Four Islamic schools have been admitted to the Texas voucher program after a federal judge ordered the state to invite the schools to apply, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The judge also ordered the application deadline for families be extended to March 31, citing concerns that no Islamic schools had been approved for the program.
“We received an invitation to register yesterday from Odyssey. We were able to register, and we got approval immediately upon finishing the registration form,” Hamed Ghazali, principal of the Houston Quran Academy, said. “In addition, our school appeared on the parents’ portal and some of our parents were able to register, choosing our school.”
The voucher program gives as much as $10,400 for tuition reimbursement and other fees to parents who send their children to private school next year, up to $30,000 for parents of children with disabilities, and up to $2,000 for homeschooled children.
TEXAS SENATE RUNOFF BALLOT DEADLINE PASSES
The deadline for Republican candidates to withdraw from the May runoff ballot has passed, and both U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton remain in the race, The Texas Tribune reported. Soon after the primary President Donald Trump promised to endorse one of the candidates “soon,” but has yet to do so.
Cornyn, who held a narrow lead in the primary but not a majority, recently wrote an op-ed piece reversing course on his opposition to ending the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for Senate approval of legislation. The Senate last week started floor discussion of the SAVE America Act, a bill Trump claims would “guarantee the midterms” for Republicans. Both Cornyn and Paxton now back the bill, which restricts voting access.
There is little chance of the bill passing the Senate because of the filibuster, since all 47 Senate Democrats oppose it, calling it a modern-day poll tax. There also does not appear to be enough support for ending the filibuster, which would allow the bill to pass with a simple majority.
Whoever wins the GOP Senate runoff will face state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, in November.
CHÁVEZ OBSERVANCE SCRAPPED AFTER ABUSE ACCUSATIONS
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to no longer observe César Chávez Day and said he plans to ask lawmakers to remove the holiday from state law, The Dallas Morning News reported. The move came after The New York Times reported Chavez, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers union, groomed and sexually abused girls and women who worked in the movement.
In addition, many Texas cities and school districts are considering renaming streets and schools and removing monuments to the famed labor leader.
“Let me be clear – no political affiliation, legacy or historic contribution should ever shield sexual predators from scrutiny or excuse the harm inflicted on survivors,” Dallas City Council member Bazaldua said in a Facebook post.
The co-founder of the UFW, Dolores Huerta, now 96, said Chavez forced her to have sex and raped her at one point. Huerta said that she kept silent to protect the farmworker movement.
DRAG SHOW BAN FINALLY TAKES EFFECT
A ban on certain public drag shows passed in 2023 finally took effect last week after a federal appeals court reaffirmed its constitutionality, The Tribune reported. The law prohibits performers from performing on public property or where children are present.
Paxton cheered the ruling in a news release, writing “I will always work to shield our children from exposure to erotic and inappropriate sexually oriented performances.”
The plaintiffs and the ACLU of Texas, which represents them, said they plan to continue fighting the ban.
“The law’s vague and sweeping provisions still create a harmful chilling effect for drag artists and those who support them, while also threatening many types of performing arts cherished here in Texas, from theater to ballet to professional wrestling,” ACLU Texas attorney Brian Klosterboer said in a statement.
$16 BILLION GAS POWER PLANT PLANNED IN EAST TEXAS
One of the nation’s largest energy projects is coming to East Texas, according to The News. It is part of a $550 billion investment package that Japan pledged last October and will be built in Anderson County in East Texas.
The $16 billion natural gas-fired power generation hub will be able to serve up to five gigawatts of energy demand and will be operated by NextEra Energy Resources, a wholesale electricity provider based in Juno Beach, Florida.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visited Trump at the White House last week. The administration has previously said the East Texas project will provide power to meet booming electricity demand, particularly as new data centers come online across the state.
147 MEASLES CASES IN TEXAS THIS YEAR
The Texas Department of State Health Services has reported at least 147 cases of measles in the state this year, with most occurring in federal detention facilities, The Tribune reported. The largest outbreak, with 99 cases, is at the West Texas Detention Facility, which is privately operated in Hudspeth County.
A DSHS spokesperson said the “state’s role inside federal facilities is very limited,” so detailed information on contact tracing, vaccine response, or any demographic information on infected individuals is not available.
Another 20 cases have been reported in El Paso, Bexar, Bandera, Kendall, Lubbock, and Rockwall counties, according to DSHS, and were contracted from a variety of sources, such as international travel.
Measles is highly contagious and is especially dangerous to unvaccinated children, pregnant women and adults with compromised immune systems. It also has a long incubation period.
AGENCY LAUNCHES LOW-COST PAY AND NEUTER PROGRAM ACROSS STATE
DSHS has launched a new sterilization program for dogs and cats after receiving $13 million in state funding to support the initiative for two years. The funds are allocated to 38 applicants to perform these procedures across the state. Grant recipients had to demonstrate the ability to provide highvolume, high-quality, and low-cost spay and neuter services.
“The program is designed to maximize sterilization impacts across both urban and rural communities in Texas. Receiving funding were animal shelters and rescue entities, veterinary clinics, governmental agencies, and non-profit organizations that perform sterilization procedures,” the news release said.
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Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: gborders@ texaspress.com.
