Home Breaking News| Texas News Officials: only 3 remain missing in Kerr County; Redistricting dominates special session;...

Officials: only 3 remain missing in Kerr County; Redistricting dominates special session; NPR’s CEO talks funding cuts

This is TPR’s roundup of the latest headlines and news developments. It provides a summary of the stories TPR is following.

Today’s weather: It’s going to be mostly cloudy with a high near 96 and a heat index as high as 101. Mostly cloudy tonight, with a low around 76.

Number of missing in Kerr County falls to 3

The number of missing from the July 4th catastrophic flash flood in Kerr County, Texas has suddenly dropped.

Texas officials said on Friday that the number of missing was about 97 after the flood. Now the number has been revised to three.

“Many individuals who were initially reported as missing have been verified as safe and removed from the list,” said the City of Kerrville in a news release.

The number of missing had been difficult for officials to estimate since the flood hit on a holiday weekend and the riverfront was crowded with unregistered campers and other visitors. The flash flood killed at least 135 people along the upper Guadalupe River.

Texas Public Radio and The Texas Newsroom have the latest on the recovery efforts, donation and volunteer opportunities, and more.

Redistricting dominates special session agenda

Texas lawmakers return to the State Capitol today for the start of the special session.

Gov. Greg Abbott put redistricting on the special session call following a letter from the U.S. Justice Department naming four Democratic districts as “illegal racial gerrymanders.”

Texas currently has 25 Republican congressional districts and 12 Democratic congressional districts.

Trump told Texas Republican members of Congress he wants to pick up five seats in the mid-decade round of redistricting.

Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered lawmakers back to Austin for a special session. They will take on issues like funding for flooding, THC regulation and cutting property taxes but also for a controversial snap redistricting plan.

Court rules on ‘Death Star’ bill

An appeals court has upheld a Texas law that limits enforcement of local ordinances by cities — two years after the law was ruled unconstitutional by a Travis County judge.

The so-called “Death Star” bill was designed to overturn city policies such as mask mandates and water breaks for construction workers.

The bill was backed by Gov. Gregg Abbott and aimed to undercut Democratic city leaders in the state. The cities of Houston, El Paso and San Antonio sued the state to block the law in 2023.

The City of San Antonio Attorney’s Office says the dismissal will not prevent cities from raising constitutional issues if specific challenges arise.

The 2023 law, previously ruled unconstitutional by a Travis County judge, prevents cities from enforcing ordinances that don’t align with broad swaths of state law.

NPR’s CEO talks funding cuts

NPR’s President and CEO Katherine Maher announced the public broadcaster will be cutting its budget by about $8 million in order to provide that money to member stations most impacted by last week’s rescission of federal funding.

Public radio stations across the country — including TPR — lost a total of $350 million in funding when Congress narrowly voted to approve President Trump’s clawback of funds for public broadcasting that were already approved for the next two fiscal years.

Seventy-nine public radio and 33 TV stations in 34 states and territories are classified as “vulnerable” to closing down with the loss of federal funding, according to a report released by Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington.

Judson ISD ends contract with financial consultant

In June, trustees voted four-to-three to give Board President Monica Ryan the power to hire a financial consultant to work directly with the board to make cuts. But now the superintendent will be back in the driver’s seat.

TPR previously reported the consultant was being paid $1,500 a day — a daily rate that came out to about $400 more a day than Judson pays its superintendent.

Trustee José Macias Jr. made a motion late Thursday night to end the consultant’s contract after she works her final two days and let the superintendent reach out to her when he wants advice hammering out a financial solvency plan.

Two new trustees that had been voting in lockstep with the board president since the May election …voted alongside Macias and his allies, allowing the motion to end the contract to pass.

The consultant was hired to help the school board understand the budget and cut costs.

Uvalde families show up for California court hearing

A hearing was held in Los Angeles on Friday involving families of victims of the Robb Elementary school shooting and makers of the video game, Call of Duty.

Families filed the lawsuit last year against Meta, Instagram parent’s company, Activision, the maker of Call of Duty, and the gunmaker Daniel Defense. Attorneys for the video game are asking a judge to dismiss the case against them, citing First Amendment Rights.

Plaintiff attorney Josh Koskoff said on Friday the advent of Call of Duty and mass shooting are tied together.

“Tell me again it’s a coincidence that the advent of mass shootings has occurred with the advent of Call of Duty, because those two things are going in parallel,” he said.

The lawsuit refers to the social media company, video game maker and gun manufacturer as an “unholy trinity” that convert alienated teenage boys into mass shooters.

Great Job Marian Navarro & the Team @ Texas Public Radio Source link for sharing this story.

#FROUSA #HillCountryNews #NewBraunfels #ComalCounty #LocalVoices #IndependentMedia

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