The State of Texas: The Texas congressman leading the fight against Trump's emergency declaration

What Texas is talking about today No Images? [Click here]( [The Bull x The Horns Advice Column]( [Texas Monthly]( February 19, 2019 QUOTE OF THE DAY "Our constitution is under threat. The fact that the president is comfortable calling for a fake emergency is in fact the national emergency. " —Former Democratic congressional nominee Gina Ortiz Jones. The Air Force veteran [addressed a crowd of protesters in San Antonio on Monday]( in response to President Trump's declaration of a national emergency to build the border wall. THE LATEST [Joaquin Castro Takes a Lead in Fighting President Trump’s Emergency Declaration ]( MARIA RECIO The Texas Democrat is preparing a resolution to terminate the emergency declaration and already has 60 co-sponsors in Congress. [Read more.]( TEXAS MONTHLY ARCHIVES [The End of the Trail ]( NOVEMBER 1978 – AL REINERT The Fort Worth stockyards were once where the West began. Now, merely a shadow of their former glory, they are where the West is ending.[Read more.]( Every Tuesday, we'll share a piece from our archives. Check back tomorrow for Meanwhile, in Texas: weird news from around the state. OUR TOP STORIES [El Paso Native American Tribe Suffers Major Defeat In Quarter-Century Battle With Texas ]( A federal judge is the latest to rule the tribe’s popular casino violates state gaming laws. [Read more.]( [Behold, the Brisket Biscuits From Green’s Texas Bar-B-Que ]( Veteran Euless pitmaster Don Green gives customers many reasons to flock to his Saturday-only BBQ truck, but these are pretty darn great. [Read more.]( [Travis Scott May Manifest His ‘Astroworld’ Dreams Into an Actual Amusement Park]( Houston mayor Sylvester Turner appeared onstage at the Toyota Center to present the rapper with the key to the city—and teased the promise of roller coasters. [Read more.]( THE STATE OF TEXAS This Land Is My Land [Three Texas landowners from Starr County filed the first lawsuit against President Trump’s national emergency declaration]( meant to free up billions of dollars in additional funding to build the border wall. The landowners previously received letters from the government telling them the wall would be built on their properties if funding was available in 2019. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. on Friday, argues that the president cannot declare an emergency to allocate funds for a wall when Congress has refused to approve funding. While the landowners were the first to file suit, several Democrats and activist groups have made plans to challenge the declaration as well. [Nayda Alvarez, one of the Starr County plaintiffs in the lawsuit, spoke with NPR]( about the potential border wall construction. “I feel so incompetent because I can't do anything,” she said. “My only hope right now is that this lawsuit helps us because, you know, it's our only hope. Repeat Offender A series of [troubling allegations against a Houston police officer]( emerged following a January drug raid that left two civilians dead and four other officers injured. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said narcotics officer Gerald Goines will likely face criminal charges after an internal investigation found that Goines allegedly lied in a search warrant in order to conduct an undercover raid. According to internal police records reviewed by the Houston Chronicle, Goines has faced several lawsuits, was accused of lying under oath, has been involved in several controversial shootings, and has received multiple written reprimands during his 35 years on the force. While the officer’s attorney has theorized the accusations are part of a setup, Acevedo has removed Goines of his duties and pledged to continue an investigation of the officer’s previous cases. Doug Murphy, Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association president, outlined the severity of the situation for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office: “His trustworthiness is completely in question. If this guy has done this once, he’s done it many, many times.” Spousal Support Texas Senator Angela Paxton, a Republican from McKinney, filed a bill that would allow individuals to serve as financial advisors without registering with the state board—a third-degree felony her husband state Attorney General Ken Paxton was charged with four years ago. [The bill would also loosen several other regulations related to the state’s financial market](, including allowing the attorney general’s office to accept or reject applications from individuals hoping to sell products outside of the state’s current standards. State Senator Paxton marketed the bill as an effort to expand the state’s growing financial tech industry, but Jens Dammann, a securities expert at the University of Texas School of Law, raised his concerns, saying, “It gives an uncomfortable level of discretion to the attorney general.” FOOD & DRINK [Recipe: Pecan Snickerdoodles ]( PAULA FORBES We launch our new series, Classic Texas Cookbooks, by revisiting ”Cooking with Pecans: Texas in a Nutshell,” a 1987 gem packed with great finds. [Read more.]( [Good Newscast: Listen Now!]( [G]([ood Newscast]( News ever get you down? Try listening to the Texas Optimism Project's latest series, the Good Newscast—a podcast about good news in the world sponsored by Frost Bank. 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