Vol 28, Issue 48 Print Issue

Voting signs in Austin during the 2010 election cycle.
Voting signs in Austin during the 2010 election cycle.

Splitsville

If you can't hold congressional and legislative primaries on March 6 — because you don't have maps in time — what happens next?

Craig James, ESPN Analyst, SMU All American, one half of the Pony Express at SMU with Eric Dickerson, announces a Team Texas draft pick
Craig James, ESPN Analyst, SMU All American, one half of the Pony Express at SMU with Eric Dickerson, announces a Team Texas draft pick

Campaign Chatter

The latest from the campaign trail, an election this week, and a few interesting new candidates.

The Week in the Rearview Mirror

This is our last issue of 2011. Texas Weekly will return in early January, after a two-week break. Happy holidays! See you in 2012!

Comptroller Susan Combs says the shortfall in the current budget might not be quite as severe as predicted. Tax revenue for the year is now projected to be $1.6 billion more than lawmakers counted on, and can be used to restore some of the deep cuts made based on lower projections. Combs’ predictions for revenue increases are conservative; she’s promised to revise the numbers in August if necessary.

Automatic, across-the-board budget cuts will force about 200 job losses at El Paso's Fort Bliss. The Defense Department announced that it would proceed with the cuts that were put in place by the Budget Control Act, which was passed when Congress was scrambling to raise the debt ceiling. Officials tried to downplay the impact of the cuts on the base, saying the effect on the local economy would be negligible.

Controversy at the University of Texas School of Law escalated this week, resulting in the resignation of the school’s dean, Larry Sager. Sager said that UT President Bill Powers asked him to step down after it was revealed that he was granted a $500,000 forgivable loan by the law school’s foundation, said to be a common practice at the law school. The faculty had grown dissatisfied with Sager’s leadership, and a rift had developed between the dean and the president, who claimed he was unaware of the payment to Sager. 

The fate of Texas’ Women’s Health Program is unclear after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rejected the state’s request to operate the program while excluding certain service providers. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission was directed by lawmakers to ask that providers offering abortions be excluded, the largest being Planned Parenthood. But the federal agency wouldn’t agree, saying that it would violate the Social Security Act. Federal officials extended the current program for three more months to give themselves and state officials time to work out a compromise. Advocates of the services fear that Texas will cancel the program altogether, leaving thousands of women with no reproductive health care, including breast and cervical cancer screenings.

Consistently high ozone levels in North Texas prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to issue new rules in North Texas that expand the area monitored for smog-producing chemicals. The Dallas-Fort Worth area has violated federal air-quality standards 32 days so far this year, and the volatile organic compounds emitted in the natural gas drilling in the area are suspected to be one cause of the increase in ozone. State officials can add this to the list of disputes they currently have with EPA. Gov. Rick Perry wrote a letter requesting that no action be taken to expand the North Texas area from the current nine-county configuration but was overridden by the agency’s regional administrator, Al Armendariz.

License plates drew attention for the second time in recent months as the Department of Motor Vehicles approved one specialty plate and was sued for rejecting another. The department's governing board approved a specialty plate known as the Calvary Hill plate, featuring three crosses with the slogan “One State Under God.” Last month, the same board unanimously rejected a plate that featured the Confederate battle flag. Now the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the group that pushed for the plate, is suing the state in federal court, asking that the decision be overturned. The group has been successful in other states.

Political People and their Moves

Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, announced Texas House appointments to the Joint Interim Committee to Study the Development of a Cruise Industry. Straus appointed Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, as co-chair. Committee members include Rep. Gary Elkins, R-Houston; Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City; Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-Brownsville; and Rep. Connie Scott, R-Robstown.

UH System Chancellor Renu Khator named Eloise Dunn Stuhr to serve as vice president and vice chancellor for University Advancement at the University of Houston and UH System. Stuhr has worked for Vanderbilt and Penn State, and has served in leadership roles at health care organizations and as a fundraising consultant to major universities, including Ohio State University.

The Texas State Securities Board named John Morgan the new Texas Securities Commissioner, replacing Benette L. Zivley, who resigned last month. Morgan was deputy commissioner for 14 years before retiring from state employment in February.