Show notes
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
Protests spurred by the ICE killing of Renee Good last week continued to grow across the country over the weekend, including in Texas - where one protest Saturday in Austin drew a confrontation with Texas DPS and Austin Police: https://www.kut.org/austin/2026-01-10/ice-austin-tx-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-protests-renee-good
...Polling conducted on the day of the Good killing shows Americans already sharply souring on ICE and its actions: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestunson/2026/01/09/majority-of-americans-disapprove-of-how-ice-operates-new-survey-shows/
A group of oil executives, some based in Houston, were skeptical of Donald Trump's demands that they invest $100 billion into the wrecked oil infrastructure in Venezuela on Friday: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/09/world/venezuela-trump-us
...Unhelpfully, right after that meeting Trump's own officials issued travel warnings indicating very high danger for Americans in Venezuela: https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-ignominious-death-of-drill-baby
The initial list of Texas private schools partaking in our state's new voucher scam includes many Christian schools, but only one ranked in the top 20: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/private-schools-voucher-program-21283701.php
A new online "snitch line" has been launched by the state, making it easier for concerned citizens to rat out colleges whom they believe have violated Texas' new DEI ban: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/01/12/texas-launches-portal-public-complaints-against-colleges
Governor Greg Abbott, citing a handful of voter registrations linked to P.O. boxes, has issued a new threat of a state takeover of Harris County's elections process: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/elections/2026/01/09/540334/elections-harris-county-texas-governor-greg-abbott/
This Tuesday, January 13, the Funky East Dallas Democrats (the FEDDs!) will host an online meet and greet with a bunch of Democratic statewide candidates, including Senatorial candidates Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico: https://www.fedds.org/eventinfo/jan1326statewide
Early voting in the March primary starts in mere weeks, on February 17 - the time to research your ballot is right now: https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2026/texas-march-2026-primary-ballot/?_bhlid=7d8eca3d2a16adc7c9b44185414443fa32be6d84
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
Progress Texas is expanding into both broadcast radio - including a new partnership with KPFT-FM in Houston - and into Spanish language media! Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative HERE, and to our Spanish expansion HERE.
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
