1/ The Austin City Council voted to reduce police funding, largely through moving offices out from under the department.
Days later, @GovAbbott and other top officials said they want to freeze property tax revenues for cities that cut police budgets. bit.ly/3j0sw1v
2/ This proposal sets up what is expected to be a fight in the 2021 #txlege session over what police reform should look like after the killing of George Floyd reignited a national movement against police brutality and racial injustice.
3/ Many advocates want cities to reallocate substantial portions of police funding to areas like housing, social services and public spaces as part of an effort to end a history of discrimination, inequality and overpolicing of Black and brown communities. bit.ly/3hebts2
4/ At Tuesday’s press conference, Abbott said, “If we have police brutality, we don't need fewer police, we need less police brutality, and so we need to take action, whether it be as a Legislature or in police departments or whatever the case may be.”
5/ Abbott mentioned Floyd during Tuesday’s press conference in Fort Worth, but did not mention Atatiana Jefferson or other Black residents who died in high-profile Texas police killings.
Read more background in our story from June: bit.ly/34hfaKe
6/ Texas’ four largest cities — Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio — each spent more than a third of their general funds on their police departments in the 2020 fiscal year. bit.ly/3kZEtpY
7/ Austin recently became the first major Texas city to cut its police department’s budget.
The proposal to cut funding by about one-third of the total $434 million budget calls for immediately cutting around $21.5 million from the department. bit.ly/3l3h3jl
8/ The Austin council approved the measure after APD faced months of criticism over the killing of an unarmed Black and Hispanic man, the use of force against protesters and the investigation of a demonstrator’s fatal shooting by another resident. bit.ly/320Di0A
9/ Other major Texas cities are also weighing police budgets, now with Abbott's proposal in mind.
San Antonio’s proposed budget for 2021 increases overall police funding by $8 million, but cuts overtime and funds health and violence prevention programs.
10/ In Dallas, the proposed 2021 budget includes a small increase in police funding, as well as $3.2 million for safety net resources.
Both cities are scheduled to approve their budgets in September.
11/ The Houston City Council approved a minor funding increase to its police department in June, but an amendment that tried to redistribute some of the money to other areas, like the police oversight board and loans for businesses owned by people of color, was rejected.
12/ Black Texas lawmakers recently unveiled the George Floyd Act, a sweeping proposal aimed at accomplishing policing and criminal justice reforms that have failed at the Texas Capitol in recent years, often after opposition from police unions. bit.ly/2Q8HAxv
13/13 More background here on previous attempts by #txlege members to pass police reforms:
1/ Overnight, House managers published nearly 4,000 pages of evidence ahead of next month’s impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton.
2/ Included in the 3,760 pages are 150 exhibits. These documents give granular details of how Paxton allegedly abused his office to help Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.
3/ 📃In an interview, Paxton’s former personal aid said he ferried documents to Paul on Paxton’s behalf and witnessed conversations about the renovations to Paxton’s home that suggested Paul had paid for it.
1/ Over the past quarter century, a war machine was constructed inside the Texas Office of Attorney General, designed to push conservative legal doctrine through the courts.
Here’s how Texas got here — and what it means for the country's future. bit.ly/3KjCMC1
2/ Under three attorneys general, John Cornyn, Greg Abbott, and Ken Paxton, the office began assembling an all-star team to barrage the federal courts with state-funded lawsuits born of increasingly overt right-wing activism. bit.ly/3KjCMC1
3/ In 1998, John Cornyn became the first Republican attorney general in Texas since Reconstruction.
One of his first acts was creating the Office of the Solicitor General to handle state and federal appeals, all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. bit.ly/3KjCMC1
1/On May 24, 2022, 19 children and two teachers were killed in the Robb Elementary shooting.
The shooting also caused emotional and psychological damage to a generation of children in Uvalde. The Treviños are one of many families adapting to a new reality.texastribune.org/2023/05/22/tex…
2/ Three of the Treviños’ kids — Austin, Illiaña and David James — have been diagnosed with PTSD.
The kids attended Robb Elementary and were on campus on May 24 for an awards ceremony. Their mom, Jessica, picked them up from school shortly before the shooting began.
3/ Illiaña’s best friend was killed during the shooting. While visiting her friend’s memorial, Illiaña suffered cardiac arrest from acute stress.
“Nana was born with a heart of gold. So when it breaks, that’s how she reacts,” her mom Jessica says.
1/ Officers responding to the Uvalde shooting said they were afraid to immediately engage the gunman because he was using an AR-15, a Texas Tribune investigation has revealed.
This drove their decision to wait over an hour for a Border Patrol SWAT team. bit.ly/40lOYHX
2/ In never before released body camera footage and post-action interviews, officers described realizing the gunman had an AR-15 style rifle and concluding that confronting him would be too dangerous because of its firepower. bit.ly/40lOYHX
3/ Even though some officers were armed with the same rifle, they waited for a Border Patrol SWAT team that had more protective armor, stronger shields and more tactical training.
Bullets from AR-15s can penetrate standard body armor worn by police. bit.ly/40lOYHX
Many of the beloved trees across Texas’ Hill Country snapped under the weight of heavy ice that accumulated during multiple days of freezing rain this week.
They frequently damaged power lines, homes, and property on their way down.
While the historic drought last summer may have caused trees to have more dead limbs than usual, experts say it probably had less of an impact than the sheer amount of ice.
1/ Freezing temperatures and ice are expected in much of Texas through at least Thursday.
Here’s a running list of Texas warming centers, mutual aid and safety tips. If you know of any other resources in your community, please reply to this thread to share them with others.