POLITICS
‘More stressed, more unsure’: Texas educators start school year under new DEI ban
DALLAS | dei | DFW | DFW Lead Story | DFW TEXED EXCLUSIVE | diversity | EDUCATION | educators | equity | inclusion | SAN ANTONIO | state legislature | TEXAS
Texas’ newest abortion law allows $100,000 rewards for snitching on pregnant women
| September 9, 2025
Gov. Abbott’s next abortion law includes a $100,000 reward for snitching on pregnant women in your family.
Texas Republicans pass anti-trans bathroom bill
| September 9, 2025
The Texas Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that bans transgender people from using restrooms that align with their gender identity in government buildings, and public schools and colleges, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.
If Abbott signs the bill into law, it will take effect on Dec. 3.
Rising Democratic star James Talarico announces run for US Senate in Texas
| September 9, 2025
State Rep. James Talarico, a 36-year-old Presbyterian seminarian and former middle school teacher, announced Tuesday that he’s running for US Senate.
‘More stressed, more unsure’: Texas educators start school year under new DEI ban
| September 9, 2025
DALLAS | dei | DFW | DFW Lead Story | DFW TEXED EXCLUSIVE | diversity | EDUCATION | educators | equity | inclusion | SAN ANTONIO | state legislature | TEXAS
Educators speak out on new laws they face in classrooms, including a ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion and a “Parental Bill of Rights” that makes it easier for conservatives to interfere in public schools.
Why books shouldn’t be controversial: Welcome to your Texas banned reading list
| September 9, 2025
bannedbooks | book ban | bookbans | books | censorship | Community | CULTURE | EDUCATION | HARDGATE | TEXAS
Banned books have been hugely controversial when it comes to Texas education. Literature is fundamental to learning—and when the government is trying to dictate what students can and can’t read, important, diverse voices can be lost.
Texas colleges could see fewer international students amid Trump immigration crackdown
| September 5, 2025
dei | EDUCATION | EXCO-Player | HIGHER EDUCATION | IMMIGRATION | local politics | old texas | public education | TEXAS
Public universities throughout Texas could lose thousands of international students (and millions of dollars) this fall thanks to the Trump administration.
Ken Paxton wants your kids to recite the Lord’s Prayer in school
| September 5, 2025
A new Texas law allows public schools to create a designated prayer time for students, and Attorney General Ken Paxton wants to make sure it’s used to promote Christianity.
After losing two babies, a family wrestled with grief—not jail. Would Texas’s new law change that?
| August 29, 2025
ABORTION | Repro Rights | reproduction rights | Republicans | TEXAS | Texas Lead Story | women's health
A family condemns Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Republicans for threatening jail time for loved ones who help women obtain abortions.
Classroom doors open, but wallets stay empty for Texas teachers
| August 27, 2025
A study found that Texas teachers spend about $100 of their own money on school supplies.
WATCH: Wendy Davis reflects on 4 years of Texas reproduction rights restrictions
| August 26, 2025
ABORTION | EXCO-Player | local politics | old texas | reproduction rights | TEXAS | TEXAS LEGISLATURE
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.
WATCH: Beto O’Rourke: Texans don’t bend the knee to Trump
| August 26, 2025
Beto | EXCO-Player | FORT WORTH | local politics | old texas | protests | redistricting | TEXAS | trump
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.
WATCH: Houston pastor reflects on Hurricane Katrina
| August 26, 2025
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.