Texas GOP Moves to Gerrymander State Courts After Democratic Judicial Wins truthout.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from truthout.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Texas Republicans are pushing legislation that advocates say will gerrymander the state s appeals courts after Democrats swept judicial races in districts serving Dallas, Houston and Austin.
The Texas Senate Jurisprudence Committee on Thursday advanced SB 11, a bill introduced by Republican committee chair Joan Huffman to redraw the boundaries of the state s court of appeals districts. The bill and its state House counterpart in their current form propose only minor tweaks to several districts but voting advocates warn they are shell bills that will soon be loaded with much bigger changes based on proposals from a powerful group to gerrymander court districts just months after Democratic judges swept appellate races in five of the state s 14 districts.
US School Violence Fast Facts
Here is a list of incidents of elementary, middle and high school violence with at least one fatality, from 1927 to the present. Suicides, gang-related incidents and deaths resulting from domestic conflicts are not included. If a perpetrator was killed or died by suicide during the incident, their death is not included in the fatality totals.
Because there is no central database tracking school violence incidents, this list is based primarily on media reports and may not be complete or representative of all incidents.
US Timeline (selected only)
March 1, 2021 – Watson Chapel Junior High – Pine Bluff, Arkansas. A student is fatally shot, and a 15-year-old male suspect is arrested.
May 18, 2018 – Santa Fe High School – Santa Fe, Texas. Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, allegedly opens fire killing 10 and injuring 13. Pagourtzis is arrested and charged with capital murder and aggravated assault of a public servant. In November 2019, he is declared mentally incompetent to stand trial.
January 23, 2018 – Marshall County High School – Benton, Kentucky. Gabriel R. Parker, 15, allegedly opens fire killing two and injuring 18 others. The suspect is arrested at the scene and later charged with two counts of murder and 14 counts of first degree assault.
December 7, 2017 – Aztec High School – Aztec, New Mexico. William Atchison shoots and kills students Casey Jordan Marquez and Francisco Fernandez. Atchison, a former student at the high school, dies of what police believe to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Eric Gay / Associated Press
Originally published on February 11, 2021 9:31 am
Governor Abbott designated civil liabilities protections as one of five emergency items for lawmakers to prioritize within the first 60 days of the new Legislative Session.
These protections would prevent businesses from being sued in COVID-19-related lawsuits. According to a lawsuit tracker by Hunton Andrews Kurth law firm, there have been 621 COVID-19 related complaints filed in Texas since March 2020.
“Texas businesses that have operated in good faith shouldn’t have their livelihoods destroyed by frivolous lawsuits,” Abbott said at the address.
Some advocacy groups in Texas support Abbott.
George Christian of the Texas Civil Justice League says his organization is grateful the governor wants to protect businesses from pandemic-related lawsuits as long as they are complying with CDC guidelines.