The Midday Brief: July 2, 2010

Your afternoon reading:

"Shelters emptied and flooded streets receded Thursday after Hurricane Alex harmlessly swiped Texas and let the Rio Grande Valley escape with a mostly mild test run barely a month into the Atlantic hurricane season." — South Texas mostly unscathed by Alex, The Associated Press

A top drug gang enforcer says he ordered the killing of a U.S. consulate worker because she helped provide visas to a rival gang in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, federal police said Friday. — Mexico nabs gang leader in US consulate killings, The Associated Press

"Rep. Pete Sessions, the conservative Republican from Dallas, sees great significance in Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White's choice of a well-known, out-of-state college." — Pete Sessions weighs in on Bill White's choice of colleges, Trail Blazers

"A $16.5 million earmark requested by Rep. Chet Edwards for a new soldier readiness center at Fort Hood passed the House yesterday in a war funding bill." — Chet Edwards' Fort Hood earmark passes the House, Trail Blazers

New in The Texas Tribune:

"It's impossible to know exactly which elections will be close in November. But with Libertarian candidates in more than a dozen House races that are on the Republican and Democratic target lists, signed up for the two Texas congressional seats on the GOP's national target list, and in the statewide races, too, here's a question: Are the Libertarians giving Texas Democrats a electoral boost?" — Do Libertarians Help Democrats and Hurt Republicans?

"Josh Fox's movie Gasland, which premiered on HBO last week, uncovers widespread concerns about water contamination associated with a new form of natural gas drilling known as fracking. Fox talks about how devastating it felt to drive around Fort Worth (home to the Barnett Shale), how refreshing it was to come across west Texas wind farms, and how federal regulators are tightening up." — Josh Fox, Gasland Creator, on the Hazards of Fracking

The Texas Capitol was evacuated because of an early morning bomb threat. — Texas Capitol Shuts Down after Bomb Threat