Top Reads, Feb. 11: “Third world” rebuttal / Comptroller’s shadow / Criminal Court

Texas Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful Greg Abbott offered a rebuttal in The Monitor in McAllen to the idea (voiced by The Monitor) that his criticism of “third-world country” corruption didn’t mean that he was saying that the Rio Grande Valley is like a third-world country. “Those comments were not directed at the Rio Grande Valley — they apply wherever corruption is found,” he writes.

The Texas Tribune has a story on the seven candidates running for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal court in the state. Three to four seats could be up for grabs, significantly changing the nine-judge court.

Even though she isn’t running for re-election, the Austin American-Statesman notes the influence that Comptroller Susan Combs has in the comptroller race. “The most visible figure in the four-way Republican contest to replace Texas’ outgoing comptroller, Susan Combs, is Combs herself,” Kate Alexander writes.