(The Center Square) – The Texas legislature has passed with bipartisan support a bill that would ban Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from being sold in Texas.

It’s a legislative priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s, who’s been advocating for the ban for months. The Senate passed SB 3 earlier in the session. The House just passed its version. Different bill versions need to be ironed out before the final bill is sent to Gov. Greg Abbott.

The bill faces strong opposition from the hemp industry, which is expected to sue to stop it from going into effect.

“Since 2019, retailers across Texas have exploited a state agriculture law to sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to Texans, including children,” Patrick said. After conducting his own investigation, he found that the stores often target children and sell to them, with many stores located next to public schools – even though the products are only permitted to be sold to individuals over age 21. In one shop, they were openly selling gummies with 750 milligrams of THC, he said, “which is powerfully strong.”

Ahead of the House vote, Patrick published a video explaining the dangers of THC, saying there were 8,000 THC smoke shops and stores in Texas, many of which are located within 1,000 feet of public schools.

Watch my latest video. We cannot in good conscience leave Austin without banning THC, which is harming our children, and destroying Texans’ lives and families. #txlege pic.twitter.com/PIW2pei6KQ

— Office of the Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (@LtGovTX) May 20, 2025

“THC is being sold to school children all across Texas,” he said. It isn’t regulated and “No one knows what’s in it. And it’s more powerful … than what you could buy from a drug dealer on the street. … They’re poisoning our children and we must ban it. We can’t regulate it. We don’t have enough police to check every store when there’re 8,000 of them.”

Speaking in support of the bill earlier this year, state Sen. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso, said, “When you look at the data, the Texas Poison Control Network reported a 495% increase in marijuana related calls involving children aged 5 and under between 2017 and in 2022. In 2017, before Texas deregulated hemp those calls made up 4.8% of all cases.”

Earlier in the legislative session, Patrick held a news conference at which mothers testified about their children who died or were seriously mentally injured from THC, suffering psychosis, psychotic breaks, and needing antipsychotic medication to survive. At hearings held during the legislative session, doctors and law enforcement officers testified to the danger of THC in candy, sweets, chips and flavored vape products that they argue cause addiction, suicidal ideation, depression and anxiety disorders.

SB 3 creates a mechanism to monitor and regulate hemp production and bans the sale of all consumable hemp products that contain THC in Texas. Once the bill becomes law, only consumable hemp products that contain cannabidiol (CBD) or cannabigerol (CBG) will be legal in Texas and must comply with a strict regulatory framework.

SB 3 prohibits the purchase of consumable hemp products by anyone under age 21, prohibits marketing them to minors and requires them to be properly labeled and placed in tamper-evident, child-resistant, and resealable packaging. The bill also creates several new criminal offenses to prevent the sale of THC, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision, according to the bill analysis.

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 27-4; the unofficial vote tally in the House was 87-54.

Those opposing the ban argue it would prevent veterans from having access to THC products, cause roughly 50,000 people to lose their jobs and reduce state sales tax revenue by more than $256 million in addition to local tax revenue losses.

Austin-based Hometown Hero says it will sue to fight the ban.

“We understand and emphasize with all of the Texans who would suffer as a direct result of SB3,” it said. “Hundreds of thousands of Texans and veterans use hemp-derived THC for relief every day, yet lawmakers proceeded with a full ban with that knowledge, rather than regulating the industry. We will do everything in our power to ensure that this ban doesn’t take effect, and are putting all of our resources into a lawsuit to do just that. We’ve fought for this industry, this community, and Texans rights to access these products for nearly a decade and we won’t stop now.”

State Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, argued the bill will kill small businesses, destroy $1.6 billion worth of wages overnight and “directly attacks Texas farmers, manufacturers and small businesses.” Instead of regulating the industry, he says a “total ban tells Texans what they can and cannot purchase or possess in a legal market, restricting personal freedom and ignoring the will of the majority of Texans.”

(The Center Square) — Updated reports from the Shreveport Police Department show crime is continuing to trend down in the city, with homicides decreasing by 44%.

Shreveport is still seeing a significant decrease in crimes, especially homicides. This year, the city reported 15 homicides year-to-date, a 44% decline from 2024. Last year, the department had 27 reported homicides for the same period. 

Homicides are not the only crime decreasing throughout the city.

Year-to-date shots fired calls number 828 so far this year, which is significantly lower than the same time last year when the department reported 1,149. In 2021, the department had 2,230 by this point in time. 

According to the report, shootings are also down year-to-date. These stats are incidents where someone is injured from a gunshot. This year, there have been 86 compared to 125 last year, showing a 31% reduction. The city saw the most in 2021, with 207 shootings that injured someone. 

Police Chief Wayne Smith noted that sex crimes are still reporting higher than previous year-to-date. There have been 200 reported sex crimes so far this year compared to 188 last year at this time — an increase of 6%.

Vehicle thefts are down 10%, armed robberies are down 52%, burglaries are down 17%, vehicle burglaries are down 23% and carjacking is down 67% compared to last year.

“It is very refreshing to be sitting here listening to these crime stats go down,” said Councilman Grayson Boucher. “It’s because of the work that the police department is doing. I can’t say enough for what you’ve done as chief.”

Emilee Ruth Calametti currently serves as Staff Reporter for The Center Square covering the Northwestern Louisiana region. She holds her M.A. in English from Georgia State University and an additional M.A. in Journalism from New York University. Her articles have been featured in DIG Magazine, Houstonia Magazine, Bookstr, inRegister, EntertainmentNOW, AOL, MSN, and more. She is a Louisiana native with over seven years of journalism experience.

(The Center Square) — Gas prices in Florida are holding steady at $3.12 per gallon of regular, according to data from the American Automobile Association, before the start of Memorial Day weekend.

According to AAA, the national price is $3.20 per gallon, slightly cheaper than last week and a whopping 42 cents less than the same time last year.

Florida’s price is down one cent from last month, when the price at the pump was $3.13 per gallon and 43 cents less than the same time last year, when it was $3.56 per gallon.

Mid-grade gas is $3.58 per gallon, while premium commands a price of $3.89 per gallon and diesel prices are at $3.47 per gallon. 

The cheapest gas is in the northwest part of the Panhandle, with Bay County having the cheapest price at $2.76 per gallon, followed by Okaloosa County ($2.76) and Escambia ($2.81). 

The most expensive gas in the state is in the Florida Keys in Monroe County, where a gallon of regular costs $3.34. Palm Beach County on the east coast is next highest at $3.29 per gallon, followed by Hardee County in the central peninsula ($3.22) and a tie between Levy County on the Gulf Coast and Jefferson County in the Panhandle at $3.20.

The highest price among Florida’s metropolitan areas is in West Palm Beach and Boca Raton, where regular is $3.29 per gallon, followed by Naples in southwest Florida at $3.21, Ocala at $3.19 and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater at $3.18.

The Panama City metro area is the lowest in the state at $2.76 per gallon, followed by Crestview-Fort Walton Beach ($2.78), Pensacola ($2.81) and Tallahassee at $2.94.

Mississippi has the least expensive gas prices nationally at $2.66 per gallon, followed by Louisiana ($2.72), Alabama ($2.74), Tennessee ($2.77) and Texas ($2.78).

California has the highest gas prices nationally at $4.87 per gallon, followed by Hawaii ($4.49), Washington ($4.40), Oregon ($4.01) and Nevada ($3.94).