CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS
Redrawing the state’s congressional maps has pulled in 114 Republican candidates across the state’s 38 districts with nearly two months left until the filing deadline, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The Texas Legislature redrew the maps at the request of President Donald Trump in hopes of gaining five additional GOP seats. As a result, there are winnable seats for Republicans in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas that have drawn 19 GOP candidates to date.
The move is being challenged in court.
Two Republican members of Congress are seeking statewide office instead of trying to hold on to their current seats. Chip Roy, who represents a Central Texas district, is running for Texas attorney general, while Houston Republican Wesley Hunt recently jumped into the U.S. Senate race.
In addition, Michael McCaul, R-Austin, and Morgan Luttrell, R-Houston, are not seeking reelection. Those four open seats have drawn 25 GOP candidates.
Out-of-state company selected to run school voucher program
A New York tech company has been picked to administer the state’s new school choice program, the Texas Standard reported.
The billion-dollar program passed in the regular legislative session looks to help parents use taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition, homeschooling expenses and other educational costs. Odyssey will head the program, responsible for both processing applications and ranking families to determine who gets access to funding.
The company already manages education funding in several other states.
Anyone with a child eligible to go to public school in grades K-12 or a 4-year-old eligible for pre-kindergarten can apply.
Odyssey can receive up to 5% of the total $1 billion school choice appropriation, or $50 million, for administering the program.
Roberson’s execution date paused by Texas court
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the execution of Robert Roberson just one week before his scheduled capital punishment date. Roberson was convicted of capital murder following the 2002 death of his two-yearold daughter for shaken baby syndrome, a diagnosis since discredited by most scientists. His case has drawn widespread attention and calls for his exoneration.
The Austin American-Statesman reported that the state’s highest criminal court decided to send the case back to trial in Anderson County, where he was convicted. The court cited the case of Andrew Wayne Roark, a North Texas man who was exonerated in a similar “shaken baby syndrome” case.
“As identified in Roark, our scientific understanding of what has become known as shaken baby syndrome has significantly advanced,” one judge wrote. “Because of this deeper understanding, certain assumptions and conclusions that were once thought to be true may not be.”
Roberson, now 58, claims his daughter fell out of her bed in the middle of the night in 2002. He soothed her to sleep, and upon checking on her later that night, found that she was not breathing. She was pronounced dead at an emergency room the next day, and Roberson was eventually charged and convicted of capital murder.
Agency raising awareness of state screwworm threat
The Texas Department of State Health Services is calling for increased awareness among health professionals and the public about the New World screwworm, a parasitic fly that can threaten both animals and humans.
The screwworm was previously eradicated in the United States in the 1960s but remained endemic in most of Central and South America. Cases were detected in Mexico in November 2024, raising concerns that it would make its way back across the border.
Cattle have been barred from coming into the United States from Mexico since then. More than a million head of cattle that normally would have gone to Texas feed lots remained south of the border, down 18% from a year ago.
The supply squeeze is raising the price of beef to record levels. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has called for the use of pesticide bait to deal with the problem.’
“This isn’t just a livestock issue, it’s about protecting Texas jobs, rural communities and our agricultural lifeblood,” Miller said.
An infected cow was reported less than 100 miles from the Texas border in September, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Cornyn, Paxton neck-and-neck
A poll published last week shows incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton essentially tied, with new entrant U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt not far behind, according to the Express-News.
Wesley’s entry suggests that no candidate is on track to win an outright majority, making a runoff likely — if current polls stand.
The late September poll by the University of Houston and Texas Southern University found 34% of respondents favored Paxton, compared to 33% for Cornyn. Hunt picked up 22% of poll respondents with 11% of likely GOP voters polled still undecided.
President Donald Trump has yet to weigh in on the race, with all three candidates eager to receive his endorsement, if one is forthcoming. The poll found that half the respondents would vote for any candidate Trump endorsed.
Abbott orders DPS: Increase vape shop hemp enforcement
Gov. Greg Abbott has directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to toughen enforcement against vape and smoke shops that don’t comply with new state regulations that prohibit selling hemp-derived products to minors.
Abbott issued the executive order after attempts to either ban such products outright or impose new laws regulating sales failed in the last two special sessions. “Texas will protect children from dangerous hemp products,” Abbott said.
DPS will conduct targeted operations to identify vape and smoke shops that could be selling to minors. The effort will include conducting undercover investigations.
Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: gborders@texaspress. com.
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