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MustReadTexas.com [ [link removed] ] – @MustReadTexas [ [link removed] ]
BY: @MattMackowiak [ [link removed] ]
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THURSDAY || 6/26/2025
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“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
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TOP NEWS
“CenterPoint outages affecting over 10K in Houston during heavy rain,” Houston Chronicle's Alexia Partouche – “Thursday's downpours interrupted electrical service to thousands of Houston-area residents.
CenterPoint is reporting more than 400 outages in the Houston area because of heavy rain [ [link removed] ] on Thursday, impacting upwards of 10,000 customers, according to its outage tracker [ [link removed] ].
The most outages have been reported in Greenspoint, according to the tracker [ [link removed] ]." Hou Chron ($)
“Justices side with Texas death row inmate seeking DNA testing to show he shouldn’t be executed,” AP's Mark Sherman – “The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for a Texas death row inmate [ [link removed] ] who is seeking DNA testing to show he should be ineligible for execution.
The 6-3 decision in favor of Ruben Gutierrez gives him a potential path to have evidence tested that his lawyers say would help prove he was not responsible for the fatal stabbing of an 85-year-old woman during a home robbery decades ago.
His lawyers have said there was no physical or forensic evidence connecting him to the killing and that he was not a major participant in the crime. Two others also were charged in the case.
Gutierrez’s lawyers argued that his case was similar to that of Rodney Reed, another longtime death row inmate in Texas who also won a round at the Supreme Court in his fight for DNA testing that he says would show he is innocent of murder.
In July, the high court granted Gutierrez a stay [ [link removed] ] of execution 20 minutes before he was to receive a lethal injection.
Gutierrez [ [link removed] ] was sentenced to death for the 1998 killing of Escolastica Harrison at her home in Brownsville in Texas’ southern tip. Prosecutors said the killing of the mobile home park manager and retired teacher was part of an attempt to steal more than $600,000 that she had hidden in her home because of her mistrust of banks.
Gutierrez had several previous execution dates in recent years that were delayed, including over issues [ [link removed] ] related to having a spiritual adviser in the death chamber [ [link removed] ]. In June 2020, Gutierrez was about an hour [ [link removed] ] from execution when he received a stay from the Supreme Court." AP [ [link removed] ]
“How Bill Moyers Went from Marshall, Texas, to Being LBJ’s 'Young Man in Charge of Everything',” Texas Monthly's Joe Holley – “On a sunny November afternoon in 1963, a slender, bespectacled young man hurried up the stairs of Air Force One at Love Field, in Dallas, and handed a scribbled note to a harried Secret Service agent who had failed to recognize him. “I’m here if you need me,” the note read. Minutes later, the door to the front section of the plane opened, and the young man joined Vice President Lyndon Johnson minutes before he was sworn in as the nation’s thirty-sixth president.
Johnson already knew then what Washington and the world would soon come to know. Young Bill Moyers, the pride of Marshall, Texas, was the indispensable man.
Moyers, who died on June 26 at 91, was like a son to the man who had two daughters but no sons of his own. A journalist, an ordained Baptist minister, and a remarkably adept practitioner of the political arts, he was an integral part of LBJ’s ambitious effort to apply the power and resources of the federal government to the nation’s knottiest challenges.
Arriving in Washington as a 25-year-old in 1959, he appeared to be the dark-suited, buttoned-down stereotype of the fifties organization man. The clean-cut young man knew how to get things done, things like the Peace Corps, which he helped design for President John F. Kennedy and for which he served as the first deputy director, under Sargent Shriver.
Working for LBJ in the White House, Moyers was involved in drafting the 1964, ’65 and ’66 civil rights bills (making him “persona no grata in my hometown,” he told a reporter in 1984). As a domestic policy aide, he marshaled the multiple task forces that constructed LBJ’s landmark Great Society programs, the preeminent accomplishments of Johnson’s star-crossed presidency. He was involved in early discussions that led to the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, the legislation that established NPR and PBS. He made the cover of Time magazine in October 1965 with a story headlined “L.B.J.’s Young Man in Charge of Everything.”
LBJ’s young man in charge also helped create one of the most memorable—some would say one of the most notorious—campaign ads in political history, the so-called “daisy” ad implying in the midst of the 1964 presidential race that a President Barry Goldwater was likely to blow up the world.
Moyers left the White House in 1966 and was a journalist for much longer than he was a presidential assistant. Over all those years, though, the ordained minister remained an evangelist of sorts for progressive causes and for the notion that a government of, by, and for the people should be harnessed to solve the people’s problems. With the urgency of his beliefs leavened by a calm and sonorous East Texas twang and an earnest face, he became the voice of liberal causes—the conscience, so to speak, of broadcast news. His faith in his fellow man wavered at times, particularly during the troubled Trump era, but never completely evaporated." Texas Monthly [ [link removed] ]
FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS HAVE ENDED: As of July 11, 2022, we have moved to a paywall for free subscribers. Free subscribers will only receive the top story in their morning email. Free subscribers will need to become paid subscribers to receive full story summaries.
#TXLEGE
“Major bills Greg Abbott vetoed, from Texas' THC ban to summer food programs” Hou Chron [ [link removed] ] ($)
STATE GOVERNMENT
“Top Paxton deputy accused of witness tampering during impeachment trial” Texas Tribune [ [link removed] ]
“Gov. Greg Abbott orders preemptive strike on screwworm in Texas” Texas Tribune [ [link removed] ]
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
“Houston Mayor John Whitmire announces another traffic crackdown, this time on I-10 and Westheimer” Hou Chron [ [link removed] ] ($)
2026
“Democrats Allred, Castro, O’Rourke, Talarico meet to discuss 2026 options” DMN [ [link removed] ] ($)
“Federal Elections Commission questions paperwork of new PAC supporting Ken Paxton” SA Current [ [link removed] ]
TEXANS IN DC
“Republicans aim to revive Texas wins in sweeping budget package” Roll Call [ [link removed] ]
BUSINESS NEWS
“Austin-based dating app Bumble laying off about 30% of its workforce” AAS [ [link removed] ] ($)
NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE
> SAEN: Editorial: "Gov. Greg Abbott’s veto of summer food aid program is straight up cruel" SAEN [ [link removed] ]
> COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Residents ask council member to resign from Trophy Club Town Council following arrest" COMMUNITY IMPACT [ [link removed] ]
> HOU CHRON: "Houston to propose law banning sleeping on downtown, East End sidewalks 24/7" HOU CHRON [ [link removed] ]
> COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Collin County spends $2.3 million on new hand-marked ballot system" COMMUNITY IMPACT [ [link removed] ]
> COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Fort Bend County Judge KP George swaps to Republican party, changes court majority" COMMUNITY IMPACT [ [link removed] ]
> KXAN: "Texans’ approval of Trump, Abbott sours: Poll" KXAN [ [link removed] ]
> EP TIMES: "El Paso council rejects El Paso Electric rate hike that would raise bills by 23%" EP TIMES [ [link removed] ]
> THE TEXAN: "Fort Worth Joins Lawsuit to Stop Tax Exemptions for 'Traveling' Housing Finance Corporations" THE TEXAN [ [link removed] ]
> FWST: "Girls, 3 and 5, die trapped under flipped boat as adults swim to shore, TX cops say" FWST [ [link removed] ]
> TX TRIB: "Texas is getting older, but its child population is growing" TX TRIB [ [link removed] ]
> AAS: "'Nothing will make this better': Texas man gets max sentence for fatally stabbing student" AAS [ [link removed] ]
> FWST: "Could AT&T owe you money? Customer data breaches lead to $177 million settlement" FWST [ [link removed] ]
> HOU CHRON: "Man dies after being trapped inside large donation box in Crosby" HOU CHRON [ [link removed] ]
> FWST: "IDC Names MASV One of Three Most Innovative Companies in Media & Entertainment for 2025" FWST [ [link removed] ]
> TX TRIB: "At a novel Austin-area neighborhood, geothermal energy keeps utility bills low" TX TRIB [ [link removed] ]
> FWST: "Lawsuit: Fort Worth hotel employee let attacker into guest’s room" FWST [ [link removed] ]
> FWST: "This local Fort Worth yarn store is helping combat LGBTQ youth suicide" FWST [ [link removed] ]
> HOU CHRON: "3 men died in Harris County Jail in 48 hours, raising 2025 death toll to 10" HOU CHRON [ [link removed] ]
> AAS: "This county was named the best to live in Texas in 2025. And no, it's not Travis County." AAS [ [link removed] ]
> SAEN: "New Braunfels weighing $950K deal to lure plastics manufacturer" SAEN [ [link removed] ]
> AAS: "Is it illegal to leave a child home alone in Texas? Here's what the state law says" AAS [ [link removed] ]
> DMN: "Frenchie, one of 2025’s most anticipated restaurants, opens at popular Dallas corner" DMN [ [link removed] ]
> FWST: "Fort Worth and these 14 North Texas cities will have fire-based EMS by July 1" FWST [ [link removed] ]
> HOU CHRON: "Houston declares vacant former Kmart building unsafe; residents demand answers" HOU CHRON [ [link removed] ]
EXTRA POINTS
Last night's Texas sports schedule:
> MLB: Texas 7, Baltimore 0
> MLB: Houston 2, Philadelphia 0
> MLS: San Jose 4, Dallas 2
> MLS: Minnesota 3, Houston 1
Today's Texas sports schedule:
> 1:35pm: MLB: Texas at Baltimore
Tomorrow's Texas sports schedule:
> 6:30pm: WNBA: Indiana at Dallas (ION)
> 7:05pm: MLB: Seattle at Texas
> 7:10pm: MLB: Chicago at Houston
HOUSTON ASTROS: “Cam Smith's clutch hit, Hunter Brown's gem lift Astros past Phillies for series sweep" Hou Chron [ [link removed] ] ($)
DALLAS STARS: "Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn signs a 1-year deal to stay with his only NHL team" AP [ [link removed] ]
DALLAS MAVERICKS: "Looking for a Cooper Flagg Dallas Mavericks jersey? Here’s where you can buy them" DMN [ [link removed] ] ($)
SAN ANTONIO SPURS: "How will Spurs draftees Dylan Harper, Carter Bryant fit in with their new team?" SAEN [ [link removed] ] ($)
LIV DALLAS: "Led by Bryson DeChambeau, LIV Golf Dallas returns for tough test at Maridoe Golf Club" DMN [ [link removed] ] ($)
TEXAS BASKETBALL: "How Texas' Tre Johnson fits with Wizards' young core of draft picks" AAS [ [link removed] ] ($)
HOUSTON DYNAMO: "Bongokuhle Hlongwane scores 2 goals in 3 minutes with family in attendance and Minnesota tops Dynamo" AP [ [link removed] ]
DALLAS FC: "Earthquakes use 4 second-half goals to beat 9-man FC Dallas 4-2" AP [ [link removed] ]
DALLAS WINGS: "With Fever-Wings matchup looming, what’s the history between Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers?" DMN [ [link removed] ] ($)

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