CenTex Floods Worst in 50 Years

Nate Silver does electoral math for 5 Lone Star States

(NEWSER) - An obscure provision of Texas statehood gives it the right to split into five smaller states, writes Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com. He outlines the potential new entities:

1. New Texas: Centered on Austin, as populous as Kentucky, and split down the middle politically—city vs. suburbs.

(NEWSER) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry thinks this union of states we call America is a pretty good thing, but he warned that Washington better not take it for granted, the Dallas Morning News reports. "There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it," he told reporters after addressing the anti-tax, anti-big-government tea party in Austin. "But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that." More»

Group objects to being excluded from women's health program

(AP) - Planned Parenthood sued Texas today for excluding the group from participating in a program that provides contraception and check-ups to women. The group contends in its lawsuit that a new state law banning organizations affiliated with abortion providers from participating in the Women's Health Program amounts to unconstitutional discrimination by association. "The affiliate rule will cause irreparable harm to plaintiffs and to tens of thousands of low-income women," the suit alleges. More»

Texas Gov. Rick Perry fumes after Kathleen Sebelius announces decision

(NEWSER) - Last year, Texas announced it would stop paying Planned Parenthood to provide women's health care. Yesterday the feds responded, saying they would withhold funding for a Texas program that provides health care to more than 100,000 low-income women, MSNBC reports. Texas Gov. Rick Perry fumed, calling it an "egregious federal overreach." But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said it was no surprise: "They knew ... they are not allowed to deny women the right to choose." More»

Home state paid for food and lodging for bodyguards

(NEWSER) - Gov. Rick Perry's ill-fated presidential run cost the taxpayers of Texas nearly $800,000, spent on travel fees for the security detail that followed Perry around on his campaign from September through November, a state report reveals. Perry took 48 trips across state lines, mostly to primary battlegrounds Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. One trip in September from South Carolina to Iowa and back racked up $45,122 in charges, including $10,834 for hotels and $7,526 for food, reports the Austin American-Statesman . More»