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For Gov. Rick Perry, federal bailouts make bad policy but good politics. With the GOP primary a year away, the politics of government intervention in the economy have emerged as the first clear flashpoint between Perry and Republican rival Kay Bailey Hutchison, who wants to unseat him as governor. Perry has declared his independence from...

On Sunday, Krishna Palem, speaking at a computer science meeting in San Francisco, announced results of the first real-world test of his probabilistic computer chip: The chip, which thrives on random errors, ran seven times faster than today’s best technology while using just 1?30th the electricity. Just think: One need never again worry...

For Gov. Rick Perry, federal bailouts make bad policy but good politics. With the GOP primary a year away, the politics of government intervention in the economy has emerged as the first clear flash point between Perry and Republican rival Kay Bailey Hutchison, who wants to unseat him as governor. Perry has declared his independence from...

A bipartisan group of senators worked furiously in backroom negotiations on Thursday to cut the cost of the more than $920 billion economic stimulus plan. Senate Democratic leaders said they would await the outcome of those talks before calling for a final vote on the measure, perhaps on Friday. Members of the bipartisan group, led by Senators...

Mexican prosecutors in Tamaulipas have agreed to allow FBI technicians to collect DNA from the remains of more than 100 unidentified bodies, a task that could end uncertainty for families whose loved ones remain missing in Mexico. Once all the samples are collected — along with DNA from relatives in the U.S. — the FBI will examine them in...

The Trinity Parkway could cost close to $1 billion more than the North Texas Tollway Authority can afford to pay to build it, officials say. The enormous gap means that if the parkway is built, taxpayers would pay more than half of the 10-mile road's cost, even as drivers will be left paying tolls on the highway for generations. It's far...

Investigators released part of a 911 call Thursday that alerted them to the gunpoint abduction of a woman from a Pearland-area parking lot Monday night, an account that indicated she briefly spoke with a co-worker as the kidnapping unfolded. As Susana De Jesus left the parking lot, she rolled down the window of her car and asked the co-worker...

State senators posed tough questions Thursday to officials of the University of Texas System's outside investment company over a $1 million bonus for its chief executive, leading to an angry exchange in which the chairman of the company's board declared his resignation. "You can have my job – I resign. I'm out of here," said Robert Rowling,...

The Senate on Wednesday voted to expand the economic stimulus package with a tax credit for homebuyers of up to $15,000, a provision championed by Republicans as addressing a root cause of the recession. The vote to add the tax credit, at a cost of about $18.5 billion, came as Senate leaders seemed to be nearing completion of negotiations. The...

For the men, it’s pistols and venison. For the women, flowers and spa treatments. Around the Texas Capitol, gifts are a custom — and lobbyists are buying. Food baskets and golf balls. Pocket knives and saddles. One lawmaker got a stuffed goose; others cookies, books and circus tickets. Gifts to lawmakers and other state officials,...