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AUSTIN – The Big Bend Sentinel reports that Republicans have a firm grip on the highest civil court in the state — the Texas Supreme Court — with the party controlling all nine seats since 1998 and winning all three of the 2022 court races by at least 13 points. But a recent ruling by the court on reproductive rights and abortion has spurred Democrats to try and change that dynamic with the founding of a new political action committee and online campaigns meant to convince Texans that their highest court is endangering Texas women. For the November election, six states are holding citizen-initiated ballot measures to protect abortion rights, with six states already protecting abortion rights with ballot measures in past elections. For Democrats, the ballot box is the only way to fight back on Texas’ abortion ban enacted by the Texas Legislature after the U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade. Susan Hayes, an attorney and longtime activist on abortion rights, said that unlike many other states, Texas does not have ballot initiatives or referendums that allow for residents to gather petitions to put a new law or state constitutional amendment on a ballot or repeal an existing law.

Hayes said Texas Democrats need to push more on the abortion rights issue with the state ballot options, so a PAC is a step in the right direction. “It has astounded me that the state party and big pocket donors aren’t glomming on to this strategy because it’s a way to put abortion on the ballot in Texas,” she said. Hayes, a former clerk for the Texas Supreme Court who has a residence in Alpine, said educating voters on these races can benefit the Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. “It’s a great strategy, and it could be something that not only helps win those seats but helps [Democratic U.S. Senate candidate] Colin Allred because it drives out votes if the message gets down to the people who matter the most,” she said. Gina Ortiz Jones, a former contender for U.S. House District 23 that covers the tri-county area, said the recognition of the issue as crucial was obvious to Democrats. “We looked around and made some calls and said, ‘Hey, what are we doing about this?” Jones ended up co-founding a political action committee, Find Out PAC, that intends to address what many see as a lack of interest in the top judicial races, particularly since Texas is seen as a model in how to outlaw abortion. “We’re the epicenter for the number one issue in the country,” she said.

HOUSTON – KHOU TV reports that Well-known Houston attorney Tony Buzbee said he will be representing more than 50 people who have filed lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs, according to a post on social media. According to Buzbee’s post, his law firm will act as the lead counsel for the “more than 50 individuals who suffered sexual assault and abuse at the hands of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and his cohorts.” Buzbee said he thinks more people will be added to the lawsuit as the case progresses and he also thinks more people will be implicated. He said they will hold a news conference next week.

“The Buzbee Law Firm has been associated by the Ava Law Group to act as Lead Counsel to pursue claims on behalf of more than fifty individuals who suffered sexual assault and abuse at the hands of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and his cohorts. This group of brave individuals include both men and women; many were minors when the abuse occurred. Some of these brave individuals reported the incidents to the police, others did not. Each individual story is gut wrenching and heartbreaking. The acts complained of occurred at hotels, private homes, and also at the infamous PDiddy ‘Freak Off’ parties. The violations against this group of individuals are mindboggling and can only be described as debauchery and depravity, exacted by powerful people against minors and the weak. I expect the group seeking redress will grow as this case progresses. I expect many other individuals will be implicated. We expect to have a press conference early next week where some of these stories can be told as the nation learns more and grapples with the potential scope of this scandal. Our firm has always been at the forefront of the most important cases in the United States. We are proud to represent this group of brave souls and pray for justice on their behalf.

DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports that Nasdaq is creating a new division headquartered in Dallas-Fort Worth as it faces potential competition from the upstart Texas Stock Exchange. The New York-based stock listing company has created a new regional management division that will operate from the company’s existing office at 5030 Riverside Drive in Irving. Nasdaq appointed Texas native Rachel Racz as Senior Vice President, head of listings for its Texas, Southern U.S. and Latin America division, the company announced Thursday. Racz will be based in Irving and travel throughout the region.

Racz told The Dallas Morning News that they plan to be in Texas for decades longer. The multinational financial services corporation opened its Irving office in 2013, the first exchange with a Texas office. The company currently has 150 employees in Texas. Racz said she will relocate to Dallas-Fort Worth and build out a “more substantial” team to connect with local stakeholders. “It will be my team’s home base,” she said. “Texas is — I’ve said this over and over — a powerhouse for innovation and business. … This is where we are going to be connecting with the community more deeply. We think that this is a great hub for business in Texas. So, it’s the right spot for us to be at.” Thursday’s announcement comes months after Texan James Lee announced he had raised approximately $120 million to start the Texas Stock Exchange in Dallas with investments from BlackRock and Citadel Securities. A veteran of the oil and gas industry, Racz previously oversaw Nasdaq’s listings franchise in Texas before leaving the organization in 2019. Nasdaq will also form East and West Coast divisions as part of the move. The new regional structure is designed to allow clients to better leverage Nasdaq’s “enterprise-wide capabilities” while allowing Nasdaq greater connectivity with its client base.

AUSTIN – The Texas Tribune reports that the Supreme Court of Texas on Thursday night denied Attorney General Ken Paxton’s emergency filing seeking to overturn the State Fair of Texas’ policy banning all firearms from its fairgrounds. The fair is set to start Friday.

“It should go without saying—though perhaps it cannot be said often enough—that a judge’s role in this case is not to decide whether the State Fair made a wise decision. Our job, instead, is to decide whether Texas law allowed the State Fair to make the decision for itself. The State declines to take a position on that essential question but nevertheless asks this Court for an injunction overriding the State Fair’s decision,” the court said in its ruling. “It should also go without saying that our answer, for now, must be no.”

The ruling comes two days after a Dallas County District Court struck down a request from Paxton on the fair’s gun policy. The District Court Judge agreed with State Fair officials that they could enforce a gun ban as a private nonprofit.

Paxton, who said hours later on social media that he would ask the state’s Supreme Court to overturn the ban, has maintained that the fair’s gun ban violates state law, which bars most government bodies from prohibiting weapons. State Fair officials say it has the right as a private nonprofit, and the city of Dallas says it has no role in the fair’s gun policy.

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines executives on Thursday unveiled their vision for Southwest 2.0, an airline that for the first time will give passengers assigned seats, charge them extra for more legroom and offer red-eye flights. And bags still will fly free.

The airline will also repackage its sale of vacation packages. It will seek partnerships with international airlines, starting with Icelandair next year, that executives say will make Southwest credit cards and frequent-flyer program more attractive.

The changes will amount to the biggest ever at Southwest, which is the original low-cost airline but is now well into middle age and suffering from sagging financial results.

Southwest executives pitched the new offerings as they came under increasing pressure from an activist investor who wants to replace the airline’s management and force a review of its strategy. Southwest’s annual profit is on pace to decline for a third straight year, and its stock price has fallen by more than half since early 2021.

“Our model is not broken,” CEO Robert Jordan declared, but he said it needs tweaking and “enhancement.”

“We are not producing the financial results that we are capable of delivering,” he said at a meeting with investors at the airline’s Dallas headquarters.

Southwest said its multi-year plan, including changes to its flight network, will add about $1.5 billion in pretax earnings in 2027.

Southwest had previously given the outlines of changes including assigned seating and extra-legroom seats, but it gave more details about them Thursday.

Executives detailed how each of Southwest’s four airfare tiers will come with perks that get better as the price rises. Executive Vice President Ryan Green said the cheapest fares will not allow customers to pick a seat when they book a flight, which could increase the incentive for consumers to move up to the next fare level.

Jordan said it will take time to make significant changes at an airline with 800 planes.

Southwest’s reservation system is capable of handling assigned seating, Jordan said, but “we have dozens and dozens of other systems of the company that are geared for open seating … and those have to be changed.”

“There is a lot of risk if you do this poorly,” the CEO said.

Southwest stopped short of changing another of its longtime characteristics: letting passengers check up to two bags for free, a break from fees that are charged by all other leading U.S. airlines. Executives said it’s the most important feature in setting Southwest apart from rivals.

U.S. airlines brought in more than $7 billion in revenue from bag fees last year, with American and United reaping more than $1 billion apiece. Wall Street has long argued that Southwest is leaving money behind.

Southwest, which has built years of advertising campaigns around bags-fly-free, estimated that bag fees would raise about $1.5 billion a year, but eliminating the perk could drive away passengers, costing the airline $1.8 billion, or a net loss of $300 million a year.

Southwest had contemplated an overhaul for months, but the push for radical change became even more important to management this summer, when Elliott Investment Management targeted the company for its weak financial performance in recent years.

The hedge fund blames Southwest leaders, portraying them as hidebound and insensitive to changing consumer tastes. Elliott, controlled by billionaire financier Paul Singer, wants to replace Jordan and most of the Southwest board.

The hedge fund dismissed Southwest’s turnaround plan as too little, too late.

“Another promise of a better tomorrow from the same people who have created the problems we face today,” two Elliott officials said in a statement. “Without credible leadership that can execute, this plan — filled with long-dated promises of better performance — risks becoming the latest in Southwest’s long series of failed improvement initiatives.”

Elliott, the airline’s second-largest shareholder, said it plans to call for a shareholder meeting as soon as next week that could include voting on Southwest directors. Elliott has a slate of 10 board candidates, including former airline CEOs.

Southwest gave ground this month, when it announced that six directors will leave in November and Chairman Gary Kelly will step down next year. On Thursday, it named a former AirTran and Spirit Airlines CEO to its board, which now numbers 16.

Jordan argued that the plan he has laid out should satisfy investors.

“We do not believe that a proxy fight is in the best interest of the company, and we remain willing to work with Elliott on a cooperative approach,” Jordan said.

Before Thursday’s event started, Southwest announced a $2.5 billion share-buyback program designed to make existing shares more valuable.

Southwest also said that third-quarter revenue will be better than expected partly because it gained passengers who were stranded by other airlines during the CrowdStrike global tech outage in July. Delta Air Lines was particularly hard hit by the outage.

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. gained more than 5%.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Death row inmates in five states have been put to death in the span of one week, an unusually high number of executions that defies a yearslong trend of decline in both the use and support of the death penalty in the U.S.

The first execution was carried out on Friday in South Carolina. Two more death row inmates, in Missouri and Texas, were pronounced dead Tuesday evening following executions, and an Oklahoma inmate was executed Thursday. When Alabama used nitrogen gas later Thursday to execute a man, it marked the first time in more than 20 years — since July 2003 — that five were held in seven days, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, which takes no position on capital punishment but has criticized the way states carry out executions.

The United States has reached 1,600 executions since the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976, said Robin Maher, the center’s executive director.

Here are some things to know about executions set this week across the country.
How did 5 executions get set for a 1-week span?

Experts say five executions being scheduled within one week is simply an anomaly that resulted from courts or elected officials in individual states setting dates around the same time after inmates exhausted their appeals.

“I’m not aware of any reason other than coincidence,” said Eric Berger, a law professor at the University of Nebraska with expertise in the death penalty and lethal injection.

Berger said some factors can result in a backlog of executions, such as a state’s inability to obtain the lethal drugs necessary to carry them out, which happened in South Carolina, or a moratorium that resulted from botched executions, like what happened in Oklahoma.
South Carolina

The first of the five executions took place on Friday when South Carolina put inmate Freddie Owens to death for the 1997 killing of a convenience store clerk during a robbery. It was South Carolina’s first execution in 13 years, an unintended delay caused by the inability of state prison officials to obtain the drugs needed for lethal injections. To carry out executions, the state switched from a three-drug method to a new protocol of using a single sedative, pentobarbital.
Missouri

In Missouri on Tuesday evening, Marcellus Williams was put to death by lethal injection for the 1998 stabbing death of a woman in the St. Louis suburb of University City. Williams’ attorneys argued on Monday that the state Supreme Court should halt his execution over alleged procedural errors in jury selection and the prosecution’s alleged mishandling of the murder weapon. But the state’s high court rejected those arguments, and Gov. Mike Parson denied Williams’ clemency request, paving the way for his execution to proceed.
Texas

Also on Tuesday, Texas death row inmate Travis Mullis was executed by lethal injection. Mullis, a man with a long history of mental illness who has repeatedly sought to waive his right to appeal his death sentence, was sentenced to death for killing his 3-month-old son in January 2008. In a letter submitted to U.S. District Judge George Hanks in Houston, Mullis wrote in February that he had no desire to challenge his case any further and stated that “his punishment fit the crime.” The 38-year-old is the fourth inmate put to death this year in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state.
Alabama

Alabama carried out the nation’s second execution ever using nitrogen gas on Thursday, after becoming the first state to use the new procedure in January. Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. local time at a south Alabama prison. The execution method involves a mask being placed over the inmate’s head that forces the inmate to inhale pure nitrogen. Miller, who was given a reprieve in 2022 after his execution was called off when officials were unable to connect an intravenous line, was sentenced to die after being convicted of killing three men during back-to-back workplace shootings in 1999.
Oklahoma

In Oklahoma, Emmanuel Littlejohn received a lethal injection on Thursday after being sentenced to die for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery. Littlejohn admitted to his role in the robbery, but claimed he did not fire the fatal shot. The state’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 last month to recommend Gov. Kevin Stitt spare Littlejohn’s life, but the governor rejected the recommendation.

HOUSTON (AP) — The top elected official in a county in suburban Houston was indicted on Thursday over allegations he created fake and racist social media posts when he ran for re-election in 2022.

A grand jury indicted Fort Bend County Judge KP George on a misdemeanor charge of misrepresentation of identity of a candidate.

The indictment alleges that on Sept. 26, 2022, he posed as a Facebook user named “Antonio Scalywag” in a campaign communication posted on George’s Facebook page “with intent to injure a candidate or influence the result of an election.”

The indictment did not specify the election that was allegedly influenced or the candidate that was injured. But at the time, George, a Democrat, was running for re-election as county judge against Trever Nehls, who is the twin brother of Texas congressman Troy Nehls. A county judge serves as the chief executive officer of a county in Texas.

George was indicted after authorities accused him in a Sept. 17 search warrant of working with his former chief of staff, Taral Patel, to use the “Antonio Scalywag” alias to post racist social media posts targeting George in order to garner sympathy for the county judge. After the search warrant was issued, George’s cell phones and computer were seized.

George, who was born in India and later became a U.S. citizen, is the first person of color to serve as county judge in Fort Bend, a diverse county located southwest of Houston. It has been one of the fastest growing counties in the U.S. in recent years. He was first elected as county judge in 2018.

Patel, who is running for a county commissioner position in the Nov. 5 election, was indicted earlier this month on four charges of online impersonation and four charges of misinterpretation of identity. Authorities allege Patel also used the “Antonio Scalywag” alias to make racist posts to help him in his own race for county commissioner.

George was disappointed charges were filed against him but was confident “when all the facts are presented, justice will prevail,” he said in a statement. “In this country, you are innocent until proven guilty and I fully intend to prove my innocence in court.”

George said he turned himself in to authorities Thursday evening and was later released on a personal recognizance bond.

The Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office, which led the investigation, said it had expanded its investigation of Patel to include George and the county judge was indicted “as a party to the offense for which Taral Patel was indicted.”

Frank Yeverino, an attorney for Patel, did not immediately reply to a call seeking comment.

At least one Fort Bend County commissioner, Vincent Morales, called for George to resign following his indictment.

“I have no intention of stepping down,” George said.

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A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled the last name of former Chief of Staff Taral Patel by using the spelling Patal.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70