Bexar County And The City Of Dallas Join Growing List Of SB 4 Plaintiffs

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By Becky FogelJune 8, 2017 11:23 am

The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.

Make room for a few more plaintiffs: The City of Dallas and Bexar County  announced that they’re joining Austin and San Antonio in suing the state of Texas over Senate Bill 4.

The so-called “sanctuary cities” law requires local officials to honor warrantless requests from federal immigration officials to keep suspected unauthorized immigrants in jail ­– even if they’ve been cleared for release.

The law is scheduled to take effect in September and also allows officers to ask about someone’s immigration status when they are detained.

The Bexar County commissioners voted unanimously to join the suit earlier this week.

Commissioner Sergio Rodriguez supported joining other jurisdictions in legal action.

“Not every dark-looking Hispanic is illegal here,” Rodriguez says. “And so I have strong issues with those. This is going to be a lot of racial profiling. And I have some concerns with what’s going on and I think we need to continue to support the lawsuit and have the sheriff’s back on this.”

A federal judge has set a date to hear arguments on whether the Texas ban on sanctuary cities should be put on hold while a legal battle proceeds. That hearing on Senate Bill 4 is set for Monday, June 26.




Five women and seven men have been chosen for the astronaut class of 2017.

During yesterday’s ceremony at the Johnson Space Center, Vice President Mike Pence promised the Trump administration is committed to NASA’s mission.

Houston Public Media’s Ed Mayberry has more:

The dozen new astronaut candidates were chosen from more than 18,300 applicants, and they were introduced by NASA’s Brian Kelly.

These new astronauts will be doing research on the International Space Station, or traveling to the moon or Mars.

Vice President Pence promises that NASA will have the resources he says it needs to continue to make history.

“Under President Donald Trump, America will lead in space once again, and the world will marvel,” he said.

Pence says after being disbanded two decades ago, President Trump is relaunching the National Space Council. The council helped marshal energy and skills for America’s initial space exploration. The vice president says he will chair the relaunched council, which will advise the president on space policy.




The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals won’t get involved in a dispute over the judge in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s securities fraud case.

Prosecutors had asked the state’s highest criminal court to reverse a lower appeals court decision that paved the way for Paxton to get a new judge in the case, something he’s been pushing for.