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THIS WEEK: While cities across Texas have toppled Confederate statues or renamed streets and schools over the past year, Governor Greg Abbott has largely dodged calls to take down a 59-year-old plaque hanging in the Texas Capitol that denies the Civil War was fought over slavery.
Must-Reads

The Lede
Meet the Merry Band of Texas Democrats Running for Statewide Office

  • The Texas Democratic Party finally has its statewide ticket firmed up. And party leaders and candidates insist that the slate is strong enough to break a 24-year drought — the worst of any state party in the Union.
     
  • The seven candidates for statewide public office (not including judicial candidates) have little political experience, little to no name recognition and hardly any money. They face long odds against their Republican incumbent opponents. But they’re not letting that get in the way of their optimism.
Headlines
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From the archives
Texas’ Lost Civilization Rises from Lake Buchanan

  • A lost Texas town resurfaces in drought in this postcard from 2012.
     
  • From the story: “Every civilization has its lost culture: The Romans had Pompeii; the Inca, Machu Picchu; and Central Texans, the town of Bluffton. When Buchanan Dam was completed in 1937, the rising waters of the Colorado River submerged thousands of acres in Burnet and Llano counties. The newly formed Lake Buchanan covered the site of pecan orchards, cornfields, and the town of Bluffton. Roughly 50 families had to sell their land to the Lower Colorado River Authority and move their homes, and even graves, to higher ground.”

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