Good morning, 

Early voting for Texas’ March 3 primary continues through Friday. The endorsements of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility can be found on our website.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Tuesday, February 25, 2020
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• A controversial closed-door meeting of district judges has drawn the attention of State Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Plano), who chairs the Texas House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence. Robert Montoya reports Leach has said he would call for a public hearing before his committee if the Tarrant County judges do not "explain the reasoning [and] legal basis" for holding an administrative meeting in secret last week.
      
• The Tarrant County judges, meeting in secret, decided to remove all cases related to Child Protective Services from the purview of Judge Alex Kim. The action was taken after Kim ruled in favor of a mother seeking to stop a local hospital from killing her young daughter. 
       
• In the crowded 15-way race for Texas’ 22nd Congressional District in the Houston area, Kathaleen Wall has received the endorsement of Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. Brandon Waltens reports Paul has served as the junior United States senator from Kentucky since 2011.
     
• Sen. Paul is perhaps best known for his “penny plan” – a proposal to cut 1 percent across the board in the federal budget with the eventual goal of eliminating the national deficit. Wall promised to support the plan in accepting his endorsement.
         
• In a continuing series of one-on-one interviews with the candidates running for Texas’ 11th Congressional District, Matt Stringer sat down with Wesley Virdell to discuss his campaign for Congress.
     
• In a major win for teachers and taxpayers, the Teacher Retirement System of the Texas Board of Trustees has voted against following through on a planned move into a $326,000-per-month luxury office. Cary Cheshire has the details. 
     
• Amid a criminal investigation implicating Rio Grande City staff, David Vasquez reports a new interim city secretary has been appointed. Lyzette Peña, the former official in charge of overseeing city elections, was removed in January after allegedly planting a recording device under the desk of Human Resources Director Valerie Brown Garza.
      
• A deceptive political action committee in Montgomery County is asking voters to elect a convicted felon. Reagan Reed has details about the latest actions of the “Republican Voters of Texas PAC.”
      
• Reed notes the “Republican Voters of Texas PAC” was created by a group of establishment Republicans unhappy with bylaws passed in 2018 by the county party’s executive committee – composed of precinct chairs – which decentralized power within the local GOP.

• It has been 184 years since the Alamo defenders “gave their lives for Texas’ independence at the Battle of the Alamo,” writes Doug McDonald in a new commentary. 
   
• “Remembering the sacrifice these heroes made in the winter of 1836—men like David Crockett, William Barret Travis, James Bowie, and José Toribio Losoya—is the duty of all Texans. We owe it to them and hope you will join us as we pay tribute to the Alamo defenders during Commemoration this year.” – Doug McDonald