Politics
White comes by his geek credentials honestly
By Corrie MacLaggan, Austin American-Statesman, 2 February 2010
In January 1975, a Harvard University junior from Texas named Bill White left school for the semester to work for a newly elected congressman from New Braunfels.
Far from slick, White sticks to getting things done
By Corrie MacLaggan, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 2 February 2010
There is not an ounce of movie star in Bill White, not in the name or in his stage presence. He is a wonkish guy with big ears and baggy clothes who looks subdued even when he's in enthusiastic mode.
White's career incorporates law, business and politics
By Chuck Lindell, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 2 February 2010
With Harris County refineries generating record profits in 2006, then-Houston Mayor Bill White invited oil company executives into his office for candid discussions about the future.
Barton's gas well stake raises ethical questions
By DAVE MICHAELS, The Dallas Morning News, 2 February 2010
WASHINGTON – Rep. Joe Barton has earned nearly $100,000 from an interest in natural gas wells that he purchased from a longtime campaign donor who also advised the congressman on energy policy, according to interviews and records.
Texas risks mediocrity without new governor, Hutchison tells Dallas Republican women
By GROMER JEFFERS JR., The Dallas Morning News, 2 February 2010
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said today that Texas needs a new governor or it risks slipping into mediocrity.
Perry calls Hutchison big spender; she says he's too cozy with lobbyists
By GROMER JEFFERS Jr., The Dallas Morning News, 3 February 2010
Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison sparred Tuesday over who can best move Texas forward.
Hutchison runner-up for 'Porker of the Year'
By TOM BENNING, The Dallas Morning News, 3 February 2010
WASHINGTON – Lunch at Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign office in Austin was on the tab of rival Rick Perry's campaign Tuesday.
Perry raised more than twice as much as Hutchison in January
By WAYNE SLATER, The Dallas Morning News, 3 February 2010
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry outraised Republican rival Kay Bailey Hutchison more than 2- to-1 in January, and each heads into the final month of the primary battle with $10 million in the bank.
Neophyte Medina may not be widely known, but she's starting to be heard
By JOE HOLLEY, Houston Chronicle, 2 February 2010
By 11 o'clock on a recent Saturday morning, Ron McLain had the “Texans for Liberty” hot dogs boiling in a pot, and John Wheeler was helping haul folding chairs out to the parking lot of the Medina for Texas Governor headquarters in suburban Corpus Christi.
Hutchison slips as Medina gains in poll
By R.G. RATCLIFFE, Houston Chronicle, 2 February 2010
AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry is far from having the Republican gubernatorial nomination sewn up, but a new poll indicates U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is in danger of having the bottom fall out of her campaign.
Rodríguez has huge lead in funds
By Zahira Torres, El Paso Times, 3 February 2010
EL PASO -- The Democratic race to become the city's next state senator is a blowout when it comes to money.
Medina may be spoiler in GOP race
By Joe Holley, San Antonio Express-News, 3 February 2010
By 11 o'clock on a recent Saturday, Ron McLain had the “Texans for Liberty” hot dogs boiling and John Wheeler was helping haul folding chairs to the parking lot of Debra Medina's campaign headquarters in Corpus Christi.
Good intentions blunted by campaign stumbles
by Scott Stroud, San Antonio Express-News, 2 February 2010
Seeing Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in action, whether in person or on a televised debate, reminds you that there's a lot to like about her. But at this late stage of the Republican race for governor, maybe that's not such a good thing.
Perry widens lead over Hutchison in latest GOP poll
By DAVE MONTGOMERY, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 February 2010
AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry holds a 15-point lead over U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, while Tea Party activist Debra Medina is continuing to gain ground and may be wresting support from Hutchison, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll.
Medina contributions pick up after GOP debates
By AMAN BATHEJA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 February 2010
The exposure from two televised debates helped Debra Medina draw a surge in donations last month, yet the Republican activist still lags far behind her two more-established primary competitors, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Gov. Rick Perry, according to a campaign finance report filed Monday.
Hutchison raps Perry on vaccine
By Jeff Carlton, ASSOCIATED PRESS, 3 February 2010
DALLAS - U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison renewed her claims Tuesday that Gov. Rick Perry's decisions are too heavily influenced by lobbyists and that he fails to listen to ordinary Texans.
Gloves come off at GOP primary debate
by By Michael W. Shapiro, Waco Tribune-Herald, 3 February 2010
The five Republicans gunning for a chance to take on U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, sparred at a Tuesday debate over who was the best fundraiser, who has the best background and whose ties to the district run the deepest.
Government
In Texas, Resistance Over Stricter U.S. Smog Limits
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr., The New York Times, 3 February 2010
HOUSTON — Environmentalists squared off against business groups and Texas state officials on Thursday at a hearing on the Obama administration’s proposal to tighten standards for smog-producing pollutants, a change that could improve the health of millions but would impose burdensome costs on industry and local governments.
NASA budget creates uncertainty in Clear Lake
By ERIC BERGER and STEWART M. POWELL, Houston Chronicle, 2 February 2010
Change came to Washington a year ago with the election of President Barack Obama, and one year later it is thundering through Houston's space community like a shuttle's sonic boom.
Latest fight over Houston's air hovers over new smog limit
By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE, Houston Chronicle, 2 February 2010
The latest front in the fight over Houston's air is a newly proposed federal limit for smog, with government officials, environmentalists and industry representatives at odds over more than a few molecules' difference in the standard.
Feds conduct immigrant raids around Houston
By SUSAN CARROLL, Houston Chronicle, 2 February 2010
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Tuesday raided a southeast Houston transportation business and stash house allegedly used by smugglers to hold illegal immigrants, authorities said.
A win for Bradley, and another loss
By RICK CASEY, Houston Chronicle, 2 February 2010
John Bradley, the controversial district attorney appointed by Gov. Rick Perry last fall to head the Texas Forensic Science Commission, did score one victory in Harlingen on Friday while presiding over his first meeting.
State to curb canyon building
By Jim McBride, Amarillo Globe-News, 2 February 2010
State officials plan to sell part of a ranch acquired for Palo Duro Canyon State Park, but the proposed sale will include restrictions to protect the canyon's cliff-top views from developers.
Four cities told to exit open meetings lawsuit
Associated Press, 3 February 2010
PECOS - Four Texas cities that filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Texas Open Meetings Act must withdraw from the case because, as government agencies, their First Amendment rights cannot have been violated, the state's attorney general said Tuesday.
Court-appointed attorneys costing Nueces County more than expected
By Sara Foley, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, 2 February 2010
CORPUS CHRISTI — The cost of providing court-appointed attorneys for Nueces County defendants is projected to be 41 percent over budget, amounting to what could be a $1.4 million overage.
Census short on workers in West Texas
Associated Press, 3 February 2010
Census workers are in short supply in West Texas as the U.S. Census Bureau’s hiring effort faces some of the state’s lowest unemployment numbers.
News
UT to explore moving Cactus Cafe to alumni center
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 3 February 2010
The Cactus Cafe, an iconic music venue and bar in the student union of the University of Texas, could find a new home at the alumni center on campus.
Honoring history brings Bastrop national award
By Miguel Liscano, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 3 February 2010
BASTROP — In this downtown, where the local drugstore still has a soda fountain and a car's honking horn probably means a friendly hello, the past is cherished.
Colleges across state, nation report steep drop in donations
by HOLLY K. HACKER, The Dallas Morning News, 2 February 2010
Donations to colleges and universities tumbled a record 11.9 percent last year, a national survey found – a clear sign that the recession has battered campuses and their supporters.
Gay rights activists gathering in Dallas for national conference this week
By ERIC AASEN, The Dallas Morning News, 2 February 2010
From the possible end of the "don't ask, don't tell" law that bans gays from serving openly in the armed forces to the expansion of gay marriage, there will be plenty of chatter among the 2,000 gay and lesbian activists gathering in Dallas this week.
Hunger study finds 1 in 8 residents aided by Tarrant Area Food Bank in early 2009
By DIANE SMITH, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 February 2010
More Tarrant County-area families struggled to put food on the table as the economic downturn took hold in North Texas last year, according to a hunger study released Tuesday.
People
El Paso activist backs policy of openness for gay soldiers
By Chris Roberts, El Paso Times, 2 February 2010
EL PASO -- Noting that attitudes toward homosexuality "may have changed over the years," Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday declared his support for dropping the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
El Paso man killed in shootout led cartel hit squad
By Daniel Borunda and Adriana Gómez Licón, El Paso Times, 2 February 2010
An El Paso man killed by Mexican soldiers in a shootout on Monday was the mastermind behind the massacre of 16 people at a birthday party over the weekend in Juárez, federal officials said Tuesday night.
New Shepherd: Bishop Flores takes reins of Diocese of Brownsville
by Ana Ley, The Monitor, 3 February 2010
SAN JUAN — Clad in jeans and baggy T-shirts, the teenagers giggled as they strolled the long, dark path around the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle.