The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - June 24, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Monday, June 24th, 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, former President Donald Trump blamed the current president's border policies for the murder of a 12-year-old Houston girl after two Venezuelan nationals in the country illegally were arrested and charged last week. Trump's comments at the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority Conference came days after Houston interim police chief Larry Satterwhite announced the arrest of Johan Jose Martinez, age 21, and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, age 26, following an investigation into the strangulation death of Jocelyn Nungary, whose body was found in a creek. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed that Martinez

Starting point is 00:00:58 and Peña both illegally entered the U.S. without inspection, parole, or admission by a U.S. immigration officer on an unknown date and at an unknown location. Martinez was apprehended on March 14th near El Paso and then released with a GPS monitor. Sources told the New York Post he was ordered to appear for an asylum hearing in August, but that his monitor was reportedly deactivated in May. Likewise, Peñaramos was apprehended by Border Patrol agents on May 28th and was also released with a GPS monitor that was only programmed to monitor him for 21 days. He claimed that he feared returning to Venezuela.

Starting point is 00:01:35 Next, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the decision by federal judge Mark Pittman to dismiss a lawsuit brought by several Texas residents and the Texas Office of the Attorney General seeking to partially block the enforcement of the National Firearm Act for certain Made in Texas suppressors. The challenge came about under State Representative Tom Oliverson's 2021 Texas Suppressor Freedom Act, or House Bill 957, which allows a Texas resident to request the OAG to obtain a federal court order on their behalf, blocking the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives from enforcing federal regulations on a suppressor made by a Texas resident and kept entirely within the state

Starting point is 00:02:18 of Texas. Pittman dismissed the lawsuit for lack of standing roughly one year ago, and the plaintiffs appealed. Now at the appellate level, the dismissal was affirmed with a panel writing that neither the residents nor the state demonstrated standing to sue. In other news, the political battleground that is the public school system continues to provide fodder for state lawmakers, as calls to require displaying the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms have picked up steam in the past week. Louisiana became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be posted in school classrooms after Governor Jeff Landry signed the legislation into law. The Louisiana

Starting point is 00:02:55 law will require the Ten Commandments to be displayed with a context statement alongside it, describing the Ten Commandments' historical role in American public education, as well as other historical documents including the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance. Following Landry's signing of the bill into law, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick posted a statement on social media about Texas' previous attempt to pass a similar bill. Last but not least, with the proverbial legislative knife fight now in the rearview mirror, the many interests intertwined at the electricity market's

Starting point is 00:03:30 web now face a more difficult task, implementing the Texas legislature's directives and hammering out the realities of this next stage for the state's main power grid. Generators, industrial and commercial users, residential customers, regulators, and politicians all want the same thing in a reliable power grid at the lowest feasible price. But differences remain on just how to get there. This month, two lengthy hearings were held in the Texas legislature, committee rooms packed with the various interest groups working on behalf of the industry. While it wasn't exactly new news, headlines were made when the power grid regulators told the Senate Business and Commerce Committee that the electricity load will grow to 150,000 megawatts by 2030. That total is 40,000 megawatts higher than the last estimate. For context, one megawatt can power 200 homes during times of peak demand.

Starting point is 00:04:24 Part of this growth is attributable to the population boom Texas is experiencing, adding over 300,000 people every year. The massive economic growth Texas is also experiencing has its significant benefits, but it also has its consequences, particularly on the utility side of things. Over the last couple of years, the grid has set over two dozen demand records caused directly by the massive growth flooding the state. 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 - June 24, 2024

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.