The U.S. Senate confirmed Don Willett, a Texas Supreme Court justice, to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday. A confirmation vote on Jim Ho, a former state solicitor general, is expected later this week.
Emma Platoff
Emma Platoff was a reporter at the Tribune from 2017 to 2021, most recently covering the law and its intersection with politics. A graduate of Yale University, Emma is the former managing editor of the Yale Daily News.
Posted in
State Government
Straus says “decency trumped tribalism” in Roy Moore defeat
House Speaker Joe Straus praised Alabama for rejecting Roy Moore in Tuesday’s special election and urged mainstream Texas voters to get involved in 2018 primaries to keep people like Moore out of power.
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Criminal Justice
Paul Pressler, former Texas judge and religious right leader, accused of sexually assaulting teen for years
A lawsuit filed this fall alleges that Paul Pressler, a former state judge, lawmaker and leader on the religious right, repeatedly sexually assaulted a young man over a period of decades, beginning when the boy was just 14.
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Politics
Postponed: Join The Texas Tribune for a symposium on Hurricane Harvey recovery
Join The Texas Tribune for a symposium on Hurricane Harvey, where lawmakers, reporters and thought-leaders will discuss the deadly storm that struck Texas, and the road to recovery.
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Criminal Justice
Texas prisons ban over 10,000 books. An Israeli diplomat wants to know why Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” is allowed.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice often takes heat for the books that are banned in state prisons. But the controversy escalated this week when Israel’s general consul to the Southwestern U.S. questioned why Mein Kampf isn’t on the list.
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Criminal Justice
Three women indicted in death of impaired woman in state facility
Five months after the death of a severely disabled woman in a state facility, three employees have been indicted on felony murder charges.
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Politics
How repealing net neutrality could hurt small Texas businesses
Net neutrality, an Obama-era policy that requires internet service providers to treat all traffic that flows through their networks equally, could be repealed next week. Some fear that repealing it would disproportionately impact small business owners.
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Politics
U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold pledges to pay back $84,000 sexual harassment settlement
U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold settled a sexual harassment complaint with $84,000 in taxpayer money. Now he’s promising to pay the public back.
Posted in
Courts
Taking Texas to trial: the latest on the state’s court battles
Texas has a host of high-profile legal battles in the works, ranging from voting rights to political maps.
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Politics
Texas House member behind anonymous Facebook page that campaigned against local bond
A state representative launched an anonymous Facebook page to lobby against a parks bond in his hometown of Fredericksburg. The bond lost by 100 votes. The city’s mayor called the campaign “totally wrong.”