Progress Texas Podcasts

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Over the weekend, new details about the 2022 Robb Elementary mass shooting were revealed as the City of Uvalde released its records on the incident: https://www.propublica.org/article/uvalde-city-officials-release-school-shooting-records

...Meanwhile the demolition of the old church building in Sutherland Springs where our state's most deadly mass shooting occurred in 2017 began on Saturday: https://www.tpr.org/news/2024-08-10/demolition-begins-on-the-site-of-texas-deadliest-mass-shooting-as-divided-community-watches

Every Texan releases a new analysis of likely outcomes of Governor Abbott's requirement of Texas hospitals to report information about patients who cannot prove their citizenship: https://everytexan.org/2024/08/09/gov-abbotts-executive-order-will-increase-distrust-in-texas-health-systems-diminish-health-outcomes-and-harm-state-economy/

The Texas House of Representatives Committee on Public Education meets today to begin what's likely to be an all-out war over public school vouchers during next year's Legislative session: https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-politics/texas-house-committee-to-lay-ground-work-for-private-school-subsidy-legislation/

The State Fair of Texas in Dallas will no longer allow guns to be carried onto the fairgrounds as of this fall, following the lead of rodeos in San Antonio, Austin and Houston: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/texas-state-fair-guns-19630807.php

As Texas as a whole trends gradually blue, the Rio Grande Valley has been trending gradually red - can VP Harris halt that trend? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/10/election-latino-voters-texas-trump

...And could Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presence on the Texas ballot swing our state to Harris? https://www.chron.com/politics/article/robert-kennedy-texas-19630866.php

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

We were proud to be included in yesterday's celebration of the Texas Rangers' 2023 World Series victory with President Joe Biden at the White House: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/40784277/biden-hosts-world-series-champion-rangers-white-house

Governor Abbott has signed an executive order demanding information on undocumented people who seek medical care at Texas hospitals: https://abc13.com/post/texas-hospitals-ordered-inquire-patients-immigration-status/15162069/

An enormous scheduling backlog at Texas DPS's drivers license division is causing months-long appointment delays - and yet another obstacle to voting: https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/texas-dps-staffing-shortages-missed-appointments-massive-delays-getting-drivers-license/3616134/

Climate change is certain to continue pushing your insurance premiums skyward, as we're on track to set a new state record for natural disasters costing over $1 billion: https://www.lonestarlive.com/weather/2024/08/texas-on-track-for-record-breaking-year-of-billion-dollar-natural-disasters.html

Texas civil rights groups continue pushing state school districts to modify their student dress codes to accommodate the CROWN Act, with varying success: https://www.texasaft.org/profession/know-your-rights/texas-aclu-finds-dress-codes-of-51-school-districts-violate-crown-act/

State election officials ignore the objections of the Texas Democratic Party and evidence of petition malfeasance, declaring that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has qualified to be on the November ballot in Texas: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/08/kennedy-texas-ballot-signatures-election-2024/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Texas Trump types are throwing everything they can at Tim Walz - is any of it sticking? https://www.chron.com/politics/article/tim-walz-texas-communist-19625695.php

...Our Jackie Rogers compares Walz to his VP opponent, the eminently gross J.D. Vance: https://progresstexas.org/blog/everything-you-need-know-about-vp-candidates-tim-walz-and-jd-vance

After considering complicating matters, the Lockhart City Council has voted to put a simple, direct marijuana decrim measure on the November ballot as mandated by petition: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/marijuana-decriminalization-lockhart-texas-ballot-signatures-update/269-4c2bff54-c091-44fd-b95c-4bef066519c0

The lawsuit based upon the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act against the Trump Train drivers that dangerously harrassed a Biden/Harris campaign bus south of Austin in 2020 can proceed to trial: https://lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/kkk-act-lawsuit-over-trump-train-surrounding-of-biden-harris-bus-days-before-2020-election-just-got-one-step-closer-to-trial/

J.D. Vance wrote a violent foreward to a book on Project 2025 - the publication of which has been postponed until after the November election: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/us/politics/project-2025-book-jd-vance-delayed.html

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Texas progressive politicos are jazzed about the pick of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as Vice President Kamala Harris' pick as her running mate: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/texas-democrats-praise-harris-walz-presidential-ticket/

...Governor Abbott is somewhat less enthusiastic: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article290795974.html

...Petroleum polluting billionaires are alarmed by the Walz pick: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/tim-walz-oil-climate-harris-19622939.php

PT Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone reminds the U.S. Department of Energy that they're under no obligation to approve new LNG facilities: https://progresstexas.org/blog/hey-department-energy-environmental-justice-means-uplifting-frontline-communities

...While a federal court finds that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has fallen short in evaluating the negative environmental impacts of the energy projects it is evaluating: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/lng-rio-grande-texas-court-19623769.php

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

About 12 percent of Texas voters - over two million of us - are on an official "voter suspense list" due to uncertainty that our addresses match our voter registration: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/elections/2024/08/05/texas-voter-suspense-list-tops-21-million-heres-what-to-do-if-youre-on-it/

A Texas Ranger targeted for termination earlier this year due to failure to execute his job properly during the Uvalde school shooting has been reinstated: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/05/chris-kindell-uvalde-fired-reinstated-texas-ranger/

New all-time energy demand is expected by ERCOT as summer heat maxes out this week - will the lights and AC stay on? https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/texas-power-grid-energy-demand-19620604.php

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham seeks to draw medical care talent, laboring under threat of prosecution in Texas due to our reproductive care limits, to the less-oppressive environment of her state: https://www.lonestarlive.com/news/2024/08/new-mexico-invites-texas-medical-professionals-to-relocate-away-from-abortion-bans.html

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Everyone is focused on the Presidential race, for obvious reasons - and most Texans who take an even slightly broader view of the election might get as far as unseating Ted Cruz. There's a LOT more at play and at stake this November, and our ideological foes in the Republican Party are certainly engaged at the school board level - where control over the funding, educational policies and curriculum content of our public schools primarily lies. We have five terrific Democratic nominees for the Texas State Board of Education, and in this talk we get the views of two of them in regard to the task at hand. Rayna Glasser, running for SBOE District 11, and Morgan Kirkpatrick, in the race for SBOE District 15, share their common sense views on how Texas public schools need to change, and how to resist the GOP's assault on them via vouchers, encroaching religious content, and more.

Learn more about Morgan Kirkpatrick at https://morgankirkpatrickforsboe15.com/.

Learn more about Rayna Glasser at https://raynaforsboe11.com/.

Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our important work at https://progresstexas.org/.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Texas representatives of the Trump party have led the way in a misguided assault on Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, whom they have incorrectly characterized as transgender, and thus an example of "keeping men out of women's sports": https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/greg-abbott-texas-imane-khelif-19616272.php

...As usual, conservative politicians don't let pesky facts interfere with serving up cruelty for their voter base: https://www.expressnews.com/sports/article/olympic-boxing-story-cruelty-doesn-t-wait-facts-19617429.php

Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner jumps into a crowded race to both fill the rest of the late Congresswoman Shiela Jackson Lee's term, and for the term to follow, in the November 5 election: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/2024/08/02/495524/sylvester-turner-amanda-edwards-among-candidates-vying-for-sheila-jackson-lees-open-seat/

Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is not letting Donald Trump's disrespectful commentary at a Chicago gathering of Black journalists go just yet: https://thehill.com/homenews/race-politics/4809674-jasmine-crockett-kamala-harris-donald-trump-nabj-race-comments/

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

A three-year investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice reveals endemic and pervasive abuse against kids in the Texas juvenile justice system: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/texas-youth-lockups-beset-abuse-mistreatment-children-justice-112492737

A committee of UT Austin professors has determined that the university's leadership broke its own rules in the crackdown on pro-Palestinian protestors back in April: https://www.kut.org/education/2024-07-31/ut-austin-committee-of-counsel-on-academic-freedom-and-responsibility-report-pro-palestinian-protests

Investigative reporters at the Texas Observer have identified a group that attacked a family after a river trip in Martindale in June as members or supporters of the largest white supremacist hate group in the country: https://www.texasobserver.org/neo-nazi-martindale-arrest-gang/

Eddie Canales, a beloved advocate for migrants in South Texas, has died at 76: https://myfox8.com/news/border-report/longtime-south-texas-migrant-advocate-has-died/

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Vice President Harris continues spending precious campaign time in Texas - she will speak at U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's funeral today: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/harris-eulogize-longtime-us-rep-sheila-jackson-lee-112465451

...Harris responds from Texas to Donald Trump's ridiculous attacks on her racial heritage: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/07/31/kamala-harris-houston-sorority-speech/

An East Texas man has been arrested and charged with multiple crimes related to his storming of the U.S. Senate floor on January 6 2021 carrying at Trump "Rambo" flag: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/texas-man-who-carried-trump-rambo-flag-onto-floor-of-senate-charged-with-felony-misdemeanors-micheal-kieth-williams/65-2cc314b6-60a2-46b6-8308-f63287360d31

Key MAGA talking heads have started blaming each other for the Trump campaign's sudden collapse: https://www.mediamatters.org/project-2025/maga-figures-are-suddenly-afraid-trump-will-lose-and-pointing-fingers-each-other-over

A new environmental study shows that U.S. oil producers are releasing four times as much methane as federal regulators have estimated: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/texas-methane-oil-gas-climate-change-19609105.php

...While unregulated oilfield power lines appear to have sparked those massive wilddfires earlier this year in the Panhandle: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/01/texas-oil-electricity-power-lines-fires-panhandle/

...A petroleum and geology scientist at UT Austin breaks down how poil extraction processes are triggering earthquakes across Texas: https://www.kwtx.com/2024/07/31/degrees-science-science-behind-recent-texas-earthquakes/

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:

Texas progressives should continue to heed warnings issued by both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris from Texas stages lately about Project 2025, despite Donald Trump's distancing and the Heritage Foundation's claims that they're winding it down: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/30/project-2025-director-paul-dans-leaves-heritage-foundation/

...The planning phase is ending, but the preparations for implementation are full steam ahead: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/30/g-s1-14455/project-2025-trump-heritage

...Those planners feature a rogue's gallery of white supremacist activists, including one who was recently ousted from a position at UT Austin over his racist writing: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2024/07/29/project-2025-racist-writing/74567007007/

National GOP money and attention is pouring into the campaign of Mayra Flores - they see her run against incumbent Vicente Gonzalez as a likely flip: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/07/29/mayra-flores-young-gun-south-texas-hd-15/

A lawsuit brought by the Texas prisoner who inspired the movie "Bernie" over hot conditions in state prisons is being considered in an Austin courtroom: https://apnews.com/article/texas-prison-heat-temperature-air-conditioning-lawsuit-c5018d8d960f6ecb4c99367d444b8339

...A Texas Newsroom probe finds that several prisoners who have died in custody exhibited extraordinarily high body temperatures: https://www.kut.org/crime-justice/2024-07-29/investigation-texas-prison-heat-inmate-deaths-ac-autopsy-lawsuit

Another trial is underway in Galveston, that concerning a lawsuit against the parents of the 2018 Santa Fe High School mass shooter: https://apnews.com/article/school-shooting-texas-santa-fe-civil-trial-96e3cac9ef54c02fa9a6ddfaa32b1732

The deadline to register for the November election is October 7. Are you registered? Are you sure? ALL Texas voters should confirm their registration, right now: https://govotetexas.org/

See Progress Texas' analysis of Project 2025, and what it will mean for Texas should it be enacted: https://progresstexas.org/blog/project-2025-vs-progress-2025

...And a complete guide to Project 2025 from Media Matters: https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/guide-project-2025-extreme-right-wing-agenda-next-republican-administration

Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org.