Rep. Keith Self was initially one of three who voted against House Speaker Mike Johnson’s reelection to lead the lower chamber.
After first opposing Mike Johnson, Texas Congressman Keith Self changes vote to allow him to retain speakership
Posted in
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.
Posted in
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.”
Posted in
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.
Posted in
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%.
Posted in
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.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2025
Mental health advocates ask Texas lawmakers to replace expiring COVID-19 relief funding
Texas received $203.4 million in 2021 to help build community mental health programs at libraries and churches, among other efforts. Those funds expire Dec. 31.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas man identified as suspect in deadly New Orleans truck attack
FBI officials said Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen and Army veteran, drove the pickup truck that fatally rammed into a crowd on Bourbon Street.
Posted in
Politics
Texas Supreme Court dismisses State Bar lawsuit against assistant attorney general
The state bar sought to take away the law license of Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster over a Texas lawsuit challenging 2020 presidential election results.
Posted in
Politics
Texas congressmen cleared in ethics investigation over campaign finance spending
The ethics committee said existing law and guidance from the Federal Election Commission is “often ambiguous” and provides gray areas of spending.
