Daily Dispatch 5/6/24: Progressives Come Through In Tax Appraisal Elections, and More

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Democratically-backed candidates for newly-created oversight positions with county tax appraisal did well in Saturday's election in Dallas County: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/politics/lone-star-politics/texas-voters-elect-appraisal-board-members-denton-dallas-tarrant/3533277/ ...And in Travis County: https://www.kut.org/politics/2024-05-05/austin-travis-county-property-taxes-tcad-may-4-2024-election-results ...Molly Cook, featured on our podcast recorded at March's Unified Jam in Austin, won Saturday's special election to serve out the rest of John Whitmire's term, becoming the first openly LGBTQ Texas Senator: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/houston-whitmire-senate-seat-19437490.php Another pro-Palestinian protest at UT Austin on Sunday sees a heavy police presence but no arrests: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/ut-austin-palestine-protest-19432066.php ...While at the Texas State Capitol, the Central Texas Jewish community rallied for Jewish college students nationwide: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/local/2024/05/05/shalom-austin-iac-walk-texas-capitol-jewish-israel-palestine-conflict-protest/73579217007/ Fort Worth's Opal Lee, the 97-year-old "Grandmother of Juneteenth", received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Friday: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/biden-opal-lee-presidential-medal-of-freedom-ceremony-grandmother-of-juneteenth/ Mark your calendar for May 9 at 12 noon for our "Burning Issues" town hall on liquid natural gas (LNG) pollution in Texas: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/townhall_24 Also for your calendar: a public forum will be held on May 20 by the Texas Medical Board on proposed exceptions to Texas' near-total ban on abortion: https://x.com/hannahnorton89/status/1785054901661216800?s=12&t=Bt_w1MN2AlTfFkWGHJiOJg Progress Texas could use your help in funding our trip to June's Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso - thanks in advance! https://progresstexas.org/donate It will soon be time to vote in the May 28 primary runoffs! https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/26/texas-voting-2024-runoff-elections/ Progress Texas invites progressive candidates to share their views with us - which we'll then share with our statewide audience - via our Certified Progressive questionnaire: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-certified-progressives-2024-progressive-values-questionnaire Instagram users: be sure to enable political content on that platform, which has begun opting users out: https://x.com/ProgressTX/status/1771276124498100667?s=20 Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org/.