Week in review: Sonogram law takes effect & state's budget is in a world of hurt

WND (WorldNetDaily) WASHINGTON | 20% of Republicans Leaning to Obama (Wed. Feb. 8, 2012) – For critics of Barack Obama, 2012 has been portrayed as a do-or-die year for the country – an election that will determine whether America stays on the road to European-style socialism or veers right to reclaim its positions as the most vibrant economy in the world and the home of individual liberty. But the 2012 election is looking more like a replay of 2008 than a do-over. The latest WND/Wenzel Poll shows none of the current crop of Republican presidential candidates has solidified the base of the party, with one in five GOP voters leaning toward support of Obama in November.

" . . . the bloody fight for the Republican presidential nomination – by most estimations the nastiest GOP fight in memory – has really hurt the images of the challengers in the eyes of both Republicans and, especially, independent voters. For Republicans, each candidate carries with them now some taint that cannot be ignored.”

Houston Chronicle | By Zain Shauk & Todd Ackerman Sonograms evoke strong reactions as mandate takes effect (Wed. Feb. 8, 2012) – Some women covered their ears as the sounds of fetal heartbeats echoed into their exam rooms at a Houston abortion clinic. Others tried to drown out the noise with their own voices, said Planned Parenthood officials, nervously humming or talking over the sounds of fetuses in their wombs. Still others turned their heads away from ultrasound images, an effort to opt out of part of the state's new sonogram requirement for abortions, which the Department of State Health Services began enforcing Tuesday.

"These patients are livid, they are hurt," said Tram Nguyen, director of Planned Parenthood Center for Choice in Houston, describing recent scenes at her clinic. "They feel that we are the ones being condescending and questioning their decision when we are just messengers."

Elizabeth Graham, director of Texas Right to Life, said she's not surprised to hear that many women are reacting strongly to the evidence of life they're carrying.

National Geographic Water Currents | By Sandra Postel Texas water district acts to slow depletion of Ogallala Aquifer (Tues. Feb. 7, 2012) – A group of farmers in northwest Texas began 2012 under circumstances their forbearers could scarcely imagine: they faced a limit on the amount of groundwater they could pump from their own wells on their own property. The new rule issued by the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District, based in Lubbock, declares that water pumped in excess of the “allowable production rate” is illegal.

Texas Tribune | By Morgan Smith In Texas, a backlash against student testing (Mon. Feb. 6, 2012) – It is a precarious time for Texas school districts. Faced with roughly $5.4 billion less in state financing, districts this year will administer new, more rigorous state exams called the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR. And for the first time in high school, the assessments are linked to graduation requirements and final grades.

There is anxiety among school leaders, educators and parents about meeting the increased standards with fewer resources. In the Panhandle, the Hereford Independent School District superintendent may withhold her district's test scores from the state. An Austin parent is considering a lawsuit to stop the rollout of the tests. Some legislators are mulling how to postpone some of the tests' consequences for students.

YNN | By Harvey Kronberg Key Perry Appointees Sound Budetary Alarm (Mon. Feb. 6, 2012) – [I]t was an extraordinary moment last week when three of (Perry's) highest profile appointees tasked with administering some of the biggest responsibilities of state government stepped up to all but say that Texas could no longer afford the Grover Norquist model of shrinking government until it was small enough to fit into a bathtub and drown.

Ted Houghton
. . . (Education) Commissioner Scott did personally and publicly apologize to educators for budget cuts that made it all but impossible to keep their schools properly functioning. Commissioner Suehs (Health and Human Services) did tell hospital administrators that Medicaid funding was going to be around $17 billion short next session and a third of that was because of smoke and mirrors adopted in the last session of the Legislature. And Chairman Houghton (Texas Transportation Commission/TxDOT) did publicly propose raising automobile registration fees to help deal with traffic-strangled cities and suburbs.