Around Town — Kicking (cigarette) Butts

By NADIA LATHAN AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ education board on Tuesday advanced a new Bible-infused curriculum that would be optional for schools to incorporate in kindergarten through fifth grades, one of the latest Republican-led efforts in the U. S. to incorporate more religious teaching into classrooms. The vote moves the Texas State Board of Education one step closer to signing off on what is known as the “Bluebonnet” textbook, which drew hours of often emotional testimony from school teachers and parents earlier this week. The board is expected to hold a final vote on the measure Friday. The curriculum — designed by the state’s public education agency — would allow teachings from the Bible such as the Golden Rule and lessons from books such as Genesis into classrooms.

By FARNOUSH AMIRI WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled support Tuesday for a Republican effort to ban Democrat Sarah McBride — the first transgender person to be elected to Congress — from using women’s restrooms in the Capitol once she’s sworn into office next year. “We’re not going to have men in women’s bathrooms,” Johnson told The Associated Press.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and STEPHEN GROVES WASHINGTON (AP) — As President-elect Donald Trump digs in on his pick of former Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Republican senators are divided over how much information they will demand to move his confirmation — and how much to push back on Trump as he demands that they quickly rubber stamp his Cabinet once he takes office in January. Gaetz, who is expected to start meeting with senators as soon as this week, is an unconventional pick for the nation’s top law enforcement official, creating a confirmation climb in the Senate, where many Republicans are deeply uncomfortable with his selection. The Florida Republican spent his congressional career agitating against the Justice Department and has faced a House Ethics investigation into whether he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.

The Biden administration says a U. S.-Israel panel to look into reports of civilian harm from the war in Gaza will meet for the first time in early December, missing by more than a month a U. S. call for the channel to be set up by the end of October. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that the upcoming meeting had been agreed to after much discussion between U.

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY, JOHN HANNA and AMY BETH HANSON, Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Terry Thompson had an election to run for voters in Cascade County, Montana. Why then, she thought, was her office in Great Falls being sent mailed ballots completed by voters in places such as Wasilla, Alaska, Vancouver, Washington, and Tampa, Florida? It was only about a dozen ballots total from voters in other states.

By ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is interviewing candidates for the role of FBI director, incoming Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday in the clearest indication yet that the new administration is looking to replace current director Christopher Wray. In a social media post that was later deleted, Vance defended his absence from a Senate vote at which a judicial nominee of President Joe Biden was confirmed by saying that at the time of the vote, “I was meeting with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director.” Related Articles National Politics | What to know about Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary National Politics | House Republicans support proposal banning bathroom access for 1st transgender member National Politics | GOP senators divided on release of Gaetz ethics report as Trump pressures them to move quickly National Politics | Multiple election offices report receiving mailed ballots misdirected from other states National Politics | Trump chooses TV doctor Mehmet Oz to lead Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” he added on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Vance was referring to the Senate vote Monday to confirm Embry J.