Tag Archives: Greg Abbott

The Texas Tribune reports: The fourth special legislative session ended Tuesday when the House adjourned without taking action on some key bills the Senate had passed, leaving senators with little choice but to adjourn as well. It concluded much like it began, with no deal on school vouchers, other Republican priorities sunk by intra-party fighting and a governor unable to …

The Dallas News reports: In a blow to Gov. Greg Abbott, a federal appeals court ordered Texas on Friday to remove the border buoys the state installed near Eagle Pass to block migrants. Abbott had turned to the conservative New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which temporarily blocked a lower court’s order three months ago finding that Texas had …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott is starting to make good on his threat to politically target fellow Republicans who oppose school vouchers, issuing his first endorsement of a primary challenger to a House member who has helped thwart his top legislative priority of the year. Abbott on Tuesday backed Hillary Hickland, an activist mother who is running against …

The Associated Press reports: Donald Trump picked up the Texas governor’s endorsement Sunday during a visit to a U.S.-Mexico border town and promised that his hard-line immigration policies in a second presidential term would make Greg Abbott’s “job much easier.” “You’ll be able to focus on other things in Texas,” Trump told Abbott as they each appeared before a crowd …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas House on Friday voted to strip school vouchers from the chamber’s massive education funding bill, effectively gutting Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priority from the legislation. The House voted 84-63 in favor of an amendment offered by Rep. John Raney of College Station, which removed the provision of the bill allowing some parents to use …

ABC News reports: Tuesday evening, the Texas House of Representatives voted in favor of one of the most controversial and strictest immigration laws in the country. It will have major implications for migrants across the state and may also trigger lawsuits and an international dispute with Mexico. One of the most controversial aspects of the bill would authorize local and …

Axios reports: A vast majority of Republicans say they support installing deterrents such as razor wire and floating barriers in rivers to prevent immigrants from entering the country illegally, even if people are endangered or killed, a new survey finds. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is locked in a legal fight with the Biden administration to keep razor wires and …

The Hill reports: Texas is adding to its border wall to deter migrants from entering the state by constructing a barrier between itself and New Mexico. Construction of a wall along the Texas-Mexico border has been in the works for months since Abbott committed to the project in 2021. He has continually posted videos and images of the border wall …

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 …

Yahoo News reports: A U.S. judge ordered Texas to move floating buoys that were placed in the middle of the Rio Grande to block migrants from illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a tentative win for President Joe Biden, whose administration sued the state. U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra issued a preliminary injunction in Austin that requires Texas to relocate …

Ars Technica reports: The day before a Texas anti-porn law that requires age verification to access adult websites was set to take effect, the state’s interim attorney general, Angela Colmenero, has been at least temporarily blocked from enforcing the law. US District Judge David Alan Ezra granted a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking enforcement after the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) joined …

NBC News reports: The Justice Department on Monday filed a lawsuit against Texas for placing buoys in the Rio Grande as part of an effort by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to deter migrants from crossing into the United States. The civil suit said Texas violated federal law by installing the barrier and asked a judge to order its removal. The …

The Associated Press reports: Wrecking ball-sized buoys on the Rio Grande. Razor wire strung across private property without permission. Bulldozers changing the very terrain of America’s southern border. For more than two years, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has escalated measures to keep migrants from entering the U.S. A state trooper’s account of officers denying migrants water in 100-degree Fahrenheit …

Texas Public Radio reports: The Justice Department has notified Texas that it plans to file a lawsuit over Gov. Greg Abbott’s floating border barrier in the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing illegally. The DOJ sent a letter to Abbott on Thursday demanding that Texas remove the buoys and razor wire along the Rio Grande by Monday, July 24, …

The Texas Tribune reports: Shouting, screaming and crying with raw desperation, dozens of prisoners’ relatives and former inmates gathered at the state Capitol Tuesday begging, once again, for state officials to install air conditioning in Texas prisons. “They’re cooking our babies alive!” wailed a grieving mother, whose 36-year-old son died unexpectedly in an uncooled prison last month. As a seemingly …

The Houston Chronicle reports: Officers working for Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative have been ordered to push small children and nursing babies back into the Rio Grande, and have been told not to give water to asylum seekers even in extreme heat, according to an email from a Department of Public Safety trooper who described the actions as “inhumane.” …

The Texas Tribune reports: Houston officials sued the state of Texas on Monday to stop a sweeping law aimed at gutting all kinds of local ordinances and sapping the power of the state’s bluer urban areas. The law — House Bill 2127, dubbed the “Death Star” bill by opponents — was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in June, …

The Huffington Post reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took his Twitter feed to some low places over the weekend when he was duped by a satire website into sharing literal fake news about country music icon Garth Brooks. Abbott linked to a story about Brooks from a satire website called The Dunning-Kruger Times. If the name alone isn’t enough of …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have expanded vote-by-mail access for people with disabilities — specifically people who are blind or paralyzed and need assistance marking their ballot. Advocates say Abbott’s veto of House Bill 3159 is a blow for voters with disabilities who have for years called for the Legislature …

The Hill reports: Texas has become the latest in a growing number of states to pass legislation that LGBTQ rights groups say targets drag shows, banning “sexually oriented performances” that take place in the presence of minors. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) quietly signed the state’s Senate Bill 12 into law June 18. His office did not immediately respond to …