Articles written by paul j. weber
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 134
Houston joins cities fighting potential state takeovers
HOUSTON (AP) — In four years of Houston schools being under threat of one of the biggest state takeovers ever in the U.S., teacher Arnetta Murray says the district has come a long way. As Houston braces for a decision from the state on whether it wil...
Texas congressman who broke with GOP is censured
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas was censured Saturday in a rare move by his state party over votes that included supporting new gun safety laws after the Uvalde school shooting in his district. The Republican Party o...
Frustrated Texans endure winter storm with no power, heat
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Thousands of frustrated Texans shivered in their homes Thursday after more than a day without power, including many in the state capital, as an icy winter storm that has been blamed for at least 10 traffic deaths lingered a...
Winter weather cancels flights, leads to death in Texas
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Winter weather brought ice to a wide swath of the United States on Tuesday, causing the cancellation of more than 1,700 flights nationwide, bringing traffic to a standstill on an interstate through Arkansas and causing crashes t...
Uvalde schools fire ex-Texas trooper who was at shooting
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — New outrage ripped through Uvalde on Thursday over revelations that a school police officer hired after the Robb Elementary massacre was not only on campus during the May attack as a Texas state trooper but under investigation o...
Uvalde schools suspend entire police force after outrage
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Uvalde's school district suspended its entire police force Friday amid fresh outrage over the hesitant law enforcement response to the gunman who massacred 21 people at Robb Elementary School. The extraordinary move follows t...
Beto O'Rourke responds to heckler over Uvalde with expletive
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democrat Beto O'Rourke responded to a heckler at a campaign stop with an expletive after the Texas gubernatorial candidate heard a cackled laugh while criticizing the ease with which the Uvalde elementary school gunman legally p...
Texas' border mission grows, but crossings still high
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Following the horror of a human-smuggling attempt that left 53 people dead, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state troopers to inspect more trucks — again expanding a border security mission that has cost billions, given the...
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 n...
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 R...
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 a...
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 R...
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 sta...
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 a...
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 w...
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 t...
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 law...
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 o...
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 T...
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, t...
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 p...
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 a...
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 l...