Tag Archives: Texas

NBC News reports: Sen. Ted Cruz built his reputation as a conservative flamethrower after leading the government shutdown over Obamacare funding in 2013, cultivating that brand during his presidential campaign and beyond over the last decade. Now, the Texas Republican is seeking to show some bipartisan credentials as he runs for re-election in a state that is becoming more competitive …

The Texas Tribune reports: An internal complaint filed against state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, alleges that he was engaging in a potentially “inappropriate relationship” with an intern. The complaint came after an incident in which Slaton and the staffer allegedly met up at his Austin apartment last weekend. The complaint, obtained by The Texas Tribune, was reported to the …

The Houston Chronicle reports: Houston-area Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) joined in on the wave of backlash to the commercial with an Instagram post over the weekend. In a video published to the platform on Sunday, Crenshaw vows to throw out all the Bud Light in his fridge—only to find it stuffed with Karbach. “Saw Bud Light’s stupid ad campaign,” Crenshaw …

The Texas Tribune reports: State Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, has retained a criminal-defense attorney amid a potential ethics investigation by a House committee. The lawyer, Patrick Short, issued a statement Monday morning saying his firm “has been engaged by State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-TX 2) in a matter relating a possible complaint filed against him with the Texas House …

The Texas Tribune reports: A Travis County jury found Army Sgt. Daniel Perry, 33, guilty of murder on Friday, almost three years after he shot and killed Austin protester Garrett Foster. In 2021 Perry was indicted for murder, aggravated assault and deadly conduct charges for shooting Foster during a July 2020 protest in downtown Austin. The indictment came one year …

Reuters reports: A federal judge on Friday stayed federal regulators’ approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, partially granting a request by anti-abortion groups and dealing another setback to abortion rights in the United States. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, allows the Biden administration one week to appeal the decision. The Hill reports: The FDA …

From the Justice Department: A Texas man pleaded guilty today to a hate crime and arson in connection with a fire he set at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 31, 2021. According to court documents and admissions made during the plea hearing, three days before the arson, on Oct. 28, 2021, Franklin Sechriest of San …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas Senate on Wednesday approved two bills aimed at restricting drag performances that children attend or see. One of them, Senate Bill 1601, would defund public libraries where drag queens are allowed to read to children. The other, Senate Bill 12, bars kids from drag shows if the performances are overly lewd and lascivious. SB …

NBC News reports: The victims of the 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in which 26 were killed, have reached a “tentative agreement” with the Justice Department to settle a case against the federal government for $144.5 million. If given approval, which is expected, it would end a yearslong legal battle over a federal judge’s ruling …

Talking Points Memo reports: Republican members of the Texas state legislature introduced a slate of bills Thursday designed to subvert election processes and curb voting rights in the state. One of them would even allow the Texas Secretary of State to overturn election results in the state’s largest Democratic-leaning county, with very little rationale for doing so. On Thursday, Republican …

Reuters reports: Migrants were locked in a cell as a blaze spread killing 39 people at a detention center in Mexico, witnesses and a survivor said on Wednesday, as Mexican prosecutors said they were investigating the incident as a possible homicide. Prosecutors have identified eight people who may be responsible for the deaths on Monday at the center in the …

The Dallas Morning News reports: LGBTQ Pride celebrations could be banned in Texas schools under legislation up for debate Tuesday. The bill from Republican Rep. Ken King bars public schools from organizing programs “dedicated to celebrating or providing special instruction regarding a sexual preference.” “Having sexually-oriented celebrations at school, for all grades, is teaching our kids a sexual ideology – …

The Associated Press reports: A fire in a dormitory at a Mexican immigration detention center near the U.S. border left more than three dozen migrants dead, a government agency said Tuesday, in one of the deadliest incidents ever at an immigration lockup in the country. Hours after the fire broke out late Monday, rows of bodies were laid out under …

The Texas Tribune reports: In 2016, former Harris County GOP chair Jared Woodfill received an urgent warning about Paul Pressler, his longtime law partner and a Southern Baptist leader. In an email, a 25-year-old attorney from Woodfill’s Houston firm said he’d recently gone to lunch with Pressler, who told him “lewd stories about being naked on beaches with young men” …

Salon reports: MAGA gun enthusiast Ted Nugent — guitar in hand — got the crowd frothed up with his views on the state of the world, etc. “Glory, glory hallelujah, look! It’s real America!” Nugent hooted at those in attendance. “I’m telling ya the whole world sucks and America’s catching up, but here in Waco, Texas with the real s**t …

Law & Crime reports: The president of West Texas A&M University faces a federal lawsuit calling his cancellation of a student group’s drag show to benefit LGBTQ+ suicide prevention “textbook viewpoint discrimination” that violates the First Amendment. Student group Spectrum WT, which scheduled a show titled “A Fool’s Drag Race” for March 31, seeks an injunction forcing the university to …

Abilene’s CBS affiliate reports: An Abilene Christian University professor has been accused of sexually abusing his adoptive children, including at least one incident that happened on campus. Charles Wadlington was arrested on a warrant for Sexual Abuse of Child and now remains held in jail on a $75,000 bond. Court documents state that in March 2023, a child came forward …

Fox West Texas reports: The Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office conducted a child crimes investigation that led to the execution of a search warrant in San Angelo. According to a TGCSO press release, as a result of the search warrant, probable cause was developed that led to the issuance of an arrest warrant for James Needham, 28, for possession of …

The Texas Tribune reports: West Texas A&M President Walter Wendler is drawing ire for canceling a student drag show, arguing that such performances degrade women and are “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny.” Wendler said drag shows “stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood” in a Monday letter. Wendler said the drag show was …

Media Matters has the transcript: Daniel Miller (President, Texas Nationalist Movement): Well, look, I’ve been advocating for the independence of Texas since 1996. It made sense then. It makes even more sense now. And it’s simply this. Texans are sick and tired of living under 180, 180,000 pages of federal laws, rules, and regulations administered by two and a half …