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BY: @MattMackowiak | Subscribe to the daily email here | | THURSDAY || 3/6/25 | | Good Thursday evening.
Thank you for reading as a FREE subscriber. | » Become a PAID subscriber for $7/mo or $70/yr here and you will SAVE TIME and be BETTER INFORMED. | | “If something of importance is known in Texas, Matt knows it. With a decline in the number of credible news organizations, the Must Read Texas morning email is indispensable for anyone that wants to continue to be informed.” – Former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) | | AUSTIN NEWSLETTER LAUNCHED | Are you one of the 100,000+ subscribers to ATX Pulse, a newsletter that delivers EVERYTHING you NEED TO KNOW about Austin? | | Subscriptions are $5/mo, $50/yr or $199/lifetime here: ATXpulsepremium.com. | > Read today's FREE subscriber email here.
> Become a PAID subscriber for $5/mo or $50/yr here. | | PRESENTING SPONSOR: TX Flyover | Texas News, Quick Reads, Always Free – The Texas Flyover | | Discover why over 200,000 Texans start their day with The Texas Flyover. We deliver all the news that matters to Texans in a quick, 5-minute read, ensuring you stay informed without the hassle. Our content is crafted by Texans, for Texans, capturing the unique spirit of the Lone Star State. Plus, it's always free! Don't miss out on the fastest-growing daily newsletter in Texas – join a thriving community that values accurate, relevant news delivered straight to your inbox every morning. | Subscribe with one Click HERE! | | | “Rep. Sylvester Turner's apparent cause of death detailed by police,” Houston Chronicle's Abby Church — “U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner died Wednesday at home from "enduring health complications," his family said in a statement posted on Turner's campaign website.
"Congressman Turner was the consummate public servant," the family's statement reads. "But to us, he was our beloved father, grandfather, sibling, and relative."
Turner's death was classified as an “apparent natural death,” according to the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C.
A spokesperson with the department told the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday afternoon that fire, police and EMS officials received a medical call at 6:03 a.m. and responded to an apartment complex on the 800 block of New Jersey Avenue.
Once they arrived at the complex, officials found Turner dead.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Turner’s office wrote the congressman “died peacefully.”
"Congressman Turner dedicated his life to public service and the betterment of his community,” the statement read, before chronicling his political career. "Throughout his career, he was known for his bipartisan leadership, dedication to his constituents and unwavering commitment to improving the lives of Houstonians."
Turner attended President Donald Trump's speech to Congress on Tuesday night, and afterward he defended Medicaid in a post on his X page, saying any cuts to the program would be an attack on the families Medicaid helps." Houston Chronicle ($)
“Texas border city to Greg Abbott: Help us beat back cyberattack,” San Antonio Express-News' Marc Duvoisin — “Officials in the Texas border city of Mission say a cyberattack has stripped the city's computer network of its defenses and placed confidential health data and other records at risk. They're asking Gov. Greg Abbott for help.
Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza asked Abbott to declare a state of emergency, which could trigger financial aid and other assistance, Rio Grande Valley news media reported.
In a letter to the governor dated March 4, Garza said the "entire city computer server is at severe risk of a cyberattack that could release protected personal information, protected health information, civil and criminal records, and/or any and all other data held by the city of Mission and all departments within the city.
“I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that extraordinary measures must be taken,” she wrote.
Abbott has yet to respond to the request.
Also this week, Garza issued a local disaster declaration.
City officials announced Feb. 28 that they had detected a cyberattack on a portion of the city's computer network. Officials said they immediately notified law enforcement and "began working with third-party experts to investigate and remediate the incident."
Some of the city’s systems are being held offline to protect data.
Officials have revealed little about the nature of the attack, but local news media have reported that the Mission Police Department no longer could run license plates and driver’s licenses through state databases.
“Please know that we are working to complete our investigation as quickly and thoroughly as we can. In the interim, our essential response services remain operational,” a city new release said, referring to police and fire services." SAEN ($) | | | “Educators press Texas House to spend more per student,” Dallas Morning News' Philip Jankowski — “At a Thursday hearing at the Capitol, dozens of public school teachers and officials testified that a bill proposing $7.5 billion in school funding does not go far enough.
House Bill 2 proposes raising the per-student allotment by $220 to $6,360 a year, but teachers, administrators and advocates told the House Public Education Committee the increase falls short of meeting the needs of the state’s school districts.
HB 2’s proposed pay raises for teachers also were panned as inadequate.
“The pay teachers receive demonstrates the level of respect afforded to our children,” said Megan Holden, a 10th grade English teacher at an Austin-area high school. “They are getting the message that Texas doesn’t value them or their future.”
HB 2 would devote 40% of the basic allotment to teacher pay.
The basic allotment would need to rise by $1,300 to keep up with inflation since 2019, when the Legislature last increased the payment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The proposed $220 increase is also less than half of the $500 increase that was proposed in 2023 but died after Gov. Greg Abbott said he would veto any bill increasing school funding that did not create a program allowing public money to be spent on private schools.
HB 2 includes other mechanisms that provide money to public schools, but in more targeted fashions aimed at special education and pay boosts for high-performing teachers.
The House’s proposal to raise teacher pay is part of a “Texas two step” Republicans have proposed in tandem with a voucher-style school choice proposal.
Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, is the author of the school funding bill, the voucher proposal and another bill that would scale back the STAAR test and replace it with a different standardized testing system.
This week, the House Public Education Committee heard two days of testimony on the bills. Buckley, who chairs the committee, said he expected committee approval of the school finance bill March 18, sending it to the full House." DMN ($) | | | “SpaceX has lost another Starship, debris response effort begins,” San Antonio Express-News' Brandon Lingle — "After halting Monday’s Starship launch attempt with seconds left in the countdown and subsequent delays, SpaceX is trying again to launch the world’s most powerful rocket from South Texas this evening. The launch window opens at 5:30 p.m.
Starship has been lost.
"We have lost contact with the ship," SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said. "It’s pretty obvious we’re not going to continue the rest of the mission today.” ...
A successful flight Thursday could have set the stage for SpaceX to attempt to land an upper-stage Starship back at its launch tower sometime this year.
On Friday, Musk laid out his current timeline for Starship development.
“We’ll probably recover the ship sometime this year, and then we might be able to re-fly one, probably, with a fair bit of work, by the end of the year,” he said on Joe Rogan’s podcast. “But it’s going to take us many iterations before we can achieve rapid reusability.”
Rapid re-use of the rocket is key to the company’s plans for multiple Starship launches and for Musk’s vision to get it to Mars.
“I think we’ll achieve reusability of the ship this year, and I think we’ll achieve rapid reusability of the whole stack — ship and booster — next year,” Musk said. “This is the fundamental breakthrough required for life to become multiplanetary.”
He said the company is “pretty close” to being able to quickly reuse the booster, but that it will take longer to get the upper-stage Starship to reach that milestone.
The biggest obstacle in the way of reusing Starship is developing a heat shield that survives the heating of reentry without requiring significant overhaul.
SpaceX also is seeking permission to launch and land as many as 25 Starships a year in South Texas. Its proposal also calls for possible Starship splashdowns in the Pacific Ocean around Hawaii. The FAA is still reviewing the request, which has drawn wide criticism from South Texans and residents of Hawaii." SAEN ($) | | | “House votes to censure Rep. Al Green for disrupting Trump speech,” Texas Tribune's Katharine Wilson — "The U.S. House of Representatives voted 224-198 to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, for disrupting President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday.
Ten Democrats, none from Texas, voted to censure Green. Green voted “present.” All Republicans, except four who did not vote, voted to censure Green.
Green interrupted the president near the beginning of his joint address, standing and declaring that Trump had no mandate to cut Medicaid funding.
The representative was then escorted out of the House chamber by the Sergeant at Arms.
A censure is a formal vote of disapproval of a member’s conduct by the U.S. House. There are no punishments associated with a censure, other than the official criticism from fellow members.
Immediately after being escorted out of the joint address, Green told reporters that he would accept punishment. The congressman said it was worth it to stand up to Trump’s desire to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
House Republicans passed a budget last week that opens the door for federal cuts, including to Medicaid, a health insurance program that helps low-income and disabled people.
Green is now the 28th House member to be censured in U.S. history. The House last censured Rep. Jamaal Bowman for pulling a fire alarm in a congressional office building while Congress was in session.
The resolution orders that Green be present in the House chamber for the pronouncement of the censure.
As House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisanna, read the final vote count, about 30 Democratic members stood with Green on the House floor, some of them singing.
Green, 77, has served in Congress since 2005." Texas Tribune | | | “South Texas immigration detention center with capacity for 2,400 people to reopen,” Texas Tribune's Alejandro Serrano — "A federal immigration detention center in South Texas previously used to hold families is being reopened by the Trump administration after former President Joe Biden closed it and ended the practice of detaining families.
The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley is among the largest in the country with a capacity to detain up to 2,400 people. The Biden administration closed it last summer because it was reportedly far more expensive to operate than other U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities.
Shortly after taking office, Biden had stopped jailing families; the facility only held adults before it was closed.
On Wednesday, private prison corporation CoreCivic announced it had struck an agreement with Dilley city officials and ICE to resume operations at the facility — and indicated that the Trump administration will resume detaining families.
“I can acknowledge that we anticipate housing families at this facility,” a CoreCivic spokesperson said. He deferred further questions to ICE.
ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since it opened in 2015, the facility has been under scrutiny from immigrants rights advocates who question whether it is appropriate to jail families." Texas Tribune | | | > TX TRIB: "With Texas facing soaring electricity demand, the politics of energy quietly shift at the Capitol" TX TRIB | > TX TRIB: "Texas House majority signs on to new bill restricting the use of bathrooms in public buildings by transgender people" TX TRIB | > TX TRIB: "Vance visits Texas-Mexico border to promote Trump's immigration crackdown" TX TRIB | > TX TRIB: "Following Trump’s lead, Gov. Abbott pushes state agencies to end telework" TX TRIB | > TX TRIB: "Texas may change how schools select library books. Critics say it could lead to more bans." TX TRIB | > TX TRIB: "This charter school superintendent makes $870,000. He leads a district with 1,000 students." TX TRIB | > HOU CHRON: "School vouchers could have big impacts for students with special needs" HOU CHRON | > HOU CHRON: "JD Vance touts plummeting migrant encounters in first Texas border visit" HOU CHRON | > TX MONTHLY: "Chip Roy Doesn’t Care What Anyone Thinks. Not Even Donald Trump." TX MONTHLY | > HOU CHRON: "How 3 Texas families are thinking about the private school voucher debate" HOU CHRON | > HOU CHRON: "Whitmire to implement city hiring freeze in bid to address budget shortfall" HOU CHRON | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Texas Senate bills target nutrition standards in public schools, grocery stores" COMMUNITY IMPACT | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Desks into doorsteps: Unused Richardson office buildings set for redevelopment into apartments" COMMUNITY IMPACT | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Houston Community College, Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce partner to fund IT certifications" COMMUNITY IMPACT | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "XAG Group breaks ground on multiuse development in Magnolia’s Audubon community" COMMUNITY IMPACT | > TX TRIB: "Former Uvalde mayor files Texas bill to improve law enforcement response to mass shootings" TX TRIB | > TX TRIB: "The Texas Senate wants more — and smaller — starter homes in new neighborhoods" TX TRIB | > HOU CHRON: "18-year-old arrested, accused of abusing and torturing 8-year-old boy to death" HOU CHRON | > TX TRIB: "In hearing, Texas Democrats criticize school leaders for being too “nice” about their funding needs" TX TRIB | > TX MONTHLY: "Diabetes Ravaged His Family. Now He’s Working to Spare Others in the Rio Grande Valley." TX MONTHLY | > TX TRIB: "Rep. Greg Casar and Elon Musk bring Texas clash to D.C. stage" TX TRIB | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Texas House proposes buying down school property tax rates, cutting business taxes" COMMUNITY IMPACT | > AP: "Uber teams up with Waymo to start selling driverless rides in Austin, Texas" AP | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Montgomery County receives $60M for San Jacinto River watershed flood mitigation efforts" COMMUNITY IMPACT | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Fort Bend ISD could face $16M shortfall for FY 2025-26 budget" COMMUNITY IMPACT | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Northwest ISD will advocate 'very aggressively' against most legislative educational items" COMMUNITY IMPACT | > COMMUNITY IMPACT: "NEISD safety and security program exceeds state requirements" COMMUNITY IMPACT | | | Recent Texas sports scores:
> NCAAM: #9 Texas Tech 91, Colorado 75
> NBA: Milwaukee 137, Dallas 107
Tonight's Texas sports schedule:
> 6:30pm: NCAAM: UTEP at Sam Houston State (ESPN+)
> 7pm: NBA: Houston at New Orleans
> 7pm: NHL: Calgary at Dallas (ESPN+)
> 7pm: NCAAM: Utah Valley at Abilene Christian (ESPN+)
> 7pm: NCAAM: Wichita State at Rice (ESPN+)
> 7:30pm: NCAAM: Old Dominion at Texas State (ESPN+)
> 8pm: NCAAM: Charlotte at North Texas (ESPN2)
HOUSTON TEXANS: "Jaguars agree to trade receiver Christian Kirk to the Texans for a 2026 pick, AP source says" AP
DALLAS MAVERICKS: "Utah hires Dallas Mavericks assistant Alex Jensen to be new head coach" DMN ($)
TEXAS RANGERS: "3 Texas Rangers observations: Jack Leiter in attack mode; Lefty reliever makes waves" DMN ($)
JAI LUCAS: "Miami basketball: Former UT player Jai Lucas named Hurricanes coach" Houston Chronicle ($) | |
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