Monday morning brief 11.11.19

10-day Rule

Nov 11

Welcome to the morning brief. Maybe this email was forwarded to you, and perhaps you won’t be so lucky next time, sign up now.

On to today’s stories.

An infant scheduled to be taken off of life support at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth dominated the attention of conservative activists and lawmakers over the weekend.

Born prematurely, Tinslee Lewis has a heart condition that complicates breathing. After treating Lewis, the hospital invoked the 10-day rule, informing her parents that she would be taken off of life support against their wishes unless care at an alternate hospital was arranged.

On Sunday, with hours to spare, Tinslee was spared from being taken off life by a temporary restraining order was issued by Judge Alex Kim. The order came after public outcry, legal intervention by Texas Right to Life and attention from multiple elected officials.

Legislation to reform the 10-day rule was contemplated and advocated for but did not become law during the 2019 session.

Harris County judge Alexandra Smoots-Thomas has been arrested for misusing almost $25,000 in campaign funds between over a one year period. Expenditures include mortgage, and private school payments as well as the purchase of a Prada bag. Her attorney claims the charges are race and sex-based.

Representative Morgan Myer is in trouble electorally if you trust partisan polling pushed yesterday on Twitter suggesting he trails his Democrat rival by 6 points, though 18 percent of those polled are as of yet undecided.

The polling was conducted by Public Policy Polling, a Democrat outfit noted to be shameless about their herding (manipulating poll results to fit an average) and rankings suggesting it is biased toward Democrats.