Politics
In North Texas, some women can relate to Palin as another working mom
By TRACI SHURLEY, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 September 2008
FORT WORTH – As a mother of three children with a fourth on the way, math professor Theresa Jorgensen knows something about balancing work and family.
Democrats say Palin is stuck on TV Land
By BUD KENNEDY, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 September 2008
MINNEAPOLIS — The Democratic Party no longer has the Next Big Star.
Friends say Sharp is weighing U.S. Senate run
By CLAY ROBISON, Houston Chronicle, 7 September 2008
AUSTIN — Sometimes, the political itch just won't go away.
Democrats have uphill climb to take back Texas House
By Laylan Copelin, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 7 September 2008
ROUND ROCK — Donna Brown and Sylvia Mayer moved here for the way of life.
GOP now stoked about unseating local Democrats
By Kate Alexander, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 6 September 2008
AUSTIN – Travis County Republicans, invigorated by the presidential ticket and new local party leadership, say they are poised to take back three Austin-area Texas House seats that Democrats captured in 2004.
Democrats, GOP battle to deliver Texas
By Enrique Rangel, Amarillo Globe-News, 7 September 2008
AUSTIN - For more than a year, the Texas Democratic Party has been saying Texans on Election Day will strongly support its presidential ticket and candidates running for state offices.
Obama, McCain face 60-day sprint to persuade undecided voters
By WAYNE SLATER and EMILY RAMSHAW, Dallas Morning News, 7 September 2008
DALLAS – The battle for the White House is now a 60-day sprint with John McCain and Barack Obama in pursuit of an elusive political catch: undecided voters who’ll pick the next president.
Obama focuses on western strategy
By Dave McNeely, San Angelo Standard-Times, 4 September 2008
ALISPELL, Montana - Here on the western edge of Glacier National Park, Montanans are both excited and a bit surprised that Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been to this state half a dozen times in his campaign - including while the Democratic convention was going on in Denver.
Phantom candidate
Houston Chronicle, 7 September 2008
HOUSTON – For an aspiring politician, she's been surprisingly media shy.
Gender politics
Houston Chronicle, 5 September 2008
HOUSTON – A bitterly fought Democratic primary season in which Sen. Hillary Clinton might have become the first woman to be a major party's presidential nominee and Republican presidential nominee John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin to be his running mate have made gender politics a topic of national debate.
Dewhurst should disclose specific holdings
New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, 7 September 2008
NEW BRAUNFELS – Transparency in government is the only way that the public can know for sure their elected representatives are doing the right thing.
Government
Bureaucratic ranks flourish at TYC
By LISA SANDBERG, Houston Chronicle, 7 September 2008
AUSTIN — The Texas Youth Commission has half the offenders it did 18 months ago, but the number of administrators overseeing the state's juvenile correctional agency hasn't been cut.
Copper thefts result in call for a new federal task force
By ANITA HASSAN, Houston Chronicle, 6 September 2008
HOUSTON – Citing the rise in copper thefts around the nation, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee announced plans Saturday to introduce legislation that would create a federal task force to combat these crimes.
Tough Choices: Immigration laws prove tricky for detainees, officials
By Aaron Nelsen, Brownsville, 6 September 2008
BROWNSVILLE – Herald Marco Mancillas faced a life-altering decision earlier this year when he was picked up by Border Patrol agents for a traffic violation in Brownsville.
Critics worry voter ID proposal would disenfranchise citizens
By Kevin Sieff, Brownsville Herald, 5 September 2008
BROWNSVILLE – Proposed changes in the state's voting laws could force thousands of South Texans to prove their citizenship in order to vote in local, state and national elections.
It's back to work for Big Country congressmen
By Trish Choate, Abilene Reporter-News, 8 September 2008
WASHINGTON – The honey-do list for lawmakers returning to Washington today after Labor Day recess would probably take more than three weeks.
Texas Department of Transportation deficient in competency, transparency
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 September 2008
FORT WORTH – A state auditor’s report takes the Texas Department of Transportation to task for a huge $1.07 billion bookkeeping blunder that the agency kept largely under wraps for about four months before finally making it public.
Legislature can't avoid school funding
Dallas Morning News, 7 September 2008
DALLAS – What's about to happen in Austin next year will look awfully familiar to many Texans. Legislators again must figure out how to adequately fund the state's public schools.
News
Private spacecraft experiment ends in explosion
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 September 2008
HITCHCOCK, Texas – A retired NASA engineer looking to develop an inexpensive way for people to travel to space might have to go back to the drawing board after an explosion during one of his experiments.
Panel: Texas credit unions should disclose more info
By YAMIL BERARD, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 September 2008
FORT WORTH – The public could get detailed information about the financial health of credit unions if the Legislature adopts recommendations by the Texas Sunset Review Commission that the nonprofits file separate tax returns.
A new option for college loans
By GENE TRAINOR, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 September 2008
FORT WORTH – They could be an answer for financially strapped college students: cash-flush friends, relatives and strangers who are willing to lend their money to get a kid through school.
MADD pushing again for sobriety checkpoints and ignition lock devices
By EVA-MARIE AYALA, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 September 2008
FORT WORTH – Two bills that failed during the last Texas legislative session are getting renewed focus from Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Pauken: State could see higher unemployment
By Jayna Boyle, San Angelo Standard-Times, 6 September 2008
SAN ANGELO – With the latest national unemployment figures reaching 6.1 percent, Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken said the state likely will see an unemployment increase.
Biomass officials provide details
By MICHELE MARCOTTE, Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, 6 September 2008
NACOGDOCHES – Amid criticism on the manner and speed in which the Austin city council approved a 20-year-purchase power agreement between Austin Energy and Nacogdoches Power LLC, questions on how the future East Texas biomass facility plans to operate have now surfaced.
East Texas Electric Co-op gets federal loan
By STEVEN ALFORD, ANDREW GOODRIDGE AND MATTHEW STOFF, Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, 5 September 2008
NACOGDOCHES – Last week in Washington D.C. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced the selection of 20 rural utilities and cooperatives to receive almost $677 million in loans for new electric lines and system improvements in 19 states — including some in East Texas, according to a USDA press release.
Legislators in town for tour, game
By Ramon Bracamontes, El Paso Times, 7 September 2008
EL PASO – About 20 Texas legislators were wined and dined by El Paso officials on Friday as this city's leaders showcased the area to the Austin leaders who control the state's money.
Consensus growing on need for more top-tier universities
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 8 September 2008
AUSTIN – Higher education leaders and elected officials increasingly agree that Texas needs more top-tier universities to join the ranks of Rice University, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas.
Texas schools scrambling to get dropouts back in class
By LAURIE FOX / The Dallas Morning News, 5 September 2008
DALLAS – This fall, a political spotlight and a sense of urgency hangs over the yearly quest to get potential dropouts back to class.
Gallego addresses reported problems at VVRMC
By Jennifer Killin, Del Rio News-Herald, 7 September 2008
DEL RIO – After hearing complaints from all walks of life regarding Val Verde Regional Medical Center, State Rep. Pete P. Gallego has decided to get involved.
Peña backs veterans' fight for a VA hospital
By Treto Garza and Steve Taylor, Rio Grande Guardian, 6 September 2008
EDINBURG – State Rep. Aaron Peña reaffirmed his support for a VA hospital in the Rio Grande Valley when he met with members of the Veterans Alliance on Friday.
Should the state ban pit bulls?
By Jared Taylor, McAllen Monitor, 6 September 2008
EDINBURG – Pit bulls and their vicious attacks have become a "serious problem" in Hidalgo County, a local judge said earlier this week.
The Texland record is still a mystery
By Patrick Cox, Austin American-Statesman, 7 September 2008
On March 4, 1982, as the editor of the Wimberley View newspaper, I wrote a column requesting Texland Electric Cooperative and the PEC "open all of the records on Texland" and that "the time is long past due when the Pedernales Electric Co-op should come clean."
The truth about Texland
By Juan Garza, Austin American-Statesman, 7 September 2008
AUSTIN – Last week, the former general manager and former president of the Board of Directors of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative detailed their roles in the Texland power plant project.
Texas Supreme Court should reverse decision that hurts workers
Austin American-Statesman, 7 September 2008
AUSTIN – The Texas Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Oct. 16 on its much criticized Entergy ruling.
People
Former Midlanders face charge in RNC scheme
Midland Reporter-Telegram, 7 September 2008
MINNEAPOLIS – Two former Midlanders, who authorities say planned to target law enforcement during the Republican National Convention, face federal charges of illegally possessing Molotov cocktails.
2 Texas men face federal charges in Republican convention scheme
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 September 2008
MINNEAPOLIS — Two Texas men who authorities say planned to target law enforcement during the Republican National Convention face federal charges of illegally possessing Molotov cocktails.
Texas high court dismisses appeal in Charles Hood death penalty trial
By DIANE JENNINGS / The Dallas Morning News, 5 September 2008
DALLAS – The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday dismissed a writ seeking review of the case of Charles Dean Hood, and on the same day the Texas attorney general’s office took the unusual position of filing a brief supporting a closer review of the allegations of a romance between the judge and prosecutor at his trial.
Abbott seeks inquiry into judge-prosecutor relationship
By Chuck Lindell, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 6 September 2008
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott asked a Collin County court Friday to investigate allegations that a judge and prosecutor were involved in a secret intimate relationship during the 1990 trial of Charles Dean Hood, who was found guilty and sentenced to death.
TEXAS DEATH PENALTY: Procedure is crucial
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 September 2008
FORT WORTH – An element of due process missing from the case of Death Row inmate Charles Dean Hood might at last be addressed this week.
Another test for integrity of justice in Texas
Austin American-Statesman, 6 September 2008
AUSTIN – In Texas, our vision of law and order can make us blind to justice. Anyone who has observed Texas courts for any amount of time can cite cases where criminal defendants received punishment meted out on shaky evidence or under dubious circumstances.
