Political People and their Moves

State District Judge Louis Sturns of Fort Worth will conduct a court of inquiry into charges that former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson hid evidence in the murder trial of Michael Morton. Morton spent almost 25 years in prison before a reexamination of the case showed that someone else murdered his wife. Anderson is now a state district judge; he has denied accusations of misconduct in the Morton case. 

Mark Lane will be the new U.S. magistrate judge in Austin, replacing Robert Pittman, who became the U.S. Attorney for this region. Lane is currently a federal prosecutor. 

Jay Kimbrough won the approval of the Public Safety Commission to be the new assistant director for homeland security at the Department of Public Safety. 

Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, announced the appointment of Mayor Robert Pinkerton, Jr. of South Padre Island, to the Joint Interim Committee to Study Seacoast Territory Insurance.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst reappointed Jimmy Mansour to the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas Oversight Committee. Mansour is the founding chairman of CEO America, a nonprofit organization that provides education scholarships for low-income children.

Dominic Chavez, senior director for external relations at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, announced a bid for the Austin City Council, specifically the the Place 5 seat currently held by Bill Spelman.

Two political consultants, one from each side of the aisle, launched a new statewide political news website. Matt Mackowiak, a Republican, and Jason Stanford, a Democrat, operate MustReadTexas.com, which will aggregate political stories, editorials, columns and blog posts.

Deaths: Mike McKinney, the well-known and well-liked longtime lobbyist for the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas. McKinney and the late Robert "Butch" Sparks were known around the Capitol as the Booze Brothers. Simply put, he was one of the best in the business. He was 65.