The Midday Brief: June 27, 2011

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "State Rep. Burt Solomons says at least one version of the contentious sanctuary cities bill will advance out of committee today, despite the morning cancellation of a House State Affairs meeting." — Sanctuary Cities Bill Clinging to Life

• "The Rick O'Donnell saga at the University of Texas System appears to have reached an end. Last week, under threat of a lawsuit, the system agreed to a settlement with the former adviser." — Rick O'Donnell, UT System Agree to Settlement

• "House lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the conference committee report for SB 7, an omnibus health reform bill loaded with amendments, some of them controversial. The conference committee report must first pass the Senate before it heads to the governor for a signature. " — House Passes Health Reform Bill, Loaded With Admendments

Your afternoon reading:

• "French cuffs and cowboy boots are, like sauerkraut ice cream, an eclectic combination, but Rick Perry, who wears both, is a potentially potent candidate for the Republican presidential nomination because his political creed is uneclectic, matching that of the Republican nominating electorate. He was a “10th Amendment conservative” before the Tea Party appeared. And before Barack Obama’s statism — especially Obamacare’s individual mandate — catalyzed concern for the American project of limited government." — Rick Perry: A Texan's 'exceptionalism', The Washington Post

• "As Texas’ Republican governor, Rick Perry, gets closer to deciding whether to enter the 2012 presidential race, it’s clear that his campaign would be about jobs. Texas has created by far the most jobs of any state since the recession ended in June 2009: 37% of all net new American jobs were created in Texas through April 2011, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve. But how much of that job creation is due to Perry?" — The Cracks in Rick Perry's Job-Growth Record, Time

• "Homeland Security officials misled the public and Congress last year in an effort to downplay a wave of immigration case dismissals in Houston and other cities amid accusations that they had created a 'back-door amnesty,' newly released records show." — Report: Feds downplayed ICE case dismissals, Houston Chronicle

• "The Transportation Security Administration stood by its security officers Sunday after a Florida woman complained that her cancer-stricken, 95-year-old mother was patted down and forced to remove her adult diaper while going through security." — TSA defends decision to remove elderly woman's diaper, CNN