en español: El Innovador de Texas

May 2003

I am strongly urging the Legislature to pass a budget that is balanced and does not rely on accounting tricks and gimmicks--smoke and mirrors.

I am here to fulfill my responsibility and pledge to the people of Texas--to keep them informed of any new information regarding the state's budget as soon as I am aware of it.

This is an ongoing process. My staff has completed costing the House and the Senate versions of the Appropriations Bill--a very detailed and time-consuming effort. We literally put a price tag on every line of the budget. We continue to do that with each new version of the budget from the conference committee. Ultimately, I must certify the adopted budget before it is sent to the Governor for review and signature.

The proposed budget is riddled with one-time payments, delays, deferrals and serious raids on the Rainy Day Fund. God help us if there is a true emergency in this state. The Legislature leaves enough money in the Rainy Day Fund to run state government for two days and 10 minutes; after that, who is going to pay the teachers, guard the prisons and build the roads?

There was also a provision in the Senate budget that requires the Comptroller to make across-the-board reductions in the budget if I cannot certify the budget is balanced.

None of us can abdicate our responsibility to the people of Texas. I believe this would be an unconstitutional delegation of authority from the Legislature to the executive branch. Spending decisions are clearly and emphatically the provenance of the Legislature; ensuring a pay-as-you-go budget--no deficit spending--is mine.

We cannot mortgage Texas' future on the backs of our children and our children's children. This June, I hope to have a budget in hand that I can certify as meeting the letter and spirit of the constitution that requires state government to live within its means.

Carole Keeton Strayhorn
Texas Comptroller

Get an authentic Emmitt

In March 2003, shoppers on eBay were bidding up to $600 for jerseys autographed by former Dallas Cowboy football player Emmitt Smith.

But were they really signed by Smith? An FBI investigation that began in 1997 uncovered an estimated $10 million in fraudulent memorabilia. According to the FBI's sources in the investigation, up to 90 percent of the $1 billion annual memorabilia market could be fraudulent.

Smith and other players are fighting back. Smith is a director of St. Louis-based WeTrak, a sports collectibles security company that developed an authentication and security system that uses microchips embedded in footballs, jerseys and other equipment to verify that a player used a certain item.

The chips also contain statistics and information from the day the equipment was used--a major concern for collectors because the jersey Smith wore on October 22, 2002, when he broke the NFL's all-time rushing record could be worth more than the jersey he wore the previous Sunday.

WeTrak was originally formed as an inventory control system for team equipment managers, but the company saw a larger market for memorabilia authentication.

For more information, contact Tommy Davis,
mailto:authenticate@wetrak.com

Inventive incentive

Students who take Advanced Placement (AP) classes in some Dallas high schools don't just earn college credit, they earn cash.

As part of the Dallas Independent School District's (ISD) AP Incentive Program, students receive cash when they pass AP exams. AP courses are higher-level academic high school classes for which some colleges award credit.

The College Board in New York administers the annual AP exams, which participating high schools give to high school students each spring. Students in the Dallas ISD AP Incentive Program who pass their exams receive $100 for each exam. An AP teacher receives $150 for each passing score made by his or her students.

Students in the Dallas program have outperformed the overall state average in Texas and the U.S. In 2002, Dallas ISD students in 10 schools had 132 passing scores for each 1,000 juniors and seniors taking math, science and English, compared with the overall state average of 86 in Texas and 80 in the U.S.

The AP incentive program has also increased the number of minorities who take the exams and the number of minority students who pass them in Dallas ISD, a district with a minority enrollment of 90 percent.

The program is a partnership between private donors and Dallas ISD and coordinated through Dallas-based Advanced Placement Strategies Inc. and the O'Donnell Foundation. The Dallas-based O'Donnell Foundation, headed by Peter O'Donnell, developed an AP incentive program for nine Dallas-area schools in the early 1990s. In 2000, the foundation established nonprofit Advanced Placement Strategies to expand the program and to link schools with donors.

For more information, contact Gregg Fleisher,
Advanced Placement Strategies, gfleisher@apstrategies.org

Reacting robots

Personal assistants may look a little different in the future. Researchers at Vanderbilt University are working on a robot that can not only perform household tasks but also sense the mood of its human boss.

Vanderbilt researchers Nilanjan Sarkar, a professor of mechanical and computer engineering, and Craig Smith, associate professor of psychology and human development, are developing a system that could accurately detect a person's psychological state. The system analyzes a variety of biological responses, such as heart rate, skin conductivity, signals from eyebrows and jaw muscles, and body temperature.

In their 2002 research project, Sarkar and Smith had their volunteer test subjects play video games. They varied the difficulty level of the games to induce different levels of stress and anxiety and collected physiological data from the volunteers. The researchers analyzed the data and translated it into algorithms or rules, which they transmitted to a small, wheeled robot. The robot rolled through the laboratory and, when it sensed a certain level of stress coming from a test subject, it would travel to the video game player and ask if it could help.

Sarkar says that the research could have applications for patients in rehabilitation. A patient relearning how to use an arm or leg could use a robotic aid to help coach them through the process.

For more information, contact Nilanjan Sarka,
nilanjan.sarkar@vanderbilt.edu, http://frontweb.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/me/faculty/sarkar.asp,
615-343-7219

Internal monitors

Several biomedical companies are developing tiny, implanted medical devices that doctors can use to monitor changes in a person's body that signal the start of some health problems. Minnesota-based Medtronic Inc. has developed a device called Reveal that can detect an irregular heartbeat in people who suffer from fainting spells. The device tracks heart activity in a 42-minute loop and gives doctors data about effects on a fainting person's heart.

In the future, implantable devices may routinely monitor blood pressure and heart rate and track pressure in the brains of spina bifida patients who need fluid-draining shunts, according to medical technology experts.

Data Sciences International Inc., another Minnesota company, will test monitors that can track blood pressure inside the heart in 2003.

New wireless technology will let makers of other implants, such as pacemakers and defibrillators, add monitoring features. Doctors hope these monitors will help them treat patients for less cost with fewer hospital visits, says Brian Lee, co-inventor of the Reveal device.

Susan Foote, a University of Minnesota professor who studies medical technology policy, says the implanted medical devices are safer, smaller and less intrusive than devices used now.

For more information, contact Susan Foote,
foote003@umn.edu, 612-624-6151

Cancer-fighting sea squirt

Most people will figure that a trip to the Caribbean could cure all that ails them, or at least reduce stress levels. But now scientists have proof that the sea holds another healing power--the inconspicuous sea squirt.

Sea squirts, or Ecteinascidia turbinate, live in the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas and possess rare cancer-killing toxins. PharmaMar, a biopharmaceutical company based in Madrid, Spain, developed the cancer-drug ET-743 from toxins in the sea squirt's tissues.

Scientists have studied ET-743 as a cancer fighter in clinical studies since the late 1990s. American clinical trials for the treatment of soft-tissue sarcomas have shown that ET-743 shrinks tumors in 10 percent of patients and stabilizes them in 30 percent. Researchers are now looking at other potential ET-743 uses.

Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia are conducting a clinical trial of ET-743 for treating advanced breast cancer.

For more information, contact Fox Chase Cancer Center,
http://www.fccc.edu/

You rang

A New Jersey pet owner came up with a way to bypass the vigil that many cats and dogs keep by the back door when they want in or out of the house. Inventor Tony Vena began selling his Pet-2-Ring pet doorbell in October 2002.

The doorbell is a battery-operated wireless device that a pet owner mounts on an inside or outside wall--wherever the owner thinks a pet will use it most. The device has a lever that a cat or dog pushes or steps on that rings a bell to alert the owner the animal wants to get through the door. Vena says the device is superior to alternatives such as pet doors because pet doors require cutting a hole in a home's door or wall and other animals can get into the home using the door.

Vena includes a training video with each purchase. Pet owners use food to train their pets to use the device. Vena says dogs tend to be easier to train than cats, but most pets only take about a week to train.

Vena invested about $40,000 over four years to design, patent and begin marketing his invention. Customers can order online or get mail and phone order information at http://www.pet2ring.com/.

For more information, contact Pet Doorbell Products Inc.,
info@pet2ring.com

TEXAS

At Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, doctors are testing a new way to obtain clinical information on patients as they make their rounds. Instead of carrying paper medical records on clipboards, physicians use a personal data assistant (PDA) that provides access to the patients' current medical information. If doctors want to change medications, they enter the change into the PDA.

The new system is designed to improve the legibility of the doctors' medication orders, which will also improve patient safety.

For more information, contact Kathy Duffy,
Christus Spohn Hospital, Kathy_duffy@iwhs.org, 361-881-3830

TEXAS

The city of Arlington formed a $3 million partnership with a private company to convert trash into electricity. When trash decomposes, it creates methane gas, which scientists can capture and recycle for energy production.

Arlington teamed up with Midland-based Renovar Energy Corp., to produce a methane gas recovery system at the Arlington Landfill. City leaders say the system could save Arlington $75,000 annually and improve air quality.

For more information, contact Bob Byrd,
byrdb@ci.arlington.tx.us, 817-459-6250

FLORIDA

The police car fleet in Martin County, Fla., is going green. Sheriff Robert Crowder bought 11 Toyota Priuses and four Honda Civic hybrid cars and expects to add 50 more to his 311-car fleet through 2003. The Toyota and Honda hybrids have both gasoline-powered and electric-powered motors.

The hybrid cars can get more than 50 miles per gallon in city traffic, and each new cruiser saves about $103 a month in gasoline.

For more information, contact Sheriff Robert Crowder,
772-220-7000

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Editor: Karen Hudgins

Contributing to this issue: Allison Castle, Angela Freeman, Mary Lou Gibson, Greg Mt.Joy, Dwain Osborne, Edd Patton, Clint Shields, Suzanne Staton, Pam Wagner and Bruce Wright

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