The Week in the Rearview Mirror

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz laced into Donald Trump Thursday morning in Maryland for the billionaire's suggestion that North Carolina should back down from a law that says individuals must use the public restroom that corresponds with one’s birth certificate gender.

Thousands of retired Texas state workers are essentially stuck in 2001. Though health care, food and pretty much everything else keep getting more expensive, they haven't seen a cost-of-living increase in their monthly pension checks since Gov. Rick Perry’s first year in office, and their purchasing power has dropped by about 25 percent.

Pro-Ted Cruz forces raised nearly $23 million in March and spent almost as much, showing a presidential effort in full swing as the U.S. senator from Texas navigated the thick of the primary season, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services faces a $40 million budget shortfall, a critical shortage of good homes for foster children and overwhelming caseloads for staff, agency leaders told state lawmakers at a hearing on Wednesday.

The Texas State Teachers Association filed a lawsuit Wednesday in an attempt to block the state from implementing a controversial system that for the first time ties assessments of educators to student performance on standardized tests for the first time.

After a bruising defeat in New York, Ted Cruz is officially retooling his outlook on how the Republican Party will pick its nominee. The U.S. senator from Texas, once hopeful he could win the nomination without a contested convention, is now conceding a floor fight is his only hope.

Texas has become the top destination for people moving from other states, according to a report from the Office of the State Demographer. Leading the way are Californians, who have come in the largest numbers to Texas in recent years.

Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is being "disingenuous" by claiming in administrative records that her jail declined 11 "detainers" seeking custody of undocumented immigrants. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has told the Texas Department of Criminal Justice it is tentatively barred from importing a drug used in executions.

UnitedHealthcare, a major health insurer, will no longer sell insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace in Texas next year, according to a letter filed with state regulators.

State health officials confirmed Tuesday they have asked the Obama administration to keep a 15-month lifeline of Medicaid money flowing into Texas to help hospitals treat the uninsured — despite the state's refusal to offer subsidized health insurance to the poor.

Nearly one month after Texas regulators approved — with major stipulations — Ray L. Hunt’s plan to buy Oncor and reshape it into a real estate investment trust, the Dallas oilman and his investors want a do-over. The development casts serious doubts over whether investors can close the high-stakes deal.

The Texas state auditor's office has referred its investigation into possible misuse of state workers by state Rep. Dawnna Dukes to Travis County prosecutors, the Austin American-Statesman reported late last week. 

Disclosure: The Texas State Teachers Association, Oncor and UnitedHealthcare are corporate sponsors of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.