The Midday Brief: December 15, 2009

Your afternoon reading:

• O'Rourke said he will finish his term on City Council. He made the announcement after the council broke for lunch on Tuesday. — Beto O'Rourke says he will not challenge U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes — El Paso Times

• “According to a report released this month by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in Washington, D.C., students often encounter a 'depressing litany of barriers' to justice, with university officials more interested in keeping things quiet than in helping victims.” — Secrecy clouds picture of sexual assault — San Antonio Express-News

• “He said the billion-dollar label is justified because in recent months, he and his investors “were offered $1 billion for the company and I turned it down. I don’t want to sell the company.” — Houston hair-products bigwig Farouk Shami throws hat into Texas governor's race — The Dallas Morning News  

• “Reconciliation means that a simple majority, and not 60 votes, would be needed to pass the bill in the Senate. Senate Democratic leaders have been resisting that approach for fear of igniting GOP retaliation.” — Sheila Jackson Lee unloads on Joe Lieberman — Texas on the Potomac

• “The website ProPublica has a report on the TARP bailout that suggests the mammoth lending program will not turn out to be a fiasco for the taxpayers after all.” — Was KBH right on TARP after all? — BurkaBlog

• “The suit, filed Monday in federal court in Pecos, claims that the act violates elected officials' First Amendment free speech rights by preventing elected officials from speaking in public or private on issues facing the public.” — Texas towns file lawsuit against Open Meetings Act — Houston Chronicle

New in The Texas Tribune:

• “After announcing he'll drop his bid for governor and run for agriculture commissioner, Kinky Friedman talked with Ben Philpott about his decision to change races — and his unsuccessful attempt to get rival candidate Farouk Shami to seek a different office as well.” — Kinky on Getting Out — The Texas Tribune

• “The inflamed immigration rhetoric of the past couple of years has waned, but a report the National Conference of State Legislatures released today shows that state lawmakers still have passion for the issue.” — TribBlog: Less Vitriol, More Laws on Immigration — The Texas Tribune 

• “At issue? Whether a measure lawmakers passed in 1999 banning winners from “selling off” their final two lottery payments to finance companies violates the state’s own commercial code.” — Legal Lottery — The Texas Tribune