The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 11, 2026

Starting point is 00:00:04 Well, howdy folks. Today is Monday, May 11th, and you're listening to the Texans' Daily Rundown. I'm the Texan's senior editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, a cyber attack on Canvas, a system used by schools and universities throughout the nation, disrupted finals week for thousands of students in Texas, though it is now back online. Several universities reported that access to the Canvas system was blocked by a ransom note. Notice. Canvas, which is owned by the company Instructure, is utilized by 41% of higher education institutions in the U.S. According to Instructure, it has over 30 million active users. As of Saturday, Canvas is available for most users, but parts of the cloud system remain under maintenance. The hacker

Starting point is 00:00:55 group Shiny Hunters claimed responsibility for the data breach. At the end of the last legislative session, Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 150 into law, which created the Texas Cyber Command. The Cyber Command, headquartered in San Antonio, received a $135 million investment to create a cyber threat intelligence center with the purpose of identifying and repairing state and local vulnerabilities to cyber predation. In other news, Harris County Treasurer Carla Wyatt has been arrested for a third time since taking office in 2003, while county commissioners' abolishing the treasurer's office altogether. Galveston County law enforcement arrested Wyatt on Saturday for allegedly driving while intoxicated, and she was being held on a $3,000 bond with an addendum hold.

Starting point is 00:01:44 Wyatt was arrested for DWI and Harris County in December 2023. After testing indicated, she had a blood alcohol level of 0.15%, which is nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08%. Court records indicate Wyatt did not comply with the terms of her bond conditions on at least two occasions, including one in which she failed a blood alcohol blow test in March 24. She reportedly completed a pretrial diversion program, however, and her DWI charge was dismissed in August of that year. In December 2025, Wyatt was again arrested in Harris County and charged with breaking into a vehicle with intent to commit theft, but a grand jury declined to indict her and the charge was dropped last month. Earlier this year, the Harris County Commissioner's Court voted four to zero to strip the

Starting point is 00:02:33 County Treasurer's Office of the authority to operate an automated alert system for fraudulent payments after discovering why its office had overridden flags on payments totaling more than $50,000. Commissioners also opted to begin the process of eliminating the Treasurer's Office, which will require an amendment to the Texas Constitution. Last but not least, over 250 cases related to immigration crimes were filed by federal prosecutors during the first week of May, including 40 cases of human smuggling, the Southern District of Texas announced. These 256 cases were filed as part of Operation Takeback America, described by the U.S. Department of Justice as, quote,

Starting point is 00:03:16 a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the DOJ to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. The cases were filed between Friday May 1st and Friday May 8th. Among the complaints filed by prosecutors were 40 cases of individuals allegedly connected with human smuggling schemes. Take Back America was created by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in March 2025 via a memorandum, in response to several executive orders issued by President Donald Trump related to securing the border and cracking down on illegal immigration,

Starting point is 00:03:58 many of which were signed within hours of Trump being sworn in as president. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit theexan.News to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 11, 2026

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