On the day the House impeached Ken Paxton, Smithee delivered a 20 minute speech, criticizing the impeachment process as opaque, rushed and unfair to the accused.
Steve Toth
Posted in
Public Education
Proposed ban on corporal punishment in Texas schools fails again
Texas public schools can allow corporal punishment, which includes hitting, spanking, paddling or deliberately inflicting physical pain to discipline students.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2023
Two GOP Texas House members call for Rep. Bryan Slaton to resign
Reps. Briscoe Cain and Steve Toth, who are usually ideologically aligned with Slaton, said the lawmaker needed to step down.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2023
“Pugilist Patrick on full display”: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick takes aim at two Republicans who crossed him
Patrick has made no qualms in the past about bending arms or using public pressure to get other state officials — including Gov. Greg Abbott — to go along with his plans.
Posted in
LGBTQ+ Texans
“I want to fight”: LGBTQ Texans ready for legislative session as GOP lawmakers target them in dozens of bills
Republicans are backing legislation targeting gender-affirming care for children, classroom lessons about sexuality and drag shows.
Posted in
Public Education
Conservative backlash pushes Texas social studies curriculum review to 2025
The board was initially supposed to update the social studies curriculum by the end of this year.
Posted in
Texas Abortion Restrictions
Texas Republicans say if Roe falls, they’ll focus on adoptions and preventing women from seeking abortions elsewhere
State leaders say expanding a social safety net for children and prosecuting abortion funders are among their priorities. “We’ll continue to do our best to make abortion not just outlawed, but unthinkable,” said state Rep. Briscoe Cain.
Posted in
Politics
Donald Trump adds fresh pressure to Gov. Greg Abbott over demand for a forensic election audit
There has been no evidence of widespread election fraud in Texas, where Trump defeated President Joe Biden by 6 percentage points. After the November election, a secretary of state official said Texas’ election was “smooth and secure.”
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2021
“I wanted to teach differently than I had been taught”: How some Texas educators practice anti-racist teaching
Conservative lawmakers denounce critical race theory and say it facilitates racism. Some teachers say it actually informs their efforts to counter racism in the curriculum and classroom, even though they don’t teach it directly to students.
Posted inDemographics
Texas’ controversial new social studies law prompts McKinney school officials to cancel Youth and Government class
One of the Republican authors of the so-called critical race theory bill said the district is misinterpreting the new law’s ban on political activism. A school official called the language “vague.”
