Texas GOP leaders defend appointee after tense exchange over diversity hiring

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An appointee of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wiped away tears and gave an emotional defense of her credentials after a tense exchange over diversity hiring policies, which was later followed by the state’s top Republicans rushing to support her publicly.

Texas Water Board Development Chair L’Oreal Stepney, who is Black, was consoled at one point by lawmakers after the exchange Thursday with GOP state Rep. Brian Harrison, who questioned her and other agency officials over their hiring practices.

Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who are all Republicans, later issued statements of support for Stepney and her service, while other GOP lawmakers criticized Harrison over the exchange.

“While passionate and open discussion will always be welcomed, comments that demean and belittle will never be tolerated,” Republican state Rep. Greg Bonnen, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, posted on X.

Harrison is an outspoken critic of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in state government. He questioned Stepney and Edna Jackson, who is also Black, over a line in the agency’s strategic plan that its workforce should reflect the state’s growing diversity.

Harrison did not directly question the credentials of Stepney or any other agency workers during the hearing.

On Friday, he defended his questioning during the hearing.

“My line of questioning was perfect and professional,” said Harrison, adding that he had posed similar questions to dozens of other agency heads. “It was Democrats on the committee who raised the issue of her qualifications. I never said a word about it.”

Harrison’s line of questioning prompted Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier, who is Black, to express her outrage at having “to watch two Black women have to defend 246 years of systemic racism.”

Stepney then delivered an emotional defense of her credentials to the panel. She said March would mark 33 years working for the state and listed off her two engineering degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, one in aerospace engineering and the other in civil engineering.

“It was a deep honor for me to be appointed to the board, to be confirmed by the board, and to be appointed chair,” she said. “I have always been grateful to the governor. What have I done? I have protected the drinking water supply of 31 million Texans.”

East Texas doctors urge vaccinations amid measles outbreak

East Texas doctors urge vaccinations amid measles outbreakTYLER — Our news partner KETK is reporting that the measles outbreak continues to grow in West Texas, healthcare professionals in East Texas are working to educate the public about the disease and its potential impact.

Dr. Doug Curran, Chief Medical Officer at East Texas Community Clinic, and Dr. Sarah Jethro, Chief Resident at the UT Athens Family Medicine residency program, provided in-depth insight into the situation and the steps East Texans can take to protect themselves. “Right now, we have more cases of measles in Texas and in the U.S than before I was born,” Jethro said.

On Wednesday, Texas reported its first measles-related death in over a decade. The Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed that the child, who was unvaccinated, passed away after receiving treatment at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock. Notably, the child did not reside in Lubbock County.

Less than two hours way from Smith County, Rockwall County officials have also reported their first measles case. The patient had traveled overseas and later tested positive. The Rockwall County Commissioners Court does not believe the case is related to the outbreak in West Texas. Continue reading East Texas doctors urge vaccinations amid measles outbreak

State reps booed off stage during education meeting

State reps booed off stage during education meetingPALESTINE – According to our news partner KETK, East Texas State Rep. Cody Harris ended a Q&A session one hour early on Friday night after he warned the audience to be respectful. There were school choice protestors outside and educators yelling throughout the evening.

Harris, who represents Palestine in the Texas State House, was holding a town hall at Palestine High School in order to answer questions about his education policy push in Austin. Harris was joined by the author of the school choice bill, Representative Brad Buckley of Salado.

Anytime Rep. Buckley would explain a fact in House Bill 3, he was met with loud comments, yelling and questions from the audience. Harris gave one warning and became fed up.

House Bill 2 will invest over $7.6 billion into public education including a significant portion for teacher pay raises. Harris said he wanted to bring the author of the townhall to explain HB3 in more detail. He explained that the point of the town hall was to explain the pieces of legislation to help rural East Texas public schools. Continue reading State reps booed off stage during education meeting

Five arrested in two major drug busts

Five arrested in two major drug bustsHENDERSON COUNTY – Our news partner, KETK, reports that five people were arrested in Henderson County after investigators conducted two major drug busts on Thursday.

According to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, at around 8:45 a.m. investigators conducted a narcotics search warrant in Moore Station on County Road 4300. Authorities found Mickey Shane Hargett, 62, and Lonnie Leon Hall, 60, at the home. Officials said they discovered a hole in the backyard where Hargett buried a plastic container that included baggies and scales for the distribution of narcotics. Hargett was arrested for the manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance along with active arrest warrants while Hall was arrested for possession of a controlled substance with active arrest warrants. Continue reading Five arrested in two major drug busts

City of Tyler updates stormwater permit

TYLER – City of Tyler updates stormwater permitOn Wednesday, Feb. 26, the City Council approved the updated Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit to meet the new regulations from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). This revision aligns with the Phase II MS4 permit, which took effect on Aug. 15, 2024, highlighting the City’s commitment to public health and the environment. “Our Stormwater Management Program is dedicated to protecting public health, reducing flooding risks and improving water quality in our community,” said Paul Neuhaus, City of Tyler Stormwater Management and Environmental Compliance Engineer. Continue reading City of Tyler updates stormwater permit

East Texas man arrested after sexually abusing family member

East Texas man arrested after sexually abusing family memberMOUNT ENTERPRISE – Our news partner, KETK, reports that a Mount Enterprise man was arrested after a family member reported she has been sexually abused every week since she was 13.

According to arrest records, the victim said that Daniel Alton Flanagan, 51 of Mount Enterprise, has been sexually assaulting her since she was 13 until recently. She explained that the abuse happened once a week until she was about 22. The document said now that the victim is older, the abuse has continued and has been happening every three or four weeks. Flanagan was interviewed at the Rusk County Sheriff’s office where he allegedly admitted to having sex with the family member since she was about 13 and that the abuse had continued until about a month ago.

Flanagan was arrested on Monday for continuous sexual abuse of a child younger than 14 and prohibited sexual conduct with an ancestor or descendant. He is being held on a $225,000 bond at the Rusk County Jail.

Saks reiterates: The downtown Neiman Marcus store will close.

DALLAS – D Magazine reports that in a statement shared with press just before 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Saks Global reiterated that it still plans to close the downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus store at the end of March, calling any claims to the contrary “misleading.” That comes despite an announcement from Dallas leaders yesterday that the slice of land at the center of a ground lease snafu would be donated to the city. Saks initially said it would leave downtown after “a landlord” terminated Neiman Marcus’ occupancy. In today’s statement, Saks Global confirmed the landlord’s identity as Slaughter Partners.

“From as early as 2011 and as recently as December 2024, there have been several attempts to come to a commercially reasonable agreement with one of the Downtown store landlords, Slaughter Partners (Slaughter),” the statement reads. “In November 2024, previous NMG leadership contacted the City of Dallas requesting assistance in the lease negotiations, during which city officials expressed concern about the store and its continued operation. Before this meeting, previous NMG leadership also discussed purchasing a portion of the land with Slaughter’s broker; however, Slaughter would not offer a price. Despite these efforts and engaging the city, all attempts to come to a commercially reasonable agreement were rejected by Slaughter, who terminated Neiman Marcus’ occupancy upon expiration of the lease.” Saks also says it hasn’t received any documentation regarding the agreement between Slaughter and the city and feels it is unclear how the new agreement would affect the property and its other owners. The company alleges that the whole thing only became an option “after Slaughter’s attempts to increase rent were unsuccessful.” Slaughter, Saks says, continued to demand above-market rate rents. “Saks Global inherited this lease issue from Neiman Marcus’ previous owners and worked in good faith to come to an agreement with the landlord,” Saks Global Properties CEO Ian Putnam said. The company acknowledges the city leaders’ desire to keep the store open and is willing to hear them out, but it ultimately needs to make decisions based on “what’s best for the future and our long-term success.”

Texas Senate approves ban on lottery courier services

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports that the Texas Senate on Thursday passed a bill to ban the use of courier services that facilitate the sale of Texas Lottery tickets. Senate Bill 28 by Republican Sen. Bob Hall of Edgewood was approved 31-0 amid concerns that couriers have hurt the lottery’s reputation. Courier services take orders online or through an app, buy lottery tickets from a retailer and send a scanned copy to the buyer, holding the ticket until the drawing is held. Couriers charge a fee to buy and manage the tickets, according to the Lottery Commission. The legislation next goes to the House, where state Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Prosper, has a companion bill. Shaheen also has a bill to abolish the lottery.

Speaking Thursday to the Senate, Hall said the Lottery Commission “created loopholes specifically to allow the use of telephone and internet group purchases, resulting in underage gambling and other changes to open the door wide for what the Legislature intended to be illegal gambling practices.” “This bill is intended to send a strong message, not just to the Lottery Commission, but to all state agencies 
 that have taken it upon themselves to defy legislation and create rules that clearly violate the word and the intent of legislation,” Hall said as he introduced his proposal. “SB 28 will not restore integrity to the Texas lottery. I don’t even know if that’s possible. But it will reiterate the responsibility we have given the commission to ensure lottery couriers and their licensed retail outlets are no longer able to operate in the state in language even they should be able to understand,” he said. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick hailed the unanimous vote as a step in protecting the lottery’s integrity, saying Texans must have “faith the game is not rigged.” “Today, the Senate made it clear that the first step in restoring public trust in the commission, if even possible, is to ban lottery couriers. The decision on whether the lottery will continue will be made in the coming days and weeks of the legislative session,” he said in a statement. The Coalition of Texas Lottery Couriers lamented passage of the bill. “We are disappointed that a pro-business state like Texas would consider shutting down companies that have for years followed the guidance and instruction of the Texas Lottery and honored the trust of millions of Texas customers,” the group said in a statement.

East Texas Rep says school choice will pass in State House

East Texas Rep says school choice will pass in State HouseTYLER – Our news partner, KETK, reports that school choice may soon pass it’s final hurdle in the Texas House of Representatives. Governor Greg Abbott said that for the first time in our state’s history, a school choice proposal has enough backing from representatives.

“I think House Bill Three is going to be one of the finest, if not the finest, school choice bill in America,” said State Rep. Brent Money (R) Greenville.

Money, who represents Hopkins and Van Zandt counties in Austin, said the bill will allow parents another option for education and should only affect the students and families who apply for the program.

“There are strong protections, legal protections, the strongest in the state that say that this program cannot be used to change the way homeschoolers homeschool, private schoolers private school and it’s not going to change the public schools either,” Money said. Continue reading East Texas Rep says school choice will pass in State House

Texas measles outbreak grows to 146 cases, children and teens most impacted

Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images

(GAINES COUNTY, Texas) -- The number of measles cases associated with an outbreak in western Texas has grown to 146, according to new data released Friday.

Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, with 79 unvaccinated and 62 of unknown status. At least 20 people have been hospitalized so far, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

Just five cases have occurred in people vaccinated with one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases with 70, followed by 46 cases among children ages 4 and under.

So far just one death has been reported in an unvaccinated school-aged child, according to DSHS. It marks the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Gaines County is the epicenter of the outbreak, with 98 cases confirmed among residents, according to DSHS. State health data shows the number of vaccine exemptions in the county have grown dramatically.

Roughly 7.5% of kindergarteners in the county had parents or guardians who filed for an exemption for at least one vaccine in 2013. Ten years later, that number rose to more than 17.5% -- one of the highest in all of Texas, according to state health data.

The CDC as separately confirmed 93 cases in eight states so far this year in Alaska, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and Texas.

The total, however, is an undercount due to delays in reporting from states to the federal government.

The majority of nationally confirmed cases are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. Of the cases, 4% are among those who received one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) shot.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to humans. Just one infected patient can spread measles to up to nine out of 10 susceptible close contacts, according to the CDC.

Health officials have been urging anyone who isn't vaccinated to receive the MMR vaccine.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective. Most vaccinated adults don't need a booster.

Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 due to the highly effective vaccination program, according to the CDC. However, CDC data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years.

ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Meth, marijuana seized after search of Henderson home

Meth, marijuana seized after search of Henderson homeHENDERSON – Our news partner, KETK, reports that during a search of a Henderson home on Thursday, authorities reportedly found illegal narcotics and a firearm.

The Henderson Police Department said multiple agencies conducted a joint operation, executing a state search warrant at a home on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive at around 7 a.m. The police department said they found methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a pistol. One person was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The police department has not released the identity of the person arrested.

Henderson PD was joined by the Kilgore Police Department, Rusk County Sheriff’s Office and the North East Texas Regional SWAT Team.

Man hospitalized after illegal burning in Smith County

Man hospitalized after illegal burning in Smith CountyWHITEHOUSE- A 35-year-old man was injured on Thursday while pouring gasoline on a controlled burn in Whitehouse.

The Smith County Fire Marshal’s Office responded to the 17000 block of Forest Lane in Whitehouse at around 1:41 p.m. According to our news partner, KETK, officials said the man was burning plastic household items, a toaster and aerosol cans. He was transported by helicopter to a local hospital for treatment after being issued a Class C Misdemeanor citation for illegal burning.

“Smith County Fire Marshal Chad Hogue reminds residents to never use ignitable liquids when conducting controlled burn,” the Smith County Fire Department said.

Measles cases reported in New Jersey, Kentucky amid ongoing outbreak in Texas

(DIGICOMPHOTO/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) -- More measles cases are being confirmed across the United States as health officials work to treat patients in an ongoing outbreak in Texas.

The Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) and the Franklin County Health Department announced on Wednesday a confirmed case of measles in an adult resident, the first in the state in two years.

The departments said the resident recently traveled internationally to an area where measles is spreading.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, health officials confirmed two new measles cases in Bergen County linked to a patient whose case was confirmed earlier this month.

Officials haven't found any links between the cases in Kentucky and New Jersey, and there's no evidence the cases in Kentucky or New Jersey are connected to the outbreak in Texas, which has so far sickened 124 people and led to one death in an unvaccinated school-aged child.

Kentucky health officials are now attempting to contact anyone the infected resident may have come into contact with. The resident attended a Planet Fitness in Frankfort on Feb. 17 while contagious, officials said.

"Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world," KDPH Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said in a statement. "Fortunately, measles can be prevented with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is safe and effective. Vaccines are an essential tool to keep children and adults safe and healthy."

An official briefed on the situation told ABC News on Thursday that the new cases in New Jersey are members of the same family and were not vaccinated. Because they are in the same family, public health officials are hopeful public spread will have been limited.

The original case tested positive after traveling internationally. The New Jersey Department of Health said people may have been exposed to measles if they visited Englewood Hospital's Emergency Department on Feb. 5.

Health officials said people who were exposed could develop symptoms until as late as March 6.

Also on Thursday, health officials in the Seattle area confirmed the first measles case so far this year in an infant in King County. The infant may have been exposed to measles during recent travel abroad, officials said. Last year, there were three measles cases in King County.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to humans. Just one infected patient can spread measles to up to nine out of 10 susceptible close contacts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials have been urging anyone who isn't vaccinated to receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective. Most vaccinated adults don't need a booster.

Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 due to the highly effective vaccination program, according to the CDC. However, CDC data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years.

ABC News' Matt Foster contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Law school project finds slavery citations still being used today

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — An 1842 U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the kidnapping conviction of a white man who seized a Black family and forced them into slavery south of the Mason-Dixon line is still being cited in American jurisprudence, 160 years after enslaved people throughout the U.S. were freed.

Prigg v. Pennsylvania has been cited in 274 other rulings since then, according to the Citing Slavery Project at Michigan State University. They are among more than 7,000 direct citations of slavery-law precedents that continue to guide lawyers and judges, said the project’s director, law professor Justin Simard.

This research into the lasting impact of legal principles related to the ownership of other humans is a counterpoint to efforts by the Trump administration and elected officials in Republican-led states to remove references to America’s racial history and dictate what teachers can discuss in classrooms.

“Because people are invested in trying to pretend that our history of slavery didn’t happen and that its effects are not still with us,” Simard told The Associated Press, “I thought, what better way to prove that slavery had an influence on our legal system than using official legal sources?”
Citations show American jurisprudence is founded on slavery

Most of the slavery precedents concern how property rights were protected by the U.S. Constitution, which was written by wealthy property owners in an era when much of the young nation’s economy was powered by the buying and selling and sweat of enslaved people.

The Supreme Court made slavery’s importance to the America’s founding clear when it ruled that Pennsylvania’s anti-slavery law was an unconstitutional affront to the federal Fugitive Slave Act, and ruled in favor of Edward Prigg, who had forced Margaret Morgan and her children into slavery in Maryland.

The U.S. Constitution clearly granted “to the citizens of the slaveholding states the complete right and title of ownership in their slaves, as property, in every state in the Union, into which they might escape from the state where they were held in servitude,” the court wrote.

The slaveowner’s right to “this species of property” was so fundamental to the framers of the Constitution that without it, “the Union could not have been formed,” the justices added.

Slavery became illegal when the 13th Amendment was adopted in 1865, but Prigg has been most often cited in the decades thereafter, mostly in cases involving property law, as guidance regarding the boundaries between state and federal power, Simard said.
How rulings are still shaped by slavery laws

The continuing use of such citations shows that slavery wasn’t just a historic stain that the 13th Amendment cleaned up — these precedents have an insidious effect on jurisprudence even today, said Leonard Mungo, a Michigan-based civil rights and employment discrimination attorney.

“The unashamed use of human beings as property and as the foundation for the development of jurisprudence regarding property law is the same reason courts across this country rarely find violations of civil rights in employment and other contexts in its rulings and decisions,” Mungo said.

And it’s not like only minorities are affected: Prigg was cited in a 1989 Supreme Court decision overruling most of the $850,000 judgment awarded by a Texas jury to a white football coach who alleged that he was reassigned and demoted from a mostly Black high school because of his race.

Sometimes, slavery precedents are invoked in efforts to reaffirm civil rights. In a 2016 Iowa Supreme Court opinion, dissenting justices said people arrested but not yet formally charged with a crime must be allowed private in-person attorney consultations. Citing how Fugitive Slave Act enforcement shaped the Iowa Constitution, these justices said enslaved people were given the right of counsel — and so should an Iowa man accused of driving under the influence. They were outvoted, 4-3.
‘Digging and digging’

Simard was doing research for his dissertation when he began compiling evidence that northern judges had cited slave cases in the 19th century. He discovered that these citations were more numerous, widespread and recent than he imagined.

“I kept digging and digging and digging and realizing that this wasn’t something just one judge did or some very racist judge or something,” Simard said. “This was just a basic feature of the legal system and it really shocked me, really surprised me.”

More than 12,000 slavery rulings have been identified to date by Simard’s team, which then searches for citations.

And yet many lawyers and judges are either unaware of these origins or don’t think it matters that enslaved humans were the property in question, and consider them “just like regular law,” Simard said. “Not only are we ratifying their treatment as property in the past but also continuing to treat them as property in the present.”
Noting how to move forward

Simard’s team successfully lobbied the editors of The Bluebook, a guide to citations used by the legal profession, to require case notations such as “enslaved party” or “enslaved person at issue.”

“I think just eliminating these cases is impossible,” Simard said. “I think the best approach that lawyers and judges can take is to be thoughtful when they find these cases and cite these cases and to consider whether the law that these cases stand for is still good or not.”

Dylan Penningroth, a professor of law and history at the University of California-Berkeley, agreed.

“These slavery cases are everywhere,” Penningroth said. “How are we ever going to get them all off the book? One answer is you don’t really have to. If lawyers stop relying on these cases, they lose their power.”

Identifying those cases should keep their origins and intents on the minds of judges and litigators, according to Michigan Appeals Court Judge Adrienne Young. She said, “the real harm is in failing to acknowledge the horrific history.”