The Midday Brief: Top Texas Headlines for March 18, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "Look for National Review to have a cover story on Rick Perry. The issue isn't on the stands yet, but it's a very bullish profile that paints Perry as a principled advocate of states rights and a real conservative." — Rick Perry: National Review cover boy, Trail Blazers

• "The piece plainly suggests that Perry should carry his message into the 2012 presidential campaign. And at the top of the story, Perry suggests more than he usually does that he has considered that himself, but doesn’t think he could win because of the fresh memory of another Texas governor in the White House." — Perry hints to National Review why he’s not running in 2012, Postcards

• "Melissa Clouthier’s Wednesday post on the widely read conservative blog took Rick Perry and Texas Republicans to task for being soft on budget cuts and the use of the Rainy Day Fund." — RedState.com to Texas Republicans: “Grow a spine," BurkaBlog

• "Policy experts from two national higher education organizations are expressing skepticism about the 'breakthrough solutions' proposed by a conservative think tank and being considered at Texas universities. They say the reforms — aimed at improving universities’ accountability, productivity and transparency — do little to address the real challenges facing Texas institutions, namely, educating the state’s growing low-income and minority population." — National higher ed experts skeptical of ‘breakthrough solutions’ from conservative Texas think tank, The Texas Independent

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "The Hispanic Republican Conference has thrown its weight behind the controversial voter ID legislation slated to hit the House floor next week." — Hispanic Republicans Back Voter ID

• "Anyone in the habit of calling state legislators has probably had the pleasure and/or pain of the hold music to which staffers must occasionally subject them. Is the music the lawmaker's choice, or is it out of his or her hands?" — Texplainer: Do Capitol Offices Select Their Own Hold Music?