Featured story from @JosphineLee, co-published by @ProPublica: Some experts believe the ultimate objective of any #Texas school district takeover is to disenfranchise local communities.

“It all begins at the school board level to then completely disempower the community,” said NYU professor Domingo Morel. https://www.texasobserver.org/mike-miles-tea-school-takeovers-charter-austin-fort-worth-houston/

#education #politics #USpol #news #schools #TXlege

“Governor Abbott could call [a special session] tomorrow. He has chosen not to. I mean … we have special sessions over who can use which restroom, but we don’t have a special session for this.” https://www.texasobserver.org/data-center-boom-rural-gop-local-control/

#Texas #AI #tech #environment #TXlege #politics #USpol #news

From our magazine: GOP legislators repeatedly insisted that “Texas Education Freedom Accounts” would be open to any and all types of private schools—of all creeds and persuasions.

In predictable fashion, they haven't quite lived up to that promise. https://www.texasobserver.org/school-vouchers-discrimination-brouhaha-abbott/

#vouchers #education #racism #politics #USpol #news #Texas #TXlege

Featured story: "The playbook is the same, scapegoating one community and fear-mongering to be able to get the votes that you need ... And then last summer, you know, the rhetoric translated into direct real world threats against me and my family." https://www.texasobserver.org/the-interview-salman-bhojani/

#Texas #TXlege #racism #fascism #politics #USpol #news

https://www.texastribune.org/2026/05/12/texas-republicans-indian-americans-frisco-h1b-visas-immigration/

There is no reasoning with white supremacy.

>Many testifying at Frisco City Council meetings or posting about the city on social media go far beyond asking for immigration reform. There’s been a surge in anti-Indian racism on social media since Trump returned to the White House, framing legal immigrants as “job stealers” and “invaders.” A clip of Boy Scouts leading the Pledge of Allegiance before a Frisco City Council meeting went viral, attracting thousands of reposts, many with hateful language, because the boys were Indian.
>
>“If you go after Boy Scouts, 10-year-old kids doing literally the most American thing ever, how can you also say the issue is assimilation?” Thakur asked. “This parsing, this segmenting of populations by identity politics, is the worst kind of politics there is.”

#txlege #dfw #frisco

State Representative Salman Bhojani's recipe for fixing #Texas elections:

1. Jungle primaries
2. Independently drawn voting districts
3. Ranked choice voting https://www.texasobserver.org/the-interview-salman-bhojani/

#elections #democracy #politics #USpol #TXlege #news

"Our job as state representatives is to fully fund our public schools. We haven’t done that, so let’s not talk about adding some more. So I’m still against the private school voucher program, but once you open that floodgate, you have to treat everybody equally." https://www.texasobserver.org/the-interview-salman-bhojani/

#education #vouchers #politics #USpol #news #schools #TXlege #Texas #racism

From Michelle Pitcher: Thanks to #Texas' Court of Criminal Appeals, no one on death row has been granted a new trial under a law meant to protect them from junk science-based convictions.

Now, the debate goes to the U.S. Supreme Court. https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-top-criminal-court-junk-science-law-supreme-court/

#law #SCOTUS #politics #USpol #news #TXlege #DeathPenalty

"What Abbott is doing is McCarthyism with a #Texas accent. So if you think about McCarthy, he didn’t need to prove that someone was a communist. The accusation itself became the evidence. Now from there, you can destroy careers, you can revoke passports, you can blacklist entire organizations." https://www.texasobserver.org/the-interview-salman-bhojani/

#racism #politics #USpol #TXlege #news