The Evening Brief: Sept. 10, 2012

New in The Texas Tribune:

•   Perry Spreads the Word About Texas in Northern Italy: "Rick Perry is talking up Texas in Italy. The Texas governor gave an update in a conference call from Milan, telling reporters he's seen a Formula One race and met government and business leaders in posh Lake Como."

•   Spanish-Language Debate Scheduled in CD-23 Race: "U.S. Rep. Francisco 'Quico' Canseco, R-San Antonio, and his challenger in Texas' 23rd Congressional District, state Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, will debate on Sept. 25 — in Spanish."

•   UT-Austin Announces New Engineering Research Center: "It has been more than two decades since a Texas university was selected to lead one of the National Science Foundation's prestigious engineering research centers, but the University of Texas at Austin has broken the streak."

•   District Attorneys' Report: Prosecutor Misconduct is Exceedingly Rare: "The state association that represents prosecutors reviewed 91 cases in which Innocence Project researchers identified prosecutor error or misconduct. The organization concluded there were actually only six cases of misconduct."

•   Considering Death Row for Organ Donation: "Recovering organs from willing convicted murderers may seem like a reasonable method to reduce the organ waiting list, but the proposal is fraught with challenges that make it unlikely to ever be an option."

•   Oil and Gas Boom Makes Districts Rich but Uneasy: "Booming oil and gas production in the Eagle Ford Shale play has made property values soar — a sudden, surprising and sometimes stressful boon to some of the state's poorest school districts. Some districts that used to get money from the state and soon will be sending money to Austin for distribution to areas that aren't as well off."

Culled:

•   DNC still pushing Julian Castro — online (Politico): "Following his keynote address to the Democratic convention last week in Charlotte, some users searching for San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro’s speech on Google will find a promoted link to video of the speech on the Democratic convention website. … 'If a candidate is running a smart digital operation, they’re taking advantage of their time on the national stage,' said Vincent Harris, a GOP digital consultant who runs digital strategy for clients like Texas GOP Senate candidate Ted Cruz. 'This only comes once every four years and these candidates certainly should take advantage of the stage before the national audience.' Cruz, for example, bought ads pegged to searches around his name on Google on the day of the candidate’s Republican convention speech in Tampa, and kept the ads online for 24 hours afterwards."

•   Weighing GOP goals vs. women's health (San Antonio Express-News): "Republican Rep. Sarah Davis discounts the Democrats' idea of a GOP war on women even as the breast-cancer survivor ventures onto the frontlines of Texas' battle over women's health."

•   Number of ‘Robin Hood’ schools keeps growing (Houston Chronicle): "A record number of Texas school districts are now considered property wealthy and required to share their local tax revenue with the state under the so-called 'Robin Hood' plan. A total of 374 school districts will be required to share their property wealth during the 2012-2013 school year, including 23 school districts appearing on that list for the first time, according to the Texas Education Agency."