Hoodwinked
What to know: A San Marcos couple is suing the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, after the commission refused them a permit for removing a symbol on their home linked to a former owner, who had ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
The TPPF take: Property rights are fundamental.
“In Texas, cities are limited in what they can regulate. Mostly that means nuisances and safety hazards,” says TPPF’s Robert Henneke. “But San Marcos’ HPC has gone far beyond that — regulating the facades of structures within the district. It’s time to put cities, and particularly unelected bureaucrats, back in their constitutionally defined box so that people can live their lives.”
For more on the San Marcos case, click here.
Creepy Computers
What to know: The New York City transit system is now using artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor crime—and passengers.
The TPPF take: AI isn’t just on the way; it’s already here.
“As AI continues to evolve and become incorporated into society broadly, it holds the potential to disrupt our work, daily lives, and more—in good and bad ways,” says TPPF’s Zach Whiting. “To ensure AI serves humanity—and not the other way around—Texas must take the lead in developing responsible, ethical guardrails for this highly consequential technology.”
For more on AI, click here.
See You in Court
What to know: The federal government has sued the state of Texas over marine barriers that have been installed in the Rio Grande River, our border with Mexico.
The TPPF take: Texas is simply doing what the federal government has refused to do: securing the border.
“Mexican cartels do not exist to provide migrants trying to enter the U.S. with travel services,” says TPPF’s Carine Martinez. “Rather, they smuggle them in the worst conditions imaginable to serve their nefarious purposes. Actually inhumane treatments of migrants include smugglers regularly abandoning children to both the buoy-free river and the heat. Turning a blind eye and letting this happen is not being pro-immigration or humane. It’s allowing cruelty to continue.”
For more on the border crisis, click here.