State Headlines
Three high-impact issues have risen to the top in the Texas Legislature
Posted/updated on: February 24, 2025 at 4:32 pmAUSTIN - The Dallas Morning News reports six weeks into the 140-day session, the Texas Legislatureâs major priorities are beginning to take shape on issues that will impact most Texans, including changes to education, taxes and criminal justice. Republicans, who hold firm majorities in the House and Senate, are driving the process, and all legislation currently moving forward fits into the conservative agenda of Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick or House Speaker Dustin Burrows. The stakes are high. Abbott has invested tremendous political resources into pushing a school choice plan, while Patrick has an ambitious agenda that could get entangled in the House. Burrows, the new speaker, also has goals while accounting for the sometimes disparate demands of the 150-member House. Earlier this ... Read More
Feds to target âcriminals and illegal immigrantsâ in Houston-area development, Abbott says
Posted/updated on: February 24, 2025 at 4:32 pmFederal immigration authorities on Monday planned to conduct a targeted operation on "criminals & illegal immigrants" in a housing development outside of Houston thatâs been under scrutiny from conservative lawmakers and media for selling land to undocumented people, Gov. Greg Abbott said. Abbott said in a social media post that he had worked with President Donald Trump's immigration adviser, Tom Homan, âfor monthsâ to target Colony Ridge, a 33,000-acre development some 30 miles outside of the nationâs fourth-largest city. Conservative influencers, outlets, think tanks and Texas lawmakers had dubbed it as a safe haven for undocumented people, often painting it as a cartel-run crime hub. The extent of any enforcement was not immediately clear. Spokespersons for the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs ... Read More
Texas Lottery Commission says couriers no longer allowed to sell tickets
Posted/updated on: February 25, 2025 at 3:35 amThe Texas Lottery Commissionâs executive director said Monday he would move to ban couriers from buying lottery tickets after finding that state law bars the practice, an about-face from the agencyâs yearslong claim it had no control over such third-party sales. Since 2016, the commission has maintained to retailers and lawmakers it lacked authority to regulate couriers, which allow customers to buy lottery tickets remotely. But in a policy statement on Monday, the agency said it now views the practice as illegal and will revoke the lottery license of any stores that sell tickets to a courier. The shift comes just days after one of the state lottery commissioners resigned and as legislators, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, are publicly expressing their desire to prohibit ... Read More
Will a voucher plan hold private schools accountable?
Posted/updated on: February 24, 2025 at 4:32 pmHOUSTON - The Houston Chronicle reports that Texas lawmakers are considering allocating $1 billion to education savings accounts, or a type of voucher system, that would allow taxpayer dollars to go to private school tuition. Senate Bill 2, passed to the Texas House, would allow anybody to apply for a piece of the proposed $1 billion. Many students enrolled in accredited private schools could receive $10,000 per year under that plan, while under House Bill 3 many students would receive 85% of the estimated statewide average amount of state and local funding per student. Proponents say it would give students a shot at education that better serves them, including at private schools, while opponents say the bill would siphon money away from public education navigating ... Read More
Clint Hill, Secret Service agent who leaped onto JFK’s car after the president was shot, dies at 93
Posted/updated on: February 25, 2025 at 3:37 amClint Hill, the Secret Service agent who leaped onto the back of President John F. Kennedy's limousine after the president was shot, then was forced to retire early because he remained haunted by memories of the assassination, has died. He was 93. Hill died Friday at his home in Belvedere, California, according to his publisher, Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. A cause of death was not given. Although few may recognize his name, the footage of Hill, captured on Abraham Zapruder's chilling home movie of the assassination, provided some of the most indelible images of Kennedy's assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Hill received Secret Service awards and was promoted for his actions that day, but for decades blamed himself for ... Read More
South Texas bakery owners housed undocumented workers next to business before ICE raid, feds allege in hearing
Posted/updated on: February 24, 2025 at 4:32 pmBROWNSVILLE â The owners of a South Texas bakery accused of illegally hiring undocumented immigrants were also housing their employees next to the business, a detail that a federal judge ruled was sufficient to charge the couple with harboring the workers. U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen L. Betancourt ruled there was probable cause to believe that Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel broke the law by "harboring aliens" following testimony that the couple knew they employed workers who couldnât legally work in the U.S. and sheltered them in an apartment adjacent to their business. Agents conducted a "worksite enforcement action" at Abby's Bakery in Los Fresnos and apprehended eight immigrant workers on Feb. 12 following a tip the agency received in December, according to Special Agent ... Read More
Texas lawmakers want to make it easier to convert office space into apartments and condos
Posted/updated on: February 24, 2025 at 4:32 pmDALLAS â As Texasâ major urban areas grapple with a glut of vacant offices, state lawmakers may make it easier to transform empty office and commercial space into dwellings. A bill by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Mineola Republican, would effectively allow owners of struggling office properties in the stateâs largest cities to convert that space into residences. The bill would forbid cities and counties from requiring owners of flagging office buildings and commercial properties like shopping malls and strip centers to go through a rezoning process if they want to add apartments or condominiums. The idea is among a slate of proposals state lawmakers are weighing to remove barriers to housing construction and boost housing options to put a dent in Texasâ deep housing ... Read More
Companies are coming to Texas to develop a new generation of nuclear reactors
Posted/updated on: February 24, 2025 at 4:32 pmThe West Texas city of Abilene is better known for country music and rodeos than advanced nuclear physics. But thatâs where scientists are entering the final stretch of a race to boot up the next generation of American atomic energy. Amid a flurry of nuclear startups around the country, Abilene-based Natura Resources is one of just two companies with permits from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct a so-called âadvancedâ reactor. It will build its small, one megawatt molten salt reactor beneath a newly-completed laboratory at Abilene Christian University, in an underground trench 25 feet deep and 80 feet long, covered by a concrete lid and serviced by a 40-ton construction crane. The other company, California-based Kairos Power, is building its 35 megawatt test ... Read More
Greenpeace says a pipeline company’s lawsuit threatens the organization’s future
Posted/updated on: February 24, 2025 at 4:32 pmMANDAN, N.D. (AP) â A Texas pipeline company's lawsuit accusing Greenpeace of defamation, disruptions and attacks during protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline goes to trial in North Dakota on Monday, in a case the environmental advocacy organization says threatens free speech rights and its very future. The lawsuit stems from the protests in 2016 and 2017 over the oil pipeline's planned Missouri River crossing, upstream from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation. The tribe has long argued that the pipeline threatens its water supply. Of the thousands of people who protested the project, hundreds were arrested. Energy Transfer and its subsidiary Dakota Access allege trespass, nuisance, defamation and other offenses by Netherlands-based Greenpeace International and its American branch, Greenpeace USA. The lawsuit also names ... Read More
Texas A&M regents may soon decide the university systemâs next leader
Posted/updated on: February 24, 2025 at 4:32 pmThe Texas A&M University System Board of Regents could name its pick Monday for who should lead the sprawling collection of 11 universities and eight state agencies. The board is meeting all-day in Houston, with the potential to vote on a sole finalist for chancellor, according to a public meeting posted on the university systemâs website. The Texas Tribune has learned that the regents have narrowed their nationwide search to five candidates, including some prominent political names. One individual with knowledge of the process confirmed the five names to the Tribune. A second person was able to confirm four of the five names. The candidates are Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, Texas A&M Foundation President Tyson Voelkel, University of Alabama President Stuart Bell, State Rep. Trent ... Read More
Backlash leads Republican attorneys general to declare support for a landmark disability rights law
Posted/updated on: February 24, 2025 at 4:32 pmTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) â Republican state attorneys general are declaring their continued support for a landmark federal law protecting disabled people's rights, after parents expressed fears of losing services for their disabled children because of a GOP lawsuit opposing transgender rights. The attorneys general of 17 states, led by Texas, told a federal judge this week that a lawsuit they filed in September targets only a rule imposed last year by then-President Joe Biden's administration declaring that transgender Americans are protected by a 1973 law barring discrimination against disabled people. The state officials said they are not attacking â and have never attacked â the law itself, which requires institutions receiving federal funds to make accommodations for disabled people. The states' lawsuit attracted little attention ... Read More
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