More Energy Star homes built for conscious buyers
El Paso Times
Energy efficiency can sell. At least that's what some homebuilders have discovered in recent years. That's why a growing list of El Paso homebuilders are building Energy Star homes. Those are homes certified by the Environmental Protection Agency as being more energy efficient than standard-built homes.More

Economists: Recession is over, but recovery will be tepid
The Associated Press via The Austin American Statesman
More than 80 percent of economists surveyed say the U.S. recession is over and an expansion has begun, but they expect the recovery will be slow as worries about unemployment and high federal debt persist, according to the National Association for Business Economics.More

Proposition 1 on Texas ballot would let cities buy land around military bases
The Fort Worth Star Telegram
All over the state, development continues to scooch up against military bases. That development - big-ticket houses, apartment complexes, wind turbines and more - can endanger the military's training missions and flying patterns, and in the view of some government officials, make it more likely that a base will be closed or shrunk because of encroachment.More

DFW could have new home shortage in 2010
The Dallas Morning News
Forget what you've heard about a glut of new houses on the market. For three years, Dallas-Fort Worth builders have sold more homes than they have constructed. So the inventory of finished new houses has fallen so low that homebuyers may encounter a shortage when next year's market kicks off. More

Perry to talk about education accountability
The Houston Chronicle
Gov. Rick Perry will visit Houston to discuss public education accountability in Texas. Perry is set to speak at the Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center on Tuesday.More

Hutchison defends earmarks despite Perry jabs
The Dallas Morning News
Gov. Rick Perry has hammered Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison time and again as a Washington-style big spender. He decries the $2.6 billion that she slipped "secretly" into the last two annual budgets. But he doesn't know the half of it. More

Perry stays secret on many things, including forensics files
The Dallas Morning News
Gov. Rick Perry's refusal to release documents he reviewed in the hours before the Cameron Todd Willingham execution is the latest fight he's waged over records kept in his office. Many believe he is the most secretive modern-day governor Texas has seen.More

Perry encounters string of setbacks
The Houston Chronicle
What should be Gov. Rick Perry's time to shine and shore up support for an unprecedented third term has turned lately into a series of missteps and accidents that are rare for such an experienced politician. Whether they are coincidences, a show of uncharacteristic sloppiness by the Perry campaign or spin from the opposition, they seem to have given at least a temporary boost to Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose aides note every Perry setback. More

Governor hopeful Kinky Friedman talks about criminal justice reforms
The Fort Worth Star Telegram
Kinky Friedman's Democratic gubernatorial campaign took a somewhat serious turn Friday, with talk about the need to reform Texas' criminal justice system. He spoke of two cases - that of Tim Cole, a Fort Worth man exonerated for a rape conviction years after he died in prison, and of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed for the deaths of his three daughters.More

Two senators to monitor food stamp problems
The Austin American Statesman Postcards Blog
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has tapped state Sens. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, to monitor problems with the state's food stamp application processing, Zaffirini said. More