texas

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Texas Attorney General Suggests Arming Teachers, After Uvalde School Shooting, Educators Disagree

After an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers — and injured 17 others — at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, said arming teachers could prevent more mass atrocities at schools in the future. “We can’t stop bad people from doing bad things,” he told Fox News. “We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly. … That, in my opinion, is the best answer.” Paxton’s response is not a new one. After a school shooting claimed the lives of 17 students and adults in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, then-President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos also expressed support for giving guns to teachers. More than 15 states, including Texas, allow teachers, security pe...

Men Have Access To Significantly More Higher Education Programs In Texas Prisons Than Women

11May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION, Journalism

Men Have Access To Significantly More Higher Education Programs In Texas Prisons Than Women

Alexa Garza has been out of prison for three years, but she still remembers how confining it felt. “I was surrounded by walls,” said Garza, who was incarcerated for two decades starting when she was 19. “I found that reading was an escape for me. I was able to read and learn and grow, and I knew that education was the key for me.” Already a high school graduate when she entered prison in Texas, Garza set out to obtain a higher education behind bars. That goal took the better part of her sentence to achieve. After a decade, she had earned two associate’s degrees. It took her five more years to earn a bachelor’s degree. Now a justice fellow for the national nonprofit Education Trust, which works toward education equity, Garza is raising awareness about the challenges of accessing post-seco...

In Texas Jim Crow Tactics Reborn, Deputizing Citizens To Enforce Abortion Law, Legally Suspect Provisions

13Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

In Texas Jim Crow Tactics Reborn, Deputizing Citizens To Enforce Abortion Law, Legally Suspect Provisions

Stefanie Lindquist, Arizona State University The new Texas law that bans most abortions uses a method employed by Texas and other states to enforce racist Jim Crow laws in the 19th and 20th centuries that aimed to disenfranchise African Americans. Rather than giving state officials, such as the police, the power to enforce the law, the Texas law instead allows enforcement by “any person, other than an officer or employee of a state or local governmental entity in this state.” This enforcement mechanism relies solely on citizens, rather than on government officials, to enforce the law. This approach to enforcement is a legal end-run that privatizes a state’s enforcement of the law. By using this method of enforcement, state officials are shielded from being sued for violating the Constit...

Texas Is Pushing The Most Anti-Trans Bills In The Country, Advocates Fear Deadly Consequences

13Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Texas Is Pushing The Most Anti-Trans Bills In The Country, Advocates Fear Deadly Consequences

Though more research is needed, as greater numbers of anti-trans bills have been introduced across more states within the last two years, more trans homicides have taken place in those states. Orion Rummler Originally published by The 19th Texas has introduced the most bills targeting transgender youth in the country, triple the number of any other state. Though none of Texas’ over 40 proposed anti-trans bills have been passed, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has made restricting trans youth’s sports participation a priority for the state’s third special legislative session. Local and national LGBTQ+ advocates worry that regardless of whether the bills pass, the language in and around them that characterizes trans girls as boys will spur violent, potentially deadly attacks and worsen menta...

Texas New Abortion Law Just Took Effect — Here’s What It Does — And What You Need To Know

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Texas New Abortion Law Just Took Effect — Here’s What It Does — And What You Need To Know

HEALTH Texas’ law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy took effect. Here’s what you need to know now. Orion Rummler Originally published by The 19th Texas’ law effectively banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy took effect at midnight September 1. Lawsuits are pending, but for now, clinics must comply with the ban. Whole Woman’s Health, one abortion provider in the state that was named by providers in the joint plea to the Supreme Court to block the law, was still providing abortions within minutes before midnight, CEO Amy Hagstrom Miller told reporters on Wednesday. The law also empowers private citizens to sue anyone they believe may have “aided or abetted” someone getting an abortion after six weeks, which has caused confusion. Under the law, Senate Bill 8, patien...

Everyone Knows Big Things Come From Texas

7Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CELEBRITIES

Everyone Knows Big Things Come From Texas

Who knew that things that come from Texas would make you big . . . in your pants! Well, that's exactly what Euless, Texas, native Sarah Shahi will do to any red-blooded American man, even if she's of Persian descent. Come on, people, if this doesn't prove that more than just oil comes from the Middle East nothing will! She first came to notice by winning beauty contests and eventually became the cover model for the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders’ 2000 calendar. We can thank director Robert Altman for Sarah's onscreen career. He encouraged Sarah to move to Hollywood after she worked as an extra on his Dr. T and the Women (2000). That led to small roles on TV shows such as Spin City and Boston Public, which led to her big break as Erica, working with a naked Will Ferrell, in the comedy Old Schoo...

From Inner-City Philly To Small-Town Texas – For Black Cowboys – Horses And Riding Are A Way Of Life

4Apr

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IN OTHER NEWS

From Inner-City Philly To Small-Town Texas – For Black Cowboys – Horses And Riding Are A Way Of Life

Photographer Ron Tarver grew up in Fort Gibson, a small town in Oklahoma where horses, cattle and Wrangler jeans were embedded into the rhythms of everyday life. His grandfather was a cowboy admired for his roping abilities, and many of his family members owned ranches in the area. But he wanted, he told me, “to get away from horses,” and in 1983, he landed a job as a staff photojournalist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he found himself drawn to a range of subjects, from storefront churches to star jump-ropers. Then, in the early 1990s, he photographed North Philadelphia’s drug culture, spending periods of time living in heroin dens and crack houses. Burned out from the despairing subject matter, he decided that for his next undertaking, he wanted to do something that would lift his...

To Defend Confederate Monuments – And Sam Houston’s Legacy – Texas Distorts Its Past

12Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

To Defend Confederate Monuments – And Sam Houston’s Legacy – Texas Distorts Its Past

At least 160 Confederate symbols were removed from public spaces across the United States in 2020, according to the the Southern Poverty Law Center. Even Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, has removed a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee from the Richmond Statehouse and is trying to take down others seen as offensive by an increasing numbers of Americans, including those whose ancestors were enslaved. Huntsville reveres hometown hero Sam Houston. And he did not revere the Confederacy. Jimmy Henderson/flickr, CC BY-SA Texas has largely declined to participate in this nationwide reckoning with the symbols of the Old South. Instead, local officials are doubling down on their Confederate monuments. Republican State Sen. Brandon Creighton, who represents the city of Conroe, near Houst...

On Very Shaky Ethical Ground – In Texas, Price Gouging During Disasters Is Illegal

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS

On Very Shaky Ethical Ground – In Texas, Price Gouging During Disasters Is Illegal

In Houston, as millions suffered power and water outages, food shortages and subfreezing temperatures, another problem confronted families: price hikes. Steep increases in the price of food, gas and fuel have been reported across Texas. And as millions of Texans lost power, exorbitant prices were being asked for hotel rooms with power, with some climbing to US$1,000 a night. As a scholar who has researched disaster ethics, I know this is not uncommon in such circumstances. It follows a pattern: Disaster creates a scarcity of basic necessities; retailers and providers respond by sharply raising the price tags on sought-after commodities. Then comes public outrage and claims of price gouging – a practice deemed illegal in 36 U.S. states, including Texas, in times of disaster. Contrarian ...

Texas Residents Left Out In The Cold By Low-Cost Power Produced By Texas Electricity System

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Texas Residents Left Out In The Cold By Low-Cost Power Produced By Texas Electricity System

Americans often take electricity for granted – until the lights go out. The recent cold wave and storm in Texas have placed considerable focus on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, the nonprofit corporation that manages the flow of electricity to more than 26 million Texans. Together, ERCOT and similar organizations manage about 60% of the U.S. power supply. From my research on the structure of the U.S. electricity industry, I know that rules set by entities like ERCOT have major effects on Americans’ energy choices. The current power crunch in Texas and other affected states highlights the delicate balancing act that’s involved in providing safe, reliable electricity service at fair, reasonable rates. It also shows how arcane features of energy markets can have big effe...