By lingering in Senate, Hutchison risks bid for governor [1]

By WAYNE SLATER, The Dallas Morning News, 18 December 2009

AUSTIN – Since announcing she will stay in the Senate while running for governor, Kay Bailey Hutchison has been busy assuring Republican voters she's doing a good job in Washington while trying to persuade them to bring her home.

Bexar Democrats' woes mount [2]

By Gilbert Garcia, San Antonio Express-News, 17 December 2009

The Bexar County Democratic Party is on financial life-support, with party representatives staring at a huge debt to the county and an overdrawn operating account.

Gramm signs letter against stimulus [3]

By Lynsi Burton, San Antonio Express-News, 17 December 2009

WASHINGTON — Former Sen. Phil Gramm headlines a group of 18 Texas economists who signed a letter released Thursday by House Republican Leader John Boehner opposing another economic stimulus package.

2010: Is Seven Enough for Isett? [4]

by Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune, 17 December 2009

Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, has his hometown buzzing with rumors that he won't seek an eighth term in the Texas House. Isett didn't return calls and texts to confirm, and his office said simply that he'll have an announcement on Friday.

Frequent Flyers [5]

by Matt Stiles and Andrew Kreighbaum, The Texas Tribune, December 17, 2009

During a trip to Israel this summer, Rep. Pete Olson saw the Holy Basin, toured sites in the Old City and visited recent archaeological excavations in Jerusalem.

Legal aid group sues state over food stamp application backlog [6]

By Corrie MacLaggan, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 17 December 2009

A legal aid group on Thursday sued the Health and Human Services Commission over Texas' food stamp application backlog, demanding decisions for seven specific families and seeking to force the commission to meet required deadlines for all applications.

State sued over long wait for food stamp applicants [7]

By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News, 17 December 2009

AUSTIN – Legal aid lawyers sued the state Thursday for ignoring deadlines in its own food-stamp rules, saying Texas still hasn't gotten serious about ending delays that block needy people from getting help

Texas schools wait to find out if they'll lose funding after swine flu absences [8]

By JEFFREY WEISS, The Dallas Morning News, 17 December 2009

Texas school districts worried about losing school funding because of unusually high absentee rates related to the 2009 swine flu won't find out until next year whether the state will help, according to a letter released Thursday by Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott.

15 schools miss grade, must allow students to transfer campuses [9]

By Michael D. Hernandez, El Paso Times, 18 December 2009

EL PASO -- Fifteen El Paso-area schools are low-performing and must offer their students the option of transferring to another campus next year, a report by the Texas Education Agency said.

More Texans apply for Social Security Disability Insurance -- and wait [10]

By DAVE LIEBER, Fort Worth Star-Telgram, 17 December 2009

Ray Shuga, a retired truck driver in Fort Worth, twiddled his thumbs for about two years between the time he applied for Social Security Disability Insurance and the arrival of his first check.

]

Death sentences on the wane in Texas, other states, report says [11]

By Mark Sherman,ASSOCIATED PRESS, 17 December 2009

WASHINGTON — Texas and other states that lead the nation in executions are sentencing fewer inmates to death, a trend that is reducing the death row population in the United States, according to a report from an anti-capital punishment group.

Steep decline in death sentences [12]

By PEGGY O'HARE, Houston Chronicle, 17 December 2009

Death sentences have declined across the nation, including in Texas — the state known for sending the most people to death row — in the last decade, according to a report released today by the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.

Mexico: 5,000 migrants died on way to US since '94 [13]

Associated Press, 17 December 2009

MEXICO CITY—Mexico's National Human Rights Commission says more than 5,000 Mexican migrants have died in deserts, rivers and mountains trying to reach the U.S. since 1994.

Texas death sentences fall for 7th year in row [14]

BY AMAN BATHEJA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 December 2009

Texas juries are following a nationwide trend of sending fewer convicted criminals to death, but the state still leads the country in executions by a wide margin, according to a new study released today.

Dark matter's tracks may be coming to light [15]

By ERIC BERGER, Houston Chronicle, 17 December 2009

There's a delightful name for the hypothetical particles scientists believe make up about one-quarter of the universe — Weakly Interacting Massive Particles.

Parker names 3 backers to lead transition [16]

By BRADLEY OLSON, Houston Chronicle, 17 December 2009

Mayor-elect Annise Parker on Thursday announced the three co-chairs of her transition team and said she would immediately turn her focus to departmental shake-ups in the city's police and housing departments and Metro, as promised on the campaign trail.

Mexican kingpin's death could spark more bloodshed [17]

BY JULIE WATSON, Associated Press, 18 December 2009

MEXICO CITY — Mexican troops acting on information from U.S. officials took out drug kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva in an assault that provided a rare victory for President Felipe Calderon but left a power vacuum that could lead to more violence.

Houston top cop gives his job an A-minus rating [18]

MONICA RHOR, Associated Press, 18 December 2009

HOUSTON — Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt says he gives himself an A-minus job rating after nearly six years as the top cop in Texas's largest city, citing a lower crime rate as one of his top accomplishments.

Baylor professor turning cow manure into fuel-grade ethanol [19]

By J.B. Smith, Waco Tribune-Herald, 18 December 2009

To critics who object to making ethanol fuel out of grain, Larry Lehr, of Waco, has an ecology-minded answer: Run it through a cow first.