Florence Shapiro weighs run for U.S. Senate [1]
By WAYNE SLATER, Dallas Morning News, 8 May 2008
AUSTIN – State Sen. Florence Shapiro of Dallas is considering setting up an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate in anticipation of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison running for governor.
Republicans hired ghost workers too, Democrats note [2]
By JOHN MORITZ, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 May 2008
AUSTIN – The political dust-up over whether some Texas House members are hiring so-called ghost workers – who received state benefits without devoting at least 40 hours a week to their jobs – escalated Thursday with Democrats pointing out that Republican members have also engaged in the practice.
Candidate defends employment [3]
Ryan Holeywell, McAllen Monitor, 9 May 2008
WESLACO – A school board candidate whose name was linked to an investigation of so-called ghost employees of state lawmakers denies he has done anything wrong.
El Paso's superdelegates still back Clinton [4]
By Ramon Bracamontes, El Paso Times, 9 May 2008
EL PASO – El Paso's two Democratic Party superdelegates said Thursday that they were not wavering in their support for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton despite mounting pressure from those who think the former first lady can no longer win the presidential nomination.
Did contributions influence court ruling? [5]
Corpus Christi Caller-Times, 8 May 2008
CORPUS CHRISTI – Texas insists on electing its judges.
Texas courts' credibility problem [6]
Dallas Morning News, 9 May 2008
DALLAS – The reputation of our state's judiciary has been tarnished for years.
Voter IDs: a Modern Poll Tax? [7]
By James C. Harrington, Newspaper Tree, 8 May 2008
EL PASO – For the last half century, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court steadily have undone voting impediments created by local and state governments.
Gov. Perry raises prospect of tax rebates for Texas residents [8]
By JOHN MORITZ, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 May 2008
AUSTIN – With top state officials forecasting a budget surplus as high as $15 billion next year, Gov. Rick Perry will likely call for a round of tax cuts that could include cash rebates to Texas residents, Perry's spokesman said Wednesday.
Texas state budget surplus not as hefty as it seems [9]
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 May 2008
AUSTIN – A $10.7 billion budget surplus predicted this week by Comptroller Susan Combs set Capitol-tongues awagging with plans for tax rebates and self congratulations for cultivating such a robust economy.
Final farm bill Legislation hits houses next week [10]
By Trish Choate, Wichita Falls Times Record News, 9 May 2008
WASHINGTON – The final version of the nearly $300 billion farm bill takes aim at agricultural subsidies and steers a higher share of dollars away from farmers toward nutrition programs such as food stamps than earlier farm bills.
Farmers look to congressmen to help with labor shortages [11]
By Aaron Nelsen, Brownsville Herald, 8 May 2008
BROWNSVILLE – Over the years Curtis DeBerry has slowly shifted operations of his Rio Grande Valley-based Progresso Produce LTD to Mexico.
Congress ends farm bill work as veto looms [12]
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 9 May 2008
WASHINGTON – Married couples with joint incomes of up to $1.5 million from their farm operation could still qualify for crop subsidies under a five-year, $300 billion farm bill compromise that would boost the Agriculture Department's food and farm programs.
Cornyn pushes for Colombia trade agreement [13]
By Laura Tillman, Brownsville Herald, 8 May 2008
BROWNSVILLE – Sen. John Cornyn has joined with senate Republicans and Hispanic business leaders in a push to persuade the House to ratify a free-trade agreement between Colombia and the United States.
Horsemeat can't be shipped through Texas, Abbott rules [14]
By LISA SANDBERG, Houston Chronicle, 8 May 2008
AUSTIN – Selling or possessing horsemeat for human consumption is illegal in Texas.
Lawmaker targets Texas Transportation Department [15]
By GORDON DICKSON, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 May 2008
FORT WORTH – The Texas Department of Transportation has done more harm to the public's trust of state government than any other agency and needs to be overhauled, Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, said Wednesday.
TxDOT discusses shortfalls in project funding [16]
By Kevin M. Smith, Killeen Daily Herald, 9 May 2008
KILLEEN – Texas Department of Transportation officials discussed funding shortfalls and the impact on local projects at a workshop Thursday in Killeen.
Survey of youths in custody finds half have mental health problems [17]
By SARAH VIREN, Houston Chronicle, 8 May 2008
HOUSTON – Nearly half of the youths locked up in the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center suffer from mental health problems — far more than the estimated 20 percent with mental disorders in the general youth population — figures released Thursday show.
ET Officials Propose Limiting Eminent Domain’s Reach [18]
By ROY MAYNARD, Tyler Morning Telegraph, 9 May 2008
TYLER – The threat to private property rights posed by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision is serious enough to warrant a change in the Texas Constitution, Texas Republican Party Chair Tina Benkiser said in a Thursday press conference.
Rise in concealed gun permits causes backlog [19]
By Kate Alexander, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 9 May 2008
AUSTIN – A surge in applications for concealed handgun licenses has overwhelmed the Texas Department of Public Safety in recent months, causing lengthy delays for people seeking permits and renewals.
Denton, Lubbock state schools prominent in mistreatment analysis [20]
Denton Record-Chronicle, 8 May 2008
DALLAS – About one-fourth of the more than 800 employees suspended or fired for mistreating residents at Texas’ 13 large facilities for the mentally and developmentally disabled worked at two state schools targeted by federal investigators, state records show.
Gun fight isn't OK [21]
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 May 2008
FORT WORTH – Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson takes his job seriously.
Plow under this wasteful farm bill [22]
San Antonio Express-News, 8 May 2008
SAN ANTONIO – Food prices haven't risen nearly as precipitously as gasoline prices.
State schools should treat residents better [23]
Beaumont Enterprise, 9 May 2008
BEAUMONT – Last year Texans were outraged to learn that large numbers of inmates were being abused or assaulted in prisons run by the Texas Youth Commission.
'Is there a “Mexican side” of the fence?' [24]
By Kevin Sieff, Brownsville Herald, 8 May 2008
BROWNSVILLE – It's not surprising that the national media has taken to covering the border fence on a fairly regular basis.
Nicol: Salinas buys into the Border Wall [25]
By Scott Nicol, Rio Grande Guardian, 8 May 2008
This week Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas told residents of Hidalgo County that we will be paying $48 million to stuff the border wall into our flood control levees.
Eminent domain used properly [26]
By Michael Morris, Brazosport Facts, 9 May 2008
BRAZOSPORT – Eminent domain is one of those concepts that immediately causes blood to flush the faces of those who believe it is government evil in its purest form, regardless of the specifics of its application.
Summers: In support of Columbia Free Trade Agreement [27]
By Bill Summers, Rio Grande Guardian, 8 May 2008
Native musicians Shakira and Juanes sing ballads of their homeland, a country rich in culture and steeped in folklore.
Sect's child custody cases to practically shut down district court for a time [28]
By Paul A. Anthony, San Angelo Standard-Times, 8 May 2008
SAN ANGELO – The historic child-custody case stemming from last month's raid on a Schleicher County polygamist sect is expected to all but shut down the Tom Green County district court when hundreds of status hearings begin in less than two weeks.
Extra judges mustered for monumental child status hearings in YFZ Ranch custody case [29]
By Paul A. Anthony, San Angelo Standard-Times, 9 May 2008
SAN ANGELO – The next round of hearings in the massive YFZ Ranch custody case is expected to all but shut down other activities in the Tom Green County district courts, with as many as five judges presiding over 200 or more cases beginning May 19.
Next hearings set for kids removed from West Texas polygamist compound [30]
By BILL HANNA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 May 2008
FORT WORTH – The next round of hearings for the 464 children taken from a West Texas polygamist compound will begin May 19 in San Angelo.
Few left at polygamist ranch try to make sense of it all [31]
By EMILY RAMSHAW, Dallas Morning News, 8 May 2008
YEARNING FOR ZION RANCH – Emptiness echoes off of this polygamist community's once-lush lawns, now parched and brown.
If polygamist sect fades away, Eldorado won't mind [32]
By EMILY RAMSHAW, Dallas Morning News, 8 May 2008
ELDORADO – The satellite trucks and talk show hosts have packed up and gone. But this West Texas town, notorious for its now nearly deserted polygamist ranch, knows no normal.
State faces new headache over immunizing sect children [33]
By TERRI LANGFORD and LISA SANDBERG, Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express News, 8 May 2008
HOUSTON – A state requirement that children in foster care be inoculated against disease has prompted another round of headaches for lawyers who represent 464 children taken from a polygamist ranch last month.
Church records offer rare look inside polygamist families [34]
Austin American-Statesman, 9 May 2008
SAN ANTONIO – Hand-scrawled records taken from a polygamist sect are helping untangle the spider-web network of family relationships at the Yearning for Zion Ranch, where some husbands had more than a dozen wives.
University of North Texas conference deals with how schools can help children following immigration raids [35]
By STELLA M. CHÁVEZ, Dallas Morning News, 9 May 2008
DALLAS – The morning that immigration enforcement agents raided a meatpacking plant in Cactus, Texas, a carpool of teachers called their superintendent to say they'd be late to school.
Houston state Rep. Miles arraigned on gun charges [36]
By DALE LEZON, Houston Chronicle, 8 May 2008
HOUSTON – State Rep. Borris Miles pleaded not guilty at his arraignment this morning in a Harris County court.
Jenna Bush wedding a big event for tiny Crawford [37]
By JULIE MASON, Houston Chronicle, 8 May 2008
CRAWFORD – Saturday, in an Oscar de la Renta gown with twin sister Barbara at her side, Jenna Bush, 26, will marry 29-year-old business school student Henry Hager at her parents' Central Texas ranch.
Cake and souvenirs: Crawford set to receive an onslaught of visitors [38]
By ANNA M. TINSLEY, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 May 2008
FORT WORTH – In the heart of downtown Crawford stands the Angel of Steadfast Love – a gift to the city after President Bush's re-election in 2004.
Local woman's wedding plans could clash with those of Jenna Bush [39]
By Erin Quinn, Waco Tribune-Herald, 9 May 2008
WACO – Nora Bartosh has been waiting for her May 10 wedding for the past six years. Now, the 34-year-old West drugstore clerk worries that a president’s daughter could steal her groom and, thus, her special day.
President steps into father-of-bride role for Jenna Bush's wedding [40]
Dallas Morning News, 8 May 2008
CRAWFORD – President Bush stuck out his right elbow Thursday, jokingly demonstrating how he'll escort his daughter down the aisle at her wedding this weekend.
Exonerated inmates urge changes [41]
By MAX B. BAKER, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 May 2008
AUSTIN – When Billy Smith and James Giles were languishing in Texas prisons for crimes they knew they did not commit, they never dreamed that one day they would be standing in the state Senate chamber pleading for reforms.
WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS [42]
Dallas Morning News, 9 May 2008
AUSTIN – One by one, nine wrongly convicted men stood up on the floor of the Texas Senate on Thursday to explain how innocent men ended up in prison and how to prevent it from happening again.
Former Fort Worth Mayor Barr joins tollway board [43]
By GORDON DICKSON, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 May 2008
FORT WORTH – Kenneth Barr is no stranger to transportation issues.