O’Rourke vs. Abbott debate REcap
The two candidates running for governor of Texas, incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott and Democratic nominee Beto O’ Rourke, faced off in a one-hour debate at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg on Friday. The debate covered various t...
A Tale Of Two Campaigns
With the campaign for governor heading into the final weeks, Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke are making their final pitches to the voters of Texas. And their campaign styles couldn’t be any more different, with O’Rourke taking a more grassroots approach ...
The Sole Gubernatorial Debate
The one and only debate between Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke will be held tonight in Edinburg. The debate will begin at 7:00 CST and will air on Nexstar stations around the state. There will not be a live audience for the debate, allegedly per the ...
Uvalde families protest to demand action from the district
For over 48 hours, families of victims of the Uvalde massacre protested outside the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District headquarters to call for an investigation into the campus police response at Robb Elementary on May 24. Since the kil...
Texas Tribune
Texas Republicans v. Business Community: On Abortion Access
Texas Republicans have long boasted their business-friendly policies to be the lifeblood of the state’s burgeoning economy. But recently, a war seems to be brewing between Republican lawmakers and businesses that are not so thrilled with the backwards ...
climate change
Climate Change Denialism, Outdated Rainfall Data Are Recipe for Disaster
Industries across Texas are relying on dozens of outdated rainfall regulations that could dangerously impact infrastructure used in waste treatment, petrochemicals and oil & gas. A new report by Public Citizen Texas finds that these rainfa...
Politics
Ben Leffler on his run for Austin City Council District 9
Born and raised Austinite and progressive leader Ben Leffler said, watching his city change from a working class interactive community to an unaffordable hot spot gave him the push to run for public office. The Austin City Council District 9 candidate ...
Politics
Death Penalties for Abortions and The Ultra-Rightwing Runoff in Texas
In North Texas, a runoff election between a Republican incumbent and challenger has generated headlines over whether or not there should be death penalties for abortions. The race for House District 91, however, goes beyond that gruesome debate and hig...
Latest News
Ken Paxton Literally runs to avoid Subpoena in Abortion Case
According to court filings, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home on Monday when a process server attempted to serve him with a subpoena to testify in an abortion case. The subpoena was to testify against eight abortion funds fightin...
Texas Tribune
Voting While Innocent: Dallas County Must Do Better
As an elected leader, our highest duty, and what we take an oath to do, is to protect the constitutional rights and freedoms of our constituents. One of the most fundamental of these is the right to vote. Most Texans agree that voting should be safe, e...
Texas Tribune
Democrats Lead Midterm Polling Following SCOTUS Decision on Abortion
For much of the midterm season, Democrats had lagged behind Republicans in generic ballot polling. Much of this shift against Democrats can be attributed to global inflation, lack of action on much of President Biden’s Build Back Better campaign promis...
Texas Tribune
Ted Cruz, Again, Embarrasses Texas
It would be hard to miss the national headlines coming from the latest mass shooting on the Fourth of July, when a gunman opened fire into a parade in suburban Chicago, Illinois, killing six and injuring more than thirty before fleeing the scene. As...
Texas Tribune
Title 42 Is Still Stopping Black Migrants From Seeking Asylum
While some Americans celebrated the victory of the U.S. Supreme Court siding with the Biden administration to end Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, Haitians and other Black migrants are still experiencing racism and discrimination under the guise of pub...
Policy
“I just don’t agree with abolishing private insurance” Rep. Sylvia Garcia says
In a meeting with constituents and the Harris County Medicare for All coalition, Congressmember Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) said she disagreed with abolishing private insurance. And as it stands doesn’t support H.R. 1976, the congressional Medicare ...
Texas Tribune
From Blood member to activist: a conversation with Antong Lucky
At 21 years old, Dallas 415 gang member Antong Lucky was sentenced to seven years in prison by the United States criminal legal system that locked up minority citizens for the “War on Drugs.” The infamous drug crack cocaine filled the streets ...
Texas Tribune
Musings: Truth, Justice, Texas
What will it take to get Texas Republicans to just tell the truth? It’s something I’ve wondered about with a frequency I would find unbearably depressing if I hadn’t already grown so jaded li...
Must Read
Activists Mobilize Against Texas Social Media Overreach
In the wake of the recent racially-motivated mass shooting in Buffalo as well as the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision suspending the temporary injunction of the Texas social media law HB 20, progressive groups are sounding the alarm about the pote...
“If its white, its right” RAICES speaks on Title 42 hypocrisy
By May 23, the Biden Administration is said to scrap Title 42, a controversial Trump-era policy that expels asylum seekers in the United States based on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For context, on March 11, the same day President Biden announced ...
‘We Need to Ban Assault Weapons’ Says Joe Biden in Speech About Gun Violence
In a major speech Thursday evening, President Joe Biden called on assault weapons to be banned following the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. “We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Biden said in his speech where he also support...
Rep. Veronica Escobar talks climate change and migration at COP26
El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar joined a congressional delegation this week at the United Nations Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP26). Speaking at a press conference with other congressional colleagues who were elected in 2018, Es...
Odessa and the Worsening Texas Water Crisis
In the midst of a Texas summer that is regularly setting temperature records and will probably end up one of the state’s hottest ever, Odessa made national headlines when its main water line broke and left more than 165,000 residents without access to ...
Congress
Lizzie Fletcher nominates two vaccine researchers for Nobel Peace Prize, Marc Veasey nominates Opal Lee
William Kim - 0
Nobel Peace Prize nominations for 2022 were due on January 31 and some high-profile Texans are among the names submitted. Rep. Marc Veasey lead a group of members of Congress to nominate civil rights activist Opal Lee while Rep. Lizzie Fletcher nominat...
Kim Ogg and the Conservative Pushback Against Lina Hidalgo
As her 2022 re-election campaign gets into full swing, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is also currently in the midst of the most high-profile PR struggle of her career, with three current and former staffers being indicted for allegedly conspiring wi...
The Foolishness of the One-Door Policy
In the aftermath of the Robb Elementary School shooting, Republicans are attempting to discredit and deflect attention away from common sense gun reform by proposing increasingly bizarre proposals. Given that the oft-mentioned idea of more “good guys w...
End Citizens United/Let America Vote endorses Jessica Cisneros for Congress
End Citizens United/Let America Vote, a major Democratic PAC focused on anti-corruption and voting rights, is endorsing Jessica Cisneros in her race for Texas’ 28th Congressional District. “Jessica Cisneros is a champion when it comes to getti...
GOP Sees Victory in TX-34, but Only for Six Months
GOP Congressional Candidate Mayra Flores flipped a U.S. House seat on Tuesday, beating out Democrat Dan Sanchez by less than eight percentage points in a special election for Texas’ 34th Congressional District. Flores narrowly avoided a runoff in th...
End Citizens United/Let America Vote endorses Jessica Cisneros for Congress
End Citizens United/Let America Vote, a major Democratic PAC focused on anti-corruption and voting rights, is endorsing Jessica Cisneros in her race for Texas’ 28th Congressional District. “Jessica Cisneros is a champion when it comes to getti...
Democrats in Texas are Demanding Answers for Operation Lone Star
As Greg Abbott continues to tout his record on securing the border, his signature project to achieve that goal, Operation Lone Star, is facing stark questions over the treatment of Texas troops. Abbott launched Operation Lone Star last March, as a resp...
Texas has no plan for an incoming wave of abandoned oil wells
In the past six years, 132 Texas oil and gas companies have filed for bankruptcy. Many went under as the pandemic drove down demand for oil, causing the price of oil to temporarily plummet to historically low levels. In general howeve...
Oklahoma’s Newest Abortion Ban Immediately Impacts Texans
The Oklahoma legislature moved Thursday to pass a Texas-style abortion ban, one that relies upon citizen legislation and vigilante enforcement. Unlike a previous abortion ban (SB 612) which goes into effect in August, this legislation would take effect...
Texas company launches liability insurance for police
America’s first professional liability insurance policy for law enforcement is now available for purchase from a Texas company. Prymus Insurance is a small insurance company in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that specializes in niche insurance policies and...
Music
Louie Gohmert Sought Presidential Pardon Over January 6
The January Sixth hearings have so far provided compelling and explosive details about efforts from former President Trump and his inner circle to try and circumvent the 2020 election, which was won by President Joe Biden. Yesterday’s hearing also offe...
Colin Allred joins bipartisan delegation to Europe amid Ukraine tensions
On Tuesday, Rep. Colin Allred joined a bipartisan delegation to Belgium and Ukraine amid heightened fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The delegation is led by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee which Allr...
All the Lowlights from Cruz and Cornyn at Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Confirmation Hearing
On the second day of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court, the esteemed jurist got a double whammy of questioning from the two senators from Texas that sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Neither John Cornyn nor Te...
Beto to Host Town Hall About Uvalde, Protecting Texas Kids
Gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke is set to host a town hall in Dallas on Wednesday, his first since the Uvalde mass shooting last week. The town hall will be about protecting the lives of Texas children and will take place on Wednesday, 5...
The expanded child tax credit helped millions of Texans before the plug was pulled
In January, the expanded child tax credit expired, ending monthly payments to parents across the nation. The direct payments began as part of the American Rescue Plan in July 2021. They expanded the existing child tax credit of $2,000 per chil...
Civil Rights Organizations Sue Texas Over Voter Purges
The voter suppression bill Senate Bill 1 has prompted another lawsuit, this one concerning an ignored request from the Texas Secretary of State over voter purges. Last week a group of civil rights organizations including the ACLU and MALDEF (the Mex...
Sport News
“If its white, its right” RAICES speaks on Title 42 hypocrisy
By May 23, the Biden Administration is said to scrap Title 42, a controversial Trump-era policy that expels asylum seekers in the United States based on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For context, on March 11, the same day President Biden announced ...
Latino Victory Fund endorses Jessica Cisneros, Greg Casar
Latino Victory Fund, a political action committee that backs progressives Latinos running for office, announced another wave of endorsements on Friday, this time for two congressional candidates: immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros in Texas’ 28th Con...
After Attacks on Asian-owned Businesses, AAPI Community Urges More Action
Violence against Asian Americans has increased exponentially since the coronavirus pandemic. In Texas, many in the AAPI community feel that acutely, heightened by recent attacks in Dallas that were at first overlooked as hate crimes. Last week, the ...
Title 42 Is Still Stopping Black Migrants From Seeking Asylum
While some Americans celebrated the victory of the U.S. Supreme Court siding with the Biden administration to end Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, Haitians and other Black migrants are still experiencing racism and discrimination under the guise of pub...
TV
Civil Rights Attorney Lee Merritt on the Texas primary race
Early voting for the Texas primaries has already begun, and many candidates are working overtime to make sure voters go out and vote. A specific race many Texas are tuned into is the Texas attorney general race against indicted incumbent Republican Ken...
Lizzie Fletcher nominates two vaccine researchers for Nobel Peace Prize, Marc Veasey nominates Opal Lee
Nobel Peace Prize nominations for 2022 were due on January 31 and some high-profile Texans are among the names submitted. Rep. Marc Veasey lead a group of members of Congress to nominate civil rights activist Opal Lee while Rep. Lizzie Fletcher nominat...
Texas House LGBTQ Caucus Chair Mary Gonzalez on Abbott’s anti-trans order
Texas House lawmakers recently penned a letter to Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Jaime Masters expressing concern with Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to investigate the parents of transgender youth for child abuse. Lawmakers sai...
Op-ed: The Lone Wolf/Mental Health Claim About Gun Violence in America Is a Dangerous Diversion
In a press conference last week after the standard litany of prayers and thoughts was offered, Texas Governor Greg Abbott tried to pass off, once again, the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, and mass shootings in general, as attributable to...