The Midday Brief: Nov. 23, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• "Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, has been identified as the Texas legislator who threatened colleagues if they didn't support House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio." — Phillips identified as 'threat' source, Texas Politics

• "With the jury in the Tom DeLay money-laundering trial struggling with how to apply Texas’ money-laundering law, the judge overseeing the former U.S. House majority leader’s trial just told jurors they will have to figure it out themselves." — Judge to DeLay jury: Figure it out, Postcards

• "A legislatively mandated study of what Texas would do if the national Medicaid health program for the poor were abolished — or federal matching money to states were slashed — will examine how the state might improve its existing Medicaid or scrap it, Health and Human Services Commission chief Tom Suehs said today." — Study of Texas without a Medicaid program is 'looking at all options,' says social services czar, Trail Blazers

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "In a House Ethics Committee meeting Tuesday, state Rep. Chuck Hopson, R-Jacksonville, revealed that state Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, is the man behind an alleged threat that lawmakers who fail to support Speaker Joe Straus for re-election could face retribution through redistricting. Hopson named Phillips before the panel went into a closed executive session to discuss the allegation." — Video: House Ethics Panel Meets on Speaker's Race Threats