The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.
When it comes to the Texas Voter ID law, the jig is up. Chad Dunn is one of the attorneys who’s been representing a group of Texas voters fighting the law.
“The state’s conceded defeat,” Dunn says.”And when they passed this law in 2011, it’s now been through two federal lawsuits, multiple appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court – we’re finally at a point where Texas has conceded that this Voter Identification law they passed has to be fixed.”
Recently a federal court found the law makes it harder for minorities to vote. It also said Texas had to fix it before November’s presidential election. So that sent both sides to the bargaining table, where they agreed to some possible changes.
“People who arrive to vote in person – who don’t have one of the limited forms of photo ID that the state authorized – can present other forms of photo identification and also paycheck stubs, government mail, other government documents birth certificates, voter registration cards etc.,” Dunn says. “And if they fill out a declaration of reasonable impediment…then they’ll be permitted to vote a full ballot that will be counted.”
A federal court now has to okay the changes before they go into effect.
It’s Thursday, and that means we have new music by Texas-based artists in our series “Cut In.” But this week, we’re using the term Texas-based loosely. Some great artists who start playing in the state move on to other places – before most of us catch them.
Dallas writer Lyndsay Knecht, pulling from a recent flight of musicians migrating from Texas to Seattle, introduces us to Denton expat Jesse Miller.
The track “Where Do You Belong?” is from a new record Jesse Miller released this week under the name LUWUM. Miller’s best known as the leader of a pack called Señor Fin, musicians who know jazz but play a winding, breezy, crowd-pleasing Beatles-toned rock.
LUWUM is Miller’s more confessional work. It’s got a warmth that hearkens back to American Analog Set’s tight short stories-within-songs – but without the resolution. At just over two minutes, there’s no time for that anyway.
A new real estate report proves that everything really is bigger in Texas – if you’re looking for a big house, that is. Real estate website Trulia reports Austin has the country’s biggest starter homes. Dallas comes in second for houses that are both large and very fancy.
