The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 14, 2026

Starting point is 00:00:04 Well, howdy folks. Today is Thursday, May 14th, 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, in an ongoing push for public safety, Governor Greg Abbott called for state lawmakers to pass legislation next year that would create a state prosecutor, deny bail to illegal aliens charged with violent crimes, and allow for the impeachment of so-called. rogue district attorneys. Abbott said during a press conference in Austin on Thursday, quote, I'm here today to provide solutions that we are going to pass this next session to ensure that victims' rights are fought for, and we have their back, and we are going to make our communities safer. Flanked by law enforcement and state lawmakers, including newly elected Texas

Starting point is 00:00:57 Senator Brett Ligon, Abbott touted the success of a task force launched in the Houston area last October and said he had expanded the coordinated multi-agency effort to arrest repeat offenders to include Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio. Abbott highlighted accomplishments from the last legislative session, but said lawmakers needed to do more and called for the passage of a constitutional amendment that would automatically deny bail to illegal immigrants accused of violent crime. Next, a candidate who came in third during the March Republican primary for Texas' congressional District 32 is now being sued by three vendors for allegedly failing to pay them for their contracted services combined worth over $140,000. Paul Bondar, who ran for the newly redistricted

Starting point is 00:01:46 CD 32 in the Republican primary against eight other candidates, was sued by the political consulting firm's Blair Group LLC, Engage Right LLC, and Strategic Perception Incorporated on Thursday. Bondar was running in an area which flipped from a Democratic-leaning district, represented by Congresswoman Julie Johnson, to a Republican-leaning one. He received about 14% of the vote in the crowded March 3rd primary, which was initially headed to a runoff, but is no longer, after Ryan Binkley, the second-place candidate, announced that he is withdrawing from the race, leaving Jace Yarbrough as the GOP nominee. Plaintiffs are seeking recovery of all actual damages, i.e., the The amounts Bondar allegedly owes them for their contracted services, plus exemplary damages

Starting point is 00:02:36 totaling $15,000 per fraud claim in equal shares to each plaintiff. In other news, two Republicans are gearing up for their primary runoff in less than two weeks to determine who will face off against incumbent state Senator Roland Gutierrez in November. Small business owner Marcus Cardenas and U.S. Army veteran Robert Marks Jr. are the two Republican candidates on the ballot for Texas Senate District 19, after they weeded out one other candidate during the March 3rd primary election. Cardenas took the lead in March with a little over 44% of the vote. Marx came in second with 32%. Gutierrez, who served in the Texas House of Representatives for 13 years before being elected to represent SD19 in 2020, ran unopposed in the 26 Democratic primary.

Starting point is 00:03:27 Also, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts announced that an additional 53,000 students will receive funds from the Texas Education Freedom Accounts, or TIFA program, for the 2026,000, bringing the TIFA recipient total to nearly 96,000. TIFA was created through the contentious Senate Bill 2 during the 89th legislative session, and established education savings accounts that allow parents to pay for a variety of education. expenses, such as private school tuition, homeschool materials, tutoring, and more. TIFA awards around $10,500 to qualifying students, up to 30,000 for students with disabilities, and 2,000 to homeschool students. Overall, nearly 275,000 applied for the program. Last but not least, the Alabama-Kushada tribe of Texas, located in the eastern part of the state, plans to open a new casino this summer on tribal land in Leggett. The casino facility will be temporary, only open for the length of the summer. It will operate 24 hours a day and will provide guests with, quote, 300 of the most exciting bingo machines.

Starting point is 00:04:41 Bingo is one of only a few legal modes of gambling in Texas, and tribal gaming is limited mainly to the Alabama Cushada tribe, the Kikapoo traditional tribe of Texas, and the Isletta del Sor Pueblo tribe. The Alabama Cushada tribe owns and operates Nascuola Casino in Polk County and is also building a new permanent resort in Legget. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the texan.News to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 14, 2026

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