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Rural health advocates asked state lawmakers Wednesday to help pay for improvements to rural hospitals in up to 42 Texas counties. Without state help, they said, the rural hospitals have no hope of doing necessary renovations to catch up to federal and state hospital codes.

HillCo Partners dropped its lawsuit against Brandon Aghamalian and Snapper Carr this afternoon — the surprise result of a hearing scheduled today to address HillCo's request for a temporary restraining order.

Your afternoon reading.

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign is showing its nostalgic side in its latest web video, which evokes the opening credits of the hit NBC show Friends.

No other place in Texas has received as much attention from the state's environmental agency as the natural-gas-rich Barnett Shale — and that includes the tiny town of DISH, a spokesman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said today.

ExxonMobil will be sued by two environmental groups over the release of large amounts of air pollutants from its Baytown oil refinery, the nation's largest, according the Center for Public Integrity.

Add another layer to the tale of the unlikely reanimation of the Green Party of Texas.

The defendants in the HillCo lawsuit filed their answer in court today, denying all charges against them and calling them "meritless."

An e-mail unearthed in court papers has the Democratic Lone Star Project accusing Republicans of a new connection to the Green Party of Texas' attempt to get on the ballot — a charge questioned by the Greens and denied by the Republicans.

The Bill White campaign took seriously Gov. Rick Perry's challenge last week to find "anybody who can outwork" him.

Your afternoon reading.

 "I don't know whether to be flattered or to be creeped out."

The Texas Ethics Commission recently released more than 3,000 personal financial statements — documents that detail state officials' financial interests and liabilities. Read, download or embed them with our new application.

Two was company in the first general-election debate of the governor's race.

The Green Party candidates are back on the November ballot — for now.