The Texan Podcast - Weekly Roundup - March 21, 2025

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

Show off your Lone Star spirit with a free "Remember the Alamo" hat with an annual subscription to The Texan: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/Learn more about the Data Center Coalition at: https://www.centerofyourdigitalworld.org/texasLearn more about The Beer Alliance at:https://beeralliance.com/The Texan’s Weekly Roundup brings you the latest news in Texas politics, breaking down the top stories of the week with our team of reporters who give you the facts so you can form your own opinion.Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Got questions for the reporting team? Email [e-mail] — they just might be answered on a future podcast.This week on The Texan’s “Weekly Roundup,” the team discusses:‘I Think I Can Win if I Have $20 Million’: Paxton Re-ups Interest in Challenging CornynTexas Senate Passes Bill Banning Most THC Products, Packaging Appealing to MinorsAbbott Announces Closure of Illegal Alien Processing Center, Offers Facility to Trump AdministrationBill 'Requiring Local Law Enforcement to Assist the Federal Government’s Deportation Efforts' Discussed in Senate Committee HearingPriority Water Infrastructure, Nuclear Power Bills Considered in Texas HouseHouston Woman Charged With Providing Abortions, First Arrest Under Texas BanTwo Texas Universities Investigated by U.S. Department of Education for 'Race-Exclusionary Practices'Death Star 2.0: Proposal Filed in House to Beef Up Texas’ 2023 Local Government Preemption LawTexas Lawmakers File Priority Bills Clarifying 'Life of the Mother' Abortion ExceptionsAnd MORE!

Well, howdy folks. It's Mackenzie here with Brad Cameron and Mary Elise on another edition of the weekly roundup. It's a big day at the Texan. We have Jayden Hurd here with us, our newest employee who is certainly going, uh, drinking from a fire hose. How many times have I said that phrase this week? But it's true.

Learning all the ins and outs of everything, monitoring the cameras. Look at him, he's checking him out. Thumbs up, we got it. Jaden, you want to come say hi? Come introduce yourself to our audience. We have two dogs, we have five people, there's a lot going on. Jaden, welcome to Texan. What's up? It's good to have you. It's good to be here. I feel like a Texan. That's amazing. Yeah, because you're coming from? Alabama, Roll Tide. And this is something we asked him

on his very first interaction with the entire team, was whether or not Texas was considered part of the South or its own thing. And your answer was? It's its own thing, 100%. There we go. I mean, I've said that even before coming here. But now that I'm here

Yeah, it's not it's not even close. Do you have like a Texas bucket list item? You want to you want to check off while you're here? Yeah, I gotta have that barbecue place Terry's Terry blacks I got that yeah, I need I need to have like a Texas Buc-E's Mm-hmm, but I heard it's the same like whatever what I've seen is the same and then Yeah, I need to buy a cowboy hat, right? Yeah, for sure. Although I don't own one. Do any of y'all own a cowboy hat? Actually, no.

Brajwish. Maybe I should have then. Do you want a pair of cowboy boots? I mean, do you count these? No. OK, no. I don't want any cowboy boots. Those are spiffy boots, but not cowboy boots.

That would be on top of my list compared to a a cowboy hat would be boots. Yeah. Would you agree Marylis? Yeah boots are more legitimate than a hat. I'm a foodie so I really think I want to go through all the food places. We sent you a lot. You have quite a list. Yeah I need to get I need to get an apartment first. Start with the living situation. Well Jayden thanks for joining us we're excited to have you. Excited too. I have get I need to get an apartment first. Start with a living situation. Well, Jayden, thanks for joining us. We're excited to have you. Excited too. I have this question written down as something I want you to answer for the newsletter but I do also want to put you on the spot here on the podcast. If you had to

be stranded on an island with somebody from the team that you thought would best help you get off of the island? Who would you choose? Karen. That was quick. That was so quick. Easiest thing ever. Bro has ran how many miles? At one time? Yeah. 50. 50 miles? Yeah. I just trust him to be able to do what we have to do to survive. He has the willingness. He can probably swim to land. He can push through. I feel like he can figure it out, how to survive best if you don't already. Yeah. The second choice would be Brad.

I feel like he has like the most logic, like comics. That's logic. I think he's logical. I like this guy. I've never seen Brad's face light up that much on the podcast before. I'll put that over here.

Yeah, that was a good first week. This was a good first week. I've literally never seen his face make that excited of an expression before. Let's go. That's good. Well, Mary-Li's and I are very offended, but we'll probably survive. The guys got to stick together. Okay. This is something that we're-

X, Y. We did just lose another girl in the office, so we have to really stick together even more than usual. And the dogs are guys too. We don't have to talk about it. Yeah there are no females that really is a yeah we got some work to do. We need Holly we need Kim we need to hit some diversity quotas in here. Yeah that's exactly right yeah. Well Jane thank you. Thank y'all, this was fun. Now you can eat your lunch. Have fun. Brad, how do you feel after that?

I'm on cloud nine. Oh, you're on cloud nine? Cameron, how do you feel? You were really the number one choice, though. We really should be asking you. Yeah, well, he said because of my fiscal capabilities helped us get off the island. For sure. I think he was right about Brad being the most logical, you know, putting a raft together.

I'll probably ask the question, what is even a raft? Right. So that's not going to help us. But you might be able to just like run at the speed of light and walk on water kind of thing, find another land mass. Right. I think McKenzie would be the best at planning logistics and things like that. That's very nice, Mary-Lise.

I think if we were stranded on an island together, we would, we would do, um, a lot of, uh, I think we'd do a lot of good. I think we could be very good teammates. We have great conversations. We have great conversations. We have great conversations. We'd be very organized. Yes. Now how much organization matters in an emergency situation depends on the emergency, but we would do we'd do a pretty decent job I think. Yeah. We probably just wouldn't get stranded on the island in the first place. You know what? Amen sister. I think you're spot on. These boys, however, jury's out on them.

OK, jury's been out for six years. You've got to make a decision. I know making up your mind on stuff isn't your best quality. That is absolutely, and you know it. Or do you actually? No? We'll do conflict resolution later. We'll do this later.

Well, Brad, we are going to start with you against no matter judgment. The Attorney General made some comments this week that were super notable. We've heard time and time again about his intent to challenge the US Senator from Texas, John Cornyn, but there were some news, some very notable news this week. What do you say? So Attorney General Ken Paxton gave an interview to Punchbowl News in DC, kind of an insider capital outlet, and he went as close as he's ever gone or gotten to announcing for Senate against John Cornyn. He didn't do that.

He said that, he told them, I think I can win if I have $20 million. I've run these primaries in Texas before. I honestly don't see how Cornyn overcomes his numbers and He said if he can get 20 million dollars in commitments in the next couple of months not raised commitments Then he will jump in to run against Cornyn and that would set up I think what we all agree is the most anticipated matchup in that race. Oh my gosh. If we are the C1. So, numbers are kind of hit or miss. I haven't really seen a straight up head to head yet, other than the one that was an internal

Paxton poll put out a couple months ago. But there's been some public polling that shows, packs in with a bit of an advantage in favorables, but also higher in unfavorables. It's kind of a mix and we really won't see that materialized until someone actually jumps in. So overall though, this would be a pretty heavy matchup and this is going to get all the attention across the country if it does happen. Oh my gosh, absolutely. Now what's the external context to this or some might say what are some wrinkles to this?

Yeah, some would say that, some being myself. So the biggest question in this race would be who gets the Trump endorsement? And that's the most powerful, most potent endorsement in Republican politics right now. Everybody wants it. And a couple of things to think about with this. Paxton has been a pretty consistent ally of Trump for years, particularly with filing lawsuits. He challenged the 2020 election legally, and then they've just been buddy-buddy for a while. However, Trump almost didn't endorse him

in his 2022 attorney general race. And he came fairly close to endorsing George P Bush his private one of his main primary challengers He had a couple had a few So there's that Paxton believes he's got the inside track to a Trump endorsement. However his consultants is Axiom strategies Jeff Rowe is the head of that Rowe is long time state consulting firm It's one of-state consulting firm.

Yep, it's one of the biggest in the country. They have a pretty big and growing presence in Texas. We've talked about that on Smoke-Filled Room, particularly in regard to the Texas primary that happened last year. They had a lot of clients at the house level. So, um... Jeff Rowe also ran Ron DeSantis' super PAC during the 24 presidential race. And so Trump world hates him. Can't stand him.

That hasn't stopped Paxton from getting the endorsement before. Rowe also is the consultant for Senator Ted Cruz, who was endorsed by Trump last time, last year. Now Cruz didn't have a primary like this would be. Cornyn has increasingly sidled up to Trump on a lot of stuff. He's been very effusive in his praise for the now president. And Cornyn's leg up over Paxton is sheer fundraising ability so does Trump pick that because he thinks that's gonna be the winning Trump ultimately whoever he picks he wants back the winner he does not want to lose and Paxton believes

he gets that that's it Cornyn's sunk I don't know maybe maybe not but I also wouldn't count corner now from getting the Trump endorsement, the NRSC is going to back in heavily in whoever gets whoever challenges them. So they're both gearing up for it. They know this is almost, you know, totally in the cards, it's almost going to happen. Maybe packs and changes his mind, but this interview particularly shows that the undecided nature of

Paxton even just a couple weeks ago, it's getting knocked to the wayside. Like he's looking more and more like he's going to jump in. And this is a primary fight that, like you're saying, would just take up a lot of the oxygen in the room in the primary cycle, and it's very interesting as well that in the midst of the legislative session, this is a conversation that's being had, right? And a big one at that.

It is certainly even starting to take up some of that political oxygen now. So we'll keep an eye on that for sure. Bradley, thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. I nodded. I nodded.

Cameron, we're gonna come to you. Banning THC products, certainly an important issue for the lieutenant. Would you silence your phone? What are you talking about? What are you talking about, you crazy person? Oh my gosh. I felt it.

I felt it buzz. Wow. Well, I will put it on airplane mode, Bradley. Thank you for calling me out. I appreciate it. I got to watch out for our listeners. You know. Oh my gosh.

Wow. Yeah, Brad's really the one watching out for our listeners on this my gosh. Wow. Yeah, Brad's really the one watching out for our listeners on this podcast week after week. OK. Well, thank you, Bradley, for keeping me accountable. Cameron, let's talk about THC. Let's do it. Let's talk about Dan Patrick.

Let's talk about the Senate. Yeah. Where are we at? What's been going on this week? Well, there was a press conference this week that really set the tone for the floor because at this press conference, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, he was joined by SB 3 Bill author Charles Perry, but he was also joined by a number of law enforcement officials, sheriffs, but but also parents of children who have been negatively impacted by ingesting

these THC products. And Patrick brought out this location map of where these CBD stores, THC Delta 8, Delta 9 stores stores are in proximity to school districts and school campuses and that was a big talking point during the press conference but probably the most illuminating point of the the entire discussion that was being had at this press conference was at one point, Dan Patrick said that him, Dustin Burroughs and Greg Abbott are, quote, all on the same page on this issue. Because that's important to take into account for our listeners because this

bill, you can anticipate, is going to have a tougher time making it through the House than it does in the Senate just because of the makeup of the members there. And we also haven't heard Greg Abbott speak publicly about the issue. So hearing this signal, at least from Dan Patrick, gives the bill some momentum moving forward. We also, before the bill got to the Senate floor, there was a comment made by Texas Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller, who has previously made comments that were somewhat skeptical of this piece of legislation because he has been a promoter of the hemp

agricultural market, and he was skeptical because the possibility of this bill impacting that. But he provided some further clarification saying that the current lawlessness with these types of retailers saying the absolutist positions on both sides have lost the debate. And that was a sides have lost the debate. And that was a lot of what was discussed during the floor debate is because there was bipartisan support it seemed from both Republicans and Democrats on the issue. But the sort of middle ground of trying to balance

access for those who need the CBD products as an alternative to traditional pharmaceutical drugs, but then also a complete legalization on the other hand, it seems as though that middle ground is going to be achieved by an expansion of the tea cup program. The tea cup program, for those unfamiliar, is the Texas Compassionate Use Program, which allows, like I just mentioned, those who have a medical prescription for access to these products can continue having access to those. So expanding that by increasing the number

of the types of medically licensed retailers instead of just the general public license that are general retailer license for these types of products. So it's a bit of a nuanced discussion in regards to the legalization of these cannabis derivative products, Delta-8, Delta-9, CBD, but then having access for the tea cup program. But at one point, Charles Perry, again, he's the author of this, he

was very strident in his stance, saying, quote, we're not going to allow it, we'll enforce it till it goes out of existence, we fall in prey to the narrative, this narrative talking about access and the legalization of these types of products. So Dan Patrick, Charles Perry very much in favor of this legislation. It did end up passing at the end of the day, but bipartisan support 2047 now just waits to be taken up by the House where there's gonna be another big debate But we'll be there to cover it. Absolutely very interesting all around and I think it was interesting as well after After the bill passed The lieutenant governor it was not unanimous approval of the bill and the Senate and it was interesting watching that

Happen kind of on the Senate floor to it the lieutenant governor saying he wished that that was the case For unanimous support for the bill and I wonder too if this is one of the conversation topics that these big three breakfasts we've been seeing photo evidence of this week no Chick-fil-A present though which they really soft launch that didn't I think was a hard launch hard launch a photo evidence of all three of them sitting yeah that's a hard launch there's nobody there watching. What do you what? There's not like press there

to witness it. Yeah, but if you hard launch a relationship, you don't invite press to come. You don't invite family and friends to say hey look. We're not talking about a relationship. We're talking about hard launches. Hard launches mean to provide physical evidence of the whole dynamic subject. talking about eggs and Alright, this got way. I was trying to be dynamic subject. Yeah, 100%. It is a hard launch of the big three breakfasts and you can't convince me otherwise. Congratulations on that. Thank you. But again, no no Chick-fil-A, which I was a little bummed about. Yeah. I missed it if you said it, but who voted against? There are seven. There were seven. I don't have that detailed in the piece here. I'd have to look it up We'll come back to it. Well, let's come back to after we do Mary Lee's piece Cameron You can tell us seven and circle back beautiful

Mary Lee's governor Greg Abbott announced the closure of a state jail booking center for illegal aliens. Tell us why Yes, so governor Greg Abbott announced that this jail booking facility for illegal aliens Governor Greg Abbott announced that this jail booking facility for illegal aliens was going to be closed and it won't be officially closed until April, but they've begun phasing out their operations. This facility is located in Jim Hogg County and it was established in February 2022 and it was a part of Operation Lone Star, which is, we've talked about it many times on the pod, but it was a joint operation between Texas's military forces and the Department of Public Safety to secure the border over the past few years. And so this facility is a

system to process legal aliens that are convicted of border related criminal activities, which include trespassing. And that's to ensure that there's enough jail capacity and border county jails. But this was really made possible originally by House Bill 9, which was passed in 2021, and allocated 1.8 billion of taxpayer dollars for certain statewide border security efforts over the next two years.

But it included provisions specifically for the creation of three of these jail booking facilities. And before this Jim Hogg County facility was established, there was one set up in Val Verde County. And we I talked to Abbott's office. They weren't able to confirm if Texas will also close the facility. But this the reason that this facility was closed, Governor Abbott said, is because of Trump's decisive and swift leadership on the border crisis. And they said that they will be offering this facility to the Trump administration and so that'll it'll be offered to them in April because it won't be it won't be closed until then. They said that they'll

offer it to them in support of the robust border security operations. Abbott said when he announced, he said, as a result of Trump's efforts, there's no longer a need for Texas to maintain the jail booking facility. Texas will continue to assist the Trump administration in arresting, detaining, and deporting illegal immigrants. So this was obviously comes amidst a whole lot of immigration related news. This is nearly a week after, and I think Cameron covered this,

the United States Attorney's Office announced that there had been 200 cases filed related to illegal immigration, of which many suspects had already been charged with previous felonies. And then there was also a story I wrote about the arrest of 543 criminal legal aliens, and that was through an operation conducted in Houston. I think it was the end of February, beginning of March. So and it's also worth noting, so this facility is in Jim Hogg County, but that was included

in a list of counties that were considered to be in a state of disaster. The Abbott declared that these counties are in a state of disaster due to the border crisis. And so Jim Hogg County was in that list in June 2021, which essentially allowed additional resources to be funneled into those counties to combat the border crisis. So there you have it. There you have it. We're also laughing because Jayden has an audience surrounding him of several, or two dogs that really want his food and decided that, I think my dog decided to growl probably in an attempt to be territorial over the food against Winston. So that's the behind the that's, that's, that's the behind the scenes of what's happening. Yeah.

And why we're laughing. Yeah. We weren't just randomly giggling at the border crisis. That was not what was going on. Uh, Marylis, thank you. Well done. Okay. We're coming back to you.

Increased cooperation between state and federal authorities regarding immigration enforcement was discussed this week. More on the border crisis tell us what happened well just to return one second to the THC bill oh yes yeah we were able to track down the votes here either appears to be a shift in the votes as was recorded at the from the dais by dan patrick to what's been recorded in tlo here in tlo we have 26 to 5 those five nays being alvarado cook at carl anandas and zafferini there you go okay thanks for setting the record straight on that one and to go into the record straight on that one. And to go into the topic you just moved us to here, the discussion revolved around Senate Bill 8, which was co-authored by

Senators Charles Schwartner and Joan Huffman, which proposes that sheriffs and counties with populations over a hundred000 are mandated to enter into agreements with ICE enforcement agents to enforce immigration law. And so during this discussion there was President Donald Trump's executive orders that were brought up. He when he first came into office for this second term, he declared that there is going to be increased border security, increased deportations, stricter immigration policies. And part of those executive orders was

mentions of section 287 G of the illegal immigration reform and the immigration responsibility act 1996 and it's important I mentioned that because that was incorporated into the legislation and the discussion during this hearing What this section 287 G does is allows for? Section 287G does is – allows for performing the functions of immigration officers in relation to the investigation, apprehension, or detention of aliens in the United States under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of Homeland Security. And so what this bill does, SB 8, would mandate sheriffs enter into these two 287 g agreements and provide for the Texas Comptroller to grant funding to assist these sheriffs in participating in these agreements. So a lot there, but we heard during this hearing from a

number a number of different sheriffs, um, one from Tarrant County, another from Chambers County, talking about the amount of manpower that is necessary to engage in these enforcement efforts. We also heard from some activist groups, Texans for Strong Borders, framed this legislation as necessary to combat illegal crossings and touching on the tens of millions of illegal immigrants who have entered the country over the past four years. So there was some pushback from other organizations such as the ACLU, which spoke about issues with local law enforcement's entanglement with immigration enforcement.

But the bill remains pending, and there have been multiple other bills in both the upper and lower chambers that sort of address this issue of coordination between state and federal officials, so indicating something at least related to increasing the ability for state and federal officials to work together on preventing illegal immigration will pass this session. Yeah, this is also something we've reported on locally is 287 G. So make sure to go read all of our coverage on that issue, both legislatively, like Cameron's talking about, and at the local level and how this has been utilized and enforced and at the center of conflict in the past so check that out Cameron thank you. Bradley two very high priority

infrastructure bills were considered in committee this week these are hot topics this legislative session tell us about them. So this this session has been called the education session and I think that's probably true. But right below that is infrastructure, and that takes many different forms. Water is the biggest one. But also power grid, specifically nuclear power, expanding that footprint in the state. So this week in two different House committees, State Representative Cody Harris laid out priority legislation on each of those items. In his Natural Resources Committee, he heard HJR 7, which would dedicate a billion dollars of state sales taxes per year to the Texas Water Fund. Last session,

they created the Texas Water Fund through legislation and then voters approved it, amending the Constitution. They did that so they could spend money above the cap. They had this massive surplus and in order to spend that money above the various caps they have, they have to get voter approval. And so they created that. It's now in existence for them to put money in down the road. We are now down the road for them to put money in. So there was no opposition to this in the committee hearing. I mean everybody that talked said that you know it's it's good and we love it. Maybe a tweak here or there one of the tweaks that was suggested or reconciliation points pointed out between the House and the

Senate version is that I think 80 in the Senate version 80% of the fund money put into that would have to come from your go towards new water supply construction so not fixing leak leaky pipes and whatnot, building new reservoirs or desalination plants, whatever it is. And so that was laid out pretty straightforward, didn't last a long time. Most people that testified were industry members anyway. I think the only one that wasn't was Tom Glass, activist, once ran against Stan Gerties. He might again, who knows, I've heard that. I know Tom is considering it. Anyway, so they're gonna have to figure that out, but there's not a lot of daylight between the two chambers on this. Something's gonna get done and

something big is gonna get done. On the other is nuclear power. Harris laid that out in state affairs and that was quite the hearing. That was pretty contentious. First of all, it would create a nuclear authority in the states, specifically housed under the governor's office. There was a big fight. We talked about this in Smokefield Room,

the fight over who was going to carry this bill. So if you want to hear more about that, check that episode out. But specifically, whether it was going to be housed under the PUC or the governor's office, what to do in a decade's time when this thing is sufficiently served its purpose? Do we prop it up as a new agency? Do we keep it under the governor's office? How do we do that? So that's something that's being debated.

There's also just opposition to it on the grounds that it's using tax dollars to pick winners and losers, specifically to subsidize nuclear development over any other energy source. Now, every energy source gets subsidies and tax dollars. It's just a question of how much and where you're doing it. But then there's also the kind of the nimby side of it. I don't use that pejoratively, it's descriptively. People that don't want this stuff because they are afraid of potential catastrophe.

We see that all over the place in the debate about the waste of nuclear power. But we also see it when we're talking about power plants. And of course, you can't have power plants without creating waste. You might have less waste with the technological developments that we've seen. These SMRs are smaller, although I have read studies that suggest otherwise that it actually creates more waste. Maybe not in spent fuel, but in other things that have been contaminated through the process, like clothes, garments, things like that.

I'll just mention this, because I was listening to it this morning. Scott Besson, the new Secretary of the Treasury for the Trump administration, he had a conversation with two tech investors, and the topic of nuclear power was brought up. And Scott Bessett mentioned not just the necessity to roll back regulations so these nuclear power plants can be built, but also fixing supply chains so the materials to actually

build the plants can be expedited. And what these investors also mentioned is that there needs to be an ability to make nuclear energy investable by these companies or by individuals so that the market can have a reaction to having skin in the game with the development of these nuclear power plants. I just thought that was interesting. Absolutely. So I think something's going to pass. The people who don't want this at all, they're going to lose.

It's just plain and simple. The governor's behind it. Most of the legislature's behind it. The committee itself. Nobody was really that opposed. Maybe there were sticking points here in their own details. But this thing's's gonna fly through. And the article I wrote was put these two together

because they are so tied together. You know, you can have water standalone, you can have nuclear power standalone somewhat. I mean, it takes water to operate, so like that requires water supply. But one of the big strategies that we're gonna that we're seeing play out on water development is desalination plants And those things are incredibly power intensive and so the question is how do we power these things constantly at a? affordable manner

to To keep these things going and churn out new potable water, well, a suggestion is to put on-site a small modular nuclear reactor, and that will power this and keep it from pulling from the grid, but also being able to put it back into the grid if need be. So, that's part of the whole debate about these large loads that we talked about last week with SB6, but yeah, all this stuff is tied together and specifically on

these two items because of the kind of the fork in the road the state's at. You know, either we get no water supply or people are going to stop coming at some point, businesses specifically. They're asking the question, Do you have enough water? Do you also have enough power? That was something the quote that's in this piece. Um, Houston, a Houston group, I forget business group told testified, you know, we hear when people are looking at coming to the state for them specifically Houston, we have three questions. Do you do you have the people? Do you have the water?

Do you have the power? And so now, legislature's trying to address two of those three things with these, but also many more pieces of legislation. Absolutely. Well, on that note, we're gonna take a quick ad break. Did you know data centers support 364,000 jobs in Texas and contribute $3.5 billion in state and local taxes?

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Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the first arrest under the state's abortion laws. Tell us about it. Yes, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrest of a Houston area midwife for allegedly illegally providing abortions, as well as facilitating a whole network of abortion clinics near Northwest Houston. And this is, as you said, the first arrest of an abortion provider under the state's ban.

So this is an arrest of Maria Margarita Rojas and Paxton announced this on Monday afternoon. It said that she's taking she's being taken into custody in Waller County under charges of illegal performance of an abortion, a second-degree felony, as well as practicing medicine without a license. And one of the complaints here was that her clinics were allegedly employing individuals who didn't have medical licenses, but they were posing as health care professionals

to provide medical treatment to Houston area women. Her clinics that Paxton outlined that she was running in Houston area were Clinica, Waller, Latino Americana, and that was in Waller, and then Latino Americana Medical Clinic, which is in Spring, and then Clinica Latino Americana in Cyprus. And so those received a temporary restraining order,

which Ken Paxton did secure this morning. He announced against these clinics to prevent further legal activity, he said. Rojas is listed on the Tom Ball Birth Center as a certified professional midwife, but I was unable to find evidence of her medical license, which is what Paxton is accusing her of, is not having a medical license but posing as having one. Paxton was alleging that Rojas was performing abortions at these

clinics I mentioned in direct violation of the Human Life Protection Act which is Texas's legislation that bans abortion and then outlines the prosecution for individuals such as what Maria is being accused of who are performing abortions. Paxton said when he announced this arrest he said in Texas life is sacred I will always do everything in my power to protect the unborn, defend our state's pro-life laws, and work to ensure the unlicensed individuals endangering lives of women by performing legal abortions are fully prosecuted. And then there was an update the other day Paxton announced that

there was a man who's been arrested or accused of performing legal medical procedures alongside Rojas while being unlicensed. This is Jose Manuel Le and he's also accused of providing at least one illegal abortion in conjunction with Rojas and her network of clinics in the Houston area. So we'll see how this develops. It's the first rest under Texas' abortion laws. So, while to watch and interesting that the second name thrown out there by the Attorney General's and like it's the same group of people in Houston. So definitely keep an eye on that. Yeah, definitely. Thank you for your coverage. Cameron, DEI remains an issue across the country and here in Texas. Tell us about a new investigation.

Yes, there was an announcement by the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon that, quote, race exclusionary practices at a number of universities across the country to here in Texas will be investigated by the DOE. Rice and North Texas University were among 45 universities listed as being alleged to be in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for partnering with an organization called the PhD project. And the PhD project, if you go to their website, currently doesn't have any of these sort of DEI statements. Well, what you need to do is look at archived about us web pages. And if you go to those archived about us web pages, it'll say this one from 2022 stating its goal is to quote,

diversifying the corporate America by diversifying the role models in front of classrooms. So very explicit in mentioning the D as part of the DEI. It's worth noting that a University of North Texas spokesperson told the Texas Tribune back in January that the university, quote, discontinued its affiliation with PHD project in early 2024 and is working with them to remove our name from the list of partners. The Texan we did reach out to both universities Rice University did get back to us stating that they quote don't have anything to share at this time. So just a bit of an update there for people with this ongoing investigation being launched

by the DOE. It's important also to mention that as we record today on March 20th, it's anticipated that President Donald Trump is going to sign an executive order to, quote, abolish the Department of Education. It's yet to be seen in what capacity the Department of Education will actually be abolished if there will still be aspects remaining. So investigations like this can continue, or it'll be put under a different department in the federal government we

shall see but as we're recording right now the Department of Education is all around. Impeccable reporting Cameron. Impeccable. Thank you. Well done Cameron. I will then DEI was was it Senator Morris Miles who did a little bit of a DEI speech on the floor I mean this is something obviously we're hearing all throughout the legislative session but there's a lot happening just around the state as well. So interesting to watch all of it kind of meet in the middle. But yeah, well, Senator Brandon Creighton has proposed a number of education related pieces of legislation.

I believe the one that was taken up on the floor was SB 12. It could be mistaken, but it has to do with eliminating some of these DEI adjacent or DEI focused classes in K-12. And there was an issue that Senator Boris Miles brought up about eliminating these topics that can be discussed in classrooms, does that preclude certain clubs from forming where these types of discussions related to DEI might happen? And so there was a bit of a heated back and forth between the two state senators. I'm sure someone has clipped it and posted it somewhere, but it was quite feisty.

Quite feisty to say the least. Cameron, thanks for your coverage. Speaking of feisty, Brad, a new bill would build upon the hotly debated Death Star bill. You didn't do the dun dun dun. DUN. Come on I wrote it in there I was waiting to see if you would that would have been perfect and it would have dovetailed and I would have joined You but instead you just pointed fingers How does that go bread What this um this script you have for me. Well, you see, dun dun dun.

There we go. I think dun dun dun is better. Go up at the end. That's not quite as ominous though. That's true. It's more, um... It's the Death Star. It has death in the name.

That's why I said it's particularly, uh... what was the adjective I used right before this? I'm totally neglecting to remember. Long week, huh? I would rather you like whistle the Star Wars intro. Can you guys whistle well? Like I can I can whistle like like that but I can't do the fingers and the mouth like super loud whistle. Good, that's uncleanly. That's uncleanly. I can only like when I breathe air in, I have a hard time whistling out.

Mary Lise. Oh, you guys got it. I don't know the Star Wars theme though. Would you like me to talk about the build or not? This might be the worst thing to listen to in your headphones is us the Star Wars theme though. Would you like me to talk about the bill or not? This might be the worst thing to listen to in your headphones is us whistling. Yes, I really would like you to. This is going to be a tough edit for Jayden's first.

I know. So, Senator Brandon Creighton filed Senate Bill 2858, which adds two sections of code to the 2023 Death Star Bill that is a field preemption bill different from conflict preemption because it lays out various sections of code in this bill's case 9 and this law's case 9 and says localities may not issue regulations that exceed that what's in there. Conflict preemption on the other hand is more the legislature passing a law to stop the city of Denton from banning fracking within its boundaries.

That did happen. That is kind of what started this whole preemption fight, at least this latest chapter of it. And so this bill adds to those nine sections, it adds the elections and penal codes to pretty big sections of code that contain a lot of juicy stuff as our esteemed editor would like to say I think I like to say spicy not juicy. Spicy whatever same thing. Get it together. Same difference and it adds it so it adds those two to this field preemption. And then it adds some other punishments if a, it allows the attorney general specifically to investigate whether an alleged violation has occurred. Currently, from my understanding, they need someone to file a lawsuit, someone in one of the counties where this locality exists to sue. And first you have to give the locality

notice and say, I think three months notice, say I'm gonna sue you if you don't remove this regulation. I'm not sure if we've actually seen any lawsuits filed under that yet. I don't recall. I know the the law itself is still in court in front of the third court of appeals. Arguments will happen next month in April. So anyway, this bill would add, would address that law. It would allow the Attorney General office to investigate itself. These things itself. This is one of the biggest partisan battles of last session.

Also if a locality is sued under this and they're found to be in violation of the law they would be so the comptroller during while this would litigation be going on they would take the monthly sales tax remittances and put them in like a suspense account and if the locality is found to have violated it that chunk of money goes into the general fund and then they would also be prohibited from adopting a property tax rate above the no new revenue no new revenue, which is the point at which property taxes collected are the same as the previous year sans new property added to the rolls. So it's got quite a few teeth, and this is gonna be a fight.

As you said last session, it was a massive fight. I think we saw one or two Democrats vote for it in the House, none in the Senate. It also was a theme in the Speaker's race. Burroughs had trouble getting some of the Democratic supports, at least throughout the race. He eventually got most of them because, specifically of this bill, and he passed it last session, it was his bill, Creighton carried it in the Senate. Now it's Creighton's bill.

Burroughs obviously is speaker, but this is gonna be interesting to watch. Burroughs probably supports this. And I would not be surprised if those two sections of code were originally in or were originally planned to be in the 2023 law, but then got negotiated out because of the public fight that occurred. So, yeah, how does this, does this, are the skids sufficiently greased in the House on this with a speaker that is probably supportive, at least if left to his own devices, but can he afford that? Or does he have to kill this in some manner in order to keep some of the Democrats who came to his side from rebelling against

him? Who knows? But this is a fascinating, another fascinating chapter of this constant local and state brawl that goes on. Yeah, local control. There we go. Local control. There we go. Everybody drink. Every time we hear the words local control this session, we're going to take one more break to hear from a sponsor. The Beer Alliance of Texas is proud to support its members who help deliver an annual economic impact of $35 billion and provide over 200,000 jobs to hard-working Texans. From local tax revenue to direct economic investment to charitable contributions, their members are heavily

invested in the success of our communities and our state. The Beer Alliance is dedicated to ensuring the safe distribution of alcohol throughout Texas. For more information, visit BeerAlliance.com. And we're back, Mary-Lise. Coming to you, Madere. Legislation has been filed clarifying the state's abortion laws. Tell us about it. Yes, so more abortion related topics. This is a huge deal. I think we've talked about this a whole lot on this podcast about if Texas abortion laws would be clarified. So legislation has been filed in both chambers to clarify the state's abortion laws, specifically clarifying the state's

exceptions for abortion prosecution in the cases where it would preserve the mother's health. So there's, we've got Senator Brian Hughes who authored Senate Bill 31, and then state rep Charlie Garan who filed House Bill 44. And like I said, they clarify state law regarding abortions and cases of threats to the woman's health or major bodily functions. And I think the two most notable aspects, in my personal opinion of this piece of legislation, is that it establishes continuing medical education

and continuing legal education to ensure that both medical and legal professionals are very well versed in the abortion laws, in the state's abortion laws. So the Texas Medical Board would develop the program for medical professionals to educate them on the state's abortion legislation and then the State Bar of Texas would establish the CLE which would work similarly but

for the state's attorneys. There were two Democratic House members that signed on to House Bill 44 and that was Representative Donna Howard and Representative Ann Johnson. And we know so this all started back when Governor Greg Abbott signed Texas abortion ban in June 2021, which was after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in 22. And the current law prohibits electively aborting a preborn child from the moment of conception forward, allowing for exceptions in situations when a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by a cause by arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses

a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced. And this simplifies both of these pieces of legislation, simplify the description of cases of exception, outlining two different standards that it must meet. First one is that the person performing the abortion is a licensed physician, that was already the standard. And then it says that,

in the exercise of reasonable medical judgment, the pregnant female on whom the abortion is performed has a physical condition aggravated caused by or arising from a pregnancy that places her risk for death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment unless the abortion is performed or induced. So that's very similar to the previous explanation except itits the phrase life threatening, which is also notable. And it emphasizes that in one section of legislation that discussing a case that involves abortion with other medical professionals is not grounds for prosecution.

So I'd assume that was a concern raised by medical professionals and this legislation clarifies that. I'd recommend reading this whole piece. We've got some statements from different organizations in here, but definitely gonna be a really interesting floor fight, I'm imagining. And we just-

Do you think? I think so. Why's that? Because we've got two Democrats on this House bill and then I would say that most of the Republicans are going to support this so I think it'll be interesting because the parties are not certain where they stand on this specifically. Yeah and you know I'm sure you'll have some criticism from the right that why are we if the laws are sufficient which some have argued why

why do we need to do this and then some on the left who try and amend it to legalize abortion entirely, you know, like, we're definitely gonna see that. Yeah, I think you'll probably see it pass easily, but it won't be quick, because there'll be a lot of fighting about it. Be interesting pushback. Yeah.

This has been a lot of the conversation, I mean, we know that, and we've talked at Nausium about IVF being the new front upon which this pro-life discussion, abortion discussion is being had, but this will be very interesting because the conversations post the passage of this slew of pro-life laws and Dobbs really has centered on, okay is it is the law clear? Yeah. Right and what kind of clarity can be provided to providers, medical providers about these laws. And it's interesting because both sides of the party have,

people from different, both sides of the party have been advocating for, oh, any clear abortion laws. And because it's not dealing with directly, okay, are we banning abortion, allowing abortion? This is more having to do with, okay, the abortion laws are already set in place. How do we make sure that they're being implemented well? Yeah, so, absolutely, definitely something

to keep an eye on, Mary-Lise, thank you. Cameron, we talked, Brad and I talked about the cell phone in classroom's bill on smoke-filled room, kind of the behind the scenes author scuttle, but this week we had a committee hearing, that was really interesting. Yeah, it's already been mentioned on the podcast that this is the education session.

Those being supportive of the current system, and on the other side those wanting a change, implementing some sort of school choice program. That's sort of the broad discussion. This is a bill that sort of addresses what is actually happening within the classroom instruction and issues that might be occurring. One of those being students access to cell phones and the issue of distractions, psychological effects that have been occurring or at least was testified to during this hearing. And what HB 1481 by Representative Caroline Fairley, what it does is it places essentially a ban on personal wireless communication devices

in the classroom and that can be anything from cell phones, tablets, laptops. It does allow for these devices that are provided to students by the school to be allowed. So like, let's say there's a classroom laptop and kids need access to it to look something up. That'll be okay, right? But what was interesting is hearing from some of the individuals who were providing testimony talking about their personal and professional experiences with cell phones and smart devices in the classroom. Some did testify covering issues with the legislation such as the necessity for students to have access to a sort of

line of communication with their parents or with professionals outside of the classroom, maybe issues with personal or medical emergencies, a student might need access to a device. So that was a topic of discussion, but it seemed like there was a bipartisan support in the committee hearing among all the different lawmakers that were there. At least for the general idea of it, right? At least for the the different lawmakers that were there. At least for the general idea of it, right?

At least for the general idea that is correct. And I think that has been spurred on over the, because of over the past few years, there's been a growing discussion, not just in the Texas legislature, but more broadly across the country about the issue with the amount of time students are spending on cell phones not just outside of the classroom But in the classroom and how that is potentially having

negative academic outcomes, but also mental health issues so Bipartisan support there is 77 other House members that have Either co-authored or sponsored this piece of legislation. So it seems like it has a clear path to passing in the House. And again, it has to pass the Senate as well. But as we know, if it's going to pass the House, it seems like the Senate will be on board with it as well. And you mentioned our discussion on SFR about it. There was an update since we recorded that there was,

we talked about how there was talk about some of the people that signed on as co-authors dropping from that because of the fight between Fairleigh and Troxclair over who was gonna get to author this and whether it was, whether people were happy with that and whatnot. Two of them did. Janis Holt and Andy Hopper removed their names

from the list of co-authors. I think that was it, at least when I checked earlier this week, but it's not gonna change anything. The bills can pass, but just... The insider-y sort of negotiations about the bill. And who gets credit, right? Who gets to be the author. Brad, and who gets credit? Yeah, right. Yeah, who gets to be the author? But really quick camera. Thank you. Yeah kill it probably really quickly Before you want to the last section here senator Kelly Hancock filed legislation to doge the power grid

Yeah Senator Hancock called it a simple bill Which is said quite often, but this is actually a common sense basically it would create law or create this Commission entity of a few different people controller heads of some agencies to try and figure out where they can be more efficient in electrons on on the grid, look where they go. That way they're not wasting electricity going to state office buildings when they don't need to be.

You know, like there was during the power grid, the near collapse in 21, there were some images of like at first they eventually shut it off, but at first the Capitol being lit up. But later other things like, you know, office buildings downtown, things like that. And so basically this commission, the task is to try and prevent that from happening and ensure that, you know, when we are tight on electricity between supply and demand,

that there's not stuff that's being wasted, that it can be directed all to residential homes. Did they talk about how they're going to attempt to do this? Put smart monitors on every building? Well that's why they're making the commission they're going to decide. Yeah. So no, the legislation doesn't speak to that. Okay. And who knows what they do? Maybe they do smart meters, I don't't know but maybe one giant red button kills me that turns off all that's what people are afraid of with those smart meters yeah all right yeah so there you go who controls a simple

bill a simple bill that's right Bradley thank you we've plugged it several times close in a smoke-filled room it's a fun episode we recorded this week kind of catch all what's happening this legislative session broad and I chatted and chatted talked a lot more about yes a it's and I thought we were going to yeah there's a lot to talk about but a lot of that a lot of the behind-the-scenes really just authorship issues that yeah you're so yeah so often happening behind the scenes in the legislative session but that aren't often they don't often make their way

to the forefront of discussion, or even in the public eye, but some of these kind of are. So we were able to talk about them. And then the comptroller's race. Of course, the comptroller's race. And a little bit on the Paxton situation as well. We did. Yeah. Look at that.

Okay, well let's move on to our Tweetery section here. Cameron, I'm really interested in yours. Yeah. So I came across the story that DoorDash is going to be implementing a buy now, pay later system, where if you want to order your Chick-fil-A or Jimmy Johns, you can, at checkout, select. Speaking of that.

Everyone's going to play this over. You can select through their partnering with Klarna, which is, oh yeah, I always see them in like the checkout. Yeah, so you, the people, customers will be offered to pay for their order in four equal interest, interest-free installments or differs to dates that align conveniently with payday schedules. I just think it's interesting because I've seen this on Amazon, different online retailers have this option at checkout. I just haven't seen it for food services or delivery. It's kind of odd you might get a notification a month after you ordered,

you know, chicken wings for the game to be delivered. Hey, your bills do. Yeah. You got to pay eight bucks. You know, I've seen lots of different takes online about a system like this not just in regards to a buy now pay later service for food but just these sort of services being offered on on online payments in general because it might incentivize people to spend money when they might not otherwise have the ability to pay for it. Sounds like a great business move. A great business move, but where do you want the incentives to lie for people?

With the corporation, with the business, or trying to incentivize people to spend money wisely? Well, it depends from his perspective you're talking about. Yeah, that's why I mentioned it. That's why it's interesting. Yeah, exactly. Well, that's fascinating, Cameron. Thank you.

Yeah. Mary Elise. Yes. So, a few days ago you might have seen, I mean, everyone, I think everyone is pretty well aware of Ben and Jerry's, the ice cream company's, political stances. But they recently posted a thing talking about abortion and applauding it. And they got a lot of backlash from all sorts of

pro-life organizations and individuals. But I just saw that Ben and Jerry's CEO was fired and that people are claiming that he was wrongly fired for expressing his political beliefs. And so, very interesting. I wonder if there's been a shakeup on the, you said the board fired him? I believe it was.

It'd be interesting because, like you said, the CEO has a history of making these sort of public, culturally progressive stances. Right? So I wonder if there's been a shakeup on the board, the makeup of it. Or maybe they're reacting to the changing culture that we're existing in.

That's what I'm wondering if it's the, you know, the, or the fact of the presidential administration we have right now. And I've seen a lot of brands that are kind of taking a few steps back. Yeah. So yeah Ben and Jerry's ice cream. The most political ice cream on the for the most part that we've seen around. Yeah I think so. Yeah. Well there's been a lot of these companies that have promoted some of these culturally progressive ideas whether it be something like Bud Light or Target,

that have received online pushback, targeted really, online pushback, and then since rolled back some of those stances. A lot since the inauguration as well. Yeah, so I wonder if this is just the next company that has fallen in line with how they're sort of noticing the culture going. I don't know that Ben & Jerry's would be top of my list as the, I believe a Vermont-based

ice cream company that has certainly been supportive of very progressive folks in the past, but who knows? Maybe. Very interesting to watch though, regardless. This is, Brad, you commandeered though regardless. This is Bradley, you you commandeered this topic, I think we'll all hop in on that. I mean I am the sports guy, so it tracks, right? Absolutely. You tried to... What did I try to do Bradley? Was it appropriate my culture? Is that the right terminology? I don't know. Got it.

Anyway, I am reclaiming from you. For the sake of this podcast. Yes. But everyone in the office is participating. Yes. What are we even talking about? It is March Madness. There we go.

And right now, the games have tipped off and I think we've got three starting. No, four, because Houston just started at one. We got Creighton and Louisville, which Creighton is beating Louisville and I picked that one. So I'm just gonna do a victory lap rate. I did pick Creighton, of course. I'm a ball knower. Come on, Jayden.

I'm a ball knower. Purdue's up on high points by six. Wisconsin's up on Montana and then Houston's up on 16 seed SIU Edwardsville. I picked Houston to win it all. Cameron, who'd you pick? I picked Houston as well. Yeah. Yeah. Great minds. Also a ball-nower. Yeah. Sneaky ball-nower. I think if you don't pick Houston in that matchup, then you're really a No, I mean to win it all. Oh, I see. Yeah, we did a we did an office bracket pool

That's me and there's a lot of strong arming on my part that had to be done But usually it's the people that don't give a rip about basketball that ended up winning that so which is why you were like guys Enter. Yeah, it goes a pot like we have a little bit of a prize that Connie and I threw in so we're even more motivated give a rip about basketball, they end up winning that. Which is why you were like, guys, enter. It's also a pot, we have a little bit of a prize that Connie and Phil threw in, so we're even more motivated than previously. A lot of people too, put in a couple brackets, which is always ups your odds a little bit.

How many do we even have? We got over a dozen brackets in our... It's a hefty group here. Group forecast. Ohs size 17. Who'd you all pick? I chose Duke in Tennessee. Oh. Jade, excuse me.

A head shake. They have such a hard road to the finals. I know. They're a good team. Well, that's why Tennessee was like, this is like, I have extended family who went there like it's it's kind of like a fun pick right Dukes a little bit less of a long shot but still a little bit more of a yeah it's gonna be tough but I thought it'd be fun Marylis who'd you pick? Well I picked Ole Miss but how did you get two? Two brackets? We can make two brackets. You did not read my message, did you?

It was really long. It was really long. I picked Ole Miss for my one bracket. What seed are they? What does that mean? What's the little number next to their namesake? I don't see a number next to them. Six.

Wow, you picked a sixth seed to win it all. Yeah, I don't know what that means but I really like their design. What did you say you chose? I said I picked based upon aesthetics. Yes and Ole Miss has a gorgeous logo. Yeah for sure. On board with it. Watch Brad you're gonna lose. We do have quite a few Duke, but all the Duke, there are three people who chose Duke. Yeah, that was one of my brackets. Yeah, but it's all secondary brackets, I think,

people's part who chose Duke. A lot of Houston. March Madness is a joyous time of the year. Usually I'm just dealing with my spring schizophrenia, but it's a good alternative. Wow, congrats on the break. I'm the schizophrenia. So glad you opened up to us. Oh, that was amazing.

I remember when I was a kid, my dad would take me out of school. For March Madness? For March Madness, we'd spend Thursday and Friday, the best two days of the year just watching basketball all day. Don't you think that the first couple days of March Madness are by far the most fun, because you have so many games being played, and then it kind of like, peters out a little bit,

not in terms of excitement, but just in terms of what you can engage with. It is so much more fun the first few days, because it's like constant results coming in. I was telling Brad, I went to college in Kansas, and basketball is huge in the Midwest there. And so in college, it'd just be me and my buddies, five screens, watching all the games, just locked in.

Now, not so much. No. Not so much. Now I have to do my own thing. We will be putting this on the TVs as soon as we finish this. Okay, good. Oh, great.

Legislature be danged. Well, you really censored yourself. I'm proud of you. You're welcome, you're Oh, great. Legislature be danged. Well, you really censored yourself. I know, you're welcome. You're welcome, Jaden. I just want to point one thing out. So Seth, with us, he did two brackets. He has his actual picks, picked Houston, and then he did his quote, spite bracket,

and he also has Houston winning. So I'm not really sure what that means, but. It doesn't quite make much sense. Also, Jaden's got Florida. Oh, that's a trendy pick. I was just about to say. And he's the only one. And his other pick is Auburn, which it's like his alumni situation. But also, Auburn doesn't have the hardest route. If they take care of business, they're good. Yeah, if they take care of business, they're good. care of business they're good. Yeah care business they're good. Well we shall see. Can't wait for oh my brackets now busted because you know 15 seed knocked off my champion. Yeah I think I overthink the underdog thing when I pick my brackets

where I go like a little too far on the underdog. Well those 5-12 matchups are always filled with upsets and guess who's the five seed Michigan I'm sweating bullets right now yeah that's you got Michigan winning at all in one of your brackets yeah my less baller bracket your less ball yeah Brad has a baller bracket and a less baller bracket wow we'll have to update folks on where we're at next week indeed indeed, okay. Don't do any work is this Is this your first bracket you filled out? Okay, yeah, this is super fun. I'm also part of an fantasy f1

League and I'm currently negative 24. So this is going to be potentially That's what you get into the underdog thing. I do. Although this time I really just had bad luck. Like my drivers just did not finish. Did you get matched for Stampin'? Is that the only driver you know? No, Lewis Hamilton is the other one. Okay. That's the only one I know.

No, I actually, I think I did get Lewis, but I drafted Ferrari, his team. It's his first year on Ferrari. Are you a Ferrari fan? I mean, you can't be an F1 fan and not be a Ferrari fan, but it's not, his team. It's his first year on Ferrari. Are you a Ferrari fan? I mean, you can't be an F1 fan and not be a Ferrari fan, but it's not like my team. I'm really, I like McLaren a lot. She likes the Scrappy Underdog.

They're not Scrappy and Underdogs, they won the world, they won the Constructor Championship. Shows what I know. It's not a real sport, it's okay. It's not a real sport, Lord. There's not a ball involved. There's not a ball involved. So many things I could say. Well folks, we appreciate you tuning in, listening to us blather, and we'll catch you next week.

Thank you to everyone for listening. If you enjoy our show, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you want more of our stories, subscribe to The Texan at thetexan.news. Follow us on social media for the latest in Texas politics. And send any questions for our team to our mailbag by DMing us on social media for the latest in Texas politics and send any questions for our team to our mailbag by DMing us on Twitter or shooting us an email to editor at thetexan.news. Tune in next week for another episode of our weekly roundup.

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