The Midday Brief: Nov. 28, 2011

New in The Texas Tribune:

• "The state's lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop elections under court-ordered redistricting maps, arguing today that the federal judges who drew the maps improperly disregarded the wishes of the Legislature." — Texas Asks Supreme Court to Stop Court-Ordered Maps

• "Hoping to get more effective cancer drugs into the hands of patients, state leaders announced the creation of a new cancer research institute in Houston this morning." — Updated: UT Cancer Institute Focuses on Drug Research

• "The ever-expanding suburbs of San Antonio have created light, noise and endangered species challenges for Camp Bullis, where all military medics train. Bullis says it is solving its problems. But other bases around Texas are also facing an array of encroachment issues, including endangered species and energy development." — Military Bases Battle Encroachment of Cities

Your afternoon reading:

• "Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who charged Republican presidential primary rival Newt Gingrich with proposing 'amnesty' for certain illegal immigrants, took a nearly identical position in a 2006 Bloomberg interview, saying some foreigners who entered the U.S. illegally should be allowed to remain and gain legal status." — Romney Backed Immigration Stance He Now Deems ‘Amnesty,' Bloomberg
  

• "An apparent effort to craft a unified Republican caucus endorsement among several of Iowa’s social-conservative advocacy groups and evangelical pastors began last Monday, but its prospects already appear uncertain." — Iowa’s social conservatives mull unified endorsement, Des Moines Register
  

• "Texas Gov. Rick Perry is making his second foray into late night comedy this week, agreeing to appear Thursday on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno." — Rick Perry to appear on Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday, Houston Chronicle