Progress Texas Podcasts

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Dallas judge has denied Attorney General Ken Paxton's request to block a new policy enacted by the State Fair of Texas which will ban the carrying of guns into this fall's event: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/19/texas-state-fair-gun-ban-injunction-denied/ Paxton has sued (again) Harris County over its guaranteed income pr...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The annual report from the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee shows a dramatic uptick in maternal deaths within one year of giving birth - being suffered mostly by Black and Hispanic mothers: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/18/maternal-mortality-2020-2021/ Ted Cruz has helped Republicans in the U.S. Senate avoid...

Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan, having barely survived a well-funded and Trump-endorsed MAGA primary challenge in his Beaumont district, has been counting on near-unified support of the Democratic minority in the House to secure his position as Speaker next year. Democratic Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos of Richardson isn't so sure that supporting a Republican who has presided over some...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Officials in Travis County have sued Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson over their efforts to stop Travis County from sending voter registration applications to eligible but non-registered voters: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/17/texas-voter-registration-ken-paxton-jane-nelson-lawsuit-travis/ Tarra...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A minor car crash caused that massive petrochemical pipeline fire in the eastern Houston suburbs yesterday: https://apnews.com/article/pipeline-fire-texas-659141b9f88ed2b324c36fce2735746f ...The pipeline is owned by Energy Transfer, led by oil billionaire Kelcy Warren: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pipeline-fire-erupts-la-porte-texas-p...

Harris County residents are coping with evacuations, road closures, and shelter in place orders today after a pipeline fire exploded in La Porte. The local ABC news affiliate is reporting nearby homes catching fire. The Democratic (and Progress Texas endorsed) candidate running to serve La Porte and unseat election denier and MAGA incumbent Briscoe Cain, is Chuck Crews, a petro-chemical engineer....

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Republican efforts to legitimize their false narrative over illegal voting by migrants - a problem that doesn't actually exist - now threatens a government shutdown on October 1: https://www.kxan.com/state-of-texas/house-facing-shutdown-deadline/ ...Republican-led states across the country have hit new records for "anti-immigrant...

This Tuesday, September 17, is National Voter Registration Day - and in light of recent events, including Ken Paxton's harrassment of Latino voting rights activists in South Texas, as well as moves by elected Republicans to curtail early voting locations on North Texas college campuses, this year's NVRD is hugely important. And so, we're proud to welcome two representatives of MOVE Tex...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A massive display of public outrage over Tarrant County Commissioners' plan to scrap several early voting locations on college campuses in the Fort Worth area has stopped those plans in their tracks: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/12/tarrant-county-college-voting-location/ ...While LULAC responds to Ken Paxton's voter suppre...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Three Democratic candidates in Tarrant County are threatening a lawsuit if County Commissioners vote to reduce the number of early voting locations on local college campuses: https://fortworthreport.org/2024/09/11/democrats-threaten-lawsuit-as-tarrant-commissioners-debate-reducing-campus-poll-sites/ The Texas Supreme Court has ordered the...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Progressives across America are elated at Vice President Kamala Harris' amazing performance last night in the debate against Donald Trump: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/11/harris-trump-debate-takeaways ...The issues of abortion rights, immigration and climate change have particular relevance in Texas: https://ww...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: With much at stake, Texas progressives are confident in Vice President Kamala Harris to perform well in tonight's debate - though the hangover from the last one still lingers: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/10/harris-and-trump-make-final-preparations-ahead-of-crucial-presidential-debate-in-philadelphia Your debat...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Tribfest '24 is a wrap, and highlights included a Kamala Harris endorsement from Liz Cheney...and her infamous father: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/08/texas-tribune-festival-highlights/ ...Cheney also endorsed Dallas Congressman Colin Allred in his race against Ted Cruz: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/07/collin-allred-de...

A great hang today at Progress Texas' HQ at the wonderful Hideout Coffee ( https://www.hideouttheatre.com/coffeehouse/ ) during the annual TribFest event in Austin! THANKS to everyone who stopped by to say hi, pick up the merch to match your values, and learn more about Progress Texas and all the great stuff we do. We enjoyed a couple of quick podcast sessions today as well - one with Dallas S...

After 14 years, most folks who are active in progressive politics in Texas have an idea of what exactly Progress Texas is and does - but, it occurs to us that, over the last handful of years, there are a great many of you who know us from our podcasts and digital media, but may not have the full story. We've assembled most of the PT crew, plus for the first time, board member Alex Andrade, for...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Attorney General Ken Paxton's office has sued the Biden Administration over a new rule protecting the private information of women who have left Texas seeking abortion services: https://www.reuters.com/legal/texas-sues-block-biden-rule-protecting-privacy-women-who-get-abortions-2024-09-05/ From the hassling of Democrats at their homes...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Ken Paxton, as threatened, has filed a lawsuit against Bexar County over their program to register more voters in the San Antonio area: https://newrepublic.com/post/185585/ken-paxton-threatens-sue-democrats-voter-registration ...He's also poised to similarly sue Harris County over their efforts to increase voter registration in Housto...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Officials in Bexar County have voted to move forward with plans to mail voter registration forms to unregistered voters in spite of threats of a lawsuit by Ken Paxton: https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/bexar-county-hire-voter-firm-19740080.php The Texas Department of State Health Services has followed a similar policy at Texas DPS...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Ken Paxton has warned officials in Harris and Bexar Counties that he believes their plans to send voter registration materials to unregistered voters is illegal: https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/harris-county/texas-ag-ken-paxton-warning-letter-harris-county-commissioners-court-voter-registration-forms/285-cef860b9-edf1-4c7a-bbcf-c2...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texas Republicans are underway with a broad, coordinated attempt to stoke racist fear of Hispanic migrants, intimidate Latino Texans away from the polls, and undermine general confidence in our elections system: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4854249-texas-immigration-strategies-republicans-democrats/ Yet another Texas judge has...

The entire country has been transfixed at the recent blatant, racist weaponization of Texas law enforcement against Latino political candidates and Democratic activists in South Texas - all while our Governor celebrates the purging of over 1 million voters from our rolls. The desperation of the Trump party to cling to power at all costs has never been more obvious, and their tactics never more bra...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: It's no surprise that the House District 80 race is the target of Ken Paxton's voter suppression efforts - that seat is seen as very important to the Texas GOP: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a61987103/ken-paxton-texas-latino-activists/ ...Paxton's blatant efforts are inspiring voting rights advocates nationwid...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Ken Paxton's raids in South Texas on Democratic politicos likely hinges on new restrictions on voting access activism, enacted as reaction to false election claims related to the 2020 election: ⁠https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/28/ken-paxton-south-texas-vote-harvesting-investigation-politiqueras-hist/⁠ ...Greg Abbott's chest-p...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Abbott announces the removal of 1.1 million Texans from the voter rolls, including over 6,000 he accuses of registering illegally: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/abbott-decries-noncitizen-voters-activists-19723919.php ...Over half of those are Texans who have sat out of voting in presidential cycles since...

With Kamala Harris and Tim Walz inspiring people across the country to believe in American politics once again, YOU might be wondering how to up your game when it comes to political activism. You may not realize that, depending on where you live, there are likely multiple Democratic clubs already active in your community and ready to welcome you into the fold! We talked to the leaders of three Tex...