By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry says his plan to expand domestic energy production could bring the United States more than a million new jobs.
Perry, the Texas governor, released an energy proposal Friday that would open up federal lands, including Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for energy production. He also says regulation has crippled jobs and is promising to eliminate such hurdles.
Perry's speech comes as his campaign tries to move beyond some early bumps and revitalize his momentum. Shaky debate performances took away some of his early momentum. And his rivals have criticized him for not going into details on his policies.
Perry hoped his speech at a Pittsburgh-area steel plant would calm those jitters.
GOP rivals raise millions this quarter
New financial reports out this weekend are expected to show the two top Republican presidential candidates are neck-and-neck in efforts to fill their campaign war chests.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry both have roughly $15 million in cash on hand, and both candidates raised a combined $30 million this summer.
The campaigns, however, lag behind the $70 million raised by President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.
The reports will offer a broad look at the Republican field's finances. They're the first official tallies for contenders Perry, businessman Herman Cain and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.
But the filings won't capture the tens of millions raised by new, outside groups known as super political action committees, which can raise unlimited amounts of money to influence elections.
McKinney Teacher Gets Top Honors
A reading specialist from McKinney has been named the state's top elementary teacher of the year.
Karen Morman from J.W. Webb Elementary was awarded $5,000 for teaching excellence and will now represent Texas in the national Teacher of the Year competition.
The Texas Education Agency and the Texas Association of Administrators oversee the selection of winners.
Caravaggio exhibit opens in Fort Worth
Works by Italian artist Caravaggio will be displayed along with pieces by those influenced by him in an exhibit opening in Fort Worth.
"Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome" opens Sunday at the Kimbell Art Museum. The exhibit runs through Jan. 8. It features 10 works by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and more than 40 works from artists including Jusepe de Ribera, Georges de La Tour and Peter Paul Rubens.
The exhibit, previously on display at the National Gallery of Canada, is making its only U.S. stop in Fort Worth.
Caravaggio's dramatic paintings are noted for the swaths of light that illuminate his subjects against dark backgrounds and his realistic subjects, often based on live models.
He died in 1610 at the age of 38.