Politics
Critical ad clouds District 84 race
By Enrique Rangel, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, March 12, 2010
The day before last week's primaries Texas House District 84 voters received a mailer critical of Lubbock businessman Mark Griffin, who's seeking the Republican nomination for the seat incumbent Carl Isett is vacating in January.
Texas tales in Karl Rove's memoir likely to raise a few questions, eyebrows
Wayne Slater, The Dallas Morning News, March 11, 2010
The way Karl Rove remembers it, he was such a hot political property in Texas in the 1990s even Democrats wanted to hire him.
Texas Democratic governor hopeful White duels with Houston critic over bonds
By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News, March 11, 2010
A legislative hearing suddenly gave way Wednesday to second-guessing of Bill White's fiscal management of Houston, and a swift rebuttal from the Democratic nominee for governor.
Government
State Board of Education member walks out in frustration over social studies proposals
By TRACI SHURLEY, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 11, 2010
The Texas State Board of Education renewed its discussion of social studies curriculum standards Thursday and almost immediately a proposal to recognize minority recipients of the Medal of Honor turned into a lively debate that ended with some members sharing their views on race relations.
Texas Education Board member walks out amid debates over race
By April Castro, ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 12, 2010
A longtime State Board of Education member accused her colleagues of "whitewashing" curriculum standards Thursday and walked out of the panel's meeting in frustration amid heated debates about race and the inclusion of Hispanics in lesson plans.
Cartels trying to infiltrate border agencies
By Christopher Sherman, ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 12, 2010
Mexican drug cartels are infiltrating federal law enforcement agencies along the southwest border and those charged with weeding them out say they don't have the money to catch all the corrupt agents, homeland security officials told a U.S. Senate panel Thursday.
Textbook "experts" should have to take a history quiz before they pop off
John Kelso, Austin American-Statesman,March 11, 2010
That's my best idea on short notice because of a flap Wednesday at a meeting of the State Board of Education. This board is made up of some who think George Washington was the father of our country, and others who think it was Glenn Beck.
Road extension planned to ease hospital traffic
By Claire Osborn, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, March 11, 2010
Williamson County commissioners voted Wednesday to start planning a $2 million extension to a road that they said would help reduce traffic congestion for ambulances traveling to St. David's Round Rock Medical Center.
Secretary of Interior makes trip to Austin to talk about birds and refuges
By Asher Price, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, March 11, 2010
On the first day of a brief trip to Texas, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar spent Thursday in Austin to talk about birds and wildlife refuges.
Climate change threatens migratory birds, report says
y JAY ROOT, The Associated Press, March 11, 2010
Global climate change poses a significant threat to migratory bird populations, which are already stressed by the loss of habitat and environmental pollution, according to a report released Thursday.
State Board Of Education Right-Wingers Remove The Word "Capitalism" From Textbooks
By Richard Connelly, Houston Press, March 11 2010
If your mind, heart and stomach can stand it, you should be regularly checking in today with the live-blogging of the State Board of Education meeting that the Texas Freedom Network is doing.
University of North Texas documents show power struggle
By HOLLY K. HACKER and CANDACE CARLISLE, The Dallas Morning News, March 11, 2010
No smoking gun. No eye-popping scandal. Instead, it appears that the former president of the University of North Texas was locked in a power struggle with the chancellor of the UNT System over details of running the university.
Fox News tries to clarify erroneous reports about Texas social studies curriculum debate
By Terrence Stutz, The Dallas Morning News, March 12, 2010
After getting ripped by the Texas Education Agency, Fox News on Thursday sought to clarify some of its reports on the state's social studies curriculum debate.
Texas education board refuses to require religious-freedom lesson
By TERRENCE STUTZ, The Dallas Morning News, March 12, 2010
Republicans on the State Board of Education soundly rejected a Democratic-backed proposal Thursday that would have required Texas students to be taught the reasons behind the prohibition of a state religion in the Bill of Rights.
SBOE members clash over racial balance in history
By GARY SCHARRER, Houston Chronicle, March 11, 2010
The State Board of Education's Hispanic and African-American members clashed with its Anglo majority for hours Thursday over how to present history to the state's 4.7 million public school children.
Census likely to kick off redistricting fight
By R.G. RATCLIFFE, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, March 11, 2010
The U.S. Census forms arriving in Texans' mailboxes next week will start the decennial dance over whether cities such as Houston or San Antonio get new seats in Congress through redistricting.
Whooping cranes had better winter this year
By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, March 11, 2010
The flock lost one crane during this winter's stay, a year after the worst die-off on record for the bird. Despite scarce food supplies along the Texas coast, federal biologists expect 263 cranes to migrate to Canada in the coming weeks.
Water projects draw federal money, not sense
Scott Stroud, San Antonio Express-News, March 12, 2010
A lot of them don't amount to much, but an announcement last week out of Rep. Ciro Rodriguez's office offered a variation on the theme. It, too, raised the issue of federal money but not in the usual way.
City land $3.7 million for solar panels
By Gilbert Garcia, San Antonio Express-News, March 12, 2010
Mayor Julián Castro announced Thursday that the city has received $3.7 million in federal stimulus funds for solar panels at three locations.
News
At least 8 dead across Mexico in drug killings
The Associated Press, March 12, 2010
Gunmen burst into a wake in the border city of Ciudad Juarez on Thursday and opened fire, killing 5 young men and wounding five others, including a 10-year-old girl.
State Farm plans to raise Texas homeowner rates 4.5 percent
By SCOTT NISHIMURA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 11, 2010
State Farm, which holds 30 percent of the Texas homeowners insurance market, plans to raise its rates an average of 4.5 percent, the company said in a filing with a state regulator.
Tug's calls to tanker unanswered
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, March 12, 2010
Radio calls from a tugboat to an 800-foot tanker that made an emergency anchor drop and pulled a distress alarm went unanswered in the moments before the two vessels collided, causing the worst oil spill in Texas in 15 years, the tugboat's captain testified.
Suit blames state for whooping crane deaths
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, March 12, 2010
A conservation group's lawsuit filed Thursday blames Texas environmental regulators for a record die-off of endangered whooping cranes, alleging water-use policies left the birds starving and without water.
Conservation group sues Texas over whooping crane deaths
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 11, 2010
A conservation group's lawsuit filed Thursday blames Texas environmental regulators for a record die-off of endangered whooping cranes, alleging that water use policies left the birds starving and without water.
Three more slayings in Tamaulipas border cities
Jared Taylor, The McAllen Monitor, March 11, 2010
Officials reported three people dead after another day of gun battles in Tamaulipas cities across the border from the Rio Grande Valley.
Convicted killer quickly transferred to death row
By Steven Kreytak, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, March 11, 2010
ravis County sheriff's officials wasted no time Thursday transferring Milton Dwayne Gobert, who was sentenced to death Wednesday, to state prison custody.
Same Crap, Different County: Another Small Texas Town Overpunishes Another Piddly Drug Offender
By John Nova Lomax, Houston Press, March 11 2010
In a case one local defense attorney has said showed "shades of Tulia," a Bay City man was sentenced to 60 years in prison for possessing 1.3 grams of crack.
Builder offers to buy homes in Texas landslide
Associated Press, March 11, 2010
The builder of a San Antonio development partially evacuated after a landslide in January has offered to buy back 27 homes.
Press group: 8 reporters kidnapped in Mexican city
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press, March 11, 2010
Eight journalists were kidnapped in a northern Mexican border city over a period of two weeks in a wave of abductions unprecedented in the Western Hemisphere, the Inter-American Press Association reported.
Boyfriend: 'Jihad Jane' not religious
By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press, March 11, 2010
The self-dubbed "Jihad Jane" who thought her blond, all-American profile would help mask her plan to kill a Swedish cartoonist is a rare case of a U.S. woman inciting foreign terrorism and shows the latest evolution of the global threat, authorities say.
State Farm plans 2nd rate hike in 8 months for home policies
By CHRISTY HOPPE, The Dallas Morning News, March 12, 2010
State Farm Insurance told the state Thursday that it intends to raise its homeowners rate 4.5 percent statewide starting May 1, only eight months after the company boosted rates 8.8 percent.
Indiana man executed in Texas
By MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press, March 12, 2010
An Indiana man whose cross-country crime spree with his girlfriend a decade ago ended in a gun battle with police in San Francisco was executed Thursday in Texas for robbing and murdering a sheriff's officer in San Antonio.
Suit blames Texas for whooping crane die-off
The Associated Press
A lawsuit filed by a conservation group Thursday blames Texas environmental regulators for a record die-off of endangered whooping cranes, alleging that water-use policies left the birds starving and without water.
Mexican helicopter over Texas sparks drug war concerns
By LYNN BREZOSKY and GARY MARTIN, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, March 11, 2010
The Zapata County sheriff Thursday was questioning why a Mexican military helicopter was hovering over homes on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.
Fisher Houses gets part of Obama's Peace Prize money
By Scott Huddleston, San Antonio Express-New, March 12, 2010
The Fisher House Foundation, which provides temporary housing for families of hospitalized troops and veterans, will get a share of President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize award money.
People
Some miss George W. Bush, and they're not shy about it
By ANNA M. TINSLEY, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 11, 2010
This is a far friendlier reception than when Bush left office Jan. 20, 2009, with an approval rating of 22 percent -- the lowest for a president in at least 70 years. It also comes after a year of Democratic-led initiatives in Congress, including federal stimulus projects and proposed healthcare reform.
'Little girl from Leggett' rises to TCC's top job after 41 years
By BILL HANNA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 11, 2010
Erma Johnson Hadley, who began her career 41 years ago as a business instructor at what was then Tarrant County Junior College, was officially named chancellor of the college district Thursday night.
Fans, friends, family gather to remember conjunto legend
Fernando Del Valle, Valley Morning Star, March 11, 2010
Ruben Vela’s accordion glistened over his open casket Thursday as his son remembered the conjunto legend whose love for his music and fans came before money.