SNAP May Get Healthier Soon
May 16, 2025 – Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for restricting the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to promote healthier eating among low-income Texans. Under his proposal, SNAP recipients would be prohibited from using their benefits to purchase certain “junk foods,” including sugary sodas, candy, and other items deemed nutritionally poor. Abbott argues that taxpayer-funded assistance...
Governor Abbott Announces $30,000 Reward For Fugitive Trevor McEuen
May 16, 2025 – Governor Greg Abbott announced today that the Office of the Governor’s Public Safety Office is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of Trevor McEuen, a fugitive who failed to appear in court while out on bond for a capital murder charge. In response to his disappearance, the Texas Department of Public Safety has added McEuen to its 10 Most Wanted Fugitive List. Trevor McEuen...
Seat Belts Only Work if you Wear Them
May 15, 2025 – TxDOT and law enforcement remind Texans to Click It or Ticket during increased enforcement period PARIS – It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what you do. Everyone needs to buckle up. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is working with law enforcement to remind Texas drivers to wear their seat belt every ride, every time. First responder learns life lesson In May 2023, Polk County...
Can a Drug Sniffing Dog Violate Fourth Amendment Rights?
May 14, 2025 – The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court, is weighing a case that could have significant implications for search-and-seizure protections under the Fourth Amendment. The issue centers around whether a police dog is allowed to insert its nose into an open car window during a traffic stop without a warrant or probable cause. The case stems from the arrest of James-Varnell Organ in...
Texas Education Agency Says Less Than Half of New Texas Teachers are Certified
May 13, 2025 – The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has raised concerns over a troubling trend: a significant decline in the number of certified teachers in Texas classrooms. For the 2024–2025 school year, Texas schools hired approximately 43,800 new teachers, but only 45% of them were fully certified. This marks a sharp drop in the proportion of credentialed educators entering the profession, a development that officials say could...
STAAR Test On The Chopping Block
May 12, 2025 – House Bill 4, passed by the Texas House of Representatives on May 12, 2025, represents a sweeping reform of the state’s public school accountability system. Aimed at addressing long-standing concerns about overreliance on standardized testing, the bill significantly overhauls the current assessment framework, particularly the STAAR test (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness), and introduces broader...
EPIC City Now Under Federal Investigation
April 12, 2025 – The U.S. Department of Justice has joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott in launching a federal investigation into the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) and its proposed development project, EPIC City—a 402-acre planned Muslim community near Josephine, Texas. The planned city will occupy land in Collin and neighboring Hunt County. The probe follows mounting controversy and public...
Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures Historic $1.375 Billion Settlement with Google Related to Texans’ Data Privacy Rights
May 11, 2025 – Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a $1.375 billion settlement in principle with Google, delivering a historic win for Texans’ data privacy and security rights and marking the highest recovery nationwide against Google for any attorney general’s enforcement of state privacy laws. In 2022, Attorney General Paxton sued Google for unlawfully tracking and collecting users’ private data regarding geolocation,...
Staff Changes at Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office
May 9, 2025 – Hopkins County Sheriff Lewis Tatum is pleased to announce the well-deserved promotions of three dedicated members within the Sheriff’s Office. These promotions recognize the individuals’ commitment, experience, and leadership potential. Michael Russell has been promoted to Chief Investigator. With many years of service and a proven track record in complex investigations, Russell has consistently...
Texas Bail Reform Bill Tougher on Suspects and Judges
May 8, 2025 – Governor Greg Abbott convened a roundtable in Austin this week with law enforcement officials, policy leaders, and victims of violent crime to rally support for a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at strengthening Texas’ bail system. The event underscored Abbott’s commitment to prioritizing public safety and tightening rules around pretrial release for individuals accused of serious offenses. “Every member of...
