Lead Stories

Divorce files detail Angela Paxton’s claims against AG Ken Paxton

Newly released files in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s divorce lay out a sharper picture of the breakup between Paxton and his wife, Angela, who blames him for the marriage’s collapse and seeks temporary control of key assets and a “disproportionate” share of the couple’s estate. In the records a judge unsealed Friday, Ken Paxton, who is running for the Senate, denied her allegations that he committed adultery and asked that Angela Paxton “take nothing,” standard language in a divorce response, his lawyer said. Angela Paxton, a Republican state senator from McKinney, filed for divorce in July in Collin County, saying the couple separated in June 2024 after nearly four decades of marriage. In her petition, she asks the court to grant a divorce on grounds that the marriage is “insupportable,” partly because of his infidelity.

The disclosures offer the first and most extensive look at the claims and defenses in the case involving two high-profile elected officials. The dispute adds personal detail to a statewide race already shaped by questions of character as Paxton campaigns for higher office. The divorce case records were released Friday after legal wrangling between the Paxtons and several media organizations and a government watchdog group that sought access to the documents. The conflict tested how far Texas courts can shield family-law filings involving elected officials. Dow Jones & Company Inc., The Washington Post, Hearst Newspapers, ProPublica, The Texas Lawbook, Texas Newsroom, The Texas Observer and The Texas Tribune, joined by the Campaign for Accountability, argued that because Ken and Angela Paxton are elected constitutional officers, the need for transparency is heightened. The coalition argued that records involving finances or conduct are of legitimate interest to constituents. Angela Paxton initially asked that the case be sealed, and Ken Paxton joined her in the request. But late Thursday, the couple unexpectedly agreed to make the files public just hours before the two sides were scheduled to argue before a judge in Collin County District Court as to whether the records should remain sealed.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

Takeaways from the Justice Department’s Epstein files release

The Justice Department released thousands of files related to sex offender and accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in a much-anticipated document dump Friday. The documents are the result of Congress forcing the Trump administration’s hand. The administration had initially promised extensive disclosures on Epstein but then, in July, abruptly changed course. Congress ultimately last month passed a bill requiring the administration to release the files, after a bipartisan revolt. The documents are not everything the Justice Department has; it said Friday it will continue rolling them out in the coming weeks. But they give us our biggest glimpse to date of what the administration initially decided not to release.

After months of the administration stepping on its own toes and making it look like it had something to hide, it did itself few favors with its rollout. For one, the Justice Department didn’t release all the documents, as was required by the deadline Friday, 30 days after Congress passed its law. And secondly, the documents carried extensive redactions — and for more reasons than the law prescribed. The redactions were also inconsistent, with the same content being redacted in one instance but not in another. In some cases, the redactions included whole pages and even whole documents, as was the case with 119 pages of grand jury testimony. Democrats cried foul, as did Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who helped lead the Epstein discharge petition effort. The Kentucky Republican said the document dump “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.” A few key points: it was a tough deadline — 30 days to comb through thousands of documents and, in some cases, redact sensitive information. There is also no enforcement mechanism in the law, so it’s not clear what recourse Congress could have. (Two Democrats on key committees said they would examine “all legal options.”)

Read this article at CNN - Subscribers Only

The Trump administration has all but stopped reuniting detained migrant children with families

The Trump administration has virtually stopped releasing undocumented children in federal custody to their parents and other relatives. That's according to data obtained by The Texas Newsroom and The California Newsroom, immigration attorneys around the country and officials inside the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the agency tasked with caring for those children. The Administration for Children and Families, which oversees ORR, said via email that earlier this year, it put in place "enhanced vetting policies" for adults who will care for the children after their release. The goal, it said, was to better protect children from harm. But it said the office "has not issued a moratorium" on releases to those adults. However, sources with knowledge of the office's directives contradict that claim, saying ORR leadership began issuing verbal orders to staff in early November to stop releasing kids to their relatives until further notice.

Who are the children stuck in federal custody? These are kids without legal immigration status — from toddlers to teenagers — who were apprehended crossing the border without a parent or legal guardian or were separated from them during arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The children are then handed over to ORR, which usually places them at shelters it oversees around the country. There are about 2,400 kids in ORR custody right now. Texas has the largest share of kids in ORR care — 35% — in the U.S., with more than 800 kids across 44 shelters. Most of these children came to the U.S. to join their parents or other family members, who immigration officials call sponsors. ORR must vet those adults before the kids can be released to them. Attorneys say many of these kids are fleeing violence, persecution or abuse in their home countries, and they plan to apply for an immigration status that protects them from being deported back to those situations.

Read this article at Texas Newsroom and California Newsroom - Subscribers Only

U.S. oil blockade of Venezuela pushes Cuba toward collapse

Cubans are going hungry, suffering from spreading disease and sleeping outdoors with no electricity to power fans through the sweltering nights. A quarter of the population has fled during the island’s most prolonged economic crisis. And it’s about to get worse. The U.S. is ratcheting up pressure on Havana’s key benefactor, Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro’s regime, which has kept the Communist-ruled nation afloat with cheap oil. Now Venezuelan oil exports are at risk thanks to a partial blockade targeting sanctioned tankers—the kind that carry about 70% of the country’s crude. One tanker that the U.S. has already seized was en route with almost two million barrels of Venezuelan oil. The blockade adds to a U.S. pressure campaign on Maduro that also includes a major military buildup in the Caribbean, airstrikes on boats allegedly connected to Venezuelan drug trafficking and threats of bombing the country itself.

Were Venezuela’s oil shipments to stop, or sharply decline, the Cubans know it would be devastating. “It would be the collapse of the Cuban economy, no question about it,” said Jorge Piñón, a Cuban exile who tracks the island’s energy ties to Venezuela at the University of Texas at Austin. Venezuela has been vital for Cuba’s economy since 1999, when then-President Hugo Chávez described the two countries as bound together “in a sea of happiness.” Cuba deployed sports trainers, doctors and counterintelligence agents to Venezuela, the latter to root out traitors who might overthrow Chávez. Venezuela responded with 100,000 barrels of oil shipped to Cuba daily. The heavily subsidized oil shipments have fallen to 30,000 barrels a day. Agents from Cuba’s vaunted intelligence service remain in Venezuela, where they have worked to purge disloyal military officers and government officials, helping ensure Maduro remains ensconced in power. Cuba’s deep reliance on Venezuela means Cuba’s Communist government is doing all it can to prevent Maduro—who trained in Cuba as a young man—from being forced from office in his greatest challenge after nearly 13 years in office. That means ensuring he is always surrounded by security and loyal aides, with no one carrying cellphones or other electronic devices.

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

Turning Point’s annual gathering turns into a gripefest

Since 2021, Turning Point USA’s annual gathering, AmericaFest, has featured a star-studded roster of conservative influencers and politicians who have been virtually unified in their focus on a common foe, one that Charlie Kirk, the group’s co-founder, called the “woke” left. But this weekend in Phoenix, speakers at AmericaFest have scarcely mentioned Democrats and other liberal foils. Instead, some of the most prominent right-wing leaders in the country have been criticizing members of their own movement, accusing them of being “frauds,” “pompous” and a “cancer.” Driving the enmity have been some of the most explosive and unresolved issues confronting the MAGA movement: resurgent antisemitism, the prevalence of conspiracy theories and the rise of the concept of “heritage Americans” and what that concept — considered by some to be a thinly veiled racist dog-whistle — means for nonwhite conservatives.

Notably, in the wake of the revolt against left-wing “cancel culture,” there have also been questions about what kinds of ideas might be grounds for cancellation within conservatism itself. It has been a snapshot of a powerful movement in an uncharacteristic state of discord just three months after the assassination of Mr. Kirk, a gifted communicator who had helped construct a big tent under which American conservatives of many stripes could coexist in the Trump age. Without Mr. Kirk, the movement’s boldface names have appeared to be jockeying this weekend to influence the direction of the MAGA movement at a time when its most towering figure, President Trump, is in his second term. For some true believers, it has been hard to watch. On Saturday, Benny Johnson, a podcaster, pined for a time just a few months ago when conservatives were unified in grief and purpose after Mr. Kirk’s killing. “I’m sick of the division. I am calling it out,” he said, as he flashed photos from the memorial service held for Mr. Kirk. “Don’t let them steal this from us. We have to recapture this!” The first sparks came on Thursday night, with a blistering speech from Ben Shapiro, a founder of the media company The Daily Wire, who bemoaned the “frauds” and “grifters” in the movement, and went on to savage by name a roster of powerful right-wing figures.

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

State Stories

Texas legislators oppose Trump order to block state AI laws

An executive order by President Donald Trump may bring Texas into conflict with the federal government over a new state law regulating the use of artificial intelligence. Trump signed an executive order last week that threatens to cut off federal broadband funding to states that pass AI regulations the federal government deems “onerous and excessive.” Texas, which has passed one of the most comprehensive attempts to regulate AI in the country, was appropriated up to $3.3 billion through the federal broadband program to expand broadband across the state. A bipartisan group of legislators is working to defend the state law, set to take effect Jan. 1, arguing that an unregulated AI industry risks harming children and consumers. “All of the Texas actors are going to say we want Texas to be a leader in AI, and I am one of those,” said state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney. “I want Texas to be a leader in AI, but you know what, I don’t want Texas to be a leader in AI generated child porn.”

Paxton, who previously worked as a school teacher, pointed to the rise of the internet during her career and the challenges that has posed for both teachers and parents. Reports on the use of the technology to generate child pornography and chat bots that have encouraged people to commit suicide motivated Paxton to speak out about the need for reasonable regulation of the technology’s use in Texas, she said. Paxton led a group of 16 state senators — including eight other Republicans and seven Democrats — in writing a November letter to U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn urging them to support Texas’ law and advocate against any federal attempt to restrict state AI regulations. “If an AI moratorium is put in place, our important work on preventing child pornography, protecting data privacy, preventing discrimination, and holding Big Tech accountable in Texas will be rendered moot,” the letter said. “Surely we can all agree that these kinds of state protections do not interfere with legitimate innovation and are reasonable and appropriate.” State Sen. Carol Alvarado, a Houston Democrat and her party’s caucus chair, rejected the idea that an executive order could be used to preempt state law, arguing that only Congress has that power.

Read this article at Texas Tribune - Subscribers Only

Unemployment claims in Texas declined last week

Initial filings for unemployment benefits in Texas dropped last week compared with the week prior, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday. New jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 15,890 in the week ending December 13, down from 19,853 the week before, the Labor Department said. U.S. unemployment claims dropped to 224,000 last week, down 13,000 claims from 237,000 the week prior on a seasonally adjusted basis. Rhode Island saw the largest percentage increase in weekly claims, with claims jumping by 46.8%. Georgia, meanwhile, saw the largest percentage drop in new claims, with claims dropping by 50.4%.

Read this article at Lubbock Avalanche-Journal - Subscribers Only

Texas politics: See the gifts power players got in 2025

As the holiday season arrives, it’s worth looking back at some of the political presents — both wanted and otherwise — that landed in the laps of Texas leaders over the past year. Texas House Democrats handed out one of the biggest gifts of 2025, and it went to a Republican. On the first day of the legislative session in January, 49 of the chamber’s 62 Democrats joined 36 Republicans to elect Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock as speaker. Burrow's rise followed one of the most publicly contentious speaker races in recent memory and came at the expense of Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield. GOP leaders had hoped to unite their 88 members behind a single candidate and shut Democrats out of the process. When Cook failed to secure enough Republican support, the outnumbered Democrats suddenly found themselves with outsized leverage.

What did the Democrats get in return? If not an empty box, it was something pretty close. Under House rules adopted at the start of the session, the longstanding tradition of awarding Democratic lawmakers some committee chairmanships was scrapped. Republicans also passed legislation allowing providers of so-called abortion pills to be sued and approved a measure requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in public schools, which Democrats warned would further blur the separation of church and state. For Burrows, the gift of the gavel appears to be one that will keep on giving. Despite early complaints from Republicans that he lacked caucus backing, Burrows now looks well positioned to retain the speakership if the GOP holds the House after the 2026 midterms. And for Republicans who backed him over Cook, Burrows does not appear to be an electoral albatross heading into primary season. Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, delivered a lump of coal to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in June when he vetoed his fellow Republican's signature legislation — a near-total ban on intoxicating hemp-derived products that would have wiped out much of a multibillion-dollar industry that has boomed in the state. Democratic state Rep. James Talarico received a different kind of gift when conservative podcaster Joe Rogan invited him on for a 2½-hour conversation in July, introducing the Austin lawmaker to a national audience of millions and burnishing his bipartisan credentials. When Talarico officially launched his U.S. Senate campaign weeks later, he looked every bit like Texas Democrats’ chosen candidate for 2026, raising $6 million in a matter of days. But that shine dimmed somewhat in December, when U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, entered the race.

Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only

911 calls, video related to fiery death of Rep. Gonzales’ staffer to remain sealed, AG’s office rules

911 calls, police reports, and video related to the fiery death of Regina Santos-Aviles, a congressional staffer for U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, will not be released, according to a ruling from the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Santos-Aviles died on Sept. 14 after catching on fire in her backyard alone, the Uvalde Police Department previously confirmed to KSAT Investigates. The Bexar County Medical Examiner ruled her death a suicide. The Uvalde Police Department, which is investigating her death with the Texas Rangers, does not believe anyone else was involved. In September, KSAT and several other news agencies requested records from the city of Uvalde about the investigation.

On Dec. 19, records show the Attorney General’s office sided with the city, allowing the records to remain private. The ruling cited two different exceptions: one that allows law-enforcement agencies to withhold records if releasing them could interfere with a criminal investigation. The other allows the state to keep information confidential when another law requires it. In an Oct. 24 letter to the attorney general’s office, an attorney representing the City of Uvalde stated the investigation into Santos-Aviles’ death would soon be closed without any criminal charges being filed. The Daily Mail and multiple national outlets have reported that Gonzales and Santos-Aviles were having an affair, which they say began after she joined the office in 2021. Gonzales has repeatedly refused interviews and questions from KSAT since her death, most recently refusing to answer questions in November. In October, Javier Guerra, an attorney who then represented Santos-Aviles’ husband, Adrian Aviles, told KSAT Investigates that Aviles worried about the release of records related to his wife. Bobby Barrera, who Aviles has since retained to represent him, shared the following statement with KSAT on Friday about the ruling: “I’m so happy that the AG’s Office has recognized that this is a private family tragedy. Public disclosure would have obviously just been used for adverse political purposes.” KSAT Investigates asked Uvalde police for an update on their investigation on Dec. 18 and has yet to hear back. Uvalde PD previously said they are working with the Texas Rangers on the investigation.

Read this article at KSAT - Subscribers Only

Harris County reveals what it would take to bring the Astrodome back to life

Harris County has received cost estimates for two potential futures for the Astrodome: a $752.6 million renovation or a $55 million demolition. County officials released the figures Friday as part of ongoing efforts to determine what to do with the iconic but vacant structure at NRG Park. The renovation option would restore the Astrodome to basic operational functionality, addressing necessary improvements like plumbing and HVAC systems to allow safe occupancy. However, the approach does not include full historic preservation or upgrades to meet modern venue standards, and the facility would still not be suitable to host large-scale collegiate or professional sporting events. The estimated cost is $752,576,133. The demolition option would tear down the structure, clear debris, and leave the below-grade area in its current condition until a future use for the site is identified. That option carries an estimated price tag of $54,966,318.

Interim County Administrator Jesse Dickerman said the figures show the county cannot proceed alone. "These cost estimates illustrate that it will not be financially feasible for Harris County to renovate the Astrodome without significant private investment," Dickerman said. The Astrodome, approximately six miles southwest of downtown Houston, last hosted a scheduled event in 2002. The facility lost its certificate of occupancy in 2009, and the ground level has since been used for storage. Kirksey Architecture prepared the renovation and demolition studies at the request of Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation. The studies were based on visual site assessments and available documents. The renovation study envisions a facility with capacity for 60,000 seats that could accommodate small college division football, high school football, and floor events such as basketball, tennis, wrestling, and pickleball. The facility could also be used by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for concerts and rodeo-related activities.

Read this article at KHOU - Subscribers Only

Texas marijuana leaders welcome federal reclassification

A new executive order signed by former President Donald Trump is changing how marijuana is classified at the federal level, but it does not override Texas’ existing state laws. The order moves marijuana from a Schedule I drug a category reserved for substances considered to have no accepted medical use — to a Schedule III drug. The change loosens federal restrictions on medical research involving marijuana. Industry leaders in Texas say the move is a positive step, even if it does not immediately affect operations in the state.

“It’s great to see that we are finally taking a common-sense approach here,” said Nico Richardson, CEO of Texas Original. Texas Original is one of a limited number of companies licensed to grow and distribute medical marijuana under Texas law. “We’re one of three licenses, and we’re the largest,” Richardson said. Richardson added that support for medical marijuana has grown among some Texas lawmakers, with recent legislation expanding the types of medical marijuana products allowed for patients. “We’re waiting on this approval so we can sell medical vaporization products to patients in Texas as well,” Richardson said. However, not everyone in the cannabis space sees the federal move as a clear win. Some recreational hemp sellers around San Antonio worry that formal changes at the federal level could eventually lead to tighter regulations and costly licensing requirements that could push smaller businesses out of the market. “What we need in this economy is for the regular business owner to participate in this industry with regulation,” said Warren Murtha, owner of Bexar Wellness. For now, both medical marijuana producers and hemp retailers say they are taking a wait-and-see approach as lawmakers consider potential changes at both the state and federal levels.

Read this article at News 4 San Antonio - Subscribers Only

Johnson County sheriff gets 'first and last warning' after accusations he violated bond conditions

Indicted Johnson County Sheriff Adam King can continue serving in his position in a limited capacity after Texas Rangers say he violated his bond conditions at least 13 times amid his ongoing sexual harassment case. During a court hearing Friday, Ranger Patrick Garcia provided photos and video footage from the Johnson County Sheriff's Office that show King walking into the bathroom without an officer and appearing to make contact with two employees with whom he was specifically ordered not to have contact. "The employees and those impacted by this case are scared," Garcia said. "They're nervous about being at work and around the facilities. Some have expressed frustration and being upset about the conditions, and it has impacted, from what they've expressed, their ability to work comfortably in an environment without having worry or anxiety."

Another photo shows a man — purportedly King — with his back towards the camera in a meeting King was not authorized to attend, but King's attorneys and a witness disputed he was the man in that meeting. Garcia said he was provided the footage by an employee from the sheriff's office. Judge John Weeks denied a request from King's attorneys to amend his bond conditions so he could work without restrictions. But Weeks also denied a request from the Rangers to revoke his bond altogether. "This is your first and last warning," Weeks told King. The sheriff was initially on paid administrative leave after his first indictments in August, but has since been allowed to return to work with restrictions after his bond conditions were adjusted. Part of King's restrictions include having a chaperone with him at all times, not having any contact with his accusers, and not performing background checks on sheriff’s office employees.

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Lake Worth ISD trustees, Texas education leaders review takeover plans

Lake Worth ISD leaders met with Texas officials behind closed doors in Austin to discuss the state takeover of the 3,200-student district. Education Commissioner Mike Morath convened Lake Worth trustees at the Texas Education Agency headquarters Friday afternoon for an informal review of the incoming board of managers, conservator and superintendent appointments. Board President Tammy Thomas and trustees Cindy Burt and Mac Belmontes met with Morath eight days after the state took control of the small district along the northwest border of Fort Worth. The intervention followed nearly a decade of low academic performance, including five consecutive F’s at Marilyn Miller Language Academy, which triggered the takeover. Trustees were expected to recite their turnaround plans for students’ academic success.

Thomas said there were no decisions made, but she and the other trustees appeared upbeat as they prepared to head back to Tarrant County. “It went wonderful,” Thomas said after the meeting. “Of course we’re not going to get a decision today. But we had a wonderful meeting. We didn’t expect a decision today. We talked about the situation, and we all have the children in our best interests.” Morath, who was not available for comment after the meeting, did not signal his next steps or when they are likely to be expected. Lake Worth ISD manager applications are due Jan. 31. The delegation injected an element of holiday goodwill by presenting the commissioner with a red tin of assorted sweets made by Thomas and a Christmas card signed by the three trustees. “We will just await his decision,” Thomas said. “We’re all going to go home and get ready for Christmas.”

Read this article at Fort Worth Report - Subscribers Only

David Brockman: A light the darkness cannot extinguish

The editor of this publication wasn’t exaggerating when he called 2025 “this frankly awful year”: Things are dark, and likely to get much darker. Our politics nationally and here in Texas is now firmly in the grip of a narrow, petty tribalism that feeds on enmity. Each day brings new horrors; scrolling through social media inevitably becomes doom-scrolling. The loudest voices work to divide us, inflaming distrust, demonizing (sometimes literally) those who disagree and dehumanizing those regarded as different. Meanwhile, those seeking a more compassionate and just society seem feeble. As our nation spirals into a nightmarish darkness, there’s an understandable temptation to despair—even as the work of compassion, justice, and solidarity is more urgent than ever. But how can we fend off that temptation, especially when it sometimes seems as if the darkness is all there is? I, too, struggle with this question. One answer I’ve found in my work as a religion scholar is an affirmation common to several religious traditions. Precisely because it transcends religious boundaries, it can speak to all of us.

It testifies—in the words of my own tradition, Christianity—to a light that “shines in the darkness,” a light the darkness cannot overcome, a light of compassion, beauty, justice, and love. The darkness, it says, is never all there is. Indeed, the light is closer than we realize. Like Christianity, Hinduism attests to a light the darkness cannot overcome. In the annual feast of Diwali (reminiscent of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights), Hindus celebrate the victory of light over darkness by lighting candles throughout their homes. As my Texas Christian University colleague Antoinette DeNapoli has explained, Diwali “celebrates the victory of goodness over evil, or truth over falsity, or knowledge over ignorance.” One need not be Hindu to appreciate setting aside a time each year to celebrate these values. For its part, the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah points to sparks of infinite light scattered throughout the world. This teaching is rooted in the Kabbalists’ elaboration on the biblical creation story, according to which these sparks are “held captive within every object, every event,” as Tzvi Freeman writes. It is up to us to release them from their captivity through the work of “repairing the world”— tikkun olam—which includes acts of social justice, compassion, and kindness. Again, one need not subscribe to the specific myth to appreciate the basic insight here. No matter how deep the darkness, sparks of light, beauty, and joy surround us—in, say, a baby’s smile, a lover’s touch, a refugee family’s safe arrival in a place of sanctuary, the first drops of rain on dry earth, a fragile monarch butterfly pausing its 3,000-mile migration to sip nectar from a blue mistflower. These simple beauties hint at a “more than” that transcends the ugly tribalism that consumes our current moment. “When we perceive beauty,” Freeman writes, “it is because we have found [a] window to the infinite.” When we let these joys radiate out in acts of kindness to all our fellow beings, we truly are “repairing the world.”

Read this article at Texas Observer - Subscribers Only

‘No one has considered them’: Families fight schools over special ed services

When Ryan Ben Alaya was in fourth grade, things seemed to be going well. He was doing well in his classes, his teachers described him as bright and motivated, and he loved going to school. But the following year, when Ryan started fifth grade, things changed, said his dad, Hakim Ben Alaya. Ryan’s teachers said he was being physically aggressive in class. Ryan told his parents that teachers physically restrained him in his chair. At one point, Ryan was suspended five times in a span of 10 school days. Ryan is what education researchers call a twice-exceptional student — he’s been identified as gifted, and he’s been diagnosed with autism. His individualized education programs, or IEP, states that he’s supposed to be in a regular classroom. But Ben Alaya says he worries school officials inflated his son’s disciplinary data in an effort to move him to a more restrictive classroom setting than he needs.

Under federal disability rights law, school districts are required to place students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment possible. But parents in North Texas schools say that doesn’t always happen. The parents of three students with disabilities in three separate districts told the Star-Telegram that school officials have pressured them to allow their kids to be placed in more restrictive environments, including self-contained special education classrooms. But a special education expert said school districts that are trying to decide where to place a student with disabilities have a certain amount of leeway to consider other factors, including how that student’s presence in the classroom affects other students. Ryan was a fifth-grader last year at W.A. Porter Elementary School in Birdville ISD. Early in the school year, Ben Alaya learned that teachers and aides at the school were using physical prompting, a technique in which a teacher physically guides the student’s hands when teaching them a new skill. It’s a common practice for educators and parents working with kids with autism, but Ryan’s family had communicated to school leaders that strategy caused emotional distress for Ryan. Teachers were also removing Ryan from class frequently, which also made him upset, Ben Alaya said.

Read this article at Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Subscribers Only

Trump rescheduled marijuana. What does that mean for Texas?

President Donald Trump on Thursday reclassified marijuana under federal law with a new executive order, a change that would not fully legalize weed products but would recognize their medical uses. In Texas, that could mean lower taxes and a more profitable business model for the state’s medicinal marijuana companies, which have been struggling to gain a toehold. “We’ve been fighting for legitimacy for over a decade, and this moment puts some wind in our sails,” said Jervonne Singletary, a spokesperson for goodblend, an Austin-based medical cannabis company. Trump’s order moves marijuana from Schedule I to the less restrictive Schedule III, grouping it with controlled medical substances like ketamine, steroids and some opioids. The rescheduling process began under former President Joe Biden and was playing out at federal agencies, but will be accelerated under his executive order.

Rescheduling is not the same as legalization, and marijuana will still be illegal under federal law with existing penalties intact. But the move marks the most significant change in U.S. marijuana policy in years, allowing more avenues to research the drug and potentially opening the door to more cannabis-derived medical products. Trump highlighted the issue’s strong public support in opinion polling and said his administration had received many calls from Americans living with chronic health issues. “Hopefully this reclassification will help many of those patients live a far better life,” Trump said at a press conference Thursday. Downgrading cannabis remains controversial with many elected Republicans. U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco, led two dozen House GOP lawmakers in urging Trump to keep marijuana on Schedule I, as did nearly half of Senate Republicans. Many effects of the order aren’t entirely clear, as an array of state and federal agencies will be required to respond to the change. In Texas, the change could help boost medical marijuana businesses. Working with a Schedule I substance has long prevented the medicinal marijuana industry from taking typical business exemptions on their federal taxes.

Read this article at San Antonio Express-News - Subscribers Only

LGBTQ+ candidates line up for Texas Dem primary

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling just days before the candidate filing deadline turned Texas elections upside down. The ruling allows Texas to use redrawn congressional district maps designed to put five additional Republicans into Congress. Among the Democrats targeted in the redistricting battle that took place in the Texas Legislature was Rep. Julie Johnson, the first LGBTQ+ person elected to Congress from the South. Instead of trying to retake District 32, which has been redrawn to include a large swath of Republican East Texas, she filed to run for the newly-drawn District 33, which is entirely in Dallas County. Facing Johnson in the primary is Colin Allred, who represented District 32 before Johnson. Instead of running for reelection to his seat in 2024, he ran for Senate against Ted Cruz. This year, he had been running for the Democratic nomination to face Sen. John Cornyn.

But when Rep. Jasmine Crockett was redistricted out of her own district and decided to run for the chance to face Cornyn, Allred dropped out of that race and filed to face Johnson. Two other candidates will be on the primary ballot facing Johnson and Allred — Carlos Quintanilla and Zeeshan Hafeez. Normally that would indicate a runoff is likely, but in her bid for her current District 32 seat, Johnson won more than 50 percent of the vote with 10 other candidates on the ballot. Of the 14 Dallas County seats in the Texas Legislature, only Venton Jones is being challenged in the Democratic primary. That may be because when Crockett filed for Senate, Jones was expected to run for her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is the first Texas legislator who is openly HIV-positive and was the first legislator to propose to his husband on the floor of the House. In the primary, he’ll face Amanda Richardson and Justice McFarlane. Jessica Gonzalez filed for re-election to her state House seat. The chair of the LGBTQ caucus is unopposed in the primary and in the general election. State Sen. Molly Cook is running for re-election. She’s the first out lesbian to serve in the Texas Senate. All state representatives are up for re-election including LGBTQ+ reps Erin Zwiener, Mary Gonzalez, Ann Johnson, Jolanda Jones, Christian Manuel, Josie Garcia and Lauren Simmons as well as Dallas County’s Jessica Gonzalez and Venton Jones.

Read this article at Dallas Voice - Subscribers Only

TEA weighs Beaumont ISD governance takeover following crucial discussions

Beaumont Independent School District officials are awaiting a decision from the Texas Education Agency after meeting with state leaders in Austin to discuss the district’s future governance. District officials met with the TEA on Wednesday to discuss the appointment of a new board of managers and a conservator as part of a potential state takeover. During the meeting, BISD also formally asked the agency to reconsider assuming control of the district. BISD District 1 Trustee Joe Evans said Superintendent Dr. Shannon Allen later shared details of her conversation with Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.

According to Evans, Allen said Morath listened to district leaders, acknowledged incremental improvements and expressed respect for the work being done by the BISD team. District officials expect a decision from the commissioner within the next two weeks. If the TEA proceeds with the takeover, the transition to a board of managers could occur sometime between March and June. As of now, 24 community members have submitted applications to serve on the board of managers, including former BISD principal Dr. Belinda George.

Read this article at 12 News Now - Subscribers Only

National Stories

‘Don’s best friend’: How Epstein and Trump bonded over the pursuit of women

Jeffrey Epstein was a “terrific guy” and “a lot of fun to be with.” He and Donald J. Trump also had “no formal relationship.” They went to a lot of the same parties. But they “did not socialize together.” They were never really friends, just business acquaintances. Or “there was no relationship” at all. “I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.” For nearly a quarter-century, Mr. Trump and his representatives have offered shifting, often contradictory accounts of his relationship with Mr. Epstein, one sporadically captured by society photographers and in news clips before they fell out sometime in the mid-2000s. Closely scrutinized since Mr. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell during Mr. Trump’s first term, their friendship — and questions about what the president knew of Mr. Epstein’s abuses — now threatens to consume his second one. The controversy has shaken Mr. Trump’s iron hold on his base like no other. Loyal supporters have demanded to know why the administration has not moved more quickly to unearth the convicted sex offender’s remaining secrets.

In November, after resisting months of pressure to release more Epstein-related documents held by the federal government — and facing an almost unheard-of revolt among Republican lawmakers — Mr. Trump reversed himself, signing legislation that requires their release beginning this week. Mr. Epstein had a talent for acquiring powerful friends, some of whom have become ensnared in the continuing scrutiny of his crimes. For months, Mr. Trump has labored furiously to shift himself out of the frame, dismissing questions about his relationship with Mr. Epstein as a “Democrat hoax” and imploring his supporters to ignore the matter entirely. An examination of their history by The New York Times has found no evidence implicating Mr. Trump in Mr. Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of minors. But the two men’s relationship was both far closer and far more complex than the president now admits. Beginning in the late 1980s, the two men forged a bond intense enough to leave others who knew them with the impression that they were each other’s closest friend, The Times found.

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Democrats second-guess DNC decision to end autopsy of losses to Trump, GOP

Democrats say they’ve finally found their footing. And the Democratic National Committee (DNC) says it agrees. Democrats are winning again. So why would they put out an autopsy report that talks about how they lost? The party, says DNC Chair Ken Martin, needs to move forward, not look back. That’s the position Democrats find themselves in as 2026 inches closer and they eye the midterm elections. “My party loves to gloss things over,” one top Democratic strategist said. “We love to say, ‘Nothing to see here. We’re good.'” “And that’s how we lose elections,” the strategist added. Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons shared that sentiment. “The people who volunteered, donated and voted deserve to know what went wrong,” he said. “The DNC should tell them.”

Democrats have spent the last year trying to find their way out of the political wilderness. They have grappled with what went wrong and questioned not only how they could have allowed President Trump to win a second term but also how they could lose control of both the House and the Senate in the process. But in recent weeks, they have notched key gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia. They won a redistricting battle in California. They even emerged victorious in the mayoral race in Miami, something that hasn’t happened in nearly three decades. Trump is also helping their cause, Democrats say, by mishandling the Jeffrey Epstein files, raising tariffs and mishandling the economy. That’s why his own approval ratings have dipped since the beginning of the year, they say. “The Democratic Party is going into the new year with the wind at its back,” said Democratic strategist Anthony Coley, who argued “disarray” in the GOP is helping his party.

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Fed’s Beth Hammack is inflation-wary and prefers holding rates steady into the spring

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said she doesn’t see any need to change interest rates for several months after the central bank cut rates at its last three meetings. Hammack has opposed recent rate cuts because she is more worried about elevated inflation than the potential labor-market fragility that prompted officials to lower rates by a cumulative 0.75-point over the past several months. Hammack wasn’t a voting member on the rate-setting committee this year but will become a voter next year. “My base case is that we can stay here for some period of time, until we get clearer evidence that either inflation is coming back down to target or the employment side is weakening more materially,” she said in an interview Thursday with The Wall Street Journal’s “Take On the Week” podcast. Hammack said a favorable inflation reading for November released last week likely understated 12-month price growth due to data-collection distortions created by the government shutdown in October and the first half of November.

While the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer-price index was up 2.7% from a year earlier in November, estimates that adjusted for the data-measurement difficulties “puts it closer” to the 2.9% or 3.0% figure that forecasters had broadly anticipated, she said. “While it’s great to get this official BLS data back, I do take it with a grain of salt,” she said. Hammack’s concern about lowering interest rates centers on her view that the so-called neutral level—which neither spurs nor slows the economy—is higher than widely believed and that the economy is primed for solid growth next year. The neutral rate can’t be directly observed, though it can be inferred from how the economy is faring. “It feels to me like we’re maybe a little bit below” her estimate of the neutral rate, meaning the Fed’s policy could be, on net, providing stimulus, she said. Hammack suggested the Fed didn’t need to change its benchmark interest rate, currently in a range between 3.5% and 3.75%, at least until spring. By then, she said, it would be able to better assess whether recent goods-price inflation was receding as tariffs are more fully digested through the supply chain. The former Goldman Sachs executive said she is hearing from business leaders that higher input costs, including those due to tariffs, could lead them to make larger price increases in the first quarter. That is concerning, she said, given how inflation has been “stuck around this close-to-3% level for the better part of…18 months.”

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125,000 left without power in SF after massive PG&E outage

More than 100,000 customers in San Francisco were left without power due to a massive PG&E outage on Saturday. PG&E first reported an outage in the Inner Sunset affecting just under 15,000 customers around 9:40 a.m., which was followed by outages at around 10:10 a.m. affecting the Richmond, Presidio, and Golden Gate Park areas, and parts of downtown San Francisco that affected thousands more. BART said trains would not run through the Powell Street, Civic Center and Van Ness stations due to the power outage. Video shared with KTVU showed the BART stations in the area darkened, with tollgates and escalators not functioning. BART later announced about 7:10 p.m. that the Powell Street station was reopened. The Cvic Center station was reopened about 25 minutes later.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said traffic lights in the area would likely be affected. Images from bystanders in the city showed intersections snarled with traffic and automated vehicles struggling to navigate the streets without the presence of traffic signals. Waymo released a statement announcing that it would suspend its services during the power outage. "We are focused on keeping our riders safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the clear access they need to do their work," Waymo said. PG&E's outage map showed that – as of about 4:15 p.m. – nearly 125,000 users in San Francisco were without power, comprising more than 30% of the utility company's customer base in the city. At about 6:15 p.m., San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie released a video statement advising people in the city to stay inside if possible in order to stay safe during the power outages. "We still have many traffic lights out, we have a lot officers," Lurie said. "[We have] law enforcement officers, traffic enforcement officers out at intersections. But we got rain coming and its nighttime."

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The 20-something billionaires ushering in a betting bonanza in Trump’s Washington

Wall Street’s newest whiz kids were up against the full force of the federal government a year ago. Now, with President Donald Trump in charge, Shayne Coplan and Tarek Mansour — the messy-haired, 20-something billionaires behind the betting platforms Polymarket and Kalshi — are riding high. Coplan’s Polymarket is returning to the U.S., one year after federal agents raided his apartment as part of a probe into whether the company was illegally operating domestically. And Mansour’s Kalshi has beaten back the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, its chief regulator, in a fight over election betting. Both are now expanding further into politics and sports while drawing big-name backers like Donald Trump Jr. and the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company.

The companies, known as prediction markets, take online bets on everything from elections to details of Taylor Swift’s wedding to the return of Jesus Christ. That trading then generates odds showing the likelihood of a particular event happening, such as who will win the 2028 presidential election. (Vice President JD Vance’s odds are currently at around 30 percent, the highest of any contender on Polymarket and Kalshi.) Once a fringe corner of finance, prediction markets could eventually become a trillion-dollar industry, according to Mansour, making online bets pervasive in everyday life. This raises questions about the potential for insider trading and other risks that come with gambling on everything and anything. As the biggest players, Polymarket and Kalshi stand to benefit the most. The story behind the comeback of these two companies offers a window into what it takes to get ahead in Trump’s Washington, where few have seen their stars rise so far so fast.

Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only

How the Supreme Court’s mail-in ballot ruling could affect voters

The Supreme Court is set to decide this term whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day. The case centers on a law in Mississippi, but a total of about 18 states and territories accept such late-arriving ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. Should the court rule that all ballots nationwide must be received by Election Day, it could lead to the rejection of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of ballots in the future, affecting a swath of American voters in rural and urban areas. In 2024, at least 725,000 ballots were postmarked by Election Day and arrived within the legally accepted post-election window, according to election officials in 14 of the 22 states and territories where late-arriving ballots were accepted that year. (Four of these states — Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio and Utah — have since changed their policies and will accept only mail ballots that arrive by Election Day.)

Another roughly 104,000 mail ballots were rejected nationwide for arriving after the deadline, according to a federal report on election data. The roughly 725,000 ballots represent a sliver of the total number of mail ballots cast in the 2024 election across the 14 states and territories — about 24 million, according to federal election data. Nonetheless, 725,000 voters constitute nearly the population of a congressional district, a significant number to be potentially left uncounted. Of course, a decision by the court eliminating late-arriving ballots would not effectively cause 725,000 votes to be left uncounted. Voter education efforts by election officials, and potential changes in policies and procedures, would most likely help the vast majority of voters avoid having their ballot rejected based on the court’s ruling. But education and policy changes can go only so far. During the 2020 election, the State Supreme Court in Pennsylvania, a top political battleground, ruled that ballots postmarked by Election Day should be counted if they arrived within three days after the closing of polls. Roughly 10,000 ballots arrived and were counted in those three days, according to the secretary of state at the time.

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Lead Stories

US says price increases eased last month but data may be distorted and Americans aren't feeling it

At a time when Americans are frustrated and angry over the high cost of living, the government released a report Thursday showing that inflation had cooled unexpectedly in November. But economists quickly warned that that last month’s numbers were suspect because they’d been delayed and likely distorted by the 43-day federal shutdown. And most Americans have not felt any let up in the high prices they are paying for food, insurance, utilities and other basic necessities. The Labor Department reported Thursday that its consumer price index rose 2.7% in November from a year earlier. Yet, year-over-year inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Americans, dismayed by high prices, handed big victories to Democrats in local and state elections last month.

The inflation report was delayed eight days by the shutdown, which also prevented the Labor Department from compiling overall numbers for consumer prices and core inflation in October and disrupted the usual data-collecting process. Thursday’s report gave investors, businesses and policymakers their first look at CPI since the September numbers were released on Oct. 24. Consumer prices had risen 3% in September from a year earlier, and forecasters had expected the November CPI to match that year-over-year increase. “It’s likely a bit distorted,’’ said Diane Swonk, chief economist at the tax and consulting firm KPMG. “The good news is that it’s cooling. We’ll take a win when we can get it.’’ Still, Swonk added: “The data is truncated, and we just don’t know how much of it to trust.’’ By disrupting the economy – especially government contracting – the shutdown may have contributed to a cooling in prices, she said. Shoppers walk around the Somerset Collection mall, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Troy, Mich. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)1 of 2 | Shoppers walk around the Somerset Collection mall, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Troy, Mich. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun) People shop at the Somerset Collection mall, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Troy, Mich. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)2 of 2 | People shop at the Somerset Collection mall, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Troy, Mich. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun) By PAUL WISEMAN and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO Updated 10:59 AM CST, December 18, 2025 Leer en español Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit WASHINGTON (AP) — At a time when Americans are frustrated and angry over the high cost of living, the government released a report Thursday showing that inflation had cooled unexpectedly in November. But economists quickly warned that that last month’s numbers were suspect because they’d been delayed and likely distorted by the 43-day federal shutdown. And most Americans have not felt any let up in the high prices they are paying for food, insurance, utilities and other basic necessities. The Labor Department reported Thursday that its consumer price index rose 2.7% in November from a year earlier. Yet, year-over-year inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Americans, dismayed by high prices, handed big victories to Democrats in local and state elections last month. The inflation report was delayed eight days by the shutdown, which also prevented the Labor Department from compiling overall numbers for consumer prices and core inflation in October and disrupted the usual data-collecting process. Thursday’s report gave investors, businesses and policymakers their first look at CPI since the September numbers were released on Oct. 24. Consumer prices had risen 3% in September from a year earlier, and forecasters had expected the November CPI to match that year-over-year increase. Related StoriesGovernment will release September jobs report next week, ending data drought from federal shutdownGovernment will release September jobs report next week, ending data drought from federal shutdownUS retail sales rose slightly in September, adding to months of big gainsUS retail sales rose slightly in September, adding to months of big gainsFed's preferred inflation gauge stayed elevated in September as spending weakenedFed's preferred inflation gauge stayed elevated in September as spending weakened “It’s likely a bit distorted,’’ said Diane Swonk, chief economist at the tax and consulting firm KPMG. “The good news is that it’s cooling. We’ll take a win when we can get it.’’ Still, Swonk added: “The data is truncated, and we just don’t know how much of it to trust.’’ By disrupting the economy – especially government contracting – the shutdown may have contributed to a cooling in prices, she said. Kay Haigh, global co-head of fixed income and liquidity solutions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, warned that the November numbers were “noisy ... The canceling of the October report makes month-on-month comparisons impossible, for example, while the truncated information-gathering process given the shutdown could have caused systematic biases in the data.’'

Read this article at Associated Press - Subscribers Only

Economic anxiety has Texas manufacturers and retailers on edge

The latest tranche of Texas Business Outlook Surveys from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas was released the last week in November. The outlook self-described — at least among the Texas manufacturing, services and retail sectors surveyed — is not one of unbridled optimism. Some 310 businesses responded to the survey, which includes five “special questions” aimed at the measuring the economic pulse of Texas business. The survey was taken between Nov. 10 and Nov. 18. For reference, the federal shutdown officially ended Nov. 12. The special questions were specific, relating to revenue and employment. The answers, mixed at best, leaned negative.

The first question was simply about earnings: How has your firm’s operating margin, defined as earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) as a share of total revenue, changed over the past six months? Only 21% of respondents answered that their EBIT had increased slightly or significantly. Only 2% of that 21% cited a significant increase in EBIT. About a third (33%) said their EBIT was unchanged, while 47% said it had decreased, with 13% saying their pre-tax and interest earnings had decreased “significantly.” That’s worse than November 2024, when 36% reported declines EBIT, and on a par with 2022 (49%) and 2023 (48%) during the worst periods of the post-pandemic inflation. Asked what they expect from the next six months, 29% of respondents said they expect a decline in EBIT. That’s a higher negative than 2024, when only 18% said they expected a decline.

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MAGA infighting erupts at Turning Point USA Conference

Members of the MAGA faithful gathered here Thursday to kick off Turning Point USA’s America Fest, the largest meeting for the organization since its founder, Charlie Kirk, was shot to death on a Utah college campus in September. Despite that somber backdrop, the event quickly devolved into a spectacle of MAGA infighting. Ben Shapiro, the first speaker after widow Erika Kirk, ripped into those who would take the same stage in the coming hours and days. He called out conservative commentators, blasting Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Steve Bannon as “frauds and grifters.” “The conservative movement is in serious danger,” Shapiro said, arguing the danger is not just on the left, but “from charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty.”

He called Bannon “a PR flack for Jeffrey Epstein” ahead of the imminent release of files related to the late convicted sex offender, while praising President Donald Trump and his administration’s handling of the issue. Trump pushed to stop Republicans in Congress from voting to release the files, though he signed the legislation once it was passed. Both Bannon and Trump appear in photos with Epstein that were released by House Democrats. Shapiro particularly focused on Carlson — both for elevating Owens’ conspiracy theories about Kirk’s murder and for his recent interview with far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier who has repeatedly pushed antisemitic tropes. Carlson, a former Fox News host, now hosts his show on X and routinely garners millions of views. “The people who refused to condemn Candace’s truly vicious attacks — and some of them are speaking here tonight — are guilty of cowardice,” Shapiro said, adding later: “If you host a Hitler apologist, Nazi-loving, anti-American piece of refuse like Nick Fuentes … you ought to own it.”

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Paxtons agree to unseal records in divorce case after media challenge

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, Angela, have agreed to unseal their divorce case after a group of media organizations requested the records be made public. According to an order signed by the Paxtons’ lawyers, the couple has agreed that the court can “restore full public access to the case file.” The judge presiding over the case must sign off on the order for it to become official. A hearing is scheduled for Friday morning. State Sen. Angela Paxton filed for divorce in July alleging adultery. Soon after, she asked for the court record to be sealed. A previous judge handling the case agreed and put all of the records under seal. Ken Paxton supported the decision, saying the press was attempting to unfairly invade his personal life.

Eight media organizations, including The Texas Newsroom, and nonpartisan nonprofit the Campaign for Accountability, filed requests to unseal the records. The media group argued Paxton’s divorce records should be public because he is an elected official running for office who has faced repeated allegations of corruption. The attorney general’s finances, which are a subject of the divorce case, have been central to the misconduct allegations against him. While he has been charged with multiple crimes during his decade in statewide office, Paxton has never been convicted. Paxton is now challenging John Cornyn in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

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State Stories

ERCOT CEO: Data centers must turn off ahead of rotating outages

An unprecedented surge of data centers could be coming to Texas, prompting concerns over how the state’s power grid — which infamously suffered deadly blackouts in 2021 — will keep up with the breakneck demand. According to Pablo Vegas, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, residents don't need to be alarmed: A new state law requires data centers to disconnect in phases at the grid operator’s discretion during a severe grid emergency. “If a data center connects onto our grid and the grid gets tight, they have to turn off before we (have rotating outages),” Vegas said in a recent interview with the Houston Chronicle. As Big Tech companies race to develop artificial intelligence, a huge pipeline of data centers — some planning to use as much electricity as entire cities — are seeking to come to Texas, attracted to the state’s plentiful land and relatively cheap energy for industrial customers.

As a result, near-term electricity demand is expected to grow magnitudes faster in Texas than anywhere else in the country, according to an Energy Department analysis. Even if many of the data centers proposed for Texas aren’t ultimately built, ERCOT has forecasted that electricity demand across its system could increase 70% by 2031. “It's really been just something that we've never experienced before in the history of ERCOT,” Vegas said. The Trump administration has embraced Big Tech’s AI push, arguing that the United States has to outcompete adversaries such as China in developing the potentially transformative technology. Recently, Gov. Greg Abbott appeared alongside Google’s CEO as the tech giant announced $40 billion in AI-related investments across the state, which would make Texas home to more Google data centers than anywhere else in the world. But in welcoming data centers, Texas leaders — particularly Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — have also raised concerns about how the influx could jeopardize the state’s power grid. Those concerns manifested in Senate Bill 6, a law Abbott signed in June that received some pushback from the data center industry.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Business owners search for solutions after termination of HUB program

As the year comes to a close, Jessica Scanlon, founder of Hot Dog Marketing, can already cross one item off of her 2026 to-do list: renewing her Historically Underutilized Business program status. After Comptroller Kelly Hancock abruptly announced in early December that the program would no longer provide benefits to women- and minority-owned businesses, business owners and local advocates have raised concerns, unaware of how they are going to move forward. The HUB program was initially designed to uplift businesses owned by marginalized communities and has now been altered to exclusively support veterans. Hancock announced that the program has been narrowed to strictly support veterans with an impairment connected to their service, and will be renamed the Veteran Heroes United in Business program. Only 31% of veterans in the nation have a service-connected disability, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Over 15,000 Texas businesses have now had their status revoked. According to the comptroller’s fiscal year 2025 semi-annual report, which was released in May, of the 15,762 companies that were registered under the program in FY25, a mere 485 are owned by disabled veterans. Of those 485, none are owned by female vets. Since 1999, the HUB program has served as a gateway for small businesses to play a role in substantial state-funded projects that are usually executed by larger, out-of-state companies. Through the HUB directory on the comptroller’s website, prime contractors can find Texas businesses that specialize in certain areas needed to complete their projects. For contracts greater than $100,000, prime contractors are required to submit a HUB subcontracting plan that demonstrates that they have made a “good-faith effort” to incorporate small businesses in the project. “I’ve been kind of telling people the HUB program is not a DEI program; it’s a small-business accelerator program,” Scanlon said.

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Brianna Aguilera's family announces next step in independent investigation

The parents of Brianna Aguilera have revealed their next steps in their search for answers in the Texas A&M student's death. Her mother, Stephanie Rodriguez, told PEOPLE that the family plans to conduct a second, independent autopsy once the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office has completed its own investigation. The medical examiner will determine Aguilera's official cause and manner of death within 60 to 90 days after her death. Rodriguez and the family's legal counsel, Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, did not respond to requests for comment from the San Antonio Express-News on the independent autopsy.

Austin police have said the 19-year-old Laredo native, who fell from a 17th-floor apartment near the University of Texas campus in the early morning of Nov. 29, died by suicide. She became intoxicated at a Texas A&M-versus-Texas tailgate the evening before and argued with her boyfriend over the phone before the fall, police allege. Investigators contend that Aguilera struggled with suicidal thoughts, citing a deleted suicide note police found on her phone dated just days prior to her death. "My daughter was not suicidal," Rodriguez previously said. "I know my daughter better than everyone." Buzbee has said there are "serious and disturbing questions" about Aguilera's death. He believes it would have been difficult for Aguilera to scale the 44-inch balcony railing when she stood at 5 feet, 2 inches and had nothing to climb on. He claims witnesses who heard arguing at the apartment building before she died were not interviewed by police. A supposed suicide note police said they found deleted from her phone was just an "essay," according to the attorney. He slammed the Austin Police Department, saying police lack the legal authority to rule her death suicide without a completed autopsy. If police do not reopen the case and assign a different investigator, Buzbee plans to send a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott requesting an independent investigation by the Texas Rangers. His firm has compiled 30 to 40 pages of evidence to submit for consideration to the Texas Rangers, he said. Amid false reports of a homicide suspect, the Austin Police Department has said that her death "remains an active death investigation and is not being investigated as a homicide."

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Another Texas school district voted to close schools, what’s going on?

Multiple school districts in Central Texas have had to make tough decisions following declining enrollment, increased costs and years of no state funding increases. Now we are seeing more and more districts make tough decisions impacting students and families. On Wednesday, more than 60 people signed up to share their concerns about Leander ISD’s consolidation and closure plans. “Closing a school without a student focused plan raises serious concerns,” said one of the many parents who spoke at the meeting. Parents, teachers and students lined up to speak to the Leander ISD School Board. “I am not going to begin to understand why we would ever consider closing an A rated school,” said another parent at the meeting. The Leander ISD School board ended up voting to close Faubian Elementary and they could discuss further closures in the coming years.

Leander ISD is not the only district in Central Texas dealing with consolidations and budget deficits though. Austin ISD approves final school consolidation plan, will close 10 schools Last year, facing a budget deficit, Eanes ISD’s board of trustees voted to close Valley View Elementary School and put a halt to the district’s Spanish immersion program to save money. Fast forward to this year and Austin ISD, the largest district in Central Texas, announced the closure of 10 schools and many program moves. “If we don’t make these decisions then we will not move ourselves to get to a balanced state which is something I believe in,” said Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura. School closures are happening across the state, with Fort Worth ISD moving forward with a plan to shut down 18 schools over the next several years and San Antonio ISD has had closures as well. Amidst these closures some parents say they will leave their districts for private schools, charter schools or other districts nearby. Some of the issues schools are facing include declining enrollment, increased costs to operate, budget deficits and competition from charter and private schools.

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San Antonio City Council approves moving May municipal elections to November in narrow vote

The San Antonio City Council approved moving the city’s elections from May to November of odd years in a 6-5 vote. San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones began a push to move the election date last month after she became aware of a change in state law that would allow cities to move May elections to November if a city council passed a resolution. The city had until December 31 to approve the resolution. Multiple voting rights groups had expressed support for the measure saying elections in November would gain a higher turnout.

However, concern was drawn by some council members over local school districts that partnered with the city’s May election and the decision would force districts to change their elections as well. The decision is a monumental shift in the city’s election process that includes adding a one-time, six-month extension to the terms of council members in 2029 and changing inauguration dates from June to December. Who voted Yes: Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran, District 4 Councilman Edward Mungia, District 6 Councilman Ric Galvan, and District 9 Councilwoman Misty Spears. Who voted No: District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur, District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito, District 8 Councilwoman Ivalis Meza Gonzalez, and District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte

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Dallas company won’t answer questions about White House ballroom

Dallas-based engineering giant AECOM, a lead contractor on President Donald Trump’s new White House ballroom, has declined to provide information sought by Senate Democrats, citing secrecy provisions in its contract with the administration. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called the company’s refusal to answer questions “entirely unsatisfactory” and said Democrats are weighing additional steps to force disclosure. “We’re going to pursue as much facts and evidence as we can,” Blumenthal told The Dallas Morning News. “And we’re reviewing other ways that we can demand more information and also highlight and elevate this issue for the public.” The fight turns on whether contractors on a privately funded White House project have to answer to Congress. Trump picked AECOM as one of the primary firms to engineer the ballroom, the major new build on the site of the East Wing after its demolition in October.

Trump repeatedly has defended the project, arguing the White House needs a larger space for major events, including during a Hanukkah reception Tuesday night. He also noted that a judge had declined, for now, to block construction on what has become one of his signature projects. Trump has pegged the ballroom at $400 million, roughly double early estimates. “Who else but in our country would sue to stop a $400 million beautiful ballroom that people have been after?” he said. “The White House has wanted a ballroom for 150 years.” The Adelson family, casino magnates, major Republican donors and owners of the Dallas Mavericks, are among the private contributors backing the project. Miriam Adelson attended Tuesday’s White House event. Democrats argue the public deserves full transparency about how the ballroom is being financed and whether donors with federal business stand to benefit. Blumenthal, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and other Democrats wrote to the White House in October seeking a complete accounting of the ballroom’s financing and the terms under which donations were accepted.

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Who enforces Texas’ new parental rights law? Houston judge raises question while weighing legal challenge

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others were in a federal court Thursday in Houston, seeking a preliminary injunction that would block Texas from enforcing four key provisions of Senate Bill 12. The expansive "parental rights" law was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott this summer. In part, it effectively bans all programming related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), prohibits employees from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation and bars student clubs based on gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools. The law also requires schools to take disciplinary action against employees who provide health services against the wishes of students' parents or guardians. That aspect of SB 12 has sparked confusion among school nurses and districts across the state.

A key question raised by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Eskridge, who did not immediately issue a ruling Thursday after hearing arguments for more than three hours, centers around who exactly is charged with enforcing the new law. Attorneys for two of the defendants, Katy ISD and Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, argued they should not be included in the suit because they are not enforcers of consequences for not following SB 12. When asked in court who the defendants thought the enforcer would be if not Morath or the three districts that were sued, Katy ISD attorney Christopher Gilbert said it was a good question and speculated it might be Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. "I am surprised to hear that that is a good question for the court to ask," Eskridge said. The lawsuit was filed in August by the ACLU, Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA) and others against Morath and three school districts: Houston ISD, Katy ISD and Plano ISD. This lawsuit attempts to stop four specific aspects of SB 12 from going into effect statewide, characterized by the plaintiffs as the GSA club ban, the inclusivity ban, the social transitioning ban and the ban on discussion of LGBTQ+ identities.

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Austin reaches four-year, $63 million deal with city's firefighters

After months of back-and-forth, Austin has OK'd a four-year labor contract with the Austin Firefighters Association. The hope is that the $63 million deal will boost recruitment at the Austin Fire Department by increasing wages and adjusting staff schedules. Those schedule adjustments are intended to prevent gaps in service amid a hiring slump and burnout among firefighters. The firefighters union said yes to the tentative deal Wednesday night with 72% of members approving the contract. The Austin City Council passed it unanimously Thursday, capping off a contentious contract negotiation. Outgoing AFA President Bob Nicks said the deal maintains a four-person requirement for shifts, a key sticking point in the negotiations for the union.

"I think this agreement is a good deal for labor and management," he said. "It wasn't easy getting here." The city and the AFA previously agreed on a deal back in October ahead of the citywide vote on Proposition Q. The budget proposal in Prop Q would have covered some gaps in AFD's overtime budget. But the ballot measure's failure pushed the city to propose reducing staff on AFD shifts to save money, prompting the union to walk away from the bargaining table last month. After the fallout, the union put together a petition to amend city law to require that four-person standard, but has agreed to drop that effort as a condition of the contract. Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax said the deal resolved months of heated negotiation — and addressed concerns for both sides.

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Defendants in Camp Mystic wrongful death lawsuit respond, ask for case to be moved to Kerr County

The defendants in lawsuits brought by the families of Camp Mystic attendees, who died during a July 4 flood, filed a motion on Dec. 12 to have the Travis County cases moved to a Kerr County court. The parents’ lawsuits argue that the camp and its owner were negligent in preventing the flood-related deaths of their children. KXAN reached out to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for their responses to the motion. In the defendants’ motion to transfer venue, their attorneys wrote that Travis County is an improper venue because the camp is in Kerr County, and that “all relevant events” happened there.

“Potential witnesses include camp staff members who reside in Kerr County and local Kerr County officials. Furthermore, a site visit may be necessary so that the factfinder can see and appreciate the layout of the property and its elevations and the extent of the flood’s damage,” the motion states. The motion also denies the plaintiffs’ claim that Mystic Camps Family Partnership, Ltd. and Mystic Camps Management, LLC “had any employee, much less employees with decision making authority, in Travis County on July 4, 2025, the date of the catastrophic flooding giving rise to this lawsuit.” Both businesses are registered in Travis County. “These entities exist purely for estate planning purposes of Willetta Eastland and Richard Eastland as a means of passing on the legacy of their life’s work to their children,” the motion states. One of the lawsuits specifically points to Willetta and those business entities for establishing venue. According to the Dec. 12 filing, neither she nor any other defendant were in Travis County at the time of the flood.

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Here’s the city’s 30-year funding plan to resolve a $3 billion pension shortfall

Dallas will lock in rising annual payments for its police and fire pension system through 2030, then shift to a funding model tied to investment performance under a new 30-year plan to close a $3 billion shortfall. Plan details: The city will ramp up funding and will stick to the money it budgeted in the first five years. In 2024, the city paid $202 million. This year, they’ll pay $220 million. This will continue until 2030 when “actuarially determined contributions” kick in. That means that after the five-year ramp up, the city’s yearly contributions will become flexible. They will be dependent on how the pension system’s investments perform.

If the pension system is able to raise more money through investments, then the city gets to contribute less. If it doesn’t, then the city will pay more. The city has set caps on how much it’ll pay in a single year in case it finds itself in the midst of an economic downturn, and that cap is only applied on about 15% of the money the city is supposed to pay. What it means: The city will give about $288 million to the pension system in 2030. A majority of those payments – about 85% – is aimed at paying off the liabilities the pension system has accumulated so far, and those are fixed dollars the city will pay regardless. The remaining dollars, which are subject to caps, will pre-fund benefits for active employees based on the city’s projected number of officers. That portion of the plan is designed to ensure first responders currently in service receive the benefits they were promised. Those dollars, about $37 million, are expected to fluctuate with investment gains and losses. If they exceed the cap, set at 5% above or below projections, the city would spread the additional costs over as long as 20 years or until Jan. 1, 2053, whichever comes later.

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Special prosecutors appointed in case to remove Keller ISD trustees

Special prosecutors will evaluate whether Keller ISD trustees violated state open meetings laws — and whether those alleged violations warrant removal from office. A judge appointed a district attorney and special prosecutors to represent Texas in a dispute brought by a north Fort Worth group of homeowners seeking the removal of Keller ISD trustees. The appointment, formalized in a Dec. 8 court order, names Johnson County District Attorney Timothy M. Good as lead counsel for the state in a lawsuit alleging that several Keller ISD trustees violated the Texas Open Meetings Act while pursuing a now-abandoned plan to split the district in two. Good also deputized a team of special prosecutors, including Fort Worth attorney Dee J. Kelly Jr., to assist in the case.

“This is very good news for us,” Cary Moon, a former Fort Worth City Council member and chairman of the Heritage Homeowners Association legal task force, said during a press conference this month regarding updates to the case. “As I said, we’ll have our day in court.” The lawsuit targets board President John Birt, trustee Heather Washington and outgoing board member Charles Randklev, alleging they conducted Keller ISD business outside public view through closed-door meetings, encrypted messaging and improperly approved consultants, all in violation of state transparency laws. Keller ISD declined to comment on the litigation, citing pending legal action. Birt, Washington and Randklev did not respond to requests for comment. The suit stems from a failed proposal to split Keller ISD along Denton Highway, a plan that sparked months of public backlash, student walkouts, multiple lawsuits and the resignation of former Superintendent Tracy Johnson.

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Dallas prepares to be the broadcasting hub for FIFA World Cup 2026

FIFA World Cup 2026 will come to the Dallas-Fort Worth area next summer, but media will start moving into the International Broadcast Centre in Dallas next month. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is on track to deliver the broadcast center by January 14, said Rosa Fleming, Director of Convention and Event Services. That's when around 2,000 broadcast media representatives will be able to move in their equipment. The broadcast center will be operational on May 27, ahead of the Dallas-Fort Worth matches. Sixteen North American cities are hosting the World Cup, but there will be only one broadcast center. All 104 matches will be broadcast out of Dallas.

Fleming said Dallas stood out from the rest because of the city's hospitality and its downtown life which includes public transportation options. The convention center has one million square feet of exhibit space, three ballrooms, 88 meeting rooms, a 9,816-seat arena, and a 1,750-seat theater. It is also next to a 1,000-room hotel, the Omni. Arlington is one of the host cities, with nine matches coming to AT&T Stadium. It's being referred to as as Dallas Stadium by FIFA, despite objections from locals. Argentina, England, Japan, Austria, Netherlands, Croatia, and Jordan are the teams playing in June. Brett Wilkinson, Public Affairs Specialist, called the lineup a "dream draw." "We've got some of the most popular soccer teams in the entire world with some of the best fan bases," Wilkinson said. "So we're really positioned for Dallas to just be really kind of the center of FIFA World Cup 2026." Dallas City Council approved $15 million for convention center construction to make the broadcast center a reality.

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National Stories

‘Execution was abysmal’: Trump economy speech doesn’t meet GOP hopes

‘Execution was abysmal’: Trump economy speech doesn’t meet GOP hopes In private, some Republicans worry after Trump’s primetime economy speech that changing voter perceptions may be a slog. President Donald Trump speaks during an address to the nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Washington. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool) President Donald Trump speaks during an address to the nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Washington. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool) | AP By Eli Stokols 12/18/2025 05:49 PM EST As soon as President Donald Trump finished delivering his primetime address to the nation Wednesday night, he asked his senior aides how he did. “They all responded with some version of ‘great’,” a journalist inside the White House Diplomatic Room for Trump’s speech later shared in a pool report. And on the airwaves and across the internet, Trump’s usual defenders gushed about the speech. But offline and away from the cameras, many Republicans on Wednesday were far less ebullient about the president’s attempt to improve his dismal numbers on the economy — and increasingly downbeat about what that may mean for their party’s chances in next November’s midterm election.

“It’s the right idea to talk about the economy more, but the execution was abysmal,” said one Republican operative who served in the first Trump administration and, like others interviewed for this story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly without fear of retribution. “He’s a very effective salesman when his heart is in it or when he’s on the attack. But the ‘I feel your pain’ speech — he just doesn’t have that club in his bag.” Trump’s speech instead focused on the border and men playing in women’s sports, issues that played well in 2024 but have seemed less salient in elections this year. White House deputy chief of staff James Blair told POLITICO last month that Lt. Gov Winsome Earle-Sears, who lost her race for Virginia governor, talked too much about transgender issues. “It’s not even in the top five issues, according to voters,” he said at the time. Few Republicans will criticize Trump directly. But his schedule over the last few weeks — with several speeches ostensibly focused on the economy — indicate that the White House understands that they are losing the messaging war on affordability. And Trump’s decision to lay it all at the feet of former President Joe Biden could, according to critics, reinforce the belief that the administration is stuck in 2024 rather than planning for 2026.

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Trump move to dismantle climate agency blows up Senate funding deal

A potential deal to fund large swaths of the federal government, including the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, collapsed on Thursday night after Colorado senators demanded that Congress stop President Trump’s efforts to dismantle a key climate agency. A Democratic senator involved in the negotiations over passing a five-bill package of appropriations bills before Christmas said that Trump’s attempt to break up a premier weather and climate center based in Boulder, Colo., was like a “stick of dynamite” that exploded any chance of a bipartisan breakthrough on spending. Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet (D) and John Hickenlooper (D) objected to moving forward with the so-called minibus spending package that, if enacted into law, would result in 85 to 90 percent of the federal government being funding through September of 2026.

“We need to fix this problem,” Bennet said, explaining his opposition to moving forward with the spending package. “We’ll have to work together. We’ll have to work together to figure out how do this. “We have to find a way together to fix this problem,” he added. Bennet said that his Republican colleagues know how critical the center is to providing scientific analysis of weather patterns. “Everybody on that floor knows what an excellent job [it] does,” he said, pointing to the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) made a herculean effort to get the spending package passed before Christmas and it looked earlier in the day as the Senate might be on track to clinching a deal after conservative GOP senators dropped their objections to the bill. But Bennet and Hickenlooper took the lead in bringing the package to a dead halt by objecting to an agreement to set up date and amendment votes on the Senate floor. They were infuriated by the Trump administration’s announcement Wednesday that it plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, a leading research institution specializing in climate science.

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Democrats say the release of the Epstein files won’t be the end of the story

The Department of Justice is expected to drop the Epstein files by Friday at midnight in order to comply with the legal deadline. Democratic lawmakers have been fighting for this moment — forcing Congress to pass a law compelling the DOJ to release the files, pushing out documents obtained by the Oversight Committee and keeping the disgraced financier and sex offender in the news. Democratic lawmakers say they’re waiting with bated breath for the files. And they say what happens next depends on what they read. “There’s so many different things that could happen,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. In a brief interview with NOTUS Tuesday, he said it was a possibility the Trump administration would continue to conceal information. President Donald Trump and members of his administration have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Despite Trump’s campaign promise to release the Epstein files, his administration withheld their release until Congress passed bipartisan legislation to force it. Democrats say they believe Trump doesn’t want the files to be released because they could reveal new information about his relationship with Epstein, with whom he was associated before they had a falling out in the early 2000s. A recent release of never-before-seen photos from the Epstein estate from House Democrats on the Oversight Committee last week showed Trump with Epstein, furthering speculation as to why Trump would want to keep the files private. “Ideally, they release everything. I highly doubt that’s going to happen,” Garcia said. “But post Friday, everything has to be on the table. And so the legal approach absolutely has to be on the table, and then the Senate’s already talking about that. So we would like to see what actually happens. And so I think we’re preparing ourselves. Our team’s ready. We’re ready to review what comes out. Everyone knows, everybody’s going to be working for the weekend, and we’re ready to go.”

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Kennedy Center board votes to rename to ‘Trump Kennedy Center’

The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted on Thursday to rename the storied arts institution the “Trump Kennedy Center,” an unprecedented change for the U.S. presidential memorial that drew swift condemnation from Kennedy family members and Democratic leaders. The Kennedy Center confirmed the vote in an email to The Washington Post. The law establishing the building designates it as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted unanimously today to name the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” said Roma Daravi, the center’s vice president of public relations, in an email. “The unanimous vote recognizes that the current Chairman saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction.”

The name change is now reflected on the center’s website. The White House rapid response account on X posted a new logo. “The Trump Kennedy Center shows a bipartisan commitment to the Arts,” Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell wrote on X.Officials did not cite an authority for the board’s ability to change the institution’s name, and critics called the move illegal. President Donald Trump joined the board meeting virtually, which was held in Palm Beach, Florida, and remained until the end of the call, when he thanked members for their vote, according to an attendee who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. The vote comes after months of Trump repeatedly joking about the name change, including at the Kennedy Center Honors earlier this month. It follows a year of upheaval at the center, after Trump overhauled the institution in February, sparking a wave of firings and resignations. Ticket sales have fallen sharply in the center’s three largest venues, according to an October analysis by The Post. “I was surprised by it. I was honored by it,” Trump said of the voteat an executive-order signing Thursday afternoon. “... We saved the building.”

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DOJ vowed to punish those who disrupt Trump's immigration crackdown. Dozens of cases have crumbled

The federal agent described her wounds as “boo-boos.” Nevertheless, the Department of Justice aggressively pursued the alleged perpetrator. They jailed Sidney Lori Reid on a charge of felony assault, accusing her of injuring the agent during a July protest of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Washington, D.C. When grand jurors thrice declined to indict the 44-year-old on the felony, prosecutors tried her on a misdemeanor. Body camera footage played at trial revealed that Reid had not intentionally struck the agent. Instead, the agent had scratched her hand on a wall while assisting another agent who had shoved Reid and told her to “shut the f—- up” and “mind her own business.” It took jurors less than two hours to acquit the animal hospital worker.

“It seemed like my life was just going to be taken away from me,” said Reid, who spent two days in jail and worried she would lose her new job and apartment. “It broke my heart because this is supposed to be a good and fair country and I did not see anything surrounding my case that was good or fair at all for anybody.” Reid’s case was part of the Justice Department’s monthslong effort to prosecute people accused of assaulting or hindering federal officers while protesting the Republican president’s immigration crackdown and military deployments. Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered prosecutors to charge those accused of assaulting officers “with the highest provable offense available under the law.” In a recent statement, Bondi pledged that offenders will face “severe consequences.” The Justice Department has struggled to deliver on that commitment, however. In examining 166 federal criminal cases brought since May against people in four Democratic-led cities at the epicenter of demonstrations, The Associated Press found: Of the 100 people initially charged with felony assaults on federal agents, 55 saw their charges reduced to misdemeanors or dismissed outright. At least 23 pleaded guilty, most of them to reduced charges in deals with prosecutors that resulted in little or no jail time. More than 40% of the cases involved relatively minor misdemeanor charges, a figure that appears to undermine Trump’s claims that many of those accused are domestic terrorists. All five defendants, including Reid, who went to trial so far were acquitted.

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How 2025 changed research and what's ahead

Ask just about any federally funded researcher to describe 2025, and they use words like chaotic, demoralizing, confusing, destabilizing and transformational. “It’s been a very destabilizing year [that’s made] people question the nation’s commitment to research,” Heather Pierce, senior director for science policy at the Association of American Medical Colleges, told Inside Higher Ed. She expects 2026 to be a year of rebuilding and standard setting. Speaking of the National Institutes of Health, which calls itself the world’s largest public biomedical research funder, Pierce said the research community is expecting more major regulation and written policy changes in 2026, which will shed more light on how grants will be funded, how much the federal government will invest in the research enterprise and what priorities will emerge from this administration.

If the administration’s attacks on federally funded research in 2025 are any indication, the federal government of 2026 will likely be just as willing to advance its conservative ideological agenda by controlling universities through the nation’s research enterprise. And while the administration may not let up in the new year, courts stymied some of its most sweeping changes in 2025 and may continue to be an obstacle in the new year. Soon after President Donald Trump started his second term in January, the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Education and numerous other federal agencies that collectively send billions in research dollars to universities, began freezing and terminating hundreds of grants. Many of the targeted grants—including projects focused on vaccines, climate change, and health and education disparities among women, LGBTQ+ and minority communities—were caught in the crossfire of Trump’s war against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and so-called woke gender ideology. Not only would the terminations lead to the loss of jobs, staff and income, a lawsuit filed by a group of NIH-funded researchers in April predicted that “scientific advancement will be delayed, treatments will go undiscovered, human health will be compromised, and lives will be lost.”

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Suspect in Brown, MIT professor shootings found dead in NH

The man believed to be responsible for the mass shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island and the shooting of a professor in Massachusetts was found dead in New Hampshire Thursday. A shooter dressed in black killed two people and wounded nine others in a classroom at Brown University on Saturday during final exams. Law enforcement sources confirmed Thursday that authorities were investigating a possible link to the Brown shooting and the killing of an MIT professor in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Monday. Federal officials said Thursday night that they could confirm the death of "the Brown University and MIT professor shooter," adding "there's no longer a threat to the public" in a news statement. Law enforcement sources from Massachusetts and New Hampshire tell NBC10 Boston the suspect in the Brown University shooting has been found dead.

Authorities announced the death of 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire. They also said he is believed to be responsible for the deadly shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in Brookline. Brown students Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov were killed in the shooting Saturday, which injured nine other people. Two days later, on Monday, MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro was shot at his Brookline home. U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said Neves Valente and Loureiro are believed to have known each other. "Investigators identified the vehicle that he had rented in Boston and then drove to Rhode Island," Foley said. "The vehicle was seen outside of Brown, and there was security footage that showed a person who resembled him." She added that financial investigations linked Neves Valente to the car and hotels he stayed at. "There was security footage that captured him within a half-mile of the professor's residence in Brookline," Foley said. "And there is video footage of him entering an apartment building in the location of the professor's apartment, and then later that evening, he is seen about an hour later entering the storage unit wearing the same clothes that he had been seen wearing right after the murder." FBI Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks said that Neves Valente is believed to have attended the same Portuguese university in Lisbon as Loureiro. Brown University President Christina Paxson added that Neves Valente was enrolled in physics classes at the school between 2000 and 2001, and that he would have attended classes in the Barus & Holley building, where the shooting took place.

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Lead Stories

U.S. crude oil closes at lowest level since early 2021 as looming surplus weighs on market

U.S. crude oil prices fell nearly 3% on Tuesday to close at the lowest level since early 2021, as a looming surplus and possible peace agreement in Ukraine weigh on the market. West Texas Intermediate fell 2.73%, or $1.55, to close at $55.27 per barrel, the lowest since February 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Global benchmark Brent lost 2.71%, or $1.64, to settle at $58.92. U.S. crude has shed about 23% this year in its worst performance since 2018, while Brent is down about 21% for its worst year since 2020. U.S. gasoline prices have fallen below $3 per gallon to the lowest level in four years in a boost to consumers ahead of the holidays, according to the drivers' association AAA. Falling oil prices could signal a slowing economy. U.S. job growth totalled 64,000 in November but declined by 105,000 in October. The unemployment rate hit a four-year high of 4.6%.

The oil market is under pressure this year as OPEC+ members have rapidly ramped up production after years of output cuts. Investors are also pricing in the possibility of lower geopolitical risk as President Donald Trump pressures Ukraine to accept a peace agreement with Russia. The threat of supply disruptions has loomed over the oil market since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Kyiv has launched repeated drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure this year. The U.S. and its European allies, meanwhile, have targeted Russia's crude industry with sanctions. Ukraine's attacks on oil infrastructure and U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies would likely be lifted relatively quickly in the event of an agreement, said Jorge Leon, Rystad Energy's head of geopolitical analysis, in a note to clients. "This would significantly reduce the risk of near-term Russian supply disruptions and allow a sizeable volume of Russian oil currently stored on water to return to the market," Leon said. Russian oil stored on water is currently estimated at around 170 million barrels, according to Rystad. The end of U.S. sanctions on Russia would also change the incentives for OPEC+, Leon said. The group would likely resume a strategy to retake market share through higher production after recently pressing pause on that approach, he said.

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Trump gives a partisan prime-time address insisting the economy is stronger than many voters feel

President Donald Trump delivered a politically charged speech Wednesday carried live in prime time on network television, seeking to pin the blame for economic challenges on Democrats while announcing he is sending a $1,776 bonus check to U.S. troops for Christmas. The remarks came as the nation is preparing to settle down to celebrate the holidays, yet Trump was focused more on divisions within the country than a sense of unity. His speech was a rehash of his recent messaging that has so far been unable to calm public anxiety about the cost of groceries, housing, utilities and other basic goods. Trump has promised an economic boom, yet inflation has stayed elevated and the job market has weakened sharply in the wake of his import taxes. Trump suggested that his tariffs — which are partly responsible for boosting consumer prices — would fund a new “warrior dividend” for 1.45 million military members, a payment that could ease some of the financial strains for many households.

The amount of $1,776 was a reference to next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “The checks are already on the way,” he said of the expenditure, which would total roughly $2.6 billion. Related Stories Trump's speech on combating inflation turns to grievances about immigrants from 'filthy' countries Trump to visit Pennsylvania to highlight efforts to curb inflation as high prices squeeze Americans Trump, like Biden before him, finds there's no quick fix on inflation Presidential addresses to the nation carried on network television are traditionally less partisan than rally speeches, but Trump gave a condensed version of his usual political remarks. Flanked by two Christmas trees with a portrait of George Washington behind him in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room, Trump sought to pin any worries about the economy on his predecessor, Joe Biden. “Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” Trump said. “We’re poised for an economic boom, the likes of which the world has never seen.”

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Ted Cruz questions ‘mafioso’ FCC chief Brendan Carr

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr faced tough questioning Wednesday in his first Senate testimony since suggesting ABC’s network licenses could be pulled after late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Sen. Ted Cruz, who called the hearing as chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, joined Democrats in criticizing Carr’s “dangerous” comments at the time, saying the federal regulator sounded like a “mafioso.” On Wednesday, Cruz pushed Carr on the agency’s obligation to respect Americans’ free-speech rights, saying government can’t be in the business of arbitrating truth and opinion. He paired his questions with criticism of Democrats, saying they have previously targeted Fox News and attempted to censor social media content that Cruz described as accurate about COVID-19 and election fraud.

Broadcasting stations that transmit over public airwaves have licenses requiring them to operate in the “public interest, convenience and necessity,” which was the basis for Carr’s saber-rattling over Kimmel’s monologue. “So long as there is a public interest standard, shouldn’t it be understood to encompass robust First Amendment protections to ensure that the FCC cannot use it to chill speech?” Cruz asked Carr. The FCC chief agreed with Cruz before pivoting to echo the criticisms of Democrats pressuring Fox News. Cruz moved on to other topics, but Democrats on the panel were far from done with the issue. One after another quoted Cruz’s “mafioso” comments to bolster their own scathing criticism of Carr’s comments on Kimmel and ABC. “You are not reinvigorating the public interest standard, you are weaponizing the public interest standard,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told Carr as he asked repeatedly whether the FCC chief regrets his statements.

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Hidalgo, critical of top Democratic county judge candidate, undecided on endorsement

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s admonishment of a top candidate vying for her seat could reflect a contentious shift in the county’s Democratic Party. Her comments opposing former Houston Mayor Annise Parker’s bid for county judge come on the heels of top Texas Republicans vowing to turn the state’s largest county red, and after Hidalgo said in a series of press conferences she would refrain from endorsing a candidate for her job. Hidalgo, a Democrat, announced in September that she wouldn’t seek reelection next year, and her two-term stint as the county's top elected official will end in December 2026. Parker, who was favored in a recent survey for the position in next year’s Democratic primary election, was the subject of a social media post by Hidalgo on Tuesday in which she was referred to as “Kim Ogg 2.0.”

Kim Ogg previously served as the district attorney and has openly called for more GOP leadership in Harris County. Sign up for the Hello, Houston! daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox. Hidalgo overall received the lowest net-approval rating based on job performance of any elected Harris County official included in the survey — including all county commissioners, District Attorney Sean Teare, and acting County Attorney Christian Menefee. In an interview with Hello Houston on Wednesday, Hidalgo elevated her condemnation of Parker by suggesting her political beliefs fail to align with the Democratic Party. She said Parker supported the state takeover of the Houston Independent School District and endorsed Ogg. Ogg pushed back in a statement of her own, calling Hidalgo’s remarks reflective of her tumultuous tenure as county judge.

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State Stories

Texas environmental agency struggles with backlogs after years of budget cuts, study finds

The Texas Commission for Environmental Quality has struggled to keep up with enforcement claims amid years of cuts to the state environmental agency's budget,according to a recent study. When adjusted for inflation, TCEQ’s budget was cut by roughly one-third between 2010 and 2024, even as the number of regulated industrial facilities in the state increased, according to an analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project. The agency in 2010 had a budget of $539 million. The agency most recently worked on a $407 million budget in 2024. That reduction coincides with a case backlog TCEQ faces. As of August, the agency reported a backlog of 1,480 enforcement cases.

In some cases, claims remain untouched for several years, said Kathryn Guerra, a former TCEQ employee who now works as an agency watchdog with the nonprofit group Public Citizen. “Historically, the agency's own enforcement policy was to hold enforcement cases for several years,” said Guerra, who also worked with EIP for their Texas analysis. “And that unfortunately created for the TCEQ a really extensive backlog of pretty complex cases. In one instance, very recently, we saw an enforcement case go before the commissioners for approval, that was 10 years of enforcement action.” According to the TCEQ, of the 9,198 complaints filed in 2025, just 6% of claims were investigated within five days. Nearly 55% of claims took a month or more to address. That could leave some communities without recourse, said Andrew Quicksall with SMU’s environmental health and compliance quality program. “It's like any other sort of enforcement or investigation that you may do,” Quicksall said. “Eventually things get backlogged to a point where you can't address them. And we have those problems where we have environmental claims that go without investigation because the backlog is so large.”

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Texas Secretary of State office's tech woes muddle candidate lists

Weeks after an untimely technology upgrade at the Secretary of State’s office sent counties into a panic over backlogged voter registrations, local party leaders and elections officials say the same update has muddled the state’s candidate-tracking portal as well, leaving them with incomplete lists as they start to assemble the March 3 primary ballot. Republicans and Democrats run their own primaries in Texas, but lean on the Secretary of State’s office as a centralized source of candidate information. Thanks to a series of hangups this year, including a drawn-out legal fight over the congressional maps and a new reporting system at the Secretary of State’s office, local party officials say the state’s candidate portal has been experiencing delays, and complete candidate lists still aren’t finalized.

A Secretary of State spokeswoman said Monday candidates for the primary file with the parties, whose officials enter their information directly to the portal. Between the state and local parties, she said, they should have complete lists to work with for their party primary elections in March. County-level candidates file at their county party office, meaning local party chairs have those full records in-house. But candidates for multi-county districts or statewide races file with the state parties, which saw a rush of last-minute filings and shuffles between races as the Supreme Court ruled on the congressional districts just days before the deadline. On Monday, Bexar County Democratic Party Chair Michelle Lowe Solis and Republican Party of Bexar County Chair Kris Coons met with the Bexar County Elections Department to review a sample ballot based on records from the Secretary of State’s candidate portal. But many candidates believed to have filed for office, particularly congressional candidates on the Republican side, were still missing from the list.

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Texas State canceled Black history exhibit, citing anti-DEI climate

(Update: Shortly after this report published, university spokesperson Jayme Blaschke told the American-Statesman that Texas State University will consider bringing the Black History 101 Mobile Museum to campus for future Black History Month programming.” He declined to specify when and how the university will consider the museum. Khalid el-Hakim, the founder of the museum, said he has not heard from Texas State University.) Texas State University officials may be reversing course after previously uninviting a Black history exhibition from campus, citing the state’s anti-DEI law, Texas' climate and topics covered by the museum. Civil rights organizations called the move viewpoint discrimination and urging the university to bring the mobile museum to campus.

Khalid el-Hakim, the founder and curator of Black History 101 Mobile Museum, a 30-year travelling exhibit of lesser-taught Black history from ancient Egypt to present day, said a Texas State University official approached him October 14 about bringing his exhibition to campus for Black History Month. But on October 28, the official reversed course, saying supervisors did not approve the museum to be on campus. In the second email, a director of campus activities informed el-Hakim that “after reviewing this with supervisors and the leadership team, the Black History 101 Mobile Museum was not approved to be on campus … due to SB -17, the current climate of our State, and certain topics covered as part of the museum,” according to a screenshot of the email. In a letter sent Tuesday to Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse, the Texas chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund and San Antonio-based nonprofit Intercultural Development Research Association argue that the cancellation wrongly cites state law, which does not bar diversity in teaching. The groups contend that the university’s decision contributes to a “broader pattern” of suppression of race in education.

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A Democrat is running in every state and federal race on Texas' 2026 ballot, a first for either party

A Democrat is running in every state and federal race on the Texas ballot next year, the first time in modern state history that either party has fielded a full slate of candidates, according to the Texas Democratic Party. The complete field is the result of a recruitment campaign run by a network of the state’s top Democratic groups and politicians, including Texas Majority PAC, the Texas Democratic Party, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke and former state Sen. Wendy Davis. Together, the groups recruited 104 candidates to fill every congressional, state House and state Senate seat up for election in 2026. The effort also ensured that a Democrat is running in every statewide judicial and State Board of Education race. “No Republican gets a free ride in Texas,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said in an interview. “If you are a Republican and you want to hold public office in this state, you’re going to have to fight us for it.”

The push to run a candidate for every seat — no matter how red-leaning — comes as Texas Democrats look to capitalize on turnout and backlash to the Trump administration. The theory, Democratic organizers said, is that running candidates everywhere will not only maximize the party’s chances of flipping down-ballot seats, but also increase Democratic turnout and engagement in areas that top-of-the-ticket candidates may not be able to reach — potentially creating an upstream effect to boost statewide Democrats. “Even the most relentless statewide candidate is never going to talk to every voter that they need to,” Texas Majority PAC Director Katherine Fischer said. “We need a network of talented, compelling Democratic communicators across the state to clearly communicate the message that Republican leadership has failed us, and that Texans should consider voting differently this cycle and in the future.” Of Texas’ 38 congressional districts, Republicans currently hold 25, with a new gerrymandered map engineered to hand them an additional three to five seats. The GOP also dominates the state Legislature, controlling 88 out of 150 Texas House seats and an 18-to-11 majority in the state Senate (where two red-leaning districts currently sit vacant). All statewide offices, including both U.S. Senate seats, are held by Republicans.

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Austin United PAC sues city over review of petition

The Austin United PAC is suing the city after a petition to block the expansion of the convention center was rejected. According to KVUE, the political action committee claims Erika Brady, the Austin city clerk, unlawfully rejected the group’s petition. The petition needed at least 20,000 signatures to leave the decision to expand the Austin Convention Center up to voters next May. It allegedly received about 1,000 more than what was needed, but Brady said the city was confident it received less than that. Brady was tasked with validating the signatures. Austin United PAC told KVUE that the city violated state law by not disclosing how the petition was reviewed. The group argues that the funds put toward the convention center’s expansion should instead be used for the city’s culture, arts and parks.

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"Traveling" housing finance corporations were banned. One Dallas neighborhood wonders what's next.

The Dallas Central Appraisal District made a decision earlier this month that sent a lot of people scrambling. It quietly added nearly $3 billion worth of value back to the county’s tax rolls by denying 120 requests for tax exemptions. This is a wonky matter with significant financial implications. The problem started with a loophole in state law that allowed obscure public housing entities to forgo paying taxes on apartment buildings they acquire in other cities, sometimes hundreds of miles away, so long as they priced some units at rates affordable to lower-income tenants. The cities losing the taxes had no say in these decisions; oftentimes, they didn’t even know the deals were happening. The properties were removed from the rolls with no public discussion as to whether the affordable units provided were worth such significant tax breaks.

This practice began in 2021 and has picked up considerably in recent years. In May, the Texas Legislature passed a bill making this illegal and Dallas’ chief appraiser proceeded to blast away the exemptions. The appraisal district’s review board upheld the decision during a hearing early in December. DCAD clawed back an impressive amount of money; it equals a little under 2 percent of the county’s total taxable commercial value, and about three-quarters—$2.2 billion—of this haul is in the city of Dallas, in every Council district, spread across 75 complexes. (The other properties are in Carrollton, DeSoto, Duncanville, Farmers Branch, Garland, Grand Prairie, Irving, Mesquite, and Rowlett.) In Dallas proper, their tax bills will total about $50 million annually after the appraiser’s decision, according to an analysis by the board of the Dallas Housing Finance Corporation. This should be great news for city coffers. More money for police and fire and schools and Parkland Hospital and Dallas College, just after City Hall navigated a nearly $37 million shortfall in its last budget. But there will be unintended consequences. State lawmakers also left a mess for local officials like Council member Kathy Stewart, whose Lake Highlands district has far more of these properties than any of her colleagues. She worries that a wave of foreclosures and defaults could destabilize one of the city’s densest geographies, where aging apartments may sink into disrepair and quality of life concerns begin to spread as they did following the 2008 recession.

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SEC steps in after California blocks Sable Offshore's pipeline permit

Just a day after a California board dealt Sable Offshore a serious blow when it blocked a permit for Sable’s pipeline, the federal government stepped in with a Hail Mary for the embattled Houston oil company. According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing made public Wednesday evening, Sable Offshore’s contested pipeline connecting its Santa Ynez Unit to an onshore facility in California has been reclassified as an interstate pipeline. The move seemingly revokes the state and Santa Barbara’s authority over the pipeline and permitting process and instead gives it to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, an arm of the Trump administration.

Sable previously asked the administration for its support in its fight with California regulators. Energy Sec. Chris Wright signaled support for the project in October, criticizing the state in a post on X for “blocking oil production off California’s coast.” But the administration has yet to publicly comment on the Wednesday move. The company spent the better part of a year working to fully restore operations off the coast of California at a cluster of offshore oil fields known as the Santa Ynez Unit. Its efforts have been gridlocked in state courts, culminating with the 3-1 vote Tuesday from the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors that rejected Sable’s permit. The cluster of oil fields in question was the site of a nearly 140,000-gallon oil spill in 2015 that killed marine wildlife and caused millions in damages to the local environment and fishing industry. State officials and environmentalists have said the company and the pipeline could cause massive environmental damage if allowed to come back online. Sable acquired the unit from Exxon Mobil last year and restarted oil production in May — almost a decade after the oil spill. It bought the assets knowing the network of pipelines that feeds the crude to California refineries had not been permitted to open.

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Lockheed Martin rolls out the red carpet for Finland’s first F-35 jet

Government officials and military leaders from all over the world gathered on Tuesday at a hangar inside the Lockheed Martin’s F-35 production facility in Fort Worth to roll out the first in a series of F-35A Lightning II jets for Finland’s military. In 2021, the Finnish government ordered 64 of the jets from Lockheed Martin in a nearly $10 billion deal. The order will be distributed over several years, with the first jets being delivered in 2026. Finnish pilots will be trained in Arkansas. An individual F-35A costs roughly $80 million to produce. In 2025, Lockheed Martin will deliver between 170 and 190 of them. The fifth generation fighter jet, sleek and enormously expensive, was a target of billionaire Elon Musk in 2024 when he advocated to cut the program’s federal spending as part of his role in the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency. The jet has been assembled in Fort Worth by Lockheed Martin since 2004.

Lockheed Martin has a $17.7 billion payroll in Texas, and the F-35 production facility in Fort Worth employs roughly 19,200 people, according to the company. The program has contributed $7 billion in local economic benefits, according to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, and supported over 30,000 jobs in the greater Fort Worth economy. “Today, we celebrate Finland’s first F-35, an aircraft that represents the cutting edge of technology, advanced mission capability and complete air dominance,” said Chauncey McIntosh, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 Lightning II program in remarks to the audience. “In an increasingly contested world, this aircraft strengthens national defense, deepens NATO integration and enhances allied readiness across all domains.” The F-35 program includes roughly 20 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, and the Netherlands. Finland fully joined NATO in 2023, motivated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after decades of political neutrality. This year, Russia has slowly expanded its military presence along Finland’s border.

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Robert Roberson ‘is still in peril,’ death row opponents say. But there is hope.

Last year, Robert Roberson came within hours of dying before a legislative subpoena forestalled his execution date. This year, he was a week away from execution when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay in October. Whether 2026 will arrive with better news is still very much up in the air. The same month that the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled, Roberson’s lawyer, Gretchen Sween, set the wheels in motion for a potential hearing to go over evidence she’d like to introduce should her client get a new trial. The Texas Attorney General’s office responded as well, arguing that Sween’s request for a status hearing was unnecessary and that its attorneys wouldn’t be available for much of December and January.

Roberson was convicted in the 2002 death of his toddler daughter, Nikki, with evidence that relied heavily on a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis. For some time, his lawyers and the Innocence Project have argued that he deserves a new trial for a variety of reasons, with the biggest being that most experts now believe that shaken baby diagnoses are based on “junk science.” His attorneys argue that this is the case; Roberson’s conviction runs afoul of a 2013 Texas state law addressing convictions based on disputed or disproven science. In November, the New Jersey Supreme Court became the first state to prohibit prosecutors from introducing evidence suggesting a shaken baby diagnosis. Earlier this month, a large group of anti-death penalty advocates and faith leaders announced the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Roberson’s case was on their minds, with Innocence Project founder and attorney Barry Scheck commenting on the bipartisan effort to save Roberson, along with the attention of the faith community (including the detective who arrested Roberson, Brian Wharton, who is now a Methodist minister in Onalaska). ”It was quite moving and extraordinary to see these Republican legislators go to prison and pray with Robert,” Scheck said before acknowledging that “Robert is still in peril because he has become a political football in Texas.”

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Historic downtown Houston building newly renamed in honor of Sylvester Turner

Harris County officials and family members of Sylvester Turner, the late former Houston mayor and congressman, gathered at a 20-story building in downtown Houston on a foggy Wednesday morning for a renaming ceremony. Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, a fellow Democrat and political ally of Turner’s, opened the ceremony by discussing the building's history and how that history exemplifies the changes Houston has undergone over the last three-quarters of a century. Ellis said the structure at 1010 Lamar St. used to serve as the Sackowitz building — a high-end clothing store — in the 1950s. "This building has such a rich history — opened, as I mentioned, in 1950," Ellis said. "Early on, until the mid-’60s, African Americans and Hispanics could buy clothes from Sackowitz, but you couldn't come in and try them on. ... So I was thinking, shortly after Sylvester passed, what would be the appropriate honor? This building just made sense. It's important."

The building will now be known as the Harris County Sylvester Turner Administration Building and will soon be the new offices of the county attorney's office, auditor’s office and department of equity. Turner died March 5 at the age of 70. A native Houstonian, Turner was born in 1954 and grew up in Acres Homes, a predominantly Black suburb. His death came just a couple months into his term as the representative of Texas' 18th Congressional District, which has since remained vacant as a runoff election to determine his successor is scheduled for Jan. 31. He was the mayor of Houston from 2016 to 2024. Harris County Engineer Milton Rahman also spoke at Wednesday’s event and said the building will serve a fitting purpose in honor of Turner. "That tells you this represents the value[s] justice, equity and fairness," Rahman said. "Those are going to be the departments that Harris County holds very close to [its] chest — the values we carry. That's going to be this building." Ashley Turner-Captain, Turner's daughter, shared an anecdote from her father about how the skyscrapers of downtown Houston inspired him as a young man. "I get to tell my son the story of his pop-pop getting on that bus, coming into downtown from Acres Homes, dreaming and being inspired [by] these big buildings and now this building — one of the tall buildings — is dedicated [to] his pop-pop," Turner-Captain said. "I think that's just an amazing way to honor him."

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Bexar County joins other municipalities to self-fund flood systems

While state dollars for flood safety still have yet to be dispersed, Bexar County is joining other Texas counties that experienced deadly flooding this summer in forging ahead with its own self-funded plans. The San Antonio River Authority is working on a regional network of sensors that it believes will bring Bexar County residents some of the most advanced flood detection technology in the country, eventually allowing them to automatically close vehicle crossings before cars can get into dangerous situations. Bexar County Commissioners budgeted $20 million for the so-called NextGen flood warning system in August, and approved the release of the first $2.4 million of that money Tuesday.

“We surveyed all of the roughly 200 gauges within Bexar County to make sure that elevations are accurate, and we’ll have that data final roughly by the end of December,” River Authority General Manager Derek Boese said Tuesday. “That information is really important, making sure the model is as accurate as possible.” The move comes as the state has set aside $50 million to help flood-prone counties fund flood warning systems in the wake of an unusually deadly summer for both San Antonio and the Hill Country. Bexar County was named one of the qualifying counties for such funding, but the money has been slow to come and is aimed primarily at flood sirens, which Boese said typically aren’t effective in urban centers. “We think that there are better solutions to warn people, which would be a combination of emergency alerts via text message, getting emergency managers out as early as possible so they can block roads, the gate systems, the warning lights, all of those things,” said Boese, who noted he’s still hopeful the state funds can be used to support their other initiatives.

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National Stories

House GOP passes narrow health care package, with key Obamacare subsidies set to expire

House Republicans on Wednesday approved a narrow package designed to lower health care costs for some Americans in the coming years – marking a win for leadership even as some of their own members complain it falls woefully short of tackling rising prices in 2026. Speaker Mike Johnson and his team were aggressive in pushing their health care plan to the floor this week, vowing it will be the first step of a major GOP agenda on lowering costs next year. They are specifically ignoring, however, the issue of the expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies that were passed during the pandemic to help people afford premium costs. Those tax credits will expire at the end of the month, spiking premiums for tens of millions of Americans next year.

The House GOP package, instead, would allow small businesses — as well as self-employed people — to band together across industries to buy coverage through association health plans in an effort to lower premiums. It would also, once again, provide federal funding for the cost-sharing subsidies that lower-income Obamacare enrollees receive to reduce their deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for care. House Republicans would also require pharmacy benefit managers, which act as middlemen between drugmakers and insurers or employers, to provide employers with data on the price of drugs, the rebates they receive from manufacturers and other operations. The House voted 216-211 to send the measure to the Senate, which is not expected to vote on it before lawmakers leave town for the holiday recess. The last-minute health care push from GOP leaders comes at a fraught moment for the party: President Donald Trump is striving to show he is making progress to lower costs for everyday Americans. But his own members are attacking Johnson and other GOP leaders for ignoring the looming Obamacare subsidies cliff, which would raise costs for tens of millions of Americans starting in January.

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Trump administration prepares sweeping crackdown on leftist networks

The Trump administration is embarking on an expansive effort to root out what it sees as rampant left-wing domestic terrorism, raising concerns among some security experts and lawmakers that broad categories of Americans’ political speech could come under surveillance. Thursday marks a first deadline, set earlier this month in a memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, for all federal law-enforcement agencies to “coordinate delivery” of their intelligence files on “Antifa” and “Antifa-related” activities to the FBI. Bondi has tasked the agency with using those files to draw up lists of Americans and foreigners to investigate as part of a campaign directed by President Donald Trump against what his administration views as a growing threat of political violence by the American left. “Left-wing organizations have fueled violent riots, organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated illegal doxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and riot materials, and more,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “The Trump Administration will get to the bottom of this vast network inciting violence in American communities.”

Critics warn that the plan signals an impending crackdown on political dissent under the banner of counterterrorism — one that could land large numbers of liberal activists on government watch lists and chill Americans’ First Amendment right to protest the administration’s policies. Bondi’s Dec. 4 memorandum, which was first reported by journalist Ken Klippenstein and later confirmed by the Justice Department to The Washington Post, listed “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Christianity,” “opposition to law and immigration enforcement,” “radical gender ideology,” and “hostility towards traditional views on family, religion, and morality” as some of the political agendas espoused by the individuals who might merit investigation. The memo says the government will pursue people “with a willingness to use violence against law-abiding citizenry to serve those beliefs,” making no mention of violent extremism animated by right-wing or other viewpoints. Citing the phrase “Hey Fascist! Catch!” inscribed on a bullet casing of Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, Bondi wrote: “Violence against what extremists claim to be fascism is the clarion call of recent domestic terrorism.” On Monday, the lead federal prosecutor in Los Angeles credited the administration’s new focus on left-wing crime for the arrest and charging of four alleged members of the leftist Turtle Island Liberation Front, who prosecutors say were plotting to bomb multiple L.A. locations on New Year’s Eve.

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Hegseth overhauling chaplain corps, targeting ‘new age’ concepts

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday he is overhauling the military’s chaplain corps, which provide religious and spiritual support to members of the armed forces and their families, saying he intended to target “new age” concepts. “In an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism, chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers. Faith and virtue were traded for self-help and self-care,” Hegseth said in a post on the social platform X. “If you need proof, just look at the current Army Spiritual Fitness Guide. In well over 100 pages, it mentions God one time. That’s it. It mentions ‘feelings’ 11 times. It even mentions ‘playfulness,’ whatever that is, nine times. There’s zero mention of virtue. The guide relies on new age notions,” he added.

Hegseth later added that he had “a directive right here that I will sign today to eliminate the use of the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide, effective immediately.” “These types of training materials have no place in the War Department. Our chaplains are chaplains, not emotional support officers, and we’re going to treat them as such,” he added, using the Trump Administration’s preferred name for the Department of Defense. Hegseth, no stranger to pushing for change at the Pentagon, told the military’s top officers earlier this year that he did not want to see “fat generals and admirals” or overweight troops anymore. “Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” Hegseth said. “Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country and the world.” “It’s a bad look. It is bad, and it’s not who we are,” he continued.

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How a top-tier surrogacy agency became an FBI target

The FBI is investigating a prominent surrogacy agency that shuttered abruptly earlier this month, leaving desperate parents-to-be out of tens of thousands of dollars and surrogates missing payments as their pregnancies progressed. The agency’s owner, Megan Hall-Greenberg, 49, effectively disappeared — she deleted her social media accounts, and clients and employees say she hasn’t replied to their messages since Dec. 3. Last week, FBI agents descended on Hall-Greenberg’s home and the Camas, Washington, headquarters of Surro Connections, which was founded in 2010 and billed itself as a top-tier surrogacy agency with clients around the world. A neighbor said he saw FBI agents escort someone from the home into a car but wasn’t sure of the person’s identity. Agents have also interviewed Surro Connections’ former employees, who abruptly lost access to their company email and records systems a day before it shut down.

One of them, Sarah Shaffer, was the agency’s marketing manager and lead surrogate coordinator. She estimates that some 150 families may have had money in the company’s in-house escrow system, totaling between $2 million and $5 million. “Some intended parents had just funded a night before this happened,” Shaffer said, adding: “A lot of them have taken out savings to be able to afford this journey.” In interviews, three intended parents and six current and former surrogates — two of whom are pregnant — described a sense of total shock after Surro Connections unexpectedly collapsed. Mariana Klaveno, 46, had transferred more than $66,000 to the agency’s in-house escrow for an embryo transfer, which was planned for next month. But then, her surrogate (also known as a gestational carrier) told her that something was wrong. “‘Other surrogates aren’t getting paid. Everyone’s freaking out. Everyone says to get a lawyer,’” Klaveno recalled her saying. “And then come to find out that no one can get a hold of Megan … and none of the intended parents can access the supposed escrow account that we were assured was safe.”

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Measles outbreaks won't end in 2025 as cases mount in Utah, Arizona and South Carolina

As measles continues to spread in the United States, it’s likely that the outbreaks that broke records in 2025 will continue into the new year. In South Carolina, 168 people, mostly schoolchildren, are in quarantine. Most of the state's 138 cases confirmed since September, nearly all in unvaccinated people, have been centered in Spartanburg County in the northwestern part of the state. “As we identify new cases, and if those cases have susceptible contacts, that’s a new 21-day quarantine period,” Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist for the state Department of Public Health, said Wednesday at what has become a weekly news briefing.

That is, anyone who is unvaccinated and therefore vulnerable to measles exposures occurring now will be in quarantine through the holidays. According to NBC News data, the K-12 vaccination rate for measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) in Spartanburg County was 90% for the 2024-25 school year, below the 95% level doctors say is needed to protect against an outbreak. Bell said the vaccination rate has been falling for several years, similar to other areas in the United States. Based on NBC News' investigation, The Vaccine Divide, in the states collecting data for the MMR vaccine, 67% of counties and jurisdictions have immunization rates below 95%. Bell said at the briefing that there was no indication the South Carolina outbreak was spreading yet to nearby states, such as North Carolina. Since the latest surge in cases, which began in late summer in the bordering areas of southwestern Utah and Arizona and, more recently, in South Carolina, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has taken a low profile, with nearly all public outreach about the nationwide outbreaks coming from local and state health departments.

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Dan Bongino confirms he’s quitting as FBI Deputy Director

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is leaving the bureau and appears to be headed back to his old right-wing podcast. On Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump confirmed rumors that Bongino was clearing out his desk at FBI headquarters in Washington. Asked by a journalist why Bongino is leaving the bureau, the president responded, “Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show.” Bongino confirmed the news shortly after in a post on X, writing: “I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January. I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose.” Earlier in the day, a person close to Bongino told NOTUS that the law enforcement official had always intended to leave after a year on the job — particularly after addressing some personal fixations.

For example, Bongino had long used his popular conservative political show to question mainstream media narratives and complain about the lack of government transparency over the jail cell death of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the unsolved case of the D.C. pipe bomber. The Department of Justice is now days away from releasing the Epstein files. And the FBI recently arrested a man it accused of planting those bombs that didn’t go off — thanks, in part, to a team effort led by Bongino. Another source familiar with Bongino told NOTUSthis week that his media company, Silverloch Studios, has told at least one person that the current FBI employee would be returning to the company in the new year. Though he saw personal accomplishments, Bongino’s exit comes after a tumultuous time at the agency. It was initially rocked during the height of the Epstein files saga and at times pitted against the DOJ as Americans, including Trump’s own base (and some of Bongino’s old audience) searched for whom to blame over the lack of perceived transparency. Over the summer, there were questions about whether he — clearly frustrated — would stay in his role.

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16 states sue Trump administration again over billions in withheld electric vehicle charging funds

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia are suing the Trump administration for what they say is the unlawful withholding of over $2 billion in funding for two electric vehicle charging programs. A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Seattle is the latest legal battle that Democratic-led states are pursuing over funding for EV charging infrastructure that they say was obligated to them by Congress under former President Joe Biden, but that the Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration are “impounding.” “The Trump administration’s illegal attempt to stop funding for electric vehicle infrastructure must come to an end,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a release. “This is just another reckless attempt that will stall the fight against air pollution and climate change, slow innovation, thwart green job creation, and leave communities without access to clean, affordable transportation.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has been hostile to EVs and has dismantled several Biden-era policies friendly to cleaner cars and trucks in favor of policies that align with Trump’s oil and gas industry agenda. Transportation Department officials did not immediately respond to request for comment. The Trump administration in February ordered states to halt spending money for EV charging that was allocated in the bipartisan infrastructure law passed under the previous administration. Several states filed a lawsuit in May against the administration for withholding the funding from the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program for a nationwide charging buildout. A federal judge later ordered the administration to release much of the funding for chargers in more than a dozen states. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later issued revised guidance intended to streamline funding applications for states and make charger deployment more efficient. At least four states — Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, and Wisconsin — have announced awards under the vehicle infrastructure program, according to Loren McDonald, chief analyst at EV data firm Chargeonomics, who tracks the state awards.

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Lead Stories

Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles unloads of Trump, Vance, Bondi and others in explosive interview

Vanity Fair’s Chris Whipple had Washington abuzz, following the release of a two-part, 11-interview story with several administration officials — most notably, White House chief of staff and longtime Trump adviser Susie Wiles. In strikingly candid interviews, the famously careful Wiles laid into several current and former Trump officials, revealed parts of the inner workings of the administration’s brain trust and discussed her unvarnished thoughts about everything from DOGE to deportations: President Donald Trump has an "alcoholic's personality." Vice President J.D. Vance has been "a conspiracy theorist for a decade." Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought is "a right-wing absolute zealot." Former senior adviser to the president Elon Musk is an "odd duck." And she tossed the blame of the Department of Justice’s handling of the Epstein files at Attorney General Pam Bondi's feet. Bondi “completely whiffed” on the files’ release. “First, she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk,” Wiles said. And here's what stands out: “I hear stories from my predecessors about these seminal moments where you have to go in and tell the president what he wants to do is unconstitutional or will cost lives. I don’t have that,” Wiles said.

“I don’t think there’s anybody in the world right now that could do the job that she’s doing,” Rubio told me. He called her bond with Trump “an earned trust.” Vance described Wiles’s approach to the chief’s job. “There is this idea that people have that I think was very common in the first administration,” he told me, “that their objective was to control the president or influence the president, or even manipulate the president because they had to in order to serve the national interest. Susie just takes the diametrically opposite viewpoint, which is that she’s a facilitator, that the American people have elected Donald Trump. And her job is to actually facilitate his vision and to make his vision come to life.” It’s been a busy year. Trump and his team have expanded the limits of presidential power, unilaterally declared war on drug cartels, imposed tariffs according to whim, sealed the southern border, achieved a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza, and pressured NATO allies into increasing their defense spending.

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Texas’ energy market redesign could leave battery developers in limbo

Texas has witnessed the country’s most dynamic grid battery expansion in recent years, thanks in large part to its famously competitive energy markets. Now, a wonky rule change could undermine batteries’ role in the grid. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas instituted new rules on Dec. 5 called ?“real-time co-optimization plus batteries,” or RTC+B. The idea is to allow ERCOT to reassign power plants between two major categories of grid activities: ancillary services, the rapid-response actions designed to keep the system stable and outage-free; and energy, the bulk delivery of megawatt-hours for consumption. On paper, RTC+B sounds agreeable, and other grid operators in the country have been co-optimizing markets for years. ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas said the update would bring greater efficiency and reliability to the system. He even called it ?“the most substantial enhancement to the Real-Time Nodal market design since its inception in 2010.” ERCOT leadership has promised more than $1 billion of wholesale market savings each year from the update.

But a major storage developer active in ERCOT is sounding the alarm about the risks these new rules create for storage operators — and initial metrics from Day 1 of RTC+B are consistent with what you’d expect if a bunch of battery owners pulled out of the ancillary service market because of uncertainty. The problem, according to Aaron Zubaty, the concerned storage developer, is that power plants can now be reassigned unpredictably between ancillary services and energy. That uncertainty, plus additional stipulations around minimum state-of-charge levels for batteries to be chosen for ancillary services, could limit batteries’ ability to compete in those markets, where they had become a dominant force. Zubaty runs Eolian, which built one of the first 100-megawatt energy storage plants in ERCOT in 2021 and is now building what would be Texas’ biggest battery. He stopped bidding his merchant battery fleet into the day-ahead ancillary services markets when RTC+B took effect. “Storage is definitely in a different risk world than it was before RTC+B, because of added duration requirements that changed previously negotiated rules, which may not have been widely understood,” Zubaty said. RTC+B enforces new requirements for the level of charge that batteries need in order to be dispatched for each ancillary service, which now happens every five minutes (these services used to be procured by the hour).

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'Kim Ogg 2.0': Hidalgo denounces Parker's bid for county judge

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo called on Democratic voters to reject former Mayor Annise Parker in a post made on Facebook Tuesday. Hidalgo labeled Parker, who announced in June her intent to run for Harris County judge, “Kim Ogg 2.0” in a subsequent post made on X. She said Parker, who was the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city, would “follow John Whitmire’s playbook” in capitulating to President Donald Trump. “Harris County simply can’t afford another power player who treats the role like a political chessboard. Another individual who runs on the Democratic ticket and governs as a Republican,” Hidalgo wrote. “Today, I want to send a clear message to Democratic primary voters in Harris County: Annise Parker doesn’t represent our values.”

Hidalgo did not explicitly endorse another candidate, but went on to list a number of alleged grievances she believed Democratic voters were not aware of. She accused Parker of inviting the state takeover of HISD, and failing the party by endorsing former District Attorney Kim Ogg and refusing to support her 2022 campaign for reelection. Parker said in a statement that her focus was on fighting attacks from the Trump administration and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — not partisan squabbling. "My record of public service — stable, responsible, drama-free leadership — speaks for itself. These questions have all been asked and answered," Parker said. "I’m running to fight Donald Trump and Greg Abbott, not to engage in Democratic infighting." Parker previously told the Houston Chronicle in a live interview that her 2022 endorsement of Ogg was part of her mandate as CEO and president of the Victory Fund, a political action committee that funds LGBTQ+ candidates. She added that, since losing the 2024 Democratic primary to District Attorney Sean Teare, she thought Ogg had "lost her mind a little bit and gone hard right."

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Trump targets defense giants' shareholder payouts as cost overruns mount, sources say

The Trump administration is planning an executive order that would limit dividends, buybacks and executive pay for defense contractors whose projects are over-budget and delayed, according to three sources briefed on the order. President Donald Trump and the Pentagon have been complaining about the expensive, slow-moving and entrenched nature of the defense industry, promising dramatic changes that would make the production of war equipment more nimble. Industry groups have been on high alert about the closely-held proposal, which is tied to a Treasury Department initiative, two of the sources said. Reuters could not determine exactly how the order would compel defense firms to enact any restrictions. The sources, who declined to be named because the information is confidential, said the language of the order could still change. A White House official said: "Until officially announced by the White House, discussion about potential executive orders is purely speculation."

Share buybacks are common among defense firms, and several pay a dividend. Lockheed in October, for example, raised its dividend for the 23rd year in a row, to $3.45 per share. At the same time, it authorized the purchase of up to $2 billion of its shares, raising the total amount promised for repurchases to $9.1 billion. Lockheed's F-35 fighter jet, one of the most expensive U.S. defense programs, has been plagued by rising costs and delays. Many big defense programs take much longer to deliver a product than initially promised and at a far higher price. The $140 billion Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program that will replace aging Minuteman III missiles, designed and managed by Northrop Grumman, will be years behind schedule and 81% over budget, the U.S. military said last year. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth unveiled sweeping changes in November to how the Pentagon purchases weapons, allowing the military to more rapidly acquire technology amid growing global threats, in accordance with an executive order signed by Trump in April. That restructuring will have direct authority over major weapons programs to eliminate bureaucracy.

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State Stories

Former candidate Jolanda Jones endorses Amanda Edwards in 18th Congressional District runoff

Ahead of the runoff election for the vacant seat in Texas’ 18 Congressional District, former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards garnered a key endorsement from the third-place candidate in November’s special election. State Rep. Jolanda Jones, D-Houston, endorsed Edwards, as opposed to acting Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who received the most votes Nov. 4. Edwards and Menefee will go to a runoff on Jan. 31. "This race is too important to sit on the sidelines, and this moment demands leadership that understands our district, respects voters, and is ready to serve immediately," Jones said in a Tuesday news release from Edwards’ campaign.

"After campaigning across Texas' 18th District and listening to our communities, it's clear who is prepared for this moment. That's why I'm proud to endorse Amanda Edwards for Congress. Our district deserves representation, and our democracy requires participation. I encourage those who supported me — and everyone who cares about the future of Texas 18 — to show up and vote." Jones, before becoming a state representative, served on the Houston ISD board of trustees as well as the Houston City Council. "Jolanda Jones has never backed away from a fight for our community, and I'm deeply honored to have her support," Edwards said in a news release. "Together, we're building a people-powered movement to lower costs, protect our freedoms, and deliver real results for the families of TX-18. Women across this district are stepping up, organizing, and leading at this moment, and this endorsement reflects the growing unity behind our campaign. I'm ready to keep building on this momentum and fighting for a future where every Houston family can thrive."

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Ted Cruz says Trump can 'speak for himself' on contentious Rob Reiner post

U.S. Sen Ted Cruz distanced himself from President Donald Trump's unfounded comments that the death of film director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle, were the result of their past criticism of him. The Texas Republican told a reporter on Monday that "mental health is an issue that doesn't know partisan lines" — a reference to Reiner's son Nick, who has been charged with murdering Rob and his wife, Michelle. The family had previously talked openly about Nick's struggles with addiction. "I think every family in America has dealt with mental health and dealt with addiction, and I grieve that in this instance, it appears to have cost Rob Reiner and his wife their life," Cruz said, according to the Huffington Post.

Earlier on Monday Trump, who Rob Reiner had previously called "mentally unfit" to be president, posted on Truth Social that Reiner's death was the result of his disdain for Trump. "A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS," he wrote. "A man and his wife were murdered last night. This is NOT the appropriate response," Jenna Ellis, a former Trump lawyer who is now a conservative radio host, wrote on X. "The Right uniformly condemned political and celebratory responses to Charlie Kirk’s death. This is a horrible example from Trump (and surprising considering the two attempts on his own life) and should be condemned by everyone with any decency." Cruz, a known movie buff, has called Reiner's 1987 comedy The Princess Bride his favorite film. During an interview on the television show Extra in 2015 — ahead of his presidential campaign — Cruz acted out a scene from the movie, prompting applause from host Mario Lopez. "That was a one man show," Lopez said.

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Bobby Pulido responds to GOP’s claims he urinated on Trump’s Hollywood star

Supporters of President Donald Trump are pissed. Grammy-winning Tejano artist and congressional candidate Bobby Pulido has drawn the ire of opponents after claims that he urinated on Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame recently circulated online. On Dec. 1, U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, shared a story from Fox News on her Facebook page that accused Pulido of defacing Trump’s star. “Bobby Pulido exposed his genitals to urinate on a tribute to President Trump in one of the most crowded public spaces in America, where thousands of women and children pass by at all hours — then tried to hide it,” De La Cruz’s post read. “As a mother, I find this DISGUSTING. If he’s unfit to perform at a quinceañera, he has no business in Congress. SHARE THIS RIGHT NOW!”

The story, which was published on Nov. 26, references a video that Pulido had posted on his Instagram account nearly 10 years ago. The video has since been deleted, but the story included a screengrab showing Pulido standing over Trump’s star and allegedly urinating. The video was originally shared on May 28, 2016 with a caption that read, “when you gotta go, you gotta go.” When reached for comment, Pulido appeared to not be desvelado about the accusations. “You can’t deface anything with water. It was a joke,” Pulido told MyRGV.com. “It was a water bottle. It was water. I would never expose my genitals anywhere public. I’ve had 30 years of my career, never having a scandal, never having been arrested. Actually, there was a police officer that was there, and I told them, ‘Hey, we’re just taking a picture, doing a joke.’” Pulido, who launched his campaign for Texas’ 15th Congressional District in September, has denied that he actually urinated on the president’s star. He is seeking the Democratic candidacy in order to challenge De La Cruz for the seat she has held since 2022. De La Cruz officially filed for reelection on Monday, Dec. 8. “Fox News is already trying to hit me,” Pulido said. “(De La Cruz) embellished this thing saying that I exposed my genitals, which is slanderous, because I wouldn’t do that. They’re trying to do this instead of focusing on what they’re going to do for the people that she represents. They’re going back to a 9-year-old joke that I made.” He said that he recently removed the video because he “knew they were gonna twist it around.”

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Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson: Republican Mayors Association to play role in 2026 elections

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said the Republican Mayors Association, a group he launched after he switched from being a Democrat, could help the GOP make gains in the 2026 midterms by attracting urban voters. “For a long time, the Republican Party has basically conceded that Democrats are going to be dominant in our major cities and use them more as foils to talk about,” Johnson said in a CNBC interview that aired Monday. “But what we’re realizing now is that there are a lot of votes in these cities, and they actually impact the statewide races, and particularly swing states. It becomes very important in presidential years.” This comes nearly a week after the city of Miami elected Eileen Higgins, a Democrat, instead of a candidate backed by President Donald Trump in Florida, a red state.

Johnson said he wanted his association and the Republican National Committee to get involved early in scores of mayoral races in the top 300 cities where there may be an overlap in a key congressional race. “In Miami, the Democrats were really early involved in that race, and it paid off for them, and they outspent us 19 to one in that race,” he said. “We can’t let that happen,” he continued. The midterms next year have the potential to shift the levers of power, and Johnson, who has typically cast himself as opposed to policies that call for more government regulation, said affordability would remain relevant to the GOP. “To a certain degree, people are forgetting that we do live in a free market economy, at least ostensibly, and prices of things are determined by the market,” he said, adding that supply and demand determine prices, and there was a growing feeling that the government can play a greater role in setting prices. “That, to me, is a little bit concerning,” he said. Republicans, he said, will have to be careful about how they respond to it. “If we go down that road, I think that we’re sort of playing to the socialist game here, and if we don’t, we appear not to be sensitive to the issue,” he said.

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Texas is suing all of the big TV makers for spying on what you watch

Texas is suing five of the biggest TV makers, accusing them of “secretly recording what consumers watch in their own homes.” In separate lawsuits filed on Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claims the TVs made by Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL are part of a “mass surveillance system” that uses Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) to collect personal data used for targeted advertising. ACR uses visual and audio data to identify what you’re watching on TV, including shows and movies on streaming services and cable TV, YouTube videos, Blu-ray discs, and more. Attorney General Paxton alleges that ACR also captures security and doorbell camera streams, media sent using Apple AirPlay or Google Cast, as well as the displays of other devices connected to the TV’s HDMI port, such as laptops and game consoles.

The lawsuit accuses Samsung, Sony, LG, Hisense, and TCL of “deceptively” prompting users to activate ACR, while “disclosures are hidden, vague, and misleading.” Samsung and Hisense, for example, capture screenshots of a TV’s display “every 500 milliseconds,” Paxton claims. The lawsuit alleges that TV manufacturers siphon viewing data back to each company “without the user’s knowledge or consent,” which they can then sell for targeted advertising. Along with these allegations, Attorney General Paxton also raises concerns about TCL and Hisense’s ties to China, as they’re both based in the country. The lawsuit claims the TVs made by both companies are “Chinese-sponsored surveillance devices, recording the viewing habits of Texans at every turn.” Attorney General Paxton accuses the five TV makers of violating the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which is meant to protect consumers from false, deceptive, or misleading practices. Paxton asks the court to impose a civil penalty and to block each company from collecting, sharing, or selling the ACR data they collect about Texas-based consumers. Samsung, Sony, LG, Hisense, and TCL didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Vizio, which is now owned by Walmart, paid $2.2 million to the Federal Trade Commission and New Jersey in 2017 over similar allegations related to ACR. “This conduct is invasive, deceptive, and unlawful,” Paxton says in a statement. “The fundamental right to privacy will be protected in Texas because owning a television does not mean surrendering your personal information to Big Tech or foreign adversaries.”

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Connally ISD expresses frustration over state takeover

Connally Independent School District, just north of Waco, is one of the three additional school districts the state will now manage. The district’s director of communications, Michael Donaldson, says they knew the takeover was coming, with two of its schools having earned five consecutive failing ratings, which is the trigger for the state takeover. He is still upset because he says the state recognized the improved educational outcomes the district had made since hiring a new superintendent in 2023. “We simultaneously are being told that we’re making the correct decisions that are going to produce results, but because of the letter of the law we are losing the authority to be able to make those decisions still because we simply ran out of time,” said Donaldson.

Under state law, Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Mike Morath can close a campus or appoint new leadership if a district is deemed failing. Miguel Solis, president at Commit Partnership, an education think tank, says the threat of a takeover holds districts accountable to their students. “Oftentimes the things that are holding kids back from getting that result that they, that they aspire to are the systems and structures of the school district,” said Solis. District takeovers have increased since the inception of a 2015 law that gives the TEA the authority to do so. The takeovers happening around the state are majorly affecting districts with students from a lower socioeconomic status. The Texas State Teachers Association blames state leadership for putting districts in situations to fail. “The three districts that were taken over last week, all three of them had 80% or more of their student enrollment were low-income kids. Kids who were sometimes too hungry or too sick to go to school or to listen in class, and yet the state of Texas expects them to pass a high stress standardized test,” said Clay Robison, a spokesperson for the Texas State Teachers Association.

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Austin faces accelerated funding, design deadline for I-35 cap and stitch project

City of Austin officials now face a 2025 deadline to define the scope of several cap and stitch projects that could reshape traffic and neighborhoods across the city. In an update delivered to the Austin Mobility Committee Dec. 4, city officials were confronted with a revised timeline from the Texas Department of Transportation for its I-35 Capital Express Central project. This new schedule introduces a complex set of financial pressures and risks for the city's cap and stitch initiative, a plan to construct land bridges over the expanded I-35, which is intended to heal the decades-old divide created by the interstate, according to city officials. The update presents a bit of a paradox: while the construction of key city-funded elements has been delayed by three years, the deadline for committing the remaining millions of dollars to the project has been unexpectedly moved forward, forcing difficult decisions on an accelerated timeline.

In May, Austin City Council approved an advance funding agreement with TxDOT for up to $104 million to fund the roadway support elements for three downtown caps and two northern stitches, using $41 million from a state infrastructure bank loan and $63 million from certificates of obligation. However, TxDOT would be requesting the first substantial payment for the decks themselves in May 2026, under a schedule meant to spread costs over several years, with much larger “balloon payments” due in the final years of construction, when the actual bridge decks are built, city staff said. TxDOT has made the decision to split the massive I-35 overhaul into two primary phases. The first, an "advanced construction package," is scheduled to go to bid in 2027 and will include work on overpasses like the MLK Jr. Boulevard bridge and utility relocations. The second, the "ultimate construction package," which contains the city's cap and stitch elements, will not go to bid until 2029. This means the construction of the city-funded foundational roadway elements and the cap decks themselves has been pushed out three years, from an anticipated 2026 start to 2029.

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Replace Lake Worth ISD trustees but keep superintendent, board president urges state

Lake Worth ISD board President Tammy Thomas wants to ask the state for a trade: Remove the school board but keep Superintendent Mark Ramirez. “This school board will gladly walk away,” Thomas told the Fort Worth Report after the board’s Dec. 15 meeting. “This school board will gladly let a board of managers and a conservator come in if they will trade us and let us keep Dr. Ramirez.” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced a state takeover of the district Dec. 11, ordering the appointment of a state board of managers and a conservator and directing TEA officials, including himself, to select a new superintendent. The action followed years of low academic performance in the 3,200-student district, including five consecutive failing state academic accountability ratings at Marilyn Miller Language Academy, which triggered the intervention.

Monday’s meeting was the first since the state’s decision. It came amid uncertainty over how quickly control will be stripped from locally elected trustees and how long Ramirez, who has led the district since May, will remain in his role during the transition. Ramirez confirmed after the meeting that he will not be a candidate to remain superintendent once the state appoints new leadership, a decision he said came from TEA. “I’m disappointed because of the work we’ve started here,” Ramirez said. In a call with reporters last week, Morath did not explain why Ramirez would not be considered to remain as superintendent once the state installs new leadership. Instead, the commissioner praised Ramirez’s short tenure in Lake Worth, calling him “a very skilled leader” who has made “many, many changes” since arriving in May. The district’s elected trustees waited too long to make a leadership change, he said. “If they had taken steps to bring Dr. Ramirez in five years ago, I highly doubt we’d be having this conversation,” Morath said.

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Research shows Texans want to feel heard, participate more amid rapid business growth

Texas has grown rapidly in recent years, and data indicates that development is not slowing down. The Lone Star State gained about 168,000 jobs from September 2024 to September 2025, leading the nation in job growth, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Texas is attractive to businesses looking to relocate or expand their operations due to its tax incentives and grants, lack of a personal income tax and roughly 200 higher education institutions, business leaders said during a Dec. 10 summit held in College Station by industry network YTexas. Amid “global volatility” due to inflation and tariffs, “Texas could, in many ways, be a safe haven for those not necessarily looking to escape the global volatility, but rather be on firmer ground... [with] the ability to land and expand and have this runway of opportunity to move in and continue to grow,” said Dean Browell, the chief behavioral officer for Feedback, a digital ethnographic research firm.

Feedback studies what people are saying online “unprompted” by analyzing comments and discussions on social media sites and forums. The firm conducted a study looking at the attitudes of business leaders, entrepreneurs and residents surrounding Texas’ economic growth, which Browell presented at the Dec. 10 summit. As businesses of all sizes continue to move to Texas, local governments and associations also need to “support the ones that are already here,” Browell said. Feedback’s October study found that long-term Texas residents want to live in growing communities with strong education systems and plentiful job opportunities. That growth, however, can lead to rising property taxes and living expenses before residents begin feeling the benefits, Browell told Community Impact in a Dec. 11 interview. He said some Texas residents, including those in fast-growth areas such as the Greater Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan areas, are “paying for that growth on the front end, while at the same time enduring infrastructural woes because much of the promised infrastructure to support that growth hasn't necessarily come to fruition as fast.” To thrive in Texas, businesses need access to a skilled workforce, reliable infrastructure, affordable real estate and accessible health care, Browell told summit attendees Dec. 10. Businesses also look for state and local support such as tax incentives, federal opportunity zones and the chance to collaborate with others through business associations or local initiatives.

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Beaumont ISD to appeal TEA takeover decision, officials say

Beaumont Independent School District officials announced Tuesday they will appeal the Texas Education Agency’s decision to take over the district. A BISD spokesperson said the district plans to appeal the takeover after the TEA confirmed it will assume control of Beaumont ISD due to failing academic ratings at two campuses—ML King Middle School and Fehl-Price Elementary—for five consecutive years, meeting the legal threshold for state intervention. Beaumont ISD will become one of eight school districts currently under state control. Previously speaking alongside members of the board of trustees, Allen said she strongly disagreed with the decision and believed the district’s recent academic efforts were not fully considered by the agency.

“I disagree with this decision. I was very disappointed and frustrated with the decision based on the most recent visit we had, based on the work that we've done. The innovations, the effort, the energy, the intensity of Beaumont ISD implementing so many initiatives,” Allen previously said at a press conference on Dec. 11. State law allows the TEA to intervene when at least one campus receives failing ratings for five straight years. In Beaumont ISD, that threshold was reached at two campuses. Allen previously told 12News in September that academic improvement was underway, noting fewer schools were receiving failing grades. District leaders said they believed TEA Commissioner Mike Morath’s September visit suggested a more limited action, possibly the closure of Fehl-Price Elementary. Morath said a single-campus closure would not resolve broader academic challenges within the district. “In Beaumont ISD, you have two different campuses that reached five years of chronic F status, but you actually have well over half the district that is a D or F campus, and only about 30% of kids that are on grade level,” Morath said. “So it's really a systematic inability to support effective academics.” Dr Allen believes the state's decision is the wrong one. "We have done a massive amount of work" said Allen. "I'll be present. I'm gonna continue to work and lead and work and lead until the last day for me to work and lead."

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Chuck Neinas, a key architect and adviser over decades of college sports, dies at 93

Chuck Neinas, the onetime Big Eight commissioner whose media savvy and dealmaking helped turn college football into the multibillion-dollar business it is today, died Tuesday. He was 93. The National Football Foundation announced Neinas' death, with its president and CEO Steve Hatchell calling him “a visionary in every sense of the word.” A cause of death was not disclosed. From 1980-97, Neinas was executive director of the College Football Association, an agency created by several big conferences that sought to wrest control of their TV rights from the NCAA. Two key members, Georgia and Oklahoma, sued the NCAA over TV, and a 1984 Supreme Court ruling in their favor effectively made the CFA a separate business from the rest of college sports. It gave Neinas a key seat at the negotiating table.

He brought home deals worth billions in the 1980s and ’90s, and those huge contracts set the stage for today’s industry, currently highlighted by a TV deal worth $7.8 billion for the College Football Playoff. After the CFA disbanded in 1997 — with conferences taking their TV rights into their own hands and the Bowl Championship Series, the precursor to today’s playoff, about to start — Neinas founded a consulting firm that helped schools create policies and hire athletic directors and coaches. He was CEO of Ascent Entertainment Group, which owned the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and their arena when they sold to Liberty Media Group in 2000. But his passion was college sports. He served as interim commissioner of the Big 12 from 2011-12, solidifying that conference during one of many surges of realignment by adding TCU and West Virginia. In a 2014 interview with The Associated Press, Neinas envisioned a future that looks much like today as he pondered lawsuits against the NCAA that would eventually lead to players being paid. “There is a need for some changes,” Neinas said. “The auto industry is always trying to improve their model. College athletics should do the same. But the basics are still sound.” Born in Wisconsin, Neinas was a longtime Colorado resident and was living in Boulder at the time of his death. After working as a play-by-play man for Wisconsin football and basketball, Neinas got a job with the NCAA, where he served as an assistant executive director from 1961-71. He became commissioner of the Big Eight Conference in 1971 until moving to the CFA. During his Big Eight tenure, Neinas chaired the committee that recommended the NCAA withdraw from the U.S. Olympic Committee. That led to a major reorganization and the passing of the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act that governs the Olympics in the U.S. today.

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Brian Gaar: A moment With Rob Reiner that meant everything

The year was 2015. I was not in a good place. I had quit my lucrative (ha) job in newspaper journalism to enter the equally lucrative world of local television, hosting a late-night comedy show on The CW in Austin. It was exhilarating, but I had no idea what I was doing. I was the host and one of three writers, working long hours as we cobbled together a daily program. After hours, I sold ads for the show too. We were all burned out, or at least I was. Living your dream is hard. One night, I was asked to host a comedy show at Cap City Comedy Club in Austin. It was a showcase of TV journalists who were attempting standup for the first time, appropriately called “The Funniest Reporter in Texas.” Good luck, I thought. Doing standup is one of the hardest things in the world, because it’s so obvious when you fail. When you succeed, you can’t imagine doing anything else. When you bomb, it’s unbearable.

At the time, I was about eight years into comedy. I happily accepted the job because I needed the ego boost (and the $50). It turned out to be one of those nights that I’d never forget, as trite as that sounds. While my life had been hectic and hard, the show was magic. All of the reporters had great sets, and I was on my game. (“Don’t date your cameramen, ladies!” I warned the participants. The room exploded in laughter.) I got off stage, exhausted but happy. Then I saw Rob Reiner. He was approaching me with a big smile. “Great job!” he said, extending a hand. I couldn’t believe it. The director of “This is Spinal Tap,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and “The Princess Bride” liked me. I was floating. Was this what heaven felt like? “Hey thanks!” I replied, mentally noting every detail so I could remember this moment forever. Of course, he wasn’t talking to me. You know that old trope of thinking someone’s talking to you, but they’re really addressing the person behind you? That’s what happened. Reiner’s grandson had been one of the participants, and he was congratulating him. Reiner looked at me, slightly annoyed. “Not YOU, you’re a pro,” he snapped. Somehow, life had gotten even better. No, he wasn’t talking to me, but Rob Reiner thought I was a pro. At comedy. I asked him later if we could get a photo, and he graciously accepted. It’s one of my favorite memories, ever.

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TSTC Waco's star is on the rise with new funds, facilities

This has been a banner year for the Waco-based Texas State Technical College system. In February, TSTC opened its $17 million WorkSITE job training center in Waco’s main industrial park, with funding assistance from McLennan County and the city of Waco. In November, Texans approved a constitutional amendment creating an $850 million endowment for capital needs in the 11-campus system. Now construction is wrapping up on a $72 million Construction Trades Center on the Waco campus, a gleaming contrast to some of the surrounding 1950s buildings that date back to the site’s previous life as James Connally Air Force Base. As the provost of Waco’s TSTC campus, Beth Wooten is in the thick of that growth. She has been a TSTC administrator for 14 years and now is in charge of the academic program at the flagship campus.

"I’ve told folks recently that I believe the trades are now. It is our time, and so it’s a really, really exciting time for TSTC, not just in Waco, but at all of our campuses across the state," she said. "We’ve never had this opportunity in our 60 years to be able to plan with confidence for capital expansion and deferred maintenance projects. SWe will not receive our first distribution until spring of 2027, so we are currently in the planning phases. We have 11 campuses across the state and that endowment will go to support all 11 campuses. … The endowment portion along with our traditional (state) funds that we will also receive will be $45 (million) to $50 million, is what we’re thinking on an annual basis."

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Tourism taxes tapped to fund Austin homeless services; millions generated amid convention center closure

A new tourism district created to offset the impacts of the convention center's multiyear redevelopment is showing strong early returns. (Ben Thompson/Community Impact) Nearly $1 million in local tourism revenue was directed toward homeless services this fall, representing the first seeding of a stand-alone reserve for Austin's homelessness response. That financing comes as widening tourism promotion efforts during the Austin Convention Center's redevelopment show strong early returns. "If you look no further than this most recent budget, we all know we don’t have enough funding to support a lot of critical services, homelessness included. And so we need to find other ways to pay for this," council member Ryan Alter, who first proposed the homelessness endowment, said in an interview. "By leveraging visitor taxes like we’re doing here, we are allowing for that critical work to be done without increasing our reliance on property taxpayers.”

City Council voted to create the House Our People Endowment, or HOPE, fund back in 2023. Alter presented the concept as a dedicated funding source for homelessness programs that could expand, and take outside investments, over time. The HOPE fund had yet to receive financing until a Dec. 11 council vote to transfer $942,845 in revenue from Austin's new Tourism Public Improvement District, or TPID. The district was set up late last year to support tourism activity and hospitality bookings amid the convention center's multiyear closure, and related impacts to major events in town. The city's overall fiscal year 2025-26 budget already includes millions of dollars for various homelessness initiatives. From the December transfer, $500,000 will be used for homeless navigation services with the remainder yet to be allocated. Housing and shelter programs could also be supported by HOPE funding that's expected to grow to several million dollars annually in the future, Alter said. "It was always envisioned as part of this [TPID] agreement that some of the money would be used for this purpose. And quite frankly, having fewer people on the streets improves tourism," he said of the HOPE transfer. "When people come to Austin and walk around, they want to feel safe and feel like they’re in a vibrant city. And if you have a large homeless population, people don’t feel that way.”

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National Stories

‘Extremely demoralizing’: Republicans respond to the bombastic Wiles interview

White House aides and allies on Tuesday rushed to publicly defend Susie Wiles after a jaw-dropping interview in Vanity Fair had her pointedly criticizing the president and many in the Cabinet. Most of the critiques were batted away as “inside jokes” or part of a “hit piece” from the media but privately those inside the White House and others close to the president were aghast that the West Wing so fully cooperated with the story. “Why Vanity Fair?” wondered one White House official, who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the fallout. “They’ve never been remotely good to us.” They added it was “very, very odd.” President Donald Trump Tuesday afternoon said his chief of staff retains his full confidence, telling the New York Post “she’s done a fantastic job.”

Still, the more than 10,000-word Vanity Fair spread, based on 11 interviews over the course of a year, glossy photo-spreads and on-the-record quotes from Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had many of Trump’s allies scratching their heads, wondering why the very top of the administration would participate in the interview. And how could Wiles, lauded for her political acumen and loyalty, have miscalculated so badly? The interview was “extremely demoralizing,” said a person close to the White House. A second person close to the White House said simply: “So far … WTF.” A third person close to the White House said they’ve known Wiles for decades and was “very surprised” that she participated. After publication, Wiles called the story a “disingenuously framed hit piece,” but did not deny she made the comments. The piece lands as the Trump administration grapples with a host of bad headlines: the unemployment rate is up and Trump’s approval ratings are down. Election losses and GOP underperformance has top Republicans worried about a potentially disastrous midterm election and there is growing fear on the right about a land war in Venezuela.

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House GOP will not allow amendment vote to extend ObamaCare subsidies

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said there will not be an amendment vote on extending expiring ObamaCare enhanced subsidies as part of a House Republican health care bill this week, in a move that is infuriating moderate Republicans who had been pushing to go on the record about the subsidies. Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday that about a dozen Republican members in competitive districts are “fighting hard to make sure that they reduce costs for all of their constituents.” “Many of them did want to vote on this ObamaCare COVID-era subsidy the Democrats created,” Johnson said. “We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be.”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), one of the members who had been pushing for a vote to extend the subsidies that expire Dec. 31, fumed at the decision as he emerged from a House Republican Conference meeting Tuesday morning. “I think it’s idiotic not to have an up-or-down vote on this issue,” Lawler said, adding: “It is political malpractice.” “I am pissed for the American people. This is absolute bulls---,” Lawler said. Responding to Lawler’s comments, Johnson noted he recently campaigned for him in New York and said Lawler “fights hard for New York, as every Republican in this conference does for their districts.” Johnson said members worked on a potential amendment through the weekend, and while “everybody was at the table in good faith,” and “agreement wasn’t made.” Negotiations between moderates and GOP leadership on an amendment to extend the subsidies hit a roadblock over the weekend as GOP leaders and other conservatives said any language extending the expensive subsidies would need to be paired with spending cuts, The Hill previously reported.

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Why lawyers buy so many billboards

When San Fernando, California, attorney Arvand Naderi is walking around town, it’s not unusual for random people to greet him enthusiastically. But they don’t say hello. Instead, many shout out the phrase, “Guns n’ dope!” To which Naderi knowingly responds, “Don’t lose hope!” The exchange may seem odd to the uninitiated. But alongside a picture of his face, the catchy couplet (“Guns n’ Dope? / Don’t Lose Hope!”) has been plastered on one of his firm’s billboards off the 118 freeway in neighboring Pacoima for seven years, turning him into something of a local celebrity. Since the criminal defense attorney started advertising on billboards ~10 years ago, he estimates he’s purchased ~50 of them. He says he spends $100k+ on billboard advertising a year. Naderi’s ads may be unique, but his reliance on billboard advertising to build his firm is not. The American Tort Reform Association, a lobbying group that advocates for caps on award damages and changes to current civil liability laws, estimates that in 2024 attorneys spent $541m+ on out-of-home and outdoor ads, a category that includes billboards as well as space on buses, subways, and other public areas.

This is an increase of $70m compared to 2023 and nearly $200m from 2022. Morgan & Morgan, the country’s largest personal injury firm, reportedly spends a staggering $350m annually on marketing alone. So why are so many law firms, from single-attorney practices to firms with thousands of employees, investing so heavily in billboards? As our world is increasingly lived online, advertising has shifted along with it. The business intelligence firm Research and Markets reports that in 2024 the value of the global digital marketing industry was $410B, and is projected to reach $1.2T by 2033. Billboards, on the other hand, are stubbornly, laughably low-tech. They’ve barely changed since the first ones appeared in the US in the 1860s. They’re also not cheap. In Los Angeles, for example, billboards range from $5k to $9k a month (and far more in iconic, highly touristed places such as Sunset Boulevard). So what explains their massive appeal today? The first reason is competition. According to the American Bar Association, in 2024 there were 1.3m practicing attorneys in the United States, a ratio of one attorney to every 260 Americans. While the number peaked in 2019, with 1.352m practicing attorneys, since 2000 this cohort has grown, on average, by 1% a year. “If you do not advertise, you will get eaten by people like me,” says Brooke Goff, a personal injury attorney in Connecticut.

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New court filings give a behind-the-scenes look at Trump’s East Wing demolition

A bevy of new details surrounding the Trump administration’s decision to demolish the East Wing of the White House were revealed this week in court filings, as part of a case filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation seeking to pause construction on the sprawling ballroom project. President Donald Trump’s pet project was initially pitched as a renovation of the structure, which traditionally was home to office space for the first lady and her staff. But it quickly ballooned in scope and is now estimated to cost upward of $300 million — though Trump said that number had increased to $400 million Tuesday night at a White House Hanukkah reception. A memo, filed by the White House on Monday evening in response to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s lawsuit, included declarations from various National Park Service officials and an environmental assessment conducted by the NPS determining that there would be “no significant impact ” on the surrounding environment.

It also provided the first public estimate of the project’s timeline, which is projected to be completed sometime in the summer of 2028 — just months before Trump is set to leave office. White House officials in the filing called for the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that any halt to the project would amount to a national security risk. The filing did not explain the specific national security concerns, but it has long been known that an emergency operations bunker lies below the East Wing. Instead, the administration only offered to share classified details with the judge in a private, in-person setting without the plaintiffs present. The White House also argued in its response filed Monday that the president has the authority to modify the White House, asserting that he is not subject to normal statues. “Plaintiff’s claims concerning demolition of the East Wing are moot because the demolition has already occurred and cannot be undone,” Department of Justice officials wrote. “The President possesses affirmative statutory authority to alter and improve the White House — authority that expressly overrides other laws.” Earlier this month Trump added a new architect to his construction team, after the original project leader reportedly aired concerns about the scope and size of the ballroom.

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Turning Point’s student membership keeps growing

Three months after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the footprint of the right-wing youth organization he founded continues to grow on college campuses. This week, Turning Point USA chapters at both Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Oklahoma reported membership surges. According to the Indiana Daily Student (IDS) and Indy Star, IU’s chapter says its membership has tripled this fall, from 180 to 363. At the University of Oklahoma—which put an instructor on leave after the Turning Point chapter accused them of “viewpoint discrimination”—the group’s membership has grown from 15 to 2,000 over the past year, NBCreported. Those increases follow other local media reports about new chapters and membership growth at scores of other universities across the country, including the University of Missouri, and Vanderbilt and Brigham Young Universities. Within eight days of Kirk’s death, Turning Point said it received messages from 62,000 students interested in starting a new chapter or getting involved with one.

“I think that our club has kind of become a beacon for conservatives,” a Turning Point chapter member told IDS, Indiana University at Bloomington’s campus newspaper. “So, after his death, more people showed up, more people got involved, and it was really nice to kind of see a scene in the way people wanted to get involved.” Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012, with the mission of “to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.” He gained notoriety in conservative circles by traveling to college campuses across the country, challenging students to prove wrong his conservative stances on topics such as race, gender, abortion and immigration. On Sept. 10, Kirk was speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University when a gunman fatally shot him in the neck. After his death, Trump and his allies moved to canonize Kirk as an exemplar of civic debate—and called to punish anyone who publicly disagreed. Numerous colleges and universities have since suspended or fired faculty and staff who criticized Kirk for his political views. Although some faculty and students have objected to new Turning Point chapters, the students growing the organization insist they’re committed to considering all perspectives. “You have a place here, you'll always have a place here,” Jack Henning, president of Indiana University’s Turning Point chapter, told IDS. “We don’t discriminate against any viewpoints at all, we debate them. That’s what American democracy was built upon.”

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Warner rejects Paramount’s hostile bid, saying Netflix deal still superior

Warner Bros. Discovery recommended shareholders reject Paramount’s unsolicited all-cash bid for the company Wednesday, saying it believes Netflix’s proposal for its studios and HBO Max streaming service is still superior. Calling the Paramount offer “illusory” in a letter to shareholders, Warner again raised concerns about the credibility of the equity being offered by Paramount and questioned the structure of the Ellison family’s commitment to funding the deal. Paramount CEO David Ellison and his father Larry, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle, are majority shareholders in Paramount, along with RedBird Capital. Netflix earlier this month agreed to pay $72 billion, or $27.75 a share, in cash and stock for Warner’s studio and HBO Max streaming business after the entertainment company splits itself in two.

Paramount then went hostile with its $77.9 billion proposal to acquire all of Warner. Paramount has been arguing that its offer is a better deal for shareholders and more likely to pass regulatory muster. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that a rejection from Warner was imminent. In its letter, Warner said the Ellison family is using a revocable trust to fund the deal and that documents provided by Paramount about the commitment “contain gaps, loopholes and limitations that put you, our shareholders, and our company at risk.” The Netflix merger, on the other hand, is fully backed by a public company with a market cap of more than $400 billion and with an investment-grade balance sheet, Warner said. “The terms of the Netflix merger are superior,” Warner said in its letter. “The [Paramount] offer provides inadequate value and imposes numerous, significant risks and costs on [Warner].” Paramount’s hostile bid is at $30 a share, though the company has also told Warner this offer isn’t its “best and final” proposal, a signal it could increase the bid. Warner shares closed Tuesday at $28.90.

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Trump orders blockade of all 'sanctioned oil tankers' entering and leaving Venezuela

President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Venezuela on Tuesday by announcing that he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” entering and leaving the South American country. “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before." He then added that he is "ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela," arguing that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government is using oil revenue to finance illicit operations, including "drug terrorism."

The U.S. has sanctioned three of Maduro’s nephews and repeatedly conducted deadly military strikes against boats from the Caribbean that it alleges are carrying drugs. Venezuela’s government released a statement Tuesday accusing Trump of “violating international law, free trade, and the principle of free navigation” with what it called “a reckless and grave threat.” It added: “On his social media, he assumes that Venezuela’s oil, land, and mineral wealth are his property.” The statement said of Trump’s post: “Consequently, he demands that Venezuela immediately hand over all its riches. The President of the United States intends to impose, in an utterly irrational manner, a supposed naval blockade on Venezuela with the aim of stealing the wealth that belongs to our nation.” Maduro’s government plans to denounce the situation before the United Nations, the statement said. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview for part of a two-part profile published Tuesday by Vanity Fair that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”

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What we know about the fatal stabbings of Rob and Michele Reiner and the case against their son

Two days after Hollywood director Rob Reiner and producer Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their home, their grown son, Nick Reiner, was charged with the first-degree murder of his parents. Many aspects of the case are still uncertain as authorities keep details close in an active investigation. But the deaths of the two Hollywood fixtures have upended the entertainment industry as colleagues, friends and fans pay tribute to their legacy. Here’s what we know about the case against Nick Reiner and what comes next.

Prosecutors charged Reiner, 32, with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of his parents. The charges include a special allegation for allegedly using a knife, and the case rises to a “special circumstance first-degree murder case” as there were multiple murders, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Tuesday at a news conference. Conviction on the charges carries a penalty of life in prison without parole or the death penalty, Hochman said. His office hasn’t decided if it would seek the death penalty and would take the “thoughts and desires of the family into consideration,” he said. Executions in California have essentially been halted since 2006, with a moratorium on the death penalty since 2019. Cases that involve family members are among “the most challenging and the most heart-wrenching” due to the “intimate and often brutal nature of the crimes involved,” Hochman said. Reiner is being held without bail ahead of an arraignment, the district attorney’s office said. He is going through medical screening, a standard procedure, Hochman said.

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Next Fed chair in ‘no-win scenario’ as selection process draws to a close

It was always going to be one of the Kevins. At least that was the impression among many across Wall Street and Washington when it came to President Trump’s selection for the next chair of the Federal Reserve. Mr. Trump had hinted for months that he wanted his Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, for the job. But Mr. Bessent kept declining the offer. That placed Kevin A. Hassett, a longtime loyalist and economic adviser to Mr. Trump, and Kevin M. Warsh, a former Fed governor who had been in spitting distance of becoming chair during the president’s first term, in leading positions to take over for Jerome H. Powell in May. The decision comes down to who Mr. Trump believes will be more successful in delivering the substantially lower borrowing costs that he has long struggled to get from the Fed under Mr. Powell.

Mr. Trump, who elevated Mr. Powell to chair in 2017, appears haunted by that decision. He has made it clear that this time he wants someone more malleable who will take his advice. That prerequisite creates a credibility problem for whoever is selected, one that will be difficult to escape. A chair who is seen as beholden to the president risks eroding the public’s confidence that the Fed is making decisions in the best interest of the economy, not the White House. If that crumbles, borrowing costs could move higher, not lower as the president wants. “Anyone who gets the job is damaged goods,” said Andy Laperriere, headof U.S. policy research for Piper Sandler. “You’re either going to be the guy who succeeds in getting what the president wants, which will not bode well for your treatment in the history books,” Mr. Laperriere said, “or you’re going to be the guy who doesn’t get what the president wants, and he’s going to probably turn on you.”

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Lead Stories

Greg Abbott details plan to turn Harris County ‘dark red' in 2026

Gov. Greg Abbott is prepared to pour $25 million into his effort to turn Harris County — a Democratic stronghold he lost by 10 percentage points in 2022 — “dark red” as he seeks a record fourth term in office, according to details of the plan shared with Hearst Newspapers. As part of that, the Texas Republican is planning to target House Democrats there with messaging on crime, bail restrictions and property taxes, key planks of his reelection pitch. The governor recruited Republican candidates to run in every state House seat in the county, including some where the GOP has not had a candidate on the ballot in years. And he’s hired a consultant based in Houston to help coordinate their efforts. House District 135, an open seat being vacated by state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, who is running for Texas Railroad Commission; House District 137, held by state Rep. Gene Wu since 2013; House District 140, held by state Rep. Armando Walle since 2009; House District 143, held by state Rep. Ana Hernandez since 2005; House District 144, held by state Rep. Mary Ann Perez since 2017; House District 148, held by state Rep. Penny Morales Shaw since 2021; House District 149, held by state Rep. Hubert Vo since 2005.

It is a lofty goal for the governor, who has not won the county since his first gubernatorial run in 2014. And it comes as Republicans are expected to be largely playing defense amid a midterm backlash against President Donald Trump, who drew just 46% of the vote in Harris County last year. “You want to rally your base, but to say they’re going to make Harris County ‘dark red’ — I think that’s a very ambitious plan,” said Renee Cross, senior director of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston. “I honestly don’t see it.” But the investment from the governor’s campaign speaks to how serious it is taking the challenge. Abbott has about $90 million in his campaign account and is planning to spend more than a quarter of it in Harris County. “The effort is county-wide to impact every race,” said Dave Carney, Abbott’s longtime political adviser. “We plan to compete for every voter.” The push comes after Republicans made some gains in 2024. The 46% of the county vote Trump won last year was up from 43% in 2020 and 42% in 2016. The GOP, meanwhile, won 10 judicial seats last year, its strongest showing at the courthouse in a decade.

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CEOs are learning to live with Trump’s turn to state capitalism

Last week Nvidia finally got permission to sell one its most advanced semiconductor chips to China. The catch: The federal government will take 25% of the revenue from those sales. The Nvidia deal says something important about the relationship between business and government under President Trump. His regular intrusions into the boardroom—taking equity stakes, revenue slices or a “golden share”; prodding companies to lower prices or sell drugs through a federal website—are a sort of state capitalism, in which the state doesn’t necessarily own companies, but uses its substantial leverage to steer their behavior. State capitalism is a two-way street. Many businesses, by aligning themselves with Trump’s agenda, elicit better treatment—in their ability to sell to China, the tariffs they pay, how they are regulated, and what mergers are allowed. In other words, state capitalism doesn’t just serve the interests of the state, but of favored capitalists.

Nvidia is, in effect, paying for a license that used to be free, but it hasn’t objected. After all, it’s getting access to a lucrative market that would otherwise be off-limits. In August, shortly after Trump first proposed a 15% cut, chief executive Jensen Huang told an interviewer: “Whatever it takes to get it approved for us to be able to sell in China, is fine with us.” Whether this cozy relationship between the state and selected capitalists is good for the country is another question. State capitalism is neither socialism, in which the government owns the means of production, or laissez-faire capitalism. It’s more of a hybrid, variants of which have long been commonplace outside the U.S. Once popular in Japan and Western Europe, it remains prominent in China, Russia and other countries to varying degrees. In the U.S., taking stakes in companies or commandeering their production was once limited to wars or emergencies such as the financial crisis and Covid. Trump has made it standard practice. “I think we should take stakes in companies,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal last week. “Now, some people would say that doesn’t sound very American. Actually, I think it is very American.”

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Texas AG turned to outside ‘fixing’ firm as office reeled

Days after a simmering office dispute involving his current and former deputies splashed into public view, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office hired an Austin firm that touted its expertise in “fixing sensitive problems.” Weisbart Springer Storm Hatchitt LLP’s June 30 contract called for it to advise on “development and compliance with OAG policies and procedures,” according to a copy of the agreement obtained by Bloomberg Law through a public records request. For the next two months, Paxton’s office paid it more than $25,000. Unlike seven other contracts Paxton’s office engaged in with outside counsel this year, the contract didn’t provide specific expectations, name an opposing party, or describe a dispute. The invoices show work on litigation that wasn’t laid out in the engagement, and the tasks are heavily redacted in invoices provided to Bloomberg Law.

Paxton’s office didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment on the firm’s retention. Weisbart Springer didn’t respond to questions about the work it did. Weisbart Springer is a firm of 10 lawyers that specializes in complex litigation as well as sensitive problems, according to its website. Its attorneys “have successfully extricated individuals and companies from seemingly impossible situations, restored the status quo, and helped to allow individuals to move past traumatic business and personal chapters of their lives,” the site says. At the time of the engagement, Paxton’s office was dealing with two bombshell lawsuits involving high-ranking lawyers who were once aligned as members of his leadership team. One was a claim by former solicitor general Judd Stone that Paxton’s first assistant, Brent Webster, had slandered him. In the other, an executive assistant asserted she’d been harassed by Stone and former division head Christopher Hilton while the three of them prepared to defend Paxton in his 2023 impeachment trial in the Texas Senate. The lawsuit included an email from Webster that said he had been threatened by Stone to the point that he was considering security for his family based on comments Stone made. In their lawsuit, Stone and Hilton said Webster retaliated against them by feeding the email to the assistant to use in hers. Webster did this, they allege, because they launched a corruption investigation into him through a public records request to the AG’s office.

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Former Austin Mayor Frank Cooksey, progressive champion, dies at 92

Former Austin Mayor Frank Cooksey, champion of civil rights and the environment, died early Monday morning, his daughter confirmed. He was 92. "We've lost one of the good guys," posted Judy Maggio Rosenfeld, a longtime broadcast reporter and founder of Judy Maggio Media. "Frank Cooksey truly cared about Austin, its people and its future." A student body president at the University of Texas during the 1950s, lawyer Cooksey rode to municipal office on a progressive political wave that began in the 1970s. Tall and smiling, he served as mayor from 1985 to 1988. "Frank Cooksey’s concerns were always about the well-being of his fellow citizens, all of them," said UT historian Tom Hatfield. "He was their advocate. He was serious about serious issues, like fairness and justice, clean water, adequate food, good housing and effective government. He was an exemplary product of the public schools of Austin."

Cooksey was born June 3, 1933, in Ashland, Kentucky. He lived for seven years in Grayson, Kentucky, where his father owned and operated a department store. The family moved to Austin, where his mother's ancestors had settled since the 1840s. He attended Pease Elementary, University Junior High and Austin High School. He graduated in 1951. Cooksey attended both Baylor University and UT, where he graduated with a degree in psychology in 1955. After working on a master's in international relations, he attended the Union Theological Seminary in New York, then UT Law School, where he earned his law degree in 1962. In all phases, Cooksey joined and led social, scholarly and other clubs. He practiced law for 40 years. Among his postings were as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, an assistant U.S. attorney and special attorney general of Texas. He spent time in private practice in Austin, Houston and Washington, D.C. In 1988, he retired from active practice. That did not slow him down. Cooskey continued to lead legal initiatives at home and abroad.

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State Stories

John Moritz: The lieutenant governor Texas didn’t elect — and didn’t fully honor

The flags over the Texas Capitol flew at full staff last week. That's only notable because former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff died Monday at 89, long after his 15-year career as an elected official, most of it as a state senator representing a rural East Texas district, had come to an end. It's not unusual for the Texas and American flags to be lowered to honor the passing of a prominent leader or to mark a tragedy that shocks the sensibilities of the state. Readers of a certain age and Texas political history junkies of average skill level and above will recall that Ratliff's two-year service as the 40th lieutenant governor came with an asterisk. Unlike the 39 before him and the two who followed, Ratliff was not elected in a statewide vote. Instead, he was chosen in a secret ballot of the Texas Senate to fill the vacancy left when then-Lt. Gov. Rick Perry ascended to the Governor's Mansion after George W. Bush was elected president.

Ratliff's selection by his peers was hardly a fluke. He had served two teams as the powerful chairman of the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee and before that led the chamber's Education Committee, where it fell to him to craft a school finance system that would pass court muster and a divergent assortment of political agendas after the system existing at the time had failed in its constitutional obligation to provide an "adequate" education for each and every child enrolled in Texas' public schools. For that, Ratliff became known as "the father of Robin Hood," the nickname for his plan forcing districts with robust property tax bases to send a portion of their revenue to districts with fewer resources. But it was Ratliff's four years at the head of the Finance Committee that burnished his standing among his fellow senators. Having sway over billions of dollars in state spending is powerful and thankless at the same time. The money available to spend is finite; the demands for at least a share of it are not. That means the Finance Committee chair, in both rich times and lean, has to say "no" more often than "yes" to the endless parade of interest groups and to the very lawmakers the chair must ask to vote in favor of the budget.

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Rep. Marc Veasey drops out of race for county judge

One week after filing, U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth has stepped out of the race for Tarrant County judge. Instead, Veasey said in a statement he is going to remain “laser-focused” on representing Congressional District 33. “At a time when Donald Trump and his MAGA allies are escalating their assaults on our democracy, our rights, and the rule of law, I believe we cannot afford to retreat from the arenas where those fights are being waged most intensely,” Veasey said in the statement.

That leaves Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons and Fort Worth civic advocacy leader Millennium Anton C. Woods Jr. as the only two in the Democratic primary on March 3. Veasey was the last to join the race on the filing deadline, Dec. 8. Before his announcement, he had been expected to place a bid for Congressional District 30 or run for reelection in his freshly redistricted seat. Though the previous map would have been used in the 2026 elections due to a federal judge’s ruling in El Paso, the U.S. Supreme Court determined the redistricted map will be applied. The new map tips the scale toward Republicans in five districts, including Veasey’s. Pulling out of the race wasn’t an easy decision, Veasey said. “But, knowing you can win an election does not mean you should run a campaign,” he said.

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Houston congressman, a celebrity in political circles, now fighting for his job

Sitting in his congressional office turned podcast studio with the curtains drawn, U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw ticked off his political enemies one after another: former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, conspiracy theorist Candace Owens and the former Navy Seal and podcaster Shawn Ryan. The list represents some of the most influential voices of the far right wing of the Republican party — the very people voters in his congressional district are paying attention to ahead of what is expected to be a tough primary in March. "They were lying about me, and I'm just not somebody who lets that go," Crenshaw explained. "You could say that's a bad strategy. But I will just not let people lie about me."

Since coming to Washington in 2019, Crenshaw has risen to become one of the most recognizable members of Congress, with a reputation for candor and a penchant for calling out those with whom he disagrees. But after a damaging pair of disclosures last month, both involving drinking, the 41-year-old has again found himself under attack by far-right commentators and politicians with whom he has long clashed. The scrutiny comes as the Houston lawmaker is facing what could be his toughest primary yet. Redistricting meant to shore up Republicans’ strength in Congress may actually hurt Crenshaw, whose district has been sweeping further into deep red Montgomery County. He’s drawn a formidable primary challenger in state Rep. Steve Toth, the owner of a local pool cleaning company who has a reputation as one of the most conservative members of the Texas Legislature. Crenshaw, a former Navy Seal, brushes off criticism as part of the "outrage culture" he has long pilloried. But for those who know him, the recent incidents are reflective of a politician they describe as equal parts inspirational and frustrating. "If he doesn’t like you, he'll tell you and that gets him in trouble," said Christian Collins, a GOP political organizer in Texas who used to work for Crenshaw. "I feel like when you're that big, the adverse side effect is you're living in a fish bowl. Everyone is paying attention to everything you do. Everything he says goes viral."

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Houston news icon Dave Ward's funeral set for this week and it's open to the public

Memorial services and multiple days of remembrance are set for Houston broadcasting legend Dave Ward. Ward, who spent more than five decades delivering the news to Houstonians, died Saturday at the age of 86. According to the Houston Chronicle, Ward died from pneumonia-related complications. Ward began his broadcast career at KTRK in 1966 as a reporter, moving into the anchor chair a year later. He would become one of Houston's most familiar news figures. Our thoughts, of course, are with his family and his colleagues. On Wednesday, Ward will lie in repose from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the Crime Stoppers of Houston Dave Ward Building, which is named after him. It's on Main Street. Then on Thursday, a public visitation is planned from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. and again from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons Funeral Directors on Bering Drive. Dave Ward's funeral service is scheduled for noon Friday at St. Martin's Episcopal Church on Sage Road. It's open to the public.

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Camp Mystic wants lawsuits over July 4 flood moved out of Travis County

Attorneys for Camp Mystic, the Texas Hill Country retreat where 25 children and two counselors were killed in a flash flood on July 4, are trying to move four lawsuits against the camp from Travis County to Kerr County, where the victims died. A defense motion seeking a change of venue argues that Travis County is not the proper place for the legal fight because none of the events at issue occurred in that county and because the people being sued, as well as potential witnesses, live in Kerr County.

"The case should ... be transferred to Kerr County for the convenience of the parties and, in particular, the third-party witnesses," Jeff Ray, Mikal Watts and other lawyers for Camp Mystic said in a motion filed Friday in state district court. "All relevant events in this lawsuit took place in Kerr County. Potential witnesses include camp staff members who reside in Kerr County and local Kerr County officials." Late Friday night, the Camp Mystic lawyers also filed their formal responses to the four lawsuits brought by families of campers and counselors who died in the July 4 deluge. In those documents, defense lawyers asserted that none of the cabins at Camp Mystic, a nearly 100-year-old Christian overnight camp for girls, had ever flooded before, and that the July 4 storm was "beyond a 1,000-year flood event, completely off the charts, and never anticipated." They also faulted government agencies for failing to install a flood warning system with sirens, despite "recommendations and proposals" for one, and they said Kerr County authorities did not issue an evacuation notice until 5:02 a.m. on July 4, "well after the sudden swell and surge of water had already engulfed the camp and lives were lost." In arguing for a change of venue, the defense attorneys said it might be necessary for jurors to visit the camp to "see and appreciate the layout of the property and its elevations and the extent of the flood’s damage."

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Crockett: People who ‘regret’ voting for Trump are ‘absolutely welcome’ in her campaign

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) said any voter, regardless of party affiliation, is welcome to support her campaign to be one of the Lone Star State’s senators. “I’m a Texan, and so at the end of the day, I think people are trying to say it has to be one [party] or the other, and I believe it has to be both. I think that we’re going to see frustration. We’re going to see people that are regretting that they voted for Trump. And those people are absolutely welcome in our campaign,” Crockett said during an interview on MS NOW on Saturday. “My attitude is we need to focus on what matters most to Texans. I can tell you that our farmers and ranchers, they’ve already been feeling the heat before Trump got in there, because the Republicans would not allow for a farm bill to be passed out of the House. He’s only exacerbated their problems. And that’s why there’s record numbers of bankruptcies that are being filed right now,” she continued.

Crockett’s desire to garner voters from both sides comes after announcing her bid for the upper chamber last week, challenging Texas State Rep. James Talarico. He, like Crockett, is a rising star in the Democratic Party. Just before Crockett announced her run, former Rep. Colin Allred (D) dropped out of the Senate race in favor of running for a House seat. Talarico welcomed a bid against Crockett, saying that the Democratic movement is rooted in unity over division. Democratic strategist James Carville said Crockett’s bid broke the “first rule of politics” by making it about herself and not voters. “What wins elections is not sitting there talking incessantly about yourself. Winning elections is not about how many clicks you get or how much overnight fundraising you do. Winning elections is being part of framing issues and understanding where people come from,” he added. “There are a lot of people that said, ‘You got to stay in the House. We need our voice. We need you there.’ And I understand, but what we need is for me to have a bigger voice,” Crockett said at her campaign launch event.

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The state is making a list of transgender Texans. It’s using driver's licenses to help.

The state of Texas has continued collecting information on transgender drivers seeking to change the sex listed on their licenses, creating a list of more than 100 people in one year. According to internal documents The Texas Newsroom obtained through records requests, the Texas Department of Public Safety has amassed a list of 110 people who tried to update their gender between August 2024 and August 2025. Employees with driver’s license offices across the state, from El Paso to Paris to Plano, reported the names and license numbers of these people to a special agency email account. Identifying information was redacted from the records released to The Texas Newsroom. The data was collected after Texas stopped allowing drivers to update the gender on their licenses unless it was to fix a clerical error. It is unclear what the state is doing with this information.

An agency spokesperson did not respond to questions about why the list was created and whether it was shared with any other agencies or state officials. The Texas Newsroom filed records requests in an attempt to find the answers but did not receive any additional information that sheds light on what the state may be doing with these names. In recent years, GOP lawmakers have passed multiple laws restricting the rights of transgender Texans, including two new measures that went into effect this year. One defines “male” and “female” on state documents as being based on a person’s reproductive system. The other, known as the "bathroom bill," bars governments from allowing people to use a restroom at public buildings, parks or libraries that do not match their sex at birth. While it’s unclear how the state plans to enforce the bathroom bill, transgender activist Ry Vazquez told KUT News she was asked to show her ID before using a restroom in the state Capitol earlier this month. Vazquez said she and three other people were then cited with criminal trespassing and banned from the building for a year. Landon Richie, the policy coordinator with the Transgender Education Network of Texas, is concerned that the list the state is keeping will be used to pass more state laws targeting the rights of transgender Texans.

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Katy Murray, DallasNews executive who laid groundwork for milestone Hearst deal, departing after merger

By late spring, acquisition discussions between executives at DallasNews Corporation — the former holding company of The Dallas Morning News and the creative marketing agency Medium Giant — and the global media corporation Hearst Corporation had progressed enough that the North Texas company was ready to open up its financial architecture. But the talks remained highly sensitive. So instead of directing an entire team to take on the financial transparency job, as public companies typically do, Katy Murray, the company’s president and longtime CFO, decided to take on the job herself. She spent months compiling reams of highly detailed company records — everything from historical HR files and subscription records to legal liabilities — in a secure electronic data room.

“It is unheard of that a single executive populates a data room, but it shows you she can do the work of eight people,” said Dallas Morning News publisher and president Grant Moise. “She just said, ‘Let me carry the burden. I’ll carry the work and I’ll carry the emotional burden’ … I mean, that’s pretty rare.” In late September, the deal to sell DallasNews Corporation to Hearst was finalized after shareholders approved a purchase agreement that valued the North Texas company at around $88 million. It was a transaction with major implications for Texas media: The sale — the first in the 140-year history of The News — was conceived to preserve the newspaper’s longtime health in an increasingly challenging era for American print media, and effectively represents a new era for one of the country’s most storied news organizations. The sale also led to a new chapter for Murray, who has held top executive roles at DallasNews Corporation and its predecessor company A. H. Belo Corporation for the past decade. Under the new ownership structure, several local executive roles, including Murray’s position as president, are being eliminated, and a significant portion of The News’ back office responsibilities are moving to Hearst’s headquarters in New York.

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Joe Ely, Texas music legend, dead at 78

Joe Ely, a titanic figure in Texas music, has died. He was 78. Ely, who bridged the worlds of country and rock and served as a key figurehead in the rise of Austin as a creative focal point in the 1970s, died at his home in Taos, N.M., from complications of Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s disease and pneumonia, according to his long-time publicist Lance Cowan. Ely is survived by his wife Sharon and his daughter Marie. Details about any memorial service were not immediately available.

“Joe Ely performed American roots music with the fervor of a true believe who knew music could transport souls,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, in a statement to Variety. “His distinctive musical style could only have emerged from Texas, with its southwestern blend of honky-tonk, rock and roll, roadhouse blues, Western swing and conjunto.” Born in Amarillo in 1947, Ely lived briefly in Fort Worth during his childhood, before settling in Lubbock. It was there, in 1971, where Ely formed The Flatlanders, alongside Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. Ely eventually relocated to Austin, and signed with MCA Records, which released his solo, self-titled debut in 1977, and would remain his major label home for 20 years. Ely’s colorful life and career found him crossing paths with everyone from The Clash (Ely famously found himself in England while the influential band was recording its classic London Calling LP) and Stevie Ray Vaughan, to ZZ Top and Linda Ronstadt. In 1999, Ely won a Grammy as part of the supergroup Los Super Seven.

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Reports: Arch Manning returning to Texas for 2026 season

Looks like Arch Manning isn’t done in Austin yet. The Longhorns’ highly-touted quarterback will return to Texas for 2026, according to reports from ESPN and Horns247’s Chip Brown. Manning was eligible to enter the draft after this season, but as a redshirt sophomore he still has two years of college eligibility remaining. Manning’s father, Cooper, told ESPN that “Arch is playing football at Texas next year,” on Monday night. Team officials also told ESPN that the expectation was for Manning to return in 2026. Manning, who entered the 2025 season as the Heisman favorite, had an up-and-down year in his first season as Texas’ starting quarterback. The redshirt sophomore finished the regular season with 2,942 yards and 24 touchdowns passing to go with 7 interceptions. He added 244 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.

Once considered among the favorites to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, Manning’s stock took a hit as he struggled early in the season. His difficulties were especially apparent in a shocking upset loss to Florida when he threw 2 interceptions and took six sacks while completing just 55.2% of his passes. His play improved in the tail end of the season and he closed with several strong performances, leading his team to wins over Vanderbilt and Texas A&M while passing for 1,493 yards and 12 touchdowns with two interceptions while rushing for three more scores. One of those was a highlight-reel 35-yard touchdown against the rival Aggies. Now it appears Manning will be suiting up for the Citrus Bowl against Michigan on Dec. 31 as a precursor to his next season in burnt orange.

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Spurs great David Robinson sues business partner, alleges he committed fraud

San Antonio Spurs legend David Robinson alleges his longtime business partner in private-equity firm Admiral Capital Group LLC has misappropriated millions of dollars. Robinson, Admiral Capital and two affiliated firms are suing New York investment banker Daniel Bassichis, accusing him of fraud, conversion and civil conspiracy, among other claims. They seek more than $34 million in damages. They also want all “traceable profits, earnings, and appreciation” on $18 million they allege was diverted to Bassichis’ Vero Capital GP LLC and a related investment fund, as well as unspecified punitive damages. The lawsuit was filed Friday in the 4th Business Court Division in San Antonio. Bassichis has not yet been served with the complaint.

Robinson started Admiral Capital with Bassichis, a former Goldman Sachs banker, in 2008. Robinson was known as “the Admiral” during his basketball career because he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. He played with the Spurs from 1989 to 2003 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Robinson owns 51% of Admiral Capital, while Bassichis owns the rest, according to the suit. Admiral Capital also is listed as the managing member of Admiral Columbus LLC, which holds a portfolio of real estate assets. Bassichis provided an emailed statement in response to the lawsuit. “David and I have known each other for twenty-three years and have shared a long and successful business relationship,” Bassichis said Monday. “In 2022, David stepped down from the business, and I continued as managing partner, overseeing the existing assets and working to grow the business in the best interests of our investors. We are proud of our track record and accomplishments. My team remains extraordinarily dedicated to doing what is best for our investors. “While disputes between partners unfortunately arise, this matter is an isolated business disagreement regarding the wind-down of several assets and related issues, and I am confident it will be resolved quickly,” Bassichis added.

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Dallas County adult probation director out of role amid state audit

Dallas County adult probation director Arnold Patrick “has transitioned out of his role” leading the department, according to an email his deputy sent to employees Friday. The criminal district and county court judges who oversee the Community Supervision and Corrections Department director declined to comment on the nature of Patrick’s departure. Christina O’Neil, chief counsel for the judiciary, told The Dallas Morning News matters involving employees “are confidential and not subject to public dissemination.” But Patrick’s departure comes as the department remains under a state investigation prompted by reporting from The News in October that uncovered how Patrick paid his state advocacy association colleague $45,100 in a contract to vet vendors despite the consultant acknowledging in an email he did not complete the work. The audit by the Texas Board of Criminal Justice’s Office of Internal Auditor is still in process, according to director of communications Amanda Hernandez.

Patrick did not respond to a phone call or text message seeking comment. Marta Kang, deputy director of the adult probation department, is serving as acting director, according to the email she sent employees Friday. “Please know that my focus will remain on collaboration, communication and ensuring we have what we need to succeed,” Kang wrote. In January 2023, Patrick hired Austin-area lobbyist Eric Knustrom to screen and handle vendors doing business with the probation department while the two were also working together in a state advocacy association they created the year prior, emails obtained by The News show. During the year of Knustrom’s contract with the probation department, he missed deadlines and did not perform core duties of the agreement, according to his December 2023 termination letter. Knustrom failed to review vendor applications, provide status updates or share outcomes of client complaints, the letter states. Records show the probation department issued Knustrom five checks totaling $45,100 in 2023. By early 2024, Knustrom had cashed only $12,300 worth of the checks. In May 2024, five months after his contract ended, Patrick asked Knustrom if he was going to redeem the outstanding payments, emails show. Knustrom responded by acknowledging he did not perform all the work he was contracted to do and needed to make up for it.

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Collin County committee finding it difficult to say what comes after leaving DART

Last week, Alex Wolford wrote about the growing number of suburban DART member cities who are talking about walking away from the transit agency. You should read his deep dive because it’s going to make you smarter, and everyone should take advantage of opportunities to knock a few wrinkles in any smooth patches in the old grey matter. In Alex’s piece, he writes about the Collin County Connects Committee, also known as the C4 committee. It’s the brainchild of the Plano City Council and is tasked with developing whatever comes after leaving DART, provided voters agree in May that the city should. “Our Collin County Connects Committee will be working on an intra-city transportation program that would include senior transit, paratransit, and additional transit for those interested in using the system,” explains Plano City Councilmember Steve Lavine.

The committee met last week, and the Dallas Area Transit Alliance wrote about it. Guys, I don’t think it went well, because the post starts: “Dallas Area Transit Alliance (DATA) commends the efforts of the Collin County Connects Committee to forge a path forward despite numerous roadblocks and a lack of information. The disarray and confusion during the committee proceedings demonstrates what transit riders have known from the beginning: Plano has no realistic plan to replace DART, and attempting to do so would harm thousands who rely on dependable regional transportation every day.” The committee was slated to select and recommend a vendor to provide microtransit options to the city. Instead, the majority decided not to recommend any vendor and urged the city not to move forward with the withdrawal from DART.

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Houston Black farmers lead fight for food justice

When it comes to fighting against food deserts and seeking food justice, Houston-area Black farmers are literally on the front lines. Food deserts are urban areas where affordable, good-quality fresh food is hard to find. In Houston, more than 500,000 residents live in food deserts, many in predominantly Black neighborhoods like Acres Homes and Third Ward. According to a Kinder Institute study, over half (53%) of Black households in Harris County experience food insecurity, and one in five Black residents lack easy access to fresh food.

Some advocates reject the term food desert, preferring food apartheid—a phrase coined by activist Karen Washington to describe the racially and economically driven systems that determine who gets access to healthy food and who doesn’t. Whether one says “desert” or “apartheid,” Black people are catching the short end of the stick when it comes to food access and the illnesses that result. Though only 1.3% of Americans grow food for the rest, Black farmers are disproportionately few. They make up just 3% of all Texas farmers, yet Texas leads the nation with 11,741 Black producers—nearly a quarter of all Black farmers in the U.S. “For me, food justice is about people knowing where their food comes from, being able to see a farmer who looks like them, and having equitable access to fresh food,” said DeShaun Taylor, a licensed midwife who co-owns Taylor Made Farms with her husband, Jazzyyy. “We shouldn’t have to drive from Acres Homes to The Woodlands for a tomato. That’s injustice.”

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City Stories

Former San Antonio City Council staffer arrested for threats toward District 9 office, affidavit says

A staff member for a San Antonio City Council district office has been arrested on a terroristic threat charge, according to an email obtained by KSAT from City Manager Erik Walsh to Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and the city council. Bryan Naylor was arrested Monday, Bexar County court records show. Naylor, who was employed by District 8 Councilwoman Ivalis Meza Gonzalez, allegedly wrote a threatening note toward District 9 Councilwoman Misty Spears’ office. Walsh said Naylor was previously employed by the District 9 office. A District 9 staff member was conducting a routine equipment inventory on Dec. 11 when they found a “threatening note affixed under a desk,” Walsh’s email stated. An arrest affidavit for Naylor states the desk belonged to the City Council District 9 chief of staff. The note allegedly included a picture of Naylor with the message, “Die Fascist.”

Walsh said the situation was immediately reported. Spears closed the field office “until a panic button can be installed,” according to the affidavit. According to the affidavit, a staffer reported other staff members “who are all concerned about the note due to previous issues between the old staff and current staff to include extreme animosity directed toward incoming staff by the exiting staff.” The animosity allegedly included leaving the office in disarray, damaging walls and missing equipment. According to the affidavit, the incoming staff also found “life like” replicas of a rat, snake and cockroaches hidden around the office. The staffer reported she was “fearful for herself, all of the staff in the office and the Councilwoman,” the affidavit states, and that Spears and her husband requested police patrols at their home. San Antonio police contacted Naylor at his residence, where he admitted to creating the note. He also admitted to hiding the replicas around the office before to his departure from District 9 and before being hired by the District 8 office, according to the email and affidavit.

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National Stories

Reiners’ son arrested in deaths of his parents

A son of the director Rob Reiner who is being held in his parents’ murders argued with his father at a holiday party the night before the couple’s bodies were discovered on Sunday, according to a person who attended the gathering. The attendee, who asked not to be named to maintain relationships, did not speak to the Reiners at the party and said that it was unclear what the argument was about. The son, Nick Reiner, 32, was arrested on Sunday night and being held in a Los Angeles County jail without bail, the police said. The police said Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. Two people who were briefed on the case but not authorized to speak publicly said they had been stabbed to death.

Police officials said the case would be presented on Tuesday to the Los Angeles County District Attorney as the office considered charges. Based on a timeline laid out by the authorities, it appeared that prosecutors would have until the end of Wednesday to file charges. Rob Reiner, 78, was a popular sitcom actor before directing a slate of beloved films, including “This Is Spinal Tap,” “When Harry Met Sally …” and “The Princess Bride.” He went on to become a force in California and national Democratic politics, championing gay marriage and other causes. Ms. Reiner, 70, was a photographer and later a producer. Nick Reiner had spoken over the years about his struggles with drug abuse and bouts of homelessness beginning with his teenage years. He worked with his father on a movie, “Being Charlie,” that was loosely inspired by his early life. In part because of that history, the police focused almost immediately on him, according to a person who was briefed by the authorities and spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authority to speak publicly on the investigation. On Monday afternoon, a private security company was guarding the Reiners’ property, whose entry and driveway gates were adorned with “no trespassing” signs.

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States will keep pushing AI laws despite Trump’s efforts to stop them

State lawmakers of both parties said they plan to keep passing laws regulating artificial intelligence despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop them. Trump signed an executive order Thursday evening that aims to override state artificial intelligence laws. He said his administration must work with Congress to develop a national AI policy, but that in the meantime, it will crack down on state laws. The order comes after several other Trump administration efforts to rein in state AI laws and loosen restrictions for developers and technology companies. But despite those moves, state lawmakers are continuing to prefile legislation related to artificial intelligence in preparation for their 2026 legislative sessions. Opponents are also skeptical about — and likely to sue over — Trump’s proposed national framework and his ability to restrict states from passing legislation.

“I agree on not overregulating, but I don’t believe the federal government has the right to take away my right to protect my constituents if there’s an issue with AI,” said South Carolina Republican state Rep. Brandon Guffey, who penned a letter to Congress opposing legislation that would curtail state AI laws. The letter, signed by 280 state lawmakers from across the country, shows that state legislators from both parties want to retain their ability to craft their own AI legislation, said South Dakota Democratic state Sen. Liz Larson, who co-wrote the letter. Earlier this year, South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden signed the state’s first artificial intelligence law, authored by Larson, prohibiting the use of a deepfake — a digitally altered photo or video that can make someone appear to be doing just about anything — to influence an election. South Dakota and other states with more comprehensive AI laws, such as California and Colorado, would see their efforts overruled by Trump’s order, Larson said. “To take away all of this work in a heartbeat and then prevent states from learning those lessons, without providing any alternative framework at the federal level, is just irresponsible,” she said. “It takes power away from the states.”

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US military says strikes on 3 boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean kill 8 people

The U.S. military said Monday that it attacked three boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing a total of eight people as scrutiny over the boat strikes is intensifying in Congress. The military said in a statement on social media that the strikes targeted “designated terrorist organizations,” killing three people in the first vessel, two in the second boat and three in the third boat. It didn’t provide evidence of their alleged drug trafficking but posted a video of a boat moving through water before exploding. President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

But the Trump administration is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers over the boat strike campaign, which has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes since early September, including a follow-up strike that killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage of a boat after the first hit. The latest boat strikes come on the eve of briefings on Capitol Hill for all members of Congress as questions mount over the Trump administration’s military campaign. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top national security officials are expected to provide closed-door briefings for lawmakers in the House and Senate. The campaign has ramped up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the U.S. In a sharp escalation last week, U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration has accused of smuggling illicit crude. Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office. The U.S. military has built up its largest presence in the region in decades and launched a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. Trump says land attacks are coming soon but has not offered any details on location.

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James Woods shares why he stayed friends with Rob Reiner despite political differences

Outspoken conservative actor James Woods on Monday opened up about why he remained friends with Rob Reiner despite his political views following the stabbing deaths of the director and his wife Michele. “When people say horrible things about Rob right now, I find it, quite frankly, infuriating and distasteful,” said Woods in a Fox News appearance. Woods told host Jesse Watters that Reiner “literally saved” his career by rallying behind him to join the cast of “Ghosts of Mississippi,” the director’s 1996 film on the trial of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith, who murdered civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963.

Woods, who starred as De La Beckwith, went on to earn an Oscar nomination for his supporting role and remained friends with Reiner, a staunch liberal and political activist who championed progressive causes. He recalled people seeing the two laugh and kidding each other at parties, interactions they later asked him about considering their political differences. “I would say, ‘I think Rob Reiner is a great patriot. Do I agree with some of many of his ideas on how that patriotism should be enacted to celebrate the America that we both love? No. But he doesn’t agree with me either but he also respects my patriotism,’” Woods explained. “We had a different path to the same destination which was a country we both love.' And when people would say terrible things to me on social media about him, I said, ‘You got it all wrong.’” The actor’s comments arrive after President Donald Trump’s widely criticized post tying Reiner’s death to “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a take he later doubled down on. A number of critics have since pointed out Trump’s hypocrisy, citing his and the GOP’s criticism of those who made light of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September.

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Trump administration says White House ballroom construction is a matter of national security

The Trump administration said in a court filing Monday that the president’s White House ballroom construction project must continue for unexplained national security reasons and because a preservationists’ organization that wants it stopped has no standing to sue. The filing was in response to a lawsuit filed last Friday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation asking a federal judge to halt President Donald Trump’s project until it goes through multiple independent reviews and a public comment period and wins approval from Congress. The administration’s 36-page filing included a declaration from Matthew C. Quinn, deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service, the agency responsible for the security of the president and other high-ranking officials, that said more work on the site of the former White House East Wing is still needed to meet the agency’s “safety and security requirements.”

The filing did not explain the specific national security concerns; the administration has offered to share classified details with the judge in a private, in-person setting without the plaintiffs present. The East Wing had sat atop a emergency operations bunker for the president. Quinn said even a temporary halt to construction would “consequently hamper” the agency’s ability to fulfill its statutory obligations and its protective mission. A hearing in the case was scheduled for Tuesday in federal court in Washington. The government’s response offered the most comprehensive look yet at the ballroom construction project, including a window into how it was so swiftly approved by the Trump administration bureaucracy and its expanding scope. The filings assert that final plans for the ballroom have yet to be finalized despite the continuing demolition and other work to prepare the site for eventual construction. Below-ground work on the site continues, wrote John Stanwich, the National Park Service’s liaison to the White House, and work on the foundations is set to begin in January. Above-ground construction “is not anticipated to begin until April 2026, at the earliest,” he wrote. The National Trust for Historic Preservation did not respond to email messages seeking comment. The privately funded group last week asked the U.S. District Court to block Trump’s project. “No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else,” the lawsuit states. “And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.”

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White Christian clergy running for Congress as Democrats face skeptics in their own party

The Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran minister and Democratic state senator in Iowa, has beaten Republican candidates in three state senate races going back to 2020. Next fall, she hopes to unseat GOP Congressman Zach Nunn in national midterm elections, too. Garriott said she is motivated by the needs she sees in her district, but also a desire to reclaim what it means to be a follower of Jesus in politics. “Faith has something to say to politics. And what we are seeing labeled as the faith perspective is not faithful to me,” Garriott said. “It does not reflect the teachings in the Scriptures that I read. It does not reflect my values. This is a really important moment for people of faith to be engaged in the public realm.”

When she first ran for state office, Garriott was something of a rarity as a white clergy person seeking office as a Democrat. She will be more rare if she wins next November: Since the 1970s, only three white clergy have been elected as Democrats, two of them Catholic priests: The Revs. Robert Drinan, who represented Massachusetts from 1971-81, and Robert John Cornell (Wisconsin, 1975-79). Bob Edgar, a United Methodist minister, represented Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1987. Since then, all white ordained members of Congress have been Republicans. Of the five ordained members of Congress now in office, two are Democrats, and both are Black: Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, lead pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor, and Emanuel Cleaver, a United Methodist minister, a congressman representing Missouri. But this year at least six white clergy and one seminarian — some from evangelical Christian backgrounds and others from mainline Protestant denominations — have declared to run as Democrats in 2026. Another 20 ministers — many of whom are white Democrats — are seriously considering running for various state or local seats, said Doug Pagitt, executive director of Vote Common Good, a nonprofit that seeks to engage religious voters. The jump reflects a sense of alarm among progressive pastors, who aim to counter President Trump’s agenda and the spread of Christian nationalism, Pagitt and several of the pastors said.

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Trump files $10 billion suit against BBC over documentary

President Trump sued the BBC for $10 billion on Monday evening over the editing in a documentary that the British broadcaster said had left the “mistaken impression” that he called for violent action before the storming of the U.S. Capitol. In a 46-page lawsuit filed in federal court in Miami, Mr. Trump accused the BBC of defaming him and violating Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. He demanded $5 billion for each offense. In a statement, the president’s legal team said that the lawsuit was designed to hold the British network accountable for what it described as wrongdoing. “The formerly respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 presidential election,” the statement said.

The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Trump said last month that he planned to file a $1 billion suit against the BBC for its 2024 documentary, “Trump: A Second Chance?” He later told reporters on Air Force One that he planned to sue for as much as $5 billion. “I think I have to do it,” he said at the time. “They have even admitted that they cheated.” The BBC documentary was broadcast before last year’s presidential election on the network’s flagship “Panorama” program. It received little notice until recently, when The Daily Telegraph, a leading Tory-aligned London newspaper, reported last month that an internal review at the BBC had criticized the way the program was edited. In the documentary, Mr. Trump is shown speaking to the crowd on the Washington Mall on Jan. 6, 2021. The network spliced two clips of the president speaking about 50 minutes apart, leaving the impression that he was urging people to participate in the riot that later broke out at the Capitol. Mr. Trump’s lawsuit cited the internal review at the BBC, which concluded that there had been “a string of incidents that demonstrate serious bias in the corporation’s reporting.”

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An ever-larger share of ICE’s arrested immigrants have no criminal record

Immigration arrests under the Trump administration continued to increase through mid-October, reaching rates of more than 30,000 a month. But, rather than the convicted criminals the administration has said it’s focused on, an ever-larger share of those arrests were for solely immigration violations. In 45 states, immigration arrests more than doubled compared with the same period last year, during the Biden administration. The largest increases: There were 1,190 arrests in the District of Columbia compared with just seven last year under the Biden administration. Arrests were also more than five times higher in New Mexico, Idaho, Oregon and Virginia. “The result stands in contrast to the administration’s objective of arresting the ‘worst of the worst,’” said Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. Heightened enforcement is likely increasing “collateral” arrests of people found during searches for convicted criminals, he said.

Comparisons between the Trump and Biden administrations were calculated by Stateline in an analysis of data released by the Deportation Data Project, a research initiative by the universities of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles. About 93% of arrests could be identified by state. While more people were arrested this year, a lower percentage are convicted criminals. The share of arrested immigrants who had been convicted of violent crimes has dropped from 9% in January to less than 5% in October. The share under Biden was consistently between 10% and 11% during the same period in 2024. The same trend applies to people arrested solely on immigration violations: Immigration violations alone were behind 20% in April, then rose to 44% of arrests in October, according to Stateline’s analysis. In some states and the District of Columbia, a majority of arrests were for immigration violations alone: the District of Columbia (80%), New York (61%), Virginia (57%), Illinois (53%), West Virginia (51%) and Maryland (50%).

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The Bondi Beach gunmen were a father and son driven by Islamic State ideology, Australian leader says.

The father and son duo suspected of carrying out a massacre at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach on Sunday were “driven by Islamic state ideology,” police say, as Philippines authorities confirmed the pair recently traveled to a part of that country which has long been a hotbed of extremism. The two men are 50-year-old Sajid Akram, who was killed exchanging gunfire with police; and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram, who is in custody at the hospital and is expected to face significant charges. Australian counterterrorism official believe the pair underwent military-style training while in the southern Philippines last month, public broadcaster ABC reported on Tuesday.

Two homemade Islamic State flags were found in a vehicle registered to the younger suspect, who was previously assessed by the country’s domestic security agency and deemed not to be a threat, police said. Authorities say the gunmen targeted Jewish Australians celebrating the first night of the festival Hanukkah. The attack, which killed 15 people, is in the country’s worst mass shooting in almost 30 years. There is currently no evidence to suggest there were any more individuals involved, police said. The shooting appears to have been inspired by extremist “Islamic State ideology,” according to Australian leader Anthony Albanese. New South Wales police said on Tuesday that the vehicle registered to the younger suspect contained improvised explosive devices – and two homemade ISIS flags. Albanese said the evidence of the flags showed that the “radical perversion of Islam is absolutely a problem” both in the country and around the globe. Authorities believe the two men “weren’t part of a wider cell,” helping them to evade detection, Albanese told public broadcaster ABC. But the younger suspect was previously known to federal security services. The son was investigated for six months by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2019 “because of his connections with two people who subsequently … went to jail,” Albanese said. But that investigation concluded there was “no evidence” he had been radicalized.

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Lead Stories

Jasmine Crockett created deadline day drama that reshaped Texas politics

In the days before she launched her Senate campaign, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett tried to develop a slate of Democratic candidates to run with her in the 2026 midterm elections. Crockett and other Democrats theorize running their best candidates in races up and down the ballot — particularly in statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller — improves their chances to break through. Crockett’s challenge was convincing fellow Democrats to put aside campaigns already in motion as the deadline to file candidacies for the March 3 primaries fast approached. Her effort failed. “We were almost there,” Crockett told me last week after her campaign kickoff speech. “That’s all I can say.”

The Dallas Democrat acknowledged the delicacy of the negotiations and the effect the final, frenzied hours of the filing period had on various elected leaders. Crockett is in a high-profile primary Senate race against state Rep. James Talarico of Austin. “You’re trying to be spicy,” she said after being asked about her efforts to put together a candidate slate. Crockett’s political moves, most notably her eleventh-hour entry into the Senate race, highlighted a dramatic, chaotic day that changed the course of Democratic politics. The run-up to the filing deadline will have ramifications on the 2026 midterm elections, as Democrats try to wrest power from Republicans nationally and inside Texas. The drama was most pronounced in North Texas, where the Republicans’ mid-decade redrawing of congressional boundaries led to the decisions made by Crockett and Democrats.

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Rick Perry helps lead $40M pro-Cornyn push in Texas Senate race

A coalition of Republican donors organized by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell and the wife of a close associate to Austin-based tech-billionaire Joe Lonsdale have pumped nearly $18 million into helping reelect U.S. Sen. John Cornyn as he faces his toughest primary in years. The group, Lone Star Freedom Project, is by far the largest spender in the race, according to data from the campaign spending group Ad Impact. The $17.8 million it has put in over the past five months dwarfs what has been spent against Cornyn in the March GOP primary. The fourth-term senatoris facing off against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, of Houston.

Groups supporting Paxton, including his campaign fund, have spent virtually nothing on advertising, while Hunt's campaign and the pro-Hunt group Standing for Texas have spent approximately $5 million. Another group named Texas Conservatives Fund LLC, which is based in Delaware and has no website or public profile, spent $3.5 million in October and November running an attack ad focused on Cornyn's breaks with President Donald Trump on immigration and the border wall. Other groups are pitching in for Cornyn, including $12.9 million in ad buys by the pro-Cornyn super PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority, and $10.9 million from One Nation, a dark money group tied to Republican leadership in the Senate. That brings the total to $40 million. Recent polling has Paxton leading in the race,with 32% support, and Cornyn and Hunt drawing 27% and 23%, respectively, according to analysis by research firm Decision Desk HQ. "The only thing keeping John Cornyn's campaign alive is John Cornyn's money," Hunt said. "Strip that away and the entire operation collapses under its own weight." The Cornyn campaign declined to comment for this story. Cornyn continues to rely on support from establishment Republicans who have long clashed with Paxton.

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Inside the Clintons’ fight to avoid testifying in the House Epstein inquiry

A quiet, monthslong battle between Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, the Republican chairman of the Oversight Committee, and Bill and Hillary Clinton over the panel’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation could come to a head this week. Mr. Comer has threatened to begin contempt of Congress proceedings against them if they fail to appear in person for depositions. The threat is the starkest example yet of the attempt by House Republicans to shift the focus of the Epstein affair away from President Trump and his administration and onto prominent Democrats who once associated with the convicted sex offender and his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell. After Democrats on his panel effectively forced him to subpoena the Justice Department for its files, Mr. Comer also issued subpoenas in August to the Clintons, as well as to eight former top law enforcement officials.

Since then, the chairman has withdrawn the subpoenas for five former attorneys general who wrote in statements to the panel that they had no knowledge relevant to the investigation. The committee also excused former F.B.I. directors James B. Comey and Robert S. Mueller III from giving live depositions. Only one person, former Attorney General William P. Barr, has appeared to testify. But Mr. Comer has refused to excuse the Clintons, even though they have repeatedly offered to provide the same kind of sworn statement to the committee. Instead, Mr. Comer has falsely accused them of ignoring his subpoenas and continued to demand that they appear for live depositions or face the possibility of being held in contempt, typically a first step in referring someone to the Justice Department for prosecution. For months, the Clintons have been engaging with Mr. Comer far more than was previously known to respond to his requests and avoid having to appear on Capitol Hill. Their longtime attorney, David Kendall, has sent three letters explaining in detail his argument that the Clintons should be required to provide only sworn statements to the committee. On Sept. 30, Mr. Kendall met in person with Mr. Comer’s staff to discuss the requests.

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Why everyone got Trump’s tariffs wrong

In the days following “Liberation Day,” the contrast between Trump’s optimism and more dire predictions from trade experts and economists was stark. As businesses and consumers tried to make sense of the mixed messages, the president doubled down on promises he’d made during his 2024 presidential campaign. “The markets are going to boom, the stock [market] is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” he said on April 3. Economists and business leaders dialed up predictions of a fallout. BlackRock’s Larry Fink said “most CEOs I talk to would say we are probably in a recession right now.” JPMorgan Chase said a global recession was even likely. An economic collapse hasn’t materialized. Neither has an economic revival. A lot of federal data is delayed, but the numbers so far show the U.S. economy has held up. The odds of a recession in the coming year have fallen below 25%. While Trump’s promise on tariff revenues happened to a degree, most of his others have fallen flat.

The U.S. has seen little evidence of large-scale reshoring. Cheaper labor abroad continues to give foreign manufacturers an edge, while uncertainty at home over the tariffs has kept many companies from making major investments or bringing manufacturing home. We look at six bold predictions Trump, the White House, economists and business leaders made about the economy, what’s happened and what might come next. Eight months into the tariff regime, Trump’s policies haven’t done much to boost employment. In fact, a host of large layoff announcements and other troubling labor data signal difficult times for workers. The U.S. added 119,000 jobs in September, far more than economists had expected. But the figure was an outlier from previous months, in which job growth had lagged. As of September, the unemployment rate reached 4.4%, the highest in four years. Economists don’t rule out tariffs leading to more hiring down the road, but the picture is complex.

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State Stories

Camp Mystic to get new flood warning system ahead of summer

Camp Mystic officials said they are in the process of installing a new flood warning system ahead of the all-girls Christian camp reopening its Cypress Lake location this summer. Mystic has allowed Cedar Park company River Sentry to install 8-foot aluminum towers designed to detect rising water upstream and downstream along the banks of the Cypress Lake campsite, which is uphill from Mystic’s Guadalupe site, where 27 campers and counselors lost their lives in the flooding. Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 1, the Youth CAMPER Act, after the families of the campers and counselors who lost their lives in the floods joined together to push for changes to safety requirements for Texas camps.

The bill now requires camps to install and maintain an emergency system capable of alerting all campers and occupants of an emergency — one that “includes a public address system operable without reliance on internet connection.” River Sentry Founder Ian Cunningham, a commercial pilot, said he began developing the technology for what he says is a “catastrophic flood alarm system” after the deadly floods in the Hill Country. The company said it originally offered the system to camps as a donation. “I thought to myself, this has to be solvable. Why are we still tolerating this in Texas, with all the tech and all the imagination and creative ability we have just in this region?” Cunningham said. Cunningham demonstrated that when the towers detect flood water, they activate warning lights and sirens that can produce up to 75 decibels to wake people. According to the company’s website, each tower is autonomous but will be paired so that any detecting unit can activate the entire system. “We intend to daisy-chain these towers from different placements down the bank as we head down the river,” Cunningham said. “The entire River Sentry philosophy is built upon waking you up and providing a lighted egress and make(s) that basic promise to anyone who’s going to use our equipment.”

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Travis County district attorney moves to exonerate wrongfully accused yogurt shop murder suspects

Travis County will formally undo charges leveled against four young men for Austin's infamous yogurt shop murders after police found the man they believe responsible for the 1991 case earlier this year. Travis County District Attorney José Garza said he has filed the paperwork to exonerate the four men initially accused of the murders of Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, and Jennifer and Sarah Harbison at an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop in December 1991. Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn were all tied to the murders in 1991 and charged in 1999. Austin Police said in September they believe Robert Eugene Brashers was responsible for the murders, ending a decades-long search for answers in the case that shocked Austin, drew national headlines and was the subject of an HBO docuseries.

Garza said his office filed paperwork Thursday for the surviving men to formally clear their records. "Thirty-four years is too long for anyone to have to wait for the criminal legal process to be over," Garza said. "And it is our hope that [this filing] ... will be the first step in finally closing this case so that all involved can move forward." While the charges were previously dropped against the former suspects, they were still on the record. Garza said the filing will allow their records to be formally cleared in Travis County. Springsteen and Scott were convicted in 1999. Springsteen was sentenced to death, while Scott was given a life sentence. Both of those cases were tossed out in 2006 by the state's highest criminal court. Pierce spent more than three years in a Travis County jail awaiting trial until the case was dismissed in 2003. Pierce later stabbed an Austin police officer and was fatally shot in 2010. Wellborn's charges were dropped in 2000. Both Springsteen and Scott maintained for decades that their confessions were coerced by police.

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Red-hot Texas is getting so many data center requests that experts see a bubble

Everything is bigger in Texas. That's also true for data center demand in the Lone Star State, where project developers are rushing to cash in on the artificial intelligence boom. Cheap land and cheap energy are combining to attract a flood of data center developers to the state. The potential demand is so vast that it will be impossible to meet by the end of the decade, energy experts say. Speculative projects are clogging up the pipeline to connect to the electric grid, making it difficult to see how much demand will actually materialize, they say. But investors will be left on the hook if inflated demand forecasts lead to more infrastructure being built than is actually needed. "It definitely looks, smells, feels — is acting like a bubble," said Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin and a founder of energy consulting firm IdeaSmiths.

"The top line numbers are almost laughable," Rhodes said. More than 220 gigawatts of big projects have asked to connect to the Texas electric grid by 2030, according to December data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. More than 70% of those projects are data centers, according to ERCOT, which manages the Texas power grid. That's more than twice the Lone Star State's record peak summer demand this year of around 85 gigawatts, and its total available power generation for the season of around 103 gigawatts. Those figures are "crazy big," said Beth Garza, a former ERCOT watchdog. "There's not enough stuff to serve that much load on the equipment side or the consumption side," said Garza, director of ERCOT's independent market monitor from 2014 to 2019. Rhodes agreed. "There's just no way we can physically put this much steel in the ground to match those numbers. I don't even know if China could do it that fast," he said.

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Human Rights groups warn immigration detention camp at Fort Bliss reaching "breaking point"

Human Rights groups warn an immigration detention camp at Fort Bliss has reached a "breaking point" Human rights experts are sounding the alarm about living conditions at the immigration detention camp that houses hundreds of people. "Fort Bliss is a human and civil rights disaster," said Eunice Cho Senior Counsel for the American Civil Liberty Union's prison program. The ACLU and other organizations allege physical abuse, unsanitary conditions and medical neglect at the massive tent facility operated by a private contractor on military property. The amount of violence we have heard about officers using against detained people is creating a crisis situation, ACLU Texas attorney Savannah Kumar said. People at the tent facility have given sworn declarations detailing alleged abusive treatment, according to the ACLU.

"Officers have crushed detained people's testicles, slammed people to the ground, stomped on them and punched their faces. Officers have beaten people even when they are already restrained and handcuffed," Kumar said. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said allegations of inhumane conditions are "categorically false" in an emailed statement. Nearly 3000 people from across the country are held in the camp. Future plans are to increase capacity to 5,000. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, pushed back against the allegations, saying: "No detainees are being beaten or abused. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, access to showers, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members." ICE opened the tent facility named Camp East Montana in mid-August to provide extra detention space as the Trump administration works to carry out mass deportations. The federal government awarded the Virginia-based company Acquisitions Logics LLC $1.2 billion to operate the sprawling camp. The ACLU, in a letter, urged the federal government to shut it down.

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After devastating flood, can Guadalupe River ever fully recover?

Anna Neale and Lois Fields walked slowly through Flatrock Park, tossing handfuls of seed on the ground along the Guadalupe River. At their feet, the flood-ravaged soil was mostly bare. Above their heads, there was little evidence of the thick canopy of trees that guarded the river’s banks just a few months ago. Neale paused to examine a small mountain laurel that was determinedly rising from the ground. “He’s beat up, but he’s trying to survive,” Neale said. “This is nature doing nature.” Before July 4, when the Guadalupe River turned into a raging, deadly torrent, this section of the riverbank was shaded by trees, with so much dense vegetation that you couldn’t leave the paved walking path, Neale said. The flood was catastrophic to Kerr County’s human population — killing 119 people and sweeping away homes, RVs, cars and anything else in its path — but it was also devastating to the environment.

The floodwaters damaged or destroyed thousands of trees and wiped away acres of vegetation, altering the river and its surrounding ecosystems. An analysis found that more than half the vegetation along the river’s floodway was lost, based on aerial images from before and after the flood. Those scars are easily visible along the Guadalupe. In some areas, trees are bent at 45-degree angles. In others, nothing is left behind but stumps and bare ground. The river banks were scoured clean in some spots, while mounds of gravel and other debris were deposited elsewhere. It’s also not yet fully clear how much of an effect the flooding had on fish, mussels and other creatures that live in and around the river. But the river — and the wildlife that depends on it — will recover, experts said, given time, patience and intentional restoration efforts. Floods “are part of the natural climate, part of the natural hydrology,” said Steve Nelle, a retired natural resource specialist and wildlife biologist with the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service. “It won’t look exactly like it did before; it’s going to look a little different,” he told Kerr County landowners at a recent recovery workshop. “But this river will heal.”

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Pentagon in talks to move major agency to San Antonio. What it could mean.

The bureaucracy in charge of the military’s healthcare system could be headed to San Antonio. The move could bring as many 3,300 people and their families to the city if the entire headquarters of the Defense Health Agency relocates, but it remains unclear exactly how many workers or which portions of the organization might move. Recent moves at City Hall and a letter from area congressmen to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, though, suggest ongoing talks over uprooting the agency from Falls Church, Va.

City officials and the military have been mum, but sources suggest an announcement may be coming as soon as this week. The renewed talks come two years after unit officials and city leaders denied the idea was under consideration and with San Antonio fighting to hang on to military personnel. Hegseth’s Pentagon has already yanked two military headquarters, and most of their 1,100 workers, from the city. It’s also stalled the Air Force’s plans to raise the status of its cyber hub at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. For years, the city and county have been wooing the Pentagon to bring more of its health care system to San Antonio, which already is considered the home of military medicine. And they’re ready to spend to make it happen. Both San Antonio and Bexar County have budgeted $10 million to refurbish an old building on Fort Sam Houston for the unit and, in October, each approved a request for $5 million in state Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grants.

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Hanukkah terror attack: College Station man volunteering in Sydney among those hurt in deadly attack

At least 15 people are dead and 40 others hurt in a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday. Among those hurt was a 20-year-old College Station man, Houston Rabbi Chaim Lazaroff told KHOU 11's Michelle Choi. "Please say Tehillim, Kapitel 21, for my nephew Yehudah Leib ben Manya Lazaroff of College Station, Texas, who was among the injured in the attack," Rabbi Chaim Lazaroff of Chabad of Houston said in a statement. Rabbi Lazaroff said his brother runs a Chabad branch in College Station, primarily serving Texas A&M students. "It's a very bustling and hustling Chabad house," Rabbi Lazaroff said. "He grew up there giving to the community and being a, definitely being a central part of all the work they do there."

He described his nephew as "bustling with energy" and "always looking for ways to help." Rabbi Lazaroff said his nephew had gone to Sydney to volunteer the Chabad of Bondi. "He was there for the year to volunteer and to give up his time, because it's a part of a, a central part of our ideology," the rabbi said. "You're not here on this world just to live for yourself, you're here to live to give to someone else. And so he was there to strengthen the communities." Rabbi Lazaroff said he learned of his nephew's injuries when they woke up to the news. "We saw that they were having a hard time reaching my nephew, and then they confirmed that, they got word that he was critically injured, in ICU," he said. Rabbi Lazaroff said that among the dead was Chabad of Bondi Rabbi Eli Schlanger. "It's very hard for the family, but I think it's also, it's hard for the Jewish community everywhere," he said. "Leaders have been tepid in their response to antisemitism that's growing across America and around the world." "It's up to the leaders to speak up and to say that we will not tolerate antisemitism of any form. It doesn't make a difference what your motives are, on what's going on overseas, what your political interests are. Terrorism is definitely not an option and not something that can be accepted by anyone."

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Houston’s historic Ismaili Center opening its doors to the public

After nearly 20 years in the making, Houston's historic Ismaili Center — the first in the United States — is opening its doors to the greater Houston community. Ismaili Center Houston will host a free opening event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, when Houstonians can tour the massive cultural center and see dance performances, live music and art installations. Guests can also walk around the center's 9 acres of gardens and courtyards. The center will have food trucks and a hot chocolate bar.

"Our longstanding partnership with the Ismaili community has always been rooted in a shared belief in the power of landscape to foster understanding," said Thomas Woltz, Senior Principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, one of the designers of the center. "In designing the Ismaili Center, Houston, we drew on centuries-old landscape principles and the ecological richness of Texas to create a campus that invites connection, curiosity, and a sense of shared purpose." The five-story center is 150,000 square feet and sits on 11 acres of land at the southeast corner of Allen Parkway and Montrose Boulevard, near Buffalo Bayou Park. Ismailis are a branch of Shia Muslims who advocate for pluralism, social progress and service to societies. Ismailis are led by Aga Khan V, who took over as leader after the death of his father in February. City officials and prominent Ismaili Muslim leaders held an opening ceremony in November. Houston Mayor John Whitmire praised the center as a "beacon of light surrounded by some of our most treasured neighborhoods and cultural institutions." His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V stood next to Whitmire in the opening ceremony. "This building may be called an Ismaili Center," he said at the time, "but it is not here for Ismailis only. It is for all Houstonians to use; a place open to all who seek knowledge, reflection, and dialogue.”

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Who’s running? Republicans look to challenge El Paso Democratic stronghold in 2026 elections

El Paso Republicans – who have failed to find candidates for most partisan races in recent years – will have contested primaries in March for Congress and county judge, and will have candidates in November for county commissioner and state legislative races. Meanwhile, the region’s Democratic incumbents face lesser-known challengers in the 2026 primaries. “We’re breathing life back into the local Republican party,” said Michael Aboud, chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party, which drew more than a dozen candidates in local races. “Republican candidates on the ballot make Republican voters find out who they are and increase their chances of coming out to vote.”

The candidate filing deadline for the March 3 primary was Monday. In all, more than 30 candidates filed for12 key local, state and federal elected positions in El Paso, along with a slew of candidates who filed for judgeships and justice of the peace seats. “We’re going to get behind all our nominees and make sure we bring out the votes because it’s so critical this year in 2026,” said Michael Apodaca, chair of the El Paso County Democratic Party, who is unopposed in seeking his second term in the position. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar will face a graduate physics student in the Democratic primary for District 16. Six Republicans will face off for the party’s nomination to attempt to unseat the four-term incumbent in the November midterm. No Republican has represented El Paso’s main congressional district since 1964. District 23 Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales will face three opponents in the primary, while four candidates will compete for the Democratic nomination for the seat.

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Ex-con Congressman attempts a Texas comeback

Former Congressman and felon Steve Stockman, a Friendswood-area conservative who was convicted of 23 federal corruption charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison back in 2018, has declared himself rehabilitated and fit to run again for the U.S. House of Representatives. Stockman, once dubbed Texas’ “weirdest lawmaker”, entered a crowded field of candidates running to fill the recently redrawn 9th Congressional District, FEC records show. The district, served for two decades by Congressman Al Green, a Black Houston Democrat, was gerrymandered and relocated from its diverse neighborhoods and suburbs to encompass conservative turf that extends from eastern Harris County out to Liberty County. Even before his convictions, Stockman was never politically popular or effective as a congressman who previously represented other swaths of southeast Texas.

Texas Monthly once described him as “one of those kind of creepy politicians that other politicians try to keep at a distance just in case it might rub off on them.” In his latest comeback attempt, Stockman joins a dubious though growing American political tradition of disgraced politicos who have attempted to recast themselves as martyrs after being tarnished or convicted of crimes, according to Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor whose most recent book is Scandal: Why Politicians Survive Controversy in a Partisan Era. “We’re seeing that in politics a lot now because polarization is such an important force,” Rottinghaus told the Texas Observer. “It gives them an opportunity to use that scandal as evidence in an ideological war.” Stockman left Congress in 2015 under a cloud of corruption allegations, including a House ethics probe into a congressional junket to Azerbaijan and questions about allegedly illegal campaign contributions. In 2018, Stockman was convicted with two former aides of carrying out a multi-year scheme to bilk conservative foundations and donors of about $1.2 million in funds that were then diverted for his personal and political use via a network of paper companies and fake charities, federal court records show. The two former staffers, Jason Posey and Thomas Dodd, went to prison for 18 months for their role in what the the U.S. Department of Justice at the time called an “Extensive Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme.”

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North Texas ‘Cowboy Capitalism’ carving niche in venture capital

There was a 283-day period when it would have been impossible to have any productive ideas at a Dallas Mavericks game. How could one think over chants of “Fire Nico”? Luckily for Alex Treece and Nick Elledge, two of the founders of Stablecore, they reconnected at the American Airlines Center in November 2024, one of the last times Luka Doncic played in a Mavericks jersey before being infamously traded to the Lakers. A leading venture capitalist invited the pair to the game as part of a group outing with several of the city’s most promising entrepreneurs, and by early 2025, their fintech startup was born. Like a true Dallas guy, Elledge highlighted the conspicuous presence of Doncic in Stablecore’s origin story in a joint interview with The News, but the tale is emblematic of something else big that is happening in North Texas: the glimmerings of a venture capital boom.

Stablecore, which provides community and regional banks and credit unions with the tools to offer digital assets, announced a $20 million fundraising round in September. In October, Stablecore was anointed Startup of the Year at the annual Venture Dallas conference, and Treece said in November they already have agreements with several banks and streams of revenue. “These are the types of companies that are deciding to start their business here and not in the Bay Area,” said Aaron Pierce, partner at Perot Jain — an investor in Stablecore — and the organizer of Venture Dallas. “Because you can.” According to Pierce, North Texas is on track for $2.5 billion invested in early-stage companies in 2025. Last year, that number was $1.4 billion. In 2019, $500 million. “Which felt like a big number at the time,” Pierce said. The growth is due to the symbiotic ecosystem of startups and venture capital, as talent like Treece and Elledge deploy capital from firms like Perot Jain. Each provides proof to prospective founders and investors that the whole startup thing is possible in North Texas. Still, the region stands just on the precipice of a true venture capital explosion, and headwinds like concentration and limited exit opportunities may affect whether it actually takes the plunge.

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Travis County judge makes San Antonio-Austin rail among top priorities

As Travis County Judge Andy Brown runs for reelection, one of his top campaign priorities is building a train between Austin and San Antonio. “You want trains; I want to give ‘em to you,” Brown wrote in a Threads post on Monday. The judge continued: “A top priority for my office is building a passenger railway between Austin and San Antonio to free up transit on I-35, help thousands of between-county commuters and change the way we travel for the better.” Even so, may not want to get their hopes up. The Austin-San Antonio train idea has been around for decades, and it’s appeared to pick up steam in recent years. Last year, the Texas Passenger Rail Advisory Committee, launched by Brown and Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, began holding monthly meetings.

However, it remains to be seen how the new committee differs from the Lone Star Rail District, an earlier committee that sought to connect San Antonio and Austin. Despite paying out millions in consultant fees, the District never laid down a single foot of rail track. And the primary obstacle that killed the Lone Star Rail District still remains. Union Pacific still owns the primary rail line between San Antonio and Austin, and the company is likely still unwilling to expand passenger rail service on existing tracks unless a new freight bypass is built, as the Current has reported. What’s more, it’s unclear whether the notoriously fiscally conservative Texas Legislature has any appetite for funding a high-speed rail project. Sakai, who’s also running for reelection and faces a Democratic primary challenge from former Mayor Ron Nirenberg, has notably left a possible rail line to Austin out of his campaign platform.

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National Stories

Rob Reiner and wife, Michele, founded dead.

Rob Reiner, a writer, director, producer, actor and political activist whose career in Hollywood spanned more than six decades and included some of the most iconic titles in movie history, was found dead Sunday with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, at the home they shared in Brentwood. He was 78. “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,” a spokesperson for the family said in a statement Sunday. “We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.” Reiner will be remembered as the director of the seminal 1980s rom-com “When Harry Met Sally...,” the actor whose character “Meathead” faced off regularly against Archie Bunker, and the political activist who backed early childhood programs in California and railed loudly for years against President Trump.

The oldest child of comedian Carl Reiner and singer Estelle Reiner, Robert Reiner was born March 6, 1947, in the Bronx, N.Y. Raised by a father who won 11 Primetime Emmys and a Grammy in addition to the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Rob Reiner attended Beverly Hills High School and studied film at UCLA. He then went to work in Hollywood as an actor and writer before moving on to directing and producing. Reiner’s writing credits in the 1960s included “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” “The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour” and the TV movie “Where the Girls Are.” In the 1970s, he wrote several episodes of “All in the Family” as well as the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast in 1978 and episodes of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” Reiner married Penny Marshall, star of TV’s “Laverne & Shirley,” in 1971 and adopted Tracy, the daughter Marshall had from a previous marriage. Reiner and Marshall divorced in 1981. He wrote for the first “Comic Relief,” hosted by Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg. That and the dozen “Comic Relief” telethons that followed raised awareness and money to fight poverty in the U.S. and elsewhere. “This Is Spinal Tap” in 1984 further established Reiner’s comedic sensibilities in the American milieu. His work took a dramatic turn when he directed the 1986 adaptation of Stephen King’s novella “Stand by Me,” which starred Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell, but he returned to comedy with 1987’s “The Princess Bride” starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright and Mandy Patinkin. Also in 1987, he co-founded production company Castle Rock Entertainment.

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Big advertisers appear wary of CBS News’ Bari Weiss town hall format

During a Saturday-night town hall led by Bari Weiss, the recently named editor in chief of CBS News, most of Madison Avenue sought an off-ramp. The program featured an in-depth interview with Erika Kirk, the CEO of the conservative advocacy organization Turning Point USA and the widow of Charlie Kirk, the group’s former leader. He was assassinated during one of the organization’s events at Utah Valley University, throwing a harsh spotlight on the political and cultural divides present in the U.S. The event marked a new offering from CBS News. The organization does not typically host town halls or debates on trending issues or with newsmakers.

And the choice of Weiss as moderator also raised eyebrows, because in most modern TV-news organizations, senior editorial executives remain off camera, rather than appearing in front of it. More may be on the way. During the program, Weiss told viewers that “CBS is going to have many more conversations like this in the weeks and months ahead, so stay tuned. More town halls. More debates. More talking about the things that matter.” That would suggest CBS is planning to devote more hours to the programs. The news special aired at 8 p.m. on Saturday, one of the least-watched hours in broadcast TV. And that may have contributed to a relative dearth of top advertisers appearing to support the show. During the hour, commercial breaks were largely filled with spots from direct-response advertisers, including the dietary supplement SuperBeets; the home-repair service HomeServe.com; and CarFax, a supplier of auto ownership data. Viewers of the telecast on WCBS, CBS’ flagship station in New York, even saw a commercial for Chia Pet, the terra-cotta figure that sprouts plant life after a few weeks. Direct-response advertisers typically pay lower prices in exchange for allowing TV networks to put their commercials on air when convenience allows. A flurry of the ads appearing in one program usually offers a signal that the network could not line up more mainstream support for the content it chose to air.

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Trump gets reality check in bid to retain loyalist U.S. attorneys

President Trump’s efforts to keep his loyalist U.S. attorneys in their roles hit a dead end this week, as two top federal prosecutors stepped down over piling complications from their leadership. Julianne Murray, Delaware’s GOP chair-turned-top federal prosecutor, announced her resignation Friday, just days after Alina Habba said she was leaving her position atop New Jersey’s federal prosecuting office. They both pinned the blame on a long-standing Senate practice that cut their confirmation ambitions short, and Habba assigned additional fault to the judges whose dockets were upended as the legality of her tenure was questioned. It appeared to mark a rare reality check for the administration, which has taken extensive steps to keep its embattled U.S. attorneys in their posts, even as courts have ruled they are serving unlawfully.

“There’s a lot of hills that they’re willing to die on, and clearly this isn’t one of them,” said Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University. The resignations follow a ruling by a panel of federal appeals court judges affirming Habba’s disqualification, at the heart of it a rejection of the maneuvers the administration took to keep her and other U.S. attorneys in the positions after their interim terms expired. When Habba’s temporary tenure ended in July, New Jersey federal judges declined to extend the clock, instead invoking a seldom-used power to appoint her next-in-command to the position. However, so Habba could remain atop the office, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the judges’ selected successor and Trump withdrew Habba’s formal nomination. She was given the title of acting U.S. attorney, alongside all the powers that come with it. The administration made similar moves in Nevada, California, New York, New Mexico and Delaware, where the prosecutors were turned from interim to acting U.S. attorneys when judges did not greenlight their continued leadership without Senate approval.

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Everyone wants to change infrastructure permitting. Nobody knows how to pass it.

Democrats and Republicans alike are calling for an overhaul of the way infrastructure is approved and built in the United States. They’re just moving further and further apart on how to actually do it. Partisan fighting and intraparty tensions over a slate of permitting reform bills are signaling that the once bipartisan policy goal may once again stall in Congress, even as lawmakers emphasize the need for more energy infrastructure and housing to tackle the growing cost-of-living crisis. “Polarization is part of everything, so I’m sure it has a role here at some level,” Marc Boom, a former senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration, told NOTUS. “The best solution is going to be one that leaves everyone happy, and the path that I’m seeing doesn’t seem like that.”

A group of conservative Republican lawmakers is threatening to withhold support from a bipartisan bill that would overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act, a key permitting statute. Why? It has a measure that would provide wins for renewable energy developers who want to insulate their projects from a Trump administration crackdown. Progressive Democrats and environmentalists, meanwhile, are upset that the bill would weaken community input and environmental review on proposed projects. The impending vote on the SPEED Act comes after lawmakers got into a fiery debate on the House floor last Thursday over a bill that would weaken the scope of reviews under the Clean Water Act. Republicans said that bill would speed up infrastructure, but most Democrats criticized it on environmental grounds. “You will hear no argument from me about the need for permitting reform,” Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten said on the floor ahead of a vote on the bill. “We do need reform, but this bill is not what we need. It doesn’t just cut red tape, it cuts all the tape that has protected our clean water for 50 years.” The bill passed, with a handful of moderate Democrats joining most Republicans in voting “yes.” So did a different bill that would speed up permitting for natural gas pipelines. But both came with some mudslinging.

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Brown University person of interest to be released from police custody, officials say

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said late Sunday night the person of interest is being released from police custody as he is no longer considered a person of interest, as the evidence is pointing in another direction. A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded nine others at Brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, and that person appears to still be at large as police are releasing a person of interest, who was detained Sunday amid their active investigation. University President Christina Paxson said she was told that 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting, but it was not clear if that victim was a student, she said.

Officers scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighborhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, backyards and porches late into the night after the shooting erupted in the afternoon. The suspect was a man in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of Providence police. Security footage showed the suspect walking away from the building, but his face was not visible. Some witnesses reported that the man, who could be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, O’Hara said. Authorities said Sunday morning that they had a person of interest in custody, before announcing around 11 p.m. they would soon be releasing that person as evidence is now pointing in a different direction.

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Nobel laureate María Corina Machado: ‘I absolutely support President Trump’s strategy’ in Venezuela

Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado said she supports President Trump’s aggressive approach in dealing with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and said she thinks the Venezuelan government’s days are “numbered.” In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” the Venezuelan opposition leader was asked if she supports the U.S. increasing sanctions on Venezuelan individuals and the U.S. potentially conducting more seizures of vessels, like the oil tanker last week. “Look, I absolutely support President Trump’s strategy, and we, the Venezuelan people, are very grateful to him and to his administration, because I believe he is a champion of freedom in this hemisphere,” Machado told host Margaret Brennan.

Speaking from Oslo, where she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year, Machado noted that she previously dedicated, in part, the award to Trump “because I think that he finally has put Venezuela in where it should be, in terms of a priority for the United States national security.” “And we do support these actions, because, Margaret, we are facing, not a conventional dictatorship. This is a very complex criminal structure that has turned Venezuela into a safe haven of international crime and terrorist activities, starting with Russia, Iran, Cuba, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Colombian guerrilla, the drug cartels operating freely and directed in partnership with Maduro and his regime,” she continued. Machado has been living in hiding in her own country for nearly a year and was seen in public for the first time this past week in Oslo, where her daughter accepted her peace prize on her behalf. After winning the opposition primary, Machado was barred from running against Maduro last year and endorsed a lesser-known candidate widely seen as her stand-in. Maduro claimed victory and refused to leave power, but experts broadly dismissed the government’s election data purporting to show Maduro as the winner as “mathematically and statistically” impossible.

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DNC rolls out pair of programs to staff down ballot campaigns

Democrats think the political environment is turning against Republicans ahead of next year’s midterm elections, and they’re taking steps to make sure their campaigns are ready to take full advantage. The Democratic National Committee on Monday announced the creation of a pair of novel programs meant to help candidates find qualified people to run their campaigns, part of what officials with the group said is a two-pronged approach to help the party win as many races as it can in 2026. One effort, called the Battleground Leadership Project, will recruit and train men and women to be organizing directors and run the party’s coordinated campaigns in battleground states, an effort that would benefit Democrats up and down the ballot.

The DNC is also planning to create a program in January called BlueMatch that will help match potential campaign staffers with Democratic candidates and state parties nationwide. Officials said they hope that the dual effort, backed by an initial six-figure investment from the DNC, will help resolve a longstanding problem of campaigns struggling to find qualified staff. The issue is especially acute for candidates running in more remote areas of the country, they said. “As we head into the midterms, Democrats must seize this moment and ensure that our coordinated campaigns are staffed early with the strongest talent,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “There are thousands of people who want to join our movement, and the DNC will get them on the ground across the country through the Battleground Leadership Project and BlueMatch — two critical programs to ensure our coordinated campaigns and state parties have the high-quality staff they need to win in 2026.”

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Lead Stories

Trump leans into isolation as challenges mount at home

The Trump administration, amid a series of foreign and domestic challenges, is redoubling its efforts to blame an array of outside forces for America’s problems and enact policies that block those influences from crossing U.S. borders. Last week, the United States halted immigration applications from 19 countries. Shortly after, the administration announced an expanded travel ban covering more than 30 countries — “every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” in the words of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem. And on Wednesday, Border Protection officials proposed requiring visitors from U.S. allies to provide up to five years of their social media history, a move that could discourage tourists. The actions come on the heels of a 33-page National Security Strategy stressing the administration’s opposition to multilateralism and immigration, while scolding European allies that they risk “civilizational erasure” for taking a different approach. “Who a country admits into its borders — in what numbers and from where — will inevitably define the future of that nation,” the paper says.

These moves — accompanied by a bolstering of tariffs and President Donald Trump’s often racially tinged anti-outsider rhetoric — suggest a goal of sealing off the United States from many foreign people, products and cultures. They also signal that the U.S. is refocusing its attention on its immediate neighborhood in the Western Hemisphere, rather than the broader global landscape that has long been its horizon. “We are isolating ourselves in a very dangerous way that I don’t think this administration understands,” said former senator Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska), who served as defense secretary under President Barack Obama. “We will find ourselves isolated — dangerously isolated — in a world where you do not want to be isolated. Once you go down that road, you will not get that back. That is not the way it works.” Several experts said Trump’s language increasingly echoes the isolationism and anti-immigrant sentiment of the 1920s and 1930s, which downplayed the threat of authoritarianism before World War II. But White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the administration is trying to protect what is great about America. “America’s culture and way of life is worth defending and preserving. Full stop,” she said. “Aliens who come to our country en masse and refuse to assimilate to American society only recreate the same conditions that are destroying the nations they fled from. We cannot allow their problems to become America’s problems.”

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The deeply personal reasons why many Indiana Senate Republicans said no to Trump

Jean Leising spoke at a breakfast this fall at her 8th grade grandson’s school. Hours later, when she was set to give him a ride home from basketball practice, he bashfully told her that his entire team had received text messages about her that day — “and they were all bad.” Recounting the moment to CNN shortly after she joined 20 other Republican state senators in rejecting President Donald Trump’s redistricting push, Leising said she laughed the moment off with her grandson — but that it ultimately led to her opposing the president. “Boy, when I got home that night, that’s when I decided,” said Leising, a 76-year-old grandmother of eight, first elected to the Senate in 1988. “I was angry. So the next day, I said, ‘I’ve got to talk about this.’ Because this is over the top. This shouldn’t be the way it was.” “But that was the beginning,” she added. “It only got worse from there.”

It was clear on Thursday that a pressure campaign waged by the White House and its allies had backfired. A state that Trump won by nearly 20 points in 2024 gave him a massive political black eye, rejecting a push to create two more GOP-friendly US House seats that could have helped Republicans retain the House majority in next year’s midterms. Several Republican senators noted on Thursday that constituents opposed a mid-decade redrawing of US House maps and that they questioned the wisdom or the precedent of joining the national redistricting battle. But a number of Republicans, including people who voted for the president three elections in a row, also gave deeply personal reasons over the last several weeks. Sen. Mike Bohacek has a daughter with Down syndrome. He was offended by Trump’s use of a slur for people with disabilities, in a Truth Social post deriding Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and said that Trump’s “choices of words have consequences.” Sen. Greg Walker, who represents former Vice President Mike Pence’s hometown of Columbus, said he was among the senators targeted by swatting attempts in the weeks leading up to Thursday’s vote. While law enforcement has not publicly linked the swatting or other threats to a political motive, Walker said he felt voting yes would reward wrongdoing and set a dangerous precedent.

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T.S.A. is providing air passenger data to immigration agents for deportation effort

The Trump administration is providing the names of all air travelers to immigration officials, substantially expanding its use of data sharing to expel people under deportation orders. Under the previously undisclosed program, the Transportation Security Administration provides a list multiple times a week to Immigration and Customs Enforcement of travelers who will be coming through airports. ICE can then match the list against its own database of people subject to deportation and send agents to the airport to detain those people. It’s unclear how many arrests have been made as a result of the collaboration. But documents obtained by The New York Times show that it led to the arrest of Any Lucía López Belloza, the college student picked up at Boston Logan Airport on Nov. 20 and deported to Honduras two days later. A former ICE official said 75 percent of instances in that official’s region where names were flagged by the program yielded arrests.

ICE has historically avoided interfering with domestic travel. But the partnership between airport security and the immigration agency, which began quietly in March, is the latest way the Trump administration is increasing cooperation and information sharing between federal agencies in service of the president’s goal of carrying out the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history. “The message to those in the country illegally is clear: The only reason you should be flying is to self-deport home,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. Airline passengers have long been subject to some federal scrutiny. Airlines typically provide passenger information to T.S.A. after a flight is reserved. That information is compared against national security databases, including the Terrorist Screening Dataset, which includes the names of individuals on a watch list of known or suspected terrorists. But the T.S.A. previously did not get involved in domestic criminal or immigration matters, said one former agency official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the issue freely. Among the concerns, the former official said, has been that enforcement activities at airports could distract from airport security and contribute to longer passenger wait times.

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Democrats Julie Johnson and Colin Allred spar in District 33 primary

U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson and former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred aren’t holding much back as they compete for the Democratic nomination in Congressional District 33, kicking off their campaigns with a flurry of rhetorical haymakers. Johnson says Allred blindsided everyone by switching races at the last minute – and that Texas women can relate to having a man try to take back a position after failing to advance in his own career. Allred says he’s shown he can deliver for the Dallas area and that Johnson is not entitled to represent a newly drawn, majority-minority district that needs an effective advocate who truly understands the community. The two have been sparring since filing day drama last week scrambled the party’s primary landscape and thrust them into a head-to-head contest heavy with overtones of gender and race.

“This is going to be a primary election that lots of people will be watching for the show as well as for the result,” said Cal Jillson, professor of political science at Southern Methodist University. The unusual primary battle between a sitting congresswoman and the man she succeeded in office stems from a mid-decade Republican redistricting and a decision by U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, to seek a Senate seat rather than reelection. Democrats have such a solid advantage in the newly drawn District 33 that whoever wins the primary will be heavily favored to win the general election and represent a key part of the Dallas area. Johnson is a freshman member of Congress, building her brand on Capitol Hill in an era of unified Republican control in Washington, as Democrats are increasingly optimistic they can retake the House next year. Allred served three terms in the House before making an unsuccessful 2024 bid to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, losing by about 9 percentage points. Johnson wasted no time opening up on Allred, denigrating his effectiveness during his time in Congress and saying he disappeared from the scene after losing to Cruz.

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Legendary Houston news anchor Dave Ward passed away

ABC13 Anchor Emeritus Dave Ward has died. For more than 50 years, Dave was Houston's anchorman. He began each newscast with his signature line, "Good evening, friends." That's how the legendary newsman felt about the viewers who shared his love for the city he was so proud to call his home. His name was David Henry Ward, but he was known to thousands of Eyewitness News viewers simply as "Dave." Born in Dallas in 1939, Dave grew up in Huntsville and began his radio career with KGKB Radio in Tyler while attending college. Three years later, he joined the staff of WACO Radio as a staff announcer and quickly climbed to Program Director the following year. Dave moved to Houston in 1962 where he worked for KNUZ Radio as a News Reporter and News Director for four years. He made the move to Channel 13 in 1966 as the station's only on-the-street news reporter and photographer, coming "inside" in early 1967 to anchor Channel 13's weekday 7 a.m. newscast.

Later that year, he became the first host of the wildly popular "Dialing for Dollars" program, which later evolved into "Good Morning Houston." Houston viewers flocked to see him and hear him and by January 1968, Dave became the anchor of Eyewitness News at 6 and 10 p.m. Dave hit a historic milestone when he celebrated his 50th year at KTRK-TV. His long tenure at the station was acknowledged in June 2016 when he was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records by breaking the record as the longest-running local TV news anchor in the world at the same station, in the same market. After signing off from his role anchoring ABC13 Eyewitness News in May 2017, Dave continued to tell the legendary stories of Houston, as only he could. "Dave Ward's Houston" celebrated the iconic places, people and moments that help weave the unique fabric of the Bayou City. Over five decades, Dave covered topics from space walks and the Vietnam peace talks to natural disasters and politics, including a one-to-one interview with President Obama. Getting the facts right, consistently -- that's what defined Dave Ward. A true Texas original, Dave has made his mark as one of the nation's most respected news anchors for the past five decades. In his trademark down-to-earth style, he began every newscast with "Good evening, friends." It was that candor and dedication to getting every side of the story that helped him become the most trusted newsman in Houston.

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State Stories

In Texas, a former Chinese official targeted by Beijing's surveillance finds refuge

The Chinese government is using an increasingly powerful tool to control and monitor its own officials: Surveillance technology, much of it originating in the United States, an Associated Press investigation has found. Among its targets is Li Chuanliang, a Chinese former vice mayor hunted by Beijing with the help of surveillance technology. Li’s communications were monitored, his assets seized and his movements followed in police databases. More than 40 friends and relatives — including his pregnant daughter — were identified and detained back in China. Deep in the Texas countryside, Li has now found refuge with members of a Chinese church living in exile after fleeing from China like Li.

Here, the Chihuahuan Desert unfurls as a stark, flat expanse of sand, punctured by phone poles and wind turbines. Tumbleweeds roll across roads, past ranches flying the Lone Star flag and pumpjacks extracting oil. Li and members of the church are building a new life, thousands of miles from China. They cook, eat, and study together. They plant olive trees and design new homes for their budding community. On Sundays, they attend church, singing hymns and reading the Bible. But even in the United States, Li worries he’s being watched. Strange men stalk him. Spies have looked for him. He carries multiple phones. Surveillance technology powers China’s anti-corruption crackdown at home and abroad — a campaign critics say is used to stifle dissent and exact retribution on perceived enemies. Beijing has accused Li of corruption totaling around $435 million, but Li says he’s being targeted for openly criticizing the Chinese Communist Party. He denies criminal charges of taking bribes and embezzling state funds.

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Margaret Scarbrough Wilson, pioneering Austin retailer, dies at 95

Retail pioneer Margaret Scarbrough Wilson, once head of the iconic Austin department store Scarbroughs, died Dec. 6 at Hospice Austin's Christopher House. She was 95. The granddaughter of Emerson Monroe Scarbrough, who founded a general store that served far-flung rural customers, Wilson was the first woman to lead the family firm. She expanded the Scarbroughs brand beyond the handsome downtown anchor store at Congress Avenue and West Sixth Street to suburban malls, and finally to its last hurrah in the Central Market Shopping Center.

"She was so nice!" Austin author J.F. Margos said. "My little sister was a buyer in that store for a long time, and I had the good pleasure of meeting Margaret once. That was such a fantastic and special store! It was so beautiful, and such a wonderful, almost fairytale place to go as a kid. I miss it a lot." Born Aug. 7, 1930, Wilson, like her relatives, played as a child among the aisles of the posh downtown store. Her parents, Margaret Ann Caldwell Scarbrough and Lemuel Scarbrough, not only helped steer the retail business, but served as civic leaders and charity donors. Wilson grew up in the family's grand old house at Whitis Avenue and West 27th Street. She attended Wooldridge Elementary and graduated from Austin High School in 1948. She attended Smith College in Northhampton, Mass., and earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Texas. She married Bayard Spence Wilson on Dec. 20, 1964. They had a daughter, Nancy S. Garrison, who helps run a different kind of family business, Garrison Brothers Distillery near Hye in western Blanco County.

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James Carville: Crockett broke ‘first rule of politics’ with Senate campaign launch

Democratic strategist James Carville mapped out on Thursday what he sees are possible problems with Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s (D-Texas) announcement to run for Senate, saying she broke the “first rule of politics.” “First of all, she seems like she’s well-educated,” Carville told his “Politics War Room” podcast co-host Al Hunt. “Seems like she’s got a lot of energy. But she, to me, she violates the first rule of politics and that is, in politics, you always make it about the voters and never about yourself.” Carville added that “if you listen to her talk, it’s a lot more about herself than it is about the voters.” He suggested that she help more vulnerable Democrats in Texas keep their seats while also staying in Congress. “We know what wins elections,” he continued. “We just do, and what wins elections is not sitting there talking incessantly about yourself. Winning elections is not about how many clicks you get or how much overnight fundraising you do. Winning elections is being part of framing issues and understanding where people come from.”

He concluded that he doesn’t “think Congresswoman Crockett is very good at that, I’ll be very frank.” Carville and Hunt praised her primary opponent in the race to take Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) Senate seat, state Rep. James Talarico (D). Carville said Talarico “has potential.” “He talks about voters more than himself, which is a big thing here,” Carville said, to which Hunt replied, “That’s what it’s all about.” Crockett, a rising star in the Democratic Party, announced her Senate bid Monday and addressed people’s concern over her intended exit from the House to the upper chamber. “There are a lot of people that said, ‘You got to stay in the House. We need our voice. We need you there.’ And I understand, but what we need is for me to have a bigger voice,” Crockett said at her campaign launch event. Her campaign launch followed former Rep. Colin Allred (D) dropping out of the race earlier in the day. Allred’s departure clears the way for a showdown between Crockett and Talarico, another Democratic Party rising star. Republicans relished the launch of her Senate campaign. Cornyn, who is already facing primary challenges from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), told Semafor in an interview, “Am I hiding my glee? I’ll try to wipe the smile off my face, I would say it’s a gift.” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) rubbed his hands together and gave a wide smile after a reporter asked for his thoughts on Crockett’s campaign. “I’m absolutely delighted that Jasmine Crockett is running for Senate in Texas,” Johnson said. I think it’s one of the greatest things that’s happened to the Republican Party in a long, long time.” Johnson and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) separately called her “the face of the Democratic Party.“

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Abraham Quintanilla, father of music icon Selena, has died, family announces

The father of music icon Selena Quintanilla, Abraham Quintanilla, has died, his family announced on social media. In an Instagram post, Quintanilla’s son, A.B. Quintanilla III, shared the news along with a photo of his father. “It’s with a heavy heart to let you guys know that my Dad passed away today…” the post read. His cause of death was not shared to the public. Quintanilla was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and gained recognition in 1956 for his group, the Dinos. He later became known as the father of Selena and founder of Selena y Los Dinos.

Quintanilla was instrumental in launching Selena’s career, managing her early performances and helping build the family band that would take her to international fame. After Selena’s death in 1995, he remained a fierce guardian of her legacy, overseeing her music, brand, and continued influence across generations. Quintanilla was also recently featured in the Netflix documentary, “Selena Y Los Dinos: A Family Legacy.”

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Texas sues Wisconsin-based Epic Systems, accusing it of running a monopoly

The state of Texas in a new lawsuit claims Verona-based Epic Systems is running an illegal monopoly and restricting parents’ access to their children’s medical records. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit against Epic on Wednesday, accusing the company of using its outsized influence over electronic health records to snuff out competition and limit access to data. The suit accuses Epic of running an “anticompetitive playbook” to maintain its health records “monopoly.” The suit says its goal is to “dismantle Epic’s monopoly” and hold the company accountable for restricting competition.

“We will not allow woke corporations to undermine the sacred rights of parents to protect and oversee their kids’ medical well-being,” Paxton said in a statement announcing the Epic litigation. “This lawsuit aims to ensure that Texans can readily obtain access to these records and benefit from the lower costs and innovation that come from a truly competitive electronic health records market.” But an Epic spokesperson says Texas’ action is “flawed and misguided” because it fails to understand the company’s business model and position in the market. The company maintains it doesn’t determine parental access to health records. Paxton, a prominent Republican who is running for U.S. Senate in Texas, previously filed at least 100 lawsuits against the Biden administration and tried to overturn 2020 presidential election results in other states, including Wisconsin. He was acquitted in an impeachment trial in 2023 after allegedly abusing his office to protect a political donor. The Texas lawsuit comes as Epic has faced antitrust lawsuits over the last year, in which competitors have accused the company of trying to prevent competition. The suit says patient data is the backbone of the U.S. health care system and that Epic has “amassed control over patient data” by locking hospitals into the company’s electronic health records system. That’s allowed Epic to “insert itself as a gatekeeper,” controlling who can access patient data, when they can access it and the terms they can access it under, the suit says. According to the lawsuit, Epic’s database houses more than 325 million patient records, representing more than 90 percent of all U.S. citizens. Once a hospital is in an Epic database, the suit alleges “it is almost impossible to get out” because switching electronic health records providers can take up to a decade and cost more than $1 billion.

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North Texas layoffs top 10,000 in 2025, but experts say DFW's economy remains strong

North Texas faced a wave of layoffs this year according to the Texas Workforce Commission. As of December, employers across the Metroplex announced over 10,000 layoffs. The largest sectors impacted are in logistics, retail technology and corporate administrative operations, according to Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification, also known as WARN notices Most recently, FedEx announced it will layoff 856 employees in the coming months at its Coppell distribution center. The company is closing the center in favor of a third-party partner. These layoffs come on the back of FedEx’s announcement it would layoff over 500 more people at its Fort Worth distribution center in May. Meanwhile, Dallas County saw the largest amount of layoffs at 4,721. The biggest of those was the Coppell FedEx closure, but layoffs at the Chewy Fulfillment Center and Southwest Airlines added a significant amount as well.

Chewy’s Fulfilment Center saw a reduction of 647 employees as of June. The center did not close, but the company told the TWC it would remain open in a significantly lower capacity. In April, Southwest Airlines eliminated 626 positions at Love Field in order to “fund the right work, reduce duplicative efforts, and have a lean organizational structure that drives clarity and pace.” The largest layoff in Tarrant County came after the City of Fort Worth ended its partnership with MedStar earlier this year. MedStar, a private ambulance company, ended its operations in the city. That prompted 589 layoffs in July. However, according to MedStar, most employees were able to find similar roles with the city. Most recently, the Sheraton Arlington Hotel, LeeMAH Electronics, S&S Activewear, CRST Expedited and Transportation Solutions announced their own layoffs totaling 231 employees to start off December. Economists like SMU's Dean Stansel say the region has historically withstood labor disruptions better than most major metros, thanks to rapid population growth and diverse business base.

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John Whitmire unveils party support amid 'civil war' for Houston Democrats

Several top Houston elected officials and community advocates are attempting to rally support for Mayor John Whitmire as precinct chairs with the Democratic party weigh whether to deny him future endorsements, according to a letter leaked to the Houston Chronicle. Whitmire, a Democrat who spent 50 years in the Texas Senate before stepping into the mayor’s seat in 2024, caught heat from the party when he appeared as a special guest at an April fundraiser for GOP U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw. Whitmire and his team reasoned at the time that the mayor worked with everyone who helped the city accomplish its goals, and experts said it wasn’t unusual for mayors of large cities to build bridges among members of the opposite party. Notably, the office of Houston mayor is also nonpartisan.

A swath of more than 100 Democratic precinct chairs, though, begged to differ. They penned a series of resolutions shortly after the Crenshaw fundraiser that called for ending the Harris County Democratic Party’s future endorsements of Whitmire, and to hold elected officials to the same fundraising standards as precinct chairs. Precinct chairs take an oath when they are sworn in to not raise funds for members of the opposite party. The resolution regarding fundraising failed in September. The resolution to deny Whitmire future endorsements will be voted on this Sunday. A version of the letter obtained by the Chronicle highlights some of Whitmire’s accomplishments as mayor and during his time in the statehouse. It points out how Whitmire stood with workers at the Hilton Americas as they went on strike for fair wages. Denying the mayor's future party endorsements, it states, would be “deeply harmful” to the Democratic party’s “unity and strength” as they looked toward securing victories in the 2026 election cycle. “Not everything we see in headlines or online tells the full story,” one version of the letter reads. “The mayor is currently engaged in complex, high-stakes negotiations behind the scenes to protect our city, including navigating challenges with the state and federal governments. These efforts may not always be highly visible or political theater, but they are essential to defending Houston’s interests in the difficult political climate we face.”

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Renee Patterson wins Houston City College trustee runoff

Renee Jefferson Patterson won the race for Houston City College's District II trustee, representing portions of northeast and east Houston, according to unofficial results. Patterson secured 55.6% of the vote, while Kathleen "Kathy" Lynch Gunter had 43.4%, according to preliminary results. The runoff election came after Patterson led with 49% of the vote to Gunter's 33% in the Nov. 4 general election. A third candidate, Desmond Spencer, earned nearly 18%, preventing Patterson from securing the majority. Patterson led by around 500 votes as of 11 p.m. Saturday, with around 3,800 votes cast. Around two-thirds of Harris County voting centers were reporting as of 11 p.m. Saturday.

Patterson was first appointed in February to fill a vacancy left when previous trustee Charlene Ward Johnson won a seat in the state Legislature. Since then, Patterson, a former Houston City Council candidate and interior designer, has been an advocate for HCC's VAST Academy for people with intellectual and physical disabilities. An HCC alumni, Patterson said she hopes to expand the university's North Forest campus and bring more resources to her home neighborhood of Acres Homes. "It's been a very emotional journey for me ... but I'm excited. I'm grateful," Patterson said. "I'm just excited about being able to give students in the community the opportunity that was given to me." The winner will help oversee one of HCC's largest and diverse trustee districts, which stretched from northwest Houston near Spring Branch to North Forest in the city's far northeast. The board leads one of the nation's largest community colleges, with 95,000 students enrolled in 2024-25, chancellor Margaret Ford Fisher said. The community college's enrollment gains have neared pre-COVID levels, and it has seen recent improvements under a state funding model that ties allocations to student outcomes like graduation.

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DeeJay Johannessen: There will be a Pride event in 2026

(DeeJay Johannessen is CEO of Help Center for LGBTQ+ Health, the organization that produces Arlington Pride.) Thank you all for the support, concert — and yes, the anger and disappointment. I want to address those opposing the decision to suspend Arlington Pride. “Let me be clear: There will be a Pride event in 2026. My strong hope is that it will be in Arlington — just not on June 6th. The majority of this city believes in basic civil rights for everyone, and they are joined by city leaders and council members who are fighting alongside us. “What we will not do is play along — smile, entertain and hope you like us while our rights are stripped away. Those days are over. Arlington Pride will not be used as a political prop to validate that everything “is fine” in Arlington.

Additionally, I expect this issue to be well resolved before June, but I will not gamble with the safety of 10,000 people by hosting an event at the steps of City Hall and hoping nothing goes wrong. That’s exactly the chaos some would like to see. Arlington Pride has always been — and will remain — a safe, welcoming and powerful event, where families can celebrate without fear. “Thank you to everyone who spoke up. You made it clear that Pride is far more than a party — it matters. And for those who know me, this will come as no surprise: I will never stand down when it comes to our civil rights. Failing to fight would be a personal, moral and ethical failure — and I will not fail the next generation of LGBTQ+ youth who are watching to see if someone will protect them.

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Ector County judge rules against TGAA in Odessa lawsuit

An Ector County judge has ruled that an agreement at the center of a lawsuit involving the Texas Government Accountability Association (TGAA) and the City of Odessa is not valid and cannot be enforced. The ruling means the agreement carries no legal authority, according to the City of Odessa. Earlier this year, TGAA tried to compel the City into arbitration so the dispute would be heard by an arbitrator instead of a judge.

The City opposed that effort and sought to have the matter decided in a court of law. A temporary order had paused the arbitration process. With the new ruling, the judge has made that pause permanent. TGAA, along with anyone acting on its behalf, is no longer permitted to pursue arbitration against the City. This decision resolves the final outstanding issue in the lawsuit. The judge denied all remaining requests in the case and stated that the order is final unless appealed. The City of Odessa said it is pleased with the outcome and remains committed to transparency, fairness and responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources.

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Alejandra Salinas wins Houston City Council runoff race

Houston lawyer Alejandra Salinas won the runoff election Saturday for the at-large seat on City Council by clinching more than 57% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Dwight Boykins, a lobbyist and former City Council member, trailed with 43%. Salinas and Boykins were the two top vote-getters, with 21.9% and 21% of the vote, respectively, in a crowded Nov. 4 general election for the seat that opened when Council Member Letitia Plummer resigned to run for Harris County judge. "Tonight is a night to celebrate. Tomorrow, we get to work," Salinas wrote in a statement. Salinas' wife, Elizabeth, stood beside her as she told a crowd at her watch party the reason she decided to run: Their fear of what they were seeing across the county, and how they wanted to do more. "We wanted to create a campaign of hope and joy and inclusivity, and send a message that right here in Houston, we're going to stand up to the hatred, we're going to stand up to the fear and show them that with love and inclusivity and hope and whole lot of hard work, we can make the city better for everyone," Salinas said as the crowd cheered.

Salinas dominated fundraising throughout the race, which she ran – literally and figuratively – on foot. The power of block walking helped her collect more than $210,000. Salinas’ most recent campaign finance report showed she had a little more than $87,000 on hand. Boykins, by comparison, earned nearly $30,000 throughout the race and had more than $32,000 on hand, according to his most recent campaign finance report. At her watch party at Side Peace Sports Bar on Washington Avenue Saturday night, Salinas milled around a packed room of supporters that included state Rep. Christina Morales, Council Member Abbie Kamin and former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who's now running for the Democratic nomination for Harris County judge. Salinas told the Chronicle she couldn't be prouder of the campaign she ran as a first-time candidate reaching 2.4 million Houstonians. She said she'll prioritize making sure the city delivers essential services well and push to create strong infrastructure.

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Future for Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum unclear after WTAMU announcement

The future of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum remains uncertain after an announcement made by West Texas A&M University’s president last month. West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler announced November 18, in a meeting with Panhandle-Plains Historical Society board members, that the university is unable to provide long-term funding and maintenance for the museum. NewsChannel10 reached out to WTAMU, which provided the following statement: This comes after the university closed the doors to the museum back in March due to the building being deemed unsafe by fire marshals.

“The building is not safe to operate as a museum right now,” said Mark White, PPHS board of trustees. “In 1932 there was a lease agreement requiring the state of Texas, working in conjunction with the A&M Board of Regents, to maintain that building, but it has not been maintained.” White says while the news came as a shock and is disappointing, the society has begun having conversations with local institutions in order to keep the over two million artifacts in our region. “We want to keep the museum local, absolutely important to the people in this area. So, we will be doing that. The other thing I want to mention is that the employees that we have at the museum, the wonderful employees that we have at the museum, they will continue to be employed by the society,” said White. White says they are excited for the future and anticipate a museum that is even larger than the original.

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Kyle, Pflugerville voters choose new mayors in runoff elections

Voters in Travis, Hays and Williamson Counties cast their ballots in a few runoff elections on Saturday, choosing their next mayors and council members. The bigger elections on Saturday were the runoffs for Kyle and Pflugerville’s mayors and four other races held in Central Texas, are below.

Kyle voters chose between the top two candidates from November’s mayoral election after none of the four candidates received more than 50% of the vote. Of those four, Saturday’s runoff election came down to Yvonne Flores-Cale and Robert Rizo. Preliminary results from Saturday’s election have Flores-Cale as the winner of the race, with 50.83% of the vote Saturday. A runoff election for the position of Mayor of Pflugerville was called on Nov. 18, 2025, after none of the candidates in the Nov. 4 election won more than 50% of the vote, according to the city. The two candidates who received the most votes in the November election and advanced to the runoff on Saturday were Pat McCord and Doug Weiss. Some voters in Buda, Kyle, Leander, and San Marcos chose their next city council representative. For Buda City Council District C, Kimberly Goodman and Jeffrey Morales both received about 43% of the vote in the November election and advanced to the runoff. Voters chose Goodman as the winner in Saturday’s runoff election. She had 50.79% of the vote. For Kyle City Council District 1, incumbent Bear Heiser advanced to a runoff with challenger Courtney Goza. Heiser received about 40% of the vote in November, while Goza received 27%. Voters chose Goza as the winner in Saturday’s runoff election, with 50.80% of the vote. For Leander City Council Place 3, Natomi Blair and Anna Yelaun moved ahead to a runoff in this race. Blair received about 48% of the vote in November’s election, while Yelaun picked up 40%. Voters chose Blair as the winner in Saturday’s runoff election, with 53.78% of the vote. For San Marcos City Council Place 2, Josh Paselk and incumbent Saul Gonzales advanced to the runoff. In November’s election, Paselk received 35% of the vote, while Gonzales won 27%. Voters chose Paselk as the winner in Saturday’s runoff election. He got 54.50% of the vote.

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National Stories

12 killed in Sydney beachside Chanukah event shooting

Twelve people were killed and at least 29 injured in a terrorist shooting that targeted a Chanukah party on Bondi Beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Sunday afternoon, according to Australian authorities. The attack involved two gunmen, one of whom is believed to be among the fatalities, according to a New South Wales Police statement. The second shooter sustained critical injuries, it added. Shortly after the shooting occurred, police located a vehicle nearby which they believe contained several improvised explosive devices. Bomb disposal units worked to neutralize the devices, police said. The attack took place at a Chanukah celebration attended by thousands of people and organized by the Chassidic Chabad-Lubavitch movement, according to Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism.

“I am in continuous contact with leaders of the Jewish community in Australia,” stated Chikli. “There are many casualties, including fatalities. I will provide updates as soon as additional details become available.” According to Chabad spokesman Motti Seligson, one of the organization’s rabbis was among those murdered. The slain rabbi was identified as Eli Schlanger, a U.K.-born Chabad emissary in Sydney. Australian Prime Minister Antony Albanese told a press conference following the attack, “This afternoon, there has been a devastating terrorist incident at Bondi at the Chanukah by the Sea celebration.” “This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Chanukah—which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith,” continued the premier. “An act of evil antisemitism, terrorism, that has struck the heart of our nation,” he said. “An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian.”

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Brown University shooter in custody, officials say

A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded nine others at Brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, and police now appear to have apprehended the suspect. University President Christina Paxson said she was told that 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting, but it was not clear if that victim was a student, she said. Officers scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighborhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, backyards and porches late into the night after the shooting erupted in the afternoon.

The suspect was a man in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of Providence police. Authorities said Sunday morning that the suspect they believe is responsible for the shooting is now in custody. Security footage showed the suspect walking away from the building, but his face was not visible. Some witnesses reported that the man, who could be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, O’Hara said.

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Poll: Trump's MAGA base is still behind him — but cracks are showing ahead of 2026

President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains steadily underwater among adults as he nears the end of his first year back in the White House, and he has lost some ground among his “Make America Great Again” base, according to a new NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey. Trump’s approval has inched down in 2025 amid concern about the economy, while Americans remain worried about inflation and costs after Trump’s campaign promises to ease those anxieties. Respondents’ concerns were apparent in everyday spending decisions like grocery shopping, holiday spending and more, the poll shows. Other high-profile Trump decisions, including his handling of the controversy over the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files, have scored negatively with Americans. Trump initially opposed a congressional move to force the release of the files before relenting to pressure from both parties last month.

Overall, the poll underlines how the intense support that Trump rode to a second presidential term has weakened — and how the intensity of the opposition to him has grown. American adults largely disapprove of Trump’s job performance, with his approval rating at 42% and disapproval at 58% in the new poll. That’s a slight approval rating drop of 3 points (from 45%) over the course of four polls since April, the first time the survey was conducted. The new poll surveyed 20,252 adults online, including people registered to vote and not registered to vote, from Nov. 20 to Dec. 8, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points. But underneath this modest decrease in approval are more subtle shifts in the intensity of feelings about the president — both positive and negative. The share of people who strongly approve of Trump (21%) has dropped over the course of the year (26% in April). Slightly more people now say they strongly disapprove of Trump (44%) compared to April (42%).

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Trump wants the U.S. shipbuilding industry to be great again. Here's what it will take, and what's at stake

President Donald Trump has vowed to lead a revival in U.S. shipbuilding, but the success of this manufacturing renaissance in a key sector for national security will rely on the expertise from overseas. The administration’s goal of a shipbuilding boom is a part of Trump’s “Make America Great” policy agenda. Trump signed an executive order in April to bolster the shipbuilding industry, but many industry executives have warned it won’t be easy given the current state of the domestic industry, and foreign investment and collaboration are key. The Trump administration’s “Make American Shipyards Great Again” initiative is looking to build out liquified natural gas tankers, polar ice-breakers, and Navy vessels. “The American shipbuilding industry saw a boom twice in the past 110 years,” Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at Xeneta, tells CNBC. “The first boom was during World War I, the second, World War II,” he said.

global commercial shipbuilding industry. The U.S. presently has eight active shipyards. China has over 300. The Trump administration’s shipbuilding plan is an extension of an investigation into Chinese shipbuilding by the United States Trade Representative under the Biden and Trump administrations. The USTR 301 investigation found the Chinese government has bolstered its shipbuilding dominance through the use of significant subsidies and designating the industry as strategic. The investigation said the acts, policies, and practices were “unreasonable and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.” The U.S. recently began to charge fees on ships built in China visiting U.S. ports, which led to retaliatory measures from China, but the two nations agreed to a one-year pause as part of a November trade truce. In 2008, China surpassed Japan in shipbuilding output. In 2010, China overtook South Korea to become the world’s largest shipbuilder, both in production capacity and new orders. Since then, China’s lead has continued to grow. Its global market share in shipbuilding stands at 53%, followed by South Korea and Japan.

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Another blue wave? Meet the Democrat trying to make it happen and the Republican trying to stop her

ven though Republican Brian Jack is only a first-term congressman, he has become a regular in the Oval Office these days. As the top recruiter for his party’s House campaign team, the Georgia native is often reviewing polling and biographies of potential candidates with President Donald Trump. Lauren Underwood, an Illinois congresswoman who does similar work for Democrats, has no such West Wing invitation. She is at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue working the phones to identify and counsel candidates she hopes can erase Republicans’ slim House majority in November’s midterm elections. Although they have little in common, both lawmakers were forged by the lessons of 2018, when Democrats flipped dozens of Republican-held seats to turn the rest of Trump’s first term into a political crucible. Underwood won her race that year, and Jack became responsible for dealing with the fallout when he became White House political director a few months later.

Underwood wants a repeat in 2026, and Jack is trying to stand in her way. For Republicans, that means going all-in on Trump and his “Make American Great Again” agenda, gambling that durable enthusiasm from his base will overcome broader dissatisfaction with his leadership. “You’re seeing a lot of people very inspired by President Trump,” Jack said about his party’s House candidates. “They’re excited to serve in this body alongside him and the White House. That’s been a tool and a motivating factor for so many people who want to run.” Underwood said she is looking for candidates with community involvement and public service beyond Washington politics. A registered nurse, she was a health care advocate before she ran in 2018, joining a cadre of Democratic newcomers that included military veterans, educators, activists and business owners. “It’s about having ordinary Americans step up” in a way that “draws a sharp contrast with the actions of these MAGA extremists,” she said.

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The eerie parallels between AI mania and the dot-com bubble

Is it karma? Coincidence? Either way, the ghost of the dot-com bubble is back 25 years later. Shares in Cisco Systems CSCO -1.85%decrease; red down pointing triangle, the dot-com-era champion that became the world’s most valuable company at its peak in March 2000, this week reached that level again for the first time. It’s a cautionary tale of how far stock prices can depart from reality. Bulls spend a lot of time denying that there’s a 1990s-style bubble inflating again in artificial intelligence. But it’s worth going through a few of the striking similarities, and some notable differences.

There are lots of ways of valuing stocks, and pretty much all of them make U.S. shares look the most expensive since the dot-com bubble. The forward price-to-earnings ratio, price to cash flow, the “Fed model” calculation of the extra reward offered by stocks compared with bonds and the cyclically adjusted PE ratio all scream that stocks are expensive. The reason is common to them all: Investors are, just as in 1999-2000, betting on a new technology to deliver much faster than usual profit growth. If it happens, it justifies higher valuations. Just as the dot-coms were priced based on hope that the internet would deliver a new era of profits from business models that were yet to be proven, so with AI. Generative AI has delivered chatbots and image generation that seem to be not far from magic—but is, for now, priced well below what it costs to produce, leading to big losses at AI businesses. One difference: Many of the pure-play dot-coms didn’t even have revenue, while the AI companies are at least making some sales.

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Copyright December 21, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved