The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - November 14, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy, folks. Today is Friday, November 14th, 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, a judge has partially granted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's request to intervene in a controversial federal consent decree, governing misdemeanor bail in Harris County, clearing the way for either modifying or eliminating the decree altogether, but a final determination may not come for nearly a year. In August, Paxton notified the federal court that he would seek to lift the O'Donnell Consent Decree, alleging it violates recently enacted Texas law by mandating the release of most misdemeanor suspects without a judicial review. At the end of October, U.S. Chief District Court Judge for the Southern District, Lee Rosenthal, granted Paxton's

Starting point is 00:01:00 motion to intervene on the grounds that state legislation approved in 2021 and 2025 may make the decree irrelevant. But she rejected part of his request as coming nearly seven years too late. The O'Donnell case was overturned by a federal appeals court in 2023 on grounds that the court had intruded into state criminal procedures, quote, to the point of ongoing interference and audit, end quote, and said 2021 reforms to bail procedures in Texas Senate Bill 6 had rendered the case moot. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to further consider the case, leaving the appeals court ruling in place. Earlier this year, Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 9, which expanded the list of crimes for which hearing officers may not grant

Starting point is 00:01:46 defendants a personal recognizance bond that requires no cash payment. Three of those crimes, unlawful possession of a firearm, violation of a family violence protective order, or making a terroristic threat are misdemeanors. In other news, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board or T-HECB, challenging certain rules that allow the existence of three allegedly unconstitutional programs which discriminate against religious students, organizations, and employers. Paxton filed sued against THECB on Wednesday, specifically aiming to end three work-study programs facilitated by state funding. The Texas College Work Study Program,

Starting point is 00:02:32 the Texas Working Off Campus, Reinforcing Knowledge and Skills internship program, and the Texas Innovative Adult Career Education Grant Program. He is challenging a select number of higher education-related restrictions by which these programs operate, alleging that they violate the First Amendment by requiring program participants to refrain, from engaging in sectarian activities, including sectarian courses of study, to be eligible to receive state benefits. The filing reads, quote, in other words, these programs specifically exclude religious organizations and students with religious beliefs from receiving state-funded assistance

Starting point is 00:03:12 and condition receipt of state benefits on non-religious use. Last but not least, at its Midlothian Data Center, alongside a number of state officials, Google announced a $40 billion data center infrastructure investment in Texas. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, said that the investment will go towards the construction of three data center campuses located in Armstrong and Haskell counties. Pichai stated, quote, they say that everything is bigger in Texas, and that certainly applies to the golden opportunity with AI, end quote. Governor Greg Abbott said that the new Google AI Data Center announcement is, quote, a Texas-sized investment in the future of our great state. U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz

Starting point is 00:04:00 were also in attendance, along with Congressman Jake Elsie and a number of other local officials. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the texan. com. News and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts. Thank you. Thank you.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - November 14, 2025

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