Latest Texas state government News

Texas university leaders say hundreds of positions, programs cut to comply with DEI ban

May. 14, 2024 19:30 PM EDT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas universities eliminated or changed hundreds of jobs in recent months in response to one of the nation's most sweeping bans on diversity programs on college campuses, school officials told lawmakers Tuesday. In the fullest public accounting of the new...

Editorial Roundup: Texas

May. 13, 2024 15:31 PM EDT

Dallas Morning News. May 9, 2024. Editorial: Texas agency botched multibillion-dollar Medicaid bid Texas Health and Human Services’ gave Aetna a boost and must start over. In Texas, millions of low-income residents are dependent on Medicaid for their...

Iowa law lets police arrest migrants. The federal government and civil rights groups are suing

May. 09, 2024 17:23 PM EDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department sued Iowa on Thursday over its new law that would give the state the authority to arrest and deport some migrants, making it the second lawsuit filed in a single day that seeks to block legislation passed earlier this year by state lawmakers. ...

Supreme Court leaves in place a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify users' ages

Apr. 30, 2024 12:28 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify the age of their users. The justices rejected an emergency appeal filed by the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry. The...

140,000 people did their taxes with the free IRS direct file pilot. But program's future is unclear

Apr. 26, 2024 17:06 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS said Friday that more than 140,000 taxpayers filed their taxes through its new direct file pilot program and participants saved roughly $5.6 million in fees they would have otherwise spent with commercial tax preparation companies. The government pilot...

Houston-area program to give $500 monthly payments to some residents on hold after Texas lawsuit

Apr. 23, 2024 16:07 PM EDT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Harris County, which includes Houston, to put on hold a guaranteed income program that would provide $500 monthly cash payments to roughly 2,000 residents. The program has become a target of Republican Texas Attorney...

Louisiana proposes bill similar to Texas’ migrant arrest law

Apr. 08, 2024 22:41 PM EDT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's Republican-controlled Senate advanced a bill Monday that would empower state and local law enforcement to arrest and jail people in the state who entered the U.S. illegally, similar to embattled legislation in Texas. Amid national fights between...

University of Texas professors demand reversal of job cuts from shuttered DEI initiative

Apr. 05, 2024 19:19 PM EDT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A group of professors demand that the University of Texas reverse course on job cuts this week related to the shutdown of a diversity, equity and inclusion program impacted by one of the nation's most sweeping bans on such initiatives. Officials at the...

Editorial Roundup: Texas

Mar. 25, 2024 07:22 AM EDT

Dallas Morning News. March 24, 2024. Editorial: Is bipartisanship dead in Austin? Not on artificial intelligence rules. The need for an artificial intelligence law becomes more urgent each day. Artificial intelligence technology is exploding into all...

Law enforcement officials in Texas wonder how they will enforce migrant arrest law

Mar. 21, 2024 22:23 PM EDT

SANDERSON, Texas (AP) — During the nine hours that Texas was allowed to arrest and deport people who illegally enter the U.S., Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland never changed his tactics with migrants in his remote border county. Not because he opposes the idea. There's just no practical...