Ever have that feeling that, "Don't worry, it's all good," means, "You're already baked"?

Speaker Joe Straus appointed members to committees, shuffling the assignments in a Texas House where one in four members is a freshman and where Republicans have a two-to-one numerical advantage. As usual, some House members were surprised. Some of them were doubly surprised when they read about their assignments on the Quorum Report an hour or more before they were made public by the Speaker's office (a note to leakers: when you're the only outfit in possession of the leaked information, all inquiries lead back to you; just sayin').

With the panels named, he can start assigning legislation to various committees for consideration, and that will get under way quickly, with the House Appropriations Committee diving into the budget this week.

Straus had several openings to fill, with members either retiring or getting beat and leaving chairmanships open on Calendars, Corrections, Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Defense & Veterans' Affairs, Human Services, Licensing & Administrative Procedures, Public Safety, Redistricting, and the House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding.

Calendars sets the House's agenda — what bills come up. Licensing is the committee where most gaming legislation is handled. Redistricting, within the political micro-climate of the Legislature, is where the politicians go to tell their own futures.

Some members did just fine, and some made the best of what they got. The Democrats knew what was coming when they saw the results on Election Night. After the voting, and the jersey changes for Alan Ritter of Nederland and Aaron Peña of Edinburg, the 77-73 House gave way to the 101-49 House. And what had been a 19-16 split on committee chairmanships is now a 27-11 split. It was one of those "Shut up and take your medicine" moments, and for the most part, they did.

The big busts were Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, who left the middle seat on Ways & Means and got the middle seat at Land & Resource Management. Joe Pickett of El Paso is still on Transportation, but without the gavel in his hand; he's now chairing Defense & Veterans' Affairs. That's not a bad gig, given the military presence in El Paso, but it's not Transportation. Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, didn't vote for the speaker or against him. She didn't even press the button for the white "abstention" light. She just sat there. And for whatever reason, she's no longer the chair of Urban Affairs.

Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, whose endorsement of Straus before the session started broke the opposition's momentum, is speaker pro tempore. Other notable elevations: Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, will head Calendars, and Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, will head Ways & Means (which might have a limited role in a session where lawmakers are more allergic than usual to taxes).

What's left of the Polo Road Gang did all right, though they didn't all get what they wanted, or thought they might be getting. The Calendars Committee is packed with them; four of the seven who are still left are on that committee. The three who aren't have good jobs: Straus himself, Jim Pitts of Waxahachie, chairman of Appropriations, and Rob Eissler of The Woodlands, chairman of Public Education. (The PRG was a group of 11 Republicans who met at Byron Cook's condo two years ago to pick a challenger to Speaker Tom Craddick from their ranks. Straus was the surprised and surprising pick. Brian McCall quit to be chancellor of the Texas State System, Delwin Jones of Lubbock and Tommy Merritt of Longview lost their primaries, and Edmund Kuempel died.) Charlie Geren of Fort Worth heads Administration and is on five committees. Jim Keffer of Eastland heads Energy Resources and is on four panels. And Burt Solomons of Carrollton is suddenly everyone's best friend, as chairman of Redistricting. He's on three other committees, too. Dan Branch of Dallas, who signed up as soon as Straus' name rose to the top two years, also landed in clover, with a chairmanship (higher ed) and three more assignments.

Redistricting bears a mention here, as it's packed with committee chairs and Straus loyalists. That's the panel that will draw districts that help and hurt incumbents, a powerful lever in the hands of the Speaker and, on the other end of the building, the lieutenant governor.

And the opposition to Speaker Joe Straus isn't on the BFFs list; depending on your view, they were either punished directly or there simply wasn't anything left for them after the stalwarts were rewarded. Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, who pressed almost to the end — withdrawing just before the vote on the speaker — finds himself on County Affairs and Urban Affairs. Warren Chisum, who challenged Straus and then folded, as promised, when the GOP Caucus stuck with the speaker, landed on Appropriations and Environmental Regulation.

The members of the No-Joes are mostly freshmen, but there are some veterans, too, and some of their committee assignments were choice — and not in a good way. (It's always hard to know if freshmen got hosed because of bad juju or if it was just because they're freshmen.)

Leo Berman of Tyler, Wayne Christian of Center, Dan Flynn of Van, Phil King of Weatherford, Jodie Laubenberg of Parker, Tan Parker of Flower Mound, Paxton, and Bill Zedler of Arlington. Berman got Elections, but without his beloved Voter ID bill, which went to a special committee he's not on. Christian is on Ways & Means, an ordinarily powerful committee that looks to be emasculated by mass oaths against any new taxes. King, a ringleader in the anti-Straus group, got Urban Affairs. He lives in Weatherford, population 27,437.

The committee assignments are available here by member, and here by committee. Here's a list of chairmen, with asterisks indicating new chairmen (a few because they're heading new committees):

• Agriculture & Livestock*: Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon

• Appropriations: Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie

• Border & Intergovernmental Affairs: Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen

• Business & Industry: Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont

• Calendars*: Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi

• Corrections*: Jerry Madden, R-Richardson

• County Affairs: Garnet Coleman, D-Houston

• Criminal Jurisprudence: Pete Gallego, D-Alpine

• Culture, Recreation & Tourism*: Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City

• Defense & Veterans' Affairs*: Joe Pickett, D-El Paso

• Economic & Small Business Development*: John Davis, R-Houston

• Elections*: Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood

• Energy Resources: Jim Keffer, R-Eastland

• Environmental Regulation*: Wayne Smith, R-Baytown

• General Investigating & Ethics: Chuck Hopson, R-Jacksonville

• Government Efficiency & Reform*: Bill Callegari, R-Katy

• Higher Education: Dan Branch, R-Dallas

• Homeland Security & Public Safety*: Sid Miller, R-Stephenville

• House Administration: Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth

• Human Services*: Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo

• Insurance: John Smithee, R-Amarillo

• Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence*: Jim Jackson, R-Carrollton

• Land & Resource Management*: Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville

• Licensing & Administrative Procedures*: Mike Hamilton, R-Mauriceville

• Local & Consent Calendars: Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston

• Natural Resources: Allan Ritter, R-Nederland

• Pensions, Investments & Financial Services: Vicki Truitt, R-Keller

• Public Education: Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands

• Public Health: Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham

• Redistricting*: Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton

• Rules & Resolutions: Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio

• State Affairs*: Byron Cook, R-Corsicana

• Technology*: Aaron Peña, R-Edinburg

• Transportation*: Larry Phillips, R-Sherman

• Urban Affairs*: Harold Dutton Jr., D-Houston

• Ways & Means*: Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville

• Select Committee on State Sovereignty*: Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe

• Select Committee on Voter Identification and Voter Fraud*: Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton

• Joint Committee on Oversight and HHS Eligibility System*: Fred Brown, R-College Station

Suiting Up

Before lawmakers have started drawing lines, before the Census Bureau has dropped the numbers on which those lines will be based, the first redistricting lawsuit in Texas has been filed. Attorney Michael Hull of Austin, representing three North Texas voters, sued the state and a bunch of others, alleging that counting undocumented immigrants in political districts has an unfair and illegal effect on voters in districts with smaller numbers of non-citizens.

The logic goes this way: If two districts have the same populations and one has more non-citizens than the other, it takes fewer voters in that district to swing an election. Fewer citizens means fewer voters means a smaller number makes a majority. Each vote is, compared to the district with more citizens, worth more.

That's interesting, but it's probably not the main point of the lawsuit. This appears to be (insert an asterisk for uncertainty here) the first lawsuit filed on redistricting and if it is, and if the courts don't burp it back up, it means the redistricting cases in Texas could go through a bunch of judges in and around Sherman. Hull asked for a three-judge panel — that's normal in redistricting. This is also pro forma: The suit pulls in redistricting for Congress, the Legislature, and the State Board of Education. Here's a copy of the lawsuit.

Inside Intelligence: The State of Things

Gov. Rick Perry delivered his sixth State of the State address this week, asking lawmakers to close some small agencies, to merge some others, to consider basing state funding for colleges and universities on the basis of how many degrees they reward, and challenging those schools to find a way to offer a bachelor's degree, with books included, for $10,000 or less. Our insiders were skeptical about the last two ideas, with 64 percent saying counting degrees is a bad way to measure success and 62 percent doubting that higher education institutions can produce a $10,000 baccalaureate. They're more optimistic when asked whether lawmakers are actually willing to close or combine agencies; 87 percent say, "Yes."

This week's open-ended prompt was: "If lawmakers decide to save money by consolidating or closing agencies, which state agencies should they target?" The full set of answers is attached, but here are some samples of how the insiders answered:

• "Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals. Some of the appellate districts. The various health agencies."

• "They simply won't. The agencies all have big constituencies (and lobbyists who represent those constituencies) and they won't target any."

• "It doesn't matter. There is not enough money to be saved in consolidation to make any difference in the budget crisis."

• "It makes sense to consolidate the Texas Medical Board, the Texas Board of Nursing, the Texas Board of Dental Examiners, the Texas Optometry Board, the Texas Board of Examiners of Psychologists, the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners, the Texas Board of Pharmacy, the Executive Council of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Examiners and the Texas Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners into one new agency, the Health Professions Agency."

• "TCEQ and the Railroad Commission"

• "Perhaps the State Board of Education could be closed."

• "PUC/RRC"

• "It would be nice if they actually sunsetted an agency that was up for sunset"

• "Cost savings from such actions are likely to be all show and no dough. Such an effort is really just a distraction from the real issues and hard budget choices that need to be made."

• "All health care licensing should be placed under the medical board. Quacks do not police the activities of fellow Quacks well."

• "None. Rearranging chairs on the deck. This is not the issue."

• "This discussion speaks to the failure of the sunset process which was designed to do this in a logical and orderly fashion. It doesn't work and needs to be reformed."

• "Small agencies that are mostly pass-thrus for federal money (like Housing & Comm Affairs) are good consolidation targets; put remaining staff in Gov's office. Closing regulatory agencies cuts the budget but doesn't really help balance it (the GR-dedicated issue)."

• "Perry's list is a good start."

• "Put the State Preservation Board under the Historical Commission, the Animal Health Commission under the Agriculture Department, the Alcoholic Beverage Commission under the Department of Public Safety, the Railroad Commission under the General Land Office, and the responsibility to collect all debt owed to the state under the Attorney General. Just for good measure, go ahead and replace the Lottery and Racing Commissions with the State Gaming Commission to handle the expansion of gambling in Texas!"

• "The legislature should consolidate TEA and THECB. Create an Education Czar overseeing both P-12 and higher education with a director for P-12 and another one for higher education."

Riddle Strikes Again

Rep. Debbie Riddle apparently took notes during Gov. Rick Perry's State of the State address. Immediately after the governor's call for lawmakers to draft legislation punishing employers who hire undocumented immigrants, the Tomball Republican filed House Bill 1202, which would make it a state jail felony to "intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly" hire an undocumented worker. Such felonies are punishable fines up to $10,000 and stints in jail of 180 days to two years.

The bill exempts those entering into contracts with or hiring undocumented immigrants to perform work only at single-family homes, which could exclude the thousands of Texans who employ unauthorized workers for domestic help. It also provides an exemption for employers who attempt to verify employment "in a manner that is more likely than not to produce a correct and reliable result." The bill does not mention verification through the federal electronic employment system known as E-Verify, which could make the proposed legislation more favorable to some Republicans. At least five bills have been filed requiring the use of E-Verify, to the displeasure of some GOP House members. The system is inaccurate, they argue, and it could actually hinder some small businesses in their attempts to hire legal workers. The Texas Association of Businesses has also taken a stance against E-Verify, claiming the system will hurt the state's businesses.

The Week in the Rearview Mirror

Questions continued to linger about blackouts that rolled through the state after a bitter cold front blew through Texas. State officials tried to figure out what allowed cold weather to knock 82 power plants offline, yanking power for hundreds of thousands of Texans. Officials also had questions for officials from ERCOT, the state's grid operator, about the spike in the wholesale price of electricity. The Public Utility Commission is overseeing an investigation into whether market manipulation was in play, and the Railroad Commission will weigh in with an assessment of the natural gas industry's actions during the crisis.

Amazon is pulling up stakes in Texas. The online retailer is in a legal fight with the state over whether it should collect and remit sales taxes. The comptroller sued the company for $269 million in uncollected sales taxes. Amazon officials say they had intended to expand, but will instead eliminate its physical presence in the state.

Court-watchers hope the approval of a federal judge in Laredo will help solve a critical backlog of cases. The U.S. Senate confirmed Magistrate Judge Diana Saldaña to fill one of two vacant positions after being nominated by President Barack Obama in July. Saldaña is the first judicial nominee of Obama's to receive approval in Texas, but several remaining judicial vacancies have some worried the state will be unable to handle an increasing number of drug and immigration cases.

After a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court ruled against them, plaintiffs in a racial discrimination suit against the University of Texas appealed to the full court. They contend that a U.S. district judge and the panel misinterpreted the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in a similar case at the University of Michigan. At issue is whether race can be considered as a factor in admission.

Gov. Rick Perry used his State of the State address Tuesday to criticize the federal government and, in particular, to slam Austin's representative in the U.S. House, Lloyd Doggett, for passing an amendment last year requiring Texas to maintain current levels of education spending as a condition for $830 million in federal funding. At the time, Democrats wanted Perry's commitment that he'd use the money solely on education for the next three years rather than to plug budget holes. Perry refused to sign, citing the Texas Constitution. A movement is now under way in the congressional Republican delegation to overturn the so-called Doggett amendment.

Bitter fighting over eminent domain may finally come to an end this legislative session as lawmakers work toward passing a compromise bill. Property owners and their allies have struggled to gain additional safeguards against eminent domain for years, and since Gov. Rick Perry declared it an emergency item this session, progress has already been made. The Senate passed a bill Wednesday, and the author of the House version, Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, predicted passage there.

Prison officials tasked with making budget cuts came up with a draft version full of controversial money-saving ideas. In addition to laying off more than 1,000 workers, they proposed closing drug treatment centers and reducing the number of meals prisoners would get on weekends. The prisoners' diets would also take a hit, with dairy milk being replaced with the powdered variety and bread substituted for buns.

Although the state and Environmental Protection Agency's relationship is still adversarial, a bipartisan group of state legislators is asking for the state to fund additional air monitors in North Texas. Thirty lawmakers sent a letter to Gov. Rick Perry urging him to fast-track their request to have the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality install 20 air monitors near the Barnett Shale gas field to get a clear picture of the air quality in the region, where shale drilling has stirred controversy. Costs are expected to be between $3 million and $7 million for the first two years and $1 million to $3 million per year after that.

Political People and Their Moves

Gene Powell of San Antonio was elected by his fellow regents to be the new chairman of the University of Texas System Board of Regents. Paul Foster, R. Steven Hicks and James Dannenbaum were elected vice chairmen.

Brian Guthrie will take over as executive director of the Teacher Retirement System when Ronnie Jung retires in September. Guthrie is the deputy now and came to TRS in 2008; for the decade before that, he worked for Lt. Gov. and then Gov. Rick Perry.

Craig Casselberry is joining the Austin office of the Weber Shandwick public relations firm; his most recent gig was with Quorum Public Affairs, the firm he started in 1994.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed three members to the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, pending Senate confirmation. Judy Morgan of Texarkana is owner and president of Jack B. Kelley Enterprises Inc. Elaine Mendoza of San Antonio is president and CEO of Conceptual MindWorks Inc. Cliff Thomas of Victoria is owner and CEO of Thomas Petroleum LLC, Speedy Stop Food Stores and C.L. Thomas Inc.

Perry reappointed Deeia Beck of Austin to the Office of Public Insurance Counsel, which represents insurance consumers in regulatory matters relating to insurance rates, rules and forms. Beck is the public counsel for the Office of Public Insurance Counsel.

The governor reappointed Ray Wilkerson of Austin presiding officer of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. Wilkerson is the president and CEO of Ray Wilkerson Companies Inc., a real estate investment firm.

Department of Corrections: Yup, we put a D behind Aaron Peña's name last week, out of habit. He is now, of course, a Republican. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Quotes of the Week, Heavyweight Division

Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, has reached some conclusions after sitting through testimony in the Senate Finance Committee. They've already gone over health and human services, public education, and some higher education. But in the middle of Texas A&M Chancellor Mike McKinney's testimony, Eltife went on a jag:

"In my opinion the cuts are not acceptable. Everyone's done an admirable job of cutting expenses and doing their best. As Chairman Ogden said, it is incumbent on us to make those decisions, but we have to find more revenue. We have to use the Rainy Day Fund.

"Businesses set aside money for a reason. In down times, they use their fund balances. I see it all the time. Do you use it all? Of course not. Do you soften the blow of cuts? Of course you do. You also have to find additional revenue.

"Sen. Duncan is right: We have an investment in higher ed, in public education, in health and human services. We have an investment in Texans. We have got to find the revenue on this side of the table to make these cuts less of a burden on Texans.

"There's no other way to do this. We can dance around it all we want and talk about, "Oh, is it revenue? Is it a tax? Is it this? Is it that?" We have to find additional revenue. We spread the pain with cuts, revenue, and the Rainy Day Fund. Any other idea in this building is just crazy to me."

Quotes of the Week

Gov. Rick Perry on how he sees the budget deficit, during his State of the State address at the Capitol: "Now the mainstream media and big-government interest groups are doing their best to convince us that we're facing a budget Armageddon. Texans don't believe it, and they shouldn't, because it's not true."

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, on the governor's charge that Doggett has held up federal funding for education: "His jibe says less about the state of the state and more about his own state of denial."

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, on the governor's address: "The fact is that 2011 is Rick Perry's 'Madoff moment.' You see, the governor years ago established a system that really is a Ponzi scheme."

Senate Higher Education Chairwoman Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, on Gov. Rick Perry's $10,000 degree challenge: "There may be a way to do it. Perhaps at a community college or a small regional college. Your emerging research universities aren't going to do it, and your national research universities probably can't do it."

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, on the legislatively mandated practice of setting aside public school tuition to fund need-based financial aid: "We should never have done this. This is abusive on our part."

Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, on losing his position as chairman of the House Transportation Committee following the announcement of Texas House committee assignments on Tuesday, in the El Paso Times: "I've been asked to do this so that the Republicans can have the chairs. Whether they are honorary or not, they get them."

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, on how her career as a pharmacist has helped shape her support for abortion rights: "I am Catholic, but I am also a pharmacist. I tell you, nothing is more heartbreaking than a women coming to the pharmacy … usually in her 30s, usually with three or four children, with that look of desperation in her eyes, and to look at me and [ask], 'Is there anything I can take to bring down my period?'"

State Education Commissioner Robert Scott on the difficulty of determining what items he would ask to be revived in the final state budget for public education: "It's like asking a guy on the operating table whether he wants his heart or his lungs back."

Randall "Buck" Wood, lawyer for Democratic Rep. Donna Howard, during closing arguments in the election contest filed by Republican Dan Neil, who is less than a dozen votes down: "I think Mr. Neil, with his background in football, knows that at the end of the game, if somebody's got 23 points and the other person's got 24 points, the person with 23 points loses."

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, in the Los Angeles Times: "A lot of the things we are doing arguably aren't priorities for the people of Texas. People could stake me and Gov. Perry on the ground and torture us, and we still would not raise taxes."

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, in the same article: "Someone just turned the lights on in the bar, and the sexiest state doesn't look so pretty anymore."

Contributors: Julian Aguilar, Reeve Hamilton, Ceryta Lockett, David Muto and Morgan Smith

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Texas Weekly: Volume 28, Issue 6, 14 February 2011. Ross Ramsey, Editor. Copyright 2011 by The Texas Tribune. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. One-year online subscription: $250. For information about your subscription, call (512) 716-8600 or email biz@texasweekly.com. For news, email ramsey@texasweekly.com, or call (512) 716-8611.

The House's master — Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, says Donna Howard, D-Austin, beat Dan Neil, R-Austin, by four votes.Hartnett's recommendation goes next to the select committee chaired by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, and then on to the full House, which has the final say on who won the election. Keeping score by rounds? It was Howard by 16 votes on Election Day, by 12 votes in the recount, and now by four. As they say at the carnival, it only takes one ticket to win. Here's the statement from Hartnett's office (the full report is available here):

"After a thorough review of the numerous challenged ballots, I have concluded that Donna Howard won the House District 48 election by 4 votes. "Voters who had moved out of Travis County without changing their voter registration and returned to vote in their former precinct caused a net subtraction of 7 votes from Ms. Howard's margin of victory. Counting 4 unopened ballots subtracted a net of 2 votes from Ms. Howard's margin. "Striking 1 vote by a voter who was not effectively registered added 1 vote to her margin. "I have seen no evidence of any voter fraud or of any substantial errors by any Travis County election official. My report will be released later this evening." Will Hartnett Master of Discovery

And here's the reaction from Joe Nixon, the former state representative who is now Neil's lawyer:

"We have received the Master’s recommendation, and we are in the process of reviewing it. We have completed step one of this process, and we intend to take our case to the committee. We believe the evidence presented in recent hearings is worthy of a different finding, and we are confident the committee will agree. This is an excellent ruling to take to the committee. It shows that there are a number of unresolved issues that need to be decided before anyone can be declared the winner of this election."

Howard's reaction:

"The Master of Discovery's recommendations are the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work and careful deliberation. They reconfirm that this election was conducted fairly and professionally, and that I was chosen by the voters to represent House District 48. The presentation and thorough review of the evidence was a critical part of determining the true winner of this election, and I want to thank everyone who gave up their time to participate in last week's hearings."

Gov. Rick Perry wants to keep the small business tax break approved by lawmakers two years ago and that, without legislative action, will require more businesses to pay franchise taxes next year. The 2009 legislation increased (to $1 million) the amount of money a company can bring in before it's subject to the state's corporate franchise tax, and was touted at the time a way to keep most of the tax income coming in while freeing thousands of businesses from writing checks. The big taxpayers who pay most of the taxes were still paying, but an estimated 39,000 taxpayers were set free, at a cost of $172 million. The original exemption was $300,000, meaning a company could have gross revenues of that amount and still not owe the tax. The legislation passed two years ago raised that to $1 million for the first two years, but would drop it back down to $600,000 next year unless lawmakers act. The number of businesses that would be affected wasn't immediately available, nor was the amount of money that's in play.

This is the Texas Legislative Council's first run at the state's population by congressional district. A quirk in the numbers: The state currently has 32 congressional seats but is getting four more; this map is based on the ideal populations for 36 districts, which is 698,488.

This is the Texas Legislative Council's first run at the state's population by state Senate district. The ideal size for each of the 31 districts is 811,147.

This is the Texas Legislative Council's first run at the state's population by state House district. The ideal size for each of the 31 districts is 167,637.

This is the Texas Legislative Council's first run at the state's population by State Board of Education district. The ideal size for each of the 15 districts is 1,676,371.

Michele Kay, a writer for the Austin American-Statesman, for Texas Business magazine, and from time to time, for Texas Weekly, and a teacher who helped revive the journalism program at St. Edwards University in Austin, passed away this morning after a long bout with cancer.Here's the official obituary:

Micheline Trigaci Kay, 1944-2011

Extraordinary Journalist

Micheline Trigaci Kay, who transformed herself from journalist to student to professor, wanted to write her own obituary, but she got busy doing other things. We can almost see her now, striking out entire passages and editing with a sharp pen.

Matter-of-fact about her accomplishments, Michele was more comfortable celebrating others, delighting in her roles as wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend. Even when working on her memoir, she kept saying, "I don't want this to be all about me."

Michele cultivated and nurtured friendships from around the world. Her loving husband, Robert Schultz, her family and her dearest friends were always uppermost in her mind and heart.

She was a consummate storyteller whose professional life, while grounded in journalism, included stints in politics, business and community involvement. She was determined to shed some light in this world through her writing and teaching. She was well-traveled, fiercely independent and never shrank from a challenge. She met difficulties with courage, honesty, humor and the conviction that hard work never hurt anyone.

Told that she never did anything less than 100 percent, she said didn't see the point in doing it any other way.

As an assistant professor at St. Edward's University in her later years, she created the school's journalism degree program and re-made the student newspaper. "I wasn't really a teacher," Michele said of her love of interacting with the students. "I was somebody with a passion for something who wanted to share it with them."

Born in Cairo, Egypt, on Dec. 2, 1944, Michele lived in London, Hong Kong, Saigon, San Francisco, Paris, Tel Aviv, New York, Dallas and Austin. Her first language was French and she remained fluent. She learned English at age 12 while living in London, thanks, she said, to the strict nuns in the Catholic school she attended. She became a British citizen by an act of Parliament at the request of the Queen – a favor in return for her father's work diverting classified diplomatic cables to the British government while the family lived in Cairo. That side job at Marconi Cable & Wireless caused him and his family to be placed under house arrest and ultimately exiled from Egypt on Michele's 12th birthday.

Michele's parents encouraged her independence, and being Michele, she took that encouragement and ran with it. Once, as a young teenager, she startled her family by deciding to hitchhike across India and Europe, embarking on this adventure on a whim while on a stopover on a flight from Hong Kong to London.

Michele started her journalism career in 1962 at the Hong Kong Standard at age 17. She first covered weddings, which she described as a disaster, and later wrote news — which, she said, at first went only slightly better. An editor once asked her if a story she had completed was written "in a language any of us speaks." She soon was good enough for a job at the bigger, more prestigious South China Morning Post as its first woman covering hard news.

She married Keith Kay at age 20, he was drafted into the Army and stationed in New Jersey. The couple lived in New York and Michele worked for the Pakistan Mission to the UN, Pfizer and a pharmaceutical magazine. When Keith's Army stint was over, the couple moved to Saigon, without jobs but with the firm belief each would find interesting work.

Keith was hired by CBS to cover the Vietnam War and Michele got a job with Pan American World Airways, making sure the GIs were being treated well and their logistical problems were solved. After the war ended, the couple lived in Paris, where Michele took a job with the American Chamber of Commerce. They also spent time in Tel Aviv. They had two children, Deborah and Warren.

In 1981, the family moved to Rockwall, just outside of Dallas, where Michele was an editor and columnist for the Dallas-Fort Worth Business Journal and later, senior editor of Texas Business Magazine. She once said of business reporting, "Business teaches you about how our world works. You learn how to cover what people are doing. You are a generalist, not a specialist … translating to the layman."

When the Austin American-Statesman was looking for a business editor in 1988, Michele was ready. She moved to Austin and held various posts at the Statesman, including editorial writer, Washington correspondent and Texas Capitol reporter. She covered the intersection of politics and policy with flair and a dogged determination to be the first with the story and to perfect the telling of it, whatever effort and time it took. She brought the same professionalism and work ethic to her jobs as a columnist and an editor.

In reflecting on the time she had devoted to her craft, she came to the conclusion that she knew of no other way to approach it, saying simply, "I thought the work was important."

While journalism defined her professional life, Michele also ventured into politics. She worked for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in his 1988 campaign for attorney general of Texas and for Carole Keeton Strayhorn in 1999, when she was comptroller. Michele obtained her U.S. citizenship in 1997 so that she could have a direct say in the electoral process.

In her late 50s, in 2002, Michele fulfilled a life goal by obtaining a bachelor's degree, saying that she had always felt that "something was missing because there were things I didn't know." She had never been to college, but her intelligence, coupled with a program at St. Edward's University that credited her experience, enabled Michele to complete her coursework in about two years.

She loved school, and in 2005, she earned a master's degree from St. Ed's. She found a second professional love in teaching at the school. Many of her students kept in touch with her, and she cherished their support and friendship.

In the last year of her life, she worked closely with friends Mary Ann Roser and Catherine Rainwater on a memoir that stemmed from her master's thesis about displaced persons. It centered on her experience being deported from Egypt and the impact exile had on her life and that of her immediate family.

Michele spoke often and lovingly of her family: Her daughter Deborah Gilbert and her husband, Chuck, and her son, Warren, and his wife, Laura, and Michele's grandchildren, Keith, Brennan, Austin, Nate and Annabel.

She found love in her second marriage to Robert Schultz in January 1999, knowing soon after they met that he was "the one." He was her biggest cheerleader when she expressed a desire to go to college. She took pride in the accomplishments of Robert's children – Kenneth and his wife, Heidi, and Karl, and his wife, Liz.

Michele and Robert enjoyed traveling the world together, attending the symphony and spending time with friends. They enjoyed entertaining and were generous hosts.

The running theme of their loving banter was their appreciation of each other's different strengths. Robert said they were complementary opposites in nearly every way. He was endlessly entertained by the dichotomy of Michele's ability to be at home in the world, yet her impracticality when it came to everyday matters like flat tires. An engineer, he tried to help her with her math courses in college, but she insisted that math was impossible and that the homework problems were "stupid" and "not useful."

She appreciated his steadfast love all the more because of her less conventional life.

Robert was her constant caregiver when she was ill with a brain tumor, paying daily tribute to the marriage vow, "In sickness and in health…"

As for what she brought him, a poem on the blog he kept up during her illness expresses it beautifully. Robert wrote this when Michele's daughter, Deborah, asked everyone at Thanksgiving 2009 to write the five things for which they were thankful:

********************************

Thanksgiving 2009

What am I thankful for?

Michele, Michele, Michele, Michele, Michele

I am thankful that she has broadened my horizons

and has shown me a world that I would have

never known without her.

I am thankful that she inspires me.

I am thankful to have her to love.

I am thankful to be loved by her.

I am thankful that she has changed my life.

Although life may not turn out exactly as hoped,

I will always be thankful for Michele.

******************************

We are all thankful for Michele.

She gave a lot to her community and was active on various civic and professional boards. She was the first woman member of the century-old Town and Gown Club in Austin. She also was a member of the Open Forum Club, the Tuesday Club, the Writers' League of Texas and the Headliners Club. She was on the Nature Conservancy of Texas Advisory Council and on the board of directors for the Austin Playhouse.

In addition to those already mentioned, Michele is survived by her brother, Jean Pierre Trigaci of Majorca, Spain; cousins Denyse Milton of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., the Ardith-Gilkman-Eteve family of Paris, France, and the Magid family of Kyneton, Victoria, Australia; She had too many friends to list.

In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to Hospice Austin and the American Cancer Society.

Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish, 3125 North Lamar Blvd., are pending, as are services at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.

Put Rep. Warren Chisum on the "maybe" list for Texas Railroad Commissioner, if there is such a thing when the job comes open.As a sworn-in state lawmaker, the Pampa Republican is ineligible for appointment to the commission spot opened up by Michael Williams' retirement. Williams is leaving in April and Gov. Rick Perry will appoint someone to serve until the next regular election. Current lawmakers are boxed out of that appointment but can run in the election in 2012. And Elizabeth Ames Jones's term on the commission comes up that same year, so there could be two seats to fill. Or just one. The Sunset Advisory Commission has recommended changes at the RRC, including replacing the three elected commissioners with just one. If that happens, there'll be one spot open in 2012, and the winner won't have to share power with others. Another recommendation would change the name of the agency to the Texas Oil & Gas Commission, and others have suggested the Texas Energy Commission as a more descriptive tag. Chisum isn't committed, but he's interested. "It's a possibility," he says. "There was some talk about it. It's early, but I'll look at it." And, he adds, he's busy with the budget and everything else during the legislative session. The time to make a decision "is more like a year from now."