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Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
In an amazingly classless punching-down display, both Governor Abbott and Elon Musk have celebrated the firing of a Texas Real Estate Commission employee who refused to remove his pronounce from his work email signature: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/06/musk-greg-abbott-fired-worker-pronouns
Meanwhile, Tesla has been fined about $50 thousand for allowing the workplace conditions that killed a Pleasanton electrician last summer - the company earns that amount of money in about three minutes: https://www.kut.org/transportation/2025-03-06/elon-musk-tesla-gigafactory-worker-death-osha-fine-fines-austin-texas
The pastor of the Mercy Culture megachurch in Fort Worth and State Rep. Nate Schatzline both take to socials to celebrate the preparatory academy that church runs having an MMR vaccination rate of under 15% - the lowest of any school in Texas: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/faith/2025/03/06/fort-worths-mercy-culture-celebrates-school-with-lowest-measles-vaccination-rate-in-texas/
...While U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tells the Fox News audience to take a concoction of steroids, antibiotics and cod liver oil to ward off measles: https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/06/health/kennedy-measles-texas-doctor-treatment?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo
Thanks to all who donated to Progress Texas during this year's Amplify Austin Day fundraiser! We can't do what we do without you: https://www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/progress-texas-institute
The merch to match your progressive values awaits at our web store! Goodies at https://store.progresstexas.org/.
We're loving the troll-free environment at BlueSky! Follow us there at https://bsky.app/profile/progresstexas.bsky.social.
Thanks for listening! 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:
Houston U.S. Congressman, just two months into his first term succeeding the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, has died in office at 70: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/05/sylvester-turner-texas-houston-dies/
...Until Governor Greg Abbott calls a special election to replace Turner, House Democrats are down a vote - the margin is now 218-214: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rep-sylvester-turner-texas-democrat-houston-mayor-dies-70-rcna194875
Fellow Houston Congressman Al Green is defiant in the face of a likely censure vote in the U.S. House today over his protest at Donald Trump's Tuesday night speech: https://apnews.com/article/house-censure-green-trump-joint-address-61d82026983c99a269209bbeb32b45a5
A new Republican bill filed in the Texas House would literally outlaw the act of being transgender: https://www.salon.com/2025/03/05/identity-fraud-proposed-texas-state-law-would-make-identifying-as-transgender-a-felony/
...The bathroom bill is back too, and worse than it ever was: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/05/texas-house-bathroom-bill-transgender/
...While an employee of the Texas Real Estate Commission has been fired for refusing to remove his pronouns from his email signature: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/state/2025/03/05/texas-agency-orders-remove-pronouns-fires-employee-who-refused/80020922007/
This year's Amplify Austin Day is happening NOW, through 6pm on Thursday March 6! A small donation goes a long way towards keeping this podcast coming every morning, and we'd appreciate the support: https://www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/progress-texas-institute
The merch to match your progressive values awaits at our web store! Goodies at https://store.progresstexas.org/.
We're loving the troll-free environment at BlueSky! Follow us there at https://bsky.app/profile/progresstexas.bsky.social.
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following at Progress Texas:
Huge shoutout to Houston Congressman Al Green, who defied Donald Trump to his face before being ejected from last night's speech before Congress: https://www.chron.com/politics/article/texas-al-green-removed-trump-address-20203096.php
...Unfortunately, much of the rest of the Democratic response while Trump trolled and insulted them was anemic at best: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/05/democrats-reaction-trump-address
Austin Rep. Greg Casar has been active in his opposition to Elon Musk - opposition that dates back to his days on the Austin City Council: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/05/greg-casar-elon-musk-texas-clash-dc/
The Texas Progressive Caucus has endorsed Texas Democratic Party Vice Chair for Finance and Dallas Central Appraisal District board member Kendall Scudder to succeed Gilberto Hinojosa as the next Chair of the state party: https://www.texasprogressivecaucus.org/
This year's Amplify Austin Day starts TONIGHT, Wednesday March 5 at 6pm, and continues through the same hour on Thursday March 6! A small donation goes a long way towards keeping this podcast coming every morning, and we'd appreciate the support: https://www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/progress-texas-institute
The merch to match your progressive values awaits at our web store! Goodies at https://store.progresstexas.org/.
We're loving the troll-free environment at BlueSky! Follow us there at https://bsky.app/profile/progresstexas.bsky.social.
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Progress Texas Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone had an opportunity to sit down at the Capitol with Representative Terry Meza, who has represented her native Irving area in North Texas since first winning election in 2018. We discussed the continuing fight for reproductive justice in Texas, the looming fight over private school vouchers, the inexplicable failure of our state to accept Medicaid expansion, reform concerning the overuse of solitary confinement in our prisons, the uphill process that Democratic lawmakers face when trying to properly represent their constituents, and more.
Learn more about State Rep. Terry Meza at https://terrymeza.com/.
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:
25% Trump tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada are in place as of midnight: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/trumps-new-tariffs-begin-tuesday/
...The auto industry, much of which is headquartered in Texas, stands to take a huge hit: https://www.wfaa.com/article/money/trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-impact-texas-car-manufacturers-dealers/287-7c06c2ed-84ad-4554-833f-323eefac4e87
...Food prices, and thus restaurant prices, are also likely to be impacted: https://wreg.com/news/nation-and-world/ap-us-news/ap-prices-rose-along-border-ahead-of-trumps-tariffs-now-disruption-looms/
Lower-income Texas families are likely to come up short with Republican private school voucher plans, even as those lawmakers claim it will benefit them: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/04/texas-school-vouchers-low-income-students/
The West Texas measles outbreak, making headlines around the world, has not significantly changed minds in that part of the state in regard to vaccine skepticism: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/04/west-texas-measles-outbreak-mennonite-seminole/
A sharp op-ed points out what should be obvious - GOP complaints about undocumented immigrants almost never include the employers who drew them to Texas to exploit them for cheap labor: https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/commentary/article/illegal-immigrant-employers-20194811.php
This year's Amplify Austin Day starts tomorrow, Wednesday March 5 and continues through Thursday March 6! A small donation goes a long way towards keeping this podcast coming every morning, and we'd appreciate the support: https://www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/progress-texas-institute
The merch to match your progressive values awaits at our web store! Goodies at https://store.progresstexas.org/.
We're loving the troll-free environment at BlueSky! Follow us there at https://bsky.app/profile/progresstexas.bsky.social.
Thanks for listening! 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:
Surprised at a tsunami of boos and jeers, Republican State Reps Cody Harris and Brad Buckley fled the stage of a town hall they tried to hold in Palestine: https://www.kltv.com/2025/03/01/school-voucher-town-hall-palestine-ends-with-state-representatives-booed-off-stage/
...Meanwhile the small-town Plainview ISD is speaking up against vouchers in their declaration of legislative priorities to the Texas Association of School Boards: https://www.myplainview.com/news/education/article/plainview-isd-voices-dissent-school-voucher-20175376.php
The West Texas measles outbreak has reached 146 cases: https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/02/health/measles-rfk-vaccines/index.html
...A case that has popped up in Austin appears unconnected, but even liberal Austin has an insufficient vaccine rate among its kindergarteners: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/health/austin-measles-case-texas-outbreak/269-8f5103b2-4718-4b35-afee-358594df7649
...In comparison though, several parochial schools across the state have far, far lower vaccination rates, as low as 15%: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2025/03/03/map-these-texas-schools-have-low-measles-vaccination-rates/
...Not only RFK Jr, but other federal health entities have so far demonstrated anemic responses to the outbreak: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/health/measles-vaccination-texas-kennedy.html
...Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is trying to change the subject with a silly argument to rename New York strip steaks after Texas: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/texas-new-york-strip-steak-dan-patrick
Elon Musk's targeting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is bad news for Texas, and the Y'all-itics podcast has taken a deep dive on why: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/yall-itics/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-elon-musk-texas/287-74d2c5cf-ad59-4b22-a57a-f0638404c545
...Meanwhile, as tempting as it might be, it's not Texas friendly to vandalize your neighbor's Tesla: https://www.chron.com/culture/article/tesla-buyers-remorse-vandalism-cheese-20189380.php
This year's Amplify Austin Day is this week, starting Wednesday March 5 and continuing through Thursday March 6! A small donation goes a long way towards keeping this podcast coming every morning, and we'd appreciate the support: https://www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/progress-texas-institute
The merch to match your progressive values awaits at our web store! Goodies at https://store.progresstexas.org/.
We're loving the troll-free environment at BlueSky! Follow us there at https://bsky.app/profile/progresstexas.bsky.social.
Thanks for listening! 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:
Republican officials from Governor Abbott on down have been generally silent when it comes to recommending vaccinations for their constituents in the midst of the biggest outbreak of measles in Texas in three decades: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/28/texas-measles-abbott-lawmakers-response/
...The Mennonite community of Gaines County has become a scapegoat in the outbreak, but their doctrine does not specifically forbid vaccines - the issue is science denial, not religion: https://www.chron.com/culture/religion/article/mennonites-measles-west-texas-20189910.php
...Much closer to the real cause is widespread for-profit anti-vax misinformation along the lines of that peddled for years by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - now part of a Trump administration that has canceled this year's FDA meeting on flu vaccines: https://truthout.org/articles/rfk-downplays-texas-measles-outbreak-after-first-us-death-in-10-years/
Massive and haphazard federal layoffs have resulted in a severe decline in service at our national parks, including Big Bend: https://www.chron.com/life/wildlife/article/texas-parks-lines-layoffs-20184426.php
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, known for his fondness for cupcakes, raw milk and "Jesus shots", is now railing against fluoride in public drinking water: https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/editorial/article/sid-miller-water-fluoride-ban-texas-20191495.php
Freshman GOP State Rep. Brent Money of East Texas has filed a bill calling for the repealing of no-fault divorce in Texas: https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/tx/89/bills/TXB00076560/
...He's also calling for the current ban on gender-affirming care for minors to be expanded into a full ban for everyone: https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/tx/89/bills/TXB00076559/
...While D/FW State Senator Phil King has introduced a bill that would require Texas law enforcement agencies to conceal records regarding police officer discipline from the public: https://www.kut.org/crime-justice/2025-02-24/austin-police-department-misconduct-oversight-texas-legislature
This year's Amplify Austin Day begins on the evening of Wednesday March 5 and continues through the evening of Thursday March 6! Help Progress Texas continue our important work here: https://www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/progress-texas-institute
We celebrate Black History Month throughout February! See a great essay on this year's celebration, happening amidst so much turmoil, and a listing of related events happening across Texas: https://progresstexas.org/blog/black-history-month-2025-celebrating-texas-culture
...Check out a terrific essay for Black History Month by Progress Texas Institute Board Chair Louis Bedford: https://progresstexas.org/blog/trickle-down-diversity-doesn%E2%80%99t-work
The merch to match your progressive values awaits at our web store! Goodies at https://store.progresstexas.org/.
We're loving the troll-free environment at BlueSky! Follow us there at https://bsky.app/profile/progresstexas.bsky.social.
Thanks for listening! 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:
A child died Tuesday night of measles at a Lubbock hospital - the first American measles death since 2015: https://apnews.com/article/measles-outbreak-west-texas-death-rfk-41adc66641e4a56ce2b2677480031ab9
...New Trump administration U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to downplay the Texas outbreak, falsely claiming that most hospitalizations are simply for quarantine purposes: https://newrepublic.com/post/192025/robert-f-kennedy-jr-response-measles-death
...Texas Republican leaders are now forced to try to counter the anti-vax sentiments they've allowed to develop in Texas as they send out teams to contain the outbreak: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/texas-measles-death-outbreak-20189434.php
A rare unanimous vote in the Texas Senate as priority school funding passes, including raises for teachers but not an increase in the basic allotment for schools, which has not risen since 2019 despite inflation: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/18/texas-senate-teacher-pay/
...A clear prioritization of raises for rural Texas teachers over their urban counterparts may be a strategy to soften the blow that small town schools are likely to suffer as private school vouchers get closer to passing: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/26/texas-house-vouchers-republican-cosponsors/
...Proposed budgets from both the Senate and House include massive funding cuts for Texas universities, a clear threat for those institutions to do away with anything remotely resembling DEI: https://www.click2houston.com/news/texas/2025/02/27/texas-legislature-proposes-400-million-cut-to-higher-ed-as-dan-patrick-threatens-university-budgets-over-dei/
A legal complaint against a Dallas-based assistant chief counsel for ICE has been filed, using a Texas Observer report that he's the author of a virulent racist social media account as its basis: https://www.theroot.com/this-texas-ice-attorney-allegedly-tweeted-america-is-a-1851766609
We celebrate Black History Month throughout February! See a great essay on this year's celebration, happening amidst so much turmoil, and a listing of related events happening across Texas: https://progresstexas.org/blog/black-history-month-2025-celebrating-texas-culture
...Check out a terrific essay for Black History Month by Progress Texas Institute Board Chair Louis Bedford: https://progresstexas.org/blog/trickle-down-diversity-doesn%E2%80%99t-work
The merch to match your progressive values awaits at our web store! Goodies at https://store.progresstexas.org/.
We're loving the troll-free environment at BlueSky! Follow us there at https://bsky.app/profile/progresstexas.bsky.social.
Thanks for listening! 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:
Anti-vax "experts" are blaming the Texas measles outbreak on the measles outbreak itself - and are theorizing that the outbreak was engineered as an attack on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/texas-measles-outbreak-anti-vaccine-advocates-blame-shot-rcna193478
...The case count is now up to 128, with cases popping up 250 miles from the Gaines County epicenter: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/18/texas-measles-outbreak-climbs/
...The Republican mayor of Brownfield, Texas - in Terry County which has seen 21 measles cases so far - bravely attests that he believes in vaccines: https://apnews.com/article/measles-texas-new-mexico-mmr-outbreak-vaccines-408371700e3ab548777bf0354e586549
...The Texas measles outbreak is rightly seen as the first major public health response failure of the second Trump administration: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/texas-measles-outbreak-vaccine-trump-100-newsletter-rcna193543
Massive federal budget cuts proposed by Congressional Republicans will likely impact Medicaid - which would certainly impact thousands of Texas children: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2025/02/26/texas-children-will-be-in-danger-with-medicaid-proposed-cuts/
...Even as things are now, Texas is dead last in the U.S. for health care coverage for kids: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/26/texas-children-chip-medicaid-uninsured/
Governor Abbott issues full-throated condemnation of a proposed Muslim residential development in northeast Texas: https://www.audacy.com/krld/news/local/planned-muslim-community-near-dallas
Governor Abbott apparently has no plans to ramp down the billions it's spending on Operation Lone Star, even as federal border enforcement ramps up: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/greg-abbott-border-spending-trump-20187542.php
Civil rights groups are demanding that the Fort Worth Police Department return photos by a world-renowned artist that it confiscated from an exhibit at the Modern Art Museum: https://www.chron.com/culture/arts/article/museum-fort-worth-mann-photos-20181456.php
San Angelo Rep. August Pfluger has been fundraising on the idea that Donald Trump should serve a third term as President: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/25/pfluger-texas-fundraising-trump-third-term/
We celebrate Black History Month throughout February! See a great essay on this year's celebration, happening amidst so much turmoil, and a listing of related events happening across Texas: https://progresstexas.org/blog/black-history-month-2025-celebrating-texas-culture
...Check out a terrific essay for Black History Month by Progress Texas Institute Board Chair Louis Bedford: https://progresstexas.org/blog/trickle-down-diversity-doesn%E2%80%99t-work
The merch to match your progressive values awaits at our web store! Goodies at https://store.progresstexas.org/.
We're loving the troll-free environment at BlueSky! Follow us there at https://bsky.app/profile/progresstexas.bsky.social.
Thanks for listening! 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:
A lawsuit filed by the state in an attempt to escape enforcing a new law protecting workers in the process of pregnancy and maternity threatens a broader undermining of Congressional authority: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/texas-pregnant-workers-fairness-constitutional-chaos.html
Doctors as far north as Chicago are warily eyeing the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-doctor-concerned-texas-measles-outbreak/
...Austin Public Health officials are renewing their call for everyone to be sure they're protected via vaccination: https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/austin-public-health-encourages-everybody-to-get-measles-vaccination
...Anyone who has contracted measles from the contagious person from Gaines County who visited San Antonio, New Braunfels and San Marcos over Valentine's weekend would likely be showing symptoms (and would be contagious themselves) between yesterday and March 2: https://www.cdc.gov/measles/hcp/communication-resources/clinical-diagnosis-fact-sheet.html#:~:text=The%20incubation%20period%20is%20typically,4%20days%20after%20rash%20onset.
...Measles can also cause "immune amnesia", which leaves the patient more vulnerable to all other pathogens: https://asm.org/articles/2019/may/measles-and-immune-amnesia
Governor Abbott announces that Colony Ridge, the Houston-area community long demonized as a criminal immigrant hotbed by Texas Republicans over the objections of local law enforcement, "is being targeted" by ICE: https://www.tpr.org/border-immigration/2025-02-24/texas-gov-greg-abbott-says-colony-ridge-community-target-of-immigration-enforcement
Houston GOP Congressman Dan Crenshaw has been caught on camera trashing right wing talking head Tucker Carlson, who has invited Crenshaw to come on his show to continue the spat: https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/02/24/rep-dan-crenshaw-kill-tucker-carlson-x/
Dairy Queen locations in 25 small Texas towns have shut down after a conflict between their Texas franchisee and the parent company over the failure of the franchisee to modernize those restaurants: https://www.ketk.com/news/local-news/the-court-battle-behind-25-texas-dairy-queen-closures-revealed/
We celebrate Black History Month throughout February! See a great essay on this year's celebration, happening amidst so much turmoil, and a listing of related events happening across Texas: https://progresstexas.org/blog/black-history-month-2025-celebrating-texas-culture
...Check out a terrific essay for Black History Month by Progress Texas Institute Board Chair Louis Bedford: https://progresstexas.org/blog/trickle-down-diversity-doesn%E2%80%99t-work
The merch to match your progressive values awaits at our web store! Goodies at https://store.progresstexas.org/.
We're loving the troll-free environment at BlueSky! Follow us there at https://bsky.app/profile/progresstexas.bsky.social.
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
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