S&P/Case-Shiller Index Shows Quarterly Rise in U.S. Home Prices

A closely watched index shows home prices posted their first quarterly increase in three years, signaling the housing market has turned a corner. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller's U.S. National Home Price Index released Tuesday rose nearly 3 percent from the first quarter, though was still down almost 15 percent from the second quarter last year. More

Austin Area Home Sales Level Out

Existing home sales in Central Texas were flat last month, the first time in more than two years that they were not lower than the same month a year earlier. The Austin Board of Realtors reported that there were 2,069 sales last month, and 2,068 in July 2008. More

Dallas Zoning Proposal Would Make Lobbyists Register, Limit Donations

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert said he will propose sweeping changes to the way City Hall handles zoning cases and the players involved in them. "We're putting it all together now, and that's what I'm going to put on the table," Leppert said. More

Column: Tarrant May Be Key to Governor's Race, Texas GOP Future

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Dallas has been campaigning for governor for a week. Gov. Rick Perry has been campaigning to get or keep the job for 10 years. More

Williams Gets Gingrich Endorsement

Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams will announce an endorsement from former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the race to succeed U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Williams is part of a crowded field of Democrats and Republicans planning to compete in a special election once Hutchison steps down this fall to run for governor. Because she has not yet resigned, the date of that election has not been set. More

San Antonio Water System Sues LCRA Over Water Sharing Agreement

The San Antonio Water System filed suit Monday against the Lower Colorado River Authority for $1.23 billion after the implosion of a massive water-sharing deal months ago. The suit, filed in Travis County District Court, accuses the LCRA of a breach of contract that deprived San Antonio of water. More

Opinion: To Win, Hutchison Must Grow GOP

What was striking about Kay Bailey Hutchison's Dallas gubernatorial rally last week was how so many people there looked like the folks you might see at a Rick Perry event. Dressed as if they had just come from the office, nearly all were white and were largely on the 11th hole of life – or beyond. More

Solar Power Boom

A proposed solar power plant in Santa Teresa, which would supply electricity to El Paso Electric, isn't the only solar development going on in this area. Applications to use federal land for one solar project in the Afton, N.M., area, just south of Las Cruces, and two in the Lordsburg, N.M., area, about 140 miles west of El Paso, have been filed with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. More

Texas Worker Confidence Dips Slightly

The Texas Employee Confidence Index dipped two points in July after rising in June to its highest point since September 2008, according to the latest Spherion Employment Report. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Spherion Corp. attributed the index drop to 51.9 points to mixed emotions by workers toward the current macroeconomic situation. More