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.