The Evening Brief: May 3, 2013

New in The Texas Tribune

•    At NRA Convention, Cruz and Perry Blast Gun Control Efforts: "Members of the National Rifle Association gathered in Houston on Friday at their annual convention to listen to a wide array of national figures, but Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz got the warmest welcomes."

•    Efforts to Reform Teacher Evaluations Hit Snag: "Some critics of Texas' largely subjective state teacher evaluations want them to include more emphasis on measures of student performance like standardized exams. But with support among lawmakers to scale back testing, those efforts have hit a roadblock."

•    For Fire Departments, More to State Budget Than Numbers: "Budget decisions revolve around numbers, but talking about money is just a way to talk about policy. Consider the case of volunteer fire departments."

•    The Polling Center: Planned Parenthood and the Women’s Health “Equation”: The marginalization of Planned Parenthood probably makes the discussion of women’s health care less contentious — among Republicans, anyway.

Culled

•    President Obama coming to Austin Thursday (Austin American-Statesman): "President Barack Obama will travel to Austin Thursday for events on the economy, according to a White House official."

•    Obama Seeks to Banish Stereotypical Image of Mexico (The New York Times): "President Obama, in speech to high school and university students here, said Friday that it was time to banish the stereotypical Mexico of violence and people fleeing across borders and embrace the new image of a strengthening democracy and economy."

•    Texas fertilizer plant targeted by thieves in past (The Associated Press): Burglars occasionally sneaked into a Texas fertilizer plant in the years before its deadly explosion last month — sometimes looking for a chemical fertilizer that can be used to make methamphetamine, according to local law enforcement records.

•    Oil pipeline bill could be dead for session (The Dallas Morning News): "A bill that would have made lawmakers pick between oil companies and private landowners, between pipelines and and agriculture interests, went down on a procedural error."