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AUSTINI – The Austin American-Statesman reports that five years after the American-Statesman sued the University of Texas for records on students who were disciplined for violence and sexual misconduct, and two years after an appellate court ordered the records released, the school is taking its fight to withhold the information to the state Supreme Court. Set for a hearing Oct. 1, the case may decide whether public universities in Texas can protect the names of students found responsible for such offenses through campus disciplinary proceedings — and could have broader ramifications for public information access in the state, experts say. The Statesman requested the records from UT and UT-El Paso in 2019 as part of a USA Today investigation into college athletes who were able to continue playing Division I sports after being found responsible for violent, criminal or sexual misconduct.

While fewer than 40 of the 226 U.S. schools contacted by USA Today produced disciplinary records, the investigation revealed that at least 33 student-athletes had been able to transfer schools and walk onto the field sometimes just months after being charged with crimes or being found responsible for violating school policies on violence and sexual harassment or assault. The newspaper asked the schools for three pieces of information as authorized for release by the federal Family Education Records and Privacy Act, or FERPA: the name of each student found responsible for a violent offense or sexual misconduct, the violation committed and any punishment imposed. While FERPA makes most aspects of student records confidential, Congress amended the law in 1998 to allow federally funded universities to disclose those records. “If students do not know about violent offenders in their college community, how will they know how to protect themselves?” U.S. Rep. Bill Goodling, R-Pennsylvania, said during floor debate on the provision.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge in Kansas has refused to block the nationwide enforcement of a Biden administration rule requiring firearms dealers to do background checks of buyers at gun shows, leaving Texas as the only state so far where a legal challenge has succeeded.

U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse’s ruling this week came in a lawsuit brought by Kansas and 19 other states, three individual gun collectors and a Wichita, Kansas-based association for collectors. They sought an order preventing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from enforcing the rule that took effect in May through the trial of their lawsuit.

Twenty-six states with Republican attorneys general, gun owner groups and individual gun collectors filed three federal lawsuits in May against the Biden administration. The rule is an attempt to close a loophole allowing tens of thousands of guns to be sold every year by unlicensed dealers without checks to see whether buyers are legally prohibited from having firearms. It applies not only to gun shows but also to other places outside brick-and-mortar firearms stores.

Critics contend the new rule violates gun rights protected by the Second Amendment and that Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration doesn’t have the legal authority to issue it. They also argue that the rule will depress gun sales, making firearms less available to collectors and costing states tax revenues.

But Crouse, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, said in his ruling Wednesday that predictions of harm to the states, gun collectors and groups are too speculative and create doubts that they actually have grounds to sue. He said such doubts undermine their argument that they are likely to win their lawsuit — a key question for the courts in deciding whether to block a rule or law ahead of a trial.

“While they may ultimately succeed on the merits, they have failed to make a strong showing that they are substantially likely to do so,” Crouse wrote.

Crouse’s ruling contrasts one from another Trump appointee in Texas before the rule took effect. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk blocked its enforcement in that state and against members of four groups, including Gun Owners of America. But Kacsmaryk didn’t block it in three other states that joined Texas in its lawsuit — Louisiana, Mississippi and Utah.

Florida filed a lawsuit in federal court there, but a judge has yet to rule.

The states also sued U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the U.S. Department of Justice and the ATF’s director. The DOJ declined to comment Friday on Crouse’s ruling.

Phil Journey, one of the gun collectors involved in the Kansas case, said he doesn’t know whether Crouse’s ruling will be appealed.

“I am confident the rule and perhaps the underlying statute will ultimately be voided,” Journey, a former Kansas state senator who’s now a state district court judge in Wichita, said in a text.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach also said in a statement that he expects the rule ultimately to be struck down.

“This is a very early stage in a case that is likely to continue for a long time unless President Trump is elected and immediately rescinds the rule,” Kobach said.

In the lawsuit before Crouse, Kansas was joined by Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

The lawsuit originally was filed in federal court in Arkansas, with that state also suing. But in ruling just days after the rule took effect, U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr., an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said Arkansas had no standing to sue because its argument that it could lose tax revenue was too speculative. Moody then transferred the case to Kansas.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Actor Matthew McConaughey continued to tease he might run for political office to a room full of governors Friday, joshing about drinking his brand of tequila with at least one of them the night before and taking advice from another to be himself if he ever does run.

Whether the star known for “Dazed and Confused,” “A Time to Kill” and “True Detective” would run as a Democrat or Republican, and for what office, remained unknown. McConaughey has been vague about his political affiliation and didn’t tip his hand at the National Governors Association meeting.

“I’m on a learning tour and have been for probably the last six years,” McConaughey told New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who asked about his plans. “Do I have the instincts and intellect that it would be a good fit for me and I would be a good for it. You know, would I be useful?”

He was learning a lot at the governors’ annual summer meeting, he told Murphy.

“I learned a lot from you last night through that tequila, sir,” he kidded Murphy, who’d brought up drinking McConaughey’s tequila with him.

McConaughey took part in a panel discussion with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, about how to promote civility in politics.

Cox, the genial governor of famously polite Utah, has led a “Disagree Better” campaign to counter harsh rhetoric and combativeness in government — a project that has caught the attention of McConaughey, who’s also been outspoken about U.S. leaders practicing more respect.

The three discussed how politicians’ need to grab attention — and clicks online — drive extreme rhetoric. McConaughey said that extreme polarization has bled into Hollywood as well.

“My industry has to watch its tongue out of the gate because it’s coming from the left. We have to open that conversation with our opening statements and not invalidate a moderate or conservative at the gate, which we’re guilty of to an extent,” McConaughey remarked of actors and directors weighing in on politics.

McConaughey hinted in 2022 he might run for governor in his home state of Texas. He has meanwhile been outspoken on gun control, urging Congress from the White House after that year’s school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, to pass legislation to bolster background checks for gun purchases and raise the minimum age to purchase an AR-15-style rifle to 21 from 18.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, encouraged McConaughey to someday run and offered advice.

“Don’t fall into the trap to think you should be just one thing,” said Green. “A lot of Republicans will want you to be Republican and a lot of Democrats will want you to be a Democrat, just be you because that might be something special for all of us.”

LUBBOCK (AP) — With the bright sun shining down over them, kids and teenagers in Mae Simmons Park cooled off Monday, zig-zagging through sprinklers at one of the city’s new splash pads.

The relief couldn’t come soon enough. Like the rest of Texas, it’s been a hot summer in Lubbock. Residents have already endured temperatures of more than 100 degrees.

Two years ago, the city had four public pools for kids and adults to stave off the blistering heat. Now, none are open. Instead, the most populous city on the South Plains debuted three long-awaited splash pads this week — including this one in Mae Simmons, feet away from where the old pool had been covered by dirt and rocks like a grave.

While dozens of children may have enjoyed the new attraction, the grand opening was marred by backlash. Long-time Lubbock residents are upset the city has been unable to upkeep its pools.

“There were lots of mistakes over time that led us here,” said Adam Hernandez, a community advocate.

Lubbock is not the only Texas city going without a beloved community pool during a scorching summer. About 473 miles across the state in Longview, residents are facing a similar fate — and fighting it. The demolition of yet another public swimming pool in lieu of paying for costly repairs kicked off the region’s hottest months.

Razing of the Longview Swim Center began this month, leaving one public pool option for a city of 80,000 people. It is the third pool abandoned and demolished by the city in the last 20 years and comes after the city stopped providing swimming lessons in 2020.

Lubbock and Longview are just two examples seen across Texas where the cost of providing a public pool has outpaced the ability of local municipalities to pay for them. Once considered a form of necessary community infrastructure that commanded millions of federal dollars nationwide, swimming pools across Texas and the U.S. are closing in swathes. Pools that have long foregone necessary maintenance are now too costly to repair, so cities are demolishing them.

The closure of these public pools goes against national standards. Data from the National Recreation and Park Association suggests cities with populations up to 250,000 commonly have at least four pools.

Splash pads are becoming the cheaper alternative — they require less maintenance and staff. For the most part, residents say they aren’t against the splash pads, but they don’t fill the gaps left by abandoned swimming pools. And splash pads don’t appeal to all age groups and they can be less accessible to differently-abled individuals.

In their heyday, Lubbock’s city-owned pools were the ideal outing for residents. Clapp Pool was the largest and most popular — nearly 20,000 residents visited the pool every year, according to city data.

This summer, the pool is an empty relic from Lubbock’s past. The pools were centrally located, open from May to August, and affordable. But after being built in the 1950s, the four pools had all significantly deteriorated — Maxey, Mae Simmons, and Montelongo were past the point of no return.

In 2022, city leaders voted to close those pools and replace them with the pads, citing costly repairs. In April, it was announced the city’s only remaining pool, Clapp, would not open this summer, because it also needed repairs.

Hernandez says the root of the problem was neglect. In 2022, a city report highlighted some of the problems — outdated filter systems, unreliable draining, diving board structures that needed to be replaced entirely. The same report found that 66% of residents who responded to a survey said they did not use the city pools for various reasons.

Lubbock’s pools were in such disrepair that they would have to be rebuilt entirely. Armed with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, city leaders decided to invest $5.1 million to replace the Montelongo, Maxey, and Mae Simmons pools with splash pads. The parks also got new playground equipment to go with the pads.

Jarrett Atkinson, Lubbock’s city manager, said he hopes there’s a wider conversation about ways to have a pool in the future.

A splash pad “doesn’t replace a pool,” Atkinson said. “But we have something now.”

There are other benefits to the splash pads, Atkinson said. They’ll be open for eight months of the year, all have unique and different features, and the water is recycled through the pads after it’s sterilized. They also don’t require staff, a growing problem across the U.S. According to the American Lifeguard Association, one-third of the remaining 309,000 public swimming pools nationwide remained closed in 2023 as a result of low staffing.

The biggest benefit — the splash pads are free to the public.

Hernandez said splash pads are great and provide family bonding for parents with young children. Anyone older than 10 years old, Hernandez said, would likely not have as much fun.

“It’s not the same as a pool or a mixed-use water park with a wave pool or lazy river,” Hernandez said.

Pools are something that people can enjoy regardless of how much money they make. In a community like Lubbock, where more than 18% of households are impoverished and 26% live paycheck to paycheck, these spaces are important, Hernandez said. There are other places to swim, but they either require a membership or the admission is too high for some to afford.

Not all cities have abandoned their public pools. In fact, some small towns near Lubbock have managed to keep their pools open.

Littlefield, a town about 37 miles northwest of Lubbock, has an aquatic center for their 6,000 residents. And Plainview, a town of 20,000, has an aquatic center.

“Cities with much smaller tax bases are able to provide these,” said Hernandez in Lubbock. “So the excuse that it’s too expensive doesn’t hold water.”

Kamie Herrera took her four young children to the Longview Swim Center in East Texas often. The small business owner saw the center as a safe place for her kids, who are between 4 to 12 years old, to release energy during the summer.

Longview does have several splash pads as alternatives to swimming pools, but for a family like Herrera’s, they’re not really an option, she said. One of her children is differently abled and nonverbal. Two are too old to enjoy a splash pad.

“It’s really hard that they’re just abandoning pools without a plan to replace them,” Herrera said.

The closure of Longview’s Swim Center felt as if it was rushed and done without community input, which bothered Herrera, she said.

The discussion about closing Longview’s aquatics center began about this time last year. New to the job, John Albertson, director of Longview Parks and Recreation, brought in an outside engineering firm to diagnose problems in the pool and determine a cost for repair before presenting options to the Longview City Council.

The engineering firm found problems with the shell and gutter systems which would have presented risks for swimmers this summer if the pool opened.

Albertson provided four options to deal with the pool ranging from abandonment and demolition, making minor repairs to a complete remodel of the swim center. The city council chose to abandon and demolish the pool for $150,000 – the least expensive option.

“This would allow us the option to look at other locations and build an aquatics master plan,” Albertson said.

Public pools rose in popularity to stem water-related deaths. The Longview Swim Center was the last of four pools built from the 1950s to the 1970s as part of the nation’s effort to reduce incidents of drowning. Their swim program taught many Longview residents to swim until 2020 when the city was forced to stop the swim program because of COVID-19, Albertson said.

As pools have closed, drownings have risen, according to the Centers for Disease Control. More than 4,500 people drowned each year from 2020-2022 — 500 more people per year compared to reports from 2019 and earlier.

CDC data found that drowning was a leading cause of death for children between 1 and 4 years old, and more than 40 million adults don’t know how to swim. American Indian and Alaskan Native people had the highest rates of drowning, while Black people had the second highest rates.

The agency’s number one recommendation: increase access to swimming lessons.

In some communities, they’re too expensive, and in others, they simply don’t exist. There are also social barriers to learning to swim, stemming from a longstanding history of racism that surrounds public pools.

“Understanding the barriers people face to accessing basic swimming and water safety skills training can help us better understand how to address those barriers, decrease drowning rates, and save lives,” said Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer, in a statement released with the report.

On Tuesday, the Longview City Council deliberated the future of aquatics in the city. Albertson has suggested the city create a plan that would require resident insight. If approved, the process of writing a plan would take around eight months to a year to complete and would provide a basis for future investments.

“We all realize the importance of allowing the public to have their voice heard through that process,” Albertson said.

The City Council is expected to vote Thursday on using $3.5 million for a new pool.

Back in Lubbock, at the grand opening of the splash pads, Darcus Phenix, director of Lubbock’s Boys and Girls Club, brought out more than 30 of the kids in the program.

“All kids want to do in the summer is play basketball and swim,” said Darcus Phenix, with Boys and Girls Club of Lubbock. “They’re not swimming, but look how happy they are.”

Phenix said the splash pads will be where they spend their weekly field trips from now on.

FORT WORTH – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram says U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s Democratic opponent in the November election trails by 3 percentage points, according to a new poll. U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a Dallas Democrat challenging the longtime Republican for his U.S. Senate seat, has the support of 44% of likely Texas voters, according to a University of Houston and Texas Southern University poll released Thursday. Cruz has the support of 47% of likely voters, the poll found. The margins are closer than some other recent polls, which have put Cruz ahead with a double-digit lead. Other polls have also had the two candidates separated by 3 to 4 percentage points, according to 538. Cruz was last on the ballot in 2018 when he defeated Democrat Beto O’Rourke, a former El Paso congressman, with 50.9% of votes to O’Rourke’s 48.3%. The University of Houston and Texas Southern University poll surveyed 1,484 likely voters between June 20 and July 1 and has a 2.5% margin of error.

The poll also asked Texans their thoughts on the matchup between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the presumptive nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties. Forty-nine percent of likely Texas voters said they planned to voter for Trump, a Republican, and 40% said they’d support Biden, a Democrat. The poll notes that about two-thirds of its fieldwork was done before the June 27 debate between Biden and Trump. Biden’s performance has led some in his own party to call for the president to step aside. Eight Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives had asked Biden to drop out of the race as of Wednesday afternoon. That includes Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett, an Austin Democrat, who was the first Democrat in Congress to publicly request that Biden withdraw, according to the Associated Press. Biden has said he’s staying in the race. Trump defeated Biden Texas in 2020 with 52.1% of votes to Biden’s 46.5%.