Clinton camp challenges delegates for Texas county Democratic caucuses [1]

BY GROMER JEFFERS JR., Dallas Morning News, 27 March 2008

DALLAS – Hillary Rodham Clinton's Texas campaign is challenging the seating of delegates from numerous precincts for Saturday’s Democratic county conventions, particularly in Barack Obama's strongholds.

Clinton challenges Obama delegates [2]

Brownsville Herald, 27 March 2008

AUSTIN – Spurned by the Texas Democratic Party in its effort to stall this weekend's county conventions, Hillary Clinton's campaign said Wednesday it is mobilizing caucus supporters and helping those who want to challenge the legitimacy of some Barack Obama delegates.

Texas Democrats select more delegates this weekend [3]

BY GROMER JEFFERS JR., Dallas Morning News, 27 March 2008

DALLAS – The most compelling and confusing presidential contest in Texas history continues Saturday as an expected 88,000 delegates descend on the Democratic county conventions.

Local Republicans expect record convention turnout [4]

By Kate Alexander, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 28 March 2008

AUSTIN – Travis County Republicans, long outnumbered by their Democratic Party counterparts, say they expect record turnouts at Saturday's local conventions, the next step in the GOP's presidential nominating process.

County delegates are set to pick who goes to state conventions [5]

By COLIN GUY, Beaumont Enterprise, 28 March 2008

BEAUMONT – The political wheels will grind again Saturday as delegates chosen in the Texas primary elections meet at the county level.

Democratic convention spawns confusion [6]

By ALLEN ESSEX, VALLEY MORNING STAR, 28 March 2008

BROWNSVILLE – Three women who said they were chosen as delegates to the Cameron County Democratic Convention said Thursday that their names don't appear on the list of delegates and they don't know if they're supposed to attend Saturday's convention in Brownsville.

Texas Democrats hope trial settles ballot dispute [7]

By AMAN BATHEJA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 March 2008

FORT WORTH – Texas Democrats have been fighting a year-and-a-half court battle over mail-in ballots. The case is scheduled to go to trial in May, and the outcome could affect how campaigns are waged in November.

Double-voters should be asked to explain [8]

By Yvonne Mintz, Brazosport Facts, 28 March 2008

BRAZOSPORT – Elections officials tell us most of the 125 suspected cases of people voting in both the Republican and Democratic primaries this month likely were clerical errors.

Texas House GOP runoff rivals Button, Dunning pull no punches [9]

By IAN McCANN, Dallas Morning News, 27 March 2008

DALLAS – In their Republican primary runoff for state representative, candidates Angie Chen Button and Randy Dunning have focused less on issues than on each other's record and background.

Call for debate [10]

BY DAVID J. LEE, Odessa American, 27 March 2008

ODESSA – Tryon Lewis issued yet another call Thursday asking his opponent to debate him in the runoff election for the District 81 seat in the Texas House of Representatives.

Power company exec quits consulting job [11]

BY DAVID TEWES, VICTORIA ADVOCATE, 27 March 2008

VICTORIA – A power company executive agreed Thursday to resign as a consultant for a powerful Victoria ranching family that has concerns about a proposed nuclear plant in Victoria County.

Texas county conventions need accurate count [12]

Beaumont Enterprise, 28 March 2008

BEAUMONT – The lingering contest between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama is not getting any nicer as both candidates eye the next big primaries in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Their spat is not over in Texas either.

Investigation is needed for Jim Wells vote claims [13]

San Antonio Express-News, 27 March 2008

SAN ANTONIO – Joe Frank Garza lost his bid for a fifth term as district attorney in South Texas' 79th District this month when his Democratic primary challenger defeated him. Nothing unusual about that — incumbents occasionally lose.

TxDOT may shift highway construction dollars away from maintenance [14]

By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER, Dallas Morning News, 27 March 2008

DALLAS – TxDOT may change its plans to shift nearly all of its highway construction dollars to maintenance, reversing course on a policy announced last fall to instant criticism among lawmakers.

Texas approves pay raise, signing bonus for prison guards [15]

By Mike Ward, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 28 March 2008

AUSTIN – Starting pay for Texas' prison guards will rise 10 percent in May, the largest increase in years, in a move designed to keep a chronic statewide shortage of correctional officers from getting worse.

Texas prison board boosts pay, incentives for guards [16]

Dallas Morning News, 27 March 2008

AUSTIN – The state prison board is hoping higher pay and new incentives can help ease the shortage of corrections officers.

State finds compromise on teaching English [17]

By Gary Scharrer, San Antonio Express-News, 27 March 2008

AUSTIN – The State Board of Education avoided a firestorm from Texas English teachers Thursday by voting unanimously for a tentative new English and reading curriculum.

English curriculum, minus reading list, gets initial OK [18]

By R.A. DYER, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 March 2008

AUSTIN – The State Board of Education gave unanimous approval Thursday to a new English and reading curriculum for Texas' 4.6 million public school students, although the contentious battle over what gets included in language arts textbooks and what gets taught in classrooms is far from finished.

English curriculum OK'd by state board [19]

Austin American-Statesman, 28 March 2008

AUSTIN – The State Board of Education tentatively approved a new English and reading curriculum for public schools on Thursday, but it made one sought-after change and left the door open for further changes after the document came under fire from teachers, education experts and Hispanic leaders.

Scrutiny of Denton State School opens debate about care for Texas' disabled [20]

By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News, 27 March 2008

AUSTIN – A U.S. Justice Department investigation of the Denton State School – the second federal inquiry in two years into a Texas facility for people with disabilities – is reigniting the fierce debate over how the state cares for its most vulnerable residents.

Steroids testing arrives at Lubbock high schools [21]

By George Watson, LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL, 28 March 2008

LUBBOCK – The long-awaited, much-ballyhooed and carefully constructed University Interscholastic League steroid testing plan for high school athletes hit Lubbock this week.

Senate hearing targets PEC allegations [22]

By Claudia Grisales, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 27 March 2008

AUSTIN – State Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, said Thursday that his experience dealing with Pedernales Electric Cooperative leads him to believe lawmakers should consider everything from re-imposing state oversight on electric co-operatives to bringing them under state open records and meetings laws for the first time.

Don’t mix vouchers with drop-out recovery plan, Zaffirini tells TEA [23]

By María González-Escareño, Rio Grande Guardian, 27 March 2008

LAREDO – State Sen. Judith Zaffirini has expressed concern over a drop-out recovery plan proposed by the Texas High School Completion and Success Council, saying it resembles a voucher plan that would be detrimental to Texas public schools.

By playing politics, the State Board of Education shortchanges Texas students [24]

By Linda Ferreira-Buckley, Austin American-Statesman, 28 March 2008

AUSTIN – As co-chairwoman of the state's English language arts college readiness team, I'd heard about problems with the State Board of Education.

Texas jobless rate falls to 30-year low [25]

Dallas Morning News, 27 March 2008

DALLAS – Texas jobless rate dropped to 4.1 percent in February – a low not seen since the mid-1970s, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Thursday.

A&M regents raise tuition from 4%-14% for this fall [26]

By JANET ELLIOTT, Houston Chronicle, 27 March 2008

COLLEGE STATION – Students attending Texas A&M University and nine other institutions within the A&M system will see tuition increases ranging from 4 percent to 14 percent this fall under increases approved today by regents.

A&M regents raise tuition [27]

By Israel Saenz, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, 28 March 2008

CORPUS CHRISTI – Tuition for full-time Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi students will increase by $120 a semester next fall.

Texas leads U.S. in rates of prison rape, survey finds [28]

By Mike Ward, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 28 March 2008

AUSTIN – In a national survey of imprisoned criminals, Texas has gained a dubious new distinction: Five of the 10 prisons with the highest reported rates of rape are in Texas.

Council delays release of North Texas population data [29]

BY BRYON OKADA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 March 2008

FORT WORTH – Concerns about a discrepancy between newly released U.S. Census population estimates and population estimates by the North Central Texas Council of Governments were enough to prompt council officials Thursday to pull back the 2 p.m. release of their new data.

American Airlines' cancellation count rises to 141 flights [30]

By TERRY MAXON and SUZANNE MARTA, Dallas Morning News, 27 March 2008

DALLAS – American Airlines Inc. said early Thursday afternoon that it has now canceled 141 flights Thursday, including at least 40 from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, as the Fort Worth-based carrier continued to recheck its fleet of McDonnell Douglas aircraft.

FDA lists school districts that got recalled meat [31]

Houston Chronicle, 28 March 2008

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a list Thursday of all school districts nationwide — including scores of Houston-area districts — that received beef included in last month's recall of 143 million pounds from a California slaughterhouse.

Sundance film tells of Texas coal plant fight [32]

Houston Chronicle, 28 March 2008

HOUSTON – Robert Redford, movie icon, Oscar-winning director and founder of the Sundance Film Festival, knows the power of a good story.

UTEP tuition: Costs too high, too fast [33]

El Paso Times, 28 March 2008

EL PASO – UTEP's latest hike in tuition is sure to force some El Pasoans to forsake a higher education.

Exclusive: Craddick goes under oath in abuse of power suit [34]

By ELISE HU, KVUE News, 3/27/8

House Speaker Tom Craddick went under oath for a deposition Thursday, in an ongoing dispute over a canceled fishing trip.

Craddick, lawyer walk out of contentious deposition [35]

By JOHN MORITZ, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 March 2008

AUSTIN – Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick testified Thursday that he never read the letter he signed suggesting that harm might come to the reputation of a North Texas fishing tour company operator unless he and a longtime friend were given their money back after the fishing trip they had arranged in 2006 was canceled because of weather.

House Speaker Craddick says he can't recall signature on Amazon tour letter [36]

Christy Hoppe, Dallas Morning News, 28 March 2008

DALLAS – House Speaker Tom Craddick said in a deposition Thursday that he didn't remember signing a letter that has been deemed threatening and which he is being sued over.

Yudof named president of University of California system [37]

By Bob Keefe, Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 28 March 2008

SAN FRANCISCO – Mark Yudof never planned to leave the University of Texas System.

University of Texas Chancellor Yudof officially appointed University of California System president [38]

By HOLLY HACKER, Dallas Morning News, 27 March 2008

DALLAS – It's official: Mark Yudof, chancellor of the University of Texas System, is California bound.

UT chancellor formally accepts UC president post [39]

By LINDSAY WISE, Houston Chronicle, 27 March 2008

HOUSTON – Mark Yudof will step down as head of the University of Texas System this summer to become the University of California's next president.

UT System chancellor headed to California to take UC presidency [40]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 March 2008

SAN FRANCISCO – The University of California's governing board named University of Texas System Chancellor Mark Yudof on Thursday to be the 10-campus UC system's next president after agreeing on a salary and benefits package that will put his annual compensation at more than $925,000.

Law officers seize former Senate staffer's computer [41]

Austin American-Statesman, 28 March 2008

AUSTIN – Law enforcement officers are investigating a veteran Texas Senate staffer accused of impersonating a House member to sway a South Texas sheriff's race.

Former state lawmaker who formed State Bar dies [42]

By Isadora Vail, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 28 March 2008

AUSTIN – Among family, there's a joke that former state Rep. William Carssow will know your entire background in less than five minutes.

Rosenthal's ex-secretary quits rather than switch jobs [43]

By MIKE TOLSON, Houston Chronicle, 28 March 2008

HOUSTON – Chuck Rosenthal's former secretary has resigned rather than report to the new job to which she was assigned by his replacement.

Agreeable [44]

Houston Chronicle, 28 March 2008

HOUSTON – Assistant District Attorney Julian Ramirez pronounced the settlement of the Priscilla Slade case "appropriate and agreeable on both sides." On balance, the Houston Chronicle's editorial board concurs.