Good morning,

Yesterday, we asked readers what should be done about the Women's and Gender Studies programs at Texas' institutions of higher education. Find the survey results below.

This is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Texas GOP Chair Says House, Senate Redistricting ‘Should Definitely Happen’

• Republican Party of Texas Chairman Abraham George says Republican lawmakers should seriously consider another round of redistricting for the Texas House and Senate, arguing the party has an opportunity to further solidify its gains heading into the 2028 election cycle. Brandon Waltens has the details.

• Congressional maps were redrawn in 2025 to do away with racial "coalition" districts, which the U.S. Supreme Court has said are problematic. The legislature redrew those lines in a way to maximize GOP performance, which the courts have ruled is constitutionally permissible. With that in mind, George and others want lawmakers to address the same problems in the Texas House and Senate maps.

AG Sues North Texas Smoke Shops for Selling Illegal-Strength Kratom

• As a part of an initiative to crack down on the illegal distribution of products containing a psychoactive substance called kratom, Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued a group of North Texas businesses for deceptively marketing items containing alkaloid levels greater than allowed by state law. Addie Hovland has the story.
     
• Kratom, which has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for any medical use, is derived from the leaves of a tropical plant from Southeast Asia. It contains chemicals that have been associated with life-threatening symptoms and death when consumed. According to Paxton's office, "kratom use can rapidly result in opiate-like addiction."

Texas Scorecard Is Growing!

• With Texas Scorecard's growth comes the need for additional team members. We have openings for two full-time journalists.
   
• Also, applications are now being accepted for our fellowship program's Summer 2026, Fall 2026, and Spring 2027 iterations. The program is designed for conservative Texans between the ages of 18 and 25 with an interest in public policy, political accountability, and Texas history.

Houston Doctor Indicted Over Alleged Falsification of Transplant Records

• Michael Wilson reports that a Houston surgeon has been indicted in federal court on charges alleging that he falsified medical records in a way that made patients ineligible for organ transplants.
     
• A federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment against Dr. John Stevenson Bynon Jr., charging him with making false statements in health care matters. Bynon served as head of the abdominal transplant program at Memorial Hermann Health System.
     
• Prosecutors allege that Bynon's conduct kept some patients off the transplant waiting list for months at a time. It is still not known how long the conduct occurred or how many patients were affected.
      
• Bynon has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Epidemic of Educator Misconduct Continues

• Another Educator ‘On Leave’ Over Alleged Sexual Misconduct
  Shallowater ISD officials confirmed that an investigation is ongoing into an unnamed employee’s relationship with a student.
     
• Crowley ISD Teacher Charged With Sex Crimes Against Student
  Ricardo Ortiz, who taught architecture at the district’s Career and Technical Education Center, is facing multiple felony sex crime charges involving a high school student.
   
• IDEA Mission Teacher Accused of Sexual Misconduct With Student
  Adrian Diaz, a teacher at IDEA North Mission College Preparatory Academy in Mission, has been arrested and charged with crimes related to sexual misconduct with a student.

New Organization Takes Aim at Texans for Lawsuit Reform

• A new political organization has launched with the stated goal of countering one of Austin’s most powerful and long-standing special interest groups. Republicans Against Texans for Lawsuit Reform announced its formation this week.
     
• RATLR accuses TLR of abandoning its original mission and becoming what it describes as a major player in the “Austin swamp.” It points to millions of dollars in political donations—including contributions to Democrats and Republican incumbents it labels as “RINOs”—as evidence that TLR wields outsized influence at the Texas Capitol.
     
• RATLR's executive director is James Wesolek, the former communications director for the Republican Party of Texas.
      
• The history of Texans for Lawsuit Reform was previously examined in a 2024 Texas Scorecard documentary, Hubris: The Texas Kingmakers.

Despite Protest, Lacy Lakeview Officials Embrace Proposed Data Center

• In McLennan County, just north of Waco, land designated for a large-scale data center facility is set to be annexed by the City of Lacy Lakeview. As Paige Feild reports, local officials have already signed a memorandum of understanding with the project developer to set the framework for the resource-intensive data center.
      
• But residents of Lacy Lakeview are concerned about bringing a resource-intensive operation to their small town. A community petition against it reportedly has almost 3,000 signatures, while a Facebook group opposing the project has nearly 2,500 members.
      
• WORTH NOTING: Lacy Lakeview Mayor Charles Wilson traveled to Hawaii in January to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Wyoming-based data center company.

Podcast Catch Up

• SALCEDO STORM, latest episode: The boys talk about the left pushing their idiocy into sports, the genius of curling, and Democrat Gene Wu calling for a race war against whites.
     
• DAILY HEADLINES, latest episode: Another Round of Redistricting in Texas?
      
• COME AND TAKE IT, latest episode: India First? U.S. Companies Illegally Hiring Only H1-B Workers!
     
• TEXAS TOMORROW: latest episode: How Much Power Does Your School Board Hold?
     
• LUKE MACIAS SHOW, latest episode: What Happened in This Special Election?

Quote-Unquote

"Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master."

– Dwight D. Eisenhower​

Y'All Answered

Amid low enrollment and criticism of far-left indoctrination taking place, Texas A&M recently announced that it is ending the Women’s & Gender Studies program.

Yesterday, we asked readers if all taxpayer-backed universities should close those departments or keep them open. Just over 17 percent want to keep those programs open, while 82.7 percent want them closed.

Here is a sampling of the responses we received.

• “'Women's Studies' is generally a major for people who can't answer the question, What Is A Woman? We can do without.” – Chris Breaux
     
• “The Women and Gender studies in colleges and universities are just one more silly distraction from core subjects, contributing to the least educated graduates in our country's history.” – Janice Beck
     
• “As to women’s studies, maybe focus on the plight of women around the world, not imagined oppression here.” – Melynda Caudle
     
• “What job requires a degree in ‘Women’s & Gender Studies’? The commercial value is nonexistent. What academic value does the degree have? Perhaps gender-confused people need an expert in what a woman is, like Ketanji Brown-Jackson.” – Tom Camardo
     
• “Women & Gender studies are nothing more than degrees in grievance. They are not adding any value to our society so why are my tax dollars funding something that doesn't make our society better in the long run?” – Kimery McKaskle
      
• “Gender studies departments (as well as any other LGBTQ or anti-American classes) should be eradicated in every taxpayer-funded school in Texas. We should not be on the hook for that kind of indoctrination. Allow those classes to only be taught at private universities and see how quickly those degrees evaporate.” – Allison Love
     
• “I'm 77 years young and have been studying women the whole time. Had everything I really needed to know figured out by age twelve.” – Earl Carter
     
• “No need for the taxpayers to fund this phony set of ‘educational classes.’  I can do the whole study—two genders, male and female!” – Kathy Parker
      
• “Closing down ‘women’s studies’ is a good start. But ALL programs that promote division by the ridiculous assertion that academia and scholarship are somehow ‘different’ for people based on gender, race, or any other demographic are obscene and an affront to intellectual honesty.” – Mike Phillips
      

• “All Marxist propaganda should be verboten in state-subsidized schools.” — Sonia Rivero

The Directory of State and Federal Officials

Contact information, biographies, and campaign finances.

* The new congressional boundaries for representational purposes will not take effect until January 2027.

📧 If someone forwarded the Texas Minute to you, and you like what you see, it is easy to get on the list yourself!