AFTER THE

By

Brett Cross and his wife, Nikki Cross, have been coming to the Texas Capitol every week since January.

They've spent hours talking to reporters. More hours talking to lawmakers. And even more hours hearing that the politicians are thinking of and praying for them.

"I've been here almost every Tuesday since session started," Nikki Cross told a group of gun control advocates protesting in the Texas Capitol rotunda earlier this month. "I'm angry, and I'm not going to give up."

The Crosses lost their 10-yearold son Uziyah in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last year. This is personal for them.

That's why both Brett and Nikki, along with the family members of the other Uvalde shooting victims, have been calling all year long on lawmakers to raise the minimum age to buy a semiautomatic rifle from 18 to 21.

For 11 months they didn't hear any positive news — in fact, they mostly heard from lawmakers, like Gov. Greg Abbott, who told them changing the age was unconstitutional and a nogo.

But earlier this month, something surprising happened. A Texas House committee passed a measure

District J is the most diverse community in this country, with more than 80 languages spoken and 75 percent of the more than 200,000 people who live there speaking something other than English as their first language. What you will not find in District J is a predominately black single family residential neighborhood, yet District J

The reason Pollard, a dedicated husband and father to a young son and daughter and owner of a local small business in District J, has earned so much support in his diverse district is because he listens, he always shows up, and he gets results. When you can count on your elected official to be present, be open-minded, and resolve your issues