News Roundup: More High Schools Give Students A Chance To Register To Vote

Our daily look at Texas headlines.

By Becky FogelJuly 2, 2019 2:37 pm

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

According to a new report from the Texas Civil Rights Project, the percentage of high schools in Texas giving their students the opportunity to vote increased slightly in the last year.

They found 38% of schools either requested voter registration forms from the state, or conducted a voter registration drive with a local group. Texas law requires schools to provide eligible students with the chance to register to vote at least twice during the academic year.

James Slattery is with the Texas Civil Rights Project. Currently, schools need to request voter registration forms from the Texas Secretary of State, but Slattery says that’s not ideal.

“The secretary should be providing voter registration forms to schools automatically at the beginning of every school year,” Slattery says.

The report found the five most populous counties in the state saw explosive growth in voter registration. Those counties are Bexar, Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Travis.

“These five counties have over 40% of the grade 12 population in the state of Texas,” Slattery says.

Slattery adds research shows if students vote in the first few elections they’re eligible for, they’re more likely to become lifelong voters.




A Salvadoran man deported more than two years ago after a routine immigration appointment arrived back home in Texas Monday night.

Elizabeth Trovall with Houston Public Media has more on the man’s long-awaited return from El Salvador.

Friends, family and members of Houston’s Congressional delegation welcomed home Jose Escobar with cheers and American flags at the airport. Escobar’s wife Rose, a U.S. citizen, says she’s beyond happy.

“This day is marked as one of the days I will forever remember,”  Rose Escobar said.

Escobar was deported in 2017 after an immigration policy shift under the Trump administration. Escobar came legally to the U.S. as a young teenager under Temporary Protected Status, but botched paperwork and ineffective legal aid led him to lose his immigration status. Through an expedited waver, Escobar is back in Houston as a legal permanent resident.

 




Fort Hood held a ceremony Monday to dedicate a room in its air terminal to a woman affectionately known as the “Hug Lady.” Before she died in 2015, Elizabeth Laird embraced roughly 500,000 soldiers as they flew in and out of the Central Texas base.

Her daughter, Susan Dewees-Taylor spoke at the event and closed her remarks with a fitting request.

“At this time, I would like everyone to stand up…now I’d like everyone to give each other a hug….” Dewees-Taylor said.

Laird was, herself, an Air Force veteran.