There are more than 73 million children under 18 living in the U.S. and over seven million of them call Texas home. The biennial Texas Kids Count report brings together data across five categories of child well-being including health, education, economic well-being, environmental impact on children’s health, and safe communities and schools. This year’s report is an alarming wake-up call for... Source ..read more

Today may be Memorial Day 2023, but for the brave souls fighting some of the most extreme policies in the nation at the Texas capitol, it also serves as something of a holiday in its own right: Sine Die, the final day of the legislative session at which point there is usually no scheduled date to return. This Sine Die hits differently for a number of reasons, not least among them the weekend... Source ..read more

Today, the Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. The issue of impeachment will now head to the Texas Senate. Governor Abbott may appoint a temporary replacement while the Senate trial takes place. Earlier this week, a Texas House committee filed 20 articles of impeachment against Attorney General Paxton. Since then, Paxton and his allies have been... Source ..read more

No matter what else we can say about Ken Paxton, the Texas Attorney General has a peculiar set of survival skills. Despite indictments, sex scandals, and federal investigations, Paxton has continued to get re-elected to one of the top posts in Texas government, largely powered by his status as a hard-charging, pro-Trump conservative. Despite his moral or legal failings, by hook or by crook... Source ..read more

Colin Allred has only officially been a candidate for United States Senate against Ted Cruz for a few weeks, but to say the North Texas congressman has made the most of that time would be a wild understatement. Allred made a massive splash in the race against Ted Cruz in only a handful of hours, quickly raising more than $2 million while striking fear deep into his embattled opponent’s heart. Source ..read more

Texas Republican infighting has reached new heights as we approach the end of the legislative session. In a statement posted to twitter on Tuesday, indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called on Texas Speaker Dade Phelan to resign. It is important to note that Ken Paxton himself is indicted for securities fraud and suffering from his own various legal and ethical woes. The AG statement cite’... Source ..read more

When President Biden took office in January 2021, immigration advocates breathed a tentative sigh of relief. Biden’s campaign rhetoric signaled the possibility for a more compassionate approach. For migrant families, that promise has not come to bear. Instead, the Biden administration is recycling old Trump policies and introducing new ways to degrade asylum. Unlike Trump, Biden has paused the use... Source ..read more

Yesterday an all-Republican-appointed three-judge panel from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the mifepristone case, and the likely outcome appears bleak. Last year, a rightwing organization and several anti-choice OB-GYN’s sued the FDA in Amarillo to reverse the federal approval of mifepristone, a medication that can terminate an early pregnancy. The FDA authorized mifepristone for use in... Source ..read more

In our last legislative roundup we noted that Texas Republicans would offer crumbs of power to any Democrat willing to negotiate personal gain over party principles. There may be no more evident example of the unfortunate end results of a Republican-controlled state than the actions of State Representative Shawn Thierry this legislative session. Representative Thierry has raised eyebrows on... Source ..read more

In the run-up to the 1988 presidential election, future Texas Governor Rick Perry assessed the field of candidates and boldly threw his support behind the candidate he felt most closely matched his values. Though he would later claim he voted for a fellow Texan, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, in the general election, in the heat of that ‘88 primary in the dying days of the Reagan ’80s... Source ..read more