Hinojosa has been vocal in her opposition to school choice legislation and bills aimed at protecting children from sexually explicit materials in school libraries. view article

A majority of the proposed constitutional amendments address tax cuts for homeowners and businesses. view article

The State Department has revoked the visas of six foreigners after they publicly celebrated the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.  “The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the State Department posted on X on Oct. 14. “The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk.”  The names of those who lost their visas were withheld, but their redacted social media posts were published by the department. view article

Just under one-third of all Texas school districts have ordered the controversial Bible-infused Bluebonnet materials, according to the Texas Education Agency. Twenty of those 367 districts are in the Houston area, and 30 more are in the Huntsville and Beaumont area, although the majority of the districts that ordered the materials are located in the Tyler area, with 35 districts in that area opting in. Amarillo and Victoria were next after Kilgore.  view article

State Rep. Brian Harrison has been on a crusade against Texas universities, scouring course catalogs and university websites for examples of “gender ideology” or LGBTQ+ curriculum, and riling up his X followers about “liberal indoctrination” on campuses.  few days after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, a video was posted on social media of a Texas State University student mockingly re-enacting the conservative activist’s death.  Rep. Brian Harrison saw the video and got to work.  He pulled up the university’s online course catalog and found a class called LGBTQ+ Communication Studies, where students were to learn about how “communication sustains both discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and their resistance,” according to the course description.  Within the hour, Harrison shared the video of the student on his X account alongside the image of the offending course description. view article

With more than $9 million in cash on hand, Las Vegas Sands has become a big spender in Texas politics.   As voters prepare to select a new state senator for Texas Senate District 9, one candidate is receiving a flood of support from the casino industry.  Former Southlake Mayor John Huffman reported a $500,000 contribution from the Texas Sands PAC, the political arm of Las Vegas Sands, in the latest campaign finance report covering the period through September 25.   The casino lobby has also funded advertising through the Texas Defense PAC, a committee wholly funded by Sands. view article

With online sports betting proliferating among young people, scientific literature reports that those who engage in internet gambling have the highest risk of developing a gambling disorder.   he four declared GOP candidates for attorney general—Mayes Middleton, Aaron Reitz, Joan Huffman, and Chip Roy view article

The University of Texas at Austin is preparing to host a teaching seminar that will train faculty members to instruct students on the horrors of communism.  UT-Austin’s School for Civic Leadership partnered with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to host “Teaching the Twentieth Century: Communism and Dissent.” The event is scheduled for October 16 through October 18.  Attendees will participate in four sample class sessions from a senior professor. They will also attend four sessions on potential syllabi and pedagogy. view article

Five other censures were rejected, including one for Speaker Dustin Burrows. view article

A new state law prohibits school districts from authorizing or sponsoring a student club based on sexual orientation or gender identity. view article

Adam Kincaid testified that he did not take race into account when creating the new congressional map view article

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Finance and technology company Odyssey will help design the application process, manage payments and review complaints for the state’s education savings accounts.  Texas’ chief financial officer on Monday named the organization that will help the state build the school voucher program lawmakers approved earlier this year.  Odyssey, a technology company, will work with the comptroller’s office, which oversees finances for all of Texas state government, to design the process through which Texas families can apply to receive thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to cover their children’s private or home-schooling costs. Odyssey will also develop a system for those families to shop for educational products and pay tuition.  Applications for Texans to participate in the program are expected to open at some point early next year. The program, named “Texas Education Freedom Accounts,” will then launch at the beginning of the 2026-27 school year. view article

Texas' state health agency approved an emergency rule on Friday to ban hemp license holders from selling consumable hemp products to anyone under 21, the first step toward fulfilling an executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott that called for stricter regulation of the products.  The emergency rule, approved by Health and Human Services Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young, requires sellers of consumable hemp to verify with a valid ID that a customer is at least 21 years old; violations may lead to the revocation of a license or registration. The rules are effective immediately  The state health agency approved the rule less than two weeks after the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission approved an emergency rule to ban liquor license holders from selling consumable hemp products to anyone under 21. This includes THC and CBD products. view article

Democrats are alleging that Texas’ new congressional map is racially discriminatory, rather than a permissible partisan redraw that creates five new GOP-opportunity districts.  view article

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to oust U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in what is shaping up to be Texas’ most closely watched primary race.  Polls ahead of the March primary election show that the two Republicans are only a few percentage points apart. U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston has also been toying with entering the race, but he has yet to officially declare, even as he continues to sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into campaign ads airing statewide. view article

Left-wing advocacy groups are challenging the constitutionality of Texas’ new congressional map, which creates five new Republican-opportunity districts.  A legal showdown over Texas’ new congressional map begins Wednesday in an El Paso federal court. The outcome will determine whether the state’s latest congressional boundaries can be used in upcoming elections. view article

For the first time since Texas authorized the program, the state heard public testimony from people concerned about pre-K funding, special education provisions and data reporting. view article

Texas’ border jurisdictions are scrambling to manage thousands of pending Operation Lone Star cases after key state partners abruptly pulled out, leaving local officials to coordinate housing and transportation for defendants.  Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith told Texas Scorecard the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), both of which helped provide housing for illegal crossers arrested under the border security initiative, are no longer handling those responsibilities.  The Del Rio Processing Center is reportedly shutting down, along with Val Verde County’s detention facility—the original epicenter of Operation Lone Star (OLS) prosecutions.  “We’re left holding the bag,” Smith said. “Counties are having to figure this out on their own without the infrastructure the state had in place.” view article

Texas’ congressional delegation obtained tentative funding for infrastructure improvements, university research and other initiatives, but the nearly 350 earmarks are all in jeopardy.   Left-wing media outlets are criticizing a memo written by the Texas Tech University System’s chancellor which mandates faculty adherence to laws recognizing only two biological sexes, framing it as an attack on LGBT ideology without legal basis.  On September 25, Texas Tech University System Chancellor Tedd Mitchell sent a memo to the presidents of the system’s institutions.  He wrote that state and federal law recognize male and female as the only two human sexes. He cited three sources: President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order, Gov. Greg Abbott’s January 2025 letter, and new state law House Bill 229.  HB 229 defined biological sex and required Texas agencies to record only male or female in vital statistics data. Abbott’s letter ordered agencies to reject gender identity policies and follow laws recognizing two sexes. Trump’s executive order directed federal agencies to use only biological sex and to remove gender identity from policy. view article

The American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, along with other civil rights groups, filed a second lawsuit in federal court Monday to stop more Texas public school districts from displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms.  Earlier this summer, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10 into law, requiring every public school classroom in the state to include a poster with the Ten Commandments.  Last month, the groups — who are representing Texas families of varying religious and nonreligious backgrounds — successfully argued for a preliminary injunction against 11 school districts in Texas’ largest metropolitan areas. While issuing the injunction, U.S. Judge Fred Biery wrote the new law "likely violates both the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment” to the U.S. Constitution.  "This [new] lawsuit is a continuation of our work to defend the First Amendment and ensure that government officials stay out of personal family decisions," said Chloe Kempf, a staff attorney at the ACLU Texas. "All students — regardless of their race or religious background — should feel accepted and free to be themselves in Texas public schools." view article

Senate Bill 8, which goes into effect on Dec. 4, restricts bathroom use in government buildings and schools to the sex assigned at birth. view article

Several proposed amendments in Texas’ Nov. 4 general election would provide property tax cuts for Texan homeowners if approved at the cost of billions of the state’s funding. The general election has 17 different proposed statewide amendments on the ballot. Of those, ten of them relate to providing tax cuts in various ways, including on homes, businesses, capital gains, securities, and animal feed. view article

A majority of the proposed constitutional amendments address tax cuts for homeowners and businesses.  A majority of the proposed constitutional amendments address tax cuts for homeowners and businesses. On Nov. 4, Texas voters will get the final say on 17 constitutional amendments — usually listed as statewide propositions at the top of the ballot — including billions of dollars in property tax cuts for homeowners and businesses.  Earlier this year, a two-thirds majority of the state Legislature passed the joint resolutions calling for the constitutional amendment elections, along with the state’s budget for the next two years, which includes $51 billion for property tax cuts.  Texas lawmakers have used multibillion-dollar budget surpluses, the result of inflation and temporary federal stimulus dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic, to pay for tax cuts in recent years. Proponents of tax cuts and bans, including Gov. Greg Abbott, have said they will maintain Texas as a competitive, business-friendly state and contribute to economic growth. view article

Learn more about all the ways you can register to vote, cast your ballot and protect your rights at the polls. Texans’ next opportunity to use their vote to shape state policies and their communities will be during the Nov. 4 elections.  On the ballot are 17 constitutional amendments, including billions of dollars in property tax cuts for homeowners and businesses.  Some Texans may also see local elections for elected officials or for measures to raise property taxes or issue bonds to pay for projects and services. view article

After weeks of permitting students to use their devices during lunch and passing periods, the Alamo Heights Independent School District will now enforce a bell-to-bell cellphone ban. At a board meeting on Wednesday evening, the board approved a policy change prohibiting students from using personal communication devices for the entire school day. The move is in response to House Bill 1481, a new state law requiring school districts to develop policies restricting student phone use on campus. view article

Some people use the drug to treat COVID, even though it’s not approved by the FDA for such use.  Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday signed a bill makes ivermectin — a drug used mostly in this country to treat livestock for parasites — available to Texans without a prescription.  Texas is now the fifth state to approve the over-the-counter sale of the drug after it became popular as an unproven treatment for COVID-19. House Bill 25 filed by state Rep. Joanne Shofner, R-Nacogdoches, first passed the House, 87-47, after an energetic, three-hour debate along party lines. Shofner, surrounded by more than 20 Republicans at one point, argued her bill was championing medical freedom, giving Texans better access to a drug particularly outside cities where pharmacies outnumber physicians. view article

The judge currently handling Attorney General Ken Paxton’s divorce case has decided to shield the records in the case from public disclosure.  Judge Ray Wheless, a Republican serving as the regional administrative judge for North Texas, ordered the case records be sealed Friday. He was brought on to the case after the judge originally assigned to the case, Jill Renfro Willis, recused herself. While Willis did not give a reason for her recusal, she and her husband, Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis, have longtime ties to the Paxtons.  Sealing the court records means the public will not have access to further filings in the case, which has garnered significant public interest given the Paxtons’ political prominence and past links between the attorney general’s infidelity and allegations of corruption. view article

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced Monday evening in an ABC 13 interview that she will not seek re-election in 2026.  Earlier this month, during her State of the County address, Hidalgo told the public that her decision would come “very, very, very soon.” Her announcement ends months of speculation, as she had repeatedly teased her future plans. view article

The attorney general has issued civil investigative demands to determine if political agendas are driving financial recommendations. view article

A sweeping array of education bills passed this legislative session is set to transform the landscape of public education in Texas, sparking both hope and concern among educators and parents. Anna Smith, Place 4 Representative on the Leander ISD School Board, emphasized the significance of these changes. view article

After historic floods on the Fourth of July killed more than 130 people in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott vowed state lawmakers would pass transformative legislation, designed to “make sure communities are better, more resilient, and have the resources that they need.”Just two months later, on Sept. 5, Abbott held a bill signing ceremony surrounded by families who’d lost loved ones in the tragedy. That day, the governor signed a package of flood-related measures into law, including one tightening restrictions for overnight youth camps.  “They wanted laws to be passed so that other parents would not experience the hell that have been through,” Abbott said. “They pleaded for camp safety.” view article

School district administrators across the San Antonio area are either developing or have already established guidelines to comply with aspects of Senate Bill 12 and its so-called “parental rights” provisions.  The law, which took effect on Sept. 1, requires schools to obtain parental consent before administering certain health services to students. view article

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday announced the formation of committees to study bias and free speech at universities amid a firestorm of criticism from conservative lawmakers on statements made by university faculty and students.  The House and Senate Select Committees on Civil Discourse & Freedom of Speech in Higher Education were formed “honoring the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk,” according to a press release. Kirk, a Christian conservative activist who frequently traveled to college campuses to discuss controversial politics, was shot and killed on Wednesday at Utah Valley University during one of his events.  In the wake of Kirk’s death, Republican lawmakers and activists in Texas and across the state have harshly criticized online commentary mocking Kirk and his killing. Several lawmakers have called for the removal of school teachers, professors and public officials who criticized Kirk, which Burrows said highlighted the necessity of the committee. view article