Joe Biden made his first visit as President to Dallas last night to attend the wake of late Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/national-politics/president-biden-members-congressional-black-caucus-bid-farewell-late-congresswoman-eddie-bernice-johnson-monday-wake/287-1198c86e-95ba-4783-b0e6-7e7dbd26d6c1

...After a disturbance at Love Field by pro-Palestine protestors resulted in over a dozen arrests: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2024/01/08/pro-palestine-rally-joe-biden-dallas/

Facing impeachment, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited Texas yesterday as well, to make his case at Eagle Pass: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/mayorkas-border-impeachment-18595978.php

U.S. Senate hopeful Colin Allred says abortion rights are the key issue for Democrats this year: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/inside-politics/texas-politics/in-bid-for-us-senate-democrat-colin-allred-says-he-expects-abortion-rights-issue-to-motivate-voters/287-47836750-e5d4-4008-9826-243cc89dcca9

...Allred leads polling among Democratic candidates, but all suffer from lacking name recognition with the general public: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/elections/2024/01/08/473505/congressman-colin-allred-leads-a-crowded-democratic-primary-field-seeking-to-challenge-senator-ted-cruz/

Officials at UT San Antonio continue struggling to accommodate new state laws against DEI while not abandoning their diverse student body: https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/utsa-nixed-revamped-inclusion-offices-and-changes-inclusivity-statement-amid-sb-17

...While efforts are underway at historically-Black Huston Tillotson University in Austin to team up with the local school district to promote Black male teachers: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/education/more-black-male-teachers-program-austin-texas-hbcu/269-da341b02-045f-45f1-b494-dc3d1ddc0127

Homelessness among Texas veterans jumped an alarming 19% last year: https://www.ktsm.com/news/texas-politics/report-texas-homeless-veteran-population-rose-in-last-year/

...While winter weather approaches and grid worries resurface: https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas-grid-winter-2024/285-b01c91e1-e638-4ba0-a09c-17c9ba5f2d45

This episode features the full remarks of U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee from last night's wake service for Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson - video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNhfEQoN5C4&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wfaa.com%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjQsMjM4NTE&feature=emb_title

Thanks for listening! Check out our web store and other ways to support Progress Texas and our important work at https://progresstexas.org/.