Texas
Lawmakers approve school safety bill that would require an armed person at every Texas campus
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Texas lawmakers sent a sweeping school safety measure to Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday, including in their response to last year’s Uvalde massacre a requirement to post an armed security officer at every school and provide mental health training for certain district employees.
The measure also gives the state more power to compel school districts to create active-shooter plans.
Both chambers gave their final approval to House Bill 3 after ironing out their differences over the past week.
“It’s time to act,” said Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, before the vote was taken. “We need to prevent the next Uvalde.”
The provision to require an armed person at every school campus was added back into the bill during the negotiation process after the Senate took it out earlier in the session. The armed person can be either a peace officer, a school resource officer, a school marshal or a school district employee, according to the law.
That provision caused the most consternation among the opponents of the bill, who have argued all through the legislative session that fewer guns — not more — is the solution to mass shootings. Still, the bill passed by a relatively large margin in the House, 93-49.
Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, said requiring an armed person at schools will endanger students instead of ensuring their safety.
“The potential for disastrous consequences is staggering,” Goodwin said.
The proposal requires the Texas School Safety Center — a Texas State University think tank that has been reviewing schools’ safety protocols since the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting — to review best practices to best secure campuses every five years. In the Uvalde shooting, the gunman entered Robb Elementary through a backdoor that failed to properly lock. The bill would also create regional safety teams that would conduct intruder detection audits at least once a year.
HB 3 would create a safety and security department within the Texas Education Agency and give it the authority to compel school districts to establish robust active-shooter protocols and follow them. Those that fail to meet the agency’s standards could be put under the state’s supervision.
The bill would also require the TEA to develop standards for notifying parents of “violent activity” on campus and set up school safety review teams to conduct vulnerability assessments of all the school campuses once a year.
Both chambers have said school safety is a priority this session after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Uvalde elementary school last year. However, parents of the Uvalde victims were left disappointed after the raise-the-age bill they advocated for failed earlier in the session. The bill would have changed the age to legally purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
To further harden schools, the state would give each school district $15,000 per campus and $10 per student, a figure that many school officials say isn’t enough. In addition, lawmakers have allocated $1.1 billion to the TEA to administer school safety grants to the state’s more than 1,000 school districts.
Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a San Antonio Democrat who represents Uvalde, said Sunday that he voted against the bill because of the funding concerns.
“It is sick and twisted that we have the largest budget surplus in Texas history and we aren’t doing a damn thing to keep our kids safe,” he said. “We aren’t doing anything to prevent another Uvalde.”
Under the bill, school employees who regularly interact with children would need to complete an “evidence-based mental health first-aid training program.” The TEA would reimburse the employee for the time and money spent on the training.
In counties with fewer than 350,000 people, the bill requires the sheriff to hold semi-annual meetings to discuss school safety and law enforcement response to “violent incidents.” This includes making sure there is a clear chain of command and that all radios are working.
In the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting last year, nearly 400 law enforcement officers from different agencies descended upon Robb Elementary in a chaotic, uncoordinated scene that lasted for more than an hour.
Each district would also be required to give the Department of Public Safety and other law enforcement a walkthrough and a map of each campus in an effort to avoid confusion when responding to an incident.
“This is a huge win for the safety of our children,” said Rep. Carrie Isaac, R-Dripping Springs.
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Texas
A Texas man is set to be executed for fatally stabbing twin teenage girls in 1989
HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas man linked to five killings and convicted of fatally stabbing twin 16-year-old girls more than three decades ago is facing execution on Tuesday evening.
Garcia White was condemned for the December 1989 killings of Annette and Bernette Edwards. The bodies of the twin girls and their mother, Bonita Edwards, were found in their Houston apartment.
White, 61, a former college football player who later worked as a fry cook, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection Tuesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. White would be the sixth inmate put to death in the U.S. in the last 11 days.
Testimony showed White went to the girls’ Houston home to smoke crack with their mother, Bonita, who also was fatally stabbed. When the girls came out of their room to see what had happened, White attacked them. Evidence showed White broke down the locked door of the girls’ bedroom. He was later tied to the deaths of a grocery store owner and another woman.
“Garcia White committed five murders in three different transactions and two of his victims were teenage girls. This is the type of case that the death penalty was intended for,” said Josh Reiss, chief of the Post-Conviction Writs Division with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston.
White’s lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution after lower courts previously rejected his petitions for a stay. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Friday denied White’s request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty or to grant him a 30-day reprieve.
His lawyers argued that Texas’ top criminal appeals court has refused “to accept medical evidence and strong factual backing” showing White is intellectually disabled.
The Supreme Court in 2002 barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion to decide how to determine such disabilities. Justices have wrestled with how much discretion to allow.
White’s lawyers also accused the Texas appeals court of not allowing his defense team to present evidence that could spare him a death sentence, including DNA evidence that another man also was at the crime scene and scientific evidence that would show White was “likely suffering from a cocaine induced psychotic break during his actions.”
White’s lawyers also argued he is entitled to a new review of his death sentence, alleging the Texas appeals court has created a new scheme for sentencing in capital punishment cases after a recent Supreme Court ruling in another Texas death row case.
“Mr. White’s case illustrates everything wrong with the current death penalty in Texas -– he has evidence that he is intellectually disabled which the (Texas appeals court) refuses to permit him to develop. He has significant evidence that could result in a sentence other than death at punishment but cannot present it or develop it,” White’s attorneys said in their petition to the high court.
In a filing to the Supreme Court, the Texas Attorney General’s Office said White has not presented evidence to support his claim he is intellectually disabled. The filing also said White’s claims of evidence of another person at the crime scene and that cocaine use affected his actions have previously been rejected by the courts.
“White presents no reason to delay his execution date any longer. The Edwards family — and the victims of White’s other murders … deserve justice for his decades-old crimes,” the attorney general’s office said.
The deaths of the twin girls and their mother went unsolved for about six years until White confessed to the killings after he was arrested in connection with the July 1995 death of grocery store owner Hai Van Pham, who was fatally beaten during a robbery at his business. Police said White also confessed to fatally beating another woman, Greta Williams, in 1989.
White would be the fifth inmate put to death this year in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state, and the 19th in the U.S.
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Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
Texas
Federal judge bars Texas vote harvesting investigations
A federal judge ruled on Saturday that part of a Texas law that enacted new voting restrictions violated the U.S. Constitution by being too vague and restricting free speech.
The ruling, made by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, immediately halted the state’s ability to investigate alleged cases of vote harvesting, such as the investigation into the League of United Latin American Citizens by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Before today’s ruling, a person who knowingly provided or offered vote harvesting services in exchange for compensation was committing a third-degree felony. This meant that organizers of voter outreach organizations and even volunteers could spend up to ten years in prison and fined up to $10,000 for giving or offering these services.
Paxton on Monday vowed to appeal the ruling.
“A ruling—weeks prior to an election— preventing my office from investigating potential election violations is deeply troubling and risks undermining public trust in our political process,” he said.
According to Republican lawmakers, the provision was put in place to prevent voter fraud and secure election integrity. However, in the ruling, the judge noted that there was widespread confusion about how to implement the canvassing restriction from local election administrators. This confusion also left voter outreach organizations uncertain about whether they could provide volunteers with food or bus fare because it could look like compensation.
Many organizations – including La Union del Pueblo Entero, LULAC, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund – have filed lawsuits against many other provisions of the law, including voter assistance and mail-in ballot restrictions. The challenges to these provisions have not been ruled on yet. The original complaints were filed in August and September 2021.
Before the law, organizations like OCA-Greater Houston, an advocacy organization for people of Asian and Pacific Island descent, hosted in-person election events and allowed attendees to bring their mail-in ballots to receive help, such as language assistance.
Nina Perales, vice president of litigation at MALDEF, wrote, “Today’s ruling means that voter outreach organizers and other advocates in Texas can speak to mail ballot voters about issues on the ballot and urge voters to support improvements to their communities.”
ACLU of Texas celebrated the ruling on X saying, “This is a win for voting rights in the state, and for the organizations that help keep elections accessible.”
This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Texas
Delta goes bigger in Texas: Five new nonstops from Austin to business and leisure hotspots
Delta goes bigger in Texas: Five new nonstops from Austin to business and leisure hotspots
Delta is continuing to position itself as the airline of choice for customers traveling to and from Austin with the introduction of five new routes from the Texas capital. Starting in March 2025, Delta will add daily nonstop service to Panama City, Fla. (ECP). Additionally, the airline will add new, nonstop service to Indianapolis (IND), Memphis (MEM), San Francisco (SFO) and Tampa (TPA), providing Austin customers more options than ever before.
“Delta has made its commitment to Austin known, and these new routes and the 55 peak-day departures planned for Summer 2025 reaffirm that,” said Joe Esposito, Delta’s S.V.P. – Network Planning. “This is on top of the already 20% seat capacity increase we put into service in April connecting Austin to new destinations in major corporate and leisure markets both within Texas and outside the state — onward throughout our global network.”
“We continue to listen and respond to what Austin needs as it grows, and we have a dedicated corporate and agency sales team at the ready to get all customers to, from and through this crucial tech and business destination,” said Scott Santoro, V.P. Los Angeles and Sales-West.
MARCH ADDITIONS: SPRING BREAK & MARDI GRAS
Starting on March 9, customers can enjoy nonstop service to Panama City (ECP), perfect for Spring Break travel to the white sand beaches of the Florida panhandle. This daily flight will be operated by Delta Connection carrier SkyWest on an Embraer ERJ-175 equipped with First Class, Delta Comfort+ and Main Cabin. This flight joins the recently announced service from Austin to New Orleans (MSY), launching Feb. 27, just in time for Mardi Gras and Spring Break.
MAY ADDITIONS: ONLY NONSTOP AUS-MEM SERVICE
Delta’s service from Austin to Memphis — the only nonstop link between the two cities — and Indianapolis will begin May 7, providing seamless connections to two key business and cultural travel destinations. Customers traveling to Memphis will enjoy quick access to iconic Beale Street and can decide for themselves which city has the best barbecue, while the route to Indianapolis creates additional opportunities for business travel. In addition to being popular with business travelers, these new routes will also provide greater connectivity for customers in Memphis and Indianapolis looking to travel to Austin. Both daily flights will be operated by Delta Connection carrier SkyWest on an Embraer ERJ-175 equipped with First Class, Delta Comfort+ and Main Cabin.
JUNE ADDITIONS: BICOASTAL DELIGHTS
On June 8, Delta will round out its latest expansion with new, nonstop service to San Francisco (SFO) and Tampa (TPA). The route between Austin and San Francisco will unite two of the largest and most influential tech and innovation cities in the country. Meanwhile, the Austin-Tampa route will give Austin customers more ways to access Florida’s stunning Gulf Coast and one of the nation’s growing business destinations.
These daily flights will be operated on Delta’s state-of-the-art Airbus A220-300 aircraft equipped with First Class, Delta Comfort+ and Main Cabin. The A220-300 aircraft is set up in a 2×3 configuration, meaning there are 50% fewer middle seats. Additionally, the aircraft has large windows and expanded overhead bins. SkyMiles customers traveling onboard this aircraft will also have access to fast, free Wi-Fi onboard. Together with seat back in-flight entertainment, this aircraft is perfect for business travelers who want to be productive, as well as customers who want to sit back and relax and enjoy 1,000+ hours of entertainment content.
CONNECTING AUSTIN TO THE WORLD
Last year, Delta positioned Austin as a key gateway to facilitate connections to its expansive network, and with nonstop flights to all of Delta’s major hubs, travelers from the Austin region are just one connection away from destinations across the globe. Delta is also able to connect customers in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia to the vibrant and rapidly expanding tech hub.
For booking and more information on these flights, visit delta.com.
© 2024 Delta Air Lines, Inc.
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