The Midday Brief: December 7, 2009

Your afternoon reading:

• “Pending food-stamp applications have soared in Texas — from about 38,000 a year ago to more than 65,000 in October. Two-thirds of those people had waited longer than the federally mandated 30 days, and nearly half had waited more than 60 days” — The Hidden Food Line — The Texas Tribune

• "Campaign manager Joel Coon and communications director Jason Stanford were among the high-level officials dismissed by Shami last week." — Shami fires top staffers — Trail Blazers

• “Asked if his sponsored trips are scandalous in any way, Doggett said no, suggesting a foe might be able to say of him: ‘He travels. He wants a world view.’” — Rep. Doggett says privately sponsored trips help him develop a world view — Postcards

• "With the development of tests to match so-called "touch DNA" means you don't even need blood, hair or other more traditional types of biological evidence." — DNA could solve burglaries if crime labs were bigger, better, more trustworthy — Grits for Breakfast

• “If you have a toll road or a highway interchange on your Christmas shopping list, you're in luck.” — The road less costly — Austin American-Statesman

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Here's her statement, with promises of property tax reform, a leadership shake-up at the Texas Department of Transportation, and a list of other problems she'd like to address." — Hutchison's In: Here's How She Said It — The Texas Tribune

• "Wallace Jefferson on what race has to do with politics, why he's a member of the GOP, and whether the party has been sufficiently hospitable to African Americans." — Video: On Being a Black Republican — The Texas Tribune