Friday Roundup

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee received an incredibly high-profile leadership position earlier this week when she was appointed to chair the House Homeland Security Committee's Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection subcommittee. That's a mouthful, and it should be - not only is that committee responsible for security oversight of mass transit, airports, port security, and highway systems, but Jackson Lee has announced they are going to dig into the issue of foreign ownership of highways and tollroads. If you think that might have something to do with the TransTexas Corridor, you'd be right.

Texas Democrats continued to garner some sweet appointments on other subcommittees, and Henry Cuellar was selected by Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson to lead the House subcommittee on emergency communications, preparedness and response. Cuellar is only on his second term, so running a subcommittee is a big deal for him, especially one with such a grand sweep of implications for his border district. This subcommittee deals not only with emergency communications but also with privacy issues, so the potential for fame and glory is decent.

Rick Perry probably did not imagine the possibility that the end of his week would be such a downer. He's getting sued over his coal plants deal, and State Senator John Corona is calling for the resignation of Perry's pal Ric Williamson from the Transportation Commission. As if that weren't enough, the Nugent story just won't die.

A mixed bag of major city news this morning. Good: Microsoft is going to build a huge data facility in San Antonio! Bad: Growing up by the ship channel in Houston gives you cancer.

Tom Craddick pledges there won't be retaliation against those that rose up against him earlier this month. I figure that the committee appointments will tell the tale of how the rest of the session will shake out. The news that he was surprised by the whole deal is interesting, but I guess no one is immune to tunnel vision. Somebody's got to pay for the coup though - you can't weather a storm like that and then show too much mercy without at least appearing to have lost your grip on things. The backbenching of Pitts and McCall may be sufficient.

The city council in Farmer's Branch has asked counsel to revise an ordinance which staff writer Betsy Parchem pondered here. If they approve the revision, which is reportedly going to alter the sticking point on citizenship requirements for renting property, the measure still can't go into affect until voters approve it during the May election. Maybe they feel like they can't win this one after last week's legal problems.

And, for today's "Weird Story About Resources That May Not Be True Since It Comes From A Coal Advocate:" Texas is running out of electricity. So go home and turn the lights off, I guess.