The Midday Brief: February 8, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

"The Democratic agriculture commissioner candidate has said that he will debate his primary opponent, Hank Gilbert, if he returns a $150,000 political contribution from Farouk Shami." — Money or meeting: Kinky says he'll debate if Gilbert gives back Farouk contribution — TRAILBLAZERS

"Perry couldn’t have sounded any more Lady GaGa over the former vice presidential candidate." — She Got Game — In the Pink

“Cost containment needs to be a major priority as we examine strategies to meet our health and human services needs.” — Senator Nelson to Lead Health Policy Review — Texas Insider

"So over time, less serious thefts have come to be categorized as felonies that would have been misdemeanors at the time the law established the current threshold." — Index Theft Categories to Inflation — Grits for Breakfast 

New in the Texas Tribune:

"Even with solid improvements in a short time, Jefferson still makes the list of “persistently lowest-achieving” schools, along with 158 other schools across the state." — Reform Follows Function — The Texas Tribune

"The scuffle bears the markings of an age-old clash between tort reformers and trial lawyers for the jugular of the Texas judiciary — a still-brewing antagonism that surfaced in the “Justice for Sale” scandal of the late 1980s and once again came to a head during the 1995 legislative session, after Gov. George W. Bush was elected on an anti-frivolous-lawsuit platform." — The Trials of Felipe Reyna — The Texas Tribune

"Just as the Statesman popped Rick Perry in its KBH endorsement ('little to show for that long tenure'), it karate-chopped White's main opponent, Farouk Shami, citing the hair-care magnate's 'total lack of anything that would prepare him to be governor.'" — 2010: Newspaper Endorsements: Statesman for White — The Texas Tribune