Tag Archives: Texas

The Dallas Morning News reports: A Dallas County jury sentenced Amber Guyger to 10 years in prison after convicting her of murdering her upstairs neighbor Botham Jean in his apartment last year. Guyger, 31, had been facing between five and 99 years or life in prison. After the sentence was read out, chants of, “No justice, no peace,” broke out …

NBC News reports: Amber Guyger was found guilty of murder on Tuesday for fatally shooting her neighbor, Botham Jean, after thinking he was an intruder when she mistakenly entered his apartment. She faces a maximum of life in prison. The jury was tasked with deciding whether or not Guyger, 31, acted reasonably when she used deadly force, and if the …

Axios reports: The retirement of six House Republicans from Texas at the end of this term shows their pessimism about winning back the House majority in 2020, GOP strategists tell Axios — and foreshadows bigger Republican fears in the nation’s second most populous state. “We need a new Republican Party because the one we have is getting our asses kicked …

Just in via press release: U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (TX-13) released the following statement: “It has been a great honor to serve the people of the 13th District of Texas as their congressman for the last 25 years. They have given me opportunities to serve the nation in ways I could have never imagined, including as Chairman of the House …

The Texas Tribune reports: U.S. Rep. Will Hurd said Thursday he is considering a run for president in 2024. The third-term Republican congressman from Helotes is leaving the House at the end of this term, and his retirement announcement sent shockwaves throughout national politics. In an interview Thursday with The Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith, Hurd addressed a slew of …

Hemant Mehta reports at The Friendly Atheist: Nothing weird about this. Just a Christian guy who’s staking out a local park before the sun comes up in order to keep the “witches and satan worshipers” away with his Jesus prayers. I would normally just dismiss him as a kook… except that kook is Tim Kelly, a man who won a …

Politico reports: Sen. Ted Cruz is sounding the alarm on Texas. During a Christian Science Monitor breakfast on Thursday, Cruz warned that Texas will be “hotly contested” in 2020. He said that while he had confidence his colleague Republican Sen. John Cornyn and President Donald Trump would win the state, both will face a “serious race.” “I think the Texas …

The Dallas Morning News reports: Presidential hopeful Joe Biden has cemented his frontrunner status among the Democratic contenders in Texas, a delegate-rich early primary state that will see Houston play host on Thursday to the third round of the Democratic debates. A Quinnipiac University poll puts Biden at 28% among Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic in Texas, …

The Texas Tribune reports: The top three contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination all lead President Trump in deep-red Texas where a Democrat has not won a statewide race in 25 years, according to a new poll. The latest Univision News survey of Texas finds Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) doing best in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up against Trump in …

The New York Times reports: David Amad, a gun rights activist and the vice president of Open Carry Texas, is not especially bothered by Walmart’s recent announcement that it is “respectfully requesting” that customers not openly carry guns into its stores. Mr. Amad said many of his group’s 38,000 members had carried their guns openly into Walmart stores since the …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas Democratic Party is pulling back the curtain on its 2020 strategy ahead of the Houston presidential debate, releasing a plan to flip the state that targets 2.6 million potential Democratic voters who are not registered yet and commits to deploying over 1,000 organizers by the end of the election cycle. The 10-page proposal, shared …

Newsweek reports: A report out by the San Antonio Express-News found that a gun owner in Texas had sent more than 100 pages of racist and violent letters to the Texas Attorney General’s office threatening to kill undocumented immigrants over the course of a year and a half, and that nothing was done to stop him or to communicate the …

The Dallas Morning News reports: Rep. Bill Flores announced Wednesday morning that he will not seek reelection to the U.S. House next year, becoming the fifth Republican congressman from Texas to voluntarily retire ahead of the 2020 elections. Flores, from Bryan, has served five terms, coming in with the tea party wave of 2010, the first midterm elections of the …

The Associated Press reports: As states push to criminalize the sharing of intimate photos to get revenge on former sex partners, Texas is teaming with Bumble to crack down on people who send unsolicited nude images on dating apps and elsewhere in cyberspace. The new Texas law banning so-called cyber flashing comes after state Rep. Morgan Meyer of Dallas collaborated …

The Associated Press reports: Odessa police say the man who killed seven people in West Texas has been identified as Seth Aaron Ator. Police posted the update on Facebook. They say he is a 36-year-old from Odessa. They didn’t provide any additional info. State police attempted to stop Ator on Saturday for a traffic violation, when he opened fire. They …

Reuters reports: A slate of new Texas laws that loosen regulations for firearms went into effect Sunday after a month in which the state experienced multiple mass shootings. The bills, which were passed during the 86th Texas legislature, ease restrictions surrounding access to guns on school grounds and churches, among other provisions. The National Rifle Association has praised the legislation …

CBS News reports: Law enforcement says there are multiple gunshot victims in an active shooter incident in west Texas. Police say a suspect hijacked a U.S. mail carrier truck and is driving around Odessa shooting at random people. The suspect was last seen in the area of 38th and Walnut. The Midland Police Department said in a Facebook post there …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that “mistakes were made” in his fundraising letter that used alarmist language in calling to “DEFEND” the Texas border and was dated one day before a deadly shooting that targeted Hispanics in El Paso. Speaking to reporters ahead of the second meeting of the newly formed Texas Safety Commission, Abbott said …

Austin’s NBC News affiliate reports: More than a year after boys were removed from a nonprofit in Burnet County, the couple who ran it are facing trafficking charges. A grand jury indicted Gary Wiggins, 49, and his wife Meghann Wiggins, 34, on Trafficking of Persons charges. They are both accused of “knowingly” trafficking four underage boys and “through force, fraud …

The El Paso Times reports: The man charged in the El Paso Walmart mass shooting is on suicide watch, authorities say. Patrick Crusius, charged with killing 22 and injuring 25 on Aug. 3 was placed under close guard Monday on the recommendation of medical staff at the county jail, according to an El Paso County Sheriff’s Office official. Crusius, a …