The Evening Brief: Aug. 31, 2012

Culled:

• Obama to troops: We're stronger, Defense cuts not my fault: (Politico) “Obama’s remarks here – technically an official event but with tinges of the foreign policy message he touts on the campaign trail – come the day after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention, where GOP rival Mitt Romney and others charged that Obama has made the nation weaker.”

• Judges: Redistricting maps will remain unchanged for November election: (Houston Chronicle) “A panel of three federal judges in San Antonio announced Friday afternoon that the November 6 election would continue as scheduled under the current maps, even though a panel of judges in Washington D.C. tossed redistricting maps passed by the Texas Legislature, which were the basis of the maps the state is now using.

• Mexico electoral court upholds Peña Nieto victory: (Fox News) “The TEPJF electoral tribunal's seven justices presented separate arguments Thursday against the legal challenge brought by the Progressive Movement coalition against the victory by the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.”

• Court papers say former El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos took cash bribes: (El Paso Times) “Recently filed federal court documents allege former El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos was bribed with envelopes of cash for his support of a county contract that was supposed to help mentally ill children.”

• Former legislative aide pleads not guilty in hit and run: (Austin American-Statesman) “Former legislative staffer Gabrielle Nestande, accused of leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run accident in Tarrytown in May 2011, pleaded not guilty to the charge during a brief court appearance this morning, said her lawyer Perry Minton.”

• Body of Sherman Hemsley to be refrigerated until a West Texas court rules on validity of will: (Associated Press) “The embalmed body of actor Sherman Hemsley, who became famous for his role as television’s George Jefferson, will be kept in refrigeration at an El Paso funeral home until a local court rules on the validity of his will.”