Vol 29, Issue 3 Print Issue

Gov. Rick Perry praying at The Response, a two-hour evangelical gathering in Greenville, S.C., on Jan. 17, 2012, resembling the massive prayer event of the same name Perry hosted in August 2011.
Gov. Rick Perry praying at The Response, a two-hour evangelical gathering in Greenville, S.C., on Jan. 17, 2012, resembling the massive prayer event of the same name Perry hosted in August 2011.

Perry Gives Up, Packs for Texas

Rick Perry's impulsive presidential campaign fell apart faster than a soggy taco shell. But he's not done with politics yet.

Perry campaign workers take down the final sign of Perry's presidential campaign at the Hyatt Place Hotel where he announced the suspension of his campaign on January 19, 2012.
Perry campaign workers take down the final sign of Perry's presidential campaign at the Hyatt Place Hotel where he announced the suspension of his campaign on January 19, 2012.

Campaign Chatter

Rick Perry wasn't even winning in his home state when he got out of the presidential race.

Map of TransCanada's Keystone and proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Map of TransCanada's Keystone and proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Guest Column: The Keystone XL Decision was Right

The pipeline would have been a disaster for our climate, the quality of the air we breathe, and critical water resources across our country. It would have deepened our dependence on dirty oil from Canada’s tar sands, producing catastrophic levels of global warming pollution.

Pipe sections in Illinois await crews to weld and bury them during construction in 2009. This segment of the $12 billion Keystone pipeline project has already been built; a proposed pipeline through Texas still awaits government permits.
Pipe sections in Illinois await crews to weld and bury them during construction in 2009. This segment of the $12 billion Keystone pipeline project has already been built; a proposed pipeline through Texas still awaits government permits.

Guest Column: The Keystone XL Decision was Wrong

Not only would Keystone XL have brought jobs to the United States, it would have bolstered our national security by bringing us almost one million barrels each day of secure, North American oil.

The Week in the Rearview Mirror

Texas Democrats settled a lawsuit over Republican funding of efforts to get the Green Party on the Texas ballot, but they won't reveal the details of the settlement. The deal came to light with this week's campaign finance filings; the Democrats reported receipt of a $210,000 check for "confidential litigation settlement." Their allegation was that Republican operatives schemed to get the Greens on the ballot to bleed votes from Democrats in close races.

El Paso, in the midst of a recall against its mayor and two City Council members, may have to change its election date for the second time. The city originally had to reschedule the May 12 election so that it wouldn’t conflict with a primary runoff date. Now that Texas has moved its primaries to April 3, El Paso’s April 14 election conflicts with that primary date. Until the federal courts lock down the state's primary date, officials in El Paso will have to wait to schedule theirs.

As college and universities opened their doors for the spring semester, students found themselves with a new requirement: Anyone under 30 enrolling or re-enrolling after a gap in attendance is now required to provide proof they've received a meningitis immunization in the last five years. Exceptions will be made for students who fill out a medical or conscience form, and schools have been granted a 10-day extension to allow time for everyone to comply.

Austin Energy has generated much publicity over the years for its environmentally conscious programs. But an analysis of the utility shows that the programs may not be financially viable enough to allow the utility to keep them in place without a significant rate hike. The report shows that costs have risen 24 percent between 2007 and 2010. Critics of the utility say that a system should be established to prioritize initiatives, while backers claim the utility needs to keep promoting green energy.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality announced $4.5 million in grants designed to encourage construction of natural gas vehicle fueling stations. The stations must be no more than three miles from interstate highways that connect Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth. Preferential treatment goes to stations that supply both liquefied and compressed natural gas at the same location.

The U.S. Border Patrol is ready to announce new and more comprehensive strategies in handling illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican border. Instead of returning people directly acrosse the border, offenders are more likely to be held in detention centers until they can be returned to a border crossing many miles away from where they were picked up. The intention is to separate them from the smugglers they’ve already paid to help them cross and prevent them from crossing again immediately.

Houston Independent School District is facing criticism and funding challenges as it tries to accommodate an unusually high number of gifted and talented students. The district has identified about 15.6 percent of its students as gifted and talented, far above the state average of 7.2 percent. Officials this summer discussed raising the district's standards to pare down the numbers but were shot down by district principals, who were concerned about scaling back the program.

Texas Parks and Wildlife’s shoot-to-kill policy for burros has come under fire again — this time with the help of the burros themselves. A group of protesters rode donkeys to the state Capitol to highlight the policy in Big Bend State Park that has seen about 130 burros killed since rangers resumed the practice in 2010. The Wild Burro Protection League dropped off more than 103,000 signatures protesting the practice; the state has argued that the burros are feral and upset the delicate ecosystem in Big Bend.

Political People and their Moves

Don Green, most recently an aide to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, is the new chief financial officer at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. He's a budget wizard and also served on the board of the Employee Retirement System of Texas as an employee representative.

Speaker Joe Straus appointed Michael Blue and William "Billy" Freed to the Texas Emerging Technology Advisory Committee, which oversees the state fund of that name. Blue is managing partner of Ernst & Young's Austin office. Freed is a principal at Nueces Marketing partners in San Antonio.

Straus appointed state Reps. Angie Chen Button, R-Garland, and John Davis, R-Houston, to the Select Committee on Economic Development, a panel that's looking at the state's economic incentives and policies before the legislative session that starts a year from now.

ERCOT's board elected Craven Crowell and Judy Walsh as chair and vice chair, respectively. Crowell was chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority for eight years; Walsh is a former Public Utility Commissioner. ERCOT (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas) operates the electric grid that covers most of the state.

UT Southwestern Medical Center named Dr. John Warner the CEO for their hospitals. He's an interventional cardiologist and was the assistant veep for hospital planning.