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NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. airman has been charged with coercing a 9-year-old girl to share sexually explicit images of herself, after he posed as a 13-year-old on the gaming site Roblox.

David Ibarra, 31, was arraigned Wednesday in a New York federal court after being arrested in February in Anchorage, Alaska, where he was serving on active duty in the Air Force, prosecutors said in a statement.

A judge ordered him to be held pending trial on charges including sexual exploitation of a child. Ibarra’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ibarra was serving as an air transportation specialist Senior Airmen, which mainly manage cargo, according to an Air Force spokesperson.

Prosecutors say the girl, who lives on Long Island, a suburban region east of New York City, met the man on TikTok in August and he asked her to communicate with him on Roblox, telling her he was a 13-year-old boy living in Texas.

He allegedly got the girl to text him from her phone and eventually directed her to create explicit videos and images, while sending her money via Apple Pay.

Ibarra paid her $191 in a series of 17 transactions, prosecutors allege.

The girl’s mother eventually became aware of the messages. Posing as an older sister, she garnered more information about the sender by texting him from her own phone, and he ultimately sent her a selfie revealing part of his face, according to the indictment.

Investigators used Ibarra’s El Paso, Texas-based phone number and searched his iCloud account to confirm his identity, according to prosecutors.

Under interrogation the 31-year-old allegedly admitted to paying the girl for the images, saying he thought the victim was 12. Prosecutors say he acknowledged coercing other girls into sending explicit images as well, including one in New Jersey.

Ibarra has been “in an unpaid status” since his arrest, Air Force spokesperson Erin Eaton said via email. It is not clear what other military discipline he could face.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday found the extreme heat in Texas prisons is “plainly unconstitutional,” but declined to order the state to immediately start installing air conditioning, which could cost billions.

The judge affirmed claims brought by advocates of people incarcerated in the state, where summer heat routinely soars above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). But they will have to continue pressing their lawsuit later in a trial.

The lawsuit was initially filed in 2023 by Bernie Tiede, the former mortician serving a life sentence whose murder case inspired the movie “Bernie.” Several prisoners’ rights groups then asked to join his legal fight and expand it.

The lawsuit argues the heat in the state facilities amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, and seeks to force the state to install air conditioning.

Jeff Edwards, lead attorney for prisoners and advocates, called the judge’s order a victory, even if it didn’t require an immediate fix.

“We proved our case,” Edwards said. “The court made it very clear what the state is doing is unconstitutional and endangering the lives of those they are supposed to be protecting … This is step one in changing the Texas prison system.”

Edwards said advocates will push for relief for prisoners as quickly as possible. “I’m regretful we can’t protect them with temporary relief this summer, but we will move as fast as we can,” he said.

Texas has more than than 130,000 people serving time in prisons, more than any state in the U.S. Only about a third of roughly 100 prison units are fully air conditioned and the rest have either partial or no electrical cooling.

“This case concerns the plainly unconstitutional treatment of some of the most vulnerable, marginalized members of our society,” U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman wrote in his ruling on a a temporary injunction request. “The Court is of the view that excessive heat is likely serving as a form of unconstitutional punishment.”

But the judge said that ordering the state to spend “hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars to install permanent air conditioning in every (prison),” could not be accomplished before it expired in 90 days.

It would take months to install temporary air conditioning, and could even delay a permanent solution, the judge wrote.

Pitman said he expects the case will proceed to trial, where advocates for prisoners can continue to argue their case.

He also issued a warning to the state that they will likely win at trial, and that the state could face an order to install air conditioning.

The judge also noted that the state Legislature, which is in session through May and writes the two-year state budget, is also considering bills that would require air conditioning to be installed in prisons.

But the Republican-majority Legislature has been hearing complaints about extreme heat in prisons for years and has not addressed the issue. In 2018, the state was ordered to install air conditioning at a unit for older prisoners and those that are medically vulnerable.

Officials at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Texas is not alone in facing lawsuits over dangerously hot prisons. Cases also have been filed in Louisiana and New Mexico. One filed in July in Georgia alleged a man died in July 2023 after he was left in an outdoor cell for hours without water, shade or ice.

A November 2022 study by researchers at Brown, Boston and Harvard universities found that 13% — or 271 — of the deaths in Texas prisons without universal AC between 2001 and 2019 may be attributed to extreme heat. Prisoner advocates say those numbers are only likely to increase as the state faces more extreme weather and heat due to climate change.

Last year in a hearing, people who were formerly incarcerated testified about their experiences in hot prison buildings where they said temperatures reach above 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 Celsius).

They testified some inmates would splash toilet water on themselves to cool off, fake suicide attempts to be moved to cooler medical areas, or even deliberately set fires so that guards would be forced to hose down cells.

“It’s sad it takes a federal court to come in and change things,” Edwards said Wednesday. “This is not a Spanish galley in the 1600s, this is 2025.”

Texas Department of Criminal Justice Director Bryan Collier has acknowledged that heat was a factor in three deaths from multiple causes in 2023, and that prison staff and inmates sometimes fall ill from high temperatures.

But the state disputed the hundreds of deaths in recent years alleged by the prisoner advocates, and argues Texas has implemented effective heat mitigation measures, such as providing fans, towels and access to cooler “respite” areas.

Collier also insisted he would like to have air conditioning installed across the prison system, but that state lawmakers have never agreed to spend enough money to do that.

(THE TEXAS TRIBUNE) District Attorney James Montoya said he decided against seeking the death penalty against the man who killed 23 people and wounded 22 others in a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart because most of the victim’s families wanted the case brought to a conclusion.

As a result, Patrick Crusius, 26, will plead guilty April 21 to capital murder and aggravated assault charges and be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“I believe in the death penalty. I believe that this defendant deserves the death penalty for what he did,” Montoya said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, a day after he notified most of the families of those killed of his decision on whether to seek capital punishment.

“What changed? The answer to that, what changed was I sat down and spoke to the victims, each of them, individually,” said Montoya, who was elected in November and took office in January. “It became clear, as we met with the families one by one, that there is a strong and overwhelming consensus that just wanted this case over with, that wanted finality in the court process.”
Montoya acknowledged that some of the families wanted prosecutors to continue seeking the death penalty, and that he has heard criticism from the community for his decision. He said some families of those killed have become frustrated with the judicial system and no longer talk with the District Attorney’s Office.
He said if he had continued to pursue the death penalty, the case might need to be moved out of El Paso and families could have to wait until 2027 or 2028 for a trial in the Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting at the Cielo Vista Walmart.

“And after speaking with the families and giving them this assessment and speaking through with them what they truly want out of this process, as I mentioned, it became very clear that the vast majority of them want this case over and done with as quickly as possible,” the district attorney said.
What victims’ families say

Jessica Garcia, who was injured in the shooting, said she felt torn about Montoya’s decision. Garcia’s husband, soccer coach Guillermo “Memo” Garcia, was the last victim to die from the shooting. He was hospitalized for nearly nine months before succumbing to his injuries.

Her daughter Karina, now a teenager, asked her mother Monday what decision would have been good enough – a question Garcia still doesn’t know how to answer.
“My kids will never know again what it’s like to be with their father,” Garcia said. “My mother-in-law can never have her son replaced. It’s never enough. I don’t think there’s any justice in this world that would be enough.”

Garcia said a part of her wants the case to be over so Karina and her son “little Memo” can move on. She doesn’t want them to relive tragedy with every upcoming development in the case, every news story, every condolence expressed. But Garcia also feels disappointed in the decision to not seek the death penalty. 

She met with Montoya in his office when the district attorney was still deliberating over the decision. Garcia said Montoya walked her through the process of a death penalty case, explaining it could take years from conviction to sentencing to possible appeal to the day of lethal injection itself. Montoya noted the El Paso serial killer who has sat on death row for more than 32 years, she recalled.

To Garcia, giving up on the death penalty feels like giving up on Memo. It feels like giving Crusius exactly what he wants, even if his execution conflicts with her Catholic belief to avoid an “eye for an eye” retribution.

“Little Memo is oblivious, he doesn’t know what’s going on,” Garcia said. “For Karina, how do I tell her as a mom I want them to leave it in the past, but leaving it in the past doesn’t mean we’re leaving daddy in the past or that we gave up on him or that we didn’t seek enough justice for him?”
Karla Romero, whose mother, Gloria Irma Márquez, 61, was among those killed at the Walmart, told El Paso Matters that people should turn their focus to preventing future violence.

“This highlights the evident systemic issues that continue to impact the justice system. Aside from the systemic problems, we must address racism, radicalization and violence that consume our society’s overall health. Education serves as a tool to address these issues; knowledge is key. Through awareness, we shed light on these issues, and being aware of them sparks ongoing conversations that benefit our community,” Romero said.

“We must invest in our education and pour resources into the education of El Paso County. It is imperative that we continue to strive to develop equity in the socioeconomic, health and educational aspects of our community to reduce susceptibility to the risk of prolonged violence. Violence is a moral responsibility and a call for action for state governors, policymakers, and the community. 

“Lastly, in honor of my mother’s memory, I am first her daughter above anything else; therefore, I call everyone into action to be an interventionist for peace.”

The judge presiding over the case, 409th District Judge Sam Medrano, issued a gag order in 2022 that prevented attorneys and potential witnesses in the case – including injured victims and family members of those killed – from talking to the news media about the  case. At Montoya’s request, Medrano lifted the gag order Tuesday.
Defense lawyer, El Paso’s bishop react to the decision

Crusius, of Allen, Texas, drove 10 hours from his home to El Paso on Aug. 3, 2019, and opened fire outside and inside the Cielo Vista Walmart. Before entering the store, he posted an online screed that spewed racist rhetoric and said he wanted “to stop the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
The attack was the deadliest in modern U.S. history targeting Hispanics. Most of the hundreds of people in the Walmart that Saturday morning were Hispanic or Mexican nationals doing routine shopping.

Crusius, then 21, was arrested shortly after the shooting while driving on Viscount Boulevard behind the Walmart and Cielo Vista Mall. Investigators said he confessed to the shooting.
In addition to the state charges of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Crusius also faced federal weapons and hate crimes charges, which carried a potential death sentence. But the U.S. Justice Department decided against seeking the death penalty in 2023, and Crusius quickly pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms in federal prison.

Federal officials didn’t say why they didn’t seek the death penalty, but that the sentencing hearing in July 2023 both defense lawyers and prosecutors said Crusius had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a mental health disorder often characterized by hallucinations.

Montoya said the decision on where Crusius will serve his sentence will be made by state and federal prison officials. U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama recommended that Crusius serve his sentence in the so-called “supermax” prison in Colorado, but prison officials aren’t bound by that recommendation.

Joe Spencer, one of the attorneys representing Crusius in the state and federal cases, said Montoya made the right decision.

“I think Mr. Montoya really had no choice in what he wanted to do. I think he’d have done more harm to this community if he had tried the case. I don’t think there would have been anywhere near the type of closure that some members of the community thought they might get by a jury trial,” Spencer said in an interview with El Paso Matters.

El Paso Catholic Bishop Mark Seitz, who has cited church teachings on the sanctity of life in opposing the death penalty for Crusius, praised Montoya’s decisions.

“As followers of Christ, we believe in the sanctity of every human life and remain opposed to the death penalty even in the face of this hateful and violent act. While we believe that the community needs to be protected from anyone who would commit such a crime, our community will not be safer or better by seeking more bloodshed,” Seitz said.

Montoya said he has long believed that Crusius’ fate should be decided by an El Paso jury.

“But, in my opinion, the benefits of having a trial to the detriment of the families is simply not worth it,” he said at the news conference. 

Montoya said actions by former District Attorney Yvonne Rosales – who resigned in 2022 – complicated the prosecution of the case. Montoya lost the Democratic runoff to Rosales in 2020, and a number of prosecutors handling the Walmart case – including Montoya – were pushed out or resigned.

Rosales’ aides also were accused of targeting the Juárez family of one of those killed at the Walmart, Alexander Gerhard Hoffmann, because they didn’t go along with efforts to attack Medrano and a former prosecutor in the case. No charges were ever brought, though Rosales and Assistant District Attorney Curtis Cox invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination when questioned about the alleged scheme in court, and process servers were unable to find another Rosales aide, El Paso attorney Roger Rodriguez. 

“It really breaks my heart that a representative of this office, a representative of the state of Texas, engaged in that misconduct. At the end of the day, it doesn’t change the facts about this case, and her conduct as a whole contributed to the delay,” Montoya said. “But the misconduct that her and her colleagues engaged in, to me, weighed very little in the ultimate decision of bringing this case to an end.”

Rosales could not be reached for comment.

Montoya said he continues to believe prosecutors could have convinced a jury to sentence Crusius to death, although there is no certainty of that and a single juror could block the death penalty.

“This defendant will die in the penitentiary. He will not get out. He will die in prison. And fundamentally, that’s what this comes down to is, are we going to drag this out for a year, two years, for decades so we can stick a needle in his arm?” he said.

The original article can be found at The Texas Tribune.

TEXAS (AP) – Community colleges in 2023 celebrated a long-awaited investment from the Texas Legislature, positioning Texas to lead the country in connecting young people to the workforce.

That year, state legislators reimagined how community colleges are financed with House Bill 8. The old funding formula awarded schools based on enrollment. Schools now have to see their students through to graduation to get money: The new formula ties state dollars to degree and certificate completions, transfers to four-year universities and high schoolers’ participation in dual credit courses.

The effort was born out of state leaders’ desire to better prepare young Texans for the workforce. By 2030, at least 60% of jobs in Texas will require a postsecondary credential, and yet, less than 40% of students earn a degree or certificate within six years of graduating high school. For students, a postsecondary credential often leads to higher wages and increased economic and social mobility.

As part of a near-unanimous vote for HB 8, lawmakers poured a historic $683 million into two-year institutions. When the money trickled down to each college in fiscal year 2024, each college saw an influx of dollars that ranged from $70,000 to $2.9 million.

Over a year after the law went into effect, community colleges have been working with unprecedented resources to bring down barriers to completion. Some have introduced free tuition benefits; others have expanded their student advising services. Those efforts are reshaping how schools run and who is taking their classes.

“HB 8, at its heart, was an attempt for the Legislature … to say, ‘What’s the most impactful way that we can ensure alignment between educational outcomes and business and industry needs?’” Ray Martinez III, the president of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, said. “That’s why this is so significant … We have seen tremendous outcomes.”

Lawmakers have been fine-tuning funding incentives this session. Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, is shepherding a bill that would give community colleges money for student transfers not only to public universities but also to private schools. Community colleges currently get bonus dollars when students complete credentials of value, or credentials that lead to high-demand, high-wage jobs: VanDeaver’s bill would adjust the definition of a credential of value to include more precise labor market data.

Here are five ways community colleges have transformed because of the new funding formula:
Dual credit boosts enrollment

During the COVID-19 pandemic, young Texans cut community college out of their plans. One in ten students in the state — or about 80,000 students — disappeared from campuses.

Economic uncertainty acutely affected community college students, who often come from lower-income households and have more work and care responsibilities than their peers at four-year institutions. Many left school for low-skill jobs. Others lost the steam to keep going.

Community college leaders have had to find ways to keep students — and one big way has been growing the pool of high school students who get a jump start on college.

HB 8 makes it easier for low-income students to take dual credit courses. Community colleges in the Financial Aid for Swift Transfer program, or FAST, now get extra funding when they allow high school students who qualify for free and reduced-priced lunch to take classes at no cost. Other students get a discount, with a cap on costs at about $55 per credit hour.

Research shows dual credit students are more likely to graduate from high school, enroll in college and finish their degrees faster.

The financial help has prompted an upshoot in enrollment. More than 250,000 students participated in dual credit classes through the FAST program in the 2023-24 school year, according to Sarah Keyton, who was the interim commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board last fall.

Kilgore College in East Texas, for example, saw a 36.5% increase in dual credit enrollment last school year. High schoolers now make up the majority of its student body.

Community colleges don’t have to participate in the FAST program but nearly all have opted in. Colleges got a total of about $80 million in extra funding last academic year, Keyton said.

College leaders are adapting to their schools’ changing identities as dual credit students make up a larger portion of their total student populations. Some faculty now spend more time teaching in high schools than on campus.
Free tuition gains momentum

As young people increasingly question the value of college, a pair of colleges have come up with a new price tag: free.

In bold pilot programs, Austin Community College and Del Mar College are waiving three years of tuition for local high school graduates.

“‘Discount’ doesn’t change people’s perceptions that they can’t afford to go to college,” ACC Chancellor Russell Lowery-Hart told The Texas Tribune. “‘Free’ means something when you’re talking about college affordability.”

The first class of students to benefit from the free tuition program started this year. ACC paid for it with the $6.8 million it received from the state last year through HB 8.

Lowery-Hart wants to use the program to reach students who were not planning to go to college. In a recent survey of ACC prospective students, more than half said they didn’t enroll because of tuition costs.

When glitches in the revamped federal financial aid application delayed award packages, students in the Austin area told the Tribune that ACC’s free tuition program was a much-needed option that eased the uncertainty.

Del Mar College is following ACC’s footsteps, launching a free tuition benefit this fall for recent high school graduates and adult learners in the Corpus Christi area. Students have to enroll full time and maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average to qualify.

In what is known as a “first dollar” program, both Texas colleges are paying for students’ tuition before federal and state aid kicks in. That allows students to use their grants and scholarship money to pay for other needs like housing, food and textbooks.
Students hired as peer mentors

Laredo College has turned nearly 80 students into peer advisers, multiplying its advising crew by seven.

The peer advisers are recent graduates, former students who transferred to a four-year university or current students who are finishing their degree. They help their classmates register for classes and stay on track to graduation.

Many Laredo College students are the first in their families to go to college. Young people in the region often opt not to get a college degree because they don’t know how to go through the process — and there’s nobody at home to help them, said Minita Ramirez, the president of Laredo College.

“Whether it’s a first-time college student out of high school or … a 70-year-old gentleman who all his life wanted to go to college, …. our hope is that we provide the support … to get that person through the process, to make them feel comfortable in an environment that is completely foreign,” Ramirez said. “And if we can do that, our numbers grow.”

Already, Laredo College has seen 1,500 students switch from part-time to full-time, Ramirez said.

HB 8 has pushed college leaders like Ramirez to fix disjointed advising systems to prevent students from falling through the cracks. Research shows student advising is tied to higher grades and graduation rates.

When students at North Central Texas College register online for a course that won’t count toward their degree, a warning sign now pops up encouraging them to visit an adviser. Chancellor G. Brent Wallace said he wants to make sure students don’t sign up for the wrong course — and save them the time and money that goes along with those decisions.

North Central Texas College also hired about a dozen more staffers so advisers aren’t stretched too thin and students get the academic attention they need, Wallace said.
Growing workforce training

Community colleges have long been a player in helping close workforce gaps, but HB 8 was the push for leaders to strengthen relationships with local employers.

Sherman, for example, has been grappling with its new identity as a semiconductor manufacturing hub. In recent years, giant companies like Texas Instruments and GlobiTech have been constructing multibillion-dollar chipmaking facilities.

Before those facilities could finish construction, Grayson College was already training students so they would be ready to join the industry.

Jeremy McMillen, the president of the college, said the school added programs like electronic and automation certifications with input from those companies. It mimicked the kind of collaboration the state’s technical colleges have with employers on curricula.

“We needed to move the needle in terms of building out of the infrastructure,” McMillen said at a Texas Tribune event last month. “Without HB 8 in the background, it’s very difficult to imagine that we’ve been able to do that.”
Schools team up so credits transfer

Students in North Texas are getting more support when they select Dallas College courses they want to count toward a bachelor’s degree.

To ease transfers to local universities, Dallas College teamed up with Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas Woman’s University and the University of North Texas at Dallas to identify which courses students will get credit for when they transfer. The HB 8 funding model means the community college gets money when students successfully transfer.

Around 80% of students who enroll in community colleges intend to transfer but just 16% do, according to data from The Aspen Institute.

In the fall of 2022, more than 13,000 Texas students who transferred did not receive credit for at least one of the courses they completed, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Students lose time and money when they take classes that don’t end up counting toward their degrees. The setback can discourage them from completing their bachelor’s degree.

The Dallas-area schools launched an online portal in the fall where prospective students can see how their credits would be counted at each school and track their progress toward their bachelor’s degree.

For three areas of study — business, education and health sciences — the universities have already agreed on which Dallas College courses will be counted for credit toward related majors on their campuses.

WASHINGTON – ProPublica reports that the findings were stark. In one investigation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development concluded that a Texas state agency had steered $1 billion in disaster mitigation money away from Houston and nearby communities of color after Hurricane Harvey inundated the region in 2017. In another investigation, HUD found that a homeowners association outside of Dallas had created rules to kick poor Black people out of their neighborhood. The episodes amounted to egregious violations of civil rights laws, officials at the housing agency believed — enough to warrant litigation against the alleged culprits. That, at least, was the view during the presidency of Joe Biden. After the Trump administration took over, HUD quietly took steps that will likely kill both cases, according to three officials familiar with the matter. Those steps were extremely unusual. Current and former HUD officials said they could not recall the housing agency ever pulling back cases of this magnitude in which the agency had found evidence of discrimination.

That leaves the yearslong, high-profile investigations in a state of limbo, with no likely path for the government to advance them, current and former officials said. As a result, the alleged perpetrators of the discrimination could face no government penalties, and the alleged victims could receive no compensation. “I just think that’s a doggone shame,” said Doris Brown, a Houston resident and a co-founder of a community group that, together with a housing nonprofit, filed the Harvey complaint. Brown saw 3 feet of water flood her home in a predominantly Black neighborhood that still shows damage from the storm. “We might’ve been able to get some more money to help the people that are still suffering,” she said. On Jan. 15, HUD referred the Houston case to the Department of Justice, a necessary step to a federal lawsuit after the housing agency finds evidence of discrimination. Less than a month later, on Feb. 13, the agency rescinded its referral without public explanation. HUD did the same with the Dallas case not long after.

AUSTIN – KERA reports that Attorney General Ken Paxton is opening an investigation into a proposed development in North Texas aimed at supporting the area’s Muslim community, claiming potential violations of Texas consumer protection laws. The East Plano Islamic Center, one of the largest mosques in the area, is planning the development in Josephine, Texas, roughly 40 miles northeast of Dallas. Paxton issued a Civil Investigative Demand into the corporate entity involved with the project, Community Capital Partners. “Under my watch, there will be zero tolerance for any person or entity that breaks Texas law,” said Paxton. “My office has an open and ongoing investigation into EPIC City, which has raised a number of concerns, and this CID will help ensure that any potential violation of state law is uncovered.”

It comes after Gov. Greg Abbott announced on X “a dozen state agencies are looking into” the East Plano Islamic Center’s proposed 402-acre development, which he alleged had “serious legal issues.” The governor did not provide evidence of his claim. Abbott also referred to “foreign adversaries” in his tweet, but did not elaborate. KERA News reached out to his office for clarity on both claims. The project, referred to as “EPIC City,” includes a new mosque, more than 1,000 single and multi-family homes, a K-12 faith-based school, senior housing, an outreach center, commercial developments, sports facilities, and a community college. KERA News reached to the East Plano Islamic Center and will update this story with any comment.

AUSTIN – Three weeks after U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner’s death and just over a month before the state’s next uniform election, Gov. Greg Abbott has not yet called a special election to fill the seat representing parts of Houston, a Democratic stronghold, in Congress.

Turner, who previously served in the Texas House for nearly three decades before becoming mayor of Houston, died March 5, two months into his first term representing Texas’ 18th Congressional District. His funeral was held in Houston on March 15.

Turner was elected to Congress last year after his predecessor and political ally, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, died in office after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Abbott has the sole authority to call a special election to fill Turner’s seat for the rest of the two-year term. State law does not specify a deadline for the governor to order a special election. If called, the election must happen within two months of the announcement.

But the Republican governor has little incentive to send another Democrat to Congress.

Turner’s death — in addition to the death this month of an Arizona Democrat, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva — comes at a critical moment for Republicans, who hold a razor-thin majority in the House and can afford few defections on any votes if all Democrats remain united in opposition.

Congressional District 18 is a solidly blue district encompassing downtown Houston and several of the city’s historic neighborhoods, including Third Ward and parts of The Heights and Acres Homes.

With Turner’s seat vacant, the House breaks down to 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats, allowing the GOP to lose two votes and still win a majority on the floor. The Republican margin would drop to one vote if the seat were filled, likely by another Democrat.

Democrats blasted Abbott for not calling a special election, arguing that he was depriving Texans of representation in Congress.

“Abbott is leaving 800,000 Texans voiceless at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history,” state Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston and Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair, said in a statement. “The people of Texas need the governor to start doing his job — honor the memory of Sylvester Turner and give the good people of District 18 their constitutional representation back.”

U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader, highlighted the delay on Tuesday. “Why hasn’t the Texas Governor called a special election to fill this vacant seat?” he wrote on social media.

“An announcement on a special election will be made at a later date,” Abbott Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris said in a statement last week that did not address whether House Republicans’ margin was factoring into the governor’s decision.

The next scheduled election date in Texas is May 3. According to the state election code, Abbott would have to order the special election by March 28 for it to take place in May. But the practical deadline to call a May 3 election may have already passed, due to how much time the state needs to program voting machines and prepare and mail ballots.

The Texas Secretary of State’s office did not respond to a question about how much time the state generally requires to carry out an election.

Chad Dunn, a longtime Democratic Party lawyer, argued that there was plenty of time for the state to execute a special election on May 3 if Abbott ordered it.

While Texas law does not set a deadline for the governor to call a special election, Dunn added, “the assumption of Texas laws is that the state doesn’t want to be without representation in Congress.”

Historically, states were “eager” to ensure their entire delegation was present in Congress, Dunn said. Extreme partisanship in the broader political climate has changed that.

“Rather than pursue the interests of their state,” he argued, “some partisan governors are not moving expeditiously with replacement elections in these circumstances because they think that benefits their political party.”

In February 2021, after the death of U.S. Rep Ron Wright, R-Arlington, Abbott called a special election to fill Wright’s seat on the third day after his burial, or just two weeks after his death.

Abbott called a special election to fill Jackson Lee’s seat just over a week after her funeral, and 17 days after her death.

In those cases, however, there were several months before the next uniform election date.

Abbott could also declare an “emergency” special election, which allows for an election to take place outside the May or November uniform election dates.

He called for an emergency election on June 30, 2018 to replace former U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, who resigned that April. Then, Abbott pointed to the recovery from Hurricane Harvey as justifying an emergency election.

Democrats in New York are also considering holding off on calling a special election as soon as U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican, leaves her seat to pursue her nomination to be US ambassador to the United Nations. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, ordered a special election to fill Grijalva’s seat days after his death.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

AUSTIN – Some Jewish Texans on Tuesday supported a measure to address a rise in antisemitism in schools, while others said it would not only stifle free speech but make them less safe.

They testified Tuesday evening on Senate Bill 326 in the Senate’s K-16 Education Committee.

The bill would require public school districts, open-enrollment charter schools and colleges and universities to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition and examples of antisemitism in student disciplinary proceedings.

The IHRA defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

A few examples the IHRA provides of antisemitism are “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” “applying double standards by requiring of it (Israel) a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation,” and “holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel.”

Oli Hoffman, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, said the IHRA definition encourages “a dangerous conflation of the government of Israel and the Jewish people.”

“I am a proud Longhorn studying education,” Hoffman said, “and I can recall some respectful debates regarding Israel that I was a party to on campus that would be defined as antisemitic come Sept. 1 if this bill is passed.”

Students at UT Austin and universities throughout the country demonstrated support for Palestinians last spring, calling for their universities to divest from manufacturers supplying Israel with weapons in its strikes on Gaza.

UT officials called state police, who responded to the campus and arrested more than 100 people. While some have criticized the university for what they called a heavy-handed response, others have applauded it as necessary to combat protests they saw as antisemitic. Some point to the phrase some protesters chanted, “from the river to the sea,” as evidence of this.

“From the river to the sea” refers to a stretch of land between the Jordan River on the eastern flank of Israel and the occupied West Bank to the Mediterranean Sea to the west.

Pro-Palestinian activists have said this is a call for peace and equality in the Middle East, but SB 326’s author, Phil King, R-Weatherford, said he thinks that phrase calls for the killing of Jews.

Sandra Parker, vice chair of the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission and King’s invited witness, agreed and added that it also calls for the eradication of the Jewish state.

She stressed that the bill would allow school leaders to decide on their own if a student has violated their code of conduct and provides them a tool to determine whether the violation was motivated by antisemitism.

That could help the school determine what discipline is warranted, she said.

“Why is that necessary? Because you cannot defeat what you are unwilling to define,” Parker said. “We know the conduct is happening, but why? The answer can only be one of two things. Antisemitism is being tolerated and ignored or people don’t know what antisemitism is when they see it.”

Parker added that the bill could address incidents like one at a high school in San Antonio where she said a student who is not Jewish had an Israel flag stolen and destroyed by another student. The school then moved the student who owned the flag to another classroom rather than punish the students who destroyed the flag.

“This behavior was aimed to silence both Jewish students and those who support them,” Parker said.

But other Jewish Texans disagreed with King and Parker that the phrase “from the river to the sea” is antisemitic.

“Whatever the intentions of this bill, understand that it actually makes Jews in Texas less safe to formally associate us with a foreign government, evoking the longstanding antisemitic charge of dual loyalty that’s been leveled against Jewish people in the U.S. and Europe for decades, setting us apart from our neighbors and painting us as outsiders,” said Jennifer Margulies, who attends Congregation Beth Israel in Austin, which a man set on fire in 2022.

“I know what antisemitism looks like,” she said. “It looks like needing to reassure my child that it’s safe to attend Hebrew school when I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I drive by the burnt black sanctuary doors to drop her off, hoping that I am not lying.”

Since protests broke out last spring, lawmakers have heard about an uptick in antisemitic incidents in schools. They heard that again on Tuesday from Jackie Nirenberg, a regional director for the Anti-defamation League.

She said the ADF and Hillel International, a Jewish Campus organization, surveyed Jewish college students at 135 colleges and universities across the U.S. and found that 83% of them have experienced or witnessed antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

SB 326 was left pending in committee.

State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, has filed identical legislation in the House.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.