Good morning,

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, October 15, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Paxton Finds Securities Violations in EPIC City Project

• Entities connected to the East Plano Islamic Center and its controversial EPIC City land development project have allegedly violated both federal and state securities laws. Brandon Waltens has the details.
     
• Attorney General Ken Paxton has turned the evidence his office uncovered over to the Texas State Securities Board for legal action. Paxton said his staff has found "both procedural violations and fraudulent conduct."
     
• The development marks a significant escalation in the state’s ongoing crackdown on EPIC City. The development was marketed as an exclusive Muslim enclave featuring a mosque, K-12 schools, a community college, a clinic, and retail space.
      
• Multiple state agencies have launched investigations into the project, including the Funeral Service Commission, the Commission on Environmental Quality, and the Workforce Commission. Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a measure that he says will effectively ban "Sharia compounds."

Texas A&M Names DEI Proponent as Representative For New Accreditation Agency

• Adam Cahn reports that Texas A&M’s representative on the board of directors of a new higher-education accreditation agency, one intended to counterbalance left-wing ideological capture, has his own history of promoting such endeavors.
     
• Texas A&M announced in June that it would join other states in forming a new accreditation organization: the Commission for Public Higher Education. Accreditation is a process whereby an outside entity evaluates a college or university to determine if it meets certain standards. Typically, these standards relate to programs, faculty, and resources.
      
• Texas A&M’s representative on the board of this new endeavor is Dr. James Hallmark, who has promoted the sort of DEI policies the new accreditation agency is intended to counter. For example, he threatened in 2023 that removing DEI policies could negatively affect Texas A&M’s NCAA status.
      
• This all feels like one big Aggie joke in the making...

Texas State Formalizes Termination of Professor Who Called for Overthrow of US Government

• Texas State University has formally terminated a professor who called for the overthrow of the United States government.
     
• Tom Alter made those remarks at a “Revolutionary Socialism Conference” in early September. His justification for overthrowing the government is that the U.S. government is “bloodthirsty” and “profit-driven.” Texas State officials informally terminated him shortly afterward.
     
• While he has argued that he made the comments in a personal capacity, Texas State University's president, Kelly Damphousse, noted that Alter's speech made references to his employment at the institution and his role in training future public school teachers. 
     
• Alter will have the option to appeal his termination to the Texas State University System. Despite saying he wants to overthrow the government of the United States, Alter now says his termination represents an effort to "crush democracy."

Republicans Redraw Fort Bend County Lines

• After years of precinct lines favoring Democrats, Michael Wilson reports that the Fort Bend County commissioners voted this week to adopt a new map that divides the political landscape more accurately between the parties. 
      
• The prior map, adopted in 2021 by a Democrat-majority court, had given Democrats a 3–1 advantage across the county. According to the court’s new Republican majority, that map was drawn along racial rather than political or neutral lines, an approach they argue was not only unfair but potentially illegal under state and federal law.

Liberty Hill ISD Voters To Decide on Property Tax Increase

• In Central Texas, voters in the Liberty Hill Independent School District are being asked to raise the property tax rate. As Addie Hovland reports, a similar proposed tax hike failed during the 2024 election.
     
• The new rate would increase revenues by 19 percent, which the district claims will be spent on student programs, staff pay raises, and school safety measures.

Quote-Unquote

"Right is still right, even if you stand by yourself." – Clarence Thomas​

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