The Midday Brief: June 11, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

"At Thursday's State Republican Executive Committee meeting — which drew an overflow crowd that included 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina and San Antonio City Hall gadfly Jack Finger — [Cathie] Adams found herself on the receiving end of a diatribe from committee member Mark McCaig, who submitted a resolution asking Adams to explain her own campaign's connection with two companies she hired to do consulting and direct-mail work for the Republican Party." — GOP Convention: First Day Fireworks, Texas Politics

"The Texas AFL-CIO plans to bring a trailer up to Dallas this afternoon to again highlight their "offer" of a place for the governor to stay in lieu of the rental home that costs thousands each month. It wouldn't be a convention without props!" — Texas Republican convention arrives in Dallas; first up, show of unity between Perry, Hutchison, Trail Blazers

"New numbers showing the amount of oil gushing from a well in the Gulf of Mexico may be double as much as previously thought means the crude is likely to travel farther away, threatening more birds, fish and other wildlife that call the fragile waters their home, scientists said Friday." — New oil numbers may mean more environmental damage, The Dallas Morning News

New in The Texas Tribune:

"Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison are together again, politically speaking. Hutchison told a crowd of Republican women in a packed ballroom at the downtown Dallas Hyatt that she's backing Perry for governor and that they should, too." — 2010: Together Again

"For the 11th event in the Tribune's TribLive series, Evan Smith interviewed the Dallas County district attorney about why and how he's worked to exonerate the wrongfully imprisoned and whether he's dragging his feet on a controversial corruption case involving county constables." — A Conversation with Craig Watkins

"There are more than 61,000 registered sex offenders in the Texas Department of Public Safety’s database. Some think the list includes people who aren’t a threat to society and that the stigma of being on it hurts them more than it helps the greater community." — Fewer Sex Offenders in the DPS Database?