Past Articles by Wade Goodwyn
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Health Officials Decry Texas' Snubbing Of Medicaid Billions The state is turning down an estimated $100 billion in federal funds that would have paid for health care coverage for more than 1 million poor Texans. For Gov. Rick Perry and the state's Republican-dominated Legislature, the potential appearance of supporting "Obamacare" was too much. |
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Health Officials Decry Texas' Snubbing Of Medicaid Billions The state is turning down an estimated $100 billion in federal funds that would have paid for health care coverage for more than 1 million poor Texans. For Gov. Rick Perry and the state's Republican-dominated Legislature, the potential appearance of supporting "Obamacare" was too much. |
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Health Officials Decry Texas' Snubbing Of Medicaid Billions The state is turning down an estimated $100 billion in federal funds that would have paid for health care coverage for more than 1 million poor Texans. For Gov. Rick Perry and the state's Republican-dominated Legislature, the potential appearance of supporting "Obamacare" was too much. |
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At NRA Convention, Dueling Narratives Displayed With Guns While the talk inside the Texas convention hall this weekend is about keeping up the fight against gun restrictions and staying true to the Constitution, a small protest against gun violence is being held outside. |
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Officials Seek Answers In Aftermath Of Deadly Plant Explosion The search for survivors has ended, and investigators are trying to figure out what led to fiery explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, on Wednesday. At least 14 people are confirmed dead, many of them first responders. |
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Texas Contractors Say Playing By The Rules Doesn't Pay With a large labor force willing to work for low wages, construction may appear to be a lucrative field for contractors in Texas. But prices have been driven so low that many say they can't compete if they play by the rules. Instead, some misclassify their workers or turn a blind eye to undocumented laborers. |
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Texas Contractors Say Playing By The Rules Doesn't Pay With a large labor force willing to work for low wages, construction may appear to be a lucrative field for contractors in Texas. But prices have been driven so low that many say they can't compete if they play by the rules. Instead, some misclassify their workers or turn a blind eye to undocumented laborers. |
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Construction Booming In Texas, But Many Workers Pay Dearly Almost 1 million people are employed in construction in Texas, but many have a hard time making a living safely. The state's construction industry has the highest fatality rate in the nation, while large numbers of undocumented workers have suppressed wages and made it easy for contractors to exploit laborers. |
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Construction Booming In Texas, But Many Workers Pay Dearly Almost 1 million people are employed in construction in Texas, but many have a hard time making a living safely. The state's construction industry has the highest fatality rate in the nation, while large numbers of undocumented workers have suppressed wages and made it easy for contractors to exploit laborers. |
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Enron's Skilling Could Win Early Release From Prison Former Enron CEO Jeffery Skilling could be released early from federal prison under a reduced sentencing agreement being considered at the Justice Department. Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his role in the energy trading giant's collapse |
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Texas Study Points To A Longer Natural Gas Boom A new study of the Barnett Shale formation in Texas shows that the natural gas reservoir there will last for at least another two decades. "Turns out, what we learned is that there's a lot of good rock left to drill," says geology professor Scott Tinker, the study's author. |
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Texas Study Points To A Longer Natural Gas Boom A new study of the Barnett Shale formation in Texas shows that the natural gas reservoir there will last for at least another two decades. "Turns out, what we learned is that there's a lot of good rock left to drill," says geology professor Scott Tinker, the study's author. |
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Texas Study Points To A Longer Natural Gas Boom A new study of the Barnett Shale formation in Texas shows that the natural gas reservoir there will last for at least another two decades. "Turns out, what we learned is that there's a lot of good rock left to drill," says geology professor Scott Tinker, the study's author. |
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Texas Study Points To A Longer Natural Gas Boom A new study of the Barnett Shale formation in Texas shows that the natural gas reservoir there will last for at least another two decades. "Turns out, what we learned is that there's a lot of good rock left to drill," says geology professor Scott Tinker, the study's author. |
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Merger Of American Airlines and US Airways Will Create World's Largest Carrier The boards of US Airways Group and AMR have approved the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. The resulting company will become the world's largest airline. American is in bankruptcy, so its creditors will own a big chunk of the new company and US Airways shareholders will own the rest. |
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Die-Hard Republicans Rankled By Obama's 2nd Term As Democrats celebrate President Obama's second inauguration, Republicans are girding themselves for another term of what they view as misguided policies. |
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Beleaguered American Airlines Looks For A Fresh Start With New Look American Airlines unveiled the first change to its logo and the look of its planes since 1968 on Thursday. |
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Another George Bush Plans To Try His Hand At Politics George Prescott Bush, 36, has announced he is running for office in Texas. The grandson of the first President Bush, nephew of the second, and son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has already raised nearly $1.4 million. Now he just has to decide what job he's campaigning for. |
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Tea Party Texan Cruz Gives GOP Hope In Hunt For Hispanic Votes Sen.-elect Ted Cruz is a bright young Hispanic star who will be sworn in this week in Washington. Many in the GOP hope he'll be able to bring more Latino voters into their column. But Cruz takes a Tea Party hard line on immigration. |
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Amid Calls For Gun Control, Some Push For Weapons At School As a national conversation about stricter gun control takes shape in the wake of the Newtown shooting, some are arguing instead for arming school personnel. Supporters say having armed school officials would help prevent shootings and enable staff to protect children if one occurs. |
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Teenager's Faith At Odds With Locator Tags In School IDs A federal court in Texas on Monday will take up the case of a high school student who refuses to wear her location-tracking school ID. The 15-year-old sophomore believes the ID with the tracker is "the mark of the beast" from the Book of Revelation. |
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Conflicts, Errors Revealed In Positive Fracking Study A report that shed favorable light on fracking is at the center of a controversy at the University of Texas. The head of the school's Energy Institute has stepped down and another professor has retired after an investigation found numerous errors and flaws in the report — and undisclosed conflicts of interest. |
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Pilots At Bankrupt American Airlines Push For Merger American Airlines is on a protracted trip through bankruptcy. The carrier has asked a judge to extend its control over its restructuring through March. American's unions want a merger with U.S. Airways. |
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Dallas Residents Weigh In On 'Fiscal Cliff' Talks The battle over the looming spending cuts and tax increases known as the "fiscal cliff" begins this week where it ended last week — deadlocked. While there is no agreement on how lawmakers should work out the details of a compromise, there is widespread consensus that a deal must get done for the good of the country. |
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GOP Governors Say Party Lost On Strategy, Not Issues Republican governors met last week in Las Vegas to talk about the results of the U.S. election and the path ahead for their party. Many of the governors are standing by their positions on major issues, however, saying the main thing they need to change is their tone. |
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Airline Industry Still Feeling The Effects Of Sandy Superstorm Sandy is still having a major impact on air travel. Airlines have canceled thousands of flights nationwide, and it will likely be days before air travel is back to normal. |
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American Airlines Fliers Fed Up As Labor Clash Rages It hasn't exactly been a barrel of fun flying American Airlines lately. The carrier, which is in bankruptcy, is in a bitter contract dispute with its pilots union. Its on-time performance has plummeted while cancellations are way up. Meanwhile, some of American's best customers are rethinking their loyalty. |
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American Airlines Warns It's Eliminating Jobs American Airlines is notifying more than 11,000 employees that they might get laid off. The move is part of the company's ongoing bankruptcy reorganization which continues to be rocky. |
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Smoke Cleared, Texas Gun Owners Remain Wary Texas was once the center of the movement to safeguard gun rights. Today, nearly every fight has been won in the state, and indeed around the country. While gun owners in East Texas celebrate and cherish their rights, they remain distrustful. |
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Court Paves Way For Texas Planned Parenthood Cuts Planned Parenthood in Texas is deciding how to proceed after losing an important case in federal court. A panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the state can cut Planned Parenthood out of its women's health program because the organization is associated with abortion. |
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When The Ship Comes In To Brownsville, Rip It Up Over the past two decades, the landlocked city of Brownsville, Texas, has become the hub of the U.S. ship recycling industry. Ships from tankers to aircraft carriers are dismantled and stripped of reusable metals. And despite the world economic slowdown, it's still a highly lucrative business. |
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Rain Over Texas Quenches Dry Lone Star State While much of the country is mired in drought, Texas is recovering from some of the state's hottest, driest months on record. Recent rains have almost ended the Texas drought. But how long will the current wet spell last? |
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In Bankruptcy, American Airlines Looks At All Options American Airlines is acknowledging that a merger with US Airways is a possibility as it works its way through bankruptcy. American's pilots and other unionized employees are pushing the merger option. |
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Lake Lures Fishermen ... And Drug Traffickers Falcon Lake, on the U.S.-Mexico border, has been named the best bass fishing lake in the country. But a Mexican drug cartel also uses the lake to smuggle drugs. While that hasn't kept the anglers away, it does mean fishing there carries an element of risk. |
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With One Wish, Banishing Memories Of Jim Crow Dorothy Flood, now 75, has vivid memories of not being allowed in a train dining car as a young black girl. Now, an organization that grants wishes to seniors has sent Flood on an all-expenses paid trip through the Rocky Mountains, in a gourmet dining car. |
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Texas Senate Hopefuls Woo Republicans Of All Stripes Three major Republican candidates are vying to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who's retiring after serving for nearly 20 years. The front-runner is the state's lieutenant governor, who's backed by the GOP establishment. Challenging him are a Tea Party conservative and a former mayor of Dallas. |
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As Texas Cuts Funds, Planned Parenthood Fights Back The state of Texas has moved to block public funds for Planned Parenthood because the organization refers patients to abortion providers and advocates for abortion rights. Planned Parenthood says the rule violates the nonprofit's constitutional rights to free association and free speech. |
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Free After 25 Years: A Tale Of Murder And Injustice Michael Morton was convicted of killing his wife and put in prison for life. DNA evidence finally freed him, but it took a quarter-century to force Texas officials to reveal the evidence that exonerated him. |
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Bankrupt American Airlines Spars With Unions American Airlines is asking a judge to revamp its labor contracts. The company says it needs to drastically reduce costs to exit bankruptcy and remain competitive. The airline's unions, on the other hand, are hoping to push a merger with US Airways that may save their labor pacts. |
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George H.W. Bush: It's Time To Get Behind Romney In Houston Thursday, former President George H.W. Bush endorsed Mitt Romney's run for the Republican presidential nomination. Bush's endorsement is one more signal from the Republican establishment for the party to close ranks behind Romney. |
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Lots Of GOP Money Flowing From The Texas Two The latest Federal Election Commission reports shed new light on the political largesse of two Texas businessmen. One has contributed to three active GOP presidential candidates, including a new $1 million check to the superPAC backing Rick Santorum. The other just gave $3 million more to Mitt Romney's superPAC. |
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Republican Donor Pockets Bigger in Texas Two of the most prominent and generous GOP donors are from Texas. Bob Perry is a billionaire Houston homebuilder whose money helped build the Texas Republican Party into the juggernaut it's become. Harold Simmons owns a low-level nuclear waste dump which he might like to turn into a high level nuclear waste dump. Between them, they've donated nearly $100 million. |
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800-Year-Old Frescoes Leave Texas For Cyprus A set of 13th-century Byzantine frescoes - plundered after Turkey invaded the island nation and on display in Houston for the last 15 years - is being repatriated. NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports on the closing chapter in what turns out to be a remarkable odyssey. |
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Texas Doctor Indicted In Record Medicare Fraud Case A massive Medicare and Medicaid fraud scheme has been shut down by federal authorities. One doctor in Texas, Jacques Roy, was allegedly responsible for nearly $375 million in fraudulent billing. |
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After 3 Wins, Santorum Campaign Moves To Texas One day after winning caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota, as well as a "beauty contest" primary in Missouri, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum traveled to Texas for a series of campaign appearances. He met with evangelical pastors in the morning and members of the Tea Party in the afternoon. |
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Buoyant Santorum Takes Campaign To Texas, Corralling Some Perry People Fresh off victories in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum campaigned in Texas on Wednesday. He told a small group of pastors, some of them former supporters of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, that he is the true conservative left to challenge Mitt Romney. |
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Buoyant Santorum Takes Campaign To Texas - And Corrals Some Perry People Fresh off victories in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum campaigned in Texas on Wednesday. He told a small group of pastors, some of them former supporters of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, that he is the true conservative left to challenge Mitt Romney. |
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Santorum Takes His Victory Lap In Texas Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum won Tuesday's caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado, as well as the non-binding primary in Missouri. On Wednesday, he took a victory lap in Texas. |
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Unions Shocked By American Airlines Proposed Cuts American Airlines is looking to cut 13,00 jobs as part of a restructuring. The company - which is in bankruptcy - also wants to reduce salaries by 20 percent and end its pension plan. |
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Battered And Bruised, Perry Returns To Texas Gov. Rick Perry is back in Texas, after dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. He's returned battered and bruised, but he still has strong supporters in his home state. |
