Progress Texas Podcasts

Who's ready to VOTE? We sure are - and with early voting starting Monday, with tons on the line - key funding for Texas' retired teachers and state parks, a big oil money grab to block, major races in Houston and elsewhere across Texas - we figured it was a great time to host a guest episode of Pod Bless Texas, hosted by our pal and fresh-faced groom Kendall Scuddar, and featuring our own...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Democrats in the Texas House present a solid school funding package, which of course is near-guaranteed to be ignored by the GOP majority: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/state/2023/10/19/texas-legislature-house-democrats-unveil-school-funding-bill-hb117/71240474007/ ...While Republican House members present another iteratio...

Next month's election - early voting actually starts on Monday, October 23 - is what we like to call a "low-turnout/high impact" election. Meaning, since few Texans (unfortunately) are likely to show up, YOUR vote carries a LOT more weight than it would in a higher-turnout situation. Ironically, these quieter elections are frequently the most significant opportunities Texans have to...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A coalition of progressive groups gathered at the Capitol for a news conference stating opposition to school vouchers yesterday: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/state/2023/10/18/our-taxes-shouldnt-be-paying-for-discrimination-activists-speak-to-equity-support-concerns-in-school/71232595007/ Jim Jordan is even further short o...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Of the 20 Republican holdouts stopping Jim Jordan from becoming Speaker yesterday, only 3 were from Texas: https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-politics/how-did-texas-congressional-delegation-vote-for-speaker-of-the-house/ Jonathan Stickland, following a day-long hang with notorious Nazi Nick Fuentes, appears to be out as president of the hard...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas Senate ignored protests from business groups and passed a ban on private employers requiring COVID-19 vaccines: https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-considers-banning-covid-19-vaccine-mandates/ The Sheriff of Bexar County believes Florida Governor Ron Desantis broke the law with his flying of migrants from San Antonio to Martha...

Stories we're following at Progress Texas: Senate-approved legislation allowing private school vouchers heads to the House today: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/politics/lone-star-politics/passing-the-texas-senate-education-savings-accounts-have-tougher-road-in-house/3360879/ ...Governor Abbott is confident that vouchers are "on the one-yard line": https://www.kxan.com/state-of-texas/st...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: As expected, school vouchers have passed the Texas Senate: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/senate-school-vouchers-18421617.php Governor Abbott says he'll only add funding for public schools and raises for teachers to the agenda if the House also passes vouchers: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/12/greg-abbo...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Vouchers, should they pass, threaten to bankrupt the state - and are also fundamentally unfair to Texas taxpayers without children: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/tomlinson/article/vouchers-financial-cost-unfair-texas-18415344.php GOP Rep. Tony Tinderholt has filed a resolution apologizing to Ken Paxton for the impea...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Abbott's school voucher bill passed easily on party lines by the Senate Education Committee, now goes to the full body: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2023/10/10/texas-senates-education-savings-account-proposal-kicks-off-school-choice-debate/ ...Over the objections of advocates for students with disabilities: https...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texas Republicans are at each other's throats as the special session on school vouchers opens: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/09/special-session-school-vouchers-dan-patrick-dade-phelan/ Headline of the month: "Why Texas Moms Could Sink School Choice": https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/yall-itics/texas-moms-cou...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A third special session called this year by Governor Greg Abbott is set to kick off this morning at the Texas State Capitol: https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-politics/school-vouchers-border-security-and-covid-mandate-bans-heres-what-to-expect-in-texas-3rd-special-session/ ...Which we covered extensively in this weekend's special editio...

Governor Greg Abbott has followed through with his promise to call the Texas Legislature back for a third time - at the very least - in his effort to push through his deeply unpopular plan to redirect millions of taxpayer dollars to private schools - many of them with church ties - at the expense of the public schools those dollars were collected to support. School vouchers have been defeated over...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: President Joe Biden says he had "no choice" but to authorize 20 miles of new border wall through a sensitive environmental zone in South Texas: https://apnews.com/article/biden-us-mexico-border-wall-immigration-texas-f99fd10257292a898618236df3613979 Biden's lack of faith in the efficacy of border walls clashes with a stateme...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Both sides of the political divide now recognize that the U.S. is experiencing an immigration crisis: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/influx-migrants-border-gains-renewed-attention-crisis-rhetoric-spreads-rcna118595#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16964949969634&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshar...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: After resisting his nomination, all Texas U.S. Reps stuck with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to the end: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/03/texas-republicans-kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote/ ...And now, Fort Bend Rep. Troy Nehls wants Donald Trump to be the new Speaker: https://www.khou.com/article/news/politics/troy-nehls-nominates-...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of San Antonio and South Texas was thankfully unharmed after carjackers stole his car at gunpoint in D.C. last night: https://apnews.com/article/congress-henry-cuellar-carjacking-capitol-texas-87eddb457f20ec614fbb473115480987 State Senator Juan Hinojosa writes an op-ed on why school vouchers would be bad for Texas:...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Four U.S. House Reps from Texas fought to the bitter end in their mission to shut down the government: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/29/texas-republicans-government-shutdown-vote/ ...While Rep. Greg Casar of Austin sheds light on what the GOP in D.C. is really after: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/09/28/biden...

Anti-abortion attorneys have begun pressing Texas abortion funds for information on the people they've assisted, and those who have supported the funds, apparently intending future legal action under SB-8: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/28/texas-lawyer-abortion-ban-procedure-patient-information ...While, as expected, remote Cochran County becomes the first county bordering another...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A partial shutdown of the federal government, ever more likely as of this weekend, will immediately impact Texans, in ways we may not have considered: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/27/government-shutdown-texas/ ...Farmers in Texas will be impacted as well: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/27/farm-bill-texas-agriculture/ Many in...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Houston-based federal judge has found SB-12, the new state law banning drag performances, unconstitutional: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/drag-shows-lawsuit-18390106.php State Comptroller Glenn Hegar calls Ken Paxton's bluff on his demand for back pay from his impeachment suspension: https://www.kxan.com/ne...

Following the Paxton impeachment, you may have been ready for Texas politics to get a little more boring, at least for a little while - but that wasn't to be, especially if you live in Dallas. Friday saw the national announcement via an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (!) of the defection of Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson from the Democratic Party - with whose support he had been re-elected just m...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Former Ken Paxton AG's Office employees turned whistleblower will press their case forward: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/whistleblowers-paxton-lawsuit-18387875.php ...While their former boss is also seeking back pay from the impeachment period: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2023/09/25/texas-ag-ken...

El Paso's mayor says his city is nearing a "breaking point" with the continued heavy stream of migrants: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-paso-texas-at-breaking-point-migrants-flood-border-mayor-says-2023-09-23/ Infighting within the Texas GOP appears to have passed a point of no return: https://www.khou.com/article/news/politics/texas-republican-fighting/285-eb96a95a-caaf-4...

An unusual surge in migrant crossings at the U.S./Mexico border continues and remains without a pinpointed cause: https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/21/us/migrant-crossings-eagle-pass-state-of-emergency/index.html ...The effects of the surge are being felt in San Antonio: https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/migrants-surge-resource-center-18380326.php Ken Paxton, exonerated (pardoned?) by fellow Repu...