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Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
The Trump administration has offered the University of Texas access to enhanced federal funding - if it agrees to a set of conditions that will accelerate the MAGA-fication of the 40 Acres: https://thedailytexan.com/2025/10/02/ut-system-to-review-proposal-from-trump-administration/
...Academic experts see the adoption of this Trump "compact" as a dramatic capitulation to federal control: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/us/politics/trump-college-funding.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qU8.UTOI._IZAaVHmIUAQ&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Attorney General Ken Paxton and other GOP types are up in arms about accusations that TCU has cancelled a Turning Point event featuring an anti-trans activist - the school says it was never booked to begin with: https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2025-10-02/texas-ag-paxton-to-investigate-tcu-over-turning-point-event-school-says-was-not-booked
The Texas Supreme Court has decided that it will oversee Texas' law schools - instead of the nationally-established American Bar Association: https://www.tpr.org/news/2025-10-02/texas-supreme-court-breaks-with-american-bar-association-over-law-school-credentials
Disgraced megachurch pastor Robert Morris has pled guilty to multiple sex crimes against children - but he'll only serve 6 months in jail: https://apnews.com/article/texas-megachurch-pastor-sexual-abuse-oklahoma-0ca16aa31d9d8e5a810d1e1e3483dce4
...Morris' victim says he didn't have the courage to face her and her family in the courtroom: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/victim-speaks-exclusively-to-cbs-news-texas-after-gateway-church-founder-pleads-guilty-to-child-abus/
Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025event
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
As the second day of the federal shutdown begins, progressives and Democrats must remind themselves and others that it represents a last stand for affordable healthcare, and a stand against the destructive agenda of Donald Trump: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTM6Wvbc5/
...Should the Dems cave, as many as 1 million Texans may find themselves priced out of health insurance altogether: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/02/texas-republicans-affordable-care-act-premium-tax-credits-shutdown/
...Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer may have recently grown a spine as a result of pressure from the likes of Beto O'Rourke: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas-take/article/democrats-beto-o-rourke-chuck-schumer-21078866.php
El Paso State Rep. Joe Moody and Houston State Senator Carol Alvarado testified yesterday during the first day of the trial over the new Texas congressional map - while nobody appears to know who drew it? https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/01/texas-congressional-redistricting-map-federal-court/
Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025event
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
The major turn towards Donald Trump by Texas Latino voters, especially those in South Texas, serves as a painful memory and a fearsome harbinger of what might be in store in the 2026 midterms. A major momentum shift would come in handy for South Texas Democrats - and one may have arrived in the form of Tejano music star Bobby Pulido, who has recently announced a run as a Democrat for the U.S. Congress, challenging incumbent Republican Monica de la Cruz.
Learn more about Bobby Pulido and his run for Congress at https://bobbypulidofortexas.com/.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
In a federal court in El Paso, as of this morning, a trio of judges have begun considering whether the state of Texas can use the new congressional map - ordered by Donald Trump and eventually passed during a pair of highly contentious special legislative sessions - in the 2026 election. We're fortunate to have the expert legal view of attorneys Louis Bedford IV and Jason Smith, members of Progress Texas' boards, as this all-important legal procedure gets underway.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
Democrats in the U.S. House hold the line against the gutting of healthcare, as Republicans skip town - thus, a federal shutdown has begun: https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-democrats-republicans-trump-fight-c4949dace66c18d6099b5e23fd98b049
...Reactions from Texas House Democrats, including El Paso's Veronica Escobar: https://x.com/RepEscobar/status/1973094484549177360?t=FQgnQH1kE5xW2fyhKK9JCg&s=03
...Dallas' Marc Veasey: https://x.com/RepVeasey/status/1973132078221778992?t=NJdRbi6jJ6LPtRkA7BhVcA&s=03
...Houston's Lizzie Fletcher: https://x.com/RepFletcher/status/1973147095885554004?t=aGRrGrJxec393f00LRu6_w&s=03
...San Antonio's Joaquin Castro: https://x.com/JoaquinCastrotx/status/1973139890939502813?t=8solSSLz8aNURDhFAiljHQ&s=03
...What does a federal shutdown mean for us here in Texas? https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/01/government-shutdown-texas-congress-benefits-parks-veterans/
A federal hearing on whether or not the new Trump-ordered Texas congressional district map is constitutional begins today in El Paso: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/09/30/federal-hearing-on-new-texas-congressional-map-begins-wednesday-in-el-paso/
...How we got here, starting back in May: https://www.tpr.org/government-politics/2025-09-30/the-texas-gerrymandering-trial-begins-how-we-got-here
Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025event
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
In a matter of weeks, North Texas voters have the chance to flip a Texas Senate seat from red to blue, and provide another vote for sanity in a chamber dominated by the nonsense of Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Union president, veteran, and working class public education champion Taylor Rehmet is running against two far-right MAGA Republicans in the special election to fill a vacancy left by Republican Kelly Hancock’s move to the Texas Comptroller’s Office. Taylor spoke with our Executive Director Kathleen Thompson about his public policy priorities including affordable heath care, education, protecting Texas veterans, and this paramount opportunity—in a competitive district—where recent local election voters sent a clear message that they’re done with MAGA extremism. Make sure your friends and family in Senate District 9 (Bedford, Fort Worth, Keller, North Richland Hills, etc.) know early voting begins October 20 and Election Day is November 4.
How to get involved in Taylor’s campaign: https://www.taylorfortx.com
Progress Texas’ voting information resource GoVoteTexas.org assists voters in navigating election deadlines, polling locations, and the current status of the state’s changing voter ID laws in 5 languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi! https://govotetexas.org/
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
Governor Abbott faces multiple issues that could make him vulnerable in 2026, including his inconsistencies related to on-campus free speech: https://www.texasobserver.org/greg-abbott-free-speech-charlie-kirk-universities/
...His engineering of attacks on public school teachers who failed to sufficiently grieve the death of Charlie Kirk: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/30/texas-investigation-teachers-charlie-kirk-free-speech/?_bhlid=29b43cb8833938b9d33be0c7e1d0dbf7be829e1f
...And a growing "pay to pay" scandal, in which Abbott has apparently channeled almost $1 billion (with a B) in no-bid state contracts to companies whose executive have made large contributions to his campaign fund: https://www.newsbreak.com/raw-story-2096750/4254968215000-pay-to-play-donors-to-texas-gov-s-pac-received-nearly-1-billion-in-state-contracts
...Could Austin State Rep. Gina Hinojosa be next to throw in to challenge Abbott? https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2025/09/26/gina-hinojosa-austin-democrat-campaign-texas-governor
Even as they run ICE recruitment commercials on ESPN, Disney has taken a massive financial hit as a result of the Jimmy Kimmel suspension from ABC: https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-reportedly-lost-17-million-paid-subscribers-in-the-week-after-suspending-kimmel-201615937.html
...Disney shareholders and journalists are demanding internal records on how the Kimmel suspension was decided, potentially resulting in lawsuits: https://deadline.com/2025/09/kimmel-disney-shareholders-deadline-legal-threat-1236565674/
Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025event
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
The new Texas congressional district map, ordered by Donald Trump to cut his expected U.S. House losses in next year's election, is set to be considered by federal judges in El Paso starting Wednesday: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/redistricting-fight-texas-congressional-maps-courtroom-determine-constitutional/
Could there be a THIRD special legislative session in Texas? Property taxes could be the excuse this time for Texas Republicans to ramp up their culture war on Texas colleges: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/be-for-real/id1840051875?i=1000729093370
...MAGA attacks on Texas higher education has been at a fever pitch in recent weeks, including new orders at the Texas Tech system against any mention at all in classes of gender identity: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/26/texas-tech-university-system-transgender-identity-restrictions/
Agriculture Commissioner and outspoken DEI opponent Sid Miller wrote a letter to UT Austin on behalf of a Latina student they had denied admission, appealing to their DEI mission: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/29/sid-miller-dei-letter-university-of-texas/
An Anson man has been jailed for threatening to shoot up a Pride parade in Abilene, out of revenge for the assassination of Charlie Kirk: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/texas-man-accused-of-threatening-to-shoot-at-local-pride-event-arrested-by-fbi/#x
Did you notice ICE recruitment ads on ESPN while watching college football this weekend? All the more reason to cut ties with Disney, as they undercut local law enforcement agencies: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-09-06/ice-recruitment-law-enforcement-commercial
Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025event
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Our weekly staff roundtable covers the strife within the Texas Democratic Party over a shakeup of office locations, as Trump and Co. once again try to capitalize on another apparently political shooting, this one on an ICE facility in Dallas. We continue looking for the light amidst dark times indeed - but stick with us, we will find our way out.
Thanks for listening! Join the fight for progress in the Lone Star State at https://progresstexas.org/donate.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
Federal and state authorities, who were quick to characterize Wednesday's shooting that killed or wounded three suspected undocumented immigrants as an attack on the ICE agents who had rounded them up, say they have found writings at the home of the suspected shooter confirming that he was targeting ICE: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/24/dallas-ICE-shooting-fatalities/
...He is said to have acquired the rifle he used legally last month, and did not expect to survive the shooting: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/joshua-jahns-handwritten-notes-revealed-plan-of-terror-40600292/
...Journalist Ken Klippenstein believes the shooter was a product of a growing "irony bro" culture: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/the-ice-shooters-motive
Public Citizen has uncovered a "pay to play" scheme, under which big dollar donors to Governor Greg Abbott were awarded almost $1 billion in no-bid contracts over the last four years: https://www.citizen.org/news/public-citizen-report-abbott-donors-draw-nearly-1-billion-in-no-bid-state-contracts/
The Texas Latino vote will be crucial in next year's mid-term election - and Texas Republicans are planning huge spending in pursuit of those votes: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/elections/2025/09/25/531917/texas-gop-set-to-push-back-on-democratic-organization-efforts-by-targeting-hispanic-voters/
Christian Nationalist crusader David Barton has been appointed by the Texas State Board of Education as an expert advisor on new plans to refocus social studies curriculum towards U.S. history: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/24/texas-sboe-social-studies-standards-david-barton/
Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025event
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
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