A Texas Tech team's device to screen drugs could make the process faster and less expensive, as well as deliver income and notice to the university.

Siva Vanapalli, an assistant professor in Tech's Department of Chemical Engineering, and his team created a device about the size of a penny that could replace the current drug screening systems. He has filed for a patent on the device, which changes the screening process by allowing multiple concentrations of the drug at one time, smaller samples and the faster testing.

Jodey Arrington, Tech vice chancellor for Research, Commercialization and Federal Relations, said the public gets the benefits of the product being on the market, solutions are created for problems facing society, and jobs and revenue are produced.

"I would say when Texas Tech faculty develop technologies that improve the quality of life for our citizenry and create jobs and generate revenues, guess what, they also put Texas Tech on the map," Arrington said.

Legal aid program refunds money to counties

A program designed to provide legal representation in cases where defendants face the death penalty while cushioning individual counties from the high costs of providing that aid has worked as expected for five years - and refunded $400,000 to the consortium of counties.

The Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases program returned the money to the 77 participating counties out of the 85 counties in the seventh and ninth administrative judicial districts.

"We had high hopes from this program when we funded it in 2007. It has met and exceeded our expectations," said Sharon Keller, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals presiding judge and Chair of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, in a statement.

County to streamline vote center process

Lubbock County Commissioners took a step toward streamlining the approval process for establishing "super precincts" or "vote centers" for every non-primary election.

The approach allows voters to cast ballots at any vote center instead of being required to vote at a site within their voting precinct.

After numerous supporters spoke glowingly of the vote center approach, commissioners unanimously authorized County Judge Tom Head to ask the Texas Secretary of State to designate Lubbock County a "Successful Countywide Precinct Program," which would permit the county to abandon the voting precinct system in most elections. The exception would be primary elections, which include precinct conventions.

A recent state law allows approved counties to forego the process of applying to the secretary of state before every election to use vote centers by receiving the one-time designation. If the county's request is approved, Lubbock County could then go directly to the U.S. Department of Justice before each election to get permission to use vote centers.