The problem with narcotics, says Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, is that we don't police them enough. Yup: Right now, Whitmire is holding court in the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice about how Texas should have a "zero tolerance" policy toward cocaine, and how troopers should be "more aggressive" in policing highways for drugs. Now is the time, says Whitmire, to get the resources we need for a true "War on Drugs in Texas." "We oughta have a hearing," he says. (Indeed.) Tell us, he implores the Dept. of Public Safety witnesses appearing before the committee, "what you really need to stop drug trafficking." Shit, Whitmire, how much time you got?

Do legal fund donations count as election contributions? Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, is suing the Democratic challenger for his Senate District 10 seat, former Fort Worth council member Wendy Davis to get her off the November ballot. (Read the complaint here.) It seems like a re-run of a case Fort Worth firefighters brought against Davis earlier in the year. The firefighters (who many Democrats saw as a front for Brimer) claimed that since Davis was on the council when she filed, her candidacy broke state laws about not holding one lucrative office while running for another. The Second Court of Appeals threw the suit out because the firefighters were not eligible to bring it, not on the substance of the case. But Travis Co. District Judge Margaret Cooper seemingly cleared that up on June 30 when she ruled that Democrat and former Midland council member Bill Dingus could challenge Speaker Tom Craddick for his house seat because his council and potential House terms would not overlap.

Vote early, vote often, as the old joke goes, but it seems that the residents of Odessa may need to cast their vote for House District 81 on Nov. 4. That's when Gov. Rick Perry has set the special election to finish the unexpired term of Rep. George "Buddy" West, R-Odessa, who died on June 25. But West had already lost a primary run-off to challenger Tryon Lewis, so the seat was already going to be on the ballot on Nov. 4 anyway, with Lewis in the Republican slot opposed by Libertarian Elmo Hockman. Since this is two different elections, this could end up with the baffling possibility that the winner of the special election is not the winner of the general election. True, they'd only hold the seat for three months, and have to hand over to any other winner when the next session starts in January, but it's still three months of cheap downtown parking. Bet the Democrats are kicking themselves for not getting a candidate on the regular ballot. Second time's the charm?

Fourteen months after they were given psilocybin – the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms – as part of a controlled experiment, 64% of the study participants say that the hallucinogenic experience has increased their sense of well-being, Johns Hopkins University researchers reported July 1 in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. "I feel more centered in who I am and what I'm doing," study participant Dede Osborn told the Associated Press. "I don't seem to have those self-doubts like I used to have. I feel much more grounded (and feel that) we are all connected." Amen to that.

Seems like the Texas Democratic Party might be thinking about severing one foot of the Texas two step. Today saw the first public meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Texas Democratic Party Convention/Caucus System, which seems to be heading towards ending the complicated presidential nomination system that's currently in place. After the weird "Clinton wins the day / Obama wins the night" split during the primary, there was a lot of rumblings that something had to change (including from several high-profile Clintonites who had actually been involved in writing the rules). Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, became point man on making the change, and has launched a consultation process. After all, the party has another four years before the next presidential primary, and a presidential election off-year state convention in 2010, to make the changes. There was almost a minor insurrection at the Texas Democratic Party convention, when reformers lead by Austinite Scott Cobb tried to get the system overhauled on the floor by passing the Texas One-Step resolution. An obviously annoyed West got the move quashed, because he was spearheading the existing initiative, and it was tabled by an overwhelming 6,421.1 to 1,637.9 floor vote (meaning not even all the 30% of delegates that signed Cobb's petition in favor of dismantling the system voted to do so. And don't ask about the .1 votes, it's another bizarre bit of TDP house keeping). So now the same failed conference rebels are back, demanding that the state goes primary only.

Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, is recuperating from two surgeries performed on Monday. The state rep for Eastern Travis County underwent a laparoscopic myomectomy and an hysteroscopic myomectomy, two procedures for the removal of uterine fibroids. She was released the same day. In a press release, Dukes' legislative aide Melissa Rosser thanked the staff at Seton Hospital, and stressed that the district office will remain open through her recovery. Well-wishes and 'get well soon' cards can be sent to: P.O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas, 78768. We wish the representative our best and a speedy recovery.

When it comes to courts, the hope is always that they will get it right. Failing that, that the state will move swiftly to redress any wrongful convictions. Twenty-two years after his original conviction, DNA testing by the Lubbock County district attorney has proved that Tim Cole was not responsible for a 1985 rape at Texas Tech, the school he attended after leaving the Army. This is a significant, if belated, victory for the use of post-conviction DNA testing in Texas. In a press release, Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, praised the Innocence Project of Texas for doggedly pursuing the case, and said he hoped that the state's new Criminal Justice Integrity Unit will encourage the legislature "to address the many flaws in our system including eyewitness identification error, which caused the wrongful conviction of Mr. Cole and the majority of wrongful convictions in Texas." But don't get too elated. Cole died in 1999, four years after another man, Jerry Johnson, admitted to the rape and was ignored by law enforcement and prosecutors. Cole was not executed. He died of an asthma attack, brought about by prison-yard dust. He was 39. Today would have been his 48th birthday. Considering that Texas lawmakers have spent the last week bemoaning the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court won't let them execute convicted rapists, that seems somehow significant.

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week barring death sentences for child rapists under Louisiana's version of Jessica's Law has been greeted by many, including victims rights groups like Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, as a victory for common sense that may improve conviction rates. But that doesn't mean there's not some political hay to be made from bemoaning the ruling. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal called the court "dead wrong" on the matter, and went on later that day to sign that state's Sex Offender Chemical Castration Bill (which no one would ever dare suggest was grandstanding to distract from the recall petition brewing against him). But what of Texas, which passed its own version of Jessica's Law last legislative session? Gov. Rick Perry seemed to be accepting the inevitable, stating that Texas must "recognize that our state is guided by the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court." Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst didn't try to claim he would attack the decision, but said he was glad that prosecutors could still go for life without parole. Meanwhile, Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, who wrote the Texas law, blamed those pesky activist judges and a "court that continues to show signs of sliding towards the left."

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The City Council is inaugurated – and when the Hustle bum-rushes the show, we put the swearing into this swearing-in.