Good morning,

It was nice to spend some time with the Cass County Patriots last night! If you would like to schedule someone from the Texas Scorecard team to address your club or organization, get the ball rolling on our speaker page.

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, January 24, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Texas Will ‘Hold the Line’ On Border Despite Federal Ruling

• It was business as usual at Shelby Park one day after the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing federal agents to cut Texas’ concertina wire barriers. Luca Cacciatore and Brandon Waltens report from the border. 
      
• On Tuesday, the area remained heavily fortified by Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety personnel with no signs of federal government incursion. 
   
• One member of the multi-agency Operation Lone Star initiative told Texas Scorecard that illegal crossings had drastically decreased since Gov. Greg Abbott gave them authority over the park earlier this month, sidelining federal and city officials.
       
• Abbott has pledged on social media that Texas will “hold the line” and “not back down from our efforts to secure the border in Biden’s absence.”

State Agency Spent $260 Million on ‘Dangerous’ Foster Care

• Texas’ Department of Family and Protective Services spent more than $260 million in the past three years housing foster children in what some are calling “dangerous” conditions.
      
• DFPS spent tens of millions of dollars under the Children Without Placement category, which applies to children in the foster care system. The per capita cost last fiscal year could be as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars per youth.
      
• State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) says the situation is improving, but that more work must be done on "improving the accuracy and consistency" within the system.

New Braunfels Library Allows Inappropriate Books to Remain on Shelves

• As the fight over inappropriate books in children’s sections continues, the New Braunfels Library Advisory Board is coming under fire for allowing objectionable books targeting the city’s youth on its shelves. Emily Medeiros has the story.
     
• The books cover topics that advocate for radical gender ideologies and self-harm.

Residency Challenge Heading to Trial for Senate Contest

• With early voting in the Republican primary election just weeks away, a judge ruled this week that Texas Senate candidate Dr. Carrie de Moor can move forward with a trial challenging the eligibility of her opponent, Brent Hagenbuch. As Erin Anderson reports, the judge denied a motion by Hagenbuch’s lawyers to dismiss the case.
        

• This means Hagenbuch will be required to testify under oath about claiming residency in Senate District 30. The judge also denied de Moor’s request to keep Hagenbuch from campaigning in the Republican race for the open SD 30 seat while the litigation proceeds.
       

• Residency challenges from de Moor and the two other candidates in the SD 30 senate race—Jace Yarbrough and Cody Clark—began because Hagenbuch’s home is in an adjoining senate district. He claimed a commercial address as his residence when filing for the office.
       
• State law prohibits registering to vote at a commercial address or at a place a voter has not inhabited or uses temporarily “without the intention of making that place the person’s home.” The law also requires candidates for the Texas Legislature to live in the districts they seek to represent.
         

• The property manager of Hagenbuch’s office building testified Friday that the commercial lease for Hagenbuch’s business specifies the corporate office space is for “general office use and for no other purpose whatsoever.”

Rowlett Makes January ‘Sanctity of Life Month’

• The Rowlett City Council voted this week to make January “Sanctity of Life Month” and to reaffirm its commitment to protecting life in all forms.
     
• Since 1984, January 22 has been National Sanctity of Human Life Day. That is the date the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973. That ruling has since been overturned.
   
•  “Through advocacy, support, and compassion, we aim to create communities that uphold the intrinsic worth of each person,” reads the Rowlett resolution.

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Today in History 

On Jan. 24, 1948, the modern Harris County city of Baytown was formed by the merger of three smaller communities: Baytown, Goose Creek, and Pelly.

Quote-Unquote

"Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families."

– Benjamin Rush​

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