperson.
By Jeff Winkler
Details from Rick Perry's pre-trial hearing, and the railroad commission commits to handing out more fracking permits in Denton.
By Jeff Winkler
Denton's fracking ban faces an injunction, and universities seek millions for upgrades.
By Jeff Winkler
Only seventeen percent of Texans turned out to vote for the state's highest office, and Alex from Target is a marketing ploy.
By Jeff Winkler
Election Day is upon us, and Rick Perry's indictment saga takes another legal detour.
By Jeff Winkler
The obits for the Texas Dems are already rolling in, and the bullet train from Dallas to Houston sees organized opposition.
By Jeff Winkler
The Texas Dems don’t have it nearly as tough as these third-party candidates for governor.
By Jeff Winkler
Texas is completely Ebola free, and early voting numbers are down.
By Jeff Winkler
A rash of campaign sign thefts in Lubbock and other election news.
By Jeff Winkler
A pro-drilling website purports that the Russian government is behind a push to ban fracking in Texas.
By Jeff Winkler
Dallas is on track to see a record low number of murders this year.
By Jeff Winkler
Almost 21 percent of Wendy Davis's campaign donations have come from out of state.
By Jeff Winkler
More early voters have come out than four years ago, and deaths of migrants trying to cross the border is at a ten-year low.
By Jeff Winkler
Amber Vinson, the second nurse to contract Ebola in Dallas, is free of the virus.
By Jeff Winkler
Image of the dayIt would seem that to East Coast elites, all white Texas politicians look the same (it’s true, they do). Below is a story published yesterday from Talking Points Memo that received more than one twitter mention. Can you spot the problem?Texas By The NumbersGreen Party — Number
By Jeff Winkler
The man who confessed to killing seven women in Indiana's has roots in Texas, and Texas tycoon Sam Wyly filed for bankruptcy.
By Jeff Winkler
The state's voter ID law will be enforced, and the country continues its hand-wringing over Ebola.
By Jeff Winkler
A night with the company that recycles the thousands and thousands of gallons of oil used during the fair.
By Jeff Winkler
The Ebola blame game, and the lawsuit against Jerry Jones is dismissed.
By Jeff Winkler
Ebola becomes a talking point among politicians, and abortion clinics face challenges to reopening.
By Jeff Winkler
Some crazy stuff went down in Texas in the past thirty days. Here are a handful of headlines you may have missed.
By Jeff Winkler
A second hospital worker in Dallas tests positive for Ebola, and abortion clinics open again after the Supreme Court intervenes.
By Jeff Winkler
Rick Perry has a court date, and what a drop in gas prices means for the Texas Miracle.
By Jeff Winkler
Ebola strikes again, and a football weekend Cowboys fans can celebrate.
By Jeff Winkler
Promo of the DayBecause “the only thing harder than getting a college kid out of bed before noon on a Saturday is getting a college kid out of bed before noon on a Saturday to watch a sub-.500 football team” Texas Tech is offering free waffles to students who attend
By Jeff Winkler