The Midday Brief: Feb. 2, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "Gov. Rick Perry has landed a keynote slot next week at CPAC 2011 — the Conservative Political Action Conference, a three-day annual confab created by the American Conservative Union to showcase talent and rally the troops." — Gov. Rick Perry heads to CPAC next week for keynote to conservatives, Trail Blazers

• "Speaker Joe Straus won't make committee assignments until next week, according to a reliable source. … By taking the normal amount of time to select committees, Straus puts the House a few weeks behind the Senate in bringing up to speed members of its budget-writing committee. It remains to be seen if House Appropriations' late start will accrue to the advantage of Senate negotiators. But it might." — House committee assignments: next week, Trail Blazers

• "Texas senators, still a bit edgy about whether security at the domed Statehouse is tight enough, huddled behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss what else can be done — even after several million dollars have been spent making the Capitol secure." — Senators uneasy about new Capitol security measures, Austin American-Statesman

• "On Super Bowl Sunday, a few fans like to relax with a few adult beverages as they watch the big game. But with the big game being played in Texas, a national spotlight is being shined on the peculiar Texas law that prohibits the state's 2,460 package liquor stores from selling alcohol on Sundays." — Super Bowl highlights super dispute about Sunday sales at Texas liquor stores, Texas on the Potomac

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Last week, a group of mostly conservative-leaning education leaders — including former University of Texas System Board of Regents chair Charles Miller and House Public Education Chair Rob Eissler — gathered in the Austin for a forum entitled "Improving Productivity in Public Education." Former U.S. Secretaries of Education Rod Paige and Margaret Spellings under President George W. Bush took time to discuss the state's looming budget cuts, the Bush legacy, President Obama, and what should change in public education." — Paige & Spellings: The TT Interview

• "If there's one thing that politicians are good at, it's talking. And chubbing is a kind of talking that's used to stall legislation in the Texas House. While state representatives do have the power to talk something to death, this session it will be harder to do than in the past." — Texplainer: What is Chubbing?