Texas | September 26, 2021
Texas Governor Vows to Hire Any Border Patrol Agent Fired by Biden Administration
Texas | September 26, 2021
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would hire any Border Patrol agent fired by the Biden administration after several top White House officials said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would investigate images of agents on horseback blocking Haitian illegal immigrants from entering the United States.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his agency would probe claims that the agents whipped Haitian aliens with the horse’s reins, despite Border Patrol union officials and the Getty photographer who captured the images saying they didn’t whip anyone.
Those agents, Abbott said, “wouldn’t have been in that situation had the Biden administration enforced the immigration laws.”
If President Joe Biden “takes any action against them whatsoever—I have worked side by side with those Border Patrol agents—I want them to know something,” Abbott said. “If they are [at] risk of losing their job by a president who is abandoning his duty to secure the border, you have a job in the state of Texas. I will hire you to help Texas secure our border.”… (Excerpts from the Epoch Times)
Texas | September 16, 2021
Austin ISD looks to raise property taxes, send nearly half of local revenue to state
Texas | September 16, 2021
Homeowners in the Austin school district could see their taxes go up by an average of almost $300 under the district’s new proposed tax rate.
The proposed tax rate of $1.0617 is 4 cents lower than last year’s rate and the district’s lowest in 20 years, but it will translate to an average tax increase of $276.12 for the average home valued at $472,823.
The school board is expected to vote on the tax rate at its Sept. 23 meeting.
Average home values in the district increased by an estimated 10% over the past year, according to the district’s Chief Financial Officer Eduardo Ramos.
The tax impact would have been significantly higher — an average increase of $469.97 — if not for a 2019 law that directs more state money toward local school funding… (Excerpts from Austin American-Statesman)
Texas | August 20, 2021
Texas Democrats return, end 38-day holdout over voting bill
Texas | August 20, 2021
A standoff in Texas over new voting restrictions that gridlocked the state Capitol for 38 consecutive days ended Thursday when some Democrats who fled to Washington, D.C., dropped their holdout, paving the way for Republicans to resume pushing an elections overhaul.
It abruptly and messily drew to a close one of the few – and lengthiest – quorum breaks in modern Texas history. Instead of a unified and celebratory return by Democrats, some members fumed and lashed out at their colleagues over what they criticized as breaking ranks… (Excerpts from the Washington Times)
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia | August 16, 2021
Minorities Fleeing High-Tax, Democrat-Run States for High-Opportunity, Republican-Run Country
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia | August 16, 2021
Many black Americans moved from northern blue states to Georgia, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.
Data from the 2020 census confirms a population shift that reflects “the decade’s broad population shifts: slow growth in the Northeast and Midwest, and gains in the South and some Western states.”
The last decade’s interstate migration shift also indicated that states with higher taxes and less opportunities for job growth lost residents to lower tax states with more job opportunities.
Population losses or small gains were widespread in the Northeast and Midwest, the 2020 census found, with Florida and Texas receiving the most interstate migrants, gaining 2.4 million and 2 million more people, respectively.
From 2010 to 2020 three states, Illinois, West Virginia, and Mississippi lost more people than they gained. Illinois and West Virginia each lost a congressional seat, and Illinois lost $6 billion in 2019 due to population losses alone, an analysis of Internal Revenue Service data by the nonprofit Wirepoints website found….
(Excerpts from the Virginia Star)
Texas | August 11, 2021
Texas House Speaker Signs Arrest Warrants for 52 Absent Democrats
Texas | August 11, 2021
House Speaker Dade Phelan on Tuesday signed arrest warrants for the 52 state House Democrats who absented themselves from legislative business in order to block Republican-led election reforms, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Earlier in the day, the Texas House of Representatives voted 80-12 to bring back the wayward Democrats. Hours prior to the vote, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the Republicans were within their rights to force their colleagues to return.
Phelan did not immediately return a request for comment by The Epoch Times.
The lone Republican who voted against approving the warrants, Rep. Lyle Larson, criticized the move on Twitter…..(Excerpts from Epoch Times)
Texas | July 30, 2021
Texas Democrats to meet with Clintons, Stacey Abrams
Texas | July 30, 2021
Quorum-breaking legislators said they would seek strategic advice from the party leaders and urge the Clintons to lobby on their behalf.
The Texas House Democrats who are breaking quorum to block their Republican colleagues from advancing voting restrictions will meet with Bill and Hillary Clinton and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams on Thursday, state legislators said.
Members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus will meet with Abrams at 10 a.m. and the Clintons at 11 a.m. Both meetings will take place virtually, over Zoom.
More than 50 members of the Texas House are in Washington this month, waiting out the clock on a special legislative session to block Republicans from enacting sweeping changes to elections in the state. Through meetings with members of Congress and a steady stream of media events, the legislators have used their time in the capital to plead for federal voting legislation… (Excerpts from NBC News)