The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.
Dallas-based communications company AT&T announced Saturday that it plans to buy Time Warner for over $85 billion.
The proposed mega-purchase is raising questions from politicians, regulators, and consumer interest groups.
In a written statement, the AT&T claimed the deal would lead to new, innovative content for consumers. Critics of the deal say it would restrict competition and create a monopoly.
The Justice Department must approve the deal before it can be finalized.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Saturday he would block the deal if elected president.
“AT&T is buying Time Warner and thus CNN – a deal we will not approve in our admin because it’s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,” he said.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has questions about it too. A spokesman for Clinton, Brian Fallon, said on Sunday that she believes regulators should scrutinize the deal closely.
For the second time this month, a Texas judge has left the Republican party to join the Democratic party.
Judge Lauren Parish presides over the 115th judicial district court in East Texas.
Parish served as a Democrat earlier in her career but later became a Republican before changing back. Parish explained that she was leaving the GOP due to the behavior of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“It is with a heavy heart that I have watched as the Republican nominee for president has made a mockery of our country and our citizenry,” she said. “I have watched in horror as he has disavowed our military heroes, made fun of the handicapped, divided our country along racial, religious, and gender lines, mocked the judicial branch of government, expounded untruth after untruth, promoted violence and disrespect, boasted about sexual assaults of women, and made vitriol the platform of his campaign.
“In short, my family values, my Christian values, my core beliefs, have been disenfranchised by our party’s nominee for president.”
Parish is up for reelection in 2018.
Another Judge, Terry Jennings of the First Court of Appeals, switched from Republican to Democrat earlier this month.
It was a tough weekend for most big-time Texas college football teams. Division one teams from Texas won just four games against seven losses. And schools from major conferences led the way in the loss column.
The University of Texas, Houston, TCU, Texas A&M and Texas Tech all suffered defeats. Baylor had the week off.
But one Texas team’s loss is another one’s gain.
Southern Methodist scored a big upset over Houston. And the University of Texas–El Paso Miners finally eked out a win over the UT-San Antonio Roadrunners after five overtime periods.
