Politics

An experienced lawman announced his candidacy for McLennan County sheriff.

The Royse City Republican became the first member of the Legislature to be cast out of office since 1927. Slaton had an inappropriate sexual relationship with an aide, an investigation determined.

The legislation would raise the minimum age for purchasing certain firearms but likely wouldn’t have been a hindrance to the Allen gunman obtaining a weapon. The bill still faces an uphill climb in the Legislature.

Abbott announced the deployment of new “Texas Tactical Border Force” units to El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley on Monday and Tuesday.

Investigators have given no indication that mental illness played a role in the shooting, but President Joe Biden confirmed Sunday that the gunman used an AR-15 in the attack.

District 4 voters returned Darius Ewing to the Waco City Council seat he was appointed to three years ago in a decisive victory over two opponents.

When Senate Bill 14 came to the floor Tuesday afternoon, LGBTQ Texans and advocates started chanting, prompting House Speaker Dade Phelan to clear the chamber’s gallery.

A state bill that would eliminate paper license plates in Texas took a big step forward Monday, with the passage of House Bill 718.

Gov. Greg Abbott expressed regret Monday after facing intense criticism for labeling all the victims of the Cleveland, Texas, shooting rampage as “illegal immigrants."

The legislation is in response to elected prosecutors in Texas’ large, left-leaning counties who have said they will not prosecute abortion cases.

The Texas House gave final approval to legislation that would beef up schools’ safety, including hiring at least one armed security officer at every campus.

The bill would also expand access to Pre-K and Head Start programs in addition to increasing worker wages.

Magnolia magnates Chip and Joanna Gaines, of Central Texas, on Wednesday attended a White House state dinner to celebrate the alliance between the United States and South Korean.

Other legislation this session has targeted school library books, which are optional reading materials, but House Bill 1804 might be the first to go after textbooks that teachers use for their lessons.

The policy comes as LGBTQ advocates are fighting a wave of hostile legislation at the Capitol, including proposals to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender children.

The Supreme Court on Friday preserved women’s access to a drug used in the most common method of abortion, rejecting lower-court restrictions while a lawsuit continues.

Public schools in Texas would have to prominently display the Ten Commandments in every classroom starting next school year under a bill the Texas Senate approved Thursday.

The Supreme Court has temporarily extended women’s access to an abortion pill until Friday while the justices consider whether to allow restrictions on mifepristone to take effect as a legal challenge to the medication’s FDA approval continues.

The families of Uvalde shooting victims wait hours to testify at a House committee hearing in support of House Bill 2744, which would raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic guns from 18 to 21.

House lawmakers are scheduled to hear testimony on bills that would change how people buy firearms and how authorities report those purchases.

Critics say Senate Bill 16 is overly vague and will create a chilling effect that will prevent important conversations about race and gender. But Republican supporters say the legislation is necessary to protect conservative students who are self-censoring in the classroom.

The Texas House last week committed to spend $545 million to install air conditioning in many of the state’s dangerously hot prisons.

The chamber voted 136-5 on Tuesday to give initial approval to a bill that seeks to end the practice of changing clocks twice a year. But that doesn’t mean the measure has an easy path to reality.

A Texas judge who sparked a legal firestorm with an unprecedented ruling halting approval of the nation’s most common method of abortion is a former attorney for a religious liberty legal group with a long history pushing conservative causes.

A federal judge on Friday halted the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, delivering a blow to abortion rights advocates.

The Senate expanded the bill targeting drag queen story hours to target all public funding for libraries.

The chamber has repeatedly passed legislation in recent sessions eliminating the death penalty in cases of severe mental illness, but this year the measure faced increased pushback from conservative lawmakers.

Legislative researchers could not determine how the bill would affect the state’s prison population.

While the state guarantees law enforcement officers, like Department of Public Safety troopers, a $500,000 death benefit for their families if they die on duty, National Guard troops who stand shoulder to shoulder with those DPS officers on Operation Lone Star don’t have the same benefit.

The authors of bills in both legislative chambers say their bills’ aim is simple: keeping sexually explicit content off school bookshelves. But opponents say the legislation is vague and broad enough to wreak havoc.