At Dallas event, Democratic strategist Carville takes aim at Cornyn [1]

By DAVE MICHAELS, Dallas Morning News, 25 March 2008

DALLAS – James Carville came to Dallas on Tuesday and deployed his sharp wit against Texas Sen. John Cornyn, taking the aim off fellow Democrats who don't support Hillary Rodham Clinton in the strident presidential contest.

Old opponents endorse Sekula Gibbs' House bid [2]

By ALAN BERNSTEIN, Houston Chronicle, 25 March 2008

SUGAR LAND – The Republican runoff for Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson's seat is producing a flurry of endorsements, with the latest coming for Shelley Sekula Gibbs from two of her former opponents.

DA gets 1,148 names to check in illegal-voting probe [3]

By CAROLYN FEIBEL, Houston Chronicle, 25 March 2008

HOUSTON – Runoffs will have far fewer polling places than primary Robert Duran Jr. said he walked into the wrong room to vote in the March 4 primary. But he said he should not be indicted for it.

Avoid mix-up by casting early vote [4]

By ALAN BERNSTEIN, Houston Chronicle, 25 March 2008

HOUSTON – Vote early or risk getting lost.

Supreme Court: No new hearing for Texas death row inmate [5]

By DIANE JENNINGS, Dallas Morning News, 25 March 2008

DALLAS – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that President Bush overstepped his authority when ordering state courts to review the death sentences of dozens of Mexican nationals on death row.

Supreme Court trumps executive power [6]

By BENNETT ROTH, Houston Chronicle, 26 March 2008

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Texas cannot be forced by President Bush to reopen the case of Jose Medellin, a Mexican citizen sentenced to death for raping and murdering two teenage girls in Houston.

Supreme Court backs Texas in dispute over executing Mexican national [7]

By Jeremy Roebuck, McAllen Monitor, 25 March 2008

McALLEN – A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tuesday could move three Mexican nationals sentenced to death in Hidalgo County one step closer to execution.

Supreme Court backs Texas in Houston murder case [8]

Houston Chronicle, 25 March 2008

WASHINGTON – President Bush overstepped his authority when he ordered a Texas court to reopen the case of a Mexican on death row for rape and murder in Houston, the Supreme Court said today.

State board of education struggling to decide how best to teach reading and writing [9]

By Laura Heinauer, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 26 March 2008

AUSTIN – Want to get English teachers really worked up? Try telling them what their students should be reading in class ... or, for that matter, what they shouldn't.

Farmers Branch says it asked apartments about tenants' legal residency [10]

By STEPHANIE SANDOVAL, Dallas Morning News, 24 March 2008

DALLAS – Farmers Branch acknowledged Monday that the city asked 11 apartment complexes to check whether prospective tenants were in the country legally, even though a federal judge has blocked enforcement of the city's ban on rentals to illegal immigrants.

Farmers Branch rental-ban documents sent by ‘mistake’ [11]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 March 2008

FORT WORTH – Farmers Branch accidentally sent incorrect documents last week to landlords, wrongly asking them to sign paperwork agreeing to enforce a ban on renting apartments to illegal immigrants, an attorney for the city said.

Auditor: State agency background checks vary widely [12]

By Corrie MacLaggan, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 26 March 2008

AUSTIN – Whether state employees are screened for criminal history — and how those background checks are conducted — varies widely from agency to agency, according to a new report by State Auditor John Keel.

McReynolds to TxDOT: 'Drop I-69/TTC absurdity' [13]

By GARY WILLMON, Lufkin Daily News, 25 March 2008

LUFKIN – State Representative Jim McReynolds has sent a letter to the Texas Department of Transportation saying he thinks TxDOT should drop the idea of tying the Trans-Texas Corridor in with plans for routing Interstate 69 through East Texas.

TxDOT extends commenting deadline on TTC project by 30 days [14]

Lufkin Daily News, 25 March 2008

LUFKIN – Following a request from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, The Texas Department of Transportation announced Monday a 30-day extension on the deadline to submit public comments about the controversial Trans Texas Corridor project.

Texas pension funds could invest in big road projects [15]

By Robert Elder, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 26 March 2008

AUSTIN – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden said Tuesday that the state should consider creating a public-private partnership to invest in roads and other infrastructure in Texas, possibly using the vast resources of the state's major pension funds.

Texas can solve the problem of financing road construction [16]

By State Sen. Steve Ogden, Austin American-Statesman, 25 March 2008

AUSTIN – Recently, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), in its effort to address the highway construction needs of our state, alarmed many in the Legislature and many more in my district.

Privatization failure is taxpayers’ burden [17]

Austin American-Statesman, 25 March 2008

AUSTIN – Because of an effort five years ago to run part of state government more like a business, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is struggling to provide food and medical services to some of the state’s poorest people.

Proceed with caution on Texas budget [18]

Dallas Morning News, 26 March 2008

DALLAS – The legislators who will write a budget next year in Austin must love the fact that Texas' economy is better-positioned than that of most other states.

Red-light cameras needed more study in Beaumont [19]

Beaumont Enterprise, 26 March 2008

BEAUMONT – Other Texas cities like Nederland and Lubbock are having second thoughts about red-light cameras, and Beaumont almost took the plunge Tuesday.

C-3P-Ow [20]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 March 2008

FORT WORTH – Maybe we should just fire all the teachers. If a faction of the State Board of Education gets its way, we won't need teachers any more.

6 UT System campuses may bust tuition barrier [21]

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 26 March 2008

AUSTIN – Tuition and fees at six of the nine academic campuses in the University of Texas System would exceed a limit set last year by the system's governing board under proposals to be considered today.

Costs to attend UT and A&M will likely rise again [22]

By MELISSA LUDWIG, San Antonio Express-News, 25 March 2008

SAN ANTONIO – Here's a familiar refrain — tuition and fees are about to go up again at the University of Texas and Texas A&M University campuses.

Texas approves Farmers Insurance's revised premiums [23]

By TERRENCE STUTZ, Dallas Morning News, 25 March 2008

AUSTIN – Score one for Farmers Insurance and zero for some consumers.

Texas drivers face first liability hike in 22 years [24]

By JANET ELLIOTT, Houston Chronicle, 26 March 2008

AUSTIN – Texas drivers who carry the minimum amount of state-mandated liability coverage will need to buy more insurance beginning Tuesday, a reflection of higher-priced vehicles and rising medical costs.

Texas' eighth-graders score 92 percent passing rate on TAKS reading exam [25]

By TERRENCE STUTZ, Dallas Morning News, 25 March 2008

AUSTIN – Texas eighth-graders, required for the first time to pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills to be promoted this year, have responded with a 92 percent passing rate on the TAKS reading exam.

Older students fare better on reading TAKS [26]

By ADAM J. HOLLAND, Longview News-Journal, 26 March 2008

LONGVIEW – Like most of their counterparts across the state, area eighth-graders fared better on state-mandated reading tests than younger students.

Eighth-graders pass reading portion of TAKS at higher rate [27]

By Katherine Cromer Brock, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 March 2008

FORT WORTH – The percentage of eighth-graders passing the reading portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills on the first try increased this year, while Spanish-speaking fifth-graders struggled.

Texas anti-dropout plan uses vouchers, LISD chief declares [28]

By ADAM J. HOLLAND, Longview News-Journal, 26 March 2008

LONGVIEW – Though an appointed state council insists otherwise, a top local school official says the council's plan to reduce dropout rates includes private school vouchers.

Caldwell landowners add to water feud [29]

By Laylan Copelin, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 26 March 2008

LOCKHART – The water-rich area of eastern Caldwell County, coveted as a source of water for an urbanizing Central Texas, was transformed Tuesday from a region with no pumping restrictions to a checkerboard of regulation.

Moving water from Oklahoma to Texas [30]

Dallas Morning News, 26 March 2008

DALLAS – There's nothing like a federal appeals court ruling to get your heart racing. Think not? Read on.

Tuition rates could require state oversight [31]

Beaumont Enterprise, 26 March 2008

BEAUMONT – Until 2003, the Legislature decided how much public universities in Texas could charge for tuition. Through the years, it kept rates fairly low, which pleased students - and their parents.

Wright events go to Dallas [32]

By TERRY LEE GOODRICH, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 March 2008

FORT WORTH – A Saturday banquet honoring the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. will be at Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas, instead of at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth as originally scheduled, summit organizers said Tuesday.

2 Texans among those pardoned by President Bush [33]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 March 2008

DENTON, Texas – A 70-year-old North Texas man who owned his own tiling business and said he has never contributed money to President Bush was one of 15 people Tuesday to receive a presidential pardon. Two of the 15 live in Texas.