Civil rights leaders call on AT&T to denounce voter suppression laws
Following Tuesday’s announcement about a new statewide campaign targeting corporations that have remained silent in the wake of proposed voter suppression bills moving through the Texas legislature, several civil rights organizations and leaders gathered at AT&T...
Could these two Senate bills weaken Democratic voters in Texas?
Texas chief justices, attorneys and legislators spoke out against Senate Bill 11 and SB 1529 last week in a Texas Senate Committee on Jurisprudence hearing for its lack of minority inclusion. According to Senate documents, these two bills will change the...
Op-Ed: Biden’s Immigration Plan Gives Us a Chance to Heal
Watching a violent mob storm the Capitol in January, I wept — not just at the assault on American democracy, but at the memories it brought flooding back. I was awash in memories of being an 11-year-old girl in a classroom on the day the Iranian Revolution broke out,...
Voter suppression bill makes its way out of House committee
House Bill 6, one of two leading voter suppression bills being pushed by Texas Republicans, made its way out of committee Thursday morning. It follows 21 hours of testimony by critics in opposition to the legislation, as well as a vocal campaign by Texas-based...
House Speaker Phelan lays out healthcare priorities — without Medicaid expansion
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) held a press conference Wednesday with fellow House members highlighting a bundle of bipartisan legislative proposals that make up a priority healthcare package dubbed, “Healthy Families, Healthy Texas.” The...
Would a Marshall Plan for Central America work?
Whenever there’s a spike in border crossings, like what’s been seen in recent months, progressives often bring up the idea of a Marshall Plan for Central America. Migrants are fleeing the Northern Triangle (Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala) because of violence and...
Hispanic Caucus joins race to flip GOP district in Texas special election
BOLD PAC, the campaign arm of the 38-member Congressional Hispanic Caucus, announced Wednesday their endorsement of Jana Lynne Sanchez, a Democratic candidate running to replace the late U.S. Rep. Ron Wright in Texas’ 6th congressional district. The Congressional...
Beto, Castro join civil rights groups in pressuring Texas companies to oppose voter suppression
This morning, a number of prominent voting and civil rights organizations gathered virtually to announce a new campaign geared toward Texas-based corporations to speak out against voter suppression bills making their way through the Texas legislature. The campaign is...
Nook Turner’s Fight to Deliver Economic Justice to Austin’s Black Community
In the summer of 1997, thousands of Black Austinites streamed to Rosewood Park, a historic space on the capital city’s East Side. They were headed to Jump On It, an event created by rising rapper Nook Turner and longtime civil rights activist Dorothy Turner (no...
Sery Kim’s comments about Chinese immigrants, and the latest in a Texas special election
The race to replace former congressman Ron Wright, who passed away from COVID-19 in February, in the TX-06 congressional special election, has taken xenophobic turn that sparked national headlines thanks to comments from Sery Kim, a former Trump administration...
Marijuana bills are scheduled for a big week in the Texas House
In the first major movement this session for marijuana legislation, Texas state House lawmakers are holding public hearings this week for a dozen marijuana-related bills. The Public Health Committee is hearing a bill for medical cannabis research on Wednesday and the...
Musings: Texas Republicans are bad for business.
For decades, Texans Republicans have justified the cozy relationships they’ve enjoyed with big business by celebrating Texas as one of the best states in the nation to do business in. Republicans in the state legislature and on commissioner’s courts across the state...
Not so fast: Beto O’Rourke hasn’t ruled out 2022
Reports that broke earlier tonight that Beto O’Rourke wouldn’t run for Governor of Texas in 2022 were premature, according to sources close to O’Rourke and Beto himself. O’Rourke issued a statement shortly after the initial story broke that said “What I said today is...
The Derek Chauvin Trial
Witnesses testimony concluded on Friday at the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin is charged with third-degree murder, second-degree murder and manslaughter after he was seen on video with a knee to 46-year-old George...
Beto says he’s not planning on running for Texas governor
Former congressman Beto O’Rourke says he has no plans to run against Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022. That’s according to an upcoming episode Lone Star Politics Podcast, reports the Dallas Morning News, who runs the podcast with NBC 5. “I’ve got no plans to run,...