Latest news with #TribFest2025
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UT System chancellor leaves to lead University of California
University of Texas System Chancellor JB Milliken will leave the 256,000-student system to take a new out-of-state position as University of California president, system officials said Friday. "We are fortunate to have had Chancellor Milliken at the helm of the UT System for almost seven years,' said UT System Regents' Chair Kevin P. Eltife in a statement. 'The board and I are grateful for our close and very productive relationship with him, and we are proud of what we accomplished together. He has led the UT System admirably and innovatively." John Zerwas, the University of Texas System's executive vice chancellor for health affairs and who served seven terms in the Texas House of Representatives, will serve as acting chancellor when Milliken leaves in June, according to a news release from the UT System. Milliken was named the new president of the University of California on Friday, and will enter that role in August, according to statements from UC and UT. This is a developing story; check back for details. Disclosure: University of Texas System has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
John Bash, first candidate to enter Texas attorney general's race, exits
Former U.S. Attorney John Bash, the first to announce a bid to replace Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced on Wednesday he was withdrawing from the race, citing personal family reasons. Bash, a former Western District of Texas prosecutor and special assistant to President Donald Trump in his first term, said in a social media post that his family had a health scare that 'threw into sharp focus' his priorities. 'I still believe I have the right experience and judgment for the job. But the timing isn't right for our young family,' Bash said in the post. The end of Bash's campaign comes less than a month after he was the first to publicly announce his entry into the attorney general's race on April 10. The opening for a new attorney general was created after Paxton announced his own bid to challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for the seat. Paxton will still serve his full term as attorney general, but cannot run for more than one position. His term ends in 2026. With Bash's withdrawal, state Sen. Mayes Middleton is currently the only candidate with a public campaign for attorney general. Bash complimented the Galveston Republican in his announcement and said he was a good man who 'served Texas honorably in the Legislature.' Since resigning from his role as a federal prosecutor in 2020, Bash has worked in the private sector, including representing Elon Musk in a defamation lawsuit brought by a former college student. Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
TribCast: Inside the lottery scandals roiling Texas
The Texas Lottery Commission has rarely made headlines. But for the past few months, it has been a focus of scandal. Lawmakers are questioning whether two jackpots worth tens of millions of dollars were legitimately won. Two state officials have resigned. And Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has channeled Marvin Zindler by showing up unannounced with a camera to the gaming store at the center of it all. In this week's episode, Matthew and Eleanor speak with Texas Tribune reporter Ayden Runnels, who has been covering this issue for months. They discuss the businesses of "lottery couriers," what lawmakers are going to do about them and whether Eleanor or Ayden even know who Marvin Zindler is. Watch the video above, or subscribe to the TribCast on iTunes, Spotify, or RSS. New episodes every Tuesday. Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fewer Texans see immigration as helping the U.S., poll finds
Compared to 2017, more Texans see immigration as harmful and want undocumented immigrants deported, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Texas Lyceum, a nonpartisan leadership training group. Immigration was the top issue facing Texas, survey respondents said — though they reported mixed views on specific impacts. Rising prices and border security were a close second and third, according to the Lyceum's annual poll, which collected responses from 1,200 adults in the Lone Star State, about 69% of them registered voters. Texans were evenly split, at 32% each, on whether immigration helps the United States more than it hurts, or hurts more than it helps. Another 30% said it was a little bit of both. Those views have shifted sharply since 2017, when 62% of respondents said immigration helps more than it hurts. Twenty-seven percent said it hurts more than it helps that year, and just 6% said a little bit of both. This year, a significantly higher portion of people, 68%, said they believed President Trump would deport undocumented immigrants compared to 2017, when 50% said that would happen, according to the poll. In the poll, 44% said they want him to do so — up from 31% in 2017. And while 29% of those who responded said they were extremely concerned with illegal immigration, 63% also said they believed undocumented immigrants fill jobs American citizens don't want. When it comes to personal finances, meanwhile, 41% of respondents said they were worse off than a year ago, and another 36% said their situation was the same. Just 23% said they were better off. The Lyceum also polled people on how well they felt they were being represented: 55% approved of Gov. Greg Abbott's job performance, up from 49% last year. Both Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton — who is running for a U.S. Senate seat — earned 42% approval, while 46% of Texans polls approved of how well of a job the state legislature is doing. Disclosure: Texas Lyceum has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. The poll was conducted from March 28 to April 4, via phone and the internet. The overall margin of error was 3 percentage points. And while Texans were split on many issues, there was at least one statement that drew a majority of support: 68% said they would rather see their political leaders compromise and find middle ground on key issues, rather than stand their ground. Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas school districts got their first A-F grades in five years. See how your school did here.
Texas released long-awaited grades for school districts on Thursday. It's the first time scores for underperforming schools have been made public in five years. Under the state's school rating system, all districts and campuses got a letter grade for the 2022-23 school year. Of the nearly 1,200 districts evaluated in the state, 10.4% got an A, 73% got a B or a C, and 16.6% got a D or an F. Fort Worth ISD is at risk of shutting down a school or facing a state takeover because of failing grades. The 2022-23 school year ratings had been held up in courts after several districts sued the state to challenge changes to rating standards. But the 15th Court of Appeals earlier this month cleared the Texas Education Agency to release the ratings, ruling Commissioner Mike Morath had the authority to make those changes. TEA still cannot release the ratings for the 2023-24 school year because of a separate lawsuit. Before then, schools went without ratings for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They got partial ratings for the 2021-22 school year. Public education advocates celebrated the release of the ratings, which they say can help parents see how successful their local school districts are, businesses decide which communities to invest in and school boards identify areas for growth. Critics of the A-F system say it harms districts that serve poor communities, which are more likely to get failing grades and face state sanctions for them. Districts and each of their campuses are graded on an A-F scale based on three categories: Student achievement: How well their students perform on state standardized tests and whether they are ready for college and careers. The state imposed higher standards to get an A under the new rules. School progress: How much students are improving on state tests Closing the gaps: How well schools are boosting scores for specific groups of children like as students with special needs and English language learners Each category is weighted differently. Seventy percent of the overall grade comes from the better score between the 'student achievement' and 'school progress' categories; the remaining 30% is based on the 'closing the gaps' category. Search for your district or school to see how they did below: Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
