As 'Don't Mess with Texas' campaign turns 25, a tribute to one who helped create it

One of the men most responsible for one of America's most enduring public
service advertisement campaigns is being remembered today at 1 p.m. in Sherman.
Don Clark, a long-time TxDOT manager who oversaw the development of the Don't
Mess With Texas campaign, died Dec. 20.

Lindenberger on Don Clark's enduring legacy: http://dallasne.ws/emADNU

Wins on both sides accompanied good campaigning, scandals in 2010 political news

When Texas historians muse about the 2010 election, they'll probably concentrate on the Republican wave that washed through the state last month. Everywhere but in Dallas County, that is. Here, the county solidified its role as a Democratic bastion, despite some hard-fought local races.
 http://dallasne.ws/eNuxkm

Staff writers Rudolph Bush, Robert T. Garrett, Todd J. Gillman, Gromer
Jeffers Jr., Kevin Krause and Wayne Slater contributed to this report.

 

Legislative fight looms on class-size limit in elementary schools

AUSTIN – A quarter-century-old law that has held most elementary school
classes in Texas to no more than 22 students is on the endangered list as the
Legislature looks for solutions to the state's massive budget deficit.

Stutz: http://dallasne.ws/dX85nN

Texas manufacturing sector cools but remains positive

Conditions in the Texas manufacturing sector remained broadly positive in December but showed some signs of cooling off compared with the previous month, according to a manufacturing survey released Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Brendan Case reports http://dallasne.ws/gw1Pxq

Dry spell means Texas wildflowers may be less showy this year

A bountiful wildflower season is a game of inches – in rainfall, that is. And Texas, in the midst of drought-like conditions, could come up short this spring. The dry weather in December already has hopes for a repeat of the bountiful wildflower displays of 2010 in question.

Simnacher gets the projections from Wildflower Center: http://dallasne.ws/hMURTx

Ebb of stimulus funding could hit Texas workers hard

WASHINGTON – The federal stimulus payments that helped thousands of Texas workers ride out the recession will ebb next year, just as state legislators are likely to enact cuts that could hurt government workers and others who rely on public spending. The Recovery Act has sent about $16.5 billion to Texas state agencies since 2009. The biggest impact has been on public education, where more than 27,000 jobs were supported by stimulus funds between July and September 2010, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Dave Michaels reports: http://dallasne.ws/fTObn3

EPA to issue greenhouse gas permits in Texas

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency will announce today that it will seize authority from Texas for awarding clean-air permits because the state has refused to implement federal greenhouse-gas regulations. The announcement was expected for months, as Texas officials, led by Gov. Rick Perry, sued the EPA over the greenhouse rule and its legal basis for regulating such emissions. Even so, the notion of federal officials deciding how some 167 industrial facilities in Texas must comply with the rule is sure to spark new recriminations between Austin and Washington.


From Michaels in the DC bureau: http://dallasne.ws/eyI4ZE

The Decider: Bush often swayed by the voices around him

"Confirmation bias, the tendency to seek out opinion you already agree with, is what's driving the cable talkers - Fox News and MSNBC."


More from Slater about Bush and confirmation bias: http://dallasne.ws/hPDAMF

Former Democratic Rep. Paul Sadler says familiar managment style characterized George W. Bush's presidency

Sadler, an East Texas Democrat who worked with Bush on education, had an early impression of the governor's management style. As governor, Bush was particularly susceptible to a small coterie of advisers around him, what Sadler calls "the voices in the room.''



Slater: http://bit.ly/e6JK1D

Will Texas population surge mean another Dallas Democrat in Congress?

As Todd J. Gillman, our Washington bureau chief, reported this morning , Texas' unrivaled population growth over the past decade means the state will have four additional seats in Congress after the next reapportionment. Where those seats will be -- and which party will control them -- depends on how the Texas Legislature decides to redraw the boundary lines for the state's congressional districts.

Bruce Tomaso takes a look: http://dallasne.ws/eD6iUr

Craddick loyalist Woolley backs Straus

State Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, today announced she'll support a second term as speaker for Joe Straus, R-San Antonio . Woolley, a staunch ally of former Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, said she believes Straus will deliver a conservative product next session.


Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/h8fnMx

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, D.C. antagonist, gets Obama administration post

In the latest example of unexpected political bedfellows: the state's Republican Land Commissioner--and noted gun enthusiast--Jerry Patterson will be appointed to a post in President Barack Obama's administration, the White House announced tonight.




Mason in our DC bureau: http://dallasne.ws/hZhxBl

Hardcastle says he, 2 others, not anti-Straus

Rep. Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon, says he signed a letter demanding a House GOP caucus meeting because he wants to get the speaker's race over, not because he's switched horses in midstream.




Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/fFh3Ty

Chisum throws down the gauntlet, calls for meeting of House GOP caucus

Rep. Warren Chisum today announced that he and nine other anti-Straus House Republicans formally will call for a meeting of the chamber's GOP caucus on Jan. 5, nearly a week before the start of the new session.

The intent is to break with Texas tradition and force selection of the next speaker to occur within a party caucus.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/fhoZqo

2010 census results give Texas four additional seats in Congress

WASHINGTON – Torrid growth over the last decade has earned Texas four additional seats in Congress – the state’s biggest leap in political clout in a century, far outstripping any other state. “The 2010 Census will serve as a backbone for our political and economic system for years to come,” Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said this morning, announcing the state-by-state population figures at the National Press Club. “This is really an important day for the American people.”
Gillman: http://dallasne.ws/ejd90o

EPA's rule enforcement on pollution has dropped

WASHINGTON – Texas Gov. Rick Perry has warned that the Environmental Protection Agency is punishing Texas by rejecting a state clean-air permitting program and advancing a scheme to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. But new data shows that EPA enforcement of existing regulations under the Obama administration has fallen by several key measures. In Texas, the amount of pollution that companies agreed to reduce – as a result of enforcement cases – fell 74 percent in 2009-10 from 2007-08. Nationwide, it fell 57 percent.


Dave Michaels reports from our Washington bureau: http://dallasne.ws/gTOrfa

Blue-ribbon panel presents plan for overhauling Texas' foster care system

AUSTIN – Texas would pay for performance in foster care and cede more authority to private contractors under a major overhaul recommended by a blue-ribbon panel. The proposal, in the works for a year, calls for the state to scrap its current system allowing anyone to start a private child-placing agency and ask to care for abused and neglected children. That would be replaced with a new arrangement in which one outfit becomes the lead provider in a region.

Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/gsyQ3c

DMN Investigates: Lax supervision of residents at U.S. teaching hospitals puts patients at risk

The prevalent training model, in which residents move rapidly from observing to practicing on patients, is known as "see one, do one, teach one." To that, Dr. Bertrand Bell, the elder statesman of efforts to reform resident supervision, adds: "sometimes kill one."




Moffeit reports: http://dallasne.ws/hTZ0eH

Funds misuse, nepotism feared at Texas charter schools

The fear is that the freedoms granted to charter schools allow hefty salaries, nepotism and potential abuse of the public's money.

Holly Hacker files the last in a series of stories: http://dallasne.ws/eKedEo

2 civil rights groups claim Texas education discriminates against minorities

Two leading civil rights groups for African-Americans and Hispanics are jointly asking the federal government to step in and force anti-discriminatory initiatives in Texas public education. “We know that we have to be in Austin, but one way that we’re doing this is also appealing to the federal government,” said Hector Flores, former national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, during a news conference today at Dallas City Hall.


Steve Thompson reports: http://dallasne.ws/hmPcj2

Texans at the top: Dems pick Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson for Science slot; Chairman Ralph Hall offers congrats

A pair of North Texans have taken over the House Science and Technology Committee. Today, House Democrats picked Dallas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson as the ranking minority member -- making her the Democratic counterpart to Chairman Ralph Hall, the Rockwall Republican.

Gillman: http://dallasne.ws/hGYmsd

Marshall asks boogie-woogie legend Omar Sharriff to become its musical ambassador

Lovely story:
They want the 72-year-old to connect Marshall to the eight-to-the-bar rhythms that began there and influenced every American musical genre, from jazz and blues to rock 'n' roll. "A lot of places have history," said city manager Frank Johnson. "With Omar, we have a living link."

This Christmas, Marshall, Texas, is giving itself a musical legend. It could be the perfect gift for a town that just declared itself boogie-woogie's birthplace.

Photo: NATHAN HUNSINGER/DMN

Omar Sharriff played piano at a boogie-woogie concert in Marshall in June. The city hopes Sharriff will move back to his hometown and become its musical ambassador. And as with the best holiday tales, this one's ending is really a beginning – a healing and homecoming.





Lee Hancock reports: http://dallasne.ws/gURjJN

Flores, a felon, keeps drawing House pay

Mike Ward of the Austin American-Statesman had this exclusive story today about convicted felon and South Texas Rep. Kino Flores: He can still draw his pay. Until Jan. 11, at least.

Flores, D-Palmview, was sentenced to five years' probation, a $1,000 fine and 40 hours of community service on felony ethics charges, for not properly disclosing his income. But there's no law or rule preventing convicted felons from serving in the Texas House. So he can still draw his $600 a month salary as a legislator, per diem reimbursements and legislative benefits.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/h2E18M
Mike Ward's story in the Statesman: http://bit.ly/iai4jW

Sunset Commission says comptroller should take over tech co-op

AUSTIN — Comptroller Susan Combs should run a group-purchasing program that lets cities, counties, school districts and public colleges buy high-tech products at cut rates, the Sunset Advisory Commission proposed today.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/dMcEJ4

Fort Worth car dealer Roger Williams pitching economic turnaround plan to sell voters on 2012 U.S. Senate bid

AUSTIN – Roger Williams , the car dealer and candidate for the U.S. Senate, has a deal for you. "I've got a plan that can turn the economy around tomorrow and send the stock market through the roof tomorrow," he declared one day recently.

http://dallasne.ws/gXlwJC

Joe Straus says he'll be back as Texas House speaker

Republican Joe Straus said Wednesday that he expects to be re-elected speaker of the Texas House when the Legislature convenes in January. "I feel very confident about being re-elected," Straus said before giving the keynote address at a United Negro College Fund luncheon at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. "I was ready after Nov. 2 to move on with governing and have, for the most part, been spending my time getting ready for Jan. 11."



http://dallasne.ws/fJwBgD

Sunset panel, industry officials discuss replacing Texas Railroad Commission

AUSTIN – A senator on the Sunset Commission on Wednesday called the job of railroad commissioner "a position of political opportunity" and took two commissioners to task for campaigning for higher office while regulating the oil industry.

Souder reports: http://dallasne.ws/hAlXEI

Exclusive: Gov. Rick Perry dialing it back for third swearing-in

AUSTIN – The woeful state budget can't rain on your parade if you don't have one.

In the shadow of a potentially staggering $25 billion budget shortfall, Gov. Rick Perry – who has written a new book on the overspending of Washington – is toning down his third inauguration.

Hoppe: http://dallasne.ws/fBK4PR

Second Democrat in Texas House announces switch to GOP

AUSTIN – Two Democrats in the Texas House announced Tuesday that they are switching to the Republican Party in move that gives the GOP a supermajority – and near complete control of the agenda – in the lower chamber next year. Rep. Aaron Peña of Edinburg appeared at a news conference with Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus to proclaim his move to the GOP along with fellow Democrat Allan Ritter of Nederland, in southeast Texas. Ritter had already indicated his intentions to shift his party affiliation.

Stutz: http://dallasne.ws/hIGjdo

John Kuempel pads GOP control of Texas House by winning his late father's seat

John Kuempel of Seguin was elected Tuesday to fill the Texas House seat left vacant by the death of his father in November. The 40-year-old metal salesman is the son of longtime state Rep. Edmund Kuempel, a Seguin Republican who died of a heart attack two days after he was re-elected to the Legislature in November. Ed Kuempel was 67. John Kuempel is also a Republican. His election means the GOP will control 101 of the 150 seats in the Texas House when the legislative session begins next month.


Bruce Tomaso has the story: http://dallasne.ws/g8LV2f

Dallas commute ranked worst in U.S. in new, comprehensive analysis

Lots of studies have ranked traffic in the Dallas Fort Worth area as among the worst in the country, but this is the first to rank it absolutely worst.
http://dallasne.ws/foVQDo

Trade pacts could boost Texas, but other states wary

For Texas, trade is a dynamo. Through October, goods exports exceeded $168 billion. That represents a major recovery from the recession and already puts Texas exports well ahead of the full-year totals for 2009 and 2007.

...But what's good for Texas is not necessarily good for states like Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina, which have lost millions of manufacturing jobs because of America's great appetite for imports.


Landers reports, with an assist from Gillman in DC: http://dallasne.ws/eQzBYe

GOP nearing supermajority in Texas House

AUSTIN — Republicans in the Texas House now enjoy carte blanche to do pretty much whatever they want. A veteran Southeast Texas Democrat’s decision over the weekend to switch parties means the GOP should hold 100 of the House’s 150 seats when lawmakers return to work next month.


Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/hZIQSN

Abbott hails Virginia judge for overruling key health law provision

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was quick to applaud today's ruling by a federal judge in Virginia that the health overhaul law goes too far in requiring individuals to purchase health insurance, starting in 2014.


Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/ffmb3c

Democrat slams Ritter's reported party switch

Disloyalty. Misrepresentation. Lacking integrity. Reports of Rep. Allan Ritter of Nederland probable defection to the Republican Party has Democratic state party chairman Boyd Ritchie spitting mad.
Ritter might also be joined by Aaron Pena of Edinburg, dwindling the numbers of hapless Democrats even further. The defections would give the Republicans in the House a super majority (see below) that would allow them to suspend all rules in the House and pass virtually anything they want, anytime they want. Democrats would be helpless to stop them.

http://dallasne.ws/g2t5WD

Straight-party voting skews results, is bad for democracy, foes say

Critics contend that allowing voters to press one button to finish out a partisan ballot is bad for democracy and skews elections that, without the practice, would have had a different result.

Gromer Jeffers has the story: http://dallasne.ws/eDKw9M

Will Republicans claim 100th seat in Texas House?

On Saturday, Rep. Allan Ritter, D-Nederland, told KFDM-TV in Beaumont that he's jumping ship. He plans an announcement Tuesday in Austin. Gov. Rick Perry and other Republican leaders are expected to be on hand.




Tomaso on the impending supermajotity in the Texas House of Representatives: http://dallasne.ws/flbeHZ

Texas casinos unlikely despite state fiscal gap

AUSTIN – Gambling advocates, dangling the prospect of new money to help close the state's gigantic budget gap, see a good chance for expansion when the Legislature returns next month. Blocked before in their efforts, supporters have focused again on big benefits: slot machines at racetracks that eventually could bring in an extra $1 billion yearly tax revenue; Las Vegas-style casinos that would pump up local economies with new revenue and jobs.

Mulvaney and Hoppe report: http://dallasne.ws/hY2g5Y

One-woman play about ex-Texas Gov. Ann Richards portrays a real 'piece of work'

SAN ANTONIO – The actress Holland Taylor made an Ann Richards entrance, which is to say with enough energy and sashay that everybody noticed. She might as well have been wearing the Dairy Queen hair and white brocade suit like on the posters down the street advertising her one-woman play, ANN: An Affectionate Portrait of Ann Richards.

Slater: http://dallasne.ws/eedEZx

Journalists from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan visit our bureau

Our own Bob Garrett spent some time with journalists from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. They were in Austin on a State Department-sponsored tour aimed at offering them insights into the way media works in the U.S.



In this clip, Gareett promptly puts Mulvaney in the hot seat...

Texas comptroller's plan would cut 12,000 teaching jobs to save $558 million

AUSTIN – Nearly 12,000 elementary school teaching jobs would be slashed – for a total annual savings of $558 million – if the state scraps the current 22-pupil class size limit in elementary grades, Comptroller Susan Combs recommended Wednesday. Combs' plan would eliminate the 25-year-old requirement that classes in kindergarten through fourth grade have no more than 22 pupils unless a school district gets a waiver from the state. The suggestion drew angry opposition from state teacher groups.

Stutz: http://dallasne.ws/geiF4w

State edict leads Dallas County college district to scrap raises

AUSTIN – Pay raises for community college employees in Dallas County were an early casualty of the latest round of state budget cuts. Officials said Wednesday that a $325 raise for nearly 3,300 employees of the Dallas County Community College District has been scrapped because of state leaders' edict this week that spending be chopped to help Texas dig out of a huge revenue shortfall.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/eWgevJ

Texas Sens. Hutchison, Cornyn oppose Dream Act

WASHINGTON – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the target of pressure from demonstrators at her district offices, says she will vote against legislation today that would create a path to citizenship for some children of illegal immigrants. The senator voted to advance the bill in the Senate in 2007 but considers the current version too broad.
Melanie Mason: http://dallasne.ws/gz3geF

State sales tax revenue up 8.7% last month

Texas collected more sales tax in November, marking the eighth month in a row that receipts were higher than last year, Comptroller Susan Combs announced today.




How do I nudge thee? Garrett counts the ways: http://dallasne.ws/gyKqXn

Most Texas firms to pay slightly higher unemployment-benefits tax

AUSTIN – Most Texas businesses will pay a slightly higher unemployment-benefits tax next year, though it's nowhere near the big bump they absorbed this year. Nearly two-thirds of businesses pay the minimum state unemployment tax, and they will owe just over $70 per worker in 2011, up from almost $65 this year, the Texas Workforce Commission announced Tuesday. Last year, they paid about $23 per employee.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/dHLGLs

Class size limits, charter school caps may change as Texas looks to trim costs

AUSTIN – The Senate Education Committee wants the Legislature to consider easing class size limits in elementary schools to save money and eliminating the cap on independent charter schools in Texas. Several of the panel's recommendations for lawmakers' 2011 session would have far-reaching effects on public schools, such as a change in the strict class size limit of 22 pupils in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Stutz: http://dallasne.ws/ezddVB

Fox News goads Perry to criticize Obama: He won't

Fox News personality Neil Cavuto tried his best to get Rick Perry to criticize President Obama today. But Perry would have none of it. The Republican governor said the tax accord between the White House and Republicans - which has caused a firestorm on the left - looks like a pretty good compromise.




Slater: http://dallasne.ws/gXB6gc

Texas leaders order additional spending cuts to address budget deficit

AUSTIN — State leaders, trying to dig out of a hole in the current two-year budget before the next one has to be whacked, today ordered agencies to further curb spending. Agency chiefs were told in a letter that they must reduce expenditures by 2.5 percent in the remaining nine months of the current fiscal year.

Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/eWNpc6

Texas Supreme Court rules government workers' birthdates are private; dissenting justice fears decision limits accountability to the public

The Texas Supreme Court dealt a blow this morning to transparency when it ruled the public has little interest in government employees' dates of birth. The decision sweeps aside rulings by the trial and appellate courts, which ruled that government employee dates of birth are public records. It also means that government workers will enjoy special protections while the state continues to sell the very same information about members of the public for millions of dollars each year.

McNeill: http://dallasne.ws/hgir2p

Leaders ask state agencies for 2.5 percent cuts

State agencies will have to cut spending by 2.5 percent in the remaining nine months of the current fiscal year, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said late today. That's on top of cuts ordered in May. In contrast to last spring, though, agency chiefs get to choose the cuts themselves this time.
http://dallasne.ws/g9cxV3

Voters consider higher ed budget cuts in Baselice poll

With Texas facing a massive budget shortfall, a majority of voters want state lawmakers to consider cuts to colleges and universities while improving the quality of education, according to a poll released today. The poll, commissioned by the conservative group Texas Public Policy Foundation and conducted by Baselice & Associates, found that 71 percent say public colleges could improve how they teach students while reducing operating costs.

Mulvaney reports: http://dallasne.ws/e7QqnS

Jobless benefits: 285,000 Texans face cutoff

This winter, unless something changes soon, about as many jobless Texans will lose their federal unemployment insurance extensions as live in Plano or Corpus Christi.
http://dallasne.ws/eWPjH2

AT&T buys over 700 copies of Perry book for luncheon attendees

WASHINGTON – The audience listening to Gov. Rick Perry's latest address on Washington's spendthrift ways Friday didn't just hear the speech. They got the book – for free. Dallas-based AT&T sponsored a lunch that included at least 700 copies of the governor's book for state legislators, lobbyists and activists attending a conservative policy summit. Hardback copies were placed on each seat in a ballroom where Perry traced the history of what he called "oppressive government" from the birth of the income tax to the passage of the recent health insurance law.

Dave Michaels:  http://dallasne.ws/gYr2Er

Legendary Cowboys, SMU quarterback Don Meredith dies

 Don Meredith, the Dallas Cowboys and SMU quarterback and Monday Night Football icon, died Sunday evening in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 72.

Brad Townsend reports: http://dallasne.ws/gVjO6F

Dem: If it quacks like a tax, it's a tax

All fees, surcharges and other revenue-raising measures would be classified officially as taxes under a state constitutional amendment proposed today by a veteran House Democrat. Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, said his "honesty in taxation" measure would prevent politicians -- if they peppered taxpayers with higher fees for things like driver's licenses, hunting licenses and copies of birth certificates -- from claiming they balanced Texas' budget without raising taxes.

Robert T. Garrett reports:  http://dallasne.ws/ijEpXS

Blue Cross Blue Shield, Texas Health Resources dispute may raise costs for Texas patients

"...an estimated 800,000 Blue Cross members in North Texas soon could be expected to pay more money if they visit any one of Texas Health's 24 hospitals. The Arlington-based hospital system and Richardson-based insurer have until Dec. 31 to sign a new contract covering reimbursement rates. After that date, Texas Health will be considered out-of-network for Blue Cross members."

Jason Roberson reports: http://dallasne.ws/eWRtGB

Texas told to reissue 80 water permits

HOUSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday demanded that Texas immediately take steps to reissue Clean Water Act permits to some 80 facilities that have been operating without the necessary paperwork, a public request that signaled the latest round in a long battle. The EPA issued a news release with its request late Thursday, prompting a rapid back-and-forth with Texas environmental regulators. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality quickly put out a statement saying it had been cooperating with the EPA to resolve the problems and already had two proposals on the table. It accused the federal agency of deciding "to jump the gun prematurely with this notice."

Ramit Plushnick-Masti, The Associated Press  http://dallasne.ws/g3AqPP

Study: Millions could lose health coverage if Texas opts out of Medicaid

AUSTIN – Up to 2.6 million Texans could lose health coverage if the state opts out of Medicaid, according to a state study released today. And while the state would gain control over money it spends on the federal-state program, the study says a Texas withdrawal would cost it much more in foregone federal aid.

Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/essuDI

GOP Hispanic group calls Rick Perry Numero Uno

Somos Republican, a group based in Arizona and is dedicated to attracting more Latinos into the GOP, has tapped Gov. Rick Perry as the number-one Hispanic-friendly politician in the nation. They cite his stance that an Arizona-type anti-illegal immigrant law isn't necessary in Texas.
http://dallasne.ws/fDrIXI

Texas will see dramatic gain in US House seats

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Fast-growing Texas is poised to be the biggest winner of all when it comes to picking up influence in Congress in the next few years, and Republicans are salivating at the prospect of fattening the largest GOP delegation in Washington. Texas will gain at least three and possibly four seats in Congress, as population trends continue to push people out of the rust and snow belts and into the sunbelt, demographers say. With strong GOP majorities in the Texas capitol and all statewide offices in their fold, Republicans are sure to use their new clout to cement their hold on power through the redistricting process and possibly increase their majority in the House.

http://dallasne.ws/dL3m2W

State Rep. Dan Branch calls for college construction projects despite budget crunch

AUSTIN – Public colleges may be bracing for budget cuts, but they also may get the green light from House lawmakers next year to build some new buildings. Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, said today that Texas should consider seizing one advantage from hard times, which would be to let universities lock in contractors and borrowing costs at steep discounts.

http://dallasne.ws/gU4pHt

Dallas-area jobless pull belts even tighter as unemployment benefits expire

Extended unemployment benefits are set to run out this week for 17,000 laid-off workers in North Texas, curtailing biweekly payments that have kept many in their homes and casting a pall as the holidays approach. Unless Congress solves a partisan deadlock, by Jan. 1 about 35,000 people in Dallas, Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties will lose their federally paid benefits.
Bob Garrett and Brendan Case report: http://dallasne.ws/eQ4rn0

Retiree medical costs could be as much as $400,000, report says

Men who are 55 years old today will need savings of $111,000 to $354,000 to retire in 2020 – and that's just to cover health care expenses. Women that age will need $147,000 to $406,000 in savings because they tend to live longer.

Jason Roberson: http://dallasne.ws/erW89V

ERCOT's new nodal system for electricity grid expected to save Texas consumers billions

The Texas electricity grid is about to fundamentally change the way it operates, and here's hoping you won't notice. On Wednesday, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas will begin assigning the cost of power line congestion to the company causing that congestion. Currently, those costs are socialized across each region.

Souder: http://dallasne.ws/gZ3BIa

Van Taylor backs Paxton for speaker

Collin County freshman Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, has endorsed fellow Collin County lawmaker Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, for House speaker, bringing Paxton's public pledge list to 12. Seventy six votes are needed to be the top dog in the 150-member House.

Robert T. Garrett has the latest: http://dallasne.ws/fznpcl

Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs extradited from Utah to face trial on Texas sex assault charges

SAN ANTONIO – Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs has been extradited from Utah to Texas to face trial on bigamy and sexual assault charges.
The AP reports: http://dallasne.ws/e3ISEi