ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Authorities are investigating longtime New Mexico legislator Sheryl Williams Stapleton’s possibly illegal connections to a company that received more than $5 million in contracts to do business with the school district where she works and whether she got financial kickbacks. Authorities executed search warrants at the Albuquerque Public Schools offices and
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AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas National Guard deployment along the U.S.-Mexico border will start helping troopers make arrests, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday, as the state begins filling a formerly empty prison with migrants accused of trespassing. Abbott said the Guard would “assist” troopers with arresting migrants on state charges but offered no details
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ARLINGTON, Texas — Republican Jake Ellzey of Texas won a U.S. House seat on Tuesday night over rival backed by Donald Trump, dealing the former president a defeat in a test of his endorsement power since leaving office. Ellzey’s come-from-behind victory over Republican Susan Wright, the widow of the late Rep. Ron Wright, in a
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By Jamie Gangel and Chandelis Duster, CNN Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his bid for re-election, snubbing George P. Bush despite his firm support after Trump has belittled some members of the Bush family. “Ken is strong on Crime, Border Security, the Second Amendment, Election Integrity and, above
Continue Reading By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN US Customs and Border Protection is terminating two border wall contracts in the Laredo sector that cover approximately 31 miles, the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday. In one of his first actions in office, President Joe Biden ordered a pause on wall construction and called for a review of projects
Continue Reading By Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN For Texas State Rep. Jasmine Crockett, holding public office was not a goal she ever set. Neither was becoming a civil rights attorney. But after being the victim of racist hate mail while attending undergrad at Rhodes College and watching Black people face inequalities in the criminal justice system, both
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HOUSTON, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he will not impose another statewide mask mandate, despite Covid-19 cases being on the rise again. “There will be no mask mandate imposed, and the reasons for that are very clear,” Abbott told KPRC-TV in Houston during an interview. “There are so many people who have immunities to Covid, whether it
Continue Reading By Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette, CNN An extraordinary effort by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to block nominees from being confirmed to vital jobs in the State Department is creating hurdles for the Biden administration and hindering US diplomacy, according to Democrats and Republicans who spoke to CNN. The Biden administration — with
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DEL RIO, Texas — Fox News is giving an inside look at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s promised U.S.-Mexico border wall, which is actually a chain-link fence. In a tweet on Tuesday, a Fox News correspondent shared photos of it and wrote: “We were given access to the beginning construction of Gov. Abbott’s promised Texas border
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers who hightailed it to the nation’s capital in a faceoff over voting rights said Tuesday that they were pressing on with their mission to get Democrats in Washington, D.C., to bolster their cause, even as Covid-19 spreads through their ranks. Six of the more than 50 Texas state representatives who
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — A New Mexico lawmaker from Las Cruces says he was denied Communion by his local Catholic priest because of his politics. Democratic state Sen. Joseph Cervantes said that he has been treated differently by the church since voting to repeal a state law banning abortion under most circumstances. Cervantes’ statement came after
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, D.C.– One additional Texas House Democrat has now tested positive for Covid-19 while in the nation’s capital. Nearly 60 lawmakers are in Washington after fleeing the state to break quorum in the Texas House, in an effort to block GOP-backed election reform bills in the special legislative session. Most of those representatives are staying
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday he was preparing to take action to restrict transition-related medical care for transgender children in Texas after legislation to do so failed during the regular session. “I have another way of achieving the exact same thing, and it’s about a finished product as we speak right now and may
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — A group of about a half dozen Las Cruces residents refused to show their vaccine cards or wear their masks at the first in-person city council meeting in fifteen months. “When you find out that someone is unvaccinated, you cannot make the assumption that they are unsafe,” said Tracy Hollister,
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Five Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives who traveled to Washington D.C. last week have now tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Texas House Democratic Caucus on Sunday evening. The five lawmakers are among House Democrats who fled to D.C. to stave off GOP priority voting bills during the special
Continue Reading By Rachel Janfaza, CNN Three Texas state House Democrats who traveled to Washington, DC, this week have tested positive for Covid-19, The Texas House Democratic Caucus said in a statement Saturday. The lawmakers are part of the group that left Texas, flying from Austin to Washington to break the state House’s quorum and block Republicans
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — The mayor of Las Cruces has issued an emergency proclamation, saying the city remains in a public health emergency. Mayor Ken Miyagishima’s proclamation takes effect Saturday at noon and will last for 72 hours. The City Council could choose to extend it when they meet Monday. Under the order, the
Continue Reading HOUSTON, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Friday ruled that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program shielding certain undocumented immigrants from deportation, is illegal and blocked new applicants. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled in favor of Texas and eight other conservative states that had sued to halt DACA, which provides
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WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden is nominating former New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall to serve as his ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. Udall, a Democrat, retired in 2021 after two terms in the Senate representing New Mexico. He spent five terms in the House and served as New Mexico’s attorney general. He comes
Continue Reading By Paul LeBlanc, CNN Texas Democrats’ dramatic trip to Washington, DC, this week stemmed from uniform opposition to two voting bills being pushed by state GOP lawmakers: Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3. Even as some controversial provisions in earlier legislation have been dropped, either bill would still bring a raft of new voting
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a key vote in the effort to pass federal voting rights legislation, on Thursday said he and a group of Texas House Democrats including El Paso’s Joe Moody, who have fled their state in an effort to block restrictive voting bills, have come to a “total agreement” on
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WASHINGTON, DC — As Texas House Democrats settle in for a potentially weekslong stay in the nation’s capital, one question is becoming increasingly relevant: Who’s footing the bill? The House Democratic caucus paid for the two private jets that flew members to Washington, D.C., on Monday, according to the caucus’ executive director, Phillip Martin, who did
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AUSTIN, Texas — El Paso Democrat Joe Moody was stripped of his position as speaker pro tem of the Texas House on Thursday in the first major backlash for a Democrat who left the chamber to prevent a vote on a GOP priority elections bill. House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, announced the removal of Moody as
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — A federal freeze on most evictions enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31, after the Biden administration extended the date by a month. The moratorium, put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, was the only tool keeping millions of tenants in their
Continue Reading DALLAS, Texas — A federal freeze on most evictions that was enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31, after the Biden administration extended the date by a month. The moratorium, put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, has been the only tool keeping millions of tenants in
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WASHINGTON, DC — Democratic state lawmakers from Texas said Wednesday that they are on Capitol Hill to drum up support for federal voting rights legislation amid a boycott of a special session to pass a bill with restrictive elections measures back at home. State legislators also said they don’t plan to travel back to the
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WASHINGTON, DC — Republican U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas joined a group of several of other GOP senators on Wednesday in blasting the Biden Administration’s handling of public health at the U.S.-Mexico border. Their news conference came amid word that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue an
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AUSTIN, Texas — As Democrats fled the state to avoid voting on a GOP priority elections bill that would restrict voting rights in the state, the Texas Senate approved the bill Tuesday with a party-line vote of 18-4. The Senate passed the controversial elections bill — and bail legislation — a day after 51 House
Continue Reading PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — President Joe Biden declared that preserving voting rights is “a test of our time” Tuesday as Texas Democrats took dramatic action to stymie their state’s latest effort in a nationwide Republican push to tighten ballot restrictions. Biden, who has proclaimed protecting ballot access the central cause of his presidency, has faced sharp
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AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House voted Tuesday morning to send law enforcement to track down Democrats who left the state a day earlier in protest of Republicans’ priority elections bill “under warrant of arrest if necessary.” More than 50 state House Democrats left Monday for Washington, D.C., to deny the chamber a quorum as
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