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1 week ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Caroline Wilburn |Isaac Yu
Texas commissioners overseeing jail standards questioned an apparent lack of effort by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to bring home more than a thousand inmates outsourced to Louisiana and Mississippi. During a Thursday meeting in Austin, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards directed the sheriff’s office to begin seeking contracts with jails in Texas to accommodate the 1,215 people awaiting trial who are being housed out of state.
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2 weeks ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Tanya Babbar |Isaac Yu
With 15 surgeries, head trauma, a disc replacement and documented post-traumatic stress disorder, former LSU football player Jamal Pack believes he is a perfect candidate for the state’s medicinal marijuana program. But the cost and hurdles to participate are too high, the Houston resident said, especially when the state is awash in hemp-derived THC products that work just as well. Senate Bill 1505, which is being co-sponsored by state Sens.
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2 weeks ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Isaac Yu |Edward McKinley
A $1 billion private school voucher program is headed to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who made the issue a top priority and has said he plans to sign the legislation into law. Under the final bill agreed to by top Texas lawmakers, parents will be able to access thousands of dollars in state funds to pay for private education or homeschooling for their kids. Here’s what we know so far about how it will work:Article continues below this adWho is eligible?
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4 weeks ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Benjamin Wermund |Edward McKinley |Isaac Yu
The Texas House is taking up a sweeping private school voucher plan on Wednesday that is a top priority for Gov. Greg Abbott and would give students roughly $10,000 a year in taxpayer money to spend on private education. Despite aggressive lobbying from major GOP donors and elected officials, the education policy has never found enough support to pass the chamber.
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1 month ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Benjamin Wermund |Edward McKinley |Isaac Yu
The Holy Spirit had blessed St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, businessman Clarence Kahlig declared last fall at the groundbreaking of the church's new $24 million school in Boerne, north of San Antonio. The blessing was all the donations that had poured in from the congregation, including a plot of land and $5 million from Kahlig, a parishioner who runs a local auto sales empire.
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1 month ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Tanya Babbar |Isaac Yu |Matt Zdun
Never in a million years did Ann Gauger think she and her husband would start growing cannabis on their family farm in Lubbock. The success, Gauger said, has been a lifeline for their family farm amid dropping commodity prices and water shortages in the Panhandle. Critics in the Legislature say the booming and largely unregulated market in Texas has gone too far, and are especially worried that THC gummies are being sold to children.
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1 month ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Isaac Yu
As the cannabis market has expanded (and expanded), the terms used to describe the myriad products available - marijuana, hemp, THC, delta-9 - have become more complex. The industry itself is fast-evolving, and companies are often incentivized to rename or relabel products to fit a given state's laws while catering to consumer demand. That has made the issue something of a moving target for legislators hoping to regulate or restrict its use.
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1 month ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Isaac Yu
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick doubled down on his push to ban THC products Wednesday morning, saying he's been pressuring Texas liquor stores to drop cannabis-infused drinks and visiting Austin-area smoke shops to check whether they're selling intoxicating products to children. Patrick released a five-minute video of the visits on X and also put out a map showing many stores are close to schools. He alleged sales to underage consumers are widespread and creating health issues.
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1 month ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Isaac Yu
The woman whose accusations spurred the indictment of a North Texas megachurch founder asked state lawmakers this week to remove the barriers that she said keep other child sex abuse victims from coming forward. Cindy Clemishire testified to a Texas House panel on Wednesday that her refusal to sign a non-disclosure agreement made it possible for her to come forward last year, when she accused Texas pastor and former Trump advisor Robert Morris of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s.
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2 months ago | 
houstonchronicle.com | Taylor Goldenstein |Isaac Yu
State lawmakers on Thursday formally honored Sylvester Turner, adding to the plethora of tributes that have poured out since his death last week and ahead of his memorial on Saturday in Houston. Turner, who died last Wednesday at age 70, was brought to the state Capitol shortly before noon and was set to lie in state in the House chamber through Friday. In a memorial resolution Thursday morning, several House members spoke about Turner's life and legacy.
