We've got the top 50 bank balances among officeholders and PACs, a look at oil prices and flagging tax revenue and a warning about new spending cap formulas — all that and more in the latest issue of our subscriber-only newsletter for political insiders ($).

The Obama administration is poised to become more actively involved in the debate over hydraulic fracturing by issuing new federal regulations on the practice today.

Hoping to prompt quicker turnarounds at struggling schools, Texas lawmakers are considering a controversial policy that would let parents petition the state to make changes at their kids' campuses.

Four San Antonio women were convicted of molesting two girls in the 1990s, but one of the girls has since said they were coerced to make false accusations. The women's case is getting a new look.

House budget writers intend to add $433 million to the current two-year budget with a supplemental bill laid out Thursday, though some lawmakers expressed concern with plans for millions in leftover funds from some state health programs.

Ted Cruz has turned his attention to D.C. politics, introducing measures to keep religious colleges from having to fund gay and lesbian student groups and to upend a law on discrimination over reproductive health decisions.

Amid an ongoing scandal over how the state awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to a private company, the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday approved Senate Bill 20, which would overhaul the state’s contracting processes.

Annise Parker, who is serving her final year as Houston's mayor, has left her mark on the nation’s fourth-largest city and become a national figure in LGBT politics. Doing both at the same time hasn’t always been easy.