White House May Extend Homebuyer Tax Credit
The Associated Press via The Dallas Morning News
The White House is considering extending an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. Spokesman Robert Gibbs says the administration's economic team is evaluating the tax credit's impact on new home sales and will make a recommendation to the president. The federal tax credit covers up to 10 percent of the home price, or up to $8,000, for first-time buyers. Home sales must be complete by the end of November.More

U.S. Housing Starts Hit Nine Month High
The New York Times
The government said that housing construction rose in August to the highest level in nine months as a surge in apartment building offset a decline in single-family activity. The August performance was another sign that the nation’s housing industry has begun to recover from its worst downturn in decades.More

OSHA Intervenes in Austin Due To High Worker Fatalities
The Daily Texan
The deaths of three construction workers this summer drew a flood of federal inspectors to the state. As a result, the U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association will host a training event in health and safety for construction workers on Sept. 26. The event will feature consultants from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.More

Border Projects Will Be Reviewed
The Fort Worth Star Telegram
Facing criticism for her handling of federal stimulus money, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that she would not start any new border construction projects while the department reviewed how projects were selected.More

Darling Homes Takes Top Spot in Builder Quality Survey
The Dallas Morning News
For the second year in a row, a local builder has beaten out some of the country's largest housing producers to win the top home quality award in North Texas. Darling Homes ranks highest in customer satisfaction in J.D. Power and Associates' annual Dallas-Fort Worth area builder report. Drees Homes and Ashton Woods Homes claimed the second- and third-place rankings in the closely watched survey. More

Perry Gets Political Help from New York
The Austin American Statesman
Gov. Rick Perry, who has framed his upcoming re-election challenge as a choice between the Texas way and the Washington way, got some help Tuesday from New York. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani launched a two-day tour with Perry, complete with news conferences and fundraisers across the state to help Perry fend off a challenge from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the March Republican primary.More

Some Border Leaders Question Perry's Ranger Deployments
The Fort Worth Star Telegram
City and county leaders along the Texas-Mexico border, responding to Gov. Rick Perry's plans for a border-area deployment of Texas Rangers challenged Perry's suggestions that the region is being overwhelmed by narco-crime from Mexico and called for greater cooperation between the governor's office and local officials. "Your remarks, if accurately reported, create a public impression of lawless hordes overrunning the border region and do not reflect our collective experience," Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster, chairman of the Texas Border Coalition, said in a letter to Perry.More

Texas Predicted to Lead Recovery
The Houston Business Journal
Four Texas markets will be among the first in the nation to recover from the recession, says a nationwide forecast by IHS Global Insight. Austin and San Antonio will lead the way, bouncing back to their pre-recession job levels sometime next year, according to the Lexington, Mass.-based economic forecasting firm, while Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth are among eight other metropolitan areas predicted to recover by 2011.More

Wharton Woman to Take On Perry, Hutchison
The Austin American Statesman
Debra Medina, who plans to run for Texas governor, says she considers herself like David taking on Goliath. And the battle she's entering has two Goliaths. Medina is scheduled to announce in Dallas that she's running for governor in the Republican primary - a field that already includes Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.More