The State of Texas: June 8, 2016

Quote of the Day

“There was bacon sitting right here.”

—Arshia Khurshid, a Pakistani pharmacist living in San Antonio, to KSAT. She says vandals have been leaving bacon on her porch since last year. Khurshid told the news network that she’s not a practicing Muslim, but she suspects someone is targeting her because she looks Middle Eastern. Police are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime.

Daily Roundup

Cruzin’ Forward
Something strange happened on Tuesday. Not only did Ted Cruz actually accomplish something in the U.S. Senate, but he did so while working together with people who don’t like him, which is a pretty a long list of people. And although Senators John Cornyn and Chuck Schumer (a Democrat from New York) are probably near the top of said list, that apparently didn’t stop Cruz from co-sponsoring a bipartisan (!) bill with them. What could make Cruz reach across the aisle and work with the Washington, D.C. crowd he consistently dubbed the “cartel” during his ill-fated presidential campaign? Only Nazis and stolen art. On Tuesday, proponents testified before the Senate to push the passage of a bill that would make it easier for relatives of Holocaust victims to recover artwork stolen from their families by Nazis, according to the Dallas Morning News. Cruz co-authored the bill and even gave the opening statement. Also joining Cruz in the push to pass the bill was actress Helen Mirren, which is an odd a pairing as there ever was (Mirren’s disdain for Cruz is no secret). Even as Cruz works on doing stuff as a Senator for the first time in a while (ever?), he’s also in no rush to decide whether he’ll endorse Donald Trump. According to Politico, Cruz told MSNBC on Tuesday that he’s simply “giving it time, watching, and assessing.”

Power Play
The Travis County Republican party met on Tuesday to decide what, exactly, it plans to do about its chairman-elect Robert Morrow, a jester-hat-wearing, vile-tweeting conspiracy theorist. According to the Austin American-Statesman, county precinct chairs were split on whether to create a new group that would basically handle all the important parts of running the party and keep Morrow miles away from the party’s cash and social media accounts. Morrow wasn’t at the meeting. According to the Statesman, this is the last party precinct chair meeting before Morrow is sworn in on June 13, and they seem to be prepping for doomsday. The communications director reportedly led the crowd in a call-and-answer session, posing questions he’s gotten regarding Morrow and prompting the room to respond with what the Statesman said is the party’s new slogan: “We’re bigger than that.” Morrow has said that he has no interest in making changes to the party, but just wants to use his position to publicize his views. It’ll be a long two years in Travis County.

Rocky Road
The division of the Austin Police Department that usually handles major crimes involving narcotics and gangs will now also handle pesky rock-throwers, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The rock-throwing wave in Austin is for real. With more than 80 unsolved cases of crooks tossing stones at drivers along Austin’s highways, the city is pretty much stumped at this point. So it seems that the only thing left to do is kick it over to the organized crime unit and see what the big dogs can do. It’s a heavy-handed response to such a seemingly small-potatoes problem, but rock-throwing can cause serious injuries to drivers, and officials were even considering overnight shutdowns on parts of the roadways that are most frequently targeted by the pebble-chuckers. The problem is showing no signs of slowing down. Although a suspect was arrested last week, KXAN reported there were two more rock-throwing incidents overnight on Tuesday, bringing the total to four in the last two days alone. Keep your eyes open, Austinites.