Perry Making Use of Stimulus Boost
The Houston Chronicle
Gov. Rick Perry rallied opposition to federal stimulus spending, but he now is the manager of one of the biggest pots of federal gold in Texas: crime grants to local law enforcement agencies. And those grants have become an integral part of Perry's political machine. While Perry's office is the conduit for the federal money, the governor chooses which agencies receive the money and how it is spent. The political payoff has been great.More

Dallas Area Home Listings Fall Substantially
The Dallas Morning News
North Texas homebuyers who are hoping to find a huge supply of houses for sale may be in for a surprise. While many markets in Florida and the West are suffering from a surplus of for-sale signs, the number of houses available in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has fallen substantially in the last year.More

Texas Land Commissioner Sides with Royalty Owners Against Exxon
The Dallas Morning News
Depending on how you look at it, picking a fight with Exxon Mobil Corp. might be the dumbest thing a politician could do, or the smartest. Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson doesn't care one way or the other.More

Timing Crucial for Hutchison Leaving Sentate for Governor's Run
Dallas Morning News
As Congress returns from summer recess, Kay Bailey Hutchison opens a final chapter in the Senate, assuming she sticks with her vow to quit soon to focus on her bid for Texas governor. Congress will be focused almost single-mindedly on health care. But Hutchison will be coping with the reality that she is a self-proclaimed lame duck as she tries to complete unfinished business and score a few political points before stepping down.More

Ex-Texas Tech Regent Says He Felt Pressured to Quit After Backing Hutchison
The Dallas Morning News
A Lubbock businessman said that he felt forced to resign from the Texas Tech board of regents last month after he endorsed Gov. Rick Perry's rival, Kay Bailey Hutchison. Mark Griffin, appointed a regent by Perry in 2005, said that within days of his introducing Hutchison at a Lubbock rally, he received a phone call from Brian Newby, Perry's former general counsel and chief of staff.More

Law Firms Set to Sue Over Barnett Shale Leasing Agreements
The Fort Worth Star Telegram
Three Dallas law firms have formed a litigation group and are meeting with Tarrant County residents who could become parties to lawsuits against energy companies involved in leasing properties for Barnett Shale natural gas drilling. The group says agreements reached between homeowners' association alliances and energy companies are "binding lease agreements" even if individual property owners represented by the associations did not sign lease contracts based on the agreements.More

Texas Gov's Opponent Uses Toll Road Plan as Ammo
The Fort Worth Star Telegram
Gov. Rick Perry ditched his plan to build a $175 billion network of toll roads that would crisscross the state after it ran into strong opposition, but he hasn't been able to shake the issue altogether. Perry cast his Trans-Texas Corridor project as a way to relieve Texas' traffic congestion by building highways in a state growing by 1,000 people per day.More

Fewer Migrants Head Home Amid Recession
El Paso Times
Many immigrants hurt by the recession decided to ride out the downturn rather than return to their home countries, according to a Migrant Policy Institute report released today. The report found that fewer Mexican citizens tried to enter the United States, and fewer Mexican citizens who were in the United States illegally tried to return home.More

White House Releases Text of Obama's Speech to Students
The Austin American-Chronicle
The White House has released the text of an address President Barack Obama is scheduled to give to students nationwide at 11 a.m. local time Tuesday. Obama's address, which is billed as a direct speech to children on the importance of education, set off a nationwide wave of phone calls from parents who were concerned their students might be forced to watch.More

Grim Tidings
The Houston Chronicle
It should already be the holiday season on the city's docks. But instead of gearing up for a busy season of moving containers of cargo filled with consumer goods on Santa's list, some shippers are prepared for a few more months of trading doldrums as the global economic slowdown continues to take its toll on local port trade.More