The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - November 10, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy, folks, today is Monday, November 10th, and you're listening to The Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans assistant editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is calling on the Texas Rangers to investigate Texas Southern University, after the state auditor allegedly found that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were being misused via thousands of unauthorized invoices. Patrick shared an ex post on Monday afternoon that the Texas State Auditor's Office had been actively auditing Texas Southern University over the past few months. Quote, reviewing TSU's financial processes, procurement operations, and inventory records. State auditor Lisa Collier found exactly 700, 143 invoices totaling approximately $282 million for, quote,

Starting point is 00:01:01 vendors whose contracts were listed in the contract database as expired, end quote, as well as over 8,000 invoices totaling approximately $158 million, quote, with invoice dates prior to their requisition dates, end quote, as she wrote in her letter to the Legislative Audit Committee on Monday. She added that TSU's financial audit for 2023 was completed 10 months after it was due for submission to the Texas comptroller's office. Similarly, its 2024 audit was not received until four months after the deadline. Next, the Texas Highway Patrol and Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division have joined the task force model of the 287G Federal Immigration Enforcement Agreement. Senate Bill 8, which was passed, during the 89th legislature, authorizes state or local law enforcement to enter into agreements with U.S. immigration and customs enforcement to enforce immigration law. The agreement offers three options, a warrant service officer program, a jail enforcement model, and a task force model. The task force

Starting point is 00:02:11 model allows local and state law enforcement to enforce immigration law while performing routine police duties, according to ICE, which includes, quote, identifying an alien at a DUI checkpoint and sharing information directly with ICE. The Texas Highway Patrol consists of more than 2,800 officers. As of September 7th, there are more than 200 287G program agreements across the state. In other news, Dallas Police Department Chief Daniel Como explained in a memo to a joint meeting of the Dallas public safety and government efficiency committees that he decided not to partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement through a Section 287G agreement. When Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson heard about Como's decision, he called for a joint committee

Starting point is 00:03:00 hearing. Johnson said in a memo, quote, as the elected body charged with setting city policy and overseeing its budget, the city council should be briefed on all the relevant information that went into Chief Como's decision in a public meeting and with an opportunity for input from residents. Como explained in his memo and at the committee meeting last week that in his opinion, quote, implementing this program would reassign officers under federal oversight, which could negatively impact response times and erode the public trust that our department has worked diligently to build. Also, more than 100 Fort Worth parents and community members attended the Texas Education Agency's first public meeting regarding the state takeover of Fort Worth

Starting point is 00:03:47 Independent School District on November 6th. Two weeks after TEA Commissioner Mike Morath announced a board of managers would be appointed to lead Fort Worth ISD, the TEA's Deputy Commissioner of Governance walked attendees through the process, a presentation that at times drew booze and yelling from the crowd. The district had been at risk of a state takeover since April, when the TEA released, least its 2022-223 accountability ratings, following a legal battle with more than 100 school districts. Last but not least, the company touting the world's first babies born via robotic conception processes, Overture Life, is opening its U.S. clinical headquarters in Dallas. The facility will serve as Overture's first dedicated U.S. laboratory. It currently maintains clinical locations in

Starting point is 00:04:38 New Jersey, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Panama, and Turkey that use its automated in vitro fertilization or IVF platforms. Overture highlights its ability to screen embryos for genetic factors without a biopsy, instead using machine learning resources that can test the fluids surrounding the embryos. In turn, giving overture life fertility experts a, quote, non-invasive form of collecting, quote, objective data to inform embryo selection. The company is in the process of expanding, hence this Dallas location, to meet an increase in demand for their egg freezing system, an automated process for freezing and thawing both eggs and embryos on a timeline dependent upon clients' desires.

Starting point is 00:05:26 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 - November 10, 2025

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