The Texas House gave initial approval to a bill Thursday that would ban citizens of China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from owning properties in Texas, moving the state one step closer to creating barriers for property ownership to people from countries deemed hostile. On a largely partisan vote of 85-60, the House approved the bill, making it the latest Republican-led policy once considered too extreme for the House now on a direct path to becoming law as the chamber shifts further to the right. In other news, North Texas’ Catholic community reacted with surprise and excitement to Thursday’s news that Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church; separate bills making their way through the Texas Legislature have banks and consumer advocates on edge, posing challenges to the state’s financial infrastructure and its pro-business bent. At issue are two sets of bills regulating credit card processing fees, which collectively set a record of nearly $188 billion last year, according to Nielsen Report data; and the Academy of Country Music Awards — colloquially dubbed country’s “party of the year” — assembled many of the genre’s biggest stars in Frisco Thursday.

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