A surprise inspection of the jails in Houston has precipitated a new crisis for Harris County. Inspectors from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards found severe overcrowding in holding cells and a lack of jailers to supervise them. The county has found itself struggling to fill the gap since a hiring freeze was instituted in March and has increasingly relied on paying overtime to remaining staff. But now that citations have been issued, the county has 30 days to submit a plan to fix the problem or face state sanctions.

Rain should be in the weather category, but in Texas this year, it’s news. Texas saw its first significant rainfall in the midst of the worst one-year drought on record. Some areas of the state received more than five inches and faced flooding issues. But the totals weren’t nearly enough to make up for the rain that hasn’t fallen throughout the year, and most of Texas remains in the category of “exceptional drought.”

Asked to comment on the newly reinstated shoot-to-kill policy regarding burros in Big Bend State Park, Gov. Rick Perry declared his support for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The department posted a fact sheet on its website in support of the re-instituted policy, which has resulted in the shooting of about 50 burros since last year. But an online petition has been circulated by critics, who claim the policy is meant to satisfy wealthy hunters.

A job-training program in San Antonio designed to help low-income students gain skills has come under fire from a state official. Tom Pauken, chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission, criticized a federal grant to the city-funded program Project Quest and called the organization an activist organization. Officials at the program cited their results as proof of the program's success, with 90 percent of the graduates of their program going on to find jobs averaging an annual salary of $38,000. But Pauken said the program, which was reported to be over $700,000 in debt this summer, is ineffective and only serves partisan aims.

A budget-cutting idea for the state prison system is proving popular with some inmates. Foreign citizens are eligible for release from Texas prisons — with the caveat that they be deported. An estimated 11,500 prisoners are among the state’s 154,000 prisoners, and if they were all sent home, the state could save more than $200 million. As convicts rush to plead their cases, state parole board officials say they haven’t had a chance to establish standards or procedures for the new program.

Galveston County will have to wait a little longer to get a $3 million settlement from the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. The settlement was negotiated by state Rep. Craig Eiland’s law firm and would have netted the county $3.065 million to settle its Hurricane Ike-related claims. But two county commissioners’ objections to Eiland’s involvement in the case have delayed Galveston’s ability to lay claim to the money. The commissioners object to Eiland’s fee of $1.885 million, claiming that his roles as state representative and member of the state insurance committee give him an unfair advantage in charging for his services. Other commission members didn’t see it that way, saying that the time for negotiation was before the contract with Eiland was signed.

Claiming that the current funding system is unfair, a coalition of school districts, parents and taxpayers has sued the state. The Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition is expected to be the first of several groups to file suit against the state after the Legislature failed to address school funding formulas in the spring session and slashed more than $4 billion from public education. Over the last 40 years, the state has been sued six times over such inequities, and the current system has been decried as a patchwork solution cobbled together as a result of previous lawsuits and tax restructuring. More groups are expected to join in the legal action.

After oceanographer John Anderson and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality were unable to come to an agreement concerning an article he had written, the two sides agreed that the article would not be published. The TCEQ had contracted for a series of 10 articles on the state of Galveston Bay, but when Anderson’s report made reference to man-made climate changes and rising sea levels, the agency wanted him to change it.  Anderson accused the TCEQ of politicizing the issue and not representing scientific opinion and review. When he refused to make the requested changes, the agency opted to delete the article. Anderson agreed with that decision, saying he’d rather not see it published with the deletions requested by the agency.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed Ted Houghton, owner of Houghton Financial Partners of El Paso, to be the new chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, replacing Deirdre Delisi, who went to work on the presidential campaign.

J.P. Urrabazo joined Longbow Partners, an Austin-based lobby firm. He headed state relations for CenterPoint Energy and before that worked for Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston.

Lawyer and lobster Royce Poinsett is joining the government relations group at Baker Botts. He was most recently at McGinnis Lochridge & Kilgore and worked for former Speaker Tom Craddick and for Gov. Rick Perry before that.

Eagle Pass Mayor Ramsey Cantu is the new chairman of the Texas Border Coalition, and the next in line — the chairman-elect — is McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez.