Today’s Cannon: Civil Assets Forfeitures, Texas Public School Enrollment, and the First Step Act
Ignore the noise and stale talking points. The Cannon connects today's news with the research and opinion you need from TPPF's top experts.
Category Archives: Texas
Appeals court allows review for Texas inmate who ate his eye
This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death-row inmate Andre Thomas, from Texoma, Texas. Attorneys for Thomas, who removed his only eye and ate it in a bizarre outburst several years ago, are arguing to a federal appeals court that he's too mentally ill to be executed for killing his estranged wife's 13-month old daughter.
Trump says Coast Guard rescued people who ‘went out in their boats to watch’ Harvey
President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that a main reason the US Coast Guard was so busy rescuing people during Hurricane Harvey was that people were watching the storm on boats. The Coast Guard "saved 16,000 people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is," Trump said during a visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters for a briefing on hurricane season.
Route 66 gets its signs
That highway "runs the entire width of Texas, and there's not one song that talks about Interstate 10," said Quandt, who is the vice president of Amarillo's Convention and Visitor Council. "Interstate 35 thinks it's pretty important, running up the central part of the state, but there's not one club in Germany or England celebrating I-35.
What to Do in Blanco, Texas
I'm confronted by this dilemma in downtown Blanco at Old 300 BBQ, which is run by pitmaster Ladd Pepper, who's cooked for countless celebrities, including Beyonc and former President Barack Obama. Earlier in the week I convinced my friend Rolando to make the short 48-mile trip from Austin to Blanco with a promise that there would be both barbecue and beer.
Senator blocked from entering detention center housing migrants’ kids
A United States senator tried to enter a federal facility in Texas where immigrant children are being held, but police were summoned and he was told to leave. Sen. Jeff Merkley's attempt late Sunday to enter the facility, and his request to speak to a manager, comes amid a national debate over the practice of separating families caught crossing the border illegally.
US Senator refused entry to facility holding migrants’ kids
A United States senator trying to gain access to a federal facility housing immigrant children in Texas near the Mexico border and talk to a supervisor has been turned away after police were summoned. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, told one of the police officers in Brownsville that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' team and the Office of Refugee Resettlement are trying to hide what's happening behind the doors of the former Walmart.
Avalon GloboCare Appoints Former Deputy Secretary of the U.S….
Avalon GloboCare Corp. , a leading global developer of cell-based technologies, announced today that the Company has appointed Dr. Tevi Troy, Former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to its Board of Directors where he will also chair the governance and nominating committees. Dr. Troy currently serves as Vice President of Public Policy for Juul Labs.
When America Worked
It's hard to believe that it was ten years ago tonight that Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination , putting him on the path to make - and change the course of - history. Just a decade ago, it seemed as though every dream could come true.
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Seeking to comfort grieving families and shaken survivors, President Donald Trump spent more than an hour privately Thursday with some of those impacted by a Texas mass school shooting that killed 10 and wounded more than a dozen on May 18. The latest spasm of violence in a year marred by assaults on the nation's schools, the shooting at Santa Fe High School was the latest to test the president's role as national comforter-in-chief. Trump met with more than two dozen people affected by the shooting, and did not publicly share his message for the grieving families and local leaders during a meeting at a Coast Guard base outside Houston.
Texas shooting victim’s mom says talking to Trump ‘like talking to a toddler’
Trump privately met Thursday with more than two dozen people affected by the Santa Fe High School shooting. One parent said the president kept mentioning arming teachers.
As Hurricane Season Begins, Cornyn Launches Preparedness Site
At the start of hurricane season, U.S. Senator John Cornyn launched a page on his website where Texans will be able to access resources and information associated with hurricane preparedness and disaster aid. Last month, Senator Cornyn introduced the Coastal Texas Protection Act , a provision of which has been included in the America's Water Infrastructure Act .
Thank Republicans for your right to try
Imagine the horror of learning you have a terminal illness for which science has not yet come up with a treatment. Now imagine receiving the same diagnosis, and then learning a promising new treatment exists that could save your life - but you can't get access to it thanks to governmental obstacles.
Donald Trump meets families of school shooting victims in Texas
President Donald Trump started a trip to Texas by privately meeting families of some of the 10 people killed in a school shooting this month. A White House spokesman said he was "moved" by the May 18 shooting at Santa Fe High School, which left eight students and two substitute teachers dead.
Trump says he’s giving full pardon to Dinesh D’Souza
In this May 20, 2014 file photo, conservative scholar and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, left, accompanied by his lawyer Benjamin Brafman leaves federal court, in New York. President Donald Trump says he will pardon conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza who pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud.
Texas ‘hero’ eyes Harvey’s devastation, awaits new hurricane season
Zachary Dearing, who became a local hero for being an impromptu leader of an evacuation center during Hurricane Harvey last year, speaks dur ROCKPORT, Texas - Destroyed houses still dot Zachary Dearing's neighborhood in the Texas coastal city of Rockport, a reminder of last year's devastation from Hurricane Harvey and a warning about what could lie ahead for such communities in the new hurricane season. Dearing, a 30-year-old harbor worker and aspiring screenwriter, was trapped in a local storm shelter during Harvey last August and was later hailed as a hero for leading care for about 120 people.
Crews respond to a plane crash in Longview.
The plane was a single-engine Luscombe 8A, according to Lynn Lunsford with the Federal Aviation Administration. Lunsford said initial reports are that two people on board suffered minor injuries.It is unclear at this point what led to the crash and it remains under investigation.
‘All the Way’ a brilliant political drama from Southern Rep
The parliamentary procedures of getting a law through both houses of Congress might seem an unlikely source of tension, but playwright Robert Schenkkan masterfully mines the minutiae of such maneuvers, resulting in the powerful drama, "All the Way," now receiving its regional premiere from Southern Rep Theatre. Spanning from November 1963 to November 1964, the play centers on President Lyndon B. Johnson and his efforts to move the historic civil rights acts through Congress in his first year in office, while also securing his place to win re-election.
Flag gardens taking root across country
The solemn display of tens of thousands of U.S. flags that first appeared on Boston Common for Memorial Day nearly a decade ago, honoring service members who died defending the nation, is slowly becoming a national movement. The flag gardens, as they are known, can be seen this weekend in Texas, Louisiana, Ohio and New York, all started by residents inspired by the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund tribute established in 2010.
Farenthold lawsuit shines light on open government
A ship docks at the Calhoun Port Authority on on April 20, 2016. A board meeting was held then to discuss the most recent land purchase, financial reports and other topics.