Politics
Cornyn says he has $9M in bank for re-election campaign
By ROBERT T. GARRETT, Dallas Morning News, 15 April 2008
AUSTIN – Freshman Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has nearly $9 million in the bank, a big edge as he tries to fend off Democrat Rick Noriega this fall.
Cornyn funds far outweigh those of Noriega
By R.G. RATCLIFFE, Houston Chronicle, 15 April 2008
AUSTIN – Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn enters the general election campaign with $26 in the bank for every one held by Democratic challenger Rick Noriega, according to reports released Tuesday.
Democrat raised about half what Republican Cornyn spent
Waco Tribune-Herald, 16 April 2008
WASHINGTON – A picture of the tough challenge Democrat Rick Noriega has undertaken in his bid to unseat Republican Sen. John Cornyn is made clear in the latest campaign money raising reports filed Tuesday.
Reyes denies donations, contract linked
By Ramon Bracamontes, El Paso Times, 16 April 2008
EL PASO – U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes on Tuesday acknowledged that he received donations from an Alabama contractor, but denied they had anything to do with him including a $2.6 million no-bid contract for the company in a national defense bill.
Texas Democrats challenge some presidential caucus results
Waco Tribune-Herald, 16 April 2008
AUSTIN – Texas Democratic Party officials received at least 50 challenges to caucus results — a higher number than usual — as Texas' presidential delegate selection system moved into its next phase, a party spokesman said Tuesday.
Government
Jury sides with trooper accusing DPS of retaliation and discrimination
By W. Gardner Selby, Austin AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF, 4/16/8
A Travis County jury has awarded more than $600,000 to a state trooper who filed a lawsuit charging the Department of Public Safety with retaliation and discrimination after he was transferred out of the elite protective detail that watches over Gov. Rick Perry and his family.
Texas to defend law on executing child rapists
By MAX B. BAKER, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 April 2008
FORT WORTH – When Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst championed a state law last year to execute child rapists, he said the bill sent a simple, clear message: Don't mess with kids in Texas.
Texas to argue for right to execute child rapists at Supreme Court
By BRENDAN MCKENNA, Dallas Morning News, 15 April 2008
WASHINGTON – Texas says sometimes the sexual assault of a child can be so violent or obscene that the only appropriate punishment is to execute the offender.
Supreme Court to hear challenges to death penalty for child rapists
By Jason Embry, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 16 April 2008
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court will hear challenges today to a Louisiana law allowing the death penalty for child rapists.
Texas Border Coaliton agrees to file lawsuit against border fence plan
By Steve Taylor, Rio Grande Guardian, 15 April 2008
McALLEN – The Texas Border Coalition, representing cities and counties from El Paso to Brownsville, agreed Tuesday to join a class action lawsuit against the federal government’s plans to build a border fence.
Texas Border Coalition to join suit over border fence
Waco Tribune-Herald, 16 April 2008
McALLEN – A coalition of Texas border mayors and county executives stretching from El Paso to Brownsville decided to join a proposed class-action lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Tuesday.
State 'ghost-buster' tries to end a sorry practice
San Antonio Express-News, 15 April 2008
SAN ANTONIO – The Texas Legislature has a potential ghost-buster.
A difficult year for teachers
McAllen Monitor, 15 April 2008
McALLEN – This has been a rough year. For the first time, eighth-graders who do not pass the TAKS cannot go to high school next year.
Testing mania requires changes by lawmakers
Beaumont Enterprise, 16 April 2008
BEAUMONT – In the run-up to previous sessions of the Legislature, lawmakers have talked boldly about changing the emphasis on standardized tests that often overshadows real learning.
For Christmas Mountains, nothing is simple
Dallas Morning News, 16 April 2008
DALLAS – A solution to the Christmas Mountains seems so simple.
Texans should be able to enjoy public land
Kerrville Daily Times, 16 April 2008
KERRVILLE – Last February, we applauded when the General Land Office’s plan to sell the 9,269 acres of public land in West Texas known as the Christmas Mountains Ranch was rejected by the Texas School Land Board.
News
FLDS linked to low-bid construction firms
BY THOMAS HARGROVE and GAVIN OFF, San Angelo Standard-Times, 16 April 2008
WASHINGTON – Members of a breakaway Mormon polygamist sect have built a network of construction companies in Western states that recently have won millions in public works contracts by making stunningly low bids.
State defends separating mothers from children
By Matt Phinney, San Angelo Standard-Times, 16 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – While it's always a difficult decision to separate children from their parents, all state agencies acted appropriately in doing what is best for the children of the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado, state officials said.
County continues disaster declaration related to YFZ raid
By Sandy Rojas, San Angelo Standard-Times, 16 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – The Tom Green County Commissioners' Court decided unanimously on Tuesday to continue the disaster declaration issued by San Angelo Mayor J.W. Lown and county Judge Mike Brown concerning the housing and 24-hour protection of children removed from the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado and housed in city facilities.
CPS says women, children of Eldorado-area ranch treated fairly
By Matt Phinney, San Angelo Standard-Times, 15 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – State officials said today all agencies have acted appropriately in dealing with the women and children from the ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
51 women return to Eldorado-area ranch; 6 depart for unknown site
By Matt Phinney, San Angelo Standard-Times, 15 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – Child Protective Services this morning released some new information about the women from the YFZ Ranch who were separated Monday from their children.
FLDS: A church, or a cult?
By ISAAC WOLF and TRISH CHOATE, San Angelo Standard-Times, 16 April 2008
WASHINGTON – As details emerge about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the answer to a central question about the polygamist religious group remains unclear: Is the FLDS in Texas operating as a church?
Quilting marathon for FLDS children to continue this week
San Angelo Standard-Times, 16 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – The quilting marathon that started last week to benefit the women and children of the YFZ Ranch will continue at Christ Lutheran Church, 3417 Sherwood Way, Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
State defends separating kids from mothers in polygamy case
By BILL HANNA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – Many of the mothers who were removed from a temporary shelter Monday were preventing their children from cooperating with state officials, authorities said Tuesday.
More lawmakers want sect funding probed
By ANNA M. TINSLEY, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 April 2008
FORT WORTH – Two North Texas lawmakers are joining a bipartisan call to investigate the awarding of federal contracts to a firm controlled by members of the polygamist sect under investigation in West Texas.
State says it had to talk to kids solo
By Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle, 16 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – With a critical court hearing over sexual abuse allegations looming Thursday, officials Tuesday defended Child Protective Services' decision to separate some of the children removed from a polygamist community from their mothers.
CPS: Separating children, mothers in polygamist sect was necessary
By EMILY RAMSHAW, Dallas Morning News, 15 April 2008
AUSTIN – Child Protective Services officials investigating abuse at a West Texas polygamist compound fired back on Tuesday against accusations that they wrongfully separated women from the compound from their children — saying they have been unable to get information out of the kids in the current environment.
FDLS members responded to raid with song, prayer
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – When police officers armed with weapons and protective gear descended on a West Texas ranch owned by a polygamist church, its members responded by going to their knees in prayer.
`Billable hours for the soul' drive lawyers to West Texas
Waco Tribune-Herald, 16 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – They don't know where they're staying. They don't know if there's a courtroom large enough to hold them all. And they don't know who their clients are.
Images show police well-armed for raid on polygamists
Austin American-Statesman, 16 April 2008
SAN ANGELO – Police wore body armor, sported automatic weapons and were backed by an armored personnel carrier for a raid on a West Texas polygamist retreat, photos and video released Tuesday show.
Hundreds of employees mistreated Texas patients
Waco Tribune-Herald, 16 April 2008
DALLAS – More than 800 employees at Texas' 13 large facilities for the mentally and developmentally disabled have been suspended or fired for abusing patients since fiscal year 2004, state officials said Tuesday.
State panel delays building of NRG coal-fired power plant
By SCOTT STREATER, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 April 2008
FORT WORTH – A state panel has put the brakes on a new coal-fired power plant in North Texas, ordering NRG Energy to first analyze technologies intended to reduce emissions of toxic mercury and other hazardous pollutants.
South Texas Border Patrol looks to wind for energy
Waco Tribune-Herald, 16 April 2008
McALLEN – The U.S. Border Patrol headquarters for south central Texas will be the nation's first to harness the wind for some of its energy needs.
Solar energy firm receives $1 million state grant
Waco Tribune-Herald, 16 April 2008
AUSTIN – HelioVolt Corp. is getting $1 million from the state's job creation fund for construction of a 125,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and testing space for thin-film solar power cells.
Scarring events
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 April 2008
FORT WORTH – Followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints believe that the apocalypse is upon us.
People
Trooper wins racial bias lawsuit against state
By JOHN MORITZ, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 April 2008
AUSTIN – Taxpayers could be on the hook for nearly $900,000 in damages and attorney fees after a jury found that a black state trooper who served on the elite detail that protects Gov. Rick Perry was subjected to racial discrimination and retaliation, including demotion and a pay cut.
State trooper awarded $600,000 in discrimination suit
Waco Tribune-Herald, 16 April 2008
AUSTIN – A black state trooper who claimed his race partly led to his removal from Gov. Rick Perry's protective detail has been awarded more than $600,000 by a jury in a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Public Safety.
DNA evidence clears another Dallas County inmate
By STEVE McGONIGLE and JENNIFER EMILY, Dallas Morning News, 15 April 2008
DALLAS – A questionable identification process nearly 23 years ago helped strip away freedom from Thomas Clifford McGowan Jr. Now the certainty of DNA testing is about to restore it.
Dallas man may be freed by DNA testing after 23 years
Waco Tribune-Herald, 16 April 2008
DALLAS – Eyewitness misidentification sent Thomas Clifford McGowan to prison for nearly 23 years. On Wednesday, DNA testing is expected to get him out.
BUSH LIBRARY
By BRENDAN McKENNA, Dallas Morning News, 16 April 2008
WASHINGTON – Looking back almost 40 years, the director of Texas' first presidential library says he should have been tougher on Lyndon Baines Johnson.