The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - April 4, 2025

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

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Howdy folks, today is Friday, April 4th and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lauschus and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, a Texas Senate bill banning biological males from using state-owned bathrooms designated for biological females was heard in committee, eight years after a nearly identical bill stole the spotlight in its eventually unsuccessful route through the 85th Texas Legislature. State Senator Mays Middleton filed Senate Bill 240, also known as the Texas Women's

Privacy Act, which establishes a statewide standard for private spaces such as locker rooms or bathrooms in publicly funded facilities such as prisons or domestic violence shelters. Stating they, quote, must be designated based on biological sex as stated on a person's original birth certificate. Its companion legislation, House Bill 239, was filed by Representative Valerie Swanson in the lower chamber. SB 240's provisions harken back to 2017, when Senate Bill 6, known as the bathroom bill, similarly tried to ban biological men from state-owned women's private spaces and vice versa.

It spurred a heated statewide and national debate and a special session called by Governor Greg Abbott, although it ultimately failed there. Upon introducing the bill to the Senate State Affairs Committee, Middleton said on Thursday evening, quote, opponents of this bill said we didn't need to do it in 2017, that it was a solution in search of a problem and that it wasn't happening. But it is happening and it is happening right here in this building. In other news, a suspect in a Houston area murder-suicide had pled guilty to murder last December, but nearly four months later, he had not been sentenced and was released on

bond. Following a SWAT team standoff Thursday, Houston police found the bodies of Austin Collette, age 26, and his girlfriend. Investigators say Collette likely shot the girl before turning the gun on himself. Collette pled guilty to a 2019 murder on December 12, 2024, but district court judge Hilary Unger had not scheduled a sentencing hearing as of April 2025, and had authorized Collette's release while awaiting a hearing. Collette was arrested for the 2019 murder of Thomas Simmons in what prosecutors described as a drug deal gone wrong in September 2020, but was released on a $50,000 bond.

Unger increased his bond to $250,000 in April 2021 after reported violations related to his GPS monitor, but he made bond and was released the following day. According to Andy Kahan of Crime Stoppers of Houston, Colette was also on a four-year probation for a January 2024 conviction in Jefferson County for fraudulent use of identifying information out of the county. Stay tuned for more news updates after this short message. Data centers fuel 364,000 Texas jobs, generate $3.5 billion in state and local taxes, and power essential services like banking, healthcare, and video calls. With 21 connected devices per household and soaring data demands,

these hubs drive Texas' booming economy, shape its technological future, and keep your data here in the US. To learn more, visit centerofyourdigitalworld.org slash Texas. Now returning to your daily Texas news. Last but not least, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against

Coppell Independent School District officials officials alleging that critical race theory is being taught illegally in the district's schools. The lawsuit stems from a video uploaded by Accuracy in Media, a conservative non-profit watchdog group that shows Coppell ISD Director of Curriculum and Instruction Evan Whitfield discussing the measures taken to allegedly get around state law regarding the prohibition of CRT. The video shows Whitfield saying that despite what state standards direct, the district quote, does what's right for the kids, end quote, and that the laws banning CRT from the classroom aren't going to affect anything.

Whitfield adds in the video that the district says it's not teaching banned curricula, but teaches it anyway by not describing what it's teaching. Paxton said in a statement, quote, liberal administrators who want to ignore state law and unlawfully push divisive and racist CRT curriculum in classrooms will be held responsible for their actions. The lawsuit lists Superintendent Brad Hunt, Whitfield, and the rest of the district board as the defendants. Paxton is seeking injunctive relief prohibiting the alleged further teaching of topics prohibited

under state law and executive order. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters and podcasts.