MSNBC: “About a week after testing positive for Covid-19 himself, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order banning the use of vaccine mandates in the public sector and for businesses that contract with the state. The Republican’s guidance was sweeping — overriding both local control and private sector rights. Under his order, any “public or private entity that is…

WaPo: “David Espinoza 20, of Rio Bravo, Tex. — On Wednesday, Elizabeth Holguin received a call from her son, who was stationed in Kabul. Before hanging up, he said “I love you,” she told The Post. That was the last time they ever spoke. Inspired by the prospect of helping others, Espinoza had always dreamed of…

TX Observer: “The Accommodation begins with the bombings. The 1950s terror spree that racist Dallasites unleashed on Black residents who’d dared buy homes in a then-white neighborhood. The dozen or so packages of dynamite hurled at South Dallas houses that rocked the city, yet led to no criminal conviction. The shameful episode that local elites have…

Arkansas Times: “Federal prosecutors plan to retry former lobbyist and political fundraiser Gilbert Baker on bribery and other charges after a mistrial earlier this month. Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. on Friday set the retrial to begin in Little Rock on Oct. 4. On Aug. 12, a jury on its fifth day of…

North State Journal: “Stacey Abrams spent years telling donors that Democrats could win in Georgia if they would provide the money to build a statewide political operation. In 2020, Georgia finally delivered its 16 presidential electoral votes to a Democrat, Joe Biden, and sent two Democrats to the U.S. Senate. Other Southern states are now…

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “A Texas woman told police in 2012 that when she tried to end what she said was a long romantic relationship with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker he threatened to “blow her head off” and then kill himself. The woman, Myka Dean, detailed the alleged threats made by Walker to authorities in…

Political Wire: “A Florida judge said that school districts may impose mask mandates, ruling that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) overstepped his authority by issuing an executive order banning the mandates, the Associated Press reports. “The judge also noted that two Florida Supreme Court decisions from 1914 and 1939 found that individual rights are limited by their impact…

AL Political Reporter: “There is controversy in Conservative Land.  The controversy, it seems, is that workers — specifically, those in at-will, conservative-controlled states, like Alabama — have very few rights. They can lose their jobs, conservatives across the country have realized over the last month or so, for just dang-near anything, including refusing to take…