If Bevo had to step in front of the microphones, cameras and Texas football fans everywhere to deliver an annual State of the Longhorns address, what would he say?
Austin, TX
Texas Rep. privately asks Appellate Judge for new trial in reported conduct violation
AUSTIN, Texas — One of the state lawmakers instrumental in delaying Robert Roberson’s execution, Jeff Leach, allegedly texted a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge last week asking for a new trial.
The judge declined to consider the message and the court has been found to lack any jurisdiction in the case. Still, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent an email to the Texas Supreme Court Friday, notifying them of the breach of professional conduct.
Representative Jeff Leach sits on the Texas House Committee of Criminal Jurisprudence, which issued the subpoena for Roberson that ended up delaying his execution. In text messages between him and a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge, he wrote he wasn’t aware the matter was already pending and apologized.
Defense attorney and former prosecutor Ty Cardenas-Wittenstein says attempts to influence a judge outside the courtroom can have major ramifications.
“That’s literally what our system is based on, is justice and fairness,” Cardenas-Wittenstein said. “You’re going to ruin the case. In a criminal case, anybody getting involved like that could easily cause a mistrial, which means everything is stopped.”
RELATED| State Rep. Jeff Leach asked Texas judge to consider a new Robert Roberson trial
She says this is called ex parte communication when one party tries to communicate with the judge about the case without the other parties present.
“One of those lawyers can’t go and, you know, tell the judge a secret or send a secret letter, or even some sort of a social media post or something like that.” Cardenas-Wittenstein said.
This violation typically involves lawyers, but it doesn’t always have to.
“It can be an investigator. It can be it can be a paralegal,” Cardenas-Wittenstein said. “Anybody that’s on either of the teams, whether they’re directly involved or loosely involved.”
That’s why the Office of the Attorney General says State Representative Jeff Leach violated Texas disciplinary rules of professional conduct when he texted a judge who sits on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last week, in an attempt to get her to vote favorably in delaying Robert Roberson’s execution and getting him a new trial.
Roberson is on death row for the 2002 murder of his two-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis, but many including Leach believe he wasn’t given a fair trial.
In a letter reporting the violation that was sent to the Texas Supreme Court and attorneys involved in the case, his text messages were revealed. He allegedly wrote in part…
“I’ve wracked my brain about whether I should send you this message about where I can even send you this message legally and ethically… There are too many questions and too many holes and too much uncertainty and Robert Roberson deserves a new trial.”
Leach explained to the judge he wasn’t a party to the trial and the case wasn’t actively pending, but the judge replied the matter was indeed pending and thus ex parte communication she couldn’t consider or discuss.
Leach apologized for the error, but the judge still reported the communication.
“For most lawyers, it’s something that you know is ingrained to us,” Cardenas-Wittenstein said. “But you know, for somebody that didn’t go to law school, I don’t know if that would be something that was ingrained in them.”
On the social media platform X Monday evening, Leach apologized publicly. He says in part:
“Unlike some other leaders in our state, I’m not afraid to admit when I mess up and that’s exactly what I did… I am fiercely committed to the rule of law and to strengthening our system of justice. This is why I’m so passionate about the case of #RobertRoberson — because I believe so strongly the system has failed him.”
Cardenas-Wittenstein says ex-parte communication can sometimes lead to a case being thrown out or a lawyer even losing their license to practice. In this case, though, it doesn’t involve an attorney and the United States Supreme Court has already ruled the Court of Criminal Appeals lacks jurisdiction, sending the case to the Texas Supreme Court where it’s still pending.
CBS Austin reached out to one of Roberson’s attorneys listed in the letter, who declined to comment. We’re also waiting to hear back from the Anderson County District Attorney who was also notified of the violation.
Austin Police are investigating a mass shooting at Buford’s on West 6th Street that’s left multiple people injured.
This happened around 2 A.M. as the bar was closing.
The number of people injured is not known.
Austin Police are also investigating an Officer Involved Shooting in the 600 block of Rio Grande Street.
They say the suspect is deceased.
APD says the call originated as a shoot/stab hotshot incident with multiple people injured.
Austin Travis County EMS and the Austin Fire Department are also on the scene.
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This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is released.
Maybe he would expound on the virtues of Arch Manning and deride the College Football Playoff committee for leaving the Longhorns out. Or maybe he would just as for some more hay to snack on.
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Texas Longhorns linebacker Ty’Anthony Smith (26) lifts the trophy with head coach Steve Sarkisianas the Longhorns celebrate after winning the Citrus Bowl 41-27 against the Michigan Wolverines at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, Dec. 31, 2025.
Bevo and his predecessors have been stomping on the sidelines of Texas games for over 100 years. It might require a few hundred more years and some substantial evolutionary progress before he’s ready to deliver the burnt orange equivalent of the President’s annual State of the Union Address, which took place Tuesday night.
Bevo XV makes his way into Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium during before the start of an NCAA college football game against Texas A&M Aggies in Austin, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025.
Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-StatesmanFor now, we’ll take on the task for him. Here’s where things stand with the Longhorns in early 2026.
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Where the Texas Longhorns rank nationally
Texas won the Learfield Directors’ Cup — awarded to the best-performing athletic department in the country — for the second consecutive year and the fourth time in the last five years in 2025. That’s a remarkable achievement.
How likely are the Longhorns to repeat in 2026?
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It’s tough to predict. Texas didn’t have a great fall, by its standards. The Longhorns rank 31st in the Directors’ Cup standings, with fifth-place, 13th-place and 33rd-place finishes in women’s volleyball, football and men’s cross country finishes marking the only areas where they picked up points.
The good news for Texas is that the fall typically isn’t kind to the Longhorns. Last year, they came out of the autumn ranked 16th.
The winter should be much better. Texas, as usual, has national championship contenders in both men’s and women’s swimming. The Longhorns have an elite women’s basketball team and top-20 teams in men’s and women’s indoor track and field. They can make up some serious ground when results for those sports are tabulated in April.
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We know less about the Longhorns’ outlook in the spring sports, many of which are just getting going, but that has been a source of strength for UT in years past. Last year, North Carolina paced the Directors’ Cup field after the fall and winter events were scored. Texas nearly doubled the Tar Heels’ spring score to chase them down.
How Texas matches up with its in-state rival Texas A&M
Any successful political endeavor requires success in your power base.
Texas’ move to the SEC ahead of the 2024-25 athletic campaign led to the revival of the Lone Star Showdown against local rival Texas A&M. Like the Directors’ Cup, the Lone Star Showdown measures the results of all sports, compiling outcomes of games between the Aggies and Longhorns throughout the academic year.
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MORE: What a hot start for Dylan Volantis, UT pitchers means for Longhorns
Last year, Texas won the Lone Star Showdown over Texas A&M by a final score of 11-7.
This year, the Aggies hold a 5.5-4 lead at the time of publication. Texas A&M has bested the Longhorns in soccer, cross country, volleyball, women’s tennis and men’s basketball, while Texas took home points in football, women’s basketball and swimming and diving.
There are still 9.5 points up for grabs. Half a point is at stake when the men’s basketball teams meet in College Station on Saturday, Two more points can be had this weekend at the SEC indoor track championships, too.
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Texas Longhorns have a down year financially
The campaign funds did not flow as freely for the Longhorns in the 2025 fiscal year.
Texas made a $23.3 million loss, according to financial documents reviewed by the American-Statesman.
The Longhorns attribute most of that to a diminished SEC media rights share — a stipulation Texas agreed to in order to leave the Big 12 for the SEC a year earlier than originally planned. The average SEC school took in $72.4 million in conference distributions in 2025. Texas received just $12.1 million.
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Texas officials say they’re not concerned about their financial position because their agreement with the SEC puts them in line for a full revenue share in the next fiscal year. Rob Novak, the Longhorns’ Chief Financial Officer, said the $23.3 million loss was considered a good financial outcome internally.
And, Novak says, the Longhorns had cash to fall back on. He told the Statesman that the Athletic Department still has over $30 million available in reserve after earning a profit for three consecutive years prior to 2025.
AUSTIN, Texas — Early voting is wrapping up for the midterm election, and Election Day is March 3rd.
With federal offices, statewide races, and local propositions on the ballot, it’s a packed slate. And for many voters, preparing can feel overwhelming.
Josh Baer knows that feeling well.
“Every year I put an hour on my calendar or two to where I’m supposed to get ready to vote,” Baer said. “I’m supposed to read the voting guides and kind of get prepared. And to be honest, it never seems to work. I always just actually don’t feel very prepared.”
Baer is the founder and CEO of Capital Factory, a startup accelerator and investment hub. This year, instead of struggling through the ballot, he turned to artificial intelligence.
He gave AI two specific instructions.
“I said, one, go download all the best nonpartisan voting guides so that you can read all of them and know what’s going on,” Baer explained. “And then two, I said, interview me so you understand my kind of voting preferences. And then tell me who I should vote for and why.”
Within seconds, the AI generated a nine-page report. It broke down every race and proposition, recommended who he should vote for, and explained why. It also created a condensed cheat sheet for Election Day.
“It was really amazing,” Baer said. “And I felt the most prepared I’ve ever felt going into voting.”
That experience sparked a bigger idea.
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Baer decided to build a website so others could do the same thing. He began what’s known as “vibe coding,” using AI tools to help create the platform.
“It took a few days of me tinkering around with it, but really just from that prompt, I got this incredible website where anybody can go and do the same thing I did,” he said. “And then I said, make it safe. Ensure it’s nonpartisan. Make sure it’s open, and people can trust it.”
The result is TXVotes.app.
Baer says Anthropic’s Claude AI handled much of the heavy lifting behind the scenes. But he didn’t stop there.
He also asked other AI systems — including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, xAI’s Grok, and Google’s Gemini — to review the site and suggest improvements. He then used their feedback to refine the tool.
Baer says privacy and transparency are central to the app’s design.
“You can look at the website and see how it works and why it works,” he said. “But most importantly, in just about five minutes, you can be the most prepared you’ve ever been for any election you’ve walked into.”
As early voting continues, Baer hopes the tool can make researching the ballot faster, easier, and less intimidating for voters across Texas.
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