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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: The Texas House, during an extended session, passed a $337 billion budget proposal, including a large-scale school choice initiative. The budget bill now heads to a conference committee that will reconcile differences between the versions passed by the Texas House and Senate before receiving a final vote on passage.
👥 Who’s Involved: Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX), lawmakers in the Texas state legislature, school choice advocates, and Texas Democrats who oppose the budget bill and school choice program.
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📍 Where & When: The debate took place in Texas on April 10, 2025, with the House passing the budget bill early Friday morning.
💬 Key Quote: Governor Abbott stated, “The fact is that we are going to pass school choice this session. At the same time, we’ll ensure Texas public schools receive record funding.”
⚠️ Impact: The budget measure seeks to distribute funds for educational savings accounts, affecting 100,000 students, and includes plans for property tax relief and increased border security funds.
IN FULL:
The Texas House engaged in a lengthy session on Thursday to debate the state’s $337 billion budget proposal, which includes a provision establishing the largest school choice program in the United States. After hours of debate and consideration of over 390 amendments —with only 25 being adopted—lawmakers moved to adopt the budget measure early on Friday morning, moving the school choice program one step closer to becoming a reality. The bill now heads to a conference committee that will reconcile differences between the House-passed budget and a version passed earlier this year by the Texas Senate.
If enacted, budget legislation would allocate $1 billion towards educational savings accounts, affecting roughly 100,000 Texas students. Additionally, the measure allows families to utilize public funds for differing educational expenses, such as private school tuition and homeschooling. President Donald J. Trump announced his support for the Texas school choice program in February, writing on Truth Social: “The Texas House must now pass School Choice to deliver a gigantic Victory for Texas students and parents… We need School Choice passed in every State!”
Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) has also backed the school choice provision in the budget, contending that it will simultaneously bolster educational outcomes and empower families in their education decisions. “The fact is that we are going to pass school choice this session,” Abbott wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “School choice creates competition and guarantees a better education for ALL students.”
Additional elements of the proposal include $11.2 billion for property tax relief and a record-setting $6.5 billion for border security. However, Democrat lawmakers in the state legislature have signaled they will oppose the final budget bill—though it appears unlikely they will be able to prevent its passage.
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: A violent incident occurred in His Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Frankland where Manchester Arena terrorist Hashem Abedi attacked three prison guards. In response, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government has suspended kitchen use in prison separation centers.
👥 Who’s Involved: Hashem Abedi, who played a role in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, and three prison guards.
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📍 Where & When: The attack took place at HMP Frankland, one of two so-called separation centers for the most dangerous convicts, on Saturday.
💬 Key Quote: “In our view, [Abedi] should not be allowed any privileges whatsoever while serving a sentence for the deaths of 22 innocent lives and the injuring of many more,” relatives of the Manchester Arena attack’s victims wrote in a letter to the authorities. “He should not have access to anything that he can weaponize, such as hot oil or items he can turn into blades.”
⚠️ Impact: Two male guards remain in hospital with “potentially fatal” injuries, with one suffering a severed artery in his neck and another being left with a punctured lung. A female officer, left with third-degree burns after Abedi threw hot oil on her, was discharged from hospital on Sunday.
IN FULL:
Following a serious assault on prison staff by Hashem Abedi, the brother of Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi, at His Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Frankland, kitchen use in certain prison “separation centers” has been temporarily suspended. The incident occurred Saturday at HMP Frankland, where Abedi, already serving a life sentence, reportedly attacked three guards. Two male victims suffered “potentially fatal” injuries and remain hospitalized, while a female guard received third-degree burns. Abedi had melted down hoarded butter sachets into hot oil to attack her, according to sources.
Abedi was involved in his brother’s 2017 suicide bombing of an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena, England. Twenty-two people, many of them young girls and parents, were murdered, and over 1,000 were injured, some critically.
This latest attack unfolded after Abedi accessed kitchen areas at the prison’s separation center, which accommodates some of Britain’s most dangerous inmates. The prison officers’ association detailed how the jihadist launched an attack using hot oil and homemade blades crafted from cooking trays.
Abedi has since been transferred to another high-security separation site. The Ministry of Justice announced a comprehensive investigation into the attack, affirming their commitment to reviewing and potentially revising security protocols in response to the breach. However, this is already Abedi’s second documented attack on prison staff, following a previous attack on two guards at London’s HMP Belmarsh in 2020.
The Manchester Arena bombing followed a series of catastrophic state failures, beginning with the decision to grant the Abedi brothers’ Libyan father asylum despite the fact he was a known Islamist. Salman Abedi had been flagged to both MI5—the domestic security agency—and Greater Manchester Police multiple times, but no meaningful action was taken.
On the night of his attack, the concert was not being covered by police due to officers taking an unauthorized multi-hour dinner break. Security guards at the arena also failed to act when Abedi, who was observed performing prayers and behaving erratically while wearing a gigantic backpack at the scene, was reported to them because they were “scared” they would be “branded racist” if they approached him.
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