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Texas Scorecard is producing a lot of great shows and podcasts—including my daily podcast based on the content of the Texas Minute. Check them all out below.

But first, here is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

UPFRONT: An article at Texas Scorecard yesterday failed to list the names of all the Members of Congress calling for action on Colony Ridge. All 25 Republican members signed a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton. The article has been corrected.

House Impeachment Managers Dox Paxton Family

• Weeks after the Senate’s acquittal of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on all impeachment charges, the House Board of Impeachment Managers released a batch of documents to the public that include the Paxton family’s personal address. Brandon Waltens has the details.
       
• The documents were released as “additional evidence” on Monday night despite the trial being long over.
       
• In this "evidence," however, were multiple references to the Paxtons' address in Austin, complete with GPS coordinates. Observers noted this information is routinely kept hidden because it could endanger the lives of the Paxtons.
       
• “This is just the latest outrageous abuse of legislative process by the House Board of Managers in a long string of outrageous abuses,” said Mitch Little, one of the lawyers who represented Paxton in the impeachment trial. “What they have done is made it clear that they will do whatever is necessary to harm the Attorney General and Senator Paxton and turn their lives upside down. You lost. It’s over. Stop.”
       
• A new law that went into effect last month makes it a class B misdemeanor to maliciously post the address or phone number of an individual on the internet and could be punishable by up to six months in jail.

Texas Plants Flag, Patrols on Border Island

• A 170-acre island situated in the Rio Grande between Starr County and Mexico has been a hot spot for cartel trafficking. Now, reports Sydnie Henry, the Texas Department of Public Safety has been given permission to actively patrol the isolated state-owned land.
      
• Back in August, three suspected cartel members armed with rifles were documented crossing Fronton Island. Two of them were later arrested by DPS. Last month, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham authorized DPS to begin policing and patrolling the island.
   
• Late last week, Texas Rangers began clearing vegetation from Fronton Island to assume operational control of the area.
       
• On social media, Gov. Greg Abbott announced he told Rangers and National Guard soldiers to "Plant the Texas flag."

American Sheriff Alliance Calls for Action at the Border

• As the border crisis continues, sheriffs across the country are calling for “proper reforms” and “demanding the rule of law” be followed. 
       

• The American Sheriff Alliance is highlighting the increase in encounters with individuals who are on the Terrorist Watchlist—from two encounters in 2017 to 151 so far in 2023.
      
• More generally, the sheriffs are concerned about the increase in illegal border crossing by individuals with criminal backgrounds.

With Winter Coming, ERCOT Asks For More Power

• Ahead of the 2023-2024 winter season, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is asking for an additional 3,000 megawatts of power. As Katy Marshall reports, ERCOT describes the request as part of its “reliability-first approach to grid operations.” 
      

• The request for additional power is due to increased load growth and recent extreme weather events, as well as proposed retirements of dispatchable energy resources.

       
• Unreliable energy sources and ERCOT’s dependability came under fire in February 2021 after a winter storm blasted Texas. Wind turbines froze and solar panels were useless. For days, millions of Texans suffered through extreme weather conditions without electricity.

Educrats Push Community Engagement Over Systemic Reform

• With a special legislative session on public education and school choice looming, government school officials and administrators from across Texas traveled at taxpayer expense to attend their annual convention. The emphasis, reports Erin Anderson, was on community engagement, building a pro-public school culture, and promoting/marketing districts.
      

• Missing were any discussions of systemic reforms – except to oppose them as part of the administrators' taxpayer-funded lobby efforts.

      
• Administrators from scandal-plagued Prosper Independent School District gave a presentation called “Igniting a Culture of Advocacy.” The presentation did not mention the scandals or the pending $10 million lawsuit filed by the abuse victims’ family. “We get accused of having toxic positivity,” said the administrators.
       
• Toxic positivity? Children were molested, and district officials covered it up.
      
• At least six sessions at the conference focused specifically on helping districts market costly bond packages that must be repaid with residents’ property taxes.

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