http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-is-wendy-davis-abortion-law-filibuster-a-texas-spring-20130627,0,6885101.story
LA Times 6/27/13

Wendy Davis' abortion law filibuster may be a 'Texas Spring'

Abortion rights supporters may as well put away those champagne glasses.

Jubilation probably came a bit prematurely for those celebrating the demise of the Texas measure that would turn back the clock on reproductive rights.

While many thought that Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis’ bold filibuster killed the bill outlawing abortions after 20 weeks’ gestation, it merely served to postpone what many think is inevitable: the passage of yet another state measure restricting abortion and creating an insurmountable regulatory obstacle for all but five of the state’s 42 abortion clinics, by requiring them to offer the same level of care as ambulatory surgery centers.

Terri Burke, executive director of the Texas ACLU and a fierce opponent of the proposed Texas measure, SB 5, told me on Wednesday that, barring a miracle, she expects the Legislature will pass the bill at some point in the special session that Republican Gov. Rick Perry called for Wednesday, the day after Davis’ dramatic 11-hour filibuster. The special session, which will deal with the abortion bill as well as bills dealing with transportation and juvenile justice, is to convene July 1.

“I am the eternal optimist,” said Burke. “There may be something we haven’t though of to stop it but absent that, yeah, I think it will pass.”

NY Times 6/7/13

Texas Woman Arrested in Connection With Ricin-Laced Letters

Federal agents have arrested a Texas woman in connection with several ricin-laced letters sent last month to President Obama, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and a Washington lobbyist who works on the mayor’s gun control campaign, according to three law enforcement officials.

The woman, Shannon Richardson, 35, was charged with mailing a threatening communication, according to the officials. Ms. Richardson, who was accused of mailing the letters on May 20, was arrested on Friday in Mount Pleasant, Tex. She is the wife of a man in New Boston, Tex., who was questioned by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the days after the letters were discovered.