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Uvalde and the Border Security Scam
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Heroin, Cornell, Prison, and Journalism
In ‘Corrections in Ink,’ star criminal justice reporter Keri Blakinger skillfully tells the story of her own unusual life. Keri Blakinger knows how to write a lede. “I have problems: I am out of clean clothes, I cannot find my glasses, my English paper is late, and my pockets are not big enough for all the heroin I have,” reads the Thompson-esque opening line of her 300-page memoir, Corrections in Ink, to be released June 7.
Greg Casar Superstar?
A version of this story ran in the May / June 2022 issue. Articles must link back to the original article and contain the following attribution at the top of the story:. This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet. Sign up for their weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.”
Southern Baptists Face Up to Sexual Abuse
An epidemic of violence and broken lives. Leaders fail or refuse to respond. And the most vulnerable bear the cost of inaction. While this story line describes the wave of mass shootings we’ve witnessed recently, it also summarizes another tragedy, described in an investigative report released, coincidentally, just days before the Uvalde massacre. In this case, the violence was perpetrated by ministers, the victims were members of their flock, and the leaders were senior officials in the nation’s second-largest Christian denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
Record Highs: Springtime Heat a Dangerous New Threat to Homeless Texans
Last summer, the downtown branch of the Austin Public Library was Steven Potter’s oasis. It’s where he went on some of the hottest days of the year, soaking in the air conditioning and filling up his two-liter water bottles. Potter, who has lived on the street in Austin for about 10 years, said public libraries are some of the most popular places for unsheltered residents to go during the day when the heat gets unbearable.
Greg Abbott: Bad Governor, Bad Lawyer
A former judge, the top state official’s inept response to the Uvalde shooting shows how little of his legal training he remembers. All law schools train aspiring trial lawyers and judges to gather evidence, evaluate witnesses, and test claims and theories. We also learn not to interfere in criminal investigations. But Texas Governor Greg Abbott seems to have forgotten his legal training—and his ethics given his recent ham-handed response to the horrific school shooting in Uvalde. Instead, his words and actions highlighted what appears to be a serious mental decline.
Hey Hey, NRA, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today?
Hundreds of protesters heckled attendees across the street at the 2022 National Rifle Association Annual Meeting in Houston Friday. One demonstrator climbed onto the roof of a parking garage overlooking the demonstrators and shouted, “Where’s Abbott?” before the police ordered him down. Young and diverse, about 200 protestors exclaimed: “shame” and “kids, not guns” at the NRA members milling about who were, for the most part, white men over fifty. Above the George R. Brown Convention Center entrance, an NRA banner read “14 Acres of Guns & Gear.”
Greg Abbott Is Full of Shit
On Tuesday, as the world knows already, an 18-year-old man carried an AR-15-style rifle into a 574-student elementary school just off Highway 83 in the town of Uvalde, 90 minutes west of San Antonio. Unobstructed by police, he barricaded himself in a 4th grade classroom and unleashed hell on earth, slaying 19 children and two teachers—the worst school shooting in Texas history. After an hour, as frantic parents panicked outside, law enforcement finally killed the man.
Will Uvalde Be Enough?
The body count linked to Texas’ lax gun laws continues to mount—this time in an elementary school. The news that a shooter opened fire Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, killing at least 19 children and two teachers, took me back to an October day in 1991.
Everyday Gun Ownership Set the Stage for the Uvalde Massacre
The public discourse on firearms is so warped, even liberals fear stating the obvious: We need to ban them. Guns, I like to say, make little people feel big. As most of the country has already learned, a gunman opened fire yesterday on students and teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde—a town of 15,000 that is 82 percent Latinx—killing at least 19 school children and two adults. The suspected killer, deceased, had legally purchased two assault-style rifles earlier this month. It’s the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, the second most deadly nationwide. It comes on the heels of Governor Greg Abbott signing legislation in 2021 that allowed Texans to own and carry guns without essential safeguards like a permit.
Bush Dynasty Ends with a Whimper in Texas Runoffs Light on Surprise
Democrats solidified their statewide slate as scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton stepped closer to a third term and Representative Jasmine Crockett won in Dallas. Texas runoff elections are often replete with political upsets. But Tuesday night largely came and went without such drama. Attorney General Ken Paxton trounced his opponent, Land Commissioner George P. Bush, by a two-to-one margin. All the scandal-plagued, ethically challenged top lawman had to do to win was point to his opponent’s last name to remind GOP voters that the last scion of the once-mighty political dynasty is just another establishment crony.
Anti-Abortion Democrat Henry Cuellar Appears to Prevail Despite FBI Cloud
The nine-term Laredo Congressman declared victory Tuesday night over progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros with a razor-thin margin. On an evening when Texas primary runoffs felt painfully insignificant—just hours after a gunman left at least 21 dead at an elementary school in Uvalde—they occurred nevertheless. In the night’s most high-profile Democratic race, nine-term Laredo Congressman Henry Cuellar declared victory over progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros with a razor-thin margin of fewer than 200 votes.
Texas’ ‘Anti-Censorship’ Law Censors Social Media. What If It Goes Into Effect?
A federal appeals court recently upheld a state law requiring companies like Facebook and Twitter to host hate speech. Houston-based attorney Joseph R. Larsen specializes in open government and press freedom issues and is among the critics of Texas’ so-called “censorship” law: a ban on the rights of social media networks like Twitter and Facebook to police users’ submissions. Texas authorities’ ability to enforce that new law was blocked by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in December, who decreed that “social media platforms have a First Amendment right to moderate content disseminated on their platforms.” But last week, the law was reinstated by the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The matter remains under review now by the Supreme Court.
Texas’ Insane Heat Wave Shows Our Grid Isn’t Ready for Climate Change
As weather gets more extreme and the population booms, ERCOT and state leaders need to get a grip on reality. For three generations of one Fort Worth family, the effects of climate change are readily apparent. Christopher Gomez, 22, recalls talking to his grandmother about how their city’s typical weather has changed over their lifetimes. When his grandmother was young, she told him, the weather in Fort Worth “used to be amazing.” But now, there’s no escape from the nearly year-round heat.
Dallas Runoff Will Determine Heir to Powerhouse EBJ’s Seat in Congress
The race between Representative Jasmine Crockett and Jane Hope Hamilton has divided the North Texas Democratic establishment. If the sheer number of endorsements from the political class were enough to decide runoff elections in Texas, Jane Hope Hamilton would almost surely be the next representative of Dallas’ 30th Congressional District. A longtime congressional aide and political operative in North Texas, she has parlayed her connections into support from some of the biggest Democratic names in the area.
Texans Show Up in Force to Protect ‘Roe’
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