The Midday Brief: Oct. 6, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• "Comptroller Susan Combs just announced the state collected $1.57 billion in sales tax last month, up by nearly 7 percent from a year earlier." — Sales tax numbers finally moving up, Trail Blazers

• "A state budget deficit and broadcasters with budget woes of their own could kill a plan to televise the House proceedings next year. But Rep. Joaquin Castro's not giving up yet." — Cost, lack of cooperation threaten effort to broadcast Texas House sessions, Texas Watchdog

• "If money talks, some said social media screams." — White leads in Facebook followers, KXAN

• "Just a month before the November election, Eric Celeste has left his job as spokesman for the Craig Watkins campaign." — Communication director leaves Watkins campaign, Trail Blazers

• "Cities in North Texas and beyond face their worst budget problems in a quarter-century, with little light at the end of the tunnel, a new National League of Cities survey has found." — National survey shows bleak budget outlook for cities in Dallas-Fort Worth, beyond, The Dallas Morning News

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Republican Gov. Rick Perry leads Democratic challenger Bill White by 5 percent in a new poll." — Texas Lyceum Poll Puts Perry Up By 5