Daily Dispatch 11/14/23: Winter Is Coming - And ERCOT Is NOT Ready. And More

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A national energy analysis shows that ERCOT remains vulnerable to natural gas-related outages in freezing weather as winter approaches: https://www.kvue.com/article/weather/texas-grid-conditions-this-winter/269-d0171aff-35e8-44b9-b259-10b69c8e9153#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16998983290299&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kvue.com%2Farticle%2Fweather%2Ftexas-grid-conditions-this-winter%2F269-d0171aff-35e8-44b9-b259-10b69c8e9153 Joe Manchin's exit makes defeating Ted Cruz next year more a necessity than a luxury: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2023/11/13/with-losses-looming-elsewhere-national-democrats-target-ted-cruz-in-texas/ ...Democratic candidate Colin Allred makes his case to replace Cruz: https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/allred-on-senate-run-we-cant-afford-six-more-years-of-ted-cruz A big win in Sherman as the local ISD reverses a policy that upended a student production of Oklahoma! over gender roles: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2023/11/13/sherman-isd-transgender-student-school-board-meeting/#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16999456040093&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dallasnews.com%2Fnews%2Feducation%2F2023%2F11%2F13%2Fsherman-isd-transgender-student-school-board-meeting%2F ...While a new investigation reveals a vast network of conservative PACs working to take over school boards statewide: https://www.texasobserver.org/school-board-pacs-consultants-right-wing/ Texans with compromised health are now more at risk due to a new law preventing employers from requiring COVID vaccines: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/13/texas-disabled-covid-vaccine-ban/ Demographic, economic and political change paints an interesting picture of Texas' future: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/13/us/texas-identity-population-politics-future.html Thanks for listening! Grab your tickets for our upcoming Austin and Dallas holiday parties, and consider making a donation to support our important work, at https://progresstexas.org/.