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AUSTIN – CBS news reports that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has issued a second round of directives for the Texas Senate, asking lawmakers to consider legislation that could change how the state does runoff elections, prevent protestors from wearing face masks, and further eliminate any lingering D.E.I. policies that may still exist in higher education. Since the Texas Legislature only meets biennially, there’s a lot of work to be done before the start of a legislative session. In April, Patrick issued more than 50 directives, and on Tuesday he added 21 more. It includes a focused spread of items from state affairs and finance to criminal justice and education.

Of note, Patrick wants to see lawmakers “examine programs and certificates” within colleges and universities that still have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies and “expose” them as being harmful to the state’s workforce interests. “It’s a signal from the lieutenant governor that he wants the Senate to look at these institutions and see if they’re following through and complying with legislation that was passed in 2023.” Dr. Jones said. Texas House Representative Brian Harrison says he applauds Patrick’s priorities. He wants to see the legislature use taxpayer dollars wisely. “They’re they are having to spend too much of their income in taxes, and the last thing we should be doing is forcing them to subsidize things that are not only against their values, but that do not help the workforce of tomorrow and do not help strengthen the economy.” Rep. Harrison said. Rep. Harrison says it’s a real concern that colleges and universities are skirting the law entirely, or just calling D.E.I. something else, and points to universities like Texas A&M or the University of Texas at Dallas. “They might have been a little bit too broad, and some of our higher education institutes might be exploiting that instead of educating students, using those tax dollars for liberal indoctrination, and we’ve got to make sure that that’s not happening.” Rep. Harrison said.

DALLAS – KUT reports that on a Sunday earlier this month, Pastor Robert Jeffress began his sermon at First Baptist Dallas with a sentiment that might resonate with everyone at this point in election season. “Today, we’re going to talk about politics,” said Jeffress. “Yuck!” Jeffress went on to tell his congregation, which has around 16,000 members, that religion and politics are inseparable. “Government is God’s creation. Genesis Chapter 9. After the flood God gave to Noah the building block of government,” said Jeffers. The connection between the two can be seen everywhere: We pledge allegiance to “one nation under God.” Most swearing-in ceremonies for public officials involve putting one’s hand on a Bible or another holy text. And a faith leader is usually invited to give an opening prayer or blessing before the Texas Legislature meets for a session. That connection goes beyond the ceremonial, with faith — most often Christianity — impacting actual policy decisions. Just this week, the Texas State Board of Education met to discuss a newly proposed elementary school reading curriculum that includes Bible stories.

A Texas law that went into effect last year now allows members of the clergy to volunteer or be hired as school counselors. Religion was also invoked by Texas’ Republican lawmakers backing a bill that banned gender-affirming care in the state. And Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recently said he’d try, once again, to pass a bill that would require the 10 Commandments to be displayed in public schools. Those are just a few examples. Andrea Hatcher, a professor of political science at The University of the South, traces the GOP’s embrace of religion back to the 1970s. “The Christian right didn’t just happen organically,” said Hatcher. “It was a creation of religious elites and political elites that saw how religion could be leveraged by the Republican Party for political power to benefit them both.” Hatcher said that played out in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. “When you have six Catholics on the Supreme Court and then all of a sudden they vote a particular way that happens to align with their religious views,” said Hatcher. While one of those Catholics, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, voted against overturning Roe, Hatcher said the decision still leads “one to question whether that is individual religious beliefs affecting, shaping policy outcomes for a religiously pluralistic nation at large.”

AUSTIN – KUT reports that during the pandemic, Austin came to exemplify the story of housing across the country: Prices went through the roof. In 2021, the average monthly rent in the region rose 25%. Similar increases happened in cities in California and Arizona. But that narrative has flipped. As tens of thousands of new apartments have opened in Austin and the rate of people moving to the city has slowed, rent prices have been falling. For more than a year. According to new numbers from Zillow, Austin is now leading the country in declining rents. But this time few other large U.S. cities are following. The typical monthly rent in the Austin metro is down nearly 4% compared to last summer. Rents in similarly priced cities — including Dallas, Phoenix and Atlanta — are rising. The average monthly rent in Austin is now anywhere between roughly $1,500 and $1,800.

In the early years of the pandemic, demand for apartments rose. Tens of thousands of people moved to the city because they could suddenly work remotely. Meanwhile, some residents already living here decided to leave shared living situations and find apartments on their own. In response to the demand for housing, rent prices rose at an incredible pace. To builders this indicated a need and a business opportunity: more homes. “A lot of builders … they look at the demographics and they look at the job growth and they look at projections and they say, ‘You know what, this is going to be a good place for me to build,’” Kim Betancourt, vice president of multifamily research at mortgage-backer Fannie Mae, said. “This is what happened with Austin.” In 2021, local governments in the Austin area issued permits to build nearly 51,000 homes, according to census data. While not every developer that receives a permit eventually builds, this represents a rate of permitting much higher than in other cities at the time. Because construction takes several years, apartments permitted years ago are now opening. At the same time, the population surge that defined Austin in 2020 and 2021 has slowed.

MORGAN CITY, La. (AP) — Francine weakened Thursday after striking Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, sent storm surge rushing into coastal communities and raised flood fears in New Orleans and beyond as drenching rains spread over the northern Gulf Coast.

New Orleans awoke to widespread power outages and debris-covered streets. Just before sunrise, street lights on some blocks were working but large swaths of the city were without power. The roar of home generators was evident outside some houses.

Some 3 to 6 inches (8 to 15 centimeters) of rain were possible in parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, with up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) possible in some spots in parts of Alabama and Florida, forecasters said, warning of the potential threat of scattered flash flooding as farflung as Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Atlanta.

Francine slammed the Louisiana coast Wednesday evening with 100 mph (155 kph) winds in coastal Terrebonne Parish, battering a fragile coastal region that hasn’t fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021. It then moved at a fast clip toward New Orleans, pounding the city with torrential rains.

In New Orleans, rushing water nearly enveloped a pickup truck in an underpass, trapping the driver inside. A man who lives nearby grabbed a hammer, waded into the waist-high water, smashed the window and pulled the driver out. It was all captured on live TV by a WDSU-TV news crew Wednesday night.

After guiding the man to shore, Miles Crawford said: “I just had to go in there are do it.”

“I’m a nurse, so got to save lives, right?” Crawford, an emergency room nurse at University Medical Center, said seconds after the rescue. In an interview later outside his home, Crawford had a large bandage on his hand, cut in the rescue.

“I’m used to high-stress, high-level things on a daily basis,” he said. “We deal with things like that all the time, so it was nothing out of the ordinary.”

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. TV news broadcasts from coastal communities showed waves from nearby lakes, rivers and Gulf waters thrashing sea walls. Water poured into city streets amid blinding downpours. Oak and cypress trees leaned in the high winds, and some utility poles swayed back and forth.

Water was receding early Thursday in Jefferson Parish, where streets flooded, but canals were still high, parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said in a social media post. They pumped through the night, but there were sewer system problems and they couldn’t keep up with the storm, she said.

There had not been any major injuries or deaths, Sheng said.

“Let’s keep that going,” she said, asking residents to give the parish time to clear the streets, noting that the hazards after a storm can sometimes be more dangerous than the storm itself.

As the sun rose Thursday in Morgan City, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from where the storm’s center made landfall, Jeffrey Beadle, 67, emerged from the hotel room where he had sheltered for the night as the streets flooded and blasts of wind battered town.

Beadle left his home in low-lying Bayou Louis, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) outside town, on Wednesday afternoon as the rain picked up and left almost all his possessions there. He had lived there for 30 years without suffering any major damage but he was worried this time would be different because his home had been right in the hurricane’s path. He had loaded his car and was preparing to return to check on his home.

“There’s nobody over on that end I can call,” he said. “I don’t know what I am going to, bruh. Hope everything’s good.”

The storm was downgraded Thursday from a tropical storm to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (56 kph) as it churned north-northeast over Mississippi near 12 mph (19 kph) , the National Hurricane Center said. Francine was expected to continue weakening, becoming a post-tropical cyclone later in the day, and to slow down as it turns to the north over the next day, moving over central and northern Mississippi through early Friday.

Power outages in Louisiana topped 390,000 early Thursday in Louisiana, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us, with an additional 46,000 outages reported in Mississippi.

Lafourche Parish sheriff’s deputies helped evacuate 26 people, including many small children, trapped by rising water in housing units in Thibodaux on Wednesday evening and transported most of them to an emergency shelter, Sheriff Craig Webre said in a news release. Deputies rescued residents from rising waters in other areas in Thibodaux and in the Kraemer community.

The sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Francine drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters, strengthening to a Category 2 storm before landfall. It weakened late Wednesday to a tropical storm.

In addition to torrential rains, there was a lingering threat of spin-off tornadoes from the storm Thursday in Florida and Alabama.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the National Guard would fan out to parishes impacted by Francine. They have food, water, nearly 400 high-water vehicles, about 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including for possible search-and-rescue operations.

Since the mid-19th century, some 57 hurricanes have tracked over or made landfall in Louisiana, according to The Weather Channel. Among them are some of the strongest, costliest and deadliest storms in U.S. history.

BEAUMONT (AP) – A Texas man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after pleading guilty to kicking a cat that court records say was later set on fire.

Documents in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas show Donaldvan Williams of Beaumont was sentenced Tuesday to 40 months in prison as part of an agreement in which he earlier pleaded guilty to animal crushing, aiding and abetting.

The attorney for Williams, 30, did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

Federal prosecutors worked with Texas state prosecutors to determine whether to file charges in state or federal court, according to Davilyn Walston, spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Damien Diggs.

“A lot of times, when you have offenders that are particularly egregious … the state penalties aren’t as harsh,” Walston said.

Williams could have faced as little as ( two years in prison if convicted of animal torture or cruelty under Texas law.

He was charged under the federal Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, which prohibits harm to animals and bans videos of animal cruelty.

The documents say Williams and Decorius Mire found the cat in a parking lot in October 2021 and Williams kicked the animal like a football while Mire recorded the kick with his cell phone and later posted the video on social media.

The indictment in the case states that a third unknown, person set the cat on fire shortly after it was kicked 15-20 feet.

Mire also pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement and was sentenced in July 2023 to 18 months in prison.

DALLAS (AP) – Officers at a juvenile detention center in Dallas kept kids isolated for days and falsified logs of observation checks and school attendance, an investigation from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department found.

State investigators say that staffers at the Dr. Jerome McNeil Jr. Detention Center used the Special Needs Unit to circumvent state law and essentially keep juveniles in their sleeping quarters for extended periods of time.

“They spent the vast majority of their days inside their cells, sometimes up to 24 hours a day, without regular access to education, large muscle exercise, outdoor recreation, or showers,” state investigators wrote in a report released Monday.

The full investigation was not made public, though TJJD provided the investigation’s executive summary.

The agency’s Office of the Inspector General said that they will continue to monitor the situation. Also, a division of the agency will continue to have oversight duties and responsibilities related to allegations of wrongdoing at Dallas County’s juvenile facilities. The superintendent of the detention center did not respond to requests for comment.

Officers also falsified documents meant to record observation checks and school attendance in order to conceal the actual practices occurring in the detention facility, the investigation found. OIG investigators collected over 18,000 pages of observation checks from January 2023 to June 2023. However, there were 176 of the 191 observation sheets missing for multiple dates and shifts.

“In some instances, inspectors found that all of the logs for a particular section and shift had the exact same times and observation codes for each juvenile resident on the section,” the report found.

Other allegations reported and investigated by OIG included children not being fed sufficiently and phone and visitation rights taken away due to behavior issues, although the investigation could not find these to be true or false.

The Special Needs Unit was created in 2009 to help children with mental health diagnoses who are also on probation. The program closed in 2023, the same year the OIG investigation took place, but the exact reasons for the closure are unknown.

This week’s report comes after the U.S. Department of Justice found unconstitutional conditions at all of Texas’ five juvenile detention facilities last month. They noted abusive and poor conditions and listed many remedial measures including limiting periods of isolation. Investigators found other wrongdoings such as pepper spray use on children and failure to apply sexual abuse reduction measures.

The state’s report says former Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center Executive Director Darryl Beatty should have been aware of what was happening within the special needs unit.

“While he may not have had an active role in creating the policies and procedure that allowed for neglect of juvenile residents, he had ample opportunity to take corrective action,” the OIG report said.

Beatty earlier this year denied the allegations, but resigned after media reports about conditions inside the juvenile facility, WFAA reported.

Barbara Kessler, spokesperson for TJJD, said Dallas officials are taking corrective actions and the state investigation is now closed.

“Investigators will continue to monitor the situation and can open new abuse, neglect, or exploitation investigations if warranted,” Kessler wrote in an email.

MORGAN CITY, La. (AP) — Francine weakened to a tropical storm late Wednesday after striking Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane that blacked out more than 275,000 homes and businesses, sent storm surge rushing into coastal communities and raised flood fears in New Orleans and beyond as drenching rains spread over the northern Gulf Coast.

The storm was forecast to be downgraded to a tropical depression Thursday as it churned northward over Mississippi, the National Hurricane Center said. Some 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of rain were possible in portions of Mississippi and neighboring states, forecasters said, warning of the potential threat of scattered flash flooding as farflung as Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Atlanta.

Francine slammed the Louisiana coast Wednesday evening with 100 mph (155 kph) winds in coastal Terrebonne Parish. battering a fragile coastal region that hasn’t fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021. It then moved at a fast clip of 17 mph (26 kph) toward New Orleans, pounding the city with torrential rains overnight.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. TV news broadcasts from coastal communities showed waves from nearby lakes, rivers and Gulf waters thrashing sea walls. Water poured into city streets amid blinding downpours. Oak and cypress trees leaned in the high winds, and some utility poles swayed back and forth.

“It’s a little bit worse than what I expected to be honest with you,” said Alvin Cockerham, fire chief of Morgan City about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from where the storm’s center made landfall. “I pulled all my trucks back to the station. It’s too dangerous to be out there in this.”

Power outages in Louisiana topped 362,546 a few hours after landfall, spread out widely across southeast Louisiana, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.

Sheltering at her mother’s home just outside Morgan City, Laura Leftwich said blasts of wind had swept away two large birdhouses outside. She had a generator powering an internet connection so she could video chat with friends, holding her computer to a window to show them water overflowing in the street.

If the storm had been any more intense, “I wouldn’t have the guts to look outside,” said Leftwich, 40. “It’s a little scary.”

The sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Francine drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters, strengthening to a Category 2 storm before landfall.

In addition to torrential rains, there was a lingering threat of spin-off tornadoes from the storm Thursday.

Much of Louisiana and Mississippi could get 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain, with the possibility of 12 inches (30 centimeters) in some spots, said Brad Reinhart, a senior hurricane specialist at the hurricane center.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the National Guard would fan out to parishes impacted by Francine. They have food, water, nearly 400 high-water vehicles, about 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including for possible search-and-rescue operations.

Since the mid-19th century, some 57 hurricanes have tracked over or made landfall in Louisiana, according to The Weather Channel. Among them are some of the strongest, costliest and deadliest storms in U.S. history.

Morgan City, home to around 11,500 people, sits on the banks of the Atchafalaya River in south Louisiana and is surrounded by lakes and marsh. It’s described on the city’s website as “gateway to the Gulf of Mexico for the shrimping and oilfield industries.”

President Joe Biden granted an emergency declaration to help Louisiana secure expedited federal money and assistance. Landry and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also declared states of emergency.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said it distributed more than 100,000 sandbags to the southern part of the state and the Department of Education reported a number of school district closures for Wednesday and Thursday.

___

Cline reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Associated Press writers Kevin McGill in New Orleans, Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this story.