Texas News

Protestors of abortion legislation launch statewide Stand with Texas Women Tour

Stand with Texas Women is touring across Texas.

Courtesy of Stand with Texas Women Facebook

KVUE -- With the Texas House debate as a backdrop, Planned Parenthood kicked off a statewide bus tour at the Texas Capitol Tuesday morning.

The tour began with a rally and a sea of signs in orange, blue, white and black. Thousands represented two sides of the same issue of abortion regulations in Texas and how they would impact women.

Lesli Simms has been to hearings and testimony since the debate began.

"Women of color, lower income women and women who are working a second or third job cannot be here today. That's just a simple fact. But I can and I will be here every day that I'm required," Simms said.

She told KVUE that she spent her 22nd birthday witnessing what turned out to be a historic night in the Texas Senate.

"That filibuster though was more than a single event to block a bad bill," said Senator Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who delivered the filibuster that prevented a vote on the abortion bill in the first special session. "It was an expression of democracy in action and a clear signal that Texans [had] had enough."

Citizens, lawmakers and doctors will travel across the state on a custom-made bus for the Stand with Texas Women Tour. Planned Parenthood is sponsoring the tour. They say the abortion bill and its supporters are waging a war on women, and that it will negatively impact the health of Texas' women in many ways.

"Decisions made by our state leaders are effectively tying the hands of doctors, tying my hands, and leaving my patients out in the cold," OB/GYN Dr. Christina Sebestyen told the crowd.

The Stand with Texas Women Tour makes the following stops:

Tuesday, July 9

Austin
Houston

Wednesday, July 10

Dallas
Fort Worth

Thursday, July 11

San Antonio

Friday, July 12

Brownsville
Hidalgo
El Paso

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Read the story on KVUE.com.

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Autin's public transit provider CapMetro keeps lowering budget

Photo courtesy of KVUE

Still, CapMetro's plans for improvement continue on.

Austin’s public transit provider, CapMetro, plans to cut its budget by about 20 percent for next year.

The decision comes as the agency faces a downturn in sales tax revenue.

CapMetro's proposed budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year is $704.8 million. However, for the last few years, CapMetro's budget has declined. For 2023-24, the board of directors approved a budget of $871 million, and in 2022-23, they approved a $902.8 million budget.

“We’re in good financial position,” said CapMetro Deputy CFO Kevin Conlan during a September 11 board meeting. “I’m very optimistic for next year, but we remain very guarded as well, with a downturn in sales tax.”

In this proposed budget, they are expecting a sales tax revenue of $402.8 million. Despite a lower budget, CapMetro said it still plans to bring some large projects online.

Their capital improvement budget, at $229.8 million, makes up for the largest of their expenses. The largest chunk of that budget, $149.1 million over five years, will go toward a North Demand Response Facility and their new headquarters build-out.

More improvements include $15 million for CapMetro Pickup, the on-demand ride share shuttle that picks people up right in their neighborhoods, and $2.4 million toward BikeShare operations and expansions. Earlier this year, CapMetro started replacing all of the city bikes with fully electric ones.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

public transportation bus