The Midday Brief: Jan. 20, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "Tune in Thursday to Comedy Central for the Daily Show and some making-fun of Texas. John Oliver, one of the fake news show’s correspondents, was in Austin yesterday taping a segment that is tentatively scheduled for Thursday night." — Daily Show comes to Austin, Postcards

• "Gov. Rick Perry has replaced an original member of the Emerging Technology Fund’s advisory committee who was a subject last year of a Texas Rangers investigation into a stock deal with the tech fund’s former director." — Perry replaces technology fund adviser who was subject of Rangers investigation, The Dallas Morning News

• "U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) spoke on the House floor Wednesday and attacked his fellow members of Congress for having previously ignored the Constitution. He praised the increased attention that the country’s bedrock document has received with the new prominence of tea party groups, but noted that his colleagues in the government have employed the Constitution as a living document to fit their legislative goals." — Ron Paul takes to House floor to disparage colleagues for ignoring Constitution, The Texas Independent

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Today, Gov. Rick Perry added two more issues — voter ID legislation and a call for a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget — to his list of 'emergency items' that state legislators can begin deliberating on right away." — Perry Declares More Emergency Items, Including Voter ID

• "In a case that could directly affect Texas' planned budget cuts, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether states have the legal right to reduce the rates they pay to health care providers who accept Medicaid patients." — High Court to Decide if States Can Cut Medicaid Rates