{"id":57315,"date":"2025-11-20T06:10:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T06:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/57315\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T06:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T06:10:11","slug":"the-weeks-biggest-news-in-brief-the-austin-chronicle-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/57315\/","title":{"rendered":"The Week\u2019s Biggest News in Brief \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

New GOP Map Blocked: A three-judge panel in El Paso ruled on Tuesday<\/a> that Texas cannot use the new congressional map that Texas GOP members redrew and pushed through during the legislative session, and will instead have to use the previous 2021 map. Opponents of the map said the new lines disenfranchise Black and brown voters in Trump\u2019s attempt to flip five congressional seats for Republicans in Texas and bolster the GOP\u2019s majority in the U.S. House. The decision \u2013 for now \u2013 blocks their ability to do so. \u201cThe radical left is once again trying to undermine the will of the people,\u201d Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement on Nov. 18, stating his intention to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. \u201cThe Big Beautiful Map was entirely legal.\u201d In his own statement, Gov. Greg Abbott pushed back against judges\u2019 conclusion that the redistricted map was racially gerrymandered: \u201cThe Legislature redrew our congressional maps to better reflect Texans\u2019 conservative voting preferences \u2013 and for no other reason.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett in 2023 Credit: Jana Birchum<\/p>\n

Candidate Moves: Since the GOP\u2019s newly drawn map is now blocked from use in 2026 \u2013\u00a0barring Supreme Court intervention \u2013\u00a0and the congressional districts will remain, it means a change of plans for Austin\u2019s two U.S. representatives. Senior congressman Lloyd Doggett, who was set to retire if the GOP map survived the court challenge, announced that instead he\u2019ll be running for reelection to continue representing CD 37. \u201cFor all those Republicans, who have tried for so many years in so many ways to assure my defeat by gerrymander, not yet, not so quick,\u201d Rep. Doggett wrote to his constituents in an email. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, who had been running to represent CD 37 after his own district, CD 35, was gerrymandered, signaled his next move on X<\/a>: \u201cIf this decision stands, I look forward to running for reelection in my current district.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petition Shot Down: Last month, the legal advocacy organization Save Our Springs and the Austin United PAC submitted a petition<\/a> with 20,000 signatures to the city of Austin, which the coalition claimed to have collected and verified, in an attempt to halt the already-ongoing construction of the new convention center and put it to a public vote. The petition argues that the money would be better spent toward Austin\u2019s ecotourism. This week, the city clerk deemed the petition invalid, unable to verify that number of signatures. \u201cAlthough we are very surprised and disappointed to see the clerk\u2019s conclusion, this isn\u2019t the end for us,\u201d Austin United spokesperson Finn Sonniksen said in a statement<\/a> to the Austin American-Statesman.<\/p>\n

Vote on School Closures: If you\u2019re reading this the day the issue comes out, the AISD Board of Trustees will vote tonight, Thursday, Nov. 20, on the district\u2019s final recommendation to close 10 schools: Becker, Barrington, Sunset Valley, Ridgetop, Dawson, Oak Springs, Winn, and Wid\u00e9n elementaries, and Martin and Bedichek middle schools. Students at six other schools will also be reassigned as wall-to-wall dual language and Montessori programs move to those campuses. The board will also vote to approve 24 turnaround plans and nine targeted improvement plans to the Texas Education Agency for schools underperforming on the STAAR exam.<\/p>\n

\"\"The transformation of the State Theatre will include an art deco interior design, a rooftop deck, and \u2013 pictured in this rendering \u2013 a basement speakeasy Credit: Clayton Korte<\/p>\n

Paramount & State Theatres to Get Major Makeovers: The Austin Theatre Alliance announced Wednesday a major renovation and restoration campaign for the Paramount and State theatres. With $27 million already raised, the org is seeking<\/a> an additional $38 million for the project, which will see the 110-year-old Paramount close in June 2026 for 8-9 months for a full restoration, followed by what is being described as \u201c13\u201316-month transformation\u201d of the 90-year-old State Theatre. Read more online.<\/p>\n

Recycled Reads Storefront Winds Down: The Austin Public Library announced the timeline for eventual closure of its Burnet Road storefront. Opened in 2009 to support the city\u2019s Zero Waste Plan by selling retired library and other donated materials to the public, the city decided to eliminate the storefront, citing lease and operational costs far exceeding revenue. Recycled Reads will continue to be open to the public through Jan. 17; then sales of used materials will shift to all Austin Public Library locations starting in February 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Safety Schmafety: The Statesman reported<\/a> Tesla\u2019s driverless robotaxis were involved in four crashes in Austin during September; Tesla currently operates about two dozen self-driving cars in town. (Competitor Waymo, which operates more than 100 such vehicles in Austin, reported nine crashes in the same month.) CEO Elon Musk reportedly told investors<\/a> he predicted human safety monitors would be removed from the autonomous vehicles \u201cin at least large parts of Austin by the end of this year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ten Commandments Taken Down: On Tuesday, Nov. 18, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction<\/a> that the Ten Commandments be taken down in classrooms in 14 Texas public school districts by Dec. 1. The decision follows a similar ruling in August for a separate lawsuit<\/a> that exempted Austin ISD and 10 other school districts from Senate Bill 10\u2019s requirement to hang the Christian text. While the injunctions block the law from being followed in only those school districts, \u00a0the organizations behind the lawsuit are urging all Texas school districts not to implement SB 10, arguing that the U.S. Constitution supersedes state law. \u201cI am relieved that as a result of today\u2019s ruling, my children, who are among a small number of Jewish children at their schools, will no longer be continually subjected to religious displays,\u201d plaintiff Lenee Bien-Willner said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Abbott Attacks Muslim Groups: On Nov. 18, the governor issued a proclamation designating two groups \u201cterrorist\u201d organizations: the transnational Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation\u2019s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. A statement from the office of the Texas Governor announced<\/a> \u201cthis designation authorizes heightened enforcement against both organizations and their affiliates and prohibits them from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas.\u201d CAIR-Texas<\/a> announced its \u201clegal team is preparing to take appropriate action\u201d following the designation, adding: \u201cWe plan to continue exercising our constitutional rights, defending civil rights, and speaking truth to power, whether in defense of free speech, religious freedom and racial equality here in Texas or in defense of human rights abroad.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Turkeys for the Taking: Leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, Central Texas Food Bank is hosting three mobile pantry sites. No ID or proof of income is required; interested folks can just drive up and have their car loaded with food. The distribution sites are as follows:<\/p>\n

Nov. 20, 9-11am: Nelson Field, 7104 Berkman Drive, Austin<\/p>\n

Nov. 22, 9-11am: Waco ISD Stadium, 1401 S. New Road, Waco<\/p>\n

Nov. 24, 9-10:30am: Delco Center, 4601 Pecan Brook Drive, Austin<\/p>\n

QUOTE OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n

\u201cSubstantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown in a Nov. 18<\/a> ruling striking down the GOP\u2019s redistricted map<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: www.txs.uscourts.gov<\/p>\n

This article appears in November 21 \u2022 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New GOP Map Blocked: A three-judge panel in El Paso ruled on Tuesday that Texas cannot use the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,21409,9863,31010,483],"class_list":["post-57315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-congressional-redistricting","tag-paramount-theatre","tag-recycled-reads","tag-tesla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}