Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry says unarmed, unmanned Predator drone aircraft should be used to patrol the Texas-Mexico border for illegal immigration and drug-trade activity. Perry, in a tough re-election fight this year, has asked the federal government for one Predator. Predators are now in use along the Arizona-Mexico border. Republican US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, running for governor against Perry, called the idea a “boondoggle.”

--Headed to the state Senate floor today is a telecommunications restructuring bill designed to bring Georgia up to speed with other states in rates for long distance and other issues. A poll conducted by the group Citizens for a Digital Future with InsiderAdvantage shows voters “prefer a telecom marketplace where all companies are on an even playing field," the group said in a press release. See InsiderAdvantageGeorgia.

--North Carolina Republican Eighth District congressional candidate Tim D’Annunzio will seek to raise campaign cash and show his “commitment to Second Amendment rights” by having a shoot-out of sorts on Feb. 10; that is, for donations of at least $25, D’Annunzio supporters can attend a shooting range and fire Uzi machine guns. Among the door prizes will be a semi-automatic rifle.

--The Kentucky House on Monday passed a bill that would help replenish the state’s strained unemployment fund by raising taxes on small businesses and cutting jobless benefits. The bill passed 97-0 and now goes to the Senate. In the last 13 months, Kentucky has borrowed $645 million from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits.

--The Virginia Senate has passed a measure to add sexual orientation as another criterion for hiring protections for state government jobs. The vote in the Democratic-majority chamber was probably futile as anything more than a political gesture, however. Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell has declined to issue an executive order providing gays with hiring protections, and the GOP-majority House is expected to defeat the bill.