The Midday Brief: Oct. 12, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• "With a dash for the door after delivering a speech, Gov. Rick Perry avoided a confrontation with Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Kathie Glass." — Glass tries to confront Perry on debating, Texas Politics

• "Three guesses as to how Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples appears in his first televised ad this campaign season." — Staples is cowboy and consumer in new TV ad, Trail Blazers

• "Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards is unleashing a new TV ad today blasting GOP challenger Bill Flores for leading a company through a bankruptcy that cost taxpayers $7.5 million." — Rep. Chet Edwards attacks GOP challenger Bill Flores over company's 1992 bankruptcy, The Dallas Morning News

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Back to Basics PAC, the Gov. Rick Perry-attacking political action committee funded by Houston trial lawyer Steve Mostyn, released a television ad alleging that 'Rick Perry thinks you're a sucker.'" — Back To Basics Highlights Perry's Use of Stimulus Funds

• "A new ad from the Chet Edwards campaign spotlights a recent Dallas Morning News article that revealed his Republican opponent, Bill Flores, failed to repay $7.5 million he received from the federal government to rescue his company from a bankruptcy." — Latest Edwards Ad Plays Up Flores Bankruptcy

• "'The scourge of drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, robbery and violence has dismantled our economy, has eroded our tranquility and has stained our social structures with blood,' said Ciudad Juárez's new mayor, Héctor 'Teto' Murguía, at his inauguration Sunday. 'This economic and social disaster deserves a desperate cry for help and solidarity.'" — New Mayor Takes the Helm of Embattled Juárez

• "Another consequence of the coming shortfall: Advocates say the Department of Aging and Disability Services’ baseline budget request eliminates financing for more than 13,000 people — the majority of them waiting to receive Medicaid waiver services. Agency officials will only say that an 'unknown number' of people already receiving the services could lose them. It's unclear if lawmakers can make these service cuts without risking losing federal funding; federal health care reform requires states to maintain coverage at the same level it was when the Affordable Care Act became law in late March." — Budget Shortfall Forces Big Cuts for Disabled