Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed Peter Lake of Dallas and reappointed Kathleen Jackson of Beaumont to the Texas Water Development Board. They were both named for terms to expire Feb. 1, 2017.

Hector Cerna of Eagle Pass was named by Abbott to the Finance Commission of Texas for a term to expire Feb. 1, 2020. Cerna is president and CEO of IBC Bank in the Eagle Pass region and is a board member of the Border Trade Alliance.

Abbott appointed Kimberly Fish of Longview, Jeanette Sterner of Holly Lake Ranch and Cary M. “Mac” Abney of Marshall to the board of directors of the Sabine River Authority. They were named to terms to expire July 6, 2021.

The Texas Department of Transportation has a new executive director: James Bass, the agency's longtime chief financial officer. A 30-year veteran of the agency, Bass will begin his new job on Jan. 1. He takes over for Joe Weber who announced in October that he would be leaving at year's end.

Kimberly Corley, a former executive for the Shell Oil Company with 30 years of energy industry experience, was named the Railroad Commission's new executive director this week. She will replace Lindil Fowler, who was temporarily filling the position after Milton Rister retired in August. Alexander Schoch was also named agency general counsel. He retired early this year from Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal company, where he had served as executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary.

The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund said on Thursday that it has endorsed former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego, who is seeking to regain the West Texas-based CD-23 seat he lost to San Antonio Republican Will Hurd in the 2014 general election.

Republican SD-24 candidate Dawn Buckingham announced last Friday that she has received endorsements from three Travis County precinct chairs – Bill Warmuth, Kevin Pakenham and Mike Goldman. The Rural Friends of Electric Cooperatives endorsed Buckingham on Thursday.

The Texas Home School Coalition Association announced late last week that it has endorsed five more candidates for the Texas House, pushing their list of total endorsements for representative to 21 candidates. The association endorsed five Republican candidates on Friday, none of whom are incumbents — Cole Hefner, for District 5; David Watts, for District 7; Philip Eby, for District 58; Mike Lang, for District 60; and Dan Morenoff for District 114.

Annie’s List, a group dedicated to getting Democratic women elected to the Legislature, announced late last week a pair of endorsements for the upcoming election — Lina Ortega for HD-77 and Victoria Neave for HD-107. The group noted that it has already made a $28,000 direct expenditure on behalf of Ortega’s campaign.

HD-49 Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa announced the members of her campaign team, which includes longtime Austin political consultants David Butts and Mark Littlefield. Also introduced as a member of the Hinojosa team is Katie Naranjo whose name was floated earlier as a possible candidate for the seat as well. Tapped to chair the Hinojosa campaign is former City Councilwoman Laura Morrison.

Another HD-49 hopeful — Huey Rey Fischer — picked up the backing of former state Rep. Glen Maxey on Thursday.

GOP HD-55 challenger Hugh Shine received an endorsement on Thursday from the political arm of the anti-abortion group, Texas Alliance for Life. In making the endorsement, the group highlighted Shine’s co-sponsorship of legislation to ban late abortions from his tenure in the Texas House in the late 1980s. Shine is challenging freshman state Rep. Molly White, who already has the support of Texas Right to Life.

HD-73 state Rep. Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels, received last Friday the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Business/Texas, which advocates on behalf of small businesses in the state. He received on Monday the endorsement of the Associated Republicans of Texas (ART).

Conservative advocacy group Texans for Fiscal Responsibility is endorsing Joshua Crawford in the Republican primary contest in the Odessa-anchored HD-81. He is challenging first term state Rep. Brooks Landgraf for the party nomination.

Former state Rep. Jim Landtroop, who is challenging John Frullo for the GOP nod in Lubbock’s HD-84, announced on Monday an endorsement from Texas Right to Life.

GOP HD-130 candidate Tom Oliverson announced last Friday endorsements from the Conservative Review’s Gary Polland and Eagle Forum’s Cathie Adams.

Democratic political consultant Jeff Rotkoff has been hired by the Texas AFL-CIO to be the labor organization’s new campaigns director. He most recently worked for high-profile Democratic donors Amber and Steve Mostyn. He has also worked previously as the executive director of the House Democratic Campaign Committee. The Texas AFL-CIO also announced the hire of Kara Sheehan as field organizer.

The LBJ School of Public Affairs has a new dean — Angela Evans, a former deputy director of the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service and clinical professor at the LBJ School.

Jay Hartzell has been named the new dean of the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. Now the senior associate dean for academic affairs there, he begins his new job Feb. 1.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin, the LBJ School of Public Affairs and IBC Bank are corporate sponsors of The Texas Tribune. Steve and Amber Mostyn are major donors to the Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.