Felton West will be honored this spring with a scholarship awarded in his name by the Bess Whitehead Scott Scholarship Committee of the Writers' League of Texas. West, who died last year at 79, had been a member of the BWS Scholarship Committee since its inception in 1990.The scholarship program was created to honor the late pioneering Texas journalist, writer and teacher Bess Whitehead Scott, who died in 1997 at the age of 107. One $1,000 scholarship is for upper-level college journalism students. The other $1,000 award is for persons 40 or older who wish to pursue studies in journalism or other forms of writing. At age 16, Felton was Bess's journalism student at Milby High School in Houston when Bess recruited him for a job as copyboy at the Houston Post, where she worked. Felton went on to serve as a reporter, editor, Washington correspondent, Austin bureau chief and political columnist -- a career that spanned five decades. He and Bess renewed their friendship when the Post was preparing a special edition for its centennial, and Felton learned that his former teacher also was living in Austin. Bess was quick to remember her "star" pupil. Felton and Jean were living in Liberty Hill near Austin when he died in June 2005 after a brief bout with cancer. Donations to the BWS Scholarship Fund are welcome. To make a donation in Felton's name, please include a note with that information. Gifts to the fund, administered by the non-profit Writers? League of Texas, are tax-deductible. Make checks payable to "WRITERS' LEAGUE OF TEXAS BWS FUND" and send to: Writers' League of Texas, 1501 W. 5th St., Suite E-2, Austin TX 78703.

He won the fight and it's three weeks old now, but Rep. Tommy Merritt says he'll pursue the defamation lawsuit he filed against his opponent before the primaries.Merritt sued Mark Williams during the campaign, alleging the level of BS dished by his fellow Republican had crossed the line between smash-mouth politics and character assassination. Williams said on Election Night that he would support the party nominee. And during the campaign, he maintained that the things he said about Merritt were true. Williams was one of five Republicans challenging incumbents with nearly all their financing coming, via a PAC conduit, from Dr. James Leininger of San Antonio. Leininger, an advocate of publicly funded vouchers for private schools, knocked off two of his five targets. But Merritt, after filing the lawsuit and after he ran ads featuring his wife talking about how nasty the politics had become, survived the challenge. Now he'll press forward with his lawsuit.

Amarillo Mayor Debra McCartt is Gov. Rick Perry's newest appointee to the Texas Department of Information Resources. Perry named T. Paul Furukawa of San Antonio and Mamie Salazar-Harper of El Paso to the Family and Protective Services Council and reappointed Cristina "Ommy" Strauch of San Antonio to that panel. Furukawa is executive director of Children's Association for Maximum Potential. Salazar-Harper is president and owner of M Rentals, and Strauch has a human resources consultancy. Monica Piñon is leaving the offices of Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, for a new job at the Texas Department of Insurance. Move Mark Moreno back to Houston and back to the UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, where he's the new veep for government relations. Laura Smith, previously with Texas A&M's Health Science Center, moves into Moreno's job at the UT Medical Branch. Dick Sherron of Beaumont will get another run as president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Jon Means of Van Horn was elected first vice president at that group's convention and G. Dave Scott of Richmond will be 2nd veep and secretary.