News Roundup: Early Voting Will Resume At Texas State University

Our daily look at Texas headlines.

By Becky FogelOctober 29, 2018 1:24 pm

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

Central Texas officials have agreed to reopen an early voting site on a San Marcos college campus after voting rights advocates threatened a lawsuit.

As Texas Public Radio reported, Hays County Commissioners voted Friday to reopen the polling site at Texas State University. It was operating during the first three days of the early voting period, which began last Monday, Oct. 22.

After the polling location closed down as planned last Wednesday, the Texas Civil Rights Project sent a demand letter Thursday to Hays County Commissioners on behalf of MOVE Texas and the League of Women Voters. MOVE Texas Executive Director Drew Galloway says they were surprised the commissioners agreed to their requests.

“Not only did we get the early voting site extension that we asked for at Texas State, they also added two other polling places for early voting in the county, and they also added an Election Day polling place at Texas State as well,” Galloway says.


The polling location on campus will reopen this Thursday, Nov. 1, due to a five-day notice requirement. In the meantime, a shuttle is being provided for students to vote at other sites in the county.

Throughout Texas, early voting runs through Friday, Nov. 2, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6.

The family of a 26-year-old black man who was shot and killed in his own apartment by a white, former Dallas police officer has filed a federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed Friday says Amber Guyger used excessive force when she gunned down Botham Jean, a St. Lucia native, in early September. Guyger had said she mistook his apartment for her own and thought she’d encountered an intruder. That’s a claim attorneys for Jean’s family have disputed.


Guyger and the city of Dallas are named as defendants in the suit. The lawsuit contends the Dallas Police department did not adequately train Guyger, who had ended her shift prior to the shooting.

Attorney Lee Merritt represents the Jean family. He spoke with KERA last week before the lawsuit was filed, and says Jean’s family wants to see systemic change.

“And so, to see his life cut so short, the family is thinking that much, much more should come from this than a settlement some day, or some sort of financial compensation. And what something more looks like: policy changes in the way officers are trained, not only in the city of Dallas but throughout the country,” Merritt said.

Attorneys for the city of Dallas and Guyger have declined to comment on the lawsuit.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich reached a career milestone this past weekend. It came after DeMar DeRozan nearly achieved a triple-double, and helped the Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers Saturday.

With the Spurs’ 110-106 win over L.A., Popovich became the first NBA coach ever to reach 1,200 regular-season career wins with a single team.

The only other coach with a similar achievement is former Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan. Sloan has a combined 1,223 regular-season and playoff victories during 23 seasons with the Jazz. Both Popovich and Sloan rank among the NBA coaches with the most coaching victories ever.

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