Irada Akhoundova pleaded guilty to facilitating a $60,000 payment to Imelda Cuellar, the congressman’s wife, that she believed would benefit Azerbaijan and its state-run oil company.
Courts
Stay up to date on Texas courts with in-depth coverage of major rulings, judicial elections, criminal justice, and the judges shaping state law from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Health care
How a Denton divorce could imperil IVF access in Texas
The Texas Supreme Court is considering taking up the question of whether frozen embryos should be treated as people, not property, in a divorce case.
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Texas Abortion Restrictions
Anti-abortion crusader’s deposition requests generate fear, but no findings
Jonathan Mitchell has filed at least nine petitions seeking information from abortion activists, doctors and women. None have resulted in a deposition.
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Criminal Justice
DPS has charged hundreds of migrants who rushed a border gate with rioting. A judge has thrown out the charges.
Two different groups surged through an El Paso border gate. An El Paso judge has twice thrown out the resulting criminal charges.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
Appeals court considers whether West Texas A&M drag show was unconstitutionally banned
University President Walter Wendler canceled a drag performance last year, claiming such shows “denigrate and demean women.”
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Higher Education
Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texas to ignore Biden administration’s new federal protections of LGBTQ+ students
The new Title IX rules expanded the definition of sex-based harassment. Texas is also suing the Biden administration to block the changes.
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Politics
After no contest plea, a Texas representative’s charges for impersonating a public servant are dismissed
In June 2022, state Rep. Frederick Frazier was indicted on two charges of impersonating a public servant. A Collin County district judge dismissed the misdemeanor charges as part of his deferred adjudication.
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Health care
Seattle Children’s Hospital won’t have to provide trans patient records to Texas under new settlement
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton suspected the hospital was helping Texas kids access puberty blockers or hormone treatments that are outlawed for juveniles.
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Public Education
Appeals court blocks Texas from enforcing book rating law
Plaintiffs claimed that the 2023 law, which required book vendors to rate the explicitness of sexual references in materials sold to schools, was unconstitutionally broad.
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Health care
Texas, Idaho abortion bans test against federal emergency medicine rule
Hospitals are required to stabilize anyone experiencing a medical emergency. Two lawsuits question whether that includes performing an abortion, despite state laws.