National correspondent
@NPR
covering immigration. Puertorriqueño de Carolina.
@michiganstateu
alum. ¡Pa' lante y sin miedo! Dímelo: smartinezbeltran
@npr
.org
The latest measure by the Biden administration to tackle the outdated asylum system would have minimal impacts on the high number of unauthorized crossings at the border, analysts, immigrant rights organizations and anti-illegal migration advocates said.
BREAKING: The Texas House Select Committee on Community Safety has passed 8-5 the bill to raise to 21 the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle.
#Uvalde
families cry and clap in celebration.
#txlrge
.
@BetoORourke
has now joined the families of the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in
#Uvalde
. They are marching around the cemetery, and O’Rourke is bringing some gifts for the ofrendas.
Beto O’Rourke responds to the Republicans protesting his event in Fredericksburg, many of them carrying “Abbott for Governor” signs: “Lest we be annoyed or judge these Abbott people, let's have a little bit of sympathy. Their candidate never shows up to talk.”
.
@BetoORourke
is in Pflugerville this evening, hosting one of his town halls. Hundreds are here, standing under the rain.
He tells them: “We are going to win because we believe in democracy.”
.
@BetoORourke
is still at the cemetery in
#Uvalde
.
He’s now talking to the family of 10-year-old Xavier James Lopez. His mom tells O’Rourke “I’m not fighting just for Xavier, I’m fighting for your future grandchild, I’m fighting for your child.”
.
@BetoORourke
has now joined the families of the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in
#Uvalde
. They are marching around the cemetery, and O’Rourke is bringing some gifts for the ofrendas.
Last night, divers found the body of Maynor Suazo Sandoval, one of the construction workers on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed.
Maynor was generous. He sponsored the youth soccer league in his town in Honduras and paid for people’s meds.
Thankful to all of the first responders who have helped bring Maynor Suazo-Sandoval home to his family. We will continue to support these families, bring them closure, and provide whatever they need to persevere through this unthinkable tragedy.
In First Amendment news: Every Tennessee GOP senator has signed a letter that encourages chancellors and presidents of the state's universities to punish student athletes who protest while at sporting events.
#tnleg
Brett Cross, the father of 10-year-old
#Uvalde
victim Uziyah, directly speaks to DPS Dir. Steve McCraw.
“You have disgraced the state, your position, and the people … Well, Steve, the time is now. If you're a man of your word, you'll resign. We're not waiting any longer.”
Portions of surveillance footage from the May 24 shooting in
#Uvalde
have been published by Texas media outlets ahead of the video’s scheduled release Sunday. w/
@nachoaguilar
Troopers have truly cleared most of the capitol. I’ve never seem anything like this. A trooper told me it was because of the banners but not sure if that’s it.
#txlege
NEW:
@BetoORourke
today called on Gov. Greg Abbott to fire Steve McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, for
#Uvalde
shooting response.
“He has badly failed the people of Uvalde,” O’Rourke said.
As Cornyn talks, folks are rowdy. Chanting “no red flags” and “say no to Cornyn.”
When Cornyn talks about electing new leadership, folks scream “like Cornyn!”
This is probably one of the most emotional votes I’ve covered. Republican and Democratic lawmakers hugged the parents of the
#Uvalde
shooting and everyone was crying.
#txlege
More than 200 people have showed up to today’s pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas-Austin. Today’s demonstration was organized by faculty members.
A professor tells me the arrests across college campuses put “the American institutions in jeopardy.”
#BREAKING
: The Tennessee State Capitol Commission has voted to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest and two other military figures.
Final vote was 9-2.
@WPLN
Scary, tense moment out here at
@UTAustin
. At some point police deployed what I believe were flashbangs.
It’s chaotic. Students asked for water to get pepper spray off their faces.
I wear two press badges around my neck every day. I wear a suit too. Why? So that security and lawmakers know right away I'm press. Not an intern, not a random person, not a criminal. Press.
This week showed that hasn't been enough.
Regardless, we'll keep doing the thing. ✊🏾
Six months ago
@NPR
left Twitter. The effects have been negligible.
The numbers confirm what many in news have long suspected — that Twitter wasn’t worth the effort, at least in terms of traffic. via
@NiemanReports
The difference is that the 2020 Tennessee "leftists" didn't have guns. They had tents, chalk & signs.
Still, troopers arrested them. Also, the GOP legislature passed a bill to enhance penalties for camping on state property like the Capitol.
Al pan, pan, y al vino, vino.
After the
#Uvalde
shooting, some parents feel called to politics.
“I promised my daughter we all are going to fight," Javier Cazares, who lost his daughter, said. "And that’s a promise I’m not ever going to break.”
My latest for
@NPR
@MorningEdition
:
BREAKING: The Texas House of Representatives is sending BACK to committee the bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors.
This is the second time this week the bill has been sent back. Democrats once again are successful with their efforts.
#txlege
Today is my first day as an immigration correspondent
@NPR
!
Got tips? Want to say hi and chat? Do you have a press list you think I should be on? Email me: smartinezbeltran
@npr
.org
¡Les tengo una noticia que me llena de mucha emoción! 🥲
I have accepted a job as a Texas-based immigration correspondent with
@NPR
. ¡Los sueños se cumplen!
I'm thrilled to join the National Desk later this month & work alongside
@JasGarsd
& other talented, fearless colleagues.
#BREAKING
: Chancellor Anne C. Martin has ruled that the Tennessee
#ESA
/school voucher law is UNCONSTITUTIONAL as it is "in violation of the Home Rule Amendment."
One year after Texas implemented what was then the most restrictive abortion law in the country, a majority of Texas voters are expressing strong support for abortion rights.
Many say abortion will be a motivating issue at the ballot box in November.
NEW: The Texas Senate has passed SB222, a measure that would grant six weeks of paid parental leave to state employees. The legislation also applies to adoptive parents.
This is a bipartisan moment — a Republican carries the bill, and all Democratic senators support it.
#txlege
BREAKING: Gov.
@BillHaslam
has granted executive clemency to
#CyntoiaBrown
. She will be released to parole supervision on August 7, 2019, per press release.
HAPPENING NOW: Hundreds of LGBTQ+ rights advocates are making their way towards the Texas Capitol to hold a rally and protest the slew of anti-LGBTQ+ bills making their way in the
#txlege
.
Texas House Democrats are presenting their school finance proposal.
The legislation includes a $15K pay raise for teachers and $5,500 bonus for all school support staff.
It would also increase the Basic Allotment by nearly $3K. It also allocates $3B for school safety.
#txlege
HAPPENING NOW: Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, is attempting to add an amendment to a gun-related bill that would raise the minimum age to buy a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21. The language is similar to the HB2744, the bill supported by the
#Uvalde
families.
#txlege
BREAKING: The Texas Supreme Court has ruled against AG Ken Paxton, allows for depositions of Paxton and aides to move forward in whistleblower lawsuit.
#txlege
This afternoon, the Supreme Court of Texas denied an OAG emergency motion to prevent the deposition of Attorney General Ken Paxton and other high-level executives in a lawsuit that alleges Paxton violated the Texas Whistleblower Act.
So, the
#Uvalde
City Council cancelled the public meeting they had scheduled for today.
But, Mayor Don McLaughlin says the newly elected members, including Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo, were sworn in… today.
Democrat Beto O'Rourke conceded to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. This is the 3rd major loss for O'Rourke in nearly 6 years.
"I don't know what my role, or yours, will be moving forward, but I'm in this fight for life," O'Rourke told supporters in El Paso.
Sen.
@MarshaBlackburn
has not granted
@WPLN
/PubRadio stations in TN an interview (at least 7 requests since Jan.), but she'll go on Fox. Why not talk to local reporters/audience?
Rep.
@AOC
makes a good point. Blackburn talks about House Dems often. Especially abt Pelosi.
#tnpol
Sen.
@MarshaBlackburn
, you were more than comfortable going on TV to disparage me as a House member, so your excuse here doesn’t add up.
If you don’t support these racist, antisemitic conspiracy theories coming from your GOP House colleagues, why won’t you denounce them?
Cynthia Lee Fontaine, a Puerto Rican drag performer who has been on Drag Race 2X, performs in front of the crowd outside the Texas Capitol.
Legislation in
#txlege
would ban these performances from happening in front of kids & would designate them as sexually oriented businesses.
I'm at the Bordeaux Library, one of the early voting sites in Nashville.
There's around (maybe a bit over) 100 people in line to vote. The site opened 25 minutes ago!
@WPLN
#Election2020
NEW: Records obtained by The Texas Newsroom show that as of Jan. 24, Texas has spent over $148 million to bus migrants to predominantly Democratic cities.
The price tag grows every day.
My latest for
@NPR
:
#txlege
(🧵)
Luna, 14, and their family say they have no other option than to leave Texas.
“I’d rather be out than dead,” Luna said.
Luna is transgender and, now that the state banned gender affirming care for those under 18, their family is moving to the East Coast.
¡Familia! I'm so excited to share that I'll be joining
@AMartinezLA
,
@cgrisales
,
@FrancoOrdonez
&
@eyderp
on Feb. 7th to provide analysis of
@POTUS
' State of the Union EN ESPAÑOL.
Yes,
@NPR
will have an English AND Spanish broadcast! ¡Los espero!
*suena música de reggaeton* 📻
In-house memo:
@NPR
plans two live broadcasts of Biden’s State of the Union—one in English and one bilingual broadcast, mainly in Spanish, hosted by gifted colleague
@AMartinezLA
with great bilingual correspondents in Washington and on both sides of the southern border.
🚨 I have some news to share 🚨 I'm going back to public radio, and I'm so excited!
Later this month I'm joining The Texas Newsroom as its politics reporter! I'll be covering everything
#txlege
, state government, campaigns and more for public radio stations in TX and
@NPR
!
HAPPENING NOW: The Texas House sergeant-at-arms are handing out the resolution to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as well as the transcript of the hearing transcript.
#txlege
NEW: Rep. Brad Buckley, chairman of the House Public Ed committee, tells reporters “it’s too tight for the House to be able to move something in this special.”
In other words, school vouchers are presumed dead. Buckley is meeting with Governor’s team tonight.
#txlege
During a week where the words accountability and transparency have been all over the news and on people’s mouths, Uvalde City Council holding a secret ceremony is quite something.
INBOX: Texas Congressman
@RepCasar
and Florida Congressman
@MaxwellFrostFL
"will be joined (tomorrow) by
#Uvalde
parent Brett Cross and Parkland parent Manuel Oliver for the State of the Union address, highlighting the gun violence epidemic plaguing our communities."
NEW: The City of
#Uvalde
doesn’t want to make Jesse Prado’s contract public.
Prado was the independent investigator hired by Uvalde to look into the response of Uvalde PD officers the day of the shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Prado’s report exonerates ALL 25 officers.
I'm glad
@BrettKelman
and The Tennessean broke the story. But it's frustrating that we are learning about it this way. No word from
@GovBillLee
's office about a very significant update. It's frustrating and it should not be this way.
As COVID-19 surges, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee will use his state-of-emergency powers to send National Guard members to hospitals to work as nurses, testers and ambulance drivers. Breaking
@tennessean
story from me with an assist from
@natalie_allison
.
For the second time since last Thursday, I've had issues moving around the Cordell Hull Building. Last week, I had to "check in" & show ID, despite having my
@WPLN
badge & the badge that
#tnleg
gives to members of the press corps.
Today, a sergeant-at-arms told me I wasn't 1/
Rep. James Talarico announces bill that would close TX’s 5 youth prisons by 2030, & replace the Juvenile Justice Department with a new office of youth safety & rehabilitation.
The
@TexasTribune
has reported on the conditions at these prisons:
#txlege
Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, goes up to the House galley and receives a standing ovation by the “Ban Democratic Chairs” crowd.
Yesterday Slaton tried (and tried, and tried) to amend the House rules to prohibit the appointment of Democrats as committee chairs.
#txlege
Texas Senate education committee is meeting right now to discuss their school voucher bill. This meeting was scheduled minutes ago.
They just asked for public testimony but there’s none because this meeting was not previously announced.
#txlege
McEnany: "The president has said unmistakably that he wants schools to open...When he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school. The science should not stand in the way of this."
What’s happening in the Tennessee Legislature is pretty wild. A ticketing system for the public wanting to watch the procedures in person that was never announced. A binder with names of reporters allowed on the floor (many reporters left out).
But hey, it’s tHe PeOpLe’S hOuSE.
State troopers turned spectators away from the west House gallery ahead of the start of session on Tuesday, citing a new policy requiring tickets issued by lawmakers that was never publicly announced.
From
@itsmelissabrown
and me
@Tennessean
:
INBOX: More than 1M Tennesseans have voted early. The TN Secretary of State says that statewide "there is nearly a 47 percent increase of in-person and absentee by-mail voters compared to 2016, with each county reporting higher numbers than ever before."
#Election2020
#TNpol
Fam! I just won my first award as a professional journalist!!!!!!!!!!
I don't love to share things like this, but doing this story was so hard and important to me, and it feels great that it is being recognized at the Utah Press Association awards.
Today has been a marathon. Maybe more than that. It's been tough and sad. A bad day.
But, I'm hella proud of
@WPLN
and of every single reporter in this city. We did it. We are doing it. And we are going to do it.
If you are a listener/reader: support local journalism.
Pulaski, Tennessee is the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan.
But yesterday, hundreds took to the streets of the small town to ask for what the Klan has fought against — racial justice and equity in the country.
Meet Vincent, founder of the Grand Enclave Bugle newspaper (circulation ~20), and by far the youngest reporter who covered
#KenPaxton
's impeachment trial
#txlege
Yesterday I filed what I hope will be my last story in 2020.
What an insane year. But 2021 WILL be better. It can't get worse. And we will be all right.
Thanks for supporting local journalists and journalism. Nos vemos el año que viene. ¡Cheers, que nos lo merecemos!
The Tennessee Senate is debating a measure that would require transgender athletes to play in the sports team that matches their sex assigned at birth. The bill's sponsor tonight has said that:
-He isn't aware of any trans athlete in TN
-He didn't talk to any transgender person
NEW: Federal judge issues permanent injunction against Texas Senate Bill 12, a measure that bans drag shows in front of minors. Per judge order, "S.B. 12 is an UNCONSTITUTIONAL restriction on speech. The Court concludes that S.B. 12 violates the First Amendment."
#txlege
allowed inside a committee room. This despite Senate leadership allowing press inside rooms.
After a few minutes, I was allowed inside.
There are so many different rules regarding access that it seems like the "gatekeepers" are having a hard time following them. 2/2
Tennessee soon-to-be senior Sen. Marsha Blackburn was one of 6 senators to vote AGAINST the coronavirus relief bill. Why? She couldn't get on board with "expanded visas, Pell grants for prisoners, and households with illegal aliens receiving economic impact payments."
#tnpol
BREAKING: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been impeached by the Texas House of Representatives.
Paxton is now the third public official to be impeached in Texas' history.
#txlege
New statement from
@GovAbbott
’s office: “We've since learned that at least one of the victims may have been in the United States legally. We regret if the information was incorrect and detracted from the important goal of finding and arresting the criminal.”
Dark money. Frequent traveling. Extravagant taste.
All of these words have a direct tie w/ former MI House Speaker Lee Chatfield, according to many of his former colleagues.
Here’s our deep dive on Chatfield’s finances while in office: w/
@Simon_Schuster
As a person of color, the idea of wearing a face mask to go to a store makes me so nervous. We know what happens when we wear hoodies and walk around. I understand this might sound different and that it's an emergency, but the virus has not made people less racist.
I'm so happy to announce that my story on mariachi education at
@MetroSchools
won Best Use of Sound at the Tennessee
@AP
Awards.
The judges comments made my week! But I'm happier about the fact that more people will listen to these voices:
#BREAKING
: Tennessee Supreme Court has declined to take the TN school voucher lawsuit. It also denied motion to stay injunction of Chancery Court (meaning that the program cannot be implemented pending appeal in Court of Appeals).
#tnedu
@WPLN
The city of Uvalde, as a part of a public records request, has released the contract it signed with Jesse Prado, the investigator who drafted a report exonerating all Uvalde PD officers who responded to the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Uvalde paid Prado nearly $97K.
.
@BetoORourke
is campaigning in
#Uvalde
today.
He just held a small
#GOTV
rally, and will make a stop at the city’s square for a Día de los Muertos event, and then will stop at the cemetery to pay respect to the victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary School last May.
To the reader who left a voicemail saying that I should not write about the constitution because I have an accent and I'm "clearly not from here": I am Puerto Rican and I am here to stay.
#enjoymybyline
#opinionoftheday
Once again, local journalism matters. Kudos to the reporters who broke the story today. They followed up and followed through.
Tomorrow will be an important day. What will
@MNPDNashville
say?
BREAKING: Michigan Supreme Court has ordered the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to produce the recording of the Oct. 27 closed-door meeting and the memos discussed in private.
NOW: Hundreds of gun safety advocates were at the Texas Capitol demanding lawmakers to hold a committee fu vote on HB2744, a measure to raise the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle.
The parents of the Uvalde victims are here too.
#txlege
NEW: After lots of confusion and double motions to reconsider, the Texas House has voted 84-63 to remove the school voucher provision from the education omnibus bill.
#txlege
Debate on HB1, the education omnibus bill has not started yet.
But the GOP-led Texas House is inching closer to removing the school vouchers provision. An amendment doing this was filed early Friday by Rep. John Raney, R-College Station.
#txlege
@KUT
President Biden introduces Jazmin Cazares (
@jazlikescheese
), before calling for ban on assault weapons and pushing for universal background checks.
Jazmin is the sister of 9yo Jackie, one of the victims of the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
#SOTU
NEW: Sources say next week's Capitol Grill breakfast special will be pancakes with peaches. They might call it "To peach or not to peach."
They will start serving the special on Monday. This is happening as the Texas Senate holds the imPEACHment trial of Ken Paxton. 👀🥞