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Capital Highlights
Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday he’s likely to instruct the Texas Legislature to investigate early warning systems and other governmental responses to July 4 flash flooding that killed at least 82 people in the Hill Country.
Lawmakers are set to convene in Austin on July 21. Meanwhile, as of late Sunday an additional 41 people were still missing. In addition to local first responders, more than 1,300 state personnel were dispatched to the scene.
Abbott has issued a disaster declaration covering 21 Hill Country counties, where rain continued to fall through the weekend.
'We will be relentless in going after and ensuring that we locate every single person who's been a victim of this flooding event,” Abbott said. “We're not going to stop today or tomorrow.”
APPEALS COURT: IMMIGRATION LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked a 2023 Texas immigration law that would have permitted local police to arrest people believed to have illegally crossed the Texas-Mexico border. The vote was 2-1, The Texas Tribune reported.
“For nearly 150 years, the Supreme Court has recognized that the power to control immigration — the entry, admission, and removal of aliens — is exclusively a federal power,” the ruling says.
The Trump administration earlier this year dropped the federal government’s opposition to a suit filed by two immigrant rights groups and El Paso County challenging the constitutionality of the Texas state law. It would have made it a Class B misdemeanor to cross the border between ports of entry. Subsequent offenses could have resulted in a second-degree felony.
It was not immediately known whether the state will appeal the Fifth Circuit ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
INTERFAITH PARENTS SUE TO BLOCK TEN COMMANDMENTS LAW
Two separate lawsuits are challenging a law passed during the last legislative session requiring posters of the Ten Commandments be hung in all publicschool classrooms. The San Antonio Express-News said the latest suit was filed against several Austin, Houston and San Antonioarea districts.
“Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every Texas public-school classroom — rendering them unavoidable — is plainly unconstitutional,” one of the suits states.
The plaintiffs are parents from Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist and Hindu faiths, plus some who are nonreligious. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Church and Faith.
The new law, which would take effect in September if a court doesn’t halt it, would require all publicly funded schools to hang a 16-by-20-inch framed poster of the Ten Commandment in a “conspicuous place” in every classroom.
FIRST CASE OF WEST NILE ILLNESS IN STATE REPORTED
The first case of West Nile illness in Texas this year has been reported by the Department of State Health Services in a resident of Brazos County.
West Nile is transmitted by mosquitoes and 80% of people exposed do not get sick, but the rest can have symptoms such as fever, nausea, headaches, muscle fatigue, and muscle and joint pain. Fewer than 1% suffer more serious symptoms, including some fatalities.
“Texans should be aware that mosquitoes transmit disease, and some of these illnesses, like West Nile and dengue, can be severe,” said Department of State Health Services Commissioner Jennifer A. Shuford, MD, MPH. “But taking steps to prevent mosquito bites and eliminating mosquito breeding areas around homes are proactive measures that can reduce the risk of mosquito-borne illness.”
Several steps can be taken to avoid West Nile, including wearing long sleeves and pants, using insect repellent, and removing standing water in outside containers. A total of 455 cases of West Nile disease were reported in 2024, including 56 deaths.
ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS SQUEEZED BY FEDERAL FUNDING FREEZE
A federal hold on funding for adult education programs is affecting Texans enrolled in such programs as GED classes, workforce training, and instruction in English. The Texas Standard reported $78 million the state was slated to receive for these programs this month has been paused.
Sharon Bonney, CEO of the national Coalition on Adult Basic Education, said people enrolled in adult education programs could have their studies interrupted in the next few weeks.
“Closures will start immediately,” Bonney said. “We’ve already heard from a number of local programs. This is going to be acrossthe- board mass closures and layoffs.”
The funding usually goes to states from the Department of Education as part of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act, passed in 2014.
NORTHEAST TEXAS FARMER PLANS RUN AGAINST ABBOTT
A former firefighter and farmer from Wood County plans to run next year as a Democrat against Abbott, the Houston Chronicle reported. Bobby Cole is vowing to “take back the government for working people of the state.”
“Republicans have spent 30 years in office, and working men and women have been having to pay the cost,” Cole, 55, said. “It has to stop.”
Cole retired as a firefighter in Texarkana and later Plano. He maintains a family farm in Quitman where they raise 300 head of cattle and also chickens.
Abbott has been governor since 2014 and has already announced plans to run for reelection.
FUNDING BOOST FOR SCHOOLS COMES WITH STRINGS ATTACHED
Texas lawmakers are providing public schools with $8.5 billion in new funding, but some school administrators say the money comes with provisions that limit their independence to a greater degree than previously, The Tribune reported.
The largest portion of the new money goes for teacher raises, with districts having little discretion on who gets raises. Lawmakers did not significantly raise the base amount school districts receive, leaving some districts struggling to pay for non-teacher items, such as rising operational costs and compensation for support staff.
Some educators say that while they are grateful for the teacher pay raises, they are disappointed in a lack of flexibility in how money is spent.
“I think that that’s really, really dangerous when you don't trust leaders in public education to do the best they can for kids,” said Megan Simoneau, an educator of 21 years who teaches high school math in the Leander school district. All that “most teachers, and most principals, and most superintendents are really attempting to do, is do the best they possibly can for the students, and the families, and their communities.”
SUMMER ANTIDRUNK DRIVING CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED
More than 1,000 deaths were recorded in Texas last year from alcohol-related crashes, and the Texas Department of Transportation is again launching a public awareness campaign to cut down on those fatalities.
The agency’s “Drive Sober. No Regrets” campaign is underway, along with increased law enforcement continuing through mid-July. Officers are on heightened lookout for impaired drivers in hopes of reducing DUI crashes and fatalities across Texas.
Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin, and Cedar Park. Email:[email protected].
