Lead Stories

ONLY IN AUSTIN: A LEGAL ARGUMENT ABOUT WHETHER IT'S THE STATE CAPITAL

Could Austin not be the capital of Texas? That's the assertion that Railroad Commission Chairwoman Elizabeth Ames Jones makes in a newly filed request for Attorney General Greg Abbott to resolve a nagging issue in her campaign for the Texas Senate. Jones is asking because one of her two GOP primary election opponents, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, has accused Jones of moving her residence to San Antonio last fall from Austin so she could run against him in a district that includes San Antonio and South Austin. Before she announced for the state Senate, Jones was a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

TEXAS' HAUL FROM BP SPILL: $100 MILLION, AND COUNTING

At least $100 million, and possibly much more, will be funneled to Texas as part of the cleanup financing from BP after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. So far, Texas officials have received more than 150 suggestions on how to spend the money, including expansion of parkland, restoration of oyster reefs and a campaign to reduce litter that ends up in the Gulf. For environmental groups involved in coastal restoration, this money, as yet unspent, represents a huge opportunity. Besides the $100 million that BP is allocating to each of the five Gulf states, Texas can also seek a chunk of an additional $500 million in BP funds that the federal government will disburse to Gulf states. All of the money, $1 billion in total, is earmarked for “early restoration,” and the amounts could increase further, said James Tripp, senior counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund.

TEXAS' STARVING SCHOOL DISTRICTS LAWYER UP FOR (ANOTHER) EPIC BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL

All is not well in Texas schools. After billions in cuts and tens of thousands of teachers laid off, students now cram into overcrowded classrooms across the state. Field trips are canceled, and lunch is served for hours to accommodate the crowds. There is a pallor, a stagnancy crusting over the system like old coffee at the bottom of the teachers’ lounge pot. In December, a survey by the American Federation of Teachers captured the mood. “Morale is lower than I have ever seen it,” said one of the 3,500 Texas teachers surveyed. “I dread coming to work,” said another. Eighty-five percent of Texas teachers reported district colleagues getting laid off. Fewer teachers mean bigger classes. Bigger classes mean more stressful days and longer nights grading assignments.

TO FIX IMAGE, REPUBLICANS IN HOUSE THINK SMALL

Unpopular and divided, the once mighty House Republicans are laboring to repair their image and frame a new agenda. Absent for now is a big, contentious docket similar to last year’s, which included the goal of writing new health care legislation to replace the Obama administration’s law. A long-promised overhaul of the tax code seems out of reach. When Representative Eric Cantor, the Virginia Republican and majority leader, issued a memo this week laying out the body’s initial legislative agenda, a centerpiece was a modest tax cut for small businesses.

State Stories

LEADERS WARN OF MORE BUDGET PROBLEMS IN TEXAS

Two key leaders of Gov. Rick Perry's team highlighted growing budget problems this week, with one projecting at least a $15 billion hole in the Medicaid program and another warning that the ban on social promotions will end unless lawmakers find money to help struggling students. More also will be needed to pay for the new school accountability system, Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott told school administrators Monday. Warnings from the two respected agency commissioners that state leaders need to appropriate more money to fix problems in the costliest missions of state government - education and health care - will renew the ongoing conflict between those advocating more spending and others who want to shrink government.

TEXANS CHALLENGE STATE’S NEW VOTER ID LAW IN DC COURT

Texas critics of the state’s new Voter ID Law have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington to overturn the measure. Chad Dunn, a lawyer with Brazil & Dunn who represents the Texans challenging the law, says Voter ID laws like the one in Texas “seems like part of a larger strategy” to block minority access to the ballot box. Among the eight Texans involved in the case: State Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth, Justice of the Peace Penny Pope, Constable Michael Montez and Constable Sergio De Leon.

TOP STANFORD ASSOCIATE TELLS OF INACCURATE FINANCIAL REPORTS

The star witness against R. Allen Stanford - his former chief financial officer, college roommate and alleged fraud co-conspirator - wove a story Thursday about two decades of fudged financial reports and a "blood oath" with a corrupt Caribbean regulator. "I lied about the truthfulness of the statements of Stanford International Bank Limited," James Davis said in the packed courtroom of U.S. District Judge David Hittner, referring to Stanford's institution in the Caribbean island nation of Antigua.

PECK, STEVENSON, KELLNER: LET'S MAKE NEW EXAMS FAIR FOR STUDENTS AND SCHOOLS

As parents who support the public schools and demand high educational standards from our children and our schools, we take issue with Bill Hammond's recent opinion piece about the new Texas STAAR accountability program ("Let's make new exams count," Page B11, Jan. 24.) In this first year of administration, our 9th grade students are being held accountable for state-issued end-of-course, or EOC, exams - as part of their class grades and in their grade point averages on their report cards and transcripts.

PAUL GATHERS MOMENTUM AMONG WEST’S MORMONS

With no state income tax, a palpable mistrust of the federal government and a what-happens-in-Vegas attitude on social issues, Nevada’s Republican presidential caucus on Saturday would seem to be a contest that libertarian-leaning, small government-loving Texas Rep. Ron Paul could win. But it’s not that simple. One key reason that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is favored to win is that about 25 percent of the voters are expected to be members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Four years ago, exit polls showed that 95 percent of them supported Romney, their fellow Mormon, which helped him easily win the Nevada caucus with 51 percent of the vote to Paul’s 13.7 percent.

NORTH TEXAS DROUGHT-FREE, LATEST MAP SHOWS

After two months of unseasonably heavy rains, the Dallas-Fort Worth region became the first metropolitan area to emerge from one of the most severe droughts in Texas history. The latest version of the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map shows most of Dallas and Tarrant counties and all of Collin, Denton, Rockwall and neighboring counties free of any drought designation — though the southern edges of Dallas and Tarrant remain “abnormally dry.”

IN SENATE RACE, SCOTT O'GRADY DETAILS SPLIT WITH FLORENCE SHAPIRO

Former state Senate hopeful Scott O'Grady, who this week blasted incumbent Sen Florence Shapiro for allegedly reneging on campaign promises, on Thursday offered further details about their split. In an interview, O'Grady accused Shapiro of reneging on pledges that she would publicly endorse his campaign and provide as much as $200,000 from her own campaign fund. "I expect people who are on my team to stay on my team," O'Grady said. "Unfortunately, some people had other plans."

CRAIG JAMES GIVES DEWHURST SOME -- FIST BUMP, THAT IS

Jiminy, that Craig James is playful. Some political reporters well remember his debut as a potential Senate candidate -- two years ago, as keynoter at a conservative think tank's annual conference in Austin. "I've spoken to that young audience,"he said then, speaking of his viewers on ESPN broadcasts of college football. James promised to rouse the kiddoes about what the pinko, if youthful, occupant of the White House was doing to their freedoms.

CRUZ, LIKE GINGRICH, WARNS OF 'LANGUAGE GHETTO' CREATED BY BILINGUAL ED

Republican Senate candidate Ted Cruz, lifting a page from GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, has warned of a "language ghetto" that's promoted by American liberals' treatment of immigrants, presumably through bilingual education programs in the public schools, among other things. At a business group's candidate forum in Austin Wednesday, Cruz answered a question about extensions of jobless benefits by describing his father Rafael Cruz' flight from Cuba to Texas in 1957.

GIBSON ABRUPTLY PULLS OUT OF DEMOCRATIC RACE FOR U.S. SENATE

Houston trial lawyer Jason Gibson has abandoned his barely launched bid to be Texas' next senator, saying he just realized the uphill effort would leave him little time for family, profession and his duties as president of the Houston Trial Lawyers Association. Gibson on Thursday endorsed former state lawmaker Paul Sadler, D-Henderson. Last weekend, Sadler won the nod of the Texas AFL-CIO's Committee on Political Education. Then on Wednesday, Sadler's campaign released a list of endorsements by 20 current Democrats in the Texas Legislature, plus former House Democratic leader Jim Dunnam and the party's 2010 lieutenant governor nomineee, Linda Chavez-Thompson, whom it described as a "venerated labor leader."

CRAIG JAMES ON GAY MARRIAGE: LIBERTARIAN, SORT OF?

Republican Senate hopeful Craig James appears to be taking a much softer approach to the issue of gay marriage -- in tone, at least -- than most of his rivals in the GOP primary. In an interview with radio show host Scott Braddock on Houston radio station News 92 FM, James was asked Thursday to react to news that Washington state appears headed toward rapid approval of legislation that would legalize gay marriage. If so, it would join six other states and the District of Columbia in recognizing same-sex nuptials.

MCLEROY: TEXAS' EVOLUTION TEACHING MEETS SCIENCE STANDARDS

The big story concerning the release of the Fordham Institute's "State of the State Science Standards 2012" is not the overall grade that Texas received but that the controversial high school evolution standards were described as "exemplary." How can this be? These are the standards that the State Board of Education's religious conservatives successfully amended to challenge some of evolution's most glaring weaknesses in explaining the fossil record and the complexity of the cell.

HERMAN: ARE STATE EMPLOYEES NOT FESSING UP TO TOBACCO USE?

Lord knows we all love state employees. And woe be unto any local politician who dares doubt that each and every state employee is among the best, hardest-working, finest-looking people ever created. So it is with a heavy heart that I must report evidence indicating lots of state employees and retirees might be lying pig-dogs. What could cause these hard-working, fine-looking people to lie? Thirty bucks a month seems to be the price. Last year, Texas lawmakers had a good idea (hey, one out of a bazillion isn't bad). The idea, converted into law, is a "tobacco cessation" program for state workers and retirees, including higher health insurance premiums for tobacco users and coverage for tobacco cessation drugs.

TEXAS READIES A NEW WEAPON AGAINST 'DOCTOR SHOPPING' FOR PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

As prescription drug abuse increases, Texas is readying a new weapon to catch patients who "doctor shop" for multiple prescriptions and physicians who prescribe too many painkillers. The Texas Department of Public Safety has been collecting prescription histories of Texans for years, but by this summer the data are expected to be online so doctors, pharmacists and law enforcement officials can more quickly identify the patients abusing pain medications and the medical establishments profiting from the drug trade. The Legislature last year made "doctor shopping" a felony in most cases and has tried to curb so-called pill mills that supply popular painkillers. Next year, the Legislature will consider whether to make it mandatory for doctors and pharmacists to check the state database before writing or filling a prescription.

AAS: 'C' IN SCIENCE NOT ENOUGH FOR OUR KIDS

When pondering Texas education, it's almost impossible not to hum a little Sam Cooke. "Don't know much about history," one of the late singer's hits went, " ... don't know much about a science book. Don't know much about the French I took." In rating Texas' science curriculum, Thomas B. Fordham Institute researchers gave it a "C." Incredibly, that bit of mediocre news was considered good. At least the science curriculum didn't suffer the blistering that the social science standards got when Fordham researchers evaluated them last year or repeat the "F" science standards got in 2005.

POLITIFACT TEXAS: RON PAUL SAYS FEDERAL INCOME TAX RATE WAS 0 PERCENT UNTIL 1913 -- HALF TRUE

Asked at a recent Republican presidential debate to specify what the highest federal income tax rate should be, the candidates offered various figures: 15 percent from Newt Gingrich, 20 percent from Rick Perry, 25 percent from Mitt Romney, and 28 percent from Rick Santorum. When it was Ron Paul’s turn to respond, the Texas congressman undercut the previous answers, saying: "We should have the lowest tax that we’ve ever had, and up until 1913, it was 0 percent. What’s so bad about that?"

UT SYSTEM SOUGHT 'QUICK WINS' WITH MYEDU PARTNERSHIP, EMAILS SHOW

Top officials of the University of Texas System created a "rapid response team" and spoke of "adrenaline," "quick wins" and "throttles forward" regarding a partnership with the operator of a course-planning website for students, according to emails and other records obtained by the American-Statesman. The records show that the officials were eager to begin the partnership with Austin-based MyEdu Corp. after members of the Board of Regents voted unanimously in August to acquire a 22.5 percent stake in the privately held company for $10 million. The money came from the multibillion-dollar higher education endowment overseen by the regents.

LIZ GEISE NAMED MANSION ADMINISTRATOR

Longtime Austin civic and preservation supporter Liz Geise today was named administrator of the Texas Governor’s Mansion, where a $27 million restoration project is nearing completion to repair extensive damage from a June 2008 arson fire. Gov. Rick Perry announced the appointment, noting that Geise will be responsible for the operation, use and maintenance of the landmark downtown Austin manse and its surrounding grounds.

TEXAS TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION CHAIRMAN TALKS OF HIGHER VEHICLE REGISTRATION FEES

Texans could face higher annual motor vehicle registration fees in coming years to raise new revenue for roads. Transportation Commission Chairman Ted Houghton of El Paso floated the idea Thursday in Euless, where he spoke to about 200 transportation advocates from Dallas-Fort Worth. Houghton offered a preview of issues likely to be discussed in the months leading up to the 2013 Legislature.

NORMAN: TESTING HAS BECOME A 'PERVERSION,' TEXAS EDUCATION CHIEF ROBERT SCOTT SAYS

Education Commissioner Robert Scott must feel a bit misunderstood. He's getting both praise and heavy criticism for railing about what's gone wrong with standardized testing in Texas public schools. It's not that he wasn't clear. It's just that some of his words were more memorable than others. In a span of just five days, Scott spoke out twice, very publicly, about the "perversion" that testing has become. He said many people now see state testing as a symbol of what's wrong with public schools, "the heart of the vampire." Summoning his inner Ike Eisenhower, he said businesses that have sprung up to design, prepare and score tests and provide other services related to them are "not just a cottage industry but a military-industrial complex."

POWERS OF HOAS IN TEXAS REDUCED

A slew of changes are now in effect for the state's homeowners associations, the love-'em-or-hate-'em groups that everyone seems to have an opinion about. The changes grant homeowners more freedoms when it comes to outdoor decorating and installation of environmentally friendly systems. The changes also make it harder for HOAs to foreclose because of unpaid fees. The regulations, passed by the Legislature last year, are considered the most sweeping reforms yet for property owner groups.

PIMENTEL: TIME TO STAND UP FOR SCHOOLS

One way of telling state legislators that you don't care about education: Single-digit voter turnouts for school board races. If you don't care, why should they? Another effective way: Re-electing the same folks time and again who perpetuate this neglect. Texas does a lot of this. Message received, judging from the last state schools budget. The first claim — about turnout — is mine, made before in this column space in a completely quixotic attempt to increase interest in school board elections.

JUDGE TELLS SCHOOL OFFICIALS IN PRAYER SUIT TO BE NEUTRAL

Be neutral. That was the advice Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery gave to school districts Thursday as a controversial prayer lawsuit against the Medina Valley Independent School District neared trial. He issued an advisory saying that if a person is acting as a government official — such as a school district employee — then he or she should keep mum and stay seated if a student asks others to join in prayer during a school function or event, like graduation.

HAECKER: TAP RAINY DAY FUND FOR SCHOOLS NOW

Parents are justifiably concerned about STAAR, the newest version of Texas' upside-down school accountability system. The standardized test, which debuts this spring, is the latest example of Gov. Rick Perry and the legislative majority imposing accountability on everyone in the educational process but themselves. While loading more “accountability” onto children in the form of STAAR, which is supposed to be a tougher, higher-stakes set of tests than the TAKS it is replacing, the same state officials slashed $5.4 billion from an already inadequate public education budget. Those cuts put more than test scores at stake by denying students and teachers the resources they need to succeed.

KEY STATE PROGRAMS SEE BUDGET HOLES

Two key leaders of Gov. Rick Perry's team highlighted growing budget problems in separate speeches this week, with one projecting at least a $15 billion hole in the Medicaid program and the other warning that the ban on social promotions in schools will be lifted unless lawmakers provide money to help struggling students. More money also will be needed to pay for the state's new school accountability system, Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott told school administrators.

DEMOCRAT JASON GIBSON DROPS OUT OF U.S. SENATE PRIMARY

Democrat Jason Gibson dropped out of the U.S. Senate race this afternoon and endorsed former state Rep. Paul Sadler of Henderson. Sadler won a unanimous endorsement from the political arm of the Texas AFL-CIO last weekend, and that sparked Gibson's announcement. That leaves three Democrats, ten Republicans and a Libertarian in the race to succeed Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who isn't seeking reelection.

CCCT: TEXAS REDISTRICTING NEGOTIATORS MUST MEET DEADLINE

Of course the task of redrawing Texas congressional and legislative districts into a legally acceptable map is complex, confrontational and controversial. Keeping track of the various court proceedings in various jurisdictions already is complex enough. For Texas' sake, the opposing sides assigned by one of those courts to negotiate a compromise need to meet their Monday deadline. The negotiators had best not procrastinate or the state may have to split the presidential and perhaps statewide races into a separate primary election. Turnouts for primary elections already are unacceptably low. Two primary elections would lower turnout further — at the added cost of an extra election.

ADDISON GEARS MESSAGE TO THE COMMON MAN

While the major news media continue to portray the race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison increasingly as a three-man event, a number of candidates are actually in the hunt for the job in both parties. And at least one of those says persistence is beginning to pay off. “I really feel like some of the seeds I have been planting are starting to bear fruit,” notes Glenn Addison, a small businessman who is challenging Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Ted Cruz, Craig James and a cast of thousands for the Republican nomination in this year’s primary. “We have a message for the common man, and people are listening.”

MEMBERS OF THE TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM BOARD OF REGENTS HAVE DONATED A COMBINED TOTAL OF $245,126 TO GOV. RICK PERRY.

Eight of nine voting members on the Board of Regents donated to Perry’s gubernatorial campaign fund — Texans for Rick Perry. Perry appoints all of the public university regents, who are influential administrators within a university system. The regents meet quarterly to make budget decisions and set tuition and fees for each of the universities in the system. They set the salary of administrators, determine degree programs and approve Campus Master Plans.

LITTLE AGREEMENT ON HOW TO FIX SCHOOL FINANCE SYSTEM

A teachers group has urged Gov. Rick Perry to call a special session to address education funding, but there's still plenty of disagreement on what fixing the school funding system would actually mean. Some think lawmakers should eliminate the use of local property taxes and pass a constitutional amendment to create a statewide property tax. Others want a more immediate fix: Spend a couple of billion dollars to stop additional teacher layoffs — and call lawmakers back to Austin to do so.

County Stories

HARRIS COUNTY DA LOOKED INTO GRAND JURORS, BUT HOW DEEPLY?

After denying any investigation into the grand jurors who for six months investigated her office, Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos disclosed that she directed her chief investigator to run "a cursory Internet search." Meanwhile, sources say an investigation by the DA's office into grand jurors, two judges and a political opponent of Lykos was ongoing during the grand jury's probe.

OFFICIALS APPLAUD NTTA’S NEW ETHICS POLICIES

Some of the most powerful and vocal critics of the North Texas Tollway Authority lined up Thursday to applaud changes adopted by the authority in the past 90 days, especially the NTTA board’s acceptance of strong new ethics rules and changes in the way it will select major consulting firms. Two state lawmakers and the county judges from each of the four counties where NTTA operates said the authority has energetically embraced scores of recommendations contained in an audit issued in October. “It really is remarkable to see the progress that has been made,” said Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, who led an unsuccessful effort last year to pass legislation subjecting NTTA to state oversight.

BANK HOPES TO EVICT FLOWER MOUND MAN WHO USED SQUATTER'S RIGHTS LAW TO CLAIM $340,000 HOME

An eviction notice issued this week may bring an end to Kenneth Robinson's claim to a Flower Mound home in foreclosure. WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reports that Bank of America issued the notice earlier this month, saying that it took ownership of the $340,000 house through foreclosure. Staff writer Scott K. Parks first reported in July that Robinson boldly moved into the home by using a little-known Texas law called "adverse possession," also known as squatter's rights.

TARRANT COUNTY BOARD DEBATES ETHICS OF HAVING LAWYERS ACT AS BONDSMEN

Tarrant County's bail bond board says it has a problem with attorneys who corner people into hiring them as legal counsel when they bond them out of jail. "I have a real problem that we allow attorneys to make bail bonds in the first place," said District Clerk Tom Wilder, the board's vice chairman. "We're one of the only states to allow them to do that." But at Wednesday's meeting, a group of attorneys torpedoed efforts to try to improve disclosures to the public. At issue is whether attorneys should be required early on to disclose their dual role to their clients.

City Stories

AUSTIN ENERGY PROPOSAL KEEPS SAME RATE INCREASE BUT DIVIDES IT INTO TWO STEPS

Under pressure from an unhappy City Council, Austin Energy released a new proposal Thursday for raising electric rates. The city-owned utility is seeking to keep the 12.5 percent average rate increase it initially proposed but phase it in over two steps. Sometime this year, rates would rise 8.7 percent, although the increase would hit homes, churches and some other classes of customer much harder. Another 3.8 percent increase would kick in around October 2014.

DALLAS SEEN AS A COMMERCIAL PROPERTY HOT SPOT WITH MORE BUYS AHEAD

After closing 2011 with a flurry of commercial real estate deals, investors and brokers expect more big-ticket property buys in the months ahead. More than a billion dollars of commercial property changed hands in North Texas in recent months. Investors snapped up Las Colinas’ flagship Williams Square complex for more than $230 million. And controlling interests in Dallas’ Trammell Crow Center, Fountain Place and Crescent office landmarks were sold for close to $700 million.

OLDER STUDENTS AT DCCCD FINDING CLASSES DROPPED DECADES AGO KEEP THEM FROM GETTING FINANCIAL AID

Older students who dropped out of school decades ago — but are now trying to get their degrees at Dallas County Community College District — are finding their financial aid has been cut under a policy that no longer allows probation or appeal. The policy took effect on July 1 at the state’s largest undergraduate institutions, but it allowed for a “warning” semester for students whose “Satisfactory Academic Progress” did not meet a school’s requirements. This semester is the first that the school is cutting financial aid to the students affected by the rule.

THINK TANK RATES EL PASO HIGH FOR VALUING RACIAL AND ETHNIC EQUITY

El Paso is one of the top 10 metropolitan areas in the United States for racial and ethnic equality between white and black people and between Latinos and white people, according to rankings released Thursday by the Urban Institute. The border city ranked second in the country for black-white equity and ninth for equity between Latinos and white people, according to the Washington, D.C.-based think tank's study. The study ranked the top 100 metro areas in the country by factoring residential segregation, neighborhood affluence, public school quality, employment and homeownership.

HOUSTON FACES PENALTIES OVER 1970S SMOG LIMITS

The EPA concluded Tuesday that Houston has failed to meet 30-year-old limits on smog-forming pollution, a decision that could lead to hefty fines for as many as 300 oil refineries, chemical plants and other large industrial facilities. The Environmental Protection Agency made the determination six months after a settlement with the Sierra Club, which had accused the federal government of skirting its obligation to enforce the rules set in 1979. Houston had a 2007 deadline to comply with the smog limits but fell short despite significant improvements in air quality. Federal law requires the state to collect fines from the eight-county region's largest polluters until the standard is met.

National Stories

CEO DEFENDS DECISION AS BACKLASH GROWS OVER KOMEN MOVE TO CUT PLANNED PARENTHOOD FUNDING

Facing mounting backlash, Susan G. Komen for the Cure responded Thursday to critics who accused the nation’s top breast-cancer fundraiser of caving to anti-abortion pressures when it cut Planned Parenthood’s funding. “It’s a mischaracterization of our goals, our mission and everything we do,” said Nancy Brinker, founder and chief executive officer of the Dallas-based foundation. Anti-abortion groups have taken credit for Komen’s decision, saying they lobbied for seven years to stop Planned Parenthood’s funding.

PR EXECS SAY KOMEN ERRED EARLY AFTER PUBLIC OUTRAGE BOILED OVER

In the wake of outrage over its decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood affiliates, Susan G. Komen for the Cure faces an image crisis few public relations executives would envy. As some U.S. lawmakers called on Komen to reconsider and donors threatened to redirect funds to Planned Parenthood instead, PR experts considered whether Komen mishandled the situation by failing to anticipate or defuse the backlash. And where does the well-regarded national organization go from here?

IS IRAN TRYING TO DEVELOP A MISSILE THAT COULD REACH AMERICA?

Is Iran trying to develop a missile that could reach the "Great Satan"? The missile under construction at an Iranian research-and-development facility, which was damaged by a mysterious explosion in November, was a long-range missile prototype with a range of 6,000 miles—enough to hit the United States, a senior Israeli official said Thursday in a speech to a defense and security forum. At the time of the November 12 explosion at a facility some 30 miles outside Tehran, Iranian officials insisted that the suspicious blast was an accident. It occurred, they said, during experimentation on a medium-range missile—one capable of reaching Israel.

REP. BLAKE FARENTHOLD GRILLS ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER ON GUN STING, RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT HOUSTON-BASED PILOTS HELD IN PANAMA

Texas congressman Blake Farenthold questioned Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday during the Obama administration official’s appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Farenthold, a Corpus Christi Republican, focused initially on questions concerning Holder’s knowledge of the gun purchasing sting operation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The lawmaker suggested Holder resign and questioned his qualifications to continue serving as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

ASTRONAUT WANNABES RESPOND BY THE THOUSANDS

NASA may not have a rocket to get there, but it nevertheless has a line of people from there to the moon who want to be astronauts. The space agency's call for astronaut applications, which closed Jan. 31, drew 6,372 responses from people who believe they have the right stuff. That's nearly double the normal number of applications NASA received during space shuttle era calls for applications, which averaged about 3,500 per class. And it is the highest since more than 8,000 people applied to become astronauts in 1978, just before the first space shuttle flew.

STOCK ACT PASSES SENATE BY VOTE OF 96-3

The Senate broke through its usual gridlock on Thursday and easily passed a politically popular bill that would ban insider trading for lawmakers and their staffs. After days of bickering over amendments, the STOCK Act sailed through the Senate on a 96-3 vote, and now heads to the House where Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has pledged to bring the bill to the floor next week. Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) were the only “no” votes. President Barack Obama, who pushed for the bill during last week’s State of the Union address, called on the House to quickly pass the measure and said he’d sign it “right away.” “No one should be able to trade stocks based on nonpublic information gleaned on Capitol Hill,” Obama said.

SIERRA CLUB TOOK $26M FROM NATURAL GAS

The Sierra Club took $26 million from one of the nation's largest natural gas companies for three years while at the same time hawking natural gas as a clean, green energy source, the group admitted Thursday. The natural gas cash came between 2007 and 2010 as the Sierra Club was increasing its efforts to fight coal-fired powered plants, the group's executive director, Michael Brune, wrote in a blog post. At the time, the Sierra Club, "working with the best science at the time and with extensive input from staff and volunteers, determined that natural gas, while far from ideal as a fuel source, might play a necessary role in helping us reach the clean energy future our children deserve," Brune wrote.

LEON PANETTA STORY SPARKS ISRAEL-IRAN SPECULATION

The prospect of war in the Middle East stoked media attention Thursday after a Washington Post editorial writer claimed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes that Israel may attack Iran this spring. “Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June — before Iran enters what Israelis described as a ‘zone of immunity’ to commence building a nuclear bomb,” Ignatius wrote from Brussels, where Panetta is attending a conference at NATO headquarters. “Very soon, the Israelis fear, the Iranians will have stored enough enriched uranium in deep underground facilities to make a weapon — and only the United States could then stop them militarily,” Ignatius added. “‘You stay to the side, and let us do it,’ one Israeli official is said to have advised the United States.”

AMERICAN AIRLINES: CLOCK IS TICKING ON DEAL WITH UNIONS

Executives of American Airlines said Thursday that they want to quickly reach agreement with union leaders on new cost-saving contract proposals or they will ask a bankruptcy judge to step in. "I think we have weeks to accomplish this," said Jeff Brundage, American's senior vice president of human resources, adding that the airline is willing to meet with union representatives round-the-clock.

S.E.C. IS AVOIDING TOUGH SANCTIONS FOR LARGE BANKS

Even as the Securities and Exchange Commission has stepped up its investigations of Wall Street in the last decade, the agency has repeatedly allowed the biggest firms to avoid punishments specifically meant to apply to fraud cases. By granting exemptions to laws and regulations that act as a deterrent to securities fraud, the S.E.C. has let financial giants like JPMorganChase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America continue to have advantages reserved for the most dependable companies, making it easier for them to raise money from investors, for example, and to avoid liability from lawsuits if their financial forecasts turn out to be wrong.

KRUGMAN: ROMNEY ISN’T CONCERNED

So we do need to strengthen our safety net. Mr. Romney, however, wants to make the safety net weaker instead. Specifically, the candidate has endorsed Representative Paul Ryan’s plan for drastic cuts in federal spending — with almost two-thirds of the proposed spending cuts coming at the expense of low-income Americans. To the extent that Mr. Romney has differentiated his position from the Ryan plan, it is in the direction of even harsher cuts for the poor; his Medicaid proposal appears to involve a 40 percent reduction in financing compared with current law.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG TO GIVE $250,000 TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD AFTER KOMEN CUTS FUNDING

Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged Thursday to give a piece of his own fortune to Planned Parenthood. The sizable donation-- in which Bloomberg will give $1 for every new dollar Planned Parenthood raises up to $250,000-- is in response to the controversy surrounding the Susan G. Komen Foundation's decision to cease giving grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings. "Politics have no place in health care," Bloomberg said in a statement, according to The New York Times. "Breast cancer screening saves lives and hundreds of thousands of women rely on Planned Parenthood for access to care. We should be helping women access that care, not placing barriers in their way."

VOTER FRUSTRATION MAKES FOR TUMULTUOUS GOP PRIMARY

The American people, a small slice of them, have spoken, and they are none too pleased. The rest are yet to be heard, as the men who would be president march West, to caucuses Saturday in Nevada, where the unemployment rate is 13 percent, and then to Colorado and Minnesota on Tuesday. But let’s see if we can make any sense of this rambunctious story so far, and what the Republicans and independents in the first four states that held contests have told us about their hopes and fears — and volatility, insurgency and populism — in an unsettled America.

Lead Stories

LI: LEGAL WRANGLING OVER TEXAS REDISTRICTING MISSES THE BIG STORY

Every redistricting cycle has a theme. This year's big theme is the remarkable growth of the state's Hispanic population. After all, 65 percent of Texas' population growth over the last decade was Hispanic. Despite that, there's a compelling argument that Hispanic voting strength is actually diminished under the new voting maps approved by the Legislature. As powerful as that story is, there's another equally important, but less commented upon, story in this year's redistricting fights: the emergence of diverse multi-ethnic districts in the state's urban areas, where historically discriminated-against minority groups have managed to achieve gains by working together.

CAMPBELL: LOU DOBBS MAKES TEXAS REDISTRICTING BATTLE INTO DAILY SHOW SHTICK

I'm still perplexed about what Texas redistricting case Lou Dobbs was talking about. On Monday night, Dobbs took a Jon Stewart metaphor about wealthy people "gerrymandering" themselves into continued prosperity and veered into spouting "facts" about Texas redistricting that were -- to put it politely -- totally fabricated. It appeared as though when Dobbs heard "gerrymandering," the word association in his brain immediately dialed up "activist judges," and off he went making up stuff about what the Supreme Court supposedly ruled in the convoluted scuffle over Texas' voting districts.

BACKLASH COMES IN ALL FORMS AFTER KOMEN FOUNDATION HALTS FUNDING TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD

The backlash Wednesday was swift and strong — coming by phone, email and every form of social networking. Women were angry, disappointed and worried that Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a Dallas-based foundation, had withdrawn its funding from Planned Parenthood’s nationwide organization. “So many women I know have used Planned Parenthood, including me, in the days before having employer-based insurance,” said Kim Batchelor, a Dallas health services researcher.

CHASNOFF: COULD SAN ANTONIO BE THE CAPITAL OF TEXAS?

By my count, the capital of Texas has shifted at least 16 times since its first suckling days beneath the breast of the Spanish. Bear in mind: I'm no Newt Gingrich. Yet my historian skills, while amateur, are masterful. I employed them using my keyboard and the website of the Texas State Historical Association. Crisscrossing the land like a wild bovine, our state capital has set its haunches upon Mexico City, Monclova in Coahuila, Saltillo and West Columbia. It landed in Houston on two separate occasions and once even enjoyed residency in two cities simultaneously: Harrisburg and Galveston.

AIR FORCE VET SUSPENDS STATE SENATE CAMPAIGN

O'Grady suspended the campaign after what he called a series of broken promises by people who had pledged their support to his campaign. Chief among the supporters was state Sen. Florence Shapiro, who O'Grady said pledged to put her resources behind his campaign. "On Jan. 10, Sen. Shapiro reneged on her promises of a public endorsement, of her political support and of her financial support," O'Grady said Tuesday afternoon. "She said she had to look out for her family who lives in the district. I was disappointed because her support was a major reason why I was running in this race."

State Stories

KILDAY HART: STATE COMMISSIONER PREDICTS $15 TO $17 BILLION SHORTFALL IN MEDICAID

Kudos to the Quorum Report’s John Reynolds for reporting State Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs’ latest prediction on the looming state Medicaid funding shortfall which will have to be addressed by the Legislature when it meets in January 2013. As has been widely reported, the Texas Legislature passed a so-called “balanced” budget by intentionally under-funding the Medicaid program by $4.5 billion, essentially choosing to postpone payment of that bill until 2013. Now, escalating caseload growth will bump that figure into the atmosphere, Suehs told hospital administrators in a speech Wednesday.

AMERICAN AIRLINES PLANS TO CUT 13,000 JOBS AND CLOSE FORT WORTH MAINTENANCE BASE

First, American Airlines employees learned that their pensions may be terminated. Then came word that the Fort Worth-based carrier plans to cut 13,000 workers nationwide. Finally, the news was announced that parent company AMR Corp. wants to shutter its Alliance Airport maintenance base.

RON PAUL FAVORS COMPASSIONATE IMMIGRATION POLICY

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul outlined his views on immigration Wednesday, saying he favors a compassionate policy that doesn't rely on "barbed-wire fences and guns on our border." Paul spoke to several dozen people organized by Hispanics in Politics, Nevada's oldest Hispanic community group. The Texas congressman has scheduled several days of campaigning in Nevada before the state's caucuses Saturday. Paul went into much greater detail on immigration policy than he has at most of his campaign stops.

ANTI-D.C. PERRY TO SPEAK AT GRIDIRON -- IN D.C.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry loved to blast Washington on the campaign trail. Now, apparently, all is forgiven. Perry will be the GOP speaker at the Gridiron Club dinner March 24th. Of course, the actual attraction is . . . the president, as scribes and politicos gather for what used to be something of a secret society. Well, the remarks are off-the-record but some wags always manage to get the word out to their colleagues in the working press.

DAVIS CALLS FOR SUPPORTERS TO PRAY FOR FAIR REDISTRICTING DECISION

State Sen. Wendy Davis, is turning to the power of prayer in hoping for a favorable outcome in a federal court case with big implications for the 2012 elections. A three-judge panel in Washington, D.C. heard closing arguments Tuesday in a case looking at whether Texas political maps should be given federal approval under the Voting Rights Act.

TEXANS DOMINATED FUNDING OF SEVERAL REPUBLICAN SUPER PACS

Texas connections abound in the campaign finance reports from Super PACs filed yesterday with the Federal Elections Commission. Texans made up the majority of funding for at least five Super PACs involved in the presidential race. Two wealthy Texans in particular, Harold Simmons of Dallas and Bob Perry of Houston, were especially active, giving to multiple groups. Both men previously helped fund Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, a group credited with undermining John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign against George W. Bush.

FWST: GM'S GOOD NEWS AT ARLINGTON PLANT IS GREAT FOR NORTH TEXAS

When General Motors was opening its Arlington plant almost 60 years ago, a statement by the corporation's president a year earlier was catching on around the country. "What was good for the country was good for General Motors, and vice versa," Charles Erwin Wilson told a Senate committee in 1953 during his confirmation hearings for secretary of defense. It didn't take long for that comment to evolve into the cliché, "As goes GM, so goes the nation." And in 2009, when the once-largest company in the United States filed for bankruptcy and took a $50 billion bailout from the federal government, the words seemed to ring true as a sardonically grim prophecy.

QUICKSILVER RESOURCES TO CUT CAPITAL SPENDING IN HALF

Fort Worth-based Quicksilver Resources is slashing capital spending nearly in half this year because of the lowest natural gas prices in a decade. Meanwhile, the company's stock plunged nearly 11 percent in the past two days and is now less than one-third of its 2011 peak. Quicksilver, predominantly a natural gas producer, plans to spend only $370 million in 2012 for drilling and completing wells and related activities. That's 47 percent less than its 2011 capital budget of $696 million.

REDISTRICTING DECISION AT LEAST 30 DAYS AWAY, DC COURT SAYS

A decision on whether Texas’ redistricting maps violate the Voting Rights Act is at least 30 days away, the Washington, D.C. court declared today. The order said: “The Court directs the parties to comply fully with the page limits and briefing schedule set in this matter so that it can be timely resolved and also notifies the parties that this Court does not anticipate issuing any order within the next 30 days.”

CLIMATE SCIENCE EXPERTS PREDICT INTENSIFIED DROUGHT IN TEXAS

The extreme drought gripping Texas and the rest of the Southwest is likely to intensify, according to a panel of climate experts from Columbia University. Richard Seager, an expert on droughts in North America, told a Washington audience that the Texas drought of the past decade has been the continent’s most serious. The luckiest three percent of the state’s land is rated as having a “severe drought,” said Lisa Goddard, an expert on climate prediction. Another 88% of the state is considered “exceptional.”

KILDAY HART: STATE RULES FOR HEALTH CARE COMPLICATES LIVES, INDUSTRY

What could be scarier than government health care, where bureaucrats controlling huge pots of money create rules that affect both patient access and the ability of providers to make money? Thank goodness we live in Texas, where our state leaders would embrace secession before letting government paper-pushers dictate how private health care entities do business. It would rain flying pigs first, right? Better check that weather report. When Gov. Rick Perry signed the new state budget last summer, he set in motion a little matter called the "Texas Healthcare Transformation and Quality Program Medicaid 1115 Waiver," an administrative action that revolutionizes how hospitals and other health care organizations will earn money from the federal government.

POLITICAL PRIMARIES IN DOUBT WITH RULING PENDING FROM FED COURT

A panel of federal judges told parties in a Texas redistricting case Wednesday not to expect a ruling within 30 days, throwing the date of the state’s political primaries further in doubt. A ruling by the District of Columbia court in the complex case was expected to provide guidance to another San Antonio federal panel trying to draw new maps for state House, Senate and congressional elections. If the San Antonio court wants to maintain the April 3 primary date, “it will have to draw plans without benefit of a ruling from District Court in D.C.,” said Nina Perales with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

DECLINE IN QUAIL HAS STATE LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

The number of bobwhite quail living on the limited and shrinking habitat declined so dramatically and obviously over several years that it couldn't be ignored or explained away as one of those temporary population hiccups the iconic grassland game birds see when drought or flood or a severe freeze cuts deep into coveys. Quail hunters, to whom the birds represented the epitome of wingshooting as well as an epicurean delight, and others who simply enjoyed the sight and sound of bobwhites and considered them to be a crucial piece of Texas' landscape, howled for something to be done to stem the decline and resurrect the flagging fowl.

THE GIVING CONTINUES AS DC TEXANS RAISE MONEY FOR BASTROP WILDFIRE VICTIMS

The donations continued pouring into Hill Country Barbecue in Washington for Bastrop County wildfire victims. Even after the Monday fundraising event at the capital’s favorite BBQ joint ended, the DC fundraising had just begun. The funds raised for the United Way Capital Area of Texas and the Bastrop City Council totaled more than $4,000, Hill Country Barbecue reported Wednesday. The $20 tickets sold out, but the staff accommodated more hungry philanthropists.

TEACHER GROUP URGES GOVERNOR TO CALL SPECIAL SESSION ON SCHOOL FUNDING

The Texas State Teachers Association and a state lawmaker Wednesday urged Gov. Rick Perry to call a special session of the Legislature to head off another round of funding cuts for public schools in the 2012-13 school year. The TSTA and Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said schools can be spared devastating cuts this fall if lawmakers and the governor will tap into the state's Rainy Day Fund and appropriate $2.5 billion for public education. The Legislature cut state funding for schools by $5.4 billion in the current biennium during their regular session last year, saying the reductions were needed to balance the state budget.

JOBLESS BENEFITS LAST TOO LONG, TEXAS REPUBLICAN SENATE HOPEFULS AGREE

The four major Republican Senate candidates said Wednesday that unemployment benefits last too long and are hurting the economy by denying laid-off Americans an incentive to return to the workforce. The GOP hopefuls jostling for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s seat told an audience of business leaders that they favor dramatically curtailing the duration of unemployment insurance. In Texas and some other states, benefits can last as long as 99 weeks, although triggers tied to the jobless rate would decrease that soon to 79 weeks — if the benefit extensions don’t expire at the end of the month because of infighting in Congress.

TEACHERS GROUP SAYS TEXAS EDUCATION CUTS MEAN 32,000 JOB LOSSES SO FAR

A school advocacy group says an estimated 32,000 school employees across Texas — including 12,000 teachers — have lost their jobs due to $5.4 billion in education cuts. And more are likely on the way, it says. The Texas State Teachers Association wants Gov. Rick Perry to call a special legislative session to tap the state's $7.3 billion rainy day fund.

FARMERS GIVEN OK TO RAISE TEXAS HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE RATES

Nearly 350,000 Texas homeowners insured by Farmers Insurance will see their premiums jump by nearly 10 percent beginning next month after state Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman decided not to object to the increase. The higher rates, which go into effect March 16, will increase premiums for Farmers policyholders who have either a Texas Family Home Policy or a Next Generation Home Policy. About half of Farmers customers have one of those policies. Farmers last raised home insurance rates in Texas in March 2011 — an increase of 3.9 percent.

CRUZ GOES AFTER DEWHURST OVER GROWTH IN STATE SPENDING, DEWHURST PARRIES

Former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz on Wednesday chided Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for increased state spending on his watch. The four main Republican Senate candidates were discussing a federal balanced budget amendment. Cruz said GOP primary voters need to look at "the spending that has occurred under his leadership." Dewhurst quickly responded that Texas' spending of state funds will have decreased by nearly 11 percent between 2003 and Aug. 31, 2013, the end of the current state budget cycle.

HERO PILOT SCOTT O'GRADY BLASTS SEN. FLORENCE SHAPIRO FOR ALLEGED LACK OF SUPPORT

For Scott O'Grady, the former hero pilot who earlier this week suspended his campaign for state Senate in District 8, the fallout continues. In an interview with the Plano Star-Courier newspaper, O'Grady blasted District 8 incumbent Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, for reneging on alleged promises of campaign support. "On Jan. 10, Sen. Shapiro reneged on her promises of a public endorsement, of her political support and of her financial support," O'Grady told the newspaper. "She said she had to look out for her family who lives in the district. I was disappointed because her support was a major reason why I was running in this race."

RON PAUL AIDE SUGGESTS CLOUT BUILT IN PRESIDENTIAL RACE COULD LAND SON ON GOP TICKET

Slowly but surely, Ron Paul is raking in convention delegates and building leverage — enough to command respect for his agenda and possibly, a top aide suggested Wednesday, enough to land a spot on the GOP ticket for his son, a freshman Kentucky senator and tea party darling. “Any Republican should be looking at Rand Paul as a potential running mate, because he’s the smartest guy in the room. And he has tremendous credibility with conservatives. Any Republican should have Rand Paul on his short list,” said Paul’s national campaign chairman, Jesse Benton. Ron Paul called it premature to say how he would wield his clout within the party if, as most analysts expect, he falls short of the GOP nomination. And Benton emphasized that putting Rand Paul on the ticket is just one of many ways to translate the Texas congressman’s support into action.

AT SENATE GOP FORUM, JAMES SAYS HOLDER SHOULD BE FIRED

Republican Senate hopeful Craig James said Wednesday that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder should resign. At a forum hosted by the Texas Association of Business annual conference in Austin, James and the three other major Republican candidates for Kay Bailey Hutchison's Senate seat are just starting to talk issues. James immediately went after Holder.

AUSTIN LOBBYIST TAPS BIG-DOLLAR RICK PERRY SUPPORTERS TO FUEL PRO-PERRY SUPERPAC

Austin lobbyist Mike Toomey knew exactly where to go to raise big money for his superPAC to boost Rick Perry's presidential bid. The campaign failed, but the superPAC attracted lots of cash in the early weeks of Perry's campaign. The money went to fuel TV commercials attacking rival Mitt Romney in the early primary states. By law, the PAC couldn't be directly be connected to the Perry campaign. But it could take unlimited contributions from big-money interests - and Toomey knew where to find those - go where the money is. That's the Texas governor's biggest campaign donors. The superPAC, Make Us Great Again, raised $5.5 million during the last quarter - and the donors are a who's who of Rick Perry's money raising machine as governor.

OUSTED A&M SYSTEM EXECUTIVE LANDS ANOTHER STATE JOB, THIS TIME AT DPS

The former Texas A&M System executive and close friend of Gov. Rick Perry who made headlines last fall for brandishing a pocket knife as he was being fired has landed a new state job as an assistant director of the Texas Department of Public Safety. DPS officials confirmed Wednesday that Jay Kimbrough, 64, a longtime confidant of Perry, has been hired to fill a new DPS post created last week, overseeing homeland security for the state's police agency. His salary is $147,500, and he starts Monday.

PAUKEN: LOCAL HELP FOR OUT-OF-WORK U.S. VETERANS

The American-Statesman article about the difficulty returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan face in finding jobs as they transition to civilian life (Jan. 28) raises some important issues. How do you translate their military skills and experience to civilian workforce needs? George Sheridan, a veteran quoted in the article, said he has various degrees from the U.S. Army in electronics, but they don't apply in the civilian world. The Texas Workforce Commission is addressing that issue in a number of ways.

LCRA WAS SELLING WATER FROM BURNET COUNTY WELL THAT'S NOW DRY

The Lower Colorado River Authority was selling water from the Spicewood Beach water system less than four weeks before the well serving the area ran dry, officials said Wednesday. More than 1.3 million gallons were taken by truck and sold off in 2011, river authority officials said late Wednesday, but it's unclear how much the loss of that water contributed to the shortage that forced the LCRA to begin trucking water into the Burnet County community on Monday.

SAEN: LEGE SHOULD SPEND FUNDS FOR TEXTBOOKS

The State Board of Education has been the object of major criticism in recent years, and for good reason. A social conservative faction has put ideology before education in guiding SBOE decisions on public education standards. In the latest example, the Thomas Fordham Institute — a conservative think tank that identifies itself as a gadfly for education reform against “powerful interests and timid establishments” — gave the SBOE a “C” for its science curriculum. That's a step up from Fordham's assessment last year of a “D” for the state's social studies curriculum.

FREDERICKSBURG RECALL TARGET BLAMES POLITICS

The Fredericksburg councilman targeted by a recall petition says the effort to oust him stems from politics as much as a government suit that claims he owes more than $400,000 in delinquent taxes. Councilman Tommy Segner noted that he's criticized council decisions, opposed administration initiatives and pushed for the public referendum in which voters rejected a plan to spend $3.2 million on an municipal aquatic park.

TEXAS OFFICIALS SEEKING ROOM FOR MENTALLY ILL INMATES

State officials are trying to figure out what to do with about 400 mentally incompetent local jail inmates across the state ahead of a state district judge’s expected ruling to require state hospitals to find beds to treat them. “It boils down to space,” said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Judge Orlinda Naranjo of Austin is poised to finalize a ruling this week that will require jails to send mentally incompetent inmates for treatment at a state hospital within 21 days of the time they are ordered committed.

TEXAS PLANNED PARENTHOOD CLINICS BRACING FOR KOMEN CUTS

Susan G. Komen for the Cure's decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood — which has performed breast cancer screenings and mammograms with Komen grants for the last five years — is hitting home for clinics in Dallas, Austin and Waco. Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region reports that its six-year partnership with Dallas-based Komen has performed 720 clinical breast exams and risk assessments for poor women under the age of 40. Over the last three years, the North Texas Planned Parenthood chapter in Dallas has used Komen dollars to provide about 580 mammograms to poor women.

THE DESTRUCTION OF TEXAS HEALTH CARE

Why lawmakers chose to decimate a budget that had been barely keeping pace with actual need for services – according to a 2008 Guttmacher Institute report, there are some 1.5 million women in need of reproductive health services in Texas – can be summed up in two words: Planned Parent­hood. An increasingly aggressive political campaign against the nearly 100-year-old nonprofit is at the heart of the cuts. Conservative lawmakers – and their backers at Texas Right to Life and other anti-abortion groups – were nearly giddy about the cuts last spring, proclaiming that slashing the budget would cripple Planned Par­ent­hood, one of the state's largest providers of women's health care, and thereby bring an end to the "abortion industry."

MCNEELY: JUDGES: COMPROMISE OR POSTPONE PRIMARIES

A three-judge federal court in San Antonio on Friday told lawyers for minority groups and the state of Texas to either agree to compromise redistricting maps by Monday or further postpone primary elections. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia told the attorneys to come up with a plan, or come up with a later date for the elections — now scheduled for April 3. "Monday or Tuesday, you tell us the districts you've agreed upon or you'll tell us the date you've agreed upon if it's not going to be April," Garcia said.

REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATES DEBATE IN AUSTIN .

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's leadership in the Texas Senate came under fire during a debate Wednesday when one of his Republican opponents for U.S. Senate accused him of compromising too much rather than standing firm on his conservative principles. While Dewhurst is the perceived front-runner, former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz was the only one of his three GOP rivals to directly attack him during the debate in Austin. Cruz touted his own support among tea party favorites already in the U.S. Senate while accusing Dewhurst of being too moderate to represent Texas in Washington.

This article appeared on WWL's website

AMONG THESE REPUBLICANS, PAUL SUPPORTERS GO FROM OUTSIDERS TO VANGUARD

Four years ago, an angry and dispirited educational database expert named Carl Bunce walked out of Nevada’s state Republican convention after party leaders shut down the proceedings rather than let Representative Ron Paul’s supporters nominate delegates for the national convention in St. Paul... Today, Mr. Bunce, 35, is running Mr. Paul’s Nevada campaign from a strip mall in this Las Vegas suburb. But this time, he and other Paul supporters are in the vanguard of the Nevada Republican Party: After the ugly scene at the state convention, they decided to work with the party that they felt had treated them as pariahs. It took time, and some rivalries remain intense, but now Mr. Paul’s Nevada backers are part of the state Republican machinery.

County Stories

DROUGHT PERSISTS DESPITE RAINY TWO MONTHS

The past two months of above-average rainfall is not enough to curtail the drought, according to totals released Wednesday by the National Weather Service. Despite the 3.99 inches of rain that put San Antonio 2.23 inches above normal for January, Bexar County is still considered in extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. December's total of 2.84 inches, which was 0.93 inches above normal, did little to help as well.

City Stories

HISD'S GRIER PLEDGES TO IMPROVE BILINGUAL EDUCATION

The statistic was so troubling that Houston schools Superintendent Terry Grier said he asked his data guru three times to check it. Only 30 percent of the district's students with limited English skills graduate high school with their class - a rate that places HISD at the bottom of the state's largest districts. Grier pledged this week to improve how the district educates students whose native language is not English, responding to a critical outside review that suggested increasing the amount of English instruction in elementary school and ensuring that the teachers themselves speak the language well.

FIRST LOW-INCOME HOUSING PROJECT IN DECADES PLANNED FOR DOWNTOWN

An Austin nonprofit plans to build the first downtown development in decades to house low-income residents, a population often priced out of apartment and condo towers downtown. Foundation Communities is proposing a $15 million, four-story project called Capitol Terrace at 11th and Trinity streets that will include 135 efficiency apartments. The units will be rented for $400 to $650 a month, utilities included, to single adults who earn less than $27,000 — roughly half of Austin's median income .

National Stories

PANETTA: U.S., NATO WILL SEEK TO END AFGHAN COMBAT MISSION NEXT YEAR

The United States hopes to end its combat mission in Afghanistan by the middle of next year, more than a year earlier than scheduled, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Wednesday. His remarks reflected a growing sentiment within the Obama administration that its approach to Iraq, where the official end of U.S. combat operations came 16 months before the final U.S. troop withdrawal in December, may provide a useful model for winding down operations in Afghanistan.

ROMNEY COMMENT ON THE POOR DRAWS FIRE FROM OBAMA CAMP

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney engaged in a skirmish over the middle class with President Barack Obama's campaign Wednesday, a preview of a clash that could dominate a fall campaign between the two. Fresh from a major win in Florida and heading West for a Nevada vote Saturday, Romney said he would focus on helping the middle class, as the rich could take care of themselves and the poor already had a safety net. "I'm not concerned about the very poor," the former Massachusetts governor said on CNN from Florida on Wednesday morning before he flew off to Minnesota and then Nevada.

DOWNTURN AND UPSTARTS TRANSFORM NEVADA’S G.O.P. CAUCUSES

When Mitt Romney won the Republican presidential caucuses in Nevada four year ago, this was a different state, and the Republican Party was a different party. The Nevada economy was in trouble, but it had not reached the depths that were soon to come: The unemployment rate was 5.5 percent when Republicans gathered to vote in January 2008; it is 13 percent today, the highest in the nation. The optimism and political spirit that enlivened Nevadans as they found themselves at ground zero in the fight for the White House have been replaced with gloom and apathy. Voters speak of abandoned homes, dispiriting battles in Washington and disappointment with President Obama.

GALLUP STATE NUMBERS PREDICT HUGE OBAMA LOSS

Gallup released their annual state-by-state presidential approval numbers yesterday, and the results should have 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue very worried. If President Obama carries only those states where he had a net positive approval rating in 2011 (e.g. Michigan where he is up 48 percent to 44 percent), Obama would lose the 2012 election to the Republican nominee 323 electoral votes to 215.

SECRECY SHROUDS ‘SUPER PAC’ FUNDS IN LATEST FILINGS

Newly disclosed details of the millions of dollars flowing into political groups are highlighting not just the scale of donations from corporation and unions but also the secrecy surrounding “super PACs” seeking to influence the presidential race. Some of the money came from well-established concerns, like Alpha Natural Resources, one of the country’s largest coal companies, which is backing Republican-aligned American Crossroads, or from the Service Employees International Union, a powerful union allied with Democrats, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

HC: ROMNEY, GINGRICH AND PRIMARY MATH

Mitt Romney's convincing victory in the Florida primary introduced some new and noteworthy math into the marathon race for the Republican presidential nomination. Romney, mocked by Newt Gingrich and some others as a "Massachusetts moderate," polled 47 percent of Tuesday's vote in the Sunshine State, more than the combined vote totals of his two conservative rivals, former U.S. House Speaker Gingrich (32 percent) and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (13 percent).

DMN: FAST AND FURIOUS? ERIC HOLDER STILL DRAGGING HIS FEET

We can’t read Eric Holder’s mind, so his testimony to Congress — and emails between Washington and Phoenix — must suffice. With a 500-page document dump Friday, those many words increasingly show the attorney general’s hazy recollections of Operation Fast and Furious to be implausible or, at worst, blatantly false. Fast and Furious grew out of Project Gunrunner. In theory, the plan was to allow guns illegally straw-purchased in Arizona to reach suspected Mexican narco-terrorists. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would follow and nail the real bad guys.

FOR ROMNEY AND PAUL, A STRATEGIC ALLIANCE BETWEEN ESTABLISHMENT AND OUTSIDER

The remaining candidates in the winnowed Republican presidential field are attacking one another with abandon, each day bringing fresh headlines of accusations and outrage. But Mitt Romney and Ron Paul haven’t laid a hand on each other. They never do. Despite deep differences on a range of issues, Romney and Paul became friends in 2008, the last time both ran for president. So did their wives, Ann Romney and Carol Paul. The former Massachusetts governor compliments the Texas congressman during debates, praising Paul’s religious faith during the last one, in Jacksonville, Fla. Immediately afterward, as is often the case, the Pauls and the Romneys gravitated toward one another to say hello.

SENATE DEMOCRATS CALL FOR SUPERPAC PROBE

SuperPACs, the independent political groups that operate outside the usual contribution limits, are playing a critical role in the Republican presidential contest. That's especially true in Florida, where a superPAC supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney helped carry him to victory in Tuesday's primary. Now, Senate Democrats, led by New York's Charles Schumer, chairman of the Senate Rules Commitee, say they're going to investigate superPACs and the rules that govern them

JOB CUTS JUMPED 28% IN JANUARY: CHALLENGER REPORT

The number of job cuts announced by employers jumped 28 percent in January, led by retailers and financial firms, according to the latest report by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Still, job losses announced last month were the lowest on record for a January, the month that typically sees the greatest number of layoffs, the firm said.

Lead Stories

D.C. JUDGES PRESS TEXAS' LAWYERS ON VOTING MAPS, SIGNAL SPEEDY RULING

In often lively exchanges with the lawyers, the three-judge panel overseeing the Texas redistricting case repeatedly questioned the state's position during closing arguments Tuesday and signaled a quick decision in the Voting Rights Act case. At the same time, the state and the litigants circled each other on possible settlement discussions in a related San Antonio case. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, who is presiding, began the Washington, D.C., court case Tuesday by asking about the status of San Antonio negotiations.

A FEW TOP DONORS HELP PRO-PERRY SUPER PAC RAISE $5.5 MILLION

A political committee that tried to help Gov. Rick Perry become president raised $5.5 million in 2011, including hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time from some of Perry's most loyal donors in Texas. Make Us Great Again, a so-called super PAC allowed to raise money in unlimited amounts, was required to file its first public disclosures with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday since its creation last summer. The filing came just hours after Perry's campaign reported that it raised $2.9 million in the final three months of 2011, a significant slowdown from the fundraising pace that Perry set in the opening weeks of his presidential bid.

SENATE CANDIDATE JONES DEFENDS RESIDENCY IN TWO PLACES

Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones appears to have uncovered a mystery in the state's Constitution: Nowhere does it define “the Capital of the State.” The Constitution requires certain state officers to reside there while in office, but since the capital city isn't named, how can that requirement be enforced? Jones sent that question as part of a larger request to the Texas attorney general's office Monday, seeking an opinion on whether she may continue to serve on the commission while she campaigns for a state Senate seat from her home in San Antonio.

POLL FINDS INCREASING DISSATISFACTION IN GOP FIELD

Republicans evaluating the field of potential GOP presidential nominees are increasingly negative about the current slate of candidates, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center. Fifty-two percent of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters said the GOP field was "fair or poor," an eight percentage-point increase since the question was asked in early January.

TEXAS EMERGING TECHNOLOGY FUND’S $169 MILLION CREATED 820 JOBS

Texas (STOTX1)’s Emerging Technology Fund, used by Governor Rick Perry to attract business to the second- most populous state, has committed $192.7 million in 133 awards since 2006, resulting in 820 new jobs, the fund said. Investments ranged from $250,000 to $5 million in companies, according to the fund’s annual report. The total awarded amounts to more than $200,000 per job, the figures show. The state held equity valued at $173.9 million as of Aug. 31, a 2.7 percent increase from disbursements of $169.3 million.

State Stories

CANDIDATE CRAIG JAMES GOES TO COURT OVER TEXAS TECH BOOKS .

While former ESPN analyst Craig James campaigns for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, an attorney for him Tuesday started a parallel campaign in a Collin County courtroom. James claims he's been defamed by books about the firing of Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach which followed an incident involving James' son, Adam. James wants a judge to order the publishers to answer questions that could lead to a lawsuit. But it could also lead to conflicting images of James in the campaign, bringing to mind a past controversy as he tries to send a positive message to Texas voters.

AAS: FUND RECIPIENTS OWE TEXANS FULL DISCLOSURE

It seems pretty basic to us: If you run a company that receives money from Texas taxpayers, then you should let Texas taxpayers know whether their money has benefited the state. The Texas Emerging Technology Fund, which is run by the governor's office, gives money to startup technology companies and awards grants to universities to promote research and to help recruit researchers. Texas lawmakers have mandated that the governor's office report the names of companies and universities that receive money from the fund, the amount of money that's been given them, and the number of jobs created by each project that has received money from the fund.

LEPPERT, CRUZ RELEASE TAX RETURNS IN SENATE RACE

The last top-tier Republican U.S. Senate candidates in Texas have trickled out their federal income tax returns in recent days. Former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert was the latest, releasing returns Tuesday for the past three years. His returns showed adjusted gross income of $1.5 million in 2008, $1.28 million in 2009 and $443, 194 in 2010. In all three years, he paid effective tax rates of more than 21 percent. During the three-year period, Leppert and his wife, Laura, reported charitable donations of $536,450, including $115,000 to Leppert's alma mater, Claremont McKenna College, and more than $110,000 to First Baptist Church of Dallas, where he and his wife are members.

SANCHEZ: COLLEGES, APPLICANTS SHOULD TREAD CAREFULLY AROUND RACIAL ISSUES

Among students from Texas high schools in the 2011 freshman class at the University of Texas, 23.1 percent are Hispanic and 5.6 percent are black. That compares with a statewide population that is 37.6 percent Hispanic and 11.8 percent black. Does this mean that UT is discriminating against those students? As the mother of Hispanic daughters, I sure don't think so. Indeed, I think their ethnicity will be an advantage for our daughters wherever they apply, even if it's, gasp, UT (my husband and I are Aggies). And that strikes me as nuts.

AUSTIN-BASED STRATFOR FACES LAWSUIT OVER DATA BREACH

Austin-based Stratfor, which lost information on thousands of its customers in computer hacking attacks against its website in December, now finds itself under legal fire. Stratfor this week responded in a Texas court to a federal class action suit filed against it in New York. The suit seeks more than $50 million in damages on behalf of customers whose personal and credit card information was lost in the hacking incidents of Dec. 7 and Dec. 24.

PRO-RICK PERRY PAC RAISED $5.5 MILLION

Wealthy donors and companies, most of them from Texas, poured more than $5 million into an independent Super PAC that tried for a few months to help Rick Perry get elected president. The federal Make Us Great Again political action committee, co-founded by Texas lobbyist and Perry confidante Mike Toomey, raised $1 million alone from Contran Corporation, the holding company controlled by Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, new disclosures show.

TEXAS SCHOOLS CHIEF: TESTING HAS GONE TOO FAR

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott said today that the state testing system has become a "perversion of its original intent" and that he was looking forward to "reeling it back in." Addressing 4,000 school officials at the Texas Association of School Administrators' annual midwinter conference, Scott said that he believed testing was "good for some things," but that in Texas it has gone too far. He said that he was frustrated with what he saw as his "complicitness" in the bureaucracy that testing and accountability systems have thrust on schools.

PAUL FINISHES 2011 STRONG WITH $13 MILLION HAUL

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul raised $13.3 million for his presidential bid in the fourth quarter of 2011, an amount larger than the previous three quarter's contributions combined, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday night. According to electronic filings posted just minutes before the filing deadline, Paul spent $15 million in the months leading up to the Iowa caucuses — where he placed a close third behind former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — and the New Hampshire primary, where he finished second behind Romney. Paul began 2012 with $1.9 million in the bank.

PAUL MAINTAINS FOCUS ON SMALLER CAUCUS STATES

Rather than invest millions of dollars in a Florida campaign, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has focused on states farther down the Republican presidential calendar. So his fourth-place finish in Tuesday’s Sunshine State primary was probably no surprise. Paul has made no secret of his strategy to prioritize collecting delegates in the smaller caucus states that award delegates based on a proportional system. As Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich held events Tuesday in Florida, Paul spent the day in Colorado and Nevada, according to his campaign. Today, he is celebrating his 55th anniversary with his wife, Carol, in Las Vegas.

ON THE RECORDS: LEPPERT RELEASES TAX RETURNS

Former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert today released his tax returns for 2008 through 2010, following the lead of his fellow Republican U.S. Senate candidates. Leppert reported an adjusted gross income of $443,000 in 2010, with $95,856 in total taxes. In 2009, Leppert reported $1.2 million in adjusted gross income with $310,576 in taxes, and almost $1.5 million in profit with $344,061 in taxes for 2008.

PERRY MONEY STARTED FADING WITH HIS POLITICAL GAFFES

Rick Perry's vaunted money-raising machine sputtered to a halt following a series of embarrassing gaffes on the campaign trail, new campaign financial disclosure reports reveal. According to his report Tuesday to the Federal Election Commission, the Texas governor raised barely $2.9 million from donors in the 13-week fundraising quarter that ended Dec. 31 – a fraction of the unrivaled $17.2 million that he raised in the opening seven weeks of his promising drive for the Republican presidential nomination.

HC: EDITORIAL: WE NEED TO CONSERVE BRAZOS RIVER WATER, NOT SELL IT.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality made the right choice last Wednesday when it told the Brazos River Authority that it could not accept its water rights request without knowing from where it would divert the water. This was an appropriate response to an inappropriate request for special treatment. Typically, state law requires that applicants request a specific amount of water at a certain location for an identified purpose. But the Brazos River Authority wanted the TCEQ to grant it water rights first, and then later approve specific diversions. The proposal, which requested nearly every remaining drop of water in the Brazos, was a bald-faced water grab. If the BRA has a specific need for water, then it should make an appropriate request and follow the law like everyone else.

CLOSING ARGUMENTS WRAP UP IN D.C. REDISTRICTING CASE

Federal judges voiced doubts about key arguments put forth by attorneys representing Texas on the last day of a trial to determine whether the Legislature's redistricting plans violated minority voting rights. The three-judge panel frequently interrupted the state's closing presentation on Tuesday, probed some of its most basic positions and questioned its interpretation of some evidence. Lawyers for Texas argued throughout the trial that the GOP-controlled Legislature created oddly shaped districts and used gerrymandering techniques to protect Republican incumbents--not to discriminate against racial minorities. Political gerrymandering is legal, if not pretty, they said.

HOW RICK PERRY'S MONEY MACHINE WENT FLAT

No clearer evidence of Rick Perry's campaign collapsing than his latest finance report, which shows that after a dazzling first quarter of fundraising ($17.2 million) the Texas governor's money-raising went south. Perry raised $2.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 as he approached the Iowa caucuses in early January. The report shows that after Perry's "Oops" moment in the November 9 debate, his financial support began disappearing. According to the report, the campaign ended on December 31 with $3.7 million in the bank. Much of his TV had already been purchased. It's not clear how much of the money he raised will have to be returned because it was designed for a general election race that won't happen.

JUDGES VOICE DOUBT ABOUT STATE’S INTENTIONS IN REDISTRICTING CASE

Federal judges voiced doubts about key arguments put forth by the state’s attorneys Tuesday as a trial to determine whether the Legislature’s redistricting plans violated minority voting rights wrapped up. The three-judge panel frequently interrupted the state’s closing presentation, probed some of its most basic positions and questioned its interpretation of some evidence. Lawyers for Texas argued throughout the trial that the GOP-controlled Legislature created oddly shaped districts and used gerrymandering techniques to protect Republican incumbents — not to discriminate against racial minorities. Political gerrymandering is legal, if not pretty, they said.

BUDGET CRUNCH HAS STATE PARKS BEGGING

A half-hour drive northwest of San Antonio, the steep hills of the state-owned 3K Ranch are covered in junipers, oaks, bigtooth maples and Texas madrones. They shade clear-running streams and filter out the din of the bulldozers cutting new roads on neighboring properties and the roar of trucks on Texas 46. “This would be a perfect place for a park,” said Jimmie Rodriguez, a project manager for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

PIMENTEL: A CONSTRUCTIVE REPUBLICAN VOICE ON IMMIGRATION

San Antonio's Lionel Sosa has worked on eight GOP presidential campaigns — which might tell you, if you're a Democrat, that you and Sosa might not see eye to eye. The fact that the eighth campaign is Newt Gingrich 2012 might convince you of even more serious incompatibilities. On one point you could be wrong, however. Sosa has been a constructive voice in the Republican Party for a more sensitive and pragmatic approach to U.S. immigration policy.

JUDGES SKEPTICAL OF TEXAS IN REDISTRICTING CASE

Three federal judges weighing the legality of Texas' new political maps reacted with skepticism Tuesday when the state's lawyer suggested the intent of the redrawn boundaries was to maximize the influence of Republicans, not to minimize the influence of minorities. The U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of minority groups contend the legislative and congressional maps the Texas Legislature drew last year recut districts in a way meant to dilute the state's burgeoning minority voting population. They say the maps violate a section of the Voting Rights Act that requires states with a history of racially discriminatory voting practices to get so-called "pre-clearance" from the Justice Department before making electoral changes.

GREGG COUNTY COMMISSIONERS SET PRIMARY DATE, BUT MAP DISPUTE COULD CHANGE IT

Gregg County commissioners called an April 3 primary election date Monday knowing they might have to reset it if protesting parties don’t agree on district lines in time. The Texas Attorney General’s Office and lawyers for plaintiffs suing the state over political maps were told by a federal court on Friday they could save the April 3 primary if they agree on maps by Feb. 6. Otherwise, the San Antonio panel of judges kept open the possibility of holding party primaries later in April, in May or even June.

O'ROURKE OUTRAISING REYES IN HOUSE RACE

Challenger Beto O'Rourke raised more campaign money in the last quarter of 2011 than U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, which some political experts say is a giant red flag for the incumbent in the race for the District 16 congressional seat. "Potentially, it's very significant," said Jason Stanford, an Austin-based Democratic consultant who advises dozens of lawmakers nationwide. "I wasn't aware that the congressman was vulnerable at all. But these numbers indicate he is." O'Rourke raised $221,354 to Reyes' $177,345.

DOUBLE DIPPERS: AS TEXAS AND ITS SCHOOLS STRUGGLE, LEADERS ENRICHED

Government work is not supposed to enrich public employees. But our state’s retirement policies sure give them a hand in that direction — at taxpayer expense. Two situations that should be familiar to readers of this newspaper — the “retirements” of Gov. Rick Perry and Longview ISD Superintendent James Wilcox — highlight how badly our state’s public employee retirement laws need revision. Perry, in case you missed it, “retired” while still collecting his full public salary by taking advantage of an odd quirk in the Texas Public Employee Retirement System. It is legal, but far out of character for a politician who publicly decries profiting from public service to then quietly do so himself.

CCCT: COASTAL UNITY ON WINDSTORM INSURANCE REFORM IS A WISE APPROACH

It's reassuring to see coastal lawmakers and business leaders getting together as they did last week in Corpus Christi in search of a unified approach to windstorm insurance reform. Hurricane Ike taught Texas the shakiness of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association and not enough has been done since to address it. It behooves lawmakers from the 14 coastal counties to show up at the next session with agreed-upon solutions, given the predictability that a West Texas tornado-alley lawmaker will try some legislative stunt to lower that region's insurance rates at the expense of coastal residents perhaps having no insurance options.

OFFICIALS, PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT NEW TESTS

Parents, school and business leaders — and even an ex-lawmaker who once voted for it — are expressing alarm about new, more-rigorous standardized testing for Texas schoolchildren while teachers in Amarillo are struggling to prepare their students for the tests and cover required lessons. “I voted for it, but I believe it’s improper that Austin determine the criteria for giving a student a GPA,” said former state Rep. Jim Dunnam, a Waco Democrat who was not re-elected in 2010, referring to the Legislature’s approval of State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.

County Stories

ANRA GM SAYS LUFKIN AREA IS WELL-SUITED FOR WATER COMPARED TO REST OF STATE

"In serious drought conditions, Texas does not and will not have enough water to meet the needs of its people, businesses and agricultural enterprises.” That sobering message came from the Texas Water Development Board recently, as the agency charged with collecting and disseminating water-related data and assisting with regional water supply planning released its 2012 State Water Plan.

STATE SAYS JAIL NEEDS ADDITIONAL STAFF

A staffing analysis of Bexar County Jail, recently completed by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, supports Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz's contention that the jail is understaffed, officials said in a news conference Tuesday. To meet state standards, 801 jailers are required for the jail's current population of about 3,600 inmates, according to the analysis. An additional 121 uniformed officers are needed to fill what commission Director Adan Muñoz said were essential positions to “operate an efficient facility,” but they aren't required by the state.

POSSIBILITY OF BASE CLOSURES TRIGGERS NEW ANXIETY FOR OFFICIALS

It has been seven years since the U.S. military last reduced the number of bases in its inventory, a painful process for many communities that ultimately resulted in the closure of three installations in Texas. Last week's suggestion by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that the military needs another round of base closures triggered a new wave of anxiety among state and local officials, including cities that surround Naval Air Station Fort Worth. Rarely do those civic leaders back down when it comes to defending their military turf.

GM MADE DECISION ON STAMPING PLANT IN ARLINGTON QUICKLY

It took only four months for General Motors executives to decide that the best place to put a new sheet metal stamping plant was alongside one of its best assembly plants. GM's announcement Tuesday that it will invest $200 million to build a stamping plant alongside the Arlington Truck Assembly Plant is a prime example of the new, less bureaucratic and more profit-focused company. The plant expansion, which will add 180 jobs, came about as a result of the newfound success GM has enjoyed selling its latest vehicles and the need to add manufacturing capacity.

PUENTE: WATER FUTURE BRIGHT DESPITE DROUGHT

Weather experts declared 2011 the driest in recorded Texas history, and our summer was the hottest of any state on record. Experts predict more of the same in 2012. While many Texas communities struggled to provide water to residents and develop drought management plans, San Antonio's water successes in 2011 keep us prepared for the future. In February 2011, Mayor Julián Castro signed a partnership agreement with Schertz and Seguin to pipe water from the Carrizo Aquifer in Gonzales County. San Antonians will avoid $88 million of capital costs by forming a partnership with neighbors instead of building a new pipeline. This new supply begins flowing next year.

City Stories

EX-COUNCIL MEMBER SHEA TO RUN FOR MAYOR

Brigid Shea, an Austin environmental activist who co-founded the Save Our Springs Coalition and later served on the City Council, said Tuesday that she will challenge Mayor Lee Leffingwell in the May election. In an interview with the American-Statesman, Shea said her campaign will focus on Austin's rising cost of living and what she considers a lack of leadership by Leffingwell on a range of issues, from water conservation to the difficulties facing Austin's schools. Shea had been publicly mulling a run since late November. She plans to make a formal announcement at 6 p.m. today at Threadgill's restaurant on Riverside Drive.

National Stories

CANCER CHARITY HALTS GRANTS TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD

The nation's leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates — creating a bitter rift, linked to the abortion debate, between two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women. The change will mean a cutoff of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly for breast exams. Planned Parenthood says the move results from Komen bowing to pressure from anti-abortion activists. Komen says the key reason is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation in Congress — a probe launched by a conservative Republican who was urged to act by anti-abortion groups.

NOW IT’S ON TO NEVADA, THE STATE OF GAMBLERS, BROTHELS AND LOTS OF LIBERTARIANS

Hundreds of crumpled dollar bills are tacked to the ceiling of the bar at the Bonnie Springs Ranch here, a 105-acre back roads hideaway that has seen plenty of booms and busts since “Badwater Bonnie” Levinson bought it back in 1952. But sitting under the ancient canopy of the restaurant founded by his now-92-year-old mother, owner Alan Levinson said Tuesday that even veteran Nevada residents are shaking their heads when they talk about the economic bust that has pummeled the Silver State since 2005. “Nevada is still the wild west,’’ said Levinson, motioning outside to the stunning Red Rock Canyon, dotted with Joshua trees and wild burros that is a half-hour drive from the glittering Las Vegas strip. “Here, it’s still open territory.”

ROMNEY SCORES A COMMANDING WIN IN FLORIDA

Mitt Romney’s decisive victory in Florida on Tuesday let him reassume control of the GOP race for president Tuesday as its first phase ends. After Newt Gingrich routed Romney in South Carolina 10 days earlier, Romney came back with a newfound fighting spirit, a punishing media campaign and moderate surrogates who argued he was the best choice to beat Barack Obama in November. Gingrich, the former House speaker, leaves the Sunshine State wounded and low on campaign resources, but still saddled with the baggage Romney relentlessly exposed en route to victory. Gingrich’s performance raised questions about whether any GOP challenger can slow Romney, as the contest over the next few weeks slows. Just a few scattered caucuses are scheduled in most of February, and candidates will not meet much in debates, which have shaped the race and helped candidates such as Gingrich bounce back

MCKENZIE: GINGRICH SHOWS TROUBLING SIMILARITIES TO NIXON

Polls show Mitt Romney will likely win Tuesday’s Florida primary, but Newt Gingrich clearly is winning the anybody-but-Romney primary. He even pledged this weekend to fight until the GOP convention. And a poll last week for Texas newspapers shows Gingrich has higher favorability ratings among Texas Republicans than Romney. But here’s my question for those rallying behind Newt: How can you reassure voters, especially independents, that he’s not the New Nixon? Newt matches up with the former president in ways that could scare off swing voters.

KELSO: HOW TO FIX SUPER PACS: HANDICAP 'EM, LIKE GOLF

A lot of you people probably aren't aware that when I ran for president of the United States in 1980, I did almost as well as Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the New Hampshire Republican primary. Perry got almost 1 percent of the vote in this year's New Hampshire Republican primary, and back in 1980 I got no percent of the vote in the same primary. And I only spent $3,600 on my entire campaign, including the cost of the keg. So I think I'm qualified to speak on presidential matters, like these super PACs that mean a candidate has to be a bazillionaire before he can run for president.

FIRESTONE: THE COST OF A BLOODY FLORIDA BATTLE

Mitt Romney began his victory speech tonight with phony congratulations to his “serious and able competitors,” as if Florida had not been the bloodiest stop yet on the Republican primary trail. But at least he acknowledged having been in a race. In Newt Gingrich’s “concession” speech, on the other hand, he didn’t concede, didn’t congratulate the winner, and didn’t make the slightest admission that he had just been trounced in a state next door to his own. Voters notice those kinds of things, just as they clearly noticed, and rejected, the mean-spirited way he conducted his Florida campaign. Mr. Gingrich leaves the state a greatly diminished candidate, revealed as a man who would say virtually anything, no matter how absurd, to gain a slight advantage among groups of voters.

SUPER PACS HELPING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES CLOSE IN ON OBAMA

Conservative super PACs and other outside groups are helping Republicans close a yawning fundraising gap with President Obama, giving the eventual GOP presidential nominee a better chance at winning the money race by November, according to new disclosures Tuesday. Obama’s fundraising has continued to outpace that of his Republican challengers, amassing four times as much cash on hand at the end of December as front-runner Mitt Romney, records show. Overall, Obama raised $224.6 million in 2011 for his campaign and the Democratic Party, easily eclipsing the combined hauls of the GOP candidates

Lead Stories

RICK PERRY’S CAMPAIGN BURNED THROUGH MILLIONS

Texas Gov. Rick Perry burned through the bulk of a once-sizable campaign war chest late last year in what became an increasingly desperate attempt to right his listing — and ultimately doomed — presidential campaign, federal financial disclosures released late Monday show. Though he raised more than $20 million overall during 2011, Perry raised less than $2.9 million of that amount between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, federal records indicate, as disastrous debate performances and plummeting poll numbers crippled his fundraising efforts.

SPEAKER'S RACE BACK AS A CAMPAIGN ISSUE IN REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES

As he did two years ago, Texas House Speaker Joe Straus is emerging as a campaign issue in some North Texas Republican primaries. “I give you my promise if elected, I will not vote for any Speaker who is not a proven conservative," Republican Pat Carlson said at a candidate forum in Arlington last week. "I will not vote for a speaker that got elected by all the Democrats plus a few Republicans.”

SECOND YEAR IN, REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS MODERATE TONE

A year after a coterie of new Republican governors swept into the statehouses and put in place aggressive agendas to cut spending and curb union powers, sparking strong backlashes in many places, many of them are adopting decidedly more moderate tones as they begin their sophomore year in office. The efforts to weaken unions have not ended — witness the recent events in Indianapolis, where the longtime Republican governor, Mitch Daniels, supports making Indiana the first state in the industrial Midwest with so-called right-to-work legislation. But many of the new Republican governors who swept into office last year, taking aim at collective bargaining rights, are striking less confrontational notes as they begin the new year, at least judging by what they have been saying in their State of the State addresses.

WILL RON PAUL WIN MORE DELEGATES THIS WEEK THAN GINGRICH, SANTORUM?

This week, Ron Paul is likely to win more delegates to the 2012 GOP convention than either Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum. In fact, he’s likely to win more delegates than Gingrich and Santorum combined. “Hold it”, you’re saying, “How can that be? Rep. Paul’s polling in single digits in Florida. He’s going to finish behind Gingrich and Santorum, as well as Mitt Romney, in Tuesday’s Florida primary. How can that translate into beating any of his rivals at all?” We’ll tell you how – because he’s not winning those delegates in Florida. He’s winning, or will probably win, at least a few delegates in Maine.

State Stories

SETTLEMENT TALKS ON MAPS HALTED

Settlement talks aimed at creating interim maps for an April 3 primary seem to have stalled, but whether they've hit an impasse or are on hold depends on who you talk to — and hints at tension among the Democratic and minority groups aligned against the state. Luis Vera, representing the League of United Latin American Citizens, said talks “broke down” between the Texas attorney general's office and plaintiffs groups Sunday. He said that if he had to bet, he wouldn't put money on an agreement being hammered out by Monday, the deadline set by the San Antonio panel of judges for all sides to agree on maps if they want an April 3 primary.

CHASNOFF: COURT PRIZES PROPERTY RIGHTS OVER COMMON SENSE

There's an abandoned house on the East Side that's falling apart... Across the street, another house appears on the verge of collapse. Last week, the Texas Supreme Court constrained the ability of San Antonio to determine such structures a nuisance and demolish them. Declaring “the centrality of personal property rights,” the court ruled that cities, before demolishing a structure, must first defend a nuisance claim in court if the property owner appeals it. The court has overreached.

AT DEATH'S DOOR, CONDEMNED MAN CONFESSED TO 2 KILLINGS

Minutes before Rodrigo Hernandez, 38, was executed for the 1994 rape and murder of a single mother in San Antonio, he reportedly confessed to that killing and the 1991 slaying of a homeless woman in Grand Rapids, Mich., to a Texas Ranger, Michigan authorities said. He agreed to talk to a Texas Ranger assigned to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Huntsville unit as the state prepared to lethally inject him Thursday evening, according to a Kent County, Mich., news release.

OFFICIAL: STATE MIGHT HAVE GONE TOO FAR IN DISCLOSING TECH FUND JOBS

A member of Gov. Rick Perry's staff testified Monday that the Legislature might have gone too far in requiring technology startups to disclose how many jobs they are creating with taxpayer money. Jonathan Taylor, director of the Emerging Technology Fund, said the fund administered by the governor's office has improved its transparency because of changes in the law last year. "You will not find a state — and certainly not a private — fund that provides as much information," Taylor told the Senate Committee on Economic Development.

TEXAS REDISTRICTING TALKS STALL

Texas redistricting negotiations have broken down, some plaintiffs' groups said Monday, as members of their fractured coalition complained that not all are being involved in talks with the state. A panel of three federal judges in San Antonio asked Friday that lawyers for the nine plaintiff groups, which are made up mostly of minority groups, get together with lawyers for the State of Texas to see if they could agree on a new set of maps for the U.S. House, the Texas House and the state Senate.

PERRY TO ADDRESS CPAC CONFERENCE

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will speak during the Conservative Political Action Conference next month in Washington, D.C., the American Conservative Union announced today. A tentative schedule has Perry speaking at 1:20 p.m. on Feb. 9, opening day of the three-day annual conference. “Through an agenda built on tax and spending cuts and pro-growth policies, Gov. Rick Perry has made Texas a leader in job creation and economic development while serving as a national voice for preserving states’ rights,” said Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which puts on the annual conference.

TEXAS SCIENCE STANDARDS EARN A C

The State Board of Education members created a lot of controversy in 2009 when they tussled over how evolutionary theory should be handled in Texas textbooks and classrooms. It turns out that they might also have created some pretty good high school science standards, according to a new analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington-based education reform think tank. "The high school biology course is exemplary in its choice and presentation of topics, including its thorough consideration of biological evolution," according to the report being released today .

POLITIFACT TEXAS: REPEATED -- MARTIN LUTHER KING WAS A REPUBLICAN -- FALSE

Sometimes an incorrect claim persists. So it goes with a description of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as a Republican. Of late, colleagues at PolitiFact Tennessee and PolitiFact Rhode Island each took up such characterizations of the late civil rights leader. Both claims were rated False -- like one we noticed by a Houston group in January 2011.

OBAMA OFFERS HELP TO FORT WORTH JOB-SEEKER IN ONLINE TOWN HALL EVENT

A Fort Worth family appears to be getting help on the employment front from a new, very highly placed friend -- President Barack Obama. Jennifer Wedel of Fort Worth was selected as one of of only a handful of Americans who sought to ask Obama a question in a "Hangout" chat on the Google Plus social networking site. Thousands had applied to participate. Wedel told the president that her husband, a semiconductor engineer, has been out of work for three years. She asked why foreign workers are getting visas allowing them to come to the United States for high-skilled work when people like her husband are unemployed. Obama offered to help -- literally.

INMATE SUES OVER PRISON BEARD BAN

An inmate at a Beeville state prison is suing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, saying its grooming policy infringes upon his right to practice his religion. Kenneth Hickman, 49, said he is required to wear a beard as a Muslim, but officials at the McConnell Unit, where he is incarcerated, have harassed him and demanded that he shave his facial hair even when it is only a quarter-inch long, according to the civil lawsuit filed in state District Court in Travis County.

HIGHWAY BILL AN UNLIKELY VEHICLE FOR PARTISAN ENERGY FIGHTS

A bill that might otherwise have served only to build the nation’s roads and bridges may end up burning bridges — albeit figuratively — between the two parties later this year. Last fall Congress showed a rare moment of bipartisanship on major legislation when a Senate committee unanimously passed a bill extending highway and mass-transit programs at current spending levels by two years. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has said the bill passed with such strong support because Democrats and Republicans set aside controversial policy riders in the interest of getting the bill done.

STANFORD SWAYED REGULATORS, WITNESS SAYS

An Antiguan banking official told jurors Monday that R. Allen Stanford used his influence to manipulate the island nation's regulators and insert himself into the regulatory process. "This would be a classic case of the rat being put in charge of the cheese," said Marian Althea Crick, who is board chairman of Antigua's Financial Services Regulatory Commission. Crick, 59, described a series of run-ins with Stanford and his financial empire, beginning in 1998 when she was hired to be executive director of the commission's predecessor agency - which once included Stanford as a board member.

CLASSES TURN BILINGUAL STUDENTS INTO BILITERATE ONES

There is no escaping Spanish inside Room 510... But this is no ordinary Spanish class, and these eighth-grade students are not foreign-language learners or English as Second Language students. They are all products of Spanish-speaking homes, fluent in English and already conversant in Spanish. Some are relatively new arrivals to the United States; others were born and raised here. Some have had formal education in their native language; others learned Spanish by hearing it spoken at home. And they are in the class - Beginning Spanish for Native-Speakers - because they want to preserve the language of their heritage.

GOVERNOR’S TECH FUND SPENT $169 MILLION TO CREATE 820 JOBS, REPORT SHOWS

The state has poured $169 million in taxpayers’ money into high-tech commercial ventures since 2006, and those firms have created 820 jobs in Texas, according to a report Gov. Rick Perry’s office released Monday. That’s $206,097 per job, a figure that could rekindle debate over the Emerging Technology Fund, one of Perry’s signature economic development programs. The report, mandated by the Texas Legislature, values the state’s investment in startup ventures at $174 million — a return of less than 3 percent over six years.

INVESTIGATION: THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNING

Texas Gov. Rick Perry likes to say that Texas is "open for business." Gov. Perry himself has done quite a bit of business with his political allies, to their mutual benefit. A Dallas Morning News investigation found that he made $500,000 in land deals with one powerful family, which sold him the property below its appraised value and bought it back from him above its appraised value. Meanwhile, his secretive Emerging Technology Fund devoted millions of dollars to his campaign donors, sometimes in violation of the fund’s own rules. Gov. Rick Perry seldom misses a chance to trumpet his state venture-capital program as a jobs creator and investment magnet. But he hasn’t said how many jobs have been produced, how much the state’s investments are worth or exactly how many of the companies it funded are still in business.

MORE THAN 8,000 CLASSROOMS IN TEXAS NOW ABOVE CLASS SIZE CAP

The number of elementary school classrooms in Texas exceeding the state's class size limit has now jumped to 8,243, according to the Texas Education Agency. In all, 286 school districts have requested waivers that allow them to put more than 22 students in elementary classes - with many of those districts in North Texas. The number of waivers this school year is more than three and half times the total from last year, and stems from the huge funding cuts in public education that were imposed by the Legislature. In all, funding for schools was decreased $5.4 billion in the current two-year budget.

BBQ FOR BASTROP: TEXAS MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ATTEND FUNDRAISER FOR WILDFIRE VICTIMS

Both Texas senators and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin , attended a fundraiser in a Washington, D.C., BBQ restaurant on Monday for Bastrop-area victims of the wildfires that ravaged the state for much of last year. "A lot of people witnessed the devastation but also the response, and it was really something to behold," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who ordered a combo plate of ribs, chicken and brisket. The Bastrop fire claimed thousands of acres, hundreds of homes and two lives this fall.

O'GRADY SUSPENDS BID FOR COLLIN COUNTY SEAT IN TEXAS SENATE

Republican Scott O'Grady of Collin County has suspended his campaign for the Texas Senate seat being given up by long-time Sen. Florence Shapiro , R-Plano. O'Grady, a former Air Force fighter pilot who flew 57 combat missions over Bosnia and Iraq, and famously survived being shot down behind enemy lines in Bosnia in 1995, gave no hint of his future plans in a statement emailed to reporters and supporters on Monday.

TEXAS DROUGHT MAKES FEEDING SHOW LIVESTOCK MORE COSTLY, COMPLICATED

Fort Worth Stock Show officials said they weren’t sure how the drought might affect this year’s show as the cost of fuel, show feed and lodging can eat into a family’s budget. But they were surprised to find the number of entries up again this year. “The barns are full and we’re about bursting at the seams,” said Stefan Marchman, the stock show’s livestock manager. “A lot of families were forced to whittle down where they could, but they don’t want to miss the show.”

HERITAGE GROUP MAKES FEDERAL CASE OF BID FOR REBEL-FLAG TEXAS LICENSE PLATES

A Southern heritage group that has lost two battles to get the state to sell a Confederate flag license plate may have a good chance of winning the war in federal court. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles board twice last year rejected a design adorned with the rebel flag pitched by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The group sued, claiming that the DMV violated its free speech rights by refusing to allow the plates to be sold. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Austin, is expected to raise the same emotional debate between the Confederate group and racial minorities who say the plate is an unnecessary reminder of bigotry and oppression.

CRUZ ATTACKS LEPPERT AS PRO-GAY RIGHTS, PRO-IMMIGRANT AS MAYOR

Republican Senate hopeful Ted Cruz assailed rival Republican Tom Leppert over the weekend as hypocritical for suggesting that as Dallas mayor he held firm against the "agenda" of gay rights activists and advocates for undocumented immigrants. Cruz apparently has criticized Leppert on some of this stuff in interviews and perhaps emails to supporters. But Saturday's salvoes, before the conservative Texas Republican Assembly 's biennial endorsing convention in Fort Worth, marked the first time Cruz has gone after Leppert in person. And as you can see from the video, it agitated Leppert.

GOV. RICK PERRY'S FUNDRAISING DIVED IN FOURTH QUARTER

Gov. Rick Perry has filed his year-end campaign finance totals with the Federal Election Commission. And it's not pretty. Poor debate performances and controversial ad campaigns appear to have done Perry no favors in the fundraising department. Perry collected only $2.9 million in the fourth quarter after having the strongest performance of the field in the third quarter, when he received $17.2 million in contributions and outraised all of his Republican opponents.

DEMOCRATS TRY AGAIN TO BREAK THE GOP HOLD ON TEXAS

Sooner or later, someone will become the first Democrat elected statewide in Texas since 1994. Candidates from that party — with money, without money — have been bonking their heads on the ceiling for years. Bill White, running for governor in 2010, got 42.3 percent against Rick Perry. Rick Noriega pulled 42.8 percent running against Sen. John Cornyn in 2008. Barbara Ann Radnofsky received 36 percent against Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2006 Senate race. It goes on and on like that, with most of the Democrats landing in the high 30s or low 40s.

DIVIDE ON THE PAYOFF OF LEGALIZING IMMIGRANTS

Granting legal status to the illegal immigrants living in one of Texas’ largest metropolitan areas would generate at least $1.4 billion a year in revenue for state and federal agencies, with Social Security and Medicare being the largest potential beneficiaries, according to an analysis by a Houston business group. The report, from the Greater Houston Partnership, says that the untapped revenue would be accessible if immigration reform — one that allowed illegal immigrants the chance to work legally and pay taxes — was realized.

CRUZ, DEWHURST RELEASE RETURNS, REVEAL CHARITABLE GIVING .

Charitable giving is the issue of the moment for Texas Republicans running for U.S. Senate. The 2010 Texas GOP platform frames the issue. It says Texas should enact tough welfare reforms and the needy should rely on donations from "faith-based institutions, community and business organizations." But for that plan to work, Texans need to donate to charity.

STUDY: SOUTH TEXAS HAS ENOUGH WATER FOR OIL BOOM

The oil boom in South Texas has drawn a few concerns for the way the oil is extracted through fracking -- which uses a lot of water. Railroad Commissioner David Porter appointed a task force to look at the water supply along the Eagle Ford shale field above the Carrizo Wilcox Aquifer. The 26-member panel studied the situation and declared that there is enough water to sustain man, beast and fracking.

RON PAUL HEADS TO NEVADA: STRATEGY CALLED ‘ODD’

While his GOP rivals duke it out in a bloody Florida primary on Tuesday, Ron Paul will continue stumping for votes in the caucus states that dominate the political calendar over the next week. Paul does well in caucus states, where superior organization and passionate supporters play to his strengths and could allow the Texas congressman to pick up more delegates than Gingrich and Santorum combined this week. Even Republican strategist Karl Rove admitted that strategy provides Paul the biggest advantage over the next week while speaking on Fox News Monday night.

STRIP CLUB SURTAX SILLY, BUT WELCOME

The U.S. Supreme Court has made the correct decision regarding a $5 fee imposed on patrons of, um, “gentlemen’s clubs” in Texas. The court ruled without comment against a lawsuit brought by club owners who complained that the surtax interferes with patrons’ “freedom of expression.” Oh, please. On one hand, the surtax seemed a bit silly when the 2007 Texas Legislature enacted it. The aim was to dedicate the money collected by the $5 admission fee to programs that help victims of sexual assault. Proponents of the law contend that strip clubs incite sexual predators to act on their violent instincts. So the state created this revenue stream to help sexual assault and abuse victims.

RIBARDO: DON'T CHANGE TEACHER RETIREMENT

Funding of public pensions is an explosive topic today. Teacher unions in some states have made news because members demand excessive retirement pensions. This is not true in Texas. Texas is a right-to-work state. Education retirees receive an annuity determined by a formula established by law. It is administrated by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. The Teacher Retirement System is a state agency created in 1937 to deliver retirement and related member benefits authorized by the Legislature and to manage the trust fund that finances those benefits. The retirement system serves a vital role to 1.3 million public school and state university active and retired personnel. One out of 20 Texans either pays into or receives a benefit from the Teacher Retirement System.

PERRY, NOW GONE, MADE AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION

Back when he was just another Republican running for his party’s presidential nomination, Texas Gov. Rick Perry condemned the Obama administration’s “war on religion.” The man had a point: The left is markedly hostile toward religion that does not conform to liberal views. And liberalism has become, in some respects, sexual libertinism. For liberals, it’s no longer just saying ‘anything goes,’ but that we have a fundamental right to an ‘anything goes’ lifestyle and the taxpayer-funded tools needed to sustain it. Perry had one of his best debates during a tumultuous night in New Hampshire, during which moderators insisted on repeatedly asking questions about contraception and homosexuality, seemingly hoping to force a candidate to crack and admit harboring secret plans to issue a federal directive that would confiscate birth control.

County Stories

TRAVIS TO CONSIDER WATER-USE RULES FOR DEVELOPMENT

The Travis County commissioners might vote today on a controversial set of rules as a moratorium on development in the western part of the county is scheduled to expire. The county has been working on the rules since the moratorium on projects using groundwater from the Trinity Aquifer began in October 2010. The moratorium was extended in September when a more stringent set of rules was proposed than those set to be considered by the Commissioners Court today. The county angered some landowners when it banned developments using water from the massive Trinity Aquifer, which stretches from North Texas to west of San Antonio and passes through western Travis County, to give a stakeholder committee time to develop regulations as some residents were seeing their wells dry up.

NORTH TEXAS WATER RESTRICTIONS UNLIKELY TO BE LIFTED RIGHT AWAY

With last week's heavy rain filling some area lakes, the Tarrant Regional Water District has reached a threshold where it could consider lifting water restrictions, but the district's top official is hesitant to do so. Long-range forecasts show that dry conditions could persist into spring, possibly setting the stage for another hot, dry summer. "I want to make sure if we come out of it, we're going to be out of it for a long time," district general manager Jim Oliver said Monday. "We're not there yet."

GM MAY ANNOUNCE $200 MILLION ARLINGTON AUTO PARTS PLANT TUESDAY

General Motors Co. plans to make a “positive announcement” at its Arlington assembly plant Tuesday — probably that the plant will get a $200 million stamping facility. The automaker said last month that Arlington was one of the sites being considered for the plant. Stamping plants punch out sheet metal and other vehicle parts such as doors, hoods, fenders and inner-body panels.

KILDAY HART: HELP MENTALLY ILL ON OUTSIDE SO THEY DON'T END UP INSIDE

Kimberly is one of 509 patients who have been treated by Harris County's six-year-old Forensic Assertive Community Treatment program, which was created to stop the incessant cycling in and out of jail by people suffering from mental illness. She represents the human face of a quiet revolution in the criminal justice system across the country: the realization that our prisons and jails have become our new mental hospitals. According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, some 27 percent of the inmates in Texas prisons, and 30 percent of the inmates flowing through the Harris County Jail, have a mental illness requiring medication and treatment. The conservative-leaning foundation has embraced programs like Harris County's FACT program that try to treat a criminal defendant's mental illness to prevent future offenses.

TRAVIS COUNTY LOOKS AT POSSIBLE NORWOOD LINK IN MURDER

The Travis County district attorney’s office is discussing whether to review a 1985 murder case in connection with Mark Norwood, raising new questions about whether another innocent man could be in prison for a murder linked to the former handyman and carpet layer. Dennis Davis, a former Austin recording studio owner, was convicted last year of murdering his ex-girlfriend Natalie Antonetti in 1985. But the manner in which Antonetti was murdered is eerily similar to the two killings with which Norwood has already been connected.

City Stories

REFERENDUM MAY END BOERNE ELECTION LITIGATION

If a city charter amendment is passed by Boerne voters in May, it is expected to resolve a pending federal lawsuit over municipal election procedures. But if voters decline to ratify the City Council's 2009 decision to elect City Council members from five districts, it would likely mean more litigation for the city and the League of United Latin American Citizens. “There are some risks... if single-member districts are not approved,” Mayor Mike Shultz said after the unanimous City Council vote Tuesday to prepare for the ballot referendum.

HPD STILL QUIET ON ALLEGED POLICE BRUTALITY INCIDENT

A woman who said she was beaten when she tried to record an alleged incident of police brutality last week plans to set off an investigation through the Houston Police Department, said one of the activists behind the effort. Annika Lewis, 26, went to HPD headquarters Monday to obtain documents that she planned to file with the department's internal affairs division on Tuesday, activist Deric Muhammad said. The decision came as police representatives declined to respond to specific questions about the alleged incident.

National Stories

TEXMESSAGE: VOTERS THINK OBAMA UNDERSTANDS THEIR PROBLEMS BETTER THAN ROMNEY, GINGRICH

Some rare good polling news for President Obama. A Pew Research Center released yesterday found that voters believe the incumbent Democrat can identify with their problems far better than Republican frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Among the 1,006 Americans surveyed, 55 percent said Obama could fathom issues important to the American people “very well” or “fairly well,” whereas only 39 percent believed the same for Romney and 36 percent for Gingrich. Obama also did better on the empathy chart among partisans.

U.S. INCOMES EDGE UP, BUT CONSUMER SPENDING FLAT

Americans' income rose last month by the most in nine months, a potentially hopeful sign for the economy after a year of weak wage gains. But consumer spending was unchanged. Income rose 0.5 percent, the Commerce Department said Monday. It was the strongest increase since a similar gain in March. The flat spending in December followed weak gains of 0.1 percent in both October and November. The report underscored the challenge facing the economy in 2012. For all of 2011, income barely rose, while consumers dipped into savings to spend more.

This article appeared in the Austin American Statesman

NYT: DON’T STOP THE DEBATES

Senator John McCain spoke for many nervous Republicans on Sunday when he said it’s time to “stop the debates.” They’ve turned into mud-wrestling contests, he said on “Meet the Press” on NBC, and are driving up negative impressions of the party’s presidential candidates.,, Most of all, the debates have shown the complete lack of interest by all the Republican candidates in the issues of economic fairness. While the candidates argue over their investments and their complex tax returns and who can cut taxes for the rich the most, the contrast to Mr. Obama’s newfound voice on shared responsibility could not be more clear. The long series of debates are an open window onto the failed policies and dubious values of the Republican Party. No wonder some people want to close it.

BILL TO PROHIBIT INSIDER TRADING BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ADVANCES IN SENATE

In an effort to regain public trust, the Senate voted Monday to take up a bill that would prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks and other securities on the basis of confidential information they receive as lawmakers. The vote was 93 to 2. Senators of both parties said the bill was desperately needed at a time when the public approval rating of Congress had sunk below 15 percent. “The American public has no confidence in Congress,” said Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, who introduced an earlier version of the legislation.

ROMNEY, GINGRICH MAKE FINAL PITCHES IN FLORIDA

Florida voters are likely to determine the course of the Republican presidential race Tuesday by putting Mitt Romney a step closer to the nomination or keeping Newt Gingrich’s hopes alive in what could be a protracted struggle. The outcome in the nation’s biggest battleground state will offer an early look at how Floridians view the general election, as well as the type of warrior Republicans want to send into battle against President Barack Obama.

DMN: PASSING THE FLUENCY TEST

A partial video of this remarkable court hearing captures, beyond doubt, a woman struggling to understand what is being said. When she speaks, she does so haltingly, in the manner familiar to anyone who has been lost in the labyrinth of a foreign language. You don’t have to be a linguist to recognize that communication, at its most basic level, failed that day in Arizona’s Yuma County Superior Court. Alejandrina Cabrera, the woman in question, is like many people who struggle to work in the language of their adopted land. In surveys, for example, only about a quarter of first-generation Latino immigrants describe themselves as fluent. A subjective assessment, to be sure, but a telling one in that it reveals how hard it is to convince yourself that you are linguistically competent.

MILBANK: THE END OF THE ROAD FOR NEWT GINGRICH?

It was approaching 11 p.m. at the Hyatt hotel bar here on Sunday, and reporters covering Newt Gingrich’s campaign were enjoying a few drinks when a familiar figure approached. Gingrich put a hand on the shoulders of two women at the table and imparted a big scoop. “There’s a new poll coming out,” he announced. “I’m within five points of Romney. .?.?. I’ve got all the momentum.” It’s hard to know what the most pitiful part was: That a presidential candidate was whiling away the night at a hotel bar (it was his second visit to the journalists’ table that evening)? That he felt the need to do his own spinning? That the survey he was spinning was a “robo-poll” done by machines? Or that the pollster who did it used to work for Gingrich?

Lead Stories

FIKAC: PERRY WOULD LIKE YOU TO THINK HE’LL SEEK RE-ELECTION

Texans said they didn’t want Gov. Rick Perry to run for president, but he did. Now they say he shouldn’t run for re-election — but if Perry’s leaning against the idea, don’t expect to hear it from him. Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan repeatedly says Perry may run again for governor in 2014. To say anything else would damage a governor already battered by a presidential run that exposed his weaknesses to a national audience. Lawmakers have a challenging legislative session looming in 2013, with the potential for many new legislative players. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst will be gone if his U.S. Senate bid is successful, and there could be many new lawmakers.

SENATE COMMITTEES PUSH BOUNDARIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Cherie Hampton recently took part in a legislative committee hearing at the Capitol on Texas' electric power supply. And she didn't have to leave her Houston home. From her den, the self-styled consumer activist and mother of two used her computer to view documents that witnesses provided to the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, read testimony as it was given and follow a live blog chronicling the developments. She could even email her comments as events unfolded. "We can see everything they have. We can listen to everything they're doing. We can tell them what we think about what they're doing, in real time. And we don't have to drive all the way to Austin to do it," said Hampton, 37.

TEXAS AFL-CIO ENDORSES SADLER FOR U.S. SENATE

The biennial convention of the Texas AFL-CIO Committee on Public Education put its weight behind Sadler, a Democrat , as the best choice to succeed retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican. The labor federation and its regional councils represent about 220,000 union members. Democrats haven't won statewide in Texas since 1994. The endorsement wasn't a shocker, given Sadler's familiarity and record as the Texas House's chief school policy writer in the 1990s. Assuming he wins the blessing of the Texas State Teachers Association, which seems likely, the former East Texas lawmaker will lay claim to his enervated party's labor and teacher base, while Houston trial lawyer Jason Gibson presumably taps the party's big financial backers in the personal-injury bar. Where minorities and white liberals eventually land is anyone's guess. Three other Democrats have filed. None is well-known.

WEAR: WILL THE NEW MOPAC TOLL LANE PROJECT CATER TO THE RICH AND LEAVE THE REST OF US BEHIND?

Those of you who paused on the front page on your way to my column (yes, I know, it's hard to wait) might have noticed a truly excellent story about MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) and the unusual express toll lanes in the works. What officials have in mind for what will be a fourth lane added to each side of MoPac north of Lady Bird Lake are "dynamic" tolls, charges that would change minute by minute in response to traffic volume. These new-fangled toll lanes, along with other forms of so-called congestion pricing, have been proliferating around the country, and enough of them are in existence (30 urban highways have them, and 11 are under construction) that the U.S. Government Accountability Office decided it was time to take a look.

State Stories

CANDIDATES COOL HEELS WHILE JUDGES DECIDE REDISTRICTING

It’s possible to lose an election before it even starts. Geanie Morrison is running for an eighth term in the Texas House this year. Or not. Roger Williams is running for Congress. Maybe. Lloyd Doggett will have to move to hang on to the congressional seat he won in 1994. Perhaps. Up and down the Texas ballot, candidates are waiting to see whether the redrawn political maps give them any chance of winning. Careers, plans and schemes are in the balance.

REDISTRICTING JUDGES TELL LAWYERS TO NEGOTIATE MAPS

A panel of three federal judges stuck between the need for redistricting maps in a hurry and the need for maps that hold up in court told the parties to negotiate over the weekend and to bring in the results next week. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia told an attorney for the state that the parties should try to agree "to as many districts as possible" by early next week "if you want to have an election in April." He also said the parties should agree to an election date in case the maps can't be done in time for an April election.

TEXAS RANCHERS BRACE FOR NEW CATTLE ID RULES

In Dan Gattis’ Georgetown pasture, cows and their newborn calves have bright yellow ear tags with identification numbers. “I can take that knife and pull that ear tag out,” said Gattis, a former state representative, gesturing at a knife in his belt. For more permanent identification, he brands each cow with his ranch’s 4G symbol and that cow’s specific number. Ear tags can also be ripped off by brush, he said, pointing out one cow that had lost its “earring.” Nonetheless, more ear tags may be on the way for ranchers in Texas and across the nation. Proposed rules from the U.S. Department of Agriculture would require ear tags for adult cattle moving across state lines.

BROWN: A CAPTIVE RATE PAYER SPEAKS

I am one of Austin Energy's 56,000 captive customers who live outside the city. Many of us are opposed to the utility's proposed $136 million rate increase, which will likely be appealed to the Texas Public Utility Commission. The rate plan is replete with harsh fees, exorbitant energy charges and untested assumptions. It will create a "weird" utility business model unlike any other in the state. And it will make Austin Energy an oddity — like a two-headed calf — in the Texas utility world. If the plan is approved, Austin Energy will attract unwanted attention from the PUC and members of the Texas Legislature. Those groups will quickly see that Austin Energy's practices are far outside industry norms.

POLITIFACT TEXAS: TRUE THE VOTE SAYS ERIC HOLDER SUPPORTS NAACP REQUEST FOR UNITED NATIONS' INVOLVEMENT IN U.S. ELECTIONS -- PANTS ON FIRE

Eric Holder, the U.S. attorney general, supports a group’s push for international involvement in U.S. elections, a Texas-rooted organization says. On a web page urging supporters to protest Holder’s Dec. 13, 2011, stop in Austin, True the Vote said Holder "is for NAACP plans to involve the United Nations in U.S. elections. "Are you ready to have U.N. blue helmets outside your polling place?"

AUTO INSURANCE RATES IN TEXAS CLIMBING

The high cost of fixing damaged cars and trucks in Texas has pushed up the price of auto insurance in the state to 11th highest in the nation, according to a new study analyzing premiums across the country. The study by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners shows that the price of collision coverage — the portion of an insurance policy that pays to repair damage after an accident — has been climbing in Texas and now ranks as the fifth highest among the states. By contrast, the amount paid for liability coverage — which has been a target for advocates of limiting lawsuits — ranks 20th among the states.

‘NOT GUILTY’ REMAINS A RARITY IN FEDERAL AND STATE COURTS

A Dallas jury handed federal prosecutors something they rarely get — a defeat. A Plano couple and an in-law were tried on charges alleging that from 2005 to 2009 they harbored two illegal immigrant women — one from Sri Lanka and another from Mexico — and forced them to work for them using threats of jail and violence. But jurors saw it differently. On Jan. 19, after about a week of testimony, jurors returned 20 “not guilty” verdicts on nine counts of conspiracy, forced labor and harboring.

SLATER: IN THE BEGINNING, CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVES WANTED A PERFECT CANDIDATE. AFTER THAT, THE DELUGE

Christian conservatives are gradually coming to terms with the idea that Mitt Romney might be the GOP nominee. And they've got some advice if he wants evangelicals to turn out and vote for him in November. Leading social conservatives want Romney to be very public about opposing abortion and gay marriage. The fact that he's been all over the board on these issues is a problem, along with his Mormonism, but leaders say if Romney has any hopes of rallying the Christian faithful in the fall, he'll have to be demonstrative in support of the social issues they care about. That, of course, is exactly what the opposite of what his political advisers are likely to recommend for a general election - where Romney will be trolling for votes among independents and moderates

TEXAS POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS CAN'T GEAR UP JUST YET

It's fundamental that political candidates communicate clearly with the voters they want to represent. But that's a tricky task in Texas this year, with maps for congressional and legislative districts still being battled over in court. Some candidates still don't know which voters they should be charming or the opponents they will face, leaving the campaigns in many districts a fuzzy proposition for now. "I'm Pat Carlson, running for state representative of District 91 or 93, whichever the case may be," one Republican said at a recent candidate forum.

SAEN: RAILROAD COMMISSION SHOULD HEED STRIP MINE WORRIES

Economic development is a key goal of most local government officials. And when a majority of a community's public leaders are against a project touted as a job-generator, that opposition is noteworthy. In Maverick County, despite a high level of unemployment, most community leaders are lined up against a plan to strip mine coal and sell it for use in loosely-regulated Mexican power plants. The Express-News reported that the city of Eagle Pass, Maverick County Judge David Saucedo, the school district, the hospital district and the local water authority oppose the strip-mining plan.

DEMOCRATIC HOPEFULS REFLECT ON THE PARTY IN TEXAS

Democrats have three top candidates to choose from in the primary race for the U.S. Senate, but their ultimate choice will probably say more about the party's future in Texas than who goes to Washington next year. Every candidate says they are running to win the general election, but the odds are long. Former state Rep. Paul Sadler, party activist Sean Hubbard and trial lawyer Jason Gibson all insist they have a fighting chance to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison this November. Those who believe President Barack Obama will win re-election speculate he could carry many down-ballot Democrats on his coattails, even in the red state of Texas.

TOURISM FALLS OFF AT TEXAS PARKS HIT HARD BY DROUGHT, WILDFIRES, FUNDING WOES

Texas parks and nature-based tourism suffered in numerous ways because of drought and wildfires, adding to an already difficult financial picture, the state parks leader is warning legislators. "Very difficult times," said Texas Parks and Wildlife Department executive director Carter Smith, summing up the plight of the state agency. Lawmakers are looking at ways to fund the agency for the long term while gathering facts on how hard it was hit by the worst one-year drought in Texas history and by wildfires that burned almost 4 million acres.

PERRY POLITICALLY FORMIDABLE DESPITE DISMAL POST-CAMPAIGN POLLING

No sooner had Rick Perry said goodbye to the national spotlight, than he waved hello to Texas, returning to the state he's governed for the last 12 years. The campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination wasn't a success for Perry, but many are asking: Was it a success for Texas? According to a poll published Thursday in the Austin-American Statesman, KVUE's exclusive news partner, Rick Perry's approval rating is at 40 percent -- the lowest it's been in 10 years.

SMUGGLING BRINGS DOWN TEXAS DEER BREEDERS

Texas' hunting season for white-tailed deer draws to a close this month. Normally Billy Powell would be counting his profits from catering to "hornographers," hunters who will pay as much as $100,000 to bag a monster buck with impressive headgear. Instead, the 78-year-old deer breeder is under house arrest and wearing an ankle monitor.

IN THEIR ELECTION DROUGHT, TEXAS DEMOCRATS FIND SOLACE IN G.O.P.’S PAST STRUGGLES

Sooner or later, someone will become the first Democrat elected statewide in Texas since 1994. Candidates from that party — some with money, some without — have been bonking their heads on the ceiling for years. Bill White, running for governor in 2010, won 42.3 percent of the vote against Rick Perry. Rick Noriega attracted 42.8 percent in his race against Senator John Cornyn in 2008. Barbara Ann Radnofsky received 36 percent against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2006.

RANGEL: SCHOOL FINANCING RESOLUTION MIGHT TAKE YEARS

One thing Texas legislators learned long ago, and they are seeing it again with the yearlong redistricting battle, is lawsuits against the state can take a long time. Four school funding lawsuits filed separately since mid-October won’t be the exception. “This may take as long as three years,” said veteran state Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, who was already a member of the Legislature when the first of six school funding lawsuits in the last 24 years was filed.

RON PAUL IS PLACING BIG BETS ON NEVADA

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul heads west next week to campaign in the early voting states of Colorado and Nevada. Although Nevada has been virtually ignored by his rivals, Paul has opened two offices there and unveiled his centerpiece budget plan in Las Vegas last October. Paul did well in Nevada four years ago, placing second to Mitt Romney, who successfully leveraged his Mormon faith to draw in a sizable number of Mormon voters.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS ARE PREPARING FOR STAAR TESTS

The latest generation of state standardized student testing is coming very soon — and with less clarity than Texas school districts would prefer. The new testing is called STAAR — State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness. The first STAAR tests will be administered March 26. When the school year began in late August, school districts knew almost nothing about STAAR, said Lisa Leach, the Lubbock Independent School District’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

TEXAS PARKS: DONATIONS HELP BELEAGUERED SYSTEM

Persistent drought. Oppressive heat. Destructive wildfires. All of these factors -- no doubt abetted by a weak economy -- have reduced the number of visitors taking advantage of Texas state parks. That, of course, reduced the amount of money realized from visitor fees, and according to the TPWD, those fees fund about half of the park system's annual operating budget of about $69 million. That, of course, reduced the amount of money realized from visitor fees, and, according to the TPWD, those fees fund about half of the park system's annual operating budget of about $69 million.

County Stories

DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS PERSIST AT HARRIS COUNTY JAIL

A female jailer ordered, without authorization, an entire cellblock of women prisoners to strip naked during a July 2010 search. She's still on the job. Another jailer punched a seriously ill inmate as he lay in the infirmary in May 2010. The inmate died the next day, and the jailer's punishment: one day in jail. Last year, a sergeant slugged an inmate so hard it took 14 staples to close a gash over his eye. The sergeant said the inmate raised his hands to hit him, but other jailers swore the inmate didn't. The sergeant was fired but not charged with a crime. He's fighting to return.

VETERANS HOUSING DERAILED AGAIN

A lack of support among Kerrville leaders has again derailed Department of Veterans Affairs' plans for a housing complex on the grounds of its medical unit there. The Kerrville City Council last week voted against endorsing an application for federal income tax credits by Communities for Veterans LLC, the Georgia contractor behind the 100-unit complex designed to cater to low-income senior and disabled vets. “The primary reason is that the project wasn't guaranteed to serve veterans only,” Mayor David Wampler said Friday.

City Stories

ACTIVISTS RALLY BEHIND COUPLE'S HPD BRUTALITY ALLEGATIONS

A woman who says she was beaten by police last week after she tried to record the brutal arrest of her husband joined activists Sunday to blast the Houston Police Department and call for an investigation. Annika Lewis, 26, said she was in her home on the 5000 block of Madalyn, near the University of Houston, when she heard screaming about 2:30 a.m. She went outside to find police officers punching, kicking and hitting her husband with a baton.

AISD PUTS FEDERAL POVERTY MONEY INTO PUBLIC RELATIONS, MULTICULTURAL OUTREACH

The Austin school district has overhauled its communications apparatus, giving it a new name Department of Public Relations and Multicultural Outreach a new mission and a new funding source. The department — which has a staff of 23 and a 2011-12 budget of about $2 million, including $1.4 million for salaries — is now being funded with about $192,000 of Title I money, federal funds given to support programs and services at high-poverty schools. Executive Director Alex Sánchez said the department is new, created by combining three other administrative offices, and designed to reach out to families that might have been overlooked in the district's past efforts because of language or other cultural barriers.

PARTS OF DOWNTOWN GO DARK FOR NEARLY 12 HOURS

An unusual, back-to-back failure of electric transformers late Saturday led to power lines overloading, smoldering and, in one instance, catching fire, causing a nearly 12-hour electricity outage across a wide area of downtown Austin. Power remained out Sunday night at one building, Capitol Center, a 15-story office tower at 919 Congress Ave., and crews planned to work through the night to restore it. On Saturday night, bars and clubs on much of East Sixth Street were forced to close early, losing out on more than two hours of business on the busiest night of the week.

National Stories

KRUGMAN: THE AUSTERITY DEBACLE

Last week the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a British think tank, released a startling chart comparing the current slump with past recessions and recoveries. It turns out that by one important measure — changes in real G.D.P. since the recession began — Britain is doing worse this time than it did during the Great Depression. Four years into the Depression, British G.D.P. had regained its previous peak; four years after the Great Recession began, Britain is nowhere close to regaining its lost ground. Nor is Britain unique. Italy is also doing worse than it did in the 1930s — and with Spain clearly headed for a double-dip recession, that makes three of Europe’s big five economies members of the worse-than club. Yes, there are some caveats and complications. But this nonetheless represents a stunning failure of policy.

400 OCCUPY PROTESTERS ARRESTED IN CALIFORNIA CITY

An Occupy protest in Oakland, Calif., flared into violence, resulting in more than 400 arrests, as demonstrators attempted to take over a vacant city-owned auditorium, according to media reports Sunday. Police used teargas, flash grenades and beanbag guns in an attempt to stop the 1,000-strong march as demonsttrators attempted Saturday night to take over the vacant Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center. The near-downtown entertainment complex, anchored by a 4,500-seat auditorium, was closed by the city in 2006 in a budget-cutting move.

PENTAGON UNABLE TO ACCOUNT FOR MISSING IRAQI MILLIONS

The Pentagon doesn’t know what happened to more than $100 million in cash held at Saddam Hussein’s palace in Baghdad during the Iraq war, according to a new report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. What’s more, the Pentagon can’t find documents to explain what it spent as much as $1.7 billion on from funds held on behalf of the Iraqi government by the New York Federal Reserve, the report says. The missing records raise new questions about how the US government handled billions of dollars in Iraqi funds during the war.

FOR A FRONT-RUNNER, GINGRICH HAS A LOT OF DETRACTORS

Newt Gingrich won’t win many popularity contests among the general public. Polls show many more Americans dislike him than like him. But the former House speaker has weaved his way to the front of the GOP presidential pack despite carrying enough baggage to weigh down a cruise liner. Gingrich has done so by offering himself as the only Republican who can stand toe to toe with President Barack Obama and win the White House for the restless conservative base of his party. He backs up his talk with fiery attacks against the media and strong debate performances, at least before last week’s flat showings.

FWST: SUPER PACS ARE OVERWHELMING THE POLITICAL PROCESS

Given the deluge of dollars already spent by so-called "super PACs" in this year's Republican presidential primaries, flashbacks were unavoidable Tuesday when President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address to Congress. When he stood at that same House Chamber podium for the same purpose two years ago, he took the unusual step of looking straight at the klatch of Supreme Court justices watching from the front rows and boldly admonished them for their shake-up of campaign finance law just a week earlier. This year, for the first time in a presidential race, we're seeing the big picture of what the court's 5-4 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission has done.

WALTERS: POLITICIANS LACK ‘MORAL ASCENDANCY'

State of the Union speech references suggest President Barack Obama believes getting people working together is as simple as “putting on the uniform.” Were that so, Washington's problems could be solved by Congress and the administration all wearing blue pin stripes and rep ties or scarves. Recitations of cooperation, competence and trust characterizing our military are appreciated but have no application to D.C. politicians.

YEARS OF DESPAIR ADD TO UNCERTAINTY IN FLORIDA RACE

Only four years ago, life certainly seemed on the upswing for Kate and Marcus Freeman, young professionals who had recently moved from Worcester, Mass., into a new house here in sun-splashed central Florida, where they hoped to enjoy the warmer weather and new jobs. He was an accountant. She would be teaching preschool. The future was not supposed to look like this: On Saturday, Mr. and Ms. Freeman were sweating at an intersection off Interstate 4, selling chili for $5 a jar to help save their home, which is in foreclosure. Mr. Freeman, 38, was laid off last year. The couple, who have two sons, fell behind on mortgage payments. Now, hope is in a jar of chili with a label that reads “Freeman’s Home.” On a good weekend, they can clear $130 after expenses.

ROMNEY ADVISER GOES ALL OUT TO RALLY HISPANICS IN FLORIDA

She was scheduled to deliver a speech across town in 30 minutes, but she did not know where to go, or how to get there, or exactly what she would say if she managed to arrive on time. Bertica Cabrera Morris revved the engine in her Jaguar and an alarm on the dashboard warned that she was almost out of gas. She grabbed her cellphone to make a call and watched the battery die and the screen go black. “Papa Dios!” she said. “Are you kidding me? Why is this happening now?” Morris, 58, had volunteered for one of the most crucial jobs during one of the most crucial moments of this Republican presidential primary. The Cuban-born adviser to Mitt Romney hoped to persuade many of Florida’s 4.5 million Hispanics to support a candidate who has struggled to reach Hispanic voters in part because of his tough positions on illegal immigration.

OBAMA: THE MOST POLARIZING PRESIDENT. EVER.

While it’s easy to look at the numbers cited above and conclude that Obama has failed at his mission of bringing the country together, a deeper dig into the numbers in the Gallup poll suggests that the idea of erasing the partisan gap is simply impossible, as political polarization is rising rapidly. Out of the ten most partisan years in terms of presidential job approval in Gallup data, seven — yes, seven — have come since 2004. Bush had a run between 2004 and 2007 in which the partisan disparity of his job approval was at 70 points or higher.

Lead Stories

REDISTRICTING TALKS UNDER WAY BETWEEN TEXAS AG, MINORITY GROUPS AS CASE RETURNS TO SAN ANTONIO

lengthy and contentious fight over Texas redistricting plans took a new twist Friday when the state and a minority group opposing the redrawn maps started negotiating over the disputed districts in hopes of preserving its April 3 primary. The state attorney general’s office told a three-judge panel in San Antonio that the goal should be to draw a temporary map to keep the primary, but minority groups signaled the discussions may have greater significance.

This article appeared in the Washington Post

RICK PERRY’S BACK IN TEXAS, AND SOME WONDER IF HE’S LOST POLITICAL POWER THERE

Yes, to the non-Texan eye, it looks like Republican Gov. Rick Perry has slunk home from his last rodeo, having humiliated himself and his home state with a presidential run that will go down in history as one big “Oops.” But even though Texas Monthly welcomed him home with a “bum steer” award, and a statewide poll shows him with a lower approval rating than even President Obama, neither Republicans nor Democrats in the state are sure his political career is over. First, that’s because he continues to control so many state appointments — and, as critics see it, the unlimited contributions of the donors he doles them out to. A fourth term as governor isn’t out of the question in a state the size of France, where races are mainly run and won with expensive TV ads.

MCCOWN: THE PLOY BEHIND DRUG TESTING THE UNEMPLOYED

As part of legislation to extend federal unemployment insurance benefits through 2012, Congress is considering a very bad policy idea: encouraging states to drug test every applicant for unemployment insurance and deny compensation to any who fail. It’s such a bad idea that it has twice failed to make it through the Texas House, which is as conservative a legislative body as they come. The whole thing is really a ploy. The proponents of drug testing are trying to undermine public support for unemployment benefits by associating these applicants with drug users. They want the public to think about unemployment insurance like it does welfare, blaming the unemployed — rather than the economy — for their plight.

This article is password protected by Dallas Morning News

BABY BOOM LEADS TO SENIOR BOOM IN PRISONS

The Baby Boom of the 1950s has turned into a Senior Boom for prisons in the United States —a trend that is mushrooming prison health care costs because medical care for those older convicts is costing up to nine times more than for younger prisoners. That’s the bottom line of a new study released this morning by Human Rights Watch, in what echoes the trend for several years in Texas prisons, the second-largest corrections system in the country. The findings of the study are important because the graying of the prison populations in Texas and other states will continue to cost taxpayers and more and more, becoming a bigger item in state budgets that already are strained by revenue shortfalls and rising costs for public healthcare, education and public safety.

State Stories

FEDS REJECT TEXAS’ PLEA TO SLASH HEALTH INSURANCE REBATES

The federal government on Friday refused to let Texas ease a requirement that health insurers devote at least 80 percent of premium revenue to medical care. The new federal rule, which makes insurers falling short of the mark pay back the difference to consumers, will bring rebate checks on last year’s premiums to hundreds of thousands of Texans by August. Officials of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Texas insurance regulators did not convincingly back up their claim that immediate enforcement of the medical-spending minimums would disrupt the state’s “individual market.” That’s where about 750,000 Texans buy policies without any help from their employers.

JUDGES IN REDISTRICTING CASE TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHEN (AND HOW) TO HOLD UPCOMING PRIMARIES

A three-judge federal panel today discussed the possibility of splitting the upcoming primary elections and figuring out the best time to draw another set of redistricting maps. A group of plaintiffs, who are suing the state for what they say are discriminatory redistricting maps,told the judges that they want to push a unified primary that could occur in May or June. The state, meanwhile, wants to stick as closely as possible to the currently set date of April 3, lawyers said.

RETHINKING WATER: GROWING POPULATION, LIMITED SUPPLY MEAN COSTS DESTINED TO RISE, EXPERTS SAY

Is water too cheap? Perhaps the most obvious indication that it is, said Michael Webber, a University of Texas professor who heads a research group focused on water and energy, is how freely we use it. "A hundred years from now, your grandkids would ask you, `You sprayed what on your lawn? That's crazy,'" Webber said. Watering lawns will seem as crazy as throwing diamonds on our lawns; we're throwing the world's most important resource - clean drinking water - on the ground, Webber said.

POLITIFACT TEXAS: SILVESTRE REYES SAYS SAYS 282 TEXAS SCHOOL DISTRICTS REQUESTED CLASS-SIZE WAIVERS BECAUSE OF 'UNPRECEDENTED FISCAL CHALLENGES' -- HALF TRUE

In a Jan. 9, 2012, press release, U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, urged Republican Gov. Rick Perry to convene a special legislative session so lawmakers can provide more money to "under-served schools." Citing the Legislature's 2011 decision to give school districts $4 billion less through August 2013 than they would have gotten under previous funding formulas, Reyes said: "Our school districts are now experiencing unprecedented fiscal challenges and being forced to take drastic measures, like increasing class sizes and cutting instructional supports. In fact, the Texas Education Agency is reporting that 282 school districts have requested emergency waivers to increase class sizes." That would be nearly a third of the state's 1,000-plus districts. Is the congressman right?

AAS: PERRY CAN SALVAGE DENTED REPUTATION

As Gov. Rick Perry's gaffe-prone presidential campaign slid toward failure, more and more Texans began to wonder about the damage Perry was afflicting to self and to the state. Last week, we got an answer. Perry's reputation took a serious hit over the past several months. And, many Texans fear, so did the state's. A poll commissioned by the American-Statesman and other Texas newspapers surveyed 806 Texans, including 669 registered voters, over four days within a week of Perry's departure from the campaign trail on Jan. 19.

POWERS, PETERSON: TEXAS REACHING HIGH FOR SUCCESS

Texas is a fiercely competitive state no one disputes that. But globalization is producing formidable new threats. Is Texas ready to take on those challenges? Competitiveness stems primarily from the ability of a state or region to innovate and systematically transform that innovation into the advantages that propel high growth companies. Job creation, desirable as it may be, is a mere side-effect. A recent review by Michael Porter of Harvard's Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness finds Texas one of the topmost performers in firm formation, a key measure of entrepreneurship, and in job creation. However, other important leading indicators of economic health show an ominous trend, including wages, labor productivity and cluster strength (www.txfic.org, Texas Competitiveness).

GARCIA: PROPOSED ELECTRIC RATE INCREASE RAISES QUESTIONS ON PUBLIC DEBT

The unfolding discussion about the proposed increase in Austin's electric rates bumped up against the growing national discontent with public debt. Ever-elusive consensus has apparently been reached in Washington that public debt is not a good thing. I say apparently because, public debt — like Mark Twain's weather — is more conversation piece than action item. Members of Congress denounce debt but can't quite reach agreement on how to do it. Long before the economic free fall of 2008 there were warnings about the rising level of national debt. After 2008, the voices that had been sounding the warnings grew in both number and volume.

ANTI-ABORTION RALLY DRAWS THOUSANDS TO CAPITOL

Thirty-nine years ago this month, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Roe v. Wade, establishing a woman's right to an abortion. Since then, there have been about 50 million abortions nationwide. At the same time, lawmakers and courts have chipped away at that right, the latest example being a federal appeals court decision upholding a Texas law requiring most women to receive a sonogram and hear an explanation of what it reveals about their fetus at least 24 hours before an abortion.

HC: PERRY SHOULD PAY CAMPAIGN SECURITY COSTS

Now that Gov. Rick Perry isn't running for president anymore, Texas taxpayers are beginning to find out how much we'll have to pay for his campaign. Mainly, that cost has been for out-of-state travel for the security detail that covered Perry and his wife, Anita. Between November 2010 and November 2011, the governor's security detail cost more than $1.1 million. And since Perry traveled a lot more out of state between November and the end of his presidential campaign this month, the final bill is bound to be much larger.

KILDAY HART: SCHOOL FUNDING REMAINS INEQUITABLE

Next fall, a state district court in Austin will once again hear complaints from Texas school districts about the state's uneven method of financing public schools. But this week, at a meeting at the state Capitol, Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, boiled down the complicated lawsuit to one easy chart. He asked an attorney for the Texas Education Agency to determine, on the average, how much money school districts in each of the state's accountability rankings received per student. For example, how much money per student did all the districts who earned an "Exemplary" rating receive? How much per student did all the districts labeled "Academically Unacceptable" receive?

PROSPECTS BRIGHTEN FOR SETTLEMENT THAT COULD SAVE APRIL ELECTION

A leading player in the state’s redistricting turmoil said this morning he’s hopeful that both sides are closing in on a settlement that will salvage Texas’ April 3 primary. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has been meeting with representatives of minority groups that sued the state last year to stop new political boundaries from taking effect on grounds the decade-long maps ignore profound population growth of minority Texans – mostly Hispanics. “I am confident that the parties are working in good faith and have enough time to craft a compromise that will assure that the April primaries go on as scheduled,” said state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, chairman of the House Mexican American Legislative Caucus, which is one of the parties suing the state.

TEXAS' NEW MATH STANDARDS DEPENDENT ON NEW BOOKS

The Texas Board of Education gave preliminary approval Friday to new math standards for schools statewide, but moved to block implementation unless the Legislature provides funding for books to help students cope with tougher curriculums. The board passed the measure 13-0 with two members absent. The rules still must be formally approved during its next meeting in April. They could, however, potentially put pressure on state lawmakers to approve funding for new books and other key classroom materials before Texas can demand its students learn more.

This article appeared in the Houston Chronicle

HC: SAN ANTONIO MISSIONS DESERVE WORLD HERITAGE DESIGNATION

What are the most important places on the planet, in terms of culture and nature? The places that most deserve care and attention? That's the daunting question that UNESCO's World Heritage List attempts to answer. The 936 official World Heritage Sites are a Who's Who of the world's geographical and historical wonders: Among them, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramid fields, Chartres Cathedral, Vatican City, the Taj Mahal, and the Mayan city Chichen-Itza. We think it's high time that Texas had an entry on that list. And the five Spanish missions in San Antonio - including the Alamo - are a great place to start.

AUSTIN ENERGY TRANSFERRING MORE EVERY YEAR INTO CITY'S GENERAL FUND

Even as Austin Energy's budget has eroded, the city government has shifted increasingly large chunks of the utility's earnings to fund other parts of the city budget. It is a trend that threatens the utility's long-term finances and that is helping drive Austin Energy's need for a 12 percent rate increase, according to a variety of observers. Complaints about Austin Energy's general fund transfer and spending on things outside its core business are not new. But allegations of a stealth tax have traditionally been countered with arguments that Austin Energy is helping the entire city with proceeds that a private utility would turn over to shareholders.

FOR ABORTION PROVIDERS, SONOGRAM LAW IS A COMPLICATION

But from a logistical standpoint, the sonogram itself — which abortion clinics say they already perform, and show to any woman who asks— is far from the most complicating element of the new law. This past fall, doctors were required to start performing a transvaginal sonogram at least 24 hours ahead of an abortion, a shift they say has had frustrating consequences for clinics and patients. Abortion opponents say the rationale behind the 24-hour delay is simple: Abortion should not be held to a lower standard than any other surgical procedure — where patients have a doctor’s visit to learn the explicit details of their condition one day, and have the medical procedure on another.

DEWHURST RELEASES TWO YEARS OF TAX RETURNS

Following the lead of fellow Republican U.S. Senate candidate Craig James, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has released his tax returns from 2009 and 2010, along with an estimated return that reports an expected adjusted gross income of $5 million in 2011. Dewhurst reported a total income of $1.01 million and tax payment of $281,188 in his 2010 report, and a $1.4 million loss and tax payment of $443,646 reported in his 2009 report.

UT'S POWERS RESPONDS TO OBAMA'S AFFORDABILITY PUSH

In a Friday morning speech at the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, President Obama addressed college affordability and higher education reforms, which have been hot topics in Texas throughout the last year. "We are putting colleges on notice," he said, echoing a sentiment from his recent State of the Union address. "You can't assume that you’ll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down."

ON THE RECORDS: TED CRUZ RELEASES TAX RETURNS

It seems Craig James' call for transparency is being heeded. Hot on the heels of the former ESPN commentator's release of his tax returns Thursday evening and Lt. David Dewhurst's release of his on Friday evening, former Texas Solicitor General and U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz has provided the Tribune with the last five years of his tax filings, reporting an adjusted gross income of $2 million in 2010. Over the past five years, Cruz has increased his earnings with every filing. In 2006, he reported an income of $347,716. In 2007, that increased to $395,494. It jumped to $780,198 in 2008, and to $1.5 million in 2009.

MEXICO BANKS EXPAND IN TEXAS

As Mexican nationals continue to move to and invest in Texas cities such as San Antonio, Mexico companies and brands are following them. Banks have become a prime example. Banamex USA, based in Los Angeles, opened a branch office at The Shops at La Cantera in November, offering personal and commercial banking services with direct connections to Mexico's Banamex banking chain. Mexico City-based Banamex and Banamex USA are owned by New York-based Citigroup Inc.-

SAEN: TEXAS DO-IT-YOURSELF LITIGANTS NEED HELP

The Texas Supreme Court did right by pro se litigants by rejecting the State Bar of Texas' request to suspend a task force's effort to craft a form that would help people representing themselves file simple divorce cases. State Bar directors earlier this month voted to ask the state Supreme Court to stop the work of the Tax Force on Uniform Forms so the lawyers' group could initiate its own task force to review the issue.

REDISTRICTING FIGHT MAY DELAY POLITICAL CONVENTIONS IN FORT WORTH, HOUSTON

Hundreds of thousands of dollars hang in the balance as the date of Texas' primary remains up in the air. Officials with both major state parties made sizable down payments months ago on meeting and hotel space for state conventions in June -- Republicans in Fort Worth, Democrats in Houston -- which could be in jeopardy if officials again delay the primary. Originally planned for March, the primary has been pushed to April 3 to give federal judges time to decide which redistricting maps should be used. But that may not be enough, potentially pushing the primary further into April or May or June. If it were delayed much more, holding the conventions on the scheduled dates could be difficult or impossible.

SENATE CANDIDATE CRAIG JAMES PERFECTLY HAPPY WITH LATER PRIMARY DATE

Former ESPN analyst Craig James said he doesn't mind if the Texas primary is pushed to a later date than the current April 3. That, he said, will give him -- a Republican running for the U.S. Senate -- more time to reach out to voters. James jumped into the Senate race late last year, joining more than a dozen other Texans, including Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and former Solicitor General Ted Cruz. "It gives me more opportunity to go to lunch spots [to campaign] ... for people to see where I come from," James said during a news conference last week at Sammy's Bar-B-Q in Dallas. "I am one of them."

STATE'S WITNESS SAYS WHITE VOTERS MADE DIFFERENCE IN DAVIS' 2008 ELECTION

Anglo voters propelled Fort Worth Democrat Wendy Davis to victory in a 2008 state Senate race, not minority voters, a key state witness testified Wednesday before a federal three-judge panel considering Texas redistricting plans. The state's expert witness, John Alford of Rice University, was on the stand to defend the districts drawn by the Texas Legislature for the Texas House, Texas Senate and U.S. House. During questioning by Davis' attorney -- who maintains that Davis' Tarrant County-based District 10 was carved up to keep blacks and Hispanics from voting for a candidate they prefer -- Alford said that it was Anglo voters who gave her the win over a Republican incumbent.

ANTI-TAX GROUP: LEGAL CASINO GAMBLING MAY BOOST TEXAS ECONOMY

Legalizing casino gambling could help ease Texas' budget woes, according to a conservative group with ties to a convicted lobbyist who defrauded the Tigua tribe out of millions of dollars. Americans for Tax Reform, a national anti-tax group run by Grover Norquist, distributed a letter to Texas lawmakers this month that stated "unlike the failed policies that have come out of Washington, D.C., in recent years, permission of gaming involves no government handouts and has proven to provide a real economic multiplier."

SCHOOL FINANCING RESOLUTION MIGHT TAKE YEARS

One thing Texas legislators learned long ago, and they are seeing it again with the yearlong redistricting battle, is lawsuits against the state can take a long time. Four school funding lawsuits filed separately since mid-October won’t be the exception. “This may take as long as three years,” said veteran state Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, who was already a member of the Legislature when the first of six school funding lawsuits in the last 24 years was filed.

PAUL PURSUED STRATEGY OF PUBLISHING CONTROVERSIAL NEWSLETTERS, ASSOCIATES SAY

Ron Paul, well known as a physician, congressman and libertarian , has also been a businessman who pursued a marketing strategy that included publishing provocative, racially charged newsletters to make money and spread his ideas, said three people with direct knowledge of Paul’s businesses. The Republican presidential candidate has denied writing inflammatory passages in the pamphlets from the 1990s and said recently that he did not read them at the time or for years afterward. Numerous colleagues said he does not hold racist views.

TEXAS DEMS, MINORITY GROUPS NEAR HUGE WIN WITH REDISTRICTING SETTLEMENT

The Texas state attorneys defending the state’s GOP-drawn redistricting plans from court challenges have reached out to settle litigation, according to sources in the state. The settlement would give minority groups and Democrats what they’ve been demanding from the start: more heavily minority, Democratic-leaning House seats. The result would likely mean at least four more Texas Democrats in Congress as of next year, a good start on the 25 or so seats Democrats need to win to retake control of the House.

RANGEL: REDISTRICTING FOES SURE THEY'LL WIN, BUT ALL WILL LOSE

Those redistricting blues are getting bluer. For election administrators across the state the uncertain fate of the legislative and congressional maps, as well as the likelihood of rescheduling the spring primaries again, is giving them heartburn. But for top officials of the two major political parties the prospect of pushing the April 3 election to as late as June 26 — as was discussed at the U.S. Supreme Court two weeks ago — is so terrifying it could well give some a heart attack.

STATE PANEL DENIES GRANTS FOR TEXAS PANHANDLE COURTHOUSES

Three Texas Panhandle counties failed to get some of $21 million in courthouse restoration grants awarded Friday by the Texas Historical Commission. Thirteen counties will receive partial matching grants from the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program during the 2012-13 fiscal year, the commission announced. Armstrong, Gray and Lipscomb counties each applied for the funds but did not earn a share of the pot.

County Stories

LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS DISCOVERING UNEXPECTED CUTS TO COLLEGE READINESS PROGRAMS

Like aftershocks after a massive earthquake, the effects of funding cuts for Texas public schools continue to rumble through local school districts. Some have been large and anticipated — teacher layoffs and school closings. But some of the smaller impacts are catching school officials by surprise — and could take a bite directly out of the wallets of teachers as well as students and their families. The Richardson school district faced up to several of these smaller effects at a board meeting last week. All involved cuts by the state to programs intended to help students get into college:

LCRA COULD STILL SELL ROLLINGWOOD, WEST LAKE HILLS WATER SYSTEMS

More Central Texas water and wastewater systems might end up in the hands of cities and other public entities as the Lower Colorado River Authority continues trying to sell off a business unit it says loses $3 million a year. The LCRA's board of directors told staff members Jan. 18 to begin negotiating with the City of Rollingwood for the purchase of the 8-year-old wastewater collection system in the city; the river authority has also had conversations, but no formal negotiations, with the publicly backed Coalition of Central Texas Utility Development Corp., headed by a former LCRA board member, about the sale of the West Lake Hills wastewater collection system.

ARANSAS COUNTY OFFICIAL AND CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTOR FINED FOR CAMPAIGN DONATION

An Aransas County Navigation District commissioner and the marine construction company that gave him a $5,000 campaign contribution were each fined by the Texas Ethics Commission. Derrick Construction Company has done more than $900,000 in contract work for the navigation district and leases harbor property from the district. The company was in a lawsuit with the district over the terms of its lease when, in September 2010, it gave the money to commission candidate Tony Dominguez. He was elected in November 2010.

BEXARMET TURNED OVER TO SAWS

As the signs on the outside of the headquarters of the Bexar Metropolitan Water District came down Saturday, the utility's interim general manager signed some documents and handed over his keys. With that, BexarMet's transfer to the San Antonio Water System was official. “Gentlemen, my business is done here,” Tom Gallier said to the SAWS officials on hand to oversee the change.

POLITIFACT TEXAS: EFRAIN DE LA FUENTE SAYS JURORS IN MOST STATES, BUT NOT TEXAS, CAN ASK QUESTIONS OF WITNESSES IN TRIALS -- HALF TRUE

A Travis County judicial candidate, Democrat Efrain De La Fuente, told a local group that he favors letting jurors pose questions of witnesses during trials provided the questions are vetted through a judge. "That’s seeking the truth," De La Fuente, who seeks the judgeship of the 167th Criminal District Court, told the Central Austin Democratic Forum on Nov. 29, 2011. "We shouldn’t be paying lip service to this thing we call fact-finding. Looking for the truth. Everybody – most of the states in this country have come on board. Texas needs to come on board." We had no idea Texas was out of step.

CASEY: DON'T EXPECT ECONOMY OF SCALE ON WATER

It's not quite up in the top tier of American values — liberty, democracy, free enterprise and home mortgage deductions — but volume discounts are very much part of the national understanding of economics. It's a simple notion: The more you buy, the less you should pay. That's why many people have a problem with San Antonio water rates. The San Antonio Water System has what it calls “an upside-down economic model.” The more water you use, the higher your rate. It hardly seems fair.

City Stories

ROUND ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT MAY HAVE TO CHANGE NAME OF GUEST-PRINCIPAL PROGRAM

For nearly a decade, Round Rock politicians, business owners and other community leaders have strolled through the halls of campuses, served school lunches and helped students with coursework as guest principals. The Round Rock school district started its Principal for a Day program in 2003, and district administrators say it has bred lasting partnerships and garnered reliable volunteers. But a New York-based education group says Round Rock must change the name of its program or pay for the right to use it.

CORPUS CHRISTI RANKS NEXT TO LAST AMONG U.S. MOST LITERATE BIG CITIES

Nearly 50,000 people in Nueces County cannot read this sentence. Corpus Christi finished second-to-last for the second time in three years in Central Connecticut State University’s ranking of America’s Most Literate Cities. The study since 2005 has released rankings of cities with populations more than 250,000, factoring in data about newspapers, the Internet, magazines, journals, book stores, education and libraries utilized by residents.

National Stories

EVANGELICALS FACE QUANDARY DURING GOP PRIMARIES

In the beginning, religious conservatives wanted a Republican presidential victor who’d be the answer to their prayers. It hasn’t turned out that way. After 30 years of burgeoning political clout, the Christian right has struggled to find its place in an election season in which the economy has replaced the culture war. Its backers can’t agree on a GOP nominee, its issues aren’t defining the debate and its national leaders seem to have lost influence over the flock.

EXCLUSIVE: MEXICO PAYS HEAVY PRICE FOR TAX EVASION, REPORT FINDS

In a nation with nearly half the population living in poverty, more than $872 billion has been lost to the Mexican economy over four decades to tax evasion, corruption and criminals, according to a report prepared by the group Global Financial Integrity. The report buttresses long-held concerns about the Mexican government’s inability to control its booming underground economy and the outflow of money to foreign havens. The report, released exclusively to The Dallas Morning News and the Mexico City magazine Proceso, says the overall loss through 41 years, from 1970 through 2010, averages 5.2 percent of the country’s annual gross domestic product, or GDP.

YOUNG AND OLD HOLD CONTRASTING VIEWS OF OBAMA, NEWS POLL FINDS

President Barack Obama faces a political landscape in Texas marked by extremes, none more so than between his youthful fans and older critics. A mixed view emerged again last week in a Dallas Morning News poll that found 43 percent of Texans approve of his job performance vs. 47 percent who don’t. The split was most striking on the opposite ends of the age scale: Just over half of those 18-29 like Obama, but a whopping 65 percent of those 65 and older consider him a disappointment.

LA FAMILIA ROMNEY: GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY'S RELATIVES HOPE TO MEET HIM SOMEDAY

CASAS GRANDES, CHIHUAHUA -- About 200 miles southwest of El Paso lies a piece of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's personal history. It's found in his bloodline and his relatives who settled in the small and quiet Mormon community of Colonia Juárez. The Romneys in this farming town of 1,000 are humble and friendly. And even though they have never met the candidate, they show admiration for their distant relative. Lynn Romney, Mitt Romney's second cousin, said they may appreciate him more than he does them.

CAIN BACKS GINGRICH'S PRESIDENTIAL BID

Former presidential hopeful Herman Cain threw his support behind Newt Gingrich Saturday night, providing the former House speaker with a late boost just days before Florida's primary. Cain, a tea party favorite, endorsed his fellow Georgian at a GOP fundraiser Saturday calling him "a patriot." "Speaker Gingrich is not afraid of bold ideas," Cain said. The former pizza executive, who left the race before the first nominating contests after facing accusations of unwanted sexual advances, suggested the two have both undergone intense scrutiny.

This article appeared in the Houston Chronicle

AMERICAN ECONOMY NOT HEALTHY YET, BUT IT'S HEALING

The American economy may not be truly healthy yet, but it's healing. The 2.8 percent annual growth rate reported Friday for the fourth quarter was the fastest since spring 2010 and was the third straight quarter that growth has accelerated. Experts cautioned, however, that the pace was unlikely to last and that it's not enough to sharply drive down the unemployment rate. Unemployment stands at 8.5 percent - its lowest level in nearly three years after a sixth straight month of solid hiring. And Friday's Commerce Department report suggests more hiring gains ahead.

This article appeared in the Dallas Morning News

THE MAN BEHIND GINGRICH’S MONEY

The trip to Jordan by a group of United States congressmen was supposed to be a chance for them to meet the newly crowned King Abdullah II. But their tour guide had a more complicated agenda. The guide was Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate who helped underwrite trips to the Middle East to win support for Israel in Congress. On this occasion in 1999, as the lawmakers enjoyed a reception at the Royal Palace in Amman, Mr. Adelson and an aide retreated to a private room with the king. There, the king listened politely as Mr. Adelson sat on a sofa and paged through his proposal for a gambling resort on the Jordan-Israel border to be called the Red Sea Kingdom.

NYT: FILIBUSTERING NOMINEES MUST END

The system for reviewing presidential appointments is broken. The Senate has a constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on the naming of judges and high-ranking executive branch officials. But the process has been hijacked by cynical partisanship and cheap tricks. This is not a new problem, but it has gotten intolerably worse and is now threatening to paralyze government, as Republicans use the filibuster to try to kill off agencies they do not like. The number of unfilled judicial seats is nearing a historic high.

ROMNEY, GINGRICH FOCUS ON HISPANIC VOTERS IN FLA.

Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney urged conservatives to back off aggressive anti-immigration policies as the Republican presidential candidates vied for Hispanic votes Friday, a day marked by heightened tensions entering the final weekend before Florida's primary. "I'm very concerned about those who are already here illegally and how we deal with those 11 million or so," Romney said. "My heart goes out to that group of people. ... We're not going to go around and round people up in buses and ship them home."

This article appeared in the Houston Chronicle

IN NASA COUNTRY, DOUBTS ABOUT GINGRICH'S MOON BASE PLAN

On Wednesday, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich vowed that if he’s elected, America will have a permanent base on the moon by his second term. But for members of Texas' Houston-based aerospace industry, Gingrich's childhood dream — one he hopes to make a reality by 2020 — is a plan unlikely to take off, especially given the country's economic concerns, and the fact that NASA ended its manned space flight program in July.

NEW FLA. POLL: ROMNEY 38%, GINGRICH 29%, PAUL 14%, SANTORUM 12%

A reinvigorated Mitt Romney has solidified his lead in Florida only days out from the state's critical GOP primary. A Quinnipiac University poll released Friday shows the former Massachusetts governor with backing from 38 percent of likely GOP primary voters. That puts him comfortably ahead of Newt Gingrich's 29 percent, Ron Paul's 14 percent and Rick Santorum's 12 percent. It appeared for awhile that Gingrich was poised to make the GOP race quite interesting, after winning South Carolina in a convincing fashion. The former House speaker led a number of polls in Florida, which votes on Jan. 31.

ADVANTAGE ROMNEY IN FEBRUARY, BUT RISKS ABOUND

Conventional wisdom holds that the handful of states that vote in February are favorable ones for Mitt Romney. Still, Mr. Romney could be vulnerable in several of them. Six states will vote next month, although that includes a “beauty contest” primary in Missouri that will not affect delegate allocation and several caucuses with nonbinding results. We have not released forecasts for the February states, but we will if they are polled more. In the meantime, here is a general lay of the land.

GINGRICH CAMPAIGN BRINGS UP COMPARISON OF REPUBLICAN REVOLUTIONS

The first Republican revolution had a short, sharp battle plan: the “Contract with America.” Ten big ideas. Three pages of text. The second Republican revolution — the one now struggling for oxygen on Capitol Hill — did it differently. Its “Pledge to America” noodles on for 48 pages. It contains less ambitious ideas but has glossy photos of 42 GOP congressmen. In 1995, that GOP-led House passed 302 bills in its first year, laying out plans to reform welfare, presidential veto power and criminal sentencing. The current House passed less than 200 bills. Its best-known achievement was an agreement to keep paying the national debt.

TRIAL EXPOSED ZETAS' U.S. TIES

The Zetas criminal organization evolved and expanded between 2001 and 2008, going from hired guns to a sprawling drug syndicate with tentacles reaching into the U.S. — and trained hit men to protect the gang's interests here. The history and inner workings of the cartel were laid out by federal prosecutors over five days of testimony this month in a Laredo courtroom. Former cartel traffickers testified about the Zetas' smuggling operations, and hit men told jurors how they killed for its leaders — slaying their enemies with bullets in the U.S. and kidnapping rivals in Mexico and slaughtering them while bound.

WHY GINGRICH WOULD LOSE IN A DEBATE WITH OBAMA

Newt Gingrich is basing his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, in large part, on one premise: He is the candidate best equipped to debate President Obama. If he becomes the nominee, Gingrich asserts, he will challenge the president to seven Lincoln-Douglas-style debates, three hours apiece. He says the president’s ego would compel him to accept, but if he doesn’t, Gingrich promises, “I’m going to say, ‘The White House is now my scheduler,’ and wherever he goes, I will show up within four hours to take apart whatever he said — that’s how Lincoln got Douglas to debate.”

NEW RULE WOULD MINIMIZE FAMILY SEPARATION DURING PURSUIT OF GREEN CARD

Some Republicans have criticized the proposal, suggesting that the president is courting Hispanic votes in an election year. U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, called the idea "backdoor amnesty." The rule change does not require the approval of Congress. By law, illegal immigrants who have started families with U.S. citizens must return to their native countries before beginning the process to become a legal resident, an action that often takes years. But once in their native country, the immigrants can receive a hardship waiver that allows them to return to the U.S. much more quickly. To get a waiver, they must prove that their absence will cause extreme hardship for their families. The waiver can take months or longer to be approved or declined.

CAMPAIGNS BRISTLE AT SUPER PACS

The big money outside groups best known for airing ruthless ads in the early state GOP primaries are elbowing their way onto the turf of presidential campaigns and parties — and some campaigns aren’t happy. In the last few weeks, super PACs and other outside groups supporting Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and President Barack Obama launched activities in Florida, other key states, and nationally — including phone banking, field organizing, direct mail, polling, state-of-the-race memos and even surrogate operations — that were once left mostly to the campaigns and parties.

NBC, BROKAW DENOUNCE ROMNEY AD

NBC News and Tom Brokaw are loudly objecting to the Mitt Romney campaign's use of footage from the 1990s in an ad blasting Newt Gingrich over his House ethics charges. Brokaw, whose statement noted he was speaking on his behalf, said, "I am extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad. I do no want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign." "The NBC Legal Department has written a letter to the campaign asking for the removal of all NBC News material from their campaign ads," NBC News said in a statement, which added, "Similar requests have gone out to other campaigns that have inappropriately used Nightly News, Meet the Press, Today and MSNBC material."

Copyright February 04, 2012, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved