The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - July 8, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Monday, July 8th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Marketing and Media Manager, Daniel Friend, and here's the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, Hurricane Beryl made landfall early Monday morning, leaving more than 1.5 million without power, the vast majority of which are in the Houston area and served by Centerpoint Energy. Originally projected to make landfall near Brownsville, the front, then a tropical storm, veered toward the coastline between Corpus Christi and Galveston. Over the gulf, it gained steam and was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane. The Houston area has felt winds up to 70 miles per hour and faces flash flooding with the rain brought by the storm. Other parts of the area have faced 90 mph winds.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Part of Barrel's offshoot are associated tornadoes, one of which hit Galveston this morning. Since making landfall, the storm has been downgraded again to a tropical storm, but is expected to make its way toward Texarkana by Tuesday morning, at which point the front will leave the state. As Hurricane Barrel leaves millions without power in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has traveled overseas on a pre-planned trip seeking to improve economic relationships with partners in Asia. Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan are the three countries on the junket for the trip, and Abbott has announced that Taipei will be the location of the State of Texas Taiwan office. Abbott stated, quote,

Starting point is 00:01:19 Texas and Taiwan are critical economic partners that seek to drive the future of innovation. Today, I am announcing two key initiatives that will help bolster our economic relationship and foster unprecedented prosperity for our two peoples. The governor also visited South Korea on July 8th, saying, We are both economic powerhouses set to dominate the technologically advanced future, and with our strong trade and exports, Texas and South Korea are critical economic partners in the growing economies of the 21st century. In other news, prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice announced they secured a guilty plea from a citizen of Mexico for his role in a smuggling operation that sought to obtain millions of rounds of ammunition, all destined to supply

Starting point is 00:01:59 cartel violence south of the border. According to statements from both the DOJ and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 34-year-old Irving Alberto Sauceda, who is also known as Alberto Lizegara Barrera, pleaded guilty to felony charges as part of a conspiracy to launder money, specifically funds that were used or going to be used to obtain millions of rounds of ammunition within the United States. Sauceda admitted the ammunition was to be smuggled into Mexico to supply the cartels. He faces up to 20 years in prison and up to a $500,000 fine. Next, President Joe Biden is set to visit the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin next week. The official White House announcement of the trip details that the visit will serve as a chance for the president to speak about the 60-year anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. Biden will also be visiting Las Vegas during the trip that is scheduled to last July 15th through the 17th in full. White House officials said in a statement

Starting point is 00:02:49 to ABC, quote, President Biden will continue traveling the country to discuss the extraordinary progress the American people have made in the past three and a half years, lay out his vision to ensure the promise of America reaches all communities, and make clear that we must resist attempts by congressional Republicans to take us backwards. Lastly, visit thetexan.news or be on the lookout in your podcast feed tomorrow for the latest episode of our Smoke-Filled Room podcast. In this episode, following the money in Texas politics, Mackenzie DeLulo and Brad Johnson explain the dynamics of different players behind the scenes in Texas politics and analyze the campaign finances from this year's hotly contested primary elections. If you haven't already, please help us out by filling out the

Starting point is 00:03:29 short 10-minute survey linked to in the description of this podcast. Your feedback will help us as we continue to grow and provide Texans with news you can trust. In appreciation of your feedback, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a free Texan t-shirt or hat. 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.

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The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - July 8, 2024

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