Texas

CENTER, Texas - She wanted to get their children away from the city. He'd had this dream since high school, of raising chickens and staying close to home. And before they knew it, Rodney and Nancy Fisher had a government-backed loan and a contract with Pilgrim's Pride in their pocket for seven aging broiler houses on the north side of this small East Texas town.By January 1998, the Fishers had closed the deal. By June, it had closed in on them.The farm always was a project, no doubt about it. Pilgrim sent a list a page long of the repairs needed before the Fishers took over, cautioning that it did not include day-to-day maintenance and upgrades.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- It's time for Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels to trade Mark Teixeira, the team's best player. The sooner, the better. Today would be great. Next week would be cool, too. Clearly, Teixeira no longer wants to play for the Rangers. The feeling, however, is mutual. Now, Daniels will never admit that - even if you give him truth serum. Neither will manager Ron Washington. It wouldn't do either of them any good to admit it. But it's true. A few months ago, I would've considered the notion of trading Teixeira, who has been out with a strained quadriceps, ridiculous because of the 27-year-old's prodigious talent.

ARLINGTON, Texas - They say everything is bigger in Texas, and for the Orioles, that includes the scores. Almost every time the Orioles play at The Ballpark in Arlington, it turns into a shootout. On Friday night, the Orioles took a three-run lead into the bottom of the eighth inning and came away with a 7-6 defeat. Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer off Orioles reliever Willis Roberts in the eighth inning, and the Rangers scored two more in the ninth against Orioles closer Jorge Julio.

AUSTIN, Texas -- "You are the best governor ever - deserving of great respect," Harriet E. Miers wrote to George W. Bush days after his 51st birthday in July 1997. She also found him "cool," called him and his wife, Laura, "the greatest!" and told him: "Keep up the great work. Texas is blessed." Miers, President Bush's personal lawyer and his selection for a Supreme Court seat, emerges as an unabashed fan in more than 2,000 pages of official correspondence and personal notes made public yesterday by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in response to open-records requests.

LOS ANGELES - Texas will win the national championship because, in LA-LA land, people like scripts that come full circle, having their fortunes told and Jupiter aligned with Mars. There are too many coincidences to think it can go any other way, at least that's what the palm reader said. Four years ago, at the Rose Bowl, Texas defeated USC to win the national title. Before trotting onto the field to lead the Longhorns on the game-winning drive, quarterback Vince Young turned to a skinny redshirt freshman holding a clipboard and told him to pay attention because he was going to be in this position someday.

The education "miracle" of Gov. George W. Bush was knocked down to the commonplace yesterday in a report questioning the validity of Texas' state school tests. An "issue paper" written by four researchers at the nonpartisan Rand Corp., a California-based think tank, suggested the huge test score gains - trumpeted by the Bush campaign as proof of the Republican presidential candidate's educational leadership - might be mythical. The paper also challenged Bush's assertion that Texas has narrowed the academic gap between white and minority students.

The woman, in her 60s, approached after seeing the Texas license plates on my rental car. Her son lived there, and she was worried. Her town, Gulfport, had been slammed by the hurricane. Texas wasn't touched. But she was worried that her son was probably worried about her, and she hadn't been able to get in touch with him. Wearing blue jean shorts, flip-flops and a gray T-shirt, she broke into tears -- the first time, she said, since the hurricane struck. Her son, a military man, was stationed in Texas.

What: Second round, NCAA West Regional.Where: Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City.When: Today, approximately 7 p.m.TV/Radio: Channel 13/WBAL (1090 AM).First-round results: Maryland defeated Gonzaga, 83-67. Texas beat Oregon, 90-73.Outlook: The Terps broke an NCAA tournament record with their 12th straight opening-round win without a defeat, but it wasn't easy. Neither will the game tonight. After playing in a half-court game against Gonzaga, Maryland might try to get the running, gunning Longhorns into a battle of half-court patience and full-court frenzy.

MARYLAND HAS a new state reading chief.Michele Goady, section chief and specialist in reading and communications skills, is fourth on the bureaucratic ladder of the state Department of Education, behind a branch chief in language development and early learning, an assistant state superintendent for instruction and, of course, Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick.Goady, 44, is bright, energetic and full of ideas for helping to improve reading instruction. But you're not likely to see much of her. Hers is an inside job, focused on Maryland educators.

TRANSLATION from the Spanish: "Long live the people." People as opposed to politicians, incumbents, party bosses and big names with big feet.In a titillated Texas last Tuesday, just plain Democrats and just plain Republicans turned on their party Establishments in a display of contrariness right out of a movie script.Let's give star billing to the winner of the Senate Democratic primary. His name is Victor Morales, a civics teacher out of Poteet High School. Seems the kids in his class dared him to run for the United States Senate so he gassed up his white Nissan pick-up and drove around Texas quietly asking people to vote for him.Mr.