Enlarge Robert Hart

Presidential contender Donald Trump enters the rally at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2015.

Ahead of the next Republican presidential debate, Hispanic conservative leaders are expressing concern about how some candidates, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, are discussing immigration.

A day before the GOP field meets at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the leaders are planning to huddle nearby, then brief the media on what they see as a party increasingly out of step with Latino voters. Among those expected to participate are senior officials from the LIBRE Initiative, Mario Lopez, president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund; and Alfonso Aguilar, head of the American Principles Project's Latino Partnership.

Most alarming to the Hispanic conservatives are GOP frontrunner Donald Trump's inflammatory rants against illegal immigration. But they are also worried about Cruz, who most allied himself with Trump in the GOP field, praising the billionaire for drawing attention to illegal immigration and even backing his call to end birthright citizenship.

The Boulder summit would not be the first time Cruz's alliance with Trump has caught the attention of Latino leaders. During a visit to Houston last month, Javier Palomarez, the head of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said Cruz has damaged himself in the Latino community by refusing to criticize Trump. 

The Washington Post first reported the leaders were planning to meet in Boulder.

*****

Gov. Greg Abbott is still keeping his options open as he weighs an endorsement in the Republican race for the White House. 

Abbott told reporters Wednesday he is "not ruling out, not ruling in" any White House hopefuls as he considers throwing his support behind one of them. Abbott has not said for sure whether he will make an endorsement before Texas' primary on March 1, an earlier-than-usual date that could give him more clout than some of his predecessors have had in picking a winner.  

Abbott's remarks came a day after he met for as long as an hour at the Governor's Mansion with Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon near the top of most polls nowadays — and the first candidate not from Texas to visit the mansion. On Wednesday, Abbott called Carson a "really likable man" who has a "genuine concern" for the direction of the country. 

*****

Along with deciding on a new speaker of the House, Congress is trying to hammer out a multiyear extension of federal highway funding before an Oct. 29 deadline. In the midst of those negotiations, Abbott sent a letter to the members of the Texas delegation Wednesday urging them to fight for the state's "fair share of federal transportation funding."

"As Congress resumes consideration of our surface transportation programs, I ask that you work with your colleagues to develop a fair, equitable and logical approach to federal transportation funding that does not shortchange Texans," Abbott wrote.

*****

Hillary Clinton announced the backing of almost 90 Texas Democrats Monday in her "Hillary for Texas Leadership Council," an effort to build up her support in Texas before the March 1 primary. 

The majority of Democrats in the state Legislature and in the Texas congressional delegation are on Hillary’s list. It also includes prominent mayors, city council members and other current and former elected officials.

*****

Houston Mayor Annise Parker went to bat Monday afternoon for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pending and massive trade deal between the United States and Pacific Rim countries. 

"Houston was founded on trade," Parker said on a White House conference call with reporters. She went on to argue that the deal would translate into economic opportunity for Texas industries, including natural gas exports to Japan and agriculture overseas. 

"This agreement allows us a more even opportunity to put American goods into the field and compete successfully," she added. 

The trade deal is the key economic push of President Obama's second term. It is not, however, popular among labor unions and faced fierce opposition from that constituency this summer. 

Congress is expected to vote on the deal in an up-or-down vote sometime in February.

*****

The Texas Federation of Republican Women is planning a star-studded lineup for its 2015 convention next month in West Texas.

Among those scheduled to speak at the meeting, according to TFRW president Jodi Rushton: Abbott, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Cruz, former Gov. Rick Perry and Janet Huckabee, the wife of presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee. A number of statewide officials are also expected to attend, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Land Commissioner George P. Bush. 

The convention, a biennial gathering of the organization, is being held Nov. 5-7 in Lubbock.

*****

In response to the fire that destroyed thousands of acres and more than 40 homes and buildings in Bastrop County, state Rep. John Cyrier, R-Lockhart, refashioned his campaign kickoff for HD-17 into a benefit for Bastrop County fire recovery.  

Cyrier, who represents Bastrop, Caldwell, Gonzales, Karnes and Lee counties, is hosting the event on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the Bastrop location of Southside Market and BBQ. Money raised will go to the Bastrop County Long Term Recovery Team.

*****

A poll conducted by Survey USA on Houston’s seven candidates in the mayoral race revealed no single candidate appears to have the majority required to win the contest outright, although State Rep. Sylvester Turner topped the list with 20 percent of the vote. 

Following him was Houston businessman Bill King with 14 percent and former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia at 13. Former Congressman Chris Bell and Stephen Costello followed with 12 and 11 percent, respectively. Rounding out the poll were Ben Hall and Marty McVey in the single digits.

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Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas.

Travis County looks poised to jump on the bandwagon of Texas governments suing Volkswagen over its deceptive emissions software.

In a 4-0 vote on Tuesday, its Commissioners Court authorized the county attorney to sue Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. and subsidiary Audi of America, alleging violations of Texas environmental laws.

The decision comes after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — who has filed his own suits — asked Harris and Fort Bend Counties to halt their litigation against the company.

Harris County has declined Paxton’s request. Fort Bend is still weighing its options.

By abandoning their lawsuits, the counties would leave millions of dollars in potential damages on the table.

*****

The Travis County district attorney's office expects to review hundreds of criminal cases that involved the interpretation of DNA evidence with multiple contributors, following the implementation of new testing standards.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the office said that it is reviewing past cases to include a new standard involving mixed DNA, genetic evidence that might come from more than one person. With that additional standard — which evidence testing agencies across the country are beginning to adopt — the chances of a defendant or someone already convicted being tied to a crime might change, affecting that case.

The office stated it's unclear how many criminal cases will be reviewed but settled for "probably in the hundreds." The office also plans to add more attorneys and paralegals to its Conviction Integrity Unit.

*****

In a report released Tuesday, the Texas State Auditor's Office says the Dallas County District Attorney's Office misused expenditures from the State Asset Forfeiture Funds during fiscal years 2013 and 2014, when former DA Craig Watkins was at the helm.

Based on data provided by the county, the office used about $80,000 in those years that weren't in compliance with the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, the report states.

The office spent the funds on a legal settlement related to a claim against the county and Watkins, outside counsel fees for a contempt matter in which he was a defendant, travel expenditures and donations, according to the report.

*****

We have an update on the long-running battle of Texas’ redistricting efforts, a legal conflict that is currently pending before a three-judge federal panel in San Antonio.

The Lone Star Project is asking the court to bar Texas from using its 2013 House and Congressional maps for the 2016 election cycle. The group argues opponents are likely to convince the court that lawmakers intentionally discriminated against minorities when drawing the map.

“There is no actual harm to the State from having to give full and fair recognition to the rights of minority voters in Texas House and Texas Congressional elections,” the group said in a filing this week. “The state has shown itself unwilling to take any steps to protect those rights without either the threat of, or the actual occurrence, of judicial intervention.”

*****

The attorney general doesn’t want Texas to pay the opponents’ attorney fees in a long-running battle over the state’s redistricting maps, and he’s asking the U.S. Supreme Court for help.

On Thursday, Paxton petitioned the court to review a lower court's decision requiring Texas to pay more than $1 million in legal fees in the case State of Texas v. Wendy Davis, et al.. He called that ruling unconstitutional.

The case, which dates back to 2011, is complicated, and so is the fee issue. 

In 2013, a federal district court ruled that there was evidence that lawmakers intentionally discriminated when redrawing the boundaries. But the U.S. Supreme Court soon complicated the case when it struck down a key section of the Voting Rights Act that had forced Texas to seek permission before making changes to election procedures.

Texas filed a motion to dismiss the lower court’s decision on its map, arguing it was moot in light of the Supreme Court ruling. The lower court agreed but said the plaintiffs “remain free to seek attorneys fees after dismissal.”

And they did.

Instead of filing an opposition to those motions, Texas filed an “advisory” declaring it did not intend to respond unless the court requested it to do so. It argued that the Supreme Court decision alone closed the door on the question about attorneys’ fees.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit didn’t buy it.

“What little argument Texas did advance in its 'Advisory' provides an insufficient basis for overturning the district court’s award of attorneys’ fees,” that court held in August.

Now, Paxton wants the justices to review that ruling.

“Supreme Court opinions have the binding effect of law the day they are issued,” he said in a statement. “The lower courts were unjustified in compelling Texas to pay attorneys’ fees under a law that was invalidated as unconstitutional a full year earlier. We are asking the Court to step in to preserve its authority to establish the supreme law of the land.”

Enlarge Graphic by Todd Wiseman

A candidate forum hosted by a Tarrant County state senator last week for the open Senate District 24 seat attracted three of the seven declared candidates where they touched on topics like same-sex marriage, red light cameras, school choice and border security. 

CJ Grisham, Brent Mayes and Ryan Downton were the three who attended the forum, which was held in Temple on the evening of Oct. 15. 

The event, organized by Colleyville Republican Konni Burton, had stirred up some controversy, mainly from the Republican Party of Bell County. The group actively opposed the event in the weeks leading up to it, even discouraging candidates from attending. The party objected to the event being held prior to the start of the candidate filing period. 

Another GOP organization, the Travis County Republican Party, stepped in and co-sponsored the event. Burton made the most of the controversy, even setting chairs at the stage’s table for the four missing candidates. 

“To me, the fact that we are here says something and should say something to each and every one of you,” Grisham said at the start of the forum. 

The forum was composed of a series of questions, both from Burton and from the audience. The topics included same-sex marriage, red light cameras, school choice, abortion, border security, guns and tuition regulation, among others. 

While the candidates were like-minded on the majority of issues, calling for limited government and more conservative values, there were a few areas where they differed slightly.

For instance, Downton said he was in favor of open carry but believed police should be able to ask to see licenses. Grisham, a gun rights advocate and founder of Open Carry Texas, and Mayes disagreed with Downton.

“Friends, I truly believe we are going to have constitutional carry,” Mayes said.

The candidates agreed that border security is one of the top issues — if not the top — in Texas right now, suggesting the removal of sanctuary cities and the use of E-Verify to identify undocumented immigrants.

The candidates agreed that they weren't happy with the plan put forward by Gov. Greg Abbott this past legislative session to improve the quality of pre-K in Texas.

"I see no reason to add an additional year of schooling that's going to add additional property tax," Downton said.

Grisham at one point said he has a three-year-old ticket generated from a red light camera that he refuses to pay out of opposition to the devices.

Candidates Jon Cobb, Susan King, Dawn Buckingham and Reed Williams were not present for the event.

*****

Attorney General Ken Paxton will have access to information his lawyers had subpoenaed related to the selection of the grand jury that indicted him on three felony charges in July, the judge presiding over his criminal trial ruled last Friday.

The special prosecutors handling his case had sought to block the release of the documents, calling the subpoenas "improper" and "desperate." Judge George Gallagher sided with Paxton's attorneys in a written ruling made after he canceled the Friday afternoon hearing.

*****

The Texas State Teachers Association would like the Teachers Retirement System of Texas’ support in asking the state Legislature to double its monthly allocation for health insurance to school employees.

Currently, the state gives school employees $75 per month for health insurance costs. The association would like to see them provide $150. Districts are responsible for funding at least $150 monthly for each employee’s health insurance premium.

“After 14 years, how long must we wait for the state to do its fair share to make sure Texas teachers and public school employees have affordable, high quality health care coverage?” TSTA President Noel Candelaria said in a Thursday press release. “Will you, the TRS board, join us in asking the Legislature to double the state contribution for educator health care?”

***** 

If it wasn't already obvious that health care spending is the 800-pound gorilla of state contracting, a new report from the State Auditor's Office makes it crystal clear.

The report is a result of a provision tucked into Senate Bill 20, the session's lead contracting reform bill, that directed the SAO to consider auditing all of the Health and Human Services Commission's contracts worth more than $100 million. Before SAO's leadership can decide which contracts to audit, they need to know just how many contracts fell into that category. The verdict: 57 contracts worth nearly $46.1 billion.

The eye-popping figure may be a little off, as HHSC management "expressed concerns about the accuracy of the expenditure information," in their own records, according to the report.

*****

This time last year, Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson stumped for Proposition 1, the constitutional amendment designed to boost transportation funding.

A year later, there's another road funding proposition on the statewide ballot and another video featuring colorful Texas celebrities. 

Move Texas Forward is out with a new web video for Proposition 7 featuring Rooster McConaughey and Butch Gilliam of West Texas Investors Club, the Shark Tank-style reality show on CNBC.

The most memorable line comes from McConaughey: "I'd rather see them spend this money on roads than spend it all on saving that ***damn prairie chicken up there that's already been saved."

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For this week’s nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked about Planned Parenthood getting kicked out of Medicaid and budget cuts to child therapy services.

Texas lawmakers have made news this legislative interim for a couple of actions related to the Medicaid program. The most recent one was the move by Gov. Greg Abbott to kick Planned Parenthood entirely out of the Medicaid program in the wake of undercover videos taken by an anti-abortion group, one of them at an abortion facility in Houston.

Earlier this summer, a directive to cut $100 million over two years to child therapy services under Medicaid mainly through provider cuts caused consternation among a bipartisan cross section of the Legislature. The head of Texas' health and human services agency eventually said he would makes cuts up but only at levels that don't endanger children's access to services.

We began by asking who gets the credit or blame for moving to exclude Planned Parenthood from the health screening services funded under the Medicaid program. About 60 percent said the buck stops on Abbott's desk while another 18 percent cited Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and 14 percent named Senate Republicans.

More than 70 percent didn't think current inquiries into the women's health providers would yield criminal charges.

Meanwhile, more than 40 percent believed Senate Republicans shoulder the credit or blame for those cuts to the Medicaid child therapy services. About one in four said Patrick gets ownership of the therapy cuts and another 20 percent cited Abbott.

When it comes to how those cuts would happen, about 40 percent thought the state would eventually take up to half the $100 million in mandated cuts. Another 25 percent thought the state would get more than halfway to the $100 million mark in cuts while the insiders split nearly evenly between the cuts not happening at all (18 percent) and happening in full (16 percent).

We collected comments along the way, and a full set of those is attached. Here’s a sampling:

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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Who gets most of the credit (or blame) for Texas kicking Planned Parenthood out of the Medicaid program?

• "The announcement came from the South wing of the Capitol. It's all on Gov. Abbott."

• "Ted Cruz"

• "I'm happy that Dr./Senator Schwertner held a public hearing. The fact that PP didn't show up made a very clear statement."

• "Lt. Guv has been the most vocal so he will make sure he gets the credit."

• "Abbott gets the credit because he's the only one in town."

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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Will current inquiries into Planned Parenthood yield criminal charges?

• "While some prosecutor may try to do something, the likelihood is that it goes nowhere. This is more a case of lack of ethics rather than commission of crime. It's a PR battle, and Planned Parenthood has lost."

• "Planned Parenthood did nothing wrong so any charges would be lies trumped up by the far right anti-women Republicans."

• "The video evidence of criminal behavior is overwhelming. PP's denial of crimes, then stating that they'd discontinue doing what they claimed they weren't doing — that's admitting guilt."

• "Regardless of your personal feelings, this issue failed to gain the media attention it deserved. It was a two-week story and now the nation has moved on to the next issue."

• "There will probably be no charges regarding the sale of fetal tissue, but the defenders of Planned Parenthood who are insisting they did nothing wrong are missing the point. What the videos revealed is that the women who run Planned Parenthood have a callous, unserious and even joking attitude about the abortions they perform. They show that they truly believe it is no big deal. Any credibility that Planned Parenthood had is completely gone. Only the strident crazies support them now. American attitudes toward abortion will remain ambivalent, but Planned Parenthood is over."

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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Who gets most of the credit (or blame) for cuts in child therapy services in the Medicaid program?

• "Jane Nelson. Plain and simple."

• "OTHER: The greedy providers billing for non-effective 'services, which are not evidence based. It is not the price but the utilization for the wrong patients and for the wrong treatments. Everyone seems to miss the real cause of the problem."

• "What constitutes 'child therapy’? Administering drugs? Thank goodness for anyone with the courage to help children, rather than to drug them into submission."

• "You should've provided an 'all of the above' option. This is an issue that all Republicans will have to deal with."

• "Cold and heartless! Becoming the calling card for Republicans in the Texas Senate."

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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What happens to the $100 million in cuts to child therapy services ordered by lawmakers?

• "The Republicans are doing exactly what everyone expected them to do. Make sure those kids are born with all their glorious special needs but cut all funding for them so they must live a horrific life. There will be a reckoning for these God invoking false prophets."

• "If they don't happen, then taxpayers need to know why. And who's responsible for negligence."

• "Some of the cuts will remain... until they become a campaign issue. These cuts may have the same electoral implications as the CHIP cuts that were done a few legislative cycles ago. Former Democratic congressman Chet Edwards was able to hold on for one more cycle because of CHIP."

• "Some level of cuts was warranted. Problem was Legislature is not very precise in targeting needed cuts... instead, it uses a hatchet."

• "The real question is what happens to the children left without services."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Gene Acuna, Cathie Adams, Brandon Aghamalian, Brandon Alderete, Clyde Alexander, Jay Arnold, James Bernsen, Andrew Biar, Allen Blakemore, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, Raif Calvert, Lydia Camarillo, Kerry Cammack, Corbin Casteel, Elna Christopher, Harold Cook, Randy Cubriel, Beth Cubriel, Denise Davis, Glenn Deshields, Tom Duffy, Jack Erskine, Gay Erwin, Bruce Gibson, Stephanie Gibson, Kinnan Golemon, Bill Hammond, John Heasley, Ken Hodges, Deborah Ingersoll, Mark Jones, Walt Jordan, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Luke Legate, Ruben Longoria, Vilma Luna, Matt Mackowiak, Mike McKinney, Steve Minick, Bee Moorhead, Mike Moses, Nelson Nease, Todd Olsen, Nef Partida, Gardner Pate, Robert Peeler, Bill Pewitt, Jerry Philips, Wayne Pierce, Allen Place, Gary Polland, David Reynolds, Carl Richie, A.J. Rodriguez, Grant Ruckel, Tyler Ruud, Andy Sansom, Jim Sartwelle, Barbara Schlief, Stan Schlueter, Robert Scott, Ben Sebree, Christopher Shields, Nancy Sims, Jason Skaggs, Ed Small, Martha Smiley, Larry Soward, Dennis Speight, Jason Stanford, Colin Strother, Sherry Sylvester, Sara Tays, Trey Trainor, Corbin Van Arsdale, Ware Wendell, David White, Darren Whitehurst, Seth Winick, Angelo Zottarelli.

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

Friday, Oct. 23

• Journey to Mercy: Rethinking the Death Penalty in Texas; 1100 Congress Ave., Austin (9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.)
• State Rep. Gilbert Peña, R-Pasadena, district office grand opening; 101 S. Richey St., Pasadena (10 a.m.-12 p.m.)
  

Saturday, Oct. 24

• Walk for Life, Hope and Mercy; 2026 Guadalupe St., Austin (8-11:30 a.m.)
• State Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, inaugural Community Gathering; 1819 N. Main Ave., San Antonio (9:30-11 a.m.)
  
• State Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, Town Hall meeting on HERO ordinance; 6500 Rookin St., Houston (11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)

Monday, Oct. 26

• State Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, Annual Fiesta Fundraiser; 4121 Barton Creek, Highland Village (5-6:30 p.m.)
• State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, fundraiser with special guest Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick; 25911 I-45 North, The Woodlands (5:30-7 p.m.)

Tuesday, Oct. 27

• State Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, fundraiser; 110 E. Ninth St., Austin (4-6 p.m.)
• State Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, fundraiser; 110 E. Ninth St., Austin (4:30-6 p.m.)
• State Rep. John Cyrier, R-Lockhart, benefit for Bastrop County fire recovery with special guest Comptroller Glenn Hegar; 534 Highway 71 W, Bastrop (6-8 p.m.)
• State Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, Town Hall meeting on transportation; 625 Austin St., Garland (7-8 p.m.)

Wednesday, Oct. 28

• CALA of Central Texas Annual Fall Fundraiser with special guest Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick; 110 E. Ninth St., Austin (11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.)
• GOP debate watch party hosted by Institute for Policy Innovation and the DFW Center-Right Coalition with guests Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist,  state Sen. Van Taylor, R-Plano, and state Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving; 1320 Greenway Drive, Irving (6-9 p.m.)

Thursday, Oct. 29

• Texas Taxpayers and Research Association (TTARA) 2015 Annual Meeting; 701 E. 11th St., Austin (Oct. 29-30)
• State Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, 50th Birthday Celebration and fundraiser; 5312 Almeda Road, Houston (4-8 p.m.)

As evidenced Thursday during a U.S. House committee hearing, Texas officials and lawmakers are continuing to fight against tougher federal ground-level ozone standards implemented recently by the Environmental Protection Agency. Their main tactic? Trying to poke holes in the scientific consensus behind the regulation.

In Texas' latest salvo against Obamacare, Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed suit over a fee states must help cover to pay for the sweeping federal health reform law. Texas joins Louisiana and Kansas in suing the Obama administration over the Health Insurance Providers Fee, which Paxton says cost Texas $86 million in 2013 and about $120 million per year since.

Days after Texas health officials announced they want to kick Planned Parenthood out of the state Medicaid program, state investigators on Thursday visited Planned Parenthood facilities in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas requesting information related to Medicaid billing.

A coalition of immigrants’ rights and civil liberties groups have filed suit claiming Texas hastily created a new type of state license that might allow two controversial detention centers for illegal immigrants to remain open.

The ousted author of a study that describes a controversial San Antonio water supply project as “high risk” squared off with the head of the city’s water utility Wednesday.

Former President George W. Bush's criticism of Ted Cruz this week revived one of the central tensions of the Texas Republican senator's run for president: his years working for — and enthusiastically supporting — the Bushes.

The office of Attorney General Ken Paxton says he is recusing himself from some of his professional responsibilities as he fights an indictment on securities fraud charges. Calling it a common procedure, a Paxton spokeswoman said Wednesday the office is working to remove him from "active participation in matters in which a conflict may exist." Those areas specifically relate to the State Securities Board and the Texas Ethics Commission, according to the spokeswoman, Cynthia Meyer.

Texans are griping less about their electricity providers, but a sharp spike in complaints against one small company may affect oilman Ray Hunt's $18 billion bid to take over the state’s largest electric transmission company.

University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall has renewed an old request for information about the workloads of faculty, prompting all-too-familiar exchanges about whether his requests are too burdensome.

The political anarchy among U.S. House Republicans could be coming to an end, as U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., announced Tuesday that he would run for speaker of the House if all warring GOP factions agree to back him. As the week came to a close and various factions among House Republicans close ranks behind him (including the Texas GOP congressional delegation), Ryan officially announced his candidacy for speaker.

The complex and protracted path Scott Panetti's death row case has traveled illustrates how few safeguards Texas has to protect mentally ill killers from being executed.

Successful universities rely heavily on their alumni — for donations, for networking, for mentoring. But what if you don't have many graduates to hit up? That's a question Texas A&M University-Central Texas isn't waiting to answer. The college, chartered in 2009, is working to build an alumni base from scratch, using graduates of now-defunct schools that came before it.

After a tumble, Texas has taken a major leap forward in an annual state-by-state ranking of energy efficiency policies — those aimed at slashing utility bills and carbon emissions by curbing energy use.

Texas is on track to see fewer death sentences handed down in 2015 than in any other year since the state’s death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Speculation about U.S. housing secretary Julián Castro's Democratic vice presidential prospects is reaching a boil with his endorsement last week of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Despite the growing frenzy, Democrats acknowledge that it's remarkably early to be talking about Clinton’s choices for vice president. But the early timing has done little to curb months-long rumors that 41-year-old Castro has the inside track for running mate.

Tailoring their presidential pitches to suburban Dallas evangelicals, a half-dozen Republican presidential hopefuls Sunday afternoon stressed their affinity for the Lone Star State, though it’s unlikely all of them will still be running by the time the Texas primary rolls around in March.

Disclosure: Planned Parenthood was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune in 2011. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.

Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed Missy Medary of Corpus Christi presiding judge of the Fifth Administrative Judicial Region for a four-year term.

Abbott has named Bobby Jenkins of Austin chairman of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Jenkins, who is president of ABC Home and Commercial Services, has served as vice chairman since September 2013.

Abbott has appointed Ramon Manning of Houston and reappointed Rodney Moore of Lufkin to the Texas Public Finance Authority for terms to expire on Feb. 1, 2021.

Abbott named J.B. Smith of Lufkin to the Texas Crime Stoppers Council for a term set to expire on Sept. 1, 2017.

René De Coss of Rancho Viejo was named by Abbott to be judge of the 445th Judicial District Court in Cameron County for a term set to expire at the 2016 general election.

Spotted: Former Republican Party of Texas Chairwoman Tina Benkiser is one of 57 new additions to Ted Cruz's leadership team in Tennessee where she currently sits on that state's GOP State Executive Committee. She helmed the GOP in Texas from 2003-09.

David Porter, the chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, has been named a co-chair of Ted Cruz's presidential campaign in Texas. Porter is the first announced co-chair of Cruz's campaign in Texas and he is expected to be joined by more co-chairs as the race goes on.

Two Republican candidates for the open HD-64 seat have officially launched their campaigns. On Sunday, Read King hosted a campaign kickoff party in Denton and criminal defense attorney Rick Hagen held a similar event earlier this month.

The Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee announced Thursday that state Rep. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso, has been elected to serve as co-chair of the committee. State Reps. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, Donna Howard, D-Austin, and Justin Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, are all co-chairs.

State Rep. Scott Sanford, R-McKinney, announced Tuesday he is running for re-election to the HD-70 seat in the Texas House he has held for one session.

Cody Davis is bowing out of the HD-130 race and throwing his support behind Houston anesthesiologist Tom Oliverson. Davis’ exit leaves Kay Smith, a conservative businesswoman and vice president of the board of trustees for the Harris County Department of Education, as Oliverson’s only announced opponent.

Corresponding with this week's start of early voting, Bill King announced Tuesday the support of state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and Houston city council member Oliver Pennington for his run for Houston mayor.

Dallas County Commissioner Mike Cantrell and former commissioners Maurine Dickey and Jim Jackson have endorsed former state Rep. Bennett Ratliff in his bid for the HD-115 seat in the Texas House. Ratliff is running against state Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, who defeated Ratliff in last year’s party primary.

The East Texas Police Chiefs Association, the regional affiliate of the Texas Police Chiefs Association that covers Senate District 1, is endorsing Mineola Republican Bryan Hughes for the office.

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility announced Friday their endorsement of Houston anesthesiologist Tom Oliverson, a candidate for the open House District 130 seat being vacated by state Rep. Allen Fletcher, R-Cypress.

The Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC has endorsed freshman state Rep. DeWayne Burns in his bid for re-election to the Texas House representing HD-58 in Johnson County.

Michele Samuelson is endorsing Dawn Buckingham in the GOP primary for the open Senate District 24 seat. Samuelson is a board member of the Texas Federation of Republican Women and also currently serves as secretary for the Travis County Republican Party.

Jeff Judson, who is challenging Speaker Joe Straus in the Bexar County-based HD-121, announced on Thursday endorsements from Michael J. Bigley, who currently serves as president of the Republican Club of Bexar County, and Paula Moore, who is immediate past president of the San Antonio Republican Women Club.

State Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, and state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, are the recipients of legislative leadership awards from the nonpartisan advocacy group AARP Texas.

Disclosure: AARP is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. Bobby Jenkins is a major donor to the Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.