Jay Root
is a native of Liberty. He never knew any reporters growing up, and he has never taken a journalism class in his life. But somehow he got hooked on the news business. It all started when Root walked into the offices of The Daily Texan, his college newspaper, during his last year at the University of Texas in 1987. He couldn't resist the draw: it was the biggest collection of misfits ever assembled. After graduating, he took a job at a Houston chemical company and soon realized it wasn't for him. Root applied for an unpaid internship at the Houston Post in 1990, and it turned into a full-time job that same year. He has been a reporter ever since. Root has covered natural disasters, live music and Texas politics — not necessarily in that order. He was Austin bureau chief of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for a dozen years, most of them good. He also covered politics and the Legislature for The Associated Press before joining the staff of the Tribune.Root is the author of “Oops! A Diary From The 2012 Campaign Trail,” an insider’s account of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s dramatic collapse in the 2012 presidential race. The book was released in September, 2012.
Recent Contributions
Enlarge
photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
Gov. Rick Perry at a press conference on Oct. 17, 2014, discussing the state's Ebola prevention efforts.
Gov. Rick Perry and other Texas leaders are pointing fingers at the Obama administration for botching the Ebola response. But the state did not use its own power to restrict travel and limit possible spread of the deadly virus.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
Texas gubernatorial Democratic candidate Sen. Wendy Davis speaks to group of supporters at Guero's Taco Bar on October 15th, 2014 in Austin, Texas
Several days into the media firestorm over the release of an ad that features an empty wheelchair, state Sen. Wendy Davis isn’t pulling back one inch from the harsh attacks on Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Full Story
Sam Houston, the Democratic nominee for Texas attorney general, in Houston on Oct. 7, 2014. Despite his GOP opponent's ethical troubles, Houston faces long odds and is struggling to draw attention.
With little money and swimming against the tide in conservative Texas, Democrat Sam Houston has little choice but to campaign for attorney general "the old fashioned way" — on the cheap, and largely from the front seat of his Toyota Prius.
Full Story
Screenshot taken from Wendy Davis campaign ad that first aired on Oct. 10, 2014.
The pollster for Democrat Wendy Davis defended her controversial TV commercial Sunday, saying it’s working as intended despite widespread criticism that it uses the image of an empty wheelchair.
Full Story
Screenshot taken from Wendy Davis campaign ad that first aired on Oct. 10, 2014.
State Sen. Wendy Davis touched off a political firestorm Friday with a 30-second TV ad that slams Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for working against people with disabilities and others who filed lawsuits.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson
Glenn Johnson, 55, was injured in a smelting accident near Amarillo in 1997 in which a furnace filled with molten metal exploded, crushed him and left major burns over 90 percent of his body. His left arm was amputated and all but two the muscles in his right forearm were removed.
The Texas Division of Workers' Compensation is not maintaining race data on all valid worker injury claims, despite a law requiring it. Advocates say without the data it's impossible to tell if injured minorities face discrimination at work.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo illustration by: Bob Daemmrich / Callie Richmond / Todd Wiseman
Attorney General Greg Abbott pulled in more than a dozen six-figure donations, spent about $200,000 a day and still had more than $30 million in the bank for the final stretch of the Texas governor’s race.
Full Story
Texas Sen. Dr. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry at a Capitol press conference on Monday announcing creation of a Texas infectious disease task force.
Gov. Rick Perry is calling on the federal government to screen people for Ebola and set up "quarantine stations" at U.S. points of entry.
Full Story
An exterior view of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas on Oct. 1, 2014.
As many as 18 individuals in the Dallas area are under observation by Dallas County health officials after coming in contact with a patient confirmed to be infected with the Ebola virus, officials said on Wednesday.
Full Story
The second and final gubernatorial debate between Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott and state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, was held in Dallas on Tuesday.
Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has mostly avoided direct confrontation with his opponent in the race for Texas governor, took a hard swing at Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis over her ethics as a lawmaker in a televised debate Tuesday night. And she let him have it right back.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: Majorie Kamys Cotera / Bob Daemmrich
If the recent past is any guide, state Sen. Wendy Davis will go on the attack in her final debate with Attorney General Greg Abbott in the race for Texas governor. Abbott, meanwhile, is likely to drop President Obama's name a few times.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: Laura Buckman / Bob Daemmrich
State Sen. Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for governor, says Attorney General Greg Abbott, her Republican opponent, intentionally used the power of his office to hide misspending in the troubled Texas Enterprise Fund.
Full Story
Jack Stick, a lawyer for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. He has fought a drunken-driving charge that has gone relatively unnoticed.
The DWI case of Republican Jack Stick, the top lawyer for the state’s health care agency, is scheduled for a pretrial hearing next week after two years of delay. But it has received little attention from politicians or the media.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: Jerod Foster / Bob Daemmrich
Attorney General Greg Abbott ruled years ago that a newspaper couldn't see applications from entities seeking grants from the Texas Enterprise Fund. But now an audit says five of those applications never existed.
Full Story
Enlarge
photo illustration by: Bob Daemmrich / Todd Wiseman
In Texas, reports of loose oversight over hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development funds, cancer research grants and plain old tax money are fueling pointed criticism from both the left and the right.
Full Story