The Brief: July 7, 2014

The Big Conversation

University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers has asked for a chance at a "graceful" departure from his post after next year's legislative session, reported the Tribune's Reeve Hamilton.

Powers' counteroffer was the latest development after it was reported Friday by Hamilton that UT Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa had laid down an ultimatum to the embattled campus president: Agree to a plan ahead of this week's meeting of the university system's board of regents to resign in a few months or be fired.

Powers said in a letter to Cigarroa that an abrupt resignation would be disruptive and that postponing his resignation for a year would be a more constructive approach. He wrote, "Throughout my tenure, I have always striven to act in the best interests of the University. I believe a graceful rather than abrupt departure after nine years in office is in keeping with that."

In other developments, the newly installed president of the Texas Exes — former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison — said in a letter to the group's 100,000 members that Powers is a "great leader" and that "The University of Texas deserves better than this," reported the Houston Chronicle's Ben Wermund.

Trib Must-Reads

Dow Chemical's Water Woes Signal Trouble, by Neena Satija

In Texas, Less Progress on Reducing Teen Pregnancy, by Corrie MacLaggan

Texas Starts to Have Company in Position on Common Core, by Morgan Smith

Analysis: For Budget Cutters, It's Not About Revenue, by Ross Ramsey

Elsewhere

Texas' school reform law of 1984 still touches millions of students, The Dallas Morning News

Small school districts feel pinch as health insurance premiums rise, Austin American-Statesman

Push to close Export-Import Bank puts Hensarling at odds with fellow Republicans, The Dallas Morning News

Garcia: Even this Democrat seeks to give IRS the heave-ho, San Antonio Express-News

College Students Claim Voter ID Laws Discriminate Based on Age, The New York Times

Consequences of future EPA regulations for Texas look cloudy, Austin American-Statesman

Immigrants From Latin America and Africa Squeezed as Banks Curtail International Money Transfers, The New York Times

Quote to Note

“I mean, I hate to be conspiratorial, but I mean, how do you move that many people from Central America across Mexico and then into the United States without there being a fairly coordinated effort?”

— Gov. Rick Perry, implying an "ulterior motive" while chastising what he called "an inept" Obama administration in its handling of the crisis of unaccompanied migrant children into the country.

Today in TribTalk

A Libertarian's take on property taxes, by Ben Sanders

The sound of silence on abortion, by Jim Henson and Joshua Blank

Trib Events for the Calendar

•    The Texas Tribune Festival runs from Sept. 19-21 at the University of Texas at Austin. Tickets are on sale now.