Rick Perry, Sam Houston, slavery--and the Boy Scouts

Rick Perry, exhorting the Boy Scouts to continue excluding gays, analogized to Sam Houston and slavery on the eve of the Civil War. We wondered about that.

By Sue Owen, W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013 at 10:32 a.m.

Mayor warns of 1 million people “coming to town”

Lee Leffingwell said 1 million additional people are "coming to town." We took that to mean Austin.

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Tuesday, May 21st, 2013 at 12:44 p.m.

UPDATED: Grading Texas claims by, and about, Barack Obama

The president’s one-day swing to the Austin area gave rise to fact checks of, and about, him.

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Wednesday, May 15th, 2013 at 11:22 a.m.

Mailbag: PolitiFact Texas's pants are on fire

We blew it, readers say, in rating Pants on Fire a claim about science and greenhouse gas emissions.

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Monday, May 13th, 2013 at 10:37 a.m.

Is Ted Cruz constitutionally eligible to be president?

Rising Republican star Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, is being looked at as a potential presidential contender. But some question whether Cruz, who was born in Canada, could become the chief executive because of the Constitution’s requirement that the president be a "natural born citizen." PolitiFact Ohio dug in.

By Tom Feran :: Published on Friday, May 10th, 2013 at 1:00 p.m.

Obama, Perry, Hinojosa and jobs, jobs, jobs

Barack Obama came and went. Rick Perry and a leader of Texas Democrats took the occasion to loft jobs-related claims--now fact-checked.

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Thursday, May 9th, 2013 at 6:33 p.m.

Top 10 PolitiFact checks of claims by, and about, Barack Obama as he hies to Texas

What better way to welcome Obama to Central Texas than walking through the most popular PolitiFact fact checks of, or about, him this year--plus they include a 2012 check of Romney.

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Wednesday, May 8th, 2013 at 6:00 a.m.

Mailbag: PolitiFact Texas proves facts ‘are irrelevant to what you do’

A Texas congressman is silly, one reader writes. PolitiFact Texas writes as if facts are irrelevant, another says. Let’s open the mailbag.

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Monday, May 6th, 2013 at 10:41 a.m.

Is a new study of Medicaid a game changer?

A few weeks ago, we rated a claim by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that "expanding Medicaid will worsen health care options for the most vulnerable among us in Texas." Then, this week, a landmark study was published that addresses some of the same questions. Would it have changed our False rating for Cruz? We take a fresh look.

By Louis Jacobson :: Published on Friday, May 3rd, 2013 at 12:37 p.m.

Cartoonist incorrect about last state inspection of Texas plant

A California editorial cartoonist said the state of Texas last inspected the plant in West in 2006. That’s not so.  

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 at 3:30 p.m.

More voters turned out for Austin election of '73 than for latest election with mayor's race?

Bee Moorhead tweeted about Austin's local voter turnout being worse of late than in, say, 1973. Get out!

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Tuesday, April 30th, 2013 at 6:00 a.m.

Most Texas government workers got no pay raise from 2009 to 2012

An employees group says most state workers got no raises from 2009 to 2012. That checked out.

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Monday, April 29th, 2013 at 6:00 a.m.

Hammond: Businesses pay 60 percent of taxes in Texas

Bill Hammond, who helms the Texas Association of Business, spoke up for business tax cuts by saying businesses pay 60 percent of taxes in the state. Really?

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Friday, April 26th, 2013 at 11:48 a.m.

Perry says Obama yet to respond to 2010 letter on border security

In a CNN interview, Perry said Obama has yet to respond to the 2010 letter on border security he tried to hand the president on the tarmac of a Texas airport. We see smoke.

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Thursday, April 25th, 2013 at 6:00 a.m.

Al Qaeda camps with Mexican cartels? That's speculation, not fact

Louie Gohmert said on C-SPAN that al Qaeda has camps south of the Rio Grande. That's speculative, we find.

By W. Gardner Selby :: Published on Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013 at 4:00 p.m.