Shooting brings back memories of 1966 UT Tower killings for officer who stopped gunman

When Ramiro "Ray" Martinez heard news of Tuesday's shooting spree at the University of Texas in Austin, his mind snapped back 44 years to a far more tragic rampage on the campus. Martinez was an Austin police officer then, making lunch before heading off to start his shift at 3 p.m., when he heard a news report about a gunman atop the University of Texas Tower firing at people below.


Michael Young: http://dallasne.ws/9qmTrs

Oklahoma receiver suspended after telling Texas fans: 'Kill yourself'

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops has suspended sophomore receiver Jaz Reynolds indefinitely because of a Tweet posted on his Twitter page Tuesday in the aftermath of the on-campus shooting at Texas.

Mike Jones/Special Contributor:  http://dallasne.ws/9RIdtc

Cuts may hurt programs to keep troubled youths closer to home, juvenile advocates tell Texas panel

AUSTIN – Troubled youths who were diverted to community programs have had success staying out of state lockups, but those already limited programs may be vulnerable to future cuts, juvenile justice leaders told a state committee Wednesday.

Mulvaney:  http://dallasne.ws/d7QQeY

UT shooter's school papers show interest in gun control debate

UT shooter Colton Tooley had a strong interest in gun control policy, particularly in the context of school shootings, according to class assignments obtained by The Daily Texan.
Tom Benning reports: http://dallasne.ws/ckfQTS

The Daily Texan story: http://dallasne.ws/cjfmYj

State Medicaid chiefs see pressure on purse

The 50 state Medicaid programs absorbed 6 million more recipients since the recession started, and yet, thanks to federal stimulus dollars, states were able to cut their contributions by 10 percent last year and 7.1 percent this year, expert Vernon K. Smith said today.
Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/9SGwnF

Rick Perry appointees lavish governor with campaign cash

Gov. Rick Perry's appointees to state agency boards and commissions have been very, very good to Rick Perry. According to a new study, the Republican governor has collected $17 million from his appointees.

Slater: http://dallasne.ws/9FVLJ6

Deaf man freed after exoneration in 1990 sex assault of Richardson girl

Jennifer Emily reports:
Stephen Matthew Brodie walked out of the Dallas County Jail a free man Tuesday, nearly 20 years after first declaring his innocence and 24 hours after a judge finally agreed with him.
http://dallasne.ws/dhEi1y

More details and background in this earlier story.

Broden seizes the spotlight in race with Johnson, but can he capture votes?

In any other election year, Stephen Broden would be destined to be a footnote. Most years, U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson's challengers collect about one in four votes and are quickly forgotten. But this year, in the wake of scandal involving scholarships Johnson awarded improperly to her grandsons and four other ineligible college students, Broden has gotten national attention.

Melanie Mason reports:  http://dallasne.ws/bcLxlY

Fort Hood sees rash of suicides

FORT HOOD, Texas – The apparent murder-suicide of a soldier and his wife is among a rash of suspected suicides in recent days at Fort Hood, Army officials said Tuesday. So far this year, 14 confirmed suicides and six more suspected suicides have been reported among soldiers stationed at Fort Hood, according to figures released by the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force. The Army reported 11 suicides of Fort Hood soldiers in 2009, down from the previous record of 14 in 2008.

The AP reports: http://dallasne.ws/cuTc8t

Shooting revives debate over allowing guns on college campuses

AUSTIN – The University of Texas shooting stoked a simmering conflict Tuesday about allowing handguns on campus – an issue that's already roiled the governor's race and sent hundreds of students marching in protest last year. Gov. Rick Perry says he favors allowing guns at colleges, giving owners a chance to intervene. Police groups and others say that would only confuse what are potentially chaotic situations. Perry's Democratic challenger, Bill White, says state policymakers should stand down and let individual campuses decide.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/czH6WP

Police, alarms blunt UT gunman's rampage

Mulvaney, on the scene Tuesday morning, filed this report: AUSTIN – University of Texas junior Eric Gladstone was sitting in his 500-student organic chemistry class Tuesday morning when his cellphone buzzed with a text message – an urgent warning that a gunman was loose on campus. Looking around, he noticed others glancing at their cellphones and registering the same worry he was feeling.

The warning sent throughout campus by administrators was prompted by reports that a young man, clad in black, wearing a ski mask and wielding a semiautomatic AK-47, had fired shots as he entered the southern edge of campus. The gunman, 19-year-old UT student Colton Tooley, fatally shot himself after police chased him into a library. No one else was injured.
Read on: http://dallasne.ws/aoRAkp

As immigrant ranks grow, Texas school districts teach moms and dads, too

As the number of children of immigrants attending Texas schools increases, school districts are increasingly taking up the role of educating their parents. Unmuth: http://dallasne.ws/asC9Wn

Minor-party hopefuls get Texas gubernatorial debate invitations

Unlikely to get a one-on-one exchange between Republican Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic challenger Bill White, the state's largest newspapers today will invite two minor-party candidates to a planned debate next month.
http://dallasne.ws/9DTekh

Perry looks to enhance national profile

Gov. Rick Perry, apparently emboldened by signs that he's cruising to another re-election in Texas, is sketching out ambitious plans to boost his profile nationally before the next presidential race. In an interview, Perry for the first time acknowledged having examined his presidential prospects, but said he won't run for the White House under any circumstances. Instead, he said, he's preparing to rally a coalition of governors "who share our fiscal conservative philosophy" to "push back" against the federal government. http://dallasne.ws/cuJcM5

Why Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealth are so nervous

There were plenty of headlines this week about new insurance protections in the federal health law, and a decision by most big insurers to stop issuing new policies that cover only children, not adults, and aren't provided to youngsters through their parents' employers. Pick your MSM -- LA Times, Wash Post, NYT. Some 225 health policy wonks at an Austin conflab heard a former health insurance executive explain, from the inside, just why the for-profit insurance companies have the jitters.

Garrett explains: http://dallasne.ws/cCtFFw

Texas attorney general says clinics' recorded messages on abortion dangers are probably insufficient under state law

AUSTIN – Attorney General Greg Abbott in one of two opinions released Friday said that prerecorded announcements used by some abortion clinics to tell women about the dangers of the procedure are probably insufficient under Texas' informed consent law. In the other opinion, Abbott said a requirement that a prescribing doctor be present when a patient ingests an abortion pill isn't legally enforceable.

Mulvaney: http://dallasne.ws/d1mLRA

Texans favor illegal immigration crackdown up to a point

AUSTIN – Texans appear fed up with illegal immigration, with most backing an Arizona-type crackdown and many willing to change the U.S. Constitution to discourage women from entering the country to give birth.
Hoppe takes a closer look: http://dallasne.ws/cczwSE

Andrea White is 'passionate supporter,' but reluctant campaigner

She considers education her top issue, having trumpeted the subject in Houston through an outreach program with her husband, the former mayor.

Jessica Meyers offers a profile of challenger Bill White's wife: http://dallasne.ws/a4ogAj

Anita Perry, a no-nonsense nurse, overcomes shyness in signing on to win votes for her husband

Even seated, she is still on the run. Her weeks are a collection of calls, meetings, travel and speeches. Her agenda is preserving county courthouses, sponsoring the Texas Conference for Women, promoting tourism, pushing childhood immunizations and raising money to restore the Governor's Mansion, gutted by arson two years ago.
Hoppe with a profile of the First Lady of Texas: http://dallasne.ws/dbJ7cZ

Poll finds Perry has the numbers, but White has a shot

AUSTIN – Rick Perry has a solid but not insurmountable lead over Democrat Bill White in a new poll that indicates the Republican governor has yet to win over a majority of Texas voters. Perry is benefiting from an economy that's better in Texas than in other states and from an energized, anti-Washington fervor that forms a central theme of his re-election campaign, according to the survey by The Dallas Morning News.
Slater looks at the numbers http://dallasne.ws/avp6qC

Texas Board of Education OKs resolution against pro-Islamic references in textbooks

AUSTIN – The State Board of Education today adopted a resolution calling on publishers to curtail references to Islam in future history books. Conservatives on the board said the resolution, which was approved on a 7-6 vote Friday, was needed to halt what they described as a creeping Middle Eastern influence in the nation's publishing industry. Citing history books no longer used in Texas schools, the resolution says those books devoted more lines of text to Islamic beliefs and practices than Christian beliefs and practices.
Stutz was there: http://dallasne.ws/axINmx

Is health exchange a must-pass bill for 2011?

Should we add to the short list of must-pass bills for next session a bill to create a state health insurance exchange? Unless Texas wants to let U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to set up its exchange, the Legislature will need to act in 2011, several speakers said this week at a forum in Austin about federal health care legislation.
Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/doEWIq

Rick Perry, Bill White clash in separate interviews

Texas voters may not have a face-to-face governor's debate between Rick Perry and Bill White this fall. But they got the next best thing Thursday. In consecutive but separate TV interviews in Dallas, the two rivals scuffled over how best to tackle Texas' budget hole, immigration, insurance regulation and other hot topics. Jeffers and Kim report: http://dallasne.ws/9dk0bO

Resolution against pro-Islamic textbooks goes before Texas Board of Education today

AUSTIN – The State Board of Education today will consider a resolution calling on publishers to focus more on Christianity and less on Islam in new world history textbooks that will be drafted over the next few years. Members of the board's social conservative bloc asked for the resolution after an unsuccessful candidate for a board seat called on the panel to head off any bias against Christians in new social studies books. Some contend that "Middle Easterners" are increasingly buying into companies that publish textbooks.  Stutz reports: http://dallasne.ws/axINmx

Government awards some Texas schools, districts $250 million for teacher incentive pay

Most teachers get paid based on the years they’ve taught and degrees they’ve earned, not on how well they do their job. Some Texas schools and districts have won more than $250 million in federal grants to change that longtime practice. Today, the U.S. Department of Education awarded a new round of Teacher Incentive Fund grants, designed to reward top educators in schools with a large share of poor students.

Holly Hacker has the story http://dallasne.ws/bgEygV

Scent evidence against man convicted of murder not sufficient, appeals court says

Jeff Carlton from AP reports:
A man convicted of murder after three bloodhounds allegedly matched his scent to the victim should be set free because the evidence against him was not legally sufficient, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday.

http://dallasne.ws/bMK1GG

Texas Farm Bureau stays neutral, breaking habit of backing Republican nominee for governor

AUSTIN – The Texas Farm Bureau, which has feuded with Rick Perry over toll roads and private-property rights, opted Wednesday not to endorse anybody in the governor's race. The decision was the first time the Farm Bureau's political committee has not backed the Republican nominee for governor since it began making endorsements in 1990.

Slater reports: http://dallasne.ws/a2VAXk

Texas' child care subsidy system lacks measures to prevent fraud, report says

AUSTIN — Texas has few safeguards against possible ripoffs by people posing as financially struggling parents who need child care and relatives eager to bill the government for providing the service, congressional investigators have found.

Unscrupulous child care providers could use nonexistent children to defraud the program, in which Texas this year distributed nearly $700 million in federal subsidies so low-income families could place their 115,000 children in care, allowing parents to work or be retrained, the General Accounting Office said in a report this week.
Garrett reports http://dallasne.ws/cf4m40

Democratic nominee touts support of Obama in Texas

At least one statewide Democratic candidate is touting her support of President Barack Obama as she stumps Texas in search of votes for the November election. Linda Chavez-Thompson , who is challenging incumbent Republican David Dewhurst in the lieutenant governor's race, told an audience Wednesday that she was proud to introduce the president at an Austin fund raiser last month.
http://dallasne.ws/bO2FYM

Sarah Palin endorses Stephen Broden, Eddie Bernice Johnson's challenger

Sarah Palin , whose buzzed-about endorsements have established her as a GOP kingmaker, has weighed in on a race close to home, endorsing Republican Stephen Broden in his challenge against Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson.
Mason reports: http://dallasne.ws/dq1fZs

Texas will get its $830 million in bottled-up school aid, U.S. education chief predicts

WASHINGTON – Education Secretary Arne Duncan predicted this morning that Texas eventually will get access to $830 million in federal aid that would help school districts avert layoffs.
Todd Gillman reports: http://dallasne.ws/axJNpC

Texas education board member cleared of serious violations in reporting of gifts from bidder

AUSTIN – Ethics officials have cleared a State Board of Education member from San Antonio of allegations that he failed to report gifts from a Boston-based company that sought to manage part of the state's education trust fund last year. The Texas Ethics Commission said in a report that board member Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio, committed technical violations in his reporting of the gifts. But the agency found no serious legal violations and did not impose any civil penalties.
http://dallasne.ws/bPoqW9

Cornyn, Sessions to receive award from gay and lesbian GOP group

Sen. John Cornyn and Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions will receive an award from a prominent gay and lesbian Republican group tomorrow. The Log Cabin Republicans will give the two lawmakers--who lead the Republicans' Senate and House campaign efforts, respectively--the Barry Goldwater Award at its fundraising reception and dinner. In a news release, the group said the award "recognizes leaders in the Republican Party who have served their nation with distinction in the model of the late Senator Barry Goldwater."
Mason in our DC bureau reports http://dallasne.ws/9pmiJb

Trial lawyers heavily support Bill White for governor

AUSTIN – For the first time in more than a decade, trial lawyers – a key source of campaign cash for Democrats – are betting big on the party's candidate for governor. Plaintiffs attorneys gave more than $1.9 million through June, the most recent figures available, to Democrat Bill White's campaign. And a Houston lawyer is bankrolling a political committee with $3 million to help beat incumbent Republican Rick Perry. http://dallasne.ws/bpyESl

Perry's protection on Asian trip ran up a $129,000 tab

AUSTIN – Officers who protect Gov. Rick Perry on out-of-state trips cost taxpayers more than $129,000 for his 12-day trip to Asia in June, according to figures obtained by The Associated Press on Monday. Lawyers for the state have fought to keep secret the details of Texas Department of Public Safety security costs for Perry's trips. The DPS did release totals for expense categories – such as airfare, hotels and overtime – for Perry's trip to China , Taiwan and Korea after the AP requested them under the Texas Public Information Act.
Kelley Shannon from The Associated Press reports: http://dallasne.ws/9rDenC

Ongoing expenses draw 55 percent of stimulus $

Last year, lawmakers lectured state agencies and local school districts to spend federal stimulus money only on "one time" items. A top official at the Legislative Budget Board, though, says just over half of the stimulus money that Texas spent through its state budget process went to ongoing expenses such as Medicaid and public schools.

Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/98J5PA

Bill White says releasing tax returns for debate would set 'bad precedent'

Rusak:
Bill White gave perhaps his clearest answer yet on the debate about debates today, telling WBAP-AM's Mark Davis that the reason he won't release certain tax returns to meet Rick Perry's demand for a debate is that it would set a bad precedent. "I don't think it's right for one candidate to impose some kind of condition like this on the other for them to attend a debate," the Democratic candidate for governor said. "That's just not right."
http://dallasne.ws/bBRliz

State forensic hearing on Cameron Todd Willingham arson case goes behind closed doors

Jennifer Emily reports:

Shortly after beginning a meeting of the Texas Forensic Science Commission this morning, where members are expected to discuss the Cameron Todd Willingham case, Chairman John Bradley called a closed session to seek legal advice.
http://dallasne.ws/9ezFF4

End of Census leaves Texas with fewer jobs for 2nd straight month

Brendan Case reports: Texas employers cut payrolls by 34,200 jobs in August, as many temporary jobs with the 2010 Census ended, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday. The state unemployment rate edged up to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent in July.
http://dallasne.ws/aXFqTC

Texas seeks answers to rising poverty rate

The government announced Thursday that nearly 4.3 million Texans lived in poverty last year, a whopping 11 percent increase. Bob Garrett and Kim Horner look behind the numbers: http://dallasne.ws/9jfkDu

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott files motions to block federal greenhouse gas standards

" ...Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today filed motions to block the federal Environmental Protection Agency from applying new greenhouse gas standards and other related regulations."
Theodore Kim reports: http://dallasne.ws/9Ul9br

Candidate says education board is overstepping its authority over state's textbooks

AUSTIN – An effort by some State Board of Education members to specify how Christianity and Islam should be covered in new world history books is illegal and should be dropped, a candidate who is expected to be an incoming board member and who has clashed with social conservatives said Wednesday.

Stutz reports: http://dallasne.ws/9aIsWa

Perry on state budget, rainy day fund

The bottom line... Perry leaves out a significant part of the story on the state budget when he talks about it being balanced. Politicians do that. But to tout the rainy day fund without mentioning the huge storm on the horizon is highly misleading. http://dallasne.ws/b3vwTw

The Texas Political Heat Index


The Texas Heat Index is a fact check of whether candidates, campaigns and interest groups are telling the truth as they aim to persuade voters. Claims are rated with Texas flavor, using the chili-pepper index on a scale from one to four.

Texas poverty rate rises to 17.3 percent

Garrett:
AUSTIN — Nearly 4.3 million Texans lived in poverty last year, up 11 percent from a year earlier, the Census Bureau reported today. The state’s poverty rate -- 17.3 percent -- remained the nation’s 6th highest in 2009. The rate among Texas children also has increased since 2008. http://dallasne.ws/cP7jee

Texas motorcycle fatalities fell 18% in 2009

More good traffic news from Mulvaney:
AUSTIN – The number of fatal motorcycle accidents in Texas took a sharp turn downward in 2009, after nearly a decade of increases. Last year, the rate of motorcycle deaths decreased by 18 percent in Texas, to 426, the state Department of Transportation said. It was a surprising reversal: From 2000 to 2008, such deaths increased 31 percent, even though motorcycle registrations were up just 13 percent, said Bernie Fette, research specialist at the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University.
http://dallasne.ws/dv9db1

Teens may have driven big drop in Texas traffic deaths in '09

AUSTIN – Young adult and teen drivers, usually considered a menace on the road, may have contributed to a sharp decline in traffic deaths last year. In 2009, Texas saw a 12.1 percent decrease in the rate of traffic deaths, compared with a 9.7 percent drop nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The number of traffic deaths last year in the U.S. is the lowest since 1950, when there were one-fifth as many cars on the road.

Mulvaney reports: http://dallasne.ws/952y42

Texas education board to consider rule on Islam's portrayal in textbooks

Stutz:
AUSTIN – Just when it appeared the State Board of Education was done with the culture wars, the panel is about to wade into the issue of what students should learn about Islam. The board will consider a resolution next week that would warn publishers not to push a pro-Islamic, anti-Christian viewpoint in world history textbooks.
http://dallasne.ws/aoYB69

Rick Perry still won't debate Bill White until tax records are released

Rick Perry reaffirmed Tuesday that he won't debate rival Bill White unless the Democratic nominee for governor publicly releases income taxes from his years as deputy U.S. energy secretary. "I'm pretty much set on doing what I said I would do," Perry said in a Dallas visit. "He needs to come clean with the people of this state. There's obviously something in those tax returns, or he would have released them by now."  http://dallasne.ws/aIKTpX

Gromer Jeffers reports:

Riddle blasts 'liberal, progressive, godless way'

Rep. Debbie Riddle, explaining how her 2003 "pit of hell" quote got twisted beyond recognition by the press, wound up doing some more explaining this morning. Appearing at TribLive, sponsored by online news entity Texas Tribune , the Tomball Republican criticized at least some American liberals as "godless."

Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/9aFaNe

White might trim but wouldn't eliminate Texas tourism ads, aide says

AUSTIN – Bill White's campaign, under fire from the hospitality industry, now says the Democrat doesn't want to get rid of state-paid ads wooing tourists if he's elected governor. "He's saying it's a candidate for cuts, not that he would zero it out," White spokeswoman Katy Bacon said Tuesday, referring to a tourism ad campaign controlled by the governor's office. Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/b19JKJ

Perry plans male-oriented fundraiser

Rick Perry's state fundraising chairman, oil and gas man James H. Lee, is one of the hosts of a "wild game" fundraising dinner where a few, select men can pay $15,000 each to eat pheasant and wild sausage and have meaningful conversation with the governor.
Hoppe peers through the cigar smoke:
http://dallasne.ws/c3gsyw

Bill White: Rick Perry's no friend of small business

Democrat Bill White says one reason Texas faces a possible $21 billion budget deficit is because Rick Perry hasn't run Texas like a business. Slater reports: http://dallasne.ws/c7CPl9

Judge insured by State Farm steps down in company's overcharge appeal case

Stutz:
AUSTIN – The seven-year saga over State Farm Insurance and how much it owes its customers for alleged overcharges was prolonged again Monday as a state judge was forced to step down from the case because he is a State Farm customer.
http://dallasne.ws/aTQNXg

Safer conditions at Corpus Christi institution where residents with mental disabilities were once forced into fight clubs

AUSTIN — Conditions are much safer at a Corpus Christi institution where late-night “fight clubs” were forced on residents with mental disabilities, officials said Monday. Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/cEPfvR

Texas students' SAT scores slide in all three subjects

AUSTIN – Texas students slipped in all three subjects on the SAT this year, widening the long-running gap between them and their counterparts across the country on the college entrance exam.

Stutz reports: http://dallasne.ws/c99HQ8

UPDATED: Small businesses in Rick Perry TV ad don't support Perry

A second small business featured in Rick Perry's new TV commercial says the owners don't support Perry and didn't give permission to be in the ad.
Slater reports http://dallasne.ws/aDq2gG on Burnt Orange story: http://dallasne.ws/a5Cr0p

Perry finds the downside of goading a rival

Gov. Rick Perry took Washington bashing from the political field and charged with it onto the football field this weekend. Only one problem: it was the Dallas Cowboys who ended up on the wrong side of the Washington deficit.
Hoppe reports: http://dallasne.ws/anQAoj

Rick Perry's goes up with first TV spot : TX open for business

Rick Perry has gone up on television with his first TV spot of the general election campaign - a 30-second ad touting the Texas economy. The spot made its debut with a healthy buy on the Sunday morning talk shows. Slater reports: http://dallasne.ws/9ukiR0

Texas budget: Ogden doubts gap is $21 bil

Garrett:
Some state leaders and budget experts believe Texas' revenue shortfall over the next two years could be as high as $20.6 billion. But not everybody. Count the Senate's chief budget writer, Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, among dissenters. Ogden, asked last week about the new projections, which I wrote about in today's paper, had two big objections.

Read about them here: http://dallasne.ws/aHK4ZA

Candidates trade attacks sitting down

The candidates for agriculture commissioner lit into each other Friday, as their first public conversation this year turned from the state's water deficiencies to tough personal attacks. The race snagged headlines early in the season for their campaigns' vitriolic assaults, but the candidates had avoided direct blows to each other until asked about the allegations at a Dallas Morning News editorial board meeting. Jessica Meyers reports: http://dallasne.ws/a6uGBK

Rebel defends the forgotten people of Texas' colonias

"We won't be traveling within 145 miles of the border today, but Lionel Lopez is speaking metaphorically. He means that, in less than 20 minutes, we'll be witnessing poverty so desperate, it will seem we had departed the United States long ago." Stephanie Elizondo Griest reports.
http://dallasne.ws/bTwDZg

Many Texas politicians, including Perry and White, talk little of $21 billion budget gap

"I've worked for politicians most of my adult life, and I never knew one to say 'Oh, no, there's this huge problem and I haven't got the first idea on how to deal with it.' "
Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/cDWTCH

Perry: Koran burning distasteful, but a protected right

Hoppe:
It burns him up, but a pastor in Florida has the right to set fire to a Koran, Gov. Rick Perry said. "I don't condone those types of activities, whether it's buring an American flag, or a Bible or burning a Koran," he said. "We may not like what they're doing, but they have a First Amendment right."
http://dallasne.ws/ahWSKL

Stevie Ray Vaughan memorial model could be hot topic at Oak Cliff blues and barbecue bash

Roy Appleton:
Twenty years after his death, more than a few fans of Stevie Ray Vaughan have been asking and wondering why Dallas lacks a memorial to the guitar great.
http://dallasne.ws/9xe0zW

Homeless man seeking citizenship reportedly knocked on door of George W. Bush's Dallas home

A homeless Dallas man from Mexico managed to breach security at George W. Bush's Preston Hollow home last weekend, hoping the former president could grease the wheels for his citizenship. Matt Peterson reports: http://dallasne.ws/aWiYAv

It's official: TX sales tax $1.5 bil below estimate

Comptroller Susan Combs today announced state sales tax collections for the fiscal year just ended. As expected, they're not good: Receipts were about $1.5 billion below the $21.1 billion she estimated last November. Garrett reports: http://bit.ly/1Nj0PI

Bill White's former Houston Metro in hot water with the feds

The Federal Transportation Administration hand-delivered a letter yesterday saying Houston Metro's previous leadership - headed by a White appointee and big political contributor -- violated federal procurement law in buying rail cars. At issue is whether the city's transit authority failed to follow "Buy America" rules. Slater has the story: http://bit.ly/ar9sNt

Zogby poll shows tight gov race

Zogby International in a poll conducted two weeks ago found that Rick Perry is leading Bill White, 44 to 41 percent among likely voters. This poll, commissioned by Democratic supporter Bernard Rappaport, follows on the heels of several other polls showing similar tightening in the governor's race. Hoppe reports: http://bit.ly/cBg0JV

Rick Perry's latest role model: Ann Richards?

Slater says "it's déjà vu all over again."
Rick Perry has embraced an unexpected model in the latest turn of his reelection campaign - Ann Richards.
http://bit.ly/asDujF

ULTIMATE COWBOYS PREVIEW

There's a big 40 page booklet in today's paper--all things Cowboys, all things NFL, printed on thick paper that should hold up for the whole season! You can get a taste of the reporting here: http://dallasne.ws/aCEtRH

More Cowboyage: http://dallasne.ws/aV5UzP

Floodwaters recede, cleanup begins after tornado narrowly misses downtown Dallas

DMN's great coverage of yesterday's flooding, tornado in north Texas starts here:
http://dallasne.ws/b3GpRk

Few Texas school districts have asked voters to raise tax rates since 2006 law took hold

AUSTIN – Four years after lawmakers put school districts on notice that they would need voter approval for tax hikes, just three out of 10 districts have pulled the lever and sought a higher tax rate – despite the financial pinch gripping many districts. Stutz reports: http://dallasne.ws/bFyREq

Rick Perry: Why did Bill White have no taxable income in 1995?

Slater:
Rick Perry's campaign has asked why Democratic challenger Bill White had no taxable income in 1995, his last year as deputy energy secretary in the Clinton administration.
http://dallasne.ws/9x02HW

Suehs predicts deal on Texas' food stamp fine

State social services czar Tom Suehs says Texas has greatly reduced overpayment, underpayment and wrongful denials of food stamps. He predicted today that the state and federal food stamp officials will work out a deal to reduce a nearly $4 million fine that the feds levied against Texas in June. Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/bLpM2i

The Perrys on the hunt

Not one to quail at the sight of doves, Hoppe reports: http://dallasne.ws/c1FA0G

Letters suggest Dallas lawmaker had direct role in scholarships for relatives

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson apparently asked the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to send scholarship checks directly to her two grandsons and two great-nephews, rather than to their colleges. Gillman and Hoppe report: http://dallasne.ws/ckbGF7

Straus, House stick to guns on $18 bil estimate

Senate leaders have suggested it's an exaggeration. Gov. Rick Perry says it was plucked from thin air. But House Speaker Joe Straus has embraced his budget chairman's estimate that Texas in the next two year budget faces an $18 billion shortfall -- and then some, maybe, Straus added last week.
Garrett eports: http://dallasne.ws/cAo0X1

Arizona GOPs recruit Green Party candidates. Sound like Texas?

Slater:
Where have we seen this before? Republicans in Arizona have recruited Green Party candidates in hopes of shaving votes from Democrats in the fall. The Arizona Democratic Party has cried foul - much as the Texas Democratic Party did after a similar effort in the Lone Star State. In Texas, a GOP operative from Arizona engineered a petition drive that put Green Party candidates on the ballot in November. Democrats say the effort is designed to help GOP Gov. Rick Perry by drawing votes away from Democrat Bill White. Perry's campaign denies involvement. But operatives involved in the Green Party petition effort in Texas have ties to Perry's chief consultant, Dave Carney.
http://dallasne.ws/ah3uo2

Analysis: Expect Perry, White to avoid 'insider' role as governor's race ramps up

Slater takes a look. AUSTIN – With the elections two months away, incumbents across the country are scrambling to survive an anti-establishment, pro-outsider tide of voter discontent. But in Texas, Republican Gov. Rick Perry – a 10-year incumbent who defines the state's political establishment – has largely escaped harm. One big reason: In a year when political insiders are an endangered species, Perry has taken care not to sound or look like one.
http://dallasne.ws/9PcdFm

Deals that made Bill White wealthy reflect a demanding, focused style

Gwynne and Jacobson report:
In the current campaign, White's wealth – and his disclosure of how he made it – has been a persistent issue, and White's continuing refusal to release his 1993-1995 tax returns is the official reason that Gov. Rick Perry still refuses to debate him. But in fact, White's income from those years is insignificant compared with the two Wedge investments, which White acknowledges make up "most of my net worth."
http://dallasne.ws/bIeCyl

Texas' financial aid for college students could dwindle even more

Texas already has trouble getting high school students into college, ranking 49th among the states. Financial aid is a key component for poor and minority students, particularly as tuition has skyrocketed in recent years. The gap of students who will not be eligible is also projected to grow to include more from the middle class. Mulvaney reports: http://dallasne.ws/dof1kC

Legislator raises concerns about Texas novelty license plates

Mulvaney:

AUSTIN – A key legislator on Thursday raised concerns anew that Texas' novelty license plates are getting too cluttered, risking road safety for the sake of "making a couple bucks." Rep. Joe Pickett, head of the House Transportation Committee, said he's heard from police that with so many different designs, they might have trouble validating authentic Texas tags.
http://dallasne.ws/d8CIhH

Obama administration says Texas must boost enrollment in CHIP and Medicaid

Michaels in DC reports:
The Obama administration today ballyhooed a new Urban Institute report that suggests a path to enrolling 5 million kids in government-sponsored health insurance who are eligible but not signed up. The report says increasing the number of Texas kids on Medicaid and CHIP is "critical" to reaching this national goal.
http://dallasne.ws/bIiyOO

Bill White outlines border-security plan

Slater:
Bill White says Gov. Rick Perry talks a good game on illegal immigration but hasn't done much to fix it. The Democrat today announced a plan he says would make the border more secure. http://dallasne.ws/bdc6Wy

Activists say John Cornyn-led National Republican Senatorial Committee should stay out of primaries

About a dozen tea party activists rallied at Sen. John Cornyn's district office in Dallas on Thursday to protest the National Republican Senatorial Committee's involvement in several primary contests. The protesters met briefly with Cornyn's staff but were told their question would have to be answered by representatives of the campaign committee, which Cornyn leads, or Cornyn's political staff. The senator was not in that office. http://dallasne.ws/aGfsbf

Eddie Bernice Johnson says chief of staff reviewed scholarship applications

WASHINGTON – Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson offered a new line of defense late Thursday, blaming her chief of staff for failing to adhere to Congressional Black Caucus Foundation rules that would have precluded her from awarding college aid to her relatives and those of another top staffer.
Gillman reports: http://dallasne.ws/bNVcHn

Proposed cuts at Texas Education Agency include $48 million for English textbooks

Stutz:

AUSTIN – English textbooks and new science labs for Texas students would be on the chopping block under a proposal to trim some education spending by 10 percent in the next two-year budget. The Texas Education Agency's budget reduction plan, requested by Gov. Rick Perry and other state leaders in anticipation of a revenue shortfall that could reach $18 billion, also would scale back the state's merit pay program for teachers and reduce funding for a steroid testing program for high school athletes.
http://dallasne.ws/d6s4Kz

Eddie Bernice Johnson: 'I never heard the rules' on scholarships

Gillman reports:
WASHINGTON — Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson broke her silence in a scholarship scandal this morning, insisting that she had no idea the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation had rules against awarding college aide to her own relatives. "I never heard the rules even discussed," she told KRLD-AM (1080). "I can't really blame anyone. I could have researched them myself. But the rules just came to me. One sheet came last year, which I didn't read well, which was my mistake. They were really very ambiguous rules."
http://dallasne.ws/aChfjv

Austin rally protests proposed state cuts in community-based health care

AUSTIN – Proposed cuts in community-based care for the elderly, the disabled and the mentally ill would increase wait times for services and eventually impose higher costs on the state and many counties, protesters warned Wednesday. Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/9xIYmr

West: Obama's Justice Department could review Texas' new legislative maps, voter ID at same time

Garrett:
Two interesting points, from today's kickoff hearing by the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting. First, from the Legislative Council's David Hanna, a redistricting law expert: Next year will be the first time since Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 that there will be a Democrat in the White House at the time of redistricting...
http://dallasne.ws/amRWeD

GOP Governors pay a price for hiding $1 million donation to Rick Perry

Slater:
As it turns out, Rick Perry and a Republican governor's group have paid a price for trying to disguise a last-minute $1 million contribution to Perry four years ago from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry. The two are not related. But Bob Perry is the governor's biggest campaign donor. In 2006, the Republican Governors Association delivered $1 million in the final days of Rick Perry's reelection campaign. The group didn't report to the Texas Ethics Commission and it was only after the election that federal IRS filings showed that the $1 million to Perry coincided with money to the group from the millionaire homebuilder, who has benefited from decisions by the Perry administration. At the time, the Perry camp was running a TV ad denouncing Democratic challenger Chris Bell for accepting a $1 million contribution from a wealthy benefactor. Democrats said Perry didn't want voters to know he was doing the same thing.
http://dallasne.ws/aV8nvg

Rick Perry among "Dirty Dozen" by League of Conservation Voters

Slater:
Rick Perry is on the inaugural list of "Dirty Dozen" statewide lawmakers and governors in the country as picked by the League of Conservation Voters. The environmental group has long named a "Dirty Dozen" in Congress , but is expanding this year to statewides as prospects dim on Capitol Hill for climate change legislation. Perry was included for bucking the EPA on pollution control and supporting coal-fired power plants in the state. In the case of the EPA, Perry's administration is suing the EPA for rejecting the state's air-quality program.
http://dallasne.ws/clmfNk

Did you apply for a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarship from Eddie Bernice Johnson?

Gillman:
We've had tremendous feedback from our reporting over the last few days about the scholarships awarded by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson to her grandsons, great-nephews and two kids of her top Dallas aide. There's been a lot of reader input to the effect that her claim to have awarded at least some scholarship money to every single qualified applicant is, in the readers' eyes, dubious. There are some readers who doubt that Johnson is the only lawmaker to have violated the rules.

If anyone out there has relevant information, please contact me.

http://dallasne.ws/dwWC9F

Black Caucus Foundation chair denounces Eddie Bernice Johnson, 'self-dealing' in scholarships

WASHINGTON – The lawmaker who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation issued a scathing denunciation Tuesday of Dallas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, referring to "self-dealing," a shortage of integrity, and "unethical behavior" as he vowed to prevent further violations of scholarship rules. Gillman reports: http://dallasne.ws/aPunsf