DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Hispanic voters lost much of their clout on the Dallas City Council in the weekend’s runoff election, raising questions about whether their long-predicted political dominance would occur any time soon. Real estate broker Rick Callahan’s crushing defeat of Hispanic activist Jesse Diaz in the Pleasant Grove district on Saturday completed a disastrous election season for Hispanics. Though Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in Dallas, they now will have only two members on the council. For almost a decade, they have had three.

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TEXAS TRIBUNE: The issue of political corruption and leadership is quickly rising on Texans’ list of top problems facing the country, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

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TEXAS TRIBUNE: The barrier that divides the U.S. House and Senate plans for immigration reform looms as large as the double-layered border fence that lines much of the Texas-Mexico border. On Tuesday, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed the Strength and Fortify Enforcement, or SAFE, Act, an omnibus bill that would, among other things, expand the immigration-enforcement powers of local law enforcement and require that federal authorities detain those who state or local officers deem inadmissible or deportable. Opponents of the House measure — filed by U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. and co-sponsored by U.S. Reps. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, and Ted Poe, R-Humble — say it directly opposes an immigration reform package by the bipartisan group of senators known as the Gang of Eight.

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TEXAS TRIBUNE: Officials in the North Texas town of Blue Mound and the town's representative in the state House say they are upset and baffled by Gov. Rick Perry’s veto of a bill that would have made it easier for Blue Mound to gain control of its water system.

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday said his efforts to lure companies out of New York and to his state is similar to a sports final series between rival teams, and that states are in a competition with each other over businesses and jobs. "It's no different than, I would think, if the Knicks were in the finals playing the San Antonio Spurs, they'd be willing to win all the games," he said after a meeting at a Park Avenue office building. "The same's true with business, the same's true with jobs."

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE: A Houston group in favor of arming private citizens for free protested in front of the Heights office of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee this morning. Kyle Coplen and supporters of his Armed Citizens Project voiced their opposition against Jackson Lee, D-Houston, backing universal background checks, and her involvement with Mothers Demand Action, a gun law organization.

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Nearly four years after the deadly Fort Hood shooting rampage, the Army psychiatrist charged in the case will finally go on trial after a judge Tuesday refused his request for a three-month delay. Jury selection in Maj. Nidal Hasan's trial is set for July 9 and is expected to last four weeks. The judge said testimony will start Aug. 6 at the earliest.

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Naoko Shirane, the area's trade representative in Japan credited with luring thousands of jobs to San Antonio, including those springing from the Toyota manufacturing plant, has died in Japan, officials said Tuesday. David Marquez, Bexar County's economic development chief, said he received an email reporting Shirane died Tuesday evening in Tokyo, where she was living. No details were available, but Marquez said she had been battling cancer.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg made her first public comments Tuesday about Gov. Rick Perry’s move Friday to cut about $3.7 million in annual funding to her office. “It feels partisan, and it’s misguided, as far as I’m concerned,” Lehmberg said in a brief interview with reporters after addressing county commissioners for about 45 minutes Tuesday morning.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: A legislative push to plug a loophole in state law to punish 17-year-old capital murderers faced vigorous scrutiny on Tuesday over whether a proposed minimum sentence of 40 years in prison would withstand court challenges.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: The Texas Senate, returning to roads after a long day of debating abortion behind closed doors and on the chamber floor, shortly before midnight Tuesday voted 30-0 to give final approval to Senate Joint Resolution 2.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: The nation needs a push toward science, technology, engineering and math education similar to the push to win the space race in the 1960s. That was the message echoed by many — from business leaders and teachers to an ex-astronaut and a former secretary of education — at the U.S. News STEM Solutions conference Monday and Tuesday in Austin.

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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: The Texas Senate approved a sweeping abortion measure late Tuesday night despite spirited opposition from Democrats who warned that the proposal would make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for most Texas women to receive the procedure.

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SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS: City officials began moving quickly Wednesday to execute the logistics of Pre-K 4 SA, readying leases for two early childhood education centers and beginning the process of notifying school districts of their proposed locations.

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THE NEW REPUBLIC: Of all the characters who littered the strange campaign of 2012, none was a bigger laughingstock than Rick Perry, who will go down in political lore for three things: threatening bodily harm to the chairman of the Federal Reserve, declaring that our staunch ally Turkey is run by "Islamic terrorists", and, oops, I can’t remember the third thing. But now that the election is over, it’s looking like Perry had the last laugh.

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TEXAS TRIBUNE: After Colorado and Washington voted on Tuesday to ease marijuana laws, some proponents of legalization think their cause could pick up steam in other states, including Texas.

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TEXAS TRIBUNE: “Wait until we see who’s president.” It’s been an oft-repeated refrain in the last year from state agency heads and Republican elected officials pressed to act on everything from the federal health care act to environmental reforms.

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