The Midday Brief: Oct. 31, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

“The ad in South Carolina will go up on Tuesday or Wednesday, and details on its expense weren't yet available. But Perry's path to the White House will almost necessarily include a victory in the first Southern state, a natural fit for the Texan but a place where he has yet to find real traction.” — Perry adds SC buy, Politico

“A blistering new report details how big business and corporate lobbyists are pouring money into state judicial elections across the country and packing the courts with judges who put special interests ahead of the public interest.” — Judges Are for Sale — and Special Interests Are Buying, Time

“Herman Cain emphatically denied on Monday that he had ever sexually harassed anyone, calling allegations of harassment by two former employees ‘totally baseless and totally false’ and saying that he is the innocent victim of a ‘witch hunt.’”—  Herman Cain denies ever sexually harassing anyone, calls allegations ‘totally false’, Washington Post

 "El Paso native Jesus "Chito" E. Diaz Jr. lost his career with the U.S. Border Patrol and ended up with a felony conviction after an encounter three years ago with a Mexican teenage drug smuggler on the South Texas border.” — Advocacy groups say jailed ex-Border Patrol agent targeted, El Paso Times

 “‘People out of work, markets reeling and Barack Obama trying to fix things with another speech,’ Leppert, walking through an empty warehouse, says in the ad. ‘With government in the hands of people like my opponents, lawyers and career politicians, what did we expect?’” — Leppert releases new TV ad in Senate race, Austin American-Statesman

New in The Texas Tribune:

The Texas Youth Commission terminated its contract Friday with a psychiatrist who testified repeatedly in death penalty cases that Hispanic and black men were more likely to be dangerous in the future. The termination followed a Texas Tribune inquiry into the agency's six-year agreement with the doctor. — Texas Ends Deal With Psychiatrist Over Race Testimony

Former Williamson County district attorney Ken Anderson this morning entered a closed courthouse room where he faces Michael Morton and an inquiry into how prosecutors secured a wrongful murder conviction against Morton 25 years ago. — Former Morton Prosecutor Faces Questions on Alleged Misconduct 

Proposition 6 on the Texas constitutional ballot would allow the land commissioner to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars to public education. — Little Opposition to Measure That Would Increase School Funding