The Midday Brief: March 29, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

• “By shifting her legal career to focus on government entities, Davis is well-aware of the risks of exposing herself to the kinds of conflict-of-interest allegations that have tripped up other state lawmakers.” — State Sen. Wendy Davis to start law firm with former aide to Rick Perry — Fort Worth Star-Telegram

• “Some Texas Republicans were happy to pound Democrats in Washington over a maneuver that allowed them to bypass a GOP roadblock and pass fixes to health care reform.” — Both political parties break this rule — Houston Chronicle

• “Obesity, like drug addiction, is both bad for the individual and costly for society. If both problems stem from the same source, will we change drug policy to treat controlled substances like we do fatty foods, where the emphasis is on personal freedom, tax policy and public education, or will we treat fatty foods like illegal drugs, policing individual consumption and enforcing penalties for producers and consumers of unhealthy products?” —Science answers raise public policy questions on addiction — Grits for Breakfast

• “When black SUVs trail school buses around here, no one dismisses it as routine traffic. And when three tough-looking Mexican men pace around the high school gym during a basketball game, no one assumes they're just fans.” — In Texas, fear follows Mexicans who flee drug war — Associated Press

New in The Texas Tribune:

• “The U.S. Census Bureau recently launched an interactive map that makes it easy to track participation in the decennial count of households.” — On the Records: The Census Gets Interactive — The Texas Tribune

• “Republicans Bill Flores and Rob Curnock both think they’ve got what it takes to oust U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, the Waco Democrat who’s represented the conservative-leaning 17th congressional district for nearly two decades. But first they’ve got to do battle in an April 13 runoff.” — The Runoffs: CD-17 — The Texas Tribune

• “Surely Bill White and his campaign high command saw what happened to Kay Bailey Hutchison: Rick Perry defined her before she could define herself in the GOP gubernatorial primary, and by the time she spent her millions on ads attacking him, it was too late.” — Advice for Bill White — The Texas Tribune