Politics
Editorial: Our mysterious senior senator
Austin American-Statesman, 11 December 2009
There's something about Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison we don't quite understand.
Ad watch: Texas governor's race
Christy Hoppe, The Dallas Morning News, 11 December 2009
Here's a look at Republican Debra Medina's new television ad in the campaign for governor:
Voters delve into hopefuls' personalities
By BRADLEY OLSON and CHRIS MORAN, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 10 December 2009
Ada Rolling's choice for mayor came down to the personal.
Hutchison travel costs this year in a gray zone
By R.G. RATCLIFFE, Houston Chronicle, 10 December 2009
AUSTIN ÑU.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison this spring piggybacked onto her official Senate travel seven political events that raised more than $310,000 for her race for the Republican nomination for governor.
Texas lawmakers seeking fix for prepaid tuition plan
By GENE TRAINOR, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11 December 2009
Texas lawmakers plan to look at college costs and tuition deregulation as they try to solve a projected billion-dollar-plus shortfall in a state prepaid college tuition plan.
Senators carve out climate-change guidelines
By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, San Antonio Express-News, 11 December 2009
WASHINGTON Ñ Senators negotiating a bipartisan climate change bill Thursday unveiled the broad outlines of their plan to combine greenhouse gas limits with expanded offshore drilling, more nuclear power and protections for refiners in a bid to attract support from wary lawmakers.
House approves $1.1 trillion spending measure
By Andrew Taylor, ASSOCIATED PRESS, 11 December 2009
WASHINGTON Ñ Democrats are muscling through a deficit-swelling spending bill, giving domestic programs their third major boost this year and giving lawmakers more than 5,000 home-state spending projects.
Senate Dems may change health care compromise
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press, 11 December 2009
WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats are considering changing a proposed expansion of Medicare to address complaints from doctors and hospitals and defray costs for consumers, officials said Thursday, two days after party leaders hailed it as part of a breakthrough for health care.
The Medina Effect
by Reeve Hamilton, The Texas Tribune, 11 December 2009
Debra Medina doesnÕt have a problem with being left out of the Republican gubernatorial primary debates Ñ that is, if her polling expectations are completely off.
Poll: Gay candidate ahead in Houston mayor's race
by JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press, 11 December 2009
HOUSTON Ñ Houston's openly gay city controller has pulled ahead in the race to be mayor of the nation's fourth largest city, just two days before a runoff election, according to a new poll.
Government
TDCJ: Guard lax in search of inmate
By ALLAN TURNER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 11 December 2009
Texas prison officials Thursday moved to fire an Estelle Unit guard they said failed to adequately search Arcade Joseph Comeaux Jr., the rapist who later used a hidden pistol to commandeer a prison van and escape.
Border sheriffs get fed funding
By Gary Martin, San Antonio Express-News, 11 December 2009
WASHINGTON Ñ A $446.8 billion spending bill for various federal agencies, passed by the House on Thursday, includes $4.8 million in funding for county sheriff departments along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Obama announces grants for Texas health care clinics
By Gary Martin, San Antonio Express-News, 11 December 2009
WASHINGTON Ñ Up to $39 million in federal grants were approved for renovation and construction of facilities for low-income patients at health clinics in San Antonio, Brownsville, Harlingen and El Paso as part of nearly $600 million in awards for 85 community health centers nationwide unveiled Wednesday by President Barack Obama.
Race to the Bottom Line
by Brian Thevenot, The Texas Tribune, 11 December 2009
For a state seeking $350 million to $700 million in federal education money, Texas sure has a funny way of going about it.
More Than One Million Caught
by Matt Stiles, The Texas Tribune, 11 December 2009
Next time you consider speeding through an intersection after the signal turns red, remember this: A camera might be watching.
Prison guard fired over escape
By Mike Ward, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 11 December 2009
A correctional officer with six years of experience was fired Thursday in the first of several expected disciplinary cases stemming from the escape two weeks ago of a child sex offender who was supposedly mobility-impaired and needed a wheelchair.
News
A&M scientist to talk about global warming in Austin
By Asher Price, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 11 December 2009
A professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University will lecture in Austin today on global warming and Texas, just as climate science finds itself in the throes of an international controversy.
Innocence Project counsel criticized for profiting on exonerees
By JENNIFER EMILY, The Dallas Morning News, 11 December 2009
Jeff Blackburn has helped spring dozens of Texans from prison after they spent time behind bars for crimes they did not commit. But even as he's carried on the public fight to free the wrongly convicted as chief counsel for Innocence Project of Texas, he's been privately profiting off of some of the exonerated by claiming a portion of the state restitution paid to them.
Process to Ôfrack' for fuel draws debate
By TOM FOWLER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 11 December 2009
In March 1949, Halliburton pumped millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals into an oil well site near Duncan, Okla. It was the first use of a technique for increasing oil and natural gas production called hydraulic fracturing.
One of top 10 U.S. terrorism targets, D-FW could get more federal dollars
By AMAN BATHEJA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 December 2009
Dallas-Fort Worth was named one of the top 10 terrorism targets in the country by the federal government this week, a designation that paves the way for millions in extra homeland security funding to the region.
Asarco's nearly $1.8 billion settlement will pay for environmental cleanup
By BOB CHRISTIE, The Associated Press, 10 December 2009
PHOENIX Ñ Environmental settlements with copper miner Asarco LLC will pay for cleanups at more than 80 polluted sites in 19 states, mostly in the West, U.S. Justice Department officials said Thursday.
People
Huffines stepping down as chairman of UT regents
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 11 December 2009
James Huffines, chairman of the University of Texas System Board of Regents, announced unexpectedly on Thursday that he would step down from that post in March.
History museum honors Don Haskins, 1966 Miner basketball team
By Victor R. Martinez, El Paso Times, 11 December 2009
EL PASO -- Don Haskins and the 1966 Texas Western Miners men's basketball team have been immortalized on boxes of Wheaties cereal.
McCoy big winner at college awards show
By John Maher, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 11 December 2009