Good morning, 

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Cruz, Abbott Slam Houston Imam’s Call for Boycotts

• A group of Muslims in Houston is calling for Muslim-owned businesses to stop selling "haram," or products forbidden under Islamic law. Michael Wilson has the story.
     
• Imam F. Qasim ibn Ali Khan has been marching through neighborhoods, urging storeowners to comply with parts of Sharia law. Specifically, he told them to stop selling pork, alcohol, and lottery tickets. Khan is calling for a nationwide boycott of stores that are not in compliance with Muslim restrictions. 
      
• U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz condemned the "outrageous" effort, noting that "Sharia law has no force in America." Gov. Greg Abbott said that "attempts to impose Sharia compliance" should be reported to local police or the Department of Public Safety.
       
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized Abbott’s response and accused the governor of using “fearmongering tactics” about Islam.

Pressure Builds for Ousting A&M President After LGBT Class Controversy

• After first defending the course, Texas A&M President Mark Welsh has announced the termination of a professor who was caught on video instructing students on how to introduce LGBT topics to minors in a children’s literature class. Adam Cahn and Robert Montoya report on the unfolding scandal.
           
• Recorded during a class this summer, a professor's heavy-handed push for gender indoctrination has ignited statewide controversy and calls for accountability at the flagship institution.
         
• On Tuesday, State Rep. Brian Harrison (R–Midlothian) released more audio in which Welsh can be heard both defending the course and berating the student who complained about it. Harrison and other lawmakers have begun calling for Welsh's termination.
         
• Meanwhile, the TAMU System Board of Regents ordered A&M Chancellor Glenn Hegar to conduct an audit of all the institutions' course offerings.

California Food Companies File Suit Against Texas’ Lab-Grown Meat Ban

• Two California-based food companies have filed a lawsuit against Texas’ new law banning the sale of cell-cultured “meat,” arguing that the measure violates the commerce and supremacy clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Addie Hovland has the details.
      
• At issue is a new law that prohibits the sale of cell-grown meat, with violators facing civil and criminal penalties. The ban expires after two years but requires that cell-grown meat be clearly marked with the terms “lab-grown,” “cell-cultured,” or something similar going forward.
      
• Plaintiffs in the case, Wildtype and UPSIDE Foods, allege the law was passed to discriminate against competition from outside of Texas.
      
• Texas is the seventh state in the U.S. to pass legislation banning the sale of lab-grown meat. Only Texas and Florida have received legal scrutiny after passing such a ban. 

Central Texas Teacher, Coach Arrested for Sex With Underage Boys

• Erin Anderson reports that a Central Texas high school teacher and girls’ coach has been arrested for having sex with underage boys.
      
• Shelby Dawn Lashombe has been charged with one count of sexual assault of a child and two counts of improper relationship between educator and student—although Lashombe has said the boys were not students at the schools where she worked.
      
• Lashombe was working in Valley Mills Independent School District at the time of her arrest. She previously worked for West ISD.

OTHER SCHOOL NEWS

• In Texas, it is a felony for an adult to engage in sexually explicit communication with a minor, or for a school employee to engage in sexually explicit communication with any student regardless of the student’s age.

James Talarico Launches Democrat Bid for U.S. Senate

• Brandon Waltens reports that one of the most left-wing voices in the Texas Legislature is officially in the hunt to be the Democrats' nominee for the U.S. Senate. State Rep. James Talarico of Austin made his campaign official this week, framing his race as a fight against the wealthy and well-connected.
      
• But his message is being complicated by recent reporting that Talarico has accepted substantial contributions from one of the biggest Republican donors in the country, casino billionaire Miriam Adelson.
     
• Talarico has spoken out against legislation aimed at removing sexually explicit books from school libraries. He has also argued against legislation requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
      
• Talarico describes himself as an "education consultant."

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Quote-Unquote

"The Bible tells us there is a time for all things and there is a time to preach and a time to pray, but the time for me to preach has passed away, and there is a time to fight, and that time has come now. Now is the time to fight! Call for recruits! Sound the drums!"

– John Peter Muhlenberg​

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