texas legislature
March 24, 2021 -
In the wake of historic Black Lives Matter protests, Republican lawmakers in Southern states have introduced two dozen bills this year that could lead to new criminal charges for protesters — even peaceful ones. Most Southern states already have at least one such law on the books.
November 6, 2019 -
In Texas, which has long debated changes to its system of partisan judicial elections, Republican leaders began pushing an appointment system just a few months after last year's Democratic sweep in Houston's judicial elections. One proposed bill would put an end to elected judges in urban counties.
April 26, 2019 -
In a year of harsh anti-abortion bills, one introduced in Texas went furthest of all by allowing women who end a pregnancy to be put to death. The bill's sponsor — a quadruple divorcee whose first wife sought a restraining order against him — is a major recipient of contributions from a fracking services billionaire and religious sect leader who's become a leading funder of radical anti-abortion groups and candidates.
March 10, 2017 -
Transgender women — and especially trans women of color — face disproportionate violence, with at least seven murders in the U.S. so far this year. Most of these occurred in the South, where state hate crime laws don't cover gender identity, and where lawmakers are stirring up transphobia with so-called "bathroom bills."
June 28, 2013 -
The nation turned to Texas this week to watch state Sen. Wendy Davis's 11-hour filibuster against legislation restricting abortion in the state. The bill failed to pass before the special session ended at midnight -- and now Democrats say there will be a probe into Republicans' efforts to alter the timestamp.
April 17, 2013 -
The Flint in Georgia, the San Saba in Texas, the Catawba in the Carolinas, and the Black Warrior in Alabama are among the nation's 10 most threatened rivers, according to the latest tally from American Rivers.
March 20, 2013 -
Legislation that would ban racial, ethnic or gender history studies from counting toward basic history requirements at Texas universities was spurred by a controversial report from a conservative education policy group that helped get a Chicano newspaper defunded at the state's flagship school.
