Daily Dispatch 10/4/23: Texas U.S. Rep Wants Trump For Speaker, and More

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: After resisting his nomination, all Texas U.S. Reps stuck with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to the end: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/03/texas-republicans-kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote/ ...And now, Fort Bend Rep. Troy Nehls wants Donald Trump to be the new Speaker: https://www.khou.com/article/news/politics/troy-nehls-nominates-donald-trump-speaker-of-the-house/285-ac4a2f55-bbe0-4df0-90f5-ae0d8f7dc843 House impeachment managers release more dirt on Attorney General Ken Paxton, which they say they didn't have time to use during the impeachment trial: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/special-reports/paxton-impeachment-trial/new-evidence-ken-paxton-impeachment-trial-texas/269-9189a8fe-e8f9-4c6a-a55e-311f705821ad A new outline of efforts by petroleum power players and their Republican protectors to undermine renewable energy and resist federal regulation is a frustrating read: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/tomlinson/article/texas-air-pollution-gop-lawuits-climate-change-18401627.php ...While ERCOT calls for power plants shut down due to pollution to be revived in case they're needed for winter energy shortages: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/texas-power-grid-seeks-increase-operating-reserves-winter-preparation-2023-10-02/ ...One of those is a coal-fired plant near San Antonio that's been mothballed for five years: https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/ercot-calls-closed-power-plants-texas-grid-winter-18403794.php The encroachment of conservative politics and religion into North Texas public school districts is the subject of a new podcast series from NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/politics-and-religion-s-growing-influence-in-three-texas-school-districts-194360901777 Another Democrat has declared a run for the soon-to-be-vacated Texas House seat representing El Paso: https://kfoxtv.com/renderer/kfoxtv/amp/news/local/el-paso-city-rep-alexsandra-annello-announces-bid-for-texas-state-representative And the long process of opening a sample from an asteroid is taking even longer than expected at Johnson Space Center: https://gizmodo.com/osiris-rex-asteroid-sample-return-excess-materials-1850894913 Thanks for listening! Please consider supporting Progress Texas with a donation at https://progresstexas.org/.