Politics
All eyes are back on the superdelegates, including 32 in Texas
By ANNA M. TINSLEY, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 April 2008
FORT WORTH -- David Hardt of Dallas paid close attention to coverage of the Pennsylvania primary results Tuesday night.
Midland Dems eye convention following Pennsylvania primary
By Kathleen Thurber, Midland Reporter-Telegram, 24 April 2008
MIDLAND -- As Sen. Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary by about 10 percentage points Tuesday, Midland Democrats were preparing for June's state convention where they say the party likely still will be working to name a nominee.
Government
Transportation leaders: Texas needs more money for its roads
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News, 23 April 2008
AUSTIN — Maybe Texas’ transportation problems are a lot simpler to understand than recent fights over toll roads make it seem, North Texas leaders told state senators Wednesday.
Texas to temporarily extend enrollment period
By Corrie MacLaggan, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 24 April 2008
AUSTIN -- Starting in June, Texas will temporarily extend the food stamp enrollment period from six to 12 months for hundreds of thousands of families already in the program.
Texas asking IRS to raise limit on guaranteeing school bonds
By Robert Elder, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 24 April 2008
AUSTIN -- Texas school districts are issuing unprecedented amounts of debt, straining the capacity of a state program that saves districts $100 million a year or more by guaranteeing them a top bond rating.
Steroid testing
ODESSA AMERICAN, 23 April 2008
ODESSA -- Sixty-three Lee High and 27 Lee Freshmen student athletes underwent steroid testing recently as part of UIL guidelines calling for random testing of student athletes from ninth to 12th grade for steroid use.
Creation institute's proposal rejected by panel
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 24 April 2008
AUSTIN -- A Bible-oriented group's proposal to offer an online master's degree in science education was unanimously rejected Wednesday by a panel of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Texas higher education board rejects 'creation science' degree proposal
By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News, 23 April 2008
AUSTIN — A bid by the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research to train future science teachers — focusing on creationism instead of Darwin’s theory of evolution — was flatly rejected by Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board members on Wednesday.
Official against creationist program
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 April 2008
AUSTIN -- The state Higher Education Coordinating Board should reject a proposal by the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research to offer a Bible-based master's degree program online to science teachers, the state commissioner of higher education has recommended.
State nixes coverage for rental income losses
By Laura Elder, Galveston County Daily News, 24 April 2008
GALVESTON -- Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin this week rejected a measure that would have allowed thousands of owners of second homes and investment properties along the coast to insure against loss of rental income caused by hurricanes and storms.
Appeals still lag at certain benefit sites
By PATRICK BRENDEL, Houston Chronicle, 24 April 2008
WASHINGTON — Nearly six years after a top federal official promised improvements in the way disability cases are handled in Harris County, a Social Security administrator told a congressional committee Wednesday that Houstonians get different levels of service depending on which office hears their case.
Texas needs clear reading standards
Dallas Morning News, 24 April 2080
DALLAS -- It's one thing to teach children how to read. It's another to get them to understand what they've read.
News
Judge calls for patience in massive custody case
By Paul A. Anthony, San Angelo Standard-Times, 24 April 2008
SAN ANGELO -- District Judge Barbara Walther pleaded Wednesday for patience as all sides work through the unprecedented YFZ Ranch child-custody case.
Confidence in FLDS arrest warrant now shaky, authorities say
By Paul A. Anthony, San Angelo Standard-Times, 24 April 2008
SAN ANGELO -- Revelations that the March 29 phone call that sparked a raid on a Schleicher County polygamist compound may be a hoax have led prosecutors to doubt the reason for the original search-and-arrest warrant that granted authorities access to the YFZ Ranch.
Adult moms to stay with nursing FLDS infants; children to still be home-schooled
By Paul A. Anthony, San Angelo Standard-Times, 24 April 2008
SAN ANGELO -- In deviations from the normal practice in child-removal cases, infants removed from the YFZ Ranch will not be separated from their adult mothers if they are still nursing, and older children will continue to be home-schooled in their foster placements.
Fairgrounds busy, but no children moved from San Angelo Coliseum
By Jayna Boyle, San Angelo Standard-Times, 24 April 2008
SAN ANGELO -- Brisk activity surrounded the San Angelo Coliseum this morning as vehicles came and went, and several buses were seen entering the fairgrounds, parking near the Wells Fargo Pavilion.
Officials say 47 children from polygamist group coming to Waco's Methodist Children's Home
By Emily Ingram, Waco Tribune-Herald, 24 April 2008
WACO -- Officials at Waco’s Methodist Children’s Home revealed Wednesday that they will get 47 children from a West Texas polygamist sect within the next 48 hours.
Youths' transition to world outside of polygamist compound likely to be rocky
By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News, 23 April 2008
AUSTIN – Children's homes and shelters across Texas prepared to welcome 437 youngsters from a polygamist sect by turning off TVs, serving a lot of bland chicken and vegetable dishes, setting up home schools and accommodating twice-daily devotionals.
Raid on compound triggered by hoax?
By JANET ELLIOTT and GARY SCHARRER, Houston Chronicle, 24 April 2008
AUSTIN — The frantic, whispered calls that triggered the removal of more than 400 children from a West Texas polygamist sect came from a phone linked to a Colorado Springs woman with a long history of making false abuse reports, according to a court document unsealed Wednesday.
Representing sect's youth proves a complicated task
By MARY FLOOD, Houston Chronicle, 24 April 2008
SAN ANGELO -- The lawyers who arrived in San Angelo last week were given IDs, health screenings, multiple shots of hand-sanitizing Purell and a colored folder for each client — most got one folder, some more than one.
Attorneys object to sect children's foster placement
By LISA SANDBERG, Houston Chronicle, 23 April 2008
SAN ANGELO — Lawyers from across the state will return to a courtroom here this afternoon to voice their dissatisfaction over foster care placements of their child clients, the children of a polygamist sect who have been in state custody for nearly three weeks.
Number used to report abuse is linked to woman
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 April 2008
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A court document says a phone number used to report alleged abuse at a polygamist retreat in West Texas had been used previously by a 33-year-old Colorado woman.
CPS taking extra precautions for children from sect
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 April 2008
SAN ANGELO -- Many of the children have seen little or no television.
Business group says education accountability needs change
By Brandi Grissom, El Paso Times, 23 April 2008
AUSTIN -- Education leaders need to overhaul the way student success is measured in Texas schools, the state's largest business group said Tuesday.
Court weighs FTC's request to halt Whole Foods deal
Waco Tribune-Herald, 24 April 2008
WASHINGTON — An appeals court panel of three judges appeared split Wednesday on federal regulators' persistent effort to halt Whole Foods Market Inc.'s takeover of a rival.
Due process matters even in bizarre cases
San Antonio Express-News, 24 April 2008
SAN ANTONIO -- By the standards of most Texans, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a bizarre sect. Some of its leaders are no strangers to law enforcement officials.
People
Keel takes blog complaint to attorney general
By Laylan Copelin, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 24 April 2008
AUSTIN -- Republican Terry Keel wants the state's top lawyer to intervene in his dispute with Democratic consultant and blogger Kelly Fero.
Montford mentioned as possible UT chancellor candidate
By Enrique Rangel, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 224 April 2008
AUSTIN - John Montford is back in the news.
Perry: Montford could lead UT
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 April 2008
AUSTIN -- John Montford, a former chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, would make a good chancellor for the University of Texas System, Gov. Rick Perry told several San Antonio legislators.
Former governor releases new memoir
By Steve Bennett, San Antonio Express-News, 23 April 2008
UVALDE — Former Gov. Dolph Briscoe had two reasons to celebrate here in his hometown Wednesday night: the publication of his new memoir and his 85th birthday.
Texas heart surgeon Michael DeBakey awarded Congressional Gold Medal
By BRENDAN McKENNA / The Dallas Morning News, 23 April 2008
WASHINGTON – Houston heart surgeon Michael DeBakey, a pioneer of life-saving bypass surgery, received the nation's highest civilian honor Wednesday.
Heart surgeon receives high honor
Waco Tribune-Herald, 24 April 2008
WASHINGTON — Famed heart surgeon Michael DeBakey can officially add Congressional Gold Medal to his long list of honors.
Local man on TTC-69 advisory committee
By MATTHEW STOFF, Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, 23 April 2008
NACOGDOCHES -- Continuing a lifelong practice of helping rural East Texans, Nolan Alders attended a meeting in Austin Tuesday as a member of the citizens' advisory committee for the Trans-Texas Corridor highway project.
Jeb Bush says he's skeptical about global warming in Dallas speech
Dallas Morning News, 23 April 2008
DALLAS – Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says he is "light green" on the environment and is skeptical that humans are causing global warming.
Laura Bush sees SMU presidential library as base for education, literacy efforts
By MICHAEL GRANBERRY / The Dallas Morning New, 23 April 2008
DALLAS -- Laura Bush said Wednesday she expects to continue her efforts touting education and literacy through her husband's presidential library and public policy center being built at SMU, her alma mater.
Combs applies father’s ranch management advice to office
By Candace Cooksey Fulton, Brownwood Bulletin, 23 April 2008
BROWNWOOD -- Susan Combs’ father used to tell her about managing money for the ranching business, “You’ve got to be as tight as the bark on a tree.”
DeLay disputes Adelson testimony
By MOLLY BALL, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 23 April 2008
LAS VEGAS -- A spokeswoman for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay denied on Tuesday that in 2001, at the behest of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, DeLay blocked legislation that could have hindered China's Olympic bid.
Brownsville businessman appointed to state advisory board
By Joey Gomez, Rio Grande Guardian, 23 April 208
BROWNSVILLE -- A Brownsville businessman says he is eager for the chance to bring greater economic development opportunities to the Rio Grande Valley and the rest of Texas through the acquisition of grants, loans and other funding sources.
