Formula One racing got the permission it sought from the City of Austin and is on its way, with the help of $25 million a year in state subsidies, to a June 2012 race date. There's still a lawsuit pending on that state money, but the city's nod clears away environmental permitting concerns.

Gov. Rick Perry vetoed the texting-while-driving bill that passed in the regular session, so there won't be a state ban. But there might be a ban soon in Arlington, where the city council is talking about a prohibition on sending, reading, browsing the Internet or playing games on cell phones while driving. Under current state law, you can't use your cell phone while you're driving unless you're 18 or older.

There's a doozy of a congressional race coming up in Central Texas, where U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, is moving into a Democratic district because his own turf was remapped to favor Republicans. He'll face state Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio — the twin brother of San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro.

The Legislature voted to keep the details of the governor's travel costs secret for 18 months. Specifically, the state will be cloaking details of his security team's travel costs, after state police complained it would reveal operational strategies to release the information. That's currently the subject of a case pending in the Texas Supreme Court; two lower courts have said the records are public under law.

The drought in Texas is now a federal disaster area, made so by a declaration from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The order made 213 of the state's counties disaster areas, and includes 41 more counties as eligible for aid because they're adjacent to the first bunch. That's all 254 counties in Texas.