DFW New Home Sales Drop 34 Percent in Third Quarter
from The Dallas Morning News
New-home sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth area continued to fall in the third quarter - even with the help of tax incentives that brought out more buyers. Home sales by builders dropped by almost 34 percent in the quarter compared to year-earlier numbers, housing analyst Residential Strategies said. The 4,163 new-home sales number was virtually unchanged from the previous quarter.  More
 

Endorsement of Hutchison Could be Costly
from The Houston Chronicle
The Texas Farm Bureau bucked the trend of lobby groups lining up behind Gov. Rick Perry by endorsing U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for governor. But the Farm Bureau also may have exposed itself to political payback. Just ask Kimble D. Ross. Ross was the registered lobbyist for the Texas Medical Association for 16 years. But he offended the governor in 2002.  More
 

Opinion: Governor's Race is Dividing Local, State GOP
from San Antonio Express News
For the last 20 years, Texas Republicans have adhered to former President Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment, issued when he ran for governor of California in 1966: Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican. Well, as the fight fest in the gubernatorial battle between Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison makes plain, they are now so over it. Perry calls Hutchison "Kay Bailout" and Hutchison calls Perry "Tricky Ricky."  More
 

Hutchison Plans to File Brief in Gun Control Case Before Supreme Court
from
Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison renewed her opposition Wednesday to certain gun control measures in anticipation of a major case on the issue coming before the U.S. Supreme Court. Hutchison, a Republican, announced that she and other lawmakers would file a brief urging the high court to rule that Chicago's strict gun control ordinances violate an individual's right to keep and bear arms.   More
 

New Jobless Claims Fall to 521,000
from The Associated Press via The Houston Chronicle
The number of newly laid-off workers filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level since early January, as layoffs ease a bit amid a fledgling economic recovery. The fourth drop in new claims in five weeks is a sign the labor market is slowly healing.  More
 

Did Hutchison Flip on Campaign Contribution Limits?
from The Houston Chronicle Texas Politics Blog
This is for you the reader to decide. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on Monday in Waco said she believes there should be campaign finance limits in Texas, despite the fact people who donate $100,000 to her campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination can be in the Kay Club. Gov. Rick Perry's campaign today posted a video calling Hutchison a flip-flopper because of a statement she made on a federal campaign finance bill in 1996.  More
 

TxDOT Drops Trans-Texas Corridor Altogether
from The Austin Business Journal
It faced problems from the very beginning, but in the end the Trans-Texas Corridor proved no match for lawmakers and state residents who opposed the plan that they said infringed on property rights and was a project few wanted. Gov. Rick Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor was going to be a toll road network - primarily running alongside I-35 between Gainesville and Laredo - designed to ease congestion and would have also included rights-of-way for rail and utilities.  More
 

The Cost of Burying the Trans-Texas Corridor
from The Houston Chronicle Texas Politics Blog
Texas has spent tens of millions of dollars on the now-recommended-for-death parallel to Interstate 35 that once was envisioned as part of the Trans-Texas Corridor. More money - perhaps millions more - will be spent as the state closes out its environmental review process and gets public comments on its decision to recommend no action on the TTC-35 proposal to the federal government, state transportation officials said.  More