AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court has dismissed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott’s request that it disallow mask mandates in Texas school districts — albeit on a technicality. The state Supreme Court’s order Thursday evening temporarily allows school districts to require face coverings because it leaves in place previous temporary restraining orders issued
Continue Reading By Dianne Gallagher, CNN Texas House Democrats’ historic quorum break unexpectedly ended Thursday evening when at least three new Democrats returned to the floor, paving the way for state Republicans to pass restrictive voting legislation. The surprise turn of events quickly led to public accusations of betrayal among Democrats, as the House now has the
Continue Reading By PAUL J. WEBER and ACACIA CORONADO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Some Democrats who left Texas to block a GOP voting bill have ended a 38-day holdout. Enough Democrats returned to the state Capitol on Thursday to allow the Texas House to resume work for the first time since mid-July. That’s when more
Continue Reading By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court in New Orleans has upheld a Texas law outlawing a commonly used second-trimester abortion procedure. A federal judge had blocked the ban on the procedure known as dilation and extraction. The 2017 law in question has never been enforced. It prohibits the
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WASHINGTON, DC — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott may soon be fighting a war on two fronts — with local officials and the federal government — to stave off mandatory Covid-19 prevention efforts after the Biden administration announced Wednesday it was going after states like Texas that try to ban universal masking at schools. Saying that
Continue Reading PARIS, Texas — A Texas school district is amending its dress code to require masks in hopes of sidestepping Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order banning mask mandates. The Paris Independent School District’s board of trustees voted to require masks as part of its dress code when classes begin Thursday. The district, which has about 3,800
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EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso Department of Public Health and the City Attorney’s Office held a media briefing Wednesday afternoon on the local face mask mandate as well as a court-issued restraining order that blocks Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s prohibition of the El Paso order. (You can watch it in the video player
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — A judge blocked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order forbidding mask mandates late Tuesday night, clearing the way for a new mask rule from El Paso’s City/County Health Authority to take effect at midnight. County Court at Law Judge Ruben Morales signed a temporary restraining order after ruling that Abbott exceeded
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UPDATE: EPISD’s board, with only one nay, voted 6-1 Tuesday night to impose a mask mandate for all teachers, staff and students in school facilities, effective Thursday, as well as take legal action against Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott over his ban on local school districts being able to implement such mask-wearing requirements. The vote came
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a staunch opponent of mask mandates, is infected with a “breakthrough” case of Covid-19, the governor’s office confirmed Tuesday. Officials said Abbott was isolating in the governor’s mansion following the positive test for Covid-19 earlier Tuesday; a statement indicated he was “currently experiencing no symptoms” and was “receiving
Continue Reading SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Tuesday that face masks will once again be required in all public indoor settings, with limited exceptions, and regardless of vaccination status. This new mandate will begin Friday and it comes as vaccination rates remain stagnant and infections increase. The state is also
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas House Democrats who refuse to show up to the state Capitol to prevent Republican lawmakers from passing a voting restrictions bill can be arrested and brought to the lower chamber, the Texas Supreme Court ruled late Tuesday. The all-Republican court sided with Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan — and ordered a Travis County district
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EL PASO, Texas — El Paso County’s population in the recently released 2020 census count was 865,657, an 8% increase over the prior census in 2010 that marked the county’s slowest period of growth since the Great Depression. The official population count will impact El Pasoans for the next decade because the numbers are used for
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court has blocked mask mandates ordered by two of the nation’s largest counties that defied Republican Gov. Greg Abbott as COVID-19 cases surge. The unsigned order by the state’s highest court Sunday halts mask requirements that county leaders in Dallas and San Antonio put in place as the
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EL PASO, Texas — A federal judge on Friday extended a temporary restraining order that blocks Texas from having state troopers stop vehicles carrying migrants on the grounds that they may spread Covid-19. The ruling came from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone of El Paso as part of a Biden administration lawsuit against Republican Gov.
Continue Reading BROWNSVILLE, Texas — The Biden administration is facing a “serious challenge” at the U.S.-Mexico border, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday, saying the U.S. has encountered an “unprecedented” number of migrants illegally crossing the border. During a news conference in south Texas, Mayorkas stressed the sharp increase of migrants arriving at the border, many of whom
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UPDATE: AUSTIN, Texas — Texas law enforcement was deputized Thursday to track down Texas House Democrats still missing from the chamber and bring them to the state Capitol in Austin, a process that Speaker Dade Phelan’s office said “will begin in earnest immediately.” The news came as the Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for their
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RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas — Six school districts in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley filed a lawsuit Thursday afternoon against Gov. Greg Abbott in the latest push back against his executive order banning mask mandates. The Wall Street Journal reports the suit contends that school districts have the authority to operate and issue regulations over their
Continue Reading By Dianne Gallagher, CNN The Texas state Senate passed Senate Bill 1, an election overhaul bill that would add new restrictions and criminal penalties to the voting process, Thursday morning on a 18-11 party line vote. The final vote was taken fewer than 20 minutes after a 15-hour filibuster of the bill from state Sen.
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AUSTIN, Texas — The GOP voting restrictions push that left the Texas House scrambling to round up absent Democrats also shut down work in the Texas Senate Wednesday evening as state Sen. Carol Alvarado launched into a filibuster against the GOP’s priority voting bill. “I rise today to speak against Senate Bill 1,” Alvarado said, beginning her filibuster just
Continue Reading Redistricting season officially kicks off with the release of detailed population data from the U.S. Census Bureau that will be used to redraw voting districts nationwide — potentially helping determine control of the U.S. House in the 2022 elections and providing an electoral edge for the next decade. The new data being released Thursday will
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton are asking Texas’ 5th Court of Appeals to block Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins’ newly issued mask mandate, they announced in a joint press release on Wednesday evening. The release said Jenkins’ mandate violates the governor’s executive order banning local officials from requiring residents to wear masks. It cited
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AUSTIN, Texas — Officers of the Texas House of Representatives delivered civil arrest warrants for more than 50 absent Democrats on Wednesday as frustrated Republicans ratcheted up efforts to end a standoff over a sweeping elections bill that stretched into its 31st day. But after sergeants-at-arms finished making the rounds inside the Texas Capitol —
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By Nicole Chavez, CNN Decades after Lupe Alemán was forced to repeat the first grade three times, her son is making it his life’s work to reverse racial inequity in schools. Enrique Alemán Jr., 50, has spent the past few years talking with numerous students in Texas and across the United States about how his
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan on Tuesday night signed civil arrest warrants for 52 House Democrats still missing from the state Capitol as he aimed to regain the quorum needed for the chamber to begin moving legislation during the second special session. The move was confirmed by Phelan spokesperson Enrique Marquez, who said the warrants
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By Keith Allen and Christina Maxouris, CNN Two Texas judges have issued restraining orders which will temporarily block the enforcement of Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest emergency order involving masks. The governor’s order, issued last month, included language that no governmental entity, including school districts, could require mask-wearing. On Monday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins asked
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AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday afternoon to authorize law enforcement to track down Democrats absent from the chamber and bring them back to the state Capitol, “under warrant of arrest, if necessary.” The 80-12 vote came hours after the Texas Supreme Court ordered that those missing Democrats, many of whom left the state
Continue Reading SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A Texas district judge granted the city of San Antonio and Bexar County a temporary restraining order, blocking Gov. Greg Abbott’s restriction on localities imposing mask mandates. On Tuesday, Judge Antonia Arteaga made the ruling following almost an hour of arguments from attorneys. Arteaga said she did not take her decision
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — House Democrats who refuse to show up for the state Legislature could soon be detained by law enforcement and brought back to the state Capitol, after the Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday voided a state district judge’s temporary restraining order barring their arrest. The all-Republican high court’s order came at the request
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WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Senate passed a rare bipartisan initiative Tuesday that would deploy at least $30 billion across the state to repair bridges, build roads and increase broadband internet access, without the support of either senator from Texas. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, with a $1.2 trillion price tag, had bipartisan support,
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