At first, visitors to the Texas Capitol were asked to empty their pockets as a way to deter would-be threats to the building.

And now DPS troopers are sporting semi-automatic M-4 assault rifles at the doors as part of a recent crime-deterrence plan, KVUE-TV in Austin and KHOU-TV in Houston are reporting.

Harris County, after losing all of its 10,000 electronic voting machines in a fire on Friday, will be able to purchase enough of the devices to host the General Election at all existing precincts, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The county's Commissioners Court approved $13.6 million to purchase 2,325 Hart Intercivic eSlate machines to keep all polling places open and compliant with the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which requires computerized balloting in counties as large as Harris. That's about half as many machines as were used in 2006, the Chronicle article said.

Days after allegations of voter fraud surfaced in Harris County (see blog post and story), a fire early this morning destroyed all of the county's voting machines.

About 10,000 Hart Intercivic eSlate machines were ruined in a three-alarm fire this morning, the Houston Chronicle reported. The damage to the equipment is estimated at around $30 million.

So that's why Texas GOP Chairman Steve Munisteri had his first press conference in Waco!

We're working on our weekly issue at this time, but here's the Republican Party of Texas' press release, verbatim:

WACO -- Republican Party of Texas Chairman Steve Munisteri today provided reporters with a series of documents that make it clear that State Rep. Jim Dunnam, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, does not live in House District 57, the district he represents in the Texas House.  In fact, it appears that Dunnam has not lived in House District he represents since the lines were re-drawn as a result of the 2000 Census. ...

A Houston-based conservative group released what they considered to be a discovery of thousands of false voter registrations this afternoon.

The group, the King Street Patriots, claimed they found hundreds of voter addresses linked to vacant lots -- some associated with six or more false voters. ... If these charges are true, this could add new fuel to the push for a Voter ID bill in the next legislature.

Ethics is turning out to be the hot topic this election cycle -- especially With Rep. Linda Harper-Brown's situation (regarding state license plates on a TxDOT contractor-owned SUV) Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White releasing an ethics reform plan as part of his campaign, and incumbent Rick Perry's continual insistence that White pony up his IRS filings.

Now, a lesser-known Democratic opponent has a chance to play the ethics card against a Republican incumbent, the Dallas Morning News reported. Rep. Joe Driver (R-Garland) faces Democrat Jamie Dorris in the November election in a seat east of Dallas, where Republican seats are in jeopardy following 2006's and 2008's trend.

After six years, the U.S. Department of Justice finally ended its investigation of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's connection to Jack Abramoff.

No criminal charges were brought -- though the Texas case is still pending. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 24 in Austin, presided over by retired District Judge Pat Priest. A trial is expected in the spring.

A late-and-coming press release from the Todd Staples for Agriculture Commissioner campaign alleged that the Republican's Democratic rival was attempting to seek a "hardship license" on Aug. 6 -- signs of earlier trouble with the law, it said.

In a press release 5:32 p.m. Friday, the Staples campaign included jail records of Hank Gilbert, asserting that his license was suspended on Sept. 9, 2009 leading to his seeking of a special occupational license this week -- the only breaking development out of a string of events cited by the campaign.

Attorney General Greg Abbott, as many expected, filed a legal challenge today the Obama Administration’s policy of offshore drilling bans.

The lawsuit, filed against the U.S. Department of the Interior, charges that the latest moratorium is a violation of federal law in that affected states were not consulted beforehand. Gov. Rick Perry responded this afternoon, calling the Administration's actions an example of "flagrant disregard."

Texas consumers may have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for an energy efficiency program that may not be effective, according to a report released this week by the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Institute for Energy Research.

The report, “Energy Efficiency: Is Texas Getting Its Money’s Worth?” is on the Foundation’s Web site, www.TexasPolicy.com.