Tag Archives: Texas

The Texas Tribune reports:  In Katy, a growing Houston suburb, school officials recently bought $93,000 worth of new library books and promptly put them in storage so an internal committee could review them. The district then banned 14 titles (bringing its total since 2021 to 30), including popular books by Dr. Seuss and Judy Blume, as well as “No, David!” …

Houston’s NPR affiliate reports: Yet another special session began in Austin on Monday, this time with Governor Greg Abbott asking state lawmakers to take up school vouchers — again. Or, as Abbott calls them, education savings accounts. The vouchers would use taxpayer dollars to allow some families to send some students to private schools. In many rural districts, there are …

The Texas Tribune reports: The revelation that an influential conservative PAC leader hosted a white supremacist at his office last week unleashed extraordinary criticism and infighting among Texas Republicans on Monday, calls by the House speaker and a majority of his caucus to return political donations, and a defiant demand from the lieutenant governor that the speaker resign. Speaker Dade …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday he plans to file criminal complaints against the group of state representatives who led the impeachment against him for releasing his personal information. “The impeachment managers clearly have a desire to threaten me with harm when they released this information last week,” he said in a statement. “I’m imploring …

The Texas Tribune reports: Jonathan Stickland [photo], the ultraconservative leader of a group that has donated millions of dollars to high-profile Texas leaders, hosted prominent white supremacist Nick Fuentes and other right-wing activists for several hours on Friday. Acting on a tip, a Texas Tribune reporter and photographer observed Fuentes and others — including Kyle Rittenhouse — enter a one-story …

Click2Houston reports: A Houston-area pastor is facing serious charges after being accused of raping a child and impregnating her, court documents stated. According to an arrest warrant, the rape started when the victim was 7 years old and lasted into her late teen years, happening more than 600 times. With Robert L. Carter now charged with a felony, the alleged …

The Associated Press reports: The Biden administration announced it waived 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow border wall construction on Wednesday, marking the administration’s first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during the Trump presidency. The Department of Homeland Security posted the announcement on the U.S. Federal Registry with few details outlining the construction in Starr …

Courthouse News reports: Yelp and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued one another on Thursday over a disagreement on whether the company mislabels crisis pregnancy centers without abortion services. As of Sept. 28, 2023, the popular review platform posts a consumer disclaimer on the business profiles of crisis pregnancy centers when they do not provide abortion services. The notice reads: …

Santa Fe’s Fox affiliate reports: A Las Cruces man is pleading guilty to a federal charge of making threats through interstate communications. The plea agreement brought before U.S. Magistrate Judge Damian L. Martinez of U.S. District Court in New Mexico has to do with a telephone call Michel David Fox admits making last May to the Houston office of a …

Reuters reports: A federal judge in Texas ruled on Tuesday that the state’s new law limiting public drag performances was an unconstitutional restriction on speech and he permanently forbid enforcement of it. “Not all people will like or condone certain performances,” U.S. District Judge David Hittner wrote. “This is no different than a person’s opinion on certain comedy or genres …

Reuters reports: A LGBTQ student group did not have an inherent constitutional right to hold a charity drag show on West Texas A&M University’s campus over the objections of the school’s president, who deemed such performances “misogynistic” and mocking of womanhood, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who before becoming a judge in Amarillo, Texas, was a …

The Texas Tribune reports: Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a longtime Democrat, is now a Republican — turning Dallas into the largest city in the country with a GOP mayor. “Today I am changing my party affiliation,” Johnson wrote in an op-ed published Friday in The Wall Street Journal. “Next spring, I will be voting in the Republican primary. When my …

The Austin Statesman reports: A former Round Rock pastor was sentenced to 70 months in prison and 10 years probation for an enhanced charge of possession of child pornography, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas. David Lloyd Walther, 57, was a pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Round Rock when …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas continues to be a hotbed for extremism and antisemitism, driven by the heavy presence of white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ+ groups that are headquartered or active in the state. That’s according to a report released Thursday by the Anti-Defamation League that examined nearly three years of “alarming levels of extremist ideology and activity” in Texas, and …

The Texas Tribune reports: Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday alleged without evidence that the Biden administration, working in cahoots with certain Texas Republicans, was behind the failed attempt to impeach him on charges of bribery and corruption. In his first remarks since being acquitted by the Texas Senate on Saturday on 16 articles of impeachment, Paxton blasted fellow …

Mike Allen reports at Axios: National Republicans organized an under-the-radar campaign of outside conservative pressure on the Texas senators designed to neutralize mainstream media coverage, top strategists tell me. This outside unofficial team operated independently of the Paxton legal operation — like “a super PAC without the money,” a top GOP strategist said. Pro-Paxton forces also paid social media influencers …

The Texas Tribune reports: Hours after his acquittal in the Texas Senate, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s far-right supporters doubled down on their promises for swift retribution against fellow Republicans who supported his removal from office. In particular, they vowed a scorched-earth campaign against House Speaker Dade Phelan, casting him as the ringleader responsible for the impeachment process and calling for …

The Texas Tribune reports: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick broke his personal silence Saturday on Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment after the Senate voted for acquittal, blasting the House’s impeachment process as deeply flawed. “The speaker and his team rammed through the first impeachment of a statewide official in Texas in over 100 years while paying no attention to the precedent …

Austin’s CBS News affiliate reports: The Texas House of Representatives voted to adopt 20 articles of impeachment against the attorney general over Memorial Day weekend. Those articles included charges of constitutional bribery, disregard of official duty and misapplication of public resources. Paxton’s relationship with real estate developer and campaign donor Nate Paul were at the heart of the allegations made …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas Senators will being voting on impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton’s fate at 11:10 a.m. Saturday. They deliberated 16 articles of impeachment for more than seven hours Friday. Paxton is accused of misusing the powers of the attorney general’s office to help his friend and donor Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor who was under …