Tag Archives: Texas

Lone Star Live report: Hillary Hickland, member-elect of the Texas House of Representatives’ District 55, is determined to “protect the children” by moving to ban the sale of “obscene devices” in stores that are not considered “sexually oriented businesses.” Hickland recently proposed legislation to be considered in the next legislative session, in 2025, that would prevent major retailers such as …

The Texas Tribune reports: A federal judge on Monday issued a court order temporarily blocking a Biden administration rule that would have granted some people brought into the country illegally as children access to health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, a decision that could affect tens of thousands of Texans. The decision comes after Texas and 18 other states …

Fort Worth’s Fox affiliate reports: A Grapevine pastor and substitute teacher is facing charges after allegedly being caught with hidden cameras and child pornography. Grapevine police said their investigation into 38-year-old Arturo Alarcon began after they received a tip about “spy cameras” that were found inside a mobile home that he owns. Alarcon was an associate pastor at 121 Community …

The Dallas Express reports: A judge in Texas has issued a nationwide injunction blocking the Corporate Transparency Act. The law pushed by the Biden Administration allegedly aimed at increasing corporate transparency and cracking down on financial crimes like money laundering. The injunction, issued by Judge Amos L. Mazzant III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, …

Law & Crime reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to take away funding from a children’s hospital if it fails to follow his executive order requiring medical care facilities to ask patients about their immigration status on intake forms. Abbott made the post on X in response to a doctor’s viral video on TikTok telling patients they were under no …

Courthouse News reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to shut down an Austin, Texas, homeless center, calling the charity a public nuisance. The Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center says it’s the largest provider of homeless services in Travis County. According to its website, the center provides a number of services, including physical and mental health care, …

The Washington Post reports: The Texas committee that examines all pregnancy-related deaths in the state will not review cases from 2022 and 2023, the first two years after Texas’s near-total abortion ban took effect, leaving any potential deaths related to abortion bans during those years uninvestigated by the 23 doctors, medical professionals and other specialists who make up the group. …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas will continue to offer up more land to the incoming Trump administration to use for mass deportation facilities. Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced Tuesday that her office is identifying property to be ready for the Trump administration when they take office in January. “We have 13 million acres around the state, and if there’s …

The Texas Tribune reports: A Louisiana law that reclassified abortion-inducing drugs as controlled substances has made it more difficult for doctors to treat a wide range of gynecological conditions, doctors say. Now, a similar proposal has been filed in Texas. Texas Rep. Pat Curry, a freshman Republican from Waco, said the intent of House Bill 1339 is to make it …

Austin’s ABC affiliate reports: Calling it “left-wing propaganda,” State Representative Brian Harrison, R-Waxahachie, said if any Texas public university offers “LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies” programs, he will try to zero out its budget. “If they have an LGBTQ minor, that is an abuse of taxpayer funding never authorized by the legislature and as far as I’m concerned, there have got to be …

NPR reports: Texas’ business and economic sectors say mass deportations could upend some of the state’s major industries that rely on undocumented labor, chief among them the booming construction industry. “It would devastate our industry, we wouldn’t finish our highways, we wouldn’t finish our schools,” said Stan Marek, CEO of Marek, a Houston-based commercial and residential construction giant. “Housing would …

The Associated Press reports: Texas’ education board voted Friday to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they will receive additional …

Courthouse News reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block the implementation of Proposition R, a ballot measure passed by Dallas voters that decriminalizes marijuana possession within the city limits. Also known as the Dallas Freedom Act, the measure passed Nov. 5 with close to 67% of the vote. It amends the Dallas City Charter …

The New York Times reports: Texas education officials approved in an initial vote on Tuesday a new elementary school curriculum that infuses material drawn from the Bible into reading and language arts lessons, a contentious move that would test the limits of religion’s presence in public education. The curriculum has already drawn protests in Texas, which has emerged as a …

Austin’s CBS affiliate reports: The State Board of Education heard more than 8 hours of public testimony on Monday on whether to approve a new statewide curriculum. The “Bluebonnet Learning” curriculum would incorporate Bible lessons in kindergarten through fifth grade in public schools. Testimony is expected to resume Tuesday morning. A months-long debate over the new curriculum culminated in tense …

The Huffington Post reports: On Friday a federal judge in Texas struck down a new rule from the Biden administration aimed at extending overtime protections to millions of workers. Judge Sean D. Jordan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled that the Labor Department went beyond its authority in issuing the regulation earlier this year. …

Semafor reports: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul was detained by police at Dulles International Airport earlier this month in an incident that he described as “the result of a poor decision” to mix Ambien and alcohol. A McCaul spokesperson confirmed the recent incident, describing the congressman as “a nervous flyer” who took the popular sleep aid Ambien and …

The Hill reports: Texas lawmakers, during the state’s upcoming legislative session, will have the opportunity to formally decriminalize gay sex, still technically a misdemeanor under Texas law. On Tuesday, the first day state lawmakers were able to prefile legislation before the Legislature convenes on Jan. 14, Texas Democrats filed two bills — one in the House and one in the …

Via press release from Texas AG Ken Paxton: Attorney General Ken Paxton sued U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to prevent potential destruction of any records from Jack Smith’s corrupt investigation into President Donald Trump. On November 8, Attorney General Paxton made a Freedom of Information Act request to the DOJ requesting records related …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents on Thursday unanimously directed its flagship university to disband an LGBTQ+ studies minor, months after conservative lawmakers and websites accused the program of promoting “liberal indoctrination” on campus. The LGBTQ Studies minor is one of 14 minors and 38 certificate programs that administrators said were “low-producing,” according to …