Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan’s new priority bills focus on school safety, requiring districts to adopt active-shooter plans
More than nine months after the Uvalde school shooting, top GOP lawmakers maintain focus on school safety reforms and investments in mental health resources in hopes it will prevent future tragedies.
Gov. Greg Abbott starts state task force on street takeovers
During a recent street racing incident, Austin residents faced long 911 wait times. City officials say they need to increase staffing for 911 call takers, but state license and background check requirements make it difficult to fill positions.
University of Houston asked students to wear neon vests after police drew weapon on a Black student
The university distributed vests to theater students after an officer drew a gun on a Black student rehearsing a violent scene last year. Officials walked back the requirement amid recent student criticism.
The fringe ideology of “constitutional sheriffs” is attracting believers within Texas law enforcement
Some 50 Texas sheriffs and numerous elected officials have attended trainings on the unsupported notion that sheriffs can single-handedly overrule state and federal law. The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which offered state peace officers credit for the seminars, is now investigating.
Texas DPS chief Steve McCraw says his agency “did not fail” at Uvalde school shooting
At a public meeting where families that lost children in the school shooting said he should resign, McCraw said members of the Department of Public Safety made mistakes. But he said he’ll step down only “if DPS as an institution failed the families.”
‘Dead suspect’ loophole in state law could prevent release of information in Uvalde school shooting
Three weeks have passed since the school shooting in Uvalde, and there are concerns that a loophole in Texas law that could prevent information from being released as questions about what happened inside Robb Elementary remain.
Police chief who led the response to the school shooting in Uvalde had no radio at the scene, reports say
The revelation is the latest to point to deficiencies and missteps in authorities’ response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School. Police opted to wait for reinforcements and tactical gear, taking more than an hour to confront and take down the shooter.
In battered Uvalde, where a police chief is in hiding, grief gives way to calls for accountability
As chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department, it was Arredondo’s call to wait more than an hour for backup instead of ordering officers on scene to immediately charge the shooter.
Uvalde school district’s police chief didn’t know about 911 calls coming from inside the school, lawmaker says
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, said the commanding officer at the scene of the shooting was not informed about the calls that Uvalde police were receiving, calling the lack of coordination a “system failure.”
Austin police officers who were indicted over actions during George Floyd protests sue the city
Several demonstrators who participated in the protests in response to George Floyd’s murder were seriously injured when they were struck by police with “less than lethal” beanbag rounds. The officers’ suit says they did not receive training on how to use this type of ammunition.
Peer-to-peer support group helps local first responders cope with PTSD
First responders are called to emergencies, rescue people and show up to work day after day to do it all over again, which can sometimes lead to post-traumatic stress disorder. A former police officer in Selma is helping others learn how to manage their trauma.
Webb County, a Democratic stronghold, is set to welcome Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial migrant arrests
The county is the most populous to embrace the Republican governor’s “catch-and-jail” policy to arrest people accused of crossing the border illegally for state crimes, including trespassing.
Gov. Greg Abbott floats pardons for Austin police officers charged with excessive force in 2020 protests
Abbott’s move is the latest in a long clash between Texas Republicans and Austin-area officials over policing — and comes as the push for reform in the Texas capital enters a more complex and uncertain chapter.
Analysis: A swelling Texas treasury gives 2022 hopefuls room for big ideas
As the political season starts, the contestants got an unexpected bit of good news: The state comptroller says the next Legislature will start with almost $25 billion in the state treasury. Expensive campaign promises just got a lot easier to make.
In latest blunder, charges dropped against migrants arrested in Texas governor’s border crackdown because of faulty paperwork
The migrants were arrested for trespassing, but court documents failed to specify what property they allegedly trespassed upon. It’s the latest misstep in implementation of Greg Abbott’s border initiative, which has seen frequent violations of state law and disregard for due process rights.
Congressional Democrats ask feds to investigate whether Texas migrant arrests violate constitutional rights
Under a Gov. Greg Abbott initiative, more than 1,600 migrants have been arrested for allegedly trespassing on private property after crossing the Texas-Mexico border. The arrests and subsequent imprisonment of the migrants have led to state law violations and constitutional concerns.
Migrants arrested by Texas in border crackdown are being imprisoned for weeks without legal help or formal charges
Defense attorneys have started asking courts to set migrants free because local justice systems, overwhelmed by arrests under Gov. Greg Abbott's border security push, are routinely violating state law and constitutional due process rights.
After a Texas prosecutor dismissed dozens of migrant trespassing cases, some men were dropped at a border bus station
Officials said immigration authorities weren’t interested in taking migrants who had no criminal conviction into federal custody. But without documentation, at least one newly released migrant soon found himself back in detention.
Thanks to local politics and a railroad, rural Kinney County accounts for most of Texas’ migrant arrests
Under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security push, Texas state police have arrested hundreds of migrants in the conservative county, usually after spotting them on cargo trains or walking remote ranch lands. Sent to a state prison retooled as an immigration jail, many men were left without lawyers for weeks.
New Cite and Release program begins today
SAN ANTONIO - Law enforcement officials on Monday will begin to enforce a new Cite and Release program, which will operate out of the Bexar County Reentry Center. The new program will allow a police officer to issue a citation, rather than arrest someone who is accused of committing a low-level offense. Officials on Friday said the goal of the program is to give people accused of minor offenses a chance to change and to keep officers from being tied up with booking suspects for nonviolent crimes. Qualifying offenses include possessing small amounts of marijuana, petty thefts and driving without a valid license. If the accused offender is accepted into the program, he or she must complete a redirection course that addresses their offense.
FBI warns U.S. law enforcement to be vigilant
FBI warns U.S. law enforcement to be vigilant Following the two hostage crises in France, the FBI is warning American law enforcement to be alert. U.S. officials are studying the attack in France, as it has every terrorist strike since 9/11. Jeff Pegues reports.
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