The Evening Brief: April 5, 2012

New in The Texas Tribune:

• Santorum Backers Push to Make Texas Primary a Winner-Take-All Affair: "Supporters of Rick Santorum want to change the rules for the state's presidential primary so the winner gets all the delegates that are up for grabs. They say they have enough support to force an emergency meeting of the State Republican Executive Committee. But there are numerous hurdles beyond that step."

• Stewart Rogers: The TT Interview: "The manager of a West Texas farm on the oddities of crop insurance, why all the farmers near Lubbock want to grow cotton and why West Texans don't believe in climate change despite the drought and weird weather."

Culled:

• State's redistricting legal tab nearing $1M (San Antonio Express-News): "As Attorney General Greg Abbott fights for the GOP-championed redistricting plan, Texas taxpayers are spending big money on outside lawyers to help the state's case. So far, the tally for outside counsel in the redistricting battle is more than three-quarters of a million dollars, according to records released to the San Antonio Express-News under the Public Information Act. That includes bills paid plus amounts that the state has agreed to pay."

• Paul can still draw a crowd (CNN): "Ron Paul can still deliver large crowds, despite a trailing delegate count and single digit national and state-wide polling figures. And his campaign is making sure the media is aware. The Republican presidential candidate drew an approximately 5,800 person crowd at a campaign rally at the University of Los Angeles Wednesday night, according to a press release from the Texas congressman's campaign."

• Rick Perry declines to discuss whether he and GOP should rally around Mitt Romney (The Dallas Morning News): "Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday declined to say whether it was time for him and other Republicans to support Mitt Romney for president. Perry was touring tornado ravaged Lancaster when I slipped past the news cameras, ducked out of view of Perry press secretary Catherine Frazier and asked the governor whether it was time for him to get behind Romney. Perry has endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for president. 'I'm going to pass on that one,' Perry said with a grin."

• Petition Launched To Reinstate Trayvon Martin Cartoonist Stephanie Eisner At Daily Texan (The Texas Observer): "Stephanie Eisner—a cartoonist at The Daily Texan fired because of an incendiary cartoon she drew last week depicting the killing of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin—has found some support in the form of a petition being circulated online on her behalf. The petition, spearheaded by University of Texas graduate student and former Daily Texan Columnist Samian Quazi, calls for the paper to reinstate Ms. Eisner as cartoonist, but at the time of this writing it had garnered only 181 out of the targeted 5000 signatures."

• Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee pressing for bullet train between Houston and Dallas (Houston Chronicle): Officials in Japan and South Korea are telling Houston-area Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee that they are interested in helping Texas build a high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas. The Houston Democrat said the foreign officials described their interest to her during an official congressional visit to Japan, South Korea and China. 'This is absolutely the right direction America should be moving toward,' said Jackson Lee, who traveled between Osaka and Tokyo on Japan’s world famous high speed rail system."