HATE CRIMES

Jasper’s second Black mayor wants to help residents pay their bills while a younger city council wants to invest in the city’s culture. Residents call their heated arguments at city council meetings “foolishness” and “embarrassing.”

The report blames an “alarming rise in extremist ideology and activity” on white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ+ groups that are active or headquartered in Texas.

The quiet East Texas town of Jasper came together immediately after the racist murder of James Byrd Jr. Now, Texas is leading the nation in incidents of white supremacist propaganda.

In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas’ law banning sodomy in 2003. It took almost 20 years for Democrats to get a bill to repeal the defunct ban on the House calendar.

School leaders have said they don’t tolerate racism and that they regularly train teachers how to deal with bullying. But parents say inaction by officials tells a different story.

Austin fire officials said they’re investigating a Sunday incident that caused about $25,000 in damage as a potential arson.

A former neo-Nazi leader has been sentenced to more than 3 years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to target a Black church, a Cabinet member and more than 100 others with bogus bomb threats and 911 calls.

The most recent FBI report on hate crimes shows an 11.7% rise from last year in the number of violent hate crimes committed. The number of victims in anti-Latino or Hispanic hate crimes rose over 21% in 2018. Yet, even in a city like San Antonio, hate crimes exist. Through the Department of Justice, the bill will issue grants to empower state and local governments to improve hate crimes reporting. In exchange for receiving grants, state and local governments must provide additional information pertaining to hate crimes in their jurisdiction.