The Midday Brief: Top Texas Headlines for April 12, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "The House gave unanimous final approval Tuesday to a proposal by Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, and Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, to allow private citizens launched into space from Texas to sign a special waiver of liability." — Space flight bill wins House approval, heads to governor, Trail Blazers

• "Legislation designed to crackdown on the shadowy criminal world of forced labor and forced-sex trade is on its way to Gov. Rick Perry for a signature, legislative leaders said this morning." — Human-trafficking bill on way to governor, Postcards

• "The demand is high for answers at the call center set up for people whose personal data was left unprotected on a Texas Comptroller’s Office public server. Some people have reported waiting for as long as an hour before speaking to someone." — Data breach call center getting high volume, Postcards

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "The state’s two leading anti-abortion groups — Texas Right to Life and Texas Alliance for Life — agree on where life begins, but not on how it may come to an end. Their disagreement on Texas' end-of-life care law marks a rare division for the two organizations, who have worked side by side on abortion sonogram legislation and cuts to family planning this session." — Anti-Abortion Groups Disagree on End-Of-Life Legislation

• "To avoid government shutdown, congressional Democrats agreed to repeal an amendment that would have prohibited Texas from using federal funds to replace, rather than supplement, state funding of schools." — Doggett Amendment on Federal Education Money Repealed