The Evening Brief: Oct. 22, 2012

New in The Texas Tribune:

•   At Trial, Lawyers for Districts Argue School Funding System is Broken: "In a Travis County courtroom on Monday morning, lawyers for school districts attacked the way Texas funds public education, calling the system 'hopelessly broken' and arguing that it was so inefficient that it violated the state's Constitution."

•   Bill Clinton to Stump for Gallego in San Antonio: "Former President Bill Clinton is coming to Texas this week to stump for state Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Francisco 'Quico' Canseco, R-San Antonio, the Gallego campaign has announced."

•   New Third-Party Ad Attacks Gallego in CD-23: "The Congressional Leadership Fund started a TV ad attacking Democrat Pete Gallego in his CD-23 race against U.S. Rep. Francisco "Quico" Canseco, R-San Antonio. The group said it will spend more than $1 million in that swing district."

•   Libertarian U.S. Senate Candidate Myers Releases TV Ad: "Libertarian John Jay Myers, a candidate for U.S. Senate, released a TV ad emphasizing his anti-war and pro-gay-marriage views."

•   Aide's Talk About 2014 May Benefit Perry in 2013: "When Ken Armbrister, chief legislative aide to Gov. Rick Perry, said last week that Perry had told him he was going to run for re-election in 2014, Armbrister may have done his boss a favor."

Culled:

•   Straus creates House manufacturing committee (Austin American-Statesman): "Texas House Speaker Joe Straus on Monday created a committee dedicated to improving manufacturing in Texas. Straus ordered members of the Interim Committee on Manufacturing to collect other committees’ recommendations and come up with new strategies for bettering the sector in the state."

•   CNN Airs a Bizarre Hit Piece on Julian Castro (The Texas Observer): "On Friday, CNN ran a seven-minute segment blasting San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro for supporting a solar power deal with OCI Solar, a South Korean company. The piece has a lot of folks who follow the solar industry scratching their heads, myself included."