KTBB News, Weather, Talk

AUSTIN – The Dallas Observer reports that supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) benefits are once again being targeted by Republican lawmakers. In Texas, state officials are ushering forward a ban on purchasing soda using food stamps, and national leaders have passed a budget resolution that could slash a significant amount of the funding allocated to the program. According to data released by the North Texas Food Bank and Feeding Texas, more than 185,460,000 meals were purchased in Dallas County using SNAP benefits in 2024. Collin County families were able to purchase 25,600,000 meals last year, and Rockwall County recipients purchased more than 3,226,000. But the consequence of slashed SNAP benefits won’t just be families going hungry, the organizations warn.

The numbers show that every dollar given to North Texas families for food assistance played a massive role in the economy last year, totaling a 54% return on investment. Statewide, $6.97 billion was distributed to families in 2024, generating $10.73 billion in economic activity. “Families who participate in SNAP to put food on the table would not be the only Texans harmed by the steep cuts that are being proposed,” Celia Cole, CEO of Feeding Texas, said in a statement. “Retailers, farmers, workers and communities across our state all participate in a highly interconnected economic ecosystem and would feel the impact of SNAP cuts. If current proposals move forward, hungry families will suffer, food businesses will suffer, and our overall economy will be weaker.” Using the USDA’s SNAP Multiplier Report, the organizations estimate that 8,677 jobs in Dallas County are supported by the SNAP economy. Trisha Cunningham, president and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank, said that any cuts to the SNAP program would negatively coincide with a dramatic spike in demand being noticed by food assistance groups. Cunningham said the current demand across North Texas food pantries is reaching peak-pandemic level. Multiple states are introducing legislation that would ban sodas, candy and other foods deemed unhealthy from SNAP purchases. Texas Congressman Keith Self, whose district includes McKinney, filed the Funding is Zero for Zero Nutrition Options, or NO-FIZZ, Act, in January.

LLANO – The Austin American-Statesman reports Llano County has agreed to settle a lawsuit over its firing of librarian Suzette Baker amid a pressure campaign to remove several books from its public libraries, according to a Thursday court filing. While the county and Baker have tentatively agreed to the “material terms” of the settlement, details will not be made public until they are finalized, Baker’s attorney told the American-Statesman. “We are pleased that defendants were willing to resolve this matter relatively early on in the litigation,” said attorney Iris Halpern of Rathod Mohamedbhai, a firm based in Colorado, in response to an inquiry from the Statesman. The tentative agreement signals the end of a yearlong legal battle in U.S. District Court between Baker and Llano County officials, whom she accused of firing her in 2022 because she refused to pull library materials that a group of conservative activists had deemed inappropriate for children, some of which focused on race and LGBTQ+ experiences.

The county eventually removed 17 books, ranging from the children’s book “I Broke My Butt!” to the nonfiction work “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent.” Outside of Baker’s lawsuit, the county is still facing a federal First Amendment lawsuit over the book removals. The book removal campaign and resulting litigation have drawn national attention to Llano, a rural Texas community in the Hill Country about 80 miles northwest of Austin. The settlement announcement comes a day before a documentary film about Baker’s story will be featured in the South by Southwest festival. Showings will take place Saturday and Sunday in Austin. Baker, a 57-year-old veteran and mother of five adult children, has worked as a cashier at a hardware store for the past year. In August, an Austin federal judge denied the county’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, making clear that officials would have to settle or take the case to trial. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman wrote in the August order that Baker had plausible claims for First Amendment retaliation, wrongful termination and employment discrimination. The parties will notify the court of a final settlement and ask for the case to be dismissed within 45 days, as per Thursday’s filing.

HOUSTON – Houston Public Radio reports that Houston-based NRG Energy has announced a venture to build four new natural gas power plants in the U.S. to power artificial intelligence data centers, with some slated for Texas. NRG said it has partnered with energy company GE Vernova and The Industrial Company (TIC), an engineering, construction and procurement company. The goal of the project is to advance the construction of four natural gas combined cycle power plants. Each plant is expected to produce more than 5 gigawatts. In the announcement, NRG Executive Vice President Robert Gaudette said the new plants will be necessary to keep up with the exponentially increased power need associated with the AI industry.

“The growing demand for electricity in part due to GenAI and the buildup of data centers means we need to form new, innovative partnerships to quickly increase America’s dispatchable generation,” Gaudette said. “Working together, these three industry leaders are committed to executing with speed and excellence to meet our customers’ generation needs.” Although NRG did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding exactly where the new plants will be built, the company said the new facilities will serve the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the Texas power grid, and the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) regions. The first new plants — accounting for 1.2 gigawatts — are expected to be brought online in 2029. The companies plan to have the remaining plants completed by 2032. The announcement of this joint venture comes several months after NRG began pursuing the construction of three natural gas plants in the Houston area.

TEXAS – Inside Climate News reports that Texas widened its lead as the country’s renewable energy leader in 2024, with growth in solar and wind power, according to federal data. Solar and wind also grew nationwide at the same time that coal continued on a long-term decline. Natural gas had a small increase and remains way out in front as the country’s top fuel for producing electricity. The U.S. Energy Information Administration released electricity generation data last week for December 2024, which means we now have a full picture for the year. Despite fears that this information would be taken down as part of the Trump administration’s reductions in public access to government data, the numbers are here and they tell many stories about how our electricity mix is evolving.

First, the topline: U.S. power plants generated 4.3 million gigawatt-hours in 2024, an increase of 2.9 percent from the prior year. That’s a large increase, but within the bounds of normal. Since 2010, the annual percentage increase has been more than 2 percent three other times; the highest was 3.6 percent in 2018. The numbers are preliminary and could be revised. Natural gas power plants generated 43.3 percent of the country’s electricity last year, up from 43.2 percent in 2023. Utility-scale renewables, which include wind, utility-scale solar and hydropower, among others, were 22.7 percent, up from 21.4 percent. Nuclear was 18.2 percent, down from 18.5 percent. And coal was 15.2 percent, down from 16.1 percent. That leaves less than 1 percent of “other,” which mainly includes oil and other petroleum-based fuels.

SAN AUGUSTINE – Our news partners at KETK report that San Augustine ISD has announced that Dr. Virginia Liepman has stepped down as their superintendent after 11 years with the district.

“Reflecting on the past 11 years, I am truly amazed by the strength, resilience, and steadfast commitment of our employees in keeping the focus on the children of this community,” Liepman said. “It has been an honor to serve alongside them and I have cherished every moment at SAISD.”

In a letter shared by San Augustine ISD on Feb. 28, Liepman announced that assistant superintendent Marc Griffin was named as the district’s interim superintendent.

Griffin assumed the role of interim superintendent on Feb. 25 and Liepman said she’s delegated all of the powers and duties of the office to him as a way to insure a smooth transition.

“The support of this community has been unwavering. You have helped our district achieve so much over the years and your input is invaluable. I encourage you to continue making your voices heard and to remain actively involved with our district. My family and I have deep roots here and I will always be grateful for the support and encouragement this community has shown me throughout my tenure. I look forward to seeing SAISD continue to thrive under Mr. Griffin’s leadership.”

Dr. Virginia Liepman

Liepman said she’ll continue on as the district’s Superintendent Emeritus until June 30, 2027. As a San Augustine native, Liepman graduated from San Augustine High School in 1971 before attending the University of Texas at Austin and Stephen F. Austin University.

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Houston mother Yolanda Ramirez choked back tears as she said her 20-year-old son, Kevin, was detained by ICE officers last week at his workplace, despite having a work permit and no criminal record. Ramirez, who is a visually impaired single mother, said one of her sons committed suicide in recent years, leaving Kevin to be the only one to care for her. Her son, who she said was “treated like a dog,” is able to apply for permanent residency after filing a Special Immigrant Juvenile petition more than four years ago. Houston residents detailed being detained by ICE and U.S Borders and Customs Protection, despite having documents showing legal residency or legal work status, at a news conference held by FIEL, Houston’s largest immigrant advocacy group. Immigration lawyer Susana Hart, who represents Ramirez’ son, Kevin Alexander Zaldana Ramirez, said she’s been asking ICE why Kevin was detained and getting no response.

ICE representatives told the Houston Chronicle the agency was looking into Kevin Ramirez’ case Thursday, but did not provide a statement as of Thursday evening. U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Houston had not responded to calls from the Chronicle as of Thursday evening. FIEL Executive Director Cesar Espinosa said the cases represent the first his organization knows of in Houston where residents in the country legally were still detained by ICE. The cases, which occurred on the heels of a mass immigration operation in Colony Ridge near Houston near the end of February and a workplace raid at a Spring business this week, represent a worrying trend toward rash detainment of documented immigrants and those without criminal records, immigrant lawyers and FIEL said at the news conference. “It’s very possible that because ICE operations are being sped up, the officers might not be aware of what protections a person might have,” Hart said.

FORT WORTH – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that speaking Thursday evening at a Fort Worth private school, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made the case for school vouchers — again: That parents, not the government, are best equipped to decide what type of education is best for their children. Although Abbott has struggled to get a voucher proposal through the Texas Legislature in years past, he sounded confident that a bill will reach his desk this year. Abbott was in Fort Worth Thursday to rally supporters of education savings accounts, a school voucher-like program that gives families public money to pay for private school tuition or homeschooling expenses. The governor spoke at a Parent Empowerment Night at Temple Christian School.

During the event, Abbott acknowledged that the proposal has passed the Texas Senate in “session after session after session,” only to fail when it reached the House. But the current session is likely to bring different results. Currently, 77 representatives are signed on as authors on the House’s education savings account bill — one more vote than the bill needs to get through the chamber. Abbott, however, encouraged families not to assume the bill is already across the finish line. Pointing to a row of Republican lawmakers in the audience, he encouraged parents to call their senators’ and representatives’ offices to voice their support for school vouchers. Abbott insisted that the proposal doesn’t represent an attack on public schools, saying that the state will have approved record per-student funding and teacher pay by the end of the legislative session. But he also accused public schools across the state of promoting a “woke, leftist agenda.”

AUSTIN – The Texas Tribune reports that Texas Railroad Commission Chair Christi Craddick and former GOP state Sen. Don Huffines announced Friday they are running for comptroller, minutes after the office’s current occupant, Glenn Hegar, was named chancellor of the Texas A&M University System.

Hegar’s impending departure from the comptroller’s seat creates a rare opening for one of Texas’ coveted statewide offices, most of which have remained occupied for the last decade.

Once Hegar leaves office, Gov. Greg Abbott will be tasked with appointing a replacement to serve out the remainder of his term, which runs through January 2027. The seat is up for reelection in 2026.

The comptroller serves as the state’s chief financial officer, accountant, revenue estimator and treasurer.

Abbott has not revealed his pick to succeed Hegar.

Huffines, a businessman and GOP donor who challenged Abbott unsuccessfully in the 2022 gubernatorial primary, pledged to spend at least $10 million on his comptroller bid. If elected, he said, “I will DOGE Texas by exposing waste, fraud, and abuse in government to increase efficiency and put every penny we save into property tax relief.”

Craddick, a Republican, has served on the oil-and-gas-regulating Texas Railroad Commission since 2012. She easily cruised to reelection last year, winning another six-year term through the end of 2030. She will not have to give up her seat on the commission to run for comptroller.

Craddick, an attorney from Midland, is the daughter of Rep. Tom Craddick, a former House speaker.

AUSTIN – The Texas Tribune reports that a bill that would give parents more power over which books their children can read in public school libraries will soon go before Texas senators for a full vote.

The measure was approved Tuesday by a 10-1 vote in the Senate Committee on Education K-16. Introduced last month by Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, Senate Bill 13 would represent an overhaul of how schools decide what books are placed in their libraries.

SB 13 would require that school boards, rather than librarians, have the final say over which new books or materials can be put in school libraries. The bill would also create a way for parents to challenge any library book and have it removed from shelves until the school board decides whether that material is allowed.

Under SB 13, each school district would also be required to have local advisory councils — with parents of students in the district making up a majority of voting members — that would recommend which books should be added and removed from school libraries. Additionally, the bill would not allow schools to have library materials that have “indecent content or profane content,” which can include books that use “grossly offensive” language.

During a committee hearing last month, Paxton characterized the bill as a way to address parents’ concerns about sexually explicit content in Texas’ public school libraries. She added the legislation “clarifies parental rights with respect to school libraries.” It comes as the Senate is also considering a proposal that would amend the state constitution to enshrine parents’ right to direct their child’s education.

“No child should pick up a book in their school library of all places and be exposed to inappropriate, harmful material within its pages,” Paxton said. “These young brains cannot unsee what they see.”

A similar proposal passed the Senate but didn’t get a vote on the House floor last session.

The bill would build on House Bill 900, a law passed in 2023 to keep sexually explicit content off of bookshelves. Last year, a federal appeals court blocked Texas from enforcing parts of the law that required book vendors to assign ratings to books based on the presence of or depictions of sex, saying it was unconstitutionally broad. Since then, Texas conservatives have increased their push for new legislation. This session, SB 13 is one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s legislative priorities.

But the proposal has also drawn harsh criticism from school librarians and anti-censorship advocates, who say it would make it easier for school districts to target and remove books about people of color and involving LGBTQ+ characters.

The measure comes as book bans have increased in Texas and nationwide in recent years. Texas banned around 540 books during the 2023-24 school year, according to PEN America, an organization tracking bans throughout the country. Of all the books banned during that time, 44% included characters or people of color and 39% included LGBTQ+ characters. Some of the book titles banned in Texas school districts in 2023 included “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “The Kite Runner,” “The Color Purple” and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” among other acclaimed books, according to PEN America data.

“Our communities are diverse and that’s the power and beauty of the communities to have so many different experiences available for our students to learn from,” Lucy Podmore, a public school librarian and former chair of the Texas Association of School Librarians, told The Texas Tribune last month. “It’s imperative that when we say ‘parents’ and ‘parental choice’ and ‘parents are the final say’ that we include all parents — that we’re not just giving voice to a select few.”

The library bill also raises some logistical concerns. In requiring school boards to approve each new library material, a responsibility traditionally overseen by school librarians, the bill’s proposed process would make it more difficult for libraries to obtain new books in a timely manner, librarians say. As a result, critics add, the bill could lead to school-aged children reading less, even as Texas students are still recovering academically from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shirley Robinson, executive director of the Texas Library Association, said it’s “critically important” for libraries throughout the state to either maintain or increase the number of books available to students given the lagging reading scores. But the Senate proposal, she said, would create new obstacles toward achieving that — and potentially hamper spending on school library books in the long term.

“Budgets are based on what the spending was the prior year,” Robinson said. “So if we are essentially putting roadblocks and barriers up for those campus library budgets to be spent, they’re going to continue to be reduced further and further every single year.”

The local advisory councils created under the bill would recommend removing library materials that have “indecent content or profane content.” According to the bill, these councils would also make recommendations to ensure “that local community values are reflected” in public school libraries in their districts.

Education advocates say it’s unclear what the phrase “local community values” is supposed to mean. For Emily Witt, an author at the progressive-leaning Texas Freedom Network, it’s an open question about which community values are being upheld. The answer to that question, she said, may vary depending on the makeup of a given community and result in majority voices having an outsized opinion over what materials are available for all students to choose to read.

“Parents do have the right to control the education of their children, absolutely, but I think that creating laws like this and stoking fear in parents puts out the message that it’s not okay for their kids to learn about people who are different from them,” Witt said. “I think that does a disservice to parents as well.”

Texas isn’t alone in its efforts to further regulate school libraries statewide. More than 3,400 books have been banned in Iowa school libraries since 2023, a Des Moines Register survey found, after the state passed a law meant to ban books depicting sex acts from school.

And in 2023, Florida put in place a policy allowing parents to challenge books in school libraries or classrooms that they say depict sexual conduct. During the 2023-24 school year, Florida led the nation in book bans with more than 4,500, according to PEN America.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said these efforts are being driven by advocacy groups that want many books on topics like race, history, sexual orientation and gender identity out of school libraries and out of reach for children. The result, she said, has been increased censorship in schools and public libraries nationwide.

“A library is really designed to be a place where you should be able to find a wide range of ideas that serve a variety of information needs that reflect the views and opinions of a wide range of people in the community,” Caldwell-Stone said. “Everyone should be able to find something on the shelf that reflects their experience, their identity and their beliefs — and we’re seeing that attacked as a concept.”

SB 13 is expected to swiftly pass the Senate. All 20 Republican senators sponsored the proposal. A date for the vote hasn’t been set yet.