Houston Judge Denies State Bid to End $20 Million Income Lottery

Texas’s Harris County is clear for now to begin distributing $20.5 million to low-income residents next week under a program that Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sought to block, a state court judge announced Thursday.

At the end of a hearing in Houston, Judge Ursula Hall (D) of Texas’s 165th District Court denied a bid to halt the lottery-style system. Her denial of a temporary injunction allows for the distribution of payments to begin April 24, the program’s planned start date.

In a statement, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s top administrator, said she expects the state to ...