Gov. Rick Perry took time off the presidential campaign trail to fly back to Texas and oversee the severe wildfires charring Central Texas. In Bastrop County, outside of Austin, fires have burned more than 34,000 acres, obliterated about 550 homes and killed at least four. The fires have taxed resources to capacity, and the state has filed for federal assistance several times since Perry’s declaration of a state disaster in April. Federal dollars are now coming in the way of seven grants and visits by FEMA to affected areas. Additional firefighters are also on the way after the Texas Forest Service requested help from outside agencies. Help is also expected from other areas of the state and from other states.

New jobs may be coming to Texas from an unlikely source: Mexico. Following the easing of punitive tariffs enacted by Mexico in 2009 against U.S.-made goods in response to a discontinuation of a cross-border trucking program, long-haul trucking companies in Mexico have applied to make deliveries into the U.S., and the Transportation Department has announced that two of them are close to gaining approval. The firms will be able to restore deliveries of American goods to the Mexican market, and a study has estimated this will bring about 12,000 jobs to the U.S.

Warren Chisum had it all planned out: He’d retire from the Texas Legislature and get himself appointed or elected to the Texas Railroad Commission. The seat that was up for grabs this spring, though, went to former Public Utility Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman, who’s replacing Michael Williams, now running for Congress. The other option was to run for the seat being vacated by Elizabeth Ames Jones, who’s running for Kay Bailey Hutchison’s U.S. Senate seat. The race is now looking a little more challenging for Chisum than anyone could have predicted: The latest entry in the race is Christi Craddick, daughter of the former speaker of the Texas House and an oil and gas attorney. Craddick is eligible for some or all of her father’s collected campaign funds, estimated at $1.2 million.

Texas A&M’s departure from the Big 12 did not go quite as smoothly as hoped. After receiving the blessing of the other members of the Big 12 to leave their conference and head to the Southeastern Conference next year, the Aggies found themselves under threat of legal action from one or more of the members of the Big 12. The SEC announced that the move would have to be put on hold until the objections could be addressed. No announcement was made revealing which of the Big 12 teams objected to A&M’s departure.

The Texas Police Chiefs Association was forced to take down its website to evaluate security after it was reportedly hacked. A group calling itself Anonymous reportedly hacked into the site and replaced the home page with a list of law enforcement officials whose email accounts had been hacked. The executive director of the association, James McLaughlin, acknowledged that the group had taken the site offline but insisted that it only lists names and contact information.

A remedial math pilot program at Texas State University will expand to 15 community colleges across the state, with funding of $1 million coming from Complete College America. The program addresses deficiencies in students’ math skills by offering remedial math and a college-level math course to students in the same semester. The program’s success rate has risen from 37 percent to 74 percent, and the hope is that similar results will be seen at community colleges.

After officially being taken under the wing of the Texas Land Office, the Alamo could soon get new leadership. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas has been overseeing the Alamo’s operations, but a bill passed during the legislative session gave authority to the Texas Land Office to negotiate a contract with the organization for day-to-day operations at the site. The Land Office has been publicly exploring re-establishing the role of an executive director to supervise the 100 or so employees currently employed at the landmark. 

A Catholic priest in El Paso is facing criticism from his diocese for creating several controversial advertisements that ran in the El Paso Times. The ads attacked homosexuality and tried to influence voters in a recall election involving the mayor and two City Council members. The priest, the Rev. Michael Rodriguez, insisted that he wrote the ads out of a moral obligation to oppose any form of support for civil unions or same-sex marriage, but the vicar general in the diocese, Anthony Celino, insisted that the Catholic Church cannot take a side in the political dispute and characterized the ads as the personal opinion of Rodriguez.

The state attorney general’s office announced that it hired a law firm on a contingency basis to assist with the state’s Medicaid fraud lawsuit against two large pharmaceutical companies earlier this year. Wright & Greenhill, a private firm, won the case with an award of $56.5 million but will keep $17.3 million as its fee. The firm is also in negotiations with a third drug company, in which it will earn roughly the same percentage of any award: one-third. The other states involved in the case against the drug companies used the public attorneys in their state offices and will get to keep all the money in their coffers. Attorney General Greg Abbott has contended that his staff of 698 lawyers was not enough to handle the litigation of the complex cases.

Officially, now: Former legislator, Railroad Commissioner and Comptroller John Sharp is the new chancellor at the Texas A&M University System, having sat as the apparent pick for the required 21 days. Now he's got a salary.

The Texas Democratic Party announced some new hires: Cindy Flint as primary and convention director, Brian Hodgdon as Texas VAN (Voter Activation Network) director, Rebekah Anthony as finance coordinator and Rebecca Acuña as deputy political director for base outreach. Flint served as director of administration at the Travis County Democratic Party and worked with the Texas Federation of Teachers. Hodgdon has served as a chief of staff in the Texas House and as policy director for the Texas House Democratic Caucus. Anthony worked as a political associate for the Angerholzer Team, a consulting firm. Acuña most recently served as communications director for Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston.

Linda Flores takes over as interim executive director at the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, replacing Edward Serna. She's been the agency's chief financial officer since April 2010, and worked a several state agencies and for the City of Corpus Christi before that. The board is conducting a search for the position.

Luis Gonzalez is the Department of Public Safety's new assistant director and chief of the Texas Highway Patrol, the first Hispanic to hold that job. He was a regional commander of a region that includes Austin, San Antonio and Waco. Duane Steen is the new regional commander for DPS's Region 2, which includes Houston, Beaumont and Bryan/College Station. Steen, with the agency since 1981, is the first African-American to serve as a regional commander for the DPS.

Kyle Kamrath is bailing on the Capitol to lobby for the Texas Apartment Association. He worked for Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, and for Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston.

Howard Baldwin will be he interim commissioner at the state's Department of Family and Protective Services, where Anne Heiligenstein is retiring. Baldwin is currently the interim chief at the Texas Department of Rural Affairs and worked at the attorney general's office and at the old Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, which became DFPS.

President Obama appointed Gregg Costa to be a federal judge in Galveston. He's an assistant U.S. Attorney and a former law clerk to the late William Rehnquist, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed Dr. Robert Schmidt of Aledo to the Texas Racing Commission. He's an orthopedic surgeon.

This initially slipped by us, but Jeff Boyd, who was the governor's general counsel, is now Perry's chief of staff. He replaces Ray Sullivan, who moved over to the governor's presidential campaign. The campaign, meanwhile, doled out some titles to people who've been over there for a few weeks, to wit: Rob Johnson, campaign manager; Deirdre Delisi, policy and strategy director; Wayne Hamilton, political director; Sullivan, communications director; Eric Bearse, deputy communications director; Mark Miner, national press secretary; Robert Black, travel press secretary; and Katherine Cessinger, state press director.