NBC DFW: “Texas Central announced Monday they signed a $1.6 billion contract with Kiewit Infrastructure South to install core electrical systems for a proposed bullet train expected to run from Dallas to Houston…. Texas Central is hoping to replicate the Japanese Tokaido Shinkansen high-speed rail system in Texas, though there is stiff opposition from landowners…

Florida Politics: “Gov. Ron DeSantis says Alcee Hastings’ former congressional seat will remain unfilled for more than nine months after Hastings passed away following a cancer battle in early April. DeSantis announced Tuesday the General Election to replace Hastings will take place on Jan. 11. Primaries will be held on Nov. 2 to decide the respective parties’ nominees. The…

AP: “In less than a decade, the Florida-based attorney has become the voice for the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd — Black people whose deaths at the hands of police and vigilantes sparked a movement. He has won multimillion-dollar settlements in police brutality cases. He’s pushed cities to ban…

NY Times: “A majority of Texas voters cast their ballots for Donald Trump in an election that a few polls showed Joe Biden winning in Texas by as much as five points. John Cornyn, the Republican incumbent senator whom Democrats spent more than $29 million trying to defeat, won re-election by more than nine points….

Sun Herald: “Health care advocates, many health care providers and others who desperately want to see the state expand Medicaid to cover primarily the working poor blame Gov. Tate Reeves for blocking the effort. But on the issue of Medicaid expansion, Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, who have had their share of disagreements in…

NY Times: “Hispanic Republicans, especially women, have become something of political rock stars in South Texas after voters in the Rio Grande Valley shocked leaders in both parties in November by swinging sharply toward the G.O.P. Here in McAllen, one of the region’s largest cities, Mr. Trump received nearly double the number of votes he…

The Progressive Pulse: “If you missed Thursday’s fascinating and informative discussion of the new book, Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia that featured the author, Seton Hall University law professor Thomas Healy, and the son of the man behind the Soul City experiment, former North Carolina state senator and current state…

AL Political Reporter: “An updated report shows that a third of COVID-19 deaths in Alabama were associated with high community rates of uninsured, while a separate report shows that Black Alabamians and women make up a disproportionate percentage of low-wage workers without health insurance.  Alabama is one of 12 states that has not expanded Medicaid,…

Off the Kuff: “Mayor Sylvester Turner on Thursday unveiled a sweeping effort to reform policing in Houston by banning no-knock warrants for non-violent offenses, restructuring the police oversight board, publicly releasing body camera footage when officers injure or kill residents, expanding diversion programs and allowing online and anonymous complaints against officers. The reform package, which…

Off the Kuff: “The Texas Department of Public Safety and Travis County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday “that there is not enough evidence to support” an allegation that a lobbyist used a date rape drug on a Capitol staffer and that “no crime occurred in this instance.” “DPS has conducted a thorough investigation following allegations…