Everyone's favorite, Lee Rebel-turned Texas Longhorn-turned Cincinnati Bengal was born on this date in 1982. Congrats also on a Pro Bowl-type year. Benson has rushed for 1,251 yards this season (96.2 yards a game), raising his career total to 3,591 yards.
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 28, 2009 at 3:46pm —
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According to the National Weather Service's Web site, this December will be among the coldest in Midland history.
Currently we are posting an average of 41.4 degrees, which would rank 8th all-time. Since the NWS is predicting even colder temperatures through the rest of the month, that average temperature is bound to go down and this month may move up the charts as far as coldest December in Midland history.
We are confident certain scientists will choose to overlook this information, but here…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 28, 2009 at 1:49pm —
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Our friends at the
Houston Chronicle will help you find out. Included
here is a link that will help you find providers near you and find the latest reports by Texas regulators.
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 26, 2009 at 11:00pm —
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The 2009 Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best-Performing Cities Index ranks U.S. metropolitan areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. The components include job, wage and salary and technology growth.
Here is the link.
Here is Milken's top performing small metros.
2009 2008 Metropolitan
Rank Rank Area
1 1 Midland, TX MSA
2…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 24, 2009 at 11:20pm —
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Former Speaker Tom Craddick was picked as one of the most influential politicians of the decade by our friends at the Chronicle. He joins George W. Bush, Rick Perry, Tom DeLay, Karl Rove, David Dewhurst, Bill White, Kay Bailey Hutchison, John Cornyn and Ronnie Earle.
This is what was written about Craddick.
Tom Craddick
The first Republican Texas House Speaker in history, the Midland Republican rose to power but was tossed from office when some of his fellow GOPers chafed at hi…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 23, 2009 at 6:22pm —
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Yeah, it is, but there are some reports which have as high as No. 11 (among small metro areas) according to a Farmers Insurance study. However, according to
www.bestplaces.net, which uses Farmers Insurance for its fourth annual Most Secure U.S. Places to Live rankings Midland just misses the top 20, finishing 21st, which is still not shabby.
The rankings, according to
www.bestplaces.net, took into consideration crim…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 22, 2009 at 8:59pm —
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The following comes to us from our friends at the Houston Chronicle.
Texas on the Potomac is their Washington blog.
TEN MEMORABLE MOMENTS FOR TEXAS ON THE POTOMAC
By RICHARD S. DUNHAM
Houston Chronicle
— 1. Former House Republican Leader Tom DeLay tries an image makeover by appearing in sequins and dancing with a slinky partner on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” The Republican from Sugar Land, Texas, was a favorite…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 22, 2009 at 5:16pm —
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"10 Housing Markets where prices have gone up" does include Texarkana, Odessa, Abilene, Bryan-College Station, Waco and San Angelo.
Here is the link.
Odessa was 4. here was its entry.
4. Odessa, Texas
One-year % change in home price: 4.3%
Median home price: $81,265 (estimated)
Median family income: $47,000
Affordability index: 2
Population: 127,462
Unemployment rate: 9.0%
Foreclos…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 20, 2009 at 12:56am —
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The following comes to us from the Texas comptroller's Web site.
We wanted to compare Midland with other West Texas cities. Midland, so far, is the only one to update with its 2009 numbers.
Corporation Name: Midland Development Corporation
Secretary of State File/Charter Number:
Contact Person: Bob McNaughton Finance Director
Corporation's fiscal year
From: Oct 2008 To: Sept 2009
Corporation's fiscal year ending unrestricted fund balance or unrestricted retained earnings: $ 21,7…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 18, 2009 at 1:00am —
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George Will steps in the sports arena (kind of) and says Congress needs to get out of the business of regulating college football. If for no other reason, some one will always be unhappy. He's right.
If congressional pressure leads to, say, a four-team playoff, half a dozen other teams will call that “arbitrary” and will pressure Congress to press for an eight-team playoff.
The BCS has created a two-tier bowl system — the big four bowls plus the national championship game, with their giganti…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 13, 2009 at 1:37pm —
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According to this Morning News article carried on the Statesman,
The October news was worse in some communities beyond North Texas, particularly in places that rely heavily on retail or the energy industry.
Revenue declined nearly a third in Midland, 22 percent in Round Rock and 17 percent in Houston. Beaumont was among Texas' hardest-hit cities, with collections dropping 36 percent. Statewide, revenues were down nearly 15 percent.…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 10, 2009 at 10:41pm —
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Tuesday’s news that MISD Superintendent Sylvester Perez is set to retire at the end of the school year was unexpected to say the least. We expected he would be part of the news made at the school district's board meeting Tuesday. Thought the headline would read “Superintendent gets contract extension.” That, as we all know by now, was not the case. He opted for retirement, and MISD begins the process of finding the next superintendent.
There is not much we can suggest about the actual selection…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 9, 2009 at 5:16pm —
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Patience paid off in Penwell.
This burg near Odessa had declined from oil boomtown to ghost town. Now, decades after being left for dead, Penwell's unlikely resurrection could help chart a path for Texas' energy future. ...
... Federal officials have made clear that soon, Texas will not be permitted to pollute with impunity. Texas' future, Gov. Perry, is in Penwell. This is one change we can embrace without getting dirty.…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 9, 2009 at 2:49pm —
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From the pen of Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher, who calls Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director as his Texan of the year.
As director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, and a longtime pro-choice activist, Abby Johnson knew intimately what happens in an abortion. And she had seen hundreds of ultrasound scans of unborn children. But she had never seen an ultrasound image of an abortion being performed – until one day in September.
"For years, I had told hundreds of…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 9, 2009 at 1:25am —
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Wow, it was windy today.
How windy was it?
Try sustained winds of 51 mph and gusts of 63 mph. as of 5 p.m.
Today's wind speeds, in fact, have set new records for the month of December, according to the NWS. Prior to today, the record for sustained winds during the month of December was 47 mph set on Dec. 16, 1977. The old record for wind gusts was 54 mph set on Dec. 24, 2006.
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 8, 2009 at 6:30pm —
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Running under the Tea Party brand may be better in congressional races than being a Republican, according to Rasmussen.
In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 1…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 8, 2009 at 1:08pm —
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Copenhagen climate summit: 1,200 limos, 140 private planes and caviar wedges
(from Telegraph.co.uk)
On a normal day, Majken Friss Jorgensen, managing director of Copenhagen's biggest limousine company, says her firm has twelve vehicles on the road. During the "summit to save the world", which opens here tomorrow, she will have 200.
"We thought they were not going to have many cars, due to it being a climate convention," she says. "But it seems that somebody last week looked at the weat…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 8, 2009 at 11:57am —
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With 20,000 delegates, advocates and journalists jetting to Copenhagen for planet Earth's last chance, the carbon footprint of the global warming summit will be the only impressive consequence of the climate-change meeting. ...
... Barack Obama, understanding the histrionics required in climate-change debates, promises that U.S. emissions in 2050 will be 83 percent below 2005 levels. If so, 2050 emissions will equal those in 1910, when there were 92 million Americans. But there will be 420 m…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 7, 2009 at 3:00pm —
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Heard some the interview with Houston Mayor Bill White on KWEL this morning. And I have to say the Democratic frontrunner:
- didn't sound over his head,
- didn't sound partisan,
- didn't sound like a politician,
- didn't sound like a bleeding heart liberal. He didn't really sound like a Democrat.
White wasn't going to be blame all the state's troubles on Washington (past or present) and cited the need for sound business principles when taking on serious issues. Mainly, he sounded like a leader.…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 7, 2009 at 1:29pm —
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San Antonio Express News Columnist Jonathan Gurwitz got it right when he wrote:
Obama has settled on an Afghanistan policy — or an AfPak policy, as he astutely calls it — that is probably the best alternative in a universe of bad choices.
He added these nuggets for those on the right and left:
The criticism from the right that it has taken too long for Obama to formulate and implement a strategy is nonsense. At 68,000, there are now roughly double the number of U.S. troops in A…
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Added by Newsroom Stew on December 6, 2009 at 6:30pm —
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