State of Texas: Race for Texas senate, governor heating up

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As we quickly approach the start of early voting in Texas, a new poll released by Nexstar Media and Emerson College showed that both the Texas Governor’s race and the Texas Senate race are heating up.

The poll found that the Texas Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is in a deadlock. The poll showed 47% of state voters supported Talarico, while 46% were for Paxton.

Meanwhile, that same poll found that in the Texas Governor’s race, Democratic nominee Gina Hinojosa trailed Republican Governor Gregg Abbott by three points.

Child advocates urge Texas lawmakers to strengthen protections for minors on gaming platform

On Monday, child advocates, pediatricians, and mental health experts gathered at the Texas Capitol to urge lawmakers to expand online safety protections for minors.

Pediatric Psychologist Dr. Daniel Flint with Texas Children’s Hospital highlighted that parents are increasingly struggling to keep up with evolving social media platforms designed to capture children’s attention.

“The architecture is no longer confined to social feeds. It’s bled into popular children’s gaming platforms,” Flint said. “Young children encounter unvetted spaces where predatory adults target their innocence. In popular games, kids are conditioned into purchasing randomized loot boxes, which is outright gambling packaged in bright colors for middle schoolers,” Doctor Flint said.

Advocates highlighted a list of proposals that include:

Prohibiting direct communication from unknown accounts

Turning off algorithmic content by default for minors

Disabling monetization strategies that target minors

Requiring meaningful age-verification measures before children can access social features

Restricting the collection and mining of data from minors

Continuing research into online harms affecting children

Texas lawmakers ask: If prediction markets are gambling, why are they legal?

The Texas Senate State Affairs Committee and the Texas House State Affairs Committee on Thursday held a conversation with experts on prediction markets.

It’s worth noting that, unlike sportsbooks, which are websites or mobile apps that pay out winnings on sporting events. Those are managed by state gambling markets. Prediction markets are licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“I don’t understand why or how it continues to operate,” State Sen. Bob Hall, R-Rockwall, said. “I’m not sure why the law is not even being enforced today because I think the law is adequate to enforce it because it is gambling.”

As for whether states can legally regulate prediction markets, that’s something that might end up at the Supreme Court. Recently, New Jersey pushed for the justices to take up the issue.

Texas senators express concern about working with state vendor on lottery operations

It’s been 18 months since Houston-based attorney Manfred Sternberg made his first appearance at the Texas Capitol to describe an alleged scheme to rig a $95 million Lotto Texas jackpot.

As a result, the Texas Lottery Commission was dissolved by Senate Bill 3070 in 2025, and the regulation of the lottery was placed into the care of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

In that bill, it also directed TLDR to extend the Brightstar Lottery contract through Aug. 2028. The author of that bill, State Senator Bob Hall, R — Edgewood, his chief of staff explained that the provision was to “allow time for the procurement and potential implementation process of a new contractor.”

Currently, TLDR is soliciting bids for lottery operations.

“We have to be very careful about their role going forward, because this could not have happened without that support contractor being involved, providing the machines, providing the tickets,” Hall said.