Abuse, staff shortages still vex state-run Lubbock campus for Texans with mental disabilities

The state-run facility in Lubbock for people with mental disabilities, where outcries of shoddy care and exploitation sparked a federal investigation five years ago, still has big problems, an independent monitoring team reported today. Garrett reports. http://tinyurl.com/2ubrbgn

Medicaid changes called multibillion-dollar boon for Texas

Garrett:


AUSTIN – Texas, which has joined a lawsuit to block the new federal health care law, stands to gain by far the most federal dollars from a rush by poor adults to enroll in Medicaid, a new study shows.

Estimates that the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured released Wednesday say Texas would reap nearly $53 billion in federal match money, and possibly more, between 2014, when the adults must be enrolled, and 2019.
http://tinyurl.com/37dtr8y

Perry says EPA harming Texas economy

Jeffers reports:

Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that a move by federal environmental officials to regulate pollution from Texas refineries is another step in the Obama administration's "campaign to harm our economy."
http://tinyurl.com/345wzvr

Survey says: Texans don't know much about driving

Lindenberger confirms what we already knew:

Texas may be home to the nation's largest network of state-supported highways, but those of who drive on them apparently don't know much about the rules of the road.


A national survey of drivers GMAC Insurance aimed at testing their knowledge of basic road rules nearly flunked Texas, which scored just a few points above failing and ranked 35 among the states.
http://tinyurl.com/39ojvv3

Texas budget woes spur scrutiny of corporate tax breaks

Robert Garrett reports:
AUSTIN – The head of the House's tax-writing panel wants to find new money to minimize painful cuts to programs for needy Texans next session.

So as they have each month since January, Rep. Rene Oliveira and his Ways and Means Committee spent hours Tuesday poking and prodding various industries and trade groups about the merits of keeping or killing their favorable treatment in state tax laws.
http://tinyurl.com/33rbmas

Study: Texas big winner under health law

Garrett reports:
This just in: A new study says Texas will be a big winner under the federal health care overhaul -- assuming it doesn't secede from the union, pull the plug on its Medicaid program or at every turn drag its feet.


States that don't aggressively gear up to take advantage of the law may forfeit a chance to virtually cut in half the ranks of their uninsured adults who are poor or just barely above the poverty line, the researchers warned.
http://tinyurl.com/2e3cbty

Obama to send 1,200 troops to US-Mexico border

President Barack Obama will send 1,200 National Guard troops to boost security along the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said Tuesday, pre-empting Republican plans to try to force votes on such a deployment. (AP) http://tinyurl.com/2g5ylrw

Formula One to race in Austin in 2012

The Associated Press reports:


AUSTIN, Texas – Formula One racing is coming back to the United States in 2012 with a long-term deal to race in Austin on a track built specifically for the event.

Formula One and Texas state officials announced the agreement Tuesday, saying Austin would host the U.S. Grand Prix until 2021.
http://tinyurl.com/2bo5nof

Texas boosts child care subsidies

Garrett reports:

AUSTIN – While some states curtail low-wage workers' subsidies for child care, Texas has avoided cuts, the Texas Workforce Commission said Monday.

An infusion of $215 million in federal stimulus money since July has helped the state offer more child-care assistance, while the slow economy has knocked people out of work and slackened demand for child care, said commission spokeswoman Lisa Givens.
http://tinyurl.com/2u5tf5z

Texas State Board of Education approves new curriculum standards

Stutz is there:
AUSTIN — In a landmark vote that will shape the future education of millions of Texas schoolchildren, the State Board of Education on Friday approved new curriculum standards for U.S. history and other social studies courses that reflect a more conservative tone than in the past.
http://tinyurl.com/22qrll5

Heat Index: A fact check of Abbott's claims on health law's costs

Garrett runs the numbers down:

THE CLAIM: Attorney General Greg Abbott says Texas, already facing a budget shortfall next session, will be forced by the new federal health care law to spend billions of its own money in the next two-year cycle to extend health coverage for the poor to millions more Texans.
http://tinyurl.com/24jx8jk

New security at Texas Capitol. An express lane for people with guns. Really.

Slater:
Wanna visit the state Capitol, but you're packing heat? No problem. Metal detectors have been installed this week at the Capitol. But there's an express lane for people with guns. That's correct -- visitors and lobbyists entering the Capitol in Austin must walk through metal detectors and have their purses and briefcases searched.
http://tinyurl.com/37k5kzv

Texas unemployment inches up

Hoppe:
The state's unemployment rate rose from 8.2 to 8.3 percent in April. The rate is still well below the national average of 9.9 percent.
http://tinyurl.com/3xgu7ks

Texas 48th in share of jobless who draw benefits

Garrett:
Even as Texas' unemployment rate inched up, some dismal news from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank focused on economic problems among lower- and middle-income Americans: As a state, we're still near the bottom in the percentage of our out-of-work residents who draw unemployment compensation.
http://tinyurl.com/22pfkv9

Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Inspector General's Office investigating inmate's death

The Houston Chronicle reports:
http://tinyurl.com/252doo2

Vote on social studies standards likely today

Stutz reports:
AUSTIN – The State Board of Education is expected to vote today on new standards for social studies textbooks, with conservative members pushing for a curriculum that would encourage high school students to question the doctrine of separation of church and state.
http://tinyurl.com/2dxz5fj


 

Mitt Romney donates $32,500 to Texas GOP candidates

Hoppe reports:

Once (and perhaps future) Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney kicked in some money and goodwill to the gubernatorial and congressional races.


Romney's Free and Strong America PAC gave a $10,000 contribution to Rick Perry and the two appeared together in Houston at a fundraiser for the governor. The glowing support from Romney came despite the governor's endorsing and stumping for Romney rival Rudy Giuliani during the presidential primaries. When Giuliani tanked, Perry went with eventual nominee John McCain.
http://tinyurl.com/24r5owa

Gilbert chides Staples for cut that went away

Garrett:
Democratic agriculture commissioner candidate Hank Gilbert says Republican incumbent Todd Staples (right) did a "despicable" thing last winter: Staples, forced to offer up 5-percent budget cut suggestions for his department, offered 17 possible trims. Among the $7.2 million worth was a possible $2 million reduction in a grant program for "meals on wheels" type programs for seniors and the disabled.
http://tinyurl.com/3xbdcfz

Bill White airs new biographical ad

Kinda tame after that Alabama ad commish ad:
http://tinyurl.com/26c9pd5

Guns, horses, the Marines, cowboy hats, the Constitution: The best political TV ad ever

Slater says it's the best ever. Seeing is believing:
http://tinyurl.com/33cycw9

Bill White echoes Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison with criticism of Gov. Rick Perry

Slater:
AUSTIN – Bill White's arsenal of issues against Rick Perry – school dropouts, toll roads, the governor's business subsidy fund, his longevity in office and divisive campaigning and governing – has a familiar ring.

Kay Bailey Hutchison used them all in the Republican primary. And lost.
http://tinyurl.com/2bhbexh

UT considers bulldozing prime green space to ease budget woes

Hoppe reports:
The University of Texas, choked by recession and budget cuts, is considering strategies that could raise money but cost one of its biggest assets: its cachet with the city of Austin.

The proposals involve bulldozing 350 acres of urban green space along the Colorado River where Ben Hogan and Harvey Penick walked the fairways on their way to golf lore; revamping a 30-year-old music room that provided an early stage for Lyle Lovett, Sara Hickman, Natalie Maines and Jason Mraz; and ending popular, noncredit classes in everything from intermediate Spanish to beginning belly dancing.
http://tinyurl.com/28cgqrd

Labor to Rick Perry: Won't you be our neighbor?

Slater:
The Texas AFL-CIO says one way to save taxpayer money is for Gov. Rick Perry to leave his $1.8 million hilltop rental house and move into less lavish quarters. So today they offered the Republican governor the use of a mobile home for $1 a year. The green-and-white mobile home was parked on cinder blocks in the parking lot of the labor building in Austin, next door to the Governor's Mansion, which is being renovated after a fire.
http://tinyurl.com/2edv76v

"Time to vote," House Republicans tell education board

Stutz reports:

House members of the Texas Conservative Coalition Wednesday voiced support for the social studies curriculum standards tentatively adopted by the State Board of Education and called on board members to take a final vote this week. Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, president of the coalition, said delaying action - as many critics have suggested - would be a "insult" to the voters and the citizens of Texas.
http://tinyurl.com/23km27g

New science textbooks for Texas schools on hold as state anticipates budget shortfall

Stutz:
AUSTIN – Students will have to hang on to old science books for a year or two longer because of the state's budget crunch. State Board of Education members Tuesday reluctantly decided to postpone action on new science books for schools, a move that will temporarily save up to $500 million.
http://tinyurl.com/29vkoe4

Felipe Calderón's U.S. visit could shed light on joint fight against drug cartels

Gillman reports from DC:

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama shuns talk of a "war on drugs." But when he welcomes Mexican President Felipe Calderón to the White House today, that nation's bloody fight with drug cartels – and its implications for U.S. security and immigration policy – will be a top agenda item.

The meeting comes as U.S. policymakers reassess the long-standing fight against the drug trade. Last week, with the death toll from Calderón's 3-year-old crackdown surpassing 23,000, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the brutality and barbarism in Mexico was "just beyond imagination."
http://tinyurl.com/2dk3u5v

Perry rejects Texas state agencies' proposed cuts, orders $1.2B slashed

AUSTIN – Texas leaders, anxious over a widening budget gap, ordered state agencies Tuesday to cut spending by $1.2 billion.

But the exercise shows how hard it's going to be to close a shortfall of up to $18 billion next year. Agencies proposed an additional $500 million in cuts, but the leaders declined to eliminate the spending, largely in politically sensitive areas like public safety and health care, and in some leaders' favored programs, such as high school steroid testing.


http://tinyurl.com/2bt5lnd

Texas leaders order spending cuts of $1.2 billion

Garrett:
AUSTIN — Texas leaders, anxious about a widening budget gap, ordered state agencies today to cut spending by $1.2 billion.

While public schools, prisons, home care for the frail and institutions for vulnerable Texans largely escaped reductions, leaders approved scores of cuts, including some that could threaten recent progress in children’s Medicaid, adult education and making two-year colleges more convenient.
http://tinyurl.com/2dfogek

Texas governor's race: A chance to chant

Slater offers the play by play:
The Texas governor's race is beginning to sound like competing chants from two cheering sections facing each other across a football field. First the Rick Perry side: "Release your income taxes!" Then the Bill White side: "Audit the enterprise fund!"
http://tinyurl.com/38nfmgh

Texas No. 1! Or No. 2 -- in Medicare spending

Garrett:

Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, who heads the House Public Health Committee, says she was startled to read in a witness' written testimony that the federal Medicare program for seniors and the disabled spends more per enrollee in Texas than in any other state.

http://tinyurl.com/26otfza

Perry: Bill White will destroy the world as we know it. Any questions?

Slater offers up a campaign letter for your examination:

A new fundraising letter by Rick Perry offers plenty of fulsome rhetoric warning about what Bill White as governor might mean - "doomsday," "job-killing" and "wholesale destruction." But it also sounds another theme at the heart of Perry's political blueprint for the fall - connecting White with the Obama administration. The two-page letter mentioned Obama six times.
http://tinyurl.com/2a4bnsq

Conservatives on Texas board leaving legacy in schools but losing clout

AUSTIN – When social conservatives on the State Board of Education put the final touches on social studies curriculum standards this week, it will be a significant victory in their years-long push to imprint their beliefs upon what Texas students learn.

But it could also be the peak of their influence. After losses in this spring's primaries, the social conservative bloc is expected to lack the clout to drive the board's decisions on the curriculum, textbooks and other key education issues. Stutz reports.
http://tinyurl.com/283vk53

Texas taxpayers footing big bill for Gov. Rick Perry's temporary home

fro The Associated Press:


AUSTIN -- With the state facing a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has spent almost $600,000 in public money during the past two years to live in a sprawling rental home in the hills above the capital, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.
http://tinyurl.com/29w3arl

Emergency management chief Jack Colley died Sunday

Christy Hoppe reports:
Jack Colley, 62, who guided state preparations through Hurricane Katrina, the space shuttle Columbia and the evacuation of 3 million Texans during Hurricane Rita died Sunday following a heart attack.


"In times of crisis, Texas depended on Jack Colley for leadership and he rose to the occasion each and every time. That leadership will be sorely missed," said Allan B. Polunsky, chairman of the Texas Public Safety Commission.

http://tinyurl.com/23maqsd

Juárez drug violence not likely to go away soon, authorities say

Corchado reports from Ciudad Juárez:

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico – Even after thousands of drug-related slayings in this border city, U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials say that a war between rival cartels could continue for years – contradicting reports that one group had gained control over a key smuggling route.
http://tinyurl.com/2e3hasu

Hutchison 'hasn't missed a beat' in D.C.

Tom Benning reports from our D.C. bureau:

WASHINGTON – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison still lives out of a hotel here and calls herself a "commuter" from Dallas.

But she has otherwise cemented her return to the Senate since losing the Republican primary for governor to Rick Perry. After announcing in late March that she would stay in the Senate through the end of her term in early 2013, Hutchison has rejoined the Senate GOP leadership, hired a new chief of staff and generally taken on the more public persona that has marked her career.
http://tinyurl.com/2dojtyg

Huge oil plumes found under Gulf as BP struggles

Jeffrey Collins, AP:
ROBERT, La. (AP) -- Oil from a blown-out well is forming huge underwater plumes as much as 10 miles long below the visible slick in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists said as BP wrestled for a third day Sunday with its latest contraption for slowing the nearly month-old gusher.
http://tinyurl.com/3669d9q

1970 adventure triggered Bill Wittliff's passion for photographing vaqueros

Mike Brick, special to DMN:
To the Library of Congress, the Texas State Historical Association and the Internet Movie Database, he is William D. Wittliff, though his patrons call him Bill. His friends call him Billy. Somebody once called him a "Renaissance hombre."
http://tinyurl.com/233rdk4

Visit the collection here: http://alkek.library.txstate.edu/swwc/wg/index.html

Social conservative on state ed board to press church-state fight

AUSTIN – A leading social conservative on the State Board of Education will push for further doubt to be cast on separation of church and state when the board goes back to work on proposed curriculum standards for social studies next week. Terry Stutz reports.
http://tinyurl.com/2bo4aba

Cornyn, Watkins increase sparring over U.S. attorney nomination

Gromer Jeffers reports:

The scuffle over the appointment of the next U.S. attorney for the Dallas-based Northern District escalated Friday, as Sen. John Cornyn urged the White House to choose his preferred candidate. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins accused the Republican senator of playing petty politics and pushed for his favorite contender.
http://tinyurl.com/3x3glm7

Lawsuit widens against new health care law; Texas AG Greg Abbott, signer No. 4, applauds

Oops. Amid speculation in The New York Times and elsewhere this week that they may lack legal standing to challenge the federal health care law's so-called individual mandate, the big group of states that have sued in a federal court in the Florida Panhandle have recalibrated. Today, they added a Panama City, Fla., auto shop owner and a Washington state man who chooses to be uninsured as plaintiffs, as well as NFIB, the lobby group for small business. http://tinyurl.com/2ua2c5j

More Texas youths placed in foster care

Bob Garrett reports:

AUSTIN – Texas' foster care rolls have surged, outstripping expectations by more than 1,000 youngsters this year, Child Protective Services officials said Thursday.
http://tinyurl.com/254jg7r

Rick Perry and tainted campaign contributions

Wayne Spater reviews Perry's record with contributions:

Rick Perry's decision to keep a $23,500 campaign contribution from a major donor charged by the state with fraud isn't the first time the Republican governor has had to make a choice about tainted political donations.

In the 2002 race for governor, Perry said much the same thing in the case of $200,000 in Enron contributions.

Later that year, Perry returned $10,000 from WorldCom after it reported cooking the books in a massive accounting fraud.
http://tinyurl.com/28wujvm

Dallas Mayor Pro Tem pressured police over S Dallas poker house

Bush, Eiserer with a compelling exclusive: http://tinyurl.com/3ysgwyv

AG Abbott deceptive trade suit hits top Perry campaign contributor

Slater reports:

Attorney General Greg Abbott filed suit today against Houston-based TaxMasters and CEO Patrick Cox, accusing the company of deceiving customers with tax problems. Cox is one of Republican Gov. Rick Perry's biggest campaign contributors in his reelection race. Cox gave Perry $23,500 in February.
http://tinyurl.com/37jtu4k

UPDATE: Perry will keep $23,500 campaign contribution from donor sued by state for deceptive practices http://tinyurl.com/37jtu4k

Texas House members fear confusion over rule on gifts from corporations

AUSTIN – Elected officials learned Wednesday that, thanks to the law of unintended consequences, there's no more free lunch. And they're not happy about it.

House committee members were angry and perplexed over a 9-month-old opinion from the Texas Ethics Commission that says city, county and state officials can't accept corporate-paid travel, meals or lodging if they are offered in conjunction with their office. Hoppe has the story.
http://tinyurl.com/2fjwwko

Religious leaders urge State Board of Education to require students to learn about church-state ban

Terry Stutz reports:
AUSTIN – A group of religious leaders urged the State Board of Education on Wednesday to reverse an earlier decision and require high school students to study the constitutional protections for religious freedom in the U.S.

Members of the Texas Faith Network criticized the social conservative bloc and other Republicans on the board for rejecting a proposal in March to require that students in U.S. government classes be taught the reasons behind the prohibition of a state religion in the Bill of Rights. Social conservatives have sharply questioned legal rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court that affirmed separation of church and state – including a ban on school-sponsored prayer.
http://tinyurl.com/2etpjwn

Texas Gov. Rick Perry reaffirms opposition to gambling expansion

Gromer Jeffers reports:


Gov. Rick Perry reaffirmed Wednesday that he's against expanded gambling in Texas, though he declined to say exactly how far his opposition goes.

"The Texas Legislature may find that it is something they're interested in," Perry said during a visit to Richardson. "I would highly recommend they don't send it to my desk."
http://tinyurl.com/25rw6rd

3 Texas agencies vow to reform following report on alleged abuse at veterans nursing homes

Action follows Drew's story last month:

AUSTIN – Three state agencies pledged Wednesday to improve responses to abuse allegations at nursing homes, after legislators raised pointed questions about safety and management at two state-owned facilities for veterans.

One of the main changes is for the state agency in charge of regulating nursing homes to offer annual training to law enforcement officers on how to investigate allegations of harm to the elderly.

The plans were revealed at two Senate committees hearings held Wednesday in response to an April Dallas Morning News report.
http://tinyurl.com/3a4equp

Bill White says Perry doesn't care about dropouts because school kids aren't contributors

Slater writes:
Democrat Bill White says Rick Perry has given less attention to education and more to special interests during his decade as governor. White accused Perry of failing to deal effectively with school dropouts in Texas. "It's not important to him. I guess kids don't give him contributions," White said during an interview on KERA-FM in Dallas. The Democratic nominee says a third of high school students leave before getting their diplomas. Perry's campaign says the dropout rate is closer to 10 percent.
http://tinyurl.com/2g5s29z

Kagan nomination: Harvard-bashing, from Texans with law degrees acquired elsewhere

Todd Gillman reports from D.C.:

Sen. John Cornyn (JD 1977, St. Mary's, LLM 1995, University of Virginia) has tarred Solicitor General Elena Kagan as an elitist for her Ivy League education.


Now, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble (JD 1973, University of Houston), goes a bit further in objecting to her nomination to the Supreme Court: "As a former judge for over 20 years, I feel very strongly that any nominee to our highest court should have judicial trial experience. Currently, the Supreme Court is overly stacked with Harvard lawyers," he says.

http://tinyurl.com/24xf2wp

Five Dem congressmen say Rick Perry not spending security money on the border

Hoppe reports:

The five congressmen who represent South Texas are asking the federal Government Accountability Office to audit where homeland security funds are being spent. They are claiming that only 3 percent of the $500 million sent to Texas over the past four years is being allocated along the border.


Those homeland security grants are doled out by Rick Perry, and the congressmen -- pointing to Perry's rhetoric about border security -- said the governor needs to stop blaming Congress when he is spending so little of what he gets from Washington on the border area.
http://tinyurl.com/2e2qtep

State agency offers elder abuse training for Texas law officers

Jim Drew reports:


AUSTIN – The state agency in charge of regulating nursing homes wants to provide annual training to law enforcement officers on how to investigate elder abuse allegations, including those at state veterans' homes.

Officers need to have a "clear picture" of what agency officials do in responding to complaints of abuse and neglect and training in how to work together in those investigations, Chris Traylor, commissioner of the Department of Aging and Disability Services, told a Senate committee Wednesday.


http://tinyurl.com/247hm6m

DA plans to retry man convicted in 1983 University Park killings

Jennifer Emily reports:
It's likely that Billy Allen killed two people in University Park in 1983.

It's just not clear which Billy Allen.

Billy Frederick Allen was convicted of murder that same year and sentenced to 99 years in prison for the slayings of Raven Dannelle Lashbrook, 33, and James Perry Sewell, 46. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last year ordered a new trial, saying his defense attorney had been ineffective because he hadn't discovered evidence that Billy Wayne Allen might actually have been the killer.
http://tinyurl.com/3a7s6wq

Prisons, mental hospitals escape Texas leaders' budget axe

Garrett:

AUSTIN – State leaders facing a growing budget shortfall will exempt prison operations, inmate treatment programs, state mental hospitals, and some education programs from 5 percent spending cuts, a person with knowledge of the process said Tuesday.
http://tinyurl.com/24k6fyw

Oil spill oozes into agriculture commissioner's race

Jessica Meyers continues her coverage oif the Agricultural Commissioner race:

Democratic contender Hank Gilbert is accusing incumbent Republican Todd Staples of ignoring the potential harm to Texas shrimpers from the oil gushing from a BP well since late April.
http://tinyurl.com/285whmq

Bill White urges Rick Perry to return $161 million in unemployment money from Texas Enterprise Fund

AUSTIN – Bill White called on Rick Perry to help small businesses whose payroll taxes have doubled by returning $161 million in unemployment funds taken for the governor's Texas Enterprise Fund.

The former Houston mayor and Democratic nominee for governor joined a list of former opponents who have questioned Perry's use of the Enterprise Fund, which draws taxpayer money and a portion of payroll taxes to entice businesses to relocate or expand in Texas. Christy Hoppe reports.
http://tinyurl.com/35qvn2m

Retail uptick: Clothes, electronics sales up sharply

Garrett:

Sales tax collections in Texas on retail purchases, which have been posting single-digit decreases for more than a year, increased by 4.8 percent in April, an expert said today. Leading the way were sharp increases in consumer activity at clothing and electronics goods stores, chief revenue estimator John Heleman.of Comptroller Susan Combs' office told the House Appropriations Committee.
http://tinyurl.com/2crvwog

Texas House budget chief: Gambling could help close state's $18B gap

Garrett reports from today's budget hearings:

AUSTIN – Lawmakers will have to close an $18 billion budget shortfall next session and should consider an expansion of gambling, not just deep cuts in spending, the House's chief budget writer said today.
http://tinyurl.com/375fs5h

Straus urges budget writers not to raise taxes

Garrett reports from House Appropriations hearing:

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus urged House budget writers today to avoid raising taxes and look for creative ways to curtail spending as they prepare to close a budget gap next session that many experts think could top $15 billion.


Straus, R-San Antonio, said in a rare appearance before the Appropriations Committee that the trick will be to write "a balanced, no new taxes state budget in the face of a daunting shortfall."
http://tinyurl.com/24e6h7u

Tornadoes kill 5 in Oklahoma

AP:
NORMAN, Okla. – Violent storms that tore through the southern Plains killed five people and injured dozens more, leaving behind flattened homes, toppled semitrailers and downed power lines.
http://tinyurl.com/25cyuuw

Chet Edwards trails Bill Flores, according to new GOP poll

Tom Benning follows the Waco House race from D.C.:

A new Republican poll has Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, trailing his GOP opponent Bill Flores by double digits, although the Edwards campaign quickly dismissed the poll as "wishful thinking."


Flores, who defeated Rob Curnock in a runoff primary last month, leads Edwards 52-41, according to a survey of 400 likely voters by OnMessage Inc., a Republican political consulting firm. That's despite the poll finding high "favorable" ratings for Edwards, the longtime incumbent, and low name recognition for Flores, a retired oil and gas executive.
http://tinyurl.com/29tl23e

State budget officials to testify today on lagging sales tax revenues

Garrett, with Hoppe contributing:

AUSTIN – State budget officials are to appear this morning before a House committee to talk about sagging state revenues and the implications for the next legislative session.
http://tinyurl.com/2wqynsw

Ross Perot Jr. sues Mark Cuban, claims Mavericks 'insolvent'

The Dallas Mavericks are “insolvent and and/or in imminent danger of insolvency,” according to a lawsuit filed Monday by a company controlled by Ross Perot Jr. Brendan Case and Gary Jacobson report.  http://tinyurl.com/23rmo9p

On some of Perry's attack lines on White, differences are minimal

Slater:
AUSTIN — Political campaigns are about convincing voters you’re different than your opponent — even when you’re not.

Gov. Rick Perry and challenger Bill White are very different candidates — Republican, Democrat. A conservative, a moderate. One says he shoots coyotes while jogging, the other says he stares them down and they run away.
http://tinyurl.com/2vc8h64

Cornyn questions Kagan's Supreme Court credentials

Tom Benning reports from the Washington bureau:

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Cornyn sharply criticized Supreme Court nominee Solicitor General Elena Kagan today – hinting strongly that her lack of judicial experience, privileged background and role in Harvard's efforts to bar military recruiters make it unlikely he will support her confirmation.
http://tinyurl.com/3xk4mt2

Van Taylor loses Texas House District 66 special election that opponent Mabrie Jackson had conceded

Theodore Kim explains:
Van Taylor won the District 66 seat in the Texas House last month and has been sworn into office. But former opponent Mabrie Jackson received the most votes Saturday. 
http://tinyurl.com/2f6xesf

Texas researcher hasn't found success yet with birth control for feral hogs

Betsy Blaney from The Associated Press reports:

LUBBOCK – There's a saying that when a feral hog has six piglets, only eight are expected to survive.

That's no joke in Texas, however, where the 400-pound beasts do an estimated $50 million in damage to crops and property each year. Texas has half the nation's feral hogs, but they're now found in about 38 other states, up from fewer than 20 states 15 years ago.
http://tinyurl.com/2dnv3qe

Texas lawmakers discuss easing public school class size limit to cut costs

Stutz:

AUSTIN – One of the oldest standards in Texas public schools – the strict limit on the size of elementary classes – could fall victim to the state's expected revenue crunch next year. Legislative leaders are suggesting it may be time to ease the costly class size standard to help school districts withstand the shaky economy and tight finances over the next few years. Local school boards and administrators also back the change.
http://tinyurl.com/2buohws

Oystermen eager to either help clean up gulf oil spill or get back to work

Randy Lee Loftis reports:

Even if BP can stop the leak nearly a mile down, serious ecological harm from oil already spilled is inevitable, says Dr. Ron Kendall of Texas Tech University.
http://tinyurl.com/2clkdsg

Straus helps Democrat facing GOP foe this fall

Garrett reports:

Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, will headline a fundraiser next week for one of his Democratic committee chairman in the House, Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs.


It's raising conservative activists' eyebrows because Rose has a Republican opponent this fall -- political newcomer Jason Isaac, a Dripping Springs businessman who sells on-board computers and communications systems to trucking companies.
http://tinyurl.com/2vhwkjn

EEOC report finds company abused, underpaid mentally disabled workers at Iowa turkey plant

(AP)

IOWA CITY, Iowa – A federal report has found that a Texas company abused and underpaid several mentally disabled men who were housed in a run-down building while working at an Iowa turkey processing plant.

The report from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Henry's Turkey Service underpaid the men at least $1 million over three years, verbally and physically abused them, and committed several violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, The Des Moines Register reported Friday.
http://tinyurl.com/25jvwl2

FDA's ability to safeguard food supply faulted in pair of reports

D.C. bureau's Dave Michaels:

WASHINGTON – More than 56 percent of domestic food manufacturers have gone five or more years without a federal inspection, and regulators can inspect only a small fraction of the foreign firms that ship food to the U.S.
http://tinyurl.com/295eswm

South Korean driver earns license on 960th try

If at nine hundred and fifty-ninth you don't succeed, try, try again:
http://tinyurl.com/26c4agu

Children's insurance program rebounds, but more cuts feared

Garrett reports:
AUSTIN – Seven years ago, state leaders working to close a $9.9 billion budget gap took a hatchet to government health insurance for children of the working poor.

Thousands of children paid the price when officials tightened eligibility rules and whacked dental, vision and mental health benefits.

Gradually, benefits were restored to the Children's Health Insurance Program and, this month, enrollment reached roughly the same level as in 2003.

But CHIP proponents fear the program could be on the block again as lawmakers face an even bigger shortfall – maybe $15 billion – as they write the next two-year budget in their upcoming session.
http://tinyurl.com/38hth8u

LaHood: President still opposed to gas tax increase

Lindenberger, this morning, in DMN's Transportation Blog:

In a speech in Houston Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Congress and the White House are largely in sync about what ought to be in the next big transportation reauthorization bill.
http://tinyurl.com/2wyse9q

As faithful unite, National Day of Prayer divides

Sam Hodges reports:

The National Day of Prayer – which by federal law occurs the first Thursday in May – remains ensnared by differing, strongly held points of view. Now it must contend with a federal district judge's ruling that it violates the U.S. Constitution.

Judge Barbara Crabb of Wisconsin put the effect of her April 15 decision on hold, pending appeals.


[...] she said the government can no more encourage citizens to pray than to "fast during the month of Ramadan, attend a synagogue, purify themselves in a sweat lodge or practice rune magic."
http://tinyurl.com/2b86bxa

Texas is cast as central character in Laura Bush's memoir

Lori Stahl interviews the former First Lady:

Her new book, Spoken From the Heart, is full of implicit comparisons between the Texas of her childhood and the often brutal world of national politics she encountered as an "outlier" in the extended Bush clan.

http://tinyurl.com/27gvd47

Texas senators stress need to stop Mexican violence from spreading to U.S.

Tom Benning reports:

WASHINGTON – Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison pressed for more federal action Wednesday in securing the Mexican border and preventing violence from spilling over into the United States.
http://tinyurl.com/29omxf8

Staubach honored by Texas Lyceum

Slater: Dallas Cowboy great Roger Staubach has been picked to receive the Texas Lyceum's 2009 Stewardship of Texas Values Award.
http://tinyurl.com/2epyw8u

White keeps drilling Perry for 'act of God' quip

Democratic nominee for governor Bill White apparently thinks there's some taters where he's digging. So he's digging GOP opponent Rick Perry again, more sharply, over the incumbent governor's "act of God" comment about BP's oil-spewing drill hole on the ocean bed of the Gulf of Mexico. Garrett reports. http://tinyurl.com/2f2stkg

How a Cell Phone Call Works

Nice to know these things:
http://tinyurl.com/3248fsk

Chet Edwards watch: Obey's retirement unlikely to tip Texas dominoes on House Appropriations Committee

Gillman:

News out of Washington is that House Appropriations Chairman David Obey of Wisconsin is telling associates he'll retire rather than seek another term. That's a blow for Democrats. Chairmen of powerful committees don't typically give up the gavel mid-clout. So this will be taken as a lack of confidence in the party's prospects in November.
http://tinyurl.com/292cuwp

Coverage of Gulf oil spill

The News is maintaining a topic page on the Gulf oil spill:
http://topics.dallasnews.com/page/gulf-oil-spill

Kirk Watson sees your coyote and raises you a kitten...

Hoppe reports on rat-murdering Senator Watson and his Really Large Gun:
Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, in his letter to constituents takes a riff on Rick Perry's jogging story. As you and the nation will recall, the governor told the AP last week that he was out jogging with his daughter's young labrador retriever in February when a coyote came out of a wooded area and threatened the pup. Perry said he pulled his .380 Ruger with a laser pointer and killed the "wily" coyote. He also said he left it for mulch.
http://tinyurl.com/325a7qr

Offshore drilling not losing favor among Texas leaders

Hoppe reports:

AUSTIN – State leaders continued to voice their support Tuesday for offshore drilling while eyeing the anticipated economic and environmental damage from the BP oil spill.

While others, such as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, have reversed their push for more offshore drilling in light of the oil-laced Gulf of Mexico, Texas' elected officials indicated that the disaster has not softened their support.
http://tinyurl.com/3azaao5

Bill White and Rick Perry continue to back off-shore drilling

Hoppe reports:
Democratic governor candidate Bill White, who worked in the U.S. Energy Department and has made a substantial fortune from the oil patch, essentially agreed with Rick Perry by saying that the nation's energy policy should continue to include off-shore drilling.


In a 10-page explanation of what might have happened in the British Petroleum oil spill disaster, White did call for learning what happened and taking preventative measure to assure that the catastrophe is not repeated.
http://tinyurl.com/2b97l8m

Bill White's 10-pager explaining possible causes of spill:
http://www.scribd.com/full/30896764?access_key=key-mmf7w5rlv9savq70i9x

Offshore well blowout preventer was supposed to be fail-safe

The DMN's Jim Landers explains:

At the heart of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a 40-foot-high stack of steel holding multiple hydraulic valves designed to cap a well before it turns into a gusher.

It's supposed to be fail-safe.
http://tinyurl.com/29ru633

Arlington wildlife importer at center of cruelty case is federal fugitive

Randy Lee Loftis reports on Jasen Shaw, owner of the pet and wildlife wholesaler U.S. Global Exotics
Jasen B. Shaw, the Arlington wildlife importer at the center of the biggest animal-cruelty case in the U.S., now has another label: fugitive.

Federal officials have issued an arrest warrant for Shaw, 37, owner of the pet and wildlife wholesaler U.S. Global Exotics. It was there, in a Dec. 15 raid, that agents seized more than 26,000 animals – many dead or dying.
http://tinyurl.com/2bagen4

Perry defends BP, alludes to 'act of God' as possible cause of oil spill

Dave Michaels wrote in Trail Blazers:

At an appearance in Washington Monday, Gov. Rick Perry alluded to an "act of God" as he addressed a question about the Obama administration's response to the April 20 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.


"From time to time, there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented," Perry said. "So until we know that, to make a judgment on this administration or any further activity may be a bit premature."
http://tinyurl.com/2bcr8pr

Bill White goes up on TV in Houston

White unveils new ad in Houston today -- Slater reports:

Once again, TxDOT chief says: No money for new construction by 2012

Lindenberger reports:

It's been said before, and Texas transportation department executive director Amadeo Saenz said it again today in Houston: The department will have no money to spend on new construction projects by 2012.
http://tinyurl.com/2a8pqfa

Texas state parks undergo overdue makeover

Steve Campbell of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports:
$44 million for repairs and renovations is coming from general obligation bonds approved in 2007 by the Legislature and a statewide vote in the wake of a public outcry over the park system's long neglect.
http://tinyurl.com/26hjx6e

Texas Gov. Rick Perry in Washington for talks on border security and job creation

Dave Michaels writes:

WASHINGTON -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry is in Washington today to meet with federal officials and participate in a discussion about job creation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Perry plans to meet with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about U.S.-Mexico border security, according to congressional officials. The governor was also updated over the weekend by Napolitano and other administration officials about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://tinyurl.com/2f53est

Regulators get tough as Texas' clout wanes in Washington

Hoppe reports:

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry certainly has taken his shots at Washington officials, labeling them power-grabbing, free-spending socialists. And now he says the feds are firing back.

The state lost the $2.6 billion contract for producing Army trucks. The Johnson Space Center is facing the cancellation of a $108 billion moon launch program. The Environmental Protection Agency is breathing down the state's smoggy neck, as are other federal regulators.
Staff writer Tom Benning contributed from Washington.
http://tinyurl.com/23l2hlu