One of the side benefits of coming to Austin for South By Southwest Interactive: spending some time at the Texas Tribune, the non-profit news site launched last November to cover statewide politics, public policy and government. The enterprise started with venture capitalist John Thornton, who recruited Texas Monthly‘s Evan Smith…

A little grist for the news fundraising data mill today as John Thornton, chairman and founder of the Texas Tribune provides some details on how the new non-profit is raising money beyond initial major funding. The nonprofit ended the year with nearly $4 million, exceeding its 2009 fundraising goal of…

Monday evening as the Texas Tribune raced toward its launch this morning (some elements aren’t live yet), Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith took me through the new nonprofit journalism site—news stories, databases, blogs, a combined Twitter feed for every elected politician in Texas, the start of a Texas politics wiki. Unlike some…