Progress Texas Podcasts

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Last night's debate between President Biden and Donald Trump was a failure...but this election is about more than two candidates - it's about two wildly different visions of America: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/trump-biden-debate-takeaways-19543481.php ...CNN's format allowed Trump to tell dozens of...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas Criminal Court of Appeals has denied, without explanation, a request from Travis County DA Jose Garza to review Governor Greg Abbott's unorthodox pardoning of convicted murderer Daniel Perry: https://apnews.com/article/black-lives-matter-shooting-pardon-93855c04f27b5f7a8eb4c4d684534a03 79 of the misdemeanor criminal trespass...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The spike in infant mortality relative to abortion restrictions in Texas lays bare the cruelty of hopeless pregnancies forced to term: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/texass-pro-life-abortion-law-has-literally-led-to-more-infant-deaths Brad Pritchett of Equality Texas weighs in on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to consider la...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Vice President Kamala Harris, in a talk with Sheryl Lee Ralph, calls out the barbarity of Texas' abortion ban (index to 7:30): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GVaSFsHQuY ...Progress Texas runs down the two years since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v Wade: https://progresstexas.org/blog/two-years-terror-pregnant-texans-after-roe-r...

Pride Month 2024 sees an incredible expansion of Pride celebrations and activism across the state - much of that in rural and small-town Texas, which until just recently, was near-unthinkable. As we know, over the past few sessions, Texas has also set new standards for legislative bigotry and cruelty towards its LGBTQ+ community. So, the push for equality and equity has never been stronger - while...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The second anniversary of the 2022 Dobbs decision at SCOTUS sees the almost-complete eradication of abortions in Texas - at least those that are legal or safe: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/06/24/abortion-dobbs-anniversary-pregnancy-complications/ ...The Texas Medical Board provided minor and largely useless new reporting guidelines o...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Audio captured during a Gateway Church staff meeting, called to announce the resignation of Pastor Robert Morris, includes a board member calling accepting the resignation as a "difficult" decision: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gateway-church-leader-announces-robert-morris-resignation-audio-rcna158026 ...Due to Texas&#39...

Stories we're following this morning: Members of the state's Maternal Morbidity Review Committee express concern that the addition of a vocal anti-choice OB/GYN presents unfavorable optics for the entire committee: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/06/18/texas-maternal-deaths-committee-changes/ The Texas Department of Agriculture, after a year with a blatantly trans-phobic office dress cod...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: For the fourth year, today sees Juneteenth celebrated nationwide as a federal holiday: https://apnews.com/article/what-is-juneteenth-celebration-ideas-federal-holiday-2f7116be4418065cd954b6dbf98c62b8 ...The history of Juneteenth is one of the advance of freedom and progressive solidarity: https://www.splcenter.org/hopewatch/2024/06/18/jun...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Robert Morris, pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, is out after the public revelation that he sexually abused a young girl for four years in the 1980's: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/i-was-a-12-years-old-woman-accuses-gateway-church-founder-of-molesting-her-as-a-child/ ...Morris is chummy with both Governor Greg Abbott and Sen...

Young voters - those under 25 - represent a huge percentage of the electorate in Texas, large enough to make decisive differences in electoral outcomes in upcoming elections, most notably at present the one we're working towards in November. But - are we reaching them effectively? Have established progressive political entities done a good job in communicating with and activating this all-impo...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Austin gun store owner Michael Cargill's lawsuit opposing the federal ban on bump stock devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to be fired like machine guns succeeds, putting those devices back on the market: https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-supreme-court-backs-challenge-federal-ban-gun-bump-stocks-2024-06-14/ Abortion opponents wil...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A lawsuit against the FDA approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, having found favor in the courtroom of Amarillo anti-abortion federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, has failed at the U.S. Supreme Court: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/06/13/supreme-court-texas-mifepristone-ruling-abortion/ ...Meanwhile, Kacsmaryk is staying busy - he&#3...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Zurawski v Texas plaintiff Lauren Miller testified before Congress this week: https://x.com/ReproRights/status/1801008213766058022?t=PuKkGeM89NN4au_k_4eMFA&s=03 ...A Ted Cruz-sponsored bill that would have withheld Medicaid funding for entire states over IVF policies has been blocked by Senate Democrats: https://www.texastribune.org/2...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Ken Paxton's lawsuit today against the Biden administration is over a new rule extending Medicaid protections for LGBTQ+ and transgender Texans against discrimination under the Affordable Care Act: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/06/11/ken-paxton-sues-biden-transition-race/ Four State GOP House Reps have been censured by their own p...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Democratic National Committee has dedicated an additional $140,000 to turning our Texas Democrats in November: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2024/06/10/national-democratic-group-spends-140000-on-texas-voter-turnout-effort/ Federal authorities have launched an enforcement operation against "switches" - illegal hand...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas Democratic Convention wrapped with solid messages of progressive solidarty against encroaching authoritarianism: https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2024-06-08/texas-democratic-convention-wrapup-el-paso-democrats-cautious-optimism-dire-warnings-november-election ...The resulting platform the polar opposite of the odious Texas GO...

Right off the bat - literally, immediately after the Progress Texas team touched down in El Paso on Thursday - we hosted a special live podcast recording to help kick off this year's Texas Democratic Convention at the El Paso Convention Center! We continued our ongoing series with terrific Texas political influencers on the topic of abortion rights before a packed house! Progress Texas Executi...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The 2024 Texas Democratic Party Convention is underway in El Paso, where abortion rights, border concerns, public schools and gun safety are among the top topics: https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/texas-democratic-convention-2024-el-paso/ ...The party is looking to unify and end its long drought in statewide electoral wins, with a foc...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The PT crew is headed west to El Paso today for the Texas Democratic Convention! https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/politics/2024/06/03/democratic-convention-2024-guests-include-beto-orourke-colin-allred/73908478007/ ...Abortion rights and gun safety are expected to be high on the priority list of issues - similar issues to those the...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: President Biden's executive order limiting asylum requests at the border raises almost universal concern, including from his supporters on the left: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/06/04/texas-mexico-border-biden-immigration-asylum-policy/ ...The ACLU is talking legal action AGAINST President Biden's move: https://www.dallasnews...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A significant announcement about border policy, likely placing limits on daily asylum requests, is expected today: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/nation-world/biden-prepares-tough-executive-order-that-would-shut-down-asylum-after-2500-migrants-arrive-a-day/507-8e827a7f-ae75-4ce7-b53d-d984894db159 The temporary Texas block on new federa...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Friday's decision not to protect pregnant Texans and their doctors by the Texas Supreme Court should provide motivation for pro-choice voters to unite: https://www.reuters.com/legal/texas-top-court-wont-guarantee-right-abortion-complicated-pregnancies-2024-05-31/ ...We hope to see you Thursday in El Paso for our live podcast taping at...

The conversation on abortion rights and reproductive freedom in Texas has been freshly reinvigorated by the Texas Supreme Court's abject failure to protect pregnant Texans or even to provide guidance to Texas doctors facing pregnancy emergencies. We continue our six part series of conversations with influential Texas progressive women on this all-important issue, in this case gathering three g...

Today, the Texas Supreme Court did what we all thought they would do: they left pregnant Texans and their doctors at the mercy of Ken Paxton and our state's ham-fisted, ill-considered and morally repugnant ban on abortion care. This update contains short statements from Progress Texas Executive Director Kathleen Thompson and Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone, plus an important and in-depth analysi...