Recent Articles
Civic Engagement
Mail Time! Tools to Help You Submit a Letter to the Editor
To paraphrase a trademarked slogan, "Neighbor, when's the last time you wrote a letter to the editor? Well, that's too long!" Summer is an ideal time to submit your thoughts on current events to your local paper: there are interim legislative hearings;...
“At Least Our Voices Were Heard:” Interim Hearings Are Underway
This week, interim hearings started in the Texas Senate. On Tuesday, the Subcommittee on Higher Education met to hear testimony on three interim charges: “Monitor the Ban on Discriminatory DEI Policies;” “Combating Antisemitism on Texas College Campuses;” and “Campus...
International Religious Freedom: Fighting for the Common Good
Guest blog post by Rev. Mel Caraway and Rev. Phil DiekeWe had a great meeting today with a delegation from Tajikistan on "International Religious Freedom." Their visit was sponsored by the Department of State and the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth. ...
Climate Justice
Building Resilience Experts Talk Hazards and Insurance
In a recent article on Climate Connections, meteorologist Jeff Masters stated plainly what is at stake for the housing market if we fail to prepare for climate change impacts in the United States:“In the U.S., the most likely major economic disruption from climate...
PUC Announces Finalists for Texas Energy Fund
Yesterday the Public Utility Commission announced the selection of the project proposals which will receive funding from the Texas Energy Fund. The Texas Energy Fund is public money set aside by SB2627 for the Public Utility Commission to issue loans to support...
Lawsuit Calls for Humane Conditions in Overheated Texas Prisons
A lawsuit filed by a cohort of Texas prison-rights advocates against the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice accuses the department of creating inhumane conditions inside Texas prisons by failing to air condition the facilities. The lawsuit...
Economic Justice
Tell the Texas Medical Board: No Guessing Games on Emergency Abortions
Next Texas Medical Board Meeting: March 21-22, 2024 Courts, doctors, and patients all are asking the Texas Medical Board to clarify when a threat to the life of the mother creates an exception to Texas laws that ban abortions.The TMB has both the authority and the...
Reproductive Health Policy
Reproductive Health Policy Texas has a long history of short-changing women's health, especially for women of color and low-income women. Recent extreme bans on abortion have created an environment of fear and anxiety that is impacting all of women's...
Texas Public Schools Are Still Safe for Every Faith
Since last summer, our members have been urging their local school boards not to create a “new school chaplain program” as required by SB 763. Overwhelmingly, Texas school boards have agreed. Today is the deadline for school boards to vote, and we are pleased to...
Human Rights
A Strange Way to Start: COP29 is Underway
COP29 started in Baku, Azerbaijan on Monday, November 11, 2024. The conference began with a plenary session during which the COP28 president, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, offered some reflections on COP28 (last year, in Dubai, UAE). Dr. Al Jaber then passed the gavel to the...
Good Reads: Explainers from the National Immigration Forum
It takes a village to analyze U.S. immigration policy, and some of our favorite fellow villagers are the folks at the National Immigration Forum. Texans play leading roles at the Forum, which has been around since 1982. Their recent email update was filled with great...
Abortion Travel Bans – What’s Going On?
On the ballot for Amarillo this election cycle is a local measure that would ban travel through the city to receive an abortion somewhere else, which proponents of the measure referred to as “abortion trafficking.” This would also declare the city to be a “sanctuary...