John Reynolds is the newsletters editor for the Tribune. Prior to that, he was a reporter for Quorum Report, a non-partisan online political newsletter focusing on the ins and outs under the Dome, for more than seven years – covering the waterfront from health and human services and redistricting to pensions and elections. A native of Atlanta, Ga., he started his journalistic career one day after the attacks of Sept. 11 in Lubbock, Texas, where he rotated through a slew of beats at The Avalanche-Journal. He received his undergraduate degree from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and studied at the University of Georgia's graduate school in journalism. When not at work, he actively attempts to convince himself he is adept at tennis with varying levels of success. And he has adopted the Austin custom of appreciating smoked meats and listening to music in grassy/muddy fields.
Perry orders up three special elections for just after the New Year and grassroots conservatives push to clean up Austin with their legislative agenda: All that and more in the latest issue of our subscriber-only newsletter for political insiders ($).
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Is Texas in danger of recession next year because of the current swoon in oil prices? An economist with J.P. Morgan Chase is raising an early warning flag about that possibility.
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Tea Party leaders are already hard at work on a legislative agenda built around transparency and paring back government tax and economic incentive programs aimed at promoting economic development.
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Also, freshman Hurd scores a rare subcommittee chairmanship, and Empower Texans will factor the speaker vote in its legislative scorecard.
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The awarding of a no-bid Medicaid fraud detection contract to the 21CT company continues to draw scrutiny with three separate news reports published Wednesday evening.
Full StoryIn this week's edition of the Trib+Water newsletter: water woes afflict El Paso, rural landowners are key to water conservation and an interview with James Griffin of Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service.
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In an election where Austin voters changed their form of city government, an outsider, Steve Adler, easily bested City Councilman Mike Martinez for mayor.
Full StoryThe Tribune's Jim Malewitz tries to get at, in a piece also published in Politico Magazine, the root causes that spurred the town of Denton to approve a ban on fracking last month.
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The Houston Chronicle's Theodore Schleifer has the goods on next year's mayoral election in Houston.
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The 2016 GOP field might be clearing or remaining unsettled, Perry continues his presidential prep work and statewide officials staff up for January: All that and more in the latest issue of our subscriber-only newsletter for political insiders ($).
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The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed Thursday below $60, "a level of great psychological significance," according to the Washington Post, and a price not seen in five years.
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Greg Abbott is not the only newly elected statewide official to release a long list of staffing hires this week.
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And with a busy December, Rick Perry makes clear that he plans a different kind of campaign for the White House the second time around.
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In this week's edition of the Trib+Edu newsletter: a unique study concludes that strategic education investments could yield a return in the trillions, Texas loses a big source of pre-K funding and an interview with Janice Magness of the Burkhart Center for Autism Education and Research.
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A couple of popular government programs for children — one helping with early education and the other providing health care — are facing funding questions.
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