On this day — does a religious revival in Houston signal an increasing interest by Perry in the presidency; the House prepares to vote on a school finance proposal and teachers groups promise a large rally against the proposed cuts; the Chronicle’s Nick Anderson cartoons about John Edwards love child; Sen. Wendy Davis gets profiled in ‘The Clips;’ and in ‘EXTRA!,’ how tax cuts became GOP orthodoxy.
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The Dallas Morning News’ Wayne Slater reports that Gov. Rick Perry has invited the country’s other 49 governors and evangelical leaders for a ‘non-political’ event to pray for the nation.
“Given the trials that beset our nation and the world, from the global economic downturn to natural disasters, the lingering danger of terrorism and continued debasement of our culture, I believe it is time to convene the leaders from each of our United States in a day of prayer and fasting,” Perry said in the letter.
East Texas evangelical leader and Perry supporter Rick Scarborough said the governor has support among religious conservatives, an important constituency in picking the GOP nominee.
“Once the word gets out that he’s doing this, evangelicals and anybody with the same moral perspective will be on his bandwagon,” Scarborough, president of Vision America, said, referring to the Houston event.
House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, said he understands the concern about school budget cuts.
“This is a work in progress. We continue to see what we can do to fund public schools,” Pitts said after the protesters chanted noisily outside his committee room.
For the first time in modern history, the state is not adding funding for the additional 170,000 students expected to enter public schools over the next two years. In fact, the proposal cuts money for school districts by $4 billion over the next two years from what they would get under current law.
“There’s not enough money, if we don’t,” committee member Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, emphasized.
– The Texas Tribune’s Emily Ramshaw profiles Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, (pictured right) who has become on of the few Democratic stars to emerge from this session even though she’s lost her district.
– The Tribune’s Ross Ramsey writes about how things really haven’t changed all that much from the state of the session.
– The Houston Chronicle’s Patti Hart writes that the proposed changes to public education are symbolic of a much bigger shift afoot.
– The Washington Post looks at how cutting taxes became even more important than balancing the budget in mainstream Republican circles.
– The San Francisco Chronicle takes a look back at the HIV/AIDS epidemic, 30 years after the first cases were diagnosed.
The tapestry of the HIV/AIDS epidemic has changed dramatically since that first report, and in the United States at least, doctors and patients have begun to consider HIV infection a chronic condition instead of a death sentence. More than 30 drugs are available to treat HIV infection, and those drugs in most people can almost completely suppress the virus to the point that it’s virtually undetectable in the blood.
The development of antiretroviral drugs completely turned around the AIDS epidemic in the United States. The worst of the illness is now in Africa, where roughly two-thirds of the world’s HIV cases are located.
Much recent research into the epidemic has turned toward prevention, with several major successes reported in recent years, doctors and patient advocates say. In the United States, there’s a new, sometimes-reluctant sense of optimism and anticipation, they say. There is serious talk about ending the epidemic in the not-too-distant future.
– Gawker reports that an Oklahoma family shot-up with meth during a get-together in the back of their car and that their daughter died from an overdose stemming from the drug usage. The mother and her boyfriend have been convicted of various charges stemming from the incident.