Tag Archives: State: Texas

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “. . . according to an AP report yesterday, four individual members of the 15-person Board have sent an e-mail to all school districts encouraging them to adopt one specific approach– the National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public …

The Dallas Morning News reports: Sara Lee Goff, owner of the Condoms to Go and Sara’s Secret stores, has filed a lawsuit accusing the cities of unfairly rejecting her efforts to open shops within their borders. The suit, filed Monday …

Dallas schools will be safer for gay students, teachers and parents, says a new agreement between the Dallas Independent School District and Lambda Legal.

The El Paso Times reports: Sexually oriented businesses in the county will now have to comply with regulations about where they can be located and how they can present themselves to the community . . . The main restriction on …

The quiet time, mandated by the Legislature since 2003, has survived one federal court challenge, but a pending appeal seeks to scrap the practice as an improper religious exercise.

The trial for the co-owners of a Duncanville sex club is now set for next month. Jim Trulock and Julie Norris are charged with violating the city’s sexually oriented business ordinance. They were supposed to go on trial Monday but prosecutors pushed the trial back to Oct. 27.

Justice Don R. Willett has this commentary in the Austin American-Statesman. He writes: The Court’s landmark Heller decision last June agreed 5-4 with Texas that “the District of Columbia’s categorical gun ban is markedly out of step with the judgment …

KVUE.com reports:  Two 26-foot trucks showing images of 10-week-old aborted fetuses wound through downtown Austin this week, as part of a group’s campaign against abortion. ”Even when you do this story and say ‘these pictures are too awful to look at,’ …

On Tuesday, Texas Child Protective Services filed to “nonsuit” four more children taken into state custody in the raid on the YFZ Ranch. That brings the total number dropped to 291, agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins told the Deseret News.

Fox News reports: “A Texas teen claims she is forbidden from wearing a rosary around her neck in school because the Catholic prayer beads are a gang symbol, MyFOXDFW.com reported.”

The Star-Telegram reports:  North Texas agencies should better identify victims of underage forced sex rings and prosecute their pimps on trafficking charges, according an assessment released last week. Some minors caught engaging in prostitution are treated as juvenile delinquents or …

OneNewsNow.com reports: “A Texas pro-life group has launched a statewide effort to promote a license plate it says promotes real choice for women. Texas Alliance for Life has launched the ‘Choose Life Texas Tour’ to drum up support for a Choose Life …

The Religion Clause Blog links to a ruling by the Texas Court of Appeal.  The court ruled against a church’s claim of exemption from property taxes on grounds that the church failed to follow proper administrative procedures in the adjudication. …

The Austin American-Statesman reports: “A judge in Travis County has ordered a woman to stop having children as a condition of her probation in her case of injury to a child by omission, an extraordinary measure that legal experts say …

The ABA Journal reports: Yolanda and Arnold Del Bosque have taken care of their 1- and 2-year-old grandchildren since they were infants. But a Texas judge said t a hearing last month that the state should take the tots away …

A Houston strip club shut down Tuesday after a state district judge ruled it violated a 1997 city ordinance [No. 97-75, § 3] regulating “sexually oriented businesses.”

The Houston Chronicle reports: “Planned Parenthood’s upcoming expansion into an existing six-story building on the Gulf Freeway has galvanized abortion opponents and led them to protest outside the site and the construction company that will carry out renovations.”

Child by child, Texas authorities are acknowledging that many of the children seized during a raid on a polygamist sect’s ranch can safely live with their parents or guardians.

The Houston Chronicle reports: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was supposed to settle a dispute over whether public schools must offer a course in Biblical study, but his opinion Thursday created more confusion. Yes, schools are required to offer a …

In Houston, Planned Parenthood is planning what could be the largest freestanding abortion facility in the Western hemisphere. Located along a major freeway in a strategic area for an abortion facility, the building stands seven stories high.

The AP reports: “Two new indictments against members of a polygamist sect have added bigamy charges against men already accused of the sexual assault of a child.”

For months, the Houston Police Department’s vice squad has been raiding adult bookstores and arcades across the city. The raids, including the latest at the Houston 420-Talk of the Town on Thursday night, netted plenty of arrests of those patronizing the stores.

An auto body shop worker was convicted and swiftly sentenced to life in prison Thursday for grooming children as young as 5 to perform in sex shows at a small-town swingers club.

Child Protective Services had asked Texas District Judge Barbara Walther to return the children to foster care, alleging their mothers refused to ensure they didn’t have contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Thursday refused to grant a writ of habeas corpus to convicted murder Khristian Oliver, who had argued that his Sixth and Eighth Amendment rights were violated when the jury took Bible passages into account when deliberating on his eventual death sentence.

Commissioners Court on Monday revised some of the items it would like in a sexually-oriented-business ordinance for unincorporated areas of the county.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit Monday in defense of a Texas law requiring students to observe one minute of silence following the Pledge of Allegiance.

On today’s Jerry Johnson Live Hosts: Dr. Johnson and Penna Dexter 5:05 A legal appeal over a challenge to the state of Texas “Moment of Silence” in public schools is heating up. This fall the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals …

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “In San Angelo, Texas, state Child Protective Services is back in court in connection with children of FLDS Church members . . . In each case, the mothers involved refuse to agree to keep the …

The NY Times reports: “In a case that has drawn international attention, Texas executed José E. Medellín on Tuesday night in defiance of an international court ruling and despite pleas from the Bush administration for a new hearing.” SCOTUS Blog …

The Christian Post reports: In court papers filed Friday, Abbott urged the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the state’s required moment of silence, which a lower court has declared constitutional. “The United States Constitution plainly protects young …

The Houston Chronicle reports: A legal appeal over a 2003 Texas law mandating a moment of silence for schoolchildren is heating up. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to hear the case this fall. Both sides have …

In a brief filed Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Attorney General Abbott argued that Texas’ moment of silence statute is entirely constitutional.

The Houston Chronicle has this report: “Texas. It’s like a whole other country.” Coined to promote tourism, that wry verbal wink at the state’s mythic image has assumed a literal meaning as Texas finds itself in defiance of the United …

It’s not often that you see a conviction reversed because of evidentiary error, much less on plain error review. But that’s exactly what happened to one of the four child pornography counts of which Baker was convicted

LifeSiteNews.com reports:  ”The Catholic Charities of the diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, is being sued by the former director of its HIV/AIDS program because the organisation refuses to make condom use a part of its prevention programs.”

The AP reports: A woman prosecutors say helped make a graphic videotape of her two visiting grandchildren has pleaded guilty in a Texas child pornography case. The U.S. attorney’s office said Friday that 51-year-old Denise Ward of Overland Park, Kan., …

The AP reports: Baylor University regents on Thursday fired the school president, the second in three years to leave amid clashes with the faculty at the world’s largest Baptist university. Board Chairman Howard K. Batson repeatedly declined to elaborate on …

The Dallas Morning News reports: According to court documents released Wednesday, sex parties are held at the home in the 1300 block of North Cedar Ridge Drive every Friday and Saturday for 50 to 80 people, or 80 to 100 …

Click2Houston.com reports: “A man was fatally shot outside a southeast Houston strip club on Sunday, KPRC Local 2 reported.”

The Houston Chronicle reports: A long-running dispute between members of Houston’s oldest Korean-American church could be one step closer to resolution after a judge issued a partial ruling in favor of the church’s board of elders. A judge’s decision this …

The Free Market Foundation has issued this press release that begins: In response to the Texas State Board of Education’s (10-5) vote today to approve curriculum standards and TEKS (requirements) for Bible electives offered in Texas high schools, Free Market …

SCOTUS Blog has this updated report on the World Court’s ruling ordering Texas not to execute Mexican murderers. It begins: “Acting on a claim by Mexico’s government that the U.S. government has not done enough to assure the treaty rights …

The Free Market Foundation has issued a press release indicating: WHAT: The Texas State Board of Education will be hearing testimony today on the current TEKS for Bible electives to be taught in Texas high schools. Just last week, the …

“The world court has no standing in Texas and Texas is not bound by a ruling or edict from a foreign court,” Perry spokesman Robert Black said.

WFAA.com reports: “Dallas police say more than stripping goes on in at Rick’s Cabaret. While known as the Penthouse Club, the club more than a dozen violations for prostitution. In 2006, the city eventually closed it down, but the owners …

“The U.N.’s highest court on Wednesday ordered the United States to stay the executions of five Mexicans on Texas death row pending review of their cases.”

The Temple Daily Telegram reports on the efforts by Milam County to regulate sexually oriented businesses. It indicates: Regulating sexually oriented businesses was not at the top of the Milam County Commissioner’s Court list of pressing issues until the county …

LifeNews.com reports: “A teenager in a Houston suburb says her mother forced her to have an abortion and then buried the body of the baby in the backyard. Police have investigated the case and may have discovered the baby’s body …

The Battalion reports: Bryan-College Station residents may notice the individuals standing outside Planned Parenthood day to day – some may honk, others wave – but few know who they are. Shawn Carney, class of 2005 and executive director of the …

The Houston Chroncle reports: A proposed Bible course for public schools would not violate the First Amendment, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said Wednesday, although he would not approve any specific curriculum. A letter from Abbott’s office to the State …

A McAllen man facing child pornography charges entered a guilty plea Wednesday. In an appearance before the 139th District Court, Jack Arnold Heflin, 30, pleaded guilty to three counts of child pornography promotion and a single count of possession.

The Student Press Law Center reports: Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina may no longer be in the running for the presidency, but a Waxahachie High School junior still wants the right to wear apparel supporting his candidacy. Paul “Pete” …

The El Paso Times: Strip clubs, adult bookstores and adult theaters may soon face county restrictions after years of operating with nearly no local oversight. El Paso County Commissioners Court on Thursday will have a public hearing to allow people …

The Religion Clause blog reports on a new lawsuit filed, Comer v. Scott, (WD TX, filed July 2, 2008)(complaint) alleging that “By professing ‘neutrality,’ the Agency unconstitutionally credits creationism, a religious belief, as a valid scientific theory.”

The American-Statesman reports: “Texans would have to wait two years to get a divorce — unless they take a class designed to save their marriage — under a proposal a key state lawmaker says he plans to revive.”

The Becket Fund issued this press release on June 11th that begins: “Judge Royal Furgeson, a federal judge in San Antonio, Texas, issued a consent decree that ended seven years of litigation between Castle Hills First Baptist Church and the …

“The Texas Supreme Court on Friday threw out a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of her old church, ruling that the case unconstitutionally entangled the court in religious matters.”

Liberty Legal Institute has issued this press release. It reports: “Free Market Foundation a Texas-based, pro-family group with both a legislative and legal division (Liberty Legal Institute). The force of legal experts is enlisting 10,000 Texans to help launch a …

However, hospitals and doctors should be aware that the “safe harbor” of legal immunity that Texas offers as an incentive to doctors who make use of the .046 procedure is not as safe as it might appear.

Liberty Legal Institute has issued this press release: LIBERTY LEGAL INSTITUTE Headquarters: 903 East 18th Street, Suite 230 * Plano, TX 75074 Phone: 972-423-8889 ext 102, Fax: (972) 423-8899 MEDIA CONTACT: Nicole Hay 972-423-8889 ext 102 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June …

The AP reports: A justice of the peace can no longer give parents the choice of paying a fine or paddling their children in open court for now, a judge ruled Wednesday. Los Fresnos Justice of the Peace Gustavo Garza …

The ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State have issued this press release that begins: Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas submitted a friend-of-the-court brief …

The AP reports: Gov. Rick Perry hinted Thursday that members of a polygamist sect whose children were recently returned amid a botched sex-abuse investigation should pack their bags, a newspaper reported . . . “If you are going to conduct …

The AP reports: A South Texas justice of the peace will find himself in another judge’s courtroom this morning, likely grateful that one — unlike his own — contains no wooden paddles. Cameron County Justice of the Peace Gustavo Garza …

Maggie Gallagher has this commentary on Townhall. She writes: . . . The Texas polygamy case prompted a wide variety of public reactions. As someone who is about as opposed to polygamy as it is possible to be, my first …

The Pacific Justice Institute has issued this press release. It reports: . . . But while national attention has focused on the bizarre events in Texas, attorneys across the nation insist that abuses of power by many states’ child protective …

The Houston Chronicle reports: The Friendswood Junior High principal who outraged some parents by allowing an Islamic group to make a 40-minute presentation to students last month is now off the job. In a two-sentence statement sent late Wednesday, the …

WorldNetDaily reports: An Internet campaign has been launched calling for the impeachment of the Texas judge who ordered hundreds of children at the compound owned by the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church taken into state custody. The online campaign, found …

The NY Times reports: . . . Now a battle looms in Texas over science textbooks that teach evolution, and the wrestle for control seizes on three words. None of them are “creationism” or “intelligent design” or even “creator.” The …

The Dallas Morning News reports: Dr. Love and Ms. Jennings, who were married in Canada three years ago, are hastily planning a late June ceremony in Los Angeles to recognize their vows in the U.S . . . Leaders in …

The AP reports: “A Texas district judge has ordered the return of more than 400 children taken from a polygamist group’s ranch. Parents are allowed to begin picking up their children at 10 a.m. Monday.” The report also indicates that …

Eugene Volokh comments on and links to the opinion in this post on the Volokh Conspiracy. The AP reports: Court: Sect children should be returned to parents. It begins: “In a crushing blow to the state’s massive seizure of children …

WorldNetDaily reports: “Public school students at Friendswood Junior High in the Houston area have been roped into Islamic training by representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations during class time, prompting religious leaders to protest over Principal Robin Lowe’s actions.”

The ACLU has issued this press release that reports: . . . Last month, TDFPS seized more than 400 children during a raid on the YFZ Ranch, where individuals affiliated with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints …