Dallas GOP pushes to undo runoff voting shift as Allen West resigns as chair ... and more news

This is the Dallas Morning News.

Let's be honest.

Buy cannabis shouldn't be complicated sketchy or low quality.

That's why I want to tell you about mood.com.

That's m-o-o-d.com.

Moody ships federally legal cannabis straight to your door.

No medical card, no hassle.

And here's the kicker.

The quality is better than anything you'll find in your local dispensary.

Yeah, I said it.

Rather you're into edibles, concentrates, flower,

or just looking to explore.

You'll find it all at mood.

And it's not just a variety that makes them stand out.

Every product is sourced from small American-owned family farms

that care deeply about what they grow.

It's cannabis you can trust, delivered discreetly,

and ready to elevate your mood.

And because you're a listener, you get 20% off your first order.

Just head to mood.com.

That's m-o-o-d.com to get started.

It's Friday, April 17th.

Mostly cloudy with a stiff breeze throughout the day.

The high will be 84.

It will turn much cooler when the evening rolls around

with the possibility of a late thunderstorm.

The low tonight will be 52.

Saturday will be unseasonably cool

with a high of only 65 expected.

There will be an abundance of clouds

and an 80% chance of showers throughout the day.

Sunday will be sunny and nice with a high of 74.

Overnight lows over the weekend will be in the lower 50s.

Here are today's headlines.

With Dallas County GOP chair Alan West's resignation,

party leaders still want to overturn his decision

to allow county-wide voting in the May 26th runoff

and reinstate precinct-based voting for all voters.

But Dallas County's elections, Chief,

has already said there is not enough time to do that.

After thousands were turned away at polls on March 3rd,

due to confusion tied to precinct-based voting

forced by Republicans, West amended the party's contract

with the elections department to let voters cast ballots

at any vote center, regardless of address.

West said he did so to protect the party

from potential litigation, but the unilateral action

was counter to a vote 200 members of his executive committee

took last year to use precinct-based voting

for the 2026 primary cycle and set off fury

that led to calls for his ouster.

West stepped down Wednesday days before a planned vote

by the committee to call for his resignation

over backlash to his handling of runoff voting.

In other news, Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday warned Dallas

that he would pull $32.1 million in state funds

if the city does not repeal police department rules

around collaboration with US Immigration

and Customs Enforcement.

In a letter to Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, Andrew Friedrichs,

the executive director of Abbott's Public Safety Office,

said the Dallas Police Department's internal rules

regarding immigration may violate the city's agreement

with the state for the funding.

The threat to Dallas is part of a broader push

by the Republican governor to force major cities

into closer alignment with federal immigration enforcement.

Abbott issued similar warnings this week to Houston

and Austin for their respective immigration-related policies.

Next up, the voice of seven-year-old Athena Strand

asking, why are you doing this?

Could be heard repeatedly after a FedEx driver placed her

in the back of his delivery truck

and drove from her home on the evening of November 30, 2022.

The exchange between the first grader

and the 34-year-old Tanner Horner

was captured by his delivery truck's video camera

and kidnapped her after dropping off a Christmas package

that her family's rural, wise county home.

He strangled her in the back of his truck

and dumped her body in a river several miles away.

Video and audio from the incident were played for jurors on Thursday

during the eighth day of Horner's Capitol Murder Trial.

Part of it was recorded by a dashboard camera

but most came from a camera inside the truck.

Horner pleaded guilty last week to Capitol Murder

and aggravated kidnapping, just as his trial was set to begin.

The move sent the case into the penalty phase,

which is expected to continue into next week.

Prosecutors planned to ask jurors to give Horner the death penalty

as public defenders are expected to argue

that his mental health issues and troubled upbringing

should make him eligible for a sentence of life and prison without parole.

And a philosophy professor at Texas A&M University

who made headlines earlier this year after administrators

directed him to cut some lessons on Plato

will leave to teach at Southern Methodist University this fall.

Martin Peterson said the Texas A&M system's new policies

limiting what faculty can teach about race and gender

fueled his resignation.

Such restrictions, which banned the advocacy of race

and gender ideology, spurred the scrutiny of the Plato excerpts

in Peterson's contemporary moral issues course in January.

Peterson said he didn't believe he would be granted the freedom

to decide what students should learn in his classes

at Texas A&M anytime soon.

Thanks for listening.

For more on-today stories and the latest breaking news,

visit DallasNews.com.

Enjoy your weekend and I'll be back on Monday

with more from the Dallas Morning News.