Recount given the go-ahead in GOP's District 73 race [1]

By John MacCormack, San Antonio Express-News, 20 March 2008

SAN ANTONIO – A recount of the nearly 30,000 votes cast earlier this month in four counties in the Republican primary race for House District 73 will begin Monday.

Strayhorn for mayor, again? [2]

By W. Gardner Selby, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 21 March 2008

AUSTIN – Carole Keeton Strayhorn, elected Austin's first female mayor 31 years ago before a rise in state politics as a self-styled tough grandma, says she's getting nudges from supporters about running for mayor in 2009.

Cuellar in the center, Hinojosa on the left, new rankings show [3]

By María González-Escareño, Rio Grande Guardian, 20 March 2008

LAREDO – Rated second-most centrist congressman in 2007, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, is further to the political center than his four border congressmen colleagues, according to new rankings.

Democratic growth in Texas is a windfall that won't be bungled [4]

BOYD RICHIE, Dallas Morning News, 21 March 2008

DALLAS – I have read with interest two Dallas Morning News editorials calling on the Texas Democratic Party to change its delegate selection plan in future elections.

DHS, engineers reveal details of border fence [5]

By Kevin Sieff, Brownsville Herald, 21 March 2008

BROWNSVILLE – Two lawsuits against Cameron County landowners marked a clear change in the federal government's handling of border fence-related litigation on Wednesday.

UTB president praises grassroots activists for fighting border wall plan [6]

By Steve Taylor, Rio Grande Guardian, 20 March 2008

BROWNSVILLE – University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College President Juliet Garcia has praised grassroots activists for the part they have played in battling against a border fence.

Shapleigh urges Chertoff to halt border fence policy [7]

By María González-Escareño, Rio Grande Guardian, 20 March 2008

LAREDO – State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh has asked Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to halt his border fence policy and wait for the next president and Congress to come up with a new “comprehensive solution.”

Texas Border Coalition welcomes dismissal of DHS lawsuit against UTB-TSC [8]

By Steve Taylor, Rio Grande Guardian, 20 March 2008

BROWNSVILLE – The Texas Border Coalition has welcomed the U.S. government’s decision to withdraw its border fence condemnation lawsuit against the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

Perry pushes on with plan to put cameras along border [9]

By Brandi Grissom, El Paso Times, 21 March 2008

AUSTIN – Nearly two years after he promised to line the Texas-Mexico border with cameras and broadcast the footage over the Internet, Gov. Rick Perry is seeking bids for a company to launch his borderwide virtual surveillance program.

State seeking private bids for border cameras [10]

Valley Morning Star, 21 March 2008

AUSTIN – Texas is seeking private company bids for a video camera network on the Mexican border, similar to an earlier state pilot program that allowed the public to help spot illegal activity on the Internet.

Texas seeks bids for border cameras [11]

Dallas Morning News, 21 March 2008

AUSTIN – Texas is seeking bids for a video camera network on the Mexican border.

UT's proposed tuition increase to vary by major [12]

By HOLLY K. HACKER, Dallas Morning News, 21 March 2008

DALLAS – The University of Texas System released proposed tuition hikes Thursday that kept a promise to limit increases to less than 5 percent a year – with an asterisk.

Perry pressures feds to approve disaster status [13]

By LYNN BREZOSKY, San Antonio Express-news, 20 March 2008

BROWNSVILLE – Gov. Rick Perry again called on federal emergency management officials to approve a disaster declaration that could reimburse localities some of the more than $20.5 million already spent in a wildfire season that does not seem to want to end.

Perry seeks more federal aid; South Texas fire reignites [14]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 March 2008

LUBBOCK – Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday requested more federal aid for recovery from the thousands of wildfires that have scorched nearly 1 million acres across Texas this year.

Texas may be spared in fiscal storm [15]

By PEGGY FIKAC, Houston Chronicle, 20 March 2008

AUSTIN – Texas' economic strengths do not insulate it from the U.S. downturn but should provide a buffer stout enough to keep the state from following the nation into any recession, top officials and experts say.

War vets drum up support at state Capitol [16]

By Marty Toohey, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 21 March 2008

AUSTIN – A national bus tour of decorated Iraq and Afghanistan veterans cruised through Central Texas on Thursday, stopping at the steps of the state Capitol to encourage people to support the wars.

Hutchison speaks on Nacogdoches history, declining economy and war in Iraq [17]

By MICHAEL RODDEN, Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, 20 March 2008

NACOGDOCHES – U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison made a stop in Nacogdoches Thursday at the Sterne-Hoya House Museum to commemorate the beginning of the annual Azalea Trail, as well as answer questions on happenings on Capitol Hill.

Oppel retiring after 13 years running newsroom [18]

By Ben Wear, W. Gardner Selby, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 21 March 2008

AUSTIN – Rich Oppel began his newspaper career sifting for scoops in rural Florida and banging out stories on a Smith-Corona typewriter.

Austin American-Statesman editor Rich Oppel to retire [19]

Dallas Morning News, 20 March 2008

AUSTIN – Rich Oppel, editor of the Austin American-Statesman, has announced he will retire effective June 1.

Texas Ethics Commission fines ex-Arlington Rep. Goodman [20]

By Jay Root, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 March 2008

FORT WORTH – Former state Rep. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, has been fined $10,000 for allegedly violating laws designed to prevent politicians from using campaign funds to buy real estate or pay a mortgage.

Ex-legislator fined for using campaign money in Austin real estate deals [21]

By Laylan Copelin, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 21 March 2008

AUSTIN – Ruling for the first time in the "rent-to-own" controversy, the Texas Ethics Commission has fined a former state legislator $10,000 for using campaign donations to purchase Austin real estate by paying rent to his wife.

UT's Yudof in line to get top California job [22]

By Bob Keefe, Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 21 March 2008

SAN FRANCISCO – Mark Yudof, chancellor of the University of Texas System, was recommended for the top job at the University of California System on Thursday and is expected to be formally appointed next week.

University of Texas chancellor recommended to be University of California's next president [23]

By KENT FISCHER and HOLLY HACKER, Dallas Morning News, 20 March 2008

DALLAS – Mark Yudof, chancellor of the University of Texas system, is poised to become the next president of California's most prestigious university system, a job widely considered one of the top posts in higher education.

Head of UT System offered the top job at UC [24]

By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE, Houston Chronicle, 20 March 2008

HOUSTON – Mark Yudof, the hard-charging legal scholar who has led the University of Texas System for nearly six years, is poised to become the University of California's next president.

What lies ahead for UT in search for new leader? [25]

By Mary Ann Roser, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 21 March 2008

AUSTIN – For the more than 50 years that chancellors have ruled the University of Texas System, most have been Texas-connected and academically trained.

Local pastors speak out on Obama pastor controversy [26]

By Eileen E. Flynn, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 21 March 2008

AUSTIN – The provocative sermons of Sen. Barack Obama's pastor may be causing problems for the candidate, but a dozen black Central Texas ministers said Thursday they will not be cowed by the controversy and will continue to "speak truth to power" from the pulpit.