It’s time for the week that was in Texas politics with Alex Samuels, political reporter for The Texas Tribune.
This week, the Texas Legislative Black Caucus introduced the CROWN Act – which stands for Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair – in response to a viral story about a Texas high school student named DeAndre Arnold who was told that he would not be allowed to walk at his graduation if he did not cut his dreadlocks. The CROWN Act would ban discrimination based on hair textures and styles.
In national news, the Iowa state Democratic Party still hasn’t produced definitive results from Monday’s caucuses. That has caused some Texas Democrats to raise concerns about the way Texas reports election results, ahead of the primary election here on March 3. Samuels says the Texas secretary of state’s office sent an email Thursday saying that it’s updating the reporting system so counties can report results on Super Tuesday.
“So, they’re basically fixing what would have caused that delay in the first place,” Samuels says.
On Wednesday, the majority of the Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump of the two articles of impeachment against him. Both Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz voted along party lines to acquit. During the impeachment trial, Ted Cruz started an successful podcast about the proceedings, and he will likely continue the podcast even though the trial is over, Samuels says.
Written by Morgan Kuehler.
