Fannie Mae CEO Allison to Head TARP
from El Paso Times
A published report says Fannie Mae CEO Herb Allison is expected to be named by the Obama administration to head the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. More

Opinion: Prop 2 Would Devastate Dallas
from The Dallas Morning News Op-Ed Pages
Proposition 2, which will be voted upon May 9, requires that, with just 500 signatures, the City of Dallas obtain voter approval every time it wants to offer $1 million or more in financial incentives to private developers of hotels, condominiums and retail facilities. Projects that could be impacted include retail development, historic preservation efforts, new initiatives, transit-oriented developments and residential/retail projects. More

Casino Proponent Considering Lavish Resort
from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
One of the country’s richest men said that he would consider building a luxury casino complex in the Dallas-Fort Worth area if the Texas Legislature approves a measure allowing up to 12 destination casinos in the state’s urban centers. Sheldon G. Adelson, chairman and chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., was the lead-off witness as the House Licensing and Administration Procedures Committee heard testimony on several gaming bills being considered by the Legislature. More

Oncor Offers Cash Incentives to Help Homeowners Boost Energy Efficiency
from The Dallas Morning News
Dallas power line company Oncor launched a new program to help people pay to upgrade their home energy efficiency. The company, a unit of Energy Future Holdings, will pay up to $1,500 in cash incentives to individual participants, or third-party financing. More

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The Housing Crisis Isn’t a Crisis
from Forbes
Law professor Todd Zywicki of George Mason University is composing a book, Bankruptcy Law and Policy in the Twenty-First Century, in which Zywicki picks a couple of fascinating fights. One involves former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan; the other, the entire band of academics, former business executives and career bureaucrats who make up the Obama administration's economic think tank. More

Texas Mayors to Lawmakers: Help Lower Electric Bills
from The Austin Business Journal
A cadre of Texas mayors speaking on behalf of more than 150 respective communities statewide are making their way through Austin to lobby lawmakers for help lowering electric bills for Texas consumers. More

Texas Continues to Lead Nation in Wind Power
from The Dallas Business Journal
Texas continued to add substantially to its wind power generation last year bringing online 2,671 megawatts of new capacity - far more than any other state. That’s according to the latest report from the American Wind Energy Association. More new wind capacity was added in Texas during the year than in any country, except China and the United States as a whole. In fact, if Texas were a country, it would rank sixth in the world for wind capacity. More

Small Business Tax Cut Weighed
from The Houston Chronicle
Wednesday is the deadline for paying federal income taxes, but it’s also when state lawmakers will consider cutting franchise taxes for 132,000 small businesses in Texas including 24,000 in Harris County. “This is Texas stimulus. This is a Texas tax cut,” said state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, who is sponsoring the proposed tax cut in the Senate along with a bipartisan crowd of 24 co-sponsors. More

Austin Council to Challenge Senate Bill on Single Member Districts
from The Austin American-Statesman
Austin officials will fight a measure in the state Legislature that would require the city to scrap its at-large system of electing council members, according to City Council members reached Friday . The bill filed by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, would mandate that Austin's electorate be divided into six districts of unspecified boundaries. Each district would elect a council member. More

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