Lead Stories

Austin American-Statesman - August 7, 2008

SELBY: WATCH FOR TORT REFORM GROUP THIS FALL

Greg Abbott, who might run for lieutenant governor in 2010, continues to hold more campaign cash than any other state-level officeholder. The state attorney general had $8 million at the end of June, outpacing the No. 2 leader with loot, state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, who had $3.4 million. Of late, though, I'm intrigued by a group that had "only" $2.7 million at the end of June. Texans for Lawsuit Reform's political committee trailed committees for the Texas Association of Realtors, which reported an astonishing $10.4 million in hand.

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Austin Chronicle - August 7, 2008

PATTERSON LOBS ANOTHER CHRISTMAS SURPRISE

While the rest of Texas seems to believe the Christmas Mountains should and will become a part of Big Bend National Park, Land Com-missioner Jerry Patterson has kicked up the dust yet again by announcing he is negotiating a new land-management deal with the ranch's neighbors. The 9,270-acre tract of scrub and mountains in West Texas was previously managed for the General Land Office by the Christmas Mountains Association, but that agreement was terminated in May. On July 25, at a budget workshop for the Property Owners Association of Terlingua Ranch, Patterson announced he was negotiating a new deal with the association's board: For a nominal $10 annual fee, the board would be responsible for maintaining the land in exchange for limited hunting and hiking access.

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Houston Chronicle - August 7, 2008

FALKENBERG: STATE IN NO HURRY TO FIX BIG PROBLEM

The 95-page landmark ruling issued recently by Judge William Wayne Justice on how Texas is failing limited-English schoolchildren is a deeply depressing read. Among the U.S. district judge's findings: Limited-English students lag in standardized test scores and soar in dropout rates. Texas' system of educating these kids amounts to a hodgepodge of programs across districts and schools that vary widely in results. The Texas Education Agency's system of monitoring the hodgepodge is hopelessly dependent on paperwork and too under-funded, under-staffed and under-qualified to verify district data and conduct actual, on-site visits.

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Houston Chronicle - August 7, 2008

HOUSE SPEAKER'S GOLF TOURNAMENT CONCERNS SOME

Since 2003, House Speaker Tom Craddick, by lending his name to an annual golf tournament, has helped the Caring for Children Foundation of Texas raise thousands of dollars to vaccinate uninsured youngsters against childhood diseases. The event, scheduled this year for Sept. 22 at Barton Creek Resort in Austin, also is an opportunity for lobbyists and their corporate clients to rub elbows and cultivate influence with the speaker and other legislators. That influence may be more important than ever for the foundation's and the tournament's main sponsor, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, the health insurance giant, when the Legislature considers revisions to the state's insurance regulatory laws next year.

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National Stories

Houston Chronicle - August 7, 2008

BP TAKES A STEP TOWARD INVESTING IN NONFOOD BIOFUEL

BP's announcement Wednesday that it will invest $90 million in a U.S. biofuels company could boost efforts to bring nonfood-based ethanol out of the laboratory and into the fuel tanks of American drivers. It also may be a catalyst to other oil companies to enter the so-called cellulosic ethanol business in a bigger way. "It's a big signal to the industry that this technology is one to pay attention to," said Gary Adams, vice chairman of Deloitte's oil and gas industry consulting practice in Houston.

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Fort Worth Star-Telegram - August 7, 2008

AVERAGE ER WAITING TIME NEARS ONE HOUR, CDC SAYS

The average time that hospital emergency-room patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour over the past decade, according to federal statistics released Wednesday. The increase is due to supply and demand, said Dr. Stephen Pitts, the lead author of the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There are more people arriving at the ERs. And there are fewer ERs," said Pitts, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Atlanta’s Emory University.

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New York Times - August 7, 2008

IN ANTHRAX SCIENTIST’S E-MAIL, HINTS OF DELUSIONS

Bruce E. Ivins went to work each day in a high-security federal laboratory where he handled some of the world’s deadliest substances. But more than a year before the 2001 anthrax attacks, the scientist admitted to himself that he was losing his grasp on reality. “Paranoid man works with deadly anthrax!!!” he wrote in one e-mail message in July 2000, predicting what a National Enquirer headline might read if he agreed to participate in a study on his work. “I wish I could control the thoughts in my mind,” he added a month later in another message to a colleague. “It’s hard enough sometimes controlling my behavior. When I am being eaten alive inside, I always try to put on a good front here at work and at home, so I don’t spread the pestilence.”

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New York Times - August 7, 2008

500: DEADLY U.S. MILESTONE IN AFGHAN WAR

June was the second deadliest month for the military in Afghanistan since the war began, with 23 American deaths from hostilities, compared with 22 in Iraq. July was less deadly, with 20 deaths, compared with six in Iraq. On July 22, nearly seven years after the conflict began on Oct. 7, 2001, the United States lost its 500th soldier in the Afghanistan war. (The Pentagon says that 563 American service members have died in Operation Enduring Freedom, the umbrella term for the global American-led antiterror campaign that has the Afghanistan war at its center and includes deployments in the Philippines and Africa. Of those deaths, according to an analysis by The New York Times, 510 have occurred in Afghanistan or are directly linked to the war there.)

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New York Times - August 7, 2008

F.B.I. PRESENTS ANTHRAX CASE, SAYING SCIENTIST ACTED ALONE

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday outlined a pattern of bizarre and deceptive conduct by Bruce E. Ivins, an Army microbiologist who killed himself last week, presenting a sweeping but circumstantial case that he was solely responsible for mailing the deadly anthrax letters that killed five people in 2001. After nearly seven years of a troubled investigation, officials of the F.B.I. and the Justice Department declared that the case had been solved. Jeffrey A. Taylor, the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, said the authorities believed “that based on the evidence we had collected, we could prove his guilt to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.” Some survivors of the attacks and members of Congress said they were persuaded by the evidence against Dr. Ivins, laid out in hundreds of pages of applications for search warrants unsealed for the first time.

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Washington Times - August 7, 2008

MICHELLE OBAMA COURTS VITAL MILITARY FAMILIES

Michelle Obama told military wives faced with their husbands' multiple tours of duty, low military pay and health care concerns that help is on its way Wednesday, as the Democratic presidential candidate deployed his wife to court military families considered vital to flipping this historically Republican state. "Few sacrifice more to serve their country than you, and I know that too often it seems like you're doing it on your own,” Mrs. Obama told participants in a roundtable discussion at Old Dominion University.

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Washington Times - August 7, 2008

MCCAIN TAKES LEAD ON YOUTUBE HITS

Paris Hilton may think John McCain is just a “wrinkly white-haired guy,” but the Republican presidential candidate apparently has figured out the younger generation just fine. Over the past two weeks, his “celebrity” attacks have stomped Democratic presidential opponent Sen. Barack Obama in YouTube hits. Mr. McCain has pumped out a series of brutal yet entertaining attack ads and Web videos mocking the press and Mr. Obama, and the combination of wit and insult has pushed his YouTube channel to the sixth most watched on the site this week. Mr. McCain has beat Mr. Obama's channel for seven straight days and 11 of the past 14 days, in a signal he intends to compete for the YouTube vote.

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Washington Post - August 7, 2008

OBAMA HITS BACK, TOO SOFTLY FOR SOME

Barack Obama released a television advertisement yesterday that questions John McCain's claims to be a "maverick," and he charged in a campaign appearance that the Republican displays independence only when it suits him politically. Obama aides said Democratic hand-wringing about polls showing that the presidential race remains tight had nothing to do with the volleys. "We are not going to base our campaign on the concerns of so-called campaign strategists on cable TV," spokesman Bill Burton said.

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State Stories

Fort Worth Star-Telegram - August 7, 2008

TEXAS MARRIAGE-LICENSE FEE TO RISE, BUT CLASS OFFERS WAY OUT

The cost of tying the knot is about to go up in Texas, though lawmakers have created a way for couples to land a steep discount. Starting Sept. 1, the state marriage-license fee will double to $60. Couples who take an eight-hour premarital counseling course will see the fee waived but will still have to pay the county license fee, which is $11 in Tarrant County. The change is a result of legislation sponsored by Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, in 2007. He felt that encouraging couples to take the class will reduce the divorce rate. Critics tried to kill the bill, calling it a marriage tax and a deterrent to matrimony for low-income couples.

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El Paso Times - August 7, 2008

MEDICAL SCHOOL TO REQUEST LESS MONEY FOR 2009

El Paso medical school officials will ask the Texas Tech University Board of Regents on Thursday to approve a slightly smaller budget for next year after the school spent most of a cash infusion from lawmakers to help get the campus ready for students in 2009. The regents meet Thursday and Friday in Lubbock to review and approve budgets for all the Texas Tech schools. The total budget proposal for Texas Tech's health institutions in Lubbock, Abilene, Amarillo, El Paso, Dallas, Odessa and Marble Falls will be about $610 million, said Elmo Cavin, Texas Tech University executive vice president for finance and administration. That's about $24 million more than the last budget. Cavin said the increase stems from increased revenue from patients seen by students and doctors at the schools and from state and federal research grants.

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Amarillo Globe News - August 7, 2008

BORDER POLICY BLASTED

U.S. Senate hopeful Rick Noriega said he thinks redeploying more National Guard troops to the border will help reform the nation's immigration policy. Speaking in Republican-strong Amarillo and Lubbock on Wednesday, Noriega accused incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, of political "gimmickry" instead of hammering out solutions to the nation's immigration crisis. Noriega, a Democrat, called for enacting Operation Jump Start II, a proposed second wave of troop deployments along the Texas-Mexico border. He also wants soldiers to be equipped with more sophisticated border-surveillance technology and for employers to face stiffer penalties if they knowingly hire undocumented immigrants.

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Amarillo Globe News - August 6, 2008

HEARING WEIGHS WATER RIGHTS

Water experts showed state senators on Tuesday that water planning is anything but simple. The Senate Natural Resources Committee heard a variety of water planning concerns at a public hearing in Amarillo. State Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, said the current system of local control or no control is not guaranteed, especially under conditions like extreme drought. Instead, state control might be implemented.

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Austin American-Statesman - August 7, 2008

MEANS WAS DEMOCRATIC LEADER, VETERAN EDUCATOR

James Horatio Means Sr., a Huston-Tillotson University professor, prominent businessman and local Democratic Party leader, died Sunday. He was 98. Means became the first African American Democratic precinct chairman of Travis County in 1946. He was elected chairman of Precinct 125 in East Austin during a career that also included owning a taxicab service and holding a partnership in a lending institution. He also participated in Austin's civil rights movement.

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San Antonio Express News - August 7, 2008

GUERRA: WORKING CONDITIONS WORRY NURSES, WEAKEN QUALITY OF CARE

There is more to the nursing shortage than meets the eye, say Judy Lerma and Diana Pirzada, two San Antonio registered nurses who are speaking up to help bring nurses' working conditions into the ongoing nursing-shortage discussion. Texas won't solve much by throwing money at the expansion of health-care and nurse-training facilities, says Lerma, whose insight is based on more than 30 years — and a master's degree — in nursing. To be sure, nurses face the same pay issues as other Americans who are struggling with rising food and fuel prices. But working conditions are a far greater concern for many bedside nurses, conditions that are eroding the quality of hospital care and lessening the likelihood of good patient outcomes, they say.

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Houston Chronicle - August 7, 2008

COURT DEFIED CRITICS IN MEDELLIN RULING

In its rejection of Jose Ernesto Medellin's appeal, the Supreme Court made clear its refusal to bow to international pressure and its unwillingness to await related legislation that had not progressed beyond the "bare introduction of a bill." Medellin, 33, was executed Tuesday night after an almost four-hour delay as Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials awaited the high court's 5-4 decision. The majority opinion stated that neither President Bush nor Gov. Rick Perry had made clear to the court that congressional or Texas legislative action was likely that would necessitate a delay. The court also noted that the Department of Justice had not sought to intervene in the case.

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Houston Chronicle - August 7, 2008

NORIEGA SPELLS OUT HIS PLAN FOR REFORMING IMMIGRATION

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Rick Noriega unveiled an immigration reform plan Wednesday that is very similar to a measure that died last year largely because of opposition from Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. Noriega touted his plan as a "bold" measure to fix a "broken" immigration system, but it was almost identical to bipartisan legislation that had been backed by President Bush and Texas business leaders in June 2007. "Without question we know as a matter of fact that Mr. Cornyn was an obstructionist on the last debate on comprehensive immigration reform," Noriega said. "He hasn't done anything in six years to help reform immigration."

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Houston Chronicle - August 7, 2008

LEADERS URGE BETTER STUDENT DEVELOPMENT

Business and education leaders — spurred by concern that Texas students aren't ready for a global economy — made recommendations including more school accountability Wednesday to Gov. Rick Perry, who embraced the need to "develop the state's talent better." "We haven't got it right yet, OK?" Perry said at the Governor's Competitiveness Council Summit as he accepted reports recommending paths the state should follow in business, education and energy. "As good as we are, as many gains as we've made ... we're not where we need to be yet." Among other recommendations, the Perry-appointed council of business, education and state government leaders said the state should hold schools accountable every year for ensuring high school students are on track to be college- and work force-ready when they graduate.

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Fort Worth Star-Telegram - August 7, 2008

TEXAS HAS FEWEST AGENTS PER MILE ON MEXICAN BORDER

Despite efforts to add Border Patrol agents to areas where immigrant traffic is high and drug violence is flaring, officers assigned to the 2,000-mile boundary with Mexico are bunched up near the California coast. And some critics see politics at play. An Associated Press analysis of Border Patrol staffing shows that the San Diego sector, with the shortest section of border and fences covering half the boundary, has four times the number of agents per mile that West Texas does and three times as many as most of Arizona. That is the case even though the Tucson sector in Arizona has been the busiest spot for illegal crossings for years, and El Paso sits next to a Mexican city that has seen a surge in drug-cartel violence so severe that Mexicans are pleading for asylum in the U.S.

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Houston Chronicle - August 7, 2008

STATE TROOPERS MAY BE IN LINE FOR PAY RAISES

Texas should spend $50.2 million to make state trooper pay competitive with large city and county law enforcement departments, the state auditor recommended Wednesday. The bulk of pay raises would go to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which has 80 percent of the state's 4,339 law officers. The proposed salary hikes would take the maximum base pay for a veteran trooper from $57,773 to $66,367, an increase of 14.9 percent. Under the new salary schedule proposed by State Auditor John Keel, troopers with less than four years of service would see pay rise from $45,100 to $49,109, an increase of nearly 9 percent.

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Austin Chronicle - August 7, 2008

MCCAUL TAKES GOP MANTRA TO GAS STATION

The word is out: If you're a Republican politician running for federal office, work the gasoline price issue for all it's worth, since that's about the only thing the GOP seems to have going for it this election cycle. Austin Rep. Michael McCaul, who in Larry Joe Doherty faces the first serious challenge of his 3½-year career, was working it hard Monday morning at a Shell station on MoPac North, pumping hands with customers pumping gas. He asked them to give him their gas receipts, which he was then pledging to deliver to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to harangue her for her supposed inaction on energy legislation. (We know someone as important as Pelosi probably lives a cloistered life, but we're guessing she's gotten the memo on $4-a-gallon gas.) Since the Shell station is a short bus ride from my house (still only $1 for a 24-hour pass!), I joined the fun.

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Austin Chronicle - August 7, 2008

COURT UPHOLDS E-VOTE MACHINES

The Texas Democratic Party's efforts to remove the Hart InterCivic eSlate electronic voting machine (used by Travis and 101 other Texas counties) from use in Texas have been shot down again, this time by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The TDP sued then-Secretary of State Roger Williams last year for approving eSlate machines, allegedly in violation of state law. The TDP pointed out that on eSlate machines, if a voter casts a straight-party ballot but then scrolls down the ballot and punches the name of a particular candidate from that party – just to "make sure" their vote for that candidate is properly recorded – the voter will inadvertently "de-select" that candidate, and no vote will be recorded.

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Austin Chronicle - August 7, 2008

STATE GOP FEARS LIBERTARIAN UPSET

The Republican Party of Texas is so concerned that Libertarians could win votes away from the GOP in November that party leaders are asking state Libertarian Party candidates not to run. "They're telling our candidates they're worried," said Wes Benedict, executive director of the Libertarian Party of Texas. On Aug. 1, Benedict released a press statement saying former Lampasas state Rep. Suzanna Hupp had contacted several Libertarian candidates, including Jason Jordan, running against Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, and Joe Allport, challenging Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center.

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Dallas Morning News - August 7, 2008

T. BOONE PICKENS' MOTIVES IN ENERGY PLAN QUESTIONED

Railing against the "club" of Big Oil and promising to shake up "management entrenchment," T. Boone Pickens once turned his epic takeover battles with oil companies into a national effort to make public companies more accountable to shareholders. He modeled his effort on a political campaign – complete with lobbyists, grass-roots supporters and his own money. A corporate raider whose duels with incumbent managers earned him millions, Mr. Pickens became the public advocate of shareholders betrayed by dull corporate bosses.

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Dallas Morning News - August 7, 2008

TEXAS MUST IMPROVE MATH, SCIENCE EDUCATION, TASK FORCE SAYS

Texas schools must improve math and science education in all grades and improve low graduation rates if the state is to remain competitive in the global economy, a panel of business, education and government leaders said in a report Wednesday. The report by the Governor's Competitiveness Council also called for holding schools fully accountable for "producing results" in making sure their students acquire the knowledge and skills they'll need. And the 29-member panel said state and education leaders must begin work now on a solution to expected "critical" workforce deficits in six key industries. Among those: energy, computer technology, advanced technologies in manufacturing, and aerospace and defense.

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Dallas Morning News - August 7, 2008

GOVERNOR'S COMPETITIVENESS COUNCIL

Texas schools must improve math and science education in all grades and improve low graduation rates if the state is to remain competitive in the global economy, a panel of business, education and government leaders said in a report Wednesday. The report by the Governor's Competitiveness Council also called for holding schools fully accountable for "producing results" in making sure their students acquire the knowledge and skills they'll need. And the 29-member panel said state and education leaders must begin work now on a solution to expected "critical" workforce deficits in six key industries. Among those: energy, computer technology, advanced technologies in manufacturing, and aerospace and defense.

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Austin American-Statesman - August 7, 2008

ELDER: TEXAS LAND OFFICE COMMITS $100 MILLION TO INFRASTRUCTURE FUND

The Texas School Land Board today voted to invest $100 million in an infrastructure fund run by Goldman Sachs. (To recap the hierarchy of these investments: The school land board approves investments for the General Land Office, which does real estate and land investing on behalf of the Texas Permanent School fund. Income from the PSF helps pay for public education. Got it?) Rusty Martin, deputy commissioner for funds management, told the land board that the Goldman fund will top out at about $7.5 billion and invest primarily in transportation and utilities infrastructure.

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Austin American-Statesman - August 7, 2008

AAS: TEXAS YOUTH COMMISSION STILL STAGGERING TOWARD REFORM

The Texas Youth Commission is still struggling to right itself after last year's eruption of a scandal involving allegations of sexual abuse of minors by several employees, including some in supervisory positions, and the failure of the agency's senior administrators to act — even, it appeared, to ignore or cover up the wrongdoing below. An angry Legislature demanded change, forcing Gov. Rick Perry to put the agency into conservatorship, dismissing its six-member commission and replacing much of its top leadership. The number of youths in custody was reduced.

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Austin Chronicle - August 7, 2008

NORIEGA PRESENTS IMMIGRATION PLAN

Staying on the offensive in his challenge to incumbent Republican John Cornyn, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega today unveiled his plan to deal with illegal immigration. (Just last month, Noriega released an energy plan.) The immigration plan focuses on three central planks: Secure the border with manpower and electronics rather than a wall, crack down on those who hire illegal immigrants, and “turn the immigrants into taxpayers.”

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City Stories

Austin American-Statesman - August 7, 2008

TYPHUS CASES REPORTED IN CENTRAL AUSTIN

The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department is investigating about a dozen cases of possible typhus infection, most of them reported in Central Austin. The type of typhus found in Texas, murine typhus, is most commonly caused by rats and their fleas, but opossums and cats can also be involved in transmitting the disease, according to the Department of State Health Services Web site. People get it from an infected flea. Carole Barasch, a spokeswoman for the local agency, said the department is working with the Department of State Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to investigate the outbreak.

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Austin American-Statesman - August 7, 2008

AUSTIN'S TRASH FEE COULD RISE BY 36%

South Austin homeowner Tom Sechrest considers himself a good environmental steward. He said he tries not to produce too much garbage, neatly separates out recyclables at his curb each week and drives the items the City of Austin won't accept to a private recycling business. But, Sechrest said, it still irks him that city officials want to raise garbage fees by as much as 36 percent in the 2009 budget.

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Midland Reporter-Telegram - August 7, 2008

MIDLAND SETS RECORD WITH AUGUST SALES TAX COLLECTION

The sales tax collection for August set a new record as the city collected more than $2.7 million -- more than $587,000 better than the same month in 2007 and more than $229,000 better than the previous record set in February. August 2008 collection: $2,703,813 August 2007 collection: $2,116,813 Percent increase: 27.73 Fiscal year-to-date total: $22,710,102 * Percent increase from last year: 12.48

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