The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - March 9, 2026

Starting point is 00:00:04 Howdy folks, today is Monday, March 9th, and you're listening to The Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans managing editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, eight of the 15 seats on the State Board of Education were up for election this year. Four incumbents were seeking re-election, and three seats were being vacated by current board members. Visit the Texan.News to read the results of the SBOE primary races. Next, voters answered yes or no to the Republican or Democratic ballot propositions put forth by the parties in the 26th Texas primary elections this past week, weighing in on the priorities of those running for seats in the Texas legislature. Republican voters were presented with 10 propositions, while Democratic voters were presented with 13.

Starting point is 00:00:56 Most of the referendum items passed on both sides with over 90% of voters in agreement, barring the Republican propositions dealing with the abolition of property taxes, healthcare services for unvaccinated patients, teaching students that life begins at fertilization, and no longer awarding legislative leadership positions to Democrats. The Democratic proposition to legalize cannabis and erase criminal records for those with low-level cannabis crimes was the only referendum item with less than 95% in support. However, none of the items listed were outright rejected

Starting point is 00:01:31 by Texas voters. In other news, President Donald Trump announced a new military coalition between 17 countries on Saturday dedicated to the eradication of criminal cartels, two weeks after the killing of a top drug lord in Mexico and a wave of cartel violence in response. Trump's proclamation announcing the new America's counter-cartel coalition, also known as the shield of the Americas, on Saturday morning in Miami described the heart of the 17 country pledge as, quote, a commitment to using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks. This follows his removal of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam from the office and her appointment as the special envoy for the shield of the Americas.

Starting point is 00:02:19 U.S. Senator Mark Wayne Mullen was nominated as the new DHS Secretary. Trump's written proclamation reads, quote, Criminal cartels and foreign terrorist organizations in the Western Hemisphere should be demolished to the fullest extent possible, consistent with applicable law. Designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations or specially designated global terrorists was one of the first items Trump focused on when he took office, issuing an executive order cracking down on the organization's, quote, campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere, end quote, on January 20th, the day he was inaugurated.

Starting point is 00:02:57 Also, in a letter to Texas public university systems, the Health and Human Services Commission, and the Department of State Health Services, Governor Greg Abbott directed them to review their cybersecurity over concerns related to the People's Republic of China. The letter states that the Trump administration's cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, along with the government's, the government's the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, quote, released a series of notices describing security vulnerabilities found in Chinese manufactured patient monitoring devices. Abbott's letter goes on to state that the notices released by the federal departments describe the ability of unauthorized actors to remotely access private health information gathered by health monitoring devices. The findings

Starting point is 00:03:43 report that the software on the monitors evaluated by the FDA includes a backdoor, meaning the device or the network connection used by the device, quote, may have been or could be compromised. Findings also state that upon connection to the internet, patient data begins to be gathered, including protected health information and personally identifiable information. Information from the devices can then be extracted from the health care administration. Last but not least, the city of Dallas is making moves that may result in the city's operations being moved out of the current City Hall and into a new building. After hours of debate at the March 4th meeting,

Starting point is 00:04:23 the Dallas City Council voted to approve a resolution that directs city manager Kimberly Tolbert to take several steps. The iconic Dallas City Hall building has served as the city's seat of government since 1978. But deferred maintenance and needed repairs are adding up to somewhere between $329 million for needed repairs and $1.1 billion to upgrade the building. so that it can accommodate city operations, the mayor's newsletter said. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the texan. News and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - March 9, 2026

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