Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas this Valentine's Day: Less than a week from early voting, we're shoveling our love onto three more Texas progressive primary candidates, the support of whom we consider vital for continued progress in our state: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-endorsements-march-primaries ...While we're all warm and fuzzy, have a look and Join The Movement with a great rundown of our favorite Texas civic organizations: https://progresstexas.org...
Feb 14, 2024•11 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Neighbors of the woman who fired shots inside Joel Osteen's Houston megachurch this weekend have been pleading for help from Conroe police regarding her aggressive behavior with guns for months: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-neighbors-said-tried-sound-alarm-houston-church-shooter-months-rcna138516 A Jewish Dallas City Council Member's home is attacked by vandals using pro-Palestinian symbols: https://www.wfaa.com/video/news/nat...
Feb 13, 2024•11 min
Following the disappointing (but unsurprising) outcome of the recent hearings at the Texas Supreme Court in regard to the Amanda Zurawski abortion rights case, you'll be pleased to know that two Texas women - one of our state's most fearsome progressive heavy hitters, and yet another mom whose life and health have been put in jeopardy by draconian Republican interference in medical practice - are taking action. We're proud to welcome veteran Texas politico and former Biden administration U.S. Ai...
Feb 12, 2024•47 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: An increase in teen pregnancies that followed Texas' abortion restrictions could become a national problem if Republicans are triumphant this fall: https://www.salon.com/2024/02/12/a-rise-in-texas-teen-pregnancies-could-foreshadow-national-trends-experts-warn/ ...Progressives need to get familiar with the legal concept of "extraterritoriality" - the GOP push to enforce Texas culture-war laws outside our borders: https://www.texastribune.org...
Feb 12, 2024•14 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Despite a big reduction in migrant numbers, Governor Abbott vows to expand Operation Lone Star: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-texas-border-arizona-california-migrants/ ...While, given the longtime cooperation of state and federal border patrols, recent conflicts between them are pure political theater: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/border-patrol-and-texas-troopers-got-along-once-what-happened/ Have your property taxes dropp...
Feb 09, 2024•12 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Senate Republicans including Ted Cruz and John Cornyn cave to pressure from Donald Trump, backing out of a deal to end their so-called "invasion" at the border: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/cruz-cornyn-border-bill-18653781.php The deal, to be fair, was not universally loved by Democrats: https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/07/politics/senate-border-ukraine-israel-aid-vote/index.html All this echoes failure in the U.S. Hou...
Feb 08, 2024•11 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Despite the full support of Texas Representatives, the Republican majority in the U.S. House falls short of impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/06/mayorkas-impeachment-vote-fail/ ...Partly thanks to a heroic vote by Texas Rep. Al Green, who had escaped his hospital bed to cast a decisive vote establishing a 215-215 tie: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/us/politics/al-green-mayork...
Feb 07, 2024•12 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A diverse group of environmental advocates and frontline communities have signed on to an open letter urging Texas progressives in the U.S. House to oppose a resolution allowing for liquid natural gas expansion: https://progresstexas.org/blog/good-step-pausing-lng-export-approvals-next-step-combat-climate-crisis-texas A new deal on federal border policy finds Democrats running to face Ted Cruz in the fall election divided: https://www.texas...
Feb 06, 2024•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Today is the last day to register to vote in the March primary! Get it done: https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2024/02/05/monday-is-last-day-to-register-to-vote-in-march-5-texas-primary-election/ All about voting in Texas: https://govotetexas.org/ Governor Abbott, gathered at Eagle Pass with 13 other Republican governors, pledges to expand the border territory his Operation Lone Star is excluding from access by federal Border Patrol ...
Feb 05, 2024•12 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Houston Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw is confused at his party's blocking of the very border reforms they claim to want: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/02/01/dan-crenshaw-potential-border-reform-bill-sot-raju-ip-vpx.cnn That "God's Army" gathering in Dripping Springs was nowhere near "massive": https://nypost.com/2024/02/01/news/patriots-gather-for-massive-rally-at-texas-border/ ...Experts say this convoy has already been overrun b...
Feb 02, 2024•12 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: We're proud to announce that we are endorsing Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez to face Ted Cruz in the race for our state's junior seat in the U.S. Senate: https://rolandfortexas.com/ Republican craziness over the border includes the supposedly-moderate (and essentially hopeless) Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley: https://nypost.com/2024/01/31/news/nikki-haley-claims-texas-has-the-right-to-secede-from-us-thats-their-decision...
Feb 01, 2024•12 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: No progress reported on the standoff between Governor Greg Abbott and President Joe Biden on federal access to the border: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/texas-refuses-budge-in-border-standoff-with-biden Eagle Pass firefighters talk about the trauma of recovering so many drowned migrants from the Rio Grande lately: https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2024/01/30/eagle-pass-texas-migrant-surge-border-immigration-contd-orig-lr-ag-ak.cnn Christian v...
Jan 31, 2024•13 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The standoff between Governor Greg Abbott and President Joe Biden continues: https://www.kens5.com/video/news/special-reports/at-the-border/273-ded0a575-7d5c-4ec3-8465-7d701b45e7f3 ...Historic parallels to the situation include Eisenhower '57 and Kennedy '63: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/29/immigration-border-texas-trump/ ...Should legal solutions in the Congress not work out, Biden faces a difficult call: https://www.msn...
Jan 30, 2024•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The standoff between Texas and the Biden Administration is verging on unprecedented - outside of the leadup to the American Civil War: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-refuses-federal-agents-access-shelby-park-eagle-pass-border/ ...Governor Abbott's legal position parallels those asserted by Confederate states as they left the Union, all thoroughly debunked: https://www.thedailybeast.com/texas-border-stunt-is-b...
Jan 29, 2024•11 min
Just hours ago, in what may end up the only full debate featuring the top contenders, the Democratic hopefuls to face Ted Cruz for Texas' junior U.S. Senate seat in November faced off in a live debate. Thanks to the Texas AFL/CIO for allowing us to capture this very important conversation during their annual COPE Convention in Austin, which is presented here in its entirety. Learn more about the Texas AFL/CIO and all the incredible work they do for hardworking Texans statewide at https://texasaf...
Jan 28, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Former President and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump has issued a call for "all willing states" to send their national guards to Texas to confront federal personnel alongside Operation Lone Star: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-calls-for-all-willing-states-to-deploy-national-guard-troops-to-texas ...While 25 Republican Governors - representing half the states - weigh in in favor of Abbott and Trump: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news...
Jan 26, 2024•13 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: That deadline imposed by the federal government to allow full Border Patrol access to Shelby Park arrives tomorrow: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/texas-continues-block-federal-officials-border-park/ ...While Governor Greg Abbott reiterates Texas' "right to defend itself against invasion": https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/texas-self-defense-border-battle/285-7a1131cc-e1a1-47f2-acd5-5df1f648d9be Kate Cox has been invited to be Fi...
Jan 25, 2024•13 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: So far, the order issued by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Border Patrol full access has been defied by Governor Abbott, as the feds issue a new Friday deadline: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/23/us/us-mexico-border-texas-migrants/index.html ...Conservatives recklessly encouraging Abbott's defiance: Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn: https://themessenger.com/politics/gop-texas-sen-cruz-slams-scotus-razor-wire-border-ruling-disgraceful ...Geor...
Jan 24, 2024•10 min
Opportunities abound for progressive Texans this election year. From the chance to send Ted Cruz packing, to the possibility of virtually guaranteeing a second Joe Biden term with our 40 electoral votes, a massive show of force in the Lone Star State would be a truly historic moment - and it's up to US to bring that moment into reality. Top of mind nationally for progressive folks is abortion rights - and specifically the national implications for reproductive freedom should Republicans gain too...
Jan 23, 2024•25 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed federal Border Patrol agents to cut or move razor wire placed on the Texas border by Operation Lone Star: https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-immigration-texas-razor-wire-9daef6bd316211b6633ece718e505187 ...Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton vow to keep on fighting: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/2024/01/22/supreme-court-ruling-razor-wire-border-texas-greg-abbott-ken-paxton-attorney-general/723...
Jan 23, 2024•9 min
A new poll shows that U.S. Senator Ted Cruz is in a dead heat with BOTH Dallas U.S. Representative Colin Allred and San Antonio State Senator Roland Gutierrez: https://www.newsweek.com/ted-cruz-poll-raises-alarm-bells-texas-election-1862204 ...That same poll finds Allred well ahead of all Democratic challengers, but with a plurality of Texas Democratic primary voters still undecided: https://emersoncollegepolling.com/texas-2024-poll-allred-leads-democratic-senate-primary-plurality-are-undecided/...
Jan 22, 2024•14 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A U.S. Department of Justice report on the May 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary calls law enforcement response a series of "cascading failures": https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-school-shooting-justice-department-report-police-16b59efa5c5015d685d917c3f0f26256 ...Other findings include a lack of courageous leadership and a failure to properly contain the crime scene afterwards: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/18/us/takeaways-doj-uvalde-rep...
Jan 19, 2024•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: U.S. Representative Colin Allred voted along with over a dozen other House Democrats in support of a Republican rebuke of President Biden over border policy: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4414955-democrats-gop-resolution-denouncing-biden-open-border-policies/ ...While hitting another huge fundraising benchmark: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/17/colin-allred-us-senate-campaign/ Texas has defied a federal deadline to turn over cont...
Jan 18, 2024•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Record low temperatures have been recorded across Texas: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/weather/article/texas-cold-front-18611255.php ...Including in normally-balmy Houston - but this was no Uri: https://www.chron.com/weather/article/houston-freeze-texas-18610377.php Two attorneys have sought clarification on abortion restriction exceptions from the Texas Medical Board: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/16/texas-medical-board-abortion...
Jan 17, 2024•10 min
Over the last few years, San Antonio State Senator Roland Gutierrez has become a familiar voice to Progress Texas podcast listeners, mostly related to his steadfast support of and advocacy for the families of the victims of the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, which is in his district. This time, as he's running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Ted Cruz for Texas' junior seat in that chamber, we've invited Senator Gutierrez on for a wide-ranging talk covering the issues most important...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Shamefully, it's of national note that the Texas power grid has mostly stayed functional amidst the current winter blast: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/good-news-texas-power-grid-holding-up/ ...ERCOT's most recent plea to conserve power is in effect as we publish this morning: https://www.fox7austin.com/news/texas-winter-weather-ercot-power-conservation-appeal-jan-16 ...The cold snap arrived as inspections of power facilities remained...
Jan 16, 2024•12 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The winter blast inbound for MLK weekend is thought NOT to be on par with conditions we saw during Winter Storm Uri: https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/01/worried-about-the-texas-power-grid-heres-what-to-expect-from-the-incoming-arctic-blast/ ...Should be mostly dry, with possible exceptions in northeast Texas: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-weather/article/how-texas-freeze-next-week-compares-february-2021-18600817.ph...
Jan 12, 2024•10 min
This week, what appeared to be a ham-fisted silencing of a large group of journalists and left-leaning activists on Elon Musk's X - the platform that we, frankly, generally still call Twitter - was shrugged off by Musk as a side effect of routine housecleaning of bots and fake accounts. Our friend and regular contributor Steven Monacelli, investigative reporter for the Texas Observer, was one of those who found themselves temporarily in Twitter jail this week; he's not accepting that lame explan...
Jan 12, 2024•34 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The incoming winter weather should fall short of "historic" measure: https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/weather/forecasts/canadian-deep-freeze-steaming-towards-texas-is-it-historical ...While ERCOT issues a fresh weather watch: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/ercot-issues-weather-watch-ahead-of-arctic-blast/3430486/ ...Homeowners are advised to prepare pipes, plants and pets: https://www.fox7austin.com/news/texas-winter-...
Jan 11, 2024•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Despite an early warning of possible operational issues, ERCOT officials remain bullish on the power staying on through the upcoming winter freeze: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/investigations/defenders/ercot-operating-condition-notice-texas-power-grid/269-ba1f0642-92fd-4f5f-ad1f-cfe45fbcca9f ...Go-to energy expert Doug Lewin thinks we'll be okay: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/ercot-watchful-ahead-of-cold-weather-energy-expert-says-...
Jan 10, 2024•8 min
