The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 25, 2026

Starting point is 00:00:04 Well, howdy, folks. Today is Tuesday, August 25th, and you're listening to The Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texan Senior Editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, a federal district judge in Houston, has ruled that Senate Bill 12, which would forbid drag shows with children under 18 years old in attendance, is unconstitutional. Judge David Hittner, and appointee of President Ronald Reagan serving in the Southern District. District of Texas, Houston Division, wrote that the law is an unconstitutional restriction on speech and violates the First Amendment. The law, authored by state Senator Brian Hughes, was passed by the Texas legislature and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in 2023. On August 31st of that year, Hittner issued a temporary restraining order against enforcement of the law, which was slated to take

Starting point is 00:00:58 effect on September 1st. Texas appealed to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which vacated Hittner's ruling and remanded the case back to him for further proceedings. He ruled on Tuesday that even under the framework set by the Fifth Circuit, his earlier decision stood. Next, a new survey consistent with the majority of recent polls, indicates state representative James Talarico leads Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas' U.S. Senate race, even while the majority of Texas voters view the Democratic Party negatively. Tala Rico is ahead of Paxton by three percentage points in this new poll, conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, although the number of undecided participants alone is

Starting point is 00:01:42 enough to sway the race in either direction. Tala Rico received 42% ahead of Paxton's 39% while 14% of participants said they had no preference. Libertarian candidate Ted Brown was preferred by 3% of respondents. Most of the last several publicly released, polls are on par with this latest one, showing Paxton trailing Tala Rico by a range of 1% to 5%. In other news, Governor Greg Abbott has appointed former state representative Sean Theory to be a judge in Harris County. The appointment to the 515th Judicial District Court, which was announced in a press release from the governor on Tuesday, will be effective September 1st and will run through a term ending December 31st, 2028. Theory was elected as a Democrat to the Texas House of

Starting point is 00:02:31 of representatives to represent the Houston area House District 146 in 2016. She faced intense criticism from her own party in 2023 when she voted in favor of Senate Bill 14, which banned gender modification treatments for minors. After her 2024 Democratic primary defeat by now state representative Lauren Simmons, theory switched parties and became a Republican. Also, Houston police contacted U.S. immigration and customs enforcement more than one. 100 times and transferred 19 suspects to ICE custody in the second quarter of this year. But the police department has been advised to withhold details due to a pending federal lawsuit. During a meeting of the Houston City Council's Public Safety Committee on Tuesday,

Starting point is 00:03:17 Houston Police Department Division Manager Jim Mallard formally presented a quarterly report on police cooperation with ICE, showing that officers contacted the federal agency regarding detained individuals 103 times between April 1st and June 30th of this year. Of the 103 detainees, 14 were arrested on new charges, two were transported to the hospital, and for nine, the hit from the National Crime Information Center was not confirmed. Mallard noted that 45% of contacts with ICE resulted from traffic stops, 33% were related to calls for service, and 17% stemmed from accident scenes. Last but not least, city councils around Texas are setting budgets for the next fiscal year, and all are wrestling with shortfalls or deficits. However, compared to the rates of population growth and inflation,

Starting point is 00:04:11 budgets have boomed over the last decade. Some budget documents for the five largest cities in Texas describe a difficult fiscal year, attributing shortfalls to a combination of new property tax laws and a cooling economic market. Meanwhile, the total operating budgets of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin have grown altogether by about 78% since 2016. During roughly the same period, national prices have increased cumulatively by about 40%, according to data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the texan. News to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts. Castle School.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 25, 2026

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