The Evening Brief: Aug. 12, 2013

New in The Texas Tribune:

Order Blocking District's CSCOPE Use Gets High-Profile Praise: "A group of plaintiffs in the Llano Independent School District has obtained a court order banning the use of CSCOPE lessons until those lessons get State Board of Education approval."

Ian Brownlee: The TT Interview: "The U.S. consul general in Ciudad Juárez on whether the war in Juárez is over, what the U.S. is doing to help and what the next few months in the border city will be like leading up to the shift in power from one administration to another."

In Video, Smitherman Calls for "Conservative Crusade" Against Obama, EPA: "Railroad Commission Chairman and Texas attorney general candidate Barry Smitherman released a new campaign video in which he promises to protect Texans against the "job-killing policies" of the Obama administration and the EPA."

Kathy Walt Returns to Team Perry: "Kathy Walt is returning to the Capitol to become Gov. Rick Perry’s chief of staff, the governor’s office announced Monday."

Culled: 

Jury given time amid rapid pace of Fort Hood trial (Associated Press): "Testimony has been moving so quickly during the military trial of the soldier accused in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage that the judge decided to give jurors extra time on Monday in between witnesses to finish their notes."

Analysis: Ted Cruz turning into Rick Perry’s worst nightmare in Iowa (Houston Chronicle): "Rick Perry can’t afford to lose any of his 2012 Iowa supporters if he is to have any chance to win the 2016 Republican presidential caucuses there."

Iowa, Already (Slate): "Could Iowa social conservatives have avoided the distractions of Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich? They want to find out. That’s what’s driving the presidential talk around Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who arrived in his first elective office this past January."