Texas news

• Case of Zika Virus, Likely Spread by Mosquito, Is Reported in Texas

  26-07-2017 23:33
  For the first time this year, health officials have documented a case of local mosquito transmission of the virus within the contiguous United States.
  
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• Texas Senate passes bill to allow people to vote on whether a city can annex them

  26-07-2017 23:24 via texastribune.org
  No filibuster was going to kill annexation reform in the Texas Senate this time around. 
  The Senate on Wednesday tentatively passed Senate Bill 6, which would allow residents of areas up for possible annexation by cities to hold a referendum on whether the annexation can go through. The bill passed on a vote of 19-12. If it gets final approval from the Senate, it will head to the House. “This is taxation without representation," Donna Campbell, R-New Brau
  
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• Texas Senate backs crackdown on mail-in ballot fraud

  26-07-2017 22:48 via texastribune.org
  The Texas Senate tentatively approved a bill Wednesday aiming to crack down on mail-in ballot fraud, largely by beefing up criminal penalties — a response to voting irregularities in Dallas County.
  "Any attempt to scam the system,” said Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, who authored Senate Bill 5, “must be addressed accordingly.”
  With a 21-10 vote, the chamber advanced the bill mostly alone party lines. Several Democrats said they initially planned to back
  
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• Senate backs bill that would roll back cellphone safety laws in dozens of Texas cities

  26-07-2017 22:15 via texastribune.org
  The Texas Senate on Wednesday gave tentative approval to a measure that pre-empts local ordinances on drivers’ mobile phone usage, effectively rolling back safety laws in the 45 Texas cities where local governments enforce stricter regulations than the state. 
  If the Senate grants Senate Bill 15 final approval, as expected, the legislation will head across the Texas Capitol to the House. 
  The measure accompanies the statewide texting-while-driving ban that Gov. Greg Abbott s
  
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• Immigrants arrested near Capitol during DACA protest

  26-07-2017 22:10 via texastribune.org
  Protesters were arrested near the state Capitol on Wednesday in a demonstration designed to challenge the state's position on an Obama-era immigration program and test Travis County’s immigration policy.
  Protest organizers said four of the 15 people arrested for blocking a street are beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which grants its undocumented recipients a renewable, two-year work permit and a reprieve from
  
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• Bill restricting abortion insurance gets initial nod in Texas Senate

  26-07-2017 19:50 via texastribune.org
  Texas women would have to pay a separate health insurance premium to get coverage for non-emergency abortions under a bill tentatively passed by the Texas Senate Wednesday.
  State Sen. Brandon Creighton, the Conroe Republican who is the lead author of the bill, said opponents of abortion should not be forced to pay for the procedure through their insurance plans and employers should be able to choose whether to include abortions in their health coverage.
  “I believe the majority of Texans do
  
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• America Does Actually Have a Single-Payer Health System

  26-07-2017 19:47
  Photo: TaxRebate.org.uk
   
  It’s not 2020 yet. Heck, it’s not even 2018 yet and I am already watching my fellow Democrats and those leaning left start to eat themselves. More annoyingly, they are repeating the last election through the lens of misinformation and screamed talking points.
  A bit ago, I ran across an Observer article talking about how Kamala Harris was starting to attract the attention of the donor class that backed Hillary Clinton. Now, it’s the Observer,
  
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• Other Side: The Best of The Week

  26-07-2017 16:00
  August Alsina, Photo: Live Nation
   
  With the weather reaching new levels of intensity around this city, I don’t think we can say that summer isn’t in full swing anymore. Of course, with the entertainment options available to you this week, you could apply that theory as well. Sets from August Alsina, Playboi Carti, and Caddywhompus will all fall between locals and legends like James Taylor and Blue Oyster Cult, as well as Vans Warped Tour. Houston, here’s how to navigate t
  
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• The Brief: The "bathroom bill" is on its way to the Texas House

  26-07-2017 13:30 via texastribune.org
  Good morning and happy Wednesday, folks. Thanks for reading The Brief, our daily newsletter informing you on politics, public policy and everything in between. Forward this email to friends who may want to join us. They can sign up here. — CP
  What you need to know
  For the second time this year, the Texas Senate passed a version of the "bathroom bill," a measure regulating which restrooms transgender people can use. But senators didn't stop there, and after the marathon debate worked into t
  
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• Texas Senate approves anti-abortion bill in overnight vote

  26-07-2017 09:30 via texastribune.org
  The Texas Senate gaveled in around 10 a.m. Tuesday, but it wasn't until past midnight that lawmakers turned their attention to Senate Bill 4, an anti-abortion measure that was initially approved over objections from Democrats. 
  Passed in a 21-10 vote, the measure prohibits local and state government agencies from contracting with abortion providers and their affiliates. 
  "Should our tax dollars ... fund the culture of death that the abortion industry promotes?" state Sen. Don Huff
  
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• Senate approves abortion-related bill in overnight vote

  26-07-2017 09:30 via texastribune.org
  The Texas Senate gaveled in around 10 a.m. Tuesday, but it wasn't until past midnight that lawmakers turned their attention to Senate Bill 4, an anti-abortion measure that was initially approved over objections from Democrats. 
  Passed in a 21-10 vote, the measure prohibits local and state government agencies from contracting with abortion providers and their affiliates. 
  "Should our tax dollars ... fund the culture of death that the abortion industry promotes?" state Sen. Don Huff
  
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• Analysis: Texas Republicans deciding where to go on bathrooms

  26-07-2017 07:01 via texastribune.org
  Editor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here.
  Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott have figured out how to make mainstream Republicans a splinter group in their own party. Or maybe it’s the other way around: The party’s traditional establishment has slipped out of the mainstream and is just now coming to realize what a pickle it’s in.
  The “bathroom bill” is popular with social conservatives, who are loud
  
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• Four Migrants Die Trying to Cross Rio Grande Into the U.S.

  26-07-2017 06:53
  The deaths in El Paso came days after the authorities discovered the bodies of eight migrants packed in a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio.
  
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• Texas Senate passes union dues bill

  26-07-2017 06:44 via texastribune.org
  The Texas Senate late Tuesday night preliminarily approved legislation that would end the state's practice of collecting membership dues for certain public employees who are members of labor unions and associations. The 19-12 vote on Senate Bill 7 by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, followed a couple hours of debate on the Senate floor and a four-hour committee hearing Sunday, where testimony mainly came from those opposed to the bill. 
  State Sen. Robert Nichols,
  
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• Texas Senate passes bill targeting public employee union dues

  26-07-2017 06:44 via texastribune.org
  The Texas Senate late Tuesday night preliminarily approved legislation that would end the state's practice of collecting membership dues for certain public employees who are members of labor unions and associations. The 19-12 vote on Senate Bill 7 by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, followed a couple hours of debate on the Senate floor and a four-hour committee hearing Sunday, where testimony mainly came from those opposed to the bill. 
  State Sen. Robert Nichols,
  
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• Senate gives early OK to bill regulating do-not-resuscitate orders

  26-07-2017 04:47 via texastribune.org
  The Senate on Tuesday gave early approval to a bill that would mandate physicians take certain steps before issuing do-not-resuscitate orders to patients.
  Senate Bill 11, authored by state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, passed the upper chamber in a 21-10 vote on second reading after about an hour of discussion. The measure regulates the issuance of do-not-resuscitate orders, directives that instruct medical professionals to not perform certain life-sustaining actions if a patient goes into card
  
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• Texas Senate approves teacher bonuses, benefits — but not pay raises

  26-07-2017 03:20 via texastribune.org
  The Texas Senate on Tuesday approved legislation to give teachers bonuses and to improve retired teachers' health benefits  — but only after the bill's author removed a controversial provision requiring school districts to cover the cost of teacher pay raises.
  The upper chamber voted 28-3 to give initial approval to Senate Bill 19, authored by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, which would borrow money from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to pay for $193 millio
  
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• Senate votes again to advance "bathroom bill"

  26-07-2017 01:40 via texastribune.org
  Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.
  As part of Republican efforts to revive the controversial "bathroom bill," the Texas Senate on Tuesday gave initial approval to another version of the legislation.
  The 21-10 vote came after an eight-hour debate during which Republicans once again espoused the need to pass the legislation for the sake of privacy in bathrooms while Democrats objected to its passage because of its discriminatory effect on an already vulnerable population.
  Senat
  
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• House committee debates addressing property tax bill increases from several angles

  26-07-2017 00:53 via texastribune.org
  A Texas House committee on Tuesday spent more than seven hours plowing through more than 30 bills that aim to tackle rising property tax bills — months after similar legislation died amid an intra-GOP war over how conservatively state officials should govern.And while the Senate spent the past five days — including the weekend— tearing through the 20 issues Gov. Greg Abbott wants addressed in the special legislative session, the House Ways and Means Committee on
  
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