The Midday Brief: May 5, 2011

Your afternoon reading:

• "President Barack Obama will visit the El Paso area on Tuesday before heading to Austin that afternoon, a White House official confirmed Thursday." — Obama will visit El Paso before Tuesday stop in Austin, Postcards

• "The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation has launched a series of ads, some which will appear in the Dallas area, to shore up support for the budget passed by Republicans in the House and Senate." — Conservative public policy group launches ads pushing budget cuts, Trail Blazers

• "The Down Syndrome Association of Central Texas is asking the House to make a late change to the sonogram bill because it would allow women to opt out of the pre-abortion procedure if the fetus has an 'irreversible medical condition or abnormality.'" — Down syndrome group seeks change in sonogram bill, Postcards

• "Don't let the headlines fool you. While the Senate and House have both passed versions of the budget, the debate is far from over. That's because both budgets rely on major cuts to public education, and those cuts are contingent on new bills getting passed. If a school finance bill doesn't pass, the budgets don't balance." — School Finance: The Democrats' Last Chance to Stop the Budget, The Texas Observer

• "In an unmarked office building in this ranching town, among thousands of Revolution-era documents and two muskets with bayonets, David Barton might seem like a quirky history buff. But the true ambition of this slender man in cowboy boots is to use America’s past to remake its future, and he has the ear of several would-be presidents." — Using History to Mold Ideas on the Right, The New York Times

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "A bill to merge Texas' two state juvenile justice agencies is headed to the governor for a signature." — Juvenile Justice Merger Heads to Governor

• "Some of the thousands of untested rape kits lining evidence storage room shelves statewide would finally get testing under a bill the Texas Senate approved today." — Senate Approves Rape Kit Testing Bill