Texas

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/222615

From WIRED via this RSS feed

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/32291701

The reason is simple: an increase in immigration enforcement, including high-profile ICE raids, shook Texas farm workers to their core. The news filtered fast that workers—regardless of legal status—chose safety over a salary.

Farmers, who had been working with their crews for decades, described the loss as “devastating” and “unprecedented.” This is alarming as most farms are founded upon immigrant labor, both legal and illegal, creating a domino effect for the food system as a whole.

. . . When farm workers vanish, the effects are felt far beyond the fields. Livestock is untended, crops go unpicked, food production declines, and food prices dramatically increase. In Texas alone, where specialty vegetables and fruits must be hand-picked, worker shortages jeopardize entire harvest seasons.

This results in fewer foods on grocery store shelves, higher prices for families nationwide, and a greater reliance on imports. Threads on Reddit and YouTube are already predicting price hikes and empty produce shelves.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.melroy.org/m/upliftingnews@lemmy.world/t/1030806

At issue was how Texas sexual assault law outlined lack of consent. It did not specifically include victims who have been voluntarily intoxicated, making their cases nearly impossible to prosecute.

Exhausted, [Willis] looked across the street and realized she was standing directly across from the site where she said she was raped 10 years ago at a University of Texas at Austin fraternity party. Prosecutors say what happened to her would likely not legally have been considered sexual assault because of a state loophole: she accepted the drink she was handed at that party – which she believes was laced – before she was raped by another person.

Johnson said she and her colleagues with the state’s Sexual Assault Survivors’ Task Force have been workshopping legislation to close the intoxication loophole for at least the last six years, but each time it’s been derailed, previously passing in the House but not the Senate.

On that February day after the race, Willis “was just physically devastated,” Johnson said. Ravenous, Willis snacked as the lawmakers talked to her about the legislation they had in the works and pitched her an idea.

“Would you be willing to let us name this the Summer Willis Act? Would you be willing to come back and testify to get it passed?” Johnson asked.

Texas Rep. Donna Howard authored the bill, which passed unanimously that night.

Despite her victory in Texas, she’s disheartened by what happened with the bill in New York. No one ran. No one bled. But advocates there shared their experiences, just as she had. Is it enough for assault survivors to simply tell their stories and ask for help?

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/29425945

The official said the Justice Department was able to scrap a Texas law giving undocumented immigrants in-state tuition "in six hours” by working with state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

A top Justice Department official boasted at a private Republican gathering that the Trump administration was able to kill a Texas law that gave undocumented immigrants in-state tuition “in six hours” by coordinating with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to a recording obtained by NBC News.

On June 4, the Justice Department sued Texas over the Texas Dream Act, then quickly filed a joint motion with Texas asking a judge to declare the law unconstitutional and permanently enjoin Texas from enforcing the law. The same day, the judge did.

Outside organizations sought to invalidate the ruling Tuesday, arguing that the Justice Department and Paxton’s office “colluded to secure an agreed injunction” and engaged in improper “legal choreography” to obtain their desired outcome.

Some of the proposed laws rejected by Abbott, including a ban on hemp products containing THC, will be the focus of a special legislative session he has called for July 21.

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett withdrew from the race to become the top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight Committee, marking the Dallas Democrat’s second defeat in her attempt to climb the ranks of congressional leadership.

Crockett confirmed her decision to bow out of the race in a text to The Texas Tribune early Tuesday.

House Democrats picked Rep. Robert Garcia as their ranking member on the 47-person panel later Tuesday morning. The California Democrat defeated his remaining rival in the race, Rep. Stephen Lynch, after winning the support of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.

The high-profile Oversight Committee handles issues related to government efficiency and accountability and would likely spearhead investigations into President Donald Trump if Democrats gain control of the House in 2026.

Crockett, who has cultivated a large social media following and is widely seen as a rising star in the party, officially jumped into the race to replace the committee’s former top Democrat, U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, after he died in May.

In a letter to colleagues announcing her bid, Crockett advocated for a more aggressive Democratic response to the Trump administration.

“Every hearing, every investigation, every public moment must serve the dual purpose of accountability and must demonstrate why a House Democratic majority is essential for America’s future,” Crockett wrote.

Many Democrats considered Crockett for the post but found her messaging style to be overzealous. Crockett previously faced criticism after referring to Gov. Greg Abbott as “Governor Hot Wheels.” For the past 40 years, Abbott has been in a wheelchair after being paralyzed by a falling tree.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/31810734

Texas will require all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments under a new law that will make the state the nation's largest to attempt to impose such a mandate.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced Saturday that he signed the bill, which is expected to draw a legal challenge from critics who consider it an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.

A similar law in Louisiana was blocked when a federal appeals court ruled Friday that it was unconstitutional. Arkansas also has a similar law that has been challenged in federal court.

Crossposted from https://lemmy.world/post/31725746

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/67403218

Full text to avoid paywall:

The FBI has accused a Texas man, James Wesley Burger, of planning an Islamic State-style terrorist attack on a Christian music festival and talking about it on Roblox. The feds caught Burger after another Roblox user overheard his conversations about martyrdom and murder and tipped them off. The feds said that when they searched Burger’s phone they found a list of searches that included “ginger isis member” and “are suicide attacks haram in islam.”

According to charging documents, a Roblox player contacted federal authorities after seeing another player called “Crazz3pain” talking about killing people. Screenshots from the server and included in the charging documents show Roblox avatars with beards dressed in Keffiyehs talking about dealing a “greivoius [sic] wound upon followers of the cross.”

“The witness observed the user of Crazz3pain state they were willing, as reported by the Witness, to ‘kill Shia Musilms at their mosque,” court records said. “Crazz3pain and another Roblox user[…]continued to make violent statements so the witness left the game.”

The witness stayed off of Roblox for two days and when they returned they saw Crazz3pain say something else that worried them, according to the court filing. “The Witness observed Crazz3pain tell Roblox User 1 to check their message on Discord,” the charging document said. “Roblox User 1 replied on Roblox to Crazz3pain, they should delete the photograph of firearms within the unknown Discord chat, ‘in case it was flagged as suspicious…the firearms should be kept hidden.”

According to the witness, Crazz3pain kept talking about their desire to commit “martyrdom” at a Christian event and that he wanted to “bring humiliation to worshippers of the cross.” The Witness allegedly asked Crazz3pain if the attack would happen at a church service and Crazz3pain told them it would happen at a concert.

Someone asked Crazz3pain when it would happen. “‘It will be months…Shawwal…April,’” Crazz3pain said. Shawwal is the month after Ramadan in the Islamic calendar. The conversations the witness shared with the FBI happened on January 21 and 23, 2025.

Roblox gave authorities Crazz3pain’s email address, name, physical address, and IP address and it all pointed back to James Wesley Burger. The FBI searched Burger’s home on February 28 and discovered that someone in his family had put on a keylogger on the laptop he used to play Roblox and that they’d captured a lot of what he’d been typing while playing the game. They turned over the records to the feds.

“The safety of our community is among our highest priorities. In this case, we moved swiftly to assist law enforcement’s investigation before any real-world harm could occur and investigated and took action in accordance with our policies. We have a robust set of proactive and preventative safety measures designed to help swiftly detect and remove content that violates our policies," a spokesperson for Roblox told 404 Media. "Our Community Standards explicitly prohibit any content or behavior that depicts, supports, glorifies, or promotes terrorist or extremist organizations in any way. We have dedicated teams focused on proactively identifying and swiftly removing such content, as well as supporting requests from and providing assistance to law enforcement. We also work closely with other platforms and in close collaboration with safety organizations to keep content that violates our policies off our platform, and will continue to diligently enforce our policies.”

Burger’s plan to kill Christians was allegedly captured by the keylogger. “I’ve come to conclude it will befall the 12 of Shawwal aa/And it will be a music festival /Attracting bounties of Christians s/In’shaa’allah we will attain martyrdom /And deal a grevious [sic] wound upon the followers of the Cross /Pray for me and enjoin yourself to martyrdom,” he allegedly typed in Roblox, according to court records.

The FBI then interviewed Burger in his living room and he admitted he used the Crazz3pain account to play Roblox. The feds asked him about his alleged plan to kill Christians at a concert. Burger said it was, at the time, “mostly a heightened emotional response,” according to the court records.

Burger also said that the details “became exaggerated” but that the goal “hasn’t shifted a bit,” according to the court records. He said he wanted to “[G]et the hell out of the U.S.” And if he can’t, “then, martyrdom or bust.”

He said that his intention with the attack “is something that is meant to or will cause terror,” according to the charging document. When the FBI agent asked if he was a terrorist, Burger said, “I mean, yeah, yeah. By, by the sense and … by my very own definition, yes, I guess, you know, I would be a terrorist.”

When authorities searched his iPhone, they discovered two notes on the phone that described how to avoid leaving behind DNA and fingerprints at a crime scene. A third note appeared to be a note explaining the attack, meant to be read after it occured.

The list of previous searches on his iPhone included “Which month is april in islam,” “Festivals happening near me,” “are suicide attacks haram in islam,” “ginger isis member,” “lone wolf terrorists isis,” and “can tou kill a woman who foesnt[sic] wear hijab.”

Burger has been charged with making violent threats online and may spend time in a federal prison if convicted. This is not the first time something like this has happened on Roblox. The popular children’s game has been a popular spot for extremist behavior, including Nazis and religious terrorists, for years now. Last year, the DOJ accused a Syrian man living in Albanian of using Roblox to coordinate a group of American teenagers to disrupt public city council Zoom meetings.

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/44040988

Four years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas would be the first state to build its own border wall, lawmakers have quietly stopped funding the project, leaving only scattered segments covering a small fraction of the border.

That decision, made in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session, leaves the future of the state wall unclear. Just 8% of the 805 miles the state identified for construction is complete, which has cost taxpayers more than $3 billion to date. The Texas Tribune reported last year that the wall is full of gaps that migrants and smugglers can easily walk around and mostly concentrated on sprawling ranches in rural areas, where illegal border crossings are less likely to occur.

State leaders suggested the federal government could pick up the effort. However, during President Donald Trump’s first term, when wall building was his top priority, his administration completed just 21 miles in Texas — about a third of what the state was able to build over the past four years.

The Tribune reported last year that the state’s wall program would take around 30 years and more than $20 billion to complete.