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THIS WEEK: On the campaign trail, Ted Cruz is warning his supporters about the prospects of a liberal wave cresting in the Lone Star State. “The extreme left, in November they’re going to show up in big numbers,” he said at an event outside Waco this week. “They’re energized, they’re angry, they hate the president. And they’re gonna shatter records in November."
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The Lede
How Lawmakers, Ken Paxton and Courts Closed the Door on Open Government in Texas
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- Our April cover story traces the rise and fall of Texas’ open government laws, from the infamous Sharpstown scandal of the ‘70s that precipitated Texas’ open records law to the thousand cuts and blows that has since dismantled them.
- The Public Information Act was once the gold standard of state open records laws. But since its passage, the Texas Legislature has hacked 63 exceptions into the law. State Supreme Court decisions, such as 2015’s Boeing v. Paxton, have further limited its usefulness.
- Incredibly, the Boeing ruling has been used to block the release of a completed contract between the city of McAllen and Latin pop sensation Enrique Iglesias. When Mitchell Ferman of the McAllen Monitor found out that the city lost $765,000 on the event it hired Iglesias for, he requested payment details but was denied under Boeing.
- “The ruling is being stretched and used in ways that weren’t even imaginable when it came out,” said Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
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From the archives
The Night Martin Luther King Jr. Came to Dallas
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- This week marked 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. In this excerpt from their book Dallas 1963, Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis recount his little-known visit to Dallas in January 1963.
- From the story: "There really are, James prayed, some signs that Dallas is changing. Maybe if people rise to their feet to cheer Dr. King it will be a sign that Dallas is not a city of hate. That Kennedy has a vision for America. That Johnson is squarely at a distance from the haunted traditions in Texas. That he and Kennedy symbolize a union—a joining of the old frontier with Kennedy’s New Frontier, a way to move the nation forward beyond its fractured past."
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What’s Happening at the Observer
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- Tickets are now on sale for the 2018 edition of the Observer's MOLLY Prize dinner. The MOLLY Prize is an annual national journalism award presented by the Texas Democracy Foundation and the Texas Observer in memory of Molly Ivins, columnist, author, political commentator, and humorist. This year's event will include a keynote from Joan Walsh, of CNN and The Nation. We'd love to see you there.
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- The Observer will have a booth at this year's San Antonio Book Festival. The event is today, and features a ton of great stuff. More details here: http://www.saplf.org/festival/
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- The Texas Observer has been holding powerful interests accountable for more than six decades. If you know something that you think needs to be investigated and made public, contact us.
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