The Evening Brief: March 22, 2012

New in The Texas Tribune:

• Santorum Vows Vigorous Fight for Texas: "Rick Santorum promised Thursday in San Antonio to mount a vigorous campaign to win the Texas primary, saying the state could help him 'reset' the race. 'I’m going to spend a lot of time in Texas. This is an important state for us,' Santorum told reporters after holding a town hall meeting at the USAA insurance company in San Antonio. 'We’re going to keep coming. People are very hospitable to us.'"

• Hutchison Urges Perry to Reconsider Health Program: "U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison broke ranks from her party on Thursday to urge Gov. Rick Perry — her opponent in the 2010 Texas governor's race — to re-negotiate with the Obama administration to keep federal funding for the Medicaid Women's Health Program. In an appearance on MSNBC's The Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd, Hutchison said Texas 'can't keep turning back federal funds that every state gets and then try to find money in our budget which is already being cut in key areas like education.'"

• Perry All Clear to Create Super PAC, Bring Funds Home: "Gov. Rick Perry and his now dormant presidential campaign committee, RickPerry.Org Inc., are in the clear to create a new PAC or Super PAC with the remaining primary funds, or funnel those contributions to Perry’s Texas committee."

• Interactive: Mapping Women's Reproductive Health in Texas: "Texas women’s reproductive rights have drawn attention lately over the federal government's decision to cut funding for the state’s Women’s Health Program. Use this interactive to see just how many pregnancies, births and abortions occur across the Lone Star State."

Culled:

• Was abortion politics behind the firing of a former Dallas radio journalist? (The Dallas Morning News): "The firing of a Houston radio journalist with a reputation for reporting both sides of issues has stirred questions about whether the reporter was the victim of abortion politics. Scott Braddock, who formerly worked at KRLD in Dallas, was dismissed by the new all-news station KROI in Houston. Braddock's bosses won't talk about it. But the Quorum Report notes that Braddock was fired after broadcasting an interview with an Austin woman forced to undergo three sonograms in a single day under the state's anti-abortion law."