Tuesday Roundup: Some Bad News

The lead story yesterday is the lead story today and will probably be the lead story tomorrow. The rampage at Virginia Tech was the worst of its kind in United States history, and yesterday was the first in a series of painful days for family members and friends, a series of days so painful as to be unimaginable for most of us. It is terrible, and we are sorry to observe it.

In state news, a bill favoring a bipartisan congressional redistricting panel is probably going to make it from the Senate to the House in Austin. Obviously this will probably work better than the system which was so badly abused in 2003, and the proposal enjoys broad bipartisan support. As there won't be any kind of redistricting in 2011 that escapes close scrutiny, a new plan seems like a good idea.

(Update: Karl reminds me that he discussed legislation very similar to this in a Bill Tracker back in our earlier, halcyon days. Lo, and it comes to fruition.)

The Texas Youth Commission is undergoing a major overhaul, and the people who've been there for some time are reportedly being less than cooperative with the reformers. In an environment where a big chunk of the workforce is under investigation, I imagine that it becomes difficult for bureaucrats to make confident decisions. Despite the desire for rapid change, this is going to take a while.

Melissa Noriega is doing well in her race for Houston City Council, with the Chron reporting that she has the most cash on hand at $50,000. She has outraised her opponents and appears to be well on her way to a win. We're excited about this because we all know she's a Democrat — plus, when Bill White runs for Governor in 2010, someone's gonna have to replace him as Mayor.

Congressional Democrats have an approval rating of 54%, according to the Washington Post and ABC News. The efforts by the Republican caucus to spin — well, to spin everything since this Congress convened — are apparently failing, and support for the Democratic leadership continues to solidify. True, the ratings could be better on some of the individual issues, but hey — Bush is still doing worse.

The New York Times has some interesting things to say about the Presidential primary financial disclosures from the end of the first quarter and how the candidates spent their money. I particularly enjoyed learning that Romney makes his people fly coach and that Obama's pledge to stay away from lobbyists more or less means staying away from current lobbyists.

Speaking of spending, John McCain is on the spending warpath as of late, which makes sense. It must be more fun to pump up your credentials as a fiscal conservative when your other main issue is support for the War in Iraq. I'm not sure how long McCain can stay in, at this rate. The consensus around the office is that he's got to turn it around in the second quarter or he'll be gone before Iowa.

Finally, I heard a story on NPR this morning about "crisis pregnancy centers" operating in Texas. They receive $2.5 million in annual state funds and promote alternatives to abortion, and now Democratic legislators are interested in increasing oversight on the centers. The centers distribute information, but aren't required to have a health care practitioner on site. It would seem that a facility offering counseling or medical advice should at least undergo some sort of licensing process. This may also represent a decent bellwether for how far state house Republicans are willing to moderate themselves in the current Austin climate.