The comptroller has put up a website that allows you to track where state money is going. There are seven different ways to track state spending and the website says it is updated nightly. Enjoy!

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is going to be inducted in to the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. He will be winning the Western Heritage Award… which comes right before the “Rodeo Couple” award is handed out. Yee-ha Davey boy!

While House members were in the middle of honoring former Rep. Buddy West who passed away, Gov. Perry made an appearance on the House Floor. For the most part, it looked like it was just greeting his colleagues…but he did stop by me and ask when he would be on our Session ‘09 In Depth show (he said it while our cameras were rolling). So, stay tuned for an update on that.

If you want to check out who is testifying and what is happening in Rep. Jim Dunnam’s committee that is dealing with the stimulus money, you can check it out here.  It gives a good breakdown on which agencies will be testifying and chairman updates from the committee.

I’ll be having Tom Schieffer as my guest and of course our political roundtable at 9:30 this Sunday for Session ‘09 In Depth. It will be fun to see how Schieffer does going head to head with his bro, Bob, on CBS . I’m also starting a new segment called “Wild Bills” (and yes, I’m looking for good sound effects to “rein” in the segment). Tune in to find out who our first “Wild Bill” winner is!

Sen. John Cornyn said he’ll donate $4,000 money to charity to make up for funds he took from R. Allen Stanford. Stanford is accused of fraud and Caribbean regulators took control of a bank he owned in Antigua. Cornyn’s donation also includes retribution for a trip he took with his wife to Antigua on Stanford’s dime.

Stanford is a Texas-born billionaire who received knighthood in Antigua and has donated to multiple Republican campaigns (including Kay Bailey Hutchison). He’s accused of defrauding investors out of $8 billion.

Here’s a pic of him in the land where he is considered royalty:

Just finished another Session ‘09 Austin News In Depth Show. It went well on camera, but you should have seen the behind the scenes action! Our robotic cameras suddenly got minds of their own and I discovered I actually need 4 hands in order to set everything up in the 2 minutes I have during breaks. Other than  that, we had an interview with Sen. Cornyn on the stimulus package in Washington, a live interview with the Attorney General on bills he wants to pass through this session and a great roundtable discussion with Hans Klingler, Jason Embry and Jason Stanford. A lot of fiery moments at the table.

You can check out clips at kxan.com under the politics section!

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was in Austin today for her exploratory committee kickoff. She announced that she has 300 high ranking Republicans in her camp for the gubernatorial campaign and she scoffed at Gov. Rick Perry’s assumption that she wouldn’t actually run for Governor. As to how long she plans to stay in her Senate seat before devoting all of her time to the campaign, Hutchison was vague and said she would most definitely finish out the year and possibly stay in the seat until the election. She did say she would announce her run for Governor this summer. Meanwhile, Perry thought today would be an opportune time to march with the pro-lifers here in Austin. Politics at its finest.

Just alerting you to my Session ‘09 In-Depth show that airs every Sunday at 9:30 a.m., right before Meet the Press! This week, we’ll have a one on one interview with Gov. Perry and then a roundtable to talk about all the fun activity in the Senate chamber this week. When the bill comes to the floor in actuality, I plan on having the proponents and opponents on to battle it out on live television.

Meanwhile, both chambers are out for inauguration, so those who have argued ‘140 days is so little time to accomplish so much’ will get an extra week to ponder that dilemma.

Another exciting tidbit…for the 5 people in the world who do not yet know, I’m getting a dog today!  He’s a chihuahua rescue and a little skittish..so wish me luck!

Gov. Perry announced today that he has $6 million in his gubernatorial campaign fund. Meanwhile, Hutchison has already transferred $1 million from her Federal account to the her State account and is expected to transfer millions more today. This is interesting, considering Perry said last week that he didn’t believe Hutchison would really run for Governor. Considering the letters I’ve received in the mail asking for money and asking that I be a part of her cabinet (whatever that means) I’d say she’s still considering it pretty seriously.