Texas
Texas’s Republicans eat their own
AT THE TIME it seemed they had outdone themselves. In the past two legislative sessions Texas Republicans outlawed abortion, allowed gun-owners to carry their weapons without permits, gave state judges the power to deport immigrants, banned diversity offices in public universities and nixed all sorts of progressive city laws. In a note to funders last summer, the Republican state party chair declared that the flurry of policies amounted to “probably the most sweeping conservative change ever passed in our Texas state legislature”.
It may come as a surprise, then, that the speaker of the Texas House, the man responsible for getting those bills through the lower chamber, is at risk of losing his job for not being conservative enough. On May 28th Dade Phelan (pictured) will face his first challenger in a decade in a run-off primary election that threatens to end his political career. If he loses it will be the first time that Texas’s speaker has been dethroned since a scandal took down the governor, lieutenant-governor and speaker in 1972. His challenger, David Covey, an oil-and-gas consultant and political newbie, has been endorsed not only by many of Texas’s top dogs but by America’s most famous Republican, Donald Trump. The primary has become the most expensive state-representative race (with spending of some $7.5m) in American history, according to AdImpact, a data firm.
Not long ago, the Texas Longhorns were a once legendary program in decline.
Now Head Coach Steve Sarkisian and surprise QB Quinn Ewers have put the Longhorns back in the national championship conversation. But as Uncle Ben once told Peter Parker, aka Spiderman, with great expectations comes great pressure to win the whole damn thing… (or something like that.)
Head coach and former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian has steadily improved his Texas Longhorns since taking over in 2021. He found a projected top 10 NFL Draft pick in Ewers, brought in his heir apparent with the most famous last name in football, No. 1 overall recruit Arch Manning, won the Longhorns’ first Big 12 title since 2009, and took his team to the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.
Now expectations are higher than ever. Texas is preseason ranked No. 3 with the third best odds to win it all in 2024. What do the Longhorns have to do to turn high hopes into reality?
Shut down opposing QBs
The glaring weakness in an otherwise impressive 2023 campaign from the Longhorns was a young secondary without much depth that finished 113th in the country against the pass. This included a 430 yard, two touchdown torching by Washington Huskies phenom Michael Penix Jr. in a season-ending loss at the Sugar Bowl in the College Football Playoff.
But the Longhorns have taken measures to turn this weakness into a strength. They’ve snagged the No. 1 ranked safety in the transfer portal, Clemson standout Andrew Mukuba, who helped lead the Tigers to a top-5 defense against the pass. They also managed to bring back NFL-calibur cornerback Jahdae Barron, a fifth-year senior with loads of much-needed experience who had entertained leaving for the draft at the end of the 2023 season.
With the continued development of second-year starter Derek Williams Jr., and incoming freshmen talent like four-star recruit and track athlete Xavier Filsaime, improved secondary play will be essential, especially in an all-important matchup against the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs QB Carson Beck, who threw for nearly 4,000 yards in 2023.
Excellence from Quinn Ewers
High-level quarterback play is a no-brainer for any team, but Quinn Ewers will have to rise above multiple challenges most signal callers never face, much less simultaneously.
For starters, Ewers lost his top four pass catchers from the 2023 season to the NFL Draft: wide receivers Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, and Jordan Whittington, plus tight end Ja’Tavian Sanders. On top of that, the Longhorns’ moving from the Big 12 to the SEC comes with a significant rise in the defensive capabilities of their opponents.
Only one defense Texas played in 2023 ranked higher than 50th in total defense – and that was Alabama at No. 18, a team Texas managed to upset by only a field goal. In 2024, against a host of SEC foes, Texas will face six such defenses, including their new SEC rival Georgia Bulldogs, who come in at No. 9.
Ewers will have to quickly gel with his new receiving corp, including heralded Alabama transfer Isaiah Boyd, if he hopes to repeat his 2023 success and lead his team through a tough SEC and extended College Football Playoff.
Watch out for Oklahoma
Who would ever think that the Red River Rivalry, an unbroken, heated, 95-year matchup that is one of the most celebrated in all of college football, against all-time nemesis and fellow Big 12 escapee Oklahoma, could be a sneaky trap game?
It might seem especially unlikely given last year’s huge upset at the hands of the Sooners, led by a monster, 398 total-yard performance from uber-talented QB Dillon Gabriel, now of course surprisingly an Oregon Duck. But when Texas and Oklahoma face off on October 12th, the Longhorns will be coming off their first SEC matchup against the always tough Mississippi St. Bulldogs on September 28th, then will have the biggest matchup on their calendar the very next Saturday, a visit from top SEC QB Carson Beck and the unanimous preseason No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs, a game teeming with SEC Championship and playoff bye implications.
The good news is that Texas’ bye comes right before this brutal stretch. The Longhorns will have to somehow keep Georgia off their minds for those two weeks prior and handle business in Dallas before turning their attention to their toughest matchup of the season.
Expectations are high for the breakout Longhorns in 2024, yet so are the challenges they will have to overcome. But on the other side of those obstacles is a realistic shot at a national championship trophy they haven’t hoisted since 2005.
NORTH TEXAS — Highs Sunday hit 93°, the same as Saturday. The heat index also stayed under 100° both days.
Since the sixth Day of June, DFW has only logged 0.10″ of rain. Rain is back in the forecast this week.
Deep tropical moisture is pouring into North Texas over the next 48 hours. That is because our first tropical system of the season is rapidly developing in the Gulf of Mexico.
The forecast shows a developed tropical low in the Gulf by early Wednesday.
There is a chance for significant flooding in Texas due to this system. The heaviest rain will likely fall along the coast and into the Hill Country and south.
The best rain chances for North Texas will start on Wednesday and go to Thursday morning.
Localized flooding is a threat from these storms. Once the rain starts to push southwest of North Texas by late Thursday, the weather returns to hot and dry. Just after summer starts, North Texas is back to the typical summer weather: hot and dry.
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ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — Two people are dead and multiple others were injured after a shooting at a Juneteenth celebration in Texas.
Police in Round Rock, a city located less than 20 miles north of Austin, said the shooting began just before 11 p.m. at Old Settlers Park after a fight between two groups who were at the Juneteenth event.
“The unfortunate part is that we had innocent victims as a result of this reckless actions of certain subjects,” Police Chief Allen Banks said during a media briefing. “We’re here to celebrate Juneteenth and the unfortunate part is these folks could care less about someone’s life and take someone’s life and on a day we’re here to celebrate community.”
Banks shared that officers and members of the Round Rock Fire Department who were there immediately tried to help the victims of the shooting. Austin-Travis County EMS medics also responded to the incident and said four adults and two kids had potentially serious injuries.
Two people were pronounced dead at the scene. Their ages and identities have not yet been released.
Those injured, who were not part of the fight, were taken to area hospitals.
“My thoughts and my prayers go out to the victims,” said Banks. “My condolences go out to the families of the deceased.”
Watch the briefing from RRPD Chief Allen Banks:
No additional details were immediately available. Banks said police believe the suspects fled the scene but that there is no threat to the public.
Anyone with video or information about the incident is asked to reach out to the Round Rock Police Department at 512-218-5500.
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