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Good morning, 

This is the Texas Minute for Thursday, March 27, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

State Issues Cease-and-Desist to Islamic Group Over Funeral Violations

• Gov. Greg Abbott announced yesterday that the state has ordered the East Plano Islamic Center to stop what officials describe as “illegal funeral operations.” As Brandon Waltens reports, the same group—known as EPIC—is behind a controversial Islamic housing development in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
        
• According to the governor’s office, the Texas Funeral Service Commission sent a cease-and-desist letter to EPIC, accusing the group of operating a funeral home without the required state license. The matter has also been referred to the local district attorney’s office for possible prosecution.
       
• The announcement follows revelations that a dozen state agencies are investigating potential illegal activity tied to the controversial EPIC City project—a 402-acre planned community that includes a mosque, Islamic school, and housing. The development has drawn scrutiny from those who say the project could attempt to function as a religious enclave operating outside the bounds of American law. 
      
• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also announced this week that his office is investigating EPIC for potential violations of consumer protection laws, though details on the nature of the alleged violations have not yet been made public.

Groups Warn Texas Ethics Commission Is Chilling Citizen Speech

• Two more legal organizations—the Institute for Free Speech and the Institute for Justice—have filed amicus briefs urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a challenge to Texas’ lobbying law. They argue that the state’s enforcement violates core constitutional protections for political speech and petitioning government.
      
• In a sharply worded brief, the Institute for Free Speech warned that Texas’ interpretation of lobbying could have ensnared the Founding Fathers themselves.
       
• Together, the briefs from IJ and IFS add to a growing stack of filings in support of a review by SCOTUS, including those from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Texas Home School Coalition, the Cato Institute, the Manhattan Institute, and U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.

Troy Nehls Calls For End of Taxpayer Funding at NPR, PBS

• Amid growing calls to end the taxpayer funding of media outlets, which are often accused of extreme partisan bias, Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls of Richmond called for defunding National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. Debra McClure has the story.
       
• A study on the government-funded radio syndicate found that “there are no conservative-media podcasts distributed on NPR affiliates.” The Media Research Center, a watchdog organization, has referred to NPR as “an echo chamber for leftist media outlets.”

State Rep. Calls for End to UT Gender Studies Department Following ‘Transgender Conference’

• After attending a “transgender conference” at the University of Texas at Austin, State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) is demanding an end to the school’s Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department. Valerie Muñoz has the details.
      
• If UT does not take action, Harrison said he will press for the university itself to be defunded. Harrison has shared on social media the photos he captured at the 32nd Annual Emerging Scholarship in Women’s and Gender Studies Graduate Student Conference. (WARNING: many are inappropriate.)
      
• The conference featured an art exhibit called “TRANSCENDENCE: A Century of Black Queer Ecstasy.” A lecture on the agenda was titled “Keeping Time: Queer-Crip Temporal Attunement Through Tarot.” There were flyers on "pronouns" and ways to "change" genders without surgery.
       
• This is serious academic stuff, you know... Queer-Crip Temporal Attunement? Okay, maybe not. But your tax dollars are subsidizing it.

MORE LEGISLATIVE NEWS

GOP County Chairs Urge Support for Closed Primary Legislation

GOP chairs from 19 of the state's largest counties have sent a joint letter to the Texas legislature, urging lawmakers to support legislation aimed at closing primary elections. 

Republicans Try Reviving Red-Light Camera Ticketing for School Buses

Opponents say photo-enforced ticketing is an unconstitutional form of policing that fails to make Texans safer.

Teacher on Leave After ‘Inappropriate Communication’ With Students

• A one-time Teacher of the Year in Allen Independent School District is on leave following allegations he engaged in “inappropriate communication” with middle school students. Erin Anderson reports the matter is under investigation by the Allen Police Department.
     
• Trey Stolp, an eighth grade English teacher, has been removed from the classroom and placed on administrative leave by district officials. In 2021, Stolp was named Curtis Middle School’s Teacher of the Year and Allen ISD’s Secondary Teacher of the Year.
      
• The nature of the communications has not been made public.
      
• The day before sharing news about Stolp, Allen ISD informed families that a security monitor at the Lowery Freshman Center had been arrested and charged with online solicitation of a minor.

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

Former Houston ISD Official on Trial for Corruption

The district's chief operating officer and a vendor were initially indicted in December 2021 on multiple charges, with additional tax-related counts added in April 2022.

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