Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: House Bill 3, a Republican proposal to establish a private school voucher program in Texas, is set to be heard at the Capitol tomorrow - the time to call your Representative to oppose vouchers is right now. Arizona provides a great example of what opponents of this terrible idea would like to avoid: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/vouchers-texas-arizona-football-20207580.php The West Texas measles outbreak has sp...
Mar 10, 2025•8 min
Great fun and a huge turnout for today's rally at the Texas State Capitol! Thanks to Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Rep. Greg Casar and their teams for allowing us to capture the event and all of its speakers: 00:56 - Emcee and Travis County Democratic Party Chair Pooja Sethi 03:40 - Austin U.S. Rep. Greg Casar 13:18 - California U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu 18:00 - Austin pediatrician Dr. Kimberly Avila Edwards 25:47 - Austin U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett 41:16 - Massachusetts U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren Thanks for lis...
Mar 08, 2025•53 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: In an amazingly classless punching-down display, both Governor Abbott and Elon Musk have celebrated the firing of a Texas Real Estate Commission employee who refused to remove his pronounce from his work email signature: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/06/musk-greg-abbott-fired-worker-pronouns Meanwhile, Tesla has been fined about $50 thousand for allowing the workplace conditions that killed a Pleasanton electrician last summe...
Mar 07, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Houston U.S. Congressman, just two months into his first term succeeding the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, has died in office at 70: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/05/sylvester-turner-texas-houston-dies/ ...Until Governor Greg Abbott calls a special election to replace Turner, House Democrats are down a vote - the margin is now 218-214: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rep-sylvester-turner-texas-democrat-houston-mayo...
Mar 06, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following at Progress Texas: Huge shoutout to Houston Congressman Al Green, who defied Donald Trump to his face before being ejected from last night's speech before Congress: https://www.chron.com/politics/article/texas-al-green-removed-trump-address-20203096.php ...Unfortunately, much of the rest of the Democratic response while Trump trolled and insulted them was anemic at best: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/05/democrats-reaction-trump-address Austin Rep. Greg Casa...
Mar 05, 2025•7 min
Progress Texas Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone had an opportunity to sit down at the Capitol with Representative Terry Meza, who has represented her native Irving area in North Texas since first winning election in 2018. We discussed the continuing fight for reproductive justice in Texas, the looming fight over private school vouchers, the inexplicable failure of our state to accept Medicaid expansion, reform concerning the overuse of solitary confinement in our prisons, the uphill process that De...
Mar 04, 2025•27 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: 25% Trump tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada are in place as of midnight: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/trumps-new-tariffs-begin-tuesday/ ...The auto industry, much of which is headquartered in Texas, stands to take a huge hit: https://www.wfaa.com/article/money/trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-impact-texas-car-manufacturers-dealers/287-7c06c2ed-84ad-4554-833f-323eefac4e87 ...Food prices, and thus restaurant prices, are also likel...
Mar 04, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Surprised at a tsunami of boos and jeers, Republican State Reps Cody Harris and Brad Buckley fled the stage of a town hall they tried to hold in Palestine: https://www.kltv.com/2025/03/01/school-voucher-town-hall-palestine-ends-with-state-representatives-booed-off-stage/ ...Meanwhile the small-town Plainview ISD is speaking up against vouchers in their declaration of legislative priorities to the Texas Association of School Boards: https://...
Mar 03, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Republican officials from Governor Abbott on down have been generally silent when it comes to recommending vaccinations for their constituents in the midst of the biggest outbreak of measles in Texas in three decades: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/28/texas-measles-abbott-lawmakers-response/ ...The Mennonite community of Gaines County has become a scapegoat in the outbreak, but their doctrine does not specifically forbid vaccines - th...
Feb 28, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A child died Tuesday night of measles at a Lubbock hospital - the first American measles death since 2015: https://apnews.com/article/measles-outbreak-west-texas-death-rfk-41adc66641e4a56ce2b2677480031ab9 ...New Trump administration U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to downplay the Texas outbreak, falsely claiming that most hospitalizations are simply for quarantine purposes: https://newrepubl...
Feb 27, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Anti-vax "experts" are blaming the Texas measles outbreak on the measles outbreak itself - and are theorizing that the outbreak was engineered as an attack on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/texas-measles-outbreak-anti-vaccine-advocates-blame-shot-rcna193478 ...The case count is now up to 128, with cases popping up 250 miles from the Gaines County epicenter: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/18/texas-measles-outbreak-...
Feb 26, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A lawsuit filed by the state in an attempt to escape enforcing a new law protecting workers in the process of pregnancy and maternity threatens a broader undermining of Congressional authority: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/texas-pregnant-workers-fairness-constitutional-chaos.html Doctors as far north as Chicago are warily eyeing the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-doctor-concern...
Feb 25, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The West Texas measles outbreak had grown to almost 100 cases by Friday: https://www.iflscience.com/us-measles-outbreaks-nearly-100-people-infected-across-two-states-78173 ...Alerts have been sounded in San Antonio, New Braunfels and San Marcos as an infected person from West Texas visited various locations there between February 14 and 16: https://www.tpr.org/public-health/2025-02-23/breaking-news-possible-measles-exposures-in-san-antonio ...
Feb 24, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A ProPublica analysis reveals that unnecessary cases of sepsis resulting from second-trimester failed pregnancies has jumped 50% since Texas largely banned abortion procedures: https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-abortion-ban-sepsis-maternal-mortality-analysis ...Congratulations to reproductive rights activist and advocate Amanda Zurawski, who has been named one of Time Magazine's Women Of The Year for 2025: https://time.com/7216391/am...
Feb 21, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texas Republican lawmakers in D.C. are mostly silent as Donald Trump threatens to abandon Ukraine and NATO in favor of Russia and Vladimir Putin: https://www.mytexasdaily.com/news/national/pressured-by-putin-and-trump-walls-close-in-on-zelensky/article_4c5d2204-56ec-51ad-b4f3-35c960e01b04.html Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett points out that red states that elected Trump generally use more federal benefits than blue states do, and that...
Feb 20, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Senate bill aimed at teacher pay raises will only benefit those who stick around through years of the terrible pay and conditions that have heavily damaged the profession in Texas: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/18/texas-senate-teacher-pay/ ...Another Senate bill wants to direct Texas funds into a Bitcoin reserve - exposing state dollars to high degrees of risk and volatility: https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-politics/crypto-reserve-...
Feb 19, 2025•7 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Elon Musk and his team of hackers are zeroing in on Social Security: https://thehill.com/opinion/5148448-elon-musk-targeting-social-security/ ...The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration has resigned over Musk's attempts to gain access to its sensitive financial data on American citizens: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/us/politics/social-security-musk-team-access.html Meanwhile, House GOP members are pushing a budget...
Feb 18, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Presidents' Day is about noting ALL of the Presidents - not just the current one, who falls at the very bottom of the most recent ranking done by the Presidential Greatness Project: https://presidentialgreatnessproject.com/ Trump's prospects of improving that dead-last ranking appear dismal as Elon Musk and his DOGE hackers are now this close to having their hands on your most personal financial data, stored by the IRS: https://www.nytimes....
Feb 17, 2025•8 min
In Texas, being an outspoken progressive person comes with risks. In a state overrun by MAGA, wearing your belief in equality, compassion and kindness on your sleeve can invite conflict with not only family members and neighbors, but also your boss - thus, now more than in the recent past, it's risky to speak up. Brad Stuver and his wife Ashley, in founding the Brad and Ashley Stuver Foundation, a new org dedicated to providing fundraising help for other progressive initiatives, exemplify the co...
Feb 16, 2025•17 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Spurred by Elon Musk's commentary that USAID is a "criminal organization", Russian officials who have suspected that organization of supporting anti-Putin dissidents wants Musk and Trump to turn over their names: https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/russia-elon-musk-list-names-dissidents-usaid-s798gktd7 About 100 suspected undocumented migrants have been sent to the shadowy detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba over the last c...
Feb 14, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Congressional Democrats are railing against the abdication by the Congress of their control of federal purse strings to the unelected Elon Musk, including Austin Congressman Greg Casar: https://www.reddit.com/r/QuiverQuantitative/s/gNFR33sfZS ...And Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/02/12/first-doge-committee-hearing-showcases-partisan-divide-over-elon-musks-role/ Big money is very much run...
Feb 13, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: In a bizarre moment, Elon Musk casually towered over Donald Trump in the Oval Office during a press conference on DOGE's federal cost-cutting efforts: https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/2025/02/12/unelected-musk-holds-court-in-trumps-oval-office-as-he-defends-efficiency-drive/ ...MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell analyzes this crazy, telling moment at length: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=dZaa8zBlwP8 ...Musk's awkward diatribe o...
Feb 12, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The measles outbreak in Gaines County appears to be gaining momentum, spreading concern across the state at a time when vaccination rates are down: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/measles-outbreak-texas-20159156.php ...The problem isn't limited to rural Texas - Houston kindergarteners saw a massive drop in measles vaccinations over the pandemic period: https://www.khou.com/article/news/health/measles-outbreak-texas-vaccinati...
Feb 11, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Kanye West, as part of a long, unhinged tirade in several topical directions, cites Texas transplant Elon Musk as having stolen his "Nazi swag": https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/kanye-west-says-i-love-hitler-accuses-elon-musk-of-stealing-his-nazi-swag-in-explosive-social-media-rant/articleshow/118027124.cms Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett has been calling it like it is in regard to the Republican attack on DEI, saying "if...
Feb 10, 2025•9 min
Houston State Rep. Gene Wu, Chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, has long been one of our favorite fighters for progress in the Lone Star State. And Clayton Tucker, wearer of many stylish hats in Texas progressive circles is a voice we follow closely as well - for this discussion, joining us in his role as Program Associate for the Trade Justice Education Fund. How should progressive Texans be viewing the current fight against both a rising tech-bro oligarchy and the ham-fisted, demonstra...
Feb 09, 2025•44 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Lawsuits against technical moves made by Elon Musk and his team of hackers that have exposed sensitive data are gaining steam: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/federal-workers-sue-opm-elon-musk-takeover.html ...Musk and DOGE's disruption of USAID has potentially derailed a new HIV vaccine, and has disrupted programs to mitigate malaria: https://futurism.com/neoscope/usaid-trial-hiv-vaccine ...Senior Texas U.S. Senator John Cornyn...
Feb 07, 2025•11 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: No surprise that the Texas Senate has fast-tracked approval of SB2, Governor Abbott's private school voucher scam, to approval: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/05/texas-senate-school-voucher-vote/ Austin saw hundreds turn out for Texas' share of the national protest against the Trump administration's policies organized in all 50 states yesterday: https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/protesters-rally-at-texas-capitol-against-project-2025 .....
Feb 06, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Dallas Rep. Jasmine Crockett was a prominent voice yesterday as lawmakers and civilian protestors rallied against Elon Musk's "hostile takeover" of the financial systems of the U.S. Department of Treasury: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/04/democrats-protest-elon-musk-treasury-washington ...Crockett notes that the Trump administration appears to have little regard for the legality or Constitutionality of their opening moves: ht...
Feb 05, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Protests against Donald Trump and Greg Abbott's immigration policies and deportation efforts have begun rising across Texas, including Houston: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/immigration/2025/02/03/512709/hundreds-march-through-west-houston-in-opposition-of-immigration-policy-changes/ ...And Conroe: https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/immigration-protest-arrests-conroe-texas/285-add40d0c-73a2-466a-a1b8-76358d4...
Feb 04, 2025•9 min
Engaged progressives across the Lone Star State know Ground Game Texas as our state's most active advocacy organization in the realm of marijuana decriminalization, with initiatives driven all the way to ballot box success in a wide range of Texas cities, both big and small. You might not know that Ground Game has expanded those winning strategies into the areas of reproductive justice, election integrity, and much more, providing a terrific example of setting and accomplishing specific goals wi...
Feb 03, 2025•51 min
