Politics
Freshman Lawmakers Who Are Superdelegates Play It Cool
By JUNE KRONHOLZ, Washington Times, 10 April 2008
WASHINGTON – Texas Democrat Nick Lampson narrowly beat a write-in candidate two years ago to win his House seat. Now, he faces a tough re-election fight – and a tough choice.
Olson grabs GOP nod
By Stephen Palkot, Fort Bend Herald, 9 April 2008
FORT BEND – Republican candidate Pete Olson overcame a primary vote deficit with rival Shelley Sekula Gibbs to comfortably secure his party's nomination for the Congressional District 22 race in November.
With primary over, District 22 battle begins in earnest
By ALAN BERNSTEIN, Houston Chronicle, 10 April 2008
HOUSTON – Republican challenger Pete Olson was right. Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson's first vote in his current term was for "that San Francisco liberal," Nancy Pelosi, for House speaker.
Thompson wins runoff
Brenham Banner-Press, 9 April 2008
BRENHAM – Voters didn’t have to wait long Tuesday to cast ballots in a single primary runoff election.
Lewis hits the ground running
BY DAVID J. LEE, Odessa American, 10 April 2008
ODESSA – Just more than 12 hours after receiving the Republican nomination for the District 81 seat in the Texas House of Representatives, Tryon Lewis was already working toward the future.
Lewis wins runoff against West, vows to support Rep. Craddick
by Kathleen Thurber, Midland Reporter-Telegram, 4/9/8
After a convincing win in the District 81 state representative primary run-off Tuesday, Judge Tryon Lewis said his work as a representative will start today and it's work he said will include helping re-elect Midlander Tom Craddick to the position of House speaker come January.
Siegler couldn't escape shadow left by Rosenthal
By ALAN BERNSTEIN, Houston Chronicle, 10 April 2008
HOUSTON – Gov. Rick Perry chose someone from outside the Harris County District Attorney's Office — federal prosecutor Kenneth Magidson — as the agency's interim chief after Chuck Rosenthal resigned.
Runoff attracted few voters
Austin American-Statesman, 10 April 2008
AUSTIN – Compared with the hordes of eager voters who turned out for the party primaries in March, the crowd that trekked to the polls for Tuesday's runoffs was – well, it wasn't much of a crowd.
Sheffield, Murphey looking ahead
by Fred Afflerbach, Temple Telegram Staff Writer, 4/10/8
The Republican runoff election for District 55 representative is now in Ralph Sheffield’s rear view mirror. But the road to Austin could be a bumpy one if he can’t safely negotiate one final detour - Democrat Sam Murphey.
Nearly 60 applicants line up for five seats on PEC board
By Claudia Grisales, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 10 April 2008
AUSTIN – An unprecedented number of applicants — 59 at last count — are vying for five seats on the Pedernales Electric Cooperative board in the annual June election. More applicants might emerge in mail postmarked by last Monday's filing deadline.
SSG Blames Loss on Olson’s “Negative” Tactics
Lone Star Times, 9 April 2008
Shelly Sekula-Gibbs says the reason she got clobbered in yesterday’s GOP run-off for the Congressional District 22 nomination was that Pete Olson went negative:
Surprise Win in Railroad Commission Race
BY AMY SMITH, Austin Chronicle, 11 April 2008
AUSTIN – Maybe voters just don't like the name "Dale Henry."
Daniel Takes District 52
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER, Austin Chronicle, 11 April 2008
AUSTIN – Bryan Daniel has won the run-off for the Republican nomination to replace outgoing Rep. Mike Krusee in Williamson County's House District 52.
Lehmberg Delivers TKO in Final Round
BY JORDAN SMITH, Austin Chronicle, 11 April 2008
AUSTIN – Rosemary Lehmberg celebrates her victory. Photo by Jordan Smith "The district attorney is a woman," Mindy Montford announced to a throng of cheering supporters assembled at her campaign headquarters just after 9pm Tuesday night. "How cool is that?"
District Eternity Ronnie Earle on Ronnie Earle
BY MICHAEL KING AND JORDAN SMITH, Austin Chronicle, 11 April 2008
AUSTIN – Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who in December announced his decision to retire at the end of 2008, likes to tell the story of a waitress who came up to his table some years ago and said, "That man over there wants to know if you're the district eternity of Austin."
Pollster finds no GOP rush to vote Democratic
By W. GARDNER SELBY, Austin American-Statesman, 10 April 2008
AUSTIN – Could it be that mischievous Republicans enabled Sen. Hillary Clinton to draw more Texas votes than Sen. Barack Obama last month?
New DA Rosemary Lehmberg must cast her own shadow
Austin American-Statesman, 9 April 2008
AUSTIN – Rosemary Lehmberg made history Tuesday, becoming the first woman elected district attorney in Travis County.
Government
TEACHER RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF TEXAS PENSION FUND
By Robert Elder, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 10 April 2008
AUSTIN – The Teacher Retirement System of Texas is expected to approve a plan today that will give as much as $1 billion each to four Wall Street firms to invest in public markets across the globe.
Neugebauer's seat on farm bill panel encourages cotton growers
By Elliott Blackburn, LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL, 10 April 2008
LUBBOCK – Lubbock Republican Rep. Randy Neugebauer will serve on the conference committee that will hammer out differences in key farm legislation this spring.
Environmental groups gaining allies in effort to halt rise of border wall
By Carlos Guerra, San Antonio Express-News, 10 April 2008
SAN ANTONIO – As the walling off of the Mexican border comes closer to reality, opposition to it is mounting and two strategies to stop it are gaining steam.
Official warns against hiring illegal immigrants in Dallas
By DIANNE SOLÍS , Dallas Morning News, 10 April 2008
DALLAS – Assistant Homeland Security chief Julie Myers had some tough talk for Dallas business owners Wednesday: The crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants will continue. And just in case they don't believe her, she detailed recent prosecutions of managers.
Feds want to extend immigration checks to all jails
Waco Tribune-Herald, 10 April 2008
DALLAS – Federal officials plan to expand a program which checks the immigration status of jail detainees, the top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said.
Private info is still found online
By Peggy Fikac, San Antonio Express-News, 9 April 2008
AUSTIN – After the Texas secretary of state's office spent more than a quarter of a million dollars to remove Social Security numbers from business and financial documents posted online, an anti-fraud businessman said it took him just a few minutes to find documents that still appeared to have such numbers.
More Banned Books in Texas Prisons, and Cactus Jack Gets Sued
By Richard Connelly, Houston Press, 10 April 2008
HOUSTON – The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has finally come through with some answers for the bizarre-seeming list of books that were banned from inmates in 2007 (see Hair Balls, April 3).
Troubled Youth
Lufkin Daily News, 9 April 2008
LUFKIN – Legislative leaders are seriously considering whether to abolish the Texas Youth Commission.
Ghost voting: End practice in Texas House
El Paso Times, 10 April 2008
EL PASO – In the Texas House of Representatives, they call it "ghost voting," and it's got to be stopped.
Border fence: No reason to trample laws underfoot
El Paso Times, 10 April 2008
EL PASO – U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, and more than a dozen other members of Congress are mounting a legal challenge to federal officials who want to quickly build the border fence and circumvent laws that could stand in their way.
The border wall is a monument to American insecurity
By Gregory Rodriguez, LOS ANGELES TIMES, 10 April 2008
LOS ANGELES – I recently found myself in the difficult position of explaining American insecurity to a group of Mexican undergraduates at a college in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville.
News
Records: Sex took place in temple
By BILL HANNA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 April 2008
ELDORADO – The temple inside a polygamous sect's outpost was used by husbands when they had sex for the first time with their new underage wives, according to an affidavit released Wednesday by Texas officials.
State money sought to pay for sect child roundup
By JOHN MORITZ, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 April 2008
AUSTIN – West Texas lawmakers and Gov. Rick Perry are scrambling to find state funds to help two counties defray what could amount to astronomical costs associated with the removal of more than 400 children from a polygamist ranch near Eldorado.
Children should be treated like refugees, expert says
By JOHN MORITZ, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 April 2008
AUSTIN – A child protection expert says the children – and the children of those children – who are now in state custody should be cared for in the same way as refugees from Southeast Asia who migrated to the United States after the fall of Saigon.
Some kids in polygamist sect could be housed near Midlothian
By ALEX BRANCH, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 April 2008
FORT WORTH – Some of the 416 children removed this week from a polygamist compound in West Texas could be temporarily housed at a campground near Midlothian.
Ranch youth off state radar
By THOMAS HARGROVE, San Angelo Standard-Times, 10 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – How could hundreds of children go unreported, uncounted and unprotected while living on a sprawling Texas retreat created by a polygamist sect?
Arizona authorities say they have no request to apprehend Dale Barlow, man named in Texas FLDS warrant
By Rick Smith, San Angelo, 10 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – Law enforcement officials in Mohave County, Ariz., are not searching for Dale Evans Barlow, the man named in a search and arrest warrant in the raid at the YFZ Ranch northeast of Eldorado.
Teen girls from YFZ Ranch near Eldorado have multiple children, affidavits disclose
By Paul A. Anthony, San Angelo Standard-Times, 10 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – One girl, younger than 16, has four children and says she is pregnant again.
Law investigation winding down at sect's Eldorado-area ranch
By Matt Phinney, San Angelo Standard-Times, 10 April 2008
ELDORADO – State and local law enforcement officials gathered around this small West Texas community are hopeful their investigation at the YFZ Ranch is winding down.
West Texas operation draws on lessons learned from hurricanes
By Corrie MacLaggan, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 10 April 2008
AUSTIN – Phone calls from a 16-year-old girl to a West Texas shelter, alleging physical and sexual abuse at a polygamist sect's compound, set in motion a massive state effort that drew on lessons learned three years ago after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
CPS says teen who reported polygamist ranch is probably in its care
By EMILY RAMSHAW and PAUL MEYER, Dallas Morning News, 10 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – Child welfare officials said Wednesday that they're nearly certain the teenage girl whose complaint triggered the removal of 416 children from a West Texas polygamist compound is in their care but is too afraid to identify herself.
Sect's attorney, state agree to Eldorado probe details
By LISA SANDBERG and GARY SCHARRER, Houston Chronicle, 10 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – An attorney for a polygamist sect conceded in court today that the state has an interest in searching its compound because of allegations of physical and sexual abuse.
Church lawyer decries search of polygamist compound
Austin American-Statesman, 10 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – Lawyers for a polygamist sect that is the subject of a massive child-abuse investigation argued in court Wednesday that although its members' multiple marriages and cloistered ways might be unusual, they have a right to their faith and privacy.
Past raids on polygamous sect may have unified members
Waco Tribune-Herald, 10 April 2008
SALT LAKE CITY – The recent raid on a polygamist sect's compound by child welfare investigators has been tried before — but only temporarily interrupted the sect's way of life.
Texas industries spend the most to fight pollution
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 April 2008
FORT WORTH – Industries in Texas are routinely pounded because they pump out more pollution than almost any other state. But it turns out the state's oil refineries and chemical plants spend more money than any other state to control that pollution.
DNA ruling sought in 'Ashley's killer' case
Austin American-Statesman, 10 April 2008
LIVINGSTON – The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday asked the trial court in what's become known as the "Ashley's Killer" case to determine the significance of new DNA testing that defense lawyers contend should exonerate a condemned man.
West Brook mentoring session for black male students: Discriminatory or defensible?
By EMILY GUEVARA and RYAN MYERS, Beaumont Enterprise, 10 April 2008
BEAUMONT – West Brook High School administrators on Wednesday defended a black-male-only mentoring session that has prompted a recent inquiry by the American Civil Liberties Union.
A better way?
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 April 2008
FORT WORTH – Track the latest turmoil in the U.S. airline industry back to one word: airworthy.
Texas has right to investigate compound
Dallas Morning News, 10 April 2008
DALLAS – Most who remember the conflagration in Waco 15 years ago this month probably are thinking the same thing.
People
Lawmaker Vo takes blame for substandard apartments/City promises an investigation
By MATT STILES, Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle, 4/9/8
Residents in local apartments owned by state Rep. Hubert Vo live in conditions that appear to violate numerous health and building standards, a Houston Chronicle review of the properties has found.
Jackson resignation right call
San Antonio Express-News, 9 April 2008
SAN ANTONIO – Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson resigned his post at the worst possible time — in the middle of a mortgage crisis that he should have been working to halt.
Ed Adams: A trailblazer in business, education
Austin American-Statesman, 9 April 2008
AUSTIN – Ed Adams was a champion for public education. He didn’t just talk the talk, but he walked the halls of the Texas Legislature, State Board of Education, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and Austin Independent School District to push for tougher standards and skills for public schools.