Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

In defiance of the Texas Republican Party, three dozen House GOP electeds voted along with most of the Democratic minority yesterday to elect Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock House Speaker: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/14/dustin-burrows-david-cook-texas-house-speaker-vote/

Several Democratic House members declined to vote for Burrows, who himself is pretty darn MAGA, while a handful curiously voted for Cook, who had pledged to sideline them in the session: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/14/texas-house-speaker-vote-breakdown/

...Texas GOP leadership is swearing retribution against Burrows and his Republican followers: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/01/14/in-contentious-vote-texas-house-chooses-dustin-burrows-as-speaker/

...That same GOP leadership took part in Christian Nationalist revival-style rallies at the Capitol yesterday, openly denying any separation between church and state: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/15/texas-legislature-christianity-church-state-separation/

...Congratulations to Dallas Rep. Venton Jones and his longtime partner Gregory Scott Jr, who got engaged on the House floor yesterday right after Jones was sworn in:

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today over a Texas law requiring pornography websites to verify the age of users - a law with much broader implications than just porn: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/pornhub-supreme-court-20034583.php

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