John Devine, Jane Bland and Jimmy Blacklock won their reelection bids over Democrat challengers backed by groups that support expanding abortion access.
Sandra Bland
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Police brutality in Texas
The Texas lawmakers who led the Sandra Bland Act are pushing to reinstate the police reforms stripped from their original bill
The lawmakers said they are acting in response to the death of former Houston resident George Floyd.
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Texas Legislature 2019
A measure to limit arrests for non-jailable offenses passed the House after a great struggle. It still died.
Behind closed doors, a joint Senate and House committee killed a measure that would require police officers to explain why they arrest someone for fine-only offenses, otherwise the case would be dismissed. Criminal justice reform advocates considered the issue a priority following the arrest of Sandra Bland.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Lawmaker grills Department of Public Safety over disclosure of Sandra Bland cellphone video
State Rep. Garnet Coleman suggested that the newly released video showing some of Bland’s confrontation with a state trooper before her death may have been buried in a “data dump” of information given to lawyers and lawmakers.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Advocates say a Texas House bill could prevent arrests like Sandra Bland’s, but multiple attempts to pass it failed
A measure to limit arrests for misdemeanors that only result in fines initially got House approval. Then it failed on a subsequent vote amid what some say was confusion over what the bill would do. Lawmakers tried to revive it Friday evening — after several lawmakers had left the chamber — but that attempt also failed.
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Criminal Justice
New cellphone video shows what Sandra Bland saw during arrest by Texas trooper
The family of Sandra Bland — who died in a Waller County jail cell — is calling for a reopening of the criminal investigation into Bland’s arrest and death after seeing footage for the first time.
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Criminal Justice
Trooper fired for Sandra Bland stop: “My safety was in jeopardy.”
Former Texas Department of Safety Trooper Brian Encinia says he feared for his personal safety after pulling over Sandra Bland in Waller County on July 21, 2015.
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Criminal Justice
Trump slow to fill judicial seats in Texas (video)
All four U.S. attorney seats, 11 district judgeships and two slots on the historically conservative U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sit open.
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Criminal Justice
Perjury charge dropped against trooper who arrested Sandra Bland
Brian Encinia, the ex-trooper who arrested Sandra Bland in 2015, has had his perjury charge dropped. The prosecution moved to dismiss the charge after Encinia agreed to give up his police license.
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Higher Education
Prairie View A&M names Ruth Simmons, the former leader of Brown, interim president
Ruth Simmons, the longtime president of Brown University, has been named interim president of Prairie View A&M University.