The Midday Brief: Dec. 17, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• "Texas employers expanded payrolls by 19,100 jobs in November, but the state unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent the previous month, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday." — Texas unemployment rate rises even with added jobs, The Dallas Morning News

• "The Texas Department of Public Safety is warning Texans to avoid traveling to Mexico during the holidays." — Texas urges holiday travelers to avoid Mexico, The Associated Press

• "State Rep. Larry Taylor will get much of the information he requested about Hurricane Ike insurance settlements for homeowners represented by Houston lawyer Steve Mostyn, one of the state's biggest Democratic donors." — Taylor-Mostyn hurricane records dispute resolved, Austin American-Statesman

• "A Dallas lawmaker whose predecessor went to federal prison for fraud said today he will seek to change state law to strip pensions and benefits from corrupt legislators who are convicted of felonies." — Johnson: Strip pensions from felon lawmakers, Postcards

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Disability rights advocates will file a class-action lawsuit on Monday, alleging that Texas leaders have violated the Americans with Disabiltiies Act by confining some 4,500 Texans with disabilities in nursing homes." — Advocates Filing Suit Over Disabled In Nursing Homes

• "Every politician needs a villain. George W. Bush had Saddam Hussein; Barack Obama had George W. Bush. Gov. Rick Perry has the EPA., which has had the audacity to order Texas to do more to clean its air." — For Rick Perry, EPA Is Useful Villain