Locked In: GEO Group, other private jailers use all-star lobbyists to beat back regulation

By Matt Pulle | Monday, June 29th, 2009

In the 2009 legislative session, the GEO Group, a Florida-based private prison company, poured money into lobbying, selecting some of the priciest and best-connected hired guns in Austin. The reason was simple: The company had a lot of explaining to do before state lawmakers.

For at least three years now, the GEO Group has endured a [...]

Former airports chief: No nonprofit work done on city-funded $13K Libya trip

By Jennifer Peebles | Friday, June 26th, 2009

The former head of the Houston Airport System says he did not do business for a nonprofit airport construction-and-management firm he chaired while on a trip to Libya earlier this year that cost the city $13,000.

Richard M. Vacar, who retired in May as the head of Houston’s three commercial airports, said he was trying to [...]

Libyan trip part of city review; taxpayers shouldn’t pay airport nonprofit’s travel bills

By Lee Ann O'Neal | Friday, June 26th, 2009

The foreign governments that are building airports in consultation with Houston Airport System officials should pick up the tab for officials’ travel expenses, a spokesman for Mayor Bill White said.

The city should not be on the hook for those bills, spokesman Patrick Trahan said Thursday, and any city officials’ travel to those foreign airport sites [...]

Houston Mayor Bill White informed months ago of foreign airport projects; see ousted airport CEO’s five-figure expense reports

By Jennifer Peebles | Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Houston Mayor Bill White was informed nearly a year and a half ago that a nonprofit arm of the Houston Airport System was heavily involved in building and running airport facilities in several other countries, public records show.

The mayor, who last month helped spur the sudden retirement of longtime airport system chief Richard M. Vacar, [...]

Houston Airport System: Releasing salary list would make airports vulnerable to terrorists

By Jennifer Peebles | Thursday, June 18th, 2009

The government agency that oversees Houston’s two major airports — and whose boss stepped down suddenly and without explanation last month — says it does not want to make public a list of how much it pays its employees because the data is “sensitive security information” and its release could endanger passengers’ safety.

The Houston Airport [...]

Dead voter’s name used to vote in Dallas city elections, county commissioner says

By Matt Pulle | Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Did a woman who died in the winter cast a vote in the spring?

It’s a life-or-death mystery, but some elected officials and candidates in southern Dallas say someone impersonated a dead voter in a hotly-contested council race.

“My first step now is to get (District Attorney) Craig Watkins’ office to investigate,” says Dallas County Commissioner Ken [...]

Past featured stories

• State Sen. Royce West’s firm earned $1M from public agencies, many aided by his legislation
• Houston, Harris officials conceal details on ethics forms
• Two hurricanes kept Gov. Rick Perry busy in late 2008, calendar shows
• Texas Watchdog publishes Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s 2008 calendar
• ‘Images are precious’ and other tidbits from reams of Mayor Bill White’s e-mails with downtown developer
• GOP lawmakers aim to weaken Travis County DA’s office
• Lawmakers’ relatives work for GEO Group prison co. as state weighs clamp-down on embattled firm
• Mayor Bill White kept his calendar, correspondence with developer hidden from public view
• Freedom of Information foundation’s new director ‘moving on all fronts’
• Interactive map shows where TxDOT will spend stimulus funds