Progress Texas Podcasts

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Texas-based judge has blocked the Trump administration from continuing to deport migrants without hearing under the Alien Enemies Act, for now: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/federal-judges-limit-trump-alien-enemies-act-deportations-rcna200418 Budget Day today at the Capitol is likely to extend overnight - the Texas Tribune has live co...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A bloody and expensive primary battle between Ken Paxton and Senator John Cornyn could present an opportunity for Texas Democrats: https://apnews.com/article/ken-paxton-texas-senate-john-cornyn-60c34efe45143422c5f9ff84d27c1be1 With Texas as the main staging ground for ICE deporatations, Donald Trump has been casually toying with the idea of a...

The Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus was established in 2021 by State Representative Ron Reynolds. This session, the growing 20 member bicameral caucus is shaping legislation by promoting working family policies. In this episode, we sit down with the caucus' first executive director Cody Meador to discuss their platform and legislation that moves Texas forward. You can find more information on...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Abbott has called an election to replace Sylvester Turner in Houston's CD-18, but his delay will keep its 800,000 residents voiceless in D.C. for at least seven months: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/07/greg-abbott-special-election-sylvester-turner/ A SCOTUS decision allows the Trump regime to continue deporting migrants under...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Financial markets are bracing for a possible "Black Monday" today as Donald Trump doubles down on the massive tariffs he announced last week: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04/07/business/trump-tariffs-stock-market ...While Greg Abbott and John Cornyn are mum on Trump's disaster, Ted Cruz warns that the GOP could be in for a "bloodbath" in...

UPDATE: Governor Greg Abbott has called for an election, however, it will leave the residents of Congressional District 18 without representation in the meantime. *** A truly alarming and shameful denial of the Constitutional and foundational right of federal representation of hundreds of thousands of Texans is happening as we speak, as Governor Greg Abbott has continued to delay a special electio...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Global economic shock is underway this morning as Donald Trump's foolish tariff plan becomes reality - and Texas will most certainly feel the impact: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/03/trump-tariffs-texas-revenue-growth/ The Texas House Committee on Public Education advanced HB-3 yesterday, which would establish a new private school vouc...

This Saturday, hundreds of local rallies, protests and demonstrations coordinated under the national effort known as Hands Off will take place in just about every part of all 50 states, including in at least 31 cities across Texas, ranging from our biggest, bluest metros to our small rural towns. The themes and motivations behind the people who have organized each event are as varied as the lived...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Reaction to Trump's wide-ranging tariff announcement falls largely along party lines, with Democrats warning of a potential national recession: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/04/03/texas-lawmakers-in-washington-split-over-trump-tariffs-expected-to-impact-state/ ...San Antonio, in particular, is vulnerable to the impacts of tari...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Elon Musk's image as a supervillian appears to have contributed to a Democratic win in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race yesterday: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/us/politics/wisconsin-supreme-court-crawford-schimel.html ...Musk's expensive failure is a "jolt of momentum for Democrats": https://www.politico.com/news/202...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Acting Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee is threatening to sue Governor Greg Abbott if he continues to delay the replacement of the late Sylvester Turner in the U.S. House seat representing CD-18: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/menefee-special-election-20246324.php ...Abbott's delay is only one part of a broa...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas Democratic Party has a new leader, as Kendall Scudder was elected its new Chairman this weekend by the State Democratic Executive Committee: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/03/29/texas-democrats-elect-dallas-kendall-scudder-as-new-state-chair-after-2024-losses/ Governor Greg Abbott is silent - and now missing important...

Kendall Scudder was elected to succeed Gilberto Hinojosa as the first new Chair of the Texas Democratic Party since the latter's election in 2012 on Saturday, winning an outright majority in the first round of voting from the members of the State Democratic Executive Committee in Austin. This pod features our first talk with Scudder, just minutes after his election was confirmed, and takes from a...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Concern about possible "Trojan horse" language in two bills ostensibly designed to provide clarity and legal protection to doctors who need to employ abortion procedures in caring for their patients continues: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/abortion-funds-bill-20243980.php ...All of which could be moot, as the additio...

Two bills are making their way through the Texas Legislature right now that are ostensibly designed to offer doctors legal protection against prosecution under our state's near-blanket ban on abortion, in cases where that procedure is medically necessary - the same clarification that was sought, unsuccessfully, in the Zurawski v Texas case. The bills, according to their Republican backers, hav...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texan John Ratcliffe is at the center of what's becoming known as "Signalgate" - and also "the dumbest fascist timeline ever": https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/signalgate-fallout-hegseth-gabbard/ Amid the West Texas measles outbreak, kids are now showing up with Vitamin A poisoning as their parents opt for "alternative" measles prev...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Republican Texas U.S. Congressman Pat Fallon told a town hall crowd that today's young people won't have Social Security - he recommends they "get a second job": https://www.reddit.com/r/texas/comments/1jk1dxc/the_way_we_can_fix_social_security_is_to_tell/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_cont...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Senator John Cornyn was a big cheerleader for Trump Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who now finds himself at the center of the Yemen group chat scandal: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5211309-cornyn-calls-war-plan-group-chat-a-huge-screw-up/ ...El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar calls Donald Trump's claim yesterday that he didn't kno...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas Senate has approved SB-12, a bill that will expand its ban on DEI efforts to our K-12 public schools: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/24/texas-dei-public-schools-k12/ Also in the Senate, SB-37 would establish an additional layer of bureaucracy over state universities, for the purpose of ensuring that “courses do not endorse spe...

Our 200th Happy Hour! Elon Musk is everyone’s problem—from Brownsville, Texas, to the Caribbean, to the White House. As his SpaceX operations continue to fail upwards while wreaking havoc on nearby communities and ecosystems, Dr. Christopher Basaldú with the South Texas Environmental Justice Network shares his expertise and insights on the inter-connected fight for protecting Rio Grande Valley res...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton were all present and cheering yesterday at the White House as Donald Trump signed an executive order dismantling the federal Department of Education: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/20/texas-greg-abbott-trump-education-department/ ...Despite an intake of $12 billion in annual federal education fund...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: An anonymous tip in January led to a weeks-long investigation of the clinics in the Houston area, resulting in the arrests of midwife Maria Margarita Rojas and two of her colleagues: https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/houston-texas-midwife-arrested-abortions-clinics/285-b028b728-0db8-4e4f-9255-7f6f11c77f47 Rare bipartisan cooperati...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A third arrest, that of a nurse practitioner, has been reported in the case of Houston-area clinics run by midwife Maria Rojas, who has been accused by Ken Paxton of conducting abortions illegally: https://abc13.com/post/texas-attorney-general-announces-third-arrest-illegal-abortion-case-involving-houston-area-midwife/16044651/ ...A patient c...

Study of the McCarthy period during the Cold War provides essential historical perspective for those of us struggling to chart the path forward through Trump 2.0 - a time in which paranoia, threats to civil liberties, censorship and more are, once again, all too real. Author Clay Risen, whose new book "Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism and The Making of Modern America" joins us to discuss how it...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: In a first under Texas' abortion ban, and what's believed to be a first nationally since the overturning of Roe v Wade, two Houston-area maternity care professionals have been arrested under suspicion of performing illegal abortions: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/17/texas-abortion-midwife-arrested/ ...The two Houston defendants face li...