Texas Watchdog

• Investigative journalists want your tips via your iPhone — help our project win the Knight News Challenge

  Wouldn’t it be cool if there were an easier way for people to send tips about corruption, malfeasance and other bad stuff to investigative journalists? Like, through your iPhone? No, there’s not an app for that. But there might soon be. The folks at Capitol News Connection want to create one, [...]
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  Posted: December 18, 2009, 11:30am EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• FortBendNow: Sheriff’s office investigating alleged open records violations

  There’s an interesting dustup in Fort Bend County over alleged violations of the state’s public records and open meetings laws. The district attorney in Fort Bend County has asked for an investigation into possible  violations by Fort Bend ISD. The dispute is related to a multimillion-dollar public science center, and is [...]
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  Posted: December 18, 2009, 10:17am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Dallas Morning News looks at Plano schools boundary changes controversy; Texas Watchdog highlighted

  The Dallas Morning News has a well-written piece today about a controversy that has boiled over in Plano. Reporter Theodore Kim along with colleague Matthew Haag put the spotlight on how the trustees of the Plano Independent School District appeared to have hammered out a plan concerning school boundaries in a [...]
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  Posted: December 17, 2009, 7:41am EST
  by Trent Seibert

• Airport food vendor SSP America hosts champagne and lobster party at Bush airport

  The Houston Airport System wants to invite you to a soiree this evening featuring champagne and lobster. HAS says it isn’t using public money to fund the party. Instead, SSP America, an airport concessionaire operator, is the real host and ready to serve up four-star dining along with valet parking. The airport’s [...]
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  Posted: December 15, 2009, 2:45pm EST
  by Steve Miller

• Texas Watchdog story on donations not reported by Harris County GOP prompts call for independent audit

  Readers had plenty to say concerning last week’s story about the money missing on the campaign finance report of the Harris County Republican Party. The story explained that some large donations to the party were reported on the donors’ forms covering the first half of the year but did not show [...]
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  Posted: December 15, 2009, 1:19pm EST
  by Trent Seibert

• Government agencies nearly double their attempts to withhold records: Report

  Number of comments: 2
  From the Corpus Christi Caller-Times‘ Sara Foley: CORPUS CHRISTI — Requests that the Texas attorney general withhold information requested by the public increased 88 percent in five years, according to a Caller-Times analysis of state records. It’s a trend that open-government advocates say could indicate an abuse of the state system by [...]
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  Posted: December 12, 2009, 10:51pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Parker beats Locke in historic win in Houston mayoral runoff

  Number of comments: 1
  City Controller Annise Parker has beaten former City Attorney Gene Locke in today’s runoff election to be Houston’s next mayor. According to my Twitter feed, the Chronicle called the race (via tweet, at least) around 10 p.m. tonight, saying Parker had an unbeatable lead with 88 percent of precincts reporting. As [...]
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  Posted: December 12, 2009, 10:39pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Money reported by donors not listed by Harris County Republican Party

  Number of comments: 6
  Almost $10,000 donated to the local party was not reported on its campaign finance report for the first half of 2009, according to a comparison of the party's filing with reports submitted by donors. [...]
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  Posted: December 11, 2009, 10:03am EST
  by Steve Miller

• Local 2 fights for records from Metro detailing security camera outages

  KPRC Local 2 here in Houston fought to get records from the Metro system showing routine outages of security cameras at Metro’s “park and ride” lots. KPRC investigative reporter Stephen Dean had a great piece on last night’s 10 p.m. newscast: HOUSTON — Internal records detail a daily list of camera [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 7:58am EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Gene Locke’s connections: An interactive chart

  Number of comments: 2
  The Houston Police Officers Union, Metro, and Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander - mayoral candidate Gene Locke has connections to all of them. From the groups and political figures who have endorsed him to some of his largest campaign donors, Texas Watchdog lets readers take a look at some of [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 11:50am EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Annise Parker’s connections: An interactive presentation

  Number of comments: 4
  From her endorsements by the Fraternal Order of Police and former Mayor Kathy Whitmire to her major donors including law firm Fulbright & Jaworski, Texas Watchdog lets readers take a look at some of mayoral candidate Annise Parker's major connections in a new interactive chart. [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 11:43am EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Will a religious holiday impact Houston’s Dec. 12 Election Day?

  Number of comments: 1
  Early voting for Houston’s runoff races has begun, and while overall turnout is expected to be light, early ballots may be a little more interesting this time around. Dec. 12, voting day, marks the festivals of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a significant religious holiday for Mexican Catholics. The holiday recognizes the [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 11:32am EST
  by Steve Miller

• Additional media coverage of the tax return issue in the Houston mayor’s race

  A few weeks ago, Texas Watchdog called on Houston’s mayoral candidates to release their tax returns going back three years. Annise Parker released her tax returns soon after. And late last week, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, Gene Locke released his. We appreciate the candidates doing so. We asked for them [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 2:49pm EST
  by Trent Seibert

• KHOU-TV features Texas Watchdog in story looking at Houston car ‘booting’

  Thanks to Lee McGuire and KHOU 11 News for featuring Texas Watchdog in a story examining booting illegally parked cars for a news feature on Friday. If you haven’t see Texas Watchdog’s version of the booting issue — and the potential conflicts surrounding it — please give it a read. There’s more [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 1:03pm EST
  by Trent Seibert

• Houston mayoral hopeful Gene Locke finally lifts veil on personal finances

  Locke's release of his tax forms comes three weeks after Texas Watchdog called on Locke and opponent Annise Parker to make their tax forms public so voters could judge whether the two candidates had conflicts of interest that might cloud their decision-making as mayor. Parker made public her tax forms [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 4:56pm EST
  by Steve Miller

• Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke releases income tax returns; view the tax returns here

  Number of comments: 1
  Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke released three years of income tax returns today, following a request by Texas Watchdog on Nov. 4 for Locke and opponent Annise Parker to release their tax returns. Parker released forms for herself and her longtime domestic partner, accountant Kathy Hubbard, two weeks ago. Check back [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 3:44pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke tells Texas Watchdog he will release tax forms “soon” (with video)

  Houston mayoral hopeful Gene Locke will release his tax forms “soon,” he told Texas Watchdog Monday evening at a fundraiser in River Oaks. A cordial Locke emerged from a maroon Chevrolet SUV, with his wife at his side, and said he was ready to release the personal tax forms to “everybody.” [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 9:01am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal and Steve Miller

• Houston Mayor Bill White to run for governor? We’ve got the new candidate’s details

  If you haven’t heard already, there’s more talk today that there’s a new face in the race for Texas governor, and it looks a whole lot like Houston Mayor Bill White. That’s the word from Chron.com as well as the Texas Tribune, with the word attributed in both cases to [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 1:59pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Houston parking commissioners launched ‘booting’ firm after crafting rules for program

  Number of comments: 1
  Two members of the city of Houston's Parking Commission who helped craft the rules for the city's "booting" program for illegally parked vehicles last year joined forces as partners in a new business just before the new rules were approved by the city. Their new business venture? It's a company [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 12:50pm EST
  by Steve Miller

• Houston Chronicle: Settlement delay costs Houston Independent School District $82 million

  The Houston Independent School District has missed out on $82 million in technology upgrades while feds investigate whether employees accepted improper gifts from school vendors, the Houston Chronicle reports. Superintendent Terry Grier said this week that the district is nearing a legal settlement so that schools can get the funds for [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 10:39am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Public not invited to meetings about Brownsville master plan

  Brownsville city and civic officials have met privately about a growth plan for the city. The Brownsville Herald has the story: Elected and appointed officials of public entities have been meeting to prepare for the implementation of the city’s near $900,000 master plan called “Imagine Brownsville” — but most Brownsville residents have [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 12:22pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Federal stimulus Web site says $14.7 million in aid went to Texas Congressional districts that don’t exist

  Number of comments: 2
  Texas is big. But it isn’t quite this big. The federal Web site tracking stimulus money shows aid dollars going to Texas’ 91st Congressional District, as well as five others that don’t exist and a curious district by the number 00. All told, the site recovery.gov lists $14.7 million going to districts [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:25am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Houston Chronicle: Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker criticizes Gene Locke’s business ties

  Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker has been relentless in her criticism of fellow candidate Gene Locke’s ties to quasi-governmental groups that helped fill the coffers of his law firm, Andrews Kurth. The Houston Chronicle offers this wrap of yesterday’s back-and-forth: Locke’s firm, Andrews Kurth, has reaped more than $17 million in the [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 1:44pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• NewsRadio 740 KTRH interviews Texas Watchdog on Houston mayor tax return issue

  The NewsRadio 740 KTRH AM morning team interviewed Texas Watchdog this morning about Houston Mayoral candidate Annise Parker about Parker making public her tax returns. Right after the Nov. 3 election that led to the runoff, we asked for the tax returns of both Parker and opponent Gene Locke to see [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 10:19am EST
  by Trent Seibert

• KHOU spotlights Texas state Senate travel, including Maui trip, Ritz-Carlton hotel stay, private plane use

  Big thanks to KHOU 11 News for doing their own take on our state Senate travel story. Their report aired at 10 Friday night: Records show that while at a legislative conference in New York, Houston Sen. Rodney Ellis billed taxpayers for two nights at the Ritz Carlton, at a rate of [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 2:07pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Tribune, Sunlight blog on publication of Annise Parker’s tax returns

  Number of comments: 1
  We wanted to express our gratitude to both the Texas Tribune and the Sunlight Foundation for giving us shout-outs yesterday for our publication of Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker’s income tax returns. Thank you! [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 7:16am EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Will mayoral candidate Gene Locke release his tax returns?

  It’s been nine days now since Texas Watchdog called on the two contenders for mayor to release their income tax returns. Annise Parker has given up hers. So, where’s Gene Locke, and will we get to see his tax returns? Since we made our public request on Nov. 4, we haven’t [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 11:10am EST
  by Steve Miller

• Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker releases tax returns for self, partner to Texas Watchdog

  Number of comments: 1
  Annise Parker has made public the personal federal income tax returns for herself and her longtime domestic partner, responding to a request by Texas Watchdog earlier this month of both Parker and her opponent, attorney Gene Locke. Locke still has not made his tax forms public. [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 6:17am EST
  by Steve Miller

• More nontraditional funding of journalism: Labor unions funding news outlets

  David Westphal at the Online Journalism Review reports that labor unions are funding two new news organizations, a move he reminds us is not unprecedented in the history of news: Just in the last several months, two labor unions in southern California have provided six-figure funding for very different kinds of [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 4:26pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Gas tax hike buzz; jet-setting Senate transportation committee chairman John Carona keeps door open for gas tax hike

  Number of comments: 1
  A gas tax hike could be coming for Texas drivers. The El Paso Times covered a meeting of a legislative transportation committee where the idea was discussed: Some legislators concerned about how to pay for new highways in Texas suggested looking at increasing the 20 cents a gallon state fuel tax. [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 4:22pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Texas autopsy center subject to open records laws?

  An autopsy center with offices in Beaumont, Conroe and Tyler has asked the state attorney general to determine whether it is subject to the Texas Public Information Act. The Longview News-Journal has the story: The Southeast Texas Forensic Center … submitted the question to the state Oct. 6 after a Central Texas [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 12:03pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• What does the Texas Watchdog team do to relax on the weekends? Cover more news…

  You may have noticed a familiar name in the many bylines filing from Fort Hood, Texas this weekend. Texas Watchdog’s Steve Miller was tapped by the Washington Times to file stories about the killing rampage there for the Times’ national desk. Steve is back in Houston today, though, sifting through records [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 8:56am EST
  by Trent Seibert

• Houston City Council member’s shower plan all wet

  Number of comments: 7
  A proposal to build a shower in the women’s restroom near City Council offices in Houston’s City Hall Annex is dead, according to a councilman who opposed the project. At-Large City Councilmember Jolanda Jones, an attorney and an alum of the reality show Survivor, bikes to work each day. Last summer, [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 2:18pm EST
  by Steve Miller

• Politico highlights Congressional travel; make sure to check out Texas Watchdog’s story on taxpayer-funded state senator travel

  Politico has put the spotlight on travel by members of Congress paid for by outside groups. The story highlights international trips that lawmakers, and sometimes their family members, took, and says that in 2009 outside groups have spent more than $140,000 on such travel for senators. Two years after Congress toughened [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:17pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Sen. Judith Zaffirini’s travel, per diem costs: A correction to the final tally

  Sen. Judith Zaffirini spent about $58,800 on travel expenses and per diem payments over a year and a half period, outspending her state Senate colleagues. That’s based on a review of electronic travel records from Jan. 1, 2008, to May 1, 2009, that Texas Watchdog used as the basis for [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 10:55am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Texas state lawmakers can dip into campaign cash for travel, accept travel from special interests

  Texas lawmakers have multiple funds they can dip into to fund their travel. Our story published today looked at the bucket of money furnished by the state taxpayers. But lawmakers’ travel costs are routinely picked up by special interests or groups organizing the events. That kind of travel can be found [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 4:44pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Texas State Sen. Judith Zaffirini tops in travel spending; Kirk Watson lowest

  Sen. Judith Zaffirini spent more than $77,000 about $58,800 on her daily stipend and travel costs over a year and a half, more than any other senator during that time period. State travel records showed the bulk of Zaffirini’s spending was for her $139 per diem, a flat-rate daily stipend for [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 3:07pm EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Texas state senators travel in style; taxpayer money used for luxury hotels, private planes

  Number of comments: 3
  Texas state senators have used taxpayer money to attend a conference in Maui, stay overnight at a Ritz-Carlton in New York, and fly on charter or private planes. That's according to a Texas Watchdog review of expense reports and travel logs covering a year and a half. [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:16am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Sen. Robert Duncan’s hired flights

  (Return to story on state senators’ travel. Go to page 1 and page 2.) Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, spent more than $15,800 on flights through the state Department of Transportation or chartered through a hometown firm, Lubbock Aero. That’s according to state travel records covering Jan. 1, 2008 through May 1, [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:13am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Sen. Carlos Uresti’s hired flights

  (Return to story on state senators’ travel. Go to page 1 and page 2.) Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, billed $15,100 for four flights from TxDOT’s aviation division. That’s according to a year and a half of state travel records. Get more details on the flights: * A Feb. 9, 2008 flight between [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:12am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• State senators rack up big bills using charter flights, personal planes

  Number of comments: 4
  Continued from page 1. Where are senators traveling? Check out some highlights by clicking on the Google Map below. Click the text below the map to see a larger version. View Texas state senators’ travel, 2008-09 in a larger map Most senators bought commercial plane tickets when they needed to travel by air, [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:11am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Searchable database of Texas state senators’ travel expenses

  (Return to story on state senators’ travel. Go to page 1 and page 2.) Here is a database of Texas state senators’ travel expenses from Jan. 1, 2008, to May 1, 2009. The information is in two tables. The first table includes all per diem payments made to senators during that time, including [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 8:49am EST
  by Lee Ann O'Neal & Jennifer Peebles

• Tomorrow at Texas Watchdog: Texas state senators use taxpayer cash to fly to Maui, stay in luxury hotels, ride in private charter planes

  Number of comments: 3
  The Texas Watchdog team did some digging through the receipts submitted by Texas state senators for travel on the taxpayer dime. Here’s what we found: Texas state senators have racked up tens of thousands of dollars on the taxpayer’s tab jetting around the state in charter planes, relaxing in luxury hotels [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 5:16pm EST
  by Trent Seibert

• Texas Watchdog asks for the tax returns of Gene Locke and Annise Parker; voters deserve fully vetted Houston mayor

  Texas Watchdog has asked the mayoral candidates for their IRS tax returns for the last three years. Our email this morning to the campaigns of Annise Parker and Gene Locke asks: As part of our ongoing efforts to promote government transparency, Texas Watchdog asks that you release to us three years’ worth [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 10:42am EST
  by Trent Seibert

• A big welcome to the newly launched Texas Tribune

  We wanted to tip our hat to a cool new site that launched today, the Texas Tribune. We (as in “we the people”) can’t have enough eyes on government these days, so we’re glad for their arrival. Like us, they’re a nonprofit operation. So check out their site when you [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 1:19pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Council candidate Noel Freeman filing ethics form — that leaves five candidates still missing

  Noel Freeman, candidate for the City Council At-Large Position 4 currently held by Ronald C. Green, plans to get a copy of his personal financial statement to the city secretary’s office today — in fact, he may already have done so by the time you read this. You might have [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 3:36pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Pound signs (’#') on Twitter and what they mean

  Are you tired of seeing “#txlege” and “#tcot” and “#txsboe” in Twitter messages and not being able to figure out what all this stuff means with “#” in front of it? I’ve got a quick-and-dirty explainer that you need to read — it’s my newest post for the Society of [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 2:33pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Grits for Breakfast: Texas AG Greg Abbott ‘thwarting transparency’

  One of our favorite blogs, the law-related site Grits for Breakfast, is putting a whipping on Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for not making public records public in cases like school districts’ police forces’ use-of-force policies and the Cameron Todd Willingham execution case: There’s just no excuse for keeping these [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 1:38pm EST
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Don’t miss the next Trent TV. Topic: Investigating quasi-governmental agencies.

  Hope you can join us for the next Trent TV, a free monthly webinar for journalists, bloggers, citizen-journalists and activists. We’ll be discussing how to look into hospital authorities, sports authorities, and other agencies that are not 100% government like a public works department, but definitely not private corporations. We’ll [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 4:31pm EDT
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Six Houston City Council candidates still haven’t filed their ethics forms

  Number of comments: 2
  Election Day is just around the corner — Tuesday — but still, six candidates for Houston City Council still have not turned in their personal financial statements, or, as I call them, “ethics forms.” C’mon, guys. Under state law, y’all were supposed to have filed by the 20th day after [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 3:44pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Hearing ‘State of Metro’ speech will set you back $65

  Number of comments: 3
  Want to know what the state of Houston’s Metro system is? It’ll only cost you $65 to find out! Yep, kids, that’s right — Metro Chairman David Wolff, who may not have a job for much longer, is going to give a “State of Metro” speech next Thursday, Nov. 5, and [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 3:13pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Spring schools dodge Dolcefino’s questions about $400K chess cruise

  Don’t play games with taxpayers’ money — or with Wayne Dolcefino. Too bad the folks at the Spring Independent School District have been doing both. The district has coughed up about $400,000 in the name of teaching chess to the kiddos. Unfortunately, as Dolcefino reports at KTRK’s Web site, most of [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:59am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• How Texas Watchdog reported its HISD credit card story — and why we didn’t name names

  Number of comments: 1
  Establishing that the Houston Independent School District has handed over credit cards to people with dubious credit is one thing; naming those employees with the bad credit is another. Texas Watchdog isn’t dinging those folks by name in our story today. We’re aware that bad things can happen to good people. [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:25am EDT
  by Steve Miller

• Houston City Council District D candidates’ ethics forms posted

  We’ve got one more batch of ethics forms to throw at you today from candidates in the Nov. 3 Houston city election. This time, it’s candidates for City Council District D, for which incumbent Councilwoman Wanda Adams is running for re-election. We have ethics forms for two of the three candidates [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 10:30am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• More ethics forms: Houston City Council At-Large Position 4

  Number of comments: 2
  We’ve also got ethics forms for the candidates for Houston City Council At-Large Position 4 for you this morning. This is the seat that Councilman Ronald C. Green is vacating due to term limits (he’s running for city controller instead). The candidates and their forms: Former Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford Curtis [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 9:04am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Houston Independent School District issues credit cards to employees with bankruptcies

  Houston Independent School District, the state's largest school district, has provided more than 1,200 school employees procurement cards, which is a form of credit card. At least 18 of them have previously filed for bankruptcy, according to a Texas Watchdog review of public records. [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 8:54am EDT
  by Steve Miller

• Ethics forms for Houston City Council District C

  This morning, we’re bringing you ethics forms for the candidates for Houston City Council District C, where incumbent Anne Clutterbuck is running for re-election. Clutterbuck’s form is at these links: Part 1 and Part 2, and challenger Randy Locke’s form is at this link. [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 7:50am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Immigration-check program raises questions of transparency

  The question of whether Harris County sheriff’s deputies and other local law enforcement officers should be able to run checks on the immigration status of people they arrest is like a political hand grenade, and it stirs deep feelings in people on both sides of the national immigration debate. But there’s [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 2:21pm EDT
  by Steve Miller

• Ethics complaints filed over gifts to State Board of Education members

  Texans for Public Justice has filed ethics complaints with the state over two State Board of Education members taking gifts from a firm that wanted to do investment-related financial work for the school board. The liberal watchdog group points back to the story broken by the Dallas Morning News about [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 9:36am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• More on Sports Authority bond problems

  Number of comments: 1
  Ouch, ouch and more ouch — in the billfold — from this morning’s Chronicle in regard to an entity we’ve previously written about, the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority: Harris County taxpayers may have to inject up to $7 million a year into the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority for the next two [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 8:45am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Ethics forms posted for Houston City Council District F candidates

  This morning, we’ve got ethics forms for the candidates for Houston City Council District F — this is the seat that M.J. Khan is giving up due to term limits (he’s running for city controller instead). The candidates, and their forms: Peter Acquaro Joe Chow Lewis Cook Al Hoang Robert Kane Khalid Khan Mike Laster And remember, early [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 7:49am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Ethics forms posted for Houston City Council At-Large Position 5 candidates

  More ethics forms comin’ at ya for the candidates running in the Houston city elections on Nov. 3. Today, we’re bringing you the forms for City Council At-Large Position 5, where incumbent Jolanda Jones is running for re-election. The candidates, and their personal financial statements: Jack Christie Davetta Daniels Jolanda Jones (form Part [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 2:34pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Did Pam Holm inflate her job title in ads for city controller’s race?

  Number of comments: 4
  After being smacked with the outing of a $120,000 federal tax lien, city controller candidate Ronald C. Green’s campaign has responded with documents indicating that one of his foes in the election, Pam Holm, is being disingenuous in a campaign promotion. At issue is Holm’s assertion in print ads and in [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 12:54pm EDT
  by Steve Miller

• Interest in Roy Morales’ interest, and Gene Locke’s potential conflict of interest

  We’re sitting here tuning in to the final televised debate for the Houston mayoral candidates — live on KHOU-TV and on KHOU.com — but for your reading pleasure post-debate, a couple of watchdog links to share from the past few days regarding the candidates: First, BlogHouston knocked candidate Roy Morales [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2009, 7:33pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Houston controller candidate Ronald C. Green failed to file franchise tax report, records show

  City controller candidate Ronald C. Green, whom Texas Watchdog reported on Thursday has outstanding federal tax liens for more than $120,000, failed to file a franchise tax report with the state earlier this decade, causing his firm to lose its charter, public records show. Green’s law firm, at the time called [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 4:26pm EDT
  by Steve Miller

• Attorney-client privilege for governments hampers transparency

  When you talk to a lawyer, your lawyer isn’t supposed to go blabbing to the world about the subject of your conversation. But what about a lawyer’s conversations with a client when that client is a government agency, supported entirely by the taxpayers, with taxpayers paying the lawyers’ salaries as well? [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 2:33pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Ethics forms for Houston City Council At-Large Position 2 candidates

  Today, we’re bringing you ethics forms for the candidates for Houston City Council At-Large Position 2. This is Sue Lovell’s seat, and she’s running for re-election (she is also city vice mayor pro tem). Andrew C. Burks Jr. M. “Griff” Griffin Sue Lovell (form Part 1 and Part 2) Roslyn “Rozzy” Shorter Election Day is [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 12:49pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Ethics loophole leaves meals, tickets, entertainment unreported at Houston Independent School District

  Want to do business with the Houston Independent School District? Think some wining and dining might help close the deal? Don't worry. You can schmooze with the school trustees under current ethics rules, and the gifts may never become public.' [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 10:32am EDT
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• HISD officials, advocates divided

  Continued from page 1. HISD trustees are mixed on their opinions of the policy. Trustee Natasha Kamrani said the gifts policy leaves “a lot of room for improvement,” though Kamrani said she hadn’t been offered gifts that would fall in the category of not having to be disclosed. “It clearly allows for folks [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 10:32am EDT
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Ronald C. Green, leading candidate for Houston city controller, owes $100K in federal income taxes, records show

  The front runner for city controller has been delinquent on paying more than $100,000 in federal income taxes dating back seven years, public records show. Green said he’s disputing the amount of his tax bills to the IRS, and he hopes to have it resolved in the next 30-45 days. [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 3:25pm EDT
  by Steve Miller

• Texas Watchdog’s Jennifer Peebles guest blogs for the Sunlight Foundation on Texas transparency

  We want say thanks to the nice folks at the Sunlight Foundation — a nonpartisan nonprofit in DC working to help people get more information from Congress and the federal government — for letting me guest blog today about transparency issues in Texas and the work we’re doing here at [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 1:06pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Houston City Council At-Large Position 1: The ethics forms keep rolling along

  The clock is ticking down to Election Day -- Nov. 3 -- and Texas Watchdog has more ethics forms for Houston City Council candidates. This time, we've got City Council At-Large Position 1.' [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 10:58am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Ethics forms published for candidates for Houston City Council District A seat

  We’ve got more ethics forms for candidates in the hot, hot, hot Nov. 3 elections (for which early voting is going on right now). This time, we’ve got the forms for candidates for City Council District A, where incumbent Councilwoman Toni Lawrence can’t run again because of term limits. Here [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 7:45am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Marc Hill’s resignation letter to Harris County Attorney’s Office lacks date, time stamp

  The resignation letter that J. Marcus Hill turned in to his boss, Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan, lacks a couple of things –- a date for one thing, and an official time stamp for another. But the office swears it’s legit, and that it in no way, shape or form came [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 4:37pm EDT
  by Steve Miller

• Ethics forms for Houston’s mayoral candidates

  Number of comments: 2
  The race for mayor of Houston is at full boil, and Texas Watchdog has the details on where the candidates get their money — only this time, we’re not talking about their campaign cash. We’re talking about their jobs, their investments, the businesses they own, and the money they normally [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 8:58am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Local 2: Broken parking meters? That’s the ticket!

  Broken parking meters may be causing some Houstonians to get ticketed downtown, according to a new piece aired tonight by KPRC Local 2 Investigates. Local 2 waded through almost 3,000 complaints filed with the city about meters on the fritz: This month, our cameras found what the records show. We [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 11:02pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Ethics advocacy group includes Texas Watchdog in nationwide listings

  We want to thank the folks at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for including Texas Watchdog in their new online directory of watchdog groups in the 50 states. They included us along with Common Cause of Texas, the League of Women Voters of Texas and Texans for Public [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 4:51pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Texas Watchdog responds to — and thanks — Rick Casey for his Houston Chronicle column about Texas Watchdog’s work

  Number of comments: 4
  Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey takes issue this morning with our Texas Watchdog story from Thursday about J. Marcus Hill, the No. 2 man in the Harris County attorney’s office whose moonlighting posed a potential conflict of interest. Specifically, he takes issue with our claim that Hill announced his resignation as [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 10:40am EDT
  by Trent Seibert

• Moving day for Texas Watchdog

  We’re putting on the overalls and work shoes today because the Texas Watchdog team is moving into a new office. (Our first offices were way too expensive, and we’ve been working out of our homes now for months, so we’re happy to finally put up a shingle in a well-placed, [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 9:15am EDT
  by Trent Seibert

• Stimulus data made public, but it won’t answer all your questions

  Number of comments: 2
  If you’re wondering where your stimulus money is going in Texas, this post might tell you. Maybe. The federal government belched out a whole bunch of data today that’s supposed to tell us all where the stimulus money is being spent. Problem is, it’s 10 p.m. on the day the information [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 10:37pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Check our our story on moonlighting and conflicts at the Harris County Attorney’s Office

  Go to our featured reports section (the left column of the screen at the Texas Watchdog home page) to check out our latest story. This time we deal with the practice of lawyers at he Harris County Attorney’s Office moonlighting for cold hard cash — even if the case they’re taking [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 8:44am EDT
  by Trent Seibert

• Harris County Attorney’s Office officials’ top-dollar moonlighting raises conflict of interest questions

  Number of comments: 1
  The No. 2 official in the Harris County Attorney's Office announced his resignation Wednesday after Texas Watchdog raised questions about his outside legal work for people in cases against the City of Houston, the Harris County Appraisal District, and even one case against Harris County itself. County Judge Ed Emmett [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 7:38am EDT
  by Steve Miller

• Local jurists sought ban on moonlighting county attorneys, Ed Emmett says

  (Continued from Page 1) Emmett’s crusade for ethics reform began last fall when he saw that the county ethics policy had not been updated since 1994. He began to lobby his colleagues for some changes. County officials wrangled with some form of an ethics mandate for a while. A citizens’ ethics reform [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 7:38am EDT
  by Steve Miller

• County attorney’s office says it’s not bound by ethics policy

  (Continued from Page 2) Ryan’s office was apparently not too worried about a moonlighting ban being inserted in the ethics policy. In a report issued before the policy passed, the county attorney’s office said the Commissioners Court lacked the legal authority to impose the ban Emmett had sought, given that the Commissioners [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 7:38am EDT
  by Steve Miller

• Coming soon from Texas Watchdog: Top lieutenant in Harris County Attorney’s Office resigns in the wake of questions about conflicts of interest

  Number of comments: 1
  A top lieutenant of Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan has resigned his post in the wake of questions from Texas Watchdog about a conflict of interest. This top-level county attorney — a political appointee — had been hired by Ryan at the beginning of the year. He announced his resignation late today [...]
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  Posted: October 14, 2009, 5:57pm EDT
  by Trent Seibert

• Bloomberg: Harris County-Houston Sports Authority may need to refinance $1b in debt, pay $142m early

  An unraveling of troubling financial questions continues at the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority. And if you thought the $4 million taxpayers may be on the hook for was substantial, check this out. Bloomberg reports that the sports authority may need to refinance $1 billion in debt and pay as much as $142 [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 6:26pm EDT
  by Steve Miller

• Check out new story about Houston controller candidate M.J. Khan

  Folks following the upcoming Houston city elections may want to check out Jennifer Peebles and Steve Miller’s interesting read from this morning on city controller candidate M.J. Khan and questions about whether he lives in the city of Houston. Here’s the press release we sent out about the story: Houston, Texas, October [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 3:19pm EDT
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• More scrutiny and criticism of Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke

  The Houston Chronicle’s Houston Politics blog has a nice wrap of recent criticism of Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke, who according to a Chronicle tally received about $33,000 from Metro board members and contractors. Locke opponents are using that finding — as well as Texas Watchdog’s story about Locke’s law firm’s [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 1:28pm EDT
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Tips for backgrounding candidates: Trent TV

  If you missed Trent TV last Tuesday, you can still check it out here or at newmediatv.org. The Texas Watchdog staff discussed tips for backgrounding candidates in this free webinar for citizen-journalists, activists and journalists. “Researching who is running for public office is probably one of the most central and integral [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 12:52pm EDT
  by Lee Ann O'Neal

• Does city controller candidate M.J. Khan live in the city of Houston?

  Number of comments: 7
  The longtime city councilman from District F has a $2.7 million home in Piney Point Village, but his campaign says he doesn't live in it; he lives in Alief. Residency issues have dogged him in previous campaigns.' [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 8:47am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles & Steve Miller

• Mayoral candidates knock Metro for lack of openness

  A lot is being said in the Houston mayor’s race about the city’s public transportation agency, Metro, and its accountability and transparency. That caught our attention — we’ve written a good bit lately about Metro, including the millions of dollars in no-bid contracts that it has doled out, how its [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 1:18pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Which Texas airports got federal grants? Online database has answers

  On the heels of our post earlier this morning about salaries of the top execs at the Houston Airport System, here are some more transportation-related dollar figures: The folks at SubsidyScope have come out with a new database of payouts from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program. Some of [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 10:15am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Top earners at identified at Houston Airport System

  Number of comments: 3
  Twenty-one Houston Airport System workers made $100,000 or more last year, according to payroll data released to the public after Texas Watchdog fought for it. The city attorney’s office had argued that a list of airport system workers and how much they were paid last year should be kept private out [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 8:00am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Andrews Kurth lawyers pony up for Gene Locke in mayoral money race

  The latest financials for the front runners in the Houston mayor’s race show that Gene Locke has taken in $32,660 plus $130 for food from the Andrews Kurth law firm — where he is a partner — in the three-month period ending Sept. 24. Contextually speaking, it’s not a large sum; [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 3:53pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles & Steve Miller

• Same song, 17th verse on open government in Corpus

  I’m not even going to write an introduction to this one. I’m just gonna say two words for you: “Corpus Christi.” From the Caller-Times: CORPUS CHRISTI — The Corpus Christi Housing Authority board of commissioners discussed the defunct D.N. Leathers Townhomes project at its meeting Tuesday — but the public wasn’t [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2009, 7:40am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• What will Gene Locke do about possible Sports Authority conflict if he’s elected mayor?

  In our recent story about mayoral candidate Gene Locke and his ties to the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, we sought some answers to some specific questions. How will he ease any perceptions of a conflict if a sports authority item comes up on the city council agenda? Will he recuse [...]
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  Posted: October 05, 2009, 12:07pm EDT
  by Steve Miller

• TPJ: Craddick illegally funnelled campaign cash to Bailey, Dukes, Pena, Flores

  The liberal watchdog and advocacy group Texans for Public Justice has filed a complaint with the state ethics commission, arguing that former state House Speaker Tom Craddick illegally used a jobs-related political action committee as a back-door conduit to sneak money to four Democratic House members — one of whom [...]
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  Posted: October 05, 2009, 11:43am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• Sports authority ties could get sticky for Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke

  Number of comments: 7
  Houston mayoral candidate Gene Locke's law firm has made more than a half-million dollars in the past three years from the government agency that hosts the Houston Astros, the Houston Texans, and the Houston Rockets. That agency may now need a $4 million bailout from county taxpayers. [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 9:36am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles & Steve Miller

• Two interesting summaries of Texas open records laws

  Number of comments: 1
  For all you government transparency fans out there: I wanted to share with everyone a couple of really interesting and informative handouts that I picked up in Austin at the recent conference for the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. One is an overview of the Texas Public Information Act [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2009, 7:29am EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles

• More resources for following the transportation money

  There are few facets of government that directly affect us as much as transportation spending — I mean, we’ve all got to get where we’re going, don’t we? That’s why looking at transportation funding is so dang interesting. The folks Pew Charitable Trusts and their partners, the Sunlight Foundation, have [...]
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  Posted: September 30, 2009, 12:16pm EDT
  by Jennifer Peebles