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Texas hits record high for early voting turnout
Forty-six percent of registered voters in Texas had cast their ballots through Monday. In 2016, the percentage was 43.5% for the entire early voting period.
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Texas Tribune
Texas hit a record high for early voting turnout Monday as the percent of registered voters who have cast ballots early surpassed the total early voting turnout from any other presidential election — even with four more days of early voting left.
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Texas social workers will no longer be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ Texans and people with disabilities
The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council voted unanimously to restore protections for social workers' LGBTQ and disabled clients after backlash from advocates and lawmakers.
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Breaking: Texas social workers will no longer be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ Texans and people with disabilities.
A state board voted Tuesday to undo a rule change that had drawn backlash from lawmakers and advocates.
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Michael Bloomberg to spend $15 million on TV ads for Biden in Texas and Ohio after seeing tight polling
The move comes as some polls show the Biden-Harris ticket within striking distance — and, in some surveys, ahead — in the traditionally Republican state.
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NEW: Michael Bloomberg to spend $15 million on TV ads for Joe Biden in Texas and Ohio after seeing tight polling
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Some Texas school districts are requiring in-person instruction again, leaving parents scrambling for options
As the numbers of people infected and hospitalized by the coronavirus tick back up across the state, at least six Texas school districts eliminated the option for remote learning and forced students, faculty and staff to return to the classroom,...
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Even as the number of people infected and hospitalized by the coronavirus rise in the state, dozens of Texas school districts eliminated the option for remote learning.
“I don’t appreciate being put in a position where I feel like I don’t have a choice.”
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Democratic state Rep. Senfronia Thompson files to run for speaker of the Texas House
Thompson would be the first woman elected speaker. She filed less than two weeks before an election in which Democrats hope to gain control of the chamber.
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Breaking: Democratic state Rep. Senfronia Thompson has filed to run for speaker of the Texas House.
Ahead of the November election, Democrats are nine seats away from regaining control of the House for the first time in nearly two decades. #txlege
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Order allowing Texas counties to have multiple mail-in ballot drop off sites is upheld, but appeal will likely halt openings
The state will continue to fight a Travis County district court's ruling that overrode Gov. Greg Abbott's order limiting counties to one absentee ballot drop-off location.
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A state appeals court has upheld a ruling allowing Texas counties to have multiple absentee ballot drop-off sites. But Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to appeal the ruling to block it from going into effect.
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Texas’ massive early voting numbers have persisted, leading to predictions of overall turnout unseen in years
Experts are predicting that as many as 12 million people could vote in Texas this year.
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The unusually large voter turnout in Texas has persisted through the first 10 days of the early voting period, leading experts to predict that the state could reach overall turnout levels unseen so far this century.
#tx2020
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Gov. Greg Abbott didn't require masks at polling places. It's made some voters uncomfortable.
Polling locations are one of Abbott’s 11 exemptions to his statewide mask mandate that went into effect July 3. Abbott said at the time that the exemption is meant to prevent people from being turned away at the polls just because they don’t have a...
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Gov. Greg Abbott isn't requiring masks at polling places.
The sight of maskless voters, eight months into the coronavirus pandemic, has surprised and alarmed some Texans, especially as face coverings are required in most public settings across the state.
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Why Asian American voters in Texas may hold outsized importance in key races this year
Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial or ethnic voting group in the country, according to the Pew Research Center. And in Texas, there are sizable Asian American communities in key districts.
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Houston restaurant owner Debbie Chen works on Asian American and Pacific Islander voter turnout every year, but she feels even more motivated in 2020 following President Donald Trump and others' use of racist monikers for the coronavirus pandemic.
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Second whistleblower fired from Texas attorney general's office after accusing Ken Paxton of bribery
Blake Brickman and Lacey Mase, two whistleblowers who accused their boss of crimes including bribery and abuse of office, were both fired Tuesday.
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A second whistleblower was fired from the Texas attorney general’s office after accusing Ken Paxton of crimes that included bribery and abuse of office.
Employment attorneys say Paxton may be violating the Texas Whistleblower Act.
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Calls For Closure, Investigation After Allegations Of Forced Hysterectomies At ICE Detention Center
U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia says the degree of abuse is unclear because women said they weren't told what was being done to them, or spoken to in a language they could understand.
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More than 100 members of Congress, led by U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, are calling for a congressional investigation following a September report about alleged forced hysterectomies on women in custody at a Georgia ICE detention center.
Via @texasstandard
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University of Texas Longhorn band won't play "The Eyes of Texas" this weekend after some members say they're unwilling
The Longhorn Band will not play the “The Eyes of Texas” at this Saturday’s football game between the University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University after a survey of members revealed several students are refusing to play the traditional alma...
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UT-Austin's band will not play "The Eyes of Texas" at this Saturday’s football game after a survey revealed many members are unwilling to play the school song, @thedailytexan reported.
The song has ties to minstrel shows where performers wore blackface.
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Defending himself against criminal allegations, Ken Paxton gave his first interview to a website identified as part of a pay-for-play network
Ian Prior, a Republican operative who promoted the story for the Texas attorney general's campaign, denied that the campaign had paid the Southeast Texas Record to publish it. “Definitive no,” he said.
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Ken Paxton gave his first interview about recent criminal allegations to a website that has been identified as part of a network of some 1,300 pay-for-play news sites that publish on-demand coverage for Republican political campaigns and PR firms.
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Top aide in Texas attorney general's office terminated after accusing Ken Paxton of bribery
The departure "was not voluntary," said Lacey Mase, one of several senior aides who said Attorney General Ken Paxton used his office to serve the interests of a donor.
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Several senior aides in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office accused the state’s top lawyer of bribery and abuse of office.
On Tuesday, one of them was terminated.
"It was not voluntary," she said.
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Texas is on the cusp of another COVID-19 surge. Is the state better prepared to handle it?
Experts say Texas is more prepared to handle another wave. But they fear that if the state fails to control the outbreak, it could quickly spiral out of control.
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New coronavirus infections in Texas are rising again.
Experts attribute this latest surge in part to “pandemic fatigue” that’s leading more people to ignore precautions that help slow the spread of the virus. bit.ly/3m5GY9O pic.twitter.com/MK75qZnvLH
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Texas can reject mail-in ballots over mismatched signatures without giving voters a chance to appeal, court rules
A federal judge had ordered the state to give voters a chance to resolve signature questions in time for their ballots to be counted. Now that won't happen unless counties do it voluntarily.
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Texas election officials may continue rejecting mail-in ballots if they decide the signature on the ballot can't be verified, without notifying voters until after the election that their ballot wasn't counted, an appeals court ruled Monday.
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Texas election officials will not have to notify voters that their mail-in ballot has been rejected until after the election, an appeals court ruled earlier this week.
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Have a problem voting in Texas? Let us know
The Texas Tribune is partnering with ProPublica's Electionland to track obstacles to voting in Texas. Here's how you can help.
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Texas Tribune
We're tracking obstacles to voting in Texas as the early voting period continues. If you have something to share, get in touch with us here
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The census doesn’t count Arab Americans. That leaves some Texans feeling invisible.
The census does not include an option for people to identify as Middle Eastern or North African Americans. That leaves Arab Texans to identify as white or “other” on the all-important national count.
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The census doesn't include an option for people to identify as Middle Eastern or North African Americans.
Advocates say that makes it more difficult for Arab Americans to receive grant funding for health and social services, among other problems.
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Texans with criminal records face increasingly limited housing options. Homeless advocates say a new rule could leave them with even fewer choices.
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is proposing that people with certain criminal convictions be temporarily or permanently blocked from living in tax-supported developments that provide support services.
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A proposed new rule would block people with certain criminal convictions from living in tax-supported developments with support services.
Advocates say the rule will leave some of the state’s most vulnerable people with even few housing choices.
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Coronavirus hospitalizations are up in Texas as some fear the state is headed toward another surge
Experts blame social gatherings like birthday parties and football games for the recent upticks. They say there is widespread fatigue for following stringent guidelines to wear masks, practice social distancing and avoid crowded indoor spaces.
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Hospitals in some parts of Texas are filling with coronavirus patients, alarming officials who say Texas could be on the brink of another surge after a relative plateau in September.
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Hospitals in some parts of Texas are filling with coronavirus patients, alarming health officials.
“We don't have any identified hot spots or large outbreaks. We just have lots and lots of community transmission.”
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