CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS | Gary Borders
Early voting for the Nov. 5 general election begins Monday, Oct.
21 and ends on Nov.
1. Texas voters will be choosing from a full slate of candidates, from president to U.S. senator to various county positions.
The deadline to register to vote was Oct.
7. Voters are reminded to bring one of seven approved forms of photo IDs to the polls. Among the options are a Texas driver’s license, U.S. passport or handgun license.
A complete list of acceptable IDs can be found at vote.texas.gov. Voters can also make sure they are registered by going to that site.
A recent Texas Standard story notes that under a littleknown Texas elections law, convicted felons in prison are eligible to register and vote if they are actively appealing their convictions. It is unknown, however, how many of the 134,000 people currently held in state prisons actually register and vote, since the state does not track that data.
“Nobody’s asking to do this because they have no idea that they can,” said Jennifer Toon of the Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance, a nonprofit for incarcerated
women. Under state law, a conviction is not considered “final” if it is under appeal. Convicted felons who never appealed their case, or who lost their appeal, are not eligible to vote.
Surge in school threats prompts dozens of arrests At least 40 Texas students were arrested in September in connection with making threats against schools, The Dallas Morning News reported. The surge came after a 14-year-old fatally shot two fellow students and two teachers at Georgia’s Apalachee High School. Those arrested face an assortment of charges ranging from generating a false alarm to making terroristic threats or threatening to use a firearm.
“My concern is these threats are going to desensitize people,” said Shane Wallace, director of the Texas Association of School Resource Officers. “It is an abundance every day. The one that is not reported may be the one.”
While most of the threats turn out to be noncredible, law-enforcement officials are obligated to investigate every threat, some of which turn out to be legitimate.
For example, a 12-yearold student was arrested Sept. 10 in Bexar County after allegedly threatening to shoot another student. When his home was searched, deputies seized a pistol, ammunition and body armor. The child was charged with making a terroristic threat.
Dallas Independent School District Police Chief Albert Martinez said his officers were devoting nearly all of their time dealing with reported threats made by students.
$50 million allocated for debris removal after storms
Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders have approved $50 million in emergency funding to help communities in Southeast Texas with debris removal after Hurricane Beryl in June and a derecho storm in May, the Houston Chronicle reported.
While Abbott cited a shortage and delay of funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, that agency said it has enough funds to meet recovery needs — even though two more major hurricanes have struck the United States since then.
“FEMA has the necessary resources to meet the immediate needs associated with Hurricane Helene and other disasters,” a statement from the Department of Homeland Security said.
Beryl left behind 4.1 million cubic yards of debris, enough to fill Houston’s NRG stadium, the Chronicle reported.
That figure only includes storm debris such as broken and scattered vegetation. It does not include debris from damaged homes, buildings and roads.
Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: [email protected]
