"Out of race, Rick Perry shifts focus to home; Texans reveal mix of opinions after a rocky campaign" by Manny Fernandez | New York Times, January 22, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas - Governor Rick Perry of Texas has returned to a state that has been reeling from a series of crises, both natural and man-made.....
A record-breaking drought continues to strain public water systems and cost farmers and ranchers, including the state’s cotton and cattle industries, billions of dollars in lost income and additional production expenses....
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Texas Swill
Bottoms up!
Also related:
"TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING IN TEXAS -- Alexander Veksler abandoned his car yesterday in Houston, where severe thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain on the drought-stricken region, causing flash floods and power outages (Boston Globe January 10 2012)."
Just a snapshot.
“I am concerned that the unfortunate results of Perry’s performance on the national stage may confirm the stereotype that much of the rest of the country has about Texas - the impression that Texas is a bunch of yahoos and people of low intelligence,’’ said Scott Caven, a Houston Republican who was Perry’s state finance chairman in his first two campaigns for governor....
A redistricting dispute between the state, minority groups, and the Justice Department has left Texas without any usable electoral maps for congressional and state House and Senate districts, creating uncertainty about the primary elections that were pushed back to April, as well as the Republican and Democratic state political conventions scheduled in June....
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Let's look at those maps:
"Court throws out judge-drawn Texas electoral maps" by Mark Sherman | The Associated Press, January 20, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court today threw out electoral maps drawn by federal judges in Texas that favored minorities. The unsigned opinion left the fate of Texas’ April primaries unclear.
The justices ordered the three-judge court in San Antonio to come up with new plans, but did not compel the use of maps created by Texas’ Republican-dominated state Legislature. Only Justice Clarence Thomas said he would have gone that far.
Controversy over the maps arose from redrawing political boundaries based on results of the 2010 census that found that Texas had added more than 4 million new residents, mostly Latinos and African-Americans, since 2000. The minority groups complained they were denied sufficient voting power by Republican lawmakers who sought to maximize GOP electoral gains in violation of the landmark Voting Rights Act.
Texas will have 36 seats in the next Congress, a gain of four districts. A divided court in San Antonio drew maps that differed from the Legislature’s efforts, giving Democrats a chance to prevail in three or four more congressional districts. Republicans now represent 23 of the 32 current districts.
The high court said the judges appeared in some instances not to pay enough attention to the state’s choices. The judges made mistakes in their plans, particularly in altering district lines for state legislative and congressional seats in parts of the state where there is no allegation of discrimination on the part of the Legislature, the high court said.
‘‘In the absence of any legal flaw in this respect in the state’s plan, the district court had no basis to modify that plan,’’ the justices said, talking about state House districts in north and east Texas.
The court set no deadline for new maps to emerge from the court in Texas, although state officials have said they need to have something in place by February 1 to hold primary elections, already delayed once, on April 3. The Texas Republican party also has said that Texas may have no voice in the Republican presidential nominating process if the primary is held later than mid-April.
The complicated legal fight over redistricting in Texas is playing out in three federal courts. In addition to the Supreme Court and federal court in San Antonio, a three-judge court in Washington is evaluating the state plans under a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that forces states, mainly in the South, with a history of discrimination in voting to get advance approval before making any changes to the way they conduct elections.
Even without the Washington court’s approval, Texas said it should be able to use its own maps just for this year because time is running short before the primaries.
The minority groups, as well as the Obama administration, say such an outcome is strictly forbidden by the Voting Rights Act and would, in essence, eviscerate the law’s most potent weapon, the advance approval requirement, also known as preclearance.
The justices chose not to allow the state maps to be used without preclearance. But Thomas, who earlier had said he would strike down the advance approval requirement, said Texas’ ‘‘duly enacted redistricting plans should govern the upcoming elections.’’
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Controversy over the maps arose from redrawing political boundaries based on results of the 2010 census that found that Texas had added more than 4 million new residents, mostly Latinos and African-Americans, since 2000. The minority groups complained they were denied sufficient voting power by Republican lawmakers who sought to maximize GOP electoral gains in violation of the landmark Voting Rights Act.
Texas will have 36 seats in the next Congress, a gain of four districts. A divided court in San Antonio drew maps that differed from the Legislature’s efforts, giving Democrats a chance to prevail in three or four more congressional districts. Republicans now represent 23 of the 32 current districts.
The high court said the judges appeared in some instances not to pay enough attention to the state’s choices. The judges made mistakes in their plans, particularly in altering district lines for state legislative and congressional seats in parts of the state where there is no allegation of discrimination on the part of the Legislature, the high court said.
‘‘In the absence of any legal flaw in this respect in the state’s plan, the district court had no basis to modify that plan,’’ the justices said, talking about state House districts in north and east Texas.
The court set no deadline for new maps to emerge from the court in Texas, although state officials have said they need to have something in place by February 1 to hold primary elections, already delayed once, on April 3. The Texas Republican party also has said that Texas may have no voice in the Republican presidential nominating process if the primary is held later than mid-April.
The complicated legal fight over redistricting in Texas is playing out in three federal courts. In addition to the Supreme Court and federal court in San Antonio, a three-judge court in Washington is evaluating the state plans under a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that forces states, mainly in the South, with a history of discrimination in voting to get advance approval before making any changes to the way they conduct elections.
Even without the Washington court’s approval, Texas said it should be able to use its own maps just for this year because time is running short before the primaries.
The minority groups, as well as the Obama administration, say such an outcome is strictly forbidden by the Voting Rights Act and would, in essence, eviscerate the law’s most potent weapon, the advance approval requirement, also known as preclearance.
The justices chose not to allow the state maps to be used without preclearance. But Thomas, who earlier had said he would strike down the advance approval requirement, said Texas’ ‘‘duly enacted redistricting plans should govern the upcoming elections.’’
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Related: Court rules in favor of Texas abortion law
Someone else returning about the same time as Rick:
"Deported teen is returned to US, but questions remain
EL PASO - A 15-year-old Texas girl who was deported to South America in May after claiming to be an illegal immigrant was back in the United States and was expected to arrive in Dallas last night, her mother said.
Johnisa Turner said that her daughter, Jakadrien Lorece Turner, was on a flight from Atlanta. She had said earlier that she planned to meet her daughter when she arrives in Texas and that she has “a gazillion questions’’ for her....
She's a little ruuuuunaway!
The teen has become the center of an international mystery. Many facts of the case are unclear, but US and Colombian officials have pointed fingers over who is responsible for allowing a minor to be deported to a country where she is not a citizen.
Jakadrien’s family has questioned why US officials didn’t do more to verify her identify, while US immigration officials insist they followed procedure and found nothing to indicate that the girl wasn’t - as she had claimed - a Colombian woman illegally living in the United States....
The teen, who ran away from home more than a year ago, was found in Bogota by the Dallas Police Department with help from Colombian and US officials.
According to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the girl was enrolled in the country’s “Welcome Home’’ program after she arrived there. She was given shelter, psychological assistance, and a job at a call center, a statement from the agency said. When the Colombian government discovered she was a US citizen and a minor, it put her under the care of a welfare program, the statement said.
Family members say they have no idea why she ended up in Colombia. Johnisa Turner said Jakadrien is a US citizen who was born in Dallas and was not fluent in Spanish. She said neither she nor the teen’s father had ties to Colombia. Jakadrien’s grandmother, Lorene Turner, called the deportation a “big mistake somebody made.’’
Jakadrien’s family said she left home in November 2010. Houston police said the girl was arrested on April 2, 2011, for misdemeanor theft in that city and claimed to be Tika Lanay Cortez, a Colombian woman born in 1990. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said that the teen claimed to be Cortez throughout the criminal proceedings in Houston and the ensuing deportation process.
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Also see: Deported teen is returned to US, but questions remain