Good morning, 

This is the Texas Minute for Thursday, May 9, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Gov. Abbott Directs Texas Universities to Ignore Title IX Rewrite

• Gov. Greg Abbott is instructing Texas’ public universities to ignore a controversial rewrite of Federal Title IX rules by the Biden administration that would threaten the privacy and safety of female students. Brandon Waltens has the details.
        

• Last month, the Biden administration rolled out a nearly 1,500-page rewrite of Title IX, which was originally designed to prohibit sex-based discrimination in education. The new version, set to take effect on August 1, would add “gender identity” as a protected class, forcing schools to allow biological males to use female spaces. If a school refuses to comply, federal funding would be withheld. 

        
• Recent reporting reveals that Texas A&M University has been “scrambling” to implement the new rules, with the lead administrator lamenting that the Biden rewrite did not go far enough. 
         
• Yesterday, Gov. Abbott sent a letter to the state's public colleges and universities directing them to “ignore President Biden’s unlawful Tile IX rewrite.”
      
• Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, calling the rewrite “plainly illegal, undemocratic, and divorced from reality.”

DPS Arrests Illegal Alien Wanted for Murder

• Two teenage human smugglers were caught transporting three illegal aliens, one of whom was wanted for murder. Will Biagini reports the arrests were made by the Texas Department of Public Safety officers.
       
• The trio was caught, along with the two smugglers, following a high-speed chase in Maverick County. After crashing into a ranch fence, the entire group fled from the vehicle and attempted to evade law enforcement on foot. They were apprehended a short time later.
      
• The three illegal aliens were transferred to U.S. Border Patrol. One of the illegal aliens has been identified as 33-year-old Gerardo Jose Ojeda-Montiel of Venezuela, who is wanted for murder in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
      
• The 19-year-old smugglers, driver Daniele Lopez-Vasquez and passenger Brian Guzman, have been charged with evading arrest, smuggling of persons, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and unlawful carrying of a weapon.

New Report Calls for the End of Birthright Citizenship for Children of Illegal Aliens

• As the border crisis continues under the Biden administration, a new report from the Huffines Liberty Foundation explains how the U.S. could end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens. Sydnie Henry reports on the findings.
        
• “Prior to 1868, no one argued that children born in America to noncitizens automatically became American citizens; however, with the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, that changed,” explained authors Don Huffines and Bill Peacock. 
       
• In fact, they note, the idea of birthright citizenship is built on a Supreme Court case from 1889. The authors argue the Fourteenth Amendment does not grant citizenship to everyone born in the U.S. Therefore, they conclude, it is possible to end the practice of universal birthright citizenship without passing a new amendment to the Constitution. 
       
• However, it would take either congressional legislation or a presidential executive order to end the practice.

Petition Launched to Eliminate Texas GOP’s Pro-Life Priority

• A petition circulating online is calling for the Republican Party of Texas to exclude abolishing abortion from its priorities. Emily Medeiros reports the group behind the petition claims the “abortion issue is tearing the Republican Party of Texas apart.”
      
• The Houston-based effort has garnered only 250 signatures as of May 8.
        
• Dr. John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life, told Texas Scorecard that while some Republicans might be willing to give up on the pro-life fight, millions of others continue to hold the issue as a big priority. 

Gatesville ISD Teacher Arrested for Sending Nude Photos to 15-year-old Student

• A female teacher in Gatesville Independent School District has been charged with having an improper relationship with a 15-year-old male student after he spoke out about explicit messages he had received from her. 
       
• Christine Paige Cockrell, who worked as an eighth-grade earth science teacher at Gatesville Junior High School, was arrested Friday after the student told authorities that the two had exchanged inappropriate photos and messages on the social media platform Instagram.
            
• Reportedly, Cockrell wrote she wanted to take a younger guy under her wing and “teach him stuff.”
      
• The teacher has been placed on administrative leave. According to state records, her teaching certificate is still listed as valid and not currently under review. 

Houston Police Chief Resigns Amid Controversy

• Houston Police Chief Troy Finner resigned late Tuesday night after new developments in the controversy where 260,000 incident reports went uninvestigated for eight years. Charles Blain has the story.
     
• When the story first broke earlier this year, Finner claimed he discovered cases were going uninvestigated when he was appointed chief in 2021 and immediately ordered the department to address the problem. An email thread newly obtained by KHOU found that the HPD command staff was notified of the issue back in 2018. The thread included then-police chief Art Acevedo and Finner.
      
• Finner appears to have been the only recipient who replied to that email. He apparently wrote at the time, “This is unacceptable. Look into it and follow up with me.”
         
• Clearly, Finner was aware of the issue before he publicly claimed to be. He now says he had no recollection of the 2018 report or sending the response. 
     
• Taking over as Acting Chief will be Larry Satterwhite, who most recently served as Executive Assistant Chief for HPD's Patrol Operations.

Quote-Unquote

"Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is impossible that a nation of infidels or idolaters should be a nation of freemen. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains."

– Patrick Henry​

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