The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - January 16, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Thursday, January 16. 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. First up, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments on a Texas case that involves a law that requires age verification for access to sexually explicit websites. Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton is a case wherein pornography platforms, including Pornhub, allege that implementing 2023's House Bill 1181 would be a violation of the First Amendment. Passed during the 88th legislative session, HB 1181 requires a website that intentionally publishes, quote, sexual material harmful to minors, end quote, to verify the user's identity through digital identification, a third-party verification system that uses government-issued identification, or a, quote, commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data to verify the age of an individual.

Starting point is 00:01:08 The Free Speech Coalition initially asked that the U.S. District Court of Texas' Austin Division deem the law unconstitutional and unenforceable. Judge David Allen Ezra initially sided with the FSC, but Paxton appealed the district court's injunction against HB 1181 to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which stayed the injunction and allowed the law to go into effect. The pornography companies then appealed to SCOTUS, requesting that the Fifth Circuit's decision be overturned. Next, President-elect Donald Trump continues to fill out his future administration with another notable pick to lead the U.S. Border Patrol. Mike Banks has been tapped to head the agency, according to the New York Post, set to replace its current chief, Jason Owens. The appointment of Banks was later confirmed by Ali Bradley of News Nation. The Border Patrol employs over 20,000 agents to patrol more than

Starting point is 00:02:00 6,000 miles of U.S. land borders. Its $1.4 billion budget supports operations managed by 20 sector offices. Governor Greg Abbott first appointed Banks as the first-ever Texas border czar in 2023. Banks is a former Border Patrol agent and has spent more than 20 years in border security along the U.S.-Mexico border. In other news, an administrative judge has agreed to remove Judge Natalia Nata Cornelio from the case of Ronald Lee Haskell following allegations that Cornelio issued a false bench warrant for the death row inmate, who was convicted in 2019 for the brutal murder of six people in Harris County. As first reported by the Texan, according to a

Starting point is 00:02:42 recusal motion filed by the Harris County District Attorney's Office last year, Cornelio issued sealed orders to have Haskell transported from a high-security unit for death row inmates to the Harris County Jail for a court setting on July 22, 2024 at midnight. Records indicate no court setting took place. Instead, Haskell was kept in the Harris County Jail until Cornelio's orders sent him to a private medical facility for a brain MRI on July 30th. Photographs submitted by the H-C-D-A-O show Haskell entering a waiting room with public citizens, who were unaware of their proximity to the convicted killer. H-C-D-A-O's Joshua Rice said that prosecutors only learned of Haskell's transport back to Harris County when a surviving victim was contacted by the Texas Automatic Victim Notification System.

Starting point is 00:03:31 Last but not least, Dallas is rated as the best place in the United States for corporate headquarters relocations, according to Site Selection Magazine's an award-winning magazine that has been operating for over 70 years, specializing in corporate real estate, facility planning, location analysis, and foreign direct investment. The Site Selector Survey is conducted annually and had 36 site selectors participate this year. A site selector is a professional who helps businesses choose locations for their operations. Dallas was the top choice for site selectors for corporate headquarters relocations, followed by Charlotte and Atlanta. Nashville, Raleigh, Austin, Chicago, and Richmond rounded out the top eight in that 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.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - January 16, 2025

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