Cash-Strapped in Austin: A new report from United Way’s ALICE Project found that a third of households in Travis County struggle to make ends meet. In Austin, that figure was even higher, reaching 42% (or nearly 140,000 households). The report shows it costs about $66,000 a year to raise a family of four in Travis County, versus the lower statewide average of $53,000 a year.
Rally Against Choice: Hundreds gathered at the Capitol last Saturday, Jan. 26, to support anti-choice bills this legislative session. The annual Texas Rally for Life featured speakers including freshman U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, and Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, whose job has nothing to do with women’s health. Pro-choice women in Handmaid’s Tale garb counter-protested the event. Roy’s former boss, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, skipped this year’s rally but visited the Capitol earlier in the week to stump for “school choice.”
Left-Leaning Nazis? Republicans in Houston, having pretty much gotten their clocks cleaned in November, appear to have learned little from the experience. The Harris County GOP honored National Holocaust Remembrance Day by posting on Facebook: “Leftism kills. In memory of the 6 million Jews lost to Nazi hatred in the name of National Socialism.” Why honor the dead when you can use them to slander the living?
Y the Hell Not: Item 30 on today’s City Council agenda would approve Austin’s participation in TxDOT’s Oak Hill Expressway project, to the tune of $3.3 million in right-of-way funds for the nearly $500 million reconstruction of the “Y” junction of U.S. 290 and SH 71. Local opponents and environmental groups say the approved design threatens the community and the environment, and are seeking a delay for more consideration.
Sexual Assault Healing: Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt is trying to heal still-fresh wounds. On Tuesday, she announced, along with former state Sen. Wendy Davis, the creation of a Sexual Assault Prevention and Healing Work Group that they will lead. Eckhardt declined to name any potential members of the group, which hopes to mend divisions that have been growing between advocates, law enforcement, and the District Attorney’s Office as all parties aim to best serve survivors of sexual assault.
Kidnapped and Uncounted: How many children have been separated from their families by the Trump administration’s border policies? No idea: Border agents began family separations in 2017 – nearly a year before it was publicly acknowledged – and kept no substantive records of the practice. The source is an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security‘s inspector general, which concludes that “the total number of children separated from a parent or guardian by immigration authorities is unknown,” but estimates that it’s in the “thousands.”
This article appears in February 1 • 2019.