Tag: texas

Texas Judge Rejects Attorney General’s Attempt To Reverse Dallas Marijuana Decriminalization Law Approved By Voters

A Texas judge has shot down the Republican state attorney general’s attempt to block a local marijuana decriminalization law that voters approved at the ballot last November.

On Friday, 134th Civil District Court Judge Dale Tillery denied a motion for temporary injunction from Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) that sought to undermine the local law by allowing continued enforcement of cannabis criminalization in the state’s third most populous city.

The one-page order from the judge states: “Upon consideration of the pleadings, the application, responses, evidence, and oral arguments presented, if any, the Court finds that the application is hereby DENIED.”

This comes about a month after the Dallas Police Department instructed officers to stop arresting or citing people for possession of up to four ounces of marijuana, in accordance with the voter-approved ballot initiative.

Paxton had filed a lawsuit with the intent to invalidate the law just weeks after the November vote. It’s one of several examples of the state official attempting to leverage the court system to reverse local cannabis reform efforts.

Numerous Texas cities have enacted local decriminalization laws in recent years, and, last January, the attorney general similarly sought to block the reform in Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton.

State district judges dismissed two of the lawsuits—which argue that state law prohibiting marijuana preempts the local policies—in Austin and San Marcos. The city of Elgin reached a settlement, with the local government pointing out that decriminalization was never implemented there despite voter approval of the initiative.

Dallas lawmakers formally put the marijuana decriminalization initiative on the ballot in August after activists turned in sufficient petitions for the reform. Cannabis icon and music legend Willie Nelson had urged Dallas voters to pass the marijuana measure.

Prior to last August’s vote on ballot placement, some members of the Dallas City Council had expressed interest in streamlining the process of decriminalizing cannabis by acting legislatively, but plans to introduce the proposal at a hearing in June did not materialize, leaving the matter to voters.

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Marijuana Possession Would Be Decriminalized In Texas Under Lawmaker’s New Bill

Low-level marijuana possession would be decriminalized in Texas if a new bill filed this week by a key House leader is enacted.

The measure, HB 3242, from Rep. Joe Moody (D), would make simple possession of up to an ounce of cannabis flower a Class C misdemeanor—explicitly removing the risk of arrest and incarceration.

Class C misdemeanors are punishable by a fine of up to $500, with no possibility of jail time. Currently simple possession of cannabis is a Class B misdemeanor, which carries penalties of up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Moody’s proposal, introduced on Monday, is the latest of nearly two dozen cannabis-related bills filed so far in Texas for the current legislative session. Various other measures would legalize adult-use marijuana, prohibit certain hemp-derived products, remove criminal penalties for cannabis possession and adjust the state’s existing medical marijuana laws, among others.

Heather Fazio, director of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center, has been tracking legislation in the state and applauded the introduction of HB 3242 by Moody, who was tapped by House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) to serve as House speaker pro tempore.

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ICE Raids Texas Bakery: 8 Illegal Aliens Arrested, Owners Charged for Harboring and Aiding Illegals

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided Abby’s Bakery in South Texas, arresting eight illegal aliens and slapping the bakery’s owners with charges of harboring and abetting criminals.

The bakery owners, Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel, admitted to knowingly hiring and sheltering illegal aliens—an act that flouts federal law and contributes to the ongoing border crisis.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) confirmed that the pair was charged with bringing in and harboring aliens and aiding and abetting the harboring of aliens, offenses that carry serious penalties under U.S. law.

Yet, rather than report them to authorities or comply with federal employment laws, they chose to harbor them, even providing shelter for some of the individuals on their own property.

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Texan Allegedly Bullied By School Over His Skin Color, Trump Support Asks Supreme Court To Take His Case

Inside the Texas Capitol, on the back wall of the Senate chamber hangs a hard-to-miss oil canvas smattered with carefully painted soldiers wielding swords and cannons. The colorful battle scene depicts a pivotal moment in the Texas Revolution when approximately 900 Texas soldiers managed to defeat a much larger group of soldiers from the Mexican army at the Battle of San Jacinto in just 18 minutes.

One of the most famous Henry McArdle illustrations in the frame shows General Sam Houston, whose horse was just shot out from beneath him, being beckoned by an “unnamed and unarmed aid” offering him a new mount. The mystery man is claimed by eighth-generation Texan Brooks Warden, who, nearly 200 years after seven of his ancestors fought in the battle of San Jacinto, faces a very different and very important battle of his own.

Twenty-one-year-old Warden is a plaintiff in a years-long lawsuit alleging students and school administrators in the Austin Independent School District in Texas violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through repeated racial harassment.

“Starting when I was 12 up until the end of high school, I was attacked physically and emotionally because of my race. Being a white Christian, conservative male, I was beaten. They threatened to kill me and verbally abused me daily,” Warden told The Federalist.

Until now, Warden was unnamed due to his status as a minor when the lawsuit was filed. Now that he’s surpassed his teenage years and there is a new development in his case — a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court — Warden is ready to speak about the intense bullying siege he faced from faculty and peers alike.

“I know what I believe, and I won’t be swayed. I’ve taken punches to the face for defending the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “I was never scared to speak my mind. I was terrified to walk down the halls, though.”

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Texas Lt. Gov. Touts Poll Result Backing Hemp Crackdown While Ignoring Support For Marijuana Legalization In Same Survey

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) this week emphasized a survey result showing that more than half (55 percent) of Texans want the state to rein its largely unregulated market for hemp-derived THC. At the same time, however, he seemed to ignore the survey’s other findings: that even more Texans want the state to legalize and regulate marijuana for both medical and adult use.

“This is a huge polling number on the issue of banning THC,” Patrick said Tuesday on social media, zeroing in on hemp-derived THC products that are widely available across the state. “Texans see these stores everywhere: in their neighborhoods and especially around schools where children have easy access. People simply don’t want them around.”

“Once the facts are out in the open,” he continued, “there is no doubt these public polling numbers will rise as more Texans demand a ban on these dangerous products.”

Rather than an outright ban on THC, however, the broader results of the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs survey actually show that Texans want regulation of the psychoactive cannabinoid.

The polling found that nearly 4 in 5 (79 percent) support legalizing the sale and use of medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation, while more than 3 in 5 (62 percent) support legalizing and regulating an adult-use cannabis market.

Almost 7 in 10 (69 percent), meanwhile, said they think the state should decriminalize marijuana for personal use.

There is bipartisan support in the survey for each of the reforms.

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Texas Psychic Credited with Finding Missing Man

The caregiver for a Texas man who went missing for three days last month says he was eventually located by a psychic medium who felt drawn to the case. According to a local media report, the remarkable rescue occurred in late December when Eric Allen White, who has dementia and cognitive disabilities, managed to wander away from his care home in San Antonio. Although authorities were quick to respond to the situation, an initial search of the area turned up no sign of the missing man. Turning to the community for help, information detailing White’s disappearance was posted on social media, which led to his caregiver, Angelica Diaz, receiving a rather unusual call.

On the other end of the line was psychic medium Vic Andrea, who indicated that she had seen the social media post about White and sensed a connection to the case. Asking for nothing in return, she offered to use her gift to help with the situation, to which a desperate Diaz readily agreed. The psychic subsequently set about meditating on the missing missing man. “I just started getting downloads and I could see, like, his path,” she recalled, “it’s like a vision, like a movie.” Through the proverbial ether, Andrea received insights that she later learned could be connected to the names of White’s family members, which understandably impressed Diaz when she was shown the psychic’s notes.

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Judge Dismisses Charges Against Hero Texas Doctor Who Blew the Whistle on Sex Change Program at Texas Children’s Hospital After Trump DOJ Intervenes

The Trump Administration filed a motion to dismiss charges against Dr. Ethan Haim, the hero surgeon who blew the whistle on a sex change program at the Texas Children’s Hospital.

A few hours later, a federal judge dismissed the charges with prejudice.

As previously reported, Biden’s corrupt Justice Department indicted a Texas surgeon who blew the whistle on a sex-change program at the Texas Children’s Hospital.

In May 2023, Dr. Eithan Haim leaked the sex change documents to investigative reporter Christopher Rufo. Dr. Haim was careful not to disclose any patient information but the Biden DOJ indicted him on four felony counts related to HIPAA violations.

One day after Dr. Haim exposed the Texas Children’s Hospital, the Texas state legislature voted to ban transgender medical treatment and procedures on minors.

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Dallas police now instructed to not arrest, give citations for marijuana possession of 4 ounces or less

Dallas police officers have new marching orders when it comes to enforcement of arrests and citations for marijuana possession with the implementation of Proposition R.

According to an internal DPD memo obtained by WFAA, Dallas officers are now prohibited from making arrests or issuing citations for marijuana possession – four ounces or less – nor can they “consider the odor of marijuana as probable cause for search and seizure, except as part of a violent felony or high priority narcotics felony investigations.”

The previous policy regarding possession of marijuana prompted officers to confiscate, but not cite nor arrest people who had less than two ounces of marijuana. Per the memo sent out Friday, that policy is now “obsolete.”

Proposition R, also dubbed the “Dallas Freedom Act” by supporters, passed with 66% of the vote in the November election.

Last year, former Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia warned that the proposition could have a negative impact on public safety.

“In my 32 years in law enforcement, in my opinion, it could lead to increased illegal sales and deterioration of quality of life in certain areas of our city,” Garcia told the city council in August 2023.

“Regardless of your thoughts and/or opinions regarding the passing of this amendment, we must remain focused on our dutites and obligations to the Dallas Police Department and the residents of the City of Dallas,” Dallas Interim Police Chief Michael Igo wrote in the memo. “It is crucial to maintain professionalism and composure, as you always represent this exceptional Police Department.”

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Federal Judge In Texas Rules That Ban On Gun Ownership By Marijuana User Is Unconstitutional As Applied

A federal judge in El Paso has ruled that the U.S. government’s ongoing ban on gun ownership by habitual marijuana users is unconstitutional in the case of a defendant who earlier pleaded guilty to the criminal charge. The court this week allowed the man to withdraw the plea and ordered that the indictment against him be dismissed.

The new ruling stops short of declaring that the law against firearm ownership by cannabis users—18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3)—is itself unconstitutional. As applied to the defendant in the case, however, it says that government lawyers failed to demonstrate that the restriction aligns with the nation’s history of regulating gun ownership, noting that that they did “nothing in the way of proving that Defendant was intoxicated by marijuana at the time of this incident.”

David Briones, a senior U.S. District Court judge for the Western District of Texas, also acknowledged in the decision that the legal landscape around marijuana and the Second Amendment had evolved since the court first accepted the guilty plea. In the interim, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which includes Texas, ruled that while “some limits on a presently intoxicated person’s right to carry a weapon” may be constitutional, “disarming a sober person based on past substance usage” is not.

That case, U.S. v. Daniels, was set to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year but was among a number of firearms-related cases remanded back to lower courts following a separate Supreme Court decision about firearms and domestic violence.

“In the past two years alone,” Briones, a Clinton appointee, wrote in the new ruling, “the Fifth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court have heard and considered the following cases: Daniels, Rahimi, and Bruen. These cases have changed the law when it comes to the Second Amendment, and in the case of Daniels, have challenged the constitutionality of the very statute under which Defendant is charged.”

In the case, the El Paso Police Department responded to a 2021 call at the defendant’s home, entered the house and found two bags of marijuana. A search also found multiple guns inside the home. The defendant allegedly told officers that he’d used marijuana regularly for years and understood it was illegal to have both a medical marijuana card and a gun.

After the guilty plea, the defendant appealed his case to the Fifth Circuit, which later remanded it back to the district court in light of the recent precedent-setting opinions.

“This court now has a fuller picture of the Second Amendment jurisprudence as it stands today,” the order says, “and has reconsidered its position.”

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Illegal Immigrant Gang Member from Honduras Kidnaps Texas Woman: Police Reveal Chilling Plot to Sell Her Organs or Force Her Into Prostitution

A 35-year-old Honduran national, identified as Eduardo Javier Ordonez Godoy, has been arrested following the abduction of a 22-year-old woman in Haltom City, Texas.

The incident occurred on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, when the victim was walking to her vehicle at the Acacia Apartments around 4:45 a.m., WFAA reported.

According to police reports, Godoy, who was previously deported back to Honduras for a similar crime, was armed and masked when he forced the woman into her car at gunpoint.

He forced her to withdraw money from a nearby bank and made disturbing threats, including selling her organs or forcing her into prostitution, according to charging documents obtained by Fox 4 News.

After driving her approximately 22 miles to an apartment complex in Grapevine, he restrained her by tying her hands to a tree with her shoelaces before fleeing in her vehicle. The victim managed to free herself and seek help.

Law enforcement agencies tracked the stolen vehicle, locating it in Oklahoma City on December 25.

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