Add Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie, to the list of House members not coming back. That total is, at this writing, up to 13 and a maybe, and candidates don't have to finally commit until the first days of the New Year. Allen, who heads the House Committee on County Affairs and used to chair the Corrections Committee, was one of several Republican chairs targeted by Democrats in the 2004 elections. He was also one of the survivors, beating Democrat Katy Hubener by 1,841 votes. He was likely to be on the hit list again but decided not to run for reelection in HD-106. He's finishing his seventh term in the House. So you don't have to look it up, here's the current list of members who won't be here for the next regular session, starting with Republicans: Allen, Todd Baxter of Austin, Bob Griggs of North Richland Hills, Peggy Hamric of Houston, Ruben Hope Jr. of Conroe, Bob Hunter of Abilene, Suzanna Gratia Hupp of Lampasas, Terry Keel of Austin, Joe Nixon of Houston. The Democrats: the late Joe Moreno of Houston, Richard Raymond of Laredo, Jim Solis of Harlingen. Count Carlos Uresti of San Antonio, who has said he's considering either a bid for Senate or for reelection, as a maybe. 

Hardeman County Commissioner Johnny Akers pleaded guilty to short-stopping ballots in the 2004 primary and general elections in which he was elected. He told some voters there he'd help them out by picking up their ballots and delivering them to the proper folks. That's illegal. Ed Strayhorn, husband of Texas Comptroller and gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn, had some kind of "incident" or seizure while on a hunting trip with friends in South Texas and was taken to Valley Baptist Hospital in Harlingen. He's now at home and a spokesman said he's fine and that the doctors are still poking and prodding to find out what happened.