Tyler County News

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Special to the Booster

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Aylo Global Entertainment, a major pornography distribution company, for violating HB 1181, a Texas law that requires reasonable age verification measures to protect minors from being exposed to obscene materials.

Aylo Global runs several of the largest pornography websites that host obscene materials, including Pornhub. Instead of abiding by Texas law requiring purveyors of obscene sexual material to institute age verification systems, the company immediately presents minors who access their websites with pornographic content. Attorney General Paxton is seeking an injunction against Aylo Global to require appropriate age verification safeguards and potentially millions of dollars in civil penalties for failing to abide by the law.

In November 2023, Paxton won a major victory at the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, allowing Texas to enforce the law. Companies violating the age verification requirements will be subject to fines of up to $10,000 per day, an additional $10,000 per day if the corporation illegally retains identifying information, and $250,000 if a child is exposed to pornographic content due to not properly verifying a user’s age.

“Texas has a right to protect its children from the detrimental effects of pornographic content,” said Paxton. “I look forward to holding any company accountable that violates our age verification laws intended to prevent minors from being exposed to harmful, obscene material on the internet.”

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Several vehicles were parked outside of the Real County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 12, 2022. Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune

By Carlos Nogueras Ramos
Texas Tribune

ODESSA — Texas has awarded $125 million in grants to rural sheriffs and prosecutors across the state, the Texas Comptroller said in a statement last week — an effort to help those law enforcement agencies attract and keep talent in their communities.

The pool of money was established by state lawmakers last year in Senate Bill 22, which passed with bipartisan support. The legislation, authored by state Sen. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, totaled $330 million and established grants for increasing minimum salaries and additional equipment.

Rural law enforcement can apply for the grant again in 2025, which the comptroller will issue using the remaining money.

The comptroller’s office, which among other duties manages the state’s budget and collects taxes, began accepting applications last year and determined the amount each county would receive by population size. Only counties with a population smaller than 300,000 were eligible for the grant.

Of Texas’ 254 counties, 236 have populations slimmer than 300,000, according to a 2022 estimate from the Texas Demographic Center.

The comptroller’s office said 94% of eligible sheriff’s offices applied for money. Nearly 86% of eligible prosecutors’ officers applied, the comptroller said. The comptroller awarded grants to 224 sheriff offices and 138 prosecutors offices.

The grant’s recipients must first raise pay — with sheriffs earning $75,000, deputies $45,000, and jailers $40,000 — before using the money to buy equipment. The grants ranged from $250,000 to $500,000 for sheriff’s offices. Prosecutors could apply for anywhere between $100,000 and $275,000.

The money is a start to reverse a long-term decline of prosecutors in rural Texas counties, said Pamela Metzger, executive director of the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center at the SMU Dedman School of Law.

“I think it’s terrific that the legislature is recognizing our rural criminal justice communities,” Metzger said.

Texas has experienced a sharp, years-long decline in criminal defense attorneys, a report authored by Metzger at the legal think tank found. The study gathered the number of practicing lawyers in the state whose addresses and offices were in the state using the bar association’s database.

Less than one percent of lawyers practiced criminal defense law in rural parts of Texas, hampering the ability of rural prosecutor’s offices to find and employ public defenders it could dispatch to courts.

Metzger said that an individual accused of a crime in a major city typically has a guaranteed public defender representing them in court within a day.

“If you live anywhere else, you’ll have to wait 72 hours or maybe a weekend, just because of where you live,” Metzger said.

And the influx of money is a boon for law enforcement offices with lean budgets operating in counties with a smaller tax base, said Michael Lazcano, a chief deputy at Reeves County and vice president of the Big Bend Area Law Enforcement Officers Association, an organization representing 20 law enforcement agencies in West Texas, the majority of which are rural.

“These funds might not be there next year, so it’s good for smaller agencies to have,” Lazcano said.

Still, Lozano said money is one part of the equation. He said that law enforcement agencies, especially rural ones, will continue to grapple with recruitment.

“For new recruits, it’s different,” Lazcano said. “It’s not very appealing anymore to the younger generation to come into law enforcement.”

A 2022 study by the U.S. Department of Justice found that recruiting has been a persisting challenge for sheriff’s offices. The number of full-time, sworn officers — 174,000 — has not increased since 1997.

Sheriff’s offices have closed personnel gaps by employing more civilians, whose participation “more than doubled” in the last two decades. The number of civilians occupying administrative roles rose to 191,000 in 2020, according to the report.

 

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Special to the Booster

AUSTIN – Texas students who helped clean up and beautify their communities can now apply for a scholarship contest awarding a total of $10,000.

The annual Don’t mess with Texas® Scholarship Contest is now accepting applications for the 2024 school year.

All Texas high school seniors currently attending public, private or home school, and planning to attend an accredited college, university or trade school in the fall 2024 semester are eligible to apply. Judges will select two winners based on applicants’ proven results in leading projects or efforts focused on educating communities about the importance of keeping our state and roadways clean and litter-free.

Sponsored by Ozarka and iHeartMedia, the contest recognizes the creativity of high school seniors who are taking a leadership role in preventing litter in their communities.

“It’s important that future generations feel empowered to create long-term, sustainable solutions to make their communities litter-free. Our state is counting on these leaders to keep Texas litter-free for decades to come,” said Norma Rios, program coordinator for TxDOT’s Don’t mess with Texas campaign.

Past winners include 2023 winner Hayden with Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy in Greenville. Hayden developed the Trashy Tuesday campaign. At least twice a month students would gather after school on a Tuesday and clean litter around their campus. The project expanded to cleaning community parks as well.

Neddah with Brownsville Early College High School in Brownsville was another 2023 scholarship recipient. Neddah was a leader of the Environmental Club at her school.

The group conducted a litter survey, and then developed and implemented a litter management plan at her campus. They also created an on-campus recycling program and created a competition among the classrooms to see who can recycle the most.

Don’t mess with Texas has been educating Texans about litter prevention since 1986. The program includes annual “Trash-Off” community outreach events and the Adopt-a-Highway volunteer program.

To apply for the Don’t mess with Texas Scholarship Contest, visit

dontmesswithtexas.org

. Applications must be received via online submission by 5 p.m. (CDT) on April 2, 2024.