Daily Dispatch 6/18: Southlake Pastor Out Over Past Sexual Abuse of a Child, and More

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Robert Morris, pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, is out after the public revelation that he sexually abused a young girl for four years in the 1980's: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/i-was-a-12-years-old-woman-accuses-gateway-church-founder-of-molesting-her-as-a-child/ ...Morris is chummy with both Governor Greg Abbott and Senator Ted Cruz: https://x.com/MrsAMartini/status/1802917597286969565?t=JFcQSbPuXFhQJ88EB1trcg&s=03 Texas surgeon Eithan Heim, accused of leaking the private medical records of young transgender patients at Texas Children's Hospital to Ken Paxton's office, pled not guilty to four federal charges of HIPAA violations yesterday: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/health/article/houston-doctor-accused-illegally-obtaining-child-19518067.php A Houston man was sentenced to 33 months in prison over several violent threats he made in 2022 against California Congresswoman Maxine Waters: https://westsidetoday.com/2024/06/17/texas-man-sentenced-to-33-months-for-threatening-u-s-rep-maxine-waters/ The notoriously conservative U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has adopted a new rule to prevent civil cases from being taken out of its jurisdiction: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/texas-court-favored-by-conservatives-pause-transferring-cases-elsewhere-2024-06-17/ Lawyers with Ken Paxton's office argued yesterday in El Paso for the shutdown of Annunciation House, whom they accuse of human smuggling: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/06/17/texas-el-paso-migrant-shelter-hearing-annunciation-house/ ...While Operation Lone Star troops have taken to firing mace-laced "pepper balls" at migrants crossing the border: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/06/18/texas-national-guard-border-migrants-pepper-ball-guns/ UT Austin, facing multiple political and PR crises, has laid off two dozen employees working in its communications and marketing departments: https://www.kut.org/education/2024-06-17/university-of-texas-communications-staff-pro-palestinian-campus-protests-anti-dei-law D/FW folks: Come see us at our 14th Anniversary and Election Preview Fundraiser in Dallas on June 25: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/2024anniversary It's Pride Month! Check out the history of Pride and a full calendar of events happening across Texas throughout the month: https://progresstexas.org/blog/deep-heart-pride-celebration-pride-month-texas 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/.