The Midday Brief: Top Texas Headlines for April 4, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "Of course, this being the Texas Legislature, there was no shortage of bizarre and exciting moments on the floor. So, for those of you watching basketball or otherwise enjoying your weekend instead of sitting in the Capitol — here's what you missed." — The Budget Superlatives: The Best and Worst Moments of the Budget Debate, The Texas Observer

• "A bitter, behind-the-scenes fight has broken out among Texas Republicans over redistricting, pitting Rep. Lamar Smith against longtime colleague Rep. Joe Barton." — Lamar Smith, Joe Barton in Texas map dust-up, Politico

• "There are 115 electoral votes in the Toss-up column. A few states to keep an eye on THIS year when it comes to the Obama campaign: AZ, GA, and TX. All three are long shots, but all three showed significant population gains for minorities in the last 10 years. And the campaign is going to attempt to at least experiment with organizing in these three states to see if any of them are worth truly battling for when the calendar turns from 2011 to 2012." — Texas One of Three States to Watch in 2012 Race, MSNBC

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "Texas laws more strictly regulate euthanasia of animals than the lethal injection of death row inmates, according to a report released Sunday by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University Law School." — ACLU: Texas Law Protects Lizards More Than Humans

• For our most recent TribLive conversation, Evan Smith interviewed state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, about gambling, how Democrats can regain their mojo and whether being black and being Republican are incompatible. — TribLive: Thompson on Gambling, Race and the Democrats