Our weekly venting session features Digital Director Sam Gonzalez, Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone, Advocacy and Development Coordinator Tatum Owens, and Digital Associate Haley Smith - we figure you're probably pissed about the same stuff we are, so we now include you in our weekly airing of the grievances...enjoy and happy weekend! Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/ ....
May 02, 2025•22 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Abbott is set to sign private school vouchers into law this weekend - how did we get here? https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/02/texas-school-vouchers-greg-abbott/ ...Meanwhile, HB 2 - the bill Republicans have called an "historic" increase in public school funding - appears to be languishing in committee: https://x.com/scottbraddock/status/1917740286148764002?t=kD7Hd9E4z2-JDF8SuEVz9A&s=03 Texas Republicans have apparently pl...
May 02, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Greg Abbott is threatening to pull state funding from the city of San Marcos in retaliation for a largely symbolic Gaza ceasefire resolution placed on its city council's agenda: https://www.kut.org/politics/2025-04-30/san-marcos-tx-city-council-resolution-ceasefire-gaza-genocide-israel-governor-greg-abbott-funding-antisemitism ...Meanwhile, Abbott and UT Austin Jay Hartzell have been sued by a group of UT students who contend that ...
May 01, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: SB-31, the abortion clarification bill, unanimously passes the Texas Senate: https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-ban-medical-exceptions-b54173653ce04a7ba434dae899624374 ...Meanwhile, SB-2880, a bill that will crack down on abortion medication and does not include language declaring neutrality on old abortion laws still on the books in Texas - the feared "Trojan Horse" - passes on party lines and is headed for the House: https://www.te...
Apr 30, 2025•9 min
Aside from the daily drama at the Capitol, the race to succeed Ron Nirenberg as the next mayor of San Antonio is one of the top political stories in Texas, as the leadership of the Lone Star State's second-biggest city for next four years hangs in the balance. Attorney and San Antonio City Council Member Melissa Cabello Havrda has thrown her hat into the ring. Now in her third Council term, she has chaired San Antonio's Public Safety and Municipal Courts Advisory Committees and is the current Vi...
Apr 29, 2025•26 min
The "list of 50" Democrats dug in to oppose Republican legislation in response to the forcing through of private school vouchers fell apart yesterday, as at least 8 Dems voted in favor of GOP items: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/25/republicans-texas-house-calendar-democrats/ The "Uvalde Strong Act" - passed by the House yesterday to establish uniform and coordinated school shooter response protocols for law enforcement and school districts - does nothing to address the continued prolifera...
Apr 29, 2025•9 min
The idea of "due process" as a privilege or an option, given to some but denied others, has become a cornerstone of the policies of the second Donald Trump administration - and the right-wing disinformation machine appears all too willing to go along. What is due process, and what risks do each of us assume for ourselves in standing by as it's taken away from others, for any reason? We're fortunate to have two respected North Texas attorneys, Louis Bedford and Jason Smith, on the Progress Instit...
Apr 28, 2025•35 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Watch for a deep dive on Donald Trump's attack on due process here later today, even as suspicions of the deportation of a young U.S. citizen arise: https://www.npr.org/2025/04/26/nx-s1-5378077/honduras-deported-girl-citizen ...While a growing number of Texas law enforcement agencies sign force multiplier agreements with ICE: https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-police-287g-ice-army/ ...While Texas GOP lawmakers are set to approve legislatio...
Apr 28, 2025•8 min
In Progress is out weekly venting session, in which we unload a bit on the issues we've been tackling lately - at PT we find group therapy intellectually stimulating, occasionally cathartic, and always fun - so we're letting YOU join in. We're always all ears for your input at ProgressTexas.org .
Apr 26, 2025•20 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Rising demand and dwindling supplies of water in Texas are placing major pressure on the business-friendly and environmentally-indifferent Texas GOP: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/the-impossibly-expensive-plan-to-save-texass-water-supply-texas-monthly/ Trump crazy is beginning to wear on his MAGA faithful - will they be able to find common cause with progressives to fix the problem? https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists...
Apr 25, 2025•10 min
The future of transportation infrastructure in Texas faces challenges both from our historic past - now starting a fourth decade under Republican control - and the uphill battles presented by the present day under Donald Trump and Governor Abbott's dubious priorities. We're proud to welcome a long-overdue visit with State Rep. John Bucy of Austin, and UT professor Miriam Schoenfield with the Texas Streets Coalition and Rethink 35, a group dedicated to managing and mitigating the adverse impacts ...
Apr 25, 2025•41 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: What appears to be a win for Texas Republicans in their push for unpopular private school vouchers appears likely to be a burden in the 2026 mid-term elections: https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2025-04-25/the-vouchers-battle-is-decided-but-what-about-the-future-of-texas-politics/ ...Add to the draining of funds to subsize private school families, a likely dwindling of federal school funding in Trump's "DOGE" era: https://www.keranews.or...
Apr 24, 2025•9 min
We've published select episodes from other podcasts on the Progress Texas feed before, but we believe this is the first time we've run a radio show! Galveston attorney, former mayor and 2022 candidate for Texas Attorney General Joe Jaworski hosts "Midterms", a half-hour talk show on the upcoming 2026 elections, on the legendary KPFT-FM in Houston every Tuesday morning. This week, his guest was Kendall Scudder, the newly-elected Chairman of the Texas Democratic Party. Learn more about KPFT and Jo...
Apr 23, 2025•31 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Austin State Rep. Gina Hinojosa from the intro: https://x.com/GinaForAustin/status/1913646263075062273?t=5d0u-Di48t87m0NE8l1aTA&s=03 Will that reported threat by Texas House Democrats to undermine all of the Republican majority's constitutional amendments for the rest of the session for refusing to let the voters decide on private school vouchers materialize? House Speaker Dustin Burrows may have blinked yesterday: https://www.kxan.com/...
Apr 23, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Early voting starts today in the May 3 election - see your local county website for a sample ballot to study beforehand, and get your questions about voting answered at GoVoteTexas.org . ...Two Republican bills on their way through the Legislature this week, similar to the federal SAVE Act, will make voter registration harder for lower-income Texans and those who have changed their names: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/01/texas-proof-...
Apr 22, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A weekend SCOTUS ruling has stopped the Trump regime from deporting a group of ICE detainees being held north of Abilene to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-new-deportations-under-alien-enemies-act/ Public skepticism, perhaps a bit too late, is growing in response to Governor Greg Abbott's ramming through of private school vouchers without a public vote: https://www.tex...
Apr 21, 2025•10 min
In a world awash in passionate politics and widespread, nefarious disinformation, independent and ethically-sound journalism has never been more important, and has also never been under such threat. Countering disinformation is a major part of our mission at Progress Texas, and among the media sources in our state, we judge the Texas Tribune as one of the most impeccable, and source its high-quality and fast-breaking information on the regular. We're proud to welcome editor in chief Matthew Watk...
Apr 19, 2025•49 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Abbott relied on intimidation of wavering State House Republicans to keep his spineless minions from putting private school vouchers to a public vote: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/17/greg-abbott-school-vouchers-republicans-hardball/ ...Abbott also called in Donald Trump to keep the troops in line: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/education/2025/04/18/texas-house-approves-school-vouchers-secures-greg-abbott-priority-bill...
Apr 18, 2025•9 min
Welcome to the first edition of In Progress, our new weekly group session in which the Progress Texas staff gathers to discuss, process and attempt to make sense of the latest developments in the crazy world of Texas politics. And, what a way to start. After 30 years of trying - against the members of their own party, and certainly in spite of public opinion - the Republican dream of taxpayer-funded kickbacks to wealthy Texas families to subsidize their private schools is on the edge of becoming...
Apr 17, 2025•26 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: After a 30-year struggle, Governor Greg Abbott has all but accomplished the goal of his billionaire benefactors as Texas House Republicans pass Senate Bill 2, which allocates $1 billion (for starters) of your tax dollars to subsidize private school tuition: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/17/texas-house-school-vouchers-public-education-funding/ ...Will the Democratic minority follow through with their threat to tank state constitutiona...
Apr 17, 2025•8 min
The position of precinct chair is generally the party job closest to the actual action: meeting, motivating, and mobilizing the voters themselves, who happen to be your neighbors and friends! If you're a regular Progress Texas listener, you already know most of what you need to know to effectively fill this position. Many districts, in just about every corner of Texas, have vacancies in this vital grassroots role - leaving those voters without anyone to personally guide and inspire them. If you'...
Apr 16, 2025•22 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: After 30 years of trying, Texas Republicans are confident they can push private school vouchers on an unwilling Texas today: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/15/texas-house-vouchers-public-school-funding-vote/?_bhlid=787b18ce3a9535dfb634483e2ca01fd2c02ecc6e ...But the Democratic minority has a plan to send that issue to the voters, where it's likely to die: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/15/texas-legislature-democrats-school-vouch...
Apr 16, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A stunning and surreal scene at the White House yesterday saw Donald Trump and El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, in defiance of U.S. courts, refuse to return a wrongly-deported Maryland man - and muse on sending American citizens away next: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzgQT__Az4o Reactions from Texas lawmakers including Austin Congressman Greg Casar: https://x.com/RepCasar/status/1911871636292202834?t=IfJmo_wHPrrvhoD3kFMWDw&s=03...
Apr 15, 2025•7 min
The Barbara Jordan Texas Voting Rights Act, or TXVRA (which includes HB 5258 and HB 2082) will protect Texas voters from voting discrimination, provide powerful tools to combat voter intimidation, expand language access, and more — to ensure free and fair elections for every Texas voter. We reviewed with Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Christina M. Das, the Texas Civil Rights Project’s Voting Rights Policy Attorney, Veronikah Warms, and Policy Director for Common Cause ...
Apr 14, 2025•49 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A floor vote is likely in the Texas House on Governor Abbott's bought-and-paid-for private school voucher scam on Wednesday: https://x.com/TFN/status/1910800951121785287 Of all the U.S. states, Texas stands to lose the most from the global economic disruption that Donald Trump's tariff playtime is causing: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/article/texas-free-trade-trump-tariffs-20265650.php ...Don't look to our Senators to reel Trum...
Apr 14, 2025•9 min
As part of our ongoing series of profiles with our favorite lawmakers and activists, Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone enjoyed a sit-down with two terrific Texans at the Texas State Capitol: State Rep. Ron Reynolds has represented Missouri City and Fort Bend County in the legislature since 2010, and Dr. Cyrus Reed serves as Conservation Director for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. Learn more about Rep. Reynolds at https://house.texas.gov/members/2040 . Learn more about the Sierra Club Lone...
Apr 12, 2025•37 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The U.S. Supreme Court has backed a lower court order for the Trump administration to "facilitate and effectuate the return" of wrongly-deported Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia - but stopped short of actually ordering that return: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/us/politics/supreme-court-trump-deported-migrant.html ...An Austin attorney who has represented Abrego Garcia in his efforts to remain in the U.S. weighs in: https://ww...
Apr 11, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Texas-based judge has blocked the Trump administration from continuing to deport migrants without hearing under the Alien Enemies Act, for now: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/federal-judges-limit-trump-alien-enemies-act-deportations-rcna200418 Budget Day today at the Capitol is likely to extend overnight - the Texas Tribune has live coverage: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/10/texas-house-budget-day/ Midlothian Republican Rep. a...
Apr 10, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A bloody and expensive primary battle between Ken Paxton and Senator John Cornyn could present an opportunity for Texas Democrats: https://apnews.com/article/ken-paxton-texas-senate-john-cornyn-60c34efe45143422c5f9ff84d27c1be1 With Texas as the main staging ground for ICE deporatations, Donald Trump has been casually toying with the idea of also deporting American citizens: https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/trum...
Apr 09, 2025•9 min
The Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus was established in 2021 by State Representative Ron Reynolds. This session, the growing 20 member bicameral caucus is shaping legislation by promoting working family policies. In this episode, we sit down with the caucus' first executive director Cody Meador to discuss their platform and legislation that moves Texas forward. You can find more information on their work and the elected members at https://www.texaslpc.org . Thanks for listening! Learn more a...
Apr 08, 2025•41 min
