Articles written by Paul J. Weber
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 101
Seven years later, still no trial for Texas AG Ken Paxton
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Not many people charged with felony crimes go seven years without ever standing trial. One of them is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The twists and turns of how the Republican, who is on the cusp of winning the GOP...
Explainer: Schools may be Texas' next immigration fight
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Forty years after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right to a public education for all students regardless of legal status, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says that decision is another longstanding precedent worth challenging. The...
Texas keeping most truck inspections despite border gridlock
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he will continue truck inspections that have gridlocked the U.S.-Mexico border for days. The two-term Republican governor said Wednesday he would not repeal his new policy at all bridges until there...
Texas takes new border action; ex-Trump officials want more
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the state will provide migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border bus charters to Washington, D.C. The move announced Wednesday amounts to a taunt at President Joe Biden and Congress over what the...
Texas clinics' lawsuit over abortion ban 'effectively over'
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday dealt essentially a final blow to abortion clinics' best hopes of stopping a restrictive law that has sharply curtailed the number of abortions in the state since September and will now fully s...
Texas primary tests GOP's rightward shift as midterms begin
USTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas kicked off the nation's long and likely bruising midterm season Tuesday with primaries that are testing the state's new, tougher voting laws while giving Republicans a chance to validate GOP leaders who have pushed...
Prosecutor ran on changing Austin before police indictments
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Jose Garza ran for district attorney in Austin on promises to hold police accountable in Texas' capital city. He got off to a fast start, charging at least seven officers during his first year on the job, including one charged...
Flights canceled as wide swath of US braces for winter storm
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Airlines canceled hundreds of flights Tuesday, governors urged residents to stay off roads and schools closed campuses as a huge swath of the U.S. braced for a major winter storm that was set to put millions of Americans in...
Texas moves to reinstate nation's toughest abortion law
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas on Friday asked a federal appeals court to swiftly reinstate the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S., which until this week had banned most abortions in the state since early September. The request puts the Texas la...
Biden administration urges judge to block Texas abortion law
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday urged a federal judge to block the nation's most restrictive abortion law, which has banned most abortions in Texas since early September and sent women racing to get care beyond the borders...
EXPLAINER: Biden administration takes on Texas abortion law
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Biden administration is suing Texas over a new state law that bans most abortions, arguing that it was enacted "in open defiance of the Constitution" and asking a judge to quickly declare the law invalid. The case filed...
Texas GOP bets on hard right turn amid changing demographics
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republicans in America's largest conservative state for years racked up victories under the slogan "Keep Texas Red," a pledge to quash a coming blue wave that Democrats argued was inevitable given shifting demographics. Now,...
Origin story of the Texas law that could upend Roe v. Wade
The road to a Texas law that bans most abortions in the state, sidestepping for now the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, began in a town called Waskom, population 1,600. The Supreme Court's decision this past week not to interfere...
EXPLAINER: What to know about the new Texas abortion law
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Supreme Court allowing a new Texas law that bans most abortions is the biggest curb to the constitutional right to an abortion in decades, and Republicans in other states are already considering similar measures. The law...
Texas bans most abortions, with high court mum on appeal
The nation's most far-reaching curb on abortions since they were legalized a half-century ago took effect Wednesday in Texas, with the Supreme Court silent on an emergency appeal to put the law on hold. If allowed to remain in force, the law, which...
Texas Democrats dig in after exodus; GOP threatens arrest
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Democrats who hurriedly took off to Washington to block sweeping new election laws urged Congress on Tuesday to quickly pass legislation protecting voting rights, while Republican Gov. Greg Abbott threatened them with...
Some Texas Democrats ready to walk as GOP digs in on voting
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The possibility of Texas Democrats staging a second walkout to again stop one of America's most restrictive new voting measures grew louder Saturday, as hundreds of people waited hours to rail against the GOP's plan in the...
Texas Democrats leave state to try to stop GOP voting bill
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democrats in the Texas Legislature on Monday bolted for Washington, D.C., and said they were ready to remain there for weeks in a second revolt against a GOP overhaul of election laws, forcing a dramatic new showdown over...
Texas' Abbott leads GOP push for Trump-style border measures
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Promises to build a wall. Descriptions of American homes "invaded" by immigrants and a trail of "carnage." Plans to arrest border crossers and haul them to jail. It's not Donald Trump in 2016. It's Texas Gov. Greg Abbott 2021....
George P. Bush running for attorney general in Texas
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — George P. Bush on Wednesday launched his next political move: a run for Texas attorney general in 2022 that puts the scion of a Republican dynasty against a GOP incumbent shadowed by securities fraud charges and an FBI...
Dems walk, stop Texas GOP's sweeping voting restrictions
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Democrats pulled off a dramatic, last-ditch walkout in the state House of Representatives on Sunday night to block passage of one of the most restrictive voting bills in the U.S., leaving Republicans with no choice but...
Texas GOP puts final touches on sweeping voting restrictions
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans dug in Saturday for a final weekend vote on some of the most restrictive new voting laws in the U.S., putting the last touches on a sweeping bill that would eliminate drive-thru voting, empower partisan poll...
Texas GOP's strict voting bill on the verge of final vote
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Legislature was on the verge Sunday of signing off on some of the most restrictive voting measures in the U.S., putting the GOP on the brink of a major victory in their nationwide effort to tighten voting access...
Republican Susan Wright makes US House runoff in Texas
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican Susan Wright of Texas, the widow of the first member of Congress to die after contracting COVID-19, secured a place in a U.S. House runoff for her late husband's seat Saturday night. With votes still being counted,...
Houston's expanded voting becomes target of GOP restrictions
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The nation's next big voting battle is underway in Texas, where Republicans are trying to outlaw 24-hour polling places and drive-thru voting as options, and to make it a crime for elections officials to mail unsolicited...