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The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: The man arrested over threats at the Texas Capitol last Saturday says he feels “set up.” The lack of charges and the way it wall was handled make you wonder if he is right. He is correct in asserting that the entire matter needs investigation.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.The “felony” charges brought against Ken Paxton have now been dismissed. Pratt on Texas listeners have been the most informed, correctly, on this matter from the moment it broke.We visit with star of the stage, Glenn Polk about his upcoming farewell performance as Peter the Rock at the Ragtown Gospel Theater.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com
The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: Choosing an attitude of victimhood, especially seeing everything through the lens of race, leaves a person as, or more, poisoned than one who is a nasty racist bigot. A Bexar County-Court-At-Law judge is claiming that the only reason another Democrat is planning to run against her in next year's Democratic Primary, is due to her being black. It's as nasty to impute racism into someone else with no evidence for such as it is to be racist.And then there is this other bit showing today's Texas Democratic Party is a friend and promoter of perversion and communism: Texas Democrats Elect Socialist, “Pan-sexual” Vice-Chairman for Finance.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Threats at the Texas Capitol on Saturday are said, by Governor Abbott, to have come from an armed man who was on Capitol grounds. KXAN reports on who sources say is the now arrested man.Lubbock County budget talks show the same old thing: County Judge Curtis Parrish wants more raises for himself and other officials than do commissioners and, Sheriff Rowe wants tons more money and personnel. However, something missed is this: Why doesn't UMC pick up the tab for the deputies? It has massive cash reserves and huge earnings. (Congrats to the AJ for actually having a meaningful news story – it happens rarely these days.)Election integrity stories that blend together: Key Election Security Efforts Met Resistance in the Texas House Attorney General Ken Paxton Opens Investigations into 33 Noncitizens for Illegally Voting in the 2024 Election MyPillow's Mike Lindell found liable for defamation, ordered to pay $2.3 million FBI gives Congress intel on alleged Chinese plot to create fake mail-in ballots in 2020 – “…in fact, another agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, had intercepted nearly 20,000 fake licenses around the time the intelligence came in a possible corroboration of the report, officials said.” Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com
In this episode of our summer series recapping the 2024 Christians Engaged Conference, we're excited to share two powerful messages from two inspiring leaders—Craig DeRoche, President of Family Policy Alliance, and Jonathan Saenz, President of Texas Values—as they share urgent and encouraging messages for our nation.Craig DeRoche emphasizes the vital role Christians must take in praying, voting, and engaging in the public square to uphold biblical values in our culture and government. He reminds us that the Church is the key to addressing America's challenges, calling believers to step forward with boldness and unity. Listen as he shares his Forrest Gump–style journey through American politics and the powerful realization that Christians Engaged is building the most effective movement of its kind in the nation today.Jonathan Saenz brings a passionate Texas perspective, emphasizing the foundational principles of faith, family, and freedom that define our state and nation. From his early advocacy at the Texas Capitol to his ongoing work defending pro-life and religious liberty laws, Jonathan challenges Christians to “show up” and be equipped to engage effectively in the political process. Drawing from Scripture and personal experience, he encourages believers not to fear opposition but to stand firm with courage and truth.Join us as we explore how Christians can move beyond the sidelines and become influential voices in this pivotal moment for our country.➡️ Subscribe to our channel for more inspiring conversationsWe exist to awaken, educate, and empower believers in Jesus Christ to:▪️ PRAY for our nation and elected officials regularly▪️ VOTE in every local, state, and national election to impact our culture ▪️ ENGAGE our hearts in civic education or involvement for the well-being of our local communities and our nation
Weekly Legislative Update Live from the Texas Capitol #txlege Sign up for Texas Values University! https://texasvaluesuniversity.com/ Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
Weekly Legislative Update Live from the Texas Capitol #txlege Sign up for Texas Values University! https://texasvaluesuniversity.com/ Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
James Henson and Joshua Blank talk about the progress made on major legislation this week and where the legislative leadership stands as the end of the regular session looms.
A look at the behind-the-scenes dealmaking happening at the Texas Capitol with less than two weeks until lawmakers gavel out on June 2. How proposed cuts to SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, would impact Texans. Apple has a plan to make it possible to use your laptop, phone and even smartwatch with brain control. […] The post As the clock winds down, Texas lawmakers scramble to pass key bills appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
In this special edition of "Economic War Room," Kevin Freeman reveals the behind-the-scenes battle to pass transactional gold and silver legislation — known as Pirate Money — in the Texas Capitol. From opposition by bankers and bureaucrats to last-minute sabotage and misleading “fiscal notes,” Kevin shares the political warfare most Americans never see. He recounts how similar bills have fared in states like Arkansas, Utah, and Florida, and the resistance from powerful interests that fear economic freedom. You'll hear about the legal manipulation, hit-and-run testimonies, and how integrity is under siege in the lawmaking process. Kevin pulls back the curtain on how your money, rights, and voice are being challenged — and what you can do about it.
Watch #texasvaluesreport with special guest Amie Ichikawa, Independent Women Ambassador, and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values as Amie shares her story of being incarcerated in a women's prison with a male inmate. Watch our press conference during Women's Privacy Day of Action at the Texas Capitol. ALERT: We are at the end of the week and Chairman Ken King still has not set a hearing for SB 240, the Texas Women's Privacy Act. Time is running out! Call Chairman Ken King's office TODAY to ask for a hearing for SB 240! (512) 463-0736 Read full Action Alert here: https://buff.ly/G5i0eza Victory Channel interview with host Mike Garofalo and guest Mary Elizabeth Castle, Director of Government Relations for Texas Values on the Texas Women's Privacy Act. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GhqV8oxBo/ Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
This week, Weekly Witness highlights the voices of Texas faith leaders who spoke during the Texas Impact Leadership Council's press conference on the south steps of the Texas Capitol on May 8th as we call out religious extremism. Joining us today are: Rev. Phil Dieke, Horizon Texas United Methodist Conference, Dallas Rev. Matt Gaventa, University Presbyterian Church, Austin Elyse Rosenberg & Bettie Forman, National Council of Jewish Women, Austin Darlene Alfred, United Women in Faith, Salado Joanna Redfield Vaughn, South Central Yearly Quaker Meeting, Austin Rev. Laura Walters, Grace Presbytery, Dallas Rev. Dr. Dan De Leon, South Central Conference United Church of Christ, College Station Find the full press conference online at: https://youtu.be/Fx5rLt7A8VA
As the Texas Legislative Session enters its final month things are hot-both in terms of public policy and feelings, and Texans of faith are working to be effective advocates through it all. Joining us for this week's program is the man who has seen it all in the Texas Capitol, Texas Impact's outside legislative counsel, Beaman Floyd. He is going to give us the lay of the land and talk us through how advocates can navigate the final few weeks of the session. It's not too late to join an Issue Team in the Legislative Action Center on the Texas Impact website.
With the help of President Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott has successfully bullied Texas Republican lawmakers into passing his signature policy initiative of school vouchers. So, with roughly 6 weeks to go in the legislative session, what will they argue about now at the Texas Capitol? Plenty including abortion, immigration, voting rights, and more. We'll break it down. Plus, Jeremy's got his up and down of the week and Scott institutes a swear jar for the show. Join the conversation with Scott Braddock, editor of The Quorum Report, and Houston Chronicle political writer Jeremy Wallace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
ICYMI: Legislative champions State Rep Shelley Luther, State Senator Lois Kolkhorst, State Rep Mitch Little and US Congressman Chip Roy spoke at our 2025 Freedom Fight and Rally at the Texas Capitol. Watch here as they fire up the crowd and show their love for TFVC. https://youtu.be/hsldioFwIRs
Join us on #texasvaluesreport with Special Guest Claire Frugia, Legislative Director for Representative Andy Hopper, Startled by Man Entering Women's Restroom in Texas Capitol, and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values as she shares the impact her story had on the new bathroom policy at the Texas Capitol and the importance of the Texas Women's Privacy Act. New bathroom policy based on sex at the Texas Capitol, credited in part to Claire's experience encountering a man in the women's restroom! https://txvalues.org/state-preservation-board-responds-new-policy-based-on-sex/ 76 Texas House Members, Including Democrats, Sign On In Support Of Texas Woman's Privacy Act https://txvalues.org/breaking-76-texas-house-members-including-democrats-sign-on-in-support-of-texas-womans-privacy-act/ Watch the video of Claire's experience encountering a man in the women's restroom at the Texas Capitol https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AVCwkESNx/ Sign the petition to protect girls' and women's privacy across the state of Texas with the Texas Women's Privacy Act https://txvalues.org/texas-womens-privacy-act/ Save the date for our event in Ft. Worth on May 10th. Details coming soon! https://txvalues.org/events Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
Join us on Texas Values Report with special guest Brooke Slusser, Co-captain, San Jose State University Women's Volleyball Team, and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values Texas Case: AG Paxton In NCAA Lawsuit to Protect Female Athletes, Texas Values Supports https://txvalues.org/texas-case-today-ag-paxton-in-ncaa-lawsuit-to-protect-female-athletes-texas-values-supports/ Washington Times article addressing AG Paxton's lawsuit v. the NCAA https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/mar/20/ncaa-accused-allowing-loophole-transgender-athletes-updated-policy/ New bathroom policy based on sex at the Texas Capitol! https://txvalues.org/state-preservation-board-responds-new-policy-based-on-sex/ 76 Texas House Members, Including Democrats, Sign On In Support Of Texas Woman's Privacy Act https://txvalues.org/breaking-76-texas-house-members-including-democrats-sign-on-in-support-of-texas-womans-privacy-act/ Save the date for our event in Ft. Worth on May 10th. Details coming soon! https://txvalues.org/events Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
The Texas Impact team just worked with some incredible faith partners on the Family Matters: Faith Days at the Texas Capitol event. About 300 Texans of Faith gathered at the Texas Capitol and across the street at First United Methodist Church of Austin for three days of education, advocacy and activism. We had legislative visits to Capitol offices, singing in the rotunda, great panel discussions, a rally on the steps of the Capitol, and—the part that got the most attention in the media, a press conference dubbed "Texas Women of Faith Support the Life of the Mother Act Press Conference." At the press conference, Bee highlighted the postcard many of you… along with 6,000 other Texans of faith have signed calling for the Texas Legislature to “fix the abortion ban.” A room full of Texas women faith leaders spoke in favor of the bill, and the author of the House version of the bill, HB 44, the "Life of the Mother Bill" Rep. Charlie Geren spoke saying that in his 24 years, this is the most important bill he has ever carried. You can watch that entire press conference on Texas Impact's LegeTV channel on YouTube. So, this week we are going to talk about all of that with one of the Texas faith leaders who spoke at the press conference, Rev. Jessica Cain of Living Word Lutheran Church in Buda and Texas Impact Policy Advocate working on reproductive health issues, Rev. Kyle Riley.
Y'all, it is getting wild over at the Texas Capitol, and Texans of faith are in the midst of all of it with thousands of phone calls going in every week, members of Texas Impact's issue teams staying up until all hours of the night giving testimony, and the Texas Impact staff busting their tails working on behalf of our membership. If you have been paying attention to the Legislature at all—or have been on social media or paying attention to the news, you will know that the school voucher, or "Education Savings Account", bill has been front and center over the last few weeks.The Senate passed their ESA/Voucher Bill, SB 2, early on and this week, the House Public Education Committee had a hearing on their bill—HB 3. That hearing went 22 and a half hours with opposition from across the state and across the political and ideological spectrum. That committee is now deliberating to determine their next steps. Which means, it is important that Texans of faith mobilize our communities to talk to our legislators about why we support public schools, and why diverting public dollars to private schools would harm our communities. And, we are going to talk more about that today with our two guests, Texas Impact's Executive Director Bee Moorhead and outside legislative counsel, Beaman Floyd. If you missed it, Texas Impact's LegeTV has clips from the hearing. Be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel to see more from the 89th Texas Legislature.
Join us on #texasvaluesreport with special guest Brian Harrison, State Representative, District 10, and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values as we discuss banning radical gender ideology in public schools and more key pieces of legislation. Representative Brian Harrison filed budget riders to stop taxpayer funded DEI and LGBTQ indoctrination in Texas! https://x.com/brianeharrison/status/1898139915898270059 HB2339, the "Defunding Indoctrination in Education (DIE) Act," the boldest ban on DEI and LGBTQ indoctrination in America, which completely defunds any public university promoting it; filed by Rep. Harrison https://x.com/brianeharrison/status/1886496732936036421?s=46 A University of Texas class syllabus promotes transgenderism by COERCING STUDENTS TO CROSS-DRESS FOR HIGHER GRADES and encourages CHILD GROOMING! https://x.com/brianeharrison/status/1892359689452867913?s=46 Read more about Texas First Liberty Agenda - Make Texas Texas Again by Representative Brian Harrison https://x.com/brianeharrison/status/1895093586246418485?s=46 ACLU admits that men are in women's restrooms at the Capitol after years of denial! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18fgRPpWYL/ It Happened Again! Young Woman Startled by Man in Women's Restroom at Texas Capitol, Texas Values Staff Member! https://txvaluesaction.org/it-happened-again-young-woman-startled-by-man-in-womens-restroom-at-texas-capitol-texas-values-staff-member/ Governor Greg Abbott expresses his support for Texas Woman's Privacy Act: https://x.com/jonathansaenzTX/status/1898934156429562139 Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
Join us on #texasvaluesreport with special guest Brian Harrison, State Representative, District 10, and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values as we discuss banning radical gender ideology in public schools and more key pieces of legislation. Representative Brian Harrison filed budget riders to stop taxpayer funded DEI and LGBTQ indoctrination in Texas! https://x.com/brianeharrison/status/1898139915898270059 HB2339, the "Defunding Indoctrination in Education (DIE) Act," the boldest ban on DEI and LGBTQ indoctrination in America, which completely defunds any public university promoting it; filed by Rep. Harrison https://x.com/brianeharrison/status/1886496732936036421?s=46 A University of Texas class syllabus promotes transgenderism by COERCING STUDENTS TO CROSS-DRESS FOR HIGHER GRADES and encourages CHILD GROOMING! https://x.com/brianeharrison/status/1892359689452867913?s=46 Read more about Texas First Liberty Agenda - Make Texas Texas Again by Representative Brian Harrison https://x.com/brianeharrison/status/1895093586246418485?s=46 ACLU admits that men are in women's restrooms at the Capitol after years of denial! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18fgRPpWYL/ It Happened Again! Young Woman Startled by Man in Women's Restroom at Texas Capitol, Texas Values Staff Member! https://txvaluesaction.org/it-happened-again-young-woman-startled-by-man-in-womens-restroom-at-texas-capitol-texas-values-staff-member/ Governor Greg Abbott expresses his support for Texas Woman's Privacy Act: https://x.com/jonathansaenzTX/status/1898934156429562139 Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: Legislative leadership has clear corruption that needs rooting out and once again, Rep. Charlie Geren, enforcer/hatchetman for Straus, Bonnen, Phelan, and now Burrows, appears to be involved – no surprise is that! This issue is emblematic of all that is wrong in our country – a group of people who, once elected or in a position of perceived power, see themselves as a sort of American Aristocracy – that it inherently unAmerican.Other news from the legislature: Senators Approve Constitutional Amendment Protecting Parental Rights School Choice Battle Intensifies as Texas House Committee Hears Testimony Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Degenerate libs are in a huff because U.S. Rep. Self will not call a man a woman. Good on ya Congressman.Local sales tax receipts up $1.1 billionover March of last year but, it's a really mixed bag just as was February. Look up your city here.Remember the Battle of Refugio.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com
An estimated one in seven of Austin's short-term rentals is illegally operating, and City Council members are trying to change that. But those efforts have been underway for years, and have been largely unsuccessful, resulting in unfriendly legal rulings and bills filed at the Texas Capitol. Recently, council changed three regulations aimed to wrangle short-term rentals, but postponed enforcing two of the three changes until after the Texas Legislature leaves town. Sara Willa Ernst joins host Nikki DaVaughn in breaking down the changes, explaining how we got here, and digging into the actual problems. Learn more about the sponsors of this March 10th episode: Rodeo Austin Flyaustin Port Aransas Want some more Austin news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Austin newsletter. Follow us @citycastaustin You can also text us or leave a voicemail. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE
During a recent live event at the San Antonio Express-News headquarters, Jeremy talked with GOP former Rep. Steve Allison and Democratic former House candidate Kristian Carranza about school vouchers, property taxes, and other issues central to the legislative session unfolding at the Texas Capitol. Our regular show with Quorum Report Editor Scott Braddock and Houston Chronicle political writer Jeremy Wallace returns later this week. Enjoy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
People on the left and right enjoy Trump impersonations for different reasons. But it can go too far and it's becoming a bit of an issue at the Texas Capitol. Plus Gov. Abbott may be celebrating too soon on school vouchers and Jeremy digs into the similarities between Republicans now and some Democrats nearly 100 years ago. Join the conversation with Scott Braddock, editor of The Quorum Report, and Houston Chronicle political writer Jeremy Wallace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, we are joined by several of the speakers and participants in the Preventing Gun Violence Advocacy Day. First we talk with Jasir Rahman, a student at Rice University and Texas Youth Advocacy Coordinator with Team ENOUGH. Later in the episode we hear from Nicole Golden, Director of Texas Gun Sense, and Rev. Stephen Sanders from Oak Hill United Methodist Church shortly after the rally for gun violence prevention was held on the Texas Capitol steps on February 27th. Gun violence is always such a hard topic. Because so many of the folks who show up have traumatic stories to explain what brought them to this work. We heard stories from Uvalde families. We heard from people who had family members take their lives or who had friends involved in accidental deaths. And, while we marched to the Capitol with about 1,000 other advocates from across the state to rally on the South steps, we passed by over 1,000 t-shirts with the names of Texans who needlessly lost their lives to gun violence as part of a giant Vidas Robadas display. I want to give props to Texas Impact's Gun Violence Prevention team for their work on this event and to the Texas Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence for their work. If you want to learn more about Texas Impact's involvement or how you can get involved check out Action Center at texasimpact.org. Find out more about the work of Team Enough and Texas Gun Sense: https://www.bradyunited.org/take-action/join-movement/team-enough https://txgunsense.org/
Join us on #texasvaluesreport with special guest Dr. Eithan Haim, MD., Texas Children's Hospital Child "Sex-Change" Whistleblower and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values as Dr. Haim breaks his silence since claiming victory! To support Dr. Eithan Haim, donate today at https://www.givesendgo.com/texas_whistleblower Hear more from Dr. Haim at Texas Faith & Family Day at the Texas Capitol on March 6, 9am-5pm. http://texasfaithandfamily.com Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
Join us on #TexasValuesReport with special guest @SteveTothTX, State Representative, District 15, and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values as they discuss legislation filed by Rep. Toth. Follow Representative Steve Toth on X @Toth_4_Texas Save the date for Texas Faith & Family Day at Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Texas Capitol on March 6th. Register today! https://texasfaithandfamily.com/ Visit https://www.eaglepeakshootingrange.com/ to support our good friend Jim Day; owner of shooting ranges, who shares your values. Read our press release: Read our press release: https://txvalues.org/breaking-trump-doj-drops-charges-against-texas-child-sex-change-whistleblower-dr-eithan-haim/ Sign up for text alerts by texting the word TXVALUES to 797979 Save the date for Texas Faith & Family Day at Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Texas Capitol on March 6th. Register today! https://texasfaithandfamily.com/ Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Lawsuits against technical moves made by Elon Musk and his team of hackers that have exposed sensitive data are gaining steam:https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/federal-workers-sue-opm-elon-musk-takeover.html...Musk and DOGE's disruption of USAID has potentially derailed a new HIV vaccine, and has disrupted programs to mitigate malaria:https://futurism.com/neoscope/usaid-trial-hiv-vaccine...Senior Texas U.S. Senator John Cornyn says concern about Musk's bulldozing of the federal government is "hysteria" - he's up for re-election in 2026, and we need to get started on that now:https://www.kgns.tv/2025/02/06/texas-sen-cornyn-backs-trump-nominees-defends-elon-musks-role/...Musk's SpaceX company is becoming notorious among local South Texas contractors for failing to pay its bills:https://www.chron.com/culture/article/spacex-overdue-bills-texas-19454904.phpKen Paxton is targeting both Dallas and Irving ISD over accusations of allowing "boys to compete in girls sports", spurred by heavily edited and now-viral videos:https://www.keranews.org/education/2025-02-06/texas-paxton-trans-athletes-dallas-irving-isd-videoJanuary 6th rioter Andrew Taake, released after his pardon despite the Houston District Attorney wanting him held on a child sex charge, has been captured in rural Leon County after two weeks as a fugitive:https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/06/arrest-trump-pardon-insurrection/Secular Houston and a coalition of partners are holding lobby days at the Texas Capitol on several bills related to religious freedom on Monday and Tuesday of next week:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oJKNq0q702KVnFVY3BOq5d4LwsVR5NSr_9e3pXPZlO0/edit?gid=0#gid=0As Super Bowl weekend begins, former Texas Tech football coach and current Alabama U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville's claims of a close relationship with former Red Raider and current Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes are flatly denied by Mahomes:https://athlonsports.com/college/texas-tech-red-raiders/texas-tech-red-raiders-football-patrick-mahomes-super-bowl-tommy-tuberville-recruiting-commentsWe celebrate Black History Month throughout February! See a great essay on this year's celebration, happening amidst so much turmoil, and a listing of related events happening across Texas:https://progresstexas.org/blog/black-history-month-2025-celebrating-texas-cultureThe early giving period for this year's Amplify Austin Day has begun! Support Progress Texas at https://www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/progress-texas-institute.Progress Texas is now ranked in the top 3% of all podcasts worldwide for listenership - thank you!https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/progress-texas-podcasts-progress-texas-pHdPjbaN-7B/The merch to match your progressive values awaits at our web store! Grab your goodies at https://store.progresstexas.org/.We're loving the troll-free environment at BlueSky! Follow us there athttps://bsky.app/profile/progresstexas.bsky.social.Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work athttps://progresstexas.org.
Join us on #texasvaluesreport with special guest Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson, State Representative, District 23, and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values as they discuss legislation filed by Rep. Leo-Wilson. Read our press release: https://txvalues.org/breaking-trump-doj-drops-charges-against-texas-child-sex-change-whistleblower-dr-eithan-haim/ Join us at Texas Faith & Family Day at the Texas Capitol on March 4th. Register today! https://register.txvalues.org/txfaithandfamilyday Save the date for Texas Faith Fest September 12-13, 2025! More details coming soon. https://txvalues.org/events Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
A dramatic move at the Texas Capitol upends a decades-long tradition of power sharing as conservative Republicans succeed in banning Democrats from chairing legislative committees. The end of the CBP One program for asylum-seekers following President Donald Trump's inauguration has left many with questions about their future. And: Growing demand and industrial expansion have left […] The post Will Corpus Christi's water restrictions be enough to stem emergency? appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
Join us on #texasvaluesreport with special guest Ryan Bangert, Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives & Special Counsel to the President, @AllianceDefends (ADF), and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values as Ryan shares his thoughts on AG Paxton's lawsuit against the NCAA under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act for engaging in false and deceptive practices for marketing women's sporting events that ultimately allowed men to compete in women's sporting events. Follow Representative Ryan Bangert on X @ryanlbangert / Follow Alliance Defending Freedom on X @ADFLegal Read our press release on the most recent wins for women's sports: https://txvalues.org/breaking-weekend-win-for-womens-sports-with-texas-ag-lawsuit-against-ncaa-biden-withdraws-rule-on-men-in-womens-sports/ The win we've all been waiting for! #savewomenssports https://txvalues.org/breaking-women-triumph-in-bidens-war-on-women-with-breaking-court-victory/ Save the date for Texas Faith & Family Day at the Texas Capitol on March 14th. Date subject to change. Registration coming soon! https://txvalues.org/events/ Read our press release with the top stories of 2024 (TX): https://txvalues.org/breaking-top-stories-of-2024-tx/ Visit our favorite shooting range located in Garland and Leander https://www.eaglepeakshootingrange.com/ Sign up for text alerts by texting the word TXVALUES to 797979 Download our app today! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/texas-values/id6444873207 Learn more about Church Ambassador Network of Texas https://txvalues.org/church Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
Brian Phillips and Derek Cohen are joined by the State of Texas' Comptroller of Public Accounts, Glenn Hegar, to discuss the current and future state of Texas' financial integrity.1:17 Hot Take: What's your favorite rumor or myth about the Texas Capitol? 4:53 Guest Interview: Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar29:17 Survey Says: America has lost ground over the past four years35:46 Lies, Damn Lies, Statistics: Squatting in Texas46:53 What to Watch For
Since 1973, Texas Impact has hosted a service or celebration of public witness on the south steps of the Texas Capitol in conjunction with the opening of the Texas Legislature. This year, the Texas Legislature convened Tuesday, January 14, and so the Texas Impact crew, along with Texas faith leaders and elected representatives, gathered on the steps for a Celebration of Public Witness before the Legislature convened at noon. The representatives were ready to get to work, and the faith leaders hopefully set a tone for a session that could celebrate justice, diversity and working together for the common good. We decided to talk with some of the leaders from that service about their reflections and hopes and share that for our podcast today. You can watch the full services, or highlights on Texas Impact's YouTube channel or head to txfaith.org/cpw2025 for more content from the Celebration of Public Witness 2025 Special thanks to: Representative Salman Bhojani, House District 92 Rev. Leslie Jackson, Sr. Pastor, St. Peter United Church of Christ, Houston Maha Iskandar, Baha'i Faith, Irving Rabbi Nancy Kasten, Faith Commons, Dallas Saranjeet Singh, Sikh Faith, Central Texas Abel Vega, Rio Texas Conference, United Methodist Church, San Antonio
Join us on #TexasValuesReport with special guest Rep. @repjamesfrank, State Representative, District 69, and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values as they discuss legislation filed by Rep. Frank and his insight into what he thinks will be some of the major issues dealt with by the House this session. Thank you to our generous sponsor of the show, Jim Day, of Eagle Peak Shooting Range in Leander, Texas, and Garland Public Shooting Range in Garland, Texas. https://www.eaglepeakshootingrange.com/ Follow Representative James Frank on X @RepJamesFrank Read our press release full of insight on the Texas Speaker of the House race: https://txvalues.org/important-texas-speaker-of-the-house-race-update/ Read our press release on the results of the Speaker race: https://txvalues.org/breaking-new-speaker-of-the-texas-house/ Read our press release on U.S. Supreme Court case out of Texas protecting kids from pornography: https://txvalues.org/supreme-court-hears-arguments-on-texas-law-protecting-kids-from-pornography/ Save the date for Texas Faith & Family Day at the Texas Capitol on March 14th. Registration coming soon! https://txvalues.org/events/ Sign up for text alerts by texting the word TXVALUES to 797979 Download our app today! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/texas-values/id6444873207 Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
It's go-time at the Texas Capitol as the 89th legislative session opens tomorrow, running through June 2. Blaise Gainey of The Texas Newsroom has a preview of what to expect. War on drugs? Or drug users? How a mass overdose event underscores what critics say is wrong with Texas' anti-drug strategy. You've heard of a […] The post What's a wolf moon? appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
Join us on Texas Values Report with special guest Senator Bob Hall, State Senator, District 2, and host Jonathan Saenz, President & Attorney for Texas Values as they discuss legislation filed by Sen. Hall and his thoughts on what he thinks will be some of the major issues dealt with by the Senate and the House this session. Follow Senator Bob Hall on X @SenatorBobHall The first day of the 89th Legislative Session begins Tuesday, January 14th. Save the date for Texas Faith & Family Day at the Texas Capitol on March 14th. Registration coming soon! https://txvalues.org/events/ Read our press release full of insight on the Texas Speaker of the House race: https://txvalues.org/important-texas-speaker-of-the-house-race-update/ Read our press release with the top stories of 2024 (TX): https://txvalues.org/breaking-top-stories-of-2024-tx/ Sign up for text alerts by texting the word TXVALUES to 797979 Download our app today! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/texas-values/id6444873207 Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
Join us for the first #TexasValuesReport of 2025 with special guest Jay Richards, PhD, Director, Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family and William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow, The @TheHeritageFoundation , host Mary Elizabeth Castle, Director of Government Relations, Texas Values as they discuss policy issues on gender identity and what's anticipated for the next Trump administration. Follow Dr. Jay Richards on X @DrJayRichards Follow The Heritage Foundation on X @Heritage Purchase Dr. Jay Richards' latest book Fight the Good Fight: How an Alliance of Faith and Reason Can Win the Culture War https://www.amazon.com/Fight-Good-Alliance-Reason-Culture/dp/1684515521 Read Dr. Jay Richard's article he co-authored with Daniel Buck, Gender Ideology as State Education Policy: https://www.heritage.org/education/report/gender-ideology-state-education-policy For policy news, conservative analysis and opinion, read The Daily Signal at https://www.dailysignal.com/ Save the date for Texas Faith & Family Day at the Texas Capitol on March 14th. Registration coming soon! https://txvalues.org/events/ Read our press release full of insight on the Texas Speaker of the House race: https://txvalues.org/important-texas-speaker-of-the-house-race-update/ Read our press release on the most recent wins for women's sports: https://txvalues.org/breaking-weekend-win-for-womens-sports-with-texas-ag-lawsuit-against-ncaa-biden-withdraws-rule-on-men-in-womens-sports/ Read our press release with the top stories of 2024 (TX): https://txvalues.org/breaking-top-stories-of-2024-tx/ Download our app today! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/texas-values/id6444873207 Sign up for text alerts by texting the word TXVALUES to 797979 Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
In our season 2 finale, Dr. Michelle Smith joins hosts Steven Stout, FASAE, CAE, and Katy Markert to explore strategies for associations ahead of the 2025 legislative session. Smith highlights the critical need for associations to engage with newly elected legislators, craft clear messaging strategies, and mobilize grassroots advocates. She also shares insights on navigating advocacy challenges, such as aligning internal priorities, leveraging storytelling, and using creative approaches to communicate effectively with decision-makers. This episode is sponsored by Higher Logic. Better By Association is produced by Association Briefings. Show notes Dr. Michelle Smith is a leading advocacy and legislative expert who has dedicated her career to advancing public policy and empowering communities to engage with their elected officials. Before founding Smith Advocacy in 2024, Dr Smith served as the executive director of Raise Your Hand Texas, a statewide advocacy organization focused on improving public education for over five million Texas students. Dr. Smith also worked with HillCo Partners for eight years, focusing on public education issues such as public school finance and school choice, as well as facilities funding, government transparency, and elections. During her tenure at HillCo Partners, Dr. Smith also served as the executive director of the Fast Growth School Coalition (FGSC) for five years. She adeptly combines and connects advocacy expertise, a deep knowledge of Texas politics, and practical experience to offer innovative approaches to today's advocacy and policy challenges. Her work in and around the Texas Capitol garnered accolades and awards, including recognition as Capitol Inside's Top 100 Hired Guns lobby list (2017, 2019) and Friend of the Year by Friends of Texas Public Schools (2018).
Watch Texas Values Report live now with special guest Abraham George, Chairman, Republican Party of Texas, and host Jonathan Covey, Policy Director for Texas Values, as they discuss the Texas Speaker of the House race. Read our blog post: Important Texas Speaker of the House Race Update! https://txvalues.org/important-texas-speaker-of-the-house-race-update/ Read our press release: War on Christmas Update – Merry Christmas Texas Project Protects Religious Freedom in Texas Public Schools and More https://txvalues.org/press-release-war-on-christmas-update-merry-christmas-texas-project-protects-religious-freedom-in-texas-public-schools-and-more/ Join us for Texas Values Austin Christmas Lunch & Learn Friday 12/20 at 11am. Register today! https://txvalues.org/events/ Save the date for Texas Faith & Family Day at the Texas Capitol on March 14, 2025. https://txvalues.org/events/ Help us build our channel so we can maintain a culture of Faith, Family, & Freedom in Texas by interacting with us; like, comment, share, subscribe! For more about Texas Values see: Txvalues.org To support our work, go to donate.txvalues.org/GivetoTexasValues
A Texas House committee on Tuesday subpoenaed death row inmate Robert Roberson to testify Friday at the Capitol. The 58-year old Roberson was sentenced to the death penalty for the 2003 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki. In other news, the body of Texas native, a U.S. Army vet killed fighting for Ukraine, returned home Tuesday; the Dallas County Commissioners Court has given its elections vendor an ultimatum: prove the software problems that plagued the Nov. 5 general election are solved or lose the county's business; And Dallas is once again playing an early role in the physical rollout of a brand for Kendra Scott, who launched her namesake jewelry brand more than two decades ago. Yellow Rose by Kendra Scott has planted a flag in Dallas' West Village. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The presidential election was touted as “high stakes,” but voter turnout in Texas, and Austin, was relatively low. Host Nikki DaVaughn is joined by Blaise Gainey, KUT's Texas Capitol reporter, to discuss how Donald Trump's next presidential term could affect life and people in Austin, and what the election data says about Texas voters. Plus, how big of a boost did Trump get from celebrity Austinites Joe Rogan and Elon Musk, who has now been tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency? Want some more Austin news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Austin newsletter. Follow us @citycastaustin You can also text us or leave a voicemail. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE
The race for the White House comes to Texas this weekend with Vice President Harris, Beyoncé, and Rep. Colin Allred rallying in Houston while former President Trump, Joe Rogan, and Sen. Ted Cruz appear in Austin. Plus: The case of death row inmate Robert Roberson brings stars to the Texas Capitol and a rebuke from Gov. Abbott, who saw his authority threatened by lawmakers who have questions about the state potentially executing an innocent man. Join the conversation with Scott Braddock, editor of The Quorum Report, and Houston Chronicle political writer Jeremy Wallace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On today's Friday News Roundup, host Nikki DaVaughn is joined by Hey Austin newsletter editor Kelsey Bradshaw and executive producer Eva Ruth Moravec to dish on a few stories that caught our eyes this week: Trouble at the SIMS Foundation, a dramatic hearing at the Texas Capitol, and what's happening with early voting. Plus, stick around after the roundup for our Don't Go Gently tip for this weekend. We'd like to thank Tecovas, who makes our favorite Western wear in town, for being our exclusive launch sponsor. Want some more Austin news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Austin newsletter. Follow us @citycastaustin You can also text us or leave a voicemail. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE
A high-profile committee hearing at the Texas Capitol proceeded Monday without its main attraction: Robert Roberson, a man on death row whose execution was delayed last week after a bipartisan group of lawmakers issued a subpoena compelling his testimony. In other news, Federal labor regulators said Monday that the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has agreed to pay $900,000 to resolve complaints that the school systemically discriminated against 6,100 Black applicants over a two-year period; Early voting for the Nov. 5 election began yesterday and ends Friday, Nov. 1. In Texas, all registered voters can cast a ballot in person during the early voting period. Dallas Morning News journalists visited most of the 70 early voting centers to check on the conditions of buildings and access to parking and mass transit. For resources to help you cast your ballot with confidence, subscribe to Back to the Ballot, a personalized voter education newsletter, and view The Dallas Morning News voter guide; And after weeks of wondering, Mavericks fans who need a streaming option to watch the team's local broadcasts are getting their wish, albeit for a price. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
1. Early in-person absentee voting is underway in Wisconsin! 2. A hearing at the Texas Capitol proceeded...without its star witness. 3. Tonight is opening night for the NBA, and history is being made.
State leaders are bracing for a potential maelstrom at the Texas Capitol on Monday as death row inmate Robert Roberson is set to appear in person at a House committee — the first time a condemned prisoner has testified before state lawmakers; Gov. Greg Abbott's border security strategy Operation Lone Star has cost over $10 billion; Early voting starts Oct. 21; SEC fines University of Texas after fans cause game interruption vs. Georgia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Shownotes and Transcript Join us for an emotionally charged and revealing episode on Hearts of Oak, where we delve into the life of Jeff Younger, a man whose personal battle has become a public spectacle at the heart of the transgender debate. From his roots in Silicon Valley to a contentious family court saga in Texas, Younger shares his journey through advocacy, legal battles, and his unwavering fight for his child's future. This episode not only explores his fight against child gender transition but also touches on the systemic issues within family law, the political divide within America, and how his faith has guided him through chaos. Tune in for an episode that promises to challenge your views on family, identity, and the essence of parental rights. Jeff Younger, a Texan, has been embroiled in a high-profile legal fight to prevent his son, James, from undergoing transgender medical treatments advocated by his ex-wife, Anne Georgulas. After a move to California, known for its transgender sanctuary laws, Younger faced new challenges when the case was sealed from the public by Judge Michelle Kazadi, sparking outrage over transparency and rights. Despite losing a political bid in Texas, Younger's case continues to draw national attention, highlighting the clash over transgender issues, parental rights, and medical ethics in the U.S. Connect with Jeff...
Texas Longhorn football is entering a new era with its first SEC game against Mississippi State this weekend, and Austinites, you need to get down to campus for this scene. Tailgating has changed now that several surface parking lots around the Texas Capitol are now buildings, and it's forbidden on the nice, new grassy mall, but there are still lots of options for pre-partying, especially around Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium. Host Nikki DaVaughn breaks down everything you need to know about tailgating, and spells out how tailgating here is just different, with Megan Grigsby, of UT Tailgaters, who co-hosts a Longhorn-focused podcast and tailgates at every game, home and away; and Laura Hall, the director of commercial parking and special events with the Texas Facilities Commission. We'd like to thank Tecovas, who makes our favorite Western wear in town, for being our exclusive launch sponsor. Want some more Austin news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Austin newsletter. Follow us @citycastaustin You can also text us or leave a voicemail. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE
School vouchers are expected to be a big issue once more at the Texas Capitol when lawmakers return in January — in fact, they've recently come up in a hearing to prepare for the next session. So today, host Nikki DaVaughn is joined by Rep. James Talarico, a “deeply religious” Democrat from Austin who sits on the House's public education committee and, as a former public school teacher himself, cares deeply about public schools. He'll break down just what exactly vouchers are, how they work in other places, and who's behind the push behind the Texas effort. We'd like to thank Tecovas, who makes our favorite Western wear in town, for being our exclusive launch sponsor. Want some more Austin news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Austin newsletter. Follow us @citycastaustin You can also text us or leave a voicemail. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE
In this episode of Building Texas Business, I sit down with Rob Holmes of Texas Capital Bank. Rob shares the bank's dramatic turnaround story since he became President and CEO in 2021 amid challenges, including a failed merger. Rob explains how Texas Capital improved its standing through strategic moves like fortifying capital levels and attracting talent from global institutions. We explore Texas Capital's community focus through initiatives increasing volunteerism and launching a charitable foundation. Rob highlights how their junior program brings diverse talent while nurturing a vibrant culture. Wrapping up, Rob discusses maintaining liquidity amid regional banking stress, their strong capital position, and diversification that sets them apart. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS Rob and I discuss the transformation of Texas Capital under Rob's leadership since 2021, highlighting the strategic moves that improved the bank's financial standing and attracted top-tier talent. Rob explains how Texas Capital's strong capital position and strategic diversification helped it navigate the regional banking stress of 2023. We explore Texas Capital's commitment to community engagement, including extensive volunteer hours, the founding of a new charitable foundation, and various philanthropic activities across Texas. Rob elaborates on the bank's innovative junior program, which has attracted diverse and talented professionals to Texas Capital. We discuss the importance of maintaining a respectful, collaborative workplace culture and the value of in-office collaboration for fostering a strong, healthy culture and achieving better customer outcomes. Rob shares insights on the challenges facing the banking industry, such as regulatory inconsistencies, the inverted yield curve, technology integration, and commercial real estate risks. We discuss Texas Capital's strategic initiatives to expand services, including public finance and equity research in oil and gas. Rob reflects on the lessons he has learned from his career, emphasizing the importance of candor, transparency, and servant leadership. Rob recounts personal anecdotes about his first jobs and leisure pursuits, offering a glimpse into his personal life and leadership style. We touch on the role of media in shaping perceptions of regional banks and the distinct advantages of regional banks in serving local communities and businesses. LINKSShow Notes Previous Episodes About BoyarMiller About Texas Capital GUESTS Rob HolmesAbout Rob TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Chris: In this episode, you will meet Rob Holmes, President and CEO of Texas Capital. Rob shares an inspiring story on how Texas Capital has rebuilt itself and become the first full-service financial services institution headquartered in Texas. Rob, I want to thank you for joining me here on Building Texas Business. Welcome to the show. Thank you very much. Let's start. I know you're the CEO Building Texas Business. Welcome to the show. Thank you very much. Let's start. I know you're the CEO of Texas Capital. Tell the listeners a little bit about what Texas Capital is and the type of services it provides here in Texas. Rob: Great. Well, thank you very much for having me. So Texas Capital had a very proud founding in the late 90s by Texas business people to found a bank to serve Texas businesses with local decision making. After all, the banks failed in the late 80s and they had a very proud run and 05 went public and did very well. Then about the mid teens we kind of started going a little sideways and by the time I got there the bank needed to be kind of rebuilt and so we had a failed merger with a bank about a third our size and that tells you anything, and really because of COVID. But after that they needed new leadership and so what we did was we started over and we went fast. So we raised a perpetual deferred deal with sub-debt securitization, got out of a line of business correspondent banking that attracted a lot of capital and improved the capital by about 270 basis points in about eight weeks, and that's my bet as we run the bank very conservatively. We also brought in a lot of new talent. So the entire operating committee is new. We have a new junior program we can get into that later. But then we started on the journey to build and this is kind of interesting. I think you'll find it interesting. We're the first full service financial services firm ever to be headquartered in Texas and if you think about it it makes perfect sense. So in the 80s you had Glass-Steagall and stuff. You had a lot of big banks. They failed. They were replaced by larger institutions from out of state that saw this as a very attractive market. But the in-market banks never went into the full service direction. So regional banks are made from community banks and they get bigger and they didn't have the products and services. They just had NIM banks, if you will Sure. Chris: Well, that's an impressive thing to have a claim to being the only one headquartered in Texas. I would not have thought that, you know, given some of the other Texas yeah. So I mean you're not kidding when you said a full restart just a few years ago. Rob: Full restart. So we have think about who we're able to attract, and this says more about Texas than Texas Capital. But the woman that runs treasury services for us ran treasury services for JPMorgan Chase globally. Our chief risk officer was the head of risk for JPMorgan's investment bank and then chief risk officer was the head of risk for JP Morgan's investment bank and then chief risk officer for the commercial bank and then head of risk for real estate globally. Our head of ops was a head of ops and tech for Stan O'Neill at Merrill Lynch. The CEO Started in the mailroom, ended up reporting as CEO head of ops and tech for Merrill Lynch. I think he can do it here and that so and that just kind of it keeps going. Our CHRO came from Cilindes and our CIO has an impressive background. Our head of commercial banking all of them had bigger jobs at much larger institutions. Chris: Yeah, what that tells me, Rob, is that those people saw a bright future in the business climate in Texas to make those kind of moves to join you and the Dallas headquarters. Rob: There's no doubt about it and, by the way, I wouldn't have tried this anywhere else, I mean for sure. So, as you know, texas is eighth largest economy in the world, second largest workforce, youngest workforce, fastest growing. We've created 46,. We've created more jobs in 46 last 48 months, so it's a very attractive place to be overall? Chris: What was it about just speaking to you? I know you joined in 2021, that based on the career you had built to that moment where you saw this as the right opportunity for you. Rob: I was very happy where I was. So I was primarily in the investment bank at JPMorgan Chase, but my last 10 years I ran the large corporate bank and the commercial bank ended up taking that to 22 countries. So I ran that business. Globally it was over $180 billion in assets. It was a third treasury, a third lending and a third investment banking. Great business, great people. But when this bank kind of went sideways, I had two or three people call me and say, hey, I'm thinking about this, would you come run it? And it surprised me. I'm like, why are you calling me? But then I started looking at it and, like you, I'm from Texas. I commuted to New York for 25 of the 31 years that I worked for JP Morgan. But people kind of said, why don't you come home and build something special with where you're from? And that, through more and more dialogue, became very appealing to me and I did not know and shame on me that as bad a shape as a bank was when we got there. But it ended up being a blessing because you know like today it'd be very difficult to do what we did. I mean to have a board, investor base, regulators, constituents. Let you reinvest. We reinvested over a third of our non-interest expense and then more, and we said to the investor community and the board and others that we're going to have negative operating leverage for about a year and a half. That'd be very hard to do in this climate, right? And so the other thing we had to do became a blessing because you had to do it all at once, and so I'm glad that's behind us. Today the bank is. It used to have just mono banking, like a community or regional bank. Today we have segmentation, so you have business banking for small businesses, middle market banking for a little larger businesses, a little more sophistication, and then we have a corporate banking group like a money center bank. And when you have a corporate banking group you have to have industry expertise. So we have energy, diversified FIG, government, not-for-profit healthcare, tmt and mortgage, so we have the industry expertise of any money center bank right here in Texas. And then we have private wealth and then we rebuilt all of treasury. So it's a brand new bank. We have a new payments platform, new lockbox, new card, new merchant, new digital onboarding that we came up with. And so we people say the banks can't compete on technology like with the big bank, but we can because we have one platform. Those big banks have many platforms because they're a combination of many banks. We can go in that if you want. And then we have one platform. Those big banks have many platforms because they're a combination of many banks. We can go in that if you want. And then we have, as I said, private wealth, investment banking, and we can go into as many of those areas as you want. Chris: So you basically built it like you said. As businesses are coming to Texas, you're ready to serve whatever need they have. Rob: For sure. So we want to be very relevant to our clients and we are a one-stop shop, so you won't outgrow us. We were a top 10 arranger of bank debt for middle market companies in the years. We've done about $110 billion of notional trades in about 18 months. Wow, it's profitable. Chris: So what's your vision for the future, then for Texas Capital, and kind of, how are you working to achieve? Rob: that it's actually pretty simple. It's maturing the platform that we built. So we are the number one lender to Texas-based businesses of any Texas-based bank. Now that's new. We've had tremendous success. Business owners and decision makers love the local decision making. They love the fact that when they hire us, they're getting a very talented, experienced MD working for them instead of maybe the money center bank, whatever, a VP or something assigned to it. They just like the local decision making, local access. But the go forward strategy is People ask me this all the time what's next? And they think that we have a big bang answer. The big bang answer is delighting clients and banking the best clients in our markets, and we've always said, or I've always said we'll be defined by our clients, and so we have been blessed to have clients be attracted to the strategy and platform. So we're going to just do more of what we've done. Chris: So what I like about that strategy is the simplicity. I think there's a lesson there for entrepreneurs and other business owners in what you've done in the last few years, and that to me is get the foundation right and your core right Correct, and then do the fundamentals really well. Right, it's blocking and tackling is what you're doing. Rob: It's executing now for sure. And I had one CEO of a very renowned New York financial firm ask him to come see me. They had heard about what we were doing and he wanted to understand it because we actually we took what he would say was the very best person from his sales and trading floor who had been there 18 years. He didn't understand how we could attract that person because that person drove a U-Haul to Dallas with his wife and kids before we were even open. And he said tell me your strategy. And I went through it and, to be honest with you, I was hoping he would like it because I was pretty long the strategy. And so he did. And I said what do you think? He said I think y'all are going to be very successful. And this was early on. And I said why is that? He said do you have a differentiated strategy with differentiated talent in a differentiated market? And I think that's true. But then he said what do you think? And I said well, our talent's really. This is back in 21. Now we've done all these things, but I said that the talent is really good, but we've got to do everything with this jersey on now and delight our clients with TCB jersey, not another jersey. And he said look, rob, do it once, it'll be hard, do it three times, you'll be good. The fifth time you're an expert and I kind of he kind of and he's pretty renowned. It was a pretty simple lesson but it's kind of true. And now we have done it and we are good at what we're doing. But we still can mature the platform, that treasury platform we talked about. It's literally second to none. We're doing open banking for clients. We're doing a digital onboarding. You can open a commercial account tomorrow at a money center bank. That take eight weeks or six weeks. But that platform to scale to get the most out of it, I mean we could run it without any more investment for five years. So we got to scale the business and, by the way, it's happening. So that treasury platform is it's called P times V, price times volume that's how many transactions are going through the factory or warehouse financial transactions. That's usually for a bank it's a 2% business at best. It grows the economy, it grows the GDP. We're going 17%, quarter over quarter, year, quarter after quarter. That's remarkable Because of new clients moving to the platform. So it is scaling but we just need to continue to do that Right. Chris: So you talked about the platform a couple of times. What type of I guess technology or emerging technologies do you see having the biggest impact in the banking industry over the next, say, three to five years? Rob: I think real-time payments, I think open banking, and people don't really understand what open banking is. What open banking is? It's actually very simple, so think well, here's, here's one simple way. Part of it is you don't have to leave your internal financial platform to go to our platform. We'll put an API on yours and so you can just push a button and be into our system and send ACH or wire or what. So I think AI, I think open banking and I think real-time payments. Okay. Chris: Well, I can speak from experience, as we transitioned to Texas Capital a year ago and, to your point of the ease of that transition and being able to deal with decision makers made it seamless. Good Well thank you. It's been a great relationship for us, for sure. Rob: Good Well thank you. Chris: What you're saying is true, Well, thank you. It's been a great relationship for us for sure. Good, Well, thank you. I can attest to that. What you're saying is true, Well, thank you. Let's talk a little bit about where you see corporate leadership whether that's your C-suite or just the company as it exists and community impact. What type of initiatives is Texas Capital working on to be a meaningful member of the community? Rob: Yeah, well, that's a. Thank you very much for the for the easy pitch. So I think we do. We bat way above our weight in community impact. So we do tens of thousands of hours of employee volunteer in the community. We, as part of this transformation, when we were investing in the platform, we took time to also found our first foundation. We never had a foundation before. So we have a foundation and we do volunteer hours and we just were part of the group that bought Opal Lear Newhouse. We were the first one to open a branch in West Dallas. We gave the founding seed money for Southern Gateway in Dallas. We're big supporters of Rodeo here in Houston. Last year I think we sponsored the opening night, so I think you're going to see us pretty much all over the state of Texas in terms of giving and more than just money but time, resources, expertise to philanthropies. We hosted a great event about three weeks ago. People came from all over the country and it was for veterans and we had veteran not-for-profits and we had veteran-owned businesses and we just brought them together and talked about issues and how they could work together and synergies between the two and advancing veterans on a go-forward basis, and the people that came would just blow you away and the feedback of it. I happened to be out of town on a three-day weekend afterwards out of the country and somebody approached me and I didn't know them and they didn't know me, but I guess they'd seen my picture or something and they thanked me for having that veteran event. Wow, and so it had a far, far impact. It will do things like that. We have a nonprofit event in every city, getting nonprofits together, helping them learn how to raise money and trade best practices, and we do that and we'll do that in every city during the summer. So you know, our giving is good, Our volunteer hours are fantastic, Our sharing of expertise is good. Our investment in the community is great, Good. Chris: Let's circle back to because that kind of made me think of team building, right, so you talked about basically a wholesale change with the team around you. What are some of the things that you look for to make sure you're you know, through that recruiting and hiring process, that you're getting the right person for the position? Rob: Yep, so this is a great question and this was the key to what we've done so far and how we're going to reach our 25 goals. So in September of 21, when we announced a strategic plan, which was pretty dramatic, we said we're not going to achieve our financial goals until 25. With that came a lot of change and a lot of talent. So 80% of the people at the firm are new since I got there. That's 80% of over 2,000 people. So that's a lot of change, managing through a lot of change through a transformation, through a regional quote, unquote regional banking practice that I'd love to talk about, regional banking practice, regional banking stress that I'd love to talk about transformation. So there's a lot going on there, both internally and externally, that we had to manage through. And what we did is we started at the top and the bottom, so we put new leadership with new skill sets and new expectations and new goals of banking the best clients in our markets instead of just being a bank, etc. And we also started a junior program. It was the first junior program in the history of the bank. Chris: You mentioned that earlier, so tell us a little more about the junior program. Rob: It's awesome If you have a kid and they want to get into finance and they don't want to go to New York but they want to work at a great financial services firm to have them join us. So we post in. So I got there in January of 21. It so I got there in January 21. It's COVID Nobody's in the office. We'd just been through this internal stress with the failed merger, new CEO, the whole bit. I said we need a junior program. We posted 60 positions. We got 800 applications. We hired 60-something. A third of those had their masters. That wasn't required. The average GPA was over 374. So people love what we're doing right. The next year there's over 2,000 applicants and our junior program is great. And, by the way, I helped build one in the investment bank in my last firm and one in the commercial bank in my last firm. I thought they were both very good. This one's awesome. So you come in, you go through four or five months of training and then you go into your line of business. But we probably hired you after your internship the summer before, if that makes sense. Sure, the program has some of the diverse classes I've ever seen in banking and we didn't do that. This may be controversial. We do that on purpose. We did that because we hired the best people Exactly and they're the most diverse classes, and so we're really excited about that. And then the attrition rate there isn't nearly what we thought it would be. We built it for a higher attrition rate because those kids usually leave a large percentage after third year. Sure. They're not leaving. Rob: They like it, so that's been kind of fun. It's a good problem, right, it's a great problem and we'll use all of them. And, by the way, after that change you should just know the attrition stuff has dramatically slowed as the transformation slowed. We got all the talented people in place that we needed so we are ahead of corporate America, finance and Texas companies for attrition and excited about that in the new culture here. ADVERT Hello friends, this is Chris Hanslick, your Building Texas business host. Did you know that Boyer Miller, the producer of this podcast, is a business law firm that works with entrepreneurs, corporations and business leaders? Business law firm that works with entrepreneurs, corporations and business leaders. Our team of attorneys serve as strategic partners to businesses by providing legal guidance to organizations of all sizes. Get to know the firm at boyermillercom and thanks for listening to the show. Chris: Well that you know that low attrition rate leads to what you talked about earlier better customer experience, more stability. Rob: We need stability. Chris: Everybody needs stability. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so you mentioned regional banking stress. Tell me what you're referring to about that. Rob: Yeah, last spring of 23,. Eb failed, first Republic and the like. We were fortunate. So, november of 22, we sold a business to Truist for $3.5 billion with a very big premium on it. With the sale of that we became if you compare us to any $100 billion bank or above in the country or any Texas public bank we have the third most capital and I think in the next quarters we'll have the second most but third and we're number one in equity tangible common equity assets. So we're the least levered. We have third most capital. Our highly liquid assets are like 29% our cash and securities. Our AOCI problem, which is the mark on the bond portfolio. Banks are struggling with that. We're very good there. So our capital, our liquidity, et cetera, was very strong. So we didn't experience outflows of deposits or anything. What we did experience was a rotation, like every bank in the country, from non-interest-bearing deposits to interest-bearing deposits. So all banks if you want to call this cost of goods sold went up. But the regional banks for us the reason I wanted to come back and talk about that people call it a regional banking crisis. It was not. It had to do with certain banks were of the size that they define regional banks that had the wrong strategy, the wrong concentrations, and they failed, right. That's not because they're regional banks, right, they just happen to be that size. By the way, credit Suisse failed too. It is a global bank, right. So you know, I think this is sometimes where the media gets the message wrong and puts fear into the market, and they love it, and they love it and so I'm really proud of what the regional banks do and how they serve their clients in market and their local communities, giving back to their communities, being Main Street lenders, and I'm really proud of. You know how we do that. I think I told you before we went on the air. We're the number one lender of Texas-based businesses, of any Texas-based bank. That's a big deal because these money center banks they may be in the state or super regionals in the state or even regionals in the state but, if they decide, oh you know what, it's not okay to bank an energy company, they don't Well, guess what? We have those decisions here. We don't have somebody else deciding our social norms. Chris: Right, right, that's a great selling point. Going back to the kind of the junior program and this new team, let's talk about culture, I mean. So how would you define the culture at Texas Capitol and kind of, what do you think you've done to kind of foster that and what do you see as necessary to keep it growing? I think? Rob: the culture is transparent, curious, candid and relentless dissatisfaction, as my general counsel calls it. So, look, we've made a lot of change. We'll continue to make a lot of change. We just hired somebody to run public finance for us. We didn't have that before. Lot of change we just hired somebody to run public finance for us. We didn't have that before. We started into the foray of public equity, research and oil and gas. We're going to keep growing and building, doing things that serve our clients and our clients' needs. But the one thing that we kind of talk about a lot is and I'll say it little softer is you know just no jerks allowed. You could talk about, you can talk about Ivy League. You know culture and they have you know big words, but the simple thing is like we're gonna treat people with respect, period. Right now. You can be tough and you can be hard, but you gotta be fair, right, and you gotta be polite. And you know you can be hard but you've got to be fair and you've got to be polite and you can have high expectations while being compassionate. So we have high expectations, we are moving fast, but we do treat people with respect and we like working with one another and that's been part of the fun is, we've been in office because we think that's how you build a career and not a job, and that's how you collaborate to serve your client and that's what's best for our clients and best for employees. And we like being with one another. We don't want to work remote from a beach and not share life's experiences with our colleagues. Chris: Yeah, couldn't agree more. I mean, we got back to the office in May of 2020. I believe, and my partners here, you're a part of an organization for a reason. Organizations are a group of people together, right, correct, and we learn from each other. We can collaborate in a customer service-related industry. Like you and I are in the customer does better when we're collaborating to serve them, you and I are in the customer does better when we're collaborating to serve them, and we do that when we're together. Yep Hands down, no question. And we've been like you. We've been in office in person for a while now and you read as much as I do for the last six, seven months. You just see the pendulum swinging back because the other organizations are realizing they're losing customer satisfaction, they're losing engagement with their people. You can't have a culture if you're not together. In my view, or you can. Actually, you can have a culture. It's just not a healthy one in my view. Yeah, it's really bad, that's right. Rob: So, look, looking back, it seems like a really easy decision and, by the way, I was back in the office in 2022. But at this room, I didn't get there until January 21. Nobody's back in the office. You meant 22 as well. Yes, I did. I did. Excuse me, I did, but you know I got here in 21. We went back to office Memorial Day the Tuesday after Memorial Day of 21. And it was a harder decision then. It seems easy now Because, like even the day before, there was rumors of everybody in our ops organization that they were going to protest and walk out. You know at 901 and we decided, we made a conscious decision that this is what they're going to do and we wanted the people that wanted to be in the office right, and we may lose some people, and that's fine, and it would be harder in the short term, but the people that would be attracted to the platform and the business and us would be people that wanted careers, not jobs, and, by definition, those are the better employees, right, and I think those people attract those people and that's how we were able to transform so much while other people were sitting at home. Chris: Yeah. Now to your point. I mean, if you have a long-term strategy right, then you're willing to go through some short-term pain to get the right people that are going to help you achieve that For sure. A little bit about just your thoughts on what are some of the biggest challenges you think facing the banking industry as we sit here today and maybe for the foreseeable future. Obviously, for the last couple of years, every month everybody's watching the Fed, so that may be part of the answer. But just what do you see as the challenges? Rob: Yeah, so there's plenty for most industries though, too. So one is, and this is an excuse, but it is a challenge. The regulatory body needs to come together and be consistent and apply things consistently. That'd be helpful. We have an inverted yield curve now for the longest time, one of the longest periods in history, you know the two years four, seven something. The 10 years four two something. That makes banking very hard for a lot of technical reasons we can go into. For most banks, technology is a problem. Most banks are an aggregation of multiple banks. They're not like us that has one technology platform. That's, by the way, brand new and totally modern. Banks have not been willing to. It's been a cost cutting game because a lot of banks this is why our strategy is so good NIM banks. So net interest margin, which is loan only, the model of taking a deposit and making a loan and achieving a return above your cost of capital through cycle, I think is very difficult and that's why we supplemented our platform. You know loans, investment banking, private wealth. You know all the different things we do for a client so that we can achieve that return, because a lot of the banks to have that return would have to maybe make a riskier loan to get a higher spread or what have you? So I think the NIM banking model to get a higher spread or what have you? So I think the NIM banking model especially after spring of 23, is hard. I think the technology spend is hard. I think there's a lot of banks that have too much commercial real estate. So our commercial real estate is a very small percentage of our total capital. Regulators want you to be maybe 250 or 300%. There's a lot of banks that are 400. That's too much, yeah. And when you have that much commercial real estate, remember a lot of its construction loans, and so the construction loans. You made that decision today and you're funding it in two years. So you're going to you're that that concentration, because those paydowns are, you know, like a five-year low and commercial real estate is going to keep growing. So banks marginal loan the dollar to make the next loan. The cost just went up, so they're going to slow down their lending while the commercial real estate gets absorbed. They can't be relevant to their clients with anything other than the loan product and if they're not doing that, they're going to slow down their growth and slow down lending. They can't be relevant to their clients with anything other than the loan product, and if they're not doing that, they're going to slow down their growth and slow down lending. They don't have the margin to spend on technology. Chris: And those are some of the problems. Yeah, there's cascades, right, totally. Let's turn a little bit to just kind of you and leadership. How would you describe your leadership style today and maybe how you feel like it's evolved over your career? Rob: I think you've got to do what you want other people to do. So I'm in Houston today. We're seeing six clients we talk all the time about it's about the client, not us. Ops exists to serve a client, technology exists to serve a client. It's not for the bank. And so we have become pretty client obsessed at Texas Capital, delivering the best outcomes for our clients. I mean, like the one deal I think I told you about, we sole managed the largest debt deal in the country last year. The largest sole managed debt deal in the country last year. That's after a money center bank failed doing it. We gave the client the best advice, knowing they'd probably go with the other bank. They did. The other bank failed them. They came back to us and we did it. Now we have a client for life. So give the client the right advice, do the right thing for the client, but your people have to see you do what you want them to do. So I'm with clients. We are aggressively serving clients, but we've managed the place very conservatively. And then I think candor and transparency is really important. Chris: I think those are great qualities, anything that you could point to. I always think people I'll speak for myself, but I think I hear it in others as well a setback or failure that you encountered, that you learned from, that made you better as a leader, as a business person, anything that comes to mind, that where you look back and go, wow, that was transformational. Because of that, how long do you have? Rob: No, I think we talked about junior program, one that always comes to mind because there's early on the program of what early on my career was. When I was a junior, you know, I talked to that junior class a lot and one of the things I tell them is be careful, because you know, building your brand sometimes is too easy, like you know, if you do something great, like I had some successes early on as being a good client guy, then I was the client guy, but also my brand that I got early on was, as a junior was I wasn't very good at details and as a junior an analyst associate your only job was details Right, and so I learned the hard way that maybe I needed to focus on the details. Now I would suggest that the people that work with me think I'm too focused on the details. But that's because I learned the hard way as a junior and people corrected me Right and I'm not sure if they corrected me the wrong way or right way. That was the old days, but they certainly made an impression. So I think that was one of the things I learned is details matter and details are important, and I learned it as a junior and that stayed with me throughout my career. The other one was one I think is interesting is later on, when we were talking about a promotion, one of my bosses told me that I think this is really important for people to know, because I think it's true. He said rob, I don't it, my vote doesn't matter. The vote that matters is everybody else on the floor that works with you, because I'm not promoting you unless they want you promoted, right and so I do think that you know that's a pretty good lesson too. Chris: Yeah, kind of well servant the well, servant leadership, for sure, and that kind of team mentality For sure, team mentality. And I've said forever, I think the lessons you remember the most are the ones you learned the hard way. For sure, so the details right. Chris: So he's like I'm not going to let that happen again. For sure, that's great. Well, I appreciate you sharing those up, but I think it's a great quality leadership to have that vulnerability and humility about you for sure. So I'm going to kind of move away from the business stuff. Okay, to wrap things up, I want to know what was your first job, my? Rob: first job was uh bagging groceries and stocking grocery shelves in high school I did the same thing, did you? Chris: yeah, uh, it was hot and yeah, I tell people we had to wear like black pants. Oh, yeah, these kids get to wear shorts. Now I'm like this is going easy on them. Rob: Yeah, I think one day one of the guys got mad at me because they made me restack all the remember when people used to return the glass bottles. Yeah, and it was in a cage in the back of the alley of the grocery store. It was about 110. And nobody had organized them for about three months and I got fine job. Chris: Very good. All right, you're born and raised in Texas, so do you prefer Tex-Mex or barbecue? Rob: Both Like a brisket taco. Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah, yeah, I like that All right. And last thing if you could take a 30-day sabbatical, where would you go and what would you do? I'd probably spend half of it fly fishing in Montana and half of it quail hunting in South Texas. There you go, Just not this time of year. Not this time of year. That's right. Chris: Rob, I want to thank you for taking the time. I mean, I had no idea the details behind the transformation at Texas Capital and obviously what you and your team are doing and have done is nothing short of remarkable. So thanks for sharing that. Rob: Well, thank you, I think you know. We think Texas does deserve its own full-service financial services firm. Chris: Well, I'm glad you're delivering it. Thank you, take care. And there we have it another great episode. Don't forget to check out the show notes at boyermiller.com forward slash podcast and you can find out more about all the ways our firm can help you at Boyermiller.com. That's it for this episode. Have a great week and we'll talk to you next time. Special Guest: Rob Holmes.
Brigitte Bandit, an Austinite and drag performer, joins host Nikki DaVaughn to talk about celebrating Pride in Austin. Aside from doing drag full-time and hosting a monthly open mic drag show, Bandit has become known for her LGBTQ-plus advocacy work, and has addressed lawmakers at the Texas Capitol and policymakers at Austin City Hall. We'd like to thank Tecovas, who makes our favorite Western wear in town, for being our exclusive launch sponsor. Want some more Austin news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Austin newsletter. Follow us @citycastaustin You can also text us or leave a voicemail. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE
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