Good morning, 

Michael Quinn Sullivan will be returning next Monday with a Texas Minute you will not want to miss.

But first, here is today's Texas Minute.

– Brandon Waltens 

Tuesday, August 4, 2020
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• He's back.... With the November election on the horizon, former President Barack Obama is sticking his head into Texas politics, issuing a first round of endorsements to Democrat candidates in Texas.
   

• The list, posted on Obama’s Twitter account Monday morning, lists eight U.S. congressional candidates and 19 candidates for the Texas House, with a mix of both incumbents and those seeking to claim seats currently held by Republicans. The endorsements come during an election cycle in which Texas Democrats are ramping up efforts to take control of the Texas House ahead of redistricting in 2021.
   

• Conspicuously missing from the list? MJ Hegar, who recently won the Democrat nomination to face U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.
   

• Though Obama billed the endorsement rollout as a “first wave,” leaving open the possibility of a future endorsement for Hegar, it could be viewed as part of a strategy to moderate the Democrat candidate in an effort to be more competitive among general election voters in November. During his presidential campaigns, Texans rejected Obama on the ballot twice, and both times by double-digit margins.

• Plano citizens are a step closer to winning their lawsuit compelling local officials to acknowledge a referendum petition on the city’s Plano Tomorrow Plan, which critics said encouraged too much urban-style, high-density development.
   
• Erin Anderson reports City Secretary Lisa Henderson initially refused to submit a citizen-driven petition against the plan to city council as required by the city charter, claiming comprehensive plans are not subject to referendum, so citizens representing the petition signers sued.
   
• Plano citizens scored a major victory last month. A July 22 decision by the 5th Court of Appeals required the city secretary to present the petition to Plano City Council within 14 days—by August 5—and allowed the citizens to recover their legal costs.
   
• “We’ve often heard it said: you can’t fight city hall,” Plano resident Ed Acklin told council members Sunday during public comments. “Citizens of Plano have shown this is not true.”
   
• The review committee’s next meeting is set for Tuesday, August 4, at 6:00 p.m. and will be live-streamed.

• Despite heartbreaking stories from families across the state who are kept apart by coronavirus-related restrictions for special-needs citizens and others living in state-supported living facilities, the prison-like mandates have been extended until September 29.
   
• Robert Montoya writes that the move comes despite a recent letter by State Rep. Scott Sanford (R-McKinney) and 51 other members of the Texas Legislature asking the commissioner of Texas’ Department of Health and Human Services to “immediately move forward and put a plan into action to allow limited family visitations inside their facilities.”
   
• Texas Caregivers for Compromise, a group of citizens mobilized against the restrictions, is planning a rally at the state capitol in Austin on August 8 at 10 a.m.
   
• Meanwhile, for six long weeks, a North Texas woman has had to fight both the hospital and a statewide government mandate in caring for her beloved comatose husband. Robert Montoya shares the details in his latest installment of stories of those affected personally by the coronavirus mandates. 

• As of Monday, coronavirus recoveries continue rising and deaths are low in Texas’ urban counties.

  • Bexar County reported 26,757 estimated recoveries and 368 deaths among its population of over 2 million.
     

  • Collin County reported 4,879 recoveries and 83 deaths among its population of over 1 million.
     
  • Denton County reported 3,952 recoveries and 56 deaths among its population of nearly 860,000.
     

  • El Paso County reported 3,575 recoveries and 137 deaths among its population of over 720,000.
     

  • Harris County reported 44,912 recoveries and 766 deaths among its population of over 4.6 million.
     
  • Tarrant County reported 16,882 recoveries and 391 deaths among its population of over 2 million.
     

  • Travis County reports 18,875 estimated recoveries and 279 deaths among its population of over 1.2 million.

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