Latest Headlines

By Jess Huff, The Texas Tribune

"Texas Supreme Court dismisses State Bar lawsuit against assistant attorney general" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk may be so enthusiastic about going to war with President-elect Donald Trump's base on high-skilled immigration because he fears he technically could be stripped of his citizenship under a strict interpretation of Trump's plans for mass deportation, veteran GOP strategist Stuart Stevens told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace this week.

This comes as Musk and his fellow Silicon Valley MAGA supporters pick a fight with Trump's longer-time populist base over the immigration issue, with longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon in particular stirring up anger at Musk. Trump, for his part, has sided with Musk publicly in favor of H1-B visas, but not without some backlash from his base.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued 15 commutations on his final day in office Tuesday, sending those sentenced to die instead to life in prison without parole.

NBC News reported that among the prisoners "was convicted murderer Hasson Bacote, a Black man who had challenged his sentence under the Racial Justice Act of 2009, a groundbreaking state law that allows condemned inmates to seek resentencing if they can show racial bias played a role in their cases."

Those accused of attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are now begging the courts to be allowed to attend Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.

Among the 1,600 people charged with a felony or misdemeanor for their role in Jan. 6, many of them have had their travel restricted, particularly when it comes to visiting the building they allegedly attacked, CBS News reported.

An online safety regulator focused on harm remediation would be a “game-changing” addition to the U.S. government, according to Australia’s eSafety commissioner.

But the over-politicization of online safety by conservatives may hamper efforts to carve out a set of sensible safety standards for minors, according to Julie Inman Grant, an American who helped Australia enforce a first-in-the-world law banning children under 16 from social media.

In a 6-1 ruling Tuesday, a Pennsylvania court said the secretary of state can mandate the decertification of any voting machines that were examined by third parties.

The court said the Department of State cannot only mandate that the machines be blocked from "unauthorized third-party access," but it can also force counties to pay for new machines if they allow a third party to examine them The Associated Press reported.

While Black Americans overwhelmingly remained with the Democratic Party this year, Trump had a number of prominent Black supporters who went the extra mile to fight for his election. But with Trump preparing to take office, "Black MAGA" has reaped little rewards for their year of efforts, Tatyana Tandanpolie wrote for Salon.

"Black ultraconservative elected officials like Florida Rep. Byron Donalds and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott frequently joined Trump on the campaign trail, boosting the then-candidate's outreach to the Black electorate as they sat on the shortlist for his vice presidential pick," wrote Tandanpolie. And yet "their efforts to curry favor with the would-be president-elect didn't materialize in sought-after Cabinet positions despite the president-elect's promises to reward his most loyal supporters with high-ranking roles in his administration."

A newspaper columnist took Attorney General Merrick Garland to the woodshed over what he expressed was Garland's failure to hold Donald Trump accountable.

The former president was impeached on his way out of office and eventually indicted four times for alleged crimes committed while he was in office, but The Philadelphia Inquirer's Will Bunch said President Joe Biden's attorney general failed to meet the historical moment by prosecuting him sooner.

Tributes and high praise for Aaron Brown, a former CNN anchor who guided the network through its coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, streamed through social media on Tuesday after news the highly respected journalist died at 76.

CNN reported that Brown's family confirmed he died Sunday. No cause of death was released.

America had an "astonishing" and dark reaction to the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, anti-Trump conservative-leaning evangelical writer and former GOP adviser Peter Wehner wrote for The Atlantic — and it reflects a "dehumanization" we should be worried about.

The accused shooter, Luigi Mangione, has been trumpeted across the internet as a sort of justice warrior for the oppressed, even as he hails from a wealthy family. The support for the killing extends into real life too, with fellow inmates reportedly celebrating him.

Incoming Vice President J.D. Vance (R-OH) and other Republicans attacked President Joe Biden's administration for a "sweetheart deal with 9/11 terrorists," but it turns out it was a military court that refused to stop a plea agreement.

Fox News reported Tuesday that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tried to revoke the agreement made by the Gitmo military commission.

The Pentagon enlisted entertainers MrBeast, Kelly Clarkson and Guy Fieri last year to help boost flagging enlistment, according to newly revealed documents.

Rolling Stone obtained a Government Accountability report last month showing a 10-percent decline in military favorability among the Generation Z cohort, with only 35 percent holding a favorable view in 2021, compared to 46 percent five years earlier, so the Pentagon targeted them with social media posts to improve their image.