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AG Paxton Accepts Denton Mother's Invitation To Have Dinner With Her And Transgender Son

Shelby Knowles
/
Texas Tribune
Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday's blocking of Obama's directive regarding transgender bathrooms was a "major victory" for Texas.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Months after Amber Briggle invited Ken Paxton for dinner to meet her transgender son, he accepted; volunteers with a San Antonio food truck are helping Louisiana flood victims; Swedes love some Texas barbecue; and more.

Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor blocked the directive President Obama issued May advising school districts to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity, NPR reported.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has been fighting against the directive for months. At a https://youtu.be/DUGuvJSKmnk?t=12m56s">press conference held by Equality Texas earlier this summer, Amber Briggle of Denton invited Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to have dinner with her and her 8-year-old son, MG.

On Monday, when asked by Dallas TV station KXAS (NBC5) if he would, the Paxton said he’d be “happy to do that,” The Dallas Morning News reported.

 

Plans for the dinner are still in the works. Briggle said she doesn’t have an agenda for the meeting except for Paxton to get to know her son. She told Texas Standard:

 

“We didn’t choose this fight, but when the politicians choose to use my child as a literal pawn in a pissing contest, I think any mama bear is going to stand up and do what she thinks is right. Transgender people have always existed. They have always been among us and it’s not like they’ve suddenly realized how to use a public restroom in the last six months.”

[NPR, Texas Standard, KXAS, The Dallas Morning News]

  • Good food, hugs and an open ear. That’s what San Antonio food truck, Chow Train, is offering to flood victims in Louisiana. On Saturday, Chow Train volunteers drove down to Denham Springs, about 15 miles east of Baton Rouge, to help with disaster relief. NPR reported: “The folks of Denham Springs are having to let a lot go. Over three feet of rain fell over two days. Thirteen people died. According to city officials there were over 30,000 high water rescues and 40,000 homes are considered a total loss.” This is the ninth disaster that Chow Train has attended to in the last five years. [NPR]

 

  • Tonya Couch has a new job as a bartender. She’s Ethan Couch’s mother — the teenager who killed four people in a drunk driving incident in 2013. She’s awaiting trial on charges related to her son’s escape to Mexico, but she no longer has to stay at home 24 hours a day, according to amended bond conditions signed Tuesday by state District Judge Wayne Salvant, Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. On a lighter note, owner of Honky Tonk Woman (the name of the bar), Darrell Collins said although he doesn’t like what Couch has done, everyone deserves a second chance. [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]

  • Texas barbecue is big in Sweden, apparently. Texas Monthly Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn traveled to the Scandinavian nation two weeks ago with Aaron Franklin and Braun Hughes of Franklin Barbecue in Austin. The gang met Johan Fritzell and Johan Åkerberg, who opened Holy Smoke BBQ in the small coastal town of Nyhamnsläge near the southern tip of Sweden in 2014. Fritzell also invited the Americans to teach a class on Texas barbecue. “After our two days of intensive barbecue demonstrations, which stretched to fourteen hours a piece, 140 students from a dozen different countries took considerable knowledge of Texas barbecue back to their home countries.” Read more about Vaughn’s experience. [TMBBQ]

  • Ask Me Another is coming to Dallas next month. Familiar with the show? Host Ophira Eisenberg throws trivia questions, puzzles and brainteasers at special guests. In collaboration with WNYC and KERA, Ask Me Another is coming to The Majestic Theatre in Dallas on Tuesday, Sept. 27. Buy tickets here. And if you want to sample the show before, tune in from 2-3 p.m. every Saturday on KERA 90.1.