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School choice coming to Texas? | Texas: The Issue Is

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School choice coming to Texas? | Texas: The Issue Is


Leaders of the Texas House are facing a very big decision after last week’s pressure-packed school choice rally and a marathon committee hearing on House Bill 3.

House Bill 3 is the House’s version of school choice. The bill is slightly different from Senate Bill 2, which passed last month.

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In order for any bill to reach the governor’s desk, a backroom compromise will be needed.

School choice advocate on bills in Texas Legislature

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What they’re saying:

FOX 7’s Rudy Koski sat down with Mandy Drogin, the campaign director of Next Generation Texas at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, to discuss school choice.

Drogin: “It’s critical that all lawmakers realize that we can empower parents to make the best decision for their child and love their child and know where they should be going to school and empower them to make that choice.”

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Koski: “Is this a punt on public education?”

Drogin: “Absolutely not. I’m a public school parent myself. We have to acknowledge that there are 50% of the children in our classroom right now that cannot read on grade level. And that’s been going on for over a decade […]  This is not in any way saying that public schools should not be fully funded and lifted up. It means that every single parent should be in charge, and that a one-size-fits-all system based simply on the street that you live on, does not serve every child.”

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Koski: “This current plan isn’t every parent. It really isn’t universal. The only universal part is the application process, not the selection process.”

Drogin: “The eligibility.”

Koski: “So a very limited number of people who are actually going to benefit from this program.”

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Drogin: “I wouldn’t say it’s limited. 100,000 children will have access.”

Koski: “Of five million children.”

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Drogin: “So let’s be clear. We can do both. We can say what we want to do and then HB 2 has about 8 billion more dollars. We are going to spend more than $100 billion.”

Koski: “Opponents will say that’s just a buy down. That’s buying down the tax rate, and it’s really not giving new money.”

Drogin: “Well, that is completely incorrect. There are two different pieces of legislation.”

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Koski: “So, is it a labeling problem that the people are missing here?

Drogin: “It’s not a labeling problem. It’s not a voucher, which is what opposition likes to use. No. An education savings account allows parents to truly customize their child’s education […] it’s not a scholarship. […] There is not going to be a mass exodus from our public school system. So claiming that it’s not truly universal is false. Eligibility, every single child in the state of Texas is eligible. Now, the appropriation is what you’re talking about. There is $1 billion appropriated this year. That would be enough for approximately 100,000 students whose families needed another choice. And then there’s the prioritization. As we’ve heard in the committee, it is prioritized for low and middle-income families as well as our special education students.”

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Koski: “Is the plan to come back later and create more money and is that contingent on the surplus?”

Drogin: “At this moment? Yeah, absolutely. It’s contingent on demand.”

You can watch ‘Texas: The Issue Is’ Sundays on your local FOX station or on the free FOX LOCAL app.

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The Source: Information in this article comes from FOX 7’s Rudy Koski’s sitdown with Mandy Drogin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a House hearing on school choice legislation on Tuesday, March 11.

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Austin, TX

Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building

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Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building


Emo’s in Austin is on the move again. 

After more than a decade at 2015 E. Riverside Drive (following the original Red River-era venue closing in 2011), Emo’s current Riverside space will be taken over by AEG Presents when the lease ends later this year. The Los Angeles, CA-based company will assume operations in January 2027 and plans to reopen the building under a new name in early 2027 following upgrades, renovations and a full rebrand.

AEG are also opening a new 4,000-cap venue nearby next spring as part of the River Park mixed-use development in southeast Austin.

C3 Presents, who reopened Emo’s at the Riverside location, say this isn’t the end of Emo’s — they’re working on a new home and plan to move the venue back to downtown Austin, with more updates to come.

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AEG Presents Vice President Robin Phillips shared the following:

There’s like no weirdness or any bad blood or anything. It just, you know, new lease and they’ll [Emo’s] go do something great. They have been important to the Austin music scene, so I have a lot of respect for them.

But I don’t think the Austin music scene or legacy is limited to one name. I know people will remember the original Emo’s and this Emo’s as, you know, both great venues… And I don’t think Austin’s music scene is just a name, it’s the artists, in my opinion.

 

A C3 spokesperson added:

Emo’s has a long history in Austin and we’ve been working behind the scenes for some time on a new home for this venue. After we wrap up at this venue in December, we will focus our efforts on our new location.

 

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Emo’s gave the following statement to Austin local news KXAN:

We’re grateful for all of the fans and artists who’ve shaped Emo’s to what it is today: a community of like-minded people who love live music. We have a vision for our future and will be moving into a new building downtown that celebrates our punk rock roots with the new amenities that fans are looking for from a venue. We’ll continue to share updates on the next chapter for Emo’s on social media.





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Austin, TX

Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows

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Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows


State and federal agriculture officials said highly pathogenic avian flu has been found in a herd of dairy cows in Texas.

What we know:

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Officials said the H5N1 virus was confirmed with laboratory tests in late May after cows at an unspecified farm became sick and milk production dropped. The dairy has since been quarantined and an investigation is underway.

This is the first case of avian flu in a Texas dairy herd this year, officials said.

What they’re saying:

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“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is confident that pasteurization is effective at inactivating H5N1, and that the commercial, pasteurized milk supply is safe,” officials at the Texas Animal Health Commission said in a statement.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026. (Tim Evans/Bloomberg / Getty Images)

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Dig deeper:

H5N1 has a high rate of severe disease and death in animals that become infected.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk to the general public from avian flu is low. Some sporadic human infections have been reported around the world since 1997. There have been no known cases of person-to-person spreading of avian flu.

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The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Animal Health Commission, the USDA, the FDA and the CDC.

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Austin, TX

New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo

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New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo


Self-driving cars have become a common sight on Austin streets, but a new Texas law is adding tougher requirements for the companies behind the wheelless vehicles.

Senate Bill 2807 imposes stricter rules on autonomous vehicle companies operating in the state, including state authorization, emergency response plans for law enforcement, and a public portal where residents can verify operators and file safety complaints.

The changes come as Austin continues to track incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The city’s autonomous vehicle dashboard shows 75 incidents in 2026, including a collision, eight near misses, and seven incidents of ignoring police direction.

Attorney Drew Gibbs, a partner at Slingshot Law, said one crash involved a Waymo vehicle.

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“There was a T-bone collision. A pretty serious T-bone collision where a Waymo just crashed into the side of my client’s vehicle,” Gibbs said.

ALSO| Waymo files voluntary software recall over flooded-lane risks on high-speed roads

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One of the incidents of ignoring police direction happened during the mass shooting on West Sixth Street back in March, when three people died, and 15 others were injured.

Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said autonomous vehicles can struggle in unusual situations.

“It didn’t impede on anything in the moment, but it’s not necessarily uncommon where these vehicles don’t quite know how to deal with these one-off scenarios,” Bullock said.

The new law requires autonomous vehicle companies to be authorized by the state, to provide an emergency response plan for law enforcement, and to participate in a public-facing portal that allows the public to verify operators and submit safety complaints.

Kara Kockelman, a professor of transportation and engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, welcomed the added oversight.

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“I’m glad that the state is taking this a bit more seriously now,” she said. “It’s important not to just let others slip in without kind of meeting those basic minimums.”

Bullock said the emergency planning requirement may not make a major difference in fast-moving situations. Asked how impactful it is to have a fully laid out emergency response plan, Bullock said, “These plans are great, but it takes time to work through all of those versus the immediacy of having someone behind the wheel.”

The four autonomous vehicle companies operating in Austin — Waymo, Zoox, AV-Ride, and Tesla — are all state-authorized.

The Texas DMV said an autonomous vehicle company can lose its authorization to operate in Texas if the agency deems the vehicles are operating in a way that endangers public safety.

Waymo was contacted for comment, but had not responded.

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