The first two bills out of the House were all about two things dear to Texans: Cars and privacy.The first, from Rep. Brian McCall, R-Plano, requires dealers to tell drivers if they're getting a car with a "black box" that monitors speed and other driving habits in a way that could be used by insurance companies and cops and lawyers later. The House likes the limits, sending the legislation to the Senate on a 142-0 vote. The second, handled by Rep. Gary Elkins, R-Houston, would stop cities from using cameras to monitor compliance at red lights. Some cities have been using photos from those cameras to fine drivers who run the lights. They say it reduces accidents and makes money. The House tentatively voted 109-30 to kill the cameras.

Appointments, sports, and TedGeraldine "Tincy" Miller of Dallas will chair the State Board of Education for two more years if the Senate goes along with Gov. Rick Perry, who reappointed her for that job. She's been on the SBOE for 20 years... Lynn Switzer of Pampa will be the new district attorney in that part of the Panhandle, replacing her old boss, Rick Roach, who pleaded guilty to drug-related gun charges in a plea deal that got drug charges against him dropped. He could face up to 10 years in prison. Switzer was an assistant district attorney in his shop. The Guv named Mark Borskey and Victoria Ford deputy directors of his legislative division, backing former Sen.-turned-lobster-turned-aide Dan Shelley in efforts to get the Lege to sync up with the governor. That's a new title for both, and a new role for Ford, who'd been in the governor's policy shop. Perry named three men to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, including two who were already on that panel. Taylor County Commissioner Stanley Egger of Tuscola, who's also a bank director, is being reappointed, as is Dr. Michael Seale, an assistant dean at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the medical director for the Harris County Sheriff. The new appointee is Albert Black of Austin, a business and community relations coordinator for Child, Inc. And he named four people to the board of the Lower Colorado River Authority: Ida Carter of Marble Falls, secretary and treasurer for an architectural firm, got reappointed; Woodrow Francis McCasland of Horseshoe Bay, managing director of Highland Lakes Bank; Linda Raun of El Campo, co-owner of Lowell Farms; and B.R. "Skipper" Wallace, the boss at Storm-Wallace-Helm, Inc., in Lampasas. The Legislative Study Group reelected Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, as chairman. The rest of the brass: Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, and Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, vice chairs; Elliot Naishtat, D-Austin, treasurer; Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, secretary; and Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, legal counsel. Meanwhile, in sports news: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, riding CDs from Heaven, finished 91st in his division in the National Cutting Horse Association World Finals in Amarillo. He blamed a badly behaved bovine for ruining his second-round time... and Gov. Perry ran in -- and finished -- Austin's Freescale Marathon, making the 26.2-mile run in 4:06:54... Deaths: Ted Powers, a retired Associated Press photographer whose 48 years on the job included 17 years of shooting in, around and about the state Capitol. He was 83 and had his family include this in his obit: "Preceded in death by many, he will be followed by all of you."