Local and statewide officials have come under scrutiny over their preparedness and response to the flash flood that has killed over 100 people in Central Texas.
As lawmakers prepare for a special session that starts July 21, Gov. Greg Abbott said the state’s response to natural disasters will be a top priority.
It’s been nearly four years since Texas enacted the statewide ban, and former state senator and reproductive rights activist Wendy Davis is reminding Texans what’s at stake.
Former US Rep. Beto O’Rourke rallied with hundreds of people in Fort Worth on Saturday against the GOP’s redistricting plan that would flip five congressional seats currently held by Democrats.
O’Rourke’s rally comes after Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Powered by People, O’Rourke’s political group, for helping fund the expenses of lawmakers while they break quorum and remain out of the state to block the House from voting on the plans. On Friday, a Tarrant County district court judge granted Paxton’s request to temporarily stop the funding.
“ In Texas, our knees do not bend, that doesn’t work here,” O’Rourke told the crowd. “We’re gonna fight these motherf*ckers for as long as it takes with everything we’ve got. We’re never giving in, we’re never giving up, and we’re never bending the knee.”
Two decades after Hurricane Katrina, Houston pastor Shannon Verrett reflected on the devastating storm, the choas of evacuating and the heartbreak of personal loss.
“Most of the time when you’re going through traumatic experiences in your life, you don’t even know how strong your faith is. But when you weather the storm—when you’re on the other side of through you begin to see: He had me back then. I was stronger than I knew,” Verrett, a pastor at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, told COURIER Texas.
Katrina struck Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005, killing 1,392 people and causing $125 billion in damages. Tens of thousands of New Orleans residents, like Verrett, evacuated to Houston.
