CANUTILLO, Texas — Some Canutillo Independent School District parents demanded Monday evening that the school board pull a book from the high school library because of its explicit content. The book titled “Gender Queer: A Memoir” is a 239-page graphic novel depicting the author’s journey of gender identity and sexual orientation. But some Canutillo parents say the book does
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Former El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke officially announced on Monday that he’s running for governor of Texas. The Democrat released a two-minute long video on his Youtube channel to make the announcement. (You can watch it in the video player below.) “I’m running for governor,” he tweeted alongside the video announcement. “Together,
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By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The executive director of New Mexico’s spaceport says operations are ramping up at the desert outpost, and he needs the Legislature to allocate another $2 million in annual funding to keep momentum going. Scott McLaughlin testified before a legislative committee Monday. Without the funding, he
Continue Reading By Ella Nilsen, CNN President Joe Biden announced Monday a proposal for a 20-year ban on new oil and gas drilling near Chaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico — one of the oldest Native American sites in the US — White House officials said. In the coming weeks, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land
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by Danielle Prokop, El Paso MattersAUSTIN, Texas — Texans could see higher fees on their natural gas bills as early as next month, an effort to reimburse nine utilities for costs incurred during Winter Storm Uri in February.The three-member Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, signed off on a settlement
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AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting mask mandates in schools violates the Americans with Disabilities Act — freeing local officials to again create their own rules. The order comes after a monthslong legal dispute between parents, a disability rights organization and Texas officials over whether the state was violating
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UPDATE, Nov. 9: El Paso City Council met Tuesday to once again discuss whether seek to obtain an updated cost estimate for the proposed downtown arena project. A pair of items were voted on following a lengthy executive session by council that ran several hours. Council voted unanimously not only to seek estimates for the
Continue Reading By Nicole Chavez, CNN Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has directed state education officials to create new standards that would keep “pornography” and “obscene” content out of public schools after Republican lawmakers have recently targeted LGBTQ books. In a letter sent Monday, Abbott urged leadership at the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Texas State Library and Archives
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Analysis by Chris Cillizza WASHINGTON, DC — The Covid-19 vaccine debate is getting weird. On Twitter, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz accused Big Bird of pushing “Government propaganda…for your 5 year old!” after the Muppet tweeted about getting the shot in his wing. It’s hard to imagine how we all missed it. After all, an
Continue Reading By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A lawsuit over new voting laws in Texas is bringing the state into court once again with the Biden administration. The Justice Department has previously sued Texas over immigration enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border and a law that has banned most abortions in the state
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AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott has a comfortable lead over potential Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, according to a new poll from the University of Texas at Austin and The Texas Tribune. The survey of registered voters found Abbott with a 9-percentage-point advantage over O’Rourke, 46% to 37%. Seven percent of respondents picked someone else in the
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Justice Department is suing Texas over new voting restrictions that the federal government says will disenfranchise eligible voters and violate federal voting rights law. The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in San Antonio challenges the law known as SB1 passed earlier this year to overhaul election procedures in the state. The
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TRENTON, New Jersey — New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has won re-election over Republican Jack Ciattarelli. Murphy eked out a victory that spared Democrats the loss of a second gubernatorial seat. He’s the state’s first Democratic governor to get a second straight term in 44 years. Murphy defeated Ciattarelli, a former Assembly member. Ciattarelli
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AUSTN, Texas — After vetoing a similar measure over the summer, Gov. Greg Abbott at October’s end signed into law a bill that makes the unlawful restraint of a dog a crime in Texas. The bill, which passed during the Legislature’s third special session of the year, will take effect on Jan. 18, 2022. Animal advocates
Continue Reading By ELLIOT SPAGAT and VALERIE GONZALEZ Associated Press and AIM Media Texas McALLEN, Texas (AP) — President Joe Biden recognized migration flows would spike if he scrapped his predecessor’s hardline border policies without a new asylum system in place. He was prepared for traffic to return to highs of 2019, but arrivals exceeded expectations almost
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By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and MORGAN LEE Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Voters rallied behind incumbent progressive mayors of New Mexico’s largest city and state capital in local elections Tuesday, rejecting challenges from the more conservative wing of the Democratic Party. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller claimed victory in a speech to supporters, saying voters
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UPDATE, Nov. 3: Uncertified election returns early Wednesday showed voters overwhelmingly rejected a controversial $50 million bond measure that would’ve helped pay for a new stadium in Albuquerque, with nearly 66% voting no. New Mexico United for All — a political action committee bankrolled by the New Mexico United soccer team — had been the
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RICHMOND, Virginia — Businessman Glenn Youngkin will become Virginia’s next governor, ABC News and the Associated Press projected, after a fierce battle in the most closely watched contest in an off-year election. He’s the first Republican to win statewide office there since 2009. Youngkin defeated Democratic candidate and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe. With about 95%
Continue Reading MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Minneapolis voters have rejected a proposal to replace the city’s police department with a new Department of Public Safety — an idea that arose from the May 2020 death of George Floyd. The initiative would have changed the city charter to remove a requirement that the city have a police department with
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EL PASO, Texas — The Nov. 2 uniform election takes place Tuesday.It’s an off-year for many political offices, but voters will be asked to weigh in on eight Texas statewide ballot measures. Some El Paso County residents will also be able to select their next city of Socorro representative or decide whether to support Canutillo
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EL PASO, Texas — State Rep. Claudia Ordaz Perez announced Monday evening that she is challenging a fellow El Paso Democrat, Art Fierro, instead of running for re-election against Rep. Lina Ortega, another El Pasoan who she was pitted against in redistricting. Under the map that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law last week, Ordaz Perez is drawn into House District 77, the
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — If Beto O’Rourke decides to run for Texas governor in 2022, a new poll shows the former El Paso congressman is within the margin of error and virtually tied with incumbent Greg Abbott, ABC affiliate WFAA reported Monday. Abbott currently leads with 44% of support to O’Rourke’s 43%, among voters who actually
Continue Reading (Editor’s note: You can listen to the entire oral arguments in this case in the video player above.) WASHINGTON, DC — A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court signaled Monday they would allow abortion providers to pursue a court challenge to a Texas law that has virtually ended abortion in the nation’s second-largest state after six weeks
Continue Reading By MARK SHERMAN and JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of the Supreme Court are signaling that they would allow abortion providers to pursue a court challenge to a Texas law that has virtually ended abortion in the nation’s second-largest state after six weeks of pregnancy. But it was unclear Monday how
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SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) — An updated federal lawsuit alleges that police officials in San Marcos, Texas, refused to provide an escort for a Joe Biden campaign bus when it was surrounded by supporters of then-President Donald Trump on an interstate in October 2020. The updated lawsuit, filed Friday, included transcribed 911 audio recordings. The
Continue Reading By Amy Simonson, Rebekah Riess and Katelyn Polantz, CNN Texas on Friday filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its Covid-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors, calling it unconstitutional. The move followed an announcement hours earlier from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office that a 10-state coalition had filed its own lawsuit against the administration
Continue Reading By Ben Church, CNN The NAACP sent an open letter to five players’ unions on Thursday, urging their athletes not to sign with teams in Texas. “Over the past few months, legislators in Texas have passed archaic policies, disguised as laws, that directly violate privacy rights and a woman’s freedom to choose, restrict access to
Continue Reading By Nicole Chavez, CNN A Texas Republican lawmaker has launched an inquiry to identify books at public school libraries and classrooms on the subjects of race or sex that might “make students feel discomfort.” State Rep. Matt Krause, a Republican who is chair of the Texas House Committee on General Investigating, sent a letter on
Continue Reading By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter The Supreme Court received a flood of legal briefs Wednesday concerning Texas’ six-week abortion ban, which has rendered Roe v. Wade a dead letter in the country’s second largest state, in advance of next week’s oral arguments. The filings come after the court agreed last week to
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