Josephine Lee

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.

Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

In This Black Louisiana Town, Forests are Browning and Animals are Dying After the industrial explosion in rural Louisiana town, the EPA still says there is no health threat.

The forests that once sheltered the small town of Roseland are turning brown. Now, many residents are left wondering: Is what was left behind after the Aug. 22 blast safe? If it’s making the trees ill, what about them?

War-ravaged Portland

Awarding Influence - Public Citizen

Public Citizen identified eight companies that received nearly $1B in non-competitive state contracts between 2014—2024. During those same years, these companies, their PACs, their officers, and their employees donated nearly $3M to Texans for Greg Abbott PAC.

www.citizen.org/article/awar...

Texas Domestic Workers Face Trump Attack on Minimum Wage Advocates warn a proposed rule by the Department of Labor will deepen the country’s “crisis of care.”

Trump hastens plan to deny domestic workers the minimum wage. www.texasobserver.org/texas-domest...

Texas Domestic Workers Face Trump Attack on Minimum Wage Advocates warn a proposed rule by the Department of Labor will deepen the country’s “crisis of care.”

“It’s anti-regulation, it’s anti-Black and anti-immigrant, and it’s anti-social safety net. So these cuts that are coming together really exacerbate the crisis of care.”

New from @josephineklee.bsky.social: New Department of Labor regulations could push already struggling caregivers over the edge.

Republicans Escalate Their War on America’s Cities While some establishment Democrats attack their leftward drift

“Republicans advanced 16 bills to strip Washington, D.C., of home rule” … and additionally, “an amendment to one of those bills that would repeal D.C.’s ban on right turns on red lights.” prospect.org/politics/202...

Big Tech Data Centers Compound Decades of Environmental Racism in the South The American South has long been a site of both corporate extraction and fierce political resistance.

“As the South becomes the new epicenter of data center growth, it is becoming increasingly clear that Big Tech is following Big Oil’s footsteps, compounding the harms of decades of environmental racism.” truthout.org/articles/big...

A Wave of School District Takeovers Could Be Coming. Some Past Interventions Ended with More Failing Schools. Fort Worth ISD is among the districts that could join Houston in having its elected board deposed, while Beaumont and Edgewood ISDs offer a cautionary tale.

State takeovers left some Texas school districts with MORE failing schools. www.texasobserver.org/state-school...

A Wave of School District Takeovers Could Be Coming. Some Past Interventions Ended with More Failing Schools. Fort Worth ISD is among the districts that could join Houston in having its elected board deposed, while Beaumont and Edgewood ISDs offer a cautionary tale.

New from @josephinelee.bsky.social: Recently released state school ratings reveal that five Texas school districts are at risk of a takeover by the Texas Education Agency (TEA)—the most since a 2017 state law expanded the state’s takeover powers.

Washington Post fires their last remaining Black opinion writer @karenattiah.bsky.social over the most benign comments in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's murder...

Meanwhile Fox still has Brian Kilmeade who casually said all homeless people should be killed.

Its all unfair & unbalanced. Wake up.

Turning Point buttons distributed to students reading, “All Guns Matter,” “9MM beats 911,” and others.

Charlie Kirk espoused the same violence he is a victim of. These are buttons his group distributed to students. I had collected these for a story on how he and others were weaponizing young people to attack progressives and LGBTQ+ people. www.texasobserver.org/christian-yo...

The U.S spends more money for worse healthcare via @damonsilvers.bsky.social prospect.org/health/2025-...

Vaccine Confusion Reigns Under MAHA Regime The best solution is something every other major economy has already figured out: universal health care.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “has pledged to Make America Healthy Again by reducing access to modern medicine.” @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social prospect.org/health/2025-...

In reversal, Texas SBOE backs plan to deemphasize world history, cultures The plan, favored by conservative activists, greatly reduces the amount of time spent on world history and boosts that spent on Texas history.

Yet another move by our govt to inculcate TX exceptionalism into our children and make them ignorant of the world. Plus, it doesn’t make sense that world history, which is considerably longer will take up 20% of class time while TX history takes up 45%. www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/tex...

Letter from Texas education commissioner Mike Morath.

The Texas Education Agency has now directed school districts to monitor teachers’ social media posts and fire teachers who criticize Charlie Kirk on social media- continuing Kirk’s efforts to have teachers reported and fired for their stated beliefs. www.professorwatchlist.org

Tomorrow Wed Sept 10 at 7pm, join @motherjones.com, @capitalb.bsky.social, @texasobserver.org at the Julia Ideson Building in downtown Houston for an evening of stories, action & resilience in the 20 years after Hurricane Katrina.

New Texas Map Starts Game of Political Musical Chairs GOP’s Trumped-up redrawing took a wrecking ball to congressional districts. Now comes the mad dash for seats.

New from @byjustinmiller.bsky.social: After two weeks spent outside state lines, Texas House Democrats ended their quorum break as abruptly as a second special session began. Within days, the GOP scheme to engineer a rare mid-decade redistricting had been rammed through the Texas House and Senate.

RFK Jr.’s damage to the CDC is ‘past the point of no return,’ Dr. Demetre Daskalakis warns “The CDC you knew is over,” the infectious diseases doctor told The Advocate. “Unless someone takes radical action, there is nothing there that can be salvaged.”

there is no question in my mind that rfk jr is the most dangerous person in this administration and that his eugenicist ideology threatens the lives of millions of people www.advocate.com/politics/dem...

Josephine Lee: @josephinelee.bsky.social
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West Texas Congressman's 'Big Beautiful' Cuts Could Harm Rural Hospitals in His District Jodey Arrington was the House architect of Trump’s massive tax-and-spend bill that includes steep healthcare cuts.

New from @Josephinelee.bsky.social: Many of Jodey Arrington's constituents stand to lose access to both their healthcare and their local hospitals under the tax-and-spending bill, which will slash Medicaid and ACA spending by more than $1T and knock 10M more people off of insurance nationwide.

Texas GOP Says Flood Relief Is Priority. Here’s the Climate Policy They Won’t Pass. Republican lawmakers have for years refused to engage with precautionary climate resilience and disaster-response measures.

Featured story, from @candicebernd.bsky.social: “It’s been an open secret in the Legislature for a while that if your bill has the word ‘climate’ in the caption, it’s not getting a hearing. That has been true for many sessions.”

West Texas Congressman's 'Big Beautiful' Cuts Could Harm Rural Hospitals in His District Jodey Arrington was the House architect of Trump’s massive tax-and-spend bill that includes steep healthcare cuts.

Texas Rep. Orchestrated Big Beautiful Cuts That Could Harm Rural Hospitals in His District: Jodey Arrington’s district is home to more rural hospitals than any other in TX; roughly a 1/4 of those are at risk of closing under the new law, a recent study showed. www.texasobserver.org/jodey-arring...

Robert Kennedy Has Gutted Our Best Defense Against Future Pandemics mRNA technology saved America’s bacon in 2020. Now RFK Jr. is defunding it.

“Robert Kennedy Has Gutted Our Best Defense Against Future Pandemics
mRNA technology saved America’s bacon in 2020. Now RFK Jr. is defunding it.” @ryanlcooper.com prospect.org/health/2025-...

Judge Rules Ohio’s Voucher System Unconstitutional The ruling could end the siphoning of funds to private and parochial schools.

“Judge Rules Ohio’s Voucher System Unconstitutional”- That ruling found that using public funds to subsidize tuition at private religious schools violates the Ohio Constitution’s ban on directing “school funds” to religious or sectarian institutions. prospect.org/education/20...

Will a STAAR-Crossed Legislature Finally Enact Real Testing Reform? It’s on the agenda at the Texas Capitol, but advocates worry heavy-handed "accountability" will remain intact.

The Texas Legislature is moving forward with replacing the STAAR with three tests, but parents say the high stakes for districts, schools, teachers, and their students will only increase. www.texasobserver.org/texas-legisl...

Map shows states pushing to mandate Ten Commandments in schools Several state legislatures have introduced bills requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools.

“Map Shows States Pushing to Mandate Ten Commandments in Schools” 8/24/25 www.newsweek.com/map-shows-st...

NEW: We sent a letter to Texas school districts warning them not to implement a new law that requires all public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. This week, a federal court deemed the law “plainly unconstitutional.”

Public schools are not Sunday schools.

Health insurance carriers request raising ACA premiums by more than 20% on average in Texas Health insurers are hiking policy premiums in response to proposed federal cuts and rising costs in various parts of the health care sector.

Health insurance carriers request raising ACA premiums by more than 20% on average in Texas by www.texastribune.org/2025/08/21/t...

These Tiny Texas Schools Were Already Hurting. Then the Legislature Passed Vouchers. In Texas, rural schools are often the hubs of their communities. The state’s new program could compromise that.

“In Texas, rural schools are often the hubs of their communities. The state’s new program could compromise that.” By @claywickham.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...