The Midday Brief: Nov. 18, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• "Former U.S. House majority leader Tom DeLay won’t testify in his money-laundering trial, his attorney Dick DeGuerin said this morning." — DeLay won’t testify in his money-laundering trial, lawyer says, Postcards

• "Gov. Rick Perry says he's open to the idea of sending U.S. troops into Mexico to fight the drug war. The Texas governor told MSNBC this morning that border violence has escalated dramatically since George W. Bush was governor a decade ago." — Rick Perry open to sending the US military into Mexico, Trail Blazers

• "Locked in a campaign to become chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, is appealing for support to members of his party's huge freshman class." — Barton appeals to freshmen in Congress as he lobbies for Energy and Commerce gavel, Trail Blazers

• "Texas’ environmental agency should continue for another 12 years but must be more responsive to the public, according to a state analysis released today." — Review finds TCEQ lacks authority, visibility, Houston Chronicle

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Republican state Rep. Leo Berman of Tyler wants to end something besides illegal immigration and federal intrusion into health care in Texas." — Rep. Berman Files Bill to End DPS Surcharges

• "The former budget-slashing Texas House member and current executive director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation on how she reads the mood out there, what reductions in state spending should be on the table, whether cost-shifting to local school districts is a plausible option, why lawmakers should forget about new sources of revenue, the trouble with Medicaid and what members of the Republican near-supermajority in the Legislature must do to keep the confidence of voters — and get re-elected." — Arlene Wohlgemuth: The TT Interview