News Ticker: July 16

Wendy Davis readies for her close-up, Greg Abbott opens up, and George W. Bush makes a new friend. Surprise is on the News Ticker.

• We are green-eyed that someone at gregabbott.com managed to get an exclusive interview with man of the moment Greg Abbott. We guess some journalists are just willing to go the extra mile.

• Speaking of Abbott, the attorney general claims that he made no deals with Rick Perry to not run for governor should the latter decide to seek reelection. He later added that he did make a deal with the devil, but he can certainly understand the confusion.

• President Obama's Organizing for America campaign is giving followers a chance to take part in a conference call with Sen. Wendy Davis. We weren't going to sign-up at first, but we're dying to know what Wendy thought about the new season of Arrested Development.

• We're not exactly sure what the new Texas Monthly cover is trying to convey, but we think Sen. Davis is co-starring with Joaquín and Julián Castro in the new CBS procedural drama Double Jeopardy.

• Carrie Williams. the spokesperson for the Texas Department of Health Services, says that the agency is interested in getting input from the public on "how our [abortion] rules may affect them and their businesses." We thought there has already been an outpouring of public input, but maybe no one at DHS has Twitter.

• Former President George W. Bush donated $5K to Dan Branch's attorney general campaign. Dubya also offered to raffle off one of his paintings, but erotic art doesn't usually go over with the religious right.

• A Texas "pizzeria" owner claims he has been forced to sell a portion of his business because of Obamacare. Either that or his customers finally realized they were eating printed cardboard.

• We continue to be perplexed by the stories the Austin American-Statesman buries behind their online paywall. Is there anyone in town who is willing to shell out a subscription fee just to read a paraphrased Allegiant Air press release? Oh wait, we guess we do know one person.

• Real estate website Movoto claims that Portland out-hipsters Austin. The race was literally neck and neck, but some folks just can't handle beards in the Austin summer.

• According to KEYE, sleazy behavior is happening all over Austin. Luckily, the second special session is about to come to a close.