Headlines

No boring ribbon-cutting here – instead, runners taking part in the Hill Country Conservancy and REI's 5K run and 1K walk Saturday morning broke the ribbon, marking the grand opening of the Slaughter Trailhead and the completion of phase one of the Violet Crown Trail. Joining the celebration were Council Member Paige Ellis and HCC CEO George Cofer. (Photo by John Anderson)

By Any Other Name: A Confederate statue at the Capitol featuring Confederate President Jefferson Davis was vandalized Sunday with the spray-painted word "racists" in red. The State Preservation Board cleaned the paint later that day, and state police are still searching for who defaced the monument illegally, albeit with accuracy.

Inhuman Conditions: A Department of Homeland Security watchdog found "dangerous overcrowding" and "standing room only" at an El Paso Border Patrol processing facility. The center held 900 detainees on May 8, though its maximum capacity is 125. Health and safety were severely lacking, including limited access to showers and clean clothing, and some stood on toilets in the cells to make space.

Sit Down, Next: A federal lawsuit brought by D.C.-based organization "Speech First," claiming that UT-Austin policies against offensive speech inhibit the First Amendment rights of three unidentified students, was dismissed by Judge Lee Yeakel Tuesday for lack of evidence that any student had been harmed by the policies.

One Step Forward: Doing some good for a change, Gov. Abbott signed five bills into law on Tuesday that support both survivors of sexual assault and human trafficking. The newly minted laws will create a Sexual Assault Survivors' Task Force within the governor's office, establish a statewide teleSANE center to connect survivors with Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, and better fund services for victims of human trafficking.

Abbott Hearts Whitley: Emails released by the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Campaign Legal Center reflect that in 2018, Gov. Abbott's office requested the Depart­ment of Public Safety data that led to the botched attempted voter purge by disgraced Sec. of State David Whitley. Despite the evidence, the governor's office denied any involvement.

Two Strange Bedfellows: Progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and everyone's least favorite conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, actually agree on something and hell has yet to freeze over. The unlikely duo vowed to tackle a lifetime lobbying ban for members of Congress after they retire or lose their seats. Their plan comes after a report from Public Citizen that found nearly two-thirds of Congress members who either retired or lost their seats in the midterms later got jobs at lobbying firms.