Nolan Hicks

The Daily Texan/Texas Student Media is a much smaller place now than when I first arrived in 2006. Newspapers that were usually 16 or 20 pages are now only 12 or 14 pages. Instead of two sections, there’s usually only one.

The state budget deficit could force the Texas Youth Commission, the state juvenile corrections agency, to substantially lower the costs of providing services — which may force layoffs and facility closures.

After three days of deliberations, a Travis County jury convicted former U.S. House Majority Tom DeLay of money laundering and conspiracy charges on Wednesday.

The Texas Youth Commission should remain an independent agency for at least another six years after implementing many of the reforms mandated by the Legislature in 2007, according to a Texas Sunset Advisory Commission staff report.

After appearances on Fox News, The Today Show, The Daily Show and CNN’s Sunday morning program, Gov. Rick Perry returned to Texas from his whirlwind book tour last week.

The LBJ School of Public Affairs announced Tuesday that Carolyn Miles Garber is its new director of development, a position that has been vacant for five years.

State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, increased her lead over Republican challenger Dan Neil by one vote — to a lead of 16 votes — after Travis County officials finished counting about 100 absentee ballots on Monday.

Two University of Texas at El Paso students were shot and killed in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, as they were traveling through the violence-wracked city, where U.S. officials estimate that 2,300 people were killed last year.

Texas Republicans — including Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus — ran and won on a platform that promised a balanced state budget without new taxes.

With polls opening on Election Day at 7 a.m., Democrats and Republicans have spent the past several days dueling over allegations of voter intimidation in heavily minority precincts in Harris and Travis counties.

Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic challenger Bill White barnstormed around Texas on the last weekend before Election Day in a last push to get voters to the polls.

It was supposed to take at least two days, but after a marathon court hearing that lasted for more than eight hours Tuesday, a state district court seated a jury of six men and six women to hear the long-delayed trial of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on money laundering and conspiracy charges.

With Election Day just a week away, Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign has revived previously disproved claims that Houston is a sanctuary city, arguing that immigration policies led to the death of a Houston police officer.

Tuesday night, the five largest newspapers in Texas held their gubernatorial debate at KLRU-TV’s studios on the UT campus — Democrat Bill White, Libertarian Kathie Glass and Green Party candidate Deb Shafto all showed up. Republican Gov. Rick Perry did not.