Blacklock replaces Nathan Hecht, the longest serving justice on the high court. Gov. Greg Abbott also appointed his general counsel, James Sullivan, to the bench.
Jimmy Blacklock named new chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court
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Texas Legislature 2025
Ken Paxton kicks off tour to pressure Republicans to support David Cook for House speaker
Paxton’s latest tour is the continuation of his efforts in the past year to get political revenge on House Republicans who supported his impeachment.
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Texas Legislature 2025
Texas has a housing affordability crisis. Here’s how state lawmakers may tackle it in 2025.
A likely fight over how much power to take away from local governments may dominate the debate.
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Criminal Justice
Joint Base San Antonio tightens security after Army vet, Green Beret suspected in unrelated New Year’s attacks
After separate attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, officials ordered the suspension of the Trusted Traveler policy.
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Congress
After first opposing Mike Johnson, Texas Congressman Keith Self changes vote to allow him to retain speakership
Rep. Keith Self was initially one of three who voted against House Speaker Mike Johnson’s reelection to lead the lower chamber.
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Higher Education
SMU’s bid to split from United Methodist Church over LGBTQ+ rights heads to Texas Supreme Court
Southern Methodist University in Dallas tried to declare its independence after the church voted to ban gay weddings and clergy in 2019.
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Environment
A former shrimper tries to revive Matagorda Bay and its fishing industry with $50 million pollution settlement
Five years after Diane Wilson’s landmark settlement with Formosa Plastics, she’s directing the money toward reviving “the bay and the fishermen.”
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Texas Legislature 2025
Rep. Mihaela Plesa survived a heated GOP challenge. Here’s how she thinks Democrats can prevail.
Plesa, a Dallas Democrat, said the party should embrace bipartisanship, and start talking about economic issues.
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Economy
Harris County program decreases automatic evictions when tenants don’t come to court
After the court eviction diversion initiative started, default evictions favoring landlords dropped 44%.
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State Government
Texas driver license offices reopen after systemwide outage
The outage appeared only to affect the Texas public safety department. Driver license offices reopened after the New Year’s Day holiday.
