Lead Stories

PERRY: 'BIZARRE' FOR SENATOR TO SEEK REVENUE ESTIMATE

Gov. Rick Perry said it's "bizarre" for Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, to ask for a new revenue estimate from the state comptroller and suggested Watson's request is politically motivated. He said he wasn't familiar with the constitutional provision cited by Watson in his letter to Comptroller Susan Combs

STUDY: TEXAS ENTERPRISE FUND COMPANIES STRUGGLING

Two-thirds of the Texas Enterprise Fund companies that had to meet job-creation goals in 2009 in exchange for millions of dollars in taxpayer money failed to bring in the jobs they promised, according to a report released Wednesday. That percentage is up from the previous year, when Texans for Public Justice also issued a study on enterprise fund companies and found that 42 percent of those it reviewed were failing to meet their job-creation targets.

POLLS INDICATE GOVERNOR'S RACE TIGHTENING

Two polls released Tuesday showed Gov. Rick Perry's re-election bid had slipped toward a statistical tie with Democrat Bill White, but both surveys may have reflected more of a short-term Democratic attack than a shift in the race. One survey commissioned by the Democratic-leaning consumer group Texas Watch showed Perry leading 43 percent to White's 42 percent, a tie within the margin of error. The other poll, commissioned by Democratic philanthropist Bernard Rappaport, had Perry leading 44.4 percent to White's 40.6 percent, a slight lead for the governor.

40% OF GUNS USED IN MEXICO CRIMES ORIGINATED IN TEXAS

Forty percent of Mexico gun crimes traced by the ATF last year used guns originally sold in Texas, according to a report issued Tuesday by a coalition of U.S. mayors. The bipartisan advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns reported that 2,076 guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico were tracked to Texas by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives. Texas had the highest percentage of any state in the study. Another 36 percent of guns seized in Mexico were traced to sales in New Mexico, Arizona and California, according to the report by the coalition of 500 mayors. El Paso is not listed as part of the group.

National Stories

OBAMA'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN NOT A HIT WITH ECONOMISTS

President Obama's proposal to jolt a listless recovery with $180 billion worth of tax breaks and transportation projects left economists largely unimpressed Tuesday. "I don't think they're game-changers," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "I don't think they're going to add up to a lot of new jobs." The president will roll out his plan today in Parma, Ohio, but details have been dribbling out.

JUSTICE SUES ARIZONA IN GREEN-CARD 'HURDLES'

The Justice Department has brought yet another legal challenge against Arizona, accusing the Maricopa County Community College District in Phoenix of illegally asking foreign nationals to show their Permanent Resident Cards, or "green cards," before being offered jobs in the 10-college system. The lawsuit alleges that the school district engaged in a "pattern or practice of discrimination by imposing unnecessary and discriminatory hurdles to employment for work authorized non-citizens," and seeks a penalty of $1,100 for each of 247 non-U.S. citizens identified during a yearlong investigation. The Aug. 30 lawsuit, first reported by the Arizona Republic, said the school district required noncitizen job applicants to present additional work authorization documents beyond those required by law, but did not require U.S. citizens to do the same.

OBAMA TO GET PERSONAL ON ECONOMY

President Barack Obama — facing a buzz saw of bad news — plans to shift his tone on the economy, ditching dry Explainer-in-Chief policy lectures for a more emotional, more personal approach emphasizing his own family’s hardships, administration officials tell POLITICO. Exhibit A: Obama’s Wednesday trip to Cleveland — where Obama will follow up a pointed attack on House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) with a retelling of the economic struggles faced by his family during his childhood in Hawaii.

AUDITORS: STAFFING SHORTAGES STYMIE STIMULUS

Efforts to pump $862 billion in stimulus into the economy and create private jobs are being slowed by a shortage of federal jobs: the 25,000 overseers of grants and contracts to guard against waste and fraud, government auditors say. Those officials worry that the shifting of resources to high-priority stimulus programs could have a ripple effect on non-Recovery Act activities. Recovery Board Chairman Earl Devaney said the act has brought a long-term trend to the breaking point. Government spending on contractors rose 144% from 2001 to 2008, while contracting staff increased 12%.

MIDTERM DEBACLE: THE BLAME GAME BEGINS

Come Nov. 2, one of two big things will happen: Democrats will blow the most complete dominion a party has held over government since the advent of the Reagan revolution. Or Republicans will blow the biggest advantages an out-of-power party has enjoyed since Watergate. Either way, the blowback will be searing – and then followed by one of Washington’s enduring customs: cut-throat blame-casting. We are already getting a taste of the finger-pointing on the campaign trail, and in much more pointed forms in background conversations with officials in the White House, on Capitol Hill, and in the key campaigns.

HOW “BLAME BUSH” PLAYS IN MIDTERM POLLS

Invoking George W. Bush’s name and linking him to Republican candidates in the 2006 and 2008 elections was certainly good strategy for Democrats – he was actually in office during those years and was a deeply unpopular president. But is it good strategy now? To be sure, the public still views Mr. Bush more negatively than positively. In the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 30 percent of Americans say they have a positive view of him, while nearly half, 48 percent, view him negatively. (Another 21 percent say the feel neutral toward him.) On balance, that’s a much more negative rating than Barack Obama receives (46 percent positive, 41 percent negative, 12 percent neutral).

REPORT BY BP FINDS SEVERAL COMPANIES AT FAULT IN SPILL

The oil giant BP said Wednesday in its internal report that a series of failures involving a number of companies ultimately led to the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “No single factor caused the Macondo well tragedy,” BP said in a statement about the report. “Rather, a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties led to the explosion and fire which killed 11 people and caused widespread pollution in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year.” Conducted by the company’s safety chief, Mark Bly, and a team of about 50 mostly BP employees, the inquiry was initiated almost immediately after the April 20 explosion that killed 11 and spilled almost five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

OBAMA IS AGAINST A COMPROMISE ON BUSH TAX CUTS

President Obama on Wednesday will make clear that he opposes any compromise that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy beyond this year, officials said, adding a populist twist to an election-season economic package that is otherwise designed to entice support from big businesses and their Republican allies. Mr. Obama’s opposition to allowing the high-end tax cuts to remain in place for even another year or two would be the signal many Congressional Democrats have been awaiting as they prepare for a showdown with Republicans on the issue and ends speculation that the White House might be open to an extension. Democrats say only the president can rally wavering lawmakers who, amid the party’s weakened poll numbers, feel increasingly vulnerable to Republican attacks if they let the top rates lapse at the end of this year as scheduled.

STATE GAINS WOULD GIVE REDISTRICTING EDGE TO G.O.P.

The midterm elections are being closely watched to determine whether Republicans will have a majority in Congress for the next two years. But it is the outcome of a lower-profile battle over state legislatures that could strengthen the Republican Party for a decade. Republicans are within reach of gaining control of eight or more chambers in state legislatures this fall, according to interviews with Republicans, Democrats and independent political analysts. That would give Republicans the power to draw more Congressional districts in their favor, since the expected gains come just as many legislatures will play a major role in the once-a-decade process of redrawing the boundaries of those districts.

GOP PROPOSES RENEWING TAX CUTS, FREEZING SPENDING

House Republican Leader John Boehner onWednesday proposed a two-year freeze on all tax rates and a cut in government spending to the levels of 2008, before a deep recession took hold of the economy. In a broadcast interview, the Ohio Republican said he was offering a "bipartisan" alternative to the package of business tax incentives and infrastructure spending that President Barack Obama was slated to announce later Wednesday in Cleveland.

State Stories

NOT GROUND ZERO, BUT KATY MOSQUE ALSO STIRS PASSIONS

It wasn't your typical Friday night in Texas spectator sport. Some 300 Katy residents would gather to watch snorting pigs in a raucous race around a track. The weekly event drew national media attention, including a spoof on The Daily Show. That's because it was staged next door to an 11-acre site for a planned mosque for Muslims, who are forbidden from eating pork. The races were held on Fridays, the holiest day of the week for Muslims.

ABUSE CASE WENT UNDER THE RADAR

Three times before their 7-month-old baby was brought to a Houston emergency room with extensive injuries including a fractured skull and broken bones, Texas Child Protective Services received complaints that her parents had physically abused the child. But the investigation was closed in May after the family could not be located by CPS in Tarrant County, were the couple was living at the time. The family moved to Houston two months ago where they are now accused of continuing to abuse the child.

CHAVEZ-THOMPSON HAS UPHILL FIGHT AGAINST DEWHURST

It is a common assumption in Texas that only Democrats with conservative credentials stand much chance in statewide elections. After all, Republicans have won every statewide race in the last 16 years. Bill White, the Democratic Party's best hope for the governor's mansion since 1994, regularly assures wavering Republicans and independents that he is a "fiscal conservative" and carefully avoided being caught in the same zip code as President Barack Obama when he visited Texas last month.

LAWMAKERS SEEK ANSWERS ON TEXAS' BUDGET OUTLOOK

A lack of clear, updated information about just how much financial hardship the state faces heading into next year's legislative session is starting to frustrate some lawmakers. Bad news about the state's fiscal condition has trickled out over the past year: Sales and business tax collections are beneath official projections, the state's Rainy Day Fund won't have as much money as state officials believed it would a year ago, and a $1.3 billion deficit is expected in the general revenue fund at the end of the current two-year budget.

FIRST READING: NEW WHITE AD HITS BORDER SECURITY

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White put a new ad on the air in various markets around the state last night. White is the only person in the ad to talk. He says, “We believe that federal immigration laws should be enforced. We believe, Texans believe, that we need federal help in securing that border. Rick Perry has been governor for nine and a half years. You would think that he would have been able to get some of the federal resources that he now claims we needed all these years. As governor I’ll put a thousand more police officers and deputy sheriffs all along our border, arresting the gang members, the drug dealers, and let them know things aren’t safe for them in Texas. I’m Bill White. I’m in it for Texas.”

POLITIFACT: SEN. JOHN CORNYN QUOTED SAYING HEARINGS NEEDED ON CITIZENSHIP PROVISION; DID HE LATER CRAWFISH? -- HALF TRUE

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn "'crawfishing'" says a headline on an Aug. 30 web post by Tyler's KETK-TV. It's not describing the Texas senator's vacation plans. Instead, the headline suggests Cornyn backing off on favoring hearings on the constitutional provision entitling anyone born in the United States to citizenship. We wondered.

STATE MAKES PROGRESS ON FOOD STAMP BACKLOG

With hundreds of new workers on board, Texas has dramatically improved its speed and accuracy processing food stamp applications, Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs plans to tell state lawmakers today. But he'll also tell the joint gathering of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the House-Senate panel overseeing the eligibility system that he needs more resources, including more workers. "Yes, we've turned it around," Suehs told the American-Statesman on Tuesday. But he added: "We still have a long way to go to maintain it there. This thing is still in a precarious situation."

BIG COUNTRY LEGISLATORS INTERESTED IN OBAMA TAX PLAN

President Barack Obama’s push for business tax relief has captured the attention of Big Country lawmakers who are constantly calling for a better business atmosphere to jump-start the economy. Abilene Rep. Randy Neugebauer didn’t go so far as to say he’d support Obama’s plan to increase and make permanent research tax credits for businesses to spur economic growth. “The tax credits need to be something that will actually stimulate the economy, cause companies to make long-term investments,” said Neugebauer, a Republican from Lubbock. “So I want to see how that actually plays out and what it looks like before making my determination.”

FLORES CALLS ON EDWARDS TO PULL 'DEFAMATORY' LAYOFF AD

Republican congressional candidate Bill Flores is demanding that U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards stop airing a campaign ad that claims Flores once played a role in the layoffs of more than 3,000 workers. The new ad is not only false but “defamatory,” Flores said Tuesday. If Edwards does not voluntarily stop running the television commercial, Flores said he may take legal action to have it taken off the air. Megan Jacobs, spokeswoman for Edwards’ campaign, said it stands by the message in the ad and has no plans to pull it.

STATE TRIES TO SPUR SCHOOL COST SHARING

Texas could offer school districts a carrot to share out-of-classroom costs this fall before at least one senator prods them with a stick. Gov. Rick Perry recently stopped in Lubbock to lay out a state grant incentive for school districts to split the bills on their human resources, accounting, transportation and other administrative needs. Sharing costs among local districts would help them spend more in the classroom, Perry said in an afternoon talk at Monterey High School.

FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY NOW — EXCEPT FOR HIMSELF

Two months before a book tour and his return to the national TV cameras, George W. Bush spun stories and joked Tuesday for a welcoming Fort Worth audience. No need to make snarky remarks about the former president and Texas Rangers owner, now a north Dallas resident. He's fully willing to tell jokes on himself. "I wrote a book!" he said proudly at the start of an hourlong talk to help raise scholarship money for Tarrant County College. "I know this comes as a great surprise to those who live on our coasts," he said, rolling his eyes to laughs. "Most of them didn't think I could read a book."

HERMINE BRINGS HEAVY RAIN TO DALLAS-FORT WORTH

Even though Hermine was downgraded to a tropical depression Tuesday night, a flash flood watch for Tarrant and surrounding counties continues until early Thursday. Rainfall totals may get as high as 3 to 5 inches, and isolated areas may get as much as 6 inches or more, according to Dennis Cavanaugh, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "It's just too much rain in too short a period of time for the ground to absorb," Cavanaugh said.

STORM BRINGS DAMAGE, OUTAGES TO RIO GRANDE VALLEY

Tropical Storm Hermine blew into Brownsville Monday night and within a few hours the worst was over – the storm dropped about 3 inches of rain but caused minimal damage in the city and southern Cameron County. Trees were uprooted and branches were blown down throughout the area, but no injuries were reported. Power was cut off to thousands of residents, but by Tuesday afternoon the Brownsville Public Utilities Board said it had been restored to all but about 400 customers.

BIG CUTS LOOMING FOR MENTAL HEALTH CARE

About 30,000 people across Texas could lose access to mental health care if planned state budget cuts are made in the next legislative session in January, when lawmakers must address an $18 billion revenue shortfall. The cuts could affect up to 2,400 people in San Antonio, officials said. One of those people is Gloria, a San Antonio resident with bipolar disorder who has grown violent — brandishing a knife at her husband, pelting her daughter with hard-boiled eggs — when she doesn’t take her medication, she said.

IN THE END, THEY COME CRASHING DOWN

One by one, Mexico’s notorious warlords have come and gone — household names and nightmares with a modern-day twist. Instead of Al Capone or John Gotti, they’re drug cartel kingpins with private armies and nicknames like Shorty, Blondie, Friend Killer and most recently, Texas-born La Barbie. Part terrorist. Part rock star. Part legend. But eventually they all meet the same fate, ending up dead, in prison or on the run for life.

FEDS FIND NO DEAD ZONES CAUSED BY BP'S OIL SPILL

Bacteria feeding on oil leaked from BP's ill-fated well have not sapped oxygen levels in the Gulf of Mexico, a new federal study concluded Tuesday. Researchers found a 20 percent drop in oxygen levels within 60 miles of the well head into August, but the levels weren't low enough to create "dead zones" that are harmful to marine life. The findings suggest BP and federal officials properly used chemical dispersants at the mile-deep well head, not just at the surface, to break oil into tiny droplets that are easier for naturally occurring bacteria to digest, said Steve Murawski, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's chief scientist for the spill response.

CHISUM WEIGHS A RACE FOR SPEAKER

Rep. Warren Chisum says he may run for speaker. Chisum, R-Pampa, told me today that he will test drive his appeal to fiscal conservatives in the House's GOP majority over the next eight weeks and decide if he has a shot. "I think we need a proven conservative that has got a conservative history and will move cautiously as we go forward," said Chisum, first elected to the House in 1988. He ran the budget-writing Appropriations Committee in the 2007 session, the last under former Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland.

RICK PERRY: WHY DID BILL WHITE HAVE NO TAXABLE INCOME IN 1995?

Rick Perry's campaign has asked why Democratic challenger Bill White had no taxable income in 1995, his last year as deputy energy secretary in the Clinton administration. White has not released his income tax returns for his years at the Energy Department. But his campaign has told the Dallas Morning News that while White had taxes withheld from his $133,000 salary in 1995, the amount was offset by losses starting an energy business. Perry spokesman Mark Miner says he wants to see the returns -- and until White releases them, Perry will refuse to debate his Democratic opponent. White has released his tax returns for his six years as mayor of Houston.

WHITE, PERRY CONTINUE TO CLASH ON WHETHER TO DEBATE

Bill White said Tuesday that Rick Perry should join him for a debate. "The candidates owe it to the public to debate," said White, the Democratic nominee for governor. "It shouldn't be up to candidates to impose conditions on other candidates about when they would debate." Perry, the longest serving governor in the history of Texas, said he won't debate White until the former Houston mayor publicly releases tax returns from all his years in public service.

PERRY AIDE BOOTED FROM WHITE NEWS CONFERENCE

Dwayne Horner is one of the best field directors in Texas. He's currently the North Texas organizer for Rick Perry's campaign for governor. Part of Horner's job, which he takes seriously, is to stalk the rival candidate when he's in the Dallas area. So Tuesday Horner was there with his camera to film Democrat Bill White's news conference at the Hyatt. But this time Horner got made. White's campaign staff quickly asked him to leave. When he objected, hotel security showed up and he left without incident.

FLORES, EDWARDS SPAR OVER LATEST AD ALLEGING LAYOFFS

GOP candidate Bill Flores hit back hard against Rep. Chet Edwards' latest campaign ad today, calling it "outright false and defamatory." The ad, released last Friday, links Flores to more than 3,000 layoffs in 1998, after oilfield services company Western Atlas, where he was the chief financial officer, merged with another company, Baker Hughes. The Edwards campaign said the job losses were a direct result of the merger. But Flores said the layoffs were due to "poor industry conditions," not the merger, and they occurred after his managerial role had ended.

STRAUS, HOUSE STICK TO GUNS ON $18 BIL ESTIMATE

Senate leaders have suggested it's an exaggeration. Gov. Rick Perry says it was plucked from thin air. But House Speaker Joe Straus has embraced his budget chairman's estimate that Texas in the next two year budget faces an $18 billion shortfall -- and then some, maybe, Straus added last week. Over the weekend, I finally obtained a printed copy of Straus' remarks last week to county leaders. And this paragraph jumped out: "Like you, we will have to make some very tough choices next session," he said. "I've asked members of the House to keep that in mind as they work on developing a balanced, no-new-taxes budget -- especially as we contemplate how to bridge a budget gap at the state level that is projected by the House to be at least $18 billion."

REP. CHET EDWARDS VS BILL FLORES IS NOW A "LEAN REPUBLICAN" CONTEST, HANDICAPPER SAYS

Independent political handicapper Stu Rothenberg has downgraded Rep. Chet Edwards' reelection prospects - not a good sign for the 10-term Waco Democrat. As of two weeks ago, Rothenberg put the race in the "Toss-up/Tilt Republican" category. As of today, he rates it as "Lean Republican." For Edwards, the only worse category would be "Republican favored," and he certainly hopes not to get there. There's not a Democrat in Congress with a district more strongly Republican-leaning.

ARIZONA GOPS RECRUIT GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES. SOUND LIKE TEXAS?

Where have we seen this before? Republicans in Arizona have recruited Green Party candidates in hopes of shaving votes from Democrats in the fall. The Arizona Democratic Party has cried foul - much as the Texas Democratic Party did after a similar effort in the Lone Star State. In Texas, a GOP operative from Arizona engineered a petition drive that put Green Party candidates on the ballot in November. Democrats say the effort is designed to help GOP Gov. Rick Perry by drawing votes away from Democrat Bill White. Perry's campaign denies involvement. But operatives involved in the Green Party petition effort in Texas have ties to Perry's chief consultant, Dave Carney.

FEW TEXAS SCHOOL DISTRICTS HAVE ASKED VOTERS TO RAISE TAX RATES SINCE 2006 LAW TOOK HOLD

Four years after lawmakers put school districts on notice that they would need voter approval for tax hikes, just three out of 10 districts have pulled the lever and sought a higher tax rate – despite the financial pinch gripping many districts. An estimated 224 districts – a little over a fifth of the 1,025 in the state – have won voter approval to raise their tax rates by as much as 13 cents per $100 valuation. Seventy-eight districts have been turned down by their voters, including 17 that have lost twice, according to www.TexasISD.com, which tracks tax rate elections in the state.

CHISUM CONSIDERS RUNNING FOR SPEAKER

Another conservative legislator is mulling a challenge to moderate Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, raising the specter of a Republican leadership battle just as lawmakers begin to tackle a huge budget shortfall early next year. State Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he would decide before the November elections whether to mount a challenge to the top House leader. State Rep. Leo Berman, a Tyler Republican, already has announced plans to run against Straus when lawmakers return to Austin in January. Chisum said he’s not upset with Straus but wants to ensure the Legislature has experienced leaders in place in early 2011, when lawmakers will have to plug a budget hole that could top $18 billion.

TECH OFFICIAL SEEKS MORE TRANSPARENCY FROM FOR-PROFIT COLLEGES

Texas Tech’s chief academic officer is urging his embattled counterparts in the for-profit higher education sector to reveal their faculty lists, but so far they’re not budging. Bob Smith, Tech’s provost, suspects for-profit schools like the University of Phoenix are pilfering faculty from public universities to fill their ever-growing instructor ranks. More specifically, he fears some of Tech’s 970-plus full-time faculty members are moonlighting for these schools as online course instructors, a practice Tech’s policies prohibit without his office’s consent.

AS INSURERS FACE HEALTH CARE LAW REQUIREMENTS, CUSTOMERS FACE CANCELLATIONS

Two months ago, Al and Jill Alcantara, both 63, of McKinney, got a letter from their health insurer saying their policy would not be renewed. In the letter sent to the Alcantaras and other customers, Grand Prairie-based National Health Insurance Co. said it could no longer offer individual accident and health insurance policies. It blamed its decision on the company's inability to meet requirements of the health care overhaul signed into law this year. The cancellation highlights one way the new law is reshaping the health care landscape in North Texas and elsewhere. Some health economists say more small insurers may soon buckle under the weight of the law's mandates.

RIVAL SAYS TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL'S ARIZONA STANCE SHOWS SHIFT IN HIS BELIEFS

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's decision to support Arizona in a battle with the federal government over immigration runs counter to beliefs he expressed years ago, Democratic opponent Barbara Ann Radnofsky has alleged. Abbott, a Republican, said in an Aug. 30 interview with the Texas Tribune that he supports the notion that states have "the authority to participate in the immigration enforcement issue." Radnofsky, however, drew attention to a February 2004 news release in which Abbott said: "Developing and enforcing immigration laws is the exclusive domain of the federal government."

DMN: SCHOLARSHIP VIOLATIONS STARTING TO OVERSHADOW JOHNSON'S YEARS OF SERVICE

That probably is the question on most people's minds as they try to sort out all the competing reasons Dallas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson has given for breaking Congressional Black Caucus Foundation rules by giving foundation scholarships to family members and a staff member's child. Early on, Johnson assumed responsibility for the mistakes and paid back the foundation. But she also has blamed her chief of staff for the scholarships being erroneously awarded. She has cast aspersions on Dallas Morning News reporter Todd Gillman for his work on the story. She has suggested she was not at her best because of recent surgery. And she has said that "no ethical alarm bells went off" when her office awarded the scholarships.

TROPICAL STORM HERMINE LASHES TEXAS WITH WIND AND RAIN, BUT DAMAGE IS MINIMAL

Tropical Storm Hermine gave a wet and windy punch to Texas on Tuesday but left only minor scrapes in the storm-weary Rio Grande Valley, which is proving resilient this hurricane season after taking a third tropical system on the chin. Hermine lost steam after crossing into Texas with tropical-storm strength and by Tuesday night, it had been downgraded to a tropical depression. A peeled-back motel roof in the Valley farming town of Raymondville and scattered power outages were about the worst damage from the gusty, drenching storm that came and went quickly after creeping up on Texas and Mexico in the warm Gulf of Mexico over the holiday weekend.

EXPECTATIONS FOR VOTER TURNOUT IN BEXAR COUNTY REMAIN LOW

With a high-profile governor's race and several other hotly contested campaigns under way, county officials on Tuesday forecast a 30 percent turnout in Bexar County for the Nov. 2 general election. That's the same participation rate recorded in a comparable mid-term election in 2006, despite there being 27,000 fewer registered voters now. The county has 870,000 registered voters, and “we're looking at 300,000 to 320,000” for the total turnout, Elections Administrator Jacquelyn Callanen told Commissioners Court.

IN MARFA, ARTISTS CHEER STALL IN SOLAR PROJECT

In the tiny artists' outpost of Marfa, residents who opposed the build-out of a massive solar power plant can thank the languishing national economy for putting the project on hold. Citing a lack of investors, Houston-based Tessera Solar has scotched plans to erect at least 1,000 three-story mirrored satellite dishes — designed to convert the blisteringly bright desert sun into electricity — until further notice. The solar project had created a chasm in the community, dividing those who embraced the potential for new jobs and tax revenue and those who worried the silvery sun catchers would blight the barren desert landscape.

TEXAS' WIND TRANSMISSION PROJECT KEEPS ROLLING

Last week, to cheers from a crowded courtroom, commissioners in Denton County unanimously passed a resolution opposing the construction of a big new transmission line through their county — even though it would carry clean, renewable wind power. Later today, the company that wants to build the line will file a stack of paperwork refuting some of the objections and asking Texas regulators for permission to proceed anyway. It's the latest episode in the marathon drama known as CREZ (short for Competitive Renewable Energy Zones), the state's two-year-old plan for building a $5 billion transmission network to support the pell-mell development of wind farms in West Texas. Regulators already have approved eight new routes, with construction on some to begin this fall. Nearly two dozen more are in the pipeline, including the Denton County line.

County Stories

DALLAS COUNTY RACES TAKING SHAPE

There are only 55 days before the general election, and much of the narrative is already in place. Republicans, buoyed by the tea party movement and a national anti-government sentiment, have the motivated voter base and their best prospect for victory in years. But in places like Dallas County, the candidates and party with the best organizations could make the difference. The result of the elections here will depend on whether Republican motivation can outperform Democratic hustle.

WADE EMMERT CHALLENGES CLAY JENKINS TO 6 DEBATES

The quiet race for county judge could get a little more interesting. Republican Wade Emmert today challenged Democrat Clay Jenkins to a "series of five to six debates" between now and the November 2 election. The candidates are currently scheduled to have only one debate, an October forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters at Friendship-West Baptist Church. "So far, Clay Jenkins has said very little regarding his positions and policies on the issues that are important to Dallas County, like taxes, spending, ethics and public safety," Emmert spokesman Brian Mayes said in a news release.

City Stories

PUBLIC INVITED TO TESTIFY AT DALLAS HEARING ON COAL ASH THIS MORNING

The Environmental Protection Agency has invited the public to testify at a hearing in Dallas this morning on possible new rules for handling coal ash. The ash is left over from burning coal for electricity and is full of concentrated toxic metals. Coal-firing power companies generally bury it at the plant or in nearby landfills. Critics say that process endangers water quality. Companies and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality say existing rules are sufficient.

TOMBALL VOTES DOWN HOUSING BAN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

The Tomball City Council late Tuesday defeated a proposal to make English the city's official language and voted down another measure seeking to prohibit illegal immigrants from renting or owning property or owning or operating a business there. The council also voted to keep the city's day laborer site open and operating, despite vociferous protests from some in the audience. And officials delayed taking action on a proposal to award city contracts strictly to companies and subcontractors that hire and use only legal U.S. citizens as employees.

RED LIGHT CAMERA FIRM FILES LAWSUIT OVER ELECTION

American Traffic Solutions, the company that owns and operates the cameras and sensor systems used to enforce red light compliance at several Baytown intersections, filed a lawsuit against the city Thursday seeking to overturn the city’s decision to call an election on an amendment to the red light camera ordinance. In addition to repeating previous claims the amendment to the ordinance constitutes a repeal of the ordinance and violates state code, the lawsuit also claims the city is violating the federal Voting Rights Act.

Copyright September 08, 2010, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved