Attorney General: $7.5M Available to Texas Countrywide Customers Who Lost Homes
from The Austin Business Journal
The Texas Attorney General’s office announced the launch Wednesday of a restitution program that will make nearly $7.5 million available to eligible mortgage customers of Countrywide Financial Corp. While Texas’ 2008 agreement with Countrywide will provide $345 million in total benefits to state homeowners, the restitution announced Wednesday is specifically set aside for Countrywide customers who lost their homes to foreclosure. Last year, Attorney General Gregg Abbott initiated an investigation into allegations that Countrywide encouraged homeowners to accept loans they could not afford, failed to fully disclose risky loan terms to borrowers, and wrote loans for unqualified borrowers in an effort to increase market share. More

Congressmen Ask Obama to Halt Border Fence Construction
from The Brownsville Herald
Several South Texas congressmen are asking President Barack Obama to temporarily suspend the construction of the border fence to give him the chance to evaluate border security operations along the U.S-Mexico border. The letter reads, although there are locations that warrant a border fence, "We strongly believe the Bush administration's approach of constructing a fence along most of the southwest border was ill conceived as it was void of any meaningful input from local communities or the Border Patrol sector chiefs who are most familiar with the challenges of securing the border." More

DFW Home Sales Plunge 27 Percent in January
from The Dallas Morning News
North Texas home sales plunged by 27 percent in January as the worsening national economy frightened off buyers. The sharp decline in local pre-owned home sales was one of the largest percentage drops on record for the area. At the same time sales were falling, median home sales prices decreased by 6 percent compared with January 2007, according to statistics released Wednesday by the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems and Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Center. January’s 3,399 sales of pre-owned single-family homes were the lowest for the month in nine years and represent a 63 percent decline from market peak in June 2007. More

Perry, Hutchison Spar on Stimulus Talks, UT Regent’s Exit
from The Dallas Morning News
Gov. Rick Perry on Monday criticized U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for making appearances in Austin even as Congress debates the fate of the economic stimulus package. Perry's remarks, delivered after a speech to business and political leaders from Collin, Denton and Grayson counties, are the latest in a burgeoning war of words between him and Hutchison, who is planning to run for governor in 2010. More

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Dallas Council Votes to Let Developers Form Taxing Districts
from The Dallas Morning News
In a move that could set national precedent, The Dallas City Council took a significant step Wednesday toward allowing developers to create quasi-governmental districts that can issue public debt and levy taxes within defined areas. With one dissenting vote, the council consented to the creation of three municipal management districts, or MMDs, that could give developers a powerful tool to build primary infrastructure in areas where the city won't. Three development groups have asked the city to let them create the districts, which require approval not only from the City Council but also from the Texas Legislature. More

Texas Lawmakers Seek to Keep Gitmo Detainees Out
from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Don’t mess with Texas. That’s the message a group of Texas Republican members of Congress delivered to President Barack Obama on Wednesday, in a letter asking him not to send Guantanamo Bay detainees to Texas after the facility is closed. "The transfer or release of Gitmo detainees presents a clear and present danger to all Americans," Rep. Lamar Smith of San Antonio wrote in the letter, signed by 19 other GOP lawmakers. "The Obama Administration must take our request seriously. We will do everything in our power to prevent the transfer or release of known-terrorists into the neighborhoods and communities of Texas." More

Texas Lawmakers Ready to Learn Roles
from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
House Speaker Joe Straus is expected to dole out committee assignments and chairmanships on Thursday, ending a weeks-long guessing game among House members eager to learn the extent of their influence in the 2009 Legislature. Straus, R-San Antonio, who has led the House for a month, has kept lawmakers in the dark as he worked in secret to place 149 House members on a pared-down list of 34 committees. Reshuffling could elevate the stature of some North Texas lawmakers and erode the power of others. More

Democratic Outsiders Moving Closer to the Inside
from The San Antonio Express-News
They refused to be leashed under Tom Craddick’s leadership of the Texas House. They were penalized and often shut out, if not silenced. Now, Democrat legislative leaders, including Jim Dunnam of Waco, Garnet Coleman of Houston, Pete Gallego of Alpine and Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio, expect to play major roles under the leadership of new House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. And ordinary Texans should see a difference, they said. “It’s a big deal,” Coleman said. “Real people need health care. Real people need their children to have a good education. Real people need their children to go to college. If they are shut out through their representative, then their needs are not addressed.” More

Kinky Friedman Eyes 2010 Governor’s Race
from The San Antonio Express-News
Humorist and author Kinky Friedman may run for Texas governor again, but if he does, he says he’s serious this time. First, he’d run with the help of a major party - the Democrats - instead of launching an independent campaign like he did in 2006. “I’m toning down the one-liners a bit. If I run, it’s going to be a serious run,” said Friedman, peppering the interview with one-liners. More