Texas is the first, and so far only, state to meet all the American Diploma Project's five key college and career readiness measures, Achieve, a national bipartisan organization, announced today.

In a report called Closing the Expectations Gap, Achieve said "Texas has the most comprehensive approach to college and career ready accountability."

This year's survey found that Texas was the only state that met all the accountability measures that were determined as necessary to assess college and career readiness. Those include publicly reporting the percentage of students who graduate from high school with a college and career ready diploma, which in Texas means graduating on the Recommended High School Program or Distinguished Achievement Program.

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Forbes has ranked Texas as having one of the lowest debt burdens in the country compared to the other 49 states. Texas ranked fourth overall behind Utah, New Hampshire and Nebraska, and was the best among the large states.

“This Forbes ranking is further proof why the Lone Star State is the best place to live, work and raise a family, and other states could learn from Texas’ economic success,” Gov. Perry said. “Thanks to our low taxes, reasonable and predictable regulations, skilled workforce, and disciplined spending, we have created a strong economic environment without racking up millions of dollars of burdensome debt.”

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More individuals and families chose to settle deep in the heart of Texas than anywhere in the United States in 2009, according to Allied Van Lines' 42nd Annual Magnet States Report released today.

For the fifth year in a row, Texas outshined every other state and took the lead as the No. 1 destination state in 2009 based on Allied's report, which tracks U.S. migration patterns.

Texas realized the highest net relocation gain (inbound moves minus outbound moves performed by Allied Van Lines, one of the world's largest moving companies) of almost 2,000 in 2009, slightly higher than last year's gain of about 1,900. Arizona placed second with a net relocation gain of 566, followed closely by North Carolina in third place with a gain of 564. Colorado and Florida placed fourth and fifth respectively for states with the largest net relocation gains.

Americans, it seems, still have a love affair with the West. Texas and Wyoming were the big winners in the Census Bureau's annual population estimates, which were released on Wednesday.

In the year ended July 1, Texas added more people than any other state, and Wyoming had the highest growth rate in the nation.

The population of the United States has grown more than 9% to 307,006,550 since the 2000 census. The population grew 0.86% since last year's estimates.

Article via CNN Money »