Halting Harris County
What to Know: Yet again, Texas courts have halted Harris County activists. On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court put a stop to a county program that “provide[d] taxpayer-funded legal defense to illegal immigrants facing deportation,” finding that it likely violates the state constitution.
The TPPF take: Progressive activists in Harris County continue to bend, if not break, the law.
“Too many local government officials feel as if they can pick-and-choose which state laws to follow. This mindset has given rise to countless taxpayer abuses, including illegal alien defense funding. Thankfully, the High Court struck down this ill-conceived program,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “Moving forward, the Texas Legislature should do more to ensure that counties are following the law.”
For more on Harris County, click here.
App Store Accountability
The TPPF take: Texas’ app store law is giving parents more control over their children’s phones.
“The framework is built around one premise: Parents should know what their kids are downloading before they download it,” says TPPF’s Hannah Bruck. “Fully 80% of Texas parents support the requirement. The bill passed with near-unanimous legislative support — 93 percent of the Texas House voted yes, with only one state senator opposed.”
For more on app stores, click here.
Ken Burns
What to know: Hampshire College, which produced documentarian Ken Burns, is closing later this year.
The TPPF take: In lamenting Hampshire College’s fate, Burns has criticized higher education for becoming all about the jobs and incomes of graduates.
“Burns rightly senses that something essential has been lost,” says TPPF’s Tom Lindsay. “Education worthy of the name must indeed transform the soul, lifting the young from what Plato called the ‘cave’ of opinion into the sunlight of truth. But transformation without direction is nothing but mere motion.”
For more on Ken Burns, click here.