FEATURED
Lee Parsley TLR: Keep Foreign Interests Out of American Court Decisions
In the ongoing fight to protect American interests from foreign interference, third-party litigation financing (TPLF) has emerged as another tool for foreign powers to pursue their strategic agendas—using our nation’s legal system as the vehicle. And the implications for the security of our country are starting to crystallize.
#TXLEGE
Texas gives $125 million to rural sheriffs and prosecutors for pay increases
Texas has awarded $125 million in grants to rural sheriffs and prosecutors across the state, the Texas Comptroller said in a statement last week — an effort to help those law enforcement agencies attract and keep talent in their communities. The pool of money was established by state lawmakers last year in Senate Bill 22, which passed with bipartisan support. The legislation, authored by state Sen. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, totaled $330 million and established grants for increasing minimum salaries and additional equipment.
POLITICS
Spotlight: Texas Take Podcast discusses Abbott & Vouchers
Clarendon City Council rejects ordinance banning travel to access abortion outside of Texas
The City Council of Clarendon, a rural Panhandle town, rejected a proposed ordinance seeking to prohibit traveling through city limits to get an abortion in another state. Their 3-0 decision on Thursday makes Clarendon one of the first cities in Texas to reject an abortion travel ban as more conservative cities are approving similar measures. Council members heard from people for and against the “Sanctuary City for the Unborn” initiative Thursday. It was the second time city leaders for Clarendon, a town of just over 1,700 people lying about 60 miles southeast of Amarillo, heard arguments on the issue. The council cited current state law in their decision.
Opinion Eastlack: City should skip acting on Sanctuary proposal
The hardest thing for anyone to do is often standing up for what is right when it is unpopular to do so. That’s the position the Clarendon City Council will find itself in Thursday night, May 9, when the subject of abortion will again be on the city agenda. Abortion is illegal in Texas, and that isn’t going to change in the foreseeable future. Nationally, the Supreme Court now holds that abortion is a matter left up to the states, which is what President Trump wants, and that also is unlikely to change. But that’s not keeping activist Mark Lee Dickson from his crusade to “ban abortion” by getting cities to pass ordinances to become “Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn.”
Analysis: The Myth of Rural Voters’ Power in the House of Representatives
A Daily Yonder analysis of Census data shows that rural Americans don’t have outsized voting power in the U.S. House of Representatives, despite an oft-repeated assertion that congressional apportionment gives rural voters undue influence.
Inside the increasingly ugly GOP fight over a Texas runoff
Rep. Tony Gonzales’ centrist voting record and willingness to excoriate his colleagues have earned him a fair share of GOP enemies. Party leaders are still dreading what happens if he loses a runoff this month. The West Texan is battling for his political life after being forced into a primary runoff with a gun-rights YouTube star backed by members like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.). Brandon Herrera, known as “The AK Guy” after his affection for assault rifles, would likely align with rabble-rousers who have repeatedly challenged GOP leadership.
Politics: ‘The Rural Voter’ and ‘The Civic Bargain’
A glance at the index of Nicholas F. Jacobs and Daniel M. Shea’s “The Rural Voter: The Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America” indicates that the most commonly cited item in the book is—no surprise—“Trump, Donald.” The authors are colleagues in the government department of Colby College in Waterville, Me., and both live about 25 minutes from the school. For most of the drive to work, they relate, they see Trump flags, “Keep America Great” bumper stickers and “homemade billboards” bearing the words “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for Trump” and “Let’s Go Brandon.” The MAGA messages vanish when they reach town.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
USDA Forecasts Winter Wheat Production Up 2% in 2024
U.S. farmers are expected to produce 1.28 billion bushels of winter wheat this year, according to the Crop Production report released May 10 by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). In NASS’s first winter wheat production forecast for 2024, production is expected to increase 2% from 2023. As of May 1, the U.S. yield is expected to average 50.7 bushels per acre, up 0.1 bushel from last year’s average of 50.6 bushels per acre.
Why a Republican megadonor is teaming up with Democrat Colin Allred on immigration policy
U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, the Democratic nominee for one of Texas' U.S. Senate seats, has teamed up with Republican megadonor Woody Hunt of El Paso to urge President Joe Biden and congressional leaders to expand work permits for people seeking to enter the United States to reunite with their families and for undocumented immigrants with a history of working in the country. In a joint-authored op-ed published Sunday in The Dallas Morning News, Allred and Hunt said that allowing more immigrants the opportunity to work legally in the United States would help ease what they described as a critical shortage of available workers and would help reunite families in which some members have permission to be in the country and others do not.
Sen. Cruz, Rep. Jackson introduce bill to help ranchers after Texas fires
Earlier this year, historic wildfires in North Texas devastated Texas ranches, impacting livestock and cattle supplies along the Panhandle.. To remedy the drought’s economic impact, Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Amarillo) have introduced economic relief bills to bodies of Congress.
How a Rural County in Texas Solved Its Broadband Problem
A largely rural Texas county has pulled off an out-of-the-box broadband hack to deliver wireless Internet service at speeds that rival fiber-optic cable systems. They’re using a model common in cellphone networks.
EDUCATION
Republicans Double Down on School Vouchers by Taking Fight to Rural Members of Their Own Party
State Republican leaders are cracking down on rural members of their own party who oppose universal school vouchers, which allow families to take a portion of their state’s education funding away from public schools to pay for their child’s private education. Rural state legislators have been more likely to oppose school voucher laws because they worry the programs will weaken local public schools without ensuring educational investments for rural students.
Unlicensed teachers now dominate new teacher hires in rural Texas schools
The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 eliminated the federal requirement that teachers be highly qualified to teach. This regulatory freedom, combined with a shortage of trained and qualified teachers, has led some states to allow unqualified people to teach children. Texas used this freedom to adopt a new state law that allows almost any school to hire unlicensed teachers. As a result, Texas schools now hire more unlicensed new teachers than licensed ones. The supply problem is especially acute in rural and small-town schools, where almost 75% of new teachers hired in 2023-2024 were unlicensed. This is up from 17% in 2013-14.
HEALTHCARE
CDC finds rural Americans dying prematurely from preventable deaths
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds a troubling trend: Americans in rural areas are dying faster from preventable causes than those living in urban ones. “Rural residents tend to be sicker and poorer and have worse health outcomes than do their non rural peers," said CDC Senior Health Scientist Macarena C. Garcia. "That said, rural challenges are not uniform and are complicated by geographic characteristics.”
In rural Texas, ERs are facing a growing mental health crisis
Across the state, rural hospitals face a shortage of mental health care providers, with over 60% of rural counties designated as provider shortage areas by the Health Resources and Service Administration. At the same time, the number of people experiencing mental health crises has increased, and these patients are often forced to seek care in the emergency room of rural hospitals, where they face long waits for treatment and use resources that are needed by patients with critical conditions.
Ways and Means Members Put Forth Solutions to Strengthen Telehealth Access and Improve Health Care for Rural Communities
Recently introduced legislation from Ways and Means Committee members takes aim at improving access to health care in America, particularly in rural and underserved areas. The package of bills addresses critical issues affecting patients by preserving and improving vital telehealth and health-at-home access, advancing solutions to prevent rural hospital closures – including expanding the rural emergency hospital designation, ensuring access to ambulance services, and addressing the shortage of doctors and nurses in rural America.
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This is a very helpful amalgamation of rural-oriented news from Texas. Thanks. Suzanne!