The Midday Brief: March 25, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

"Whether the person had ill will or ill intent, if things are said that may be of harm to you, you take the person seriously," [Al] Green said. "But you don't let them stop you from doing what you know to be right." — Houston lawmaker reports two threatening phone calls related to health care vote — TRAILBLAZERS

"Oh, that’s really going to help solve the problem. They’re already living off their reserve funds because the state isn’t funding them adequately. Now they’re going to have to pay damages." — MALDEF loses in Fifth Circuit — Burkablog

"As of March 1, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, Johnson County had just 338 inmates in the jail, so the supposed profitmaker has now become a money suck." — Private jail contractor dumps Johnson County: Promised immigration beds never materialized — Grits for Breakfast

"Pointing to 24 categories of services excluded from the sales tax that are being discussed today, Oliveira cautioned audience members not to read too much into that." — Keeping the herd of sacred cows small — TRAILBLAZERS

New in The Texas Tribune:

"Former Secretary of State James Baker traveled to Austin on Wednesday night to talk with Texas Tribune CEO and Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith about the state of the world. Ben Philpott, who's covering politics and public policy for KUT News and The Texas Tribune, reports on Baker’s view of how Barack Obama is handling his biggest foreign policy challenges." — Ever the Diplomat

"George Clayton woke up on March 3 to 153 emails — quite a lot for the North Dallas High School teacher. The night before, he had pulled off a stunning upset of 26-year incumbent Geraldine "Tincy" Miller, R-Dallas, in the GOP primary for the State Board of Education's District 12 seat. Now everyone wanted a piece of him — the press, other board members, educators, constituents — and they wanted to know how he will vote on the deeply divided board." — The Wild Card

"Texas unemployment held steady at 8.2 percent last month, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. That's the same seasonally adjusted rate as in January, December, and November, but it's up from 6.8 percent in February of 2009." — TribBlog: Holding Steady