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Top Stories: After Straus’ Announcement, Several Bids Emerge For Texas House Speaker

Martin do Nascimento/KUT
Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Joe Straus before the opening of the special session on Jul. 18, 2017.

The top local stories this morning from KERA News:

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus' decision to not seek re-election prompted another retirement announcement - and several bids to run for House speaker.

Shortly after Straus' announcement Wednesday, House State Affairs Chairman Byron Cook of Corsicana said he won't run again. Weatherford Republican Phil King was already planning to make a run for speaker. And after Straus' announcement, Republican John Zerwas of Richmond said he's also filed paperwork to run. Dallas Democrat Eric Johnson said he's exploring a campaign as well.

Other stories this morning:

You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.

Former KERA staffer Krystina Martinez was an assistant producer. She produced local content for Morning Edition and KERANews.org. She also produced The Friday Conversation, a weekly series of conversations with North Texas newsmakers. Krystina was also the backup newscaster for the Texas Standard.