Enlarge photo by: Tom Pennington

Unregistered high school umpires will keep their stripes on, for now. A U.S. district judge granted an injunction today requested by the Texas Association of Sport Officials, halting a University Interscholastic League mandate that all high school sports officials register with the agency. Some officials were refusing to register, risking a lockout.

With the threat of massive budget cuts looming on the horizon, state higher education leaders are looking for ways to get more out of what few dollars they may ultimately get to spend. One program that may see some changes is the Toward Excellence, Access, and Success Grant program, the state’s largest financial aid program.

Freshman state Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, says he's supporting Ken Paxton's challenge to incumbent House Speaker Joe Straus.

On last night's edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, sparred with the host about whether Barack Obama has a U.S. birth certificate — and whether Texas law should be changed to require that any candidate for president who wants ballot access produce one.

The newest video touting Joe Straus for reelection as Speaker looks like the intro for one of those lifetime achievement statues they give away on the awards shows.

Add state Reps. Erwin Cain of Como and James White of Hillister to the list of members backing Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, for speaker of the House.

Tom DeLay, the former U.S. House majority leader from Sugar Land, was convicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering this afternoon.

Remember the ABCs? Anybody But Craddick? Not you've got ABS folks, who don't like Republican House Speaker Joe Straus.

The latest salvo in the speaker race is a slick internet video that argues the House should have a more conservative speaker than Joe Straus. And it suggests the fight to come, knocking over dominoes with the pictures of "Republicans In Name Only" who could be targets in the GOP primaries two years from now: Keffer, Truitt, Geren, Solomons, Eissler, Cook...

Disability advocates want Texas lawmakers to put the term "retarded" in the "word graveyard" with other derogatory terms.

Members of the Texas House General Investigating and Ethics Committee heard testimony today on whether or not a lawmaker used redistricting to threaten a member into supporting Speaker Joe Straus. Their conclusion: We can't tell.

The Texas attorney general's office is weighing in on the back-and-forth between the Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency and Democratic attorney Steve Mostyn, who has been fighting in the courts to keep Hurricane Ike settlement details private.

State budget writers will propose eliminating agencies, cutting others to a quarter of their current size and mandating furloughs for state employees to balance the budget without raising taxes or using the state's Rainy Day Fund, Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts told a hometown crowd.

On Fox News Sunday this morning, Gov. Rick Perry insisted yet again that he isn't running for president.

House Speaker Joe Straus is sooo conservative ... that he advertises on the Drudge Report.