The Midday Brief: January 7, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• “At KVUE’s request, the UT System released the names of 30 lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, from all over the state, who reserved their tickets directly through UT.” — Legislators allowed to reserve tickets through UT — KVUE

• “Three years after a sexual abuse scandal rocked the Texas Youth Commission, one in five juvenile offenders in Texas youth lock-ups report being forced into sexual acts with staff or other inmates, according to a federal report released today.” — Sexual Abuse in State Lock-ups — The Texas Tribune

• “It's a fascinating idea that warrants more study.” — Could the Death Penalty Really Be a Deterrent? — The Contrarian

• “The declines are discouraging to city budget officials who had hoped that November's Black Friday shopping bonanza would signal a broad turnaround.” — Texas sales tax collections fell 11 percent in November — The Dallas Morning News

• “Mr. Perry sounded as if his audience for these reforms was just as much the White House and the U.S. Congress as citizens of his home state.” — Perry on a Roll — The Wall Street Journal

• “An undefeated football season and a berth in tonight's national championship game aren't the only things that the University of Texas and the University of Alabama have in common.” — Off the gridiron, UT and Bama have similar histories — Austin American-Statesman

New in The Texas Tribune:

• “On a day when many people are thinking about tonight's national championship game, we wondered how the Longhorns' most ardent fans come down in the governor's race.” — TribBlog: UT Boosters Split on Rick vs. Kay — The Texas Tribune

• “This clears the way for the possible post-death pardon of Tim Cole, who was exonerated of a sexual assault conviction in a Travis County court last year, but had died in prison many years prior.” — TribBlog: AG Says Posthumous Pardons Possible — The Texas Tribune

• “Visit any campaign web site and you'll find social and new media tools being used to get the message out. Journalists are using some of those same tools, but the candidates they cover aren't happy about it.” — Twitter Trouble — The Texas Tribune