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Weekly Witness is your weekly update on the mainstream faith community’s perspective on everything Texas public policy. Hosted by Texas Impact's Scott Atnip, Weekly Witness is recorded in front of a live audience in downtown Austin. We host policy experts, faith leaders, and elected officials who provide in-depth information on relevant policy issues in the state. Weekly Witness is a product of Texas Impact, Texas’ oldest and largest interfaith advocacy group. Visit texasimpact.org for more ...
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The Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy Official Podcast
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The Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy Official Podcast
Texas Interfaith Center For Public Policy
This is the official podcast of the Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy. The TICPP is a faith-based 501c3 nonprofit with a mission to help people of faith participate faithfully and effectively in public policy discussions concerning broad religious social concerns through non-partisan education on policy issues and training in civic participation. From food and mental health to the theology of creation care, the Interfaith Center is committed to developing people of faith into well-ed ...
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 236 The Ties That Bind: Women in Faith Talk About Lobbying and Legacy
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This week we are joined by United Women in Faith leaders Mary Brown and Darlene Alfred for a conversation about UWFaith and civic engagement. Mary Brown served as committee chair for this year's UWFaith Texas Legislative Event. Darlene Alfred serves on the national board of UWFaith, and is a Texas Impact Board Member.…
This week Texas Impact's Executive Director Bee Moorhead fills in for Scott. She had a chance to sit down with Maria Coyne, President and CEO of the United Church of Christ’s Cornerstone Fund. They discussed legacy giving and how faith-based funds like Cornerstone can work with congregations to engage in and support justice ministries through the w…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep.234 Better Together: Working in Community
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This week we are coming to you from Houston featuring a conversation with Juan Cardoza-Oquendo, Director of Policy and Elections with Houston in Action, an organization that convenes member organizations interested in impacting systemic change rooted in racial justice and equity for historically excluded groups. It is an important reminder for thos…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep.233 Invoking Justice: An Interfaith Service of Public Witness to Welcome the 88th Texas Legislature
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This week we have a special episode for you, featuring the audio from Texas Impact’s Interfaith Service of Public Witness that took place on the steps of the Capitol this Tuesday January 10th. Texas Impact has been hosting this event for 50 years. But, this year was unique in that NINE state representatives from various faith backgrounds participat…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep.232 First Things First: Centering Religious Freedom in the 88th Legislature
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Weekly Witness is back for our first episode of 2023, just in time for the start of the 88th Texas Legislature. Scott welcomes Texas Impact's Advocacy Director Josh Houston back to the program to discuss a few of the hot topics leading into the session, namely religious freedom, and how they apply to the policy making process we are about to witnes…
This year we released the 200th episode of Weekly Witness! We’ve got one final episode of Weekly Witness for this year, a “clip show” highlighting a few of the many fascinating conversations Scott has had with faith leaders during the course of our first 200 episodes. We hope you’ll listen to this episode—and don’t forget, all of our old episodes a…
The dust has settled for a majority of races in the 2022 midterm elections with run-offs scheduled for December 13th. Texas Impact’s Advocacy Director, Joshua Houston, joins Scott to discuss his take-aways from the results so far and turn our direction toward the upcoming 88th Texas Legislature. Bill filing has already begun and January is just aro…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 229 You Don't Speak for Me: Religious Freedom and Reproductive Rights
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We continue our series on Texas Impact's 2023 Legislative Priorities by discussing reproductive rights, religious freedom and what Texans of faith should consider before the November election. Rabbi Mara Nathan, Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, is with us for the conversation. Later in the program, Texas Impact's Executive Director Be…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 228 It's Not Just Texas: Supporting LGBT+ Rights as People of Faith
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This week we continue our series on Texas Impact's legislative priorities with a discussion about protecting LGBT rights and what Texans of faith can do. With us for the conversation is Bishop Suffragan Kai Ryan with the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. Later in the program, we will be joined by Texas Impact’s Advocacy Director, Joshua Houston to help u…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming
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We interrupt our series on Texas Impact's 2023 legislative priorities to bring you a very timely episode as the midterms quickly approach. Scott is joined by Bee Moorhead and Joshua Houston to discuss some of the tools and opportunities Texas Impact is providing to Texas' faith communities this election. Find out more by visiting our website at tex…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 227 Here We Stand, We Can Do No Other: Relentless Love for 200 Episodes
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This week we continue our legislative priority series with a discussion about immigration priorities and what Texans of faith can do. During this series, we will welcome a faith leader to help introduce a section of the legislative priorities and have a conversation about why it is an important priority to the faith community. With us this week is …
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 226 Faith in the Future: Faithful Climate Advocacy
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We continue our series on Texas Impact's 2023 legislative priorities with a discussion about the climate crisis and what Texans of faith can do. This week, we welcome Susan Henry Crowe, General Secretary of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society to discuss climate issues. Yes, she is our second Susan in a row. Also back again this…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 225 How Can Life Thrive? Part III of Texas Impact's 2023 Legislative Priorities Series
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This week we begin our series on the Texas Impact Legislative priorities in earnest. For the remainder of this series, we plan to welcome a faith leader to help introduce a section of the legislative priorities and have a conversation about why it is an important priority to the faith community. This week we welcome Rev Dr. Susan Frederick Gray, Pr…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 224 Texas Impact Board of Director Discuss 2023 Legislative Priorities
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We continue our guided tour of Texas Impact's legislative priorities for the 2023 Texas legislative session with some of the folks who helped shape them. In this episode, members of Texas Impact's Board of Directors share their individual perspective on the work and thought put into the process of developing Texas Impact’s legislative priorities. B…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 223 Texas Impact Staff Introduce the 2023 Legislative Priorities
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Over the next ten weeks, Weekly Witness will take you on a guided tour of Texas Impact's legislative priorities for the 2023 Texas legislative session. In this episode, Texas Impact staff provide an overview of the legislative priorities and offer insights into how they get developed. Bee, Josh, and Beaman discuss how the priorities have changed ov…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 222 Re-creation: Ways Forward for Teachers and the Texans That Love Them
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We present the final installment of our four-part series on public education. Sherry Miller, Past President of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, joins Scott to discuss how to support teachers and public schools in the post-COVID world. Later in the program, catch an informal chat between Bee and Josh, recorded while Scott was away. After th…
We continue our summer fun with the third installment of our four-part series on public education. The goal of this series is to prepare listeners to discuss public education issues with elected officials and candidates for office…note-taking is encouraged. In today’s episode, Scott has a lively conversation with one of the state’s leading advocate…
This week we continue our summer fun with the second installment of our four part series on public education. Rejoining us today will be one of the state’s leading experts on public school policy, Ellen Williams, an attorney and public school expert with 35 years of experience in and around the Capitol. Later in the program we are joined by the Tex…
It is summer vacation for many...but here at Texas Impact, we think it's time to focus on public education! We hope to provide some summer homework–not to prepare kids to go back to school, but to prepare you for conversations with your elected representatives and candidates going into election season. Joining us this week is one of the state’s lea…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 218 Sacrifice: Reflections on the Uvalde School Shooting
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Weekly Witness had planned to kick off a series on public education policy for the month of June with a conversation on vouchers and charter schools, but current events intervened. We spend this week talking about the Uvalde school shooting, focusing on outsized connection between gun violence and public schools. Scott is joined by attorney Ellen W…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 217 Policy and Discernment: Tools of the Trade
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This week we are excited to welcome our good friend Bishop Mike McKee to the program. Bishop McKee is the Bishop of the North Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, based out of Dallas, and joins us to celebrate the launch of the new bishop-led podcast Unfinished Church. Later in program, Josh Houston joins us to talk about what ca…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep.216 "Texas Can Do This": Going Carbon-Neutral without Losing our Edge
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As Texans face another episode of grid-uncertainty, we talk with some experts who are working on solutions. Dr. Joshua Rhodes is with the University of Texas Webber Energy Group, which recently released a report detailing how Texas could get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Later in the program we are joined by former Texas Impact intern Suzan…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 215 Catastrophically Wrong: Texas' Backwards Border Policy
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep.214 Tea Leaves: How May Elections Will Impact Legislative Decisions
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By Texas Impact
It's Earth Week y'all! Scott sits down with Luke Metzger, the Executive Director of Environment Texas, as they discuss Texas' renewable energy landscape and some of the exciting projects on their plate for 2022. Later in the program Bee Moorhead joins us with audio from a recent gathering of journalists in Houston where she had the privilege of sit…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 212 Pause and Refresh: COVID Conversations
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 211 Forward in Faith with Harriett Olson of United Women in Faith
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep 210 Show Me the Money with Dick Lavine
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep.209 No Boundaries: Failing Vulnerable Kids All Over Texas
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This week we turn our focus to state agencies and vulnerable kids. Scott speaks Elisa O'Callaghan, Chair of the Board of Justice For Our Neighbors (JFON), and Bobby Watson, Texas Impact's Immigration Advocacy Fellow. Elisa and Bobby provide updates on the situation at the border, including recent changes to Title 42 and its impact on migrant childr…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 208 Light and Life: Connecting Public Utilities and Health
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Primary Conclusions: Unpacking the March 1st Election
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The Texas 2022 primary elections are over, so Scott sits down with two policy pros to parse out the highlights heading in to the runoffs. Bonnie Bruce is long-time Capitol insider who has recently founded her own government affairs practice, Mesquite Strategies. Texas Impact Foundation Board President Beaman Floyd also joins us this week to survey …
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 206 Made in the Image: Faith Support for Trans Texans
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This week we address the recent attacks on transgender youth and their parents by the Texas Governor and Attorney General. Scott speaks with Shelly Skeen, an attorney with Lambda Legal, about the impact of these attacks, and with TX UU Justice Ministry executive director Rev. Erin Walter, who speaks passionately about the role of Texas' communities…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 205 Demanding Dialogue: Sen. Alvarado Discusses Her Filibuster of SB1
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We wrap up our series on election 2022 as Scott welcomes special guest Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston to talk about her filibuster during the multi-session fight over Texas' election reform legislation. Texas Impact Executive Director Bee Moorhead joins Scott to reflect on his conversation with Sen. Alvarado. Former Texas Impact intern Rev. Ezequie…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 204: Loving Our Neighbor Means Helping Them Vote
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Our series on elections continues: Scott interviews defenders of democracy and cheerleaders for voting. Grace Chimene, President of the League of Women Voters about Election 2022. Scott is also joined by Kendal Gladish and Cathy Morgan from University Presbyterian Church in Austin to talk about their congregation's efforts to encourage voting. Thei…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 203 All Together Now: Texas Impact Partners Talk Voter Empowerment
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Our series on elections continues: Scott interviews women leaders from two national voting rights organizations, who are focused on empowering Texas' diverse electorate amid the confusion resulting from SB1. Christina Das, Attorney at the NAACP LDF, talks to Scott from Brooklyn about the Voting Rights Defender Project at the Thurgood Marshall Insti…
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 202 Protecting Elections with Anthony Gutierrez
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Scott fights a cold from home this week to bring you interviews with Anthony Gutierrez, Executive Director at Common Cause, and Rev. Diane McGehee. Also Rev. George Oliver bring us our Weekly Word.By Texas Impact
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 201: Saving Democracy with Beaman Floyd
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The January 26th edition of Weekly Witness features our new audio format! Scott welcomes Beaman Floyd to the conversation with follow up from Texas Impact's own Bee Moorhead and Josh Houston. Rev Franz Schemmel delivers our Weekly Word.By Texas Impact
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 173: Hate Free Speech, Elections, and Voting
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December 16, 2021: Year-End Weekly Witness: Hate Free Speech, Elections, and Voting featuring Bee Moorhead and Josh Houston.
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 172: The Build Back Better Act feat. Laura Peralta-Schulte
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December 7, 2021: Weekly Witness: featuring Laura Peralta-Schulte from NETWORK with a federal update, focusing on the Build Back Better Act and other priorities.
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 171: Climate Change and Methane feat. Colin Leydan and Cassandra Carmichael
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November 29, 2021: Weekly Witness: Climate Change and Methane, a conversation about climate change and methane featuring Colin Leyden, Texas Political Director for the Environmental Defense Fund and Cassandra Carmichael, Executive Director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 170: Weekly Witness: Anti-Semitism in Texas
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November 15, 2021: Weekly Witness: Featuring a panel to discuss the recent rise in anti-Semitism in Texas, including: Rabbi Neil Blumofe, Congregation Agudas Achim in Austin; Rabbi Nancy Kasten, Faith Commons in Dallas; Renee Lafair, Anti-Defamation League-Austin; and Rev. Jonathan Page, First Congregational Church of Houston.…
November 8, 2021: Weekly Witness: COP26 Climate-Palooza Part 2 with Texas Impact CEO Bee Moorhead and Texas Impact's delegation to COP26: Mel Caraway, Beaman Floyd, Isa Peterson, and Ilka Vega.
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 168 Weekly Witness: COP26 Climate-palooza with Bee Moorhead, Susannah Tuttle, and Rev. Michael Malcom
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Weekly Witness: This week Bee Moorhead; Texas Impact, Susannah Tuttle; North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light, and Rev. Michael Malcom; Alabama Interfaith Power and Light, join us to discuss current climate news coming out of COP26 in Glasgow.
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 167 Weekly Witness: Third Special Session Legislative Wrap-up with Joshua Houston
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Weekly Witness: Joshua Houston joins us this week to provide an update on what happened during the third special session and how it will impact Texans.
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 166 Weekly Witness: COVID, Vaccine Requirements and Public Health with Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist
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Weekly Witness: Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist, joins us this week to discuss COVID-19, vaccine requirements, and public health in Texas.
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 165 Weekly Witness: Border Update with Sid Earnheart, Legislative Update with Josh Houston
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Weekly Witness: Sid Earnheart joins us to discuss the current issues along the Texas-Mexico Border, and Josh Houston joins us to give a Legislative Update on the Third Called Special Session.
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 164 Weekly Witness: PUC Sunset Update with Adrian Shelley, Public Citizen and Texas Legislative Update
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Weekly Witness: PUC Sunset Update with Adrian Shelley, Public Citizen, joins us this week to discuss the latest news about the Public Utilities Commission in the Sunset Committee and Josh Houston, Texas Impact, provides us with an update on the Texas Legislature.
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 163 Weekly Witness: Federal Build Back Better with ELCA's John Johnson
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Weekly Witness: ELCA's John Johnson joins Scott Atnip to discuss the federal reconciliation bill and later on Josh Houston joins him to provide a legislative update.
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 162 Weekly Witness: Faith Leaders support equality, oppose anti-trans bullying
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Weekly Witness: Faith Leaders support equality, oppose anti-trans bullying with Rev. Naomi Brown, Pride Center San Antonio, Rev. Dr. Neil Thomas, Cathedral of Hope UCC-Dallas, Dr. Annaliese Cothron, Texas Impact Board Member, Unitarian Universalist, and Rev. Diane McGehee, Bering Church-Houston.
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Texas Impact's Weekly Witness
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Ep. 161 Weekly Witness: Budget Blockbuster with Eva DeLuna Castro
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Weekly Witness: Eva DeLuna Castro joins Scott Atnip to discuss the budget during the Second Called Session of the 87th Legislature.
