BLOOMBERG NEWS: The legality of Texas’s electoral maps probably won’t be ruled on this month, said federal judges in Washington considering whether the proposed districts put Hispanic voters at a disadvantage. The three-judge panel, in a ruling today, told both sides in the case that “this court does not anticipate issuing any order within the next 30 days.” The one-sentence order was issued a day after the end of a two-week bench trial over the legality of the state assembly and congressional districts.

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Democrats suing the state over Republican-drawn voting maps expressed new doubts Wednesday that Texas could salvage an April primary as the deadline for reaching a temporary compromise creeps closer.

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UNIVERSITY STAR: Members of the Texas State University System Board of Regents have donated a combined total of $245,126 to Gov. Rick Perry. Eight of nine voting members on the Board of Regents donated to Perry’s gubernatorial campaign fund — Texans for Rick Perry. Perry appoints all of the public university regents, who are influential administrators within a university system.

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE: With no state income tax, a palpable mistrust of the federal government and a what-happens-in-Vegas attitude on social issues, Nevada’s Republican presidential caucus on Saturday would seem to be a contest that libertarian-leaning, small government-loving Texas Rep. Ron Paul could win.

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TEXAS TRIBUNE: Democrat Jason Gibson dropped out of the U.S. Senate race this afternoon and endorsed former state Rep. Paul Sadler of Henderson. Sadler won a unanimous endorsement from the political arm of the Texas AFL-CIO last weekend, and that sparked Gibson's announcement.

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TEXAS TRIBUNE: A teachers group has urged Gov. Rick Perry to call a special session to address education funding, but there's still plenty of disagreement on what fixing the school funding system would actually mean.

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TEXAS TRIBUNE: Increasing enrollment in Texas’ health-care programs is no secret, and neither is the multibillion-dollar Medicaid bill awaiting lawmakers next legislative session, because they didn’t budget for enrollment growth. Experts on both sides of the political aisle believe the state will have to make an emergency expenditure next legislative session to cover the costs of the programs.

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SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS: Although the Texas Legislature isn't meeting this year to decide funding for public education, the statewide coalition named Save Texas Schools isn't taking a break from activism.

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SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS: Be neutral. That was the advice Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery gave to school districts Thursday as a controversial prayer lawsuit against the Medina Valley Independent School District neared trial.

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SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS: One way of telling state legislators that you don't care about education: Single-digit voter turnouts for school board races. If you don't care, why should they?

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SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS: As the national controversy continued Thursday over the recent decision by Susan G. Komen for the Cure to cut off grants to Planned Parenthood for its breast cancer screening programs, local supporters of the latter group seethed over what they said was a political ploy to appease anti-abortion forces.

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SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS: Hailed as a “game changer,” a new way of treating burn victims is being tested by researchers at Fort Sam Houston and across the country. Healthy skin is taken from a patient, mixed in a small kit and sprayed over damaged skin.

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SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS: Steele and Brennan became instant favorites. Familiar rivals Boerne Champion and Alamo Heights are together again. The University Interscholastic League announced its biennial district realignment Thursday, making changes that take effect for the 2012-13 school year.

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SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS: A close friend of Gov. Rick Perry's who was fired as a Texas A&M University System executive after brandishing a pocket knife has a new job — assistant director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

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FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM: Farmers Insurance will raise homeowner premiums by nearly 10 percent after Texas regulators declined to object to the increase. The Dallas Morning News ( http://dallasne.ws/yJ3kXb) reported Wednesday that the rate hike, set for mid-March, will apply to about half of the Farmers Insurance policyholders across Texas.

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FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM: A proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency that calls for less production of the most-used refrigerant in residential air conditioners in the next couple of years has sent its price soaring as much as 100 percent in a couple of weeks.

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FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM: Last week's unprecedented 4-plus inches of winter rainfall floated Dallas-Fort Worth out of drought for the first time since July. And there's a good chance for up to an inch more of rain through tonight, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

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FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM: The Texas state bar has suspended the law license of a former county attorney who retaliated against two nurses after they anonymously complained about a doctor to state regulators. Former Winkler County attorney Scott Tidwell cannot practice law while he appeals his felony convictions in the case, according to the order released Thursday. Tidwell lost his job as county attorney when he was convicted in October and sentenced to 10 years on probation.

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FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM: Texans could face higher annual motor vehicle registration fees in coming years to raise new revenue for roads. Transportation Commission Chairman Ted Houghton of El Paso floated the idea Thursday in Euless, where he spoke to about 200 transportation advocates from Dallas-Fort Worth. Houghton offered a preview of issues likely to be discussed in the months leading up to the 2013 Legislature.

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder insisted Thursday that the Drug Enforcement Administration played no part in the arrest of two Houston pilots in Panama, which was portrayed by a confidential informant as a botched DEA money-laundering sting.

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Two-year-old Jacqueline Osorio cannot open her mouth to laugh or eat. Half her gums are missing since a pit bull took a massive bite from her face 10 months ago in Houston.

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE: After denying any investigation into the grand jurors who for six months investigated her office, Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos disclosed that she directed her chief investigator to run "a cursory Internet search."

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE: The star witness against R. Allen Stanford - his former chief financial officer, college roommate and alleged fraud co-conspirator - wove a story Thursday about two decades of fudged financial reports and a "blood oath" with a corrupt Caribbean regulator.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: The Texas Film Commission distributed approximately $25 million in state funds to 177 projects in 2011 under the auspices of the Moving Image Industry Incentive Program. Details of the grants were recently released to the American-Statesman after a request under the state's Public Information Act.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: Construction at an Austin racetrack continues this week, and developers say they are confident that low-slung, European-built cars will be speeding through the twisting circuit in time for the city's big festival.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: A military judge on Thursday granted a three-month delay in the murder case against Maj. Nidal Hasan, setting a June 12 trial date after the Army psychiatrist's attorneys asked for more time to prepare.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: Could Austin not be the capital of Texas? That's the assertion that Railroad Commission Chairwoman Elizabeth Ames Jones makes in a newly filed request for Attorney General Greg Abbott to resolve a nagging issue in her campaign for the Texas Senate.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: Top officials of the University of Texas System created a "rapid response team" and spoke of "adrenaline," "quick wins" and "throttles forward" regarding a partnership with the operator of a course-planning website for students, according to emails and other records obtained by the American-Statesman.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: The sky isn't falling. Aliens are not launching an attack. A flying fireball shooting across the sky about 8 p.m. Wednesday was reported from as far north as Oklahoma City to as far south as Houston, according to officials with the Federal Aviation Administration.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: Under pressure from an unhappy City Council, Austin Energy released a new proposal Thursday for raising electric rates. The city-owned utility is seeking to keep the 12.5 percent average rate increase it initially proposed but phase it in over two steps. Sometime this year, rates would rise 8.7 percent, although the increase would hit homes, churches and some other classes of customer much harder. Another 3.8 percent increase would kick in around October 2014.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: As prescription drug abuse increases, Texas is readying a new weapon to catch patients who "doctor shop" for multiple prescriptions and physicians who prescribe too many painkillers.

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