AUSTIN — To settle a lawsuit, the Texas Department of State Health Services will destroy more than 5 million blood samples taken from newborns without the parents’ consent and stored for research.

Four parents sued the department, saying that taking and storing the samples was unlawful and violated the privacy rights of the parents and children.

The Texas Civil Rights Project sued in U.S. District Court in San Antonio earlier this year.

The state began collecting blood samples from newborns in 2002 and halted the process in May when a new state law banned it. Under the settlement, the state has until April 13 to destroy 5.3 million samples stored at Texas A&M University.

Health department officials began collecting the blood samples for medical research. Although the blood spots did not identify the children, parents were never notified that their newborns’ blood would be stored indefinitely. The Legislature this year passed a law requiring parents to consent to their babies’ blood being collected and stored.

Texas gains most people

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Texas added more people than any other state in the 12-month period that ended last July 1.

The bureau said Texas gained 478,000 new residents, an increase of 1.97 percent, bringing the state’s population to 24.8 million. California had the second highest growth, adding 381,000 residents, and remained the most

populous state at 37 million. Michigan, Maine and Rhode Island were the

only states to lose population. The United States grew by 0.86 percent to 307 million people.

The report is the final estimate before the bureau releases its official 2010 census in December. The numbers are used to determine the distribution of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Food stamp audit sought

Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs has asked State Auditor John Keel to audit the state’s lagging food stamp application process.

Earlier this month, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid sued to force the state to meet the 30-day requirement for food stamp processing.

Keel said some eligible families have waited for months to receive food stamps. In requesting the audit, Suehs blamed the delays on high staff turnover, staff shortages, natural disasters and increasing applications.

He told Keel that the department’s process is “too time consuming and not very productive.”

Suehs asked for Keel’s help identifying waste and finding ways to improve processing applications. Keel said his office is postponing other audits to make the food stamp issue a priority.

New UT license plates possible

University of Texas fans may have a new Bevo-centric license platem available to them soon. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles asked the public for comments on a new plate that features a large Texas Longhorn logo in burnt orange on a white background.

If approved, the new tag will sell for $55 and be available to the public on Jan. 7. That’s also the day Texas plays Alabama in the national championship game at the Rose Bowl. The UT athletic department will receive between $5 and $20 for each plate sold.

Death sentences decline

Capital punishment sentences have declined significantly in Texas over the past few years, according to a study by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The newspaper said death sentences are at a 35- year low.

Prosecutors are seeking fewer death sentences and juries are more reluctant to sentence a defendant to death by lethal injection.

Also, since 2005 a sentence of life in prison without parole has been available to juries. Previously, juries had to choose between death and life with a possibility of parole.

Since the change, capital punishment sentences have dropped by 40 percent.

Texas had 13 death sentences in 2008 and nine so far this year, compared to 47 death sentences in 1999.

State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., DBrownsville, the author of the life-without-parole law, said, “It isn’t life without parole that has weakened the death penalty. It is a growing lack of belief that our system is fair.”

Shapleigh won’t run

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, has pulled out of the 2010 governor’s race. Shapleigh said in October he would not seek reelection to the state Senate and was considering a run for statewide office.

Shapleigh, 57, said he changed his mind about seeking the Governor’s Mansion after Houston Mayor Bill White announced he would seek the Democratic Party nomination for governor.

Texas unemployment rate

Texas’ November unemployment rate, the latestest available figures, was 8.0 percent, a decrease from 8.3 percent in October.

The rate, at two percentage points below the national average, validates “the approach we take here in Texas,” Gov. Rick Perry said on Dec. 18.

“Over the past two months, while the nation as a whole lost 122,000 jobs, Texas gained nearly 70,000 jobs, which is promising news for those Texans who are seeking employment,” Perry said.

Also, according to figures publicized by the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas civilian labor force reached its highest level ever at 12.1 million workers in November.

In other news, the Texas Workforce Commission alerted unemployment claimants about fraudulent e-mail text messages scammers use to illegally obtain personal identification information. Messages asking for that kind of information appear to originate from the commission, but the commission said it does not ask for personal ID numbers via email.

Job turnover rate low

State Auditor John Keel on Dec. 14 released an annual report on state employee turnover for fiscal year 2009.

The report says the statewide turnover rate was 14.4 percent for full- and part-time employees, the lowest turnover rate recorded in the last five years. The rate was 17.3 percent for the year 2008.

Excluding involuntary separations and retirements, the fiscal year 2009 statewide turnover rate was 8.1 percent. This rate, which is often considered more of a true turnover rate because it reflects preventable turnover, also decreased since fiscal year 2008, Keel’s report explained.

Factors that may have had an influence:

• Texas unemployment rates increased from 4.6 percent in fiscal year 2008 to 6.5 percent in fiscal year 2009.

• The average regular, fulltime classified employee salary increased from $32,848 in fiscal year 2005 to $38,461 in fiscal year 2009.

• Agencies worked to improve retention efforts.

Bond program to reopen

The Texas Permanent School Fund Bond Guarantee Program, closed since March, will resume functions in the first quarter of 2010 to back bonds issued to pay for school construction, saving school districts millions of dollars in interest costs.

The Internal Revenue Service informed the Texas Education Agency that it will revise its rules to allow bonds to be guaranteed up to 500 percent of the cost value of the Permanent School Fund as of Dec. 16. The State Board of Education oversees the fund and sets its capacity.

The Texas Education Agency said it was forced to close the Bond Guarantee Program on March 11 when turmoil in the stock market caused the value of the state’s Permanent School Fund to fall dramatically, reducing its capacity to back bonds.

According to TEA, the Bond Guarantee Program has backed more than $83 billion in bonds since its inception in 1983.

Friedman to run for ag chief

Hill Country musician, writer and animal rescue activist Richard S. “Kinky” Friedman ended his candidacy for governor and filed to run for state agriculture commissioner.

Friedman, running as a Democrat, will face Tyler rancher Hank Gilbert in the Democratic primary. Gilbert earlier ended his quest to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor and filed for the agriculture commissioner when Houston Mayor Bill White announced his candidacy for governor.

Republican Todd Staples, a former state senator from Palestine, is the incumbent agriculture commissioner. Gilbert lost to Staples in the November 2006 election.

Friedman got 12.44 percent of the vote when he ran for governor as an independent in the 2006 general election.

Dome to get spruced up in 2010

The State Preservation Board on Dec. 11 announced the Texas Capitol dome will undergo a 10-month repair project in the coming year. Estimated completion date is December 2010.

Workers will paint, fix leaky windows, remove asbestos and rust, and more. The job is not expected to interfere with Capitol tours and other normal activities.

Earle to run for Lt. Governor

Former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat who retired in 2008 after 35 years at the post, filed to run for lieutenant governor.

Incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, a Republican, filed for reelection earlier in December.

Keel named agency chief

The Texas Facilities Commission named former State Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, as director of the agency, effective Dec. 31.

Keel is a former Travis County sheriff, and, he served as House parliamentarian for then-speaker Tom Craddick.