The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - October 31, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, and happy Halloween. Today is Friday, October 31st, 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, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson filed a motion to dismiss the Republican Party of Texas lawsuit against her office, which was filed in order to close the GOP primary election to only registered Republicans. Nelson said in a statement, quote, As Secretary of State, it is my responsibility to present a defense of Texas's election laws to the court. Contrary to several recent public postings, I have never expressed opposition to closed primaries,

Starting point is 00:00:48 and I would gladly implement any statutory changes that the Texas legislature sees fit to enact in the future. But the existing statutes were duly enacted by, our legislature. I put my hand on Sam Houston's Bible and swore an oath to uphold the laws and constitution of this state, and I am bound to do that." In other news, after hearing the results of a compensation and pay equity study, the Harris County Commissioner's Court voted three to one along party lines Thursday to adopt recommendations that include spending an additional $73 million each year for employee pay raises. The year-long study, conducted by Gallagher benefit services at a cost of $1.2 million, concluded that the county does not offer competitive

Starting point is 00:01:34 wages for all employees compared to other large cities and counties across the country. The analysis also found that across all employees, women at the median salary earned 94 cents for every $1 earned by men, and that salaries for protected minority employees were approximately 80% that of white employees. Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who motioned to a adopt all of Gallagher's recommendations, said, quote, Now we know the system we have in place has been discriminatory against certain groups. Commissioner Tom Ramsey noted that the analysis had not considered benefits offered by the county, which include a 225% match for employee contributions toward retirement plans for fully vested employees. Last but not least, known as the

Starting point is 00:02:21 city where the west begins, Fort Worth lords its western heritage in many ways, including the stockyards, rodeos, Western Heritage, museums, and galleries, and another unique feature, its own bison herd. On November 1st, the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge will host events celebrating the bison herd that calls the center its home. November 1st is National Bison Day to honor America's largest land animal. The center will host activities for visitors to learn more about the herd, its history, and the way bison were used in earlier times. Visitors may even get to lend a hand to the staff as they feed the animals. The 16-member herd was established in 1973 with two cows and one bull from the

Starting point is 00:03:05 Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. The first calf was born in 1974. Now the herd has grown to 16 animals, 11 cows, one bull, and four calves born in 2025. 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 - October 31, 2025

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