The Texas Report 4/17

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Happy Monday!

Written by: Jay Williamson

Statewide News Round-Up

Shorter newsletter today, as I'm traveling. 

Sunday afternoon, the Department of Public Safety evacuated the State Capitol and its grounds after the Austin Police Department (APD) received a call claiming a pipe bomb at the Capitol.

A Mesquite school district substitute teacher was fired after allegedly encouraging students to brawl in what some parents described as an "in-class fight club." Mesquite Independent School District said, "Our investigation revealed that this substitute teacher encouraged students to fight each other during class, outlined rules for the students to follow, and even instructed a student to monitor the classroom door while the fights took place. Her actions are appalling and intolerable." (More here) She has since been fired and is under investigation by the Mesquite Police Department.

Austin police chief Joseph Chacon held a news conference last Friday to, in part, address the new partnership with DPS. Chief Chacon said the department has seen a 25% drop in violent crime since the partnership began, and he added that while it hasn't resulted in a spike in results, it created an effective "deterrent." Some city council members and criminal justice advocates have expressed opposition to this new partnership out of fear that it will increase arrests for offenses like Marijuana possession. APD doesn't arrest for low-level marijuana possession, but DPS can under state law. 

APD currently has 298 officer vacancies, and this partnership is intended to help address part of that staffing crisis. 

The major bills on the House calendar for today include House Bill (H.B.) 112 by Representative Donna Howard (D-Austin) would require hospitals, home and community support service agencies, nursing facilities, and more to establish a workplace violence prevention committee to develop a require workplace violence prevention plan. The committee would be required to annually review the plan and evaluate it to the facility's governing body. Additionally, following an incident of workplace violence, facilities would be required to accept, at a minimum, offer immediate post-incident services and any additional medical treatment necessary for the employees involved in the incident.

Many eyes are on the House Public Education Committee to see if they will vote out the voucher legislation introduced last week. 

In surprising news, the Tarrant County Elections Administrator announced his resignation following the May 6th election. Secretary of State John Scott once lauded Heider Garcia as the "prototype" of an elections administrator, and the forensic audit conducted by the state found next to no issues with Tarrant County elections.

The resignation comes following the election of the new county judge Tim O'Hare campaigned on many issues dealing with election integrity. In a previous radio conversation, he said "mail ballot harvesting" and "Democrats cheating" contributed to former President Donald Trump losing the 2020 election in Tarrant County. In his letter, Garcia said, "Judge O'Hare, my formula to administer a quality transparent election stands on respect and zero politics; compromising on these values is not an option for me. You made it clear in your last meeting that our formula is different. Thus, my decision is to leave." (More here)

United State Senator Ted Cruz is reported to have raised 1.5 million in the first quarter as he gears up for his second reelection bid. He has yet to draw any serious challenger. Cruz had one of the closer races in recent Texas history when he beat Democrat Beto O'Rourke in 2018 50.9% - 48.3%. For context Governor Abbott beat O'Rourke 54.8% - 43.9%. It remains to be seen who the Democrats will field against Cruz. (More here)

SpaceX and Elon Musk were forced to cancel their attempts at firing the world's largest rocket today after issues arose during the fueling process. Musk's "Starship" is the biggest rocket every built, and is nearly 400 feet. Musk tweeted "“Learned a lot today,” after the flight was postponed. The goal of this ship is to one day allow for the colonization of the Moon, and Mars, however currently the next attempt at a test flight won't be till at least Wednesday. (More here)

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Happy Monday!