The Midday Brief: January 18, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• "I heard rumors last fall that about the time Hank Gilbert got out of the Governor's race, Democratic candidate for Governor of Texas Farouk Shami wrote Democratic Agriculture Commissioner candidate Gilbert a check for one million dollars." – Farouk Shami's Donations to Other Candidates in 2009  – Musings

• "U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is again calling for term limits for the governor's office. The Republican who's running against Rick Perry — the longest-serving governor in Texas history — discussed term limits in the first of four campaign stops Monday in Dallas." – Hutchison renews call for term limits in Texas – Amarillo Globe-News

• "Texas will be "last in, first out" among states battling the recession, although a recovery that has already started will require patience, a leading economist says." – Economist says Texas will be the 1st state to recover – Fort Worth Star-Telegram

• "U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar will be meeting with the head of the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday to push for more Census 2010 advertising buys to be made locally." – Cuellar: Census needs to make far more media buys along the border – Rio Grande Guardian

• "Former Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos says new evidence has surfaced since he went to prison over the 2005 shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler and he wants a retrial." – Ex-Border Patrol Ignacio Ramos want retrial– El Paso Times

• "Mayor Julián Castro pointed to similarities between minority experiences in the United States as a potential common bond between races." – A common cause – San Antonio Express-News

New in the Texas Tribune:

• "Texas families can’t take any more big tuition hikes, and neither can the cash-strapped state bail out bulging college budgets." – The Tuition Time Bomb – Texas Tribune

• "Alma Aguado is running for Governor of Texas and, if Kay Bailey Hutchinson retires, for the U.S. Senate. While she says she would rather be governor, her Facebook page for politicians still reads, “Alma Aguado for U.S. Senate." – TribBlog 2010: See Alma Run. For What? – Texas Tribune

•"For the first of our TribLive events, Evan Smith interviewed the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives about his first session leading his colleagues." – A Conversation with Joe Straus – Texas Tribune