Lead Stories

Texas solar, wind and battery storage issues could cause 'immediate catastrophic grid failure,' says ERCOT

Flaws in some solar, wind and battery storage resources on the Texas power grid could lead to issues that could cause “immediate catastrophic grid failure” if they are not addressed, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said. ERCOT, the state’s power grid operator, and owners of clean energy resources haven’t been able to reach consensus on what to do about the problem despite months of negotiation. An industry proposal was tabled by ERCOT’s board Tuesday to allow both sides to address ERCOT staff’s concerns, despite protest from developers that its proposals and continued regulatory uncertainty with the delay could chill investment in Texas. “Retroactive implementations of any market rules without any technical or commercially feasible path to compliance sends a very clear signal and chilling effect to any additional investment,” Omar Martino, executive vice president of markets and regulatory for energy developer Invenergy, said at an April ERCOT subcommittee meeting on the issue.

Clean energy resources have grown rapidly on the Texas grid in recent years as technology costs have come down and federal incentives have infused billions of dollars into the industry, making them competitive with traditional fossil fuel power plants. They’ve been credited with lowering electricity costs, providing the grid with needed supply and helping decarbonize electricity production, the second-largest source of climate-warming emissions nationally. As renewable energy makes up a greater share of the grid, ERCOT said it has posed new challenges too, such as power availability that depends more on weather conditions. Clean energy developers, meanwhile, have accused ERCOT of discriminatory policy before, most recently for utility-scale battery storage. The latest debate centers around a device required by wind, solar and battery resources called an inverter. This device converts the direct-current power these resources produce to alternating-current, the electricity that comes out of a wall outlet. When there is a voltage or frequency disturbance on the grid, caused by lightning strikes or equipment failures, ERCOT expects power generators to “ride through” the disturbances and continue producing power. But inverter-based resources such as wind, solar and batteries — especially the oldest ones — may sometimes not be able to ride through the disturbance and could “trip” offline and disconnect from the grid. This could lead to a domino effect of other generators tripping offline, which could in a worst-case scenario result in the “rapid collapse of part of or all the ERCOT system,” according to ERCOT.

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UT-Austin students hold pro-Palestinian protest; at least 50 arrested

More than 50 people were arrested at a peaceful, pro-Palestinian protest Wednesday at the University of Texas hosted by the Palestine Solidarity Committee, a registered student group and a chapter of the national Students for Justice in Palestine, which held the rally to call for an end to the Israel-Hamas war. The Palestine Solidarity Committee planned the protest in solidarity with students across the U.S. who have been demanding their universities to divest from Israeli businesses and for the federal government to stop backing Israel's military as more than 30,000 people have died in Gaza amid the ongoing Mideast conflict. About 54 people were being held at the Travis County Jail in relation to the protest, according to George Lobb, an attorney with the Austin Lawyers Guild who was assisting people who had been arrested. Twenty had been booked into the jail shortly after 8 p.m., Travis County sheriff's office spokesperson Kristen Dark said.

The protest had quieted shortly after 6 p.m., more than six hours after it began. Police pushed the protesters away from the UT campus toward Guadalupe Street, but a crowd of protesters returned to the campus's South Lawn and remained there as of 7:45 p.m. The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that 34 people had been arrested in the protest as of 9 p.m. Pavithra Vasudevan, a professor at UT, told the American-Statesman that students had planned an “educational” event about Palestine for the afternoon and had asked faculty members, including Vasudevan, to lead workshops. Vasudevan was present when police began arresting protesters. “The president and university administration chose to militarize our campus in response … to students gathering to express themselves,” Vasudevan said. Vasudevan said that faculty members had planned a rally Thursday around staff and program cuts under a state law banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public universities, but she now expected it to be focused on Wednesday’s events. She told the Statesman that she was “motivated by students’ courage” in a university atmosphere that she described as “repressive.” She said that faculty members had been prohibited from discussing the Israel-Hamas conflict with students, but she felt that it was imperative to speak out.

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Two big court dates for Donald Trump, but he can attend only one

Former President Donald Trump may be spending Thursday on trial in a cold, drab Manhattan courtroom, but he’d prefer to be in Washington, where the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the most acute criminal threat he faces: his federal prosecution for interfering with the 2020 election. It will be a historic and surreal split screen: a former president, current presidential candidate and four-time criminal defendant whose lawyers will be fighting two very different sets of felony charges in two courthouses simultaneously. It’s a reminder of Trump’s ability — even while sitting in his New York trial about hush money payments to a porn star — to command the attention of every branch of the government he once again seeks to lead.

Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan criminal court on April 23. He'll be back at the same table on Thursday — but he may be thinking about a different court proceeding 200 miles away. | Pool photo by Timothy A. Clary By KYLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN 04/25/2024 05:00 AM EDT Former President Donald Trump may be spending Thursday on trial in a cold, drab Manhattan courtroom, but he’d prefer to be in Washington, where the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the most acute criminal threat he faces: his federal prosecution for interfering with the 2020 election. It will be a historic and surreal split screen: a former president, current presidential candidate and four-time criminal defendant whose lawyers will be fighting two very different sets of felony charges in two courthouses simultaneously. It’s a reminder of Trump’s ability — even while sitting in his New York trial about hush money payments to a porn star — to command the attention of every branch of the government he once again seeks to lead. More than 1,200 days after a violent mob ransacked the Capitol in his name, Trump is demanding that the Supreme Court declare him “immune” from special counsel Jack Smith’s charges stemming from his attempt to overturn his loss to Joe Biden. If the justices — including three of Trump’s own appointees — agree with the former president, they will effectively quash those charges. They would also permanently alter the presidency itself. Trump has spent months arguing that former presidents must be shielded from prosecution for anything they did that’s arguably related to their duties in office, even conduct that in Trump’s words goes “over the line.” The theory, if adopted, would represent an extraordinary consolidation of power in the Oval Office. Smith has charged Trump with orchestrating three conspiracies to derail the transfer of power, in part by disenfranchising millions of voters and pressuring government officials to override the election results based on flimsy claims of fraud. The culmination of those efforts, Smith argues, came on Jan. 6, 2021, when an increasingly desperate Trump used the cover of a riot at the Capitol to continue attempting to block Biden’s victory.

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Female Supreme Court justices push back most strongly on Idaho abortion ban

A divided Supreme Court seemed skeptical that Idaho’s strict abortion ban conflicts with a federal emergency care law, but there appeared to be a split by gender as well as ideology during the nearly two hours of argument. The four female justices, including conservative Amy Coney Barrett, pushed back the hardest against Idaho’s assertion that its law, which prohibits doctors from performing an abortion except when a woman’s life is in danger, supersedes the federal emergency care statute known as EMTALA, or the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. Doctors face up to five years in prison for violating Idaho’s law. The case centers on EMTALA, which requires federally funded hospitals to provide stabilizing care to emergency room patients no matter their ability to pay.

The justices are weighing an appeal brought by Idaho officials who are contesting a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration. The Biden administration sued Idaho over its abortion ban just weeks after the Dobbs ruling in 2022. The Biden administration argues that even in states where abortion is banned, EMTALA says hospitals must be allowed to terminate pregnancies in rare emergencies where a patient’s life or health is at serious risk. Idaho argued the administration is trying to use the law to create a national abortion mandate for hospitals. They said federal law doesn’t dictate the kind of care people receive, only that they are stabilized. The case marked the second time in as many months the Supreme Court has heard an abortion argument after ostensibly returning the issue to the states, and the case represents the latest legal challenge that could reshape access to abortion across the country. The liberal justices asked detailed questions about what would constitute a medical emergency, zeroing in on complications that would rob a woman of her reproductive organs or put her at risk of sepsis. Justice Elena Kagan told Idaho’s attorney Joshua Turner that federal law says “you don’t have to wait until the person is on the verge of death.”

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State Stories

Greg Abbott’s focus on southern border elevates his national profile

Whether it’s busing thousands of migrants to Democratic-run cities or ordering 100 miles of razor wire strung along the Rio Grande, an aggressive focus on immigration has thrust Texas Gov. Greg Abbott onto the national political stage. Donald Trump, highlighting immigration in his bid for a second White House term, has declared Abbott to be on his short list for vice president. Others see Abbott in line for a Trump Cabinet position, such as attorney general. Last week, Time magazine named the governor to its 2024 list of the 100 most influential people in the world, calling Abbott “one of his party’s most persuasive pitchmen” who “pushes the boundaries” on state enforcement of immigration laws. The Republican Party of New York, counting on Abbott’s rising popularity, recently booked the governor for a keynote speech at its April 4 annual fundraiser in Manhattan.

Abbott’s national impact pales in comparison to what he’s done to improve his already stout standing in Texas, where he’s influencing elections in hopes of setting himself up for future legislative victories. “He’s been wildly successful,” said Plano-based political consultant Vinny Minchillo, who worked on the presidential campaigns of U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah. “Right now if you ask people to name two governors of states, it would be Gavin Newsom [of California] and Greg Abbott.” Abbott succeeds in politics because he understands what his core supporters want, analysts said. “He’s embraced the issues that hit a chord with conservative voters,” said Republican political consultant Matthew Langston. “That’s why his political capital has grown enormously over the last two to three years.” Abbott’s rising stature gives him opportunities that were not previously available, Langston said. “He could go to D.C. He could remain in Texas,” Langston said. “He’s given himself options.” Democrats describe Abbott as selfish and diabolical, saying he uses people and resources to push his views on border security. They also point to missteps, like the state’s unreadiness for the deadly 2021 winter storms and Abbott’s initial praise for the law enforcement response to the 2022 killings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Though Texas is an economic powerhouse, Abbott’s opponents point out the state leads the nation in the percentage of its population that lacks health insurance. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 16.6% of Texans don’t have health insurance.

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Texas groups join suit to halt FTC rule banning noncompetes

Business groups, led by a pair of Texas advocacy associations, stepped in quickly Wednesday seeking a halt to a rule issued by the Federal Trade Commission banning employers from using noncompete clauses to keep workers from going to a competitor. The ban was approved Tuesday and is expected to take effect 120 days after it is entered into the Federal Register. It was immediately challenged by U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which was joined by the Texas Association of Business and the Longview (Texas) Chamber of Commerce in filing suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to block the measure.

Saying “the burdens of the Noncompete Rule will be immediate and significant,” the organizations argued that “Beyond making virtually all noncompetes illegal going forward, the Noncompete Rule also purports to retroactively invalidate roughly tens of millions of existing agreements. … As a result, businesses that bargained for noncompetes will lose the protections of those agreements — even if they already held up their end of the bargain.” Anticipating a delay in implementation, several Houston labor attorneys were proceeding with business as usual with their noncompete cases. Todd Slobin, a board certified labor and employment partner at Shellist Lazarz Slobin, said he thought the rule was great and it could help the economy in general because people could get better, higher-paying jobs based on their experience and skills. “In one hand, it’s amazing,” Slobin said. “In the other hand, it’s kind of like preparing for a hurricane that may never happen. Because, you know, there’s going to be so many legal challenges from big businesses, industries, who want to enforce these noncompetes and want to have them in place to keep employees where they are.”

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Arcola mayor receives noose, note in mail to drop out of mayoral race

Arcola Mayor Fred Burton received a package in the mail Tuesday containing a noose and a message to drop out of the upcoming mayoral race. The Arcola Police Department, in Fort Bend County, took to Facebook to ask community members or anyone with additional information on the "threatening package" to come forward. The message to Burton, who is running for his third term in office in the May 4 municipal election, read “(g)et out of the race now!!” Arcola Police Chief Arika Carr-Bryant told Houston Public Media that there were “several inconsistencies with the package.” Arcola police were not immediately available for comment.

"This threat is being treated with the utmost seriousness and the Arcola Police Department has requested assistance from the FBI in investigating this criminal act," stated a Facebook comment from the department. Mayoral opponent Veeda Williams expressed doubt about the authenticity of the package. She called for a DNA analysis to find out who sent the package, also pointing to the alleged inconsistencies in the address. "I hope this has not been staged for the sake of the election, but given all the lies and ugliness thus far, it's not an unreasonable assumption at this point. I, for one, do not want the mayor to drop out of the race. But when he loses, I do want him to step aside peacefully," Williams wrote on Facebook. The mayor was not immediately available for comment. The package drama comes after Arcola city council members filed a lawsuit against Burton and city officials, arguing that they potentially hindered their duties as elected officials. Burton hired a private investigation firm to follow Ebony Sanco, a city council member, for five days in February, sorting through her trash and finding information about her children, according to the Houston Landing, a nonprofit news organization.

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EV caravan rolls through South Texas to promote alternative energy

A convoy of electric vehicles, including a school bus, is rolling through South Texas this week to promote alternative energy sources. The fleet of five to seven electric vehicles will travel nearly 800 miles with stops in Corpus Christi and the Texas border towns of Brownsville and Laredo. According to organizers, the five-city tour aims to inform South Texas leaders and stakeholders about electric transportation resources and encourage applications for available grants and incentives. Among the tour sponsors are the Texas Electric Transportation Resources Alliance and the Texas Electric School Bus Projects (TESBP).

“Bringing the EV roadshow to these cities follows two successful EV road trips in West and East Texas and is a pivotal move for our electric transportation future,” said Buzz Smith, of the Texas Electric Transportation Resource Alliance. “We’re showcasing a diverse array of electric vehicles, including an electric school bus, and providing a comprehensive guide for electrifying Texas. Our goal is to invigorate local economies, collaborate with community stakeholders, and amplify the benefits of electric transportation, sparking progress in South Texas communities.” “The yellow school bus symbolizes the American dream, a symbol of opportunity and hope,” said Jessica Keithan, TESBP co-founder. “We have a unique opportunity to use this vibrant symbol to drive progress and bring opportunity to communities across Texas as we strive to electrify our school bus fleets.” “This is a great opportunity for our community to learn about the significant sums of dollars that are now available for school districts for EV initiatives,” said Edgar Villaseñor, Rio Grande International Study Center advocacy campaign manager.

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Funds secured to restore historic international suspension bridge in South Texas

A historic international suspension bridge that hasn’t been used for decades has gotten federal and state funding for renovations so it can once again facilitate trade and travel. Texas state Sen. Judith Zaffirini this week announced that the Texas Transportation Commission has approved a nearly $1.7 million low-interest loan with Starr County for the restoration of the Roma-Ciudad Miguel Aleman International Suspension Bridge, which links the South Texas town of Roma with Miguel Aleman, Mexico.

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Urban regeneration between past and future in the Texas capital

U.S. architectural firm Page Southerland Page has completed the first phase of construction of the Texas State Capitol urban regeneration project, for a 150-acre, 40-block extension that integrates Austin's historic landmarks. Southerland Page directed the planning and urban design – leading the entire team that included HKS, Kirksey, Jacobs, Sasaki and Coleman Assoc. – for the overall master plan divided into three phases, initially outlined in 2016. The first phase of this long project, estimated to involve an investment of 600 million dollars, opened in 2022. It includes two new high-rise office buildings, a central distribution plant for efficient cooling, and a five-story below-grade structure with more than 280 square meters of parking. Externally, the open space is structured by pedestrian pathways, which provide integrated connections and plazas to landmarks such as the Texas Museum of History and the Blanton Museum of Art, stitching together an easily navigable urban fabric for visitors and promoting, by the designers’ description, “unity between Austin’s past and present and enriching the city's cultural landscape.”

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Lawsuit vs. former Texas Tech guard Pop Isaacs dismissed

A civil lawsuit that accused former Texas Tech basketball player Richard "Pop" Isaacs of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl during a team trip to the Bahamas in November has been dismissed, according to attorneys for both Isaacs and the parents of the girl. In addition, Isaacs was found "not responsible" by a panel following a Title IX hearing Wednesday morning, The Field of 68 reported, citing Kimberly Simon, Texas Tech's assistant vice president for compliance and Title IX. "The parties to the lawsuit and Title IX complaint have agreed to dismiss all claims that have, or could have been, alleged as against one another," an attorney for Isaacs said in a statement. "Pop loved his time in Lubbock and being part of the Red Raider family. He thanks Coach [Grant] McCasland, the entire staff, and everyone involved with the university for supporting him throughout his time at Texas Tech." The plaintiffs, the parents of the girl, filed a motion for dismissal Tuesday in a district court in Lubbock County, Texas, where the university is located. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, citing the dismissal document, said that motion was signed off later Tuesday by the presiding judge.

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What the bleep is going on with Texas home insurance?

My wife and I recently decided to buy our first home together. For the past two years, we’ve been living in a two-bedroom townhouse in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood that I purchased in 2021, when I was still single. It was the perfect bachelor pad, but less than ideal for a couple with two young dogs. After a few weeks of house-hunting, we fell in love with a Craftsman-style bungalow on a quiet street in the Heights, northwest of downtown, with a large kitchen, an old-fashioned front porch, and a fenced-in yard where our dogs could play. We knew we’d have a high mortgage rate and pay high property taxes. What we didn’t anticipate, when the sellers accepted our bid, was a home insurance market that has gone crazy. My townhouse was insured through Homesite—a partner of GEICO, where I get my auto insurance—so I started by applying for another policy with them. Denied. Next I tried a comparison website that promised to search more than a hundred insurance companies to find the best deal. It came back with quotes from Experian, Liberty Mutual, and Progressive, but when I followed through with those companies, I got three more denials.

Finally, an insurance broker found two options for us. Wellington, a Fort Worth–based insurer, offered a policy for $5,773 for the year—more than double the national average of $2,150; the Texas Fair Plan, which the Legislature established in 1995 as an insurer of last resort, offered a plan for $4,382. (The Fair Plan is only available to homeowners who have been turned down by at least two other carriers.) According to an S&P Global analysis, insurance premiums in Texas jumped 23 percent last year, the highest increase in the country and more than double the national rate increase of 11 percent. Experts told me that the skyrocketing rates are caused by a combination of high inflation, especially in the prices of building supplies, and Texas’s recent series of natural disasters. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, between 1980 and 2023 Texas experienced an average of four natural disasters per year with damages in excess of $1 billion—droughts, floods, storms, tornadoes, wildfires, and winter storms. In recent years, such disasters have become much more frequent. Between 2019 and 2023 Texas suffered an average of eleven billion-dollar events each year, with sixteen in 2023 alone.

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1 student killed in shooting, 1 arrested at Arlington Bowie High

An 18-year-old student was killed in a shooting Wednesday afternoon on the campus of Bowie High School in Arlington, and the suspected shooter — a 17-year-old student — was arrested, police said. The victim, who police said was shot five or six times, was transported to Medical City Arlington hospital, where he died shortly before 3:30 p.m. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office identified him as Etavion Barnes. Jail records identify the suspect as Julian Howard. He was booked into the city jail about 8 p.m. and faces charges of murder and possession of a controlled substance. The motive for the shooting is under investigation but police believe the victim and suspect knew each other. The suspect was taken into custody near the school. Bowie High School was placed on lockdown and students were kept there for over two hours as authorities investigated the shooting and secured the campus.

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Ted Cruz speaks in Fort Worth ahead of runoff election for Texas House District 97.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz made a stop in Fort Worth Wednesday night to stump for Cheryl Bean, who is in a Republican Primary runoff for Texas District 97. Bean, of Fort Worth, is running to fill the seat of Rep. Craig Goldman, also of Fort Worth, who is running for Congressional District 12. During the event Cruz, a senator from Texas, spoke about his grievances with President Joe Biden’s White House, immigration and the protests that are ongoing at college campuses across the country opposing the war Gaza . Following the event, Cruz told the Star-Telegram he “absolutely” supports the deployment of Texas Department of Public Safety troopers across the state to the University of Texas at Austin’s campus. On Wednesday more than 500 students protested on the UT campus grounds, with 34 arrests being made, including two journalists.

“Any radical who threatens the safety of another student should be arrested, should they be prosecuted they should be expelled and if they’re from another country, they should be deported,” Cruz said to the crowd, earning him a standing ovation Bean also spoke in opposition of the protests against Israel. “Our country is based on everyone having the right to express themselves and worship like they are,” Bean told the Star-Telegram. “We keep forgetting that it wasn’t the Jews that went out and made the first strike. It was the Palestinians.” Groups of Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,000 people and spurring the war in and around the Gaza strip. During her speech Bean spoke about her campaign cornerstones and said that the biggest difference between her and opponent John McQueeney, was their voting record. “You would think somebody running for public office could make up their mind whether they want to vote Republican or Democrat. Well, I had 40 years of consistently voting Republican,” Bean said. “My opponent voted Democrat for Wendy Burgess against Governor Abbott in 2014.” Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector Wendy Burgess, a Republican, has not run for governor but former Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis did run against him in 2014.

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Dallas County judge declares mistrial in murder case, recuses herself over hot mic moment

A Dallas County judge declared a mistrial in a murder case Wednesday after she was caught on a courtroom livestream making disparaging remarks about the accused man’s guilt, according to footage obtained and reviewed by The Dallas Morning News. Judge Nancy Mulder told The News on Wednesday she voluntarily recused herself from two pending cases against Jorge Esparza over comments she made Tuesday — the first day of his trial. Esparza is accused of stalking a woman and shooting 27-year-old Ricardo Medina-Madriz in 2020. The case will go before a new judge and jury, and Esparza faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Mulder, who presides over Criminal District Court 6, said in a phone interview she has personally apologized to Esparza’s attorneys, and through them, “all the parties involved.” “I deeply regret the comments I made during what I believed was a private conversation with court staff in an empty courtroom,” Mulder said. “I should not have said what I did and am truly sorry. “I sincerely hope that my comments do not negatively affect the public’s confidence in the integrity and impartiality of our local judiciary.” Get the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond. A spokeswoman for the Dallas County district attorney’s office and Esparza’s defense attorney declined to comment. Mulder often livestreams high-profile trials in her courtroom. Most recently, she broadcasted the weeklong trial of Lisa Dykes, who was convicted of killing 23-year-old Marisela Botello-Valadez, on YouTube. She said she intends to continue livestreaming trials.

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WNBA’s Wings could call downtown Dallas home in 2026, as council OKs $19M incentive deal

The Dallas City Council on Wednesday approved a deal to pay the WNBA’s Dallas Wings $19 million in incentives to move to downtown Dallas from Arlington starting in 2026. Under the 15-year deal, the Wings will become the feature attraction at the Dallas Memorial Auditorium that is part of the downtown convention center complex, and move away from the College Park Center on the University of Texas at Arlington campus. The council voted 13-0 to approve the agreement with some elected officials donning Wings-branded hats and shirts to celebrate a move the city expects will boost economic development in the downtown area and capitalize on the growing popularity of women’s basketball. The deal is still pending approval by the WNBA’s Board of Governors. If the board approves, the Wings would join the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars as major pro sports teams based in the city.

“It’s just a perfect time for us to do this,” said Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who city and team officials say helped initiate the deal, and get it approved. Johnson said it took two years of discussions to “bring the Dallas Wings home to Dallas.” Council members Jaime Resendez and Adam Bazaldua were absent during the vote. Bazaldua told The Dallas Morning News after the council meeting that he and Resendez missed the vote because they were attending a housing policy workshop at Arizona State University. “I was fully supportive, just unable to get on virtually at that time,” Bazaldua said. The Wings have played at the 7,000-seat UTA arena since arriving in North Texas ahead of the 2016 WNBA season after spending about five years in Oklahoma as the Tulsa Shock. The team will play the 2024 and 2025 seasons at the College Park Center. The Wings’ agreement with UTA expires at the end of the 2025 season.

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City Stories

Dallas’ head of IT resigns; Bill Zielinski oversaw recovery from 2023 ransomware attack

Dallas’ chief information officer, who in recent years oversaw the city’s response to a ransomware attack and an employee deleting millions of electronic police records, is resigning. Bill Zielinski has led the city’s Information and Technology Services since 2020 and is leaving the city on April 30. Brian Gardner, the city’s chief information security officer, will be the department’s interim director. Zielinski oversees a department with a budget of around $132 million and made $225,000 a year as chief information officer, according to city salary data as of Jan. 1. Zielinski declined to say what his next move would be, but told The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday that after more than 30 years in government jobs he was moving to the private sector. He said he had been looking for a new job for the last five or six months. He said his departure is not linked to the exit of City Manager T.C. Broadnax, who was recently hired as Austin’s city manager.

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National Stories

Conservatives plan lawsuits to block new Title IX rule

Outraged over the Biden administration’s decision to expand sex discrimination protections under Title IX to LGBTQ+ students, a slew of conservative groups and Republican officials plan to sue to block the new regulations from taking effect this summer. Critics of the rule argue that the administration is essentially redefining the decades-old law that prohibits discrimination based on sex and was aimed at ensuring women and girls had equitable access to education. They also take issue with changes in the new Title IX regulations that change how colleges respond to and investigate reports of sexual misconduct and harassment, including measures that some experts say could infringe on the rights of accused students. Still, most of the criticism has been directed at the provisions protecting LGBTQ+ students.

“The Department of Education can’t flip the statute on its head by administrative fiat,” Jennifer C. Braceras, vice president for legal affairs at Independent Women’s Forum, said in a statement. “And we are confident the courts will remind the department of this basic principle and strike down this rule as unlawful.” The Independent Women’s Forum, a national conservative group, was one of several groups that threatened legal action over the new Title IX rule, which was finalized late last week. Several Republican attorneys general also promised to sue President Biden in court over the rule. Although no lawsuits have been filed yet, statements and public comments on the rule offer a glimpse at the arguments likely to be used in federal court against the regulations. Rachel Rouleau, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization that’s also planning to challenge the new regulations, said in a statement that the rule “illegitimately redefines ‘sex’ in federal law.”

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Arizona state House passes bill to repeal 1864 abortion ban

On their third attempt in three weeks, Arizona state House lawmakers voted Wednesday to pass a bill that would repeal the near-total ban on abortion from 1864 that was upheld by the battleground state’s Supreme Court earlier this month. After a dizzying course of votes throughout the afternoon, three state House Republicans joined Democrats in approving a repeal of the Civil War-era law that made abortion a felony punishable by two to five years in prison for anyone who performs one or helps a woman obtain one. Members of the state Senate, where Republicans also hold a narrow majority, voted last week in favor of a motion to introduce a bill that would repeal the abortion ban. Two Republicans joined every Democrat in the chamber on that vote. The state Senate could vote on the repeal as early as next Wednesday, after the bill comes on the floor for a "third reading," as is required under chamber rules.

The state Senate is likely to pass a repeal of the law, a source in Arizona familiar with the situation told NBC News. Once that happens, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is certain to sign the repeal quickly. Abortion rights supporters and Democrats — all the way up to the White House — praised Arizona lawmakers for their passage of the repeal. "That’s a good thing," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the vote. "We’re moving forward in the right direction." The Biden campaign blamed Donald Trump for the turmoil, saying that the former president "is responsible for Arizona’s abortion ban" after appointing three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. "If he retakes power, the chaos and cruelty he has created will only get worse in all 50 states," Biden 2024 campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. The state House's vote to repeal came on the chamber's third attempt since the state Supreme Court ruled earlier this month to uphold the 160-year-old near-total ban.

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Forecast group predicts busiest hurricane season on record with 33 storms

A research team led by University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann is predicting the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season will produce the most named storms on record, fueled by exceptionally warm ocean waters and an expected shift from El Niño to La Niña. The new forecast, issued Wednesday, calls for a range of 27 to 39 named storms, with a best guess of 33. The most on record was 30 named storms in 2020. The forecast is consistent with those recently released by Colorado State University and AccuWeather but is even more aggressive. “The unprecedented warmth in the tropical Atlantic right now — which we expect to persist through the hurricane season — is the dominant driving factor behind our prediction,” Mann said in an email. “While we don’t make a specific prediction for landfalling storms … an unusually active season in terms of basin-wide activity is likely to translate to an unusually active season in terms of landfalling storms.”

Ocean temperatures leaped into record-warm territory more than a year ago — linked to a combination of human-caused climate change and El Niño, and have remained there ever since, staying at a record high for 417 straight days. Although El Niño boosts global ocean temperatures, it tends to produce wind patterns in the Atlantic that suppress tropical storm development. But ocean waters were so warm during the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season that there was an above-average number of storms nonetheless. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects a marine heat wave, or sea surface temperatures well above normal, to continue in the tropical Atlantic through at least September. That has forecasters concerned about an active hurricane season because warmer ocean waters typically increase the intensity of storms. Meanwhile, El Niño is forecast to transition to La Niña this summer. La Niña tends to have the opposite impact of El Niño on hurricane season — producing wind patterns that foster storm development in the Atlantic — further increasing the odds of an active season. If La Niña were to weaken toward the latter part of the hurricane season, then the forecast would decrease slightly to a range of 25 to 36 storms and a best guess of 31 storms, Mann’s research group said. A tropical storm earns a name if its winds reach at least 39 mph. When winds climb to at least 74 mph, a tropical storm becomes a hurricane.

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US, Russia set for a showdown at UN over nuclear weapons in space

The United States and Russia are set to face off over nuclear weapons in space on Wednesday at the United Nations Security Council, which is due to vote on a U.S.-drafted resolution calling on countries to prevent an arms race in outer space. Russia is expected to block the draft resolution, said some diplomats. The U.S. move comes after it accused Moscow of developing an anti-satellite nuclear weapon to put in space, an allegation that Russia's defense minister has flatly denied. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Japan's U.N. Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki said in a joint statement on Friday that they have been negotiating with Security Council members on the draft text for six weeks.

The text affirms the obligation of states to comply with the Outer Space Treaty and calls on countries "to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space." The 1967 Outer Space Treaty bars signatories – including Russia and the United States – from placing "in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction." Russia and China are planning to first put an amendment to a vote in the council. The amendment echoes a 2008 proposal by the pair for a treaty banning "any weapons in outer space" and threats "or use of force against outer space objects." The amendment is not expected to be adopted, said diplomats. The amendment and the draft resolution each require at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to be adopted. "Without our amendment, based on the General Assembly resolution adopted in December 2023, the text tabled by the U.S. will be unbalanced, harmful and politicized," deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told Reuters, adding that it would also undermine the Outer Space Treaty legal regime. Polyanskiy said "all questions relating to this sphere should be considered by the full membership of States Parties to this Treaty and not by the U.N. Security Council members only."

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Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani and Arizona 'fake electors' charged with state crimes

A state grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday indicted Trump aides including Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows and Boris Epshteyn, as well as so-called "fake electors" who backed then-President Donald Trump in 2020, after a sprawling investigation into the alleged efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election in the state. One month after the 2020 election, 11 Trump supporters convened at the Arizona GOP’s headquarters in Phoenix to sign a certificate claiming to be Arizona’s 11 electors to the Electoral College, though Biden won the state by 10,457 votes and state officials certified his electors. The state Republican Party documented the signing of the certificate in a social media post and sent it to Congress and the National Archives.

Trump is described as “Unindicted Coconspirator 1” in the indictment, which includes charges of conspiracy, fraud and forgery. The document also describes people who have been charged in the case but have not yet been served and whose names are redacted: Meadows, Trump's former White House chief of staff; Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and Trump attorney; Epshteyn, a Trump campaign official and attorney; former Trump campaign and White House official Mike Roman; former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis; former Trump attorney Christina Bobb; and John Eastman, another attorney and Trump legal adviser in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Epshteyn sat at the defense table with Trump when he was arraigned in his New York hush money case last year, though he has not appeared during the trial. Also among those charged in Arizona is Kelli Ward, who served as chair of the Arizona GOP during the 2020 election and the immediate aftermath. She tweeted on Jan. 6, 2021, after the attack on the U.S. Capitol: “Congress is adjourned. Send the elector choice back to the legislatures.” Ward was a Trump elector and a consistent propagator of false claims that Arizona’s election results were rigged.

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Oklahoma group raises red flag on anti-ESG law as Republicans weigh rollback

Corporations navigating the ESG landscape have reported a lack of clarity on what data to report and to whom. An acceleration in the amalgamation of frameworks and standards seeks to solve this problem. The state’s law restricts Oklahoma governmental institutions from putting money in financial institutions that “do not invest in oil and gas for environmental reasons.” The list — most recently revised in August — includes BlackRock, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, State Street and Climate First Bank. Oklahoma is one of several states — including Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri and West Virginia — with an anti-ESG law that targets firms over their fossil fuel stances. ORA’s study found that Oklahoma’s restrictions have raised borrowing costs for municipalities by 0.59% and locked in nearly $11 million in additional costs and rates each month since its enactment. ORA President Monica Collison said that the EDEA and similar policies are “burdening taxpayers and hampering investment in and development of critical public projects.”

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Lead Stories

Demand from large-scale users could strain Texas power grid, ERCOT chief says

A growing number of industrial-scale users could strain the Texas power grid, setting the stage for a massive buildup of transmission lines across the state, ERCOT’s chief announced Tuesday. Large-scale power users in the Permian Basin and an influx of artificial intelligence data centers and bitcoin miners have led ERCOT to forecast a 37% jump in electricity demand from industrial-sized users. That’s on top of a 2023 forecast that already anticipated a vast amount of new demand by the end of the decade. The increase is ushering in what ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas called “a new era of planning,” particularly in the Permian Basin, where oil and gas entrepreneurs already anticipate unmet electricity needs. ERCOT, which operates the power grid serving most of Texas, upped its forecast for electricity needed for new large-scale users from 111 gigawatts to 152 gigawatts. The actual amount of new demand from those prospective projects likely will be below those projections, but the vast number of gigawatts is still eye-popping for a power grid that has routinely seen demand records shattered.

The Texas power grid’s all-time record for peak demand, set in August 2023, was 85.5 gigawatts. Texas’ continued economic growth, increases in new data centers and oil and gas production connecting to the grid in the Permian Basin were driving demand increases, Vegas said. “The combined effect of all of this is beginning to illuminate a picture that looks very different than what we’ve seen in prior forecasts,” he said. Vegas presented the updated projections during an ERCOT board meeting in Austin on Tuesday. The new numbers appear to lay the groundwork for a push to build more electrical transmission lines across the state. Lack of access to electricity could be the bottleneck for new investment in Texas, Vegas said. Producing the power for these projects appears possible. ERCOT shows a vast amount of solar power and battery storage is planned for the grid. Natural gas, while a much smaller segment of planned power production, is also on the rise. But the power lines that get electricity from power plants and solar arrays are not in place and could still be years away.

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Senate passes Ukraine, Israel aid bill after months-long debate

The Senate overwhelmingly passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill on Tuesday, delivering billions of dollars in weapons and support to key U.S. allies Ukraine and Israel despite some opposition from both parties’ bases. The legislation, which passed by a 79-18 vote, had seemed all but dead for several months due to opposition in the GOP-led House. President Biden said in a statement he would sign the bill into law as soon as it crosses his desk on Wednesday, and send aid to Ukraine this week. The funds help him deliver on his promise to the nation’s NATO allies to continue to aid Ukraine as it enters its third year fending off Russia’s invasion. Passage of the legislation marks the first significant new tranche of aid passed by the U.S. Congress to the beleaguered nation in more than a year, as some Republicans aligned more with former president Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy waged a fierce battle against it.

They ultimately lost out when Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) decided to put the $61 billion in Ukraine aid on the floor last Saturday, citing his belief that Russia posed a serious threat. “Today the Senate sends a unified message to the entire world,” Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the floor on Tuesday. “America will always defend democracy in its hour of need.” Nine Republican senators flipped their votes to support the legislation on Tuesday after voting against an earlier version of the aid in February. The legislation also sends $26 billion in funds for Israel and humanitarian aid for Gaza and other places, at a time when some congressional Democrats are calling for further aid to Israel to come with conditions. Just three senators who caucus with Democrats opposed the aid package as progressives continue to decry the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza. University protests are growing and becoming more volatile, and the State Department released a report saying the human rights situation has significantly deteriorated in the region because of the conflict.

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Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison tags Nashville as company's next world HQ

Oracle Corp. co-founder and Chairman Larry Ellison has indicated that Nashville, not Austin, will be the company's headquarters in the future. Ellison made the declaration April 23 during an on-stage interview at a health care industry summit Oracle hosted in Nashville. It marked Ellison's first public appearance in Nashville in the nearly three years since Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) – one of the world's 30 largest public companies — cemented a deal to create 8,500 jobs by 2031 on a $1.35 billion, 70-acre campus on the East Bank. Construction has yet to begin, but plans indicate it will be a bigger deal than Oracle's Austin campus, where Oracle reports it has 2,500 workers. "Ultimately, [Nashville] will be our world headquarters," Ellison told a packed ballroom inside Midtown's Conrad hotel. "It's the center of our future." The company, which makes database software and other products, had been based in California for most of its existence since Ellison co-founded it in 1977.

In late 2020, Oracle designated Austin as its new headquarters. In summer 2022, Oracle paid $28.3 billion to buy health care technology company Cerner Corp., a move that underpins much of Ellison's reasoning for why he wants to make Nashville the company's new headquarters. It's not immediately clear what this means for Oracle's operations in Austin, where it's the 14th largest tech employer in the region by headcount. It also begs the question: what is a headquarters? When Oracle disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2020 that Austin is its new headquarters, it doesn't appear anything changed in the Texas capital. Neither Oracle's chairman or its CEO, Safra Catz, have called Austin their home base. There were no reported spikes in employment in Austin after the announcement. Despite the uncertainty of Oracle's HQ designation, the software giant is still bullish on Austin. In September it filed plans with the city of Austin to add a third office building to its riverfront headquarters campus near downtown Austin, plus it could also build a hotel. Oracle's existing office buildings total nearly 1 million square feet. Oracle opened its Austin office in 2018. At the time, the company said the campus could eventually grow to 10,000 employees.

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Here's how the U.S. Supreme Court could reshape emergency abortions in Texas

The U.S. Supreme Court is taking up a major abortion case today that could determine when hospitals can perform the procedure during medical emergencies. The case involves Idaho’s abortion ban but will have implications for Texas, where abortions are similarly prohibited in nearly all circumstances. Hospitals are required to provide emergency medical care under a federal law known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The Biden Administration has told hospitals since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022 that they are still required to provide abortions to patients in medical emergencies, even if their state more narrowly defines what classifies as a medical emergency. Idaho sued to block the guidance, spurring the arguments before the court this morning.

Texas has separately sued the Biden administration over the EMTALA guidance, arguing it can’t be used to compel providers to perform abortions and would “transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic.” A federal judge sided with Texas, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. The Biden administration has appealed to the Supreme Court. EMTALA was enacted by Congress in 1986 to prevent hospitals that accept Medicare from denying patients with emergency medical needs solely for their inability to pay, said Seema Mohapatra, a law professor at Southern Methodist University “What was literally happening is women were in labor, and when they (a hospital) found out the woman didn’t have insurance, they’d be like, ‘OK, go to the public hospital down the street,’” she said. Under the law, hospitals that turn patients away can lose federal Medicare funding. State law bans all abortions except to save a pregnant person’s life or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”

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State Stories

Ted Cruz could be liable for taxes on payments from his iHeartMedia podcast, experts say

The peculiar payment scheme behind U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's popular podcast has raised ethical questions and drawn complaints about election law violations. Now tax experts say the deal involving a massive radio network that picked up the “Verdict with Ted Cruz” podcast in 2022 and a super PAC supporting the Texas Republican’s reelection effort could also raise red flags for the IRS. While Cruz says he makes no money off the hosting gig, iHeartMedia has sent more than $630,000 in ad revenue from the podcast to the Truth and Courage PAC, which produces the show and says it owns it. The exact terms of the arrangement are unclear, and no parties involved have been willing to disclose them.

But tax experts say Cruz may still need to report income on his tax forms, even if he isn't pocketing any cash. That's because the law requires income to be taxed to the person who does the work. In this case, they say, that would be Cruz serving as the host of his podcast. "It's still going to be his income, because he's the one who 'earned it,'" said Brian Galle, a tax law professor at Georgetown University. "This isn't like a charity that auctions off one hour of free accountant time or something ... This was a payment for a series of appearances by Ted Cruz and not by anybody else." Galle, a former federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice's tax division, said the arrangement is similar to a nun who works in a hospital and sends their pay back to the church because they have taken a vow of poverty. The nun is entitled to a salary for her services, even if she doesn't collect it. The IRS has said the nun still has taxable income, Galle said. "You can’t tell the government it’s not my money if you’re the one who earned it," he said. "It doesn’t matter where the money goes."

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Conservatives aim their fire at Texas Republican after ‘scumbags’ comment

The battle between Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and the GOP’s right flank is heating up, with hardline House conservatives throwing their support behind his primary opponent after the moderate Republican called two of them “scumbags” on national television. Gonzales kicked the hornet’s nest over the weekend when, during an interview on CNN, he went after Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Bob Good (R-Va.) — “it’s my absolute honor to be in Congress, but I serve with some real scumbags” — launching personal attacks on the conservative duo. “Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex with them at drug parties. Bob Good endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi,” Gonzales said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “These people used to walk around with white hoods at night. Now they’re walking around with white hoods in the daytime.”

Gaetz, who has denied the allegation, and Good — joined by other hardliners — shot back at Gonzales, criticizing his voting record, slamming him as a “Republican in name only” and endorsing his primary opponent, Brandon Herrera, a social media influencer and self-proclaimed Second Amendment activist who has worked to plant himself to the right of Gonzales. “It is not surprising that one of the most liberal RINOs in Congress, who has egregiously fought real border security, and votes like a Democrat, would resort to the Dem playbook in screaming ‘racism,’” Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said of Gonzales on X. “Thankfully, the people of the Texas 23rd District can vote for change and an America first patriot, in Brandon Herrera.” Gaetz, who campaigned for Herrera in March and re-upped his support for him this week, gave Gonzales a new nickname on Tuesday: “Turncoat Tony.” The heightened Republican infighting comes as the May 28 runoff in Texas’ 23rd Congressional district inches closer, with Gonzales and Herrera set to go head-to-head for the GOP nomination. Gonzales, who was first elected to Congress in 2020, beat Herrera by 20 percentage points in the March primary, but his 45.1 percent share fell short of the 50 percent needed to advance straight to the general election.

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Plano places ban on most new short-term rentals

A yearslong battle in Plano may soon be coming to an end. Plano City Council unanimously voted late Monday night to ban almost every new short-term rental in single-family neighborhoods. Homes rented through apps like Airbnb and VRBO will still be allowed, but only in areas zoned for hotels and with more strict regulations. The citizen-proposed ordinance will still permit short-term rentals that were operating before Plano temporarily banned them. However, they will have to register with the city by Aug. 1 and must pay a registration fee. Short-term rentals will also be allowed within the city’s heritage districts if they are at least 300 feet away from other short-term rentals. VRBO and Airbnb did not respond to The Dallas Morning News’ request for comment at the time of publication.

Cities have complained about short-term rentals and a lack of regulation on the properties for years because of safety concerns stemming from out-of-control parties, shootings and how one property had a connection to a brothel. “We never second-guessed our decision to move to Plano until STR’s showed up at our doorstep,” said Plano resident Tatiana Ramirez. “These properties advertise our neighborhoods as private and quiet, but fail to mention that we are now a crime watch area due to their guests’ criminal acts.” To groups like Plano’s chapter of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition, it’s the win they’ve been looking forward to for years. The long waiting period to get here has been a point of frustration for the organization, as well. The road to get here, in only the past year, has been taken up by Plano sending postcards to every address in the city on March 22 and collecting data from the community. Since then, the city has held multiple planning and zoning meetings which discussed various options to keep them in the city. Proponents of short-term rentals claim that most properties don’t cause problems and a ban would breach property rights. For Will Tarrant, a speaker at the meeting, keeping short-term rentals is also a matter of keeping property prices affordable.

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Shell investor to back climate resolution at oil giant’s annual meeting

Dutch investor MN said it would support a climate resolution put forward by activist shareholder group Follow This, which urges Shell to set more ambitious climate targets in line with the Paris Agreement. The asset manager voiced its support for the proposal Sunday, almost a month before Shell’s Annual General Meeting, which is set to take place May 21. The Netherlands-based investor said that though it supports Shell’s ambition to reduce scope 3 emissions from the oil products it sells by 15-20% by 2030, these reductions will be offset by the oil major’s plans to expand production of fossil liquefied natural gas by 20-30% by 2030. MN is also a member of Climate Action 100+ — a $68 trillion climate action investor group that advocates for curbing the carbon footprint of the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters — and leads the coalition’s engagement with Shell, which recently watered down a number of its decarbonization targets.

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Arlington nuns seek restraining order against bishop

The legal battle over who has authority over a small group of cloistered Carmelite nuns and their property is once again escalating after the sisters filed for a restraining order Monday against Bishop Michael Olson, the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth and the National Association of Christ the King. A hearing on the temporary restraining order request is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Thursday in the 141st District Court in Fort Worth. Fort Worth attorney Matthew Bobo, who is representing the nuns, stated in the court filing that the Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, Sister Frances Therese, and Sister Joseph Marie are seeking the order to prevent Olson and the National Carmelite Association of Christ the King from having authority over the nuns and the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington.

Bobo stated in court documents that the monastery is a nonprofit corporation under Texas law and that the Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, Sister Francis Therese and Sister Joseph Marie are officers and directors, with Gerlach serving as president for three years. Michael Anderson, an attorney with the Fort Worth Kelly Hart & Hallman law firm representing the diocese, said the nuns’ court filing was a “rehash” of a suit that was filed last year with the only change being that the National Association of Christ the King was added after the Vatican entrusted the Arlington Carmel to the association of their Carmelite sisters. The Vatican informed the nuns on April 18 that the association would direct day to day operations of the monastery while Olson would oversee other matters, including the election of the leadership. His authority remains intact, according to the Holy See. Anderson also said, “The Arlington Nuns’ decision to file suit on this basis is squarely at odds with an affidavit filed in the first lawsuit, wherein Ms. Gerlach testified that the Arlington Carmel only answers “directly to the Pope.” Apparently this no longer applies since the catalyst for this new lawsuit was a decision by the Holy See.”

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Council members clash over Prop A rules, saying they put Houston at risk of 'dictatorial' mayors

Following a 90-minute debate, Houston City Council delayed new rules around a historic voter-approved measure aimed at empowering council members to move forward with policy proposals the mayor might not support. In November, Houstonians overwhelmingly passed Proposition A, which allows any three council members to add an item to their weekly meeting agenda, as long as it is lawful. The change is designed to serve as a set of checks and balances within Houston’s “strong mayor” form of government, where the mayor used to have near total control over the legislative agenda. In recent weeks, Mayor John Whitmire and council members have repeatedly clashed over how the process should play out in practice.

The mayor has created a Proposition A Committee, asking for an initial review of all council member-generated proposals before the items head to the full council for a vote. But some members said the additional step would violate the spirit of the ballot measure and create unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. During the first-ever Proposition A Committee meeting on Tuesday, council members considered a series of rules designed by the mayor’s office to set parameters around the process. They include a lawfulness review by the legal department, the involvement of relevant department heads and a requirement for all such proposals to go through the Proposition A Committee. If enough council members attend the committee meeting to reach a quorum, they will also vote on the item to signal their support for or opposition to sending it to the next stage, although those behind the proposal will still have the option to pursue it, per Proposition A, even in the case of a “no” vote, officials said. “We are not here to be a gatekeeper. We certainly don’t even want to vet items so to speak in this committee. Nor do we want to block items,” said Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, vice chair of the Proposition A Committee. “We certainly know that sometimes they need to be tweaked, and so this committee process will help in that manner.”

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San Antonio is shutting down migrant center at airport as border crossings tumble

With a recent drop in border crossings and fewer asylum-seekers passing through South Texas, the city of San Antonio is shutting down a facility where migrants await their flights out of town. The Airport Transfer Center — which operates out of a city-owned building on the northern edge of San Antonio International Airport’s 2,600-acre property — will close May 1. City officials also are cutting the number of police officers at the airport and the 700-bed Migrant Resource Center on San Pedro Avenue, which provides food, clothing, showers, temporary shelter and legal guidance to asylum-seekers. The city pays rent on the resource center, which is also called Centro de Bienvenida, and covers the costs of janitorial and security services. Catholic Charities of San Antonio runs day-to-day operations.

The changes are meant to “align operational needs with the current number of arrivals,” City Manager Erik Walsh said in a memo to Mayor Ron Nirenberg and City Council on Friday. Migrant crossings into Texas began plunging in January. Since then, the number of asylum-seekers making their way through San Antonio has declined 77%, Walsh said. From January through this month, nearly 24,000 migrants have come through the city, according to a city dashboard, compared with 44,000 migrants in the same period last year. More than 228,000 asylum-seekers passed through San Antonio in 2023. The city opened the Airport Transfer Center on May 12 of last year, the day after the end of Title 42, a pandemic-era federal public health policy that was used to quickly expel asylum-seekers from the United States. City officials were worried that the policy’s demise would lead to a sharp increase in the number of people crossing the border and put the airport — which was already crowded with migrants — under even more pressure.

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Texas congressman's office vandalized with red liquid spelling 'Free Gaza'

Rep. John Carter, R-Texas said "unhinged anti-Israel activists" vandalized his Georgetown office, posting pictures of the display on social media just days after he voted in favor of providing $26 billion in aid to Israel. On Monday morning, Carter posted an image of the door to his Georgetown, Texas office, splattered with red liquid that spelled out, "Free Gaza." "Unhinged anti-Israel activists vandalized my Georgetown office," he posted. "Let me make 2 things clear, my support of Israel is unwavering & your intimidation won’t work. Secondly, the parties responsible will be found & will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." FOX 7 in Austin reported that officers with the Georgetown Police Department responded to Carter’s office at about 8:45 a.m. after reports of a possible burglary.

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Tesla skirts Austin's environmental rules at Texas gigafactory

Tesla has used a new Texas state law to exempt its Austin gigafactory from Austin’s environmental regulations, as reported by Austin Business Journal. Tesla’s Texas gigafactory is commonly referred to as being in Austin, but it is actually situated not far outside the city’s official borders. This is technically part of Austin’s “extraterritorial jurisdiction” (ETJ) an area around the city which doesn’t technically belong to the city, but which the city can still exercise some control over the development of. Due to the large amount of unincorporated land in Texas, and its growing population causing cities to tend to sprawl outward, it is prudent for some cities to help plan the areas immediately outside their limits, so that infrastructure can be compatible if the city later grows to encompass those areas. This is why Texas and some other Western states have ETJ laws.

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2nd victim dies after truck intentionally rammed into Texas DPS office

The Texas Department of Public Safety—Southeast Region on Monday reported a second victim has died following an April 12 crash in which a truck was purposely driven into a DPS office.

DPS said that it and the Washington County DA’s office have identified the decedent as Cheryl Turner, 63, of Brenham. Back on April 12, a semitrailer driver rammed a stolen 18-wheeler through the front of a public safety building in Brenham where his renewal for a commercial driver’s license had been rejected, killing one person immediately and injuring 13 others. The intentional crash into the single-story brick building off a highway in Brenham, a rural town outside of Houston, littered debris in the parking lot and left a gaping hole in the entrance. The crash damaged the front of the red semitrailer, which was hauling materials on a flatbed.

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Gov. Greg Abbott announces $34M mental health facility coming to Uvalde

Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Monday a $34 million initiative aimed at bolstering mental health services in Uvalde. Construction for a new behavioral health campus in Uvalde is expected to begin later this year, according to a press release from the governor’s office. The project aims to help children and adults grappling with mental health crises in Uvalde and across 32 counties in the surrounding area. The proposed facility will include a 16-bed crisis unit for adults and a dedicated wing for youths, featuring a 16-bed crisis unit tailored for children and adolescents. The focus of the campus will be on crisis stabilization and providing round-the-clock support to individuals undergoing mental health emergencies. Additionally, the facility will serve as a designated 24/7 diversion center, welcoming walk-ins and individuals referred by law enforcement agencies.

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Seattle hospital won’t turn over gender-affirming care records in lawsuit settlement with Texas

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is dropping a request for a Seattle hospital to hand over records regarding gender-affirming treatment potentially given to children from Texas as part of a lawsuit settlement announced Monday. Seattle Children’s Hospital filed the lawsuit against Paxton’s office in December in response to the Republican appearing to go beyond state borders to investigate transgender health care. Paxton, a staunch conservative who has helped drive GOP efforts that target the rights of trans people, sent similar letters to Texas hospitals last year. The Seattle hospital said in a statement that it had “successfully fought” the “overreaching demands to obtain confidential patient information.” A judge in Austin dismissed the lawsuit Friday, saying the parties had settled their dispute. Texas is among states that have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.

The hospital’s lawsuit included a copy of the letter from Paxton’s office, which among other requests asked the hospital to produce records identifying medication given to children who live in Texas; the number of Texas children who received treatment; and documents that identified the “standard protocol or guidance” used for treatment. As part of the settlement, according to court records, the parties agreed that Seattle Children’s Hospital would withdraw its registration to transact business in Texas. But a hospital spokesperson said in a statement that they don’t operate health care facilities or provide gender-affirming care in Texas. In court records, the hospital had previously stated that it had a “limited number” of people who work remotely and live in Texas but that none were involved in gender-affirming care. It also said it did not advertise its services in Texas. “When we merely began asking questions, they decided to leave the State of Texas and forfeit the opportunity to do business here,” Paxton said in a news release Monday. He said Texas will “vigorously protect” children from gender-affirming treatment that he called “damaging.”

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Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocks Harris County's guaranteed income program in Paxton lawsuit

The Supreme Court of Texas has temporarily blocked Harris County's new guaranteed income program, Uplift Harris, after two lower courts denied Attorney General Ken Paxton's requests to stop the payments. Paxton sued Harris County earlier this month, alleging its new income program violates a state law that prohibits the gift of public funds to any individual. Harris County had selected and notified recipients and was preparing to mail the first $500 monthly checks this week. Paxton sought court action to block that move, but a Harris County district judge and the 14th Court of Appeals rejected his requests.

The Supreme Court of Texas sided with Paxton on Tuesday, granting a temporary pause while the court considers the legal arguments. Supreme Court justices are elected statewide, and all nine members currently are Republicans. "Without regard to the merits, the Court grants an administrative stay as follows: Real parties in interest and their agents are prohibited from making payments under the Uplift Harris program pending further order of this court," the court said in a short order. Paxton celebrated the court order, saying he looked "forward to continuing to defend our Constitution and preventing this egregious misuse of taxpayer money.” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said the county's public health department was in the process of sending out the checks when the program came to an abrupt halt. "Our public health director pressed the button, so to speak, but before the funds began transferring, the Supreme Court made its ruling," Hidalgo said.

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County Stories

Travis County tests out program to provide lawyers for low-income defendants at its downtown jail

After years of back-and-forth, Travis County is taking a small step to provide lawyers for low-income people accused of crimes. A program known as "counsel at first appearance" started in a limited capacity Tuesday, with the county providing lawyers at the downtown court this week to defendants who can't afford legal representation. The county said lawyers would be available at pre-trial hearings from 2–10 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. The two shifts represent a fraction of the nearly 1,100 pre-trial hearings conducted downtown at the county's Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center in a given year. National research has shown having an attorney when charges are read often reduces bail amounts. Defendants were also more willing to comply with a judge’s orders, reducing the time spent in jail. Statewide research has shown a sizable share of people awaiting trial in Texas jails are low-income and can’t afford bond to get out.

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City Stories

In Montopolis, a constant battle to preserve Austin's historic Mexican cemeteries

For more than two decades, Juan Rodriguez, 80, has regularly stopped at Montopolis’ San Jose I Cemetery by himself. He's replaced the lettering at the historic Mexican cemetery’s gate and trimmed his grandparents' and siblings' gravesites. Most recently, in October, he repaired the gateway's wooden Jesus figure after it tumbled off and split into pieces. He glued the chest and the arms together, repainting them. He carved Jesus a new hand that resembled a dog’s paw and mounted the remade effigy tightly onto the gate pole. For decades, the sporadic and individual efforts of residents like Rodriguez, many of whom have relatives at the site, kept the unowned and unmanaged cemetery intact. But the earth’s swallow never appeared far away.

Sandbur, bull nettle and poison ivy grew plentifully over sprawling ant colonies. Mustang vine leaped from tree to tree, cracking branches over tombstones. Trash mounted. Large tracts were inaccessible and the cemetery’s parameters caved in. On Saturday morning, under the drizzle of the coming storm, Rodriguez found himself with others. More than two dozen community members — relatives of the deceased, neighbors, Keep Austin Beautiful volunteers brought together by the fledgling San Jose-Montopolis Cemetery Association — hacked at vines, sawed at tree limbs and pushed lawn mowers. "With this rain everything grows fast. It's hard to keep up," he said in mixture of Spanish and English. "We need all the help we can get." Saturday's showing strengthened his hope that future efforts will improve upon the work he's done. The cemetery association has played a large role in centralizing maintenance and historical archive records. But it faces tough questions ahead. The two San Jose cemeteries are still ownerless. Only one is protected by historical status. And, while today San Jose I is traversable, the foliage at the nearby San Jose II still limits public access — and even knowledge of how many graves are there.

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Thousands of Austin employees impacted by Tesla layoffs

Thousands of Tesla employees in Austin were left scrambling to find a job after recent layoffs. Earlier this month, KXAN reported about the Austin-based company laying off more than 10% of its workforce globally. According to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter sent to the Texas Workforce Commission, Tesla fired 2,688 of its Austin employees. Tesla CEO Elon Musk detailed the plans in a memo sent to employees. Musk’s memo said as Tesla prepares for its next phase of growth, “it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” The New York Times and CNBC reported. KXAN reached out to Tesla for additional comment but has not heard back yet.

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National Stories

FTC bans noncompete agreements that restrict job switching

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday banned employers from using noncompete contracts to prevent most workers from joining rival firms, achieving a policy goal that is popular with labor but faces an imminent court challenge from business groups. The measure, approved by the agency’s Democratic majority on a 3-to-2 vote, marks the first time in more than 50 years that FTC officials have issued a regulation to mandate an economywide change in how companies compete. The commission has historically operated like a law enforcement agency, investigating and suing individual companies over practices or deals deemed to violate the law. The rule prohibits companies from enforcing existing noncompete agreements on anyone other than senior executives. It also bans employers from imposing new noncompete contracts on senior executives in the future.

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They stormed the US Capitol in 2021 - now they want to serve there

Three years ago, Derrick Evans was taking part in the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol, joining hundreds of other supporters who refused to accept his defeat in the presidential election. Now he is campaigning to serve in the very legislative body he targeted that day. And he's not alone: across the United States, around a dozen people involved in the siege of the Capitol -- an attack that shook confidence in the stability of American democracy -- have sought or are seeking to hold local or national office this year. Evans is running in his state's Republican primary for a seat in the US Congress. Campaigning in a rural state known for its coal mines, conservatism and natural beauty, he now frames his January 6 experience as a positive -- a reason fellow West Virginians should vote for him. In an interview with AFP, Evans, now a real estate investor, described himself as a "political prisoner."

The hundreds who invaded the Capitol, galvanized by Trump's insistence that the election had been "stolen" from him, had hoped to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the new president. Evans, then a newly installed member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, live-streamed himself entering the building. Seen wearing a black motorcycle helmet, he yelled "Freedom!" and -- lest there be any doubt about his identity -- proclaimed "Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!" His actions that day earned him a three-month prison sentence on a felony civil disorder charge. Evans had pleaded guilty but insisted he was in the Capitol only as an independent member of the media. "The Deep State came to my home and ripped me away from my wife and my four children," said Evans, referring to conspiracy theories about the existence of a shadowy, anti-Trump administrative body that secretly exerts power over American society. Jason Riddle, running for Congress in the Republican primary in the northeastern state of New Hampshire, describes himself as "a recently released January 6th political prisoner with a message of hope." Others, like Kimberly Dragoo, have already lost their elections. Dragoo was running for a seat on a local board of education in Missouri, though she didn't receive her sentence -- two weeks in prison -- until last week.

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Why narrow majorities and House gridlock are here to stay in 2024

The battle for the House will be determined by a smaller number of races than it has in at least the past two decades. There are roughly 30 truly competitive seats, split about evenly between Democratic and Republican-held districts, according to a POLITICO analysis based on fundraising data, candidate recruitment and interviews with a dozen party strategists, incumbents and challengers. And with just over six months until Election Day, neither Democrats nor Republicans have a clear edge in the fight for control of the chamber. Anyone expecting either party to emerge from 2024 with a significant and easier-to-govern majority should think again.

“Both sides know that it’s gonna be an incredibly close election,” said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a former House GOP campaign chair. “Post-redistricting and with all the polarization in the country, both sides have a pretty high floor. Both sides have a pretty low ceiling. So I don’t think we’ll see majorities in the 240s and 50s.” The smaller battlefield is partially a product of redistricting — not only the remaps before the 2022 midterms, but a handful since that have reduced the number of seats in play even further. Democrats have sharpened a financial edge: many incumbents and candidates outraised their GOP rivals during the first three months of 2024. And Republicans are defending 16 districts President Joe Biden won in 2020. But thorny primaries, recruitment fumbles, Biden’s unpopularity and strong GOP incumbents muddle Democrats’ chances in a handful of those targets. Republicans fixed some of the candidate quality problems that plagued them in the midterms and are zeroing in on five Democrats seats then-President Donald Trump won in 2020. But the GOP has its own complicated primaries, and at least one controversial retread candidate also obscures their path. Retirements by popular Democratic incumbents in Michigan and Virginia offer additional top-tier offensive opportunities, but much of the House battlefield lies in New York and California, two Democratic bastions that could turn bluer in a presidential election year.

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Takeaways from Day 6 of the Donald Trump criminal hush money trial

Judge Juan Merchan appeared poised on Tuesday to sanction Donald Trump for violating the gag order in his criminal hush money case after peppering the former president’s lawyers with questions about why Trump’s social media posts were acceptable. Tuesday began with a hearing on Trump’s 10 alleged violations of the gag order, and it ended with former American Media Inc. chief David Pecker talking about how he vetted allegations of an alleged affair between Trump and Playboy playmate Karen McDougal in 2016 while in constant communication with Trump’s then-fixer, Michael Cohen. (Trump has denied the affair.)

Merchan issued the gag order before the trial began, limiting Trump from publicly discussing witnesses, the jury or the district attorney’s staff. Merchan expanded the order, which Trump has appealed, to cover his own family after Trump attacked his daughter. He has not yet ruled on the district attorney’s motion to sanction Trump for allegedly violating the gag order, but it wasn’t hard to tell the judge’s sentiments. Tensions continued to grow between Trump’s legal team and the trial judge during the gag order hearing. Merchan repeatedly asked Blanche to clarify examples of when Trump was specifically responding to attacks from Cohen and Daniels on social media and grew visibly frustrated when Blanche failed to comply. “You’ve presented nothing,” Merchan said to Blanche. “I’ve asked you eight or nine times [to] show me the exact post he was responding to. You’ve been unable to do that even once.” “President Trump is being very careful to comply with your order,” Blanche said at one point. “You’re losing all credibility with the court,” Merchan responded. Last week, Merchan supported prosecutors when they refused to give Trump’s legal team notice of their witness list, saying he understood the sentiment given Trump’s social media attacks. Last Thursday, assistant district attorney Josh Steinglass said he wouldn’t take the risk of subjecting trial witnesses to Trump’s social media wrath. When Blanche claimed he could promise that Trump wouldn’t reveal or discuss the witnesses on deck to testify, Merchan shot back, “I don’t think you can make that representation.”

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Disgraced coal CEO lost races as GOP and third party candidate. He's trying again as a Democrat

Don Blankenship hasn’t had much success running for office. He ran for the Senate as a Republican in 2018 and sought the White House in 2020 as a third party candidate. He lost badly both times but is on the ballot again in 2024, this time as a Democrat seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Joe Manchin. Blankenship has plenty of baggage heading into the May 14 Democratic primary. Beyond his history of political losses, he’s perhaps best known in this coal-producing state as the former chief executive of Massey Energy who spent a year in federal prison for conspiring to violate mine safety laws before an explosion at his West Virginia coal mine killed 29 men in 2010. With their threadbare Senate majority on the line in this year’s elections, Democrats are already pessimistic about their chances in West Virginia, where Manchin was the rare member of their party to find success in a state that Republican former President Donald Trump carried by nearly 39 percentage points in 2020.

But a Blankenship victory in the primary could prove especially problematic for the party, leaving Democrats with an unpopular candidate with a complicated past in business and politics. The party and its union allies are working to avoid that scenario. Earlier this week, Manchin endorsed Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, who was an aide to legendary Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd and is unapologetically pro-union. State Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin argues Blankenship isn’t a Democrat and is fond of referring to him as “federal prisoner 12393-088,” a reference to his identification number while incarcerated. And Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers union — which endorsed Manchin in 2012 and 2018 — said seeing Blankenship file for the Senate as a Democrat “may be the most fraudulent and cynical move” he’s ever seen. “And that’s saying a lot,” Roberts quipped. “If he’s a Democrat

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Congress sends Biden a bill that could ban TikTok — after the 2024 election

Tucked inside the sprawling $95 billion national security package headed to President Joe Biden’s desk is a provision that could ban TikTok, with an important catch: It won’t happen before the 2024 election. That means TikTok, which boasts 170 million American users, will remain a force throughout the campaign, providing a platform for candidates to reach predominantly younger voters. An earlier version of the bill could have banned the popular video-sharing app prior to the election, but recent changes mean Congress and Biden may not face such an immediate voter backlash. The new legislation provides nine months for TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell it or face a nationwide prohibition in the United States. The president can grant a one-time extension of 90 days, bringing the timeline to sell to one year, if he certifies that there’s a path to divestiture and “significant progress” toward executing it.

Even without the extension, the earliest a ban could start is January 2025. With the extension, it would be April. And with TikTok threatening legal action, the matter could get tied up in the courts for even longer. It’s a shift from an earlier House-passed bill that included a six-month window that could have triggered a TikTok ban before the November election. A senior Republican aide said Democrats were responsible for the change. “Senate Democrats had been pretty consistent about wanting to extend that timeline,” the aide said. The election was “definitely” something “conveniently addressed” by the new deadline, said a Democratic source close to the issue. Other Democrats are assuring voters that ByteDance would sooner sell TikTok than risk a U.S. ban, a view some experts disagree with. “TikTok ain’t going away. There is no more capitalistic entity than an organization controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. They’re going to sell it,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a member of the Armed Services Committee, who faces re-election this fall. “Young people will go on their TikTok tomorrow and they’ll still have it. And then the day after that, they’ll still have it. And the day after that, they’ll still have it,” Kaine said, adding that the only difference is it will be American-owned. “If you like it, you’re going to keep it.”

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Students set up on encampments from coast to coast

Since Columbia University shut down an encampment last week where pro-Palestinian protesters were demonstrating for divestment from companies with ties to Israel, students on other campuses have set up their own encampments, making similar demands. At more than a dozen institutions across the country, students have set up tents and sleeping bags on central quads or thoroughfares, where they are spending nights, hosting teach-ins, reciting prayers, and waving signs and Palestinian flags, in an effort to get administrators to hear out their demands. In some cases, proximity seems to have fueled the spread of encampments; students at three private institutions in the Boston area—Emerson College, MIT and Tufts University—all pitched tents this week.

Institutional responses have varied; police arrested protesters at Yale University and Columbia, where President Minouche Shafik authorized officers to tear down the encampment. At New York University, 120 people, including faculty and students, were arrested outside the Stern School of Business after professors encircled a small encampment Monday night in an effort to protect student protesters from arrest. Elsewhere, administrators have taken different steps, choosing to stay out of the way in an effort to keep the peace on campus. Officials at the University of California, Berkeley, for example, told Inside Higher Ed that they had chosen not to intrude on an encampment that emerged Monday despite the fact that it violates certain university policies. Some of the protests come just ahead of finals week and graduation, with universities like Berkeley saying their main goal at this time is to ensure students can successfully finish the semester.

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Lead Stories

Silent and brooding, Trump endures courtroom ordeal

Donald Trump sat in a New York courtroom Monday watching history unfold, a glum witness to his own turn as the first US president to face criminal prosecution. Most court proceedings are deliberate, scripted and glacial -- tedious for any observer to sit through, let alone a brash real estate mogul used to getting what he wants, when he wants. But the 45th president vying for another go in the nation's highest office is set to spend the next month or two forced to sit in a drafty 15th-floor courtroom with peeling paint and fluorescent lights, speaking only when spoken to. In their opening statements, prosecutors detailed how Trump allegedly falsified business records as part of a scheme to pay off adult film actress Stormy Daniels in a bid to protect his 2016 presidential aspirations.

The former president slouched and stared straight ahead as Matthew Colangelo laid out details of Team Trump's collusion with the boss of the media group specializing in celebrity tabloids, who prosecutors say worked with the Republican to conceal damaging stories. Colangelo took care to smoothly quote the vulgar words that Trump uttered when caught on an infamous tape bragging about grabbing female genitalia without consent. It was then that Trump flinched, shaking his head as he heard his own transcript read aloud to a packed courtroom, the audio amplified into an overflow room seating dozens more journalists. But as his defense lawyer Todd Blanche delivered his opening statement, Trump turned toward the jurors, poised somewhere between intimidation and ingratiation. "Trying to influence an election" is simply "democracy" Blanche said, noting that the rich and famous routinely use non-disclosure agreements. "The 34 counts," Blanche said, referring to the business record falsification charges Trump faces, "are really just pieces of paper."

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Advocacy groups say Texas inmates are 'being cooked to death' in state prisons without air conditioning

A coalition of advocates has joined one of Texas' most famous inmates to sue the state over extreme temperatures in prison cells, arguing in federal court that inmates are "being cooked to death" and staff members are suffering heat-related injuries without air conditioning. Bernhardt Tiede II — a former funeral director whose murder of a wealthy 81-year-old widow is chronicled in Richard Linklater's film "Bernie" — first filed the lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) in August 2023 after suffering an acute medical crisis in a cell that staff members had recorded reaching 112 degrees just days earlier. Tiede, 65, was transferred to an air-conditioned cell after a judge for the Western District of Texas granted two temporary restraining orders and one extension last year but has no guarantee that he will be housed in a cell with climate control again.

Monday's amended complaint, which expands the lawsuit to apply to inmates beyond Tiede, asks the U.S. District Court to declare the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's prison policy unconstitutional and order that Texas state prisons maintain temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees. Texas jails have been required to house prisoners at those temperatures since 1994, and federal prisons also strictly regulate temperatures. "Let's ensure that no one else — inmates or corrections officers — suffers these inhumane conditions," Linklater said Monday at a news conference in support of the lawsuit. According to the filing, almost 70% of TDCJ prisons lack air conditioning and units routinely reach 100 degrees or higher. A 2022 study by the JAMA Network found that "approximately 13% of deaths in Texas prisons during warm months between 2001 and 2019 may be attributable to extreme heat days." The complaint described inmates resorting to extreme measures to stay cool in sweltering conditions, including flooding their cells with toilet water and lying in it. The Texas Legislature in 2023 allocated $85 million for TDCJ to install more air conditioning, but that money will not cover climate control in all prisons. Several bills aiming to mandate that TDCJ maintain its cells at a safe temperature range in recent years have failed.

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Greene faces uphill battle to oust Johnson

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is escalating her threat to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from power, but she faces a steep climb if she hopes to achieve that goal. Not only has the Speaker recently received a glowing review from former President Trump, the GOP’s presumed presidential nominee, but Democrats remain ready to rescue Johnson from a conservative coup. On top of that, many of the conservatives most frustrated with Johnson’s leadership style are opposing a motion to vacate, leaving Greene with only the barest GOP support for her removal resolution. “My judgment and estimation is that this is not the time to do that,” said Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), head of the far-right Freedom Caucus. Not that Johnson is out of the woods.

Yet Greene’s position is a lonely one in the House GOP. While her vacate resolution won the support last week from two other Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) — the prevailing sentiment among conservatives is that Johnson should remain in place despite their frustrations with his bipartisan deal-making. Those voices include Freedom Caucus leaders like Good, who supported McCarthy’s removal but are quick to point out that, for Republicans, the political environment has changed in the six months since then. Not only has the GOP’s House majority shrunk — the result of the expulsion of former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) and the resignation of five other Republicans, including McCarthy — but there’s no obvious successor to Johnson, and the calendar is now inching closer to November. Many Republicans simply aren’t eager to repeat the weeks of chaos that followed McCarthy’s expulsion, when GOP lawmakers scrambled to locate a viable replacement.

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The pandemic cost 7 million lives, but talks to prevent a repeat stall

In late 2021, as the world reeled from the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, representatives of almost 200 countries met — some online, some in-person in Geneva — hoping to forestall a future worldwide outbreak by developing the first-ever global pandemic accord. The deadline for a deal? May 2024. The costs of not reaching one? Incalculable, experts say. An unknown future pathogen could have far more devastating consequences than SARS-CoV-2, which cost some 7 million lives and trillions of dollars in economic losses. But even as negotiators pack in extra hours, the goal of clinching a legally binding pact by next month is far from certain — despite a new draft document being delivered in recent days. The main sticking point involves access to vital information about new threats that may emerge — and to the vaccines and medicines that could contain that threat.

“It’s the most momentous time in global health security since 1948,” when the World Health Organization was established, said Lawrence O. Gostin, director of the WHO Collaborating Center for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. The backdrop to today’s negotiations is starkly different from the years after World War II when countries united around principles guaranteeing universal human rights and protecting public health. The unifying fear of covid has been replaced by worries about repeating the injustices that tainted the response to the pandemic, deepening rifts between the Global North and the Global South. “The trauma of the covid-19 pandemic has seeped into the negotiations,” said Ellen 't Hoen, a lawyer and public health advocate who specializes in intellectual property policies. Representatives of the WHO’s 194 member countries, she said, are looking backward rather than forward. The reasons are clear. A paper published in October 2022 in the journal Nature showed that by the end of 2021, nearly 50 percent of the global population had received two doses of coronavirus vaccine but that huge disparities existed between high-income countries, where coverage was close to 75 percent, and many low-income countries, where less than 2 percent of the population had received two doses. At the same time, South Africa, where the omicron variant was identified, felt punished by travel bans instead of being praised for its scientists’ epidemiological acumen and openness.

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State Stories

Texas future weather hotter with deadly fires, study says

A new report on the future of extreme weather in Texas says the state is in store for hotter temperatures, increased severity of droughts and growing wildfire risks. The report from John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas State Climatologist at Texas A&M University, is an updated 2024 version from his original 2021 report titled, “Assessment of Historic and Future Trends of Extreme Weather in Texas, 1900-2036.” Nielsen-Gammon crafted the report in collaboration with Texas 2036, a non-partisan nonprofit focusing on the future of the state. In 2036, Texas will turn 200 and the group aims to provide long-term, data-driven strategies for the state to prosper for another few centuries.

“These trends represent climatological expectations,” Nielsen-Gammon said in the report. “The actual weather from year to year and decade to decade will be heavily influenced by natural variability which at this point is largely unpredictable.” The extreme weather report takes aim at everything from hotter temperatures, to increased wildfire risks. These are climate factors that Texans dread — combining unbearable heat with sparking deadly fires. An earlier study even found that Texas is on track to see 125-degree days within 30 years. In 2022, MedStar reported a 115.6% increase in emergency calls because of the heat compared to the previous year. Since Texas cities placed protections on workers during extremely hot days, instances of heat illnesses have dropped across the stare. The average annual surface temperature in Texas by 2036 is expected to be several degrees warmer than in years past. Temperatures in 2036 are expected to be 3 degrees warmer than the average from 1950-1999, and 1.6 degrees warmer than the average from 1991-2020. “This would make a typical year around 2036 warmer than all but the absolute warmest year experienced in Texas during 1895-2020,” Nielsen-Gammon wrote. Average temperatures themselves don’t amount to weather or climate extremes.

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New METRO board member Alex Mealer criticizes bike lane project on Houston’s 11th Street

A new board member for the Houston region's mass transit provider took to social media over the weekend to criticize a recent transportation infrastructure project in the Heights neighborhood that aims to expand mobility options and make one of its major thoroughfares safer for a variety of users. The sentiments expressed by Alexandra del Moral Mealer, who in March was appointed as a board member for the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO), in turn drew the ire of multimodal transportation advocates and a local elected official who has championed the expansion of bicycle lanes across a historically car-centric region.

In response to a Saturday morning video posted on X by Heights resident and cycling advocate Emmanuel Núñez, who showed people walking and riding on the Heights Hike and Bike Trail, Mealer posted a 30-second, fast-forwarded video taken from a vehicle traveling east on 11th Street. Mealer's video showed that no one was using one of the new bike lanes along 11th at about midday Saturday between North Shepherd Drive and Studewood Street, which is roughly a 30-block stretch, and her video included the captions, "No bikers to be seen," and, "But plenty of congestion." The 1998 song "Never There" by Cake served as the audio track for the video, and Mealer introduced it by writing, "Funny, when it comes to major roadway arteries where lanes have been reduced for bikes, they are never there ..." That stretch of 11th Street underwent a $2.4 million redesign by the City of Houston last year to reduce the number of vehicle lanes while adding bike lanes and pedestrian crossings to improve safety, complement the aforementioned trail as well as nearby METRO bus stops and to further expand the city's cycling infrastructure as part of the Houston Bike Plan passed by city council in 2017. But the work, despite being recently awarded by the American Public Works Association, has been opposed by some neighborhood residents and is among multiple road redesigns being reviewed for effectiveness by new Mayor John Whitmire.

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Harris County, Texas Southern University-led coalition win part of $7 billion federal solar fund

Harris County will receive part of a $7 billion federal grant toward installing solar panels and battery systems in low-income and disadvantaged communities across Texas, part of President Joe Biden's plan to expand access to solar energy nationwide. The administration announced Monday that 60 applicants had been selected for its Solar for All program, with more than 900,000 American households expected to get rooftop solar systems or access to community solar farms. “Today we’re delivering on President Biden’s promise that no community is left behind,” Administrator Michael Regan of the Environmental Protection Agency said. Harris County is leading a coalition of Texas municipalities — including Dallas County and the cities of Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Waco — that represent 11 million low-income Texans, with plans to install solar panels and battery storage systems on homes and other buildings across the state.

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Seminary asks court to dismiss Greenway’s defamation suit

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary filed a motion in U.S. District Court April 18 asking for the lawsuit brought against it by Adam Greenway to be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. On March 20, the seminary’s former president filed suit against the school and former trustee Chairman Danny Roberts, seeking unspecified compensation for defamation of character that has left him unemployable. He has demanded a jury trial to recoup “past and future economic loss including lost wages” plus attorney fees. Now, the seminary has responded with a legal filing saying secular courts may not intervene in such employment matters with churches and church-related institutions, appealing to a legal precedent known as the ecclesial abstention doctrine.

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Florida joins Texas in adopting school ‘chaplain’ option denounced by chaplains

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his supporters celebrated his recent signing of a new law allowing untrained and unlicensed chaplains to volunteer in public schools. “At a time when much of the country is facing a mental health crisis, having volunteer chaplains for K-12 schools is a common-sense solution. We are selling our kids short if we only focus on meeting their intellectual needs but fail to make provision for their spiritual and emotional needs,” said state Rep. Stan McClain, the Republican who sponsored the school chaplaincy legislation DeSantis signed April 18. But religious and civil rights groups warned the program poses threats to religious liberty and to the spiritual and mental well-being of students and their families.

“As a minister, I know that chaplains can play an appropriate and important role in the lives of many families, but their place is absolutely not in our public schools,” Interfaith Alliance President Paul Raushenbush said. “The legislation Gov. DeSantis just signed opens students up to potential religious coercion and creates a serious risk that those in need of support from trained counselors will not receive it.” The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida denounced the program, which takes effect July 1, as a menace to the Constitutional rights of public school students. “Allowing public schools to establish paid or voluntary positions for chaplains will inevitably lead to evangelizing and religious coercion of students. This violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which, along with the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, safeguards the constitutional right to religious liberty,” the ACLU statement added. “Courts have repeatedly ruled that it is unconstitutional for public schools to invite religious leaders to engage in religious activities with students or to promote religious doctrine to them.” Allowing the volunteers to serve without the training and certifications required of professional school counselors signals the legislation’s true purpose, the ACLU said. “Exempting chaplains from the same professional requirements as other school staff makes clear that installing them in public schools is not about helping students but is yet another effort to subject children to unconstitutional government sponsored religious indoctrination.”

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Cattle rancher sues utilities firms for alleged role in devastating Texas wildfires

A Texas cattle rancher is suing three utilities companies for their alleged role in starting one of the state’s largest wildfires in history, which devastated pastures and livestock operations across the Panhandle region earlier this year. Donnie Parker, who owns a ranch in Skellytown, filed a class action suit in a federal Texas court on Thursday, asserting Xcel Energy, Southwestern Public Service Company and Osmose Utilities Services were negligent in failing to maintain and repair a damaged electrical line pole that crashed to the ground and sparked the Smokehouse Creek Fire. Xcel had conducted its own review of the situation and acknowledged last month that “its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire.” Parker’s lawsuit aims to “recover the billions of dollars in losses” for ranchers.

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$2M in cocaine seized in Operation Lone Star traffic stop in South Texas

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers seized over 200 pounds of cocaine during a truck traffic stop in South Texas as part of the state’s Operation Lone Star border security initiative, the agency said Friday. The seizure of 98 kilos, or 216 pounds of cocaine, occurred Tuesday in the border town of Weslaco. DPS says troopers stopped a tractor-trailer “and discovered 90 cellophane-wrapped bundles of cocaine concealed inside a pallet of dried goods in the cargo area,” DPS said Friday. The drugs have an estimated street value of $2 million, the agency said. Agents from the DPS Criminal Investigations Division then went to a residence in McAllen, where they said they found three AR-15 rifles and an AK-47.

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Canyon Lake hits lowest water levels since opening in the 1960s

To say the drought has affected popular swim spots is an understatement. From Jacob's Well to Medina Lake, countless swim spots in the Texas Hill Country have been devastated by the lack of rainfall. Now a popular lake has reached a water level low that it hasn't experience since the 1960s, when the lake first opened. Canyon Lake is now 59% full with a mean water level of 886.77 feet, according to Water Data for Texas. In one year the Texas Hill County lake dropped from 76.4% full on April 22, 2023. "We are still in a severe drought, as we have been for well over a year," said Comal County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jen Crownover in an email to MySA. "We need rain. When we do get rain, and the lake levels come back up, that’s when the ramps can re-open."

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'Animal lover' state Rep. Claudia Ordaz recognized for work in Texas Legislature

Self-proclaimed "animal lover" state Rep. Claudia Ordaz is being recognized for her work to protect animals through her work as a member of the Texas House of Representatives. Ordaz, D-El Paso, was presented the Humane Hero Award by the political nonprofit Texas Humane Legislation Network during its Animal Advocacy Day event April 13 at Baylor School of Law in Waco, an opportunity for the group to educate animal welfare advocates on the legislative process. Ordaz was recognized alongside state Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Killeen. “As a lifelong animal lover, and adoptive mom to two fur babies, I was honored to receive the Humane Hero Award from my friends at the Texas Humane Legislative Network," Ordaz wrote in an email. "Receiving this award from passionate advocates like THLN who dedicate their lives to this work is incredibly special to me."

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Why is someone suing to get Travis County DA José Garza out of office — and what comes next?

A Travis County resident is trying to remove District Attorney José Garza from office. Betsy Dupuis filed a lawsuit Friday under House Bill 17, which allows anyone in a county to try to remove that county's top prosecutor. Her complaint is similar to a previous one filed against the DA. Dupuis also told KXAN that Garza's office mishandled a case after she accused someone of sexual assault. HB 17, which took effect in September, has yet to be used in court. Supporters of the law argue that some district attorneys in the state have gone “rogue" by, in their estimation, not enforcing laws, allowing folks to get out of jail more easily or dropping cases altogether. Garza's office isn’t prioritizing low-level offenses like marijuana possession, opting to dismiss some cases rather than locking up residents. Garza has also said he will not investigate cases involving abortion access. In her petition, Dupuis cites Garza's marijuana and abortion policies as reasons to remove him — as well as his prosecution of police officers accused of misconduct.

Opponents say the law undermines the will of voters, who elect district attorneys, and that it’s a way for the GOP-dominated Texas Legislature to meddle in Democratic counties, like Travis County. Garza cruised to a primary victory this spring and faces Republican Daniel Betts in the November general election. The traditionally blue county typically elects Democrats. At a news conference with congressional Democrats on Monday, an attorney representing two Texans being prosecuted for getting abortion-related care said HB 17 uses an enforcement mechanism similar to the state’s abortion ban. "What HB 17 did was deputize every single person in Texas to go after every single prosecutor in Texas. It makes no sense," Austin Kaplan said. "There are 254 counties. There are untold numbers of prosecutors ... and all of them now are subject to attack from [anyone] across Texas for their decisions." There have been a couple attempts to remove elected officials since HB 17 took effect. A petition in Hays County to remove District Attorney Kyle Higgins was dropped, and an earlier attempt to get Garza removed failed because the petitioner was being prosecuted by his office for drug possession.

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Texas Gov. Abbott proposes ban on gender-nonconforming behavior in public school classrooms

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott championed conservative policies at a convention in Dallas over the weekend, including his push for school vouchers. His comments took aim at transgender people, which may run afoul of the Constitution. Steven Monacelli with The Observer attended the Young Conservatives of Texas Convention. He recorded audio of the governor referencing the suspension of a male teacher in Lewisville, Texas, who showed up to work in a dress. "This person, a man dressing as a woman in a public high school in the state of Texas, they're trying to normalize the concept that this type of behavior is OK. This type of behavior is not OK. This is the type of behavior we want to make sure we end in the state of Texas," the governor said in the recording. The governor added that the example illustrates why Texas parents need school choice. It's important to note that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that LGBTQ people are protected from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. So, a ban on gender-nonconforming teachers in public school classrooms would be unconstitutional. However, that hasn't stopped other conservatives from endorsing Abbott's idea on social media, like State Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, and Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi. The governor's office didn't respond to an inquiry from Eyewitness News asking for clarification on his plan or policy to "end" what he called "this type of behavior."

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All in a financial storm: Why the Dallas Cowboys have been so inactive in free agency

In January, the Cowboys became the first NFL franchise to win at least 12 games in three straight regular seasons without reaching a conference championship game. An organization with a generation-long knack for unraveling, going winless in seven consecutive divisional-round games since 1996, found a new form of insufficient success. The first-round playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers exploited personnel shortcomings, including in the run game and run defense. Amid team owner Jerry Jones’ hot-button mention of being “all in” two weeks later, the offseason begged for change. There was just one problem. The Cowboys have little change to spare.

No team has been more frugal in free agency since the league year started March 13 than the breakthrough-starved Cowboys. As of today, they have signed two players who weren’t on their roster for the Jan. 14 embarrassment at AT&T Stadium and lost several veterans who were. Of the two additions, only linebacker Eric Kendricks is sure to make the 2024 team. Given the paradox of losing veteran talent at a time when they logically should be adding, the state of the Cowboys’ finances and how they got here warrant close inspection. The forthcoming primer on the team’s books focuses on the major factors and decisions, both past and future, that shape the landscape today. This exercise is meant to explain, not excuse, the headwind that has inspired recent inactivity. The study reveals a franchise handicapped by a confluence of forces, including double-edged contract restructures that added cap space in recent seasons and potential blockbuster extensions to come. What constitutes being “all in” is a subjective and ultimately tired conversation.

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National Stories

Hearing over gag order comes amid Donald Trump-Michael Cohen feud

Judge Juan Merchan will consider whether to fine Donald Trump for repeatedly violating the gag order barring the former president from publicly discussing witnesses or jurors in the criminal hush money case. Merchan is holding a hearing at 9:30 a.m. ET Tuesday after the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed a motion accusing Trump of repeatedly violating the gag order by posting on social media about his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, as well as about the jury in his case. Prosecutors want Merchan to fine Trump $1,000 per violation and to remind him that “future violations of this Court’s restrictions on his extrajudicial statements can be punished not only with additional fines but also with a term of incarceration of up to thirty days.”

“We think that it is important for the court to remind Mr. Trump that he is a criminal defendant,” prosecutor Chris Conroy said last week. “And like all criminal defendants he’s subject to court supervision.” Trump has continued to feud with Cohen, his former attorney and a key witness for the prosecution in the case, and complained that Cohen has been posting about him and he’s not allowed to respond. Trump nevertheless went after Cohen in remarks on camera after leaving court on Monday. “The things he got in trouble for were things that had nothing to do with me. He got in trouble. He went to jail. This has nothing to do with me. This had to do with the taxicab company that he owned, which is just something he owned – and medallions and borrowing money and a lot of things – but it had nothing to do with me,” Trump said of Cohen. Cohen responded on Twitter, saying, “Hey Von ShitzInPantz … your attacks of me stink of desperation. We are all hoping that you take the stand in your defense.”

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Columbia University extends hybrid classes through end of semester as tense protests prompt safety concerns

Columbia goes to hybrid classes amid turmoil: As some students have expressed safety concerns, Columbia said almost all classes on its main campus will be hybrid — technology permitting — until the end of the semester. “Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students’ learning and all the required academic operations,” the university said in an announcement Monday night. Organizers of the student protests have said their demonstrations — including a large encampment on one of the school’s lawns – have been peaceful and distanced themselves from non-student protesters who have gathered outside the campus, calling them “inflammatory individuals who do not represent us.”

NYU students and faculty arrested as protests proliferate: New York University students and faculty members were arrested during protests on the school’s campus Monday night, police said. The protest was one of several pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have emerged at major US colleges and universities in solidarity with Columbia’s protests, including at Yale, MIT, Harvard and Boston University. • Jewish students on heightened alert: As the major Jewish holiday of Passover began Monday, Columbia’s Jewish student organizations said they have increased security around their gatherings due to safety concerns, including having a police presence at the campus Jewish cultural center. Before Passover began, a rabbi linked to the university urged students to return home because he believes authorities “cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety.”

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Elon Musk accuses Australia of censorship after court bans violent video

Tech billionaire Elon Musk accused Australia of censorship after an Australian judge ruled that his social media platform X must block users worldwide from accessing video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded Tuesday by describing Musk as an “arrogant billionaire” who considered himself above the law and was out of touch with the public. X Corp., the tech company rebranded in 2023 by Musk after he bought Twitter, announced last week it would fight in court Australian orders to take down posts relating to a knife attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in an Assyrian Orthodox church as a service was being streamed online on April 15. The material was geoblocked from Australia but available elsewhere.

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Trump says RFK Jr. will hurt Biden. In private, he’s not so sure.

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he’s confident that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will pull more votes away from President Joe Biden than from him — a net win for the Republican’s candidacy. “He is Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, not mine,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late last month. “I love that he is running!” Behind closed doors, however, Trump is less sure. A Republican who was in the room with Trump this year as he reviewed polling said Trump was unsure how Kennedy would affect the race, asking the other people on hand whether or not Kennedy was actually good for his candidacy. And after having mostly ignored Kennedy early in his campaign, Trump has stepped up his efforts to brand him as left-wing and make him Biden’s problem, suggesting that he and allies are concerned about Kennedy’s ability to attract Republican voters.

In the post in which he said Kennedy was Biden’s political opponent, Trump called Kennedy “the most Radical Left Candidate in the race, by far,” someone who was “a big fan of the Green New Scam” and “other economy killing disasters.” In a video monologue he posted to his social media page this month, Trump described Kennedy as being to Biden’s left but said Kennedy has “got some nice things about him” and “I happen to like him.” “If I were a Democrat, I’d vote for RFK Jr. every single time over Biden because he’s frankly more in line with Democrats,” Trump said, adding: “I do believe that RFK Jr. will do very well. And I do believe he’s going to take a lot of votes away from crooked Joe Biden.” Democrats have increased their attention on third-party contenders, standing up super PACs and other anti-spoiler efforts meant to kneecap independent challengers who could pull from Biden and reduce the vote share Trump needs to get over the top this fall. And in defiance of earlier conventional wisdom about the 2024 race, new polling shows that right now Trump might have the most to lose with Kennedy on the ballot.

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House Republican infighting getting worse after foreign aid vote

The House came together Saturday to pass a sweeping $95 billion foreign aid package, a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation in the closely divided chamber. But the move only intensified infighting among House Republicans, who split sharply on the strategy to deliver assistance to foreign allies including Ukraine and Israel. In social media posts and TV interviews afterward, House Republicans took aim at one another — in unusually sharp terms — over the events that led up to the vote. Ultimately, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had to rely on a majority of Democrats to push through the most controversial piece of the package — $60 billion in aid to Ukraine for its war against Russia — in a gamble that could cost him his speakership. “It’s my absolute honor to be in Congress, but I serve with some real scumbags,” Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Tex.) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” calling out two GOP colleagues — Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and Bob Good (Va.) — who have broken with Johnson and voted against other legislation proposed by the GOP majority.

Gaetz and Good have also endorsed Gonzales’s primary challenger, something Johnson has warned members against doing. Gonzales’s CNN comments prompted a third hard-line GOP colleague, Rep. Elijah Crane (Ariz.), to announce his support for Gonzales’s opponent, Brandon Herrera, a gun enthusiast with a large YouTube following. Most House Republicans have grown weary of colleagues who consistently vote against legislation that must be addressed rather than work to seek compromise within the party. Since eight Republicans voted with all Democrats to oust then-speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), more pragmatic Republicans have become irate at the “no” bloc of the conference and encouraged GOP leadership to punish those members. Hard-liners argue that as the majority party Republicans should push for ideological purity and take a firm stand in negotiations to exert concessions from a Democratic-led Senate and White House. But in voting against conservative measures they do not believe go far enough, other Republicans say, hard-liners are weakening Johnson’s hand in negotiations because the conference is not united around a set of demands.

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Ben Shapiro is on the warpath to purge the conspiratorial cranks from the right

Last month, conspiratorial right-wing commentator Candace Owens was fired by The Daily Wire, the conservative media company Shapiro founded nearly a decade ago. Her ouster followed a months-long cold war with Shapiro largely fueled by her descent into overt, proud anti-Semitism. “I think her behavior during this has been disgraceful,” said Shapiro last fall, referring to Owens’ analysis of the war in Gaza and propagation of misinformation about Israel. It took awhile after Shapiro sounded the alarm, but Owens was eventually dismissed for her indulgence of bigotry. And yet, his enemy’s defeat has not compelled Shapiro to lay down his sword. While Owens has been expelled out from under his own roof, Shapiro has turned his sights on other cranks on the Right and grown increasingly strident in his denunciations of them.

Tucker Carlson, in particular, has become a regular target of Shapiro’s. Hostilities between the two conservative media giants broke out even before the Shapiro-Owens spat, when Shapiro knocked Carlson for “downplaying” the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel just days after it happened. Shortly after that, Shapiro put the former Fox News host on blast again over another conversation he had with anti-Israel commentator Douglas Macgregor. “Peace through strength has been a conservative position for as long as I’ve been alive, certainly. This idea that you are heightening the chances of a world war if America actually flexes its muscles sometimes, it’s a bizarre one when what we know is precisely the opposite,” submitted Shapiro. Carlson’s first attempt clap back came about a month later, when he hosted Owens for a conversation about the drama at The Daily Wire. From there, his attacks got more explicit, culminating in a stunning declaration that Shapiro’s concern for Israel in the wake of October 7 revealed that he “obviously” doesn’t “care about America.” Shapiro responded to the personal attacks. But much more notably, he’s also continued to forensically pick apart Carlson’s positions as well as his form more generally. On Monday, for example, Shapiro devoted more than 20 minutes to torching Carlson over his recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. “‘Just asking questions’ doesn’t make you a critical thinker,” argued Shapiro, who posited that Carlson’s rampant conspiracy theorizing — about 9/11, aliens, and much more on Rogan’s show, for example — is little more than a business strategy.

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Pennsylvania race previews Democrats’ plan to focus campaign on democracy

Democratic congressional candidate Mike O’Brien had been knocking on doors in a leafy suburban neighborhood here for only about 20 minutes when he came upon a house with a sign featuring his opponent’s face in the window. He smiled. “WANTED for crimes against the CONSTITUTION,” the sign read. “Scott Perry for Prison. Traitor. Insurrectionist. Criminal.” “That’s one of the reasons why I’m running,” O’Brien, one of six Democrats vying to unseat Perry, a GOP congressman, told the couple who answered the door. “You can’t let Trump and Perry overthrow democracy under the guise of patriotism anymore.” It’s a message that Democrats, including President Biden, hope will resonate in places like Camp Hill, a middle-class suburb outside Pennsylvania’s capital, Harrisburg. The area was once a Republican stronghold but has become more politically independent in recent years due to population growth and moderate Republicans alienated by Donald Trump’s norm-busting behavior.

The competitive Democratic primary here Tuesday offers a preview of how Democrats intend to make democracy a central issue in competitive races for seats such as Perry’s, which could help determine control of the narrowly divided U.S. House. Most of the Democrats vying to take on Perry have made his efforts to undermine the 2020 election results a part of their campaigns, but only O’Brien has made it his central pitch. The race also provides a glimpse of the case Biden will make in battleground states like Pennsylvania. Biden has said his reelection is above all else about preserving democracy, which he warns is under threat if Trump wins a second term. In his first campaign speech of 2024, on the day before the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Biden stood less than 100 miles from here in Valley Forge. “Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time, and it’s what the 2024 election is all about,” he said. It remains unclear whether voters will see it that way. Beyond the defense of democracy, Americans will be asked to weigh more tangible issues, including inflation, immigration and abortion. The age of the candidates — Biden is 81 and Trump is 77 — will also loom large in a presidential rematch that polls show many Americans didn’t want.

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Lead Stories

How Texas unleashed a geothermal boom

With its nation-leading renewables fleet and oil and gas industry, Texas is poised to dominate what boosters hope will be America’s next great energy boom: a push to tap the heat of the subterranean earth for electricity and industry. That technology, known as geothermal energy, has demonstrated the rare ability to unite the state’s warring political camps — and is fueling a boom in startups that seek to take it national. While other forms of renewable energy lost ground during Texas’s 2021 and 2023 legislative sessions before a Legislature that combined a hard-right political bent with a focus on building more “dispatchable” power, the geothermal industry advanced. State lawmakers passed four key bills in 2023 that helped lay the foundation for a new generation of drilling — with just one vote against. In the 2023 session, “we didn’t get put into the renewable bucket, we didn’t really get put into the oil and gas bucket,” said Barry Smitherman, former Republican head of the state Railroad Commission and head of the Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance.

Instead, “we became this hybrid that was acceptable to people on both sides of the aisle.”? The regulatory clarity established by those bills has laid the groundwork for a new generation of startups powered by the state’s urgent need for reliable electricity in the face of increasingly extreme weather, as well as a growing trickle of oil and gas veterans leaving an industry they see as plagued by boom-and-bust cycles. As of last year, Texas had 11 of the 27 total geothermal startups in the U.S. On Wednesday, startup Bedrock Energy unveiled a new geothermal-powered heating and cooling system at a commercial real estate complex in Austin. Earlier this month, next-generation drilling company Quaise — which uses high-powered radio waves to drill through hard rock — filed a permit with the state energy regulator to begin field testing its drills, years ahead of what industry insiders had thought was possible. Houston-based Fervo is building a 400-megawatt project in Utah. Military bases across the state are looking into geothermal as a potential source of secure electricity in an era of price spikes and cyberattacks. And later this year, Sage Geosystems, a company founded by three former Shell executives, will begin using a fracked well as a means of storing renewable energy — which CEO Cindy Taff said will get the company most of the way toward the ultimate goal of commercially viable geothermal electricity.

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Poll: Election interest hits new low in tight Biden-Trump race

The share of voters who say they have high interest in the 2024 election has hit a nearly 20-year low at this point in a presidential race, according to the latest national NBC News poll, with majorities holding negative views of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. The poll also shows Biden trimming Trump’s previous lead to just 2 points in a head-to-head contest, an improvement within the margin of error compared to the previous survey, as Biden bests Trump on the issues of abortion and uniting the country, while Trump is ahead on competency and dealing with inflation. And it finds inflation and immigration topping the list of most important issues facing the country, as just one-third of voters give Biden credit for an improving economy.

But what also stands out in the survey is how the low voter interest and the independent candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could scramble what has been a stable presidential contest with more than six months until Election Day. While Trump holds a 2-point edge over Biden head to head, Biden leads Trump by 2 points in a five-way ballot test including Kennedy and other third-party candidates. “I don’t think Biden has done much as a president. And if Trump gets elected, I just feel like it’s going to be the same thing as it was before Biden got elected,” said poll respondent Devin Fletcher, 37, of Wayne, Michigan, a Democrat who said he’s still voting for Biden. “I just don’t feel like I have a candidate that I’m excited to vote for,” Fletcher added. Another poll respondent from New Jersey, who declined to provide her name and voted for Biden in 2020, said she wouldn’t be voting in November. “Our candidates are horrible. I have no interest in voting for Biden. He did nothing. And I absolutely will not vote for Trump,” she said.

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Supreme Court to weigh whether camping ban violates rights of homeless people

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Monday on a case that could determine whether local laws banning homeless people from sleeping outdoors violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. cities and states, including Texas, have passed laws in recent years that make it illegal for people to camp outdoors in public spaces in an effort to curb visible or unsheltered homelessness. The city of Dallas and lead agency Housing Forward have prioritized closing encampments throughout the city with a process that leads to housing and support options. But residents who report camps to the city’s 311 hotline say homeless residents often pop up nearby the following day with few permanent changes to their situation. Unsheltered homelessness has skyrocketed over the years in the northern Dallas neighborhood of Hillcrest Forest, where Bruce Wilke lives.

His neighborhood association’s 700 members shared concerns in an annual survey indicating growing reports of encampments over the decades. “Homeless people in and near our neighborhood have gone from zero to the second-greatest concern,” Wilke said. “Crime and personal security has always been No 1.” But advocates for people experiencing homelessness have argued that camping bans in public spaces are punitive measures that are not only ineffective at addressing root causes but are unconstitutional measures that hurt homeless people’s health. The Supreme Court could decide the case by June 30, the end of the court’s term. The city of Grants Pass, Ore., started citing people sleeping outdoors with $295 tickets to deter homeless people from camping in public spaces, according to court documents. The class-action suit going to the Supreme Court was originally filed in 2018 by a group of homeless individuals who pushed back against the city, arguing the law criminalized their state of homelessness. The courts decided in that case it is cruel and unusual punishment to fine or arrest people for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go.

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Opening statements to show the stark personal and political stakes of Trump’s first criminal trial

Donald Trump was once, and may soon be again, the most powerful man in the world. But on Monday, his diminished reality as a criminal defendant will become clear in humbling fashion during opening statements in his first criminal trial. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee has long chafed at the constraints of the law, the Constitution and general decorum as he’s presented himself as an omnipotent force throughout his business and political career. But with jury selection now complete in his hush money trial in Manhattan, Trump’s fate is in the hands of prosecutors, his attorneys, a judge and 12 people, who, according to bedrock principles of the legal system, are regarded as peers of the ex-president. Nothing is more antithetical to Trump’s lifelong operating assumption that because of who he is, he is immune from such accountability. Just over six months from the election that could see him restored to the White House, Trump has little ability to dictate action in proceedings in which his liberty may be at stake.

His normal weapons of histrionics, obfuscation and intimidation have no currency inside a courtroom. The fact that he is compelled to be in court four days a week for multiple weeks is also a serious inconvenience to the Republican candidate. This constraint was exacerbated on Saturday, one of the few windows to get out on the campaign trial, when his rally in North Carolina – a swing state that President Joe Biden is trying to flip – was canceled owing to a dangerous storm. Regardless of its outcome, this trial – and the way it’s affecting Trump’s schedule and demeanor – is underscoring how the presumptive GOP nominee is like no other presidential candidate in history. Whether or not he’s a convicted felon by Election Day, voters will be reminded of questions around his character and his many legal entanglements – with three more criminal cases looming, all in which he’s pleaded not guilty. And while Trump has used a narrative of victimhood to great success in GOP primaries, it remains to be seen how that argument lands with a broader electorate. Trump’s unaccustomed loss of his capacity to control events may be one reason why he insists he will testify in the trial even though it might be injurious to his case. He’s already seeking to devalue the prosecution in the minds of voters who will be charged in November with deciding whether they want him again as their president.

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State Stories

Politics, suspicion infiltrate nonpartisan races for Harris County appraisal board

County appraisal board elections were set for a Saturday in early May as a way to insulate the newly created elected positions from partisan rancor. In Harris County, politics and suspicion are creeping into the three races anyway. The county Democratic and Republican parties have endorsed and are campaigning for candidates in each of the three races. Accusations of nefarious intentions on the part of conservatives are being leveled by local Democrats jaded by years of state meddling in Houston and Harris County’s governments.

“The appraisal process has worked well. There was no demonstrated need for this,” Harris County Democratic Party Chair Mike Doyle said. “I don’t buy the argument this was simply intended to give the public more input.” At issue are the elections for three positions on the Harris County Appraisal District’s nine-member board of directors, the governing body of the agency that determines annual property values used by local taxing entities to set their property tax rates and budgets. The elected positions were created as part of a sweeping constitutional amendment aimed at lowering property taxes approved by voters statewide in November. The last sentence of the November measure created four-year terms for three appraisal board positions in the state’s 50 counties with a population larger than 75,000. Until now, all members have been appointed by the local taxing entities represented by the district. The change to appraisal boards in the Houston region also apply to Liberty, Montgomery, Galveston, Brazoria and Fort Bend counties, although Galveston County has canceled its election because not enough candidates filed to run for the posts.

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Houston Chronicle Editorial: We endorse Jarvis Johnson for Senate District 15 special election

The crowded Democratic race to replace current Mayor John Whitmire in the Texas Senate has narrowed to two candidates with starkly different backgrounds and philosophies of governance and who will face each other in back-to-back elections. First, voters will have to decide who will fill the rest of Whitmire’s current term with a special election on May 4. Then, candidates face off again to see who gets the seat for the next term in the runoff election on May 28. We recommend Rep. Jarvis Johnson, 52, because of his lawmaking experience, but we also see the effectiveness of emergency room nurse and tireless organizer Molly Cook, 32, who has already successfully made waves without an official title. In a debate Wednesday, Johnson leaned into his experience again: “The Senate is not a place to learn politics.”

Cook isn't entirely a newcomer. She’s driven two high-profile local movements; one opposing the Interstate 45 rebuild that has helped produce some community wins and another to renegotiate the balance of power in the region’s council of governments; that issue is still shaking out. And she has a knack for finding the levers of power. She also brings personal and professional knowledge to the role. Cook has talked openly about her own experience having an abortion years ago and regularly references the lessons she’s learned in the emergency room. Cook summarized her philosophy: “Half of the work is going to be in the Capitol and half of the work is going to be outside the Capitol.” She would, with her emphasis on health care and transportation, no doubt make an impact in the Senate and has shown her ability to reach people well beyond the halls of power. But Johnson’s experience isn’t just a good talking point for an editorial board that does believe in sparing taxpayers startup costs when possible. From his time as a City Council member to his years in the Texas Legislature, he takes a practical approach that we think will serve him well in the Senate. His priorities are strong: defending public education, reforming the criminal justice system, Medicaid expansion and environmental protections. As we noted in our primary endorsement, Johnson has tried to take on concrete batch plants that threaten Houston's air and residents' health, and he would've created a sickle cell anemia registry had it not been for a vengeful veto by Gov. Greg Abbott, who struck down a litany of passed bills as revenge against school voucher opponents.

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Texas Rangers’ not-so-smooth win in Atlanta epitomized a bumpy start to their season

Sometimes it’s about the grind. It’s the best way to sum up both the Rangers’ 6-4 win at Atlanta Sunday and the start to this season. It has not been smooth, certainly not as smooth as that magical World Series run eight months ago. They lost their third baseman to a fractured thumb on the season’s fourth day, had to replace a closer two weeks in and are navigating around a thin starting rotation already impacted by injury. And those are only the ones that really stick out. Corey Seager is getting by with a swing still in spring training; the twin rookie phenoms are merely surviving.

And, yet, after a 17-game stretch without a day off, they can take a breath just above .500. They went 5-5 on a 10-game road trip that will equal the longest of the season. Sometimes, surviving is thriving. It certainly beats stumbling like, oh, let’s see here, the defending AL West champs. At 12-11, the Rangers already hold a five-game edge on their rivals, the Houston Astros. It’s never too early to build a lead. “This was an important game to make you feel good about the stretch we’ve been through,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’ve been through a lot. And this stretch is as important as any we’ll have this season. We’ve got a lot of baseball to play, obviously. April doesn’t determine the season, but you don’t want to start out in a hole.” On Sunday, it was all about the grind and overcoming obstacles. Starter Michael Lorenzen gave up a three-run homer in the first, but stuck in his conviction of attacking Atlanta with what he called “the best stuff I’ve had in years.” Which is kind of a lot to say when you threw a no-hitter barely nine months ago. Outfielder Evan Carter, with half of his hometown of Elizabethton, Tenn., on hand homered and made a diving catch, which was cool for friends and family to record on their iPhones. But he also got his first-ever regular-season hit against a lefty after going 0 for 20 (and even being pinch-hit for a night earlier). It came on a weak ground ball to the right side that he beat out with hustle. Became that much more significant when Adolis García, the one Ranger who had started the season like a lightning bolt followed with what was ultimately a game-deciding homer.

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These 3 runoff races will affect the North Texas political landscape

The May 28 runoff elections are highlighted by House Speaker Dade Phelan’s fight for political survival in a race that could change the face of Texas legislative politics, but there’s a lot more at stake for voters. Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, is trying to fend off a challenge from David Covey, the former chairman of the Orange County Republican Party. Covey won the first round by a 46% to 43% margin. A candidate must win at least 50% of the vote to win a primary outright. Money won’t be a problem for either candidate, so the race hinges on who can mobilize their supporters in what’s expected to be a low-turnout race. While the Phelan-Covey contest is the most important on the May 28 ballot, other contests will affect the local political landscape. Let’s take a look at three impactful races in North Texas.

Incumbent Justin Holland of Rockwall is one of five House Republicans representing Collin County whom Attorney General Ken Paxton targeted for defeat in the primary after they voted to impeach him last year. The Senate cleared him on charges of corruption and abuse of power on a mostly party-line vote in September. Holland, one of the Republicans who blocked a plan similar to private school vouchers sought by Gov. Greg Abbott, caught a break in the March 5 primary when the governor was neutral in his race against Katrina Pierson, the national spokesperson for then-candidate Donald Trump’s 2016 White House campaign. Abbott stepped in soon after the primary, endorsing Pierson and holding a rally for her in Rockwall. Holland now has Paxton and Abbott working against him. Abbott spent about $6 million on his slate of candidates for the primary. When Lupe Valdez resigned as Dallas County sheriff in late 2017 to run for governor against Abbott, she backed Marian Brown — her third in command — as her successor. After being appointed interim sheriff, Brown won the 2018 sheriff’s race and was reelected in 2020 to a four-year term. She is the first Black woman to lead the department. Now Valdez wants her old job back and is staging a serious challenge against her former ally. State Rep. Craig Goldman had a 44% to 26% lead over construction company owner John O’Shea in the March primary to replace longtime U.S. Rep. Kay Granger in Fort Worth-anchored District 12. A top lieutenant of the House speaker, Goldman has the backing of most of the Tarrant County GOP establishment, as well as Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, Abbott and former Gov. Rick Perry. O’Shea, who is running an America First campaign, is endorsed by Paxton. The race is a test of whether establishment Republicans in Tarrant County can win a district that includes hotbeds of the hard-right conservatism. Historically, establishment politicians from both parties have thrived in the district.

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For disabled guests, the Texas Eclipse Festival was a weekend of broken promises

About 40,000 people attended the Texas Eclipse Festival in Burnet, only to have it shut down a day before it was supposed to. Organizers asked folks to evacuate right after totality — around 1:30 p.m. last Monday afternoon — because of concerns about severe weather in the forecast. The cancellation, and rumors of mismanagement on social media, have spurred calls for refunds and even investigations. But for festival goers with disabilities, the problems were obvious from the start. Tanya Valencia has a lot of experience going to music festivals in her wheelchair. She said from the moment she arrived at the festival on Friday, she knew it was not set up with disabled patrons in mind. When they drove up to the site on a private ranch about 90 minutes northwest of Austin, Valencia said she and her husband waited in what they already knew was the wrong line of cars for over an hour, only to find out there wasn’t accessible parking.

With little help from staff, they finally made it to the campsite for disabled guests so they could catch a shuttle to the proper festival entrance. But, Valencia said the problems kept piling up. “And at that point, me and my husband decided that it legitimately was not safe for me personally, as a disabled person, moving forward,” she said. “We decided to go back to our car and just not even try to enter the festival.” The Texas Standard spoke to five disabled patrons who all said they dealt with a lack of transportation, difficult terrain and poor communication between event staff and those hired specifically to assist disabled patrons. Festival organizers also had not erected the promised viewing platforms for disabled attendees on time, making it a struggle to see many of the acts. Sal Bonaccorso ran into this issue attending the festival with his 78-year-old mother, Rosy. “There was like this dirt mound where there was a lake that was fenced off and there were no guardrails or anything,” he said. “It was like a drop-off dirt cliff, almost. And I put my mom up there with her walker.”

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As drought grinds on, task force members slam 'meager' Austin Water conservation plan

Members of a City of Austin water planning task force will hold a specially called meeting Thursday to address concerns that new Austin Water conservation plans are “not ambitious." The utility's proposed conservation and drought response policies came under criticism when they were released April 15, just weeks before Austin Water hoped to get the plans approved by City Council. The plans set rules for how the city manages its limited water supply stored in Highland Lakes reservoirs. Under state law, the plans must be updated every five years. The conservation plan sets year-round goals and policies for reducing water consumption and waste, regardless of weather conditions. The drought contingency plan goes into effect in times of drought. It sets “triggers” for when Austin declares different stages of emergency and lays out restrictions to water use depending on what stage the city is in.

Both proposals came under scrutiny at the April 15 meeting of Austin’s Integrated Water Resource Planning Community Task Force. The task force is made up of a group of volunteers, many with expertise on water issues, appointed by City Council to advise on water policy. Austin residents have used, on average, 64 gallons of water a day per person over the last five years. The utility’s new conservation plan aims to reduce that average water use by 2 gallons to 62 gallons daily, per person, by 2029. Factoring in industrial and business uses, Autinites average 127 gallons of water use per capita daily. Under the new conservation plan, Austin Water aims to reduce that by 4 gallons daily to 123 gallons per day by 2029. Beyond residential and business uses, Austin loses an estimated 21 gallons of water per person daily through leaks in water treatment and distribution systems. The new plan has a goal of reducing those leaks to 19 gallons per person daily by 2029. Utility officials say these water savings can be achieved through increasing water reuse, plugging more leaks in the system and encouraging conservation year-round through education and incentive programs. But the conservation goals quickly came under fire from task force members who pointed out that Austin Water’s new plan sets less ambitious conservation goals than it currently has on the books.

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What is Alex Jones doing in this tiny far West Texas town?

On the edge of Big Bend National Park, in the remote far West Texas town of approximately 150, Terlingua residents have coined a lot of sayings. There’s one about dating in the town: “The odds are good, but the goods are odd.” There’s one about the brand of eccentrics who choose to live there: “Everyone in Terlingua is running from something,” said Stephanie Neckar, a local real estate agent. Another resident recently told me: “We’re all here because we’re not all there.” I was talking to these folks about a new interloper who ought to fit right in: the excitable alt-right radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones, along with his Austin-based company, Free Speech Systems, was ordered to pay $1.5 billion in damages to the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims in 2022, after he promoted false conspiracy theories suggesting that the massacre was a hoax and that the deceased children were actually actors. Shortly after that verdict, Jones and Free Speech Systems filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. “I’m officially out of money, personally,” Jones said in his Infowars podcast. “It’s all going to be filed. It’s all going to be public. And you will see that Alex Jones has almost no cash.”

Nevertheless, property records show that in June 2023, his wife, Erika Wulff Jones, purchased twenty acres—appraised at $20,000, according to property records—in Terlingua Ranch, a sparsely populated swath of desert north of town. If Terlingua is offbeat, the ranch is even weirder. It’s where David Kaczynski, brother of Ted Kaczynski—the Unabomber—retreated to connect with nature and escape the media throngs that wanted to know more about his infamous sibling. And it’s where a woman named Judith Broughton kept her dead mother buried in a blue tarp beneath her kitchen floor while she collected the woman’s Social Security benefits. Terlingua and the ranch have also long been places of refuge. As Texas Monthly writer at large Robert Draper wrote in 1996, “Terlingua is the state’s last outpost for outcasts, for those maligned American loners who fashion their own crude American dream in the anonymity of the desert.” A Terlingua resident, who owns land neighboring the plot Wulff Jones bought, spoke with me on the condition that I withhold his name. (Terlingua is an intimate hamlet, he noted, and “anything I say is going to piss off half of the community.”) He told me that Terlingua was the first place he’d ever felt a sense of belonging. “And I’m not the strangest person in town,” he said, “only maybe the third strangest.” Terlingua residents first took notice of Jones and his wife last year, when they were seen on a couple of occasions dining at High Sierra, one of the few watering holes in the area. “I heard that he partied pretty hard,” said Neckar, who also expressed some surprise that the Joneses bought property where they did.

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San Antonio's CFO has a plan to end CPS Energy revenue fights

San Antonio’s chief financial officer has a plan to reinvest CPS Energy profits back into the utility to help stave off future rate increases. For a variety of reasons, the city-owned energy utility has brought in unusually high profits over the past two years. At the same time, its leaders have continued asking to raise the rates of its customers, who should theoretically be benefiting from the company’s success. While that dynamic has rankled everyone from conservatives in the state Legislature to the city’s prospective mayoral hopefuls, it has so far proven difficult to solve. CPS Energy shares 14% of its revenue with the city — the equivalent of a private company sharing its profits with its shareholders — which accounts for roughly a quarter of the city budget.

But unexpectedly high profits in the past two years generated about $135 million beyond what was needed for the city budget. During the 2024 budget much of that year’s surplus was chopped up for pet projects at the 11th hour, even as council members knew rate hikes were coming down the pipeline. A similar situation involving Austin Energy last year drew warning shots from members of the Texas Legislature, one of whom filed Senate Bill 1110, which would have ended cities’ ability to transfer profits from municipally owned utilities to their budgets if the utility is seeking a rate increase. Locally, the optics of divvying up CPS Energy’s windfall led Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8) to compare his colleagues to the children’s game Hungry Hungry Hippos and Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6) to propose a drastic cut in the city’s share of the revenue. In an interview Thursday, Ben Gorzell, the chief financial officer, said using windfall money to stop rate increases is more complicated than it sounds. Specifically, it involves meshing an inconsistent revenue source with a business that needs to plan for the long term.

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Texas Women’s Foundation names new president, CEO

Texas Women’s Foundation, an investment and advocacy organization for girls and women, has named marketing and communications professional Karen Hughes White to lead the organization as president and CEO after an extensive search. White has led nonprofit organizations focused on the needs of women, girls and children for the past 20 years, with stints at Susan G. Komen, Tri Delta sorority and St. Jude’s.

White begins her position on April 29 and will give short remarks at the Texas Women’s Foundation’s Leadership Forum & Awards Celebration event taking place at the Omni Dallas Hotel on April 30. “From the fierce breast cancer survivors at Susan G. Komen, to the courageous patients and families of St. Jude, and the brave, bold and kind members and volunteers of Tri Delta, I’ve been humbled and inspired by the women I’ve served with and for throughout my career,” White said.

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WNBA’s Dallas Wings poised to relocate to downtown Dallas arena in proposed deal with city

Dallas officials are poised to approve a 15-year deal designed to bring the WNBA’s Dallas Wings to the downtown convention center arena, three city officials told The Dallas Morning News. The City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a resident use and incentive agreement for the Dallas Memorial Auditorium, part of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center downtown. The auditorium is planned to be renovated by 2026 as part of a larger redevelopment project. The Wings aren’t named in City Council agenda documents, but the proposed deal is described as relocation of an existing team that would use the arena at least 70 days a year between April 15 and Nov. 1. The WNBA season typically runs from the beginning of training camp in April to the league finals in October. No other professional sports league that plays in arenas has a similar schedule.

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National Stories

Tax breaks to hire local journalists approved in New York, a national first

— The decadeslong struggle of local media is getting a lifeline in New York. The state budget, set to be finalized Saturday, includes the nation’s first payroll tax credit for local news organizations in a bid to encourage new hiring amid the ongoing struggles of journalism outlets to cover their communities. Lawmakers and independent media companies praised the tax break, which will designate $30 million a year to the program, called the Local Journalism Sustainability Act. “A thriving local news industry is vital to the health of our democracy,” bill sponsor Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat, said in a statement. “It’s our responsibility to help ensure New Yorkers have access to independent and community-focused journalism.”

New York spends more than $8 billion a year on tax incentives and grants to attract and retain businesses in the high-tax state, and advocates of the measure have for years sought to extend the largesse to the newspaper and local TV industry. The late addition to the $237 billion budget allows eligible outlets to receive a 50 percent refundable credit for the first $50,000 of a journalist’s salary, up to a total of $300,000 per outlet. The money is largely focused on independently owned publications, but also can cover hiring journalists in print media outlets that “demonstrate a reduction in circulation or in the number of full-time equivalent employees of at least 20 percent over the previous five years.” The aid will be split between companies with 100 or fewer employees and larger ones.

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Tesla cuts prices in China, Germany and around globe after US cuts

Tesla has cut prices in a number of its major markets, including China and Germany, following price cuts in the United States, as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying price war for electric vehicles (EVs), especially against Chinese EVs. The price cuts come after Tesla, led by its billionaire CEO Elon Musk, reported this month that its global vehicle deliveries in the first quarter fell for the first time in nearly four years. "Tesla prices must change frequently in order to match production with demand," Musk posted on X on Sunday. Tesla shares slipped 2.7% in pre-market trading on Monday. They have fallen 40.8% so far this year.

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Company bosses draw a red line on office activists

Business leaders are sending a warning to staff: Dissent that disrupts the workplace won’t be tolerated. Google’s decision to fire 28 workers involved in sit-in protests against the tech giant’s cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government is the most recent and starkest example of companies’ stricter stance. Rifts with employees have spilled into public view at National Public Radio, the New York Times and other workplaces. Bosses are losing patience with staff eager to be the conscience of their companies, especially as employees pressure them on charged issues such as politics and the war in Gaza, executives, board members and C-suite advisers say. The moves are a correction to the last several years, when corporate leaders often brooked dissent and encouraged staff to voice their personal convictions.

On issues such as immigration policy and racial justice, many chief executives publicly expressed corporate solidarity. Google, in particular, has long prided itself on an open work culture that fostered internal debate, much like a college campus. It is an open question as to what rights workers really have to speak out on the job. “None of this is settled,” said Genevieve Lakier, a law professor at the University of Chicago. Workers in the private sector aren’t protected by the First Amendment’s guarantees of free speech, and “there is still a lot of uncertainty about how much free expression by workers is consistent with the operations of the workplace,” she said. Numerous workers reported being fired from companies after writing contentious social-media posts about the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel or the war in Gaza. At Google, leaders said the protesting workers violated company policy by taking over office spaces and disrupting work. While preserving the company’s open culture is important, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote to staff afterward, “we also need to be more focused in how we work, collaborate, discuss and even disagree.”

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The House votes for possible TikTok ban in the US, but don't expect the app to go away anytime soon

The House passed legislation Saturday that would ban TikTok in the United States if the popular social media platform’s China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake within a year, but don’t expect the app to go away anytime soon. The decision by House Republicans to include TikTok as part of a larger foreign aid package, a priority for President Joe Biden with broad congressional support for Ukraine and Israel, fast-tracked the ban after an earlier version had stalled in the Senate. A standalone bill with a shorter, six-month selling deadline passed the House in March by an overwhelming bipartisan vote as both Democrats and Republicans voiced national security concerns about the app’s owner, the Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd. The modified measure, passed by a 360-58 vote, now goes to the Senate after negotiations that lengthened the timeline for the company to sell to nine months, with a possible additional three months if a sale is in progress.

Legal challenges could extend that timeline even further. The company has indicated that it would likely go to court to try and block the law if it passes, arguing it would deprive the app’s millions of users of their First Amendment rights. TikTok has lobbied hard against the legislation, pushing the app’s 170 million U.S. users — many of whom are young — to call Congress and voice opposition. But the ferocity of the pushback angered lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where there is broad concern about Chinese threats to the U.S. and where few members use the platform themselves. “We will not stop fighting and advocating for you,” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a video that was posted on the platform last month and directed toward the app’s users. “We will continue to do all we can, including exercising our legal rights, to protect this amazing platform that we have built with you.” The bill’s quick path through Congress is extraordinary because it targets one company and because Congress has taken a hands-off approach to tech regulation for decades. Lawmakers had failed to act despite efforts to protect children online, safeguard users’ privacy and make companies more liable for content posted on their platforms, among other measures. But the TikTok ban reflects widespread concerns from lawmakers about China.

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‘National security suicide’: Alaska senator slams Biden admin’s move to restrict drilling and mining

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) criticized the Biden administration’s decision to put millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness outside the reach of oil drilling and critical mineral mining, likening the moves to “national security suicide.” “Well, it’s lawless. He doesn’t have the authority to do it. ... It’s, as I say, national security suicide,” Sullivan said Sunday during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Alaska has long been at odds with the federal government over the use and protection of its enormous natural resources, particularly when a Democrat is in the White House. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management on Friday officially recommended against building the Ambler Road — a proposed 211 mile-long roadway that would have expanded mining operations into an undeveloped part of the state — a recommendation that effectively kills the project and puts zinc and copper deposits out of reach.

Interior also issued a final rule that will remove the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean, 11 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and nearly 3 million acres of federal waters off the Alaska coast from consideration for new oil and gas leasing. The decision by the Interior Department reaped praise from environmental and conservation groups, as well as some some native tribes — but not all, Sullivan said Sunday. “When this president on Friday with [Interior] Secretary [Deb] Haaland announced that they did this because the Alaska Native, the indigenous people on the North Slope of Alaska, asked them to, they wanted them to, the leaders of the North Slope of Alaska were unanimous in opposition to this,” Sullivan said. But other local tribes lauded the Biden administration’s decision and said the Trump administration did not consult with them before approving the project.

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Tensions are so high at Columbia ahead of Passover that all classes will be virtual today

Officials at Columbia University, facing surging tensions on campus that have raised safety concerns, have announced all classes will be virtual on Monday as Passover begins. Columbia President Minouche Shafik said in a statement the decision was made to “deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps.” The move underscores how tense the situation has become at the Ivy League school and the enormous challenge facing Shafik to get the situation under control. Shafik has faced new calls for her resignation, and a rabbi linked to the university even urged Jewish students to stay home due to concerns about their safety. As pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus stretched into their fifth day, Columbia announced Sunday that students will have the option to attend classes virtually on Monday due to “campus activity.” Passover, a major Jewish holiday, is set to begin Monday evening.

The White House, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams all weighed in over the weekend, denouncing calls for violence against Jews. Adams said he was “horrified and disgusted with the antisemitism spewed at and around” Columbia and said the New York Police Department “will not hesitate to arrest anyone” found to be breaking the law. The crisis at Columbia amounts to a massive test for Shafik, who took the helm of the university less than a year ago. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican and frequent critic of Ivy League schools, called for Shafik to immediately step down. “It is crystal clear that Columbia University -previously a beacon of academic excellence founded by Alexander Hamilton - needs new leadership,” Stefanik said in a statement on Sunday. Following a disastrous hearing on campus antisemitism before Congress in December, the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania came under enormous pressure and both resigned.

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Lead Stories

'Rogue prosecutor' lawsuit to remove Travis County DA Jose´ Garza moves forward

A prosecuting attorney has been assigned to a case to remove Travis County District Attorney Jose´ Garza from office under Texas' "rogue prosecutor" statute. The petition was filed April 8 under Texas House Bill 17, which allows for the removal of a district attorney for "official misconduct" — including declining to prosecute certain criminal offenses. The Texas law took effect Sept. 1 and was part of a movement among state Republicans to rein in "rogue" progressive prosecutors. Dib Waldrip, presiding judge of the 3rd Administrative Judicial Region, will oversee the case. On Friday, he assigned Bell County Attorney Jim Nichols to be the prosecuting attorney. HB 17 specified that, in removal suits, a prosecuting attorney from another county must be assigned to the case. The case was filed by Mary Elizabeth Dupuis, a Travis County resident.

The petition argues that Garza has policies not to prosecute certain crimes, which amount to "incompetency and official misconduct." The filing alleges that the district attorney’s office has adopted a “blanket non-prosecution policy” for drug possession and cites Garza’s promise not to prosecute abortion crimes. The petition also points to Garza's approach to police use-of-force cases, which it describes as “discriminating” against law enforcement officials, as evidence of prosecutorial misconduct. The content of the petition is the same as one filed last November by Jason Salazar, but the case was complicated by Salazar's October arrest on suspicion of drug possession. Salazar's case was dismissed in January. The American-Statesman previously reported that the petition was written by Martin Harry, a former Republican candidate for district attorney. In 2020, Harry lost the general election for district attorney to Garza. Harry, who now resides in Florida, has posted on X, formerly Twitter, recruiting Travis County residents to file the petition. Harry’s website also contains a blank copy of the petition.

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House passes foreign aid bill, sending help to Ukraine and Israel

The House passed a sweeping $95 billion package Saturday to aid foreign allies amid global threats, showcasing broad support for America’s role in the world in a risky push by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), whose far-right flank is threatening to oust him for the action. In the vote’s immediate aftermath, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — who had pledged to eject Johnson from the speakership if he advanced Ukraine aid — did not take action. She told reporters she hopes colleagues face backlash from constituents while they’re on recess this week and consider joining the effort to oust the speaker on their return to Washington. The Senate is expected to consider the foreign aid measures early next week, and President Biden is expected to sign the package. In a statement after Saturday’s votes, Biden credited the House for coming together “to answer history’s call, passing urgently needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure.”

With chants of “Ukraine!” and blue and yellow flags waving on the House floor, all Democrats present and a minority of Republicans broke a months-long legislative logjam and approved $60 billion in aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia. The vote was 311 to 112, with all those objecting coming from the most conservative wing of the GOP conference. The Ukraine funds come at a key juncture for the country in its war with Russia, as the Pentagon warns that without an infusion of help from the United States — the country’s biggest military benefactor — Ukraine would steadily cede more ground to Russian forces and face staggering casualties. It is also a major win for Johnson — despite the threats to his job — as he increasingly leads a coalition of more-mainstream House Republicans and Democrats in shepherding high-priority legislation to passage. During Democrats’ Saturday meeting, one member proudly shouted that the party effectively controls the majority given that Democratic support has allowed the government to be funded and enabled a reauthorization for U.S. spy agencies to surveil foreign threats. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) came to the floor shortly before Saturday’s votes to herald the bipartisan cooperation, singling Johnson out by name. “House Democrats have risen to the occasion, President Biden has risen to the occasion, traditional conservatives led by Speaker Mike Johnson have risen to the occasion,” Jeffries declared.

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Dan Patrick calls for a deep dive into the effects of serving in Operation Lone Star

A little-noticed, and therefore little-reported, item on Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's topics for the Texas Senate to delve into before the 2025 legislative session is an examination of the effects that being deployed to Operation Lone Star has on members of the National Guard and troopers with the Department of Public Safety. Patrick deserves credit for elevating this matter. But it's troubling that the marching orders to the Senate Border Security Committee to study "the effect on personnel who have actively served or participated in Operation Lone Star and the impact of their service on their health and well-being" comes 3½ years after the mission's launch and that its announcement seemed to fall short of the center of the radar screen. For the past generation or so, the act of sending military service members into action on the public's behalf generally has ignited waves of patriotism and bumper-sticker sloganeering.

Then, after the waves crest, the waters tend to calm down. The troops, however, remain deployed. And when they come home, especially with injuries seen and unseen, too often the "we support our troops" mantra from the outset morphs into something like "we can't afford the cost of caring for them." Look no farther than the protracted effort to get government benefits for the thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars made sick, often deathly sick, by round-the-clock exposure to giant toxic burn pits that incinerated military waste. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs' own calculations, nearly 8 of every 10 claims for burn pit-related disability benefits were denied between 2007 and 2020. Not until 2022, when Congress was essentially shamed into passing the historic PACT Act, did the country do right by the service members who sacrificed their health, and too often their lives, in service to the rest of us. It could be argued that if the death of President Joe Biden's son, Beau, had not been linked — at least anecdotally — to burn pit exposure, suffering veterans such as Texas' own Le Roy Torres would still be vainly patrolling the halls of the nation's Capitol to call attention to their cause. The fact is, Beau Biden, as the son of a nationally known political figure, was an outlier when it comes to those who carry the modern burden of military service; Le Roy Torres, a DPS trooper in civilian life, was not. The ranks of the armed forces, which include the National Guard, are filled 100% by volunteers. According to a 2020 report by the Council on Foreign Relations, 62% of military recruits came from households on the middle and low rungs of the nation's income ladder. Only 17% came from the top rungs.

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ERs refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a lobby restroom

One woman miscarried in the lobby restroom of a Texas emergency room as front desk staff refused to admit her. Another woman learned that her fetus had no heartbeat at a Florida hospital, the day after a security guard turned her away from the facility. And in North Carolina, a woman gave birth in a car after an emergency room couldn’t offer an ultrasound. The baby later died. Complaints that pregnant women were turned away from U.S. emergency rooms spiked in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, federal documents obtained by The Associated Press reveal. The cases raise alarms about the state of emergency pregnancy care in the U.S., especially in states that enacted strict abortion laws and sparked confusion around the treatment doctors can provide. “It is shocking, it’s absolutely shocking,” said Amelia Huntsberger, an OB/GYN in Oregon. “It is appalling that someone would show up to an emergency room and not receive care -- this is inconceivable.”

It’s happened despite federal mandates that the women be treated. Federal law requires emergency rooms to treat or stabilize patients who are in active labor and provide a medical transfer to another hospital if they don’t have the staff or resources to treat them. Medical facilities must comply with the law if they accept Medicare funding. The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday that could weaken those protections. The Biden administration has sued Idaho over its abortion ban, even in medical emergencies, arguing it conflicts with the federal law. “No woman should be denied the care she needs,” Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said in a statement. “All patients, including women who are experiencing pregnancy-related emergencies, should have access to emergency medical care required under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.” Pregnant patients have “become radioactive to emergency departments” in states with extreme abortion restrictions, said Sara Rosenbaum, a George Washington University health law and policy professor. “They are so scared of a pregnant patient, that the emergency medicine staff won’t even look. They just want these people gone,” Rosenbaum said. Consider what happened to a woman who was nine months pregnant and having contractions when she arrived at the Falls Community Hospital in Marlin, Texas, in July 2022, a week after the Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion. The doctor on duty refused to see her.

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State Stories

Dallas urges appeals court to block state law limiting local regulations

Dallas is urging a state appeals court to toss out as unconstitutional a recent Texas law that voided certain city and county regulations covering businesses, labor, property and other areas. A state district judge in Travis County blocked the law in August, siding with Houston, San Antonio and El Paso, which had challenged House Bill 2127 as unconstitutionally vague. Texas promptly appealed. Dallas joined the fray Wednesday with a legal brief to the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals arguing the law turns a city or county’s ability to govern itself “on its head.” “Home-rule cities need only look to state law for restrictions on their authority, not for permission to act,” Dallas City Attorney Tammy Palomino wrote in the 23-page filing.

The Republican-backed law banned local governments from adopting or enforcing ordinances that exceed what is allowed under state laws regulating agriculture, business and commerce, finance, insurance, labor, local government, natural resources, occupations and property. Republican lawmakers and Gov. Greg Abbott said the law would foster economic growth by streamlining ordinances and protecting businesses from a patchwork of regulations that could change at city and county borders. State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, previously said the law “keeps liberal blue cities from continuing their absurd, anti-business, job-killing ordinances.” Critics dubbed HB 2127 the Death Star law, calling it a power grab by the Legislature aimed at overturning progressive local policies. The law’s broad language also made it difficult to know which ordinances were illegal, critics said. The attorney general’s office, which is representing the state, asked the 3rd Court to throw out the cities’ lawsuit, arguing that HB 2127 is a valid exercise of state authority over local governments.

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Racial disparities in health care persist in Texas, new study finds

According to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, Texas has more severe racial and ethnic health disparities than other states in the Southwest. Black and Hispanic Texans are more likely to be uninsured, die from avoidable causes and not have access to health care than other racial groups. Sara Collins, the senior scholar of health care coverage and access with the Commonwealth Fund, said one reason for the disparities is a lack of health insurance. “Giving everybody access to health insurance coverage is really the first step in addressing a lot of the issues that we're seeing across the country,” she said. On average, Collins said states that have expanded Medicaid coverage to low-income adults had better outcomes and narrower disparities than states that haven’t. Texas is one of 10 states that has yet to expand Medicaid. “Cost is the big barrier to getting health care,” she said. “So, once you have that financial ability to access the health care system, that falls away.”

Another reason for the disparities between groups is racism and discrimination in the health care system. Patients of color experience worse care for issues like heart disease, pregnancy complications, and pain management, all linked to preventable conditions that lead to premature death. “There are deep seated issues in the health care system that do stem from racism and unequal access to good quality care,” Collins said. “It will take health system responsiveness and prioritization to address those kinds of issues that are that are manifesting in such wide disparities in health outcomes, preventable mortality in particular.” The report recommends lawmakers and policymakers address these disparities through better access to health insurance, diversifying the health care workforce, and investing in social services that help people manage their health over time.

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UT Austin DEI layoffs disproportionately affected women and Black staffers, records show

The dozens of employees laid off by the University of Texas at Austin this month when it closed a former diversity, equity and inclusion office were mostly women and people of color, some of whom had worked for decades at the school, according to newly released records. In all, the university says it let go of 49 staffers as part of a restructuring to comply with a new state law banning DEI. They include the head of the university’s women’s center, the director of the Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement and the director of the Fearless Leadership Institute, a program that provides resources and networking to Black women on campus.

Black staffers were disproportionately affected, making up nearly a third of the cuts while accounting for just 7% of the total university staff, excluding tenured faculty. Roughly three-fourths of the employees let go were women, though they make up just 55% of the total staff. The layoffs also affected staff across campus, including at Dell Medical School, McCombs School of Business and the LBJ School of Public Affairs, according to the records. The layoffs have roiled students and advocates, who argue that administrators are overreacting to the law and weakening the schools’ ability to recruit new talent. University President Jay Hartzell told faculty this week that the action was meant to reduce redundancies after the mandated DEI cuts and to head off future funding cuts from the GOP-led Legislature, which passed the ban last year. “We have to make choices to worry about the long-run future of the university,” Hartzell said in his first public remarks since the cuts. “It’s not just are we compliant with SB17 in the short run, but also what are the choices we make?”

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‘Sit there and be quiet’: Tarrant County judge controversy explained

Tarrant County’s top official sparked a firestorm this week when he scolded a female commissioner during a heated debate over a proposed contract. “I’m the one talking now, so you’ll sit there and be quiet and listen,” County Judge Tim O’Hare told Commissioner Alisa Simmons, the court’s only woman, at a meeting Tuesday. “Don’t tell me when and when not to talk,” Simmons shot back. “This is my court, too.” O’Hare’s comments prompted accusations of racism and misogyny from community and activist groups, including the NAACP. O’Hare is white, and Simmons is Black. At a news conference Thursday in downtown Fort Worth, about 20 representatives from the groups criticized O’Hare for his remarks.

“You can’t say that to a woman in 2024,” said Kennedy Jones, president of the Arlington NAACP chapter, according to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram report. Michael Bell, a Fort Worth pastor and member of Unity in the Community, accused O’Hare of “incessant bullying” as judge.” “This is not about political party or political affiliation,” said Michael Bell with Unity in the Community, the newspaper reported. “This is about a judge who chooses to disrespect, repeatedly, a colleague who happens to be African American and a woman.” After Tuesday’s exchange, Simmons, who represents Arlington, wrote on X: “I‘m humbled by the community support I’ve received since this outburst. We will all stand together to be heard.” In a statement posted to X, O’Hare accused Simmons of having a “history of alleging unfounded racism” and called the ordeal a “sideshow.” “The focus should be on important issues facing the people of Tarrant County,” O’Hare said. O’Hare, a Southlake attorney, was elected county judge in 2022 after beating former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price in a contentious Republican primary.

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Many Houston City Council members back police chief on HPD investigation – but tough questions are coming

As the initial investigation into the Houston Police Department’s suspended cases nears its end this month, many on City Council have made one thing clear: They stand behind Police Chief Troy Finner. In February, Finner revealed that the department had dropped 264,000 cases, citing “SL” — suspended for lack of police personnel. Those cases represent 10% of the 2.8 million reports filed since 2016, the year the code went into effect, and include about 100,000 property crime reports and over 4,000 special victims unit reports. The scandal has cast doubt about whether Finner, who has led the department since 2021, will remain in his top position. Thus far, Mayor John Whitmire has remained supportive of Finner, and council appears to be taking its cues from the new City Hall chief executive.

Finner “has been unwavering in his commitment to get to the bottom of this,” said Council Member Abbie Kamin, who used to chair the public safety committee. She added that the police chief has been open and transparent in serving the city he grew up in and proudly continues to serve. However, that support won’t stop council members from asking tough questions about how the police department allocates its resources — or if it needs additional ones — as the budget season begins in May. Each year, council works with the mayor on a budget for the next fiscal year. The police department, which currently takes up roughly one-third of the city’s operating budget, presents its requests during budget hearings after the mayor unveils his proposed budget to council. And yet, members say, despite the seeming personnel shortage, no one raised the matter during recent budget cycles. “The thought that went through my head was, why didn't they ask for more (funding)? Why didn't they tell us this was a problem?” Kamin said.

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All faiths come together to celebrate Muslim community at Texas Capitol

On Friday, people of all faiths came together to celebrate Austin’s Muslim community at the Texas Capitol. The third annual ‘Eid Celebration at the Capitol’ took place to mark Eid ul-Fitr (EED-al-FITTER)– the “feast of fast breaking” to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Austin) said in a news release. “We initiated this program at the Capitol so that we can celebrate with the broader Austin community. Everyone is invited,” said CAIR Operations Manager Shaimaa Zayan. “All of the activities are free and open to everyone, whatever their background, religion or culture.” The celebration featured different booths, where guests enjoyed free food, Islamic art, Henna design and Arabic calligraphy, all while learning about Islam and Ramadan.

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Anti-transgender event at Fort Worth community center canceled, sparking debate over free speech

An anti-transgender event organized by conservative political activists at a Fort Worth community center April 20 has been canceled after community members raised concerns that it would violate the city’s nondiscrimination policy. “Community Centers are dedicated to upholding a welcoming environment free from discrimination,” city spokesperson Reyne Telles wrote in a statement to the Fort Worth Report. While opponents of the event, titled “The Danger of Transgenderism,” praised the city for canceling the event reservation at the Victory Forest Community Center, organizers said the city’s actions represented a violation of their First Amendment rights. “We think it’s unacceptable and inappropriate that they are doing this,” Carlos Turcios, director of Texas Latinos United for Conservative Action, said. Texas Latinos United for Conservative Action was one of six organizations co-hosting the event. “That is a violation of the First Amendment. The city of Fort Worth, (which) is taxpayer funded, cannot dictate what opinions are allowed.”

Lynette Sharp is one of the people who raised concerns about the event. When Sharp first heard it’d be taking place at the Victory Forest Community Center, she was aghast. “It’s against the city’s own policy to host them,” she said. Sharp, a member of No Hate in Texas, was referencing the Fort Worth’s community center policy and procedures manual. The manual specifies that groups that practice or profess discrimination on the basis of sex and other identity markers aren’t allowed to use the community center for events. District 11 council member Jeanette Martinez, who represents the area around the community center, said staff didn’t have information about the nature of the event before it was booked. “I don’t believe it’s an event that should have been allowed, had the community center been aware of it,” Martinez said. “I don’t believe it would have been allowed.” Telles said while organizers paid the required security deposit for a reservation in March, they never returned a signed reservation form, which includes a link to the procedures manual. Upon further investigation, staff determined the event violated the nondiscrimination clause outlined in the manual. “City staff has notified the event organizer of the cancellation and will provide a full refund to the individual who booked the space,” Telles said in a statement.

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Arcola mayor spent taxpayer money on private investigator to spy on council member

Bypassing required City Council approval, Mayor Fred Burton spent $7,500 of public funds to hire a private investigator to verify the residency of council member Ebony Sanco in an effort to kick her off the council, according to documents obtained by the Houston Landing. The investigator went through her garbage and used “discreet means” to obtain school information about her children, city records show. Hiring the private investigator was the first in a series of attempts to oust Sanco that has created a rift on city council and led to a lawsuit against the city.

Under Arcola’s city code, the mayor can only make emergency purchases of less than $1,000 without city council approval. The council hasn’t voted on the $7,500 expenditure to investigate Sanco. “He used $7,500 of taxpayers money to harass me for a week,” Sanco said. “How stupid is that?” Burton did not respond to messages from the Landing. On Feb. 2, the mayor signed a contract to hire Fort Bend Investigations to “observe, and obtain conclusive evidence” that Sanco lived in Missouri City and not Arcola. Investigator David Weed surveilled Sanco and her children for five days in February, records show. Weed went to Fort Bend ISD and through “discreet investigative means” was able to find out which school her children went to. Weed spoke with an unnamed administrator at the school who confirmed that Sanco’s children were registered at an Arcola address, the investigative report shows. Sanco said that she was not notified by anyone at the school that her children’s information had been given out. Schools may disclose, without consent, “directory” information such as a student’s name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance.

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Arlington Carmelite nuns reject decree from Vatican

The request by an association of Carmelite nuns to oversee a monastery in Arlington amounts to a “hostile takeover” and the Vatican allowed it without the knowledge or input from the sisters, the Arlington Carmel said Saturday. In a statement published on their website, the nuns of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity said that the president of the National Association of Christ the King, Mother Marie of the Incarnation, and anyone associated with her and Bishop Michael Olson of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth are not welcome on the monastery property.

Their statement comes two days after the Vatican informed the nuns that the association would direct day to day operations of the monastery while Olson would oversee other matters, including the election of the leadership. His authority remains intact. In August 2023, the nuns rejected the bishop’s authority in a dispute over his investigation into reports their prioress, the Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, broke her chastity vow with a priest. The nuns wrote that accepting the “takeover” would endanger the integrity of the monastery, threaten the vocations of individual nuns and the liturgical and spiritual life as well as the material assets of the monastery. In response, the diocese said in a statement that the Holy See has acted toward healing the Arlington Carmel and the nuns in the community and not simply the former prioress and her former councilors.

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Republican infighting, battle over Texas speakership results of national political trend

Republicans vying for a seat in the Texas House are looking to settle a political score during next month's primary runoff, but in the lead-up to the partisan showdown a game plan for revamping the chamber's procedures in favor of the GOP is already underway. Looking to advance their push to exclude Democrats from policy decisions and leadership positions, consolidate control of selecting the House's leader and topple the tenure of House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, two dozen conservative candidates, including a handful of incumbents, have signed a "Contract with Texas" to do just that. The fervor of far-right candidates in this election cycle — spurred by the House's vote last year to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton and its opposition to Gov. Greg Abbott's effort to establish a school voucher program — collided with a preexisting and broader effort by a select number of House Republicans seeking to discredit Phelan's conservative bona fides in hopes of pushing the chamber farther to the right.

While the Capitol is no stranger to playing host to hyperpartisan politics, the effort to unseat Phelan and alter a long-standing practice of affording the minority party several committee chairmanships could have an expanded impact on the chamber's ability to legislate. Dr. A´lvaro Corral, assistant professor of political science at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, said Phelan is walking a hard line in trying to keep a flame of bipartisan in the chamber alive while facing the political battle of his life amid a runoff election and a challenge to his speakership. "He's sort of trying to do some gymnastics here to sort of maintain this, this tradition," Corral said of the House's practice of having committees chaired by members of both parties. "For years Texas House Speakers have betrayed Republican voters by putting radical Democrats in charge and colluding with them to destroy liberty," Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, a mainstay of the House GOP's far-right wing, said in releasing the contract. "That insanity must end." In the past, Republicans have worked with Democrats in the House to pass legislation to alter the state's constitution, which requires a higher vote threshold, and to build coalitions when far-right members of the chamber disagreed with the politics of more moderate Republicans.

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Texas car insurance premiums are soaring. Here's what's behind the spike — and what you can do

Tami Maldonado has been a loyal USAA customer for about 25 years. But if the San Antonio-based company raises her auto insurance premium again, she says she may start looking elsewhere. The monthly premiums to insure her Honda SUV and her daughter’s Chevrolet Malibu soared from $192 in September 2022 to $318 in March, she said — a jump of nearly 66% in a year and a half. She had expected a slight bump in rates after her daughter was in a wreck about two years ago, but when Maldonado spoke to a USAA representative she was told the March increase was just part of a bigger trend. “When I called, they said it’s nationwide, they’re expecting an increase in insurance all over the U.S.,” Maldonado said. “It wasn’t just my record or my daughter’s record in particular. I was basically told it was to be expected for everybody.”

In Texas, rates climbed an average 25.5% in 2023, according to the Texas Department of Insurance, the biggest annual increase in at least a decade — more than double average increases nationwide. Data on average premiums paid by Texas drivers in 2023 was not yet available, the department said. But financial services company Bankrate.com estimated the average annual premium in Texas is $2,620 this year, up from $2,019 in 2023 and $1,868 in 2022. Bankrate put the average annual premium at $2,576 in the San Antonio area and $2,543 nationwide. Across the U.S., rates jumped 11.2% in 2023 and are expected to surge another 12.6% this year, according to personal finance website ValuePenguin. It predicts a rate increase of at least 5% in every state this year except Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho and North Carolina. Several factors are driving the increases. Among them: Prices of new and used vehicles have spiked since the pandemic so insurers are having to write checks for larger amounts to replace totaled vehicles, said Stephen Crewdson, senior director of insurance business intelligence at consumer research company J.D. Power. The costs of labor and parts are rising, too, because of supply chain problems, inflation and more technology being built into cars. Some parts are taking longer than usual to arrive at dealerships and auto shops, which also means insurers are spending more to keep customers in rental cars than they typically would, Crewdson said. The volume of accidents — and severe collisions — is also increasing, pushing up medical costs. There were 15,299 serious injury crashes in Texas in 2022, up 18.5% from 2019, according to the most recent data available from the Texas Department of Transportation. The number of vehicle traffic fatalities increased 23.6%.

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Should Dallas make a 'historic' $82 million housing investment? Voters will decide

Early voting for the May 4 election starts Monday and Dallas residents will have the chance to weigh in on a $1.25 billion bond package. It includes what would be a record investment in affordable housing in the city if voters approve it. Three of the 10 bond propositions include housing-related funds — Propositions G, H and I — that total about $82 million in housing-related funds, about 7% of the total bond package. “This gives us an opportunity to be innovative. This is very historic for our city,” said Council Member Adam Bazaldua. A coalition of businesses, nonprofits, faith leaders and activists spent months advocating for a far greater investment: $200 million for affordable housing and another $35 million for homeless housing and shelter. While the final bond package includes much less than that, Ashley Brundage, Executive Director of Housing Stability at the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas who helped lead the Dallas Housing Coalition, says that the bond funds will help.

“Housing affordability is impacting every single one of us, so by creating more units, creating more affordability, housing more people that are experiencing homelessness, it helps all of us,” Brundage said. “So I think it's really important to do that, to go out and vote yes.” Dallas has a shortage of more than 33,000 affordable rental units, according to a Child Poverty Action Lab study. That shortage could more than double by 2030, putting stress on more middle-income Dallasites. Homeownership has moved out of reach for many middle-class residents in a lot of the city as home prices spiked during the pandemic and stayed high. There are a lot of misconceptions of what affordable housing looks like and who it is for, Brundage said. These days, she said new subsidized housing is built into mixed-income developments that include market-rate units alongside subsidized, lower-cost ones. It takes the form of apartment complexes, duplexes and triplexes, condos, town homes and detached single family homes. “Affordability is not your rundown apartment complex that everybody pictures in their minds because that's what we see on movies,” she said.

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National Stories

Necessity gives rise to bipartisanship — for now

When Congress convened in 2023, an empowered far-right Republican faction in the House threatened to upend Washington and President Biden’s agenda. But the intransigence of that bloc instead forced Republicans and Democrats into an ad hoc coalition government that is now on the verge of delivering long-delayed foreign military aid and a victory to the Democratic president. The House approval on Saturday of money for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan over angry objections from the extreme right was the latest and perhaps most striking example of a bipartisan approach forged out of necessity. The coalition first sprang up last year to spare the government a catastrophic debt default, and has reassembled at key moments since then to keep federal agencies funded.

Unable to deliver legislation on their own because of a razor-thin majority and the refusal of those on the right to give ground, House Republicans had no choice but to break with their fringe members and join with Democrats if they wanted to accomplish much of anything, including bolstering Ukraine in its war against Russia. “Look at what MAGA extremism has got you: nothing,” Representative James P. McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, told Republicans on the House floor as lawmakers took their first steps toward approving the aid package. “Nothing. Not a damn thing. In fact, it has empowered Democrats. At every critical juncture in this Congress, it has been Democrats who have been the ones to stand up for our country and do the right thing for the American people.” The moments of bipartisan coming-together are hardly a template for a new paradigm of governing in polarized times. The grudging G.O.P. collaboration with Democrats has only come about on truly existential, must-pass legislation — and typically only at the last minute after Republicans have exhausted all other options, making the coalition unlikely to hold on less critical bills and the social policy issues that sharply divide the two parties.

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Will a mountain of evidence be enough to convict Trump?

In the official record, the case is known as the People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump, and, for now, the people have the stronger hand: They have insider witnesses, a favorable jury pool and a lurid set of facts about a presidential candidate, a payoff and a porn star. On Monday, the prosecutors will formally introduce the case to 12 all-important jurors, embarking on the first prosecution of an American president. The trial, which could brand Mr. Trump a felon as he mounts another White House run, will reverberate throughout the nation and test the durability of the justice system that Mr. Trump attacks as no other defendant could. Though the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, has assembled a mountain of evidence, a conviction is hardly assured. Over the next six weeks, Mr. Trump’s lawyers will seize on three apparent weak points: a key witness’s credibility, a president’s culpability and the case’s legal complexity.

Prosecutors will seek to maneuver around those vulnerabilities, dazzling the jury with a tale that mixes politics and sex, as they confront a shrewd defendant with a decades-long track record of skirting legal consequences. They will also seek to bolster the credibility of that key witness, Michael D. Cohen, a former fixer to Mr. Trump who previously pleaded guilty to federal crimes for paying the porn star, Stormy Daniels. Daniel J. Horwitz, a veteran defense lawyer who previously worked in the Manhattan district attorney’s office prosecuting white-collar cases, said prosecutors can be expected to corroborate Mr. Cohen’s story wherever possible. “The prosecution has layers upon layers of evidence to back up what Michael Cohen says,” Mr. Horwitz said. Both sides will lay out their cases in opening statements on Monday, offering dueling interpretations of the evidence some six years after the payoff to Ms. Daniels entered the public consciousness and briefly imperiled Mr. Trump’s presidency. But in previewing the case for prospective jurors last week, Manhattan prosecutors emphasized neither the payoff that secured Ms. Daniels’s silence, nor the sex scandal that was buried in the process. One prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass, instead distilled the trial’s stakes to a fundamental question: “This case is about the rule of law and whether or not Donald Trump broke it.”

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The evolution of Mike Johnson on Ukraine

When the House passed a $40 billion emergency funding bill for Ukraine in September 2022, support for Ukraine was largely still a bipartisan issue. But a little-known conservative congressman from Louisiana was one of the 57 Republicans to oppose it. Now, just six months later, after an unlikely elevation to speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (R-La.) has pushed through a $60 billion effort to bolster’s Ukraine arsenal along with funding for Israel and the Indo-Pacific. The move marks a major victory and dramatic turnabout for the speaker who is trying to gain control of a bitterly divided Republican conference. The far-right is fiercely against Ukraine aid — 112 Republicans, just over half of the conference, opposed it on the House floor Saturday and he had to rely on unanimous Democratic backing — and Johnson’s decision to greenlight a floor vote could come at great political cost. He could very well lose his job as speaker over it.

It is also a major rebuke to former president Donald Trump, who publicly backed Johnson at a recent Mar-a-Lago event but has long criticized Ukraine while repeatedly sympathizing with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Johnson appears fully aware of the consequences of his decision to send money to Ukraine in its grinding war against Russia. He made the difficult decision despite threats from an angry and vocal minority of hard-right Republicans — ironically, the ones who helped catapult him into power — who are using their conservative bully pulpit to challenge Johnson and threaten his job. He seems to have accepted his fate. “Look, history judges us for what we do,” said an emotional Johnson, holding back tears and with a quivering lip at a news conference this week in response to a question from The Washington Post. “This is a critical time right now, critical time in the world stage. I could make a selfish decision and do something that’s different, but I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing.” Johnson’s son will be headed to the U.S. Naval Academy in the fall. “To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine, than American boys,” he said. “This is a live-fire exercise for me and for so many American families.”

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Historical markers are everywhere in America. Some get history wrong

The stately Fendall Hall in Eufaula, Ala., has a historical marker that does not accurately portray how the home's original owners were cotton brokers and were part of the slave trade in the 1800s. The sound of the party filters across the mansion's lawn long before you see it: Dozens of guests spill out onto the front porch of the stately Fendall Hall in Eufaula, Alabama. It's an engagement party, and past the people drinking white wine in the main hall is one of the home's historians, Susan Campbell. She swings open the door to the expansive backyard. "They had, like, 5 acres or so," Campbell says of the former owners, the Young-Dent family. They built the house in the late 1850s. But you might already know this, because planted in the front yard of this historical home is a large, black-and-gold, square metal historical marker with the seal of the Alabama Historical Commission — and it says so.

Edward Brown Young was a "banker, merchant and entrepreneur," it says. He "organized the company which built the first bridge" in Eufaula, and his daughter married a Confederate captain in the "War Between the States." What the marker doesn't mention, however, is that Young was a cotton broker, one of the most powerful men in the slave trade. Nor does it mention that he owned nine slaves, according to the federal 1860 census. The historical marker that omits parts of the Young-Dent family's past is on the grounds of Fendall Hall in Eufaula. The back side of the marker says Edward Brown Young was a "banker, merchant and entrepreneur." The back side also says that he "organized the company which built the first bridge" in Eufaula and that his daughter married a Confederate captain in the "War Between the States." And while the sign claims the company he organized built the bridge, that bridge, spanning the Chattahoochee River, was actually designed, managed and built by a slave named Horace King, a renowned and gifted engineer, along with a large group of enslaved men. Campbell says she'd like to see more of this information included. "But that's because I'm a Northerner, not a Southerner," she says. She moved to the South 20 years ago from Michigan. She says most people she knows here wouldn't agree with her. "I mean, they know," she says, glancing over at the revelers on the porch. "They know it. But [they] don't necessarily want to be reminded." That's the difficult thing about the truth. It's just not as fun to throw parties in places where terrible things happened. How the U.S. tells its own story is a debate raging in schools, statehouses and public squares nationwide. It has led to social movements and angry protests. But for more than a century, historical markers have largely escaped that kind of scrutiny.

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‘I thought I could do this’: Anxiety rips through Trump hush money juror pool

Selecting the jury for the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president was never going to be an easy task. But several New Yorkers who could have served in the historic role indicated that even the possibility of sitting on former President Trump’s jury was too much to bear. “I have to be honest. I feel so nervous and anxious right now. I’m sorry,” one woman said, holding back tears with a tissue in hand. “I thought I could do this, but I wouldn’t want someone who feels this way to judge me either.” “This is so much more stressful than I thought it was going to be,” she added, before she was excused. Anxiety and fear tore through the pool of potential jurors in Trump’s hush money case throughout four days of jury selection this week. Some said the pressure of non-stop media coverage was too daunting, while others expressed a general unease about being one of 12 primary and six alternate jurors who will soon decide the former president’s fate in a case garnering global attention.

Then there was the politics of it all. More than half of the 192 New Yorkers screened immediately indicated they couldn’t be impartial in a case where one of the most divisive figures in the country was at the center of it all. There was also a matter of varying degrees of separation from Trump being that the case is being tried in the city where he made his name. For those who remained, many changed their minds as they went through the selection process. With Trump sitting about 15 feet away, some became flustered as they answered questions while others became emotional and asked to be excused. As one prospective juror left the courtroom, they quipped, “I just couldn’t do it.” Trump often looked over to the jury box while following along with a copy of the 42-question survey the New Yorkers were asked to fill out, putting some jurors on edge. “I’m not used to being on stage, I’m nervous,” said one prospective juror. “You’re doing great,” the judge assured him. Even a juror who made it through the entire selection process and was seated for the trial eventually changed tune. She expressed concerns about the intense press coverage, saying friends and family had questioned if she was a juror and that it began to affect her impartiality. It led the judge to admonish the media.

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GOP vice presidential hopefuls look for Trump’s golden ticket

Former President Trump may be handing a golden ticket to whomever he picks as his running mate for November, and the Republicans jockeying for his favor know it. If Trump wins a second term, his running mate could be best positioned to be the GOP’s presidential candidate in 2028. Instead of the usual eight-year wait a vice presidential pick would face, Trump’s selection this time would become an overnight favorite to be the GOP nominee in four years. “To the extent that whoever he picks as vice president could be the presumptive front-runner four years from now, it’s a bigger deal than normal,” said Alex Conant, who worked on Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) 2016 presidential campaign. The vice presidential pick could also be seen as the heir apparent for the MAGA movement, which has all but completely taken over the GOP under Trump.

Allies to the ex-president and Republican strategists say Trump is not focused on setting up an heir apparent. He’s instead looking for a vice presidential candidate who will be loyal — perhaps the most important factor to Trump in picking any help — and someone who will help him win defeat President Biden in November. But everyone involved in the jockeying knows the special importance of this year’s decision. “We’re seeing a lot of younger Republicans clamoring for the role because they see this as not only being as vice president but as positioning for 2028,” Conant said. One of the Republicans who is on Trump’s radar as a potential running mate is Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who pursued an unsuccessful White House bid before suspending it last November and becoming a prominent surrogate for the former president. Scott, who is 58 and the lone Black Republican in the Senate, long has been considered by GOP strategists as a candidate for higher office in part because of his strong fundraising numbers and compelling personal story. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), another staunch Trump ally who has stoked VP speculation, is only 39 and is considered a potential future face of the party. Vance told Fox News earlier this month he has not spoken to Trump about the possibility of joining the ticket, but he would help “however I can.”

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Inside the White House’s frenetic scramble to avert a full-blown Middle East war

resident Biden and his national-security team watched with mounting alarm on April 13 as monitors in the White House Situation Room showed 30, then 60, then over 100 Iranian ballistic missiles streaking toward Israel. Iranian cruise missiles and a swarm of drones were already in the air, timed to arrive at the same time as the missiles—a massive barrage that Biden and his aides feared could overwhelm the strengthened defenses they and Israel had spent more than a week preparing. The scale of Tehran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel matched U.S. spy agencies’ worst-case scenarios, U.S. officials said later. It threatened not only a close U.S. ally, but Biden’s hopes of preventing a six-month Middle East crisis from widening into an all-out regional war. Assembling in the Situation Room at 5:15 p.m. that Saturday, Biden and his aides couldn’t be sure that Israel’s antimissile systems, reinforced by the U.S. military’s antimissile and counterdrone deployments in the previous 10 days, would block nearly 99% of Iran’s salvo.

The agonizing wait during the Iranian barrage was among the tense moments in a 19-day crisis for Biden and his national-security team, one where they often found themselves uninformed or uncertain about what both Israel and Iran were planning at critical times. It began with a go-it-alone attack in which the Israelis launched a bold strike at Iranian officers in Damascus without any consultation with the U.S. It ended after a coalition of U.S., European and Arab militaries helped blunt the Iranian attack and Israel appeared to heed the American calls for restraint. The crisis erupted on April 1, when Israeli weapons slammed into a building in Syria’s capital Damascus, killing senior Iranian military leaders, including Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, an important figure who oversaw Iran’s paramilitary operations in Syria and Lebanon for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. Just minutes before the strike, an Israeli official alerted his U.S. counterpart that it was under way. But the heads up didn’t include any information about who was being targeted or the location being struck, U.S. officials said. The White House soon learned of another unexpected Israeli attack that occurred the same day as the Damascus strike: An Israeli drone strike against an aid convoy in Gaza killed seven workers from celebrity chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen charity.

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Lead Stories

Tumultuous Trump trial day ends with 12 jurors, 1 alternate selected

A 12-member jury was assembled for Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Thursday hours after two previously sworn-in jurors were removed, illustrating the intense scrutiny and potential public exposure that comes with sitting in judgment of the former president and likely 2024 Republican White House nominee. Seven men and five women have been picked, along with the first of what is expected to be a group of six alternates. Jury selection will resume Friday. While it is possible that additional sworn-in jurors will also drop out or be removed, requiring more to be screened and chosen, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said he expected opening statements on Monday. Some of the selected jurors said during questioning that they have personal views of Trump or his presidency but could remain impartial in the case.

One spoke favorably of him, saying she liked that he “speaks his mind.” Another told the court, “I don’t like his persona.” Overall, the jurors showed a range of knowledge about his court cases, with several saying they didn’t follow the news closely. Trump is the first former U.S. president to stand criminal trial. He faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with reimbursement of a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Prosecutors have accused Trump of classifying the reimbursement as a legal expense, rather than a campaign expense, and of authorizing the payment to Daniels to keep her from publicly accusing him just before the 2016 election of a tryst she alleged happened years earlier. It is one of four criminal indictments against Trump; the other three trials are delayed and may not happen before the election. In addition to picking a jury, lawyers have been sparring in the courtroom this week over whether Trump has repeatedly violated a gag order by making public comments and social media posts related to witnesses and others Merchan has said should be protected.

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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick rules the Texas Senate. Now he seeks influence in the House

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wields vast power in the Texas Senate with a warm smile and a grandfatherly wit that belies the quietly relentless nature behind each gavel strike. Since taking office in 2015, the three-term, 74-year-old lieutenant governor has remade the Senate in his image, allowing his conservative agenda to fly through with little resistance. Patrick’s reign over the Senate puts him among the most powerful and successful policymakers in the history of Texas, but he isn’t stopping there. Breaking an unwritten rule against meddling in the affairs of another chamber in the Legislature, Patrick is vigorously campaigning against House Speaker Dade Phelan, who is in a fight for his political life in a primary runoff. If Phelan is defeated in the May 28 runoff against relative newcomer David Covey, Patrick would be rid of a rival he’s described as a failed Republican who ignores policies favored by conservatives.

Patrick also would be a key step closer to changing the makeup of the House, which has not been welcoming to his priorities on border security, tax cuts, election fraud, school choice and other issues. The Dallas Morning News spoke to nearly a dozen current and former lawmakers, lobbyists and political experts for this story. The lieutenant governor’s office and Patrick’s campaign did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment, but Patrick has said his effort to oust Phelan is “not personal.” Mark Davis, a conservative talk radio host, said the deep rift between Phelan and Patrick was the natural result of the House’s role as a backstop against some of the conservative legislation that has sailed through the Senate. “The Paxton impeachment merely brought to the surface some procedural frustrations that have bubbled for years,” Davis said. “Phelan’s rush to impeach, featuring obvious pressure on many Republicans to get on board despite voters’ objections, led to a Senate trial that provided exhibit A on the differences between how each house is run.” Patrick’s frustration bubbled over at the end of a special session in December when a chief conservative policy goal — taxpayer-subsidized private school tuition — failed in the House. In a lengthy news conference, he questioned the speaker’s leadership, saying Phelan should not be in power and was not fit to be in the Republican Party.

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Murder charge filed against man over deadly Brenham DPS semitruck crash

A Washington County man who last week was arrested after driving a truck into a DPS office has been charged with felony murder, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Clenard Parker, 42, of Chappell Hill, was charged with felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a public servant, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and criminal mischief, according to DPS.

Parker had already been charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury, one count of evading arrest or detention causing serious bodily injury, and one count of unauthorized use of a vehicle, according to DPS. Parker was arrested moments after a semitruck crashed into the front of a feeder-road DPS Office in Brenham, which contained both licensing and highway patrol offices. Parker was accused of stealing the truck, leading Washington County deputies on a chase and then intentionally driving into the building. According to authorities, Parker had been turned away from the licensing office the day before, when he had tried to renew his commercial drivers license. The crash killed 78-year-old Bobby Huff, according to DPS. Five other people were injured and taken transported to the hospital, according to DPS.

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Water facilities warned to improve cybersecurity as nation-state hackers pounce

The water sector is under pressure to improve cybersecurity protections as hacking threats grow. The Environmental Protection Agency and the White House met with governors last month and asked them to draw up plans by June 28 explaining how they plan to deal with major cybersecurity risks facing their state’s water and wastewater systems. Last week, Reps. Rick Crawford (R., Ark.) and John Duarte (R., Cal.) proposed a bill that would create a governing body to develop cybersecurity mandates for water systems and work with the EPA to enforce new rules. Many water facilities need help securing their systems because they don’t have the budget for tools or cybersecurity staff, said Kevin Morley, manager for federal relations at the American Water Works Association. The trade group was part of a lawsuit that fought a previous attempt by the EPA to mandate cyber protections for water systems, saying the cost of complying with the requirements would be out of reach for many facilities.

Training on basic cybersecurity protections is lacking, he said. “We have the haves and the have nots,” Morley said. It can take several years and cost millions of dollars for utilities to upgrade old equipment, which is a big strain on many municipal systems, he said. Water and other critical infrastructure facilities use specialized technology for industrial processes that typically remain in use for decades and therefore lack modern cybersecurity protections. Frank Ury, president of the board of the Santa Margarita Water District in southern California, said a main concern is that hackers are lying dormant in water facilities’ systems but could eventually launch a coordinated attack that might affect multiple areas at once. The Santa Margarita facility doesn’t have a chief information security officer and spends around 15% of its technology budget on cybersecurity, he said. “Most agencies don’t know they’ve been compromised,” he said. Ury is also a senior client executive for CAI, a consulting firm that works with water utilities and other companies. Hackers, often including political activist groups that typically use low-level cyberattack techniques, are targeting water facilities more frequently and in many cases find them to be insufficiently protected, said Lior Frenkel, chief executive and founder of Waterfall Security Solutions, a cybersecurity company that focuses on critical infrastructure. Waterfall works with several hundred water facilities in the U.S.

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State Stories

Kinder Morgan takes 10,800 acres near Houston Ship Channel for CO2 storage

Kinder Morgan said Wednesday that it had leased nearly 11,000 acres near the Houston Ship Channel that the Houston-based pipeline giant would use as underground pore space as it expands its carbon storage business. Kinder Morgan Energy Transitions Ventures agreed last week to lease the 10,800 acres from TGS Cedar Port Partners, a rail service operator that oversees a 15,000-acre industrial park near the channel, the company said. The lease gives Kinder Morgan access to underground caverns capable of storing more than 300 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. Securing space along the channel paves the way for Kinder Morgan to offer solutions to nearby industrial facilities as they look for ways to capture and store carbon dioxide billowing from their smokestacks. It joins several big oil companies in a race to develop carbon storage projects in East Texas.

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Electricity demand from AI, data centers is skyrocketing in Texas. Can ERCOT keep up?

The rapid expansion of data centers, fueled by the rise of artificial intelligence platforms and the increasing digitization of the economy, is driving a surge in electricity demand in Texas and across the country that could soon be pushing the limits of what power grids can handle. Grid operators such as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas are rushing to adjust their demand forecasts amid projections by consulting firm McKinsey and the International Energy Agency that power load for data centers, which already consume 4% of the power on the U.S. grid, will double by the end of the decade.

In a recent podcast interview, ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said the rapid speed at which data centers such as the $800 million facility Meta is building in Temple were coming online was “unheard of in terms of grid planning time scales.” “Historically, you’ve always been able to have years to contemplate a massive manufacturing facility coming online,” he said on the Energy Capital podcast. “Now we’re seeing 500- and 700-megawatt data centers being built in a year.” ERCOT reported earlier this month that peak power loads on its system would rise 6% by 2030 to 94.3 gigawatts — with the caveat there was an additional 62 gigawatts of additional load asking to connect to the grid. It didn’t detail where those load requests were coming from, and ERCOT declined to make officials available for this story. But Doug Lewin, an energy consultant in Austin, said data centers, along with new manufacturing facilities such as the semiconductor plants being built around Austin, crypto currency mining operations and growth in oil production in West Texas, were responsible for much of the new load requests. “Some of (the 62 gigawatts) will come, some of it won’t,” he said. “But even if it’s just one third of that, in five to six years time that’s shocking.”

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Texas appeals court agrees to toss ‘scattershot’ bar complaint against Trump lawyer Sidney Powell

A Dallas appeals court on Thursday upheld a decision not to discipline Sidney Powell, former lawyer for Donald Trump, for her role in seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election, saying the complaint against her was riddled with errors. In a scathing 25-page opinion, a panel of three Democratic judges criticized the state bar for filing a complaint against Powell with mislabeled evidence. A Collin County judge had tossed the case in early 2023, citing the disorganization. “The Bar employed a ‘scattershot’ approach to the case, which left this court and the trial court ‘with the task of sorting through the argument to determine what issue ha(d) actually been raised,’” wrote Judge Dennise Garcia. The appeals court agreed that the bar had not met its burden of proof to show Powell knowingly made a false statement or used false evidence when she filed lawsuits to overturn the election results.

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Ted Cruz granted extension on FEC personal finance statement; Democrats pounce

Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, seeking a third term in the November election against well-financed Dallas Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, has been granted permission by the Federal Election Commission to extend his deadline to file his required personal financial statement from mid-May to Aug. 14. The extension, published on the FEC's website, comes as Cruz is attempting to fend off allegations that hundreds of thousands of dollars in proceeds from his podcast "Verdict with Ted Cruz" are being directed to a political action committee supporting his reelection. "Senator Cruz appears on Verdict three times a week for free,” the campaign told the American-Statesman in an email. Cruz does the podcast with co-host Ben Ferguson and according to its homepage offers a behind-the-scenes analysis "of the political debates that define our country."

The Senate Ethics Committee in February found that Cruz did not violate federal law in connection with his podcast and the political action committee. But last week, two campaign finance watchdog groups asked the FEC to investigate their allegations that Cruz had violated the Federal Election Campaign Act after iHeartMedia, a San Antonio media company that publishes "Verdict," made deposits to a super PAC connected to Cruz's reelection campaign. The payments were reported as "digital revenue" or "digital income" as opposed to campaign contributions. The Cruz campaign did not directly address a question from the Statesman about whether the delay in filing the personal financial statement was related to the podcast controversy. Cruz has received 10 extensions during his time in the Senate. Allred has received four since entering Congress in 2019. But a spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party pounced on Cruz's latest delay, which means the details contained in the statement won't be available for public review until less than three months before the Nov. 5 election. “With his shady podcast scandal getting worse by the day, it’s no surprise that Ted Cruz wants to keep his finances out of Texans’ view for as long as possible," party spokesman Ryan Radulovacki said in an emailed statement. "Texans deserve answers, a full investigation, and a U.S. Senator — not a full-time podcaster — who’s committed to actually delivering for Texans."

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Texas Education Agency must accommodate teachers during certification tests, DOJ says

The U.S. Department of Justice has reached a settlement with the Texas Education Agency over a 2022 complaint that accused the latter of not providing appropriate accommodations to a teacher taking a reading certification exam, the federal department announced Wednesday. The settlement requires the TEA to allow testers with dyslexia or dysgraphia to use alternative exam arrangements, such as text-to-speech technology, when taking a reading certification exam. The Justice Department opened the case after receiving a complaint alleging that the TEA had violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act in administering a Science of Teaching Reading exam, a regular test for issuing certain teaching certifications. The TEA didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday.

A 2019 law requires all Texas teacher candidates who teach students from prekindergarten through sixth grade to demonstrate proficiency in the Science of Teaching Reading program. In 2021, the TEA directed NCS Pearson Inc., which administers the exam, not to allow a reader for exam takers who weren’t blind on tests in which reading skills are measured, according to the settlement agreement. A reader in an exam will read out test materials for someone who needs accommodations. The TEA determined that such an accommodation “could fundamentally alter the accurate measurement of knowledge or skills intended to be measured by that exam,” according to the settlement. In 2022, a Science of Teaching Reading tester who had previously been diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia requested extra test time, a scribe and either someone to read the test or speech-to-text technology, according to the complaint. The TEA denied the tester’s request June 20, 2022, but the tester has received these same accommodations for at least three different teacher certification exams since then, according to the complaint.

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Texas Panhandle towns report cyberattacks that caused one water system to overflow

A hack that caused a small Texas town’s water system to overflow in January has been linked to a shadowy Russian hacktivist group, the latest case of a U.S. public utility becoming a target of foreign cyberattacks. The attack was one of three on small towns in the rural Texas Panhandle. Local officials said the public was not put in any danger and the attempts were reported to federal authorities. “There were 37,000 attempts in four days to log into our firewall,” said Mike Cypert, city manager of Hale Center, which is about 40 miles north of Lubbock and home to about 2,000 residents. The attempted hack failed as the city “unplugged” the system and operated it manually, he added.

In Muleshoe, about 60 miles to the west in Bailey County and with a population of about 5,000, hackers caused the water system to overflow before it was shut down and taken over manually by officials, City Manager Ramon Sanchez told CNN. He did not immediately respond to phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment. “The incident was quickly addressed and resolved,” Sanchez said in a statement, according to Lubbock-based ABC affiliate KAMC-TV. “The city’s water disinfectant system was not affected, and the public water system nor the public was in any danger.” At least one of the attacks was linked this week by Mandiant, a U.S. cybersecurity firm, to a shadowy Russian hacktivist group that it said could be working with or part of a Russian military hacking unit.

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‘Worse than COVID’: 41% fewer Texas students completed FAFSA this year

Texas saw one of the most dramatic drops in high schoolers completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid as the nation contends with a rocky rollout of the new FAFSA. In the Dallas area, schools experienced significant decreases – some of them as large as 30 percentage-point drops, according to an analysis of federal data by The Dallas Morning News. In Dallas ISD, for example, only about 35% of seniors completed the form by April 5 compared to over 60% last year, according to the federal data. The U.S. Department of Education estimates show that Texas had about 41% fewer seniors finish the application by April 5 compared to this time last year, according to The News’ analysis. Now many educators and advocates worry that the troubled FAFSA rollout will disrupt students’ journey to college more than the pandemic.

“This needs to be all hands on deck for states,” said Ellie Bruecker, interim director of research at The Institute for College Access and Success. “Students will fall out of the pipeline if we don’t get them to fill out the FAFSA.” These declines come as the U.S. Department of Education was tasked with redesigning FAFSA to be a simpler and more accessible form for students. However, the launch of the revamped application was marked by delays and technical difficulties, leaving millions of students confused and afraid they won’t get enough financial aid for the next academic year. Damian Salas, a senior at Uplift North Hills Preparatory in Irving, has been accepted to many Texas universities, including Texas Tech, as well as schools in Colorado and Oklahoma. He wants to study computer engineering. “I really like being hands-on with materials and building things. I like building PCs. I’ve always been fascinated by that,” he said. But he can’t decide where to attend and make plans for next year as he awaits news of financial aid. “It makes me stressed because I see him frustrated that he isn’t able to make a decision,” his mother Jessica Salas said. “He sees that dad and I are also stressed out because we’re not able to plan.”

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Texas county celebrates helping 100,000 migrants reach destination in US

El Paso County officials are celebrating a milestone when it comes to dealing with the years-long humanitarian migrant crisis. Their Migrant Support Services Center has now helped 100,000 asylum-seekers reach their destination of choice. “This achievement underscores the critical role the center has played in the lives of tens of thousands, highlighting its pivotal position in the ongoing effort to humanely welcome and support those in desperate need,” the county said in a statement Wednesday. The center opened in October 2022 when more than 2,000 migrants were coming across the border every day in the El Paso region. Its primary role was to swiftly assist asylum-seekers make travel arrangements after their release from federal immigration custody. This contributed to keeping the migrant population in the city manageable, taking stress off nonprofit shelters during surges and preventing people from having to stay on the streets.

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Vatican orders Arlington nuns to rescind statement rejecting Fort Worth bishop’s authority

An association of Carmelite nuns will now direct day to day operations of the Arlington monastery where nuns rejected the bishop’s authority last summer over his investigation into reports their leader broke her chastity vow, according to a decree Thursday from the Vatican. Bishop Michael Olson of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth will oversee other matters at the monastery, including the election of the leadership. His authority remains intact. The nuns of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity were also told to rescind their August 2023 statement that rejected the bishop’s authority. The decree was issued after the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth and the Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach were in a dispute stemming from an investigation into a report that she violated her chastity vows with a priest. The nuns sued the diocese over invasion of privacy in May 2023, but the suit was dismissed in June after a judge ruled that the courts did not have jurisdiction over ecclesiastical matters.

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Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare’s comments called racist

Residents and members of local civil rights organizations gathered Thursday to denounce Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare’s recent treatment of Commissioner Alisa Simmons, which they described as racist, misogynistic, and publicly intimidating. The news conference sprang from an exchange between O’Hare and Simmons at a meeting of the Commissioners Court on Tuesday, during which O’Hare told Simmons, “I’m the one talking now, so you’ll sit there and be quiet and listen to me talk.” O’Hare is white; Simmons is Black. A news conference was held Thursday morning in front of the Tarrant County Administration Building in downtown Fort Worth with about 20 people in attendance, including representatives of the Fort Worth and Arlington chapters of the NAACP and United Fort Worth.

O’Hare did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Those in attendance said they want Tarrant County citizens to stand up against O’Hare’s disrespect of Simmons by speaking at the May 7 County Commissioners Court meeting. “In the wake of everything that’s been going on with the statement that he made, ‘Sit down and be quiet,’ You can’t say that to a woman in 2024,” Kennedy Jones, president of the Arlington NAACP chapter, said. Simmons approached the crowd at the end of the news conference. She said she didn’t expect such a response from residents but was appreciative that they recognized the inappropriateness of O’Hare’s behavior. “Because I was not going to be quiet does not mean that I’m out of order,” Simmons said. “I was speaking, I even attempted to answer his questions, and he didn’t like my question, so he didn’t answer so he would speak over me. I’m not tolerating that.” The exchange between O’Hare and Simmons came after Simmons voiced opposition to a five month, $5,000 contract with Noah Betz, the executive director of the Huffines Liberty Foundation, to work in O’Hare’s office. Speakers during the meeting criticized Betz’s conservative political record, calling it an ethical violation and misuse of taxpayer dollars for O’Hare to hire him. After Simmons shared her concerns about the contract, O’Hare questioned Simmons about whether her X (formerly Twitter) account is political in nature. At one point, as they were both talking, O’Hare told Simmons, “I’m the one talking now, so you’ll sit there and be quiet and listen to me talk.”

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Harris County guaranteed income program can move forward, judge rules

A district judge on Thursday ruled Harris County's new guaranteed income program can proceed, denying the Texas Attorney General Office's request for a temporary injunction. The state sued Harris County earlier this month, arguing the initiative to provide financial assistance to low-income residents violated a Texas statute prohibiting gifts of public funds. Harris County Commissioners Court approved the plan last June to send $500 monthly payments to around 1,900 low-income households over the course of 18 months. The $20.5 million Uplift Harris program is funded by federal pandemic recovery dollars.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis called the ruling a "victory for families struggling to make ends meet," while also acknowledging the legal battle likely isn't over. "We stand ready to take our fight all the way to the Texas Supreme Court to protect Uplift Harris," Ellis said in a statement. The Attorney General's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Though Uplift Harris has the support of Commissioners Court's four Democratic members, Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey – the lone Republican serving on the court – has vocally opposed it.

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Texas small business owner goes to DC, speaks against potential TikTok ban

The debate around a potential TikTok ban hits close to home for some small businesses in Central Texas. The House passed a bill in March that could force the Chinese-based owner, ByteDance, to sell the app or lead to a nationwide ban. Some lawmakers are concerned TikTok shares user data with the Chinese government or that Chinese authorities have tinkered with the company’s algorithm, which influences what Americans see. To date, the U.S. government has not provided evidence showing that. On Wednesday, House Republican leaders included it in a package of bills that would send aid to Ukraine and Israel. The bill could be law as soon as next week if Congress moves quickly. Not only does it have bipartisan support in the House, but President Joe Biden said he would sign the legislation if it reaches his desk.

A Leander business owner hopes that doesn’t happen. She took her frustrations to Washington, DC. Jordan Smith is the owner of The Elevated Closet. “I own a clothing brand, specifically for tall women,” Smith said. “It’s really difficult for us to find pants long enough, dresses long enough. I’m here to provide that for other tall women.” Smith said she constantly tries to grow her customer-base. A tool that helps her? TikTok. Through the app, Smith said her customers can shop. “They see me talking in the video, moving in the video,” Smith said. “They see the clothes on live, and they can immediately click a button and the product is purchased and it will be heading their direction.” At the same time she’s making a profit, Smith said she’s also spreading the word about her business to thousands per post. “It would really devastate me if this platform went away, just because it has been so helpful,” Smith said. “It’s been such a positive community builder for tall women all across the country.”

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City Stories

City Council OKs new utility plant at Austin airport; more steps in expansion to come

The Austin City Council on Thursday passed the first of many steps to address the "deficient" elements of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport this year, kicking off a spate of votes in the coming months to increase capacity at the overcrowded airport. The unanimous decision, the first of at least nine expansion-related votes planned this year, approves a $162 million construction contract to build a new utility plant for the city-run airport. Built in 1997, the existing plant powers the airport's heating and cooling and has reached its peak cooling capacity, meaning it could not accommodate further growth, according to airport officials. In addition to expanding the ceiling for the airport's growth, current plans for the new plant aim to cut down on the carbon footprint.

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National Stories

Israel retaliates against Iran, US official says

Israel, early Friday morning local time, launched a retaliatory strike against Iran, a senior U.S. official told ABC News. The strike follow Iran's attack last Saturday, where the country sent a volley of more than 300 uncrewed drones and missiles toward targets throughout the country, Israeli military officials previously said. All but a few were intercepted by Israel and its allies, including the United States, officials said. Iran's attack came more than six months after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, after which the Israeli military began its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country's war cabinet have met several times since the Iran strikes, and as ABC News previously reported, at least two strikes were previously aborted.

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Elon Musk’s Boring Company’s Vegas tunnel project fails due to monorail safety concerns

Las Vegas, a city famed for its vibrant nightlife and sprawling casinos, recently encountered an unexpected disruption. The Boring Company, spearheaded by visionary entrepreneur Elon Musk, faced significant setbacks as it continued its ambitious effort to revolutionize urban transportation with an underground tunnel network. Recent incidents involving the Las Vegas Monorail have cast a spotlight on the challenges and safety concerns associated with such innovative projects. In a bid to extend its tunnel system, which aims to alleviate surface traffic and provide a novel transit solution, The Boring Company inadvertently compromised the structural integrity of the Las Vegas Monorail. Reports from Fortune indicate that during the expansion work, the company’s excavation activities exposed the bases of several monorail pillars, triggering immediate safety concerns. This misstep led to a temporary halt of the monorail service, affecting the daily commute of numerous residents and tourists along the Vegas Strip.

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NM governor to call special session focused on crime

New Mexico lawmakers will be called up to Santa Fe this summer to consider bills related to criminal competency, gun charges and panhandling, a high-ranking lawmaker said. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will call the New Mexico Legislature into a special session on Thursday, July 18, her office announced in a news release on Wednesday morning. Lujan Grisham said she will call the special session “to allow lawmakers to finish what they started” during the regular session that ended in February. Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) said in a news release on Wednesday afternoon talks between Lujan Grisham and legislative leadership have so far focused on bills that didn’t pass during the 30-day session. Wirth said failed proposals related to gun safety and pre-trial detention will not be heard until the 2025 Legislature, which meets for 60 days.

He said debate in July will focus on legislation that required more legal review, “namely: criminal competency, felon in possession of a firearm and panhandling.” “In the next several months, we will also focus on finding ways to expand the critical safety net of mental health and treatment services that are vital to the success of the legislation that will be considered,” Wirth said. While details on the proposals remain short for now, Jodi McGinnis Porter, a spokesperson for Lujan Grisham, said the goal of the competency proposal is to address a shortfall in mental health treatment. “We’re committed to reforming mental health laws and services for criminal and civil competency,” McGinnis Porter said. The special session is expected to last several days, Lujan Grisham said, based on her discussions with leadership in the House and Senate. While lawmakers made some progress on criminal legal policy during the 30-day session, “we agree that we must do more,” she said.

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Could pharmacists in states with abortion bans go to prison for prescribing a legal drug?

Alarm bells ring in Matt Murray’s head when a prescription for misoprostol comes through his independent pharmacy in Boise, Idaho. “Are there directions on the prescription that show what it’s being used for?” said Murray, a pharmacist and director of operations for Customedica Pharmacy. “If not, then we would probably need to call the [doctor’s] office and confirm why it’s being prescribed.” The medication is legal — approved by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent stomach ulcers — but it can also be used for abortions, which became illegal in Idaho with few exceptions when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. When that happened, misoprostol went from “something that wasn’t on the radar but now sends up an alert in the pharmacy,” Murray said.

Misoprostol, which works by contracting the uterus, is also commonly used ahead of gynecologic procedures, such as the insertion of intrauterine devices for birth control, or after miscarriages, when pregnancies end on their own. The drug helps speed up the time it takes for a woman's body to expel the failed pregnancy. Murray’s hesitation in dispensing misoprostol isn’t based on personal feelings about abortion. It’s the fear of legal action or jail time. Idaho’s “Defense of Life Act” says any person who performs or assists in an abortion could face felony criminal charges and up to five years in prison. Exceptions include to save the life of the woman and in cases of rape or incest. Does that mean pharmacists could be liable for dispensing a drug that could be used in an abortion — even if it’s not? Pharmacists like Murray in Idaho aren’t sure. “The law isn’t clear whether a pharmacist is committing a felony for dispensing the medication,” he said. “What level of due diligence are we expected to perform?”

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A sheriff, a felon and a conspiracy theorist walk into a hotel. They’re there for the same conference.

A conference for a far-right sheriffs group this week drew a parade of felons, disgraced politicians, election deniers, conspiracy theorists and, in the end, a few sheriffs. The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, or CSPOA, met in Las Vegas’ Ahern Luxury Boutique Hotel conference center to publicly counter reports of extremism within the group and set a course for the coming election — one that involves sheriffs’ investigating what they claim, despite a lack of evidence, is rampant voter fraud. The group sees sheriffs as the highest authority in the U.S., more powerful than the federal government, and it wants these county officers to form posses to patrol polling places, seize voting machines and investigate the Democrats and foreign nations behind what they claim is a criminal effort to rig the vote by flooding the country with immigrants who vote illegally.

Critics of the group — including voting rights advocates and extremism researchers — fear the CSPOA’s new focus will amount to interference and legitimize disinformation about U.S. elections. But the event Wednesday, which starred MAGA celebrities speaking to a half-empty audience made up of few actual sheriffs, pointed to just how fringe the group’s ideas are — and how what once seemed like a movement on its way into the mainstream has lost political pull. The conference opened a little behind schedule; the Pledge of Allegiance was delayed when organizers couldn’t find a flag. After he searched the conference center’s rooms, Tom Hamner, a Colorado man who served over two years in prison for the felony “interfering with law enforcement” on Jan. 6, 2021, came forward with the scarf from his wife’s neck. It wasn’t exactly a flag, but it was emblazoned with stars and stripes. “That’ll work!” emcee Alex Newman, an Epoch Times contributor, said before he led the crowd of dozens in the pledge. A smooth jazz rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” followed, sung by a Las Vegas man awaiting trial on multiple felony charges who is accused of fraudulently posing as a certified firearms instructor.

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House foreign aid bills advance with Democrats' help; Johnson may still be in peril

The House Rules Committee has voted 9-3 to advance a package of bills providing aid to Israel, Ukraine, and other allies, after Democrats took the rare step of supporting a procedural vote for Republican bills. Republican Reps. Chip Roy, Thomas Massie and Ralph Norman voted against the rule, out of anger that assistance to Ukraine was not paired with conservative border security provisions, as House Speaker Mike Johnson had previously pushed to do. Thursday night's vote enables the full House to vote on the rule and begin debate on the foreign aid bills. Various pieces of the package are expected to pass with bipartisan coalitions this weekend. Ahead of the vote, Democratic leaders had not committed to supporting the rule, as text was not yet available. But they said they were open to the possibility and they were committed to getting foreign aid passed.

"We're going to do what's necessary to make sure that the national security bill gets over the finish line," House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday morning. Minority support of a majority rule virtually never happens. As a result, Johnson and his predecessor, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have seen several rules fail on the floor, largely over objections from the right flank of the party. The rule does not raise the threshold to bring a motion to oust the speaker, which several members of the Republican conference had called for. Currently, it only takes one member to file such a motion. Johnson was reportedly considering the change Thursday morning, but he wrote on social media that the House "will continue to govern under the existing rules." Reps. Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., have co-sponsored a motion to vacate the speakership, but so far have not brought it to the floor for a vote. Rep. Mike Lawler, a moderate Republican from a New York swing district, said Thursday morning the threshold should be changed "immediately." "However it needs to get done, it should get done," Lawler said. "If Mike Johnson is removed simply because he put aid to our allies on the floor, No. 1, it'll cause another prolonged amount of chaos. And No. 2, it will make it that much harder for the next speaker to do the right thing at the right time."

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Lead Stories

Miriam Adelson and the Texas Sands PAC are ones to watch

Miriam Adelson poured $4.1 million into a political action committee in Texas ahead of March's primary elections — signaling her increased interest in Lone Star State politics amid efforts to legalize gambling. Adelson, part of the new majority ownership group of the Dallas Mavericks and head of the family that controls Las Vegas Sands Corp., made the contribution to the Texas Sands PAC on Feb. 6, according to a Feb. 26 campaign finance report. Her contribution came two months after her family finalized its purchase of a majority stake in the Mavericks from longtime owner Mark Cuban on Dec. 27. Dallas Business Journal dove into the February campaign finance reports to examine the influence of Adelson and her family heading into next year's legislative session.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), a casino company that generated more than $10 billion in revenue in 2023, also contributed $9,000 to the PAC between December and February. The company launched the PAC in January 2022 with $2.3 million of initial funding from Adelson. The campaign finance report shows Texas Sands PAC spent $1.9 million supporting 35 candidates in primary races this year — an average of nearly $56,000 each. A spokesperson for Las Vegas Sands could not immediately be reached for comment. House Speaker Dade Phelan received the largest contribution at $200,000 in his heated state representative primary race. Phelan, a Republican from Beaumont, came in second to David Covey in the primary and the two are headed to a May runoff. Phalen has feuded with the far right wing of the GOP and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who backs Covey. Phelan supported the House's impeachment of Paxton last year. In North Texas, where it's common for Texans to go to Oklahoma to gamble, politicians whose campaigns received funding from the PAC included Rep. Frederick Frazier with $79,000, Rep. Justin Holland with $79,000, Rep. Charlie Geren with $60,000, Rep. Venton Jones with $54,000, Rep. Angie Chen Button with $29,000, Rep. Ben Bumgarner with $29,000, Rep. Morgan Meyer with $29,000 and Rep. Jeff Leach with $15,000.

Read this article at Austin Business Journal - Subscribers Only

Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas announces plans for new casino resort in Polk County

The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas has unveiled plans to construct a brand-new casino resort on its tribal lands in Polk County, a move expected to drive the tribe's economy and boost tourism. Announced on Monday, the plans for the new casino resort were met with enthusiasm from Tribal Council chairman, Ricky Sylestine, who expressed excitement about the project's potential impact. "We are incredibly excited to embark on this new chapter," said Sylestine. "This new casino resort will not only provide significant economic benefits for those living and working in the region, but it will also become a vibrant destination for visitors."

While specific details about the resort are still in the works, the property is expected to feature a state-of-the-art casino floor, hotel accommodations, and a diverse array of dining and entertainment options. To bring their vision to life, the tribe has enlisted architectural firm FFKR to design the new resort. In addition to the construction of the new casino resort, the tribe has also outlined plans for an extensive remodel of its existing Ischoopa/One Stop Convenience Store and Truck Stop. This renovation project will include the incorporation of electronic bingo machines. As the project progresses, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas has assured the public that they will continue to provide updates and news related to the new resort, as well as any additional developments that may arise in the coming months. The tribe also owns and operates Naskila Casino at 540 State Park Rd 56, Livingston, Texas.

Read this article at Pechanga - Subscribers Only

Candidates clash in race to succeed Whitmire in Texas Senate

If Houstonians found recent political debates to be largely uneventful events, then they were in for a big surprise Wednesday night, when state Rep. Jarvis Johnson and emergency room nurse Molly Cook took to the stage. The two candidates, running to succeed Mayor John Whitmire in the Texas Senate, repeatedly clashed over their backgrounds and records ahead of back-to-back elections. The District 15 seat became vacant for the first time since 1983 when Whitmire left the Legislature to serve as Houston's mayor. During the Democratic primary in March, Johnson and Cook received 36% and 21% of the ballots cast, respectively, eliminating four other candidates from the race. Since neither candidate received a majority of the vote, they are now set to compete against each other in a primary runoff on May 28.

Due to Whitmire’s early resignation, the two will also face off in a special election on May 4 to decide who will complete the remainder of Whitmire’s term this year. Early voting for the special election starts Monday. During a debate Wednesday evening, organized by the Bayou Blue Democrats, Johnson took aim at Cook for her lack of experience serving in elected office. Cook, striving to close a 15-percentage-point gap behind her opponent, in turn leveled sharp attacks against Johnson for the state representative’s voting and donation records. The district has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold, encompassing several of Houston's most prominent neighborhoods, such as Montrose and the Heights. The winning Democrat in the runoff will face local businessman Joseph Trahan, the sole Republican to enter the race for the seat, in November. Johnson’s attendance rate was not the only issue Cook raised on Wednesday. She cited several legislative actions that she argued demonstrate Johnson’s records are out of step with Democratic values. She criticized Johnson for supporting a Republican-backed bill that she said made it more difficult for individuals with pre-existing conditions to secure equitable health insurance coverage. The vote was particularly disturbing to her as a health care professional who “see(s) people day in and day out with fear in their eyes, disease in their bodies,” she said. Johnson said he supported the bill only after the Democrats had successfully added a favorable amendment to improve transparency in the process. Voting against the bill after securing the amendment, he said, would have jeopardized relationships with the Republican majority.

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Trump campaign asks for cut of candidates’ fundraising when they use his name and likeness

By asking Republican candidates to break off a chunk of their proceeds, the Trump campaign would enlarge its bank account. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO By ALEX ISENSTADT 04/17/2024 02:57 PM EDT Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has found a new way to press for badly needed cash. In a letter received by Republican digital vendors this week, the Trump campaign is asking for down-ballot candidates who use his name, image and likeness in fundraising appeals to give at least 5 percent of the proceeds to the campaign. “Beginning tomorrow, we ask that all candidates and committees who choose to use President Trump’s name, image, and likeness split a minimum of 5% of all fundraising solicitations to Trump National Committee JFC. This includes but is not limited to sending to the house file, prospecting vendors, and advertising,” Trump co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita wrote in the letter, which is dated April 15.

They add: “Any split that is higher than 5% will be seen favorably by the RNC and President Trump’s campaign and is routinely reported to the highest levels of leadership within both organizations.” Trump officials insisted that the purpose of the 5 percent request was not to raise money for themselves but rather to dissuade “scammers” from using Trump’s brand without his permission and diluting his ability to raise cash. The letter comes as Trump is struggling to close a fundraising gap with President Joe Biden. Biden’s campaign has said that it has raised over $190 million, more than double what Trump has taken in. Trump’s campaign has acknowledged that it will be outraised by Biden, though it has been looking to make up ground, with large and small donors alike. By asking Republican candidates to break off a chunk of their proceeds, the Trump campaign would enlarge its bank account. The letter was sent the same week Trump’s hush-money trial began in New York. The trial is expected to last at least six weeks and will greatly hinder the former president’s ability to hit the campaign trail with just seven months left before the November election.

Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only

State Stories

County judge calls on Texas to process, jail its own migrants

Citing a lack of resources, El Paso County officials are asking Texas to use its own judges and jail space to hold migrants arrested at the border wall on state charges. The plea comes after the Texas Department of Public Safety on Friday arrested another 200 migrants on rioting charges after some cut razor wire the state had placed along the Rio Grande, and tried to make their way to the Border Patrol on the other side. “It looks like we’ll be able to process 140 to 145 (by) today. […] We’re trying to process 20-30 at a time,” County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told KTSM on Tuesday. “We can handle this one, but if tomorrow we have a number this size… no more (jail) space and the District Attorney would not have the resources to process them.”

Migrants arrested at the border, either by the state or federal agents, are taken to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility. If they face local charges, they’re transferred to the jails. The Downtown County Jail normally can house up to 1,010 inmates but is undergoing construction that robs it of 300 to 350 beds a day. The Far East El Paso Jail Annex can hold another 1,800. County officials said Tuesday that the Jail Annex was at 94 percent capacity, while the Downtown facility was at capacity given the missing beds. Additionally, the county loses money when the state brings in inmates and the county has to turn down federal prisoners. State inmates cost the county $110 a day, while federal inmates bring in $85 to $87 a day. Samaniego suggests DPS take the migrants to the Rogelio Sanchez State Jail in El Paso or other state-run facilities.

Read this article at Border Report - Subscribers Only

Texas schools fund adopts ‘ESG skeptical’ proxy voting stance

The Texas Permanent School Fund is adopting an “ESG skeptical” proxy voting matrix which pushes back on ESG resolutions put forward during annual shareholder meetings, the fund announced Monday. The new matrix — offered through Institutional Shareholder Services, the fund’s external proxy voting manager — will take effect immediately and be used to cast votes on behalf of the fund during the first half of the year, according to Texas PSF. The matrix was established “in response to widespread criticism” that ISS’s voting policies supported too many ESG shareholder resolutions, the fund said in the release. Texas PSF, which manages over $53 billion in assets and distributes nearly $2.2 billion to Texas K-12 schools annually, said it was among the first to adopt the matrix, which provides specific proxy voting guidance. The new strategy is now poised to impact the 40,000-50,000 proxy votes the fund casts every year.

Read this article at ESG Dive - Subscribers Only

A Texas mayoral candidate's brother indicted in NBA multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme

The estranged brother of an El Paso mayoral candidate was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly running a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme by falsely claiming to be an NBA promoter. Timothy France Johnson, 61, was indicted March 20 on seven counts of wire fraud and three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity, federal court records show. Johnson is the brother of El Paso mayoral candidate Renard Johnson, who has not been implicated in playing any role in the alleged crime. "Like the rest of the public, I learned recently that my estranged brother has been indicted," Renard Johnson said in a statement. "I have not seen or spoken to him in many years. I have full confidence that our judicial system will resolve these allegations."

Timothy Johnson allegedly claimed to be a third-party promoter of NBA pre-season games and "convinced unwary investors to invest money with him to sponsor said pre-season games," officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas said. Timothy Johnson allegedly conducted the fraud through his companies, BOLO Entertainment LLC, BOLO Sports LLC and Shoot N’2 Sports LLC, the indictment states. The Ponzi scheme robbed investors of more than $3 million between Feb. 9, 2009, to May 14, 2020, a federal indictment states. There were at least 30 investors defrauded in the scheme. Timothy Johnson claimed to be a third-party promoter of NBA pre-season games and asked investors to invest money to help promote the pre-season games, the indictment states. He never used any of the investments to promote any NBA pre-season games, officials said. About $1 million of the $3 million taken from investors was used to pay fake investment profits to previous investors, the indictment states. Timothy Johnson allegedly used the rest of the funds for personal use.

Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only

'Generosity lived in his heart': Daughter reflects on father's life, killer's conviction

Miguel Rivera was a loving, caring and humble man — helping those in need get their lives back on track — but one of his last acts of generosity ended in his death. Rivera, 64, was fatally shot by a ranch hand, Eduardo Garza Santillana, in the 23100 block of Alameda Avenue in Tornillo, just south of El Paso, on July 25, 2018. Rivera was trying to help Garza fight his drug addiction, Marlene Rivera, Rivera's daughter, said. "My dad was a very, very honorable man," Marlene Rivera said. "Very caring. A very, very generous man. He was all about his family. He loved his family. He was always there to help everyone he met. That was the amazing man he was."

Nearly six years after the fatal shooting, Rivera's family finally received justice April 4, after a jury convicted Garza of capital murder and sentenced him to life in prison. Garza was also sentenced to 40 years on one count of aggravated robbery. The sentences will be served concurrently. While the Rivera family got justice for their father, nothing can ever take away the pain they suffer everyday without him. With Garza spending the rest of his life in prison, the healing process can start, a Rivera family member said. "My dad did get the justice that he deserved," Marlene Rivera said. "We got justice as well. There will really never be closure because my dad is no longer here. But I guess now we start the healing process again. With him (Garza) being convicted and sentenced, now we start the healing process again from scratch. "It's never going to be easy. My dad was, well is, a big part of our family. It's very difficult. Unfortunately, we have to move on, but of course our father's memory is always with us. There's not a day that passes that we don't think of him." Miguel Rivera's other ranch hand, Abelardo Moreno, was also shot by Garza. He survived his injuries. El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks hopes the guilty verdict will bring peace to the Rivera family.

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Karl Rove: Disinformation from Russia and China is evolving and has even spread to Capitol Hill.

As Speaker Mike Johnson maneuvered last week to bring Ukraine aid up for a vote, two respected House committee chairmen made a disturbing acknowledgment: Russian disinformation has helped undermine support for Ukraine among some Republicans. Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul admitted that “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States” and “infected a good chunk of my party’s base.” Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner said “anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages” have been “uttered on the House floor.” To get a sense of the magnitude of the problem, consider one truly ludicrous fiction that GOP lawmakers parroted: that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky diverted U.S. aid to purchase two super yachts.

The accusation surfaced in DC Weekly, a Russian website masquerading as a U.S. media organization. It’s one of many sites aimed at Americans tied to the media network of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin went down in a private jet crash last August, but his troll farm appears alive and well. Though the Soviet Union is long gone, America still seems to be crawling with useful idiots, Westerners who aid Moscow out of ignorance or naiveté. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R., Ohio) were among those who repeated the super-yacht charge. Neither has set the record straight or admitted being hoodwinked. Thanks to social media, false information spreads quicker and further. An anonymous Twitter user claimed earlier this month that large numbers of people had registered to vote in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Texas without a photo ID, suggesting they could be illegal aliens. Arizona and Texas election officials quickly denounced this as false, but were too late to keep Ms. Greene, Donald Trump and Elon Musk from drawing attention to the inaccurate posting. It has 64 million views and counting.

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

Communities In Schools of Houston celebrates Mental Health Awareness Month, supports students’ mental health

Communities In Schools of Houston (CIS), a Heights-based educational nonprofit, celebrates Mental Health Awareness Month in May, part of a national campaign by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), centered around the campaign theme “Take the Moment.” NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. In May, CIS team members will be raising awareness across campuses about the importance of good mental health, including coordinated activities. For the past 45 years, supporting students' mental health and well-being has been at the core of what CIS does. CIS of Houston, which celebrates 13 years since the launch of its Mental Health Initiative (MHI), is the largest provider of mental health services for schools in the Harris County area.

Read this article at The Leader - Subscribers Only

Newly released documentary alleges former Keller ISD trustee ‘begged’ crew to not air interview

After two months of anticipation among Keller ISD parents and staff, parts of an episode shot at Central High School were recently featured on an international TV show called “God, Jesus, Trump!” A film crew hired by a Netherlands-based broadcasting channel called Evangelische Omroep — or EO for short — visited the school in February to film an interview for an episode titled “Texas – War on Woke” with Sandi Walker, a Keller ISD trustee who later resigned. Show host Tijs van den Brink said during the April 14 episode that the aftermath of the visit had “traumatized” Walker and that the show had decided not to broadcast her interview per her request. Legal tensions remain between the district and EO over the footage that aired in the episode. A Keller ISD spokesperson told the Fort Worth Report that the district demanded the unauthorized footage be destroyed or returned to them. The district also said it was disappointed to see the release of the footage, which was “taken without proper approval.”

Keller ISD had about six minutes of airtime in the episode. Van den Brink said he and the film crew initially interviewed Walker about books banned from the school. In “Texas – War on Woke,” the film crew is shown entering the administration building where three Central High School staff members greet them. The crew is checked in, receives visitor stickers and heads to the library to speak with Walker. As part of the episode, van den Brink alleges he received a “desperate text” from Walker an hour after the interview and that Walker “begged” him and the crew to not air her segment. The episode includes local news segments initially covering the film crew’s visit as well as parent’s strong opposition of the visit on TV and school board meetings. In an EO article about the Texas episode, van den Brink wrote that he spoke with Walker in a Zoom call after their initial interview at Central High School. During the hour-long call, van den Brink describes Walker being concerned about how the interview would pose a risk to her husband’s job and kids. She asked him again to not broadcast her interview on the show, van den Brink wrote. “She begs us crying not to broadcast the images of the interview with herself either,” van den Brink wrote.

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In Travis County, a fight over bail hearings has big stakes for criminal defendants

In Travis County, the magistration process—the initial bail hearing after someone is arrested—isn’t cinematic. Arrestees are either led to a small room within the jail’s central booking area, or a Travis County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) employee might bring a computer to their holding cell. At the end of a short conversation, during which the arrestee can either remain silent or try to plead their case to get released on a personal bond instead of cash or surety bail, a magistrate—a judge who handles pre-trial hearings—determines the conditions of release. These routine hearings can have huge implications beyond determining how long someone will spend in jail (and the potential collateral damages like job loss) or how much they’ll have to pay to a bail bonds firm. If an arrestee chooses to plead their case at magistration, anything they say can be used against them in court. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that people have the right to an attorney at the magistration, also known as arraignment, stage. Yet most Texas counties don’t guarantee free attorneys at these early hearings for people who can’t pay.

“There is a constitutional right to counsel at a critical stage in a criminal case,” said ACLU of Texas staff attorney Savannah Kumar. “Unfortunately, constitutional rights are not always realized for people, even when those rights are firmly established.” In a bid to change this status quo, the Texas ACLU sued Travis County last week, alleging the county’s practices during magistration are unconstitutional. The federal suit, filed alongside the international law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, stems from the fact that, in Travis County, arrestees who can’t afford private attorneys are sent before magistrate judges without first speaking to a court-appointed lawyer. These hearings often result in high bail amounts that mean they’ll stay in jail until their trial—or until a lawyer can convince a judge to let them out. The suit asks the court to hold that Travis County’s practice is improper, which would force the county to take immediate action. “The lack of counsel at magistration fatally undermines the fairness of criminal proceedings in Travis County,” states the lawsuit. The question of whether lawyers are guaranteed at magistration is particularly critical amid Texas’ ongoing efforts to implement Senate Bill 4, currently blocked by the courts. The law, if it takes effect, could allow magistrates to effectively order the removal of undocumented arrestees as early as their magistration hearing.

Read this article at Texas Observer - Subscribers Only

Saving Lone Star Literary Life

Out in West Texas, a pair of aspiring novelists and enterprising small-town newspaper owners, Barbara Brannon and Kay Ellington, were dismayed by the number of publications that were dropping book sections, cutting critics, and otherwise decimating literary coverage, especially in the Lone Star State. By the 2010s, “93 percent of the state’s newspapers offer no regular books coverage of any kind,” they told the Writers’ League of Texas. Both newswomen worried that Texas authors in particular just weren’t getting enough attention—though plenty deserved it. Out of that gaping hole emerged, fittingly on Groundhog’s Day 2015, a new literary venture: Lone Star Literary Life, an online newsletter aimed at Texas readers, writers, and librarians. “Texas is second only in population to California, Florida is third and New York is fourth. We should be the 800-pound gorilla of literature,” Ellington said of their effort in a 2017 panel discussion.

Initially, it was only a side project for Brannon and Ellington, a dynamic duo who have now published several novels (a series all about The Paragraph Ranch) while still stubbornly championing small-town papers too. (Their company, Paragraph Ranch LLC, now owns three around Lubbock: the Texas Spur, in Spur; the Caprock Courier in Silverton; and the Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon.) Over the next nine years, Lone Star Literary Life grew, creating a network of 6,000 loyal subscribers, including Texas librarians, indie booksellers, publicists, and authors. In 2018, school librarian Kristine Hall took over and Lone Star Lit coasted through the pandemic when many Texans were home reading—and writing. But the upstart venture nearly died in April 2024, a victim perhaps of its own business model of providing substantive but low-cost (or free) services to readers and authors across Texas. It had become popular but not profitable enough to sustain a team of employees large enough to support it without burning out. Here’s the saga of how independent women business owners and book lovers in Texas founded that small company, expanded it, and now aim to save it.

Read this article at Texas Observer - Subscribers Only

Love and loss in a small Texas town

If you were asked to draw a picture of a cowboy, you’d end up drawing Buck Uptmor. Short and bandy-legged, with the permanently ruddy complexion of a man who spent much of his 45 years in a saddle, he looked exactly like a guy named Buck should look. It runs in the family. His younger brother, Brian, is short, too, but built like a fire hydrant. People call Brian “Peanut.” The Uptmors grew up in and around the tiny town of West, Texas, about an hour south of Dallas. Buck stayed in West and ran his own fencing and welding company. Brian left shortly after high school to fight fires. For a month shy of 11 years, Brian was a firefighter-paramedic in Killeen, near Fort Hood. “Firefighter, it’s the greatest job in the world—if you’re single,” he says. He’d work 24 hours, then have 48 off. He’d finish his shift, go have breakfast with his crew, go to the gym, sleep, return to the gym, then get cleaned up and go out drinking with his fellow firefighters.

Then he got married, had a couple of daughters, and it wasn’t the best job to have anymore. His mother was going to sell a piece of his grandfather’s land in Tours, a tiny town that hugs the east side of West, so Brian bought it to keep it in the family, built a house in 2007, retired from the fire department, and moved his wife and daughters there. He took a job selling cars at a Ford dealership in West. But when there is a pasture fire, or maybe someone is hurt, Brian still gets calls. He has all his certifications, even if he doesn’t do it for a living anymore. On Wednesday, April 17, about 7:30 in the evening, Brian got one of those calls. He was picking up his girls from St. Martin Parish in Tours. They were at their CCE class, the weekly catechism course most Catholic kids attend. His phone rang, but he figured he could call back whoever it was after he’d delivered his daughters safely home. The phone rang again, so he pulled into a parking lot to see who it was. The first call had come from Ted Uptmore Jr. There are many people with that surname in West; some spell it with an “e,” and some don’t. Uptmore’s father is the general manager at West Fertilizer Co., where he has worked for five decades. Now Ted’s wife, Sherry, was on the phone: “Brian, fertilizer plant’s on fire! Ted wants you up here.” West Fertilizer Co. opened in 1962 on a sprawling site hard by the railroad tracks on what was then the northernmost edge of town. It only employed a dozen or so people, but in a farming community like West, it was an important business, if only for the sake of convenience. It saved the farmers from having to make a trip to Waco or Hillsboro. The core of the facility was a 13,000-square-foot wooden building that stored solid fertilizer, such as ammonium nitrate, and two 12,000-gallon metal tanks that held anhydrous ammonia. A fleet of tanker trucks was generally parked outside, and a railroad spur led to the main tracks so that railcars could be loaded and unloaded. When it was built, the plant was surrounded by empty fields, some of which were used as pasture for horses and cattle.

Read this article at D Magazine - Subscribers Only

As the Suburbs Add More People, Dallas Watches Its Influence Over DART Wane

You don’t need a demographer to see that Dallas isn’t sharing in the rapid growth of its northern suburbs. This reality is beginning to settle in at City Hall, where, in discussions around land use and other policy decisions, planners wrestle with how to encourage more people to move, and afford to stay, in the region’s largest city. The trend affects transportation decisions, too. Dallas is now staring at a future where it no longer controls a majority of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board, whose seats are appointed based on the population share of Dallas and the transportation agency’s 12 suburban partners. DART and the City Council’s transportation and infrastructure committee held a dual meeting on Monday to explore the region’s changing demographics. The population trends show the board makeup flipping as soon as 2025, the next time apportionment gets reviewed, and almost certainly by 2030. (The makeup of board seats is adjusted every five years based on how many people are living in DART’s service area.)

Why is this important? The state statute that created DART tipped the scales to allow the region’s largest city to have a critical eighth seat on the body that sets policy. But since 2010, Dallas’ population has increased by only 9 percent while the surrounding service area has jumped by 40 percent. By 2030, projections show that most of DART’s service population will live outside the city of Dallas for the first time in the agency’s existence. “I’ve been on the board, at the pleasure of the City Council, for almost three and a half years,” said Trustee Rodney Schlosser, a Dallas appointee who put the report together. “In those three and a half years, I have picked up on what I think is obvious for any of us who are watchful of what’s going on in the region, which is there are differences of opinion between what someone in Dallas might consider to be a priority and what someone in a suburb might consider to be a priority.” This change is more of an existential threat than one that immediately dooms Dallas’ ability to direct its public transportation partner. After all, Dallas presently shares one of its seats with Glenn Heights and Cockrell Hill, and there is often a lack of consensus among the city’s appointees, anyway. They represent different neighborhoods that have different priorities, some of which may even align with those of the suburbs.

Read this article at D Magazine - Subscribers Only

Money, sports and politics catapult 3 Texans onto Time 100 Most Influential People list

Texas has gained some worldwide recognition thanks to some of the state’s biggest names joining Time Magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential of 2024. Dallas entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, Texas governor Greg Abbott and Tyler native Patrick Mahomes made the list this year. The New York-based magazine has been conducting a 100 most influential list since 2004 and chooses individuals based on how much influence they had on the most important stories of last year. The list takes a crew of more than 100 people from the magazine months to put together.

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Senate kills Mayorkas impeachment over calls for full trial from Cruz, Cornyn

Democrats put a swift end to the historic impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, dismissing both articles against him in a matter of hours over objections from Texas Republicans who called for a full trial. The House impeachment managers — a group of Republicans including U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, whose district stretches from Austin to Katy — never got to lay out their case to senators that Mayorkas “willfully and systematically” refused to enforce immigration laws as border crossings set records under his watch. Democrats dismissed the allegations as policy differences and said they fell short of the high crimes and misdemeanors necessary to remove a Cabinet member. The Senate voted along party lines to declare the two articles against Mayorkas unconstitutional after shooting down a series of efforts by Republicans to delay the votes.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the brief impeachment proceedings “the least legitimate, least substantive and most politicized impeachment trial ever in the history of the United States.” “To validate this gross abuse by the House would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future,” Schumer said. “For the sake of the Senate’s integrity and to protect impeachment for those rare cases we truly need it, senators should dismiss today’s charges.” Texas’ Republican U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn both pushed for a full trial. Cornyn said Mayorkas was impeached for “serious offenses” and dismissing the case without a trial would be a “dangerous precedent to set.” “This would be the first time in our nation’s history that the Senate failed to do its duty to consider evidence, hear witnesses and allow senators to vote guilty or not guilty,” Cornyn said in a recent speech on the Senate floor. “Impeachment is one of the most solemn features in our democracy, and the majority leader must not brush these articles under the rug.”

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National Stories

Foreign holdings of US Treasuries hit record high; Japan holdings rise, data shows

Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries surged to a record in February, its fifth straight monthly rise, Treasury Department data released on Wednesday showed. Holdings totaled $7.965 trillion, up from a revised $7.945 trillion in January. Treasuries owned by foreigners rose 8.7% from a year earlier. Holdings of Treasuries grew the most in Belgium, by $27 billion, to hit $320 billion. Japan, the largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries, increased its U.S. government debt to $1.167 trillion, the largest since August 2022 when the country's holdings were at $1.196 trillion. Investors have been alert to the threat of Japanese intervention in the currency market to boost the yen, which plunged to a 34-year low of 154.79 per dollar on Tuesday.

The Bank of Japan intervened three times in 2022, selling the dollar to buy yen, first in September and again in October as the yen slid toward a 32-year low of 152 to the dollar. In September and October 2022, Japan's Treasury holdings declined $131.6 billion from $1.196 trillion in August. China's pile of Treasuries also fell in February to $775 billion, data showed. The monthly decline of $22.7 billion was the second biggest among the 20 major countries on the Treasury's list. Holdings of Treasuries by China, the world's second largest economy, have been declining, reaching $763.5 billion in February, the lowest since March 2009. Britain listed its Treasury holdings at $700.8 billion, up about $9 billion from January.

Read this article at Reuters - Subscribers Only

Mike Johnson defies GOP critics, setting up Ukraine-Israel aid showdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he would plunge ahead with a high-stakes vote to move long-stalled funding for Ukraine, Israel and other overseas allies, elbowing aside criticism from his conservative flank. The move sets up an unpredictable weekend showdown that could determine both the fate of the foreign-aid package—which appears closer than ever to actually becoming law—and Johnson’s political career after navigating months of bitter infighting in the Republican conference. Democrats were expected to line up firmly behind the aid effort, with President Biden issuing a strong endorsement. But many GOP lawmakers, angered by the lack of border provisions and critical of more aid for Ukraine, planned to oppose the measure, a familiar conundrum for House Republican leaders.

“We can’t play politics on this; we have to do the right thing,” Johnson said of the aid package. Asked if he was risking his job, he said: “Let the chips fall where they may—if I operated out of fear over a motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job.” Johnson indicated he expected to need Democratic votes to pass the rule tied to the legislation, a once-routine procedural step that has repeatedly been blocked by GOP holdouts in this Congress. He said he wasn’t seeking Democratic protection to keep his job. “The time has come for the House of Representatives to act, and act decisively, in America’s national security interests,” said Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.), adding that his conference was still reviewing the legislation. Johnson’s plan comprises four bills—one each for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, along with one containing many Republican priorities, including a ban or forced sale of TikTok in the U.S. Leaders posted the text of three of the four bills on Wednesday afternoon, laying out a $95 billion aid package that largely matches the price tag and contours of a measure that passed the Democratic-controlled Senate earlier this year. The text of the fourth bill was released Wednesday night.

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Combatting cannibalism and jailing librarians: Idaho Democrats see opportunity in extreme GOP agenda

Democrat Loree Peery knows she’s a long-shot candidate for the Idaho Legislature. But when her state House representative introduced a bill in February expanding an anti-cannibalism law — action prompted by a prank video — Peery decided she had to try to oust the far-right incumbent, Heather Scott. “You can’t win if you don’t run,” Peery said, adding that Scott’s focus on irrelevant issues like cannibalism shows she isn’t a serious lawmaker. “It forces the Republicans to work, it forces [Scott] to get out there and talk to people so they can see what she’s about. It forces Republicans to spend more resources on the races.” Peery, a retired nurse, is one of dozens of Idaho Democrats seeking an office in Boise for the first time.

Under new leadership, the Idaho Democratic Party has deployed a grassroots recruitment strategy to put a record number of candidates on the ballot. In fact, there’s a Democrat running in every district for the first time in at least 30 years. Democrats feel emboldened by the GOP supermajority’s obsession with culture war issues like enacting a strict abortion ban, attacking LGBTQ+ rights and proposing jailing librarians over violating book bans. They also see bitter infighting between the conservative and moderate flanks of the GOP as an opportunity to present voters with a different vision for the future of the state. Idaho was thrust into the national culture war debate again this week when the Supreme Court allowed state officials to temporarily enforce a ban on gender-affirming care, reinvigorating opposition to the law that was passed last year. It’s also not just Idaho. More Democrats than usual are running in states with GOP-dominated legislatures like Tennessee, Iowa and North Carolina. Democrats have made gains in recent years in state legislative races — flipping chambers in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Michigan — after more than a decade of nationwide GOP dominance. But Republicans still control 55 percent of state legislative seats, compared to 44 percent for Democrats.

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‘We’re a dead ship’: Hundreds of cargo ships lost propulsion in U.S. waters in recent years

Less than two weeks after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was destroyed by an out-of-control cargo ship, another huge container ship passed beneath a busy bridge connecting New York and New Jersey and then suddenly decelerated in a narrow artery of one of the nation’s largest ports. “We’re a dead ship,” said a voice over the maritime radio a short time later, invoking an industry term that often refers to a ship that is unable to move on it own. Three tug boats helped shepherd the APL Qingdao — a vessel more than 1,100 feet long and flying under the flag of Malta — from where it lost propulsion near the Bayonne Bridge to a safe location, authorities said. The ship dropped anchor just upstream from the even busier Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which carries about 200,000 vehicles per day.

The April 5 incident is one of hundreds in which massive cargo ships lost propulsion, many near bridges and ports, according to a Washington Post analysis of Coast Guard records. The findings indicate that the kind of failure that preceded the March 26 Baltimore bridge collapse — the 984-foot Dali is believed to have lost the ability to propel itself forward as it suffered a more widespread power outage — was far from a one-off among the increasingly large cargo ships that routinely sail close to critical infrastructure. Around Baltimore alone, ships lost propulsion nearly two dozen times in the three years before the tragedy last month, the Post review found — including a November 2021 incident in which a 981-foot container ship lost propulsion for 15 minutes soon after it passed under the Key Bridge. In 2020, a ship the same size as the Dali lost propulsion “in the vicinity of the Bay Bridge” near Annapolis, records show. Adding to the danger, experts say, is a lack of consistent rules on when cargo ships should be escorted by tug boats that can keep them on course even if engines turn off. While tugboats escorted the Qingdao, as was called for under local guidelines in the New York area, those attending to the Dali departed before it struck the bridge in Baltimore, where such decisions are left to ship captains and local pilots, the specially trained sailors who guide ships in and out of ports.

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Kari Lake suggests supporters 'strap on a Glock' to be ready for 2024

Arizona GOP Senate hopeful Kari Lake told supporters they can "strap on a Glock" to be prepared for the intensity of the 2024 campaign and urged military and law enforcement veterans to be "ready," as her race heats up in a key battleground state. “We need to send people to Washington, D.C., that the swamp does not want there,” Lake said toward the end of a Sunday speech to a crowd of Arizonans in Mohave County. “And I can think of a couple people they don’t want there. First on that list is Donald J. Trump; second is Kari Lake.” She described standing up to the “swamp” in Washington, saying: “They can’t bribe me, they can't blackmail me. That’s why they don’t want me in Washington, D.C. And that’s exactly what President Trump wants me there fighting with him.”

“He’s willing to sacrifice everything I am. That’s why they’re coming after us with lawfare, they’re going to come after us with everything. That’s why the next six months is going to be intense. And we need to strap on our — let’s see. What do we want to strap on?” Lake asked as some in the crowd chuckled. “We’re going to strap on our, our seat belt. We’re going to put on our helmet or your Kari Lake ball cap. We are going to put on the armor of God. And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us just in case.” “We’re not going to be the victims of crime,” Lake continued. “We’re not going to have our Second Amendment taken away. We’re certainly not going to have our First Amendment taken away by these tyrants.” Earlier in the roughly 30-minute remarks, Lake gave another warning about the period between now and Election Day.

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Fearing legal threats, doctors are performing C-sections in lieu of abortions

When news that Lizelle Gonzalez was suing the local prosecutor’s office for more than $1 million in damages, after being falsely imprisoned for murder over an attempted self-managed abortion in 2022, reproductive rights advocates cheered the move as a pathway to justice for the wrongfully charged southern Texas woman. However, a revelation in the lawsuit gave them pause: At the same hospital that reported her self-induced abortion to authorities, Gonzalez underwent a “classical C-section” for the delivery of her stillborn child, instead of abortion care. Major invasive surgery, Cesarean sections carry much higher risk for health complications, like hemorrhaging, compared with D&E abortion, and can jeopardize subsequent pregnancies. Nancy Cárdenas Peña, a longtime Rio Grande Valley reproductive justice advocate and campaign director for Abortion On Our Own Terms, which works to expand access to self-managed abortion, says that detail is new—and “disturbing”—information to the Texas activist groups that quickly mobilized following her arrest to advocate for her release from jail.

“It’s really alarming and something I’m still trying to wrap my head around,” Cárdenas Peña tells The Nation. “While the medical details are sealed so we don’t know exactly why this was performed, a C-section is not necessary for any sort of abortion management. A C-section carries a lot of risk, and it’s not something that should be happening. I’m still a bit in shock.” As the threat of criminal prosecution looms over doctors and hospitals in the 15 states where abortion is illegal, medical professionals, erring on the side of extreme caution because of vaguely worded laws and few meaningful exceptions, are resisting abortion care, even in life-threatening circumstances. Fear of lawsuits, loss of medical licenses, hefty fines, and considerable jail time have driven doctors to jeopardize patient care, either by delaying or denying pregnancy termination. And as we now know, this also has meant performing medical procedures that imperil patients, including substituting C-sections for abortion care, an emerging pattern researchers and abortion providers say will only increase over time. “I cannot imagine that Lizelle is the only person who has experienced this. There are surely other people in not just Texas but other abortion-hostile states,” says Cárdenas Peña, who has been working on behalf of people who have abortions for over a decade. “Her story is likely the tip of the iceberg.” Indeed, Texas physicians reported in a June 2022 New England Journal of Medicine study that their colleagues have “resorted” to using hysterotomy—a surgical incision in the uterus—because it “might not be construed as an abortion.”

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In House hearing, Columbia president’s performance impresses

Despite some tense moments, experts agree that Columbia University President Minouche Shafik gave a better performance addressing campus antisemitism before the House of Representatives’ Education and Workforce Committee than the presidents of MIT, Harvard and University of Pennsylvania did in December. Unlike her peers, Shafik and her fellow witnesses—Board of Trustees co-chairs David Greenwald and Claire Shipman, along with David Schizer, the law professor leading Columbia's antisemitism task force—quickly and definitively agreed that calling for the genocide of Jewish people would violate the university’s code of conduct.

“Columbia beat UPenn and Harvard,” said Karl Schonberg, a professor of government at St. Lawrence University, quoting what Florida Republican Aaron Bean said during the hearing. Schonberg has argued that Sally Kornbluth of MIT, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Liz Magill of University of Pennsylvania spoke without “moral clarity” at their hearing. He noted that witnessing their interrogation—and the subsequent backlash to their tepid answers—probably helped Shafik, as did the presence of her board members and Schizer. “The soundbites might be the moments when she was a little flustered or didn’t answer a question directly, and I don’t think you’re going to avoid that in that setting,“ he said. “[But] by the standards of the first hearing, which is setting the bar pretty low, I thought it was good.” Hollis Robbins, dean of humanities at the University of Utah, echoed that sentiment in text messages to Inside Higher Ed, saying that Shafik exhibited “poise” in the face of questions that ranged from serious inquiries to attempted “gotchas.” Overall, she said, Shafik’s testimony was especially effective at communicating to the committee the complexity of running a university and balancing the varied interests of campus constituents.

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Lead Stories

Russia-linked hacking group suspected of carrying out cyberattack on Texas water facility, cybersecurity firm says

A hacking group with ties to the Russian government is suspected of carrying out a cyberattack in January that caused a tank at a Texas water facility to overflow, experts from US cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Wednesday. The hack in the small town of Muleshoe, in north Texas, coincided with at least two other towns in north Texas taking precautionary defensive measures after detecting suspicious cyber activity on their networks, town officials told CNN. The FBI has been investigating the hacking activity, one of the officials said. The attack was a rare example of hackers using access to sensitive industrial equipment to disrupt regular operations at a US water facility, following a separate cyberattack last November on a Pennsylvania water plant that US officials blamed on Iran.

The cyber incidents in Texas also help explain a rare public appeal that US national security adviser Jake Sullivan made last month to state officials and water authorities to shore up their cyber defenses. Cyberattacks are hitting water and wastewater systems “throughout the United States” and state governments and water facilities must improve their defenses against the threat, Sullivan said in a joint letter with the Environmental Protection Agency chief to state officials. US officials have been concerned that many of the country’s 150,000 public water systems have struggled to find the cash and personnel to deal with persistent hacking threats from criminal and state actors. The Texas hacking incidents gained little national attention when they occurred as questions lingered about who was behind the activity. But on Wednesday, Mandiant publicly linked the channel on Telegram, a social media platform, where hackers claimed responsibility for the Muleshoe attack with previous hacking activity carried out by a notorious unit of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency.

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‘Now’s the time’: Amtrak leader urges momentum on Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail

Booming demand, Texas’s rapidly expanding population and growing political will have converged to create the right environment to move high-speed rail ahead, Amtrak leadership said Tuesday. Andy Byford, Amtrak’s senior vice president of high-speed rail development, told participants of the 20th annual Southwestern Rail Conference in Hurst that the Dallas-to-Houston corridor “ticks all the boxes” for a high-speed rail project. It would connect two large population centers, it has straightforward topography and “suboptimal alternatives” for travel, pointing to congestion on Interstate 45 and area airports. “If you put together all those characteristics, and then you figure out okay, which route would you build? There’s one that really stands out, and that is Dallas to Houston,” Byford said.

The proposed train would shuttle passengers from Dallas to Houston in about 90 minutes compared to the three-and-a-half-hour car trip on Interstate 45. Texas Central Partners, developers of the project, plan to model the bullet train after partner Japan Central Railways’ Shinkansen system. Amtrak announced last fall that it would explore a partnership with Texas Central to move the project forward, and it was awarded $500,000 for planning and development from the federal Corridor Identification and Development Program. The grant is a sliver of the estimated tens of billions needed to complete the project. The U.S. Department of Transportation and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism welcomed Amtrak leadership of the rail project following a State Dinner between President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida last week. Byford was not present at the meeting but said there is “huge interest” in the project among Japanese and American leadership. “I did have a meeting with Secretary Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, and he said he himself is very committed to the project, that the president himself is very committed to the project,” Byford said.

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Seven jurors picked in Trump’s N.Y. trial as judge presses ahead

The judge overseeing former president Donald Trump’s criminal trial said opening statements could begin as soon as Monday, as the jury selection process sped up and Trump got an earful from the people who might soon decide his fate. Lawyers for Trump on Tuesday repeatedly argued that old social media posts by many of the prospective jurors or their friends showed that they were not being forthcoming about their animosity toward him, while prosecutors argued that old dumb jokes on the internet were not a cause to dismiss someone from the panel. Trump, the likely Republican nominee for president in the November election, spent hours listening as potential jurors offered their opinions of him — some blunt, some guarded and some just funny. By the end of the day, seven people had been sworn in as jurors — more than a third of the total number of people that will be needed to hold a trial with a full jury and six alternates.

If New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan can stick to that pace, the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president will be fully underway in less than a week — a potential turning point for Trump’s campaign to return to the White House. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says Trump orchestrated a scheme before the 2016 election to pay off an adult-film actress to keep her quiet about a sexual liaison with him years earlier, and then created a false paper trail to hide the true purpose and source of the payment. The court will need to find 11 more panelists to sit in judgment of Trump, which will mean more chances for potential jurors to opine on the pugilistic politician. Merchan has ordered that the names of the prospective jurors remain confidential, although the prosecutors and defense lawyers are made aware of their names. Trump “stirs the pot; he speaks his mind,” said one potential juror, a woman who works at a senior care facility. “You can’t judge him because he speaks his mind.” Pressed by Trump lawyer Todd Blanche on what she thought of Trump’s outspoken nature, she laughed and said, “Come on, what can you say about that? If I told you all the time what I thought about people — I want to say some things to people, but my mama said be nice.”

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Senate set for showdown over Mayorkas impeachment articles

The Senate is set for a showdown over the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as Democrats are expected to move quickly to dismiss the articles, while Republicans insist there must be a full trial. The House transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate on Tuesday and senators are expected to be sworn in as jurors Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not specified exactly how he plans to handle the trial procedurally. But Democratic senators — as well as some Republicans — have suggested they expect the Senate will move to dismiss the case before a full trial. Democrats could pass a motion to dismiss or table the articles on a simple majority vote as early as Wednesday.

Whatever happens, it is highly doubtful that the chamber would vote to convict, which would require a two-thirds majority vote – an exceedingly high bar to clear. Senate Republicans are seeking to reach a time agreement with Democrats that would allow floor debate and for GOP senators to have votes on procedural motions. If a time agreement is not reached, it’s unclear clear how long the process will take as Republicans could attempt any number of procedural delays, although at some point the presiding officer could rule those efforts dilatory and cut them off. Mayorkas is the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in almost 150 years. House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas in February over his handling of the southern border by a narrow margin after failing to do so on their first try. Democrats have slammed the impeachment as a political stunt, saying that Republicans had no valid basis for the move and that policy disagreements are not a justification for the rarely used constitutional impeachment of a Cabinet official.

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State Stories

UT Austin president says 49 former DEI employees lost jobs, contradicting previous estimates

UT Austin President Jay Hartzell said 49 employees are losing their jobs as a result of changes the university has made to comply with a Texas law that bans diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs at public higher education institutions. "As the flagship university in this state, we are subject to more scrutiny than others," he said Monday during a meeting with the UT Faculty Council. Hartzell said the employees will be paid through July 5. Many of the affected employees worked for the Division of Campus and Community Engagement that UT Austin is closing. The division was formerly called the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. Hartzell announced the layoffs in an April 2 email but did not say how many positions were affected.

"For the record, because I've seen different numbers floated out, let me be as clear and careful as I can: On that day that we had the announcement there were 49 people whose positions were eliminated," Hartzell said. "Plus, eight associate or assistant deans who are going to return to their full faculty positions." But Brian Evans, president-elect of the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors (Texas AAUP), said that figure does not align with the terminations his group has counted. He said 62 employees, who previously worked on DEI programs and policies before Senate Bill 17 took effect Jan. 1, told Texas AAUP they found out this month they were losing their jobs. "So there's a difference in what we have documented in Texas AAUP from the staff themselves who were receiving these termination notices versus the count given at the Faculty Council meeting," he said. "So we'd like to know why these others aren't being counted." KUT previously reported that the Texas NAACP had verified the names of 66 people who had received termination notices.

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After fatal crash, Hays CISD needs to spend $8.9M for seat belts on all its buses

The Hays CISD’s Board of Trustees has created a plan to ensure all school buses are equipped with seat belts following a fatal Hays CISD bus crash last month. A Tom Green Elementary School bus was returning pre-K students from a field trip to a zoo in Bastrop County when a concrete truck hit the front of the bus, resulting in two deaths. Hays CISD began buying school buses with seat belts after a state law passed in 2017 requiring them in new buses, but the bus involved in the incident was an older model and didn’t have seat belts. The district plans to have 100% of its bus fleet equipped with seat belts as soon as possible, according to a plan it published on its website Friday. But the turnaround time for school bus purchases is about a year long. This means it could be a while before Hays CISD meets its goal.

Hays CISD has two types of buses: route buses and support buses. Route buses transport students to and from school each day and are also the first option for field trips. Support buses are the extra supply and are primarily used for athletics, but can also be pulled into rotation when needed. About 86% of route buses have seat belts, but only about 19% of support buses have them. The district plans to purchase new buses and retrofit older models with seat belts to fill in these gaps. Hays CISD has already received 21 new buses that will join the fleet in the next few weeks. The district says by April 30, all route buses and six more support buses will have seat belts. In total, Hays CISD would need to spend about $8.9 million to cover the cost of this proposed plan. The district is looking to retrofit 2017 and 2016 buses for $468,000, which would come from either bond interest money or surplus bond funds.

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Austin's airport is getting a new concourse and 20 more gates, but not until the 2030s

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) is gearing up to add at least 20 new gates, expanding capacity at the overcrowded airport as it struggles to serve millions more passengers each year than it was designed to handle. The planned gates will be located inside a newly constructed building — temporarily dubbed Concourse B — linked to the main Barbara Jordan Terminal by an underground pedestrian tunnel equipped with moving walkways.

The new concourse isn't expected to welcome the public until 2030 at the earliest. Over the longer term, the concourse could be further extended to accommodate up to 40 gates, more than doubling ABIA's current capacity of 34 gates. Concourse B has been in the planning stages for years, developed as part of a long-term strategy approved by the city council in 2018. That "ABIA 2040 Master Plan" plotted a trajectory for the airport to accommodate 30 million passengers a year by 2037. Those projections were underestimated by a decade. ABIA is already serving more than 22 million passengers per year and expects to reach 30 million by 2027. Since the last major expansion — the addition of nine gates on the east end of the Barbara Jordan Terminal in 2019 — ABIA has only been equipped to handle 15 million passengers annually.

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1st segment of Texas-funded border wall in Zapata County is going up

A segment of state-funded border wall is going up in rural Zapata County, the first to be built in this part of South Texas. Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell on Monday confirmed to Border Report that the segment is on private land in the ranching county of 14,000 residents east of the more populous border city of Laredo. Zapata County officials for years fought off the federal border wall from going through their land and a popular birding sanctuary in the remote hamlet of San Ygnacio. But Rathmell says they can’t do anything about state-funded border wall being built on private property. Rathmell said construction started within the past month. He says he has reached out to the International Boundary and Water Commission, a federal agency that oversees the Rio Grande, and was told they were unaware of the construction. “The county, we weren’t notified or advised of anything, so we were not involved in it. And the Boundary Commission folks, they also didn’t know anything about it. So I guess it’s a private landowner who is requesting that,” Rathmell said. “If it’s on private property — some landowners want that type of protection — so I don’t know there’s much we can do.”

Read this article at Border Report - Subscribers Only

Texas DPS shifting resources at southern border, sources say

Law enforcement along the southern border are sounding the alarm, as sources confirm more than 150,000 “gotaways” have been recorded since Oct. 1. A sheriff in one of the busiest immigration sectors says he’s seeing more crossings and noticeably fewer resources. Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland says his officers are feeling the absence of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star between El Paso and Del Rio as resources are being shifted to the El Paso sector to respond to an increase in migrant crossings. “Texas decided to send more personnel out El Paso to help bolster that portion of the border,” said Cleveland. “And a lot of that personnel came from Sanderson and Terrell County. And that’s had an effect on us because now we’re starting to pick up again, and we just don’t have the resources here to assist Border Patrol.”

Cleveland told NewsNation that they would normally have about 15 officers working day shifts but that is now down to about three to four people a day. Cleveland said he relies heavily on state and federal partners as he’s responsible for 2,300 square miles of border-area territory. At current staffing, his department is only able to intercept about 50% of individuals who have crossed the border into Terrell County. Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Chris Olivarez said limited resources aren’t unique to Terrell County. “That’s what makes it very challenging with this whole border situation,” he said. “We’re trying to cover as much ground as we can in Texas. And of course, Texas is very large. We cover the majority of the border in Texas but trying to be in every single area and once really is impossible. But the fact is that we do have the majority of our resources dedicated to areas where we see increased activity.”

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HISD scrapped its controversial principal screening after backlash. But teacher screenings remain.

Houston ISD teachers at about half of the district’s campuses will learn on May 6 whether they are eligible to keep their jobs under a proficiency screening process, even after the district reversed course on using a similar process for principals following community backlash. HISD introduced a proficiency screening this academic year to determine which teachers will be eligible to teach in the 130 schools designated as part of state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles’ New Education System program for the 2024-25 academic year. “Districts that are concerned about educational equity and who want to turn around academically struggling schools should place their most effective teachers with their least proficient students,” the district wrote in a document obtained by the Chronicle.

NES teachers must prove proficiency under the state evaluation system’s professionalism criteria and meet benchmarks on achievement and instruction on two screenings developed by HISD to be guaranteed to keep their jobs. If they don’t pass either screening, they will not be able to work at NES schools next year, and a small percentage will not be eligible for any job in the district. HISD notified teachers of the results of the first screening results on March 8 and required all current NES teachers who passed to sign contracts by March 29 or forfeit their positions, according to district documents. Teachers who participate in the second screening will either learn if their contract remains valid or if they obtained eligibility to work in the district in May. HISD still uses the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System as its official evaluation process for all teachers, which is a year-long review of teachers based on planning, instruction, learning environment and professionalism. The district states that the screening is separate from the evaluation process, as a teacher’s screening score may differ from T-TESS results.

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As Mississippi nears Medicaid expansion, could Texas be next?

After a decade of resistance to expanding Medicaid in Mississippi, Medicaid expansion bills have passed both houses with two-thirds majorities, where Magnolia State Republicans have a supermajority in the legislature. While some wrangling about work requirements remains, the state is set to take advantage of $1 billion in federal funds and add coverage for 200,000 in the country’s poorest state. If there is a state with more conservative bonafides than Texas, it might be Mississippi. Yet, Republican lawmakers there have changed their tune on the legislation as more states take advantage of federal funds to help pay for mounting healthcare costs. Mississippi House Speaker Jason White told Mississippi Today that fiscal impact is responsible for the shift in opinion over the years. “My Republicans think that is the smart, common sense, business-minded thing to do. I’ll admit this. Most of my Republicans don’t get there because of compassion. They get there when they look at dollars and cents.”

Will Mississippi’s movement on Medicaid expansion impact Texas legislators when public opinion and research haven’t? A 2020 poll found that 69 percent of Texans support Medicaid expansion, which would include $5 billion in federal money to pick up 90 percent of the cost of providing insurance to 1.2 million Texas in a state with the highest uninsured rate in the country at 18 percent (the national average is around 8 percent). State leaders have resisted expansion on principle as part of Obama-era federal government expansion, and other thought leaders have argued that it would bust the state’s budget. However, Waco-based The Perryman Group research says that expanding Medicaid could save the state money. It would allow Texans to address their health issues before they become more expensive and require hospitalization. The study found that every $1 spent by the state to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would provide a $1.78 return in state government revenue over the first 10 years. An Episcopal Health Foundation report says the state would save $704 million yearly if the expansion occurred. The coverage gap worsened last year. As the public health emergency ended last year, Texas removed 1.7 million people from its Medicaid rolls.

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Houston Rockets, the most improved team in NBA, show real signs of optimism for future

The good news is the Rockets were the most improved team in the NBA this season. The bad news is, well, there is no bad news. As disappointed as head coach Ime Udoka and his team were at falling short of a winning record and the play-in tournament, the Rockets’ 2023-24 season was a successful one. They may have left a little meat on the bone with their .500 record, but they ate in what might be the most improvement the team has ever shown from one year to the next. As reasonable as the in-house expectations of making the playoffs were, a 19-game improvement in wins from last year’s 22-60 season ties for the best in franchise history, matching the jumps the Rockets made from 1983-84 to ‘84-85 and from 1977-78 to ’78-79.

No disrespect to the key newcomers to this year’s squad, but none of them is Hakeem Olajuwon or Moses Malone. Olajuwon joining the team as a rookie was the main reason the Rockets went from last in the Western Conference to third in the mid-1980s. The first time the Rockets had a 19-game improvement was in 1978-79. That came off a year in which they lost Rudy Tomjanovich early in the season to “The Punch,” and then went 4-17 to close the season after Moses Malone was injured. The following season, Malone was the league MVP. There were no extraordinary circumstances leading to the Rockets being the worst in the NBA in recent years. They were bad because they were bad. An upgraded roster and desire to win made a difference. As did Udoka, who shined in his first season in Houston. Tim Nissalke and Bill Fitch each coached the poor season and the 19-game uptick.

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Man who died when a semi-truck crashed into a Texas DPS office has been identified. What we know.

A Chappell Hill man crashed a stolen 18-wheeler into the Texas Department of Public Safety building in Brenham on Friday, which authorities said resulted in over a dozen injuries. Authorities charged 42-year-old Clenard Parker in connection with the crash and he was being held in Washington County Jail. Bobby Huff, 78, was transported by medical helicopter to CHI St. Joseph Regional Hospital-Bryan, where he succumbed to his injuries on Friday, according to a news release by the agency. Huff's wife told ABC13 he was there to renew his driver's license. The crash caused significant damage to the office building including a large gaping hole in the entrance. What's more, authorities allege he ran into the building intentionally in response to recently being denied a commercial driver's license,

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CPR for mental health? Dallas nonprofit offering free youth mental health first aid classes

A new survey is highlighting the mental health crisis in youth right now. Politico surveyed 1,400 mental health professionals across the country and found more than half are not happy with the current resources available to address mental health issues in children and teens. A local nonprofit is working to change that by teaching the community how to become a resource. Just like people can get certified in CPR First Aid, Communities In Schools of the Dallas Region is offering free classes that teach people how to become certified in Mental Health First Aid for youth, which can be just as crucial in saving a life.

"I always talk about the fact that first aid is taught pretty widespread, right? We have all heard some kind of way about how to do chest compressions until 911 arrives. And so this course is designed similarly to teach people how to do the metaphor ‘chest compressions’ until they can get the youth connected to their next best step,” said Dr. Summer Rose, chief clinical officer for Communities In Schools of the Dallas Region. "That might look like plugging them into resources. That might look like doing some in the moment kind of interventions to help stabilize them until 911, a youth mental health provider, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a school counselor, or somebody can intervene." The Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health and human services workers, and other caring citizens how to help an adolescent – between the ages of 12 and 18 – who is experiencing a mental health or addictions challenge or is in crisis.

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‘You’ll sit there and be quiet,’ Tarrant judge tells commissioner

Tempers flared Tuesday between County Judge Tim O’Hare and commissioner Alisa Simmons over a contract between the judge and a political consultant. O’Hare said the $5,000 contract with political consultant Noah Betz would replace a soon to be vacated communications position in his office. Betz is the principal of Bluestone Creatives, a Metroplex-based political marketing, communications and design firm. He also serves as executive director of Huffines Liberty Foundation, a think-tank that describes itself as advancing liberty and prosperity across Texas.

Before leading the foundation and Bluestone, Betz worked as a campaign consultant for candidates and organizations. Betz served on Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s re-election team and oversaw marketing and communications for Republican state Sen. Don Huffines. The argument between O’Hare and Simmons came after six people spoke to oppose the contract. The speakers cited Betz’s conservative political record, calling it an ethical violation and misuse of taxpayer dollars. Simmons then shared her own concerns with the contract. That prompted Simmons and O’Hare to bicker about their X accounts being political. At the peak of the argument O’Hare lashed out at Simmons and said, “I’m the one talking now, so you’ll sit there and be quiet and listen to me talk.” “Don’t tell me when and when not to talk,” Simmons responded. “This is my court too.” The contract passed with a 3-2 vote along party lines, with Simmons and fellow Democrat Roy Brooks voting against the contract.

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Texas lawmakers look to take zoning changes out of Dallas’ hands

Dallas’ update to its land use plan, which includes reexamining the city’s predominantly single-family zoning, has been met with significant pushback among vocal residents. But if some conservative state policymakers have their way, the debate could become moot. Lt. Dan Patrick has indicated a desire to at least discuss zoning as it relates to housing affordability in the next legislative session. Some conservative groups have also indicated their support for this legislation. ForwardDallas, the city’s not-yet-adopted plan, would only inform the city’s land use and zoning in the future. A great deal of concern around single-family neighborhoods centers on where and how to allow for more density—specifically middle or “gentle” density like triplexes, duplexes, and the like. In our April issue, Matt Goodman wrote about how Dallas needs density to survive, and about just how nasty the fight over density has become.

At a public information session at Samuell Grand Recreation Center recently, a mostly hostile audience took turns at the microphone, reiterating their distaste for the idea of eliminating what they felt protected “the character” of their neighborhoods: single-family zoning. There are very real questions about how and where to introduce middle density. But state Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas, issued a warning before the discussion began: the harsh reality is that Dallas might not have the final say in its zoning updates. Bryant warned that there is an effort to change zoning “at the state level,” too. He couched this as another way Austin would wrest local control from cities and counties. “The Legislature passed over the vigorous opposition of myself and others in this last session a bill that began the process of limiting the ability of cities to deal with a large number of matters that relate to us as local citizens,” he said. Bryant was referring to House Bill 2127, the so-called “Death Star” bill that limits city’s abilities to create ordinances that are more strict than state law. While urbanists and historians have long pointed to the racist history of exclusionary zoning, removing lot size minimums has long been considered somewhat of a “liberal” idea. In fact, four years ago conservative policy analyst Stanley Kurtz warned in the National Review that then Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden planned to “abolish the suburbs” by eliminating single family zoning.

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Texas Lieutenant Governor supports residents in opposition of proposed cement plant

Texas Lieutenant Governor, Dan Patrick, was in attendance at a town hall meeting Monday night to listen to residents’ concerns. By the end of the meeting, he assured Grayson County residents, saying: “I will be sending a letter that this project should not move forward to the TCEQ,” supporting their opposition to Black Mountain’s proposed 600-acre cement plant and quarry in Dorchester. At Monday night’s town hall meeting, citizens, some of whom are landowners and own or work for surrounding businesses, took a stance to express their concerns over the potential impact on air and water quality.

This comes just three weeks after the last public meeting, where over 500 Grayson County residents, including elected officials and nearby cities, let it be known that they do not want this project to move forward. Lieutenant Governor Patrick said though Texas is pro-business, companies that could impact other companies, the economy, and the health of citizens involve public interest. “That’s where you have to balance the two. And for what I’ve studied and what I know and what I’ve been told, this does not appear to be in the best public interest of Sherman,” he said. So, he came out to Sherman to hear from the residents themselves. “I need to get up here and hear from the people so that when I go to check to try to get this stopped, that I can say I’ve been there. I visited the plants, I’ve toured the city, I’ve talked to the people so you have as much credibility as you can because this seems like a really bad idea. I don’t think it helps the economy, I don’t think it helps the air quality,” he said.

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Dallas Rev. Frederick Haynes resigns from role in Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition

A Dallas pastor who took over leadership of the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s longtime civil rights organization resigned Tuesday after less than three months on the job. The Rev. Frederick Haynes III told The Associated Press that he submitted a letter with his resignation as head of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition, effective immediately. “After a time of prayer and consultation, I felt it was best to step down as president and CEO of Rainbow PUSH,” he said by phone from Texas. “I am forever honored that the Rev. Jackson graciously considered me worthy of following him as president of the organization that he founded.” Haynes, 63, said he felt it was “necessary” to move on in light of “challenges that continue to exist,” but declined to elaborate further.

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Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s resignation was in works a week before announcement

Outgoing Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax says City Council members began suggesting he resign one week before it was officially announced, according to a city memo obtained by The Dallas Morning News. In an April 8 memo to City Attorney Tammy Palomino, Broadnax identifies the names of the eight council members who suggested he resign as well as the dates and times, including three suggestions that came the day of the Feb. 21 announcement. Also in the memo, Broadnax says his resignation is now effective as of the end of May 2. He was announced as Austin’s next city manager on Apr. 4 and starts on May 6.

“I notified the City Council of my resignation from my position as City Manager on February 21, 2024 following suggestions that I resign by a majority of the City Council, to allow for a reset, refocus and transition to a new city manager to move the city forward,” Broadnax wrote. “For your awareness and in the interest of transparency, please find below the City Council members referred to above and the dates that the suggestion to resign was made.” According to Broadnax, council members Jaime Resendez and Jaynie Schultz first suggested he resign at 8:15 a.m. on Feb. 14. Council members Adam Bazaldua and Gay Donnell Willis suggested he resign two days later at 10:30 a.m. Council member Carolyn King Arnold, the city’s deputy mayor pro tem, suggested Broadnax resign on Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. Council members Paula Blackmon, Zarin Gracey and Chad West suggested the city manager resign on Feb. 21. Blackmon at 9:15 a.m., Gracey at 12:15 p.m. and West at 2 p.m.

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County Stories

Top deputy at Bexar County District Attorney's Office resigns

Christian Henricksen, the second in command at the Bexar County District Attorney's Office, announced Tuesday that he's resigning. Henricksen has played a key role in District Attorney Joe Gonzales' administration since the Democrat took office in 2019, first as chief of litigation and then as first assistant district attorney. Prior to that, Henricksen was Gonzales' law partner in private practice and served for eight years as a prosecutor. “Working with Joe Gonzales to serve the people of Bexar County has been the highlight of my career,”Henricksen said in a news release. “We’ve worked to highlight the issue of lower attorney salaries in the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. It’s a critical issue." "I have an opportunity I cannot pass up and, as my children get closer and closer to college age, that becomes more and more important,” he said.

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National Stories

Democrats return favor, blame GOP for border crisis

Calling it a “wake-up call” for colleagues using migrants as election campaign props, House Democrats have filed a resolution blaming the ongoing border humanitarian crisis on Republican inaction on immigration reform. The resolution enumerates several immigration reform bills from 2007 through 2023 that Republicans in the House or Senate voted down. It also accuses GOP leaders of declaring as “dead on arrival” immigration bills that might help President Joe Biden politically. “It’s been almost 40 years since the last comprehensive immigration reforms were enacted. Forty-years,” U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, said in a call with reporters on Monday.

“We almost had something from the Senate that was put on the table in a bipartisan way. If it weren’t for (former President) Trump telling the House, then the Senate not to bring something forward because he wanted to use it as a political (electoral) weapon, we would be talking about a proposal right now.” She blames Trump for sinking the latest attempt to address the crisis through legislation and Republicans in Congress for “following him right off that cliff.” The Democratic resolution is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico. It has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. “This broken immigration system that we have today has solutions if we can just work together,” Vasquez said during the call. “As we face urgent needs for additional resources at the border for Customs and Border Protection, for detention center oversight and modern border technology, we see a partisan block in Congress. We are here to find solutions, not play political games.”

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Donald Trump brings his campaign to the courthouse as his criminal hush money trial begins

Former President Donald Trump began his day as a criminal defendant lashing out at the judge and prosecutors, casting himself as a victim and angrily posting on social media. In other words: a familiar routine. But inside the courtroom, which was closed to TV cameras, Trump was a different man — reserved and muted in a stark departure from his feisty approach to other legal troubles. The contrast spoke to the gravity of his situation. Trump is now the first former president ever to stand trial on criminal charges and faces the prospect, if he loses, of becoming the first major American presidential candidate in history to run as a convicted felon. Trump is accused in the case of falsifying business records to hide alleged hush money payments made to a porn star to keep her from going public during his 2016 campaign with allegations of an affair.

The trial is expected to last at least six weeks and Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is required to attend every day court is in session — a schedule that will dramatically alter his daily life and his ability to campaign in battleground states. before and after the day’s proceedings, which he again cast as nothing more than a politically motivated effort by his rivals to hinder his campaign. “This is political persecution,” he steamed after arriving with a phalanx of lawyers and several senior aides, but without his wife or other family members. “This is an assault on our country,” he went on. Trump is already well practiced in the art of campaigning from the courtroom. In addition to appearances related to his four criminal trials, Trump this year voluntarily attended most days of his civil fraud trial as well as a defamation case brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll, who had accused Trump of rape. Those two trials did not end well for Trump: The former president was found liable in both cases, and now owes over half a billion dollars, including interest. During those hearings, Trump was often admonished by the judges, who instructed him to be quiet or answer questions more succinctly. At one point, the judge in the Carroll suit threatened to kick Trump out of the courtroom for speaking loudly. Another day he stormed out. Trump also openly sparred with the judge in his civil fraud case, including from the witness stand.

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Biden visits his Pennsylvania hometown to call for more taxes on the rich and cast Trump as elitist

President Joe Biden made a nostalgic return to the house where he grew up in working-class Scranton on Tuesday, kicking off three days of campaigning across Pennsylvania by calling for higher taxes on the rich and casting Donald Trump as an out-of-touch elitist. When the Democratic president wasn’t trying to blunt the populist appeal of his Republican predecessor’s comeback bid, he appeared to savor his trip down memory lane. He lingered longer than expected at his childhood home, where an American flag waved softly in the wind on the front porch and neighbors crowded the sidewalk under flowering trees and a pale blue sky. The president later posed for photos with children, some wearing school uniforms, in the backyard. Biden is looking to gain ground in a key battleground state while Trump spends much of the week in a New York City courtroom for his first criminal trial.

Biden heads to Pittsburgh on Wednesday and Philadelphia on Thursday, but he started his travels in Scranton, which has long played a starring role in his political autobiography. On Tuesday, the city of 75,000 provided a backdrop for Biden’s efforts to reframe the conversation around the economy, which has left many Americans feeling sour about their financial situations at a time of stubborn inflation and elevated interest rates despite low unemployment. The president said he wanted to make the tax code fairer, keeping more money in Americans’ pockets, while criticizing Trump, a billionaire himself, as a tool of wealthy interests. “When I look at the economy, I don’t look at it through the eyes of Mar-a-Lago. I look at it through the eyes of Scranton,” Biden said, contrasting his hometown with the Florida estate where Trump lives. Biden has proposed a 25% percent minimum tax rate for billionaires. He added that taxes are “how we invest in the country.”

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Michigan Democrats win special elections, regain full control of state government

Democrats won back a majority in the Michigan House and restored their party’s full control of state government Tuesday thanks to victories in two special elections. Mai Xiong won the special election in the 13th District, which covers Warren and part of Detroit, while Peter Herzberg won in the 25th District, which contains the cities of Wayne and Westland. Both candidates were favorites in the heavily Democratic districts. The lower chamber has been tied 54-54 between Democratic and Republican lawmakers since November, when two Democratic representatives vacated their seats after winning mayoral races in their hometowns. Democrats flipped both chambers in the 2022 midterms while maintaining control of the governor’s office to win a trifecta for the first time in 40 years. They moved quickly to roll back decades of Republican measures and implement the party’s agenda in their first year, including overhauling the state’s gun laws.

Since the House deadlocked, Republicans have pushed to pass legislation they say is bipartisan, such as a government transparency package, which would open the Legislature and governor’s office up to public record requests. With each Democratic candidate winning Tuesday, the party will regain control through the end of the year, with every seat in the House up for reelection in November. Xiong is a Macomb County commissioner who was endorsed in the primary by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Herzberg is a Westland City Council member who defeated a Whitmer-endorsed candidate in the primary earlier this year. Lawmakers are now expected to turn their focus to a state budget with a self-imposed July 1 deadline. Whitmer in her annual State of the State speech in January called on lawmakers to pass a $80 billion budget that would provide free community college for all high school graduates and free preschool for 4-year-olds. In recent months, Democrats have also deliberated on expanding the state’s hate crime law and enacting a comprehensive school safety package of bills in the wake of the 2021 mass shooting at Oxford High School.

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New campaign filings highlight rivalries and divides on Capitol Hill

When Kevin McCarthy was ousted as House speaker last fall, Republican operatives were concerned that his successor, Mike Johnson, would not be able to replicate his fundraising prowess. So far, those concerns appear valid, new federal filings show. Johnson announced earlier this month that he had raised $20 million total in the first three months of the year, funds that will go toward his campaign, fellow Republican colleagues and party committees. By comparison, in the first quarter of 2022, McCarthy announced raising $31.5 million for Republicans, and in the first quarter of 2023, he raised even more, $35 million. The latest filings from the leaders’ joint fundraising committees – which were due Monday with the Federal Election Commission – further illustrate that disparity. In last year’s first quarter, McCarthy’s joint fundraising committee, Protect The House 2024, raised $28 million. In contrast, Johnson’s joint fundraising operation, Grow the Majority, raised $9 million between January and March of this year.

McCarthy, of course, had years to cultivate relationships with donors and distribute funds to allies, while Johnson took over as speaker less than six months ago and faces the challenge of building out his fundraising operation in an election year. Still, his inability to match McCarthy’s fundraising could add pressure to the already embattled speaker as he continues to face ouster threats from rebellious members of his caucus. In a statement about his fundraising, Johnson said that “in less than six months as Speaker, we have hit the ground running to ensure House Republicans will have the resources necessary to win in battlegrounds across America – and we cannot slow down now. While families suffer under increasing inflation, rising crime, and open borders, we will stay focused on our goal to grow the majority in November and deliver solutions for our nation.” Meanwhile, the latest filings show that McCarthy, who resigned from Congress at the end of December, still has $6.3 million banked in his personal campaign account, funds he could direct toward other campaign efforts. He did some of that in the first quarter, making $4,000 contributions to both Vince Fong, a former staffer and California assemblyman who is running to succeed him in his Central Valley seat, and to Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, a McCarthy ally whose seat became more Democratic under a new map that is currently being challenged.

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Second Republican endorses push to fire Johnson as speaker

Speaker Mike Johnson’s strategy to pass long-stalled Ukraine aid has driven at least one Republican to join Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's bid to strip him of his gavel. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Tuesday became the second Republican to publicly back an attempt to end Johnson’s speakership, delivering the message directly to the Louisiana Republican during a closed-door GOP conference meeting. Massie is the first Republican to join Greene’s effort amid rising conservative frustration with the speaker’s proposed foreign aid package. It’s not clear when Greene plans to force the ouster vote, though she has vowed to do it eventually. If she does so after Friday, when Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) is retiring, Johnson would need to lean on Democrats to save his speakership. “The motion is going to get called, OK? Does anybody doubt that? The motion will get called. And then he's gonna lose more votes than Kevin McCarthy. And I have told him this in private, like weeks ago,” Massie said after the conference meeting.

The Kentucky Republican told Johnson, according to two lawmakers in the room, that “you’re not going to be the speaker much longer.” Massie also told reporters that he asked Johnson during the closed-door meeting to resign, but that the Louisiana Republican refused. Though Massie predicted there were more than two Republicans who would vote Johnson out, other critics of the speaker refused to say on Tuesday if they would support an effort to oust him. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) refused to talk about Johnson’s speakership, and instead dovetailed into a story about the Ohio state legislature. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who was the first member to warn of an attempt to oust Johnson earlier this year, said he’s “not going into that right now.” Meanwhile, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who like Davidson and Roy is a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, kept the door open to supporting an effort oust Johnson if the supplemental passes by the end of the week. “I don’t think it helps,” Perry said, responding to a question on whether Johnson’s strategy on foreign aid is a threat to his speakership. He added that “there’s always an alternative” to Johnson within the GOP’s ranks. Massie’s decision was not well received during the meeting, according to several members in the room. And Republicans across the conference, including some members of the Freedom Caucus, quickly pushed back on the idea of booting Johnson, noting it would spark chaos without a clear successor — a repeat of the House’s nightmare in October.

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Cheap natural gas means lower electricity prices except in Texas

In 2023, Texans paid more for wholesale electricity and suffered more calls for conservation than residents served by any other grid across the nation. And there's no reason to expect that to change anytime soon. The great irony for the energy capital of the world is that the low price of natural gas drove down electricity prices everywhere but Texas, the nation’s largest natural gas producer. Texas also has more utility scale renewable electricity generation than any other state. The low and zero fuel prices cannot overcome the flawed market design used by ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The market design handicaps the capital investment required to produce inexpensive and reliable electricity supplies.

We predicted this outcome more than a decade ago. Let’s review. For eight of the 10 years prior to ERCOT’s failure in 2021, the average wholesale price received by generators was less than the cost of building and operating new generating plants—natural gas turbine units to be specific. Unable to recover their costs, investors refused to build new power plants and, in fact, cut back on maintaining existing coal and natural gas power plants, many of which had already been written off. During 2023, ERCOT frequently reported more unplanned outages for its generator portfolio than PJM, a much larger grid that serves all or part of 13 states and the District of Columbia. At 1:38 a.m. February 15, 2021, the ERCOT grid suffered a cascading series of failures attributed to a lack of weatherization of key components of the electricity supply chain. Unprotected power plants froze. Natural gas deliveries dropped off. Coal piles froze. A pump for the cooling reservoir of a nuclear power plant froze and tripped off the reactor. ERCOT and the local utilities that distribute electricity failed to manage a process of rolling blackouts that could have preserved grid stability. Facing a demand call of more than 70,000 megawatts, ERCOT came up 52,000 megawatts short at the low point of the debacle. Extended blackouts across a customer base of 26 million people caused 246 deaths and cost the state more than $100 billion in property losses and economic losses. Hundreds of lawsuits for wrongful deaths and economic losses are pending.

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Lead Stories

Trump's historic hush money trial gets underway; 1st day ends without any jurors being picked

The historic hush money trial of Donald Trump got underway Monday with the arduous process of selecting a jury to hear the case charging the former president with falsifying business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life. The day ended without any jurors being chosen. The selection process was scheduled to resume Tuesday. The first criminal trial of any former U.S. president began as Trump vies to reclaim the White House, creating a remarkable split-screen spectacle of the presumptive Republican nominee spending his days as a criminal defendant while simultaneously campaigning for office. He's blended those roles over the last year by presenting himself to supporters, on the campaign trail and on social media, as a target of politically motivated prosecutions designed to derail his candidacy.

“It’s a scam. It’s a political witch hunt. It continues, and it continues forever,” Trump said after exiting the courtroom, where he sat at the defense table with his lawyers. After a norm-shattering presidency shadowed by years of investigations, the trial amounts to a reckoning for Trump, who faces four indictments charging him with crimes ranging from hoarding classified documents to plotting to overturn an election. Yet the political stakes are less clear because a conviction would not preclude him from becoming president and because the allegations in this case date back years and are seen as less grievous than the conduct behind the three other indictments. The day began with pretrial arguments — including over a potential fine for Trump — before moving in the afternoon into jury selection, where the parties will decide who might be picked to determine the legal fate of the former, and potentially future, American president. After the first members of the jury pool, 96 in all, were summoned into the courtroom, Trump craned his neck to look back at them, whispering to his lawyer as they entered the jury box.

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Judge finds Texas agency in contempt for foster care problems, imposes $100,000-a-day fine

The head of the state’s sweeping health agency is in contempt of court for failing to address shortcomings in the Texas’ foster care system and faces fines of $100,000 a day until they are corrected, a federal judge ruled Monday. In a 427-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack said foster care system officials failed to address prior court orders requiring adequate and prompt investigations into allegations of abuse and neglect involving children in state custody. “Delays in completing investigations can create risk of harm for children because alleged perpetrators might remain free to continue causing harm to children until the investigation is finally completed,” Jack wrote in her order. It was the third time the state has been held in contempt since Jack ruled in 2015 that children in state custody faced an unconstitutional risk of harm.

Paul Yetter, lead attorney for the foster children in the lawsuit that began in 2011, said the state continues “running an unsafe foster care system.” “The judge’s ruling is measured but urgent, given the shocking evidence. Innocent children are suffering every day,” Yetter said in an emailed statement. “After all these years, when will state leadership get serious about fixing this disaster?” Jack ruled that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission failed to ensure allegations of serious abuse and neglect are properly investigated in a timely fashion “and conducted taking into account at all times the child’s safety needs.” Cecile Erwin Young, head of the commission, was held in contempt and faces $100,000 in fines to be assessed daily until her agency certifies that problems with investigations have been addressed, Jack ruled. The judge also set a June 26 hearing on requests for additional contempt findings related to high caseloads for caseworkers, the use of psychotropic medications, and methods for informing foster children about how to report abuse. Complaints also persist about the treatment of children housed in unlicensed settings, including leased homes or motel rooms, and supervised by caseworkers on overtime. Asked for comment, agency spokesman José Andrés Araiza said: “HHSC is reviewing the 427 page order and its attachments.”

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More than 2 million Texans lost Medicaid coverage in past year, at double the national rate

Texas continues to disenroll Medicaid recipients at one of the highest rates in the country, part of a broader trend that has seen state health departments across the nation move unqualified recipients off their rolls after a surge in enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas has so far removed 2.1 million Medicaid recipients from its rolls, which works out to 49% of the cases it has reviewed, more than twice the national average and a higher proportion than all but six other states, according to analysis by the nonprofit KFF. With the disenrollment process still ongoing, Texas’ Medicaid rolls were down to 4.4 million in December, compared with 4.2 million in February 2020, before the pandemic began.

“The big question is, at the end of the unwinding, where will enrollment stand?” said Bradley Corallo, senior policy analyst at KFF. “Some states like Utah and Idaho are already below pre-pandemic levels. Texas is right on the cusp, with one more batch (of recipients) to review.” The Texas Department of Health and Human Services did not return a request for comment. State health departments suspended their regular process of reviewing Medicaid rolls during the pandemic in exchange for federal funding authorized by Congress. That arrangement ended in March 2023, setting off a state review process that has so far resulted in 20 million Americans losing Medicaid coverage, a national disenrollment rate of 21%. The highest rates of Medicaid recipients losing coverage are in Republican-controlled states such as Texas, many of which had relatively low participation rates to begin with because of their decision not to expand Medicaid coverage beyond children, pregnant women and those in extreme poverty under the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act.

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Trump’s fundraising shows reliance on oil sector, wealthy donors

Donald Trump relied on a small cadre of donors to contribute a hefty portion of his March fundraising haul, showing the early success of his pivot to wealthy benefactors to finance his presidential bid. The $23.6 million from deep-pocketed donors accounted for a substantial part of the $65.6 million he and the Republican Party raised that month, the latest disclosures to the US Federal Election Commission show. While overall figures were known earlier, the filings released Monday were the first to detail donors and other information. Real estate and aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren and Linda McMahon, who was Trump’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration when he was president, were among those who gave more than $800,000 each to support him and the party, the disclosures showed.

Trump, whose criminal trial started Monday for falsifying business records related to hush money payments made in the 2016 election, is also raising money for Save America — the leadership PAC that’s been paying his legal fees. He’s been increasingly relying on the rich and the elite as his rallies fail to whip up enough small-dollar donations to fund his campaign. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has amassed a record war chest for this point in an election year. Outside groups supporting Biden, led by his main super political action committee, the Future Forward PAC, have now pledged $1 billion to support him. Billionaire John Paulson, former Renaissance Technologies co-president and co-CEO, Robert Mercer, as well as Harold Hamm of Continental Resources and Scott Bessent of Key Square Capital Management were among the donors writing big checks to the Trump 47 Committee, which the GOP nominee took over in mid-March. There were 73 donors in all, with some giving $1,000 or less.

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State Stories

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson: State lawmakers should ban payouts for exiting city employees

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson says he believes state lawmakers should prevent contract payout clauses for municipal government employees like the lump sum payment due to outgoing City Manager T.C. Broadnax. Johnson in his weekly email newsletter to residents on Sunday called a severance clause in Broadnax’s contract that mandates he be paid a year’s worth of his $423,246 annual salary if he resigns at the suggestion of the majority of the City Council a “golden parachute” and said it leaves taxpayers footing the bill. The mayor referred to the exit as “backroom maneuvering” between other council members and Broadnax, whose resignation was announced Feb. 21. He was selected as Austin’s next city manager six weeks later on Apr. 4. Other cities have paid large severances to city managers, Johnson said, “although not in this way — and not to someone who was already lining up a job somewhere else.”

“The Texas Legislature ought to take the step to protect taxpayers by forbidding these golden parachutes for city employees in any locality in the state,” Johnson said in the newsletter. “Until then, as the search for a new city manager continues, it’s time for the Dallas City Council to take a stand by definitively stating that there won’t be a golden parachute clause in the next city manager’s contract.” Broadnax’s city contract was approved by the City Council in Dec. 2016. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn King Arnold is the only current council member who was elected at the time. Johnson is among a few of the 15-member City Council who has said publicly that they weren’t aware Broadnax was going to resign until it was announced. A city news release announced Broadnax’s resignation, as well as a joint news release from council members Adam Bazaldua, Zarin Gracey, Omar Narvaez, Jaime Resendez, Jaynie Schultz and Gay Donnell Willis saying the city manager was stepping down “at the suggestion of the majority of the Dallas City Council.” A key reason for the suggestion was that the working relationship between Johnson and Broadnax “has not been conducive to effective governance and the advancement of Dallas’ interests,” the February news release from the council members said. According to terms of Broadnax’s contract, the city must pay him a lump sum equal to 12 months of his base salary if there is an “involuntary separation” from his duties as city manager. He could also be in line to receive even more money in payouts tied to health care benefits and unused vacation days.

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Texas Agriculture Chief Sid Miller says bird flu concerns are ‘overhyped’

Concerns about avian influenza cases among dairy cows in Texas have been “a little bit overhyped” as its spread can be contained, according to the state’s top agriculture official. Texas hasn’t seen any further infections in almost three weeks, and new transmissions from migrating waterfowl are unlikely as birds have headed north, according to Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. What’s more, contagion through contaminated milk can be easily avoided by disinfecting equipment used in barns, he added. “We’re over the hump,” Miller said in an interview Thursday. “We can take measures to stop that.”

The infection of cows by the same virus strain that emerged in Europe in 2020 — and has since caused an unprecedented number of deaths in wild birds and poultry globally — has raised concerns that the outbreak may hurt demand for dairy and beef and disrupt supplies. Miller said only 10% of milking cows in the state have been infected by bird flu, and that little milk has been thrown away so there is not a shortage of the staple. While no infected dairy has entered the food chain, consumption of pasteurized milk as well as cooked eggs is safe. “If you’re worried about it, cook your eggs and make sure you get your milk pasteurized,” Miller said.

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Texas leaders, advocates build momentum on pre-K, child care ahead of Legislature

Statewide leaders and advocates want to build momentum on child care and early education conversations ahead of next year’s legislative session. Alfreda Norman, former senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said one of the most pressing challenges for families across the state continues to be finding affordable, high quality child care. The annual cost of infant care is comparable to that of a public university. Waitlists for child care scholarships are at an all-time high with more than 70,000 families currently hoping to receive such support, she said. Receive our in-depth coverage of education issues and stories that affect North Texans. “Too many children are missing out on an opportunity to receive a high-quality early education,” Norman said. The economy also takes a hit when parents can’t find options.

Texas loses about $9.4 billion annually because of child care issues, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Bryan Daniel in a panel spoke about the current landscape of early education in Texas. Kara Waddell, president and CEO of Child Care Associates, an advocacy nonprofit based in Fort Worth, moderated the discussion. The group noted how, in 2019, lawmakers attempted to expand pre-K options for Texas families by encouraging partnerships between school districts or charter networks and child care programs. However, only about 12 out of the state’s nearly 1,200 districts and charters figured out how to team up, Morath said. “From a school district perspective, it is actually quite logistically difficult to make these partnerships work,” Morath said. With districts already overburdened with other challenges, the Texas Education Agency recommends bringing in nonprofit organizations to act as intermediaries and simplify the process for school leaders, he suggested. Waddell noted how states can experience a greater return on investment by bolstering programs in the first three years of childrens’ lives. However, most of the country instead pours more funds into students in kindergarten through high school.

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Students walk out of Wilmer-Hutchins High School days after on-campus shooting

Students at Wilmer-Hutchins High School staged a walkout Monday, saying they do not feel safe at school, days after a student shot and injured a classmate. The shooting happened Friday morning in a classroom and the victim was shot in the upper thigh, officials said at the time. The student suspected in the shooting was taken into custody but their identity has not been released to the public. No other injuries were reported. About 40 students could be seen in the parking lot of Wilmer-Hutchins High School on Monday morning, speaking to reporters, holding up signs and talking in small groups. Students said they had been outside for more than an hour when the walkout started to disperse.

Yanely Gamino, a student who participated in the walkout, said she felt like school leaders did not substantially address the shooting when they arrived at school Monday morning, instead telling students counseling services are available and sending them to do regular classwork. “It was like they brushed it over,” said Jose Morales, a fellow Wilmer-Hutchins student. Students said they had not planned the walkout in advance and instead discussed the possibility in first period. Other students said they heard about the possibility of a walkout from their teachers and decided to participate. Multiple students said the school’s metal detectors are not regularly used and the school does not consistently enforce its clear bag policies, both points of frustration. “We have whole metal detectors, we have wands, but now they want to finally use [them] after something bad happens,” Gamino said. Treasure Daniels, a student who walked out, also said school officials have been attempting to stop students from speaking to the media, something other students described as well.

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2 Dallas crash victims sue Chiefs’ Rashee Rice, SMU’s ‘Teddy’ Knox seeking more than $1M

A six-vehicle accident Saturday in northeast Dallas left at least four injured. Police suspect the crash may have involved Kansas City Chiefs' Rashee Rice. A Dallas couple is suing Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice and SMU cornerback Theodore “Teddy” Knox in connection with a multivehicle crash last month that injured them and at least five others. Edvard Petrovskiy and Irina Gromova are seeking more than $1 million through the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in Dallas County. Their attorney, Sanjay Mathur, told The Dallas Morning News on Monday they’re both “pretty upset about what occurred” and still undergoing treatment. He said they haven’t heard from Rice or Knox. “They felt that the accountability measures that need to be taking place — both for them, but also the public at large — would best be served by filing a lawsuit,” Mathur said.

Attorneys for Rice and Knox did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The lawsuit alleged the two football players challenged each other “to a high-speed race” despite knowing the road was “heavily trafficked with commuters.” Petrovskiy and Gromova were “severely injured,” the lawsuit said, noting brain trauma, lacerations to the face that required stitches, contusions, disfigurement and internal bleeding. The filing appeared to be the first lawsuit reported in connection with the March 30 crash. Rice and Knox also each face one criminal count of aggravated assault, a count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury, Dallas police officials announced last week. Officials have said Rice admitted to driving one of two high-end sports cars that triggered the six-vehicle crash in the 6600 block of North Central Expressway. He and Knox turned themselves into Glenn Heights police last week. Mathur said there are limits in the criminal justice system for how much money can be issued as a fine, noting most felonies have a maximum of $10,000.

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New vaping law lands hundreds of North Texas students in alternative school

Hundreds of North Texas students were sent to disciplinary alternative schools this school year because they were caught vaping — an offense that requires strict punishment under a new state law. More than one-fifth of students assigned to such campuses in eight Dallas County districts were there because of e-cigarettes, according to discipline records analyzed by The Dallas Morning News. The state mandate raises questions among education advocates — and even the legislator who pushed for the law addressing vaping. Some are worried that time spent in alternative school can derail students’ learning. Public health officials are concerned about the idea of disciplining children who likely need help. “You can’t punish your way out of an addiction issue,” said Charlie Gagen, the American Lung Association’s Director of Advocacy for Texas. “We’d really like to see more resources for youth education and cessation and leave the punishment aspect for those retailers” who sell products to minors.

The News requested data covering the first five months of the academic year that detailed how many students were sent to Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs, or DAEP, because of vaping. More than one in 10 Dallas ISD students sent to alternative schools as of Feb. 1 were removed from their home campuses because of e-cigarettes. The percentages are more striking in districts such as Duncanville and Mesquite, where around 40% of alternative school placements were for vaping. Students are generally sent to these alternative schools for serious offenses, such as making terroristic threats, selling drugs or assaulting an employee. Now schools across the state have information campaigns reminding students: VAPE = DAEP. Some DAEP campuses were pushed to capacity, which meant children were routed to in-school suspension instead. More than one in 10 high school students in Texas reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days in 2021, according to statewide survey data. Nearly 6% of middle schoolers did so. Dallas County reported its first vaping-related death — a teenager — in 2020.

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Biden administration to give $6.4 billion to Samsung to make computer chips near Austin

The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide up to $6.4 billion in direct funding for Samsung Electronics to develop a computer chip manufacturing and research cluster in Texas near Austin. The funding announced Monday by the Commerce Department is part of a total investment in the cluster that, with private money, is expected to exceed $40 billion. The government support comes from the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022 with the goal of reviving the production of advanced computer chips domestically. “The proposed project will propel Texas into a state of the art semiconductor ecosystem,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters. “It puts us on track to hit our goal of producing 20% of the world’s leading edge chips in the United States by the end of the decade.”

Raimondo said she expects the project will create at least 17,000 construction jobs and more than 4,500 manufacturing jobs. Samsung’s cluster in Taylor, a city of about 17,000 people some 35 miles northeast of Austin in Williamson County, would include two factories that would make four- and two-nanometer chips. Also, there would be a factory dedicated to research and development, as well as a facility for the packaging that surrounds chip components. The first factory is expected to be operational in 2026, with the second being operational in 2027, according to the government. The funding also would expand an existing Samsung facility in Austin. Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Samsung will be able to manufacture chips in Austin directly for the Defense Department as a result. Access to advanced technology has become a major national security concern amid competition between the U.S. and China.

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Study: Texas No.1 in fatal crashes involving construction zones

A new study identified Texas as the No.1 state for fatal automobile crashes occuring in the vicinity of road construction, according to the national law firm Schmidt & Clark. According to the law firm, Texas saw a staggering 582 fatal crashes involving construction zones of the total 17,549 crashes that occurred between 2017 and 2021. This means that 3.3 percent of all accidents during that five-year period involved work zones, which is more than double the national average of 1.3 percent. Schmidt & Clark examined data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on fatal motor vehicle crashes to determine which state has the most dangerous utility, construction, and maintenance work zones. The law firm said that construction zones and maintenance work zones are more accident-prone due to the higher probability of narrowed lanes, congested traffic and uneven pavement.

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Racism in the health care system is killing Black pregnant Texans

A few months after Si'Mone Scott gave birth to her daughter, she knew something was off. This was her third pregnancy, and her toughest. The Dallas resident had been put on bed rest early on in her first trimester because she was at high risk of a miscarriage. “I've never experienced a miscarriage before and I didn't want to,” Scott said. “I was already going through a lot at home, and then to basically have to stop working, I couldn't even clean.” When Scott gave birth to her daughter via C-section, she started bleeding, losing more than 1,300 units of blood. Postpartum hemorrhage is categorized as losing more than 1,000 units of blood within 24 hours to 12 weeks after delivery, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “I basically almost died on the operating table,” Scott said.

The health issues Scott experienced are some of the most common reasons Texans die in pregnancy. Texas is among the worst states in the country for maternal mortality, and Black Texans die at higher rates than their white counterparts from pregnancy-related causes. Scott got connected with Delighted to Doula Birth Services, a Black-led organization in Dallas providing postpartum doula support to new parents. The organization's aim is to reduce maternal mortality rates. Scott said she felt calm and relaxed immediately after coming to the office and meeting her doula. “Everything just started coming out of me,” Scott said. “I was speaking for hours, uninterrupted. She just listened. She just listened. And I know I was going on and on and on. But it was just being heard.” Over the next few months, Scott said she came to Delighted to Doula every week as part of her “self-care routine.” She started to notice changes in her mood. She felt happier and had more energy to play with her daughters. “They never treated me like I was overstaying my welcome or anything, I was always welcomed,” Scott said. “That helped me to realize that I do matter and that all my feelings are valid.”

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Express News, MySA staffers opt not to join union

The San Antonio News Guild announced Friday afternoon that staffers at the Hearst-owned Express-News and MySA voted 36-31 against unionizing as part of the Media Guild of the West. Guild officials told the Current in February that 68% of union-eligible staff at both publications signed authorization cards to be represented by the Guild. In a Friday social media post, organizers blamed the failed vote on “strong union-busting tactics from Hearst.” Express-News Publisher Mark Medici was unavailable for comment for the Current's article. “Independent of today’s vote, my focus is on the journalism we produce and, with the support of Hearst, providing the best workplace I can for our journalists and all of our employees,” Medici said in a statement supplied to the Express-News.

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Precinct chair deemed ineligible after win sues Tarrant County Republican Party

A Republican precinct chair who won his election, only to be declared ineligible after the fact, is suing the Tarrant County Republican Party. Chris Rector won a primary election to chair Tarrant County Precinct 4230 with 75% of the vote. A week later, Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Bo French sent Rector a letter accusing him of pretending to be a Republican in order to dissolve the party and merge it with the Tarrant County Democratic Party. As a result, French wrote, he would not issue a certificate of election to Rector. The lawsuit, filed April 10, alleges French “concocted a bogus, fraudulent claim that Contestant was ineligible for the position to which he had been elected.”

Rector is asking a judge to declare him eligible and confirm his election as precinct chair. In the interim, he is asking for a temporary restraining order to ensure the Tarrant County Republican Party can’t appoint someone else as chair. No amount of money can compensate Rector for a lost political office, nor can it compensate the residents who voted for him, Rector’s lawyers argued in the suit. In a written statement, French said the party will defend itself against the lawsuit and win, “whatever it takes.” “This is a blatant assault on our First Amendment rights to freedom of association, engineered by Democrats bent on destroying our organization,” French wrote. The party chair said Rector’s lawsuit is a prime example of why Texas needs to close its primaries. Currently, Texas voters are not required to register as a Republican or Democrat before voting in either party’s primaries, a fact Republicans have lamented across the state. Julie McCarty, founder and CEO of the True Texas Project, joined French in calling for closed primaries following the lawsuit.

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Pilots union at American Airlines says it's seeing more safety and maintenance issues

The pilots union at American Airlines says there has been “a significant spike” in safety issues at the airline, including fewer routine aircraft inspections and shorter test flights on planes returning from major maintenance work. The union also says it has seen incidents in which tools were left in wheel wells and items were left in the sterile area around planes parked at airport gates. A spokesman said Monday that union officials have raised their concerns with senior managers at the airline and were encouraged by the company's response. American, which is based in Fort Worth said it has an industry-leading safety management system. An airline spokesperson said American is in regular contact with regulators and unions “to further bolster our strong safety record and enhance our ever-evolving safety culture."

Dennis Tajer, a pilot and spokesman for the union, said the union spoke recently with senior management, “and management’s initial response to our request was encouraging. We fully intend to do everything we can to assure that American maintains strong margins of safety.” The Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment directly on the union's allegations or whether the agency has increased its oversight of American as a result. In a statement, an FAA spokesperson said airlines required to have systems for identifying potential hazards before they become serious problems. The safety committee of the Allied Pilots Association said in an email to members Saturday that the union “has been tracking a significant spike in safety- and maintenance-related problems in our operation.” The union said American has increased the time between routine inspections on planes. It also said American has ended overnight maintenance checks unless a plane is written up for special attention or due for scheduled maintenance and now does “abbreviated” test flights on planes returning to service after major maintenance checks or long-term storage. The union asked its members to report any safety or maintenance problems.

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County Stories

Hidalgo says commissioners who stand in way of changing contract process are 'part of the problem'

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Monday called out the county's methods of awarding millions of dollars in contracts to companies building infrastructure like roads and parks, arguing that the county spends local tax dollars with far less transparency than when it is working with federal money. Hidalgo cited a recent report prepared by Harris County Auditor Michael Post's office that found the county doesn't produce a rigorous paper trail when choosing the winners of contracts. The engineering department, which oversees major infrastructure projects along with commissioners' offices, did not have consistent records available until as recently as July 2023. Now, Hidalgo is calling on her four colleagues on Harris County Commissioners Court to give up their control of these decisions and hand over the reins to the county's independent purchasing department.

"I'm not trying to point the finger with what I'm going to present," Hidalgo said at a news conference Monday. "But I am trying to say if you don't change this, and change it promptly, then you are part of the problem." Hidalgo said she will present her proposal at the upcoming April 23 meeting of Commissioners Court. Currently, companies are chosen by engineering department staff, as well as staff from the four commissioner's offices. There were no conflict of interest certifications on file for those employees and no written policies requiring staff to document their conflicts, according to the audit. The auditor report also surveyed that Harris County was the only county that procures professional services — such as engineering — independent of the purchasing office. Hidalgo has made repeated attempts to broach the topics of improving public trust and streamlining county services, even if that has sometimes meant going it alone. She has consistently refused contributions from county vendors since she ran for her first term in office in 2018, unlike her colleagues on court. At the March 26 meeting of Commissioners Court, Hidalgo argued the county's efforts to improve efficiency have a tendency to get left on the shelf when studies are completed but the results aren't released.

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National Stories

Biden raises oil and gas leasing costs on federal land

The Bureau of Land Management is raising bonding requirements and royalty rates for oil and gas companies operating on federal lands, the first major overhaul of leasing rules since the late 1980s. Under regulations finalized Friday, the minimum bond for oil and gas leases will be $150,000, up from $10,000, and minimum royalties on oil and gas production will increase to 16.7% from 12.5%, part of a Biden administration strategy to increase government revenues and deter oil companies from buying up oil leases and sitting on them as they wait for oil prices to rise. “These are the most significant reforms to the federal oil and gas leasing program in decades,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said. “They will cut wasteful speculation, increase returns for the public and protect taxpayers from being saddled with the costs of environmental cleanups.”

Minimum bids on oil leases will also increase to $10 per acre from $2. And rental rates paid on those leases will step up over time, reaching $15 an acre after eight years. The updated regulations have drawn pushback from oil and gas lobbyists, who maintain they will slow drilling on federal lands and shrink U.S. energy production. Federal lands accounted for 11% of U.S. oil production and 9% of natural gas production in 2022, according to BLM. “The regulatory environment has become so hostile to American oil and natural gas producers operating on federal land that it’s clear the Biden administration intends for 'multiple use' lands to only be used for conservation and recreation,” said Dan Naatz, chief operating officer of the trade group Independent Petroleum Association of America. The new oil and gas rules come as the Biden seeks to expand wind and solar energy generation on federal lands. BLM announced Thursday it was adjusting its rules to lower costs for renewable developers and speed up the permitting process, part of an effort to expand the more than 25 gigawatts of renewable projects already permitted.

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Biden’s options for retaliating against Iran risk antagonizing China

President Biden’s aides are preparing to hit Iran with economic sanctions over Tehran’s attack on Israel, but experts say they face limited meaningful options for doing so without antagonizing China or risking a spike in the price of oil. In retaliation for a strike against its consulate, Iran over the weekend sent more than 300 drones and missiles toward Israel. The unprecedented aerial barrage did not cause major damage or injuries, as U.S.-led forces intercepted most of the projectiles. Still, U.S. officials and their European allies are discussing potential economic responses to Iran, as leading Western officials converged Monday on Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Their options are limited because Iran is already one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world, with U.S. penalties in effect on its banking, manufacturing and energy sectors.

Among the most obvious remaining options is aggressively expanding sanctions on Chinese firms that have bought large quantities of Iranian crude oil exports, which have provided a financial lifeline for Tehran as it remains cut off from the West. The United States has over the last year imposed sanctions on some commercial links in the oil trade between China and Iran, but experts say the administration could go further by hitting many more Chinese refineries and banks with the restrictions. Doing so carries its own risks, however. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and other administration officials have tried stabilizing relations with China in recent months, and a sudden blow to energy production could infuriate Beijing. Additionally, cutting off sales of Iranian crude could cause oil prices to spike globally amid tighter supply, potentially leading to higher gas prices ahead of the 2024 presidential election. “There are not a lot of options that are game changers, because so much of Iran is already sanctioned,” said Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a foreign policy think tank. “But if you really want to cut off oil revenue for Iran, you have to go through China and Chinese institutions.”

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A tech-stock bubble and burst, all within three weeks

Distilled, the value proposition of buying public shares of the parent company of Truth Social is: Donald Trump will make you money. This is not an unusual value proposition for a stock, certainly; they are all predicated on someone making you money. In this case, though, the proposition is unusually centered in the moneymaking skills of one person, more so than perhaps any stock besides Tesla. This has been the value proposition of nearly everything Trump has ever done. Even his presidential campaigns are rooted to no small extent in the idea that Trump will make you richer; his 2024 campaign is certainly investing a lot of energy in the idea that he did or will present Americans with a financial windfall. The problem, of course, is that the most reliable beneficiary of Trump’s theories of enrichment is Donald Trump. In the case of Truth Social, even he isn’t doing terribly well at the moment.

It’s interesting to consider what Truth Social is presenting to potential investors without the Trump element. It’s a social network, like Twitter back when it was Twitter. There’s nothing technically exceptional about it; in fact, it’s simply a slightly modified instance of an out-of-the-box social-media-site tool kit called Mastodon. The only thing that makes it different from anything else is that Donald Trump owns it and posts on it and has pointed his huge base of support at it as a venue. And that was enough for a lot of people to jump in when the stock went public, including some people who bet their futures on it. What’s happened since the stock went public at the end of last month is not normal. Consider three other tech stocks, ones that put a bit more effort into the “tech” part. When Google and Twitter went public in 2004 and 2013, respectively, prices quickly jumped upward from their initial offer prices and then held fairly stable. Facebook’s stock, made public in 2012, stayed flat at the outset and then dropped over the next few weeks. Now let’s superimpose shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (ticker: DJT). It rose from the offer price, pushing Trump into Bloomberg’s list of the 500 richest billionaires in the world. And then it started steadily shedding value.

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Big Tech is downsizing workspace in another blow to office real estate

Big technology companies are cutting back on office space across major coastal cities, leaving some exposed landlords with empty buildings and steep losses. The pullback marks a sharp reversal after years when companies such as Amazon.com, Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Google parent Alphabet had been bolstering their office footprints by adding millions of square feet of space. Their expansion continued even after the pandemic erupted and many employees started working remotely. Tech companies have been the dominant tenant in West Coast cities like Seattle and San Francisco, and by 2021 these companies came to rival those in the finance industry as Manhattan’s biggest user of office space. Now, big tech companies are letting leases expire or looking to unload some offices. Amazon is ditching or not renewing some office leases and last year paused construction on its second headquarters in northern Virginia. Google has listed office space in Silicon Valley for sublease, according to data company CoStar. Meta has also dumped some office space and is leasing less than it did early on in the pandemic.

Salesforce, the cloud-based software company, said in a recent securities filing that it leased or owned about 900,000 square feet of San Francisco office space as of January. That is barely half the 1.6 million of office space it reported having in that city a year earlier. Tech giants looking to unload part of their workplace face a lot of competition. Office space listed for sublease in 30 cities with a lot of technology tenants has risen to the highest levels in at least a decade, according to brokerage CBRE. The 168.4 million square feet of office space for sublease in the first quarter was down slightly from the fourth-quarter 2023 peak but up almost threefold from early 2019. Even tech companies that are renewing or adding space want less than they did before. The amount of new office space tech companies leased fell by almost half in the fourth quarter of last year compared with 2019, CBRE said. Tech’s voracious appetite for office and other commercial real estate had been an economic boon for cities. The new workspace usually brought an influx of well-paid employees, boosted cities’ property-tax revenue and translated into more business for local retailers and shop owners.

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The House plans to hold separate votes on aid for Israel and Ukraine after delays

House Speaker Mike Johnson has announced a path forward on aid to Ukraine and Israel after months of delay because of GOP divisions. Iran's unprecedent attack on Israel over the weekend increased pressure on Congress to act. Johnson plans to bring forward three separate bills on funding for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. A fourth national security bill would likely include a provision that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the U.S. Lawmakers say there's renewed urgency in passing the aid to Israel after Saturday's attack. "My phone melted over the weekend, you know, with all the members letting me know all their ideas," Johnson told reporters after the closed-door meeting with his members Monday evening. "It really was the will of my colleagues to vote on these measures independently and not have them all sandwiched together, as the Senate had done."

Top congressional Democrats, President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had called on the House to swiftly vote on the Senate-passed $95 billion foreign aid package that combines aid for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. But that has long been a no-go in the House, where various GOP members remain deeply opposed to further funding for Ukraine. "The Ukraine piece is — clearly on the Republican side — the most controversial one, the one that has the most difference of opinion," Johnson said Monday. Timing of the House vote remains to be seen. House GOP rules require 72 hours to review legislation, which Johnson said he would honor. "That probably means that if we get bill text sometime early tomorrow — that's the hope, that's the ambition — then that probably puts us into perhaps Friday evening [for votes]," he said. "We'll have to see how the clock works." The proposal drew early signs of support from members. "It's the right way in which the House should function," said Republican New York Rep. Marc Molinaro. "The speaker wants four votes, four measures. Everybody can vote their conscience, vote their constituency, and then defend their position." Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, who is the chair of the Republican Study Committee, told reporters he thinks Johnson is "doing the right thing."

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US regional banks dramatically step up loans to oil and gas

A group of US regional banks is ratcheting up lending to oil, gas and coal clients, grabbing market share as bigger European rivals back away. The list of banks includes Citizens Financial Group Inc., BOK Financial Corp. and Truist Securities Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The companies have climbed between 13 and 40 steps up the league table for fossil-fuel lenders since the end of 2021, placing them among the world’s top 35 banks by number of deals. Fifth Third Securities Inc. and US Bancorp, already in the top 30, both ascended 10 steps in the same period. Five regional US banks dramatically stepped up lending to fossil-fuel clients since the start of 2022.

Since the start of 2022, the combined number of fossil-fuel loans provided by Citizens Financial, BOK Financial, Truist Securities, Fifth Third and US Bancorp rose more than 70% on an average annualized basis, compared with the preceding six years, the Bloomberg data show. Spokespeople for Truist, Fifth Third and US Bancorp declined to comment. Rory Sheehan, a spokesperson for Citizens Financial, said the bank supports initiatives enabling the transition toward a lower-carbon future. He also said the bank recognizes the role of the oil and gas industry. The development offers a glimpse of how the US banking landscape is being altered against a backdrop of stricter climate regulations across the Atlantic. US regional lenders — shaken by the crisis that followed Silicon Valley Bank’s meltdown — are participating in more fossil-fuel loans as banks in Europe begin to pull away for fear of getting caught on the wrong side of environmental, social and governance regulations and climate litigation.

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Lead Stories

Oil magnate Herbert Hunt — famous Texas wildcatter and developer — dies at 95

Oil wildcatter W. Herbert Hunt, a scion of the Hunt Oil dynasty who left a massive business and philanthropic footprint in Dallas and Texas, has died at the age of 95. Hunt became one of the world’s most prominent oil barons and investors throughout his seven-decade career, following his father’s lead along with brothers — Nelson Bunker Hunt and Lamar Hunt — to form Petro-Hunt, growing rich on fossil fuel work in East Texas and later as property developers. Hunt, born on March 6, 1929, died April 9. Hunt followed his father H.L. into the oil drilling and speculation business after finishing a Bachelor of Science degree in geology at Washington and Lee University, joining the family business that would create several billionaires and business titans.

Forbes estimated W. Herbert’s Hunt’s net worth at $5.3 billion in 2024, mostly from his ownership in the Petro-Hunt company, which had major oil patch holdings and operations in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota. Hunt used his fortune in oil to grow the footprint well outside of the energy industry into land purchases, including major developments that have shaped cities such as Richardson, Plano, Forney, Fate and more with major residential and industrial projects. Hunt and his brothers Nelson Bunker and Lamar nearly went broke in the early 1980s after an attempt to corner the silver market with several billion dollars in holdings after a run-up in the commodity in previous years. At one point, they reportedly held more than one-third of the private silver holdings in the world worth $4.5 billion. But after borrowing millions to finance the bet, the price dropped more than 50%, leading to a $1.7 billion loss. They were saved by a loan, but the bad investment was a major hit to the Hunt family’s fortunes, forcing the brothers to declare bankruptcy in 1988. The Hunts made it through the incident and rebuilt their fortune in the fields of oil, real estate and finance. Hunt’s family is one of the most successful oil dynasties in the country, and H.L. Hunt’s 15 children became major players across several fields. Herbert Hunt’s oldest sister is Margaret Hunt Hill, namesake of the iconic bridge in Dallas. Another sister, Caroline Rose Hunt, is the founder of the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts company. His half-brother Ray Lee Hunt is another energy industry billionaire in Dallas and his half-sister Swanee was a U.S. Ambassador to Austria. Herbert Hunt’s nephew, Clark Hunt, is the owner and chairman of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and the family owns and has developed thousands of acres of residential and industrial property throughout North Texas. Lamar, Herbert’s brother and Clark’s father, was one of the pioneers of professional football in the United States and founder of the American Football League, which later merged with the NFL to form the modern sports league.

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Trump’s first criminal trial is a historic and solemn moment for America

The United States will cross a historic threshold on Monday when for the first time a former president goes on criminal trial in a case laced with fateful significance because Donald Trump could be back in the Oval Office next year. When the presumptive GOP nominee walks into court for the start of jury selection, he and the country will enter a new state of reality as legal and political worlds collide in a trial almost guaranteed to deepen Americans’ bitter ideological estrangement. The trial, related to hush money payments to an adult film actress before the 2016 election, will mark yet another extraordinary twist in the story of Trump, whose incessant testing of the limits of presidential decorum and the law has caused nearly nine years of political tumult and may still have years left to run. It raises the possibility that, depending on the jury’s verdict, the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election could be a convicted felon.

And given the case’s subject matter — details about a payment to a woman who alleged that she had a sexual relationship with Trump, which he denies — it could reflect poorly on Trump’s character and ethics as voters weigh their decisions in November. Hush money payments are not illegal. Trump is accused of falsifying business records to keep unflattering information that could have hurt his campaign from the voters in an alleged early example of election interference. The fact that this case stems from alleged personal conduct means that it could have a lesser political impact than Trump’s three other looming trials, which are rooted in greater constitutional and legal concerns pertinent to the powers of the presidency. But the success of the ex-president’s legal delaying tactics in the other cases — related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and hoarding of classified documents — means the hush money trial may be the only one to take place before the election. And Trump — though he is entitled to the presumption of innocence and the airing of evidence like any other defendant — is showing signs of increasing agitation at the prospect of the trial and the indignity it represents for someone who used to be the most powerful man in the world.

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Homicides are plummeting in American cities

Homicides in American cities are falling at the fastest pace in decades, bringing them close to levels they were at before a pandemic-era jump. Nationwide, homicides dropped around 20% in 133 cities from the beginning of the year through the end of March compared with the same period in 2023, according to crime-data analyst Jeff Asher, who tabulated statistics from police departments across the country. Philadelphia saw a 35% drop in killings as of April 12 compared with the same period last year, police data show. In New York City, homicides fell 15% through April 7. Homicides in Columbus, Ohio, plunged 58% through April 7. And Boston had just two homicides this year as of March 31, compared with 11 over the same time frame last year. The drop is an acceleration of a trend that began last year, following a surge in the number of homicides during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The declines so far in 2024, on top of last year’s drop, mirror the steep declines in homicides of the late 1990s. “There’s just a ton of places that you can point to that are showing widespread, very positive trends,” said Asher, co-founder of criminal justice consulting firm AH Datalytics. “Nationally, you’re seeing a very similar situation to what you saw in the mid-to-late ’90s. But it’s potentially even larger in terms of the percentages and numbers of the drops.” If the trend continues, the U.S. could be on pace for a year like 2014, which saw the lowest homicide rate since the 1960s. But police officials and researchers cautioned that crime trends aren’t always consistent and future homicide rates are difficult to predict. Some cities, like Denver, Los Angeles, and Portland, Ore., reported rises in homicides as of early April, Asher’s data show. But such increases are outliers. More typical is Baltimore, where homicides have declined 30% so far this year. During the pandemic, homicide rates shot up around the country, sparking concerns that the progress made during a decadeslong drop in violent crimes had been undone. The number of homicides in the U.S. rose nearly 30% in 2020 from the prior year to 21,570, the largest single-year increase ever recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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Democrats see access to abortion, IVF as keys to defeating Sen. Ted Cruz

In his quest to defeat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Democrat Colin Allred is banking on abortion — and the lack of access in Texas — as a top issue that will motivate voters in the November election. Allred, a U.S. representative from Dallas, says Cruz’s support for the state’s “cruel abortion ban” is putting women’s health in danger. “The only way in Texas we’re going to restore this right is at the federal level by beating Ted Cruz,” Allred said during an appearance on MSNBC. “When I’m in the United States Senate, we will codify Roe v. Wade. We’ll go back to the standard we had for the last 50 years.” Cruz, a Republican senator for Texas since 2013, says the public overwhelmingly supports at least some limits on abortion access, including parental notification requirements for minors. He says federal legislation pushed by Democrats would prohibit states like Texas from adopting such restrictions.

“The position of today’s elected Democrats in Congress on abortion is wildly out of step with the American people,” Cruz said at a recent hearing on Capitol Hill. “It is a radical proposition.” Since the U.S. Supreme Court nullified the constitutional right to abortion when it overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022, Democrats have ridden the issue to election victories in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and other states. Texas Democrats hope for similar results in a state that has not elected a statewide Democrat since the 1990s. To drive the point home, Allred gave his guest ticket to last month’s State of the Union to Austin Dennard, a Dallas obstetrician/gynecologist who had to travel out of state for an abortion after learning her fetus had a severe, lethal birth defect. Dennard delivered emotional testimony two weeks later before the Senate Judiciary Committee, describing her humiliation at having to leave the state for a necessary abortion and the fear she sees in her patients. “We collectively hold our breath as we pass the pregnancy milestones, because my patients know that lawmakers have stripped away their rights to make decisions about their own health, their own body and their own family,” Dennard said.

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State Stories

Report: 'Junk fees' add a hidden burden to Texas tenants already struggling with high rents

While the rent is too darn high for many Texas renters, a new report points to another factor driving up housing costs: Junk fees. The report, released by the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, details charges added to a tenant’s bill on top of rent, which are often hidden or exceed the actual cost of the services they provide. “Junk fees are charges for mandatory services that tenants can't opt out of, and they're tacked onto their rent,” UT law professor Heather Way said. “Valet trash fees, monthly pest-control fees, those are the two most common types of fees we've seen, but then you have things like administrative billing fees, utility administration fee, facilities fee. We've even seen boiler management fees, fire hydrant fees, the list, it goes on and on and it just gets out of control.” Way said it’s hard to calculate exactly how much renters are paying in fees, because the information is not well-tracked. She said Austin renters may be paying more of them as landlords seek to increase revenues while keeping the listed rent price competitive in a market that has more market-rate rental housing than it needs.

But the practice has been documented across the country and drawn the scrutiny of the Biden Administration. “Right now, what we have is anecdotal evidence of this but what we’ve heard is that this is a trend that’s very common in larger apartment complexes where you have corporate landlords,” Way said. “I think it’s no surprise that as we see more Wall Street investment in our apartment market, we’re seeing a rise in these fees.” Many of these fees are recurring fees charged monthly. In some cases, tenants are automatically charged for a service that is optional until they opt out, like cable TV, the report said. “One of the big problems is that these fees are not typically disclosed in the listing price of the unit, so it prevents comparison shopping,” Way said. She said tenants often don’t discover the true cost of an apartment until after they’ve paid application fees, which can cost hundreds of dollars, or committed to a one-year lease, “and at that point, they’re stuck.” The report also details one-time charges that add cost to renters, including application fees, processing fees, move-in fees, and high-risk fees charged to tenants with low credit scores or no rental history. And the report describes tenants being charged fees for arbitrarily applied violations of vague community rules, or repair charges that are excessive or fix things tenants shouldn’t have to pay for, like storm damage.

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Marc Levin: Texas needs prosecutor transparency that’s practical, not political

(Marc A. Levin is chief policy counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice.) Texans have heard a lot about the case against state Attorney General Ken Paxton that was resolved last month through a pretrial diversion agreement, but they deserve to know more about similar decisions made in cases involving Texas' 30 million other residents. Fortunately, more transparency can be achieved without Paxton's plan to unearth thousands of individual case files in local prosecutors’ offices. Instead of an objective, nonpolitical review of all relevant data, he seeks an unworkable, paperwork-intensive plan that cherry-picks certain types of cases and case resolutions. Beyond this, the directive —which is being challenged by the Bexar County district attorney as compliance will cost millions of dollars — covers, for example, every email and other correspondence relating to an arrest for a violent offense in which an indictment was not obtained.

Paxton's plan is unnecessary because there already is a state agency — the Office of Court Administration, or OCA — that can fill the gap. The OCA publishes annual data showing how many and what type of cases result in convictions and dismissals, and thus is well-positioned to delineate the number and types of cases in which pretrial diversion is used. However, currently the cases that prosecutors divert simply show up as dismissals in state court statistics. Accordingly, the diverted case of a first-time, low-level drug possession defendant who successfully completed treatment looks just like that of a drug kingpin in which the prosecutor dropped the ball, causing the statute of limitations to run out. While this could be remedied without a new law, broader positive changes are on the horizon. Legislation Gov. Greg Abbott signed last year directs the OCA to electronically gather case-specific data from the online systems of local courts. This will give Texans a more detailed window into statewide case dispositions without a prosecutor or other local official being required to manually send files to Austin. Yet the need for such data is distinguishable from a sweeping rule issued by Paxton’s office on March 8 demanding individual case files from prosecutors. It requires district attorneys in counties with at least 250,000 people to send the attorney general's office troves of documents on select categories of cases.

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Despite delays, new state park will open next year in North Texas

Though later than originally planned, North Texas’ first new state park in more than two decades is inching toward its grand opening. The dirt is flying about 75 miles west of Fort Worth as crews continue to prepare Palo Pinto Mountains State Park for visitors, according to a recent Facebook post from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation. “We estimate all park facilities will open sometime in 2025,” the post reads. “Will you be one of the first to visit this new state park?” The more than 4,800 acres of former ranch land that make up the new park will include a natural playscape, a lakefront fishing pier, a pavilion, a visitor center and walk-in back country and equestrian campsites. Extensive networks of multi-use trails for hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders will lead to remote areas of the park with scenic views, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s website says. On Tucker Lake, the 90-acre centerpiece of the park, visitors will be able to fish, boat, swim and look for wildlife.

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Laredo border patrol agents seize $260,000 worth of heroin from vehicle

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Laredo seized more than $260,000 worth of heroin that was found hidden inside a vehicle, authorities said. Officers confiscated the heroin on April 6 at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, officers were conducting a secondary search of a 2017 Toyota Tundra driven by a 29-year-old woman, who is a U.S. citizen. Officers found two packages containing 13.5 pounds of alleged heroin hidden inside the truck, CBP said.

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Unstoppable Scottie Scheffler wins another Masters green jacket

Scottie Scheffler had no doubts about this Masters, and neither did anyone watching. He pulled ahead with magnificent shots Sunday around the turn and poured it on along the back nine at Augusta National for a 4-under 68 to claim his second green jacket in three years. Scheffler is simply unstoppable at the moment, and he had help from a faltering cast of contenders to make it look easier than it was. Much like Tiger Woods he made the outcome look inevitable with sublime control, the difference being a peach shirt instead of Sunday red, and no fist pumps until it was over. After sharing hugs with caddie Ted Scott and Collin Morikawa, Scheffler turned to face the crowd with both arms raised. “WOOOOOO!” he yelled, slamming his fist.

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Dallas donors rally to protect Speaker Dade Phelan from anti-incumbent groundswell

On a rainy Wednesday in Dallas, powerful Republican donors gathered at the home of billionaire Kelcy Warren to help save the political career of House Speaker Dade Phelan. The speaker of the House is considered a titan of Texas politics, wielding the power to shape legislation, appoint committee leaders and amass a robust campaign fund to spend on protecting incumbents and other allies. That power wasn’t enough to protect Phelan from a surprisingly strong challenge by David Covey, who rode support from former President Donald Trump to a top finish in the March primary and forced Phelan into a precarious primary runoff on May 28. Covey harnessed growing discontent from the Republican Party’s right flank, which blamed Phelan for the demise of favored legislation, including public funding for private school tuition and several border-security initiatives.

If Phelan stumbles, centrist conservatives could find themselves with a shrinking role in the GOP and on the losing end in the fight over control of the Republican Party. “For the center-right wing of the Republican Party, this is, in some ways, the last stand,” Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said. Phelan’s Dallas fundraiser was a clarion call for establishment Republicans and conservatives who see value in saving Phelan’s career. “It’s a bellwether race for who will ultimately win the internecine battle between the Republicans on the right and the more centrist chamber of commerce Republicans,” said Jason Villalba, a former Republican House member from Dallas who is now an independent and CEO and board chairman of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation. “This civil war has been going on now for almost a decade. It’s culminating in this specific race,” Villalba said. Donors provide the campaign dollars to pay for costly television, direct mail and digital advertising, as well as fund a field operation and maintain staff. Last week’s fundraiser included some of the biggest GOP donors in the country, including businessman Harlan Crow. Money is not Phelan’s biggest concern. He had plenty to spend on the March 5 primary but finished with 43% of the vote behind Covey’s 46%.

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North Texas composer and SMU professor Xi Wang has won a Guggenheim Fellowship

This is turning into a notable year for composer-conductor XI Wang, who teaches composition and music theory at Southern Methodist University. In February, the Dallas Symphony presented the world premiere of her YEAR 2020: Concerto for Violin, Trumpet, and Orchestra. And today, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship — one of 188 people from a pool of almost 3,000 applicants. Wang has taught at SMU since 2009. She came to the United States from China in 2001 to pursue her graduate studies. A Guggenheim fellowship can award between $30,000 and $45,000. Wang hopes that the money and a leave of absence from SMU will allow her to travel to Tibet for the first time to research the Himalayan country's music and culture. "I have always had this dream and this desire of learning more about Tibet," she said. "And I feel it just naturally attracts me spiritually. I feel that is a place very pure. And a place I think that for me, very beautiful, therapeutic and exotic."

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NRG Park manager opposes Travis Scott effort to leave Astroworld lawsuit, court records show

The company that manages NRG Park this week asked a judge to reject rapper Travis Scott's effort to be dismissed from the Astroworld lawsuit. In an sharply worded and detailed motion filed Monday, lawyers representing ASM Global, the company that manages NRG Park, said a jury should decide how much responsibility Scott and employees of his company XX Global bore for the concert that killed 10 people and injured hundreds of others. The filing is one of the latest examples of defendants in the massive lawsuit taking positions ahead of anticipated May trial, which will center around the death of 23-year-old Madison Dubiski. The lawsuit accused ASM, and one of it's spin-off divisions, SMG, of failing to provide adequate management and safety measures on the day of concert.

The 44-page motion lays out a case, based on depositions and the Houston Police Department's review of the concert, that argues that Scott's team and a Live Nation executive countermanded a plan to end the concert at 10 p,m,, and instead allowed Scott and his guest performer Drake, to perform another 12 minutes as crisis continued to unfold. Scott's attorney in March filed a motion seeking his dismissal from the lawsuit, which included dozens of defendants and thousands of plaintiffs. Scott's attorneys argued the festival headliner and founder shouldn't be held liable for the tragedy because his role was as a performer and promoter who wasn't involved in the fine details of the concert's logistics. Scott's motion also argued the rapper ended the show as he was directed to, and said because Dubiski had died before 10 p.m., his extended performance couldn't make him liable for her death.

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South Texas groups sue Texas Parks and Wildlife for pursuing land swap deal with SpaceX

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is being sued for pursuing a land exchange deal with SpaceX as the company seeks to expand its South Texas facilities. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas and Save RGV filed the lawsuit in a Travis County district court last week. In March, TPWD approved pursuing a swap of 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park to SpaceX in exchange for nearly 500 acres of privately-owned land outside of Port Isabel the company is still in negotiations to purchase. The approval came despite thousands of public comments and hours of testimony from nearby residents and experts in opposition to the land swap, failing to sway the seemingly set opinion of the commissioners.

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HISD might ask taxpayers to back a multibillion-dollar bond. Is there time for community input?

Houston ISD officials are considering asking taxpayers to approve a multibillion-dollar bond in November, but Superintendent Mike Miles’ administration has yet to go through a widely used process to involve the community — and may be running short on time to do so. With seven months to go before a potential record bond election, HISD leaders haven’t convened a community committee to offer feedback and make recommendations about what should be included in a package. In recent years, all of the Houston area’s largest districts have assembled a similar committee, which helps get community buy-in for spending billions of dollars on school construction projects and other expensive upgrades. HISD could face a particularly tall task in garnering support for a bond this year, given widespread community opposition to the state-appointed superintendent and school board running the district.

An HISD spokesperson told the Houston Landing that district leaders are “considering” creating a group of community members to assist in the planning process. If HISD does form a committee, it likely will be later in the process relative to other districts, which generally set up the groups roughly six to nine months before the election date. Miles has not confirmed that the district will go out for a bond in November, but has repeatedly said his administration is looking into the possibility. “HISD students deserve better than the buildings they have inherited after more than a decade of neglect,” an HISD spokesperson wrote in an email to the Landing. “If and when the district moves forward with a bond election, the bond plan will address the most urgent student needs and will not raise taxes.” When voters approve a school bond, they give districts the green light to take on debt to pay for renovating aging buildings, buying new technology and updating school security, among many other projects. Districts largely use residents’ property taxes to pay back the borrowed money and interest.

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‘A little bit confused’: HISD board tables Chinese university partnership vote

Houston ISD’s board of managers opted to delay a vote Thursday on a proposal to establish a partnership with a Chinese university after Superintendent Mike Miles’ administration failed to answer some board members’ questions about the controversial program. Board members pushed a vote to their May meeting on the proposal, which would involve the university providing funding for Chinese language and cultural classes in HISD through a “Confucius Institute.” The decision followed board members asking several questions that Miles and other administrators didn’t answer, including the length of the partnership agreement, how HISD would decide which schools should access grant funding and where the money would come from.

Houston ISD’s board of managers opted to delay a vote Thursday on a proposal to establish a partnership with a Chinese university after Superintendent Mike Miles’ administration failed to answer some board members’ questions about the controversial program. Board members pushed a vote to their May meeting on the proposal, which would involve the university providing funding for Chinese language and cultural classes in HISD through a “Confucius Institute.” The decision followed board members asking several questions that Miles and other administrators didn’t answer, including the length of the partnership agreement, how HISD would decide which schools should access grant funding and where the money would come from.

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Mark Bell: Shifting Texas needs from ‘fixing the grid’ to investing in the future

(Mark Bell is the president of the Association of Electric Companies of Texas.) Texas’ growth story is nothing short of remarkable. From July 2022 to July 2023, Texas once again had one of the fastest-growing economies in the United States, while also welcoming more than 473,00 new residents, outpacing every other state. Our economic might has become part of our Texas identity. Yet, beneath the surface of Texas’s remarkable success, pressure is mounting on our electric infrastructure. Over the past two summers, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas recorded 21 new consumption records due to residential growth, industrial electrification and extreme weather events. Put another way: electricity consumption spiked more in the past two summers than in the prior 12 years combined. These records are likely to be broken. Predictions for the summer of 2024 suggest another hot summer ahead, paired with growing electricity demand.

It’s easy to see why Texas is breaking consumption records. Current projections estimate that Texas will gain 17 million new residents by 2050 (more than the entire state of Pennsylvania). Use of electric vehicles, including long-haul trucks, will continue to grow. Plus, with the significant incentives for large industries, manufacturing and oil and gas to electrify, existing businesses will require more electricity. At the heart of this discussion lies the undeniable truth: electricity is the lifeblood of Texas’ prosperity. As Dan Brouillette, president of the Edison Electric Institute, noted, while electricity makes up roughly 5% of the GDP, “It is the very first 5% of the GDP because the American economy, indeed the world economy, depends upon the provision of electricity for so much of our lives.” Which is to say, assuring Texas residents and businesses that they can count on the reliable delivery of affordable electricity is fundamental to maintaining Texas’ status as the eighth-largest economy in the world. While state policymakers and regulators have made improvements to the grid since February 2021, the needs go further than “fixing the grid.” We need to grow the grid through constant, predictable and meaningful investment in electric generation, transmission and distribution. Electric companies in Texas are investing in the grid and doing their part to serve more people and maintain reliability while minimizing costs. But without continuous investment, Texas faces a future marred by grid instability and uncertainty, placing the well-being of every Texan and our economy in jeopardy. Residential growth in the state continues to outpace that of any other state. And with the proliferation of data centers, Texas ranks second, with nearly 1 million square feet under construction in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

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City Stories

Austin police begin new program of officers drawing blood in some DWI cases

Jail nurses won’t do it, and Austin-Travis County EMS medics are looking to get out of it. So now, people arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated could have their blood drawn at the jail by a specially trained Austin Police Department officer as part of a new pilot program. “We're (not) drawing blood on the side of the highway willy-nilly,” said Ryan Huling, sergeant over the Police Department's impaired driving investigations unit. “(Officers) are equally as trained … as the medics were before them. It's done in a sanitary, clean place under consent or warrant.” The Police Department says it is necessary for someone to remain available at the jail to take timely blood draws of people arrested on suspicion of DWI and that officers have been trained to do so. While police say the program is off to a good start, there are concerns from County Attorney Delia Garza the new process could lead to a “potential eroding of public trust.”

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A 'really special place': Arlington leaders begin preparing historic cemetery to sell new plots

On a sunny day in early April, Karen Reich walks Parkdale and Arlington cemeteries to snap pictures and collect information on the interred. Reich volunteers for Findagrave.com, which claims to house the largest gravesite collection. Despite growing up in town, she did not know about Arlington Cemetery. She was floored to see the familiar names like Ditto and Collins among the grave markers. “These are names of all of the movers and shakers. These are the major intersections, the major streets, the schools,” Reich said. The cemetery – one of the oldest in Arlington – is hard to differentiate from Parkdale Cemetery. No border separates the two, though the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission recently installed street signs and QR codes to help people find the city’s founders.

However, the historic burial place may soon gain new attention, as Arlington city leaders look to sell new plots for the first time since the municipal government took possession of the property as an abandoned cemetery in 1995. State law previously prohibited owners of abandoned cemeteries from selling new plots. However, a change to state law in September opened a path for cities that meet certain requirements to begin selling plots. Arlington city leaders and state legislators successfully pushed for the passage of H.B. 2371 after hearing from living notable figures who would like to be buried in Arlington Cemetery. Sarah Stubblefield, strategic initiatives manager, said the city is moving quickly to give residents the chance to purchase plots.

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National Stories

Supreme Court to weigh if Jan. 6 rioters can be charged with obstruction

In the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, federal prosecutors had to decide what charges to bring against hundreds of participants in the pro-Trump mob that disrupted the certification of a presidential election for the first time in U.S. history. In more than 350 cases, they included a federal charge that carries a hefty 20-year maximum penalty and is part of a law enacted after the exposure of massive fraud and shredding of documents during the collapse of the energy giant Enron. As of this month, more than 100 rioters have been convicted and sentenced under that statute for obstructing or impeding an official proceeding — in this case the joint session of Congress that convened on Jan. 6 to formally certify Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about whether prosecutors improperly stretched the law by charging people with that violation in the first place. The high court’s ruling, likely to land in late June, has the potential to undo the convictions and sentences of those who have already gone to trial or pleaded guilty, and upend the charges still pending for many more. Three Jan. 6 defendants have already had their sentences reduced ahead of a decision by the Supreme Court. The court’s decision could have political implications for this year’s election, since Donald Trump — the likely Republican nominee — has made accusations of prosecutorial overreach a core part of his appeal to voters. The case could also directly impact Trump’s own trial for allegedly trying to remain in power after his 2020 defeat; two of the four charges he faces are based on the obstruction statute, and he could move to have those charges dismissed if the Supreme Court rules for the rioters. Defense lawyers say prosecutors overreached by charging rioters with a crime that is limited to conduct that destroys or tampers with evidence sought by investigators. The government’s broad application of the statute, the lawyers warned in court filings, would allow prosecutors to target protesters or lobbyists who disrupt congressional committees.

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Tax Day reveals a major split in how Joe Biden and Donald Trump would govern

Tax Day reveals a major split in how Joe Biden and Donald Trump would govern: The presidential candidates have conflicting ideas about how much to reveal about their own finances and the best ways to boost the economy through tax policy. Biden, the sitting Democratic president, plans to release his income tax returns on Monday, the IRS filing deadline. And on Tuesday, he is scheduled to deliver a speech in Scranton, Pennsylvania, about why the wealthy should pay more in taxes to reduce the federal deficit and help fund programs for the poor and middle class. Biden is proud to say that he was largely without money for much of his decades-long career in public service, unlike Trump, who inherited hundreds of millions of dollars from his father and used his billionaire status to launch a TV show and later a presidential campaign. “For 36 years, I was listed as the poorest man in Congress,” Biden told donors in California in February. “Not a joke.”

In 2015, Trump declared as part of his candidacy, “I’m really rich.” The Republican former president has argued that voters have no need to see his tax data and that past financial disclosures are more than sufficient. He maintains that keeping taxes low for the wealthy will supercharge investment and lead to more jobs, while tax hikes would crush an economy still recovering from inflation that hit a four-decade peak in 2022. “Biden wants to give the IRS even more cash by proposing the largest tax hike on the American people in history when they are already being robbed by his record-high inflation crisis,” said Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for the Trump campaign. The split goes beyond an ideological difference to a very real challenge for whoever triumphs in the November election. At the end of 2025, many of the tax cuts that Trump signed into law in 2017 will expire — setting up an avalanche of choices about how much people across the income spectrum should pay as the national debt is expected to climb to unprecedented levels. Including interest costs, extending all the tax breaks could add another $3.8 trillion to the national debt through 2033, according to an analysis last year by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Biden would like to keep the majority of the tax breaks, based on his pledge that no one earning less than $400,000 will have to pay more. But he released a budget proposal this year with tax increases on the wealthy and corporations that would raise $4.9 trillion in revenues and trim forecasted deficits by $3.2 trillion over 10 years.

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World leaders urge restraint as Israel weighs retaliation against Iran

Israel on Monday was facing international pressure not to retaliate against Iran for its missile and drone attack over the weekend, even as some far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government called for a swift, aggressive response. Mr. Netanyahu faces a delicate calculation: Letting an unprecedented direct attack from Iran, even one that produced little damage, pass without a military response could open him up to criticism that he is endangering Israel. But overly aggressive retaliation could significantly raise the chances of a broader war in the Middle East as Israeli forces continue to battle Hamas in Gaza.

Mr. Netanyahu’s war cabinet met on Sunday evening without deciding how to respond to Iran’s assault, and the military had yet to detail possible options by nightfall, an official who was briefed on the meeting said. Israel has faced calls for restraint from the United States, the Group of 7 nations, the European Union and the secretary general of the United Nations. Israel’s next moves will have strategic implications for its war in Gaza against the armed group Hamas, which is funded and armed by Iran, and for Palestinian civilians who have been struggling for months with violence and severe hunger. Witnesses said that Israeli troops fired at a crowd in northern Gaza on Sunday. Nearly all of the drones and missiles that Iran fired at Israel on Saturday — in retaliation for a deadly airstrike on an Iranian Embassy building in Syria two weeks earlier — were shot down by Israel’s military with help from Britain, Jordan and the United States. The only serious casualty was a 7-year-old girl, Amina al-Hasoni, who was badly wounded.

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Federal criminal investigation opened into Key Bridge crash

The FBI has opened a criminal investigation focusing on the massive container ship that brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last month — a probe that will look at least in part at whether the crew left the port knowing the vessel had serious systems problems, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Authorities are reviewing the events leading up to the moment that the Dali, a 985-foot Singapore-flagged ship, lost power while leaving the Port of Baltimore and slammed into one of the bridge’s support pillars, said the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe. One official said that the investigation was being overseen by the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland. Spokespeople for the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland or the Justice Department.

The owner and operator of the ship and attorneys representing them also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The pre-dawn crash on March 26 crumpled the Key Bridge, where eight people were working to repair concrete and fill potholes. Six members of the construction crew fell into the water and died, officials said. Two survived. The criminal investigation is separate from the probe the National Transportation Safety Board has launched to determine the cause of the crash and assess other safety-related measures. President Biden and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) have both previously said that they intend to hold accountable any parties deemed potentially liable for the destruction of the bridge.

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The South has few unionized auto plants. Workers say this one could be next.

Growing up in eastern Tennessee, Jeremy Collins didn’t know many people with unionized jobs. But he remembers reading good things about unions fighting for the eight-hour work day and against child labor. That’s why Collins plans to vote yes when employees at his Volkswagen factory decide this week whether to join the United Auto Workers. And he thinks many of his co-workers will do the same — possibly making their factory one of the few auto plants in the South to unionize. Of 26 Volkswagen workers who stopped to talk to a Washington Post reporter outside the factory gates this month, more than two-thirds said they planned to vote yes in the historic ballot that will test the UAW’s strategy of organizing a dozen automakers’ southern factories. Six workers said they were undecided and two were opposed. “I’m pretty vocal about the union at work, and I usually ask a lot of people how they feel,” Collins said, en route to his shift building Atlas SUVs and electric ID.4 vehicles. “And from all the people I talk to, I’ve only come across three people who are against it.”

Those who spoke with The Post are a small fraction of the more than 4,000 workers eligible to vote in the ballot. And the UAW has failed in two previous efforts to organize the factory, in 2014 and 2019. But the union is expressing optimism this time around, saying that a supermajority of workers signed union authorization cards supporting UAW membership. Volkswagen Chattanooga would be the first auto plant in the South to unionize through an election since the 1940s, although there are other unionized auto factories in the South. The union drive in Chattanooga is happening as both President Biden and former president Trump vie to make the case that they can deliver for blue-collar factory workers. A yes vote, even in red Tennessee, could help shore up Biden’s support among union voters across the United States, including those still dubious about the improved economy. Biden’s staunch support of union workers has earned him the UAW’s endorsement and assistance on the campaign trail from its fiery president, Shawn Fain. Tennessee Republicans have seized on that relationship in their efforts to thwart the unionization drive. In an impromptu news conference next to the factory this month, local Republicans warned that workers in this right-leaning county would be aligning themselves with the Democrats by voting yes.

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Inside the secret battle to stop No Labels

Once upon a time, before the multimillion-dollar negative campaigns and allegations of running “a conspiracy to commit extortion, voter intimidation, and other criminal behavior,” they were friends. Good friends. The people who run No Labels and Third Way, two of the most prominent centrist organizations in Washington, had all come up together in the small world of Clinton-era center-left politics. Nancy Jacobson, an early Bill Clinton hire and the founder of No Labels, helped raise the initial money and secure the necessary political blessings to start Third Way. The think tank was co-founded by Jon Cowan, whom Jacobson viewed as something of a mentee. Cowan, now Third Way's president, even signed the ketubah (the Jewish wedding contract) at Jacobson's wedding to Mark Penn, whose firm conducts No Labels’ polls.

Then came the 2024 election — and No Labels’ decision to try to field a bipartisan “unity ticket” against both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, backed by a reported budget of $70 million. Third Way, which may be centrist but is firmly Democratic, viewed this as a misguided, no-hope effort that could only spoil the election for Biden and help to re-elect Trump, with potentially disastrous consequences. "There were deep personal stakes and relationships," Cowan said. A centrist civil war broke out in the C-suites and steakhouses of Washington and Manhattan. Like so many insider conflicts, it was deeply personal. There were betrayal, a double agent, a secret team of political operatives, some very unlikely allies — and a decisive victory for one side that left the other seething and bitter. Even some people close to No Labels acknowledge the campaign against it largely succeeded in its mission: dissuading any potential candidates from joining its ticket. But the cost, they say, will be a gaping wound at the center of what’s left of American centrism. "What does Third Way go back to?" asked former Rep. Max Rose, a moderate New York Democrat who spoke to NBC News at Jacobson's request. "Because it doesn’t seem logical that an organization that considers itself a centrist policy organization randomly makes war on another organization like this." Or as Holly Page, a longtime moderate Democratic strategist who has worked for both groups but ended up in No Labels' camp put it of Third Way: “They sold out the center so they could get a seat at the table with [former Biden chief of staff] Ron Klain."

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CBS News poll: Rising numbers of Americans say Biden should encourage Israel to stop Gaza actions

An increasing number of Americans want President Biden to encourage Israel to stop military actions in Gaza; and Mr. Biden's handling of the situation is now down to its lowest levels yet. In the poll, conducted before Iran's drone and missile attack on Israel, there wasn't much clamor among the U.S. public for U.S. military action against Iran, were Iran to strike Israel. More would instead have the U.S. support Israel's next actions. Mr. Biden faces particular pressure within his own party regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, where Democrats also express increasing sympathy with the Palestinian people, along with the Israelis; and Mr. Biden's handling has taken a particular hit among younger Americans as well.

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Lead Stories

1 dead and 13 injured in semitrailer crash at a Texas public safety office, with the driver jailed

A Texas semitrailer driver rammed a stolen 18-wheeler through the front of a public safety building where his renewal for a commercial driver’s license had been rejected, killing one person and injuring 13 others, authorities said Friday. The intentional crash into the single-story brick building off a highway in Brenham, a rural town outside of Houston, littered debris in the parking lot and left a gaping hole in the entrance. The crash damaged the front of the red semitrailer, which was hauling materials on a flatbed. After crashing into the building the first time, the driver backed up the truck with the intention of smashing it again before being detained, Brenham Mayor Atwood Kenjura said. “It’s unfortunate that we are here gathered for a really senseless tragedy,” Kenjura said.

The driver — identified as Clenard Parker, 42 — was pulled out of the truck by authorities at the Texas Department of Public Safety office. Authorities say Parker did not resist when he was taken into custody and would face multiple felonies, but did not specify the charges. On Thursday, Parker was told by employees at the office that he would not be eligible to renew his commercial driver’s license, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Justin Ruiz said. He did not elaborate as to why Parker’s renewal was rejected. One employee in the building was trapped “for a period of time” after the crash but no one who worked at the driver’s license office suffered serious injuries, Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst said. It was unclear Friday afternoon where the person who was killed was located at the time of the crash. Following the crash, two people were flown to a hospital in Bryan and another to Houston. Three people were transported to local hospitals but later released, and eight others were treated on the scene.

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Migration’s human toll overwhelms a border county in Texas

The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out of the Rio Grande minutes earlier. Now, her body lay stiff as mortician Jesus “Chuy” Gonzalez drove away from the muddy boat ramp and toward an overcrowded freezer, passing mobile homes and a casino along the way. Maverick County purchased the trailer during the pandemic to handle covid-19 victims. It was designed to hold 20 bodies but on this day held 28 — the putrefied remains testifying to two dozen shattered dreams of reaching the United States. Only half had names. Gonzalez didn’t flinch as he swung the freezer’s doors open. He has been around so much death that the stench of decomposition no longer bothers him. A large silver Virgen de Guadalupe dangled from his chest as he maneuvered the woman into a wooden barrack.

Nearby lay the body of a man whose arms were frozen as if he were blocking a blow. His jeans and shoes were still covered in river mud and his face marbled with sickly discoloration. Several members of a Venezuelan family who drowned together were also scattered inside the trailer. They had been there since mid-November. Record-level migration has brought record-breaking death to Maverick County, a border community that is ground zero in the feud between Texas and the Biden administration over migration. Whereas in a typical month years ago, officials here might have recovered one or two bodies from the river, more recently they have handled that amount in a single day. While border crossings draw the most attention in the national debate about immigration, the rising number of deaths in the Rio Grande has gone largely unnoticed. First responders have run out of body bags and burial plots. Their rescue boats and recovery trucks are covered in dents and scratches, scars from navigating through the brush to retrieve floating bodies. County officials say they don’t have the training or supplies to collect DNA samples of each unidentified migrant as required by state law, meaning bodies are sometimes left in fridges for months or even buried with scant attempt to identify them. At one point in 2022 as the body count rose, officials buried migrants in a potter’s field, their graves marked with crosses made out of PVC pipes. Over the past month, the number of deaths has dropped as migrant crossings dip, but officials are still girding themselves for another increase later this spring. To prepare, they are creating a new space to bury unidentified migrants, the boundaries already demarcated with wooden sticks spray-painted red and lodged into the dirt.

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U.S. and Japan signal support for Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail after leaders meet

Following a White House visit from Japan’s chief executive, the U.S. and Japan have both seemed to reaffirm support of the Dallas to Houston high-speed rail project. The White House released a fact sheet Wednesday after President Joe Biden welcomed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The two leaders affirmed or reaffirmed several “political understandings” on a number of issues ranging from defense and security to economic cooperation to diplomacy and development. But leading up to the meeting, Reuters reported that Biden is seeking to revive interest in the multi-billion-dollar project. Three sources familiar with the summit preparations told the outlet that Texas Central’s project would be on the agenda for talks.

Following the meeting, the fact sheet noted the U.S. Department of Transportation and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism welcomed Amtrak’s leadership of the project. “The successful completion of development efforts and other requirements would position the project for potential future funding and financing opportunities,” White House officials wrote in the fact sheet. The proposal that aims to shuttle passengers from Dallas to Houston in about 90 minutes has been in development for a decade. The 220-mile drive between the proposed stations takes at least three-and-a-half hours. Japan has a stake in the project as Texas Central is partnered with Japan Central Railways, which owns and operates the country’s Shinkansen bullet train. It has gained steam in the last few months after Amtrak announced in August it is exploring a partnership with Texas Central for the route. With Amtrak’s involvement, the project was awarded $500,000 for planning and development from the Corridor Identification and Development Program, created after the passing of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.

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Iran unleashes attack on Israel

Iran launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles toward Israel late Saturday in an unprecedented revenge mission that pushed the Middle East ever closer to a regionwide war. Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem as a series of explosions were heard in the skies. There is no immediate word from authorities on whether the explosions are an incoming attack or the sound of interceptions. The attack marked the first time Iran had ever launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Israel’s military said over 100 drones had been fired but that its air defenses were prepared for the attack and it was ready to respond. It didn’t mention ballistic missiles, which are less easily shot down, but Iran said they were part of the attack. The U.S., with its large troop presence in the region, said it would provide unspecified support to Israel. “We are monitoring the threat,” the Israeli military’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, announced in a nationwide television address, saying it would take several hours for the drones to reach Israel. The Israeli military said it could not confirm if it had intercepted any drones or what their targets were. Iran had vowed revenge since an April 1 airstrike in Syria killed two Iranian generals inside an Iranian consular building. Iran accused Israel of being behind the attack. Israel hasn’t commented on it.

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ERCOT warns rising temperatures may cause power emergency next week

Texans may soon be asked to help support the state’s grid. ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, is warning residents that higher temperatures will increase demand across the grid, resulting in a power emergency. ERCOT plans to delay and cancel planned generator outages across the state to help reinforce the grid during a time of high demand and strain. The power emergency is expected to last from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday, according to a Friday notice. The Electric Reliability Council of Texasdid not respond to The Dallas Morning News at the time of publication.

Temperatures in Dallas next week are expected to hit a high of 88 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday and stay in the 80s throughout the middle of the week. The grid operator has come under fire from residents in recent years over its inconsistency in handling extreme temperatures like the 2021 winter freeze, aging infrastructure, the organization’s deals with the Bitcoin miners and more. It’s previously called on Texans to reduce electricity usage to boost the grid’s reliability. However, ERCOT officials have also claimed that the grid has held strong during high-demand periods like the total solar eclipse and that improvements have been made since 2021 to ensure the grid’s reliability during the cold seasons.

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State Stories

Lawmaker behind new Texas DEI ban expects universities to still 'strive for diverse outcomes'

State Sen. Brandon Creighton sponsored the state’s new ban on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public universities. In letters sent last month, the Conroe Republican told university chancellors and regents that he was worried some may not be fully complying with the new law. His Senate committee plans to hold hearings in May to receive updates from universities. “I am deeply concerned with the possibility that many institutions may choose to merely rename their offices or employee titles,” Creighton wrote in letters to each of the state’s seven public university systems. Days later, the University of Texas at Austin fired dozens of employees who had previously worked in DEI-related roles. On Tuesday, UT-Dallas announced it was also laying off 20 workers and closing its Office of Campus Resources and Support, a new office meant to comply with the DEI ban.

At both campuses, news of the firings has roiled students and advocates, who argue that administrators are overreacting to the law and weakening the schools’ ability to recruit talented faculty. “I'd have to leave it up to university officials and their general counsel on exactly how they are taking actions to comply with the bill. I know through the university leadership's press releases and the statements they issued that they also took action on consolidation and what they phrase, I believe, as duplicative efforts where there was overlap and made some further adjustments. So I'm not sure that I would couch that as taking action beyond compliance necessary to be in line with the legislation. I just know that they're making some overall strategic moves for the future, as all of the universities have to continue to evolve in ways that will make sense with their budgets and their goals,” Creighton said.

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Spurs star Victor Wembanyama's historic rookie season comes to an end

Spurs sensation Victor Wembanyama's history-making rookie season came to an end Saturday with the team announcing he would miss the season finale due to right ankle injury management. The Spurs (21-60) host Detroit (14-67) at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Frost Bank Center. Wembanyama, 20, finished his maiden voyage through the NBA averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, an NBA-best 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals to become the first player to average those numbers or better for a season since the NBA and the ABA merged in summer 1976. And he did it while averaging just 29.7 minutes per outing over 71 games. Popovich said before Friday’s stunning 121-120 upset of Denver in which Wembanyama finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and one steal, that it was uncertain whether the French phenom would be available against the Pistons.

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UT firings anger students, advocates as lawmakers call for increased enforcement of Texas DEI ban

For Destiny Afinni-Myles, the University of Texas at Austin’s diversity, equity and inclusion office gave her group for Black and African American students opportunities to meet and plan events. So when the UT administration closed a rebranded version of the office and laid off dozens of employees last week to comply with a new state DEI ban, Afinni-Myles said she and many other students were left feeling “completely disheartened.”

“It’s a loss of belonging,” Afinni-Myles said. “A loss of community.” The university has not said how many staff were let go, but advocates say at least 66 people were fired, 40 of whom formerly held DEI-related jobs. UT-Dallas announced Tuesday it was also laying off 20 workers and closing its Office of Campus Resources and Support, a new office meant to comply with the DEI ban. The moves come after state Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Conroe Republican and the author of the ban, warned university officials that simply renaming DEI offices and job titles was not enough to comply with the law. In an interview this week, Creighton declined to comment on the layoffs directly. “I just know that they're making some overall strategic moves for the future, as all of the universities have to continue to evolve in ways that will make sense with their budgets and their goals,” he said. At UT-Austin and UT-Dallas, news of the firings has roiled students and advocates, who argue that administrators are overreacting to the law and weakening the schools’ ability to recruit talented faculty.

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Jim Blackburn: Save the fish. Save the shrimp. Save Texas' coastal wetlands.

(Jim Blackburn is a faculty scholar at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, a professor in the practice of environmental law in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Rice University and a practicing environmental lawyer with the Blackburn & Carter law firm in Houston.) The wetlands of the Texas coast — our most important coastal ecological system — are in danger of eradication from sea level rise. The science is clear. They will be gone if we don’t do something about it, and there are things we can do, but we need to get on it. Our coastal wetlands exist where water and land meet. They thrive when high tide covers plants’ roots, which become dry again during low tide. They can survive several days of high tide and inundation, but they will suffocate if the water stays up for months and years. That is what science indicates is happening now and will worsen into the future. Many may ask, why should I care? What difference does it make to me if these coastal wetlands continue to exist or not? And the simple answer is, the fishery of the Gulf of Mexico depends on these coastal marshes. They are the nurseries of the coast. Each acre of marsh produces thousands of white and brown shrimp which are excellent to eat, and they support our state’s commercial fishery. The same is true with blue crab and flounder, which also use nature’s nursery.

Perhaps more important to many Texans is the recreational fishery of the coast. Redfish and speckled trout are higher predators in the bay food chain, and they feed on the shrimp and smaller finfish produced by the marsh. Along with seagrass, which is prominent in the southern portion of the Texas coast, these marshes are the key to coastal recreational fishing. No marsh, no seagrass, no fish. It’s that simple. It is hard for me to imagine a Texas coast without wetlands. Near Rockport, the only wild flock of endangered whooping cranes relies upon these marshes, where they feed upon blue crabs. And literally thousands of other fish-eating birds rely on these marshes, contributing to the wonder of the coast. The politics surrounding climate change can be daunting. But concern about the future loss of our marshes is not about attacking any industry or anyone’s livelihood. Rather, this is a call to action for those concerned about the coastal marshes, about recreational and commercial fishing, about coastal birds. We must come together and act now to protect our future. So what can be done? Living shorelines can be constructed to protect these marshes from erosion forces and to help them trap sediment that is needed to keep up with sea level rise. These living shorelines are made of rock or concrete and are constructed about a hundred feet or so on the bay-side of the marsh. These structures are then seeded with oyster spat to generate oyster colonization. Once established, the oysters will grow and rise with sea level, representing a form of nature-based engineering.

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Texas Ag Commissioner talks rural hospital grant, potential cabinet position

Nearly $24 million will go toward technological improvements for Texas rural hospitals, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller announced on Tuesday. The program aims to help hospitals upgrade existing technologies to improve medical services and telehealth capabilities. Funding is also intended to enhance communication between hospitals and statewide specialists by expanding broadband infrastructure. “We have a lot of challenges,” Miller said, citing a large population of uninsured and elderly residents in rural counties. “And we have the two most accident-prone occupations, farming and field work. So it’s critical that we get good connectivity out into these rural communities.”

The $23.9 million was originally part of a federal COVID relief fund, reallocated for broadband improvements. A separate $50 million for rural hospitals was set aside in the state’s Health and Human Services department last legislative session. Miller says the money will be available to every rural hospital as a $100,000 grant. The application closes May 2. “We’re pretty nimble for a government agency, and we’ll get those turned around,” the commissioner said. “We’ll be getting those checks out for broadband improvements in the month of May.” Miller is the top name discussed as a potential candidate for U.S. Secretary of Agriculture if former President Donald Trump is elected in the 2024 election, according to a Politico article citing sources close to Trump. Miller said he has not directly spoken to Trump about the job, but expressed interest in the position. “I think it’s premature,” Miller said. “We got to get the man elected first, and that’s what I’m concentrating on.”

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Speckled trout, redfish, pranks plentiful at enormous Texas City Dike

It was an April Fools’ prank executed to perfection. In mid-morning on April 1, the city of Texas City made the rather surprising announcement on its Facebook page that the Texas City Dike, the world’s longest manmade fishing pier and a bottomless well of civic pride, would be adding another half-mile to the existing 5.3-mile breakwater jutting into Galveston Bay. The new addition would be called, of course, the “Baby Dike.” Not everyone read far enough to notice the #aprilfool hashtag tacked onto the end of the message. “I did have to go back in and edit the top just in case people didn't make it to that bottom hashtag—‘hope you enjoy our most popular April Fools’ Day prank yet!’—so that as it's getting shared all over the state and in fishing groups and things like that, people aren't coming and looking for the baby dike,” said Jennifer Laird, the city’s communications coordinator.

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Dallas’ new permitting office never received full occupancy permit before workers moved in

An 11-story office tower in Dallas that was bought to house a new headquarters for city workers who issuebuilding permits was never given a permanent occupancy certificate before employees moved in, city records show. The city granted its building at 7800 N. Stemmons Freeway a temporary certificate of occupancy for the fifth floor in December, the month Development Service Department employees began to move in. But no other occupancy certificates had been granted for the rest of the building. City records list them as pending inspection as of Friday. A spokesman for the State Fire Marshal’s Office confirmed to The Dallas Morning News on Friday that it had received a complaint about the building on Jan. 25. He said the complaint was forwarded to Dallas Fire-Rescue, which declined to comment about the building.

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Don Powell: Reinstating Texas A&M University bonfire would disparage memory of those we lost

(Powell is a former Chairman of the Board of the Texas A&M University System.) Texas A&M University is unique for many reasons; its distinctive culture permeates every aspect of its existence. At the core of its culture is the courage to always do what is right regardless of opinion or consequences. While traditions are revered at A&M, those traditions can never supersede the dignity we accord every member of our community. The effort to reinstate the bonfire tradition would disparage the memory of those students who lost their lives, including those who suffered enduring injuries, and it would tarnish the culture of Texas A&M University.

What is the appropriate memorial for the loss of twelve young, brilliant lives? Perhaps in this case it is declaring that no amount of time erases that loss. Redemption is a powerful force, but it must have a powerful purpose. Simply reinstating a symbol of sports rivalry does not carry that power; in fact, it trivializes those twelve tragic deaths and deprives them of their basic dignity and the meaning of what they would have accomplished had they lived. The reinstatement of the traditional Thanksgiving football game between UT and A&M is rousing, but the game can be played without demeaning our values and disrespecting those we’ve lost.

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Bridget Grumet: UT Athletics pledged $10M to address homelessness. But the money may go elsewhere

The $10 million pledge "to help fight systemic homelessness," announced by University of Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte in February, seemed to come out of nowhere. In fact, the questions at the Feb. 13 Texas Athletics Town Hall had already moved on to the next topic — an inquiry about students’ access to tickets — when Del Conte jumped back to discussing the plans to build a new football practice facility and how that would involve demolishing the historic building that houses UT's Steve Hicks School of Social Work, a leading research program on social issues including homelessness. The demolition plan has been controversial for a year now, as UT wants to raze the 1930s schoolhouse that’s on the National Register of Historic Places to build another athletic facility. But Del Conte suggested the plan will serve a greater good.

“I think one of the things that we're looking at, too, is that the athletic department has committed a gift of $10 million to the School of Social Work to help fight systemic homelessness,” Del Conte announced at the town hall event. It was the first the public was hearing of any such pledge. “It starts early, it starts from little kids,” continued Del Conte, who grew up on a New Mexico ranch that his parents converted into a large group home where they helped scores of underprivileged youth each year. “You become a foster kid, you become (a part) of the system, and all of the sudden you're 18 years old, and what's next?” If people aging out of foster care don’t have the right support, Del Conte said, “things can happen, they spiral out of control,” and people can become homeless. He said the money from the athletic department could help “create an endowment to go out and start to get the very best minds to look at how we can deal with the homelessness.”

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John Moritz: As Texas campaigns heat up, so do desperate pleas for donations. Why? Because it works.

In the months since incumbent Republican Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, launched their campaigns for U.S. Senate, no fewer than 464,000 people have stepped up to hand them money. So are we talking about nearly a half-million spontaneous acts of generosity for the benefit of two politicians from Texas? Hardly. The selling of candidates is not much different from the marketing of products ranging from pharmaceuticals to fertilizer. It's kind of like waking up from a dream in which you were driving a new pickup and somehow your social media feed is overflowing with commercials about gleaming Silverados, F-150s or Tundras crawling up the side of a mountain or towing a travel-trailer through a national park.

Click on a news story about the Legislature or the governor, and suddenly you're drowning in ads for somebody running for something. Click one of the ads, and the frequency increases exponentially. And if you stumble across a candidate or two you like and sign up for notifications about their campaigns or follow them on social media, they've got you. Soon your email basket fills up with "URGENT!!" pleas for donations and breathless warnings that the very future of the republic rests on your shoulders alone. And the emails aren't only from the candidates whose site you visited or whose Instagram posts you liked. It seems as if every politician from your candidate's party — and some from the other one — has your email address and knows how to use it. It doesn't matter if you live in Texas and they're running in Tuscaloosa, they're still begging you for money. The messages are about a subtle as a stubbed toe, and they can stretch the truth. And nearly every email comes with a button icon that with a single click whisks the recipient off to the donation page of the candidate's website. But does all that actually work? In just the comparatively narrow universe of the 2024 Texas campaign for U.S. Senate, there are 464,000 pieces of evidence suggesting the answer is yes — and there are still more than 6½ months until the Nov. 5 election.

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Beaumont Examiner Editorial: Billionaires plotting takeover of Texas House

The following editorial reflects the views of Don J. Dodd, Publisher/CEO of The Examiner Corporation. Jeff Yass, a multi-billionaire and the wealthiest man in Pennsylvania has made substantial political donations – much of his money ending up right here in Southeast Texas. Boundaries of Yass’ vast fortune are untold, but his 15% stake in TikTok, according to Forbes Magazine, is alone worth $21 billion. Selling the secret lives of our children to China really brings home the bacon. Many of his recent contributions, totaling millions, have been directed toward the “Club for Growth Action,” a Political Action Committee (PAC) with no Texas-based staff that can be seen, which is sticking their Pinocchio nose into Southeast Texas politics. This PAC recently sent out a mailer featuring an image of Pinocchio to voters in Jefferson and Orange counties, accusing Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan of “Lying” and advocating for us to vote for Phelan’s opponent, David Covey, on May 28.

Who is David Covey? These mailers, that somehow manage to get delivered to our homes when we can’t seem to get regular mail or packages delivered by the post office in a reasonable time, don’t say a word about the candidate they want us to blindly elect. No one seems to know what Covey’s plans are to serve Southeast Texas; all we know is he had billionaires from West Texas, and now from Pennsylvania, paying millions of dollars for TV commercials, Deep Fakes on social media, unsolicited emails and text messages. As a newspaper, many have asked us about Covey and, while we fully endorse Dade Phelan because of his integrity and honesty while still securing state funding for Southeast Texas, we really know nothing of Covey – mostly because he won’t tell us. Numerous calls and emails have gone unanswered. Not interested in an interview? Ok. We sent a list of questions seeking his stance on important policy initiative; again, no answer. So, we searched the internet; Covey is listed on campaign filings as an Oil and Gas Consultant and Lawyer with work experience, yet he is not eligible to be a practicing lawyer with his mail-order, online degree. What Covey fails to mention in campaign literature is his 2013 and 2014 stint as Constituent Liaison for U.S. Congressman Steve Stockman, who, in November 2018, was sentenced to serve 120 months in prison and ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution for orchestrating a four-year scheme from 2010 to 2014 to defraud charitable donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars and secretly funnel the proceeds to pay for personal expenses and to finance his campaigns for public office illegally.

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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick eyeing ban on Delta-8 and Delta-9 products

Texas is still a year away from its next state legislative session, but we are already getting a picture of lawmakers' priorities. ABC13's news partners at the Houston Chronicle looked at Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's to-do list. It includes banning Delta-8 and Delta-9, which are cannabis-derived products currently legal in the state because of their low THC content. Patrick also wants to consider bills that would stop retailers from marketing these products to children. Delta 8 took off after the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp production federally. Since then, Delta-9 products also emerged in low-THC edible forms.

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Challengers sign ‘contract with Texas’ to push the legislature more conservative

Conservative candidates running to unseat Republicans in the Texas House joined with some of the most conservative representatives in signing the “Contract with Texas,” a commitment to procedural changes like eliminating Democratic committee chairs that they say will make the House more efficient in passing conservative priorities. “Texans are fundamentally annoyed, frustrated, disappointed with the obstruction, the dysfunction within the Texas House,” GOP nominee for House District 65 Mitch Little said. “Our desire in creating the Contract with Texas is to create a framework where a future speaker is going to have a chance to succeed in ways that are going to inspire Republican voters and empower people in the legislature to do the things that they send us down there to do.”

The contract calls for candidates for House Speaker to solicit support from only Republicans, to strip Democrats from committee chair positions, and give all Republican priorities a vote before considering any Democratic bills. The contract is signed by representatives Brian Harrison, J.M. Lozano, Nate Schatzline, Tony Tinderholy, and Steve Toth, as well as 18 other conservative candidates. “What we’re trying to do here with this contract is to put the voters back in charge, be responsive to the will of the voters that have elected Republicans,” State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, said. “We are trying to reform the House. And my goal is to make it Republican once again.” Republican Speaker Dade Phelan has heralded the two sessions over which he has presided as the most conservative in Texas history. A strengthening wing of his party pushing to oust him disagrees, pointing to specific conservative legislation that failed to pass.

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National Stories

Iran’s attack on Israel raises fears of a wider war, but all sides have also scored gains

The unprecedented attack by Iran on Israel early Sunday ratcheted up regional tensions, confirming long-held fears about the Israel-Hamas war spiraling into a broader conflagration. But Iran, Israel, the United States and Hamas also walked away with some gains. Here’s a look at the fallout. As the more than 300 drones and missiles headed toward Israel in the early hours of Sunday, the country was able to successfully put to the test its aerial defense array, which, along with help from allies, blocked 99% of the projectiles and prevented any major damage.

By contrast, Israel’s military had suffered a bruising defeat at the hands of a far less equipped enemy when Hamas stormed from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7. That was a major blow to Israel’s image as a regional military powerhouse and shattered any sense of invincibility. The response to Iran’s attack could be what restores faith in the country’s military, even as its forces are bogged down in Gaza, more than six months after Israel declared war on Hamas there. Israel has also boasted about the coalition of forces that helped it repel the Iranian assault. It’s a much-needed show of support at a time when Israel is at its most isolated because of concerns surrounding its conduct during the war against Hamas, including a worsening humanitarian crisis and a staggering death toll in Gaza. Iran vowed repeatedly that it would respond to an apparent Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus on April 1 that killed two generals. Sunday’s assault allowed Iran to show to its citizens that it won’t stand by when its assets are attacked and that it was serious when it threatened revenge. With its strike, Iran was able to exhibit its fierce firepower, instill fear in some Israelis and disrupt the lives of many through school cancellations. But with little damage actually caused in Israel, Iran might hope that any response will be measured. Several hours after it launched the drones and missiles, Iran said the operation was over.

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Don’t sneer at white rural voters — or delude yourself about their politics

White rural Americans are a “racist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-gay” authoritarian fifth column that poses an existential threat to our republic. Unless they are actually a downtrodden people who rightly resent the condescension of liberal elites and wish for little more than “to preserve a sense of agency over their future and a continuity of their community’s values and social structures.” These are the twin poles of blue America’s current debate over why rural white folks vote the way they do. This argument is as old as the urban-rural divide itself. But the latest round was triggered by White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy, a bestselling book from the political scientist Tom Schaller and journalist Paul Waldman.

Schaller and Waldman argue that rural white voters are exceptionally reactionary, racist, and anti-democratic. In their telling, these retrograde impulses turn this group into easy prey for a Republican Party that shutters rural hospitals, denies workers’ health insurance, erodes labor rights — and then says, in so many words, let them eat hate. Many commentators and political scientists have taken exception to this argument. The Atlantic’s Tyler Austin Harper argues that White Rural Rage “illustrates how willing many members of the U.S. media and the public are to believe, and ultimately launder, abusive accusations against an economically disadvantaged group of people that would provoke sympathy if its members had different skin color and voting habits.” In his account, the real threat to American democracy “is not white rural rage, but white urban and suburban rage” — a fact that would be plain to Waldman and Schaller, Harper says, if they’d only paid more careful attention to the studies their book cites.

Read this article at Vox - Subscribers Only

Activists helped shut down an oil refinery after a series of explosions. The consequences weren’t what they expected

Bilal Motley, utilities manager at a former Philadelphia oil refinery, was working the graveyard shift when a massive explosion broke out in the early morning hours of June 21, 2019. He had only about an hour left of his shift, when frantic reports of a fire at the facility’s hydrofluoric acid unit came rushing in through the radios. Emergency sirens pierced the air, and soon, many of the workers were rushing to the scene of the fire. “I’m a manager, so I have to respond to that,” Motley said. “Then I hear ‘fire at 433.’ That’s our acid unit. That’s the boogeyman.” Fearful for his life, he got in his truck and made his way to the incident. Along the way, more explosions erupted.

A leaking pipe allowed a massive cloud of explosive chemicals to form, which ignited in a series of blasts. The largest explosion sent a 38,000-pound drum fragment, about the same weight as a firetruck, across the Schuylkill River, outside of the refinery’s boundaries. “I thought this was it,” said Motley, who worked at the refinery for nearly 15 years. “This is how I was going to die.” Philadelphia Energy Solutions, which processed 335,000 barrels of crude oil each day, was then the largest oil refining complex on the East Coast. It produced petroleum products including gasoline, jet and diesel fuel, heating oil and petrochemicals used to make things like plastic or rubber. The vast 1,300-acre site hugged the banks of the Schuylkill River on the southern part of the city, where heavy industry has been prominent since the 1860s. The explosion sent shockwaves across Philadelphia, particularly among the residents living less than a mile from the refinery. It wasn’t the first time the 150-year-old refinery had caught on fire. Numerous incidents have occurred at the plant in previous years, prompting local grassroots groups to protest outside the refinery’s gates. No one died from the 2019 explosions, but six workers suffered minor injuries.

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The century-old transmission line is getting a 21st century upgrade

The green energy transition has been stymied by a lack of long-haul transmission lines to carry clean power from remote wind and solar farms to cities and power-hungry data centers where it’s needed. The most discussed option is building more transmission projects. But startup TS Conductor Corp. says the key to addressing the shortfall isn’t just adding lines to the grid; it’s installing better ones that can deliver more electricity and potentially lower costs. The Huntington Beach, Calif.-based company has developed a power cable that weighs less and can carry more electricity than the standard wires that have been used for more than a century. While lining up permits and approvals to build new transmission projects can take years, TS Conductor contends that utilities can boost capacity now by replacing existing towers’ wires with its product. Tests are already underway, including by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

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As Trump ponders V.P. contenders, he asks: Can they help me raise cash?

As former President Donald J. Trump sifts through potential running mates, he has peppered some advisers and associates with a direct question: Which Republican could best help him raise money for the rest of the presidential campaign? That inquiry reflects the evolving calculations of Mr. Trump’s vice-presidential search — and how his scramble to keep up with President Biden’s colossal fund-raising totals may be weighing on his mind as he considers his options. Mr. Trump’s selection process, which is still in its early stages, has largely revolved around conventional questions like who could step in as president if needed, political calculations including contenders’ position on abortion rights, and more Trumpian curiosities like whether a politician physically resembles his idea of a vice president.

But Mr. Trump has asked several people about the fund-raising prowess of possible running mates, according to three people with direct knowledge of the conversations, signaling a fresh angle in his search for a running mate. The initial feedback has pointed him toward a handful of members of Congress with strong donor connections and at least one deep-pocketed governor. One long-shot possibility with a proven record of raising piles of cash — former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina — was only recently a bitter presidential rival, and her name can spark outrage from Mr. Trump. “Trump is going to want a team player, and this is going to be about adding value to the ticket,” said former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who remains close with Mr. Trump and set records for Republican fund-raising. “It’s also going to be about someone who understands the job — who understands the Senate and the House — because he’s not going to want to waste one minute in office.” This article is based on interviews with nearly a dozen Republican operatives and politicians who are familiar with Mr. Trump’s deliberations, some of whom have ties to the possible contenders and all of whom insisted on anonymity to discuss the private conversations. In other cases, Mr. Trump has fixated on the whimsical over the practical. He has asked several people about running with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying he is intrigued by the branding potential of a “Trump-Kennedy” ticket despite his recent attacks on Mr. Kennedy and the unlikelihood of such a scenario. Mr. Trump’s campaign team remains adamantly opposed to the idea, and Mr. Kennedy, who is already running for president as an independent, has said he would not consider such an offer.

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As trial looms, Trump plays to a jury of millions

The first criminal trial of Donald J. Trump will begin on Monday, and the 45th president thinks he can win — no matter what the jury decides. Mr. Trump will aim to spin any outcome to his benefit and, if convicted, to become the first felon to win the White House. Manhattan prosecutors, who have accused Mr. Trump of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal, hold advantages that include a list of insider witnesses and a jury pool drawn from one of the country’s most liberal counties. Mr. Trump and some aides and lawyers privately concede that a jury is unlikely to outright acquit him, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. So Mr. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, is seeking to write his own reality, telling a story that he believes could pave his return to the White House. He has framed his failed efforts to delay the case as evidence he cannot receive a fair trial, casting himself as a political martyr under attack from the prosecution and the judge.

To pull off an acquittal, he is considering testifying to personally persuade jurors of his innocence. It would be a rare and risky move for most defendants. But Mr. Trump is putting his own stamp on the role, attacking the district attorney who brought the case, Alvin L. Bragg, with all the power of his bully pulpit. That behavior and its aftershocks are expected to continue throughout a weekslong trial. Mr. Trump, 77, is deploying the same tactics that made him the singular political figure of the last decade. Since announcing his first presidential candidacy, he has bulldozed through American life, flattening political and cultural norms as he goes. He stunned the world as the insurgent victor in the 2016 election, was twice impeached as president and pushed democracy to the brink as the incumbent who refused to concede his 2020 election loss. Now, with jury selection starting on Monday, Mr. Trump will become the first former U.S. president to stand trial on criminal charges. Win or lose, he will be the first presidential candidate whose political fate, before being decided by millions of voters, will be shaped by 12 people in a jury box.

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Lead Stories

GOP closes community outreach centers in South Texas, hoping border policy will sway Hispanic voters

Four years ago, Donald Trump stunned Democrats when he made significant inroads in South Texas, chipping away at the longtime Democratic stronghold and flipping Zapata County red for the first time. National Republicans saw an opportunity to court Hispanic voters in South Texas, opening a handful of community centers across the region, including in McAllen, San Antonio and Laredo. They hosted candidate meet-and-greets, voter registration drives, classes and parties. The 2022 election came and went, though, with few gains for Republicans. They picked up one McAllen-based congressional seat, in part because redistricting made the seat redder, but Republicans largely underperformed the lofty expectations they’d set for themselves.

Heading into the 2024 election, and with Trump again at the top of the ticket, Republicans are campaigning less aggressively in South Texas. Instead of going all-in on the region and focusing heavily on congressional races, the party is hoping that hot-button immigration and border issues will drive local residents to vote for the GOP. The RNC has closed many of the Hispanic community centers it opened ahead of the 2022 election. One of its venues in McAllen relocated to Edinburg to reflect updated congressional lines. Other centers do not seem to have been replaced, and the RNC declined to confirm exactly how many centers were open in Texas in 2022 and how many are active now. A spokesperson for the RNC said the organization’s budget can only last through a chair’s tenure, so the centers’ leases ended when former Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel was ousted earlier this year. The organization decided to seek new locations for “some” of the sites. The New York Times reported last month that the RNC was also shuttering outreach centers in California, New York and North Carolina. Marco Frieri, the Hispanic media director for the Democratic National Committee, said Latinos are “one of the most powerful forces in our democracy,” but Republicans aren’t prioritizing them as such.

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Trump eyes Sid Miller for USDA chief

Former President Donald Trump is considering naming a former rodeo cowboy turned bomb-throwing Texas agriculture commissioner to lead the Agriculture Department if he wins the White House. Sid Miller, a MAGA loyalist, has warred with agriculture interests and threatened to “hunt” moderate “RINO” Republicans back home, including those who won reelection in 2024 or, as Miller put it, “ slipped the noose.” And he has been investigated, but not charged, for misusing state funds for travel to a rodeo. His former political consultant is also set to face trial this summer on theft and bribery charges in a scheme involving hemp licenses from Miller’s department. Nevertheless, Trump has indicated to some allies that Miller is a leading prospect for the top post at USDA, according to two people familiar with recent conversations Trump has had about his second term plans, who were granted anonymity to discuss the private talks.

For the Agriculture Department — and food and agriculture policy, writ large — Miller’s nomination would represent a seismic shift. As secretary, Miller would likely oversee attempts to claw back billions of dollars the Biden administration has dedicated to fighting climate change in agriculture, and to shrink the size of the country’s largest nutrition programs for low-income Americans. He could also play a key role in shaping the next farm bill — a $1.5 trillion legislative package that determines agriculture, nutrition and rural policy — should the current Congress end up punting it into 2025. And if Miller’s record in Texas is any indication, he’d struggle to find compromise with dissenters — from either party. Some former Trump officials dismiss the idea that Trump would ultimately put a lightning rod like Miller in charge of USDA, given how many critics he has in the GOP. As agriculture commissioner in Texas, he’s sparred with influential conservative-leaning agriculture groups after he hiked fees for department services. Miller has also openly clashed with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over pandemic and border policies, and even publicly teased a future challenge to the third-term governor.

Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only

President Joe Biden considers executive action to close US border with Mexico

President Joe Biden, under intense pressure since the earliest days of his administration to stem the record pace of unlawful immigration, said he is considering taking unilateral action to close the nation's border with Mexico if circumstances warrant such a move. "We're examining whether or not I have that power," Biden told Univision in an interview Tuesday at the White House. "There's no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation. "Some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it, and if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court. But we're trying to work that right now." The comments to journalist Enrique Acevedo come as the Democratic president is gearing up for a rematch with former President Donald Trump, who is vowing to reinstate his own hard-line immigration policies if voters return him to the White House after the Nov. 5 election.

Biden has blamed Trump for scuttling what had been touted as a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill to address the border crisis by adding 1,500 Customs and Border Protection agents and 4,300 asylum officers. Trump urged congressional Republicans to vote against the measure to deprive Biden of a legislative victory in an election year. When Biden and Trump in early March were holding competing events on the same day along the Texas-Mexico border, the president called out his predecessor for derailing the measure. "Both houses supported this legislation until someone came along and said, 'Don't do that, it will benefit the incumbent,'" Biden said in Brownsville as Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott were in Eagle Pass, about 300 miles away. "That's a hell of a way to do business in America for such a serious problem." Trump returned fire in kind, saying of the border crisis: "This is a Joe Biden invasion," a term Texas Republicans have used to describe the surge in migrants and to provide cover for the state government implementing its own controversial border security measures. Democrats and rights groups have warned against painting asylum-seekers — many of whom are escaping violence and poverty in Venezuela, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba, according to the city of El Paso — as invaders as it could trigger violence against them.

Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only

Trump to meet an embattled Johnson, putting their tortured ties on display

Speaker Mike Johnson may not have a functional majority in Congress, but his job is similar to the Republicans who preceded him in at least one respect: The duties include the difficult task of managing Donald J. Trump. Mr. Johnson on Friday will travel to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, to join him for what the speaker has billed as a “major announcement on election integrity.” No further details have been forthcoming. The two men had been planning to get together for a political meeting, but Mr. Johnson’s team suggested a joint public appearance on a topic Mr. Trump cares deeply about, according to two people familiar with the planning.

It will afford Mr. Johnson the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Trump at a precarious moment in his speakership, as he works to corral a minuscule and deeply divided majority around a legislative agenda many of them oppose — all while facing the threat of an ouster from Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Georgia Republican and ride-or-die Trump ally. Making matters even trickier, Mr. Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is helping to undermine that agenda. Even so, Republicans generally consider it good and politically helpful to be physically near Mr. Trump. “It’s about Trump embracing Johnson,” former Speaker Newt Gingrich said of Friday’s joint appearance. “This is Trump saying, ‘He is the speaker, I am his friend, we are together.’ That’s a pretty important thing for him. He just has to endure.” Mr. Trump does think of Mr. Johnson, who defended him in two impeachment trials and played a key role in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, as something like a friend, people close to him said. He likes the Louisiana Republican, and likes his loyalty even more. (He especially appreciated that Mr. Johnson quickly endorsed him after becoming speaker, a move that his predecessor Kevin McCarthy always resisted). The two speak regularly, and Mr. Trump has even come around on some of the congressional endorsements Mr. Johnson has lobbied him on. Still, if this is what an embrace looks like, it’s not clear that it’s so much better than the alternative.

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State Stories

U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess named House Rules Committee chairman

U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess can expect some busy days and late nights during his remaining months in Congress after being named chairman of the House Rules Committee on Thursday. The committee serves as a gatekeeper for most major legislation, setting the terms for amendments and debate on bills as they move toward a floor vote. Burgess, R-Pilot Point, highlighted the committee’s lack of constraints on speaking time that are typically imposed by other committees. Any House member is welcome to show up and speak on bills when they come up for discussion. “The Rules Committee is so important because it is literally every member’s opportunity to be heard,” Burgess told The Dallas Morning News.

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., gave up the Rules gavel to become chair of the Appropriations Committee, taking the place of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, who said she was stepping down early to ensure a smooth transition as she prepares to leave Congress at the end of the year. Burgess’ chairmanship will serve as a capstone for a career spanning more than two decades. Burgess, 73, announced last year that he would not seek a 12th term. He said Thursday he plans to spend the rest of this year focusing on important issues such as record-high inflation and border security. Burgess recalled joining the Rules Committee 10 years ago at the urging of then-chairman U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco, who wanted more policy experts on the panel. Burgess is one of 19 physicians in Congress and has been a prominent Republican voice on health care since he was first elected in 2002.

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Lt. Gov. Patrick asks senators to study the cost of eliminating property taxes

Less than a year after Texas lawmakers agreed to $18 billion in property tax cuts, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick directed senators to study how much it would cost to eliminate them entirely. Patrick, who leads the Senate, ordered legislators on Thursday to study a host of policies ahead of the upcoming legislative session, including whether Delta 8 and Delta 9 hemp products should be banned in Texas and how the state should regulate artificial intelligence. But the property tax issue, which dominated much of last year’s regular legislative session and two special sessions, may be the highest-profile item on the agenda.

In a news release, Patrick said “continued property tax relief” would be a top conservative priority when the Legislature reconvenes in Austin next January. The Republican tasked senators with identifying the best policy combinations to continue cutting tax bills, and he also asked them to determine how much it would cost the state to eliminate school maintenance and operation property taxes; all school property taxes; and all property taxes. While compiling that report, Patrick asked senators to review how the state would raise money to cover the losses and whether that would negatively impact Texas’ ability to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies. “For example, determine the effect on other state programs if general revenue were used to fully replace school property taxes, particularly during economic downturns,” the lieutenant governor wrote. Gov. Greg Abbott last year asked the GOP-led Legislature to pass a massive property tax cut through “compression,” which cuts school property taxes by replacing that revenue with state money, with the eventual goal of scrapping property taxes completely. That’s been a major priority for some Texas Republicans over the years, and it’s been championed by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential right-leaning think tank in Austin.

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Memorial Hermann doctor made 'inappropriate changes' to transplant patient records, hospital says

Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center has found evidence that a doctor was manipulating records for liver transplant candidates, potentially preventing some patients from receiving life-saving organs, according to a statement from the health system. The hospital declined to identify the doctor. The New York Times reported he is Dr. J. Steve Bynon, a prominent surgeon who, in 2011, took over the hospital’s abdominal transplant program, which includes kidney and liver operations. Bynon could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. The hospital said the “inappropriate changes… effectively inactivated the candidates on the liver transplant waiting list. Subsequently, these patients did not/were not able to receive organ donation offers while inactive.”

The allegations are a blow to Memorial Hermann, one of the largest hospitals in the country and the oldest in the Texas Medical Center, and to hundreds of patients awaiting a transplant there. Despite its size, the hospital’s liver transplant center is one of the smallest in Texas, having performed 30 transplants last year, according to federal data. Memorial Hermann halted its kidney transplant program on Tuesday, four days after it inactivated its liver transplant program. Both stoppages were due to “a pattern of irregularities” with liver donor acceptance criteria, the hospital said at the time. A hospital investigation found problems with information entered into a database used to match donor organs with patients, officials said Thursday. The information included the patient’s age and weight. The hospital did not provide further details. Memorial Hermann has seen an increasing number of its liver transplant candidates die on the wait list or become too sick for a transplant in recent years, according to data from the Organ Procurement Transplantation Network. The data shows that four patients fell into that criteria in 2021, followed by 11 in 2022 and 14 in 2023. Five patients have died or become too sick to transplant so far this year, while the hospital has performed only three liver transplants.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Why Houston Congressman Dan Crenshaw called Tucker Carlson 'full of s—'

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw is settling scores with an old nemesis, publicly blasting former Fox News host Tucker Carlson as a “click-chaser” and “cowardly, know-nothing elitist who is full of s—.” The Houston Republican on Wednesday joined a list of conservative commentators angry with Carlson for airing allegations on his still-influential interview program that Israel’s war against Hamas is hurting Christians in Gaza and Benjamin Netanyahu's supporters in Congress are ignoring it. “A consistent but almost never noted theme of American foreign policy is that it is always the Christians who suffer,” Carlson said on his Tucker Carlson Uncensored program, which runs on the social media site X. “When there's a war abroad that the United States is funding, it is Christians who tend to die disproportionately.”

Carlson went on to interview an Evangelical Lutheran pastor from Bethlehem who said politicians know little about what is happening on the ground and suggested Americans were helping support Israel's damage to Christian communities. The interview has been met with wide criticism from supporters of Israel who accuse Carlson of intentionally pitting Christians against Jews to create divisions in the United States. John Podhoretz, a conservative commentator and former speechwriter for George H.W. Bush, called Carlson’s interview “Anti Semite filth.” Others on the right have accused Carlson of fanning anti-Israeli sentiment. Crenshaw, an ardent supporter of Israel in its war against Hamas, went on social media to blast Carlson for using “his platform to sow doubt and paranoia and false narratives.” “This nonsense about Christian mistreatment in Israel is just the latest example,” Crenshaw said. “Tucker will eventually fade into nothingness because his veneer of faux intellectualism is quickly falling apart and revealing who he truly is: a cowardly, know-nothing elitist who is full of s—.” Carlson has been a frequent critic of Crenshaw, especially over the congressman's support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. At one point, Carlson started calling Crenshaw “eye patch McCain,” a reference to the eye injury Crenshaw sustained as a Navy SEAL fighting in Afghanistan and former U.S. Sen. John McCain whom Carlson frequently accused of being too pro-war.

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Houston City Council approves Mayor Whitmire’s overhaul of Metro leadership

Mayor John Whitmire completed his overhaul of the Metro leadership Wednesday, winning City Council approval for a new slate of board members who he tasked with getting to work on what he calls nuts and bolts issues for all Houstonians. With little discussion, the council approved naming Christopher McMillan, Kathy Han and T. Leon Preston to the Metro board of directors. Council members also approved Whitmire’s reappointment of Teresa Morales, the sole holdover from board members named by former Mayor Sylvester Turner.

The appointees were later Wednesday sworn in as board members by Metro Chairwoman Elizabeth Brock. The new transit board will maintain a disability advocate on the board – McMillan. The board also will have its first Vietnamese member, Han, who as a municipal court judge, also adds a lawyer back to the board. Often the board is comprised of people with backgrounds in business, engineering and law. “This is a robust team that is fully committed to making Metro a safe, clean, accessible and viable option that people choose to use,” Brock said in a statement. The trio replace current city appointees Lex Frieden, Troi Taylor and Diann Lewter, and upon their confirmation to the board will be the fourth, fifth and sixth new members since mid-February. Whitmire appointed Brock as Metro chairwoman on Feb. 13, and she was sworn in Feb. 29, along with Harris County appointee Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, who replaced Houston Controller Chris Hollins. Hollins resigned, as required, when he took office following his election.

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HPD: Dozens of DNA matches in sex assaults went unnoticed until review of suspended cases

Dozens of sexual assault kits that were tested by forensic scientists and provided evidence in Houston Police Department investigations were uncovered in the last two weeks of the department’s investigation into cases suspended using an internal code citing a lack of personnel. Police Chief Troy Finner on Thursday afternoon provided details about the department’s review of more than 4,017 sex assault cases that were among the more than 264,000 incident reports marked down by police under a code called “SL” — Suspended: Lack of personnel” — since 2016. Finner released a statement about the sexual assault case review on Monday, with a promise to provide more details. During Thursday’s statement, Finner didn’t blame the Houston Forensic Science Center for the lapses in investigation, but it remained unclear how tested kits that provided matches to potential suspects in a federal database managed to still be suspended.

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Could geothermal be the energy of the future? Texas oil companies think maybe so

Oil companies have been drilling holes in the ground for close to a century, burrowing through miles of rock to access an energy source deep underground. So with a new wave of geothermal startups looking to drill wells thousands of feet beneath the earth's surface, where temperatures run over 300 degrees Fahrenheit, oil companies would seem a natural partner. And attention on them has only ramped up after Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called on oil companies last month to use "all of the skills and infrastructure of traditional oil and gas drilling" to bring what has been a niche industry into the mainstream. And with first wave of next generation geothermal projects scheduled to come online over the next two years, oil executives are watching closely to see if it's worth risking the hundreds of billions of dollars the Department of Energy estimates is needed to get geothermal up to scale.

"I would say they're dipping their toe into geothermal," said Cindy Taff, a longtime oil executive at Shell who is now CEO of Houston-based Sage Geosystems, a geothermal startup that uses hydraulic fracturing technology to drill geothermal wells in South Texas. "We need to crack the code on making it commercially viable. Until then they're watching the technology evolve, and then they’ll decide which horse to put their money on." Geothermal has long been something of a golden ring for the energy sector, offering carbon-free electricity without the radioactive waste problem of nuclear plants or intermittency of wind and solar power. But conventional geothermal wells, which tap into extremely hot underground aquifers, were limited to a small number of locations around the globe such as Indonesia and California. That all began to change a few years ago when companies began to experiment with using hydraulic fracturing and other technologies, injecting water underground to be heated up and brought back to the surface, allowing geothermal power plants in places that never would have made sense in the past, including Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico. After a series of successful pilot projects and lucrative subsidies made available by Congress through the Inflation Reduction Act, a small group of startups like Sage are launching their first commercial-scale projects.

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Texas millionaires are on the rise. What’s behind that growing wealth?

As the April 15 Tax Day approaches, the number of Texans who earned more than a million dollars last year could hit a new high, data suggests. In 2021, about 12.6 million tax returns were filed in Texas, according to Internal Revenue Service data released in February. Of those, 72,880 reported an adjusted gross income of at least $1 million, according to a new analysis from the Houston Business Journal. That’s a 47% increase from the 49,420 Texans who made it into the million-plus club in 2020. Those earners therefore qualified as members of Texas’ “1%,” along with some 50,000 other filers, according to the IRS data. While 2021 is the most recent year for which IRS data is available, it is likely that the number of million-dollar earners in Texas has grown since then, a result of the ongoing recovery from the pandemic.

Some of the filers who reported million-plus incomes in 2021 are likely newly minted Texans. Since the century began, domestic migration has steadily contributed to Texas' overall population growth, with some newcomers fleeing high-tax states such as California and New York. However, California and New York also had an increase in the number of filers reporting at least $1 million in income in 2021 compared with 2020, according to the data. California ranked first in the nation in terms of million-dollar earners in 2021, with about 156,000 people reporting that level of income compared with 110,000 in 2020. Another factor in the growing number of Texas millionaires, the Houston Business Journal reports, was “the rapidly evolving pay picture at all levels” as workers made more as a result of an extremely tight post-pandemic labor market, which has only loosened slightly since then. A booming stock market has helped boost incomes too, for Texans with the means to invest. According to Forbes magazine’s 38th annual World Billionaires List, released last week, there are now 15 billionaires in Houston, up from 12 in 2023, and the collective wealth of the 12 who were on the list last year has increased from $71.1 billion in 2023 to $81.5 billion as of this month.

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DEI, tenure, antisemitism: Texas Lt. Gov. Patrick’s priorities for higher education

Texas’ DEI ban at colleges, professors’ tenure and antisemitism on campuses are among the issues Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants reviewed ahead of next year’s legislative session. Patrick released a 15-page document Thursday detailing the interim charges for the Texas Senate to explore in the coming months, which included critical examinations of faculty on college campuses as well as free speech. One charge is to monitor the state’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion at public colleges and universities. He wants lawmakers to examine “the progress each institution has made in aligning university policies and procedures with the provisions of Senate Bill 17, ensuring Texas college campuses foster equal opportunity and reward individual merit and achievement.”

Out of seven higher education priorities, two focus on professors and instructors. Patrick wants senators to examine the role of faculty senates – a structure of governance in higher education where faculty members debate academic issues and voice opinions through internal votes and public statements with recommendations for the administration. Another is resurfacing his concerns about tenure, which he tried to abolish last year. The Lt. Gov. wants to focus on innovation and technology by investigating “opportunities and challenges of emerging technology on teaching and learning, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), online education, and digital resources.” He also wants to monitor implementation of a new community college funding model to ensure that Texas is educating the next generations for the workforce. Such campuses can earn more in state funding based on student success, which includes the number of degrees and industry certificates a college awards and those who transfer on to a four-year university.

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Challengers sign ‘contract with Texas’ to push the legislature more conservative

Conservative candidates running to unseat Republicans in the Texas House joined with some of the most conservative representatives in signing the “Contract with Texas,” a commitment to procedural changes like eliminating Democratic committee chairs that they say will make the House more efficient in passing conservative priorities. “Texans are fundamentally annoyed, frustrated, disappointed with the obstruction, the dysfunction within the Texas House,” GOP nominee for House District 65 Mitch Little said. “Our desire in creating the Contract with Texas is to create a framework where a future speaker is going to have a chance to succeed in ways that are going to inspire Republican voters and empower people in the legislature to do the things that they send us down there to do.”

The contract calls for candidates for House Speaker to solicit support from only Republicans, to strip Democrats from committee chair positions, and give all Republican priorities a vote before considering any Democratic bills. The contract is signed by representatives Brian Harrison, J.M. Lozano, Nate Schatzline, Tony Tinderholy, and Steve Toth, as well as 18 other conservative candidates. “What we’re trying to do here with this contract is to put the voters back in charge, be responsive to the will of the voters that have elected Republicans,” State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, said. “We are trying to reform the House. And my goal is to make it Republican once again.” Republican Speaker Dade Phelan has heralded the two sessions over which he has presided as the most conservative in Texas history. A strengthening wing of his party pushing to oust him disagrees, pointing to specific conservative legislation that failed to pass. Harrison and Little point to House Bill 20, a sweeping border security measure that would have created a state border patrol unit. They also point to measures to ban local governments from hiring lobbyists and ban some foreign citizens from buying property.

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New Mexico on cartels’ radar as Texas cracks down on migration, GOP lawmakers say

Some Republican state senators from New Mexico have returned from the U.S.-Mexico border with demands for the governor to address the “escalating crisis,” saying that Texas’ crackdown on migration has forced it to their state. In a letter to Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the 13 senators urged her to call for a special session to secure the southern border. Among the demands are committing state resources and funding to improve surveillance and deploying the National Guard.

“Several of us have visited the border and witnessed firsthand the impacts of this crisis on our local communities and state,” said the letter. “The unchecked flow of illegal immigration is compromising our national security and exposing our constituents to heightened criminal activity, including human trafficking, drug trafficking, violent crime, and damage to private property. This has caused considerable strains on local resources and frankly, the situation is becoming altogether unmanageable.” The entire New Mexico border with Mexico is part of the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector, which stretches from the New Mexico-Arizona state lines to the edge of Husdspedth County, Texas, and includes all of El Paso County, Texas. CBP data for the El Paso Sector shows 225,565 illegal crossings between ports of entry in Fiscal Year 2023, which ended on Sept. 30, 2023. Border agents in the El Paso Sector have encountered 119,905 migrants so far this fiscal year. The senators believe illegal crossings will eclipse those of last year without action by the state. “Given the recent crackdown by Texas on illegal crossings, the cartels are now seeking alternative routes, and New Mexico is on their radar,” the senators wrote. The senators provided data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection that shows a spike in migrant encounters during every year that President Joe Biden has been in office. The data says migrant encounters rose from 125,628 in Fiscal Year 2021 to 170,846 in FY23 in New Mexico.

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American Airlines CEO Robert Isom’s pay package grows to $31.4 million in 2023

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom brought in a total of $31.4 million last year, according to a regulatory filing released Thursday. Isom’s pay package for 2023 was made up of three components: a $16.5 million direct salary, $11 million in a bonus that was reported in September and a $3.9 million annual bonus that was paid in 2023 but earned in 2022. Broken down further, Isom, 60, makes $1.3 million in a base salary, and $15.2 million in incentives and other compensation, totaling $16.5 million. Isom’s $11 million bump in September — a $2.75 million bonus and $8.25 million worth of restricted stock grants was aimed at incentivizing the CEO to keep the company performing during his tenure. He stepped into the job in March 2022.

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Rashee Rice, Kansas City Chiefs WR, surrenders after Dallas hit-and-run crash

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice turned himself into authorities and was booked into a DeSoto jail Thursday, more than a week after he was involved in a multivehicle collision in Dallas. Rice, a former Southern Methodist football player who grew up near Fort Worth, is facing eight charges related to a six-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 75. He admitted to driving a Lamborghini Urus involved in the collision, officials said, which injured four people. A DeSoto city spokesman told The Dallas Morning News that Rice had bonded out. Dallas police said in a news release sent about 9 p.m. Rice turned himself into Glenn Heights police. Records show his bail was set at $40,000. Theodore “Teddy” Knox, a current SMU football player, is facing the same charges in connection to the March 30 crash, Dallas police say. He is believed to have been driving a Chevrolet Corvette seen speeding right before the collision. Knox, 21, has been suspended from the team, the university announced Thursday. He is not in custody, Dallas police said Thursday.

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Chuck Swindoll steps down as senior pastor of Frisco megachurch

Chuck Swindoll is stepping down as senior pastor of Frisco’s Stonebriar Community Church, a nondenominational congregation he helped found in 1998 and has led since. The church announced the news in a press release Tuesday that named Jonathan Murphy, a professor and department chair at Dallas Theological Seminary, as its next senior pastor. Murphy will start on May 1, 2024, and Swindoll will transition to a new role as founding pastor and continue preaching on Sundays. More than 3,000 people attend Sunday services at Stonebriar, the press release says, and around 16,000 watch online.

A native of Texas and former Marine, he graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1963. He served at churches in Dallas, Irving and Massachusetts before spending over 20 years as senior pastor of First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, Calif. In 1994, he became president of Dallas Theological Seminary, a position he held until 2001. He placed second to Billy Graham in a 2009 survey that asked Protestant pastors to name the living Christian preachers who had most influenced them. “I am so pleased to see Jonathan joining the team,” Swindoll said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News. “There’s no one else I would want to share this experience with and we are excited to see what God has in store for us and the congregation of our church.” Originally from Northern Ireland, Jonathan Murphy has been a regular guest preacher at Stonebriar over the last five years, the church’s press release said.

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Activists protest as Biden administration OKs huge oil export terminal off Texas coast

In a move that environmentalists called a betrayal, the Biden administration has approved the construction of a deepwater oil export terminal off the Texas coast that would be the largest of its kind in the United States. The Sea Port Oil Terminal being developed off Freeport will be able to load two supertankers at once, with an export capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil per day. The $1.8 billion project by Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners received a deepwater port license from the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration this week, the final step in a five-year federal review. Environmentalists denounced the license approval, saying it contradicted President Joe Biden’s climate agenda and would lead to “disastrous” planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to nearly 90 coal-fired power plants. The action could jeopardize Biden’s support from environmental allies and young voters already disenchanted by the Democratic administration’s approval last year of the massive Willow oil project in Alaska.

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Ted Cruz, Colin Allred each raise $9 million-plus over three months in US Senate race

Foreshadowing an expensive and spirited sprint to November, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Colin Allred have each raised more than $9 million in campaign contributions during the first three months of 2024. Cruz, seeking his third six-year term in Washington, said his campaign raised $9.7 million across three separate entities that are supporting his reelection. Allred, a three-term Dallas congressman who is giving up a safe seat to make his first statewide race, hauled in $9.5 million just from his Senate campaign.

Early fundraising numbers serve the twin purpose of demonstrating a candidate's ability to mount a credible campaign — especially in a large state like Texas, which has five major TV markets and about a dozen other midsize ones — and measuring support before a race shifts into high gear. The campaigns made their dollar-figure totals as well as other statistics for the first quarter of 2024 available ahead of the Federal Election Commission's finance reporting deadline later this month. The official filings will contain more detailed information. Allred and Cruz each issued news releases with top-line figures designed to show their campaigns' muscle. Cruz's camp boasted it has received contributions from people in each of Texas' 254 counties and all 50 states from Jan. 1 through March 31. Allred also highlighted his own broad geographical footprint, but with a caveat: contributions to the Democrat came from people in 247 counties, but his camp uses a yardstick that measures back to the launch of his candidacy almost a year ago, not just this year's first quarter. Allred did not say from how many states his contributions came. Allred said more than 285,000 people have sent his campaign money since he entered the race. Cruz listed his three-month count of campaign contributors at 179,000 and change.

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City Stories

Wilmer's annexation grabs run afoul of the law, riles homeowners

Glenda Hefner calls where she lives “the black hole of Wilmer.” It doesn't look like a black hole on the city's planning map — more of a gray rectangle that captures her property and the one across the road from her. All around them is the city, mostly covered in warehouses: massive, flat structures, filled with tools, diapers, washing machines and other goods delivered from the nearby rail yard. From her 2-acre property, Hefner needs to drive only a short distance down North Goode Road before she runs into the industrial behemoths that have replaced the fields of her youth in Wilmer. At about a million square feet, the facilities have been affecting the water pressure from her neighbors’ wells. They appear all around Wilmer, even right near the center of the city. They have put Wilmer “on the map,” Mayor Sheila Petta says.

Once a city of 3,000 people, Wilmer was surrounded by farmland, fields of cotton and wheat, and scores of homes like Hefner’s just outside the city’s boundaries. Many of those property owners would like to keep it that way and not pay city taxes for services such as sewer and water they’re not receiving. Wilmer’s officials have other ideas, though, and they want those warehouses inside the city’s boundaries, so the city has gone on an aggressive annexation spree since 2008, roping in properties, often whether the owners like it or not. Trouble is, the Texas Legislature cares very much about whether property owners want to be annexed and effectively outlawed involuntary annexation in 2019. That fact and a handful of successful lawsuits over the years haven’t diminished Wilmer’s hunger, though. And the problem for homeowners in this rural, not affluent section of Dallas County is that fighting an unlawful annexation means going to court, which takes money. Hefner had fond memories of the roller rink in town and Cottonwood Creek where she and others played as children. Later, she would struggle to recall that fondness, in part because of certain city officials. They tried to force her property and others into the city, but they won't compel the diesel shop next door, which is inside city limits, to finish its parking lot.

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Proposed tax freeze for seniors roils Terrell Hills

Older homeowners in Terrell Hills could reap significant savings if voters approve a property tax freeze for seniors next month. But city officials are warning that the measure — which is on the city's May 4 ballot — would leave younger property owners with two bad options: Pay higher taxes or receive fewer municipal services. Or maybe a combination of the two. John Low, mayor of this exclusive suburban city of 5,000, wedged between Alamo Heights and San Antonio, said as much in a recent city newsletter. “While the adoption of a senior tax freeze is certainly a benefit for our older residents, it will not come without a cost to our other tax-paying residents and/or an increased pressure on our first responders and other city departments to deliver the services our citizens have come to expect,” Low said.

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National Stories

O.J. Simpson dies of cancer at age 76, his family says

O.J. Simpson, the former NFL star and broadcaster whose athletic achievements and fame were eclipsed by his 1995 trial in the brutal killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, has died of cancer, his family announced Thursday on X. He was 76. A post from the “Simpson Family” on Simpson’s verified X account Thursday morning said: “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.” “He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”

Simpson’s prostate cancer diagnosis was made public about two months ago, Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in a statement. The Hall of Fame player had received chemotherapy treatment. While Simpson was a highly decorated athlete – winning the 1968 Heisman Trophy as a senior running back at the University of Southern California before playing for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and later the San Francisco 49ers – he became perhaps one of the most controversial figures of the late 20th century after he was charged with the murders of his former wife and her friend. A jury found him not guilty in a trial that saw America’s fascination with celebrity collide with its centuries-long struggle with race, as well as issues of class, policing and criminal justice. Those themes – and the judge’s decision to allow the trial to be televised – coalesced in what many called a “Trial of the Century” that held the country’s attention in a vise grip for nearly nine months before evolving into a cultural touchstone.

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Trump and Johnson build alliance on the falsehood of the stolen election

House Speaker Mike Johnson will stand Friday with Donald Trump at an appearance that will amplify the former president’s most damaging falsehood: that America’s democratic elections are catastrophically tainted by fraud. The country’s most powerful elected Republican, who is seeking to save his job under threat from Trump-aligned members of his own party in Congress, will travel to meet the true power in the GOP at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The visit comes as the the ex-president’s allies are eviscerating his authority and even threatening to topple him. It also takes place three days before Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, becomes the first former president to go on trial, with the beginning of jury selection in a New York case related to a hush money payment to an adult film star.

And there will be another twist Friday in the legal saga over Trump’s forthcoming trial in Florida over his hoarding of classified documents. Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, whose no-rush management of pre-trial litigation means it’s increasingly unlikely the case will be adjudicated before November’s election, will hear an attempt by two of Trump’s co-accused to have the case dismissed. The announced topic of Johnson and Trump’s joint public statement on Friday is “election integrity” – the catch-all term for the stew of conspiracy theories and lies about the 2020 election that Trump is now using as the foundation of his 2024 bid for a new term. The price for Republicans seeking the ex-president’s support has long been a willingness to promote his fictional stolen election conceit. So Johnson’s visit to Trump’s residence may suggest he’s ready to make a similar down payment if the ex-president prevents his ouster as speaker. The two GOP leaders are expected to draw attention to what they say are state proposals and lawsuits that would allow non-citizens to vote, CNN’s Kristen Holmes and Fredreka Schouten reported Thursday. Some cities or jurisdictions do allow non-citizens to cast ballots in non-federal elections — for positions on school boards for example.

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Senate Republicans furious over Trump derailing FISA bill

Senate Republicans vented their frustration after former President Trump helped derail a compromise House bill to extend Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authority, sending lawmakers scrambling to find a Plan B to keep the nation’s intelligence agencies from losing their ability to spy on adversaries and terrorists. Republican senators are warning that the nation’s spy program is about to go “dark” and that much of the intelligence that goes into President Biden’s daily briefing could be lost, putting the nation at risk for surprise attacks. “I’m very disappointed in President Trump’s assessment of FISA. It is an essential tool. It may need to be amended but it is absolutely essential as everyone in the intelligence community will tell you,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) warned that failure to pass the bill would cripple the nation’s intelligence gathering. “If we can’t spy on foreign terrorists and foreign spies overseas, we’re out of the intelligence business,” he said. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), another member of the Intelligence Committee, pointed out that much of the national security intelligence provided to Biden on a daily basis comes from information gathered under FISA’s Section 702. “So I think we need to reform it, not end it,” Cornyn said. Asked what it would mean for national security if Congress killed FISA’s warrantless surveillance authority under Section 702, Cornyn warned: “We’d go dark on a lot of threats. I’m hoping there can be a more extended conversation about what the reforms should look like.”

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RNC under Lara Trump spreads ‘massive fraud’ claims about 2020 election

The Republican National Committee last week sent out a scripted call to voters’ phones on behalf of new co-chair Lara Trump saying Democrats committed “massive fraud” in the 2020 election. It’s the latest example of how the RNC under the former president’s daughter-in-law is perpetuating lies about the 2020 election, even as prominent Republicans say the party needs to look forward to win in 2024. “We all know the problems. No photo IDs, unsecured ballot drop boxes, mass mailing of ballots, and voter rolls chock full of deceased people and non-citizens are just a few examples of the massive fraud that took place,” the RNC call said. “If Democrats have their way, your vote could be canceled out by someone who isn’t even an American citizen.”

The claim of “massive fraud” in the 2020 election marks a significant shift in messaging for the RNC because lies about the 2020 election had not been a consistent theme in its messaging since Donald Trump left office. But the call’s message is largely consistent with the views publicly espoused over the past four years by Lara Trump, who was elected as co-chair in early March as part of Donald Trump’s takeover of the GOP. Lara Trump has a long history of echoing his election fraud claims, according to a CNN KFile analysis of her past statements as a commentator and surrogate for the former president. “I’m sure you agree with co-chair Trump that we cannot allow the chaos and questions of the 2020 election to ever happen again,” said the call, which was obtained by CNN’s KFile from the anti-robocall application Nomorobo, which estimated 145,000 calls were sent with the message from April 1-7. It comes amid previous CNN reporting about the RNC asking employees who are reapplying for their jobs whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen in an apparent litmus test for hiring.

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SEC’s narrower emissions rules shaped by powerful farm lobby

For all of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s lobbying prowess in Washington, the Securities and Exchange Commission wasn’t a place where it had much experience. It hadn’t needed it. The SEC, after all, didn’t have much to do with farming. That is, until it proposed rules in 2022 that would have required big public companies to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of their suppliers—among them, family farmers. Lacking the agency contacts he had elsewhere, lobbyist Travis Cushman fell back on the argument the Farm Bureau has leaned on in Washington for so long: This was another case of bureaucrats saddling small farmers with unwarranted costs. Cushman also fell back on familiar faces in Congress. He won critical help from a fellow farmer in the Senate. But just as critically, the SEC’s chief Democratic nemesis in the Senate elected not to stand in the way of the agency killing that requirement as part of a broader package of climate reporting rules.

All that was enough for SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who’d sought more limited climate disclosure requirements to begin with. The final climate rules issued in March took out the so-called Scope 3 supply chain mandate in the draft that would drawn farmers into the reporting rules. “We were very, very concerned that it would be suddenly so burdensome that only the largest operations would really be able to survive,” Cushman said, citing the trend of small-farm consolidation over the last few decades. Scope 3, he—successfully—argued, would spell the demise of more farms. After releasing the rules without Scope 3, the SEC decided to pause the remaining ones in the face of 11 lawsuits challenging them. And Republicans, in charge of the House by a slim majority, also look to squash the rules via a Congressional Review Act resolution and to show the harm of the regulations in a hearing scheduled Wednesday. Farms run by families or individuals make up almost 85% of US farms, according to the US Department of Agriculture, and there are farms in each state. That made finding allies in Congress—especially those with clout—particularly easy.

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Biden administration will require thousands more gun dealers to run background checks

Thousands more firearms dealers across the United States will have to run background checks on buyers at gun shows or other places outside brick-and-mortar stores, according to a Biden administration rule that will soon go into effect. The rule aims to close a loophole that has allowed tens of thousands of guns to be sold every year by unlicensed dealers who do not perform background checks to ensure the potential buyer is not legally prohibited from having a firearm. Gun rights groups are expected to fight it in court. It’s the administration’s latest effort to combat gun violence. But in a contentious election year, it’s also an effort to show voters — especially younger ones for whom gun violence deeply resonates — that the White House is trying to stop the deaths.

“This is going to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and felons,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “And my administration is going to continue to do everything we possibly can to save lives. Congress needs to finish the job and pass universal background checks legislation now.” The rule, which was finalized this week, makes clear that anyone who sells firearms predominantly to earn a profit must be federally licensed and conduct background checks, regardless of whether they are selling on the internet, at a gun show or at a brick-and-mortar store, Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters. Biden has made curtailing gun violence a major part of his administration and reelection campaign, creating the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden also has urged Congress to ban so-called assault weapons — something Democrats shied from even just a few years ago. The rule is likely to be challenged in court by gun rights activists who believe the Democratic president is unfairly targeting gun owners. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade group, has warned of a court challenge if the rule was finalized as written.

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Lead Stories

Cities desperately need money to handle the migrant surge. Congress recently gave them less

If Catholic Charities of San Antonio doesn’t soon get more federal funding aimed at supporting asylum-seekers, it will have to close its Migrant Resource Center during the evening and overnight hours, which could leave busloads of newly arrived immigrants on the streets. The nonprofit received $55 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency program in the prior fiscal year, which it used to provide more than 220,000 people with temporary shelter, food and clothing, legal services, counseling and transportation to their final destination. But it only has $5.7 million left, so it is considering slashing the welcome center’s hours in coming weeks to preserve its ability to help migrants during the day for the rest of the year. Congress last month approved the fiscal year 2024 funding level for FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program in the federal funding package, nearly six months into the fiscal year.

Cities, counties and states around the nation have repeatedly asked the federal government for more money to handle the surge of migrants entering the US, and the Biden administration last year called on lawmakers to pump an additional $600 million into the program. The program has not been able to provide any additional financial support since late 2023. But instead, lawmakers cut the program’s funding to $650 million, down nearly 20% from the prior year. The House and Senate appropriations committees did not return requests for comment. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat who represents San Antonio, said that immigration is a federal responsibility. “Cities need more help – not less,” he said in a statement to CNN. “Funding from the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) has helped Catholic Charities and other groups in my city of San Antonio offer basic migrant services without straining local resources. Asylum-seekers are fleeing from some of the worst violence and oppression we can imagine, and nobody wants to see them sleeping on the streets.”

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Report: 40% of top Texas election officials resign each presidential cycle

As election officials in Texas and nationwide face increased pressure and harassment, a new report shows a steady increase in the turnover rate of top administrators. A Tuesday report from the Bipartisan Policy Center shows nationwide, turnover grew from 28% in 2004 to 39% in 2022. The report looked at turnover rate data from the years 2000 to 2024 amongst election officials, which it defines as a “change in a jurisdiction’s chief election administrator since the November general election held four years prior.” In Texas, there was a spike in the number of election administrators quitting in the mid-2000s — the turnover rate in 2004 was 28% and rose to 44% in 2008. It dropped again to 30% in 2012 and rose to 40% in 2016 — a rate that has stayed relatively the same since.

“We did this intentionally to add some historical context to current conversations around turnover, which tend to frame it as a tsunami or an exodus of local election officials,” said Rachel Orey, co-author of the study. Researchers cited threats to election officials as some of the main contributing factors for the increasing turnover. Approximately 25% of local election officials reported abuse, harassment or threats, according to a 2022 Early Voting Information Center survey of local election officials. “It’s draining on their psychological and physical safety,” Orey said. Election officials in urban areas experience more threats, the report shows. Two-thirds of officials in jurisdictions with more than 250,000 residents reported being harassed, while just 20% of respondents from areas with a population under 25,000 said the same. Dana DeBeauvoir — who oversaw elections as Travis County Clerk for more than 30 years — said she has major concerns about these trends and the future of elections. DeBeauvoir retired in 2022.

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Soft landing or no landing? Fed’s economic picture gets complicated.

America seemed headed for an economic fairy-tale ending in late 2023. The painfully rapid inflation that had kicked off in 2021 appeared to be cooling in earnest, and economic growth had begun to gradually moderate after a series of Federal Reserve interest rate increases. But 2024 has brought a spate of surprises: The economy is expanding rapidly, job gains are unexpectedly strong and progress on inflation shows signs of stalling. That could add up to a very different conclusion. Instead of the “soft landing” that many economists thought was underway — a situation in which inflation slows as growth gently calms without a painful recession — analysts are increasingly wary that America's economy is not landing at all.

Rather than settling down, the economy appears to be booming as prices continue to climb more quickly than usual. A “no landing” outcome might feel pretty good to the typical American household. Inflation is nowhere near as high as it was at its peak in 2022, wages are climbing and jobs are plentiful. But it would cause problems for the Federal Reserve, which has been determined to wrestle price increases back to their 2 percent target, a slow and steady pace that the Fed thinks is consistent with price stability. Policymakers raised interest rates sharply in 2022 and 2023, pushing them to a two-decade high in an attempt to weigh on growth and inflation. If inflation gets stuck at an elevated level for months on end, it could prod Fed officials to hold rates high for longer in an effort to cool the economy and ensure that prices come fully under control. “Persistent buoyancy in inflation numbers” probably “does give Fed officials pause that maybe the economy is running too hot right now for rate cuts,” said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide. “Right now, we’re not even seeing a ‘soft landing’ — we’re seeing a ‘no landing.’”

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott positions himself as Trump's biggest cheerleader. Is he vying for VP?

Gov. Greg Abbott keeps downplaying his interest in being Donald Trump’s running mate, but his actions over the last few weeks tell a different story. Just blocks from Trump Tower in New York City last week, Abbott sounded like an unofficial Trump surrogate in a series of live interviews and a speech. The Republican governor tailored his comments to echo Trump's own language on crime and immigration. He even doubled down on the former president's inflammatory comments about President Joe Biden perpetuating a "border blood bath." Abbott, 66, has no official role in Trump’s campaign. But his behavior likely shows why Trump has floated Abbott as a potential vice president in recent months, said Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University scholar who has written books on the selection of vice presidents in American history.

Trump's move helps boost the Texas governor’s national visibility. In return, Trump is getting Abbott and other possible running mates like U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and former GOP president candidate Vivek Ramaswamy promoting his campaign. “Trump is motivating these people to be out there doing this,” Goldstein said. While Abbott’s name percolated on some VP rumor lists, it took off in February when Trump told a national audience on Fox News that Abbott was absolutely on his short list of potential running mates. Trump praised Abbott’s work on the border and called him “a spectacular man.” But now it’s gone beyond that single moment. Trump frequently mentions Abbott at rallies on the campaign trail even in other states without the Texas governor in the crowd. In January he touted Abbott to a Nevada audience and last month spent time in Greensboro, North Carolina talking about how good of a job Abbott was doing in Texas.

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State Stories

An NHL team in Houston? Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta says 'I'm working on it' and likes WNBA, too

For the second time in more than a month, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has stated his interest in bringing an NHL team to Houston. Fertitta, in an interview Wednesday on CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” was asked about his pursuit of a hockey team as well as a WNBA franchise for Toyota Center. “We would like to work to get an NHL team in Houston — I’m working on it,” Fertitta said. Fertitta was asked about the WNBA, which has not had a team in Houston since the Comets' run from 1997 to 2008, in relation to the surge of interest in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, whose championship game on ABC for the first time drew a bigger TV audience than the men’s final that aired on TBS.

“I would consider, definitely, I think it’s a great topic with women’s sports to talk about a WNBA team in Houston also,” Fertitta said. In late February, Fertitta told Bloomberg that he viewed an NHL team and the 41 home games it would bring as a way to boost the downtown economy, saying “We are talking to the NHL, but it’s got to be good for both of us.” When he bought the Rockets in October 2017, Fertitta said he “would put an NHL team here tomorrow” but had said little publicly about hockey in the interim since before this year. He said he was open to bringing in an expansion franchise or relocating an existing one. Based on reports Wednesday, an expansion franchise might have to be Fertitta’s route to getting a team. Daily Faceoff reported that the NHL and Arizona Coyotes have made “significant and and meaningful progress” on an agreement to sell the franchise to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, who would move the embattled team to Salt Lake City for the 2024-25 season. The price tag for the sale and relocation would be “north of $1.2 billion,” per the report.

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Hidalgo calls Paxton lawsuit challenging Harris County's guaranteed income program ‘cruel’

Harris County leaders are defending their new guaranteed income program after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office sued to stop the initiative from going into effect, accusing the attorney general of targeting the Houston area while overlooking similar programs in San Antonio, Austin and El Paso. At a news conference on Wednesday, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo called the timing of the lawsuit "cruel" and "unscrupulous," alleging Paxton's office waited until recipients had been notified they had been selected for the program before filing the lawsuit. Harris County approved its pilot program last June, which aims to send $500 monthly payments for 18 months to around 1,900 low-income households.

Now, with recipients notified and the first payments scheduled for later this month, Paxton's office has asked a Harris County district court judge to stop the checks from going out and rule that the program is unconstitutional under state law. Commissioner Rodney Ellis said it was clear the state had become "too comfortable with using people as props," and some of the county’s poorest residents could pay the price. Though the $20.5 million Uplift Harris program is funded using a portion of the county's federal pandemic recovery dollars, Paxton's office is arguing the program violates a state law that prohibits the gift of public funds to any individual. Similar guaranteed income programs in other parts of Texas appear not to have drawn Paxton's scrutiny. San Antonio launched the state's first guaranteed income program in December 2020, Austin began its $1.1 million pilot program in September 2022 and, most recently, El Paso County approved its guaranteed income program in December. But Harris County's program caught Paxton's attention after State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, wrote to Paxton in January asking him to look into whether it is legal.

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‘An overreaction’: Black lawmakers, advocates denounce UT schools’ layoffs due to DEI ban

Laying off staff in the wake of Texas’ DEI ban is an overreaction and discriminatory, some legislators and advocacy groups said during a news conference Wednesday. Some of Texas’ Black lawmakers joined two advocacy groups to speak out against recent layoffs that appear to be efforts to comply with Texas’ DEI ban, also known as Senate Bill 17. UT laid off about 60 employees last week, and University of Texas at Dallas officials announced Tuesday that about 20 staffers would be cut at that school. Many of these staffers had been in positions that supported diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. After the state’s ban went into effect Jan. 1, schools moved many such employees to different roles that supported students in various ways.

The Texas chapter of the American Association of University Professors shared on social media late Wednesday evening documentation they said shows that university officials certified that employees reassigned jobs were in compliance with the law. University officials could not be reached immediately Wednesday evening. “This was MAGA politics at its worst,” Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, said of the DEI ban and its impact. As a result, Reynolds, who’s chairman of the Texas Legislature Black Caucus, said students are suffering because of partisan politics. “It’s the worst kind of leadership where you use Black, brown and LGBT communities as political pawns.” The cuts in Dallas and Austin came just weeks after Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, the Texas legislator who authored the DEI ban, sent a letter to university leaders reinforcing expectations of the new state law and the oversight process. Creighton stressed in that letter that simply renaming offices and programs is unacceptable and emphasized that universities could lose millions in state funding if they fail to comply. He sent the letter weeks after secret recordings went public showing some Texas university staff suggesting they would continue DEI work under different names. On Wednesday, the lawmakers and advocacy groups — which included the Texas chapters of the NAACP and of the American Association of University Professors — said that legislators pushing for the ban and university leaders promised no layoffs due to SB 17. That was the case until Creighton’s letter triggered an “overreaction,” they said.

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Biden admin approves deepwater oil export terminal off Texas Gulf Coast

The Biden administration approved the construction of a deepwater oil export terminal off the Texas Gulf Coast on Tuesday, following a long legal battle with environmental groups. To be built 30 miles offshore Freeport in more than 100 feet of water, the Sea Port Oil Terminal being developed by Houston-based Enterprise Product Partners is capable of loading two supertankers at once, with an export capacity of 2 million barrels of crude per day. The project, which would be the largest oil export terminal in the United States, had been awaiting a deepwater port license from the Department of Transportation, the final step in a four-year federal review. “The receipt of the license is the most significant milestone to date in the development and commercialization of SPOT,” AJ Teague, co-chief executive officer of Enterprise, said in a statement.

The decision followed a ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last week dismissing claims by environmental groups that federal agencies had failed to uphold federal environmental laws in their review of Enterprise’s export project. The Biden administration has also come under fire from Republicans including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who claimed “prolonged delays” in getting the Enterprise project and other offshore oil terminals approved was threatening the nation’s economy and energy security. “I’m thrilled that we’re helping bring more jobs to Texas and greater energy security to America and our allies,” Cruz said Tuesday. “That this victory was delayed by years of needless bureaucratic dithering shows why we need broader permitting reform in this country.”

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Outrage over judge's low bonds for violent offenders as repeat offender evades justice

Before his suspension last February, 228th District Judge Frank Aguilar granted some of the lowest bonds we've ever seen for kidnapping, sexual assault, witness tampering, and domestic violence charges. In February 2023, 21-year-old Frank Njoroge is sentenced to deferred probation after being convicted of assault with intent to impede breathing. Just two months on probation, Njoroge is charged with assault and violating a protective order. "Normally, if you're charged with offenses while you're on probation and you get a bond, the bond gets increased," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers. "His bonds kept getting lower."

Judge Frank Aguilar set bonds at just $100 for violent felonies like sexual assault, kidnapping, domestic violence, and witness tampering. Seven times, Aguilar set Njoroge's bond at just $100. "I don't know how in God's name you can not look at this and say, dude, you're a threat to public safety, you're a threat to these women," Kahan said. "That's crazy in itself for the things he's done, not just to my relative, but to other ladies. It's insane," said a relative of one of Njoroge's alleged victims. We are not identifying him to keep his relatives anonymous. In court documents, that woman was repeatedly terrorized and abused by Njoroge. "Choked her on a few occasions till she couldn't breathe. Bit her on quite a few occasions," the victim's relative said. "Bit her toenail off at one point."

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Lawmaker’s interfaith iftar dinner draws North Texas political, religious leaders

State Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, and Nima Bhojani’s interfaith iftar dinner Sunday evening drew religious leaders from across North Texas and about 40 regional politicians, including U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas. “Our prayer is that we may remember our shared values and the common call to righteousness that runs through all of our faith traditions,” Allred said in a brief speech. “And for our democracy, because ultimately our democracy is the safeguard of our ability to practice our faith traditions.” Interfaith relations is a topic of importance to Bhojani, who in 2022 became one of the first two Muslims elected to the Texas House. As a freshman legislator, he introduced several bills to expand religious freedom. One bipartisan bill passed, and now school districts cannot schedule standardized testing on certain holidays sacred to Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Christians.

Iftars are the fast-breaking meals after sundown each night during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Bhojani’s son Aarish, who introduced his father at the event, said Bhojani plans to hold the event annually. In addition to Allred and Bhojani, members of eight religions spoke at the event in Irving about how their traditions view interfaith relations. The speakers were Christian Pastor Patrick Moses, who is the Democratic candidate for Tarrant County sheriff; Joel Schwitzer, regional director of the American Jewish Committee; Imam Moujahed Bakhach of Fort Worth; Hindu representative Bindu Patel; Harbhajan Singh Virdee of the Sikh faith; Zoroastrian representative Ava Damri; Buddhist Bhante Virmalakitti; and Maha Iskandar of the Bahá'í faith.

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Who are Texas’ teachers? Some schools ‘hiring people off the street,’ state leader says

The rate of Texas teachers leaving the classroom is declining after hitting a historic high following the COVID pandemic. Education Commissioner Mike Morath presented fresh hiring data Wednesday, telling State Board of Education members that the state is “moving in a better direction.” Still, schools are struggling with educator recruitment and retention. The challenges mean districts are hiring more and more teachers who don’t hold a state certification. Morath said that, in recent years, it appears that some schools “gave up on teacher certification” and moved to “hiring people off the street.” While it is still higher than the pre-pandemic baseline, the rate of Texas teachers leaving the classroom is trending downward. The 2022-23 school year saw 13.4% teacher attrition. That figure dropped to 12.2% for 2023-24.

In the decade before COVID-19 hit, teacher attrition hovered around 10%. “Teachers are quitting the profession in slightly higher numbers than they did historically,” Morath said. Lack of respect and support, excessive workload and low pay are among the common reasons educators have given for why they think about leaving the classroom. Fewer new teachers take the traditional route to the classroom: Studying to be an educator while in college. Roughly 1 in 3 new teachers hired across Texas were uncertified, meaning the state has no way to know if they received rigorous training. The percentage of non-certified new hires grew to 34% — a historic high. Some uncertified educators are prepared to take on a classroom of their own, Morath said. In Dallas ISD, for example, uncertified educators get additional training and support during the school year. The district also pairs new hires with mentors to guide them. But Morath warned that many teachers without certification are not ready and quit prematurely. The trend has prompted concern among some teacher groups. “It’s unfair to the students, to the parents and to the educator themselves. They’re not fully prepared,” said Rena Honea, president of Alliance-AFT. “I don’t know of an attorney that’d be allowed to practice law without passing the bar exam.”

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These Texas DPS troopers say they faced racial discrimination at work. A judge agreed.

Special Agent Jari McPherson hoped he could make change within the Department of Public Safety in 2019 by calling out what he called a “racially hostile” environment at the Temple office where he worked. But after filing an internal complaint that went nowhere, he requested a transfer to the agency’s Austin office. His problems only continued to mount there, says McPherson, who is Black. Before he even arrived, his supervisor spoke poorly of him, citing the internal complaint, and seemed to treat white colleagues better. McPherson was later passed over for a different job that was given to a white employee with less experience, he says, and ultimately placed in a minority-only unit that was given “more difficult and onerous tasks, work, and assignments and given less days off” than other units containing only white employees.

McPherson, 42, is one of three former and current troopers who sued the agency in 2020, saying they were subjected to years of racial discrimination and that the agency failed to properly investigate their concerns. Their lawsuit recently cleared a major hurdle when a federal judge ruled it could go to trial this summer. The case is on hold while the state, which has denied the troopers’ allegations, appeals to the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. In his February opinion, U.S. District Judge David Ezra, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, wrote that McPherson and a co-plaintiff, Jerald Sams, who is also Black, had sufficiently proven that they were subjected to discrimination and retaliation while working at DPS. McPherson and Sams experienced “hostile” work environments due to their race,” Ezra wrote, and the state failed to take “prompt remedial action for every instance of harassment.” McPherson said he started seeing a therapist for the first time for the anxiety and depression this situation brought for him, and it caused problems at home as well.

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John Whitmire's first 100 days in office: Here's what Houston's new mayor has done so far

As Mayor John Whitmire marks his 100th day in office, he is celebrating the delivery of a major campaign promise that could have far-reaching consequences for how he tackles the remainder of his term. Whitmire’s landmark settlement with the firefighters union gives him a signature win in his first three months, but it also compounds an already dire financial picture at City Hall that will come into stark focus during budget season this year. Since announcing the deal, the new mayor has pitched a property tax hike and a garbage collection fee to help finance it, while creating breathing room for the city’s budget. Both options would likely create political tests – either at the ballot box or around the City Council horseshoe.

Elected officials often use the 100-day mark to reflect on their successes, but they also look to see how those successes might impact the next steps they must take in office. In Whitmire’s case, his early priority – getting a firefighter deal – could have lasting effects, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston. “The public wants progress, and they expect to see it early,” said Rottinghaus. “We are conditioned to want to see movement quickly, especially when there was a pretty heavy landslide and the issues were fairly obvious that the mayor wanted to address.” Even before the firefighter deal, the city’s financial outlook was grim, with Controller Chris Hollins predicting a $160 million to $200 million deficit – similar to the deficits the city ran pre-pandemic. With debt repayments and interest on the firefighter deal factored in, that number could now be closer to $230 million to $280 million, Hollins said. Whitmire's administration hopes to replace 125,000 water meter readers by years’ end. The mayor said fixing broken meter readers will address the “root” cause of customers receiving exorbitant water bills. Whitmire has appointed seven new department directors at City Hall, turning over leadership for about a third of the city’s government. Whitmire’s administration has also expressed skepticism over “Vision Zero,” the aspirational target to end traffic fatalities by 2030 by prioritizing safety and accessibility for all motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

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Texas cops: HS teacher recruits runaways into prostitution

A teacher was arrested on child sex trafficking and prostitution-related charges involving students, Texas authorities say. Kedria Grigsby, 42, faces three counts each of trafficking of children and compelling prostitution along with her son, 21-year-old Roger Magee, who was previously arrested, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. The compelling prostitution charge is defined as when a person knowingly “causes another by force, threat, coercion or fraud to commit prostitution.” The charge can also be applied when a person causes a child to commit prostitution. Grigsby is the cosmetology teacher at Klein Cain High School outside Houston and has been placed on administrative leave, a district spokesperson told KHOU and KPRC.

Authorities said Grigsby forced prostitution onto three reported runaways, ages 15, 16 and 17. The sheriff said Grigsby assisted her son in the alleged trafficking. “It appears Grigsby recruited troubled juveniles from local high schools by offering them a place to stay, which would be a hotel,” Gonzalez said. There have also been other teenagers who said “Grigsby was also attempting to recruit them while attending school,” according to the sheriff. Gonzalez announced the arrest of Grigsby on Monday, April 8, and said she was booked into the Harris County Jail. The school district said in its statement to KHOU and KPRC the allegations against Grigsby were “unsettling.” “As soon as we were notified of this information, the district took immediate action, apprehended, and immediately placed Ms. Grigsby on administrative leave,” the district said. “Klein ISD has NO intention of allowing this individual back to Klein Cain or any Klein ISD school, and we will report to all appropriate agencies at the conclusion of the investigation.”

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Austin Mayor Kirk Watson announces he will run again in November

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson will seek reelection in November, he announced Wednesday. Watson was elected in 2022 to serve a two-year term instead of a full four years. Austinites voted in 2021 to move mayoral elections to the same year as presidential elections in an effort to increase voter turnout. If reelected, Watson will serve a full four-year term. Watson previously served as mayor from 1997 to 2001, when he stepped down to run for state office. He served as a state senator for more than 13 years before returning to the job of mayor. Watson is the fourth candidate to announce his candidacy. He will face former City Council Member Kathie Tovo,East Austin community organizer Carmen Llanes Pulido and Doug Greco, the former director of Central Texas Interfaith.

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Bridget Grumet: Fate of historic schoolhouse — and future UT football facility — in state board's hands

Edwin Bautista knew it was a last-ditch effort, a long shot to save the 91-year-old historic building that the University of Texas wants to bulldoze so it can build a new football practice facility. Then, last week, a preliminary win. The state Antiquities Advisory Board recommended approval of Bautista’s request for protected landmark status for the old University Junior High building, a 1930s schoolhouse in the southeastern corner of the UT campus. The Spanish Revival building, notable for its role in desegregating Austin schools starting in the late 1950s, most recently housed the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (as well as the stunning stairwell mural by Rau´l Valdez that I wrote about last year). I should note: The advisory board’s 9-1 vote last Wednesday is just a recommendation. The matter now goes to the Texas Historical Commission, which is expected to consider the application in July.

The application process delays the building demolition that had been slated for June. And if the Texas Historical Commission decides to grant State Antiquities Landmark status to the old schoolhouse, UT wouldn’t be able to get a demolition permit without undergoing a rigorous state review — which would complicate, or possibly derail, its plans to build the new football practice facility on that coveted turf. Bautista said that’s the point: A building with this level of community importance, already listed in the National Register of Historic Places, shouldn’t be easy to tear down. “For the university to disregard (the University Junior High building’s history) is just so disappointing, because they are turning their back on our history, and that is something that I'm not willing to accept,” said Bautista, who earned his bachelor’s in urban studies and his master’s in community and regional planning at UT. “UT is all about changing the world and being leaders in sustainability,” Bautista added, arguing the aging schoolhouse should be restored, not razed. “Well, you know, here’s a chance for you to live up to what you say you’re about.” In response to the advisory board’s vote, UT spokesman Mike Rosen told me last week: “We respect the process. There are multiple steps, and we’ll let it play out.” One option: UT could formally oppose the nomination, triggering an administrative hearing process, Antiquities Advisory Board Chair Jim Bruseth said at last week’s meeting. “Things could get a lot more complex for the (Texas Historical) Commission down the road, and probably will, would be my guess,” Bruseth told his fellow board members.

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Austin schools face budget deficit next year. Here's how AISD plans to cut $30M in expenses

The Austin school district is looking to cut at least $30 million from its $976.2 million budget next year in anticipation of higher operating costs. The district expects to reach its goal mostly by slashing already vacant positions and reducing contract services, but officials have vowed to keep cuts contained to administrative positions — and away from classrooms — as much as possible. If the district can make $30 million in cuts, it will still face a $30 million deficit in the 2024-25 school year and would need to take on an even bigger shortfall if it wants to increase services, district Chief Financial Officer Eduardo Ramos said. The district spends the vast majority of its budget on employee pay, so officials hope they can significantly reduce the district's deficit by cutting administrative positions that haven't been filled. Officials are also looking to cut down on its contracts by either eliminating or reducing some of those services, Ramos said.

While some of those contracts involve people working directly in schools, the district hopes to reduce those services as little as possible, he said. Superintendent Matias Segura assured board members that the district will work to minimize any cuts that would directly affect students. "I would want to turn over every stone before I impacted classrooms," Segura said. Of the $956 million operating budget, 61%, or $581 million, is directly tied to campuses, he said. “Now we are having to make some difficult choices because we have not received additional funding on a per student basis, not only in Austin but throughout the state of Texas, since 2019,” Ramos said. The Austin school board took on a $52 million deficit for the ongoing 2023-24 school year budget, but it had managed to reduce that shortfall to about $31 million, according to the district.

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Texas Eclipse Fest organizers address rumors and complaints

Organizers of the Texas Eclipse Festival in Burnet County drew criticism and praise from attendees during the event, and after its cancellation a day early Monday due to severe weather. “TEXAS ECLIPSE WAS HELL ON EARTH. DISCO DONNIE YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF,” said Reddit user “Final_Meat” in a post on the subreddit r/TexasEclipse. That subreddit, made to discuss the Texas Eclipse Festival, had around 3,600 members at the time of reporting. Other complaints touched on perceived shortcomings of the event’s map, a lack of medical staff, poor lighting, rough camping conditions, a lack of bottled water, high food prices, unclean portable toilets, large crowds, long walks and dust. Some of the issues, such as poor cell signal and long vehicle lines, may have been caused by concentrating thousands of people into a rural area.

In a Wednesday statement, festival organizers Disco Presents told KXAN that free water was available at 10 stations around the venue, but said it was “saddened to hear that some guests may have encountered challenges in locating water” or clean portable toilets. It also responded to complaints about camping sites and the venue layout. “We implemented adjustments to the site layout and infrastructure with the guidance of industry experts, addressing the unique challenges of using this location as a first-time festival site,” said organizers. “The varying elevation and surface types prompted necessary real-time adaptations to our camping plans and logistics.” Rumors also claim that there were multiple deaths, which organizers and Burnet County Sheriff’s Office Captain Mike Sorenson said were untrue.

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City Stories

Did you get another purple notice from the city of Austin? Here's what it means.

The city of Austin is once again looking to make changes to its land development code, which dictates what can be built where and how big it can be. A hot-button issue in Austin, the proposed changes have sparked disagreement over their potential effectiveness and impact on housing affordability. The city recently sent a second round of purple notices to residents informing them of several proposed changes the council is set to vote on in May. The process of discussing and voting on the changes will be similar to that for Phase 1 of the Home Options for Middle-Income Empowerment, or HOME, initiative that the City Council approved in December. It will start with a joint meeting between the council and the Planning Commission at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Here's a look at the proposed land development code changes. For context, HOME Phase 1, which was approved in December, changed the city's code to allow for up to three units on many lots. This proposal was met with both strong support and opposition from community members and activists — some saying it would create more housing options while others were concerned about displacement of existing residents, specifically on the city's Eastern Crescent. Phase 2 of HOME seeks to reduce the minimum lot size required for construction of a single residential unit to 2,000 square feet from 5,750. The change would not require current or future homeowners to sell or subdivide their properties, according to the city's Planning Department. An ETOD overlay is intended to promote density along high-traffic transit corridors. The proposal being considered would affect certain properties within roughly a half mile of Phase 1 of Project Connect, the planned light rail line, and its priority extensions, according to the city's Planning Department. Some of these areas include sections of North Lamar Boulevard and South Congress Avenue.

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Dallas strip clubs’ lawsuit seeking exemption from curfew should be dismissed, city says

Dallas is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three strip clubs that want to be exempt from shutting down at 2 a.m. if they stop featuring sex work. In a motion brief filed Friday, city attorneys argued the lawsuit filed in January by the owners of XTC Cabaret, Silver City and Tiger Cabaret “is an obvious attempt to avoid the impact” of a city ordinance requiring all strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses to close between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Lawyers for the city contended the ordinance applies to sexually oriented businesses regardless of what services they happen to be providing at any given time, and the strip clubs haven’t sufficiently proven the rule is a constitutional violation. The lawyers representing the three strip clubs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

“The ordinance does not state that (a sexually oriented business) must cease only sexually-oriented activities between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., but states clearly that an SOB must close for business each day during those hours,” said the city’s brief, filed by City Attorney Tammy Palomino and two assistant city attorneys in her office. The hours restriction is “motivated by the city’s substantial governmental interest in addressing crime at SOB locations, not the expressive conduct itself,” the motion said. The three strip clubs have said in court filings they believe they were illegally threatened with sanctions by police when they decided to stay open past 2 a.m. They stopped featuring erotic dances and were mainly offering food and nonalcoholic drinks to customers who chose to stick around. The businesses also alleged the city was violating their constitutional and civil rights. A federal judge in February denied the strip clubs’ request to temporarily block the city from enforcing the ordinance.

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National Stories

Biden aims to project united front against China at White House summit

President Biden intends to use a first-ever joint meeting with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines on Thursday to send a blunt diplomatic message to an increasingly aggressive China: Beijing’s harassment of Philippine ships in the South China Sea is a violation of international law and must stop. In recent months, Chinese coast guard ships have been ramming Philippine vessels, blasting them with water cannons and aiming lasers at their crews in what the United States condemns as “coercive and unlawful tactics” in one of the most crucial waterways in the world. So far, the Chinese provocations, asserting disputed claims to the international waters, have fallen short of the kinds of attacks that would trigger the military defense pact that the United States and the Philippines signed in 1951. But Biden administration officials said the meeting of the three leaders on Thursday is intended to demonstrate to China even stronger military and diplomatic unity among the leaders of the three allies.

One U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the meeting in advance, called the issue of security in the South China Sea a “pillar” of the discussions between Mr. Biden, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines. “The U.S., Japan, and the Philippines are three closely aligned maritime democracies with increasingly convergent strategic objectives and interests,” Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, said on Tuesday. “Just this past week, our three countries and Australia held joint naval drills in the South China Sea.” Officials said there would be similar drills in the months ahead as the nations continue to assert the freedom of travel through international waters that China claims as its own. They called Thursday’s meeting at the White House a demonstration of support from Mr. Biden and Mr. Kishida for the Philippines in its clashes with China. China has asserted greater control over the South China Sea over the years, trying to expand its military footprint in the region.

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The billionaire behind Trump’s $175 million bond is no stranger to risky deals

Billionaire businessman Don Hankey made headlines in early April when his company, Knight Specialty Insurance, provided the $175 million bond that Donald Trump posted in his New York civil fraud case. “I wouldn’t say I’m a big Trump fan,” Hankey told The Wall Street Journal this week. “I’ve voted for him in the past. And I think he’s business friendly. And that’s what I’m looking for.” It isn’t the first time Hankey has financially backed a troubled real-estate developer. In Los Angeles, where he is based, Hankey’s companies have bankrolled some of the area’s most ambitious—and sometimes eccentric—mansion developers. Sometimes, they did so just as those developers began to fall into financial jeopardy. Perhaps most notably, Hankey provided more than $100 million in financing for The One, a scandal-plagued Bel-Air megamansion once slated to ask as much as $500 million. The 105,000-square-foot estate was eventually sold at auction for a comparably paltry $126 million in 2022 after its developer, the bombastic and volatile spec-home builder Nile Niami, defaulted on loan payments.

In L.A. real-estate circles, Hankey is perhaps best known for backing Niami, whose decadelong odyssey to build The One, complete with its own nightclub and five swimming pools, captivated the real-estate industry amid delays, cost overruns and defaults. When Hankey issued the initial loan of $82.5 million, The One was about 80% complete. The financing was slated to help Niami pay back other creditors and apply the finishing touches. Bhakta said that Hankey made the loan because the company was confident that the U.S. single-family home market would continue to deliver $100 million-plus deals, as the economy created more and more billionaires. At the time, he said, Niami was considered a pioneer in the spec-home market. He had three or four unsold mansions on his books. Hankey figured that once Niami sold those, the developer would have a favorable cash position. Ultimately, The One unraveled along with Niami’s personal life. Following a 2017 divorce from his longtime partner Yvonne Niami, the developer began to get a reputation in the real-estate industry as a party boy with erratic ideas. “Sometimes, you look at someone’s track record, but that doesn’t necessarily correlate directly to what their future is going to look like,” Bhakta said. “In this case, his [wife] turned out to be the more rational person in that relationship and she kept him grounded. When he didn’t have that grounding, he kind of went crazy and unfortunately things unraveled there.” Rayni Williams, a luxury real-estate agent who worked with Niami on the deal, said Hankey gave Niami more chances than many lenders might have. “I think he was rooting for him to succeed,” she said.

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Conservatives deal another blow to Speaker Johnson, defeating FISA rule after Trump push

House conservatives revolted against GOP leadership and defeated a key vote on the floor Wednesday, the latest blow to Speaker Mike Johnson that comes after former President Donald Trump called on Republicans to kill a controversial surveillance law. Trump had urged House Republicans to reject a reauthorization of the law, known as FISA, ahead of the key procedural vote on Wednesday, adding to headaches for GOP leaders who have struggled to build support for the legislation, but were still attempting to forge ahead and advance the bill. “KILL FISA,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. This marks the fourth time in Johnson’s tenure that the House has defeated a rule vote, a major embarrassment for leadership.

The tally was 193 to 228, with 19 Republicans bucking House GOP leadership and voting with Democrats to sink the procedural vote and take down a rule to govern debate on the reauthorization bill as well as several other bills. House Republicans have been fiercely divided over how to handle the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reauthorization, putting pressure on Johnson to find a path forward amid competing factions within his conference. With the threat of a vote on his ouster looming, the Louisiana Republican’s every move is under even more intense scrutiny, and the speaker has once again found himself odds with his right flank over the surveillance law. Johnson signaled he still believes they can find a path forward on FISA this week despite deep divisions and little progress after two lengthy conference meetings devoted to the topic Wednesday. “We still have time on the clock this week,” he told reporters. “We are going to try and find a way to unlock the rule and I think it’s possible.” “We will be talking to members about it tonight, trying to figure that out,” he added.

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‘Save Democracy’ Democrats look to win primaries on anti-Trump sentiment

Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer whose pitched battles with former President Donald J. Trump’s supporters on and after Jan. 6, 2021, vaulted him to political stardom, was greeted Tuesday evening in Annapolis, Md., like a celebrity. But there was also an undercurrent of skepticism among attendees at the Beacon Waterfront Restaurant, where he appeared at a campaign event to bolster his candidacy for the U.S. House. “We have a person here with a proven legislative record,” Jessica Sunshine, an Annapolis Democrat, told Mr. Dunn, referring to State Senator Sarah Elfreth, his main opponent in next month’s Democratic primary. But, she added, “You have heart.” But Mr. Dunn, an imposing former offensive lineman who stands 6-foot-7-inches and 325 pounds, didn’t shy away from the reason he is running: to save what he sees as democracy on the edge. “This moment, right now? It calls for a fighter,” he said.

He is not the only one making that case to Democrats. Over the next three months, primaries in three Mid-Atlantic House districts — from the exurbs of Washington, D.C., to Harrisburg, Pa. — will test the strength of Jan. 6 memories and whether the battle cry of “save democracy” will be enough even for Democratic voters who have many other concerns. For many voters, partisan celebrity is virtually the only factor in their support for candidates like Mr. Dunn, who played a starring role in the Jan. 6 hearings, and Yevgeny Vindman, who goes by Eugene and along with his identical twin brother, Alexander, played a key role in highlighting Mr. Trump’s effort to strong-arm Ukraine into digging up dirt on Joseph R. Biden Jr. Margaret Pepin, 71, could hardly believe it when Mr. Vindman rang her video doorbell on Tuesday afternoon in Occoquan, Va., and his unmistakable face, made famous during Mr. Trump’s first impeachment, popped on her security screen. “I looked at my Ring. I said, ‘Is it really him?’” she said, acknowledging that she might have confused him for his better-known twin brother. “I am thrilled.”

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College aid officials warn FAFSA mess will delay many grant and loan offers until May

Leaders of the college financial aid system assailed the Education Department over this year’s FAFSA debacle, warning that ongoing delays are extending institutions’ timelines for offering packages that many students’ decisions hinge on. “If there was a financial aid director or even a college president that delayed financial aid on their campus for up to six months, the professional price that would be paid for that would be pretty steep,” Justin Draeger, head of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. The hearing by the GOP-led House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development came one day after Education Department officials disclosed that at least 30% of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms submitted so far this year could contain errors resulting from widespread application glitches or other issues.

Those forms are set to be reprocessed in coming weeks, and many will start being sent to schools by May 1, the agency said. The federal government can typically turn around FAFSA information within days, but the lags this year have extended for months. Colleges and universities are already well behind schedule due to the botched overhaul of the application process — one that was meant to be easier and in many cases more generous, but has instead landed millions of households and campus officials in bureaucratic limbo. “It’s not a trivial task to roll this out, but this rollout has been disastrous and, frankly, inexcusable,” Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., said Wednesday. The hearing signaled growing bipartisan frustrations over the FAFSA chaos, much of it focusing on the Education Department, which Draeger said faced a “crisis of credibility.” Agency leaders didn’t testify at Wednesday’s hearing, but a spokesperson said Tuesday that officials have identified and fixed errors in the online application system “affecting the accurate processing of large numbers of FAFSA forms.”

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Consumer prices moved higher in March. Auto insurance costs were a major reason.

Wednesday's inflation report showed consumer price growth continues to drift higher. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported price growth accelerated to 3.5% in March, from 3.2% in February. Few categories had as big a jump year on year than auto insurance, which soared 22% from March 2023, the most significant year-on-year jump in that category since 1976. And over the last few years, average auto insurance rates have surged 43%. As of April, the national average cost of car insurance is $2,314 per year for full coverage and $644 per year for the bare minimum, according to Bankrate. That works out to about $193 a month for full coverage and $54 for minimum coverage.

A host of factors determine how much insurance companies charge drivers, but the cost of nearly all of them seem to be increasing. One major factor is simply the rising cost of modern vehicles themselves. Today, a new vehicle costs about $10,000 more than it did before the pandemic. Blame supply-chain issues that drove up the cost of vehicle parts, increased labor costs and customer demand, which has naturally pushed prices upward. The increasing sophistication of the technology in today’s vehicles also contributes to rising costs, said Robert Passmore, department vice president of personal lines at American Property Casualty Insurance Association. Cameras and sensors, which are used for various driver-assistance technologies, like emergency braking, automated parking and blind-spot monitoring, require parts that are more expensive to replace. They're also subject to higher labor costs, Passmore said. More complex and expensive repairs are also taking longer, and that shows up as higher vehicle costs, Passmore said. And worker shortages have resulted in higher pay for technicians.

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