The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - April 17, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Wednesday, April 17th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lausches, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. A ruling issued Tuesday by the Supreme Court of the United States cleared the way for Texas farmer Richard De Villiers to sue the state of Texas in federal court under the Fifth Amendment. But despite what seems like a decisive victory for De Villiers, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also declared victory, sparking criticism from the plaintiffs and others online. In the unanimous opinion authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, SCOTUS held that Texas common law does serve as a cause of action through which

Starting point is 00:00:45 citizens may seek just compensation in court against the state under the Fifth Amendment. SCOTUS then ordered Texas' previous win at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which would have dismissed the case from federal court, be vacated, and the case be returned to the lower courts to proceed. Despite their victory being vacated, Paxton and the Office of the Attorney General asserted the state won, saying, quote, I'm pleased the Supreme Court agreed with us unanimously that citizens should sue under Texas law, end quote. But Paxton did not mention that the plaintiffs were forced to raise a Fifth Amendment claim because the state removed the case from state to federal court, and then moved to dismiss the case,

Starting point is 00:01:31 a maneuver Justice Sonia Sotomayor described as a, quote, bait-and-switch tactic during oral arguments. Texas Congresswoman Beth Van Dyne has taken out a full-page advertisement in the New York Post in an effort to recruit law enforcement from New York City, encouraging them to, quote, escape New York and move to Texas. Van Dyne identified New York Governor Kathy Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, saying their interactions with New York law enforcement show that, quote, you're nothing more than a photo op when they can take credit for your bravery, but more often, you're a punching bag for these anarchists to use to satisfy their extremist base, end quote. During a press conference, New York City Mayor Eric Adams was not receptive to Van Dyne's call

Starting point is 00:02:11 for law enforcement to defect to Texas. He pointed out that the homicide rate is higher in Dallas than in New York City, saying, quote, she should be telling some of her officers to go to Dallas to deal with the violence there. He added, New York is the safest big city in America. This is not my opinion. The stats show that. The Fifth Circuit has denied a rehearing in a case involving bookstores and publishers who sued the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, the State Board of Education, and the Texas Education Agency. The appeals court previously sided with bookstores, halting one portion of the law that would have prevented book vendors from selling, quote, explicit materials to public schools. House Bill 900, also known as the Reader Act, was aimed at preventing children from accessing certain materials in public school libraries by preventing library vendors from selling library material rated sexually explicit. Effective September 1st, 2023, the law required vendors to perform a contextual analysis of their own materials

Starting point is 00:03:11 to determine their level of appropriateness. Judge James C. Ho noted in the dissenting opinion, quote, the Reader Act doesn't compel anyone to say anything. It simply provides that any vendor who wishes to sell books to public schools must answer certain questions prior to the sale, just as ordinary consumers often ask questions of merchants before deciding whether to make a purchase." Everman Independent School District will have a $67 million bond proposal in the May 4, 2024 election. This will be the district's latest bond proposal since its $40 million 2019 proposal, which was passed. That bond paid for additions to four schools and comprehensive roof replacements across the district. Everman ISD is a 5,100-student district in southeast Tarrant County that

Starting point is 00:03:57 primarily serves Everman and portions of Forest Hill and Fort Worth. The bond package was developed by Everman ISD's Community Bond Committee, which is composed of community members, parents, business leaders, and staff members. The committee began work on the proposal in October 2023. The district currently has over $154 million of debt, of which $47.5 million is in interest. The amount of tax-supported debt per student is $22,370. Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex school districts passed close to $6 billion in school bonds in the November 2023 election. Thanks for listening. Be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - April 17, 2024

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