Lead Stories

'We are not a bunch of woke Marxist liberals here': Rural voters scramble Texas election

Rural voters may not stop the spread of data centers, but they could stop Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The Republican is bleeding support from small towns as he seeks a fourth term because of two late-emerging issues: power-hungry tech campuses and a planned $33 billion electric transmission build-out. Pushback against Abbott points to larger fears about losing rural identities, but also to everyday concerns about construction, pollution and tight supplies of water and electricity. Shawn Nanny, a Republican county commissioner in West Texas, said data centers and power line plans are the “straws that broke the camel’s back” when it comes to Abbott and other Texas GOP leaders. Some longtime conservatives are now considering the unthinkable — voting in November for a Democrat to be Texas’ next governor. And Abbott’s August directive to pause Texas data center grid approvals hasn’t convinced all of them to vote for him.

“They understand the repercussions of that, but you know what I’m hearing is, ‘Yeah, we’ll have a Democrat in there and grit our teeth and bear it, but hopefully we’ll come out of it the following election,’” said Nanny, who lives in Tom Green County. “They’re so upset; they just want [Abbott] out.” The welcoming approach that Abbott’s Texas has taken toward data centers until now makes the rural pushback — and the governor’s retreat — particularly striking as the industry grapples with resistance nationwide. “Rural people feel like they are the ones seeing the brunt of this, and they don’t like it,” said Jim Henson, executive director of the Texas Politics Project. “These issues are starting to bond together a lot of the people against data centers.” Texas has not elected a Democrat as governor in more than 35 years, but analysts say Abbott can’t afford to lose much of his rural support in November. Recent polls released by Texas A&M University and Fox News showed Abbott with a 1 percentage point lead over Democratic challenger state Rep. Gina Hinojosa. Polling from the nonpartisan Texas Politics Project showed Abbott’s approval rating among rural voters plunged from 2018 to 2026 — going from 63 percent to 48 percent.

Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only

Patrick to Texas school districts: 'We're coming for your books'

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued a stark warning for school districts that do not remove books that he believes are offensive. "We're coming for the books. We ask that you do it on your own and remove these books," Patrick said. "Look at what's in your libraries. Don't bury your head in the sand." Patrick, in a news conference Wednesday morning, claimed 80% of school districts in the Lone Star State were not complying with Senate Bill 13. The lieutenant governor suggested that legislation could be filed that would allow for the lowering of a district's accountability score if inappropriate books were allowed to remain on the shelves of school libraries.

"If these books are not off the shelf, we will pass a law that will knock your grade letter down one," Patrick said. Patrick later said that even a single book could be enough to trigger punishment for the district. "You’re damn right that one book is enough to get you degraded by a letter," he said. State school districts, schools and charter schools are given an A-F rating each year. According to the TEA, each rating uses weighted scores for student achievement, school progress and a measurement called "closing the gaps," which looks at progress to goals among racial and ethnic groups, socioeconomic backgrounds and other factors. The total weighted score is then used to determine the overall score. State funding could also be on the table as a potential punishment for those districts. Patrick said the state spends around $90 billion on public education every year and that lawmakers have a responsibility for how those tax dollars are spent.

Read this article at Fox 7 - Subscribers Only

Texas-based oil companies among first to sign contracts with Venezuela

Two Texas-based oil companies are among the first to enter agreements with Venezuela, following the United States' capture of President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year. According to Venezuelan state media, SLB and Hunt Oil Company signed contracts with state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) on Tuesday in Houston. SLB is a Houston-based oilfield services company and Hunt Oil Company is an independent exploration and production company based in Dallas.

"Hunt Oil Company wants to play a constructive role in revitalizing and growing Venezuela's oil and gas production," CEO Hunter L. Hunt said in a statement. "We look forward to doing so with our unwavering commitment to train and advance the local workforce, to protect and preserve our surrounding environment, and to bring long-term benefits to the communities in which we will operate." SLB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Since Maduro's capture in January, U.S. President Donald Trump has encouraged American oil companies to invest in Venezuela's resources and help ramp up production in the Latin American country. Still, many top U.S. energy executives have remained hesitant to get involved in Venezuela, facing uncertainty about the country's political stability. Addressing U.S. energy executives in Houston this week, Venezuela's oil minister, Paula Henao, touted reforms to her country's oil laws following Maduro's removal. She said country's agreements with U.S. companies offer a chance to evaluate opportunities for investment in Venezuela. "The invitation is that we can sit down, we can evaluate, ‘What is the opportunity in Venezuela?'" she said in Spanish during a speech at the Venezuela Energy Week Houston Showcase on Wednesday.

Read this article at Houston Public Media - Subscribers Only

After audit scorches TEA, Greg Abbott instead singles out Austin, El Paso ISDs in call for audits into 'administrative bloat'

Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday asked Texas’ new comptroller to examine the spending of up to four school districts to root out “administrative bloat” and said he would introduce a bill requiring districts spend at least 70% of their funds in the classroom. Comptroller Don Huffines, whom Abbott appointed last month, said he would comply with the request and announce the targeted districts in the “coming weeks.” But at a campaign stop in El Paso on Wednesday as part of his reelection bid, Abbott mentioned Austin and El Paso ISDs for growing their budgets while their enrollment is declining. “Texans expect that taxes collected from their hard-earned dollars will be spent in compliance with the law,” Abbott wrote in his request to Huffines.

The announcement came on the same day that a long-awaited state audit found Abbott’s Texas Education Agency, which oversees districts, had a “management-heavy structure” that was in violation of state law. The audit, which was requested by lawmakers in last year’s budget, found that TEA has one manager for every 3.5 staffers, while state law requires one manager for 11 staffers. The agency could have sought state approval to get around the requirement, but didn’t do so, auditors noted. Spending and hiring on managers was also out of proportion, auditors found. Between 2021 and 2025, the number of managers increased by 38%, while the number of staffers increased 12%. Over that same period, salary and wage costs for management grew 64%, to $48 million, while staffer costs increased 31%, to $79 million. When auditors notified TEA of the findings, the agency filed an appeal with the Legislative Budget Board, asserting that it “requires a lower management-to-staff ratio to ensure effective management and positive programmatic outcomes,” auditors wrote. “The Agency noted that many managers also have substantial individual contributor duties,” auditors added.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

State Stories

Islamophobia’s rise in Texas: ‘I won’t rest until every Muslim is gone’

Ghulam Kehar rose before dawn in early June to attend the day’s first prayer at his local mosque in Irving, Texas, before heading off for a monthslong deployment with the U.S. Coast Guard. He had been deployed before, but this time was different. He felt apprehensive about leaving his wife and four children behind in Texas, even for a short while. Rhetorical attacks on Muslims by top Texas leaders had become more pronounced, and seemed to be trickling down. At his mosque, the Valley Ranch Islamic Center, and others across the state, congregants and religious leaders swapped stories of ugly comments directed at them while praying in public or sitting in public parks. In recent months, a man was arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat at a major new Islamic center in Houston. Not far away, in Conroe, a woman told Muslim shoppers at a grocery store they were “not welcome in this state or this country” — after losing her job, she received nearly $250,000 from supporters after video of her comments circulated widely.

In McKinney, a Dallas suburb, a woman grabbed a former mayor and stuffed paper with an anti-Muslim message down his shirt during a heated City Council hearing over a mosque expansion. “Leaving them alone in this environment, it would be a little worrisome,” Mr. Kehar said of his family. “It’s just the fear of what’s being spewed out there.” He arranged for his family to join him on his deployment near the Canadian border as soon as they could get there. Mr. Kehar, who grew up in California, is part of a growing number of Muslims who moved to Texas in recent decades in search of good schools, affordable homes and a thriving community of fellow believers. The Dallas-Fort Worth area has been a particularly strong magnet for families like his. Dozens of mosques have opened. Some are expanding. Others, like the glittering DeSoto House of Peace, south of Dallas, aim to provide new anchors for Muslim communities in Texas.

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

President Trump is returning to Texas for an RNC fundraiser in Houston

President Donald Trump is making a dash for cash in Texas next week, setting up what would be just his third visit to the state since he he returned to the White House. Trump is expected to headline a fundraiser on Aug. 27 in Houston for the Republican National Committee as it builds its financial war chest for the midterm elections. The exact location hasn’t been announced, and neither have any public events. Typically, the White House tries to arrange political events around his fundraising trips. It’s no surprise the RNC and Trump have targeted Texas for a fundraising run. “I come to Texas twice a month, at least, because Texas is a treasure trove of Republican conservative donors,” RNC Chair Joe Gruters told me in an interview on the Texas Take Podcast earlier this year. “I’m always down there trying to shake the trees.”

That shaking has already included Double Eagle Energy CEO Cody Campbell, real estate developer H. Ross Perot Jr., Midland Energy CEO S. Javaid Anwar, and Tim Dunn, CEO of oil and gas company CrownQuest Operating. They have been the four top Texas donors to the RNC since the start of 2025, giving more than $600,000 each to the national party. Trump’s visit to help raise money in Texas comes as the RNC has already amassed a massive financial advantage over the Democratic National Committee, which was just in Austin last week for its summer meetings. The financial disparity was impossible to miss as DNC Chair Ken Martin told party leaders he wished he had more money to share to boost efforts around the nation. The DNC reported about $16 million in cash on hand in its most recent Federal Election Commission filing, along with more than $18 million in debt. The GOP, meanwhile, reported nearly $129 million cash on hand in its latest FEC filing.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

HISD touted gains. Ratings leaned on courses Texas deemed ineffective

Two years into Houston ISD’s state takeover, state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles touted a major achievement: state ratings showed there were no more F-rated schools in the district. Some of that jump, however, had little to do with Miles’ sweeping reforms or gains in student test scores. One key factor was HISD’s use of a new, rapidly expanding option in Texas’ accountability system: college-prep courses. These are not typical courses that can earn students college credit, such as Advanced Placement or dual credit. These are courses, often taken online, that help students catch up on English and math so they don’t have to take remedial classes in college. In the state’s accountability system, schools that enroll students in college-prep courses can earn credit for producing college-ready graduates, which in turn boosts their A-F ratings. Exclusive data from the Texas Education Agency obtained by the Houston Chronicle shows that without students completing those courses, every high school in Miles’ reform model would have dropped by at least one letter grade in 2025.

The district would have had five D-rated and two F-rated high schools – undercutting Miles’ claim of no F-rated campuses. At schools within Miles’ New Education System – the center of his reforms – students were much more likely to complete college-prep courses. Some students described being enrolled en masse, even when they had already earned college-ready credentials. Several said they rushed through the self-paced coursework, which can take up to a semester, in a few hours. Others said they still had to take remedial classes in college — the very outcome the courses were designed to prevent. In fact, the TEA concluded in 2025 that virtually all college-prep courses failed to prepare students for college-level academics. Most graduates marked college-ready exclusively through college prep still had to take remedial coursework to pass their first year of college, the TEA found. Because of that finding, the state will no longer count most college-prep courses toward school ratings by 2028. The findings cast doubt on the academic progress HISD schools have made under Miles since the Texas Education Commissioner ousted the elected school board in 2023 and installed him to lead the state’s largest school district. The apparent gains from college-prep courses — which the state later deemed ineffective — also raise questions about how the accountability system rewards schools.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Schlueter defends role as city lobbyist, but biggest critic on Killeen council is unconvinced

The Killeen City Council held a special meeting with Stan Schlueter — a former state legislator who is now the city’s paid lobbyist — Tuesday at City Hall, where there was a heated moment between him and one of the council members. Schlueter outlined some of his credentials, saying his family moved to Killeen in 1948 when the population was approximately 4,000 and Fort Hood was known then as Camp Hood. He earned his degree in business from Baylor University. He said he understood the city was going through “tough times.” “I sent you all some clippings here the last couple of days, so you know many Texans … have to fight the same issues as you are,” Schlueter said. “Some are more critical than some of the things you’re dealing with.”

Several council members brought up issues like data centers — which council members Charles Kimble and Anthony Kendrick said were inevitable in the city — but the main issue was the disabled veterans property tax exemption, which has cost the city millions of dollars in tax revenue since 2007. Councilman David Bass, who has always indicated that he was ideologically opposed to the city having paid lobbyists, told KDH News afterwards that the meeting was a “waste of time.” Bass said he was disappointed that he didn’t see a more concrete strategy being expressed at the meeting. He also said he didn’t think it mattered if they met in a smaller group outside of a public meeting, saying he was “done” with the Schlueter Group. “What I did not just hear is a strategy,” Bass told Schlueter during the meeting. “I heard a lot of words, but I did not hear strategy.” Schlueter responded that reimbursement for the veterans property tax exemption has “a lot of enemies.”

Read this article at KDH News - Subscribers Only

Houston, Woodlands to consider blocking future annexation in $50M deal

Leaders of The Woodlands Township and the City of Houston next week will consider a $50 million agreement that would end an infrastructure funding pool shared by the two entities and ensure that Houston never annexes The Woodlands. The Houston City Council will consider the amendment to its regional partnership agreement with the township at its meeting on Aug. 26, according to an agenda posted Wednesday. The township’s Board of Directors will consider it during a special meeting later that evening. “The proposed amendment is the result of collaborative discussions between the city of Houston and The Woodlands Township to address the priorities of both organizations,” township officials said in a statement Wednesday. Houston Mayor John Whitmire's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Wednesday.

According to the proposal, the township would relinquish $22,626,797 to the City of Houston from a regional participation account funded by sales tax revenue, and would pay Houston $9 million in 2027, $9 million in 2028, and a final payment of $9,373,203, in exchange for Houston’s agreement to eliminate the possibility of annexation as long as the terms are met. A regional participation fund is a dedicated pool of money that governments use to co-finance local or cross-border projects. The Woodlands has contributed a portion of its sales tax to the fund since 2007. According to the agreement, those funds could be used for projects that would benefit The Woodlands and Houston, with the city of Houston providing matching funds. The Woodlands is not currently at risk of annexation. The Township Board of Directors originally approved a Regional Participation Agreement with Houston in 2007, preventing Houston from annexing The Woodlands through 2057. The agreement has been amended twice since 2007. In 2017, the Texas Legislature also passed a law that ended forced municipal annexation, requiring an automatic voter referendum before larger cities could annex communities across the state. The new proposal to be considered next week would amend the Regional Participation Agreement again to give it an end date. After 2030, The Woodlands would no longer contribute to the fund and would retain that money. Bailey said there would be no restriction on Houston's use of the $50 million.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Asian-Americans aren't getting a pass from the Trump administration, this Dem leader says

While the federal immigration crackdown has largely targeted the Hispanic community and the recent redistricting rules are threatening to diminish Black voters' power in Congress, don’t think Asian Americans are getting a pass in the current political environment. That was state Rep. Gene Wu’s message at the Democratic National Committee meetings in Austin last week, where he warned Asian American communities that they need to better unite to fight more subtle and pernicious attacks aimed at them. The Houston Democrat said new restrictions on work visas and student visas affecting dozens of countries, attacks on Muslim communities and restrictions on landownership of Chinese immigrants are all examples of laws and policies that target different segments of Asian-Americans that can splinter unified opposition.

“My fear for all of this stuff is, not only is the Asian American community isolated from other communities, but within our own communities we are isolated from each other,” said Wu, the leader of the Texas House Democrats. “The Indian Americans do not see their fight the same as Muslim Americans, and Muslim Americans don’t see their fight the same as East Asians.” Wu said the attacks are all the same in that they aim to reduce Indian, Muslim and Chinese in American society. “It’s all connected,” Wu said in a speech to dozens of other Asian American Democrats. “While they may use different tools, their rationale and end goals are exactly the same.” The Trump administration and advocates of recent policies like restricting student visas and banning some immigrants from land ownership say the measures are needed to bolster homeland security. Critics say it's part of a broader push by the White House to reduce legal immigration into the U.S. Taken all together, the administration’s policies will reduce legal immigration to the United States by as many as to 2.4 million people by the end of Trump’s term in office, according to a report from the National Foundation for American Policy, which studies immigration policies.

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

Nicole Humlicek: How teaching handwriting supports brain development

(Nicole Humlicek has spent more than 20 years teaching and leading in public and private education. She currently serves as the principal of The Honor Roll School, an independent P-8 school in Sugar Land, Texas.) A 6-year-old grips a pencil, tongue out in concentration, as she carefully forms the letters of her name. Her brain is quietly building connections. I recently watched a 4-year-old do this. It took him four tries to get the “S” facing the right way. When he finally did, he paused, taking pride in his work. He wasn’t just forming a letter; he was building confidence, strengthening his hand, and learning to persevere. With the ubiquity of screens, time for handwriting instruction has gotten squeezed out of many classrooms. Educators increasingly question whether cursive in particular is worth classroom time in a digital age, but children still benefit from learning it. My home state of Texas was an early adopter in bringing back cursive instruction, and now, at least half the nation’s states have adopted similar requirements. Schools like mine never stopped teaching it because we see its value. Handwriting demands fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, both of which help a child master everyday tasks like tying shoes and zipping jackets.

Over time, that same precision supports more complex skills, from playing instruments to performing surgery. Students will need typing and other digital skills, but that doesn’t mean handwriting should be abandoned. Handwriting, especially in early grades, needs dedicated time. Typing can be introduced later, once students are developmentally ready. We don’t stop teaching reading because of audiobooks; we shouldn’t stop teaching handwriting because of keyboards. Neuroscientists call the brain’s ability to change and adapt neuroplasticity. Experiences shape how the brain develops. When children write by hand, they activate neural networks responsible for language, memory, attention, and learning in ways that typing simply does not replicate. Researchers Karin H. James and Laura Engelhardt at Indiana University put this to the test with young, preliterate children more than a decade ago. Using brain imaging, they found that the neural pathways linked to reading only switched on when children physically formed letters by hand, not when they typed them and not when they simply watched someone else write.

Read this article at EdWeek - Subscribers Only

Paxton pulls out of controversial multistate surrogacy case, restrictions remain

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has removed himself from a multistate surrogacy case in which a birth mother fled to Texas after she said the child's biological parents tried to force her to get an abortion — a claim the couple denies. Paxton, who filed a notice of nonsuit Wednesday after intervening in the case, said in a press release his office is withdrawing after achieving his goal of securing an order from the court forcing a Dallas hospital to treat the baby at the center of the controversial case, who was born with a serious birth defect and is currently recovering after open heart surgery. "My office used every legal tool at our disposal to ensure baby Gabriel was able to receive the life-saving care he needed," Paxton said, using the birth mother's name for the baby.

McKenna West, a surrogate for a California couple, fled from Alaska to Texas this year after she said the couple requested she get an abortion due to the baby developing a congenital heart condition. The biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, have named the baby boy Rumi. An attorney for West said he had no comment at this time. If Paxton's withdrawal is granted, it would drop the order that prevented West from taking the baby out of Texas or the hospital. But another Temporary Restraining Order requested by Ahmed and signed by the judge still stands. That order prevents West from making any medical decisions on behalf of the child, exercising any possession of the child, representing herself as the child's guardian or removing the child from the hospital. A hearing to determine if that order should continue to stand is scheduled for Tuesday. Paxton intervened in the case just days before the West was to give birth. At his request, the judge ordered a Dallas hospital to give live-saving care. He also sent a letter to the hospital saying it had a legal obligation to provide care to the baby. The child was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome — a rare congenital heart defect where the left side of the heart doesn't develop fully about 20 weeks into the pregnancy. The baby's condition after the surgery is unknown.

Read this article at KERA - Subscribers Only

AT&T, a former top sales partner face off in biz court

In a $50 million dispute between AT&T and a former top sales partner, jurors in the Texas Business Court heard opening statements Tuesday morning that told very different stories, framing the breach of contract case as either a display of “corporate greed” or an unraveling scheme of “bribes and cover-ups.” Judge Andrea Bouressa is presiding over the case. Since the Texas Business Court does not have its own space, the weeklong jury trial is taking place in Dallas County District Court Judge Eric Moyé’s courtroom in the George Allen Courts Building.

The dispute stems from AT&T’s practice of contracting with third-party representatives and entities to market and sell its services for commissions. Plaintiff Faisal Chaudhry was an AT&T employee for four years until he left in 2008 to operate Spearhead Networks, which entered a service-provider agreement with the telecom giant in 2010. Plaintiff Chris Percy, who was at AT&T for 26 years and served as a vice president in 2018, coordinated and supervised high-value business sales with providers like Spearhead Consulting. Percy left to join Spearhead Consulting in 2019. In 2022, AT&T received grand jury subpoenas from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California requesting information about Spearhead Networks and several former AT&T employees. Spearhead Consulting renamed itself to Fiberwave in 2023 and became one of AT&T’s largest third-party providers. Percy terminated Chaudhry’s employment. The following year, AT&T ended its contract with Fiberwave, claiming it was due to a Department of Justice investigation into the company and an alleged kickback scheme. In its termination letter, AT&T stated it would withhold payments pending further investigation into Spearhead’s alleged misconduct.

Read this article at Texas Lawbook - Subscribers Only

No more Michelin Guide awards ceremony for Texas.

Hope you didn’t want to party with top chefs this fall. The Michelin Guide will cap its third year in Texas by revealing its new awards in an emailed press release. No ceremony, no afterparties, no dressing up, no weirdly bad free canapes, no shameless plugs for sponsor Sysco. In 2024, Michelin arrived in Texas with exuberance, inviting every single restaurant in the new guide to Houston for a huge shindig. In 2025, they scaled down the party, excluding restaurants that are listed in the guide without stars or Bib Gourmands. This year, we’ll be getting an email on the morning of Thursday, October 8. It’s good to be loved, huh?

Here is the justification in a short news announcement this morning: “As the MICHELIN Guide spans over 60 destinations worldwide, we have evolved our approach and diversified the formats through which we unveil our annual restaurant selection.” Translation: they’re stretched thin and can’t throw parties in every market every year, even with Sysco’s help. Two more Michelin notes. First, a representative for the guide confirmed to me this week that the guide is going behind a registration wall. Users must create free accounts to browse the Michelin Guide website and see which restaurants are recommended or starred. Second, an announcement about future Texas Michelin Guides is expected shortly. Loyal D Magazine readers know that our deal with Michelin will probably be renewed.

Read this article at D Magazine - Subscribers Only

Protesters oppose border construction at Big Bend Ranch State Park

As a former state senator and commissioner of the General Land Office, Jerry Patterson is no stranger to emotional issues that divide Texans into partisan camps. But sitting outside the Texas Parks and Wildlife headquarters in Austin Wednesday, the former Republican elected official found himself allied with about 200 environmentally conscious liberals and small-government conservatives in protesting plans to construct border barriers through state land near Big Bend National Park. "This is not a red-blue thing at all," Patterson said. "This is a swirl. And the longer it plays, the more swirl you're going to see." The demonstrators, mostly quiet and non-confrontational, assembled to oppose any border construction inside Big Bend Ranch State Park — a wide swath of land to the west of Big Bend National Park.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, whose members are appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, heard public comments from the demonstrators at their meeting Wednesday, but were not expected to take action on the matter. Chairman Paul Foster said he generally agrees with concerns expressed about federal plans for the park. “We're working with with CBP, with the federal government, and our objective is to minimize damage to the to the system out there,” Foster said in response to one of the speakers. In May, the Trump administration awarded a $1.7 billion border security contract to a New Mexico company for the construction of patrol roads and the installation of lighting, monitors and other surveillance equipment across Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not disclosed the extent of construction planned for the state park. But the Trump administration is planning a 30-foot border wall that begins near the Madera Canyon Campgrounds in the state park and extends west more than 60 miles to Ruidosa. That wall will cross a small portion of state park land, according to a federal map outlining the administration's plans.

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

Harris County Treasurer Carla Wyatt requests raise with DWI pending

Harris County Treasurer Carla Wyatt, a Democrat who was arrested three times across two counties in her first term, is seeking a six-figure raise, according to a formal salary grievance she filed with the county. Wyatt requested $250,000 “or more,” which would be a minimum 79% raise over her current salary of $139,547. The treasurer, who is facing a drunken driving charge in Galveston County, requested the raise just months after her office was stripped of a key financial oversight role and amid an ongoing effort to abolish Wyatt’s position entirely. Wyatt did not respond to a request for comment. Wyatt filed her grievance as part of an annual county process that lets elected officials petition a nine-member committee for a raise. The committee will consider her request Thursday.

Wyatt wrote that she is seeking “an amount that fairly and appropriately reflects the statutory responsibilities, fiduciary obligations, scope of authority, workload, and level of accountability associated with the office of Harris County Treasurer.” Wyatt had a dozen staff members working for her office in 2025, according to county salary data. She was one of just a handful of county elected officials whose salaries commissioners left unchanged in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Commissioners voted last week to raise the pay of all elected officials except themselves, the sheriff and the treasurer to $305,000. The committee that hears salary grievances can include several elected officials, as it did in recent years, but commissioners decided Tuesday to select nine residents from the grand juror pool to consider Wyatt's request. Harris County budget director Daniel Ramos said at Tuesday’s meeting she was the only official to contest her salary in the ongoing budget process.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

National Stories

Flock announces changes amid backlash over license plate reader network

Flock Safety, the surveillance technology company increasingly under scrutiny from lawmakers from both parties, civil liberties advocates and citizens across the U.S., announced last week that it is making changes to its platform intended to quell privacy concerns and address documented abuses of its system by some members of law enforcement. The company operates a vast nationwide network of automated cameras that record the license plate numbers and other characteristics of all passing vehicles every day. Thousands of law enforcement agencies in 49 states can search and share Flock’s data across jurisdictions to aid their investigations. Police have credited the technology as an important crime-fighting innovation that has helped locate missing people and track suspects in violent crimes.

But some critics say its pervasiveness amounts to unconstitutional warrantless mass surveillance. Dozens of cities and agencies have nixed their relationships with Flock amid concerns that the data can be accessed for immigration enforcement or used in unauthorized tracking, after a flurry of examples surfaced of law enforcement officers misusing the technology for personal searches. In an interview, Flock CEO Garrett Langley said many of the product changes will make what were once optional guardrails mandatory for its users to implement by Jan. 1. Among them: All law enforcement customers will have to implement an audit tool that’s intended to flag abnormal search behavior. When the system detects abnormal behavior, the user would be locked out pending an internal review, the company said in a description of the changes provided ahead of Thursday’s announcement. Flock, which says its customers own the data that the cameras record, is also shortening the standard data retention window from 30 days to seven. It said it will allow data to be preserved for longer when it is evidence tied to a case number. Law enforcement users will now also be required to enter a code from their records management system tying each search to a specific case before it is run, something Langley said civil liberties advocates have long been calling for. Overrides for emergencies would be automatically flagged for review, the company said. Customers will also be allowed to decide which offense types — such as homicide or arson — outside agencies can search their data for, which would allow a customer to block outside searches related to immigration enforcement, the company said. Langley said that change will give individual cities and departments control to use the system in a manner “consistent with community values.” Critics of the company reacted skeptically to the changes, which they said appeared designed to address the growing bipartisan anger about the cameras but could still leave room for police to abuse the system. The American Civil Liberties Union said in a blog post that the shortened evidence retention window could be “a step in the right direction,” but it characterized the other changes as “retreads” of inadequate safety measures.

Read this article at Claims Journal - Subscribers Only

Rainmakers in talks to leave Weil Gotshal amid poaching frenzy

Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a Wall Street law firm known for shepherding companies through bankruptcies and advising top private-equity firms, is facing a wave of partner defections. Two groups that include star lawyers are in discussions to leave for rivals, according to people familiar with the matter, including some of the firm’s highest revenue producers. One group, which includes Christopher Machera, co-head of Weil’s private-equity group and a member of its management committee, is headed to Paul Weiss, they said. Other lawyers, including Brian Parness, a partner in Weil’s private-equity practice whose clients have included Brookfield and TPG, are exploring a move to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, the people said, with some cautioning the plan isn’t final.

It is the latest tremor in the world of Big Law, which is being disrupted by aggressive poaching of rainmakers, the pressure of artificial intelligence and less-loyal clients. Earlier this summer, a team of six litigation partners, including a firm leader, left Wachtell in an almost-unheard-of defection from the marquee firm. Hundreds of partners have made lateral moves this year across the industry. Rivals are luring top talent with pay packages that can stretch to $20 million a year or more. Weil, which has 1,200 lawyers, has also hired partners away from its competitors. The firm said it has added more than 50 lateral partners since the start of 2025. “Weil is on track to achieve both record revenue and profitability in 2026 that will result in a very significant increase in profits per equity partner,” the firm said in a statement. “This is a direct result of the firm’s deliberate growth strategy focused on the practices and markets where it has long been a leader.”

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

Board overseeing Dulles Airport approves $15.5 billion to fund Trump renovation

Weeks after President Donald Trump unveiled a massive plan to renovate Dulles International Airport, the board that oversees the airport on Wednesday approved $15.5 billion to help fund the project. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board of directors voted to approve the proposal, which includes $3.75 billion ?to build new underground tunnels and replace the airport’s long-criticized shuttles, dubbed “people movers,” that transport passengers across the tarmac. “We look forward to the construction,” Jack Potter, the airport authority’s CEO, said at the meeting. “We look forward to continued growth at Dulles Airport, and we think we have a very bright future.”

The vote comes after Trump last month announced a more than $20 billion plan to remake Dulles, including building new terminals. The project is part of his broader campaign to remake the Washington region, which also includes a new White House ballroom and a 250-foot triumphal arch. The Dulles renovations will be largely funded through municipal bonds. Potter has said the plan would not require federal funds. In addition to the $15.5 billion, projects outlined in Wednesday’s proposal will also be funded by $4.4 billion already authorized by the MWAA board, bringing the estimated total cost for the projects listed in the proposal to $19.9 billion. At a White House briefing last month, Trump said the airport project would add more than 5 million square feet of new or renovated space, including by completely replacing Concourses C and D, “all while preserving the iconic original terminal.” He said the overhaul was needed because Dulles was in such bad shape. “Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, you don’t want to go and be subjected to this airport because this airport is a terrible place to be,” he said.

Read this article at Washington Post - Subscribers Only

‘Affordability’ is this year’s buzzword. Just not when Trump’s talking.

President Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of families in late July at a high school in Marietta, Georgia. He talked about Venezuelan oil and the war in Iran. He ticked off investment commitments. And he touted provisions in the Republican tax bill — or tried to. “This past filing season, 130,000 tipped workers right here in Georgia saved an average of more than $7,000 on their taxes. And that’s because of no tax on tips. You know, we’re building a tremendous military facility at the White House,” Trump said. “And they’ve been working hard, a lot of overtime.”

The speech in a state that will be pivotal in November was one of a handful Trump has delivered this year, part of what White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in January would be weekly trips across the country to talk to voters ahead of the midterms. Last month, the Pew Research Center asked voters what they most wanted to hear about from candidates. The answer was overwhelmingly cost of living, wages and affordability. More than half of voters think the economy is getting worse, according to a July Quinnipiac University poll. And 58% of those polled disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy. A March report found that nearly half of families do not make enough to cover the basic cost of living in their communities. Only 13% of Americans aged 18-29 believe the country is headed in the right direction, according to Harvard’s youth poll that was conducted last November. But despite overwhelming evidence that affordability is defining the current political moment, the president is often reflexively dismissive of the issue.

Read this article at NOTUS - Subscribers Only

How Wall St. profits when personal injury lawsuits pay out

Personal injury cases like his can take years to resolve, so to support himself, Mr. Anguisaca-Morales turned to a company known as a consumer legal funder. Such firms float cash advances to plaintiffs to cover expenses like rent, food and medical care while their cases go through court. The advance is similar to a loan, except that if a case fails, the plaintiff doesn’t have to pay it back. But most of the time, insurance companies settle personal injury cases, and the plaintiffs repay their advances — plus fees and interest of 35 to 45 percent a year, on average. One woman in New York who said she turned her ankle on a sidewalk, for example, received $76,500 in advances and ended up owing at least $1.4 million to her funder by the time her case settled, court records show.

Behind the scenes, The New York Times found, Wall Street has figured out how to profit from it all. Some of the consumer funding industry’s biggest players are bundling thousands of these I.O.U.s together to create asset-backed securities, the financial products that were made infamous during the 2008 mortgage crisis and have come roaring back. Asset-backed securities allow investors to buy a stake in the future payouts from a pool of debts or assets. Auto loans and credit card balances are routinely turned into securities. Others are spun from less traditional collateral: songwriting royalties, data centers, fast-food franchises — and now, cash advances given to personal injury plaintiffs. For the investors who buy in, a security offers a regular cadence of payouts as lawsuits wrap up and advances are repaid, along with fees and interest. And for a funding firm, it offers a fast track to recouping past advances, and cash to parlay into new ones. Funders say they are leveling the playing field by enabling injured people to take on insurers and other powerful adversaries. “Insurance companies are not exactly the archangel,” said Jack Kelly, managing director of the American Legal Finance Association, a trade group. “If you cut off securitization, you cut off the supply of money to victims.”

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

U.S. national debt just passed $40 trillion: How we got here and why

Gross U.S. debt has surpassed $40 trillion, a new milestone in the country’s struggle to control its finances. The country’s “total public debt outstanding” officially hit $40.047 trillion on Tuesday, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday, ticking up from $39.987 trillion a day earlier. Reaching that threshold carries symbolic weight, but isn’t, by itself, economically significant. Most investors and economists care less about raw figures than other measures, like the ratio of debt to gross domestic product, which provides a better sense of an economy’s borrowing capacity. And economists typically focus more on a different measure of government debt—that held by the public—which doesn’t include debt held within the government in Social Security trust funds. That number was $32.266 trillion on Tuesday.

Still, $40 trillion is a big number, likely to at least briefly draw attention to what economists broadly agree is an unsustainable fiscal trajectory. In recent days, rising long-term government borrowing costs—and a sudden reversal Wednesday after the Treasury announced plans to buy back more long-term debt—have underscored the stakes. Here is a look at how we got here and what it means: Debt and deficits haven’t always been a problem in the U.S. Publicly held debt—now approaching World War II levels at about 100% of the country’s annual GDP—was just 31.5% of GDP in 2001 after four years in which the government ran budget surpluses. Wars, the bursting of the dot-com bubble and tax cuts sent budgets off course in the early 2000s. The 2007-09 recession supercharged the trend by draining tax revenues and prompting stimulus programs, as did the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, an aging population has led to increased spending on Medicare and Social Security. But revenues haven’t kept pace, with lawmakers repeatedly passing and extending tax cuts.

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

Florida school board at the center of culture wars loses conservative majority

A Florida school board that was at the epicenter of national debates over covid mask mandates and book bans lost its conservative majority this week, a change that some say signals a priority shift among voters. Two Democrat-backed candidates beat out conservatives in Tuesday’s school board election in Sarasota, Florida, flipping the board’s majority. Helmed for the past year by a co-founder of Moms for Liberty — a conservative group that gained a national following with its parents’ rights messaging — the board is moving in a new direction, the winners said. A third Democrat-backed candidate will head to a runoff election against a contender endorsed by Republicans in November. “I really think at the end of the day, regardless of political affiliation, our community was just tired of the culture wars, the political theater and being the center of national attention for all the wrong reasons,” said Megan Tennimon, a former teacher who won election to the board on Tuesday.

While Democrats say the flip indicates voters want to move on from fights over social issues, Moms for Liberty points to conservatives’ wins in other parts of Florida. “Every couple of years someone in the media writes our obituary, and every couple of years parents show up and prove them wrong,” said Tina Descovich, Moms for Liberty co-founder and chief executive. “School boards are ground zero in the fight for parental rights, and last night Florida parents made that clear.” The Sarasota County School Board had been controlled by conservatives since 2022, on the heels of the pandemic. As school board meetings and elections, typically quiet and uncontroversial, became partisan battlegrounds, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) got involved around that time by endorsing candidates, something that governors have rarely done. His involvement in the local races came as he pushed an education agenda that included a ban on teaching young students — and later all students — about sexual orientation and gender identity. Among those who won DeSantis’s support was Sarasota County School Board Chair Bridget Ziegler, first elected in 2014.

Read this article at Washington Post - Subscribers Only

Lead Stories

Texas has now surpassed Virginia for data center construction

Texas has surpassed Virginia as the No. 1 state for data center growth, and the Austin-San Antonio market continues to be a large reason for it, according to newly released data from Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. It comes as local communities in the area, as well as state leadership, are hearing some constituents' concerns and imposing more stringent requirements on developers, including the implementation of new reporting rules, pausing tax abatements and denying some projects. The U.S. artificial intelligence race resulted in 25 gigawatts of absorption in the data center market during the first half of 2026. That number – which measures how much space was leased or absorbed – was double last year's amount, and more than five times the mark it was two years ago, according to JLL data.

In fact, that amount is showing no signs of slowing down. There are currently 66 gigawatts under construction – enough to power about 50 million homes – around the country, according to the data. Texas leads the way with 26 gigawatts under construction, double that of Virginia, which is widely viewed as the country's largest data center market. That includes 3,476 megawatts in the Austin-San Antonio submarket, which would more than double the current capacity of 3,298 megawatts. All carry a vacancy rate under 1%, data shows. Those projects are ranging from everywhere from Hutto to Taylor to Mustang Ridge, and seemingly everywhere in between. The ABJ has tracked more than 30 projects in the metro, with a primary focus on the north, east and south sides of the Austin area. Curt Holcomb, vice chairman with JLL's global data center solutions practice team, said Northern Virginia has always been the denser market and is continuing to grow. But that area started running into power capacity and grid issues four years ago. That pushed developers and end-users to Texas, which has ample wind, solar and natural gas for power. "The biggest reason why we have so much demand here is that we have the generation capacity to meet demand," Holcomb said. "When I say that, you look at what is being developed on the generation side within ERCOT, and that is in the solar and wind and natural gas side."

Read this article at Austin Business Journal - Subscribers Only

Trump's border plans near Big Bend could hinge on Texas land office

The Texas General Land Office controls more land in Texas than the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined – 13 million acres - most of which is in West Texas and leased out for ranching, hunting and oil drilling to help fund the state's public schools. The office doesn't typically get much attention, but that all changed last month when Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced she had sent a cease and desist letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for clearing ranch lands controlled by her office without their permission, as part of the Trump administration's controversial border security work in and around Big Bend National Park.

Buckingham is a longtime Trump booster who has praised his crackdown on border security. But her letter has drawn attention to the fact that any national border wall would likely traverse GLO land, potentially setting up a standoff with her and President Donald Trump as his immigration efforts extend into one of the most beloved desert expanses in Texas. Earlier this year Buckingham appeared at an event opposing the border wall with one of her political donors, Houston oil magnate JP Bryan. The hotel hosting the event, which Bryan owns, later posted on Instagram thanking Buckingham for "advocating against a physical barrier in the Big Bend region last night." Bryan, who owns ranches inside and outside Big Bend National Park and has ties to Gov. Greg Abbott, said in an interview that Buckingham "has the same concerns I do" about the logic of building a wall through the rugged terrain to the west and east of the park. "I'm all for border security," he said. "It's not about allowing people free access across our borders. It's about not doing something that’s physically insane."

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

The bond market is sounding an alarm. Here’s what it means

The cost for the U.S. government to borrow money hit its highest level since 2007 on Tuesday, the latest in a worrisome series of developments that have rattled global markets and American consumers alike. The sell-off in U.S. Treasury securities — at $31 trillion the world’s largest financial market — comes amid surging public debt in the United States, Europe, Japan and Canada; renewed conflict in the Middle East; and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve’s intentions. The rise in long-term Treasury yields creates another headwind for the U.S. economy, one that will lift borrowing costs for businesses and consumers as well as official Washington.

The yield, or return, on the 30-year Treasury topped 5.3 percent in early-morning trading Tuesday, marking a dramatic break from the easy-money conditions of the pre-pandemic years, when it dipped as low as 1 percent. Much of the bond market’s unsettling tumult results from basic supply and demand. As governments and corporations jostle for the pool of available investment capital, they are driving the cost of borrowed money higher. Political leaders in the U.S., Europe and Japan must fund ambitious public spending plans, while hyperscalers such as Alphabet and Microsoft need money to build their artificial intelligence networks. At the same time, the collapse of the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire has reignited fears that an interruption in Persian Gulf oil supplies will keep energy costs and inflation high. On Thursday, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, neared $88 per barrel, up from around $72 during the recent pause in hostilities. “There’s a global competition for capital, which is government and private,” said Priya Misra, a bond fund manager for J.P. Morgan Asset Management in New York. “This is going to be a huge problem for the equity market because I think people are not convinced that the entire economy can handle this level of real rates.”

Read this article at Washington Post - Subscribers Only

Google just made it easier for campaigns to send you fund-raising emails

Google quietly rolled out a new program on Monday that will allow candidates, political parties and political action committees to more easily bypass Gmail’s spam filter and send fund-raising appeals to the inboxes of the company’s many millions of email users. The change comes after years of complaints from Republicans that Gmail’s spam algorithm unfairly blocked their committees’ emails more than those of their Democratic counterparts, although those complaints were dismissed in court. For campaigns and PACs that meet the terms of the program, it is expected to route an influx of cash solicitations into Gmail inboxes, helping campaigns raise millions of dollars more in the final sprint to the midterm elections. Google chose not to debut the new program with any fanfare, instead posting an update to its Help Center on Monday.

The company began to reach out to some political committees in both parties on Monday after publishing the change, according to three people briefed on the outreach who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Political strategists in both parties said the new policy could be deeply consequential for candidates — even if frustrating for users in the United States, who are likely to be bombarded with pleas for donations. “Heading into the 2026 elections, Gmail users are going to be flooded with unwanted political spam because Google decided to create a V.I.P. lane for campaigns,” said Kenneth Pennington, a Democratic digital strategist and veteran online fund-raiser. “This is a bad deal for Gmail users and a gift to bad actors in the political fund-raising space.” José Castañeda, a spokesman for Google, said the new program resulted from an effort to provide long-term clarity for both campaigns and users. “This program is designed to connect people with the emails they want to receive while keeping them fully in control of their inboxes,” he said in a statement. “To participate, bulk senders must meet strict security and compliance requirements, ensuring that messages people receive are relevant, useful and verified.”

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

State Stories

Congressman Fallon on USS Abraham Lincoln concerns: ‘I don’t make much of it’

Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) said Monday he does not “make much” of reports that allege crew members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are suffering from declining mental health and supply shortages due to its long deployment. In an appearance on Fox Business’s “Mornings with Maria” anchored by Cheryl Casone, Fallon, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, responded to the reports and calls for congressional oversight into the physical and mental state of crew members on the ship. “These reports are just that. I haven’t heard anything personally from our office, and I trust the Navy to do this as well. So, I don’t make much of it, to be honest,” he said.

Casone confirmed the congressman was not concerned about the reports but cited the aircraft carrier’s deployment, saying “260 days is a long time, you know, for a deployment.” “There’s no doubt about it,” the lawmaker responded. “When I served, I always prefer to be stateside, if possible, but that’s part of the job: to deploy.” “They did an outstanding job and I’m glad they’re coming back,” Fallon concluded. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao announced last week that the USS Abraham Lincoln’s deployment, after departing San Diego in November, will end soon as part of a planned rotation with the USS George Washington. The aircraft carrier set a modern-day record when it went without a port call for more than 200 consecutive days of continuous time at sea. The ship was originally intended to return home in May but was redirected to the Middle East in January ahead of the Iran war. The Lincoln gained public attention following reports from news outlets of sailors attempting to jump off the aircraft carrier, as well as the ship’s poor living conditions — which included moldy showers and rotten food. Cao said that the ship’s deployment was extended because the mission “demanded it.” He acknowledged that deployments are “hard,” combat operations make them “harder” and that war is “hell.” President Trump said Monday concerns over members on the ship were “a CNN fake report.” “The Lincoln has been out there for a period of time, good period of time. But over the years, we’ve had them out there much longer,” he continued.

Read this article at The Hill - Subscribers Only

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott calls for a ban on H-1B visas for public school employees

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday called for legislation banning H-1B visas for public school employees. Abbott made the remarks during a news conference in Austin focused on stopping “foreign influence” in K-12 schools. One step towards that goal is barring the federal temporary work visas that are reserved for high-skilled immigrant workers, the governor said. The legislative proposal follows Abbott’s January directive to state agencies and public universities and colleges to halt new H-1B visas. “Exactly zero Texas public school employees should be here on H-1B visas,” Abbott said.

Additionally, lawmakers should pass legislation that prohibits public schools from taking gifts, money or property from foreign sources, Abbott said. He said schools should also be barred from “entering into partnerships or financial agreements with a foreign source.” “Bottom line is this: Foreign influence of any kind has no place in our classrooms,” Abbott said. The Texas Legislature convenes its next session in January. The proposals are Abbott’s latest policy announcements related to education, as he bids against state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat, for governor in the Nov. 3 general election. Abbott has called for increased criminal penalties for educators and school employees who have improper relationships with students. Another policy proposal would limit screen time for students. Texas already bans cellphone use during class. “The less screen time students have, the more time they have with a great teacher, the better they will be doing in school,” Abbott said.

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

Minnesota sues Gov. Abbott as ICE agent charged in shooting faces possible release in Texas

Minnesota officials are suing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to force him to approve the extradition of a federal immigration agent arrested in Texas after allegedly shooting a man during a January enforcement operation in Minneapolis and later lying about what happened. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in federal court, accuses Abbott of unlawfully delaying the extradition of Christian Castro, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who has been held in a Cameron County jail since his arrest in late May. "Christian Castro has been charged with breaking the law in Minnesota," Ellison said on Tuesday. "He must face justice in Minnesota."

Ellison is asking the court to require Abbott to sign the warrant needed for Minnesota authorities to take custody of Castro. In a 1987 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that extradition is a mandatory duty and that federal courts can compel governors to comply with it. Under Texas law, a person arrested on an out-of-state warrant can generally be held for up to 90 days while awaiting a governor's extradition warrant. If Abbott doesn't act, Ellison said Castro could be released from custody in Texas as early as next week. The lawsuit also names Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino as a defendant and seeks to prevent Castro from being freed while the extradition dispute plays out. Abbott's office declined to comment Tuesday on "pending extradition matters." Sheriff Trevino also declined to comment. Castro faces four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime in connection with the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Read this article at KUT - Subscribers Only

Sid Miller: Enough with the Flock cameras. Gov. Abbott needs to put the brakes on Texas mass surveillance now.

Texans believe in law and order. We support officers who pursue criminals, recover stolen property and bring missing children home. But backing law enforcement does not require surrendering our privacy or giving government and private companies the power to record where innocent people travel. That is why I am deeply concerned about the spread of Flock cameras across the United States, particularly in Texas under Gov. Greg Abbott. Flock cameras are automated license plate readers mounted along roads, near neighborhoods and in parking areas. They photograph passing vehicles and use artificial intelligence to identify license plates, locations, dates and times. The cameras can even turn those images into searchable data, allowing anyone with access to reconstruct a vehicle’s movements. Police use these systems to locate stolen vehicles, identify suspects, investigate crimes and find missing people.

Those are legitimate purposes. The problem is that Flock cameras do not photograph only criminals. They photograph everybody. They record the rancher driving to the feed store, the mother taking her child to school, the family going to church, the veteran traveling to a medical appointment and the citizen attending a political meeting. Enough cameras can reveal a person’s routines, associations and private activities. That is the foundation of a mass-surveillance network. The dangers aren’t limited to official government use. In Fort Bend County, Pasadena and Baytown, officers have recently faced discipline or investigation over allegations that they used Flock databases for reasons unrelated to legitimate police work. In one case, a lieutenant repeatedly searched two license plates dozens of times, leading a resident to allege that she was being stalked. Internal policies and audit logs are not enough to protect citizens. Once government can reconstruct a citizen’s movements, the damage may be done before anyone discovers the abuse. And the problem with growing surveillance doesn’t stop with Flock cameras. In March 2026, Abbott’s Texas Department of Public Safety approved an emergency purchase totaling nearly $4.5 million for four specially equipped Chevrolet Tahoes and FalcoNet cellular-tracking technology. The vehicles cost $150,000 each. The rest paid for surveillance systems and related equipment.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

North Texas county shuts down Flock cameras over privacy concerns

A North Texas county has shut down its network of Flock automated license plate reader cameras, saying the technology amounted to warrantless surveillance of residents going about their daily lives. Hood County Constable John D. Shirley announced Saturday that he had finished unplugging and covering the county’s Flock Safety cameras at the request of county commissioners. “These cameras were constantly scanning and recording regular folks just going about their day,” Shirley said in a Facebook post. “That kind of permanent, warrantless tracking doesn’t belong in a free society.” Shirley said residents should not have to wonder whether their movements are being logged and stored. He directed Flock Safety to retrieve its equipment from the county.

The move comes amid growing national scrutiny of Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based surveillance technology company that operates a network of nearly 100,000 automated license plate readers nationwide. In recent months, reports have revealed dozens of cases in which law enforcement officers misused the company’s license plate camera network, in some instances to stalk women. The reports prompted Flock CEO Garrett Langley to issue a public apology. “I apologize. It kills me that [the victim] went through that,” Langley told CBS News. He defended the company’s technology but acknowledged that “we could have done more earlier.” Following the backlash, Flock announced several changes to its system, including reducing the default data retention period for license plate information from 30 days to seven days, requiring a case number for all searches and implementing an automated tool to flag suspicious search activity. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called the shortened retention period “a step in the right direction” but warned that the changes could amount to a public-relations move, adding that the true impact would depend on how the company’s long-term storage exceptions are implemented. Critics have also raised concerns about racial and political profiling, non-law enforcement access to cameras and data privacy vulnerabilities. Because most jurisdictions do not require a warrant for police to search a license plate or track someone’s movements over time, some have questioned the constitutional legitimacy of the technology. Flock Safety has not responded to Hood County’s announcement.

Read this article at KBTX - Subscribers Only

Scott Mitchell: Data centers need water. Texas should draw on this untapped source

(Scott Mitchell is CEO at Deep Blue, a water management company in the Midland Basin that transports, treats and disposes of water from oil and gas production.) Following the recent Texas House Natural Resources Committee hearing on data center water consumption, lawmakers, regulators and industry leaders are searching for practical solutions that protect Texas water supplies while supporting economic growth. The conversation has largely focused on freshwater supplies and large-scale consumers. It’s time to add a key question: Where should that water come from? For decades, produced water — the highly saline water that comes up alongside oil and gas from deep underground — was treated as a nuisance, something to dispose of as cheaply as possible. But produced water is not waste. It is a resource with the potential to become a steady, reliable source fully integrated into Texas’ water ecosystem.

Unlike almost every other water source, produced water does not come from aquifers, rivers or lakes. It doesn’t start as drinking water, irrigation water or municipal supply. It comes from oil and gas reservoirs — naturally occurring brine trapped in rock formations alongside oil and gas for millions of years. Treating and reusing produced water adds a new source to Texas’ broader water system. It doesn’t reallocate a finite resource from one user to another. That distinction matters. The Permian Basin alone — one of the most arid regions in the country — generates between 840 million and 1 billion gallons of produced water a day. To put that into context: Midland uses about 25 million gallons of municipal water a day to serve roughly 150,000 people. New York City supplies about 1 billion gallons of water a day to serve 9 million people. Using produced water for industrial needs is an opportunity to preserve more freshwater for community needs. That potential is increasingly being recognized outside the oil and gas industry. In its April 2026 report, “Data Centers in Texas: A Review and Call for Innovation and Regulation,” the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance recommends exploring produced water as an alternative to freshwater: “Data centers should connect with the oil and gas industry to examine partnerships for the treatment and beneficial reuse of produced water within data centers.” The report also recommends creating a higher water rate for data centers to encourage the use of alternative water sources, including recycled produced water.

Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only

Texas real estate 'fin-fluencer' Tie Lasater settles case accusing him of misleading investors

A Texas financial influencer who touted his ties to rapper Vanilla Ice and “multimillionaires and billionaires throughout the world” as he built a real estate empire that then crumbled — in some cases literally injuring tenants — has settled with state regulators who sanctioned him in June. The Texas State Securities Board ordered Tie Lasater, his brother, Shiloh “Boone” Lasater, and their company to immediately stop raising new investor money. By not fully divulging that their properties had been lost to foreclosure, had receivers appointed to manage them or been the subject of bankruptcy proceedings, the Lasaters were “making offers containing statements that are materially misleading or otherwise likely to deceive the public,” the agency asserted. In court filings, the Lasaters disputed the agency’s claims and said they had made proper disclosures of the company’s history.

In the settlement, they did not admit wrongdoing or pay any penalties. But they agreed to offer a refund to Texas investors in their latest venture. They also agreed to include a detailed summary of their portfolio’s results to any future potential investors in their latest fund. The new disclosure lists nearly a dozen properties in Texas, Florida and Tennessee that have been foreclosed upon. Another half-dozen properties owned by the brothers’ companies have pending foreclosures or forced sales, according to the document. Those include two North Texas multi-family apartment complexes, Villa Gardens in Farmers Branch and The Hive in Dallas, with more than 500 units between them. It also identifies eight multi-family properties for which a receiver had been appointed; four court judgments against the brothers and their companies totaling more than $24 million (some of which they are appealing); and 21 pending lawsuits in which the brothers or their real estate companies are named as defendants.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Karl Rove says Texas Senate Race may hinge on Trump spending war chest: ‘Could be a really bad night for Republicans’

If President Donald Trump doesn’t open up the political purse strings soon, Republicans could find themselves having a “bad night” come Election Day, Karl Rove predicted. The Senate race between James Talarico (D) and Texas State Attorney Ken Paxton (R) could hinge on Trump’s willingness to spend, Rove declared Tuesday during an appearance on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino. After first discussing the Michigan Senate race between progressive Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers, Perino asked Rove his thoughts on the race in the Lone Star State.

"The state is Republican in nature. But this is an unusual race. You are right. Talarico I think had over $70 million raised and Paxton had $9 million plus. And you are right. The week before the Fourth of July he was in Iceland with his new girlfriend. On July 4th, a day where he could be campaigning at Fourth of July celebrations all across Texas, he was in London. So he needs to get out on the campaign trail and he is not going to change as a fundraiser. So this is going to be one that will depend mightily upon the decision of President Trump to spend or not spend the half a billion plus dollars that he has in his two super PACS Maga, Inc. And Never Surrender. If he does spend he can even it up. If he doesn’t spend this could be a really bad night for Republicans in Texas," he said.

Read this article at Mediaite - Subscribers Only

To dodge TEA takeover, Everman ISD turns failing campus into public charter school

After Charles Baxter Junior High School received a fourth consecutive F grade in the state’s annual A-F Accountability ratings, Everman ISD will turn the campus into a public charter school that will be operated by an outside organization, district officials said this week. Everman ISD is partnering with Third Future Schools, a nonprofit educational management organization, to turn Charles Baxter into a public charter school. The campus will remain as part of Everman ISD, but Third Future Schools will run the campus and its daily operations. Everman ISD’s Townley Elementary will also be run by Third Future Schools. Townley received a D grade in the Texas Education Agency’s 2026 A-F ratings.

Third Future Schools was founded by Mike Miles, who served as CEO until 2023, when he was appointed as the superintendent of Houston ISD when the TEA took over that district. The main perk of turning to Third Future Schools is that it temporarily eliminates the threat of Charles Baxter receiving a fifth consecutive F rating, which would trigger a Texas law that allows TEA to either close the campus or takeover Everman ISD by naming a new superintendent and replacing the school board with a state-appointed Board of Managers. That process played out earlier this year at both Fort Worth ISD and Lake Worth ISD. Since Everman ISD has turned to an outside organization and transformed Charles Baxter into a public charter campus, it halts the potential takeover process. If the campus receives a fifth F in next year’s accountability ratings, it still will not be subject to closure or a takeover.

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

Texas Tech University is using A.I. to cut left-leaning content

The Texas Tech faculty meeting began amicably this spring, with offers of refreshments. Then administrators handed out reports, created partly by artificial intelligence, listing the lessons professors needed to stop teaching. “What?” one professor asked. “I don’t even teach those things.” “There are factual errors,” added another. “It’s A.I. slop,” a third said. Texas Tech is using A.I. to ferret out books and other materials that touch on topics like sexual orientation and gender identity. Professors describe the effort as a dystopian academic nightmare, in which ideologues are wielding technology to sideline subject-matter experts. Last month, the American Association of University Professors sued the university, saying the course-review effort is viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment. That is not how the Texas Tech system’s leader, Brandon Creighton, sees things.

Mr. Creighton, a former state lawmaker who has been heading the five-university system since November, is the force behind the effort. He has said there was “quite a bit of garbage in curriculum” at universities. His course-review plan, he said, “will produce the best curriculum in America. I also believe it will be a national model when we’re finished.” Mr. Creighton is tackling two of higher education’s most pressing problems, at least in the eyes of its Republican critics and others who argue universities need to be reformed. Academia needs to rebuild lost public trust as campuses have moved left and to make itself more relevant in the era of artificial intelligence, they say. In an interview, Mr. Creighton fired off a litany of concerns about higher education shared by Republican politicians across the country, saying that diversity, equity and inclusion offices discriminated against Asian students, campus protests often turned antisemitic, and diversity statements — which he has called “leftist loyalty oaths” — sidelined conservatives in faculty hiring. Politics aside, Mr. Creighton has said an A.I.-fueled wave will forever reshape higher education in the years ahead. He said he wanted the campus to be well positioned to take advantage of that paradigm shift by focusing on degrees that employers want and eliminating low-enrollment programs. He touts a partnership with Nvidia to invest in A.I. infrastructure.

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

Mayor Watson optimistic about Austin ISD’s future despite potential state intervention

As Austin Independent School District students return to class Tuesday, uncertainty remains over whether the state could step in and take over the district. But Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said recent academic gains should weigh heavily in any decision. Watson spoke Monday during a news conference about school safety near Lamar Middle School and addressed the possibility of state intervention after two AISD campuses received failing accountability ratings for a fifth consecutive year. Under Texas law, the Texas Education Agency can intervene when a campus earns five consecutive F ratings, including potentially replacing an elected school board with a board of state-appointed managers.

AISD Superintendent Matias Segura previously told KXAN Dobie Middle School improved from an F to a D rating. However, Burnet and Webb middle schools received another F, scoring 58 and 59, respectively. Despite those results, Watson pointed to broader progress across the district. “I think that it is undeniable that AISD is making the kind of improvement that we should all want, and that the state of Texas wants,” Watson said. AISD earned an overall B rating this year, its highest rating since 2022, according to Watson. He also highlighted a 42% increase in the number of campuses earning A and B ratings and a roughly 35% decrease in campuses receiving D and F ratings. Watson said those improvements were especially notable among Title I campuses. “When we look at Title I schools, there was a doubling of the A and B-rated schools and again, I think it was around a 36% decrease in D and F-rated schools,” Watson said. According to AISD, 35 campuses improved by at least one letter grade this year. While Watson acknowledged the district must address the challenges at Burnet and Webb, he said the overall trend shows progress.

Read this article at KXAN - Subscribers Only

CPS Energy responds to Abbott's plan to privatize the SA electricity market

San Antonio leaders and CPS Energy are pushing back against Gov. Greg Abbott's proposal to open San Antonio’s electricity market to private, for-profit providers. Abbott is arguing that competition would give customers more choices and lower their monthly bills. San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has said local energy bills would increase under Abbott's plan. Most Texans in deregulated markets can select a retail electricity provider. San Antonio residents instead receive power from CPS Energy, the nation’s largest municipally owned electric and natural gas utility.

Abbott’s office estimates competition could reduce residential electricity bills in San Antonio by an average of 13% and commercial bills by as much as 20%. However, the governor has not released a detailed analysis supporting those estimates. Abbott has also criticized the city’s use of utility revenue for purposes unrelated to providing electricity. The governor's office has called CPS Energy's contribution to COSA's general revenue fund a "slush fund." CPS Energy transfers 14% of its gross revenue to San Antonio’s general fund. The city budgeted approximately $504 million from CPS Energy for fiscal year 2026 — nearly 30% of general-fund revenue. That money supports police and fire protection, parks, libraries, senior services and other city operations. Jones rejected Abbott’s description of that money as a “slush fund,” saying it pays for services that protect the community’s health and safety. She warned that losing the revenue would leave the city searching for replacement funding while confronting a projected budget shortfall. CPS Energy says its not-for-profit structure keeps combined electric and gas rates among the lowest in Texas. Board Chair Francine Romero has also challenged Abbott’s comparison with Houston retail plans, arguing that advertised prices may be temporary or exclude fees. Under current Texas law, a municipally owned utility’s governing body decides whether to participate in retail competition. Forcing CPS Energy’s market to open would therefore require the Texas Legislature to change state law. Abbott said he plans to pursue legislation during the 2027 session.

Read this article at Texas Public Radio - Subscribers Only

Bonnie Kristian: Texas should not define religion down

(Bonnie Kristian is staff editor of Christianity Today.) Religious liberty is for everyone. It is for Christians and Muslims, Jews and Mormons, Wiccans and neopagans and observers of whatever other strange rites people are inventing these days. It is for false religion as well as true, so long as its practitioners do not harm their neighbors. This is a fundamental principle of American society and governance: We may worship (or not) however we please so long as we do not infringe on others’ life, liberty, or property. So what’s going on in Texas? An extensive New York Times article this week documents backlash against a growing Muslim population in the state, particularly in the Dallas–Fort Worth metro. The part of the article attracting the most attention is its report that “one avenue being explored in Texas is to try to use state law to ban or regulate some Islamic cultural practices, such tribunals for marriage and other decisions governed by religious rules, often referred to as Shariah law.”

To be clear: No such law has been passed, and I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think it would survive constitutional challenge. The practices in question operate within these religious communities, have no authority over non-Muslims, and don’t override Texas law. Still, this isn’t just idle talk. Among those advocating for such regulation is state lawmaker Alan Schoolcraft, a Republican from the San Antonio area, who told the Times he aims to restrict Islam in Texas by legally redefining it as something other than a religion and therefore undeserving of standard religious liberty protections. A proposal like this would raise some hackles under any circumstances, but in this case, it comes right after other changes that critics argue unconstitutionally privilege Christianity above other faiths in Texas. The reality here is complicated. The state’s addition of Bible passages to its public-school reading curriculum, for instance, is easily defensible on secular literary grounds. On the other hand, Texas in 2025 passed a bill requiring every public-school classroom to display the Ten Commandments. The law survived initial legal challenge, with an appeals court verdict holding that the requirement is allowed under the establishment clause because it tells no one “what to believe or how to worship,” “punishes no one who rejects the Ten Commandments,” and is otherwise unlike the historic state-affiliated churches the First Amendment rejects.

Read this article at Christianity Today - Subscribers Only

City Stories

Why United Methodist Church is suing Highland Park UMC

News that the 110-year-old Highland Park United Methodist Church is being sued by the United Methodist Church’s Horizon Texas Conference has been the talk of several towns this week, but what exactly does it mean? We spoke with Methodist ministers on background, reviewed the suit, examined the denomination’s governing principles known as the Book of Discipline, and read the statements from the Highland Park church to help explain why the suit was filed and what it means. According to the suit, Highland Park UMC changed its bylaws and articles of incorporation in 2022 and again in 2023, removing references to the United Methodist Church, the Horizon Texas Conference, and the Book of Discipline. This was contrary, the suit says, to the procedures outlined in the Book of Discipline.

The new bylaws, the conference says, removed oversight by the conference. The suit also says that the changes were made without informing church members and that the new bylaws remove the rights of church members to participate in decisions “affecting or involving the Church.” Documents from the Texas Secretary of State’s office indicate that the church filed a restatement of formation in 2022, as well as a change to its name, moving from Highland Park United Methodist Church to Highland Park Methodist Church that same year. In 2024, it filed an identical form to change the name of The Grove, a North Dallas satellite campus formerly known as Schrieber Memorial UMC, to Highland Park Methodist Church. All those documents are signed by former senior minister Paul Rasmussen. Horizon Texas Conference Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. said Tuesday that “in recent months” he had become aware of changes Highland Park UMC made to its bylaws. Those changes, the conference says, remove oversight by the denomination and its own members. “Many faithful members may never have known these changes were made,” he said in a video. The conference says Saenz has attempted to come to a resolution on the issue with the church’s leadership since last October, but those discussions broke down. “This lawsuit is not one the Conference brings lightly,” a webpage devoted to explaining the suit says, adding that it was filed “to preserve the ability of congregants to continue worshipping within the framework they have embraced for over a century.” The conference says it is asking the court to find that the church’s moves were contrary to agreed-upon rules set out in the Book of Discipline that pertain to civil law matters like property deeds and the church’s governing documents, and that the church should bring them back into alignment with the Book of Discipline.

Read this article at D Magazine - Subscribers Only

National Stories

Deportations are spiking. Judges say their hands are being forced.

The Trump administration has created a climate of fear among the nation’s immigration judges, firing those who don’t go along with sweeping policy changes meant to boost deportations. The Justice Department, which manages the nation’s immigration court system, is relying on pressure campaigns to bend outcomes to match President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement vision, one current and three recently terminated judges told NOTUS. They also said the department leadership has adopted new strategies to limit their discretion to rule in immigrants’ favor, which has effectively led to more deportations. One current judge, who spoke on condition of anonymity over fear of reprisal, said colleagues were deciding cases with a new understanding that “following the law can risk their job if that law is inconsistent with current policy.”

“There’s also a lot of fear among the immigration judges. The fact that following the law in a court is bravery is a little concerning,” the current judge said, before correcting themself. “That’s a lot concerning.” The Executive Office of Immigration Review, the Justice agency that houses the courts, has fired around 125 immigration judges since Trump took office. Nearly all of them received only an email with a couple sentences explaining that the president was asserting his authority under the Constitution. The firings have continued in recent weeks. Additionally, around 100 additional judges have left with separation incentives or to retire, meaning more than one-in-four has left government. While staff stressed they seek to implement the law in a neutral manner, the firings have effectively pushed judges to grant relief less often. “For most of my colleagues, they’re going to do what they need to do to keep their job,” said Brea Burgie, a Colorado-based immigration judge who was fired in June. “There is the constant stress of, ‘Is this the thing I’m going to do that gets me fired?’ When you’re living with that, the path of least resistance is, you don’t want to lose your job so you just comply,” Burgie said.

Read this article at NOTUS - Subscribers Only

Florida rejects Democratic establishment — and even snubs Trump

Million-dollar fundraising advantages and even endorsements from President Donald Trump did little to sway Florida voters Tuesday as they rattled the state’s parties by opposing candidates backed by the establishment. Newly minted Democratic socialist Angie Nixon scored a massive upset — and notched a win for progressives — by beating retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, who had a huge fundraising edge. And, in another major development, two candidates endorsed by Trump, scandal-plagued Rep. Cory Mills and former administration official Catalina Lauf, lost their bids for Congress. Taken together, the results show Democratic and Republican voters in solidly red Florida are hungry for change amid dissatisfaction with the economy, an ongoing war in Iran and restlessness over the status quo.

“People are frustrated, frankly, with both parties,” said Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, who is a former legislator and chair of the Republican Party of Florida. “They’re frustrated with people not delivering. … They want people to deliver for Floridians. They want people to deliver for Americans.” National Democrats scrutinized states throughout the country during the primary season, looking for every opportunity they could find to pick up seats and flip the upper chamber come November. The one thing they may not have been betting on: A progressive who sorely lagged in fundraising scoring an upset in Florida. But that’s just what they got with Nixon’s win. A state lawmaker and Jacksonville community organizer who recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America — but notably did not have DSA’s endorsement — Nixon ended up handily winning with more than 55 percent of the vote, surprising the state as she’s now positioned to campaign against GOP Sen. Ashley Moody, the former state attorney general appointed to the Senate by Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only

Trump’s ICE nominee helped lead one of the nation’s most sweeping crackdowns

A key leader in the enforcement effort has been Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma Highway Patrol major recently tapped by President Donald Trump to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Schroyer helped spearhead the Highway Patrol’s effort to train all of its 700-plus troopers to enforce immigration laws and work with ICE to arrest undocumented people, according to the Department of Homeland Security and state officials. He was deputized to make ICE arrests himself last year after completing the 40-hour online training program — a shortened effort that some say does not adequately prepare officers for the fraught world of immigration enforcement. Oklahoma is so rural that many residents must use highways patrolled by state troopers to get to work or run errands.

Tim Tipton, commissioner for the state Department of Public Safety, said the highway patrol is therefore a critical partner in the Trump administration’s mass-deportation effort. “The feds can never get this done on their own. They don’t have the capacity and never will — I don’t care how many people they hire,” said Tipton, who oversees the Highway Patrol and has worked closely with Schroyer. Instead, Tipton said, ICE will need to rely on local agencies to carry out the kind of work Schroyer was involved in. “That’s why I feel like Lance is such a perfect fit.” The Senate has not confirmed an ICE director in over a decade. And there are mounting signs Schroyer would face resistance clearing that hurdle. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has yet to schedule Schroyer’s nomination hearing and would not comment on whether Schroyer has his support.

Read this article at Washington Post - Subscribers Only

How Trump’s ever-present executive assistant became the talk of Washington

Sen. Jon Ossoff didn’t even use her full name. But everybody in Washington knew who he was talking about. At a recent campaign event, the Georgia Democrat argued that President Trump would rather “travel with Natalie” on Air Force One than do the hard work that comes with being commander in chief. The Natalie in question is Natalie Harp, a 35-year-old aide to Trump who has become an object of fascination for both the left and the right. Though she rarely speaks, she is an omnipresent figure at Trump’s side, standing just off camera during Oval Office events, traveling with the president around the country and the world, and tapping out his social-media posts. Videos and photos of her interacting with the president have racked up millions of views online, becoming a new form of Trump-era clickbait.

To Democrats, Harp is one of the president’s chief enablers. For Republicans, she is Trump’s gatekeeper. A well-timed text to Harp can unlock access to Trump, giving well-known lobbyists and fringe figures alike an audience with the most powerful man in the world. Ossoff’s comments about Harp were met with near-unanimous derision by conservatives, a rare moment of comity in a political movement beset by divisions. Some of Ossoff’s critics accused the senator of insinuating that the president and his executive assistant have an inappropriate relationship, a contention that the White House strenuously denies. White House communications director Steven Cheung fired back with a vulgar insult. Scott Jennings, a conservative commentator, accused Ossoff of sexism and called him “a coward,” while Hugh Hewitt, a conservative radio host, attacked Ossoff as “a mean-spirited jerk who traffics in slander.” Trump compared the Georgia senator to Pee-wee Herman. Asked for comment, the Ossoff campaign referred to remarks the senator made in a Monday night interview with MS Now. Harp and other White House aides, Ossoff argued, aren’t telling the president “what he needs to hear.”

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

Trump administration moves to allow logging in pristine national forests

The Trump administration on Tuesday advanced a plan to open nearly 45 million acres of wilderness in national forests to road construction and logging, removing protections that had been in place for a quarter century. The proposal by the U.S. Forest Service would repeal the 2001 “roadless rule,” enacted during the Clinton administration to preserve the wild nature of forest land. It comes as President Trump pressures the agency to increase logging and to thin forests to reduce wildfire risk. The repeal would hand a major victory to Republican-led states and industry groups that have argued for years that the prohibitions have hindered economic development. More than a dozen lawsuits have unsuccessfully sought to strike down the rule.

During his first term, Mr. Trump stripped protections from Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, only for the Biden administration to restore them in 2023. This time, the Forest Service is eliminating protections for the nine million undeveloped acres within the Tongass, as well as millions more acres of pristine wilderness across the rest of the United States. “For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities,” Brooke Rollins, the secretary of the Agriculture Department, which includes the Forest Service, said in a statement. Environmentalists said the plan would destroy untouched landscapes, including crucial habitats for migratory species and headwaters for major municipal water supplies. Multiple advocacy groups are expected to sue to block the repeal.

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

Democrats declare victory in Pennsylvania seat held by Republicans since 1999

Democrats have declared victory in a razor-sharp special election in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, flipping a state House seat that has been held by the Republicans for almost 30 years. Democrat Brandon Dukes is leading Republican Scott Timko by less than 100 votes in the state House's 12th District special election. Dukes has 8,434 votes (50.26 percent), while Timko received 8,346 (49.74 percent), according to unofficial election night returns. Under Pennsylvania law, a recount is automatically triggered for a statewide race if the margin of victory is within 0.5 percent. Chantell McCurdy, the election bureau's director, said it was not immediately clear whether that applies to the special election and that officials were consulting with their legal team, The Butler Eagle reported.

The apparent win adds to a series of Democratic overperformances in special elections across the country, buoying the party’s hopes of winning control of Congress in November’s midterm elections. It comes as Trump’s approval rating has fallen to a record low, even among several key blocs that helped propel him back to the White House in 2024. Dukes, who works as a commercial loan administrator at TD Bank, said he was “ecstatic” and “shocked” following the result, the Cranberry Eagle reported. “I’m still processing this. We just flipped a Trump +18 seat, and we flipped a red seat that’s been red for almost 30 years,” he told the newspaper. “We made history.” Timko, in a speech to supporters on Tuesday night, said "special elections sometimes produce special results,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. “This is not the result we wanted, but let’s not lose sight of the goal. That’s November 3.” Newsweek has contacted Dukes' campaign for further comment via email. Timko could not immediately be reached for comment. Newsweek has contacted the Pennsylvania Republican Party for comment via an email sent outside regular business hours.

Read this article at Newsweek - Subscribers Only

Megan Degenfelder is 5th Trump-backed governor candidate to lose a primary this cycle

In another setback for President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidates, Megan Degenfelder will lose Wyoming’s Republican gubernatorial election, CNN’s Decision Desk projects. Her defeat comes after Trump’s picks for governor in Georgia, Iowa, and Minnesota also fell short in their primaries earlier this cycle. In South Carolina, the candidate he initially backed for governor lost steam ahead of a runoff, leading the president to also endorse her opponent and the eventual winner. This is the third loss for a Trump-backed candidate tonight, after his picks in two Florida congressional races — Rep. Cory Mills and Catalina Lauf — also lost primaries.

Read this article at CNN - Subscribers Only

Lead Stories

James Talarico poaches Cornyn staffer

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico’s campaign hired a staffer from Republican Sen. John Cornyn, NOTUS has learned. Jacob Smith, who worked for Cornyn for five years as a deputy legislative director and policy adviser, is taking on the role of deputy policy director for Talarico’s campaign. “I’ve worked for Republicans like Senator Cornyn my entire career, but this year I’m proud to be joining James Talarico’s campaign,” Smith confirmed in a statement through the Talarico campaign. “Instead of playing partisan politics, Talarico speaks to the needs of everyday people who day in and day out work too hard for too little. In the Senate, James will fight to lower costs for all 31 million Texans, whether they’re Republicans, Democrats, or independents, so that Texans of all ages have a fighting chance at the American Dream of starting a family, owning a home, and leaving a little behind for their children.”

Smith also took aim at the GOP nominee, adding, “Ken Paxton is the most corrupt, self-dealing politician in Texas who would sell their futures to the highest contributor just to hold onto power. I’m encouraging all my fellow Republicans who know Ken Paxton is unfit to serve in the Senate to finally hold him accountable at the ballot box.” Smith previously worked on the House Science Committee for Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Oklahoma) and was a legislative aide for Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi). When contacted for comment, a Cornyn spokesperson directed NOTUS to remarks the senator has made repeatedly in recent months where he’s said he will “support the Republican ticket” in the fall. Political campaigns typically don’t hire staffers of the opposing party. What makes this case even more unusual is that Cornyn lost to Talarico’s opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in a bitter Republican primary runoff earlier this year. When asked of the prevalence of such a cross-party hire, one Republican operative was curt. “That is unheard of,” said the operative, who’s worked on Senate races, about a move at that level.

Read this article at NOTUS - Subscribers Only

Lawsuit alleges TWIA fraudulently reduced claim estimates from Hurricane Beryl

Three Texas homeowners filed a federal racketeering lawsuit last week alleging that the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association fraudulently reduced claim estimates for properties damaged by Hurricane Beryl. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, alleges TWIA partnered with a vendor who made significant alterations to the original claims estimate made by a field adjuster. TWIA then sent the estimate to the policyholder under the premise that the estimate was the original, the lawsuit says. Plaintiffs allege that they lost tens of thousands of dollars due to the scheme. For one policyholder, the original field adjuster estimate was $91,000, but the altered estimate came out to $31,000, a reduction of 66%.

The plaintiffs are seeking a class action under the federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act. The lawsuit does not rely on violations of Texas insurance law as the predicate acts for the RICO claim. Hurricane Beryl made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast on July 8, 2024, as a Category 1 hurricane. TWIA, the state-created insurer of last resort for wind and hail, has reported $336 million in Hurricane Beryl claims payments to about 34,000 policyholders. Aaron Taylor, a TWIA spokesman, said the organization does not to comment on active or potential litigation. “The Association’s claim adjusting procedures are compliant with applicable Texas and federal laws,” Taylor said. The lawsuit alleges a claims-production method where an out-of-state supervising adjuster would materially lower the estimate made by a field adjuster and then present the altered report as the field adjuster’s original report.

Read this article at Insurance Journal - Subscribers Only

Ken Paxton says dozens of Texas cities can't raise property taxes

Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday announced 116 more cities will be prohibited from raising their property tax rates after failing to meet a new state auditing law. The cities affected include Pasadena and several in Brazoria County, including Brazoria, Jones Creek and Bonney. “I am continuing to fight to stop cities from unlawfully raising taxes on hardworking Texans,” Paxton said in the release. The alleged legal violations pertain to SB 1851, which took effect on Sept. 1, 2025. The law put new penalties on municipalities that fail to meet a yearly audit deadline. Cities that don’t make the deadline are not allowed to levy property taxes that raise funds above their previous year’s revenue.

Most of the locales are very small, rural settlements. The smallest in the latest list is a town called Toyah in West Texas, which had a population of 61 in the 2020 census. Small cities with few staff struggle to make the deadline, said Philip Ray, mayor of Brazoria. The city was awarded a grant that doubled its income, and that grant required additional audit work that meant the city could not complete the state’s on time, Ray said. “Our auditor is a one-man show,” he said. “Do you want it quick or do you want it right?” Ray also said the city hasn’t received any new communication from the attorney general’s office. The city knew it hadn’t made the deadline and was already planning to use the no-new-revenue property tax rate, he said. Ray said he had been in communication with the state because he wanted the deadline pushed back due to the city’s circumstances, but his request was denied. He said the city was being “unjustly punished.” “It’s frustrating that Austin keeps telling cities how to run things without asking if it’s even possible,” Ray said.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Trump administration pauses border construction in Big Bend National Park

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said Monday he was "pausing all construction activity" in Big Bend National Park ahead of a visit to the area this week. The Trump administration has faced a growing public outcry in recent days over images of bulldozers and other heavy machinery clearing land inside the sprawling West Texas park in pursuit of its plan to build new "patrol roads" across the park and install 17 miles of steel vehicle barriers. In a video posted to social media, Scott said he had ordered the construction paused Sunday night, and that he was en route to the park for a "personal evaluation" and talk to local law enforcement and other stakeholders.

"We know the current and predictable national security threats and they are real," Scott said in a statement accompanying the video. "Now over the next couple of days, I will join a small team to evaluate the terrain and listen to local leadership, community members and stakeholders to ensure that we secure our borders while simultaneously protecting BBNP for generations to come." A CBP spokesperson did not immediately answer questions about the planned visit. Scott's visit comes just days after he had initially defended the construction work in the park, describing it as "survey and design work" and reiterating that CBP was not seeking to build a 30-foot steel border wall. For months, locals and activists opposed to the work have insisted they remain concerned about current plans for the park, which would amount to a widespread construction project unconstrained by federal regulations. The Trump administration in June waived many environmental laws that would typically apply to such construction in a national park. Southwest Valley Constructors, a subsidiary of Nebraska-based construction giant Kiewet, was awarded a $1.7 billion contract in May for the Big Bend National Park project.

Read this article at Marfa Public Radio - Subscribers Only

State Stories

Whitmire defends IAH from Abbott threat over Muslim accommodations

Houston Mayor John Whitmire defended religious accommodations for Muslim travelers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Monday, saying public footwashing stations are not discriminatory, as Gov. Greg Abbott has alleged. Islamic foot wash stations inside restrooms for the airport’s international terminal serve a “practical need” for travelers, Whitmire said in a statement. Abbott, meanwhile, has criticized such facilities as “special treatment” for Muslims, threatening to revoke state funds from airports in Houston and Dallas over the issue. “The ablution room and adjoining prayer room are open to all travelers, employees and stakeholders with access to Terminal D, regardless of faith,” Whitmire said. “Nobody receives preferential access, and nobody is excluded.”

The Houston Airport System, which runs Bush and Hobby Airport and is overseen by officials appointed by Whitmire, paid for the ablution facilities with fees charged to the international airlines rather than public funds from the city or state, the mayor said. Whitmire’s statement also notes that roughly one-fifth of all passengers in the airport’s international terminal departed on Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, airlines that serve Muslim-majority countries. Ablution facilities are preferable to having residents resort to using sinks for washing needs, Whitmire added. The governor took aim at Houston’s largest airport on Friday, referring IAH as well as Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport to the U.S. Department of Transportation for investigation, the latest in state Republicans’ efforts to target what they cast as Sharia law and an “Islamic takeover” of Texas. The stations amount to religious discrimination because the airports do not offer standalone facilities for other faiths, Abbott alleged. Officials at DFW said they were scrapping plans for new footwashing stations amid “elevated public interest” this week. Meanwhile, Houston’s airport has had an ablution station connected to its Interfaith Chapel since 2024, installed under former Mayor Sylvester Turner. The facilities are used by Muslims who wash their bodies before prayer five times a day.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

You pick it: Labor shortage prompts farmer to scale down operations

Farmers across the Rio Grande Valley are feeling the effects of a shrinking agricultural workforce. Steven Obst, owner of Obst Family Farm, says finding reliable workers can be especially difficult for smaller farms. “It’s hard to find people who are reliable and who would come for a smaller farmer because they want a larger crop and make more money, so when a smaller farmer wants labor, it’s harder who would come in a consistent basis,” Obst said. Agriculture remains a major part of the Rio Grande Valley’s economy, generating more than $1 billion, according to Texas A&M AgriLife. But farmers say finding enough workers to harvest crops remains one of their biggest challenges.

Obst says farm work is often seasonal, requiring outside labor for anywhere from one to six months. “The labor in the farm is seasonal and it can last anywhere from one month to six months of outside labor to consistently harvest the crops, so I can see why it would be difficult to have a consistent young person coming out,” Obst said. For crops such as watermelon, cantaloupe and peppers, the work can mean long and physically demanding days. Obst says workers can earn good money, but the seasonal nature of the job can make it difficult to attract younger workers. He also believes more agricultural education could help introduce students to the industry. “I think we would be able to get people to come out either volunteer or work part time just to experience farming, so they know where their food comes from,” Obst said. The Hidalgo Independent School District does not currently have a fully established agricultural program, but the district says it is working toward an agricultural technology and mechanical systems program.

Read this article at ValleyCentral - Subscribers Only

Texas AG Paxton claims widespread noncitizen voting. Three people have been charged.

For more than a year, Texas attorney general and GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton has been probing what he says is the large number of noncitizens who illegally voted in his state. So far, three people have been prosecuted, according to an NBC News review of court documents, public records and statements. And among 53 cases that were referred for investigation, at least five people were listed as American citizens in previous court records. Paxton, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump who beat out incumbent John Cornyn for the nomination, alleged in 2019 that 58,000 noncitizens had voted in Texas — it was a claim Trump amplified, but one that was quickly refuted in court. Since then, Paxton has continued to claim widespread voter fraud. He’s a vocal supporter of the president’s SAVE America Act, which would require all Americans to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote and a photo ID when voting. Trump cited Paxton’s support for the bill as one of the top reasons he chose to endorse him in May.

But the attorney general’s effort to put prosecutorial teeth behind his allegations, using up manpower on accusations that take time to investigate and vet, has not yielded many cases of noncitizen voting, NBC News found, even in a state with the second-highest number of undocumented people. Paxton’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment, and his campaign referred questions to the attorney general’s office. The lack of prosecutions isn’t surprising, said Joshua Blank, the research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. “The idea that fraud is a common occurrence in the electorate is a position that’s political but not backed up by any fact whatsoever.” “The real challenge is that no solution is really going to solve a problem that doesn’t exist,” Blank said. Noncitizen voting is rare and often accidental. For example, New Jersey accidentally registered thousands of noncitizens, leading to around 400 improperly cast votes. The revelation has prompted some states to review their voter registration systems. The conservative Heritage Foundation tracks noncitizen voting and recorded 100 cases since 2000, or fewer than four per year.

Read this article at NBC News - Subscribers Only

Fifth Third Bank identifies 100 sites for Texas branch expansion as investment grows

Fifth Third Bank, a subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp, is making progress on its planned branch expansion in Texas. The bank has identified about 100 sites for the 150 new branches planned in the state, including about 50 in Houston, said South Texas Region President Scott Silvas. Fifth Third also increased its branch expansion investment from $650 million to $700 million, Silvas said. Houston will be home to about 60 total new Fifth Third branches, while the Dallas-Fort Worth region also will get about 60 locations and Central Texas will have about 30 new branches. Fifth Third plans to add the branches over the next three years. “When you think of that, having identified over 100 of those locations of the 150 (planned) here six months later after the announcement seems pretty impressive,” Silvas said.

The new Houston branches will add to the legacy Comerica footprint in the market. Comerica, which was based in Dallas before Fifth Third closed its $10.9 billion acquisition in February, has 40 locations in Houston. With the branch expansion, Fifth Third will have the fifth-largest footprint in Houston. Fifth Third is investing in the branch expansion with the goal of becoming a top-five bank in the market by deposit share, Silvas said. Comerica was the 14th-largest bank in the Houston market, based on its $3.18 billion in local deposits. “What that means for Houston is having upwards of 100 or so financial centers when we’re done with (the expansion), and we feel like we’ll be well on our way to that goal,” Silvas said. Silvas did not share where Fifth Third has identified sites for new branches in Houston but said they're “going to be all over” the region. “Part of it is us filling in some gaps,” Silvas said. “Comerica had a pretty good-sized branch presence, but wherever there were gaps in their footprint, we might be prioritizing to fill in some gaps.” The investment in Texas comes as Fifth Third has also been growing its branch presence across the Southeast U.S. in states like Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In 2018, the bank made a commitment to add 200 branches in the Southeast U.S. The success of that expansion has given the bank confidence to make a similar investment in Texas, Silvas said. “We’re at a position where we can figure out where we want to invest in the next wave, so I think that’s how the Texas investment coupled with the Comerica acquisition came about,” Silvas said. Fifth Third also is preparing for a systems conversion after the Comerica deal, which is expected to occur over Labor Day weekend. Legacy Comerica customers will have access to new products and capabilities, Silvas said. He added that the most significant change will occur in the branches, which will now have mortgage officers and investment advisers.

Read this article at Houston Business Journal - Subscribers Only

Texas Maternal Mortality Committee’s next report will skip post-‘Roe’ deaths. Lawmakers suspect political influence.

Hope Ngumezi never imagined he would be a single father. When he met his late wife Porsha at Lamar University in Beaumont, Ngumezi was instantly enamored of her energy, drive, and compassion. Both Ngumezi and Porsha came from large families and were eager to start their own. After getting married in their late 20s, they happily welcomed two sons, ages 3 and 5 at the time. Porsha got pregnant again in early 2023, this time with a girl. But, rather than welcoming a daughter into their home, Ngumezi was forced to bury his wife. At 11 weeks into her pregnancy, Porsha, 35, began to miscarry and bleed excessively, passing large clots “the size of a grapefruit,” as previously reported by ProPublica. When rushed to the hospital, she needed an emergency dilation and curettage (D&C)— a procedure that gently suctions the uterus. D&Cs can be life-saving, and they can also be used for first-trimester abortion care. Instead of the needed procedure, doctors offered Porsha misoprostol. The medication, which softens the cervix and helps contract the uterus, is considered less risky for fearful doctors facing up to life in prison for violating Texas’ criminal abortion ban, yet it’s far less effective at stopping hemorrhage. Just hours later, Porsha was dead.

Since Porsha’s death, the Houston-area airline engineer has sought to turn his grief into activism, sharing his story far and wide with the goal of preventing another tragedy. His mission feels cathartic, and it serves as a way to honor his late wife. But Ngumezi said the pain of losing Porsha has been “retriggered” since he learned in 2024 that a state health committee tasked with reviewing cases of women who died during pregnancy or childbirth would skip analyzing data from 2022 and 2023—the two years including and following the fall of Roe v. Wade at the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court and the enforcement of the state’s criminal abortion ban. The year 2022 also marks the first full year after Texas passed Senate Bill 8, the state’s earlier ban that relied on civil litigation for enforcement and took effect the prior fall. The committee’s decision meant it would not investigate Porsha’s death. Instead, the forthcoming report of the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee (MMRC), due September 1, will leapfrog those pivotal years and focus on cases from 2024, leaving those eager to assess the immediate impact of the state’s abortion bans frustrated. The 23-member committee is composed largely of physicians in various fields as well as nurses, health researchers, and two community roles. The members are appointed by the head of the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), who is in turn appointed by the leader of the state’s Health and Human Services Department, a position chosen by Republican Governor Greg Abbott. Dr. Jennifer Shuford, who led DSHS starting in late 2022, was appointed by President Trump in April to serve as deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an interim commissioner now holds the DSHS role. The MMRC issues biannual reports that offer recommendations to the Texas Legislature about how to reduce maternal deaths through policy, but, as the 2027 session looms, they’ll do so based on a partial picture.

Read this article at Texas Observer - Subscribers Only

American Airlines fuels up to $71 billion in North Texas impact, per TCU study

American Airlines is vital to North Texas' economy, but do you know how much value it brings to the region? A new study conducted by TCU’s Center for Supply Chain Innovation in its Neeley School of Business estimates that American, which operates its central hub at DFW International Airport, supports between $68.8 and $71.1 billion in economic output each year. The airline also supports between $36.8 and $38 billion in annual gross product, as well as 345,000 to 357,000 jobs across North Central Texas. The airline serves 23 airports in Texas, more than any other commercial carrier, according to the report.

DFW is American’s largest hub, handling 69 million of the airline’s passengers annually, the study said. American, which has over 37,000 team members in North Texas, helps connectivity from the region to the rest of the world. The airline operates flights to 230 destinations in 30 countries and more than 930 peak-day flights, accounting for roughly 82% of commercial traffic at DFW. Also, it moves more than 250 million pounds of cargo and freight through its DFW operation each year. The study also identified a correlation between American’s air connectivity and corporate headquarter relocations to the D-FW region. The region has secured more than 100 headquarters relocations since 2018, the most of any U.S. metro area, according to the study. “By aggregating connecting demand from across the country and the world, American sustains a schedule, network, and frequency that local demand alone could never support,” the report stated. “The result is a regional economy with greater reach, faster access to markets and capital, and a sharper edge in attracting headquarters, talent, and investment.” The estimates were calculated using information from the Perryman Group’s recent DFW Airport economic study and “attributes the share of airport activity tied to American’s presence using American-specific operational data,” the study said.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

Court battle continues over funding for Austin's light rail project

The legal saga surrounding the Austin Transit Partnership’s local funding method for the Austin light rail expansion is raging on, with rulings and subsequent appeals flying. On Aug. 13, a hearing was held in a Travis County courtroom between ATP and its legal challengers. Travis County Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel made several rulings on the legal challenges facing the Austin light rail's buildout. Some helped ATP’s cause, and others helped that of ATP’s opponents. For the past few years, ATP, the entity tasked with building the Austin light rail, has been embroiled in a legal challenge related to how it can use revenue from local property taxes. Critics have questioned whether ATP can use revenue generated through the Project Connect property taxes — which were approved by Austin voters in 2020 — for debt service to support the buildout of the light rail.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion in 2023 that said ATP can't use tax revenue that's marked for maintenance and operations to fund debt service costs. A group of local taxpayers — led by local attorney and former Travis County Judge Bill Aleshire — is challenging the local funding mechanism through a lawsuit. ATP has also filed a bond validation lawsuit that aims for the courts to certify that ATP can issue bonds for debt service costs and to help pay for construction of the light rail. Hexsel ruled in favor of ATP and against the Attorney General’s office over jurisdictional issues related to the bond validation lawsuit. The Attorney General’s office challenged that ATP doesn’t have the ability to file a bond validation lawsuit. This week's ruling means ATP can continue its lawsuit. The Attorney General's office has appealed the decision. “Austin Transit Partnership and the City of Austin filed bond validation proceedings in 2024 so that we could have an impartial judge confirm that we have complied with state law at every step in moving Project Connect forward,” Casey Burack, ATP’s executive vice president of legal and business affairs, said in an emailed statement.

Read this article at Austin Business Journal - Subscribers Only

Supreme Court asked to review Texas law requiring the Ten Commandments in public schools

Civil rights advocates on Monday said they asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Texas law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments, teeing up a case that could set a new national standard for the limits of state-sponsored religious expression in classrooms. Over two dozen Texas families represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups petitioned the nation's highest court to overturn a split decision in April by the conservative-leaning 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The New Orleans-based appeals court's 9-8 ruling upheld the Texas law, which requires public school classrooms to display a state-selected version of the Ten Commandments drawn from the King James Bible. In their Supreme Court brief, the families' attorneys argue that the law violates basic First Amendment principles governing the separation of church and state.

"The question of whether a state may impose scripture on impressionable, captive-audience children — for nearly every hour of every school day, for up to (13) years — implicates the most fundamental guarantees of the First Amendment and our Nation's highest ideals," they wrote. The 5th Circuit reversed a lower federal court ruling that had blocked approximately a dozen Texas school districts from putting up the posters. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law, which took effect last September. Because Texas' law only requires districts to hang the Ten Commandments if they are donated, conservative groups and individuals began dropping off boxes of posters at campuses across the state as the school year began last year. "No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin," the 5th Circuit's ruling says. The 5th Circuit also ruled in February that Louisiana can enforce its own law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Republicans in the South have been leading the way in putting the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Louisiana became the first state to pass a requirement in 2024, followed by Arkansas and Texas. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a similar law earlier this year.

Read this article at Associated Press - Subscribers Only

Northside ISD opens virtual high school, with plans to expand enrollment

Along with some 95,000 students attending school in person, San Antonio’s largest district has nearly 200 others taking classes online through Northside ISD’s Virtual Academy. The new school is open to grades 9-11 in its inaugural year. All 12 of the district’s comprehensive high schools have students participating in the program, with an average of 10 to 30 students enrolled. The virtual classes began Monday, as schools in the district resumed on-campus instruction. The new virtual academy will follow Northside’s instructional calendar. The district announced plans last year to launch the program as an opportunity for students who frequently travel, need to make up school credits or struggle in a traditional public school setting.

Elsewhere in Texas, public school systems have had virtual learning programs for years, including iUniversity Prep at Grapevine-Colleyville ISD in North Texas. Katy ISD near Houston also launched its Legacy Virtual High School this month. Each school day, the students have from midnight to 11:59 p.m. to log on to the district’s online learning system, receive instruction from a teacher or academic coach or complete an assignment. Daily schedules include 240 instructional minutes, said Carrie Squyres, the district’s academic technology director. Some courses involve mandatory in-person attendance at the student’s zoned high school. “We have several students participating in UIL athletics, fine arts, and JROTC,” Squyres said. Of the 190 students enrolled, 63 are in ninth grade, 69 in 10th grade and 58 in 11th grade.

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

Baby in surrogacy case undergoes open heart surgery, attorney says

The baby at the center of a surrogacy case that has grabbed national attention, and who was born with a severe congenital heart condition, has undergone open heart surgery in Dallas, according to an attorney for his parents. Lee Budner, the attorney for the California-based couple Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, provided the update in a Monday afternoon email. The baby, whose name is Rumi, underwent the procedure Monday morning and “is now recuperating under the loving care of his parents and his heroic team of doctors, nurses, and medical staff,” Budner wrote.

Another attorney for the parents, Sehla Ashai, confirmed that the baby and his parents remain in Dallas. Baby Rumi has been at the center of a controversy since before he was born. Ahmed and Gilkar, the baby’s parents, signed a surrogacy contract with a woman in Alaska, to carry the baby. When the surrogate, McKenna West, was about 20 weeks pregnant, the fetus was diagnosed with a severe congenital heart condition, hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The parents originally opted to terminate the pregnancy, as allowed in the surrogacy contract, which The Dallas Morning News obtained a copy of. West, however, refused to undergo an abortion. The first surgery, which the baby underwent on Monday, is called the Norwood procedure. It’s the first of three major surgeries that children with this congenital heart condition have to undergo to survive. “This is the last update on Rumi’s health that his family intends to share,” Budner wrote in his statement. “His condition remains critical and complex, and his family seeks privacy in caring for their son on his long road to recovery.” Meanwhile, the case’s legal complexities remain. There’s litigation in three states — Alaska, California and Texas — and West and her attorneys have raised the possibility of the surrogate making a parental claim on the child.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

$500M data center planned for Prosper as Texas tightens industry regulations

Prosper could soon be home to another North Texas data center, despite growing scrutiny around the industry. The more than $500 million proposed development, nicknamed "Project Tomahawk," is planned on roughly 37 acres in northwest Prosper, east of FM 1385 and south of Parvin Road in Denton County. Dallas-based digital infrastructure development firm White Rose Partners is developing the project, which still requires approval from Prosper Town Council. The Prosper Planning and Zoning Commission was scheduled to review the proposal Aug. 18 but removed the item from its agenda to allow more time to gather information and review technical data, according to an Aug. 17 statement released by the town.

"Protecting residents' quality of life remains the Town's top priority, and any proposal will be held to our normal strict standards regarding traffic, infrastructure, and municipal services," the town's statement says.. A new hearing date has not been set. The town said it would be premature for Mayor David Bristol to comment because the project has not yet undergone a formal review by Prosper officials. White Rose Partners is still in the early stages of planning, but the data center building, if ultimately approved, is expected to occupy about 10% to 20% of the property. The project would represent an investment of at least $500 million and create an estimated 20 to 50 direct jobs, along with another 37 to 90 indirect jobs, White Rose Managing Partner Jeff Eigenbrood said in an email. The proposal comes as Texas finds itself at the center of both a nationwide data center boom and growing pushback over the industry's demand for electricity and water, along with concerns about noise, infrastructure costs and impacts on nearby neighborhoods.

Read this article at Dallas Business Journal - Subscribers Only

State Fair of Texas cuts prices amid affordability concerns

The State Fair of Texas is cutting admission and parking prices for 2026 after hearing complaints from fairgoers about the overall cost of attending, according to the State Fair of Texas. The organization said it reviewed the total cost of a fair visit in response to feedback from guests during the 2025 season. “Families have always been at the heart of the State Fair of Texas, and every year we listen closely to what our fairgoers tell us about their experience,” said Karissa Condoianis, State Fair of Texas senior vice president of public relations. “We take that feedback seriously. This year, we are making meaningful changes to admission and parking while continuing to offer the experiences, traditions, and attractions our guests look forward to every fall.”

What’s changing Adult daily tickets: $15 Monday-Thursday and $25 Friday-Sunday, down $2. Senior tickets (60+): $13 Monday-Thursday and $20 Friday-Sunday, down $2 on weekends. Child tickets (ages 3-12): $10 every day of the fair, down from as much as $22 on weekends in 2025, a 54% reduction. Children 2 and younger: Continue to receive free admission. After 5 p.m. admission: $10 for all guests Monday through Thursday. Official State Fair parking: $25 per day, down $5. “Providing greater value does not mean compromising the State Fair experience,” said Mitchell Glieber, State Fair of Texas president. “We are continuing to invest in the attractions, entertainment, agriculture, and traditions that make the State Fair special, while creating more flexibility for Texans to experience the State Fair.” The fair also continues to offer several recurring discount opportunities, including reduced admission for donating food items, discounts for seniors, military members, first responders, and teachers, and free admission for many North Texas students. Only one discount may be applied per guest, and discounts cannot be combined.

Read this article at KBTX - Subscribers Only

National Stories

Vandals are destroying license-plate cameras as anger over surveillance rises

Adam Heimerman kept seeing the surveillance cameras on his way to work as a river guide in East Tennessee, and the sight rankled him. More than 130,000 of the automatic license-plate readers now dot the country, according to the crowdsourced tracker DeFlock.org. The artificial intelligence-assisted devices have been embraced by law enforcement as powerful investigative tools but widely denounced by the public over privacy concerns. For Heimerman, who’s 37 and running as an independent candidate for Congress, the cameras were one more sign that the United States was becoming a police state, he said in an interview. Then in July, the Blount County Sheriff’s Office alleges, Heimerman shot four of the cameras — including one near a church where worshipers sat inside.

Heimerman declined to discuss specifics of his case, but he said he believes there’s widespread frustration over local governments that keep using the cameras despite community pushback. That has fueled a wave of recent vandalism across the country, he said. “When people act out in a manner that we’re witnessing, things have gotten bad and they no longer feel like they’re being heard,” Heimerman said. “People are tired of being told to sit down and be quiet and write a letter.” “How-to” videos have spread online that demonstrate how to disable the cameras from collecting footage using wire cutters and heavy gloves. People from an array of backgrounds — college students, computer engineers, a U.S. Air Force engineer — have been accused of vandalizing the devices. Cameras were recently damaged in communities around Detroit. In Winona, Minnesota, all eight of the city’s readers were cut down and stolen. Flock Safety, one of the largest players in technological surveillance, is often the target of the ire. The company operates cameras in more than 6,000 communities across the country that record 20 billion plate scans a month.

Read this article at Washington Post - Subscribers Only

This rising Democrat is writing the script for his party’s bid to finally rein in Trump

Two rallies, nearly 1,000 miles and two days apart, laid out the increasingly stark choice confronting midterm election voters and a looming moment of reckoning over the nation’s future course. In Atlanta on Sunday, Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff delivered an acidic takedown of President Donald Trump; an economy that many voters think is failing them; and a war Trump started and has failed to resolve. Ossoff boiled the election down to a referendum on corruption, costs and failed global leadership. “Under Donald Trump, it costs more than ever to stock your fridge, to power your home, to make a cup of coffee, to buy school supplies for your kid or a tractor for your farm,” the Democrat said.

He accused the president of sleeping through meetings and lying about the war, and said that while sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier are doing their nation proud during a deployment of over 250 days, Trump spends his time playing golf and buying stocks. On Friday, on Long Island, Trump gave the most explicit version yet of an argument Republicans hope will stave off the midterm curse that haunts incumbent presidents — even as their leader faces headwinds over his personal unpopularity, the Iran war and voter frustration over high prices. He accused Democrats of wanting to turn America into a “communist country” and of declaring war on the police and the rule of law. “The communists want to turn America into a third-world country, into a hellhole of crime and filth,” the president said, seeking to exploit the successes of progressive Democrats. The contrast encapsulates a bitter moment in American history as a deeply unpopular president attempts to dodge lame-duck status by branding Democrats as un-American extremists.

Read this article at CNN - Subscribers Only

Trump says White House needs ‘military complex’ as courts block his ballroom

President Donald Trump initially insisted that he needed to build a White House ballroom to entertain VIP guests. The president and his deputies have lately focused on a different argument: It’s crucial for national security. The “desperately needed National Security structure” must be completed, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Friday night, hours after administration officials asked the Supreme Court to let them finish the controversial project. The lengthy post never mentioned the word “ballroom.” Instead, it focused on the military complex being constructed underneath and called the preservation group that brought the suit that blocked construction “‘TREASONISTS’ who revealed Top Military Secrets!” On Sunday, Trump followed up with an AI-generated video depicting himself walking with the nation’s first president, George Washington, through the planned ballroom, stocked with dining tables. “Thank you, George, for some of your brilliant ideas on this great Military Complex/Ballroom!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, again conflating the two parts of the project.

An appeals court ordered administration officials to halt construction on the ballroom by Aug. 21 unless the project is authorized by Congress — which will not happen, given that lawmakers are on recess with no plans to return before the end of the month. Congressional leaders have also shown little interest in prioritizing the project ahead of the midterms, and the White House has not pushed the issue on Capitol Hill. Instead, Trump has sought to press his case in court, arguing that the ballroom is necessary to protect him and future presidents. He and his lawyers have contended that the ballroom is inseparable from the underground military complex, which the appeals court said Trump is allowed to continue building. “The lower section does not work without the upper section and, likewise, the upper section does not work without the lower,” Trump wrote Friday night, reversing the administration’s argument from last year that the ballroom and the military complex could be constructed separately. “It is all one highly integrated unit.” Trump’s deputies have sought to help him bolster that case. The leaders of the FBI, CIA, Secret Service and other agencies told the Supreme Court on Friday that the ballroom was needed to provide a secure meeting space for the president and other leaders, referencing threats from Iran, potential drone attacks and other risks. They said the ballroom was part of a broader push to fortify the White House grounds.

Read this article at Washington Post - Subscribers Only

South Carolina’s move to front of 2028 Democratic primary calendar could benefit Kamala Harris

South Carolina‘s role as the first-in-the-nation primary for the 2028 presidential field could give former Vice President Kamala Harris a boost over other Democrats should she decide to seek the White House for a third time. The Palmetto State’s heavily African American electorate helped revive former President Joe Biden‘s campaign in 2020 as he struggled to beat back a progressive challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Eight years later, South Carolina could provide Harris with an opportunity to establish herself as the Democratic front-runner before any other state votes. “I do think this is a big boost to Kamala Harris,” said Kaivan Shroff, a former 2024 delegate for Harris. “When you consider what the field is going to look like, or at least whose names are being thrown around, it really is a lot of white men and Kamala Harris at this point in time, and so you can imagine a different situation where Iowa was first or a less diverse state, and the sort of obstacles she would face in that case.”

Read this article at Washington Examiner - Subscribers Only

A wild primary night: 3 states, 6 open seats and a scandal-plagued incumbent

It’s a big primary day in Florida, Alaska and Wyoming. There are a half dozen open seats in the Sunshine State alone, plus incumbents running in new districts thanks to the recent Republican-authored remap. Scandal-plagued GOP Rep. Cory Mills (Fla.) may be in trouble. And millions of dollars have gone toward suspected primary meddling in Alaska. Also on the ballot: A special election to fill former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (Calif.) safe blue East Bay seat. That’s a lot to track, so here’s our cheat sheet on the races that matter. Mills watch. Mills’ primary has been quieter than some of his colleagues’, but top Republicans believe he could lose renomination to former TV news anchor Ryan Elijah.

Elijah has outspent Mills on TV, per AdImpact, and he’s already well known in the media market from his television career. Florida GOP Reps. Mike Haridopolos and Anna Paulina Luna are backing Elijah. Plus, Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis pointedly declined to back Mills, who’s currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for alleged domestic assault, among other possible violations. We’ll note: Democrats don’t want Mills to lose. His personal baggage makes the red-leaning seat easier to flip in the fall. But they likely need former NASA chief of staff Bale Dalton to beat former Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) — a perennial candidate — in their own primary to make it competitive. The new battlegrounds. Three Democratic incumbents are running in GOP-leaning seats thanks to Florida Republicans’ mid-decade redraw. But Republicans still need strong nominees, even with a friendlier map, to turn these pickup opportunities into GOP seats. A massive Republican field is vying to take on Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) in what’s now a Trump +18 district. Candidates to watch include farmer Ben Butler, Army veteran Thomas Chalifoux, former Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Dan Green and accountant Jorge Martinez. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) is now in a Trump +11 district. Former GOP state Rep. Mike Beltran and state Rep. Kevin Steele have raised the most money. Former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer is the frontrunner to take on Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) in the new 25th District (Trump +9). Moskowitz also faces democratic socialist Oliver Larkin in the primary. Democrats hope to hold the new 22nd District — a Trump +11 seat — with educator Pia Dandiya. Watch Michael Carbonara, Casey Askar and Belinda Keiser on the GOP side.

Read this article at Punchbowl News - Subscribers Only

We tracked a shipment of rare books. It ended at an Amazon AI training facility

Amazon is buying massive quantities of books, scanning them for AI training data, and destroying them in the process. A 404 Media investigation was able to reveal Amazon’s book buying operation, which hasn’t been previously reported, by placing a tracking device in a rare book we suspected would be acquired by an AI company for training data, and following it around the country to its final destination. That final destination was an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas, Nevada. Amazon employees who work at this location say all they do is receive massive shipments of printed books which they then cut the bindings off in order to scan the books more quickly. The printed book is destroyed in the process. The logo of the Amazon team that works at this warehouse, called VGT3, is a dinosaur, brandishing its teeth and with a book in its hands.

Read this article at 404 Media - Subscribers Only

Trump weighs a plan for press briefings when Leavitt leaves, sources say

President Donald Trump is weighing relying again on a rotating cast of Cabinet officials to handle press briefings for an indefinite period following the departure of press secretary Karoline Leavitt later this month, three sources familiar with the planning told CNN. The tentative plan comes amid a seemingly wide-open race to fill Leavitt’s role, with Trump still in the earliest stages of deciding who should take one of the White House’s most critical and visible posts. Leavitt has said she plans to vacate the position at the end of August. The president “genuinely doesn’t know who to pick and has expressed zero urgency” on the matter, one senior White House official said.

Trump’s indecision has not slowed the jockeying among allies to promote their preferred replacement for Leavitt. Some Trumpworld hopefuls have already been in touch with junior White House staffers to ask them to put in a good word, according to a person familiar with those conversations. Others have pressed Trump directly on behalf of potential contenders, according to another person familiar with the matter, including advocates for Elizabeth Pipko, a former model and Republican National Committee spokesperson who was considered for the press secretary job during the presidential transition. But Trump has shown little inclination to move quickly to replace Leavitt, who is a trusted aide and is expected to remain one of his closest advisers. Inside the White House, officials laughed off much of the outside jockeying for the position, noting that ultimately one person — Trump himself — will make the choice. Several Trump allies have been floated for the job in recent days, including Alina Habba, who briefly served as acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, and former George W. Bush aide and outspoken Trump advocate Scott Jennings. White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly and former Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin are also among the roughly dozen possible candidates seen as in the mix.

Read this article at CNN - Subscribers Only

Lead Stories

Bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers critical over new border wall Big Bend region construction

Construction is underway in the Big Bend region of Texas amid public concern, following months of rumors. Residents in the area first reported contractors with heavy machinery moving into the area in early August. Video and pictures taken by Terlingua resident Natalie Newman and shared widely on social media show bulldozers clearing brush in Big Bend National Park near Santa Elena Canyon, one of the park's most recognizable and visited spots. The crews are working for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which says this video shows them doing survey and design work. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a statement that they are working to preserve the landscape and protect the access that visitors and local businesses depend on.

"Big Bend belongs to the American people, and our job is to keep it safe. So, let's be clear about what is - and is not - happening there. CBP is building one new access road, improving existing roads, installing detection technology, and placing vehicle barriers in limited, strategic locations. We are NOT building a 30-foot wall or stadium lighting through Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, or the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area," Scott said. Even so, concerned residents gathered at Big Bend National Park last week to protest the Trump administration's actions. Also, last week, Sen. John Cornyn sent a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security, asking him to meet with Texas stakeholders before any additional construction takes place within Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. CBS News Texas spoke with residents in the area who are upset about what's happening. "The roadways they want to put in require almost as much destruction as would be necessary to put in a vertical wall, especially some of the areas that they've proposed putting the roads," said Natalie Newman, a Terlingua resident whose video of construction crews was shared widely on social media. "I'm glad Cornyn is doing what a true Texan should do, especially one who's elected to his office. Stand up for the rights of the landowners in the state, and stand up for the parks that are America's playground, our playground," said Charlie Angell, who runs a business as a river guide. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from El Paso, also spoke out against the construction work in an interview for Eye On Politics.

Read this article at CBS News - Subscribers Only

James Talarico’s campaign is refunding over $1 million in excess contributions

James Talarico keeps raising too much money. The Texas Democrat has already raised more than $70 million in his bid to defeat state Attorney General Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate — more than any other non-incumbent candidate has raised this cycle nationwide and millions more than his Republican rival has amassed. But scores of Talarico donors are exceeding federal donation limits, with regulators at the Federal Election Commission identifying 143 such donors who exceeded the legal limit, according to a 24-page letter they sent to the Talarico campaign this month. It’s not the first time Talarico, who is attempting to become the first Texas Democrat elected to statewide office since 1994, has received such a missive: Every quarter since its inception, Talarico for Texas has received warnings about accepting donations beyond the legal limit.

The campaign, in turn, has to date reported 534 refunds totaling $844,347. Another quarter-million dollars or so worth of refunds or reattributions are expected after the FEC’s latest letter. Among the flagged Talarico donors is Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who made two donations in March for $2,000 and $2,500 designated for the general election — $1,000 over the legal limit. (Polis’ office did not respond to a request for comment.) One of the largest reported contributions came from Robert E. Price, the son of Sol Price, who founded the companies that would become Costco. He donated a lump sum of $14,000 to Talarico’s campaign, well above the federal limit. Unlike Price, many of the donors who exceeded the FEC limit on contributions didn’t make a single large contribution. Rather, their small-dollar donations added up to more than the $3,500 individuals are allowed to give per election. Sharon Freeto, a retiree from San Antonio, had 20 of her Talarico campaign contributions flagged this month by the FEC for giving over the contribution limit — 10 of which were made on April 24, according to federal records. “I have no memory of how that happened. That’s a lot of money,” Freeto said of the April transactions. She added that she agreed to make monthly donations to the campaign. Freeto said she had already received a refund for some of her contributions.

Read this article at NOTUS - Subscribers Only

‘Uncharted territory’: Second-largest reservoir in US plunges to a record low

Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States, provides water and electricity to millions in the West. It has now has shrunk to its lowest level on record, in the latest sign of the alarming crisis unfolding on the drought-stricken Colorado River. The reservoir’s levels dropped to 3519.91 feet on Saturday, breaking the record low of 3,519.92 feet set in April 2023, according to data from the US Bureau of Reclamation published Sunday. It is now just under 30 feet away from the point at which its dam will no longer be able to generate hydropower. The record comes nine days after downstream Lake Mead, the US’s biggest reservoir, dropped to its lowest level since it was first filled nine decades ago. “We are in uncharted territory,” said Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University.

Lakes Mead and Powell, which are essentially one gigantic reservoir separated by the Grand Canyon, hold just under 60% of the total water currently stored in the Colorado River basin. The unprecedented decline of these vast bodies of water, which have been shrinking for more than 20 years, drives home the perilous state of the river that feeds them. Known as the lifeblood of the Southwest, the Colorado River starts in the Rocky Mountains, fed by melting snowpack, and ends in the Gulf of California in Mexico. It provides water to roughly 40 million people and irrigates more than 5 million acres of farmland across seven states: California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. Climate change-fueled drought and increases in temperature, combined with years of heavy water use, have caused the crucial waterway to shrink by roughly 20% since 2000. And Mead and Powell have been heavily affected. Spanning parts of Arizona and Utah, Lake Powell formed behind the Glen Canyon Dam, which was constructed in the 1950s. The vast reservoir started filling in 1963 and took 17 years to reach its full pool level of 3,700 feet above sea level.

Read this article at CNN - Subscribers Only

Democrats face a potential Tea Party moment

A movement of young, progressive outsiders has stormed Democratic politics this year, sparking a wave of contentious primary contests across the country and fueling a fraught debate over whether these new, left-wing candidates are remaking the party in their image. But as primary season winds to a close, the results reveal not only the strength but also the potential limitations of this insurgent movement. In Minnesota last week, Peggy Flanagan, the lieutenant governor, won a Senate primary by a double-digit margin, pressing a fiercely progressive message to defeat a more moderate opponent. Just a week earlier, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a left-leaning Democrat, won a Senate primary in Michigan despite being vastly outspent. And Francesca Hong, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, came close to winning a primary for governor in Wisconsin, falling short by less than one percentage point.

The results marked a new level of political strength for candidates affiliated with a resurgent, activist left, showing that their movement can be competitive in statewide primaries, well beyond deep-blue House districts. Yet while a vocal group of strategists, activists and college-educated voters have raced to embrace these pugnacious, boldly liberal — and in some cases untested — candidates, some of the voters who have historically been most crucial to the party’s fortunes remain skeptical. In Michigan and Wisconsin, both pivotal battleground states, the progressive candidates appeared to have struggled to sway voters who have long been the backbone of the party — including Black, more moderate and older Americans who vote reliably. As left-wing candidates have notched victories in primary after primary, many progressives hope they will be able to move the Democratic Party further to the left — mirroring, in some ways, how the rise of the Tea Party movement nearly two decades ago pushed the Republican Party much further to the right. But the results raise questions about whether these candidates can piece together a broad enough coalition of Democrats, independents and moderates to win general elections in swing states that could determine whether Democrats are able to regain power in Congress and, eventually, the White House.

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

State Stories

CyrusOne wants to earn Texans’ trust amid data center boom

Amid the uncertainty surrounding data centers, one Dallas-based company aims to earn the trust of Texas residents. CyrusOne has 15 data centers in Texas, located on campuses in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. It’s also planning to add facilities in Castroville, Clifton and Fairfield. It’s part of a boom that’s set to make Texas the world’s largest data center market — surpassing Virginia — amid the growth of artificial intelligence and cloud-based technologies, according to a recent report from real estate firm JLL. There are at least 335 operational facilities in the state and more than 248 planned projects. But amid this new wave of development, the industry remains shrouded in mystery, with several companies keeping mum about specific details of their centers. Nearby residents, city officials and even state leaders have expressed concerns about the industry’s lack of information.

Katy Hancock, the company’s vice president of community affairs, said that while CyrusOne can’t invite guests into its facilities, it wants to be transparent about its operations in Texas and beyond. “We are doing everything we can to show up earlier, come into the community, introduce ourselves, share details of our projects and meet with community leaders and neighbors before we make final plans,” Hancock said. “We want to take the time to explain who we are and how we do things in those conversations and hope to assuage some concerns.” Not only does CyrusOne want to provide information to educate concerned parties about its new development, but it’s now required to do so. On Aug. 3, Gov. Greg Abbott halted the approval of data centers until the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas can audit proposed projects seeking to connect to the state’s electric grid. “As a company proudly headquartered in Texas, CyrusOne shares Governor Abbott’s commitment to responsible data center development,” a spokesperson said. “We support the goals he has outlined, and we are confident that we already reflect the best-in-class development and operating principles his directives are designed to encourage. We believe transparency, accountability and thoughtful planning are essential, and remain committed to working collaboratively with state leaders, regulators, utilities and local communities to help create economic opportunities and lasting local benefits.”

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

Texas barbecue is getting a halal makeover

At 9 a.m. on a scorching Saturday in June, nearly 100 people were already lined up outside Goldee’s BBQ, a small, wooden-shack restaurant. First in line was 30-year-old Thanh Huynh, who had been sitting in a lawn chair on the joint’s rustic porch since 6:30 a.m. “I have, like, a whole list, and I’m going to spend lots of money here. It’ll be worth it,” he said, laughing while rattling off a long order of meats and sides from his phone’s Notes app as a sweet, smoky scent from nearby pits hung in the air. Opened in 2020 by a group of his friends, the restaurant was named the No. 1 barbecue spot in the state by Texas Monthly a year later, and then won a Bib Gourmand award from the prestigious Michelin Guide, given for “great food at a great value.”

The restaurant serves classic Texas barbecue like craft pork belly, sausage and ribs. But it also offers halal brisket, turkey and lamb — meat raised and butchered in accordance with Islamic guidelines. At a time when Republican leaders are increasingly targeting the state’s growing Muslim communities, halal barbecue joints like Goldee’s are thriving in Texas. Across the state, Muslim pitmasters are gaining recognition for putting their own spin on one of Texas’ most iconic culinary traditions. At least a dozen barbecue spots now serve halal meats, including Yearby’s Barbecue & Waterice, run by Black Muslim couple CJ and Sabrina Henley, soon-to-be in Plano, and Levant Mediterranean BBQ, a restaurant with locations in Houston and Frisco and whose all-beef menu includes a brisket shawarma sandwich. “Now there are so many options, and for us to have highly rated barbecue, it’s a blessing,” said Haris Ghaffar, who drove an hour from Celina and stood in 90-degree weather for nearly two hours with a friend for the halal options at Goldee’s. Growing up in the 1990s, Ghaffar said a McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich was one of the few halal meals he could eat while dining out. Back then, halal food was seen as serving a small community. Today, it’s a multibillion-dollar industry that’s part of the American culinary mainstream, said James Beard Award-winning food writer Farhan Mustafa, who wrote about the rise of American halal barbecue for Bon Appétit magazine in 2025.

Read this article at Religion News Service - Subscribers Only

UT Austin overhauling core classes but hasn’t detailed how new center relates to the courses

Future UT Austin students would have fewer classes to choose from to meet graduation requirements under a proposal university leaders presented Thursday. The plan to remake the flagship campus’ core curriculum replaces the sprawling menu of classes students can now take to meet core requirements with a more structured core curriculum organized around the humanities, social sciences and science, technology, engineering and math. But how the overhaul connects to UT Austin’s new Center for the Humanities remains unclear. A report from a 22-member faculty task force appointed by UT Austin President Jim Davis proposes 12 requirements across the core areas, compared with the current 10.

Davis described the existing core to the University of Texas System regents as a “haphazard grab bag of classes,” pointing to a course on the history of college football as an example of a specialized class that may be a worthwhile elective but, in his view, should not fulfill half of a student’s U.S. history requirement. UT students would have to take courses focused on Western civilization, great questions of human life, the principles of American politics, world politics and cultures, great ideas in science, and computer science and artificial intelligence, according to the proposal. Recommendations include creating a “Texas 40: Great Thinkers” list for courses on great questions of human life and three separate 40-author lists for British, American and world literature courses. Great questions courses would have to draw at least two-thirds of their content from the thinkers list. Faculty members would have a chance to shape their own courses with their creativity and expertise, one of the task force members, Richard Reddick, told The Texas Tribune. “Academic freedom is a big piece of this,” Reddick said. “I can’t imagine telling our faculty colleagues, ‘Here’s your syllabus, teach this.’ It’s not going to work.”

Read this article at KUT - Subscribers Only

Multistate controversy highlights ‘gray areas’ around surrogacy, bioethics expert says

A multistate surrogacy controversy poses significant ethical questions about the practice, according to a leading medical ethics and surrogacy expert. The case centers on an Alaska woman acting as a surrogate who traveled to Texas to give birth to a baby with a severe heart defect after she said his biological parents had declined treatment and asked that she get an abortion. McKenna West gave birth in Dallas last week. The child was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome – a rare congenital heart defect where the left side of the heart doesn’t develop fully about 20 weeks into the pregnancy. After learning about the diagnosis, the couple allegedly demanded West “undergo an abortion,” according to a statement from Texas Attorney Ken Paxton. Paxton’s office said she refused and came to Texas for “protection.”

Arthur Caplan, a professor emeritus of bioethics at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, said there are so many ethical issues at the center of this case, he could spend a semester long course on just it. “You’ve got three states,” he said, “a fight between the couple that paid this woman to carry their baby and issues around the legitimacy of abortion and whether anybody could force someone to have an abortion who doesn’t want to.” Caplan recently retired after 45-year-long bioethics career, which included writing the first paper on ethical issues around infertility treatment. His latest publication on the ethics of surrogacy was published in the most recent issue of Fertility and Sterility – an international, peer-reviewed journal for OB-GYNs and other medical providers who treat issues related to human reproductive disorders. “[The] public should be paying attention to the many, many gray areas or just absolutely dark areas that this case is triggering,” he said. West said the couple wanted to end the pregnancy at 20 weeks after consulting with doctors about the diagnosis, according to AP reporting. West’s lawyers alleged the couple spent weeks pressuring West to seek an abortion after learning of the diagnosis, but court filings show they had sought medical opinions and care, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Read this article at KERA - Subscribers Only

Texas regulators prepare fraud case against TEXITcoin as founder denies wrongdoing

The Texas State Securities Board will begin presenting its enforcement case Monday against TEXITcoin, a Texas-themed cryptocurrency that blends digital money, multilevel marketing and the rhetoric of the Texas independence movement. The four-day evidentiary hearing is scheduled to begin Aug. 17 at the State Office of Administrative Hearings in Austin. Administrative Law Judge Katerina DeAngelo will consider whether to affirm, modify or set aside an emergency cease-and-desist order issued in February. The proceeding is an administrative case, not a criminal trial. TEXITcoin promotes itself as a digital currency created in Texas for people seeking an alternative to banks and government-issued money. Its slogan is “Built in Texas. Mined in Texas. Owned by Texans.”

But TEXITcoin, its mining partner MineTXC, its marketing arm Blockchain Mint and founder Robert J. “Bobby” Gray, face allegations that they violated the Texas Securities Act. The Feb. 11 emergency order alleges MineTXC’s “Mining Packages” were unregistered securities offered through a multilevel marketing operation. Buyers paid for a share of computing power and received allocations of coins generated by the mining network. Participants could also receive commissions and bonuses for recruiting additional buyers. Regulators describe the packages as passive investments that Gray promoted as “seats on the TEXITcoin rocket ship.” The Securities Board alleges the respondents were not registered to sell securities and failed to disclose information that prospective purchasers needed to evaluate the risks, including details about company finances, mining operations, custody of funds and Gray’s earlier business history. “They wanted us to stop offering these alleged securities in Texas,” Gray said.

Read this article at Texas Public Radio - Subscribers Only

Greg Abbott says IAH, DFW could lose grants over Muslim accommodations

Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday threatened to revoke state grants to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston over religious accommodations for Muslim travelers. The governor referred both airports to the Trump administration for investigation and said his office was reviewing their grants after it was reported that DFW Airport was exploring plans to install Islamic foot wash stations inside its international terminal restrooms. IAH has had an ablution station connected to its Interfaith Chapel since 2024. The facilities are used by Muslims who wash their bodies before prayer five times a day. Abbott called the accommodations “religious discrimination."

“Unlike nondenominational interfaith chapels, these ablution facilities appear designed to single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion,” Abbott wrote in a letter to DFW Airport CEO Christopher McLaughlin. “I am unaware of either airport installing standalone facilities to meet the particular needs of the many other religious groups represented across Texas.” A spokesperson for DFW Airport said Friday night that the project was being scrapped. "Like all proposed projects, the airport ultimately considers the operational benefits, customer service impacts, operational risks and costs before approving them," Heath Montgomery, vice president of communications and marketing, said in a statement. "While that evaluation was planned, the airport accelerated its review due to elevated public interest this week and has determined not to proceed with the project as it would not deliver the originally anticipated operational benefits." IAH did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The governor and other Republicans have spent months targeting what they call Sharia law, accusing predominant nonprofit group Council on American Islamic-Relations of having ties to foreign terrorists and entertaining right-wing conspiracies of an Islamic takeover in Texas. CAIR has denied the allegations. Muslims maintain that Sharia just refers to a moral and spiritual framework that guides them on matters like prayer and fasting. When IAH opened its ablution room and prayer room in 2024 it said in a statement “the calming and welcoming prayer room provides another option for passengers of all faiths and beliefs.”

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

Galveston County voters ask Texas Supreme Court to block new map

Two Galveston residents and a constable are asking the Texas Supreme Court to stop the county from using a newly redistricted map in the November general election, They argued in an emergency petition that that because a different map was used in the primary election, the county's actions violate equal protection and the election code — and set a bad precedent for the rest of the state. Lawyers for Precinct 3 Constable Derreck Rose and county residents Wilma Green and Diane Merchant filed the emergency petition for writ of mandamus, which is a type of legal remedy that asks a higher court to order a public official to correct an abuse of discretion. The Justice Department has called this type of petition an "extraordinary remedy, which should only be used in exceptional circumstances of peculiar emergency or public importance."

"If this is not stopped, the precedent set will be horribly damaging to democracy," the petition states. "It will make Texas’s primary elections an empty exercise. The voters’ choices just cast aside on the whim of the government—the 4 very governmental officials on the ballot in the ongoing election. If polling against their general election opponent is looking bad, they can just change the map—up to the very eve of the election—to evade the voters’ judgment." Galveston County commissioners unanimously passed a motion in June to redraw boundaries for commissioner, justice of the peace and constable precincts. Galveston County Judge Mark Henry told the Chronicle in June the redrawing was done to align precincts for the "most efficient and beneficial setup," helping keep the county Republican. But because a different map — one that sparked a federal lawsuit over claims of racial discrimination — was used in the primary elections earlier this year, the emergency petition argues the change violates various parts of state election code. The petitioners argue that while the constitution allows commissioners to redistrict from time to time, they have to redistrict in accordance with state law.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

James Talarico revives Ken Paxton’s $1,000 pen ad in Senate race

Both sides in the Texas race for U.S. Senate are running environmentally correct campaigns when it comes to recycling. But we're not talking about diverting spent cardboard pizza boxes and empty soda bottles from the state's landfills. Instead, it's about reusing old video clips and resurfacing past charges of misdeeds. By now, we've all seen years-old footage of Democratic state Rep. James Talarico questioning whether God has a biological sex or noting that some in the science community have suggested that there might be as many as six genders within the human race. Talarico has more recently acknowledged such remarks as "cringey" attempts to make larger points.

Anyone who has listened to more than a snippet of a Talarico stump speech has been reminded that Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton had been under indictment for years on securities fraud charges filed more than a decade ago and had been impeached by the Texas House in 2023 on 16 articles of impeachment, including bribery and misuse of office. Less mentioned is that the indictment did not result in a conviction after Paxton entered into a pretrial intervention agreement that included 100 hours of community service, 15 hours of legal ethics training and $271,000 in total restitution. The impeachment did not result in Paxton’s removal from office, either. Although two Republicans joined the Senate's 12 Democrats in voting to convict Paxton on 12 articles, the GOP-controlled chamber acquitted him on all charges. But who among us recycles everything? While the above examples are usually delivered in tones both serious and stern, the race's most memorable example of recycling comes with a generous dose of whimsy. This one dates back to the 2018 election cycle, when Paxton was seeking his second term as Texas' top lawyer. A few years earlier, when he was a state senator, Paxton was passing through the metal detectors at the Collin County courthouse, where he sometimes practiced law. In one of the trays sat a pricey ink pen that Paxton tucked into his pocket. The matter was more or less forgotten until Fort Worth Democratic operative Matt Angle obtained the security video through an open records request as part of routine political research. From there, it landed in the hands of Justin Nelson, the Democratic candidate who challenged Paxton's reelection in 2018. Nelson's camp used the clip to make a lighthearted ad that strongly implied that Paxton had sticky fingers.

Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only

The real estate kernel of Texas Republicans’ mounting legislative attack on Muslims

The Texas Legislature is convening in January, and a slice of the state’s Republican majority has settled on a new target: Muslim Texans. The far-right True Texas Project hosted a conference earlier this month in which lawmakers proposed legislative responses to what they’re calling a “Muslim invasion,”which seems to an echo of the white supremacist “great replacement theory.” The Dallas Morning News reported on the conference and detailed the proposals, including regulations specifically intended for Muslim organizations, banning hijabs and halal foods and denying professional licenses to Muslims. It’ll be the first legislative session for the new “Sharia Free Texas” caucus, launched by state Rep. Brent Money of Greenville in March. There’s a national version, the “Sharia Free America” caucus, started by U.S. Reps. Keith Self and Chip Roy, both Republicans from Texas.

This particular wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in Texas coalesced around the kernel of a proposed Muslim-centric master-planned community, originally pitched as EPIC City, now known as the Meadow. The 400-acre project proposed by developer Community Capital Partners sparked the ire of Texas’ top Republicans, namely Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton, when plans became public in the spring of 2025. Since then, Abbott and Paxton have unleashed state investigations, lawsuits and new legislation targeting the project’s ownership structure, prompting the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to call the actions of state officials “Islamophic witch hunts and politically driven regulatory harassment.” Multiple lawsuits are ongoing, even after the U.S. Department of Justice dropped its inquiry into the development in June 2025 and a Travis County judge recently sided with the developer in its legal battle with the Texas Workforce Commission. Community Capital Partners continues to move forward with the development, which is set to include a mosque, school, single-family homes, apartments and senior living facilities. The community will be located in Collin and Hunt counties near Josephine.

Read this article at The Real Deal - Subscribers Only

Trump backed sway from a wall at Big Bend. But the bulldozers are here.

Texans were caught off-guard several months ago when the Trump administration appeared poised to construct a 30-foot wall through Big Bend National Park, a rugged expanse of moon-like desert that is a point of pride for many in the state. But after bipartisan opposition grew, the wall was removed from the federal government’s border construction map. Many exhaled, believing that the West Texas park, with its towering mountains and cliffs, would be spared. Then the bulldozers arrived this month. The sight of these earth-moving machines along the Rio Grande near the Santa Elena Canyon, one of the park’s major attractions, pointed to the most significant evidence of border barrier construction in the park. Contractors ripped through mesquite trees and brush and leveled the ground for more than a mile of what appeared to be a future roadway.

Big Bend is beloved by Texans and many across the country, even those who are not among its more than 500,000 annual visitors. It is a place to feel the immense and inhospitable wilderness of West Texas, where the stars at night actually are big and bright. The construction sparked a fresh wave of anger and outrage from all sorts of people — environmentalists, former park officials, local sheriffs — who again insisted that such infrastructure was unnecessary in a border region so remote and dangerous that people have rarely tried to cross there, even at the peak of unauthorized migration. Both John Cornyn, the state’s outgoing Republican senator, and James Talarico, the Democrat running to replace him, expressed concern this month about the start of construction inside the park. “My constituents believe that the 1,000-foot riverbank cliffs and remote Big Bend terrain offers its own source of deterrence,” Mr. Cornyn said in a letter last week to the Homeland Security secretary, Markwayne Mullin. Other Republican state leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who defeated Mr. Cornyn in the Senate primary, have not weighed in directly on the construction.

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

McKinney voters move to recall mayor, council after mosque vote

A group of McKinney residents has launched an effort to recall the mayor and three city council members, a week after the city council unanimously approved a contentious proposal for a new mosque. Organizers cited a “loss of public confidence” in the ability of the elected officials to represent the city’s residents in filings submitted this week to the city. The recall effort seeks to remove from office Mayor Bill Cox and council members Justin Beller, Geré Feltus and Ernest Lynch. In a statement, the mayor said residents have “every right to make their voices heard and to participate in the processes available to them.”

“Upholding the law and the constitutional principles that guide our government is a fundamental responsibility,” he said. “Our focus remains on serving the people of McKinney and continuing the important work before us.” The three council members did not immediately respond to phone calls, text messages or emails from The Dallas Morning News. Council members Rick Franklin, Patrick Cloutier and Michael Jones are not named in the recall petition but are up for re-election next year. John Aselton, who is helping to organize the recall, said the effort is not only about the mosque but reflects broader concerns about city spending, transparency and infrastructure. He pointed to the city’s plans to expand the airport and build a new amphitheater over the objections of some residents. “There’s a long string of personal grievances from the citizens,” said Aselton, who has lived in McKinney for about a decade. “This is not about one single issue. It’s an ongoing pattern of the city council not listening to its citizens.” Recall organizers must return the completed petition within 45 days of filing the affidavit, which would be 5 p.m. Sept. 26, according to the city’s charter. To trigger a recall election, they must obtain about 5,800 signatures from registered McKinney voters — equal to at least 30% of the votes cast at the last regular municipal election.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

Tom Luce remembered at Dallas funeral for lifetime of service

Across Texas, Tom Luce was known as an influential lawyer and public servant. To his family, he was simply “Pawpaw.” Family members, friends and civic leaders gathered Saturday for his funeral at Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas. Luce died of cardiac arrest July 25 in Telluride, Colorado, where he had traveled for his grandson’s wedding. He was 86. The Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Girata, rector of the church, welcomed mourners before reflections from Luce’s daughter, Ellen Luce Tucker; his grandson, Thomas Luce IV; and former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Republican who led the chamber from 2009 to 2019.

Among those attending were Ross Perot Jr., chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Companies, and members of his family. Luce was a longtime adviser and personal attorney to Perot’s father, Ross Perot Sr., and worked closely with both generations on business and civic endeavors. Pam Luce, his wife of more than 66 years, attended with their family. Looking across the church, Tucker recalled one of her father’s rules: Show up for funerals and weddings, and arrive early. “My dad’s faith was the foundation of everything,” Tucker said. His faith shaped his family life and the causes he pursued, she said. Tucker remembered a father who helped her recognize gifts she could not see in herself, then showed her how to use them in service to others. “My dad never sat me down and had a gospel conversation with me,” she said. “Rather, he gave me a vision of the gospel day in and day out.” Straus described Luce as a trusted counselor who could turn ambitious ideas into lasting institutions.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

National Stories

Republicans are attacking Democrats as vegans on the campaign trail

Republicans think they’ve found a winning message in some battleground races: calling their opponents vegans. In Colorado’s 8th District, where beef production is a major industry, Democratic nominee Manny Rutinel is being attacked for “a decade of pushing veganism” and “hurling disgusting insults at the agricultural community,” as Alexandria Cullen, spokesperson for GOP Rep. Gabe Evans, put it. As an undergrad, Rutinel posed shirtless draped in a PETA banner, and at Yale Law, he said animal agriculture is a “horrific, exploitive industry,” the Colorado Sun reported. In since-deleted 2017 Reddit posts, he suggested veganism as a solution to high food prices and voiced support for a movement that opposes the slaughter of animals for food.

Rutinel says he was vegan earlier in his life, but no longer is. “The views that Manny posted nearly a decade ago are not his views today,” said Clay Volino, his campaign manager, who noted Rutinel is “laser-focused on lowering costs for families.” Republicans are making similar attacks elsewhere, trying to wage a new meat-fueled culture war. The push to point out Democrats’ veganism is often about the local economy — but it’s also cultural red meat, and comes at a time as some Republicans and MAHA activists are pushing for more Americans to embrace a more meat-centric diet. “There’s a masculinity aspect: Being a vegan is viewed as soft,” said Anang Mittal, a Republican strategist who eats meat. “If you’re trying to portray your opponent as left-wing, it’s an easier hit than arguing the policies against the person.” In Iowa’s 2nd District, home to plenty of cattle and hog farms, Republicans are exuberantly resharing an old social media post from Democratic nominee Lindsay James in which she expressed support for “Meatless May,” a solidarity movement for meat processing workers and farmed animals.

Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only

Data centers are defining the Wisconsin governor’s race

Wisconsin hates data centers. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the state’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, wants voters to think his Democratic opponent doesn’t. Tiffany entered the general governor’s race this week by claiming in a series of social media posts that Democratic candidate David Crowley wants to subsidize artificial intelligence facilities — even as the House Republican avoids supporting an all-out ban, instead calling for modest reforms and ending state subsidies for tech corporations. Crowley says he doesn’t back a full moratorium on building AI facilities, instead supporting guardrails on the centers that already exist in the state. But Tiffany’s opening argument reflects a political reality: While data center protests are popping up and disrupting campaigns across the country, there are few places where the issue is currently as salient as it is in Wisconsin.

How the race plays out could be a sign of Republicans’ ability to tap into growing national concerns about the spread of AI facilities and their use of natural resources — a position that up until recently has been dominated by Democrats, largely due to the White House’s emphasis on developing AI in the U.S. “I don’t believe him,” Kelly Gallaher, Racine Democratic Party chair, laughing while speaking about Tiffany’s promises to address the data center issue. “It was a politically expedient thing to say. … There’s nothing in his past that shows that he’s not amenable to influence from businesses or from the White House. So I just flat-out don’t believe him.” It’s not surprising data centers have entered the general race so early, Gallaher said. Developers have swarmed the state, including Microsoft’s recent investment of more than $7 billion in “the world’s most powerful AI data center” in Mount Pleasant, located in Gallaher’s Racine County. Residents of the county she calls “Data Center Central” have voiced concerns about AI facilities for years — particularly after an infamous 2017 effort to build a Foxconn manufacturing plant there eventually failed, despite President Donald Trump’s heavy support at the time. “We have seen this become a topic of conversation that really pre-exists this particular election,” Gallaher said. “It’s been building, and the candidates have been responsive to the talk on the ground, the temperature of the people who have really big concerns about them.”

Read this article at NOTUS - Subscribers Only

Rural economic pain tests the GOP’s grip on a Trump stronghold

The arrival of late-summer state fairs, like the one here that features a prizewinning boar weighing 1,246 pounds, signals to the political world that the midterm campaign’s final chapter is just ahead. As Iowa’s 11-day extravaganza started late last week, the state’s Republicans found themselves in an unfamiliar position: trailing Democrats in a top race and facing serious challenges in several others. Some GOP candidates didn’t mention President Trump—viewed more unfavorably than favorably in a recent Fox News poll of Iowa voters—during their highest-profile fair appearances. Democrats, meanwhile, are pouring millions into the state’s races, as rural economic pain from Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran erodes GOP support amid stagnant grain prices and higher fuel and fertilizer costs.

Iowa, which backed Trump by 13 percentage points in 2024, is now an unexpected battleground despite years of GOP dominance. All six members of its congressional delegation are Republicans, and the Democratic National Committee was so disillusioned with Iowa, it ended a roughly five-decade tradition of Iowa hosting the party’s first presidential nominating contest. (Republicans are expected to keep it first for 2028.) Just three years ago, Trump dominated the fair as a presidential candidate. His Boeing 757 circled overhead several times even before he arrived on a day when four other presidential candidates were there competing for attention ahead of the state’s leadoff nominating caucuses. This year, Iowa’s Republican nominee for governor didn’t mention the president in his appearance on the Des Moines Register’s political soapbox, where candidates speak to fairgoers and a throng of media.“I talk about Iowa,” Zach Lahn, who is endorsed by Trump, said later when asked about the omission in his Friday speech. Joe Mitchell, the GOP nominee for a northeast Iowa congressional race, also didn’t mention Trump during his soapbox appearance. His district is rated as “lean Republican” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Lahn has trailed his Democratic opponent, state Auditor Rob Sand , in every public poll this summer.

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

AI has plunged the book publishing industry into utter chaos

Shortly after scoring a multimillion-dollar book deal for a debut author, the novelist’s agents pulled the plug. They could no longer support the project, they said, because they couldn’t verify that the book had been wholly written by their client. “This raises so many questions about authorship and what AI means for this industry,” the agency, Europa Content, told the publishers in a July letter after allegations of AI use swirled around “Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body,” a crime novel by Jerry Falade. “But those are questions for another day.” Yet with a new AI scandal engulfing publishing seemingly every month, it’s become more difficult to punt questions about its impact into some distant future. The spectacular implosions of big book deals over suspected AI use—and fears about who might be next—are forcing a reckoning over the nature of authorship, the relationship between writers and publishers and the industry’s long-term survival. But nobody can seem to agree who exactly is responsible for solving this problem, or even how much a problem it actually is.

Last year, 70 authors including Margaret Atwood and Jonathan Franzen signed an open letter to publishers voicing concerns about generative AI and asking them to make “a pledge that they will never release books that were created by machines.” Yet the Big Five—Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group and Macmillan—have largely been reluctant to make sweeping pronouncements about a technology that is both potentially lucrative and increasingly ubiquitous. (Many of them are also involved in lawsuits against tech companies for training their models on copyrighted books.) Instead, they find themselves running to put out fires when scandals over AI use become too reputationally damaging to ignore. Falade, a Southern Methodist University graduate student, has denied the accusations about his novel, calling them racially motivated. “This has just been so terrible for me,” he said in an interview on Thursday. “I haven’t been able to sleep well, I haven’t been able to eat.” In March, Hachette Book Group canceled the U.S. release of Mia Ballard’s book “Shy Girl,” a horror novel about a woman held captive by a man she met online and forced to live as his pet, amid allegations that the author had used AI in the writing process. Ballard, who originally self-published the novel before Hachette acquired the rights, has denied these claims, saying AI was used by an acquaintance who had edited the book. “Hachette remains committed to protecting original creative expression and storytelling,” the publisher said in a statement at the time. Last month, the Atlantic wrote that “Daggermouth,” a self-published dystopian romance whose rights were snapped up by Simon & Schuster, and which has consistently topped bestseller lists, contained hallmarks of AI use. The piece cited a research paper from Stony Brook University professor Tuhin Chakrabarty that ran the book through the AI detection tool Pangram. The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed, and the author has denied the allegations, publicly saying she does not believe that generative AI belongs in the writing process.

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

Donald Trump has committed too many high crimes to count. But should Democrats really impeach again?

If, as seems likely, Democrats win control of the House of Representatives in November, there will be tremendous pressure from the Democratic base to start a third round of impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump. If Democrats also win the Senate, the pressure will be still greater. Trump himself has predicted that if Democrats win the midterms, “I’ll get impeached.” Would another impeachment of Donald Trump make sense? Would it be constitutionally supportable, and would it be in the best interests of the country? I attempt to answer those questions in a new book—Great and Dangerous Offences: The Case For (and Against) Impeaching Trump a Third Time—due out in early 2027. In this end-of-summer series, “Try, Try Again?,” I will lay out the case for impeachment that is most likely to earn buy-in from American voters and also consider the best arguments against another Trump impeachment. Anyone considering a third Trump impeachment has to answer two questions: First, has Trump engaged in impeachable conduct in his second term? Second, even if so, what is the purpose of a third impeachment effort, and is that purpose achievable?

The clear answer to the first question is yes. Indeed, the perverse difficulty confronting any Trump impeachment project is that he has committed so many impeachable offenses that categorizing and explaining them all in ways the public can easily digest is a daunting challenge. Unlike the British, from whom the America’s founders adapted impeachment, the Framers wrote a definition of impeachable conduct into the Constitution—“treason, bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” That definition has often fomented debate in prior presidential impeachments, primarily because the meaning of high Crimes and Misdemeanors is not immediately evident from the words themselves. Whatever else this enigmatic phrase may cover, it is plain from British constitutional history, the statements of those involved in drafting and ratifying the U.S. Constitution, and subsequent American practice that it reaches corruption in office for the personal gain of oneself or one’s family, serious criminality, and direct violations of significant provisions of the Constitution. More importantly, it covers an effort by the president to subvert the constitutional order by evading its structure of interbranch checks and balances, undercutting democracy, degrading the rule of law, and setting himself up as an elected autocrat.

Read this article at Slate - Subscribers Only

Haley Stevens urges El-Sayed to ditch Hasan Piker affiliation after Michigan primary

Democratic anxiety rises in the Michigan Senate race as a new Fox News poll shows Republican Mike Rogers leading Abdul El-Sayed. Michigan Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens joins Jacqui Heinrich to defend the party's platform, address demographic underperformance and outline strategies to mobilize key voters ahead of the crucial upcoming election. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., urged Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who defeated her in Michigan's fierce Democratic primary election, to sever ties with controversial, far-left streamer Hasan Piker on "The Sunday Briefing," saying the party's nominee should now turn his attention toward Michigan voters as he pivots to the general election. Stevens maintained her primary-season criticism of Piker even while backing El-Sayed, describing herself as still committed to the party.

"It certainly makes sense to get rid of this Hasan Piker affiliation," she said, also asserting that the Democratic plans for healthcare, democracy and Black-owned businesses are better than those of Republican Mike Rogers, who will oppose El-Sayed in the Senate race. Asked whether El-Sayed had said or done anything other than winning the Democratic nomination to earn the support and assuage the concerns of groups that voted for Stevens, such as Jewish voters, Black voters or Reagan-era Democrats, Stevens pointed to her own good performance with those demographics, identifying herself as a Zionist Democrat and asserting that her party had room for all those communities. "I came really close [to winning the primary] and I'm still a Democrat. I'm still out here talking about my views and values. I want the people who share my views and values to feel safe and to feel heard in the Democratic Party." The face-off to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who backed Stevens, is a must-win contest for Democrats and one of roughly a dozen general election Senate races expected to determine whether Republicans retain their narrow majority.

Read this article at Fox News - Subscribers Only

Trump orders military to reduce joint exercises with South Korea

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has directed the Defense Department to scale down joint military exercises with South Korea, citing the U.S. ally’s refusal to join the war in Iran and his “very good” relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Trump said the large, annual military drills sent a “signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, a nuclear-armed state with which the U.S. has no formal diplomatic ties but which Trump says has been “unthreatening and respectful” as long as he has been president. “Based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!” Trump wrote on social media. His announcement came just hours before the drills were set to start.

“While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!’” Trump wrote. It was not immediately clear what a scaled-down version of the training would look like. The South Korean defense ministry said Monday that the drills, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield and scheduled to last until Aug. 27, were “proceeding as planned.” In a statement on Monday, the office of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said the U.S. and South Korea had “maintained close coordination” on joint exercises and training and would continue to do so. Like Trump, Lee has expressed support for the resumption of talks with North Korea, which remains technically at war with South Korea after the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The government “hopes that the friendly relationship between the leaders of the United States and North Korea will lead to meaningful U.S.-North Korea dialogue, thereby opening discussions aimed at advancing peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee’s office said. “To this end, the government will make the necessary diplomatic efforts as a ‘pace-setter,’ in close coordination with the United States.”

Read this article at NBC News - Subscribers Only

Lead Stories

Trump ratings may complicate Texas GOP plan to flip 5 seats in House

Texas Republicans’ controversial move last summer to redraw the state’s congressional maps with the aim of flipping five Democratic seats this fall may be complicated by President Donald Trump’s low approval ratings, experts say. High prices on gas and groceries, along with a nationwide immigration crackdown that has sometimes turned violent, have led pollsters to predict a “blue wave” in November’s midterms. The GOP counted on Texas Latinos, in particular, to maintain the support they showed for Trump in 2024, political scientists said, but may have inadvertently weakened some of their advantages as the president’s approval rating plummets among the demographic. Several South Texas districts, including two that were redrawn to favor Republicans by double digits, now appear to be legitimate toss-ups, experts said.

The shift could even influence contests in deep-red areas like the newly redrawn Congressional District 9 east of Houston, though the state’s political experts still give Republican Alex Mealer an edge over Democrat Leticia Gutierrez. More than 60% of Latino Texans now have an unfavorable view of the president, according to polling by the Texas Politics Project, one of the highest rates in nearly a decade. Even a few Democratic pickups could determine control of the U.S. House for the last two years of Trump’s term, said Sean Theriault, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. “South Texas districts are going to be more competitive… and I think that as the election gets closer and closer we’ll see them start drifting toward the toss-up category,” he said. “Those districts I think are going to determine who’s the majority (in the House).” While Democrats are growing optimistic about the South Texas races, other redrawn districts now held by Democrats still appear to favor Republicans. Congressional District 32 now lies in staunchly conservative suburbs of Dallas and East Texas, while District 35, in the San Antonio area, also appears to favor the GOP.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Texas GOP lawmaker predicts fallout for his party over Big Bend border work

A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers sent a letter this week to Gov. Greg Abbott asking for his help in stopping the Trump administration from moving forward with border construction projects in Big Bend National Park. Forty Democrats and three Republicans serving in the Texas House of Representatives added their signatures to the letter that went to the governor Thursday. In the opening of the letter, they said they wanted to express their “deep concern and opposition to construction of border barriers in the Big Bend region, particularly in Big Bend National Park.” “We support securing our border and recognize our duty to protect Texans,” the letter from the 43 lawmakers read. “However, it is essential that border security policy be pursued in a manner that is effective, fiscally responsible, and respectful of the communities and landscapes we are sworn to protect.”

The timing of the letter coincides with protests that happened earlier this week in Big Bend National Park, where people spotted heavy equipment working to clear what looked like paths in the vegetation there. The commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection reiterated the agency does not plan to build a 30-foot-high border wall through the national park, but he said preparations are underway for a broader border infrastructure project that includes new patrol roads, detection technology and vehicle barriers. On its official X page, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused news outlets of “fearmongering” in their reporting about the scope of the project. “What people are seeing is survey and design work — NOT construction of a wall or stadium lighting through Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, or the Black Wildlife Management Area,” the DHS post on Thursday read. “We are working to preserve the landscape and protect the access visitors and local residents depend on.” However, one of the three Republican lawmakers who signed onto the letter, State Rep. Wes Virdell of Brady, told KXAN on Friday his party could face backlash in the upcoming midterm election for Texas leaders not speaking out more publicly against the project, which he said has faced major bipartisan pushback across the state.

Read this article at KXAN - Subscribers Only

How Taylor Sheridan built a $1B TV empire, without needing Hollywood, A-listers or Emmys

Working for “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan is not for the faint of heart. The man who shepherded huge hits on to our screens is a “frustrated actor” with a “big ego,” according to those who have worked for him. Former A-lister Ed Harris recently griped he was “misled” by a role on Sheridan’s “Dutton Ranch” saying he told his team to “get me the f—k out of here,” off his set, while “Lioness” star Zoe Saldaña said Sheridan gives his stars two choices, “You have one of two choices. You either accept the challenge and make sure that you don’t f— up… or you quit.” But it can’t be denied he’s breathed new life into the careers of stars like Helen Mirren, Harrison Ford, Demi Moore and Michelle Pfeiffer, raking them in multi-million dollar pay days in the process.

But, while many people swear by Sheridan and say he is fiercely loyal, things don’t always work out. He no longer talks to “Yellowstone” star Kevin Costner after their very public fallout toward the end of the show’s fifth and final season, Page Six is told. And now Sheridan, 56, is now quitting Paramount, the network where his shows found a fanatical audience, for NBCUniversal, in a deal that valued at a billion dollars. Those who know him paint a picture of a wannabe cowboy who keeps a horse trailer at base camp on his show “Landman” and is often seen riding around set. “Here’s the deal about Taylor,” actress Jill Wanger told Decider earlier this month, “He’s not necessarily always nice. He’s fair and if he tells you he’s going to do something, he does it. And that’s rare in the industry.” Wagner co-created the Paramount+ series “Special Ops: Lioness” with her husband David Lemanowicz, and pitched the concept to Sheridan, her former acting coach. She also stars as CIA operative Bobby and serves as an executive producer on the show, while Sheridan plays Sergeant Major Cody Spears.

Read this article at Page 6 - Subscribers Only

‘ICE tax’: Valley hardest hit in Texas from mass deportation campaign

The Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign led to a 5% quarterly drop in construction jobs in the Rio Grande Valley during the third quarter of last year — the highest construction jobs decline on record for the region — while the cost of housing and services across the state is rising because of the shrinking workforce. That’s according to a newly released report, “End the Ice Tax,” from America’s Voice, a nonprofit national organization that advocates for the enactment of changes to government policy that “secure freedom and opportunity for immigrants in America.” The report found that nearly one-fifth of ICE arrests in Texas took place in the Valley, where ICE has arrested more than 9,100 people during the surge. In Laredo, monthly arrests of workers and residents jumped from around half a dozen on average to more than 800 due to the mass deportation campaign, the report said.

“Business is down significantly,” South Texas Builders Association Board President Ronnie Cavazos is quoted as saying. “If we continue on this trajectory, we will see a lot of businesses fail.” Among U.S. states, California, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey and New York rely most heavily on immigrants workers and are experiencing proportionate economic impacts, including higher costs for things like groceries, daycare and home construction, according to the report, which noted that regions of Texas are experiencing the same types of effects. America’s Voice stated that the government’s “mass deportation agenda is contributing to an increase in price and depressing economic activity.” “That decision isn’t theoretical,” the organization said. “It shows up at every kitchen table in the country, including the tables of families who’ve never thought twice about immigration. We call it the ICE tax. It’s the additional cost you pay when your government picks mass deportation over your wallet — higher prices at checkout, jobs that stall out because workers are gone, and Main Street businesses sitting quiet after a raid comes through.”

Read this article at MyRGV - Subscribers Only

Republicans worry their chances of keeping Congress are slipping away. Inside the Trump campaign plan to change that

President Donald Trump has finally given the green light to pour millions of dollars from his personal PAC toward boosting vulnerable Republicans in November, two people familiar with the plans told CNN, as some top campaign advisers privately acknowledge that Republicans’ chances of keeping control of both the House and Senate are dwindling. Trump’s political team is still debating what the final dollar figure will be, though one person familiar with the discussions floated $30 million in the first tranche. Another official cautioned that the final amounts have not yet been decided. The long-awaited cash infusion is happening in the coming weeks, two people said, describing it as the first salvo in a stretch-run effort as November looms just three months away. And it comes amid growing GOP concerns that severe headwinds over the Iran war and high gas prices could suppress voter turnout.

“There is a path where we keep the House and the Senate,” one source told CNN. “I’m not in a place today where I’m prepared to say we’re cautiously optimistic about that.” Trump is also belatedly preparing to ratchet up his own campaigning schedule, with plans to travel at least once a week to hold a spate of rallies in battleground districts, one adviser said. His team first promised this move months ago, and Republicans have long argued it’s a crucial step to energizing MAGA voters critical to the party’s midterm chances. “He loves to travel, but he hates to travel,” said one of his advisers, noting that domestic issues and the Iran war upended early plans to get him on the road more frequently. Trump has recently told his closest aides that he wants to be out more stumping for GOP candidates. But advisers acknowledge his enthusiasm could evaporate just as quickly. “We’ll see how long that lasts,” the adviser said. “Once he’s traveling, he’s like: ‘Why am I doing this? I want to be doing other things.’” Still, there’s widespread angst within the party that Trump has waited too long to get more directly involved.

Read this article at CNN - Subscribers Only

State Stories

How Republicans embraced Brandon Herrera, a Texas Republican candidate and gun influencer

Standing in a San Antonio barbecue joint, the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, laid out a stark contrast between two congressional candidates in a sprawling West Texas border district. Voters could choose the “common sense” of the G.O.P. nominee, Brandon Herrera, he said, or the “crazy” positions of his Democratic opponent. Until recently, however, establishment Republicans were trying to paint Mr. Herrera as the crazy one. A self-described gun-rights absolutist and YouTuber known for his inflammatory humor, Mr. Herrera, 30, was initially opposed this year by both Mr. Johnson and President Trump as he challenged the district’s Republican incumbent, Tony Gonzales, for a second straight time. Mr. Gonzales and his allies spent millions painting Mr. Herrera as extreme, highlighting old videos in which he made wildly offensive jokes like saying that a Nazi-era submachine gun was “the original ghetto blaster” and “Hitler’s street sweeper.”

But after a sexual misconduct scandal forced Mr. Gonzales out of the race and then out of Congress this year, top Republicans quickly closed ranks around Mr. Herrera. In an era where candidates’ online pasts are etched into the public record, Mr. Herrera’s rise is testing voters’ tolerance for comments, even those made in jest, that are beyond the pale of public acceptability. It also underscores the anti-establishment energy coursing through both parties. As they wrestle for control of Congress, national leaders have jumped into shotgun marriages with outsider candidates — and those candidates, in turn, are welcoming help from an establishment they once attacked. “After a brutal primary on all sides,” Mr. Herrera told reporters in San Antonio late last month, “the focus has to be bringing the party together.” The district leans Republican — Mr. Trump carried it by 15 percentage points in 2024 — but Democrats believe Mr. Herrera’s polarizing nature could give their nominee, Katy Padilla Stout, a chance.

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

Jim Foster, who helped Democrats sweep Dallas County, dies at 82

Former Dallas County Judge Jim Foster has died, according to his sister, Charlotte Foster Ross. He was 82. Foster suffered a heart attack on Friday, his sister said, after going into the hospital for gallstones. He died yesterday at Methodist Hospital in Plano, Ross added. “He was a loving, kind brother that was always there for everybody. He was the most soft-spoken human being I’ve ever known,” she continued. Foster was in the security business and ran unsuccessful campaigns for sheriff and constable before launching what looked like a longshot bid for the county’s top office. In 2007, he defeated Republican County Judge Margaret Keliher, as Democrats swept into power in Dallas County.

“Jim Foster ran for and won Dallas County Judge at a time when other Democrats believed the seat was unwinnable. In his first year, he convened a summit for other newly elected county judges in the metroplex building upon the strong regional relationship that continues to exist today,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told WFAA on Saturday. But during his one term, Foster tangled publicly with Commissioner John Wiley Price, a fellow Democrat, over the Inland Port in southern Dallas County. “You can't stand for what's right and expect to be the darling of the Democratic Party,” Foster told The Dallas Morning News in 2014. In 2010, Democratic voters replaced Foster with Jenkins. After leaving office, Foster moved to Florida to work in real estate but later returned to Dallas. “He was the most honest man I have ever known,” former Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey posted on Facebook on Saturday. “He loved Dallas County and his family was very involved in the history of northeast Dallas County.” Foster regularly contributed images and insight to the Facebook group called Pioneers of Dallas County.

Read this article at WFAA - Subscribers Only

As John Whitmire turns 77, the ‘spry’ and ‘vigorous’ Houston mayor wants to stay in office into his 80s

Houston Mayor John Whitmire turned 77 years old on Thursday, more than a year before he plans to seek a second four-year term in office. When a Houston Public Media reporter wished Whitmire a happy birthday and asked how he felt about serving another four years on Wednesday, Whitmire said his administration is "actively working." "I'm the first one here in the morning, last one to leave," Whitmire said. "So I love where you’re going, but we have started something special in the city of Houston. We’re not going to finish it ‘til the end of my second term. So I look forward to working with you — such a delight."

Former President Joe Biden entered office at 78 years old in 2020, making him the oldest president in history at the time. Concerns about his age factored heavily into his decision to drop his reelection bid in 2024, when he was 82. On Wednesday, city controller Chris Hollins — a consistent rival of Whitmire — wished the mayor a happy birthday. "Brother, you're almost old enough to run for president now," Hollins said. Biden's performance as president and on the campaign trail contributed to a surge in negative sentiment about aging officeholders, said Brandon Rottinghaus, political science professor at the University of Houston — but it also highlighted the importance of voter perception. A Pew Research Center survey found 79% of Americans supported maximum age limits for federal elected officials in 2023. But a poll by Gallup in 2024 found 59% of Americans were "very concerned" about Biden's age, compared to just 18% for President Donald Trump, who was three years younger.

Read this article at Houston Public Media - Subscribers Only

Texas child advocates push back against proposed overhaul of federal Head Start

Child advocates from Texas and across the country are voicing strong opposition against proposed changes to Head Start. The nonprofit Children At Risk held a press conference Thursday with child advocates and early childhood stakeholders to discuss the proposed overhaul and its state-by-state impacts. Head Start programs provide free learning and development services to children from low-income families, from birth to age five. Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families announced proposed sweeping changes to the program’s regulations. This includes removing significant federal regulations and shifting standards towards state and local requirements, decreasing allowable administrative costs from 15% to 5%, and emphasizing English-language instruction in most programs.

It would slim regulation of the 60-year-old anti-poverty program and aim to save money. Advocates worry the changes could undermine the early education program's mission. The federal government said the changes would reduce significant bureaucratic burden on programs and open up new slots for kids. “The rules that we have for Head Start right now are really good — they’ve worked for 60 years,” said Bob Sanborn, CEO of Children at Risk. “We support efforts to reduce unnecessary federal [spending,] but this cannot come at the cost of child care quality, accountability, and safety.” Teresa Granilla, CEO of the San Antonio-based nonprofit AVANCE, said the move to prioritize English-language instruction could hurt the growth of the nearly one-third of children in Head Start who are bilingual learners. “The research in Head Start’s own resources are clear: Supporting a child’s home language helps build the foundation for learning English and for later learning, ” said Granilla. “An English-only approach is not simply a change in curriculum.” Children at Risk reports Texas is home to nearly 465,000 low-income children with working parents. Altogether, Head Start and Early Head Start programs have provided affordable, high-quality childcare for nearly 70,000 of those children as of last year. Advocates in Alabama and Florida also said significantly changing the federal standards for governing Head Start services could lead to state-by-state inequities to high-quality services. “Head Start is a staple in rural communities where there’s no childcare,” said Dawn Owens, the director of the Montgomery Education Foundation. “There are counties where there is no childcare, there is only Head Start, so families rely on that to work.”

Read this article at Houston Public Media - Subscribers Only

DFW Airport drops plans for wash stations for Muslim travelers

DFW International Airport has stopped plans for a proposed project to build wash stations for Muslim travelers in Terminal D after the project sparked public debate this week and Gov. Greg Abbott targeted its funding. Abbott said on social media Friday he had ordered a review of state grants at DFW Airport and referred DFW to the U.S. Department of Transportation for investigation. “Texas will not allow illegal religious discrimination at taxpayer-funded facilities,” Abbott said.

Similar wash stations like the ones DFW was expected to install are offered at facilities in Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Chicago O'Hare International. Abbott targeted the Houston airport also. The airport had been considering a proposal to install Islamic foot wash stations inside some Terminal D restrooms, The Dallas Morning News previously reported. The project consisted of adding ablution stations to existing concourse-level restrooms in Terminal D, one men's ablution station in the existing men's restroom and one women's ablution station in the existing women's restroom, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Wash stations like the ones the project proposed are commonly used to perform Wudu, a ritual purification practice in Islam. DFW Airport already offers wash stations in its Terminal D interfaith chapel. “Like all proposed projects, the airport ultimately considers the operational benefits, customer service impacts, operational risks and costs before approving them,” Heath Montgomery, a spokesperson for the airport, told The News in an email Friday evening. “While that evaluation was planned, the airport accelerated its review due to elevated public interest this week and has determined not to proceed with the project as it would not deliver the originally anticipated operational benefits.” When asked whether existing ablution stations in the interfaith chapel would be affected, Montgomery said via text that “I’m not aware of any additional proposed changes at this time.”

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

Superintendent: immigration policies impact Dallas school enrollment

Dallas ISD’s enrollment has slipped, and immigration policies may have had a hand in it, Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said as the district began the new school year Tuesday. "Certainly, some policies regarding immigration have had an impact," Elizalde said at a news conference at Victor H. Hexter Elementary School. "We think this year we're probably going to level off." Elizalde said this school year’s enrollment figures are not yet available. “We are prepared to receive as many students as come through our doors,” Elizalde said. The district’s enrollment has been on a downward trajectory for the last decade, save a small increase in the 2024-25 school year. Last school year, Dallas ISD had over 134,000 students, down 3% from the previous year. Since 2015, Dallas ISD has consistently lost over 1,000 students per year, with a large dip in 2020 due to the pandemic.

In January 2025, President Donald Trump repealed a Biden-era policy that protected certain spaces — including schools and churches — from immigration enforcement. Dallas ISD, the second-largest district in the state by enrollment, isn’t the only district seeing fewer students. Enrollment in Fort Worth ISD has also dropped significantly in the last decade, and it saw a 4% decrease from 2024 to 2025. Other North Texas school districts, like Richardson ISD and Irving ISD, follow similar trends. Other factors that could influence enrollment are the Texas’ new school choice program, wherein the state subsidizes private school tuition or homeschooling. Over 2,500 students living in Dallas ISD boundaries and 1,500 students in Fort Worth ISD boundaries will participate in the program, though not all of them are necessarily switching from public to private school. Demographic trends, like declining birth rates and fewer children in Texas, could also contribute to lower enrollment in public schools. At the state level, public school enrollment saw a decline of 76,000 students in 2025 — a 1.4% drop — making it the largest enrollment dip in Texas outside of the pandemic, according to the nonpartisan think tank Texas 2036. Elizalde said Tuesday she doesn’t expect a large change in enrollment this year for her district, but hopes new Dallas ISD initiatives, like its universal pre-K program, will draw in more families. Dallas ISD, along with dozens of other area districts, had their first day of school this week. While Fort Worth entered the new school year under state takeover, others, like Dallas and Irving ISD opened new campuses.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

James Talarico pushes new plan to woo Texas veterans, pledges to ‘fight for them the way they fight for us’

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico is unveiling a veterans and military-specific policy platform Friday aimed at “stopping the new forever war in Iran,” strengthening support for military families and increasing the resources available to veterans for health care, housing and employment. “Texas has more veterans than any other state, and they deserve a senator who will fight for them the way they fight for us,” Talarico said. “That’s why I’m proud to announce my plan to support our brave men and women in uniform and bolster the systems they rely on when they return home.” The plan takes aim at the Trump Administration’s mass layoffs in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), committing to a reversal of terminations of federal veteran employees along with reclassifying VA medical care as “mandatory spending,” which would protect the funding from yearly Congressional budget fights.

Talarico, a 37-year-old state lawmaker from Austin who taught school in San Antonio before his career in politics also proposed automatically enrolling all eligible veterans in VA health care and opposing efforts to privatize the VA system. Talarico’s policy announcement, which he will unveil officially at a Friday event in Killeen, follows six months of U.S. conflict with Iran that has killed 18 service members, including Texas teenager U.S. Army Pvt. Isabella Gonzales. Talarico pledged support for ending “forever wars,” including in Iran, and reinforcing cooperation with NATO and the European Union. Talarico faces Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the landmark Senate race, and with polls showing the Democrat surging despite Republican dominance statewide, both candidates have been seeking to coax voters to turn out in force in November. Paxton swung through San Antonio on Saturday, appearing with local conservative officials to urge voters to rally their friends and neighbors against sitting out this election. Paxton has not unveiled a veteran-specific platform yet in the Senate race.

Read this article at San Antonio Report - Subscribers Only

How the $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna merger could remake Houston TV news

Come September, when viewers of CW39 flip to the channel for the 9 p.m. news, they'll be greeted with the unfamiliar faces of Len Cannon and Mia Gradney, the evening broadcasters on KHOU, Houston's CBS affiliate. The seemingly minor programming switch — CW39 currently leases its nightly broadcast from ABC13 — is among the first shifts in the Houston media market following the proposed merger of broadcasting giants Nexstar and Tegna, which would create one of the largest local television companies in U.S. history. In April, the Federal Communications Commission approved the $6.2 billion merger of the rival television conglomerates, paving the way for Nexstar to own 256 stations across 80% of the country's media markets, including 42 stations in Texas, covering approximately 98.1% of the state's population.

In Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and 11 other markets, Nexstar is poised to control at least two stations. President Donald Trump has trumpeted the deal, saying it “will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition.” But the merger is currently held up in federal court, after a bipartisan coalition of 13 states sued to block the union on antitrust grounds. Texas did not join the suit, and the state’s Attorney General's office did not respond to a request for comment. Tegna didn't respond to requests for comment. Nexstar, which is headquartered in Irving, declined to comment on specifics of the merger, citing the ongoing litigation. Its executives have argued that the merger is essential for the survival of local television journalism, which they say is increasingly eclipsed by YouTube, streaming and other social media platforms. Andy Alford, Nexstar's president of broadcasting, described the programming shift at CW39, which it has owned since 2019, as an "arm's-length relationship between two distinct organizations." Tegna owns KHOU. At the same time, he heralded the pending merger as an opportunity to produce better journalism in Houston by combining the "talent, resources and capabilities" of KHOU and CW39. "We continue to believe that a future integration of our newsrooms is a better outcome that will create even greater opportunities to serve our community while strengthening and preserving local journalism," Alford said in a statement.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

United ISD restores Communities in Schools program at 5 campuses

United ISD is bringing back its Communities in Schools (CIS) program this year, but at fewer campuses than before. Trustees approved a plan to restore CIS at five campuses, down from the original 15. The move reduces the district’s cost from $400,000 to $115,000. At the Aug. 12 board meeting, several students spoke to trustees about how CIS affected their lives. Victor Vasquez, with County Court at Law 2, also addressed the board, saying the court has seen positive results from students involved in the program. The decision comes as UISD continues looking for ways to reduce expenses while maintaining supports for at-risk students.

Read this article at KGNS - Subscribers Only

Restaurant operator with Texas ties mired in bankruptcy

A longtime Texas restaurant operator with prominent ties to Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth area is poised to enter a new chapter, thanks to a federal judge and a multimillion-dollar bankruptcy case. Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brenda T. Rhoades confirmed Aug. 6 a reorganization plan for KBI 2015 TX LP, a company managed by restaurateur Kim Forsythe with multiple food-and-entertainment-focused businesses in Texas When the reorganization plan goes through, an unaffiliated investor would contribute at least $250,000 for 100 percent of the company's equity.

The decision marks another major shrinking of Forsythe's once sprawling restaurant empire, which includes the Sambuca chain of steak, seafood and dancing concepts. The news also coincides with the abrupt closure of Forsythe's other company, 909 Events, Inc., formerly known as Sambuca Catering, Inc., according to public records. 909 was the operator of the Crystal Ballroom at the Rice, a wedding venue inside the Rice Hotel. Chron multimedia reporter Macy Meinhardt reported earlier this week that the company had informed customers its lease had been terminated and that it would be seeking bankruptcy protection, leaving their scheduled deposits and wedding dates up in the air. While KBI, as a company, may emerge still alive after all this, additional companies owned by Forsythe are presently being swallowed up by liquidation, as a bank is accusing them of defaulting on millions of dollars in debt. According to court documents, KBI was identified as the operating company behind The Rayleigh Underground and Kitchen 101, both part of Toyota Music Factory, a sprawling entertainment district in the North Texas city of Irving. The Rayleigh Underground is a 38,000-square-foot, two-story entertainment venue that evokes sights, sounds and tastes of Las Vegas, according to its website. Kitchen 101 is an adjoining fast-casual restaurant with wine and coffee.

Read this article at Chron - Subscribers Only

Indigenous group sues to stop Big Bend Border Wall on religious grounds

The People of La Junta for Preservation, a nonprofit founded in 2024 that works to preserve Indigenous sites, and two Indigenous worshippers of Lipan Apache lineage are suing the federal government to stop the highly contentious border barrier construction and surveying activities in Big Bend, the Texas Observer has learned. The plaintiffs argue that ongoing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) construction and surveying activities in Big Bend National Park and across far West Texas have cut them off both from specific sacred sites and ecosystems fundamental to their spiritual practices in violation of Religious Freedom Restoration Act and American Indian Religious Freedom Act protections. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in San Antonio, not only seeks an immediate halt to construction activity in Big Bend National Park but across CBP’s Big Bend Sector.

The lawsuit argues that “the threatened areas include places used by [plaintiff Christina Hernandez] or members of her community for religious observance, ceremony, prayer, gathering, or other traditional religious practices” and “the challenged construction also threatens to substantially burden the exercise of religion by physically altering, restricting access to, or destroying the places at which those practices occur.” Democratic Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez, who is also a San Antonio-based lawyer, is representing the plaintiffs in the case. His state Senate district includes a portion of Big Bend National Park and Brewster County. The prominent Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin is also on the case. The lawsuit names the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), CBP, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, and Big Bend Sector Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Lloyd M. Easterling among the defendants. Hernandez is director of People of La Junta and is also a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, which is not currently a federally recognized tribe but has been recognized by the state, and a lead plaintiff in the suit. “We use the river for coming-of-age ceremonies that we are reintroducing into the community, and then we also harvest sacred plant material—willows, cattail pollen—and that all we get specifically from the banks of the river, versus sourcing elsewhere, because we feel like that’s the the closest to our creator,” Hernandez told the Observer. “That water is used in a multitude of ways within ceremony, whether it’s opening up a ceremony at large, or being put in the water to be close to our Creator.”

Read this article at Texas Observer - Subscribers Only

National Stories

U.S., Canada race for deal to avert Trump’s threat of 50 percent tariffs

The United States and Canada are inching closer to a deal to avert the imposition of punitive 50 percent tariffs on such Canadian products as hockey sticks, wine and cement, according to industry executives and trade specialists following the talks. Details remain fluid, and recent talks were contentious ahead of an early-Wednesday deadline. But the emerging accord could pair Canadian tariff concessions along with commitments on energy, defense and critical minerals in return for the U.S. agreeing to shelve President Donald Trump’s new Section 338 tariffs and relax levies on steel and aluminum, according to those following the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential deliberations. If a deal is reached, it is expected to provide momentum for the ongoing renegotiation of the North American trade deal reached in the president’s first term. An accord would also spare the administration one more legal battle over the president’s tariff powers.

“I’m optimistic that there’ll be a resolution in full or in part that will stave off the Section 338 tariffs. That’s the trajectory we’re on,” said Dan Ujczo, a veteran trade attorney in Columbus, Ohio. “Both sides want a deal.” Trump’s Section 338 tariffs would apply to just 5 percent of the $382 billion worth of Canadian goods that the U.S. imported last year. But if they take effect as scheduled at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, they could scupper hopes for preserving a unified North American trade bloc, industry executives said. The imposition of new tariffs, especially at a trade-chilling 50 percent, would exacerbate anti-U.S. sentiment in Canada, which is already raw after Trump’s repeated gibes about turning Canada into the 51st U.S. state. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said “all options are on the table” in terms of retaliation for any new U.S. actions. “You’ve now put the Canadian government, with these 338s, in a position where if we don’t do a comprehensive deal, we may just end up having to politically retaliate and we will be years away from having trade peace,” said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association in Toronto.

Read this article at Washington Post - Subscribers Only

Years of Trump support came undone in 15 minutes in an airport.

Brent Jindra, a tech salesman, voted for President Trump three times, drawn by his aggressive immigration agenda. He never imagined the crackdown would ensnare his own wife. Last month, moments after the couple got off their flight in Burbank, Calif., a young man in a brown hooded sweatshirt stopped Galina Bobreneva. “Congratulations, you’ve been chosen for secondary screening,” he told her, according to the couple’s recollection. The man was a federal agent, and after questioning Ms. Bobreneva for about 15 minutes, he led her away in handcuffs to an unmarked vehicle. “I’m only doing my job,” he said. “Everything will be OK.” So began a 16-day ordeal: a night on the floor of a basement holding cell in downtown Los Angeles; two weeks in a Mojave Desert detention center and a frantic legal effort to win her release.

Freed on a $35,000 bond with an electronic monitor clamped to her ankle, she is now fighting to stay in the United States against federal charges of overstaying her visa. Ms. Bobreneva, who is from Russia, has a pending green card application, and her lawyer asserts that she was never out of lawful status. Her case represents a new front in President Trump’s mass deportation drive: arrests at airports of people whose visas have expired but who have active immigration cases and no criminal history. Although green-card applicants with expired visas can be detained under federal law, previous administrations did not consider them to be in the country unlawfully. But as the Trump administration seeks to nearly double its daily arrests to 2,000 people, it is detaining and attempting to deport thousands of people who believed they were following the rules. “The allure of the MAGA campaign was around illegal entries of criminals,” said Mr. Jindra, 48. “There was never a mandate for this president to turn the barrel of the gun and start going after people who legally entered.” n response to questions about Ms. Bobreneva’s case, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that she was “an illegal alien” targeted for arrest because “she overstayed her welcome in violation of our nation’s laws.”

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

The ‘country hicks’ who refused $26 million from an AI data center

The offer arrived out of nowhere just over one year ago. An unknown company was scooping up Kentucky farmland, and few plots were more valuable than those owned by Delsia Bare and her mother, Ida Huddleston. The money would be life-changing. From Bare’s farm, the company wanted 463 acres at $48,000 apiece. From Huddleston’s nearby piece of property, it sought 71 at $60,000 per acre. Together mother and daughter would collect $26.48 million. All they had to do was sign. At first the women agreed. Then they discovered what their farmland—the farmland that their family had cultivated for nearly 200 years—would be used for: a 2.2-gigawatt hyperscale data center. That information turned their answer into an easy one. No. “Kick rocks and don’t come back,” Bare told the representative, after successfully revoking the agreements.

Since that $26 million refusal, Bare and Huddleston, two self-described “country hicks,” have become polarizing heroes of the rural campaign against the AI technology rewiring geopolitics, the economy—and now hometowns like theirs. If computing power is, as OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman has said, “the currency of the future,” then communities like Maysville (population: 8,700) are being asked to serve as the reserves. The industry’s arrival has brought overnight changes—in some cases, boosted tax bases and multimillion-dollar payouts for landowners, but also fears about costs, water usage, noise and, in Maysville, allowing in an unknown piece of the future. “I never thought I’d be in a battle with a data center,” said Bare. “I thought I was about as far out in the boondocks as you could get.” She and her mother are unlikely Silicon Valley adversaries. Bare, 54 years old, is God-fearing and transgressive, often in the same breath, with domestic trouble in her past. Diabetes has left her nearly blind. She calls cows to breakfast with a holler, extemporizes on the Bible in full paragraphs and keeps a collection of high-vibration crystals. Her mother is an 83-year-old churchgoing widow who walks with a cane. “One of us is blind and the other’s cripple,” said Huddleston.

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

California congressman left GOP to try to survive redistricting competition

One thing Anne Smull, a retired feedstore owner, was looking forward to on Election Day was voting for the man who currently represents her in Congress, conservative Rep. Kevin Kiley. Now she can’t. That’s because California Democrats sliced Kiley’s district six ways as payback for Republican redistricting in Texas and elsewhere. The chunk of the district that Smull, who identifies as a conservative, lives in is now grafted onto an overwhelmingly Democratic seat based in the state’s wine country. During a recent lunch at a cafe in Lincoln, a onetime agricultural town that has morphed into a bedroom community on the edge of Sacramento’s exurban sprawl, Smull was heartbroken to hear she can no longer vote for Kiley.

“He believes in the same things I do,” Smull said. “It feels sneaky and underhanded.” Democratic voters in several other states know how Smull feels. President Donald Trump last year told GOP-controlled states to redraw their maps before this year’s midterm elections to increase the number of winnable seats for Republicans in order to help the party hold onto the U.S. House. The effort was turbocharged by a U.S. Supreme Court decision this spring that neutralized a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and cleared the way for Republicans to redraw more seats across the South that had elected Black Democrats. Democratic-leaning and heavily minority communities from Texas to Tennessee have been split into multiple congressional districts that dilute the Democratic vote by stretching deep into conservative areas. In the future, it is likely that more Republican voters in other states will go through what Smull and other conservatives in Northern California are facing. Democrats in Maryland, New York, Illinois and other strongholds have pledged to retaliate in time for the 2028 elections and split Republican-leaning districts the way their California counterparts did Kiley’s. Democrats have been hindered nationally by stricter rules against partisan line-drawing in their states, but California showed a way around that. California Democrats won voter approval last year to redraw the state’s congressional map, originally made by an independent commission, and formed five new Democratic-leaning seats.

Read this article at Associated Press - Subscribers Only

Top US Middle East commander visits deployed aircraft carrier

Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, visited the USS Lincoln in the Arabian Sea during a 10-day tour in the region that concluded on Saturday, U.S. Central Command said. Adm. Cooper visited the USS Lincoln in the Arabian Sea as reports have emerged of mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed aircraft carrier. The Lincoln arrived in the Middle East in January and has been supporting the U.S. war against Iran, including the blockade on Iranian ports. Its deployment has included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days. Extended deployments of carriers – which can have more than 5,000 sailors and Marines on board – have raised concerns about the impact not only on the ships but on service members.

“History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,” Cooper said of the Lincoln strike group in a statement released Saturday. Cooper also went to Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to meet with civilian and military leaders, according to the Central Command statement. The U.S. Navy’s blockade was in response to Iran’s asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz after the war started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes. About one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf before then. Talks between the U.S. and Iran have stalled while Iran is in discussions with Oman about how to manage the strait that runs between them and had been considered an international waterway.

Read this article at Associated Press - Subscribers Only

ICE agents are building a DNA database. What about the Constitution?

The Trump administration has spent tens of millions of dollars building out the ability of immigration enforcement agents to collect DNA samples from detainees, a program that has so far collected genetic records from millions of people and deposited them in a federal criminal database. But experts say the effort, which represents legal territory so far uncharted by the courts, raises serious constitutional questions — and some worry it could serve as a preview to a “genetic panopticon” broadening government surveillance powers. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have for years collected DNA samples from people detained as part of their operations. But under the second Trump administration, the number of genetic records taken by federal agents has skyrocketed. According to a July report published by the Georgetown University Law School’s Center on Privacy and Technology, ICE agents captured the DNA of as many as 900,000 people last year.

Those genetic records, the report said, are entered into a sweeping criminal justice database known as the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS. The repository, run by the FBI, contains genetic profiles contributed by federal, state and local law enforcement. As of December, more than 3 million entries in CODIS were indexed as “detainee” profiles. And it’s not just adults who are subject to DNA collection by immigration authorities. Federal agents took genetic samples from roughly 133,000 children as young as four years old — as well as from hundreds of elderly people, including a 96-year-old. Media reports have also pointed to examples of immigration agents collecting DNA samples from bystanders during immigration operations, including advocates and legal observers. The Homeland Security Department, meanwhile, is further expanding its ability to collect DNA samples from immigration detainees. Government contracting documents published Monday show ICE has spent an additional $10.1 million on “rapid DNA tests,” equipment and services it says will be used during immigration enforcement operations to “verify biological relatives.”

Read this article at Courthouse News Service - Subscribers Only

Stock-picking funds are performing as poorly as ever

Investment pros say AI disruption has created a stock picker’s market. They are still struggling to pick the right ones. Just 27% of actively managed U.S. large-cap equity funds beat their benchmark passive-fund alternatives in the 12 months ended June 30, according to Morningstar data that compares returns after fees. That is actually an improvement over stock-picking funds’ long-term track record. In the decade through June, just 13% of active large-cap funds beat their benchmarks. The fees on actively managed mutual funds have been a cash cow for investment firms for decades, but years of outflows from investors moving to more tax-efficient, and often passive, exchange-traded funds are weighing heavily on the industry.

“If you look at active equity mutual funds, they’ve had outflows every year consistently since 2015,” said Matthew Bartolini, head of SPDR Americas research at State Street Global Advisors. “That’s a losing trend only compared to the New York Jets.” In recent Wall Street marketing and outlook materials, stock picking is still all the rage. Active managers argue that higher interest rates have ended the cheap-money tide that lifted all boats, just as AI is set to mint huge winners and losers, making security selection crucial. “Conditions have shifted to favor active investing,” T. Rowe Price declared. AI means “active stock selection will be increasingly important,” says Janus Henderson. “Finally, active managers can participate and join the passive moneymakers,” Jefferies CEO Rich Handler said in a recent letter to clients. Those predictions have been correct, to an extent. Stock-market dispersion—or the divergence in performance between individual stocks in the same index—has soared to the highest level in decades this year.

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

Lead Stories

State takeover of Austin ISD likely with new Fs announced

The five consecutive failing ratings give Education Commissioner Mike Morath the power to either shut down Webb and Burnet middle schools or replace Austin ISD’s elected Board of Trustees and superintendent with state appointees. TEA has used the law to take over seven school systems for academic issues since 2015. In only three cases, TEA has closed campuses rather than replace elected district leadership. The sobering results come despite Austin ISD’s overall rating improving from a C to a B and the district reducing the number of D- and F-rated campuses from 41 to 31. Austin ISD learned of the results Wednesday, ahead of the state’s public release of grades Friday.

Dobie Middle School earned a D this year, which “pauses” any state penalties at the campus for another year. Superintendent Matias Segura had hoped scores at Burnet and Webb would improve further, but he said the decreasing number of D- and F-rated campuses across the district shows progress. “There’s without a doubt been and will continue to be a sense of urgency for all schools, and certainly these two schools as we move into the ’26-’27 school year, regardless of what the agency does or doesn’t do,” Segura said. The first day of school for Austin ISD students is Aug. 18. Getting five F ratings at two campuses is a big deal, Board President Lynn Boswell said. But Austin ISD is making necessary changes to improve student outcomes, she said. “We’re figuring out how to make that change,” Boswell said. “We need to figure out how to make that change happen for students who are right now at … Burnet and Webb, and at every one of our schools where we’re not there in the way we want to be yet.”

Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only

More than 20,700 Texas students gave up their school vouchers

More than 20,700 Texas students have returned their school vouchers. Over two-thirds were previously enrolled in public schools. Proponents promised that vouchers would help families leave cash-strapped public schools. The data, which was obtained through a Dallas Morning News records request, paints a clearer picture as to whether the Texas Education Freedom Accounts is meeting that goal. Education experts say the numbers confirm their early warnings. Getting approved for a voucher is a starting point. As of July 29, more than 122,000 students have been awarded and invited to participate, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, which runs the program.

Actually using it proves challenging, critics say. Private schools can deny admission, charge tuition far beyond the voucher amount and be located far away. “Just because you got an award does not mean you have a seat in a private school,” said Dee Carney, director of the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency. “They have to pick you.” Nathan Cunneen, Texas state director of American Federation for Children, said in a statement that TEFA is "fulfilling its mission,” despite families returning their vouchers. He pointed out that 80% of participating children come from low-income households and 25% have a documented disability. The program offers families $10,474 to offset private education expenses. Students with special needs can receive up to $30,000, while homeschooled students can get $2,000. Among those who “opted out,” about a quarter formally declined the award, according to a TEFA spokesperson. The rest did not select a school by the July 15 deadline, or the selected school did not confirm their enrollment by July 31. Regardless, the voucher gets reassigned to someone on the waitlist.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

White House says more than 40 nations help China dodge tariffs

Chinese companies are increasingly routing shipments to the United States via other nations to avoid President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the White House said Thursday. Such efforts began during Trump’s first term and have accelerated over the past year as he imposed higher taxes on Chinese imports. The United States is missing “tens of billions of dollars” in tariff revenue from the practice, as merchandise worth roughly $75 billion skirts Trump’s tariff wall, the White House said in a report. Different tariff rates for goods from different nations are a key part of the president’s trade policy. But the varying rates also “create opportunities for arbitrage and evasion,” the report said. To avoid high tariffs, exporters in China send a product to another nation, such as Vietnam or Mexico, where it is repackaged or minimally processed and sent on to the U.S.

“Communist China has engaged in an extremely sophisticated set of actions that are designed essentially to transship and thereby evade the tariffs,” said Peter Navarro, the White House trade adviser who led the study. The report comes little more than a month before Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to meet Trump in Washington. The administration has tried to discourage the practice in trade deals reached over the past year with nations including Vietnam and Indonesia. But distinguishing between permissible transshipment — when goods move from one vessel to another like passengers boarding a connecting flight — and fraudulent practices is difficult. The administration is working on an artificial intelligence system that would scrutinize shipments to identify suspect cargos, the report said.

Read this article at Washington Post - Subscribers Only

CBP commissioner defends agency’s border project in Big Bend National Park

The head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection is defending the agency’s plan to build border vehicle barriers and new patrol roads across Big Bend National Park, despite growing public outcry from those who say any new border infrastructure will irreparably harm the pristine West Texas park. “We are securing this park to protect its legacy,” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a statement Thursday. “Keeping it safe, secure, and pristine so American families can enjoy the beauty of our country, free from fear of cartel activity, for generations to come.” The park draws more than 500,000 visitors per year, many of whom flock to campgrounds, hiking trails and a scenic hot spring pool that all lie right along the Rio Grande in areas with no physical border security infrastructure.

CBP has maintained it’s not planning to build a 30-foot steel border wall in the national park or nearby Big Bend Ranch State Park – though the agency is pursuing a 175-mile-long, 30-foot-tall steel wall in the broader Big Bend region from Hudspeth to Presidio counties. More than $3 billion in federal contracts have been awarded for that project. CBP said in early August “early construction activities” have begun on the project and that wall panels would begin being installed “in the coming weeks.” In his statement, Scott indicated the agency would not back down from its infrastructure plan for the national park, which calls for more than 200 miles of “patrol road” construction and improvements in and around the park, along with 17 miles of smaller steel vehicle barriers and surveillance technology. “These improvements will help our agents detect illegal crossings, respond faster, and assist visitors in danger,” Scott said. “As we strengthen the border across the Southwest, we will not leave Big Bend as an opening for cartels to exploit by shifting their routes and tactics.”

Read this article at Marfa Public Radio - Subscribers Only

State Stories

Greg Abbott app offers rewards for Texas campaign activities

If you’re supporting Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign and turning out conservative voters to the polls this November, you can now hope for more than just your candidate getting elected — you may be the big winner of a Dyson Airwrap or a whole brisket. Abbott’s team launched the Abbott Impact app, which gives supporters tools to help turn out conservative voters. Users can earn points by completing campaign activities, including messaging neighbors, knocking on doors and phone banking, then redeem those points for rewards.

Among the lower-point prizes is a Yeti Rambler emblazoned with the GOP catchphrase “Unity Drives Victory.” At the higher end, supporters can redeem points for a Traeger pellet grill and smoker. The Republican-repackaged Airwrap goes for 40,000 points, compared with its market value of roughly $650 (per the official Dyson website). The brisket, sausage and sauce can be taken home for 25,000 points; the market price varies depending on your choice of butcher. “Since the Abbott Impact App launch, the Governor’s campaign has rewarded volunteers who put in the work, earn points, and encourage their friends and neighbors to vote,” said Abbott’s press secretary Eduardo Leal. “Gov. Abbott is competing for every single vote, and this app gives Republican volunteers and activists another tool to reach voters, organize their communities, and turn out at the polls.” The app is available on the App Store and Google Play. The governor plugged the app on X earlier this week, calling on his followers to “get rewarded for supporting Texas.”

Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only

Future of surrogacy in Texas could be at stake amid complex legal battle over ‘Baby Gabriel’

The birth of a baby boy at the center of a rare, multistate surrogacy dispute has put Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the middle of a legal fight over parental rights, medical decisions and the state’s authority to intervene. The level of media attention on the case, along with a recent Republican grassroots push to change surrogacy laws in Texas, has some worried this case could influence lawmakers in next year’s legislative session. The case involves McKenna West, a surrogate from Alaska, and intended parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed. Their child, referred to publicly as “Gabriel,” was diagnosed in the 20th week of pregnancy with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS, a serious congenital heart defect where the left side of the heart does not form correctly. It requires urgent surgery.

West alleges that the intended parents wanted to terminate the pregnancy, which was allowed in the contract, but she did not want to. In an interview on the Megyn Kelly Show, West said she felt “trapped” by the contract and wanted to protect the unborn child. She flew to Texas to try and gain parental rights of the child and get him the necessary medical care he needed to live. Paxton intervened in the Dallas County case Monday, asking a judge to ensure the child received medically indicated, life-saving treatment after birth and could not be removed from Texas while questions over his care remained unresolved. The child was born Wednesday, according to West. According to Paxton’s legal brief, West and the intended parents entered into a gestational surrogacy agreement. After the baby’s diagnosis, West said the intended parents wanted the pregnancy terminated. Paxton’s brief describes its account of the circumstances as “assumed facts” for purposes of its legal arguments. The state alleged the intended parents planned to refuse consent for surgery after birth or potentially transport the child to California.

Read this article at KXAN - Subscribers Only

Texas Gov. Abbott proposes limiting laptops and tablets in school classrooms

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is proposing to limit the use of laptops, tablets, and other electronic devices in classrooms, emphasizing a return to traditional learning methods like books, paper, and handwriting. Abbott held a roundtable with parents and educators in Corpus Christi on Thursday, building on what he described as the success of last year's cell phone ban in schools. Texas Gov. Abbott proposes limiting laptops and tablets in school classrooms "Educators report that class participation and grades are up, and bullying and cyberbullying have gone down," Abbott said. Abbott says technology should serve a specific purpose in the classroom rather than act as a time-filler.

"Technology should only be used for specific lessons and specific assessments, not as a substitute for teachers or other proven methods of learning," Abbott said. Texas is currently ranked 34th in the nation for education. Abbott says the path to improvement starts with one key element. "The most important element of delivering a good quality education is a great teacher in a classroom," Abbott said. Parents at Thursday's roundtable said they notice a difference when their children engage with teachers rather than screens. "They're not telling me about the games they played on their computers. They're telling me about the times that their teachers sat down and worked with them on the one-on-one time they get with their educator," a parent said. The Texas Classroom Commission will work with educators, parents, and students to determine how much screen time is appropriate for each grade level, with the goal of improving Texas's national education ranking.

Read this article at KRIS - Subscribers Only

Judge who appointed Daniel Wong as Fort Bend County judge denies request to vacate that decision

Four months after a visiting Republican judge from Galveston County appointed Daniel Wong as Fort Bend County’s chief executive — while Wong seeks that role on a more permanent basis in the upcoming November election — the judge this week denied a request to have the April appointment vacated. The decision solidified the likelihood that Wong, a Republican who is facing Democratic Fort Bend County Commissioner Dexter McCoy in the county judge race, will continue to serve in that position through the election. The request to vacate Wong’s appointment was made last month by Fort Bend resident Sarah Roberts, who last September filed a civil lawsuit against then-county judge KP George, alleging he was incompetent to hold office and violated her First Amendment rights during a commissioners court meeting.

As part of that case, district court Judge Jeth Jones suspended George and appointed Wong to serve as county judge on an interim basis — after George was convicted of felony money laundering in a criminal case. After Roberts dismissed her lawsuit against George on June 17, she asked Jones to invalidate his appointment of Wong as of that date. Jones on Monday denied that request, which had been challenged by Wong. Wong, a former Sugar Land city council member, also is contesting a lawsuit filed by Fort Bend County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson. The twice-elected Democratic attorney is challenging Wong's authority to continue serving as the appointed county judge after the Roberts case was dismissed, also arguing that decisions made by a commissioners court with Wong presiding over it could be challenged. "The legal challenges are confusing to those of us who've watched politics for lifetimes," University of Houston political science lecturer Nancy Sims said. "It doesn't appear that the court's actions presented a real solution on whether County Judge Wong is officially still county judge or not."

Read this article at Houston Public Media - Subscribers Only

ICE detained Adventist pastor at Houston airport, church says he has legal work authorization

A Seventh-day Adventist pastor was detained by immigration agents last week at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Pastor Luis Morales Pérez leads four Adventist congregations in the Houston area and holds “valid employment authorization,” the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security told RNS that Morales was detained August 6 at the airport. “His commitment to our mission and the families he serves is unwavering,” the Texas Adventists wrote, asking for people “to join us in prayer for Pastor Morales and his family that the situation may be resolved quickly.”

Morales, a 50-year-old father of two, according to Telemundo Houston, is at least the third Texas pastor detained by immigration agents at an airport in the last month. The arrests come as the Trump administration has begun detaining people with expired visas at airports, including those who have work permits and pending applications — a group that was not previously targeted for detention. In July, Assemblies of God Pastors Nepthali Zozaya Saucedo and Cinthia Sarai Cardona Otero, assistant pastors at Comunidad Cristiana Emanuel in Edinburg, Texas, were detained in the airport and released two days later. The two said that they were threatened with separation from their children and deportation to separate third countries if they did not sign voluntary departure papers. In a statement to RNS, a DHS spokesperson said that Morales “legally entered the United States on January 10, 2020, with permission to remain until July 9, 2020. In violation of our nation’s laws, Morales Perez overstayed his welcome. He will receive full due process and remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of his removal proceedings.”

Read this article at Religion News Service - Subscribers Only

Some Austin ISD families lose in-school help for finding food, counseling, tutoring

For lunch, Michelle Covington sits with a group of middle schoolers eating cafeteria food and talking through challenges at home or school. Later that day, she may help a student process the loss of a loved one. Some Austin families will start the new school year without the resource that Covington provides. As a program manager of 27 years for Communities in Schools (CIS), she has helped families find food and provided mental health counseling, academic support and more from inside their children’s schools. CIS is a national nonprofit that partners with schools to provide in-school support for families, helping keep students in school. It will serve 44 Austin Independent School District campuses during the 2026-27 school year, AISD said, down from 55 last school year.

The reduction is part of Austin ISD’s effort to close a roughly $180 million budget deficit. The district’s budget, approved in June, included about $200 million in reductions, including staffing cuts, campus consolidations and reductions to district-supported programs. District officials said declining enrollment, lower-than-expected property tax revenue and inadequate state funding have contributed to the financial challenges. The district’s contract with CIS was reduced from $2.2 million last school year to $1.2 million for the upcoming year, said Mary Ann Maxwell, Austin ISD’s assistant superintendent of academics. That initial amount was estimated to fund CIS at about 30 campuses. Fundraising efforts and campus-level budgets brought enough funding to maintain CIS services at some additional campuses, bringing the total to 44 as of the time of publication, AISD said. Maxwell said the district is currently considering whether it can fund CIS at one or two more campuses. As of the time of publication, CIS provided KXAN with a list of 13 Austin ISD campuses that will not have the program this school year. The school district did not respond to requests to clarify how those figures align with the totals AISD is reporting.

Read this article at KXAN - Subscribers Only

UNT slashes projected $45 million deficit by half after cost-cutting

The University of North Texas has trimmed its projected $45 million budget deficit to approximately $19 million, President Harrison Keller said at a Board of Regents meeting Thursday. Since February, the university has instituted cost-saving measures to address the projected shortfall, which is driven by a steep decline in international enrollment and reduced state funding. By May, the university had reduced the projected deficit to $35 million. The fiscal year runs until the end of August. The university has phased out over 70 programs with low enrollment, including linguistics, ethnic and gender studies and arts degrees and certificates. It also offered buyouts to 40 faculty members, which officials said could save the school an estimated $4.7 million.

Keller also announced plans to move some courses to a hybrid learning model, combining online lectures and small in-person sections, and to realign smaller academic departments with larger divisions or schools. The university also slowed hiring and controlled expenditures in personnel, maintenance and operations. The sweeping changes have altered academic life at the Denton campus, drawing pushback from some professors. But on Thursday, Keller described the measures as a success, saying the university was “leaner” and backed by “powerful momentum” as it entered the school year. “Even as we pulled back in some areas, we also made strategic investments in other areas that are important for our future,” Keller said. He named support for student retention, transfer partnerships, graduate students and incentives for top-performing researchers. Keller, who took the helm in August 2024, has long underscored the need to develop new revenue streams by improving student retention and boosting enrollment. In the past year, for example, UNT announced new partnerships with community colleges to bring in more transfer students.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

In this flood-ravaged South Texas town, residents are rebuilding while waiting for federal aid

For decades, wide skies, fresh air and scattered livestock sightings have greeted visitors to Crystal City, a South Texas town of around 6,000 where no one is a stranger. Today, furniture, tires and other destroyed possessions are piled next to gutted houses. The sound of construction equipment drowns out the area’s usual soundtrack of birds, crickets and cicadas. Empty lots have become makeshift landfills. In mid July, historic flooding hit the town. The Nueces River, which lies just to the east of Crystal City, rose more than 30 feet in some areas, spilling over its banks and sending walls of water rushing through its many creeks and tributaries.

Water covered roads and filled residential streets along the waterways. More than a hundred homes were damaged, shocking a community where few residents have ever experienced flooding. The disaster hit just after Texas marked the one year anniversary of 2025’s catastrophic flooding. More than 130 people died, mostly along the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country. But this year’s storm spread across a wider geographic area, filling even more of the state’s iconic rivers. Crystal City was one of dozens of tiny South Texas towns to be inundated with floodwaters. While camaraderie is rich in this rural community, resources are limited. Crystal City is the seat of Zavala County, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the state. Now, many residents who were already struggling financially, are picking up the pieces as they wait for aid. Also limited in Crystal City: rainfall. Drought isn’t uncommon. These factors all made last month’s flooding even more devastating and surprising.

Read this article at KERA - Subscribers Only

Corpus Christi puts industrial water charge on November ballot

Reservoirs have rebounded, but the fight over water isn't over in Corpus Christi. The City Council has ordered a public referendum on a citizen-led petition that would sharply increase the price of water for industrial facilities during drought. The proposal is expected to face a litany of legal challenges before November's election. It would add millions of dollars in fees to the region's largest water users, including ExxonMobil, Occidental Chemical and Valero, the next time reservoir levels are below 30 percent full, like they were for 29 months until early August. Community and environmental groups gathered nearly 13,000 signatures of registered voters to get their proposal on the ballot. "This was a lot of signatures," said Corpus Christi Mayor Pro-tem Kaylynn Paxson at the City Council meeting Tuesday evening.

"This is something that doesn't happen every day. I am very proud and amazed to say that this actually took place." The 6-2 vote to call a special election on the referendum followed years of growing tensions between the public in Corpus Christi and the industrial giants that consume enormous amounts of water. As the region's main reservoirs fell from 30 percent full in March of 2024 to less than eight percent full in May of this year, residents clamored for authorities to curtail water consumption at refineries and chemical plants. Activists began to circulate the petition for the referendum, called the Fair Water Amendment, this year as Corpus Christi came perilously close to running out of water. Dozens of volunteers for a local organization called For the Greater Good along with paid canvassers from Texas Campaign for the Environment spent months gathering signatures. "Something that seemed impossible gave me hope in our democracy," said Miriam Guerra-Rachidy, a member of For the Greater Good, in comments to the City Council on Tuesday. "It gave me hope in believing that the people can make a difference."

Read this article at Inside Climate News - Subscribers Only

San Antonio pitches 3.9% property tax increase as budget woes worsen

San Antonio’s financial state has only worsened since city leaders first floated the idea of raising taxes earlier this year. Rather than bumping up the tax rate as high as they can, however, city staff is now pitching bigger budget cuts and financial restructuring that will offer more wiggle room if the economy doesn’t turn around in the next few years. Their budget proposal on Thursday called for a 3.9% increase to the city property tax rate — amounting to about $36 more per year for the average San Antonio home with a taxable value of $231,356.

None of the changes are final until debated and approved by City Council in the coming weeks, but the proposed $4.4 billion fiscal year 2027 budget eliminates more than 100 civilian positions, consolidates city departments and defunds several senior nutrition centers, among other cuts. It doesn’t add a single new police patrol officer, but it raises fees the city collects on everything from Alamodome parking to trash carts and missing library books. “What we’re feeling is probably the same thing that other tax entities in Bexar County are feeling,” City Manager Erik Walsh told reporters in a media briefing Wednesday. “So we felt like we needed to be conservative.” As of this week, city leaders say San Antonio’s net taxable value is down about 2.7% — worse than projections issued earlier this year — due to slowed economic growth and new tax exemptions for business property and homeowners.

Read this article at San Antonio Report - Subscribers Only

National Stories

Trump’s Justice Dept. targets smaller fraud cases

As the White House expands its “war on fraud,” the Justice Department announced criminal charges in recent days against a new symbol of that battle — a food truck in Santa Ana, Calif. Soriano Produce, a weathered white food truck advertising ice cream treats as well as fruits and vegetables, drew the attention of undercover agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what investigators said was a startlingly high number of food stamp transactions for such a small business. The case against the food truck owner, Esmeralda Soriano, is an example of the Trump administration’s push to show that “no fraud is small enough or big enough to look away from,” as Vice President JD Vance said in a speech in April.

The new emphasis on small-dollar fraud comes as the administration has issued pardons and commutations to white-collar convicts, pulled back from pursuing criminal cases against multinational corporations and dropped high-profile charges against wealthy executives. Administration officials say they are pressing to prosecute fraud involving government-funded programs because Democrats have failed to do so at the federal, state and local levels. Current and former federal prosecutors, however, criticize the change as effectively lowering the standards of a Justice Department that for decades prided itself on tackling big, financially complex investigations in executive suites, and leaving the small cases in corner stores and food trucks to local agencies. A food truck “is not the kind of case you would typically see federal law enforcement resources being poured into,” said Jacqueline Kelly, a former federal prosecutor. “And that’s resources being pulled from other areas. We’re not seeing an increase in fraud prosecutions involving public companies, investment frauds and the more traditional Wall Street prosecutions typically pursued by the Justice Department.”

Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only

Meta can keep its data center details private, PSC decides

Social media giant Meta gets to keep records for its projected $50 billion data center secret after state utility regulators overturned a judge’s order to make them public. The Louisiana Public Service Commission voted 3-1 Wednesday to overrule its administrative judge’s order that required Meta to disclose how it calculated publicized job projections and electricity needs for its Hyperion artificial intelligence data center campus in Richland Parish. The vote fell along party lines, with Republicans Jean-Paul Coussan, Mike Francis and Eric Skrmetta reversing the judge’s order and Democrat Davante Lewis in support of it. A second Democrat, Foster Campbell, was absent.

Meta has contracted with Entergy Louisiana to provide electricity for the data center, starting with three natural gas-powered turbines the utility will build for the facility. Meta has since announced it intends to expand Hyperion, which will require another seven power-generating units. But the finer details of the deal have been shrouded under the secrecy of non-disclosure agreements that state and local officials, including Gov. Jeff Landry, have signed. The Alliance for Affordable Energy, the Union of Concern Scientists, the Sierra Club and other organizations want firm figures from Meta before the Public Service Commission gives a green light to Entergy to build all that power infrastructure. The groups asked PSC Administrative Law Judge Melanie Verzwyvelt to subpoena the Meta records, arguing Entergy has never adequately explained how Meta came up with the power-need calculations the utility included in its applications to the commission to build new turbines for Hyperion. After Verzwyvelt approved the subpoena July 10, Meta appealed the ruling to the commission in a last-ditch bid to keep the details under wraps. The company maintains that revealing the information would expose trade secrets. Wednesday’s PSC hearing drew a stream of data center opponents who addressed commissioners before the vote, though Skrmetta, the chairman, limited each to 3 minutes and at times engaged in contentious debate with speakers who called for transparency as audience members applauded.

Read this article at News from the States - Subscribers Only

Bluesky’s active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

Decentralized social network Bluesky was one of the bigger beneficiaries of the exodus from Elon Musk’s X in November 2024, following the U.S. elections. But now, nearly two years later, the social network and would-be X competitor is struggling to hold on to its momentum. According to data from digital intelligence provider Similarweb, Bluesky’s mobile app had 10.4 million monthly active users worldwide in June 2026, down 27.2% year-over-year. In addition, mobile daily active users continued to decline, falling 25.6% year-over-year in July to around 3 million.

These declines indicate that even though Bluesky’s app continues to add registered accounts, fewer people are using its mobile app on a regular basis. It also suggests that some of those who joined Bluesky due to their dissatisfaction with X post-elections haven’t stuck around long-term. But the bigger takeaway here is not just that Bluesky’s post-election bump has shrunk. Bluesky’s app has lost more than half its monthly active users from its late-2024 high, which means that its app usage continued to shrink even after the initial post-election surge subsided. (Its quarterly average was around 22.1 million monthly active users in the fourth quarter of 2024, Similarweb’s data indicates, and it declined to 10.7 million in the second quarter of 2026. That’s a decline of around 52%.) While Bluesky’s numbers are down, those who stuck around are committed. Its smaller community remains relatively active, with a stickiness rate (the ratio of daily to monthly active users) of roughly 29% in June, about the same as Threads. For Bluesky’s new CEO, Toni Schneider, these numbers may not be as concerning. The company is not entirely focused on making Bluesky (the app) succeed, but on making it possible for the underlying protocol (AT Proto) to power a growing number of social apps, services, and communities. That’s something that is now taking place, as projects like BlackSky and Eurosky are growing, while some AT Proto apps like the video-focused Skylight have found early traction, too.

Read this article at TechCrunch - Subscribers Only

Kennedy Center Board votes again to shut main building down — and add Trump's name back

On Thursday, the board of the Kennedy Center voted a second time to shut down most of the Washington, D.C., arts complex for what is being described as a two-year major renovation plan, according to a person briefed on the vote. In March, the center's board approved a full shutdown of the complex for major renovations, but a federal judge later ruled to temporarily block the planned closure, saying that no board members had "sufficient information" to make such a decision. In a test of both the same judge's previous ruling and a related appeals court ruling, the board also voted on Thursday to put President Trump's name back on the center's entry, calling the complex, "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump."

In this most recent vote, the board elected to close the center's main building, while keeping The REACH, a 2019 addition, open for limited programming and as a memorial to the late President John F. Kennedy. According to the plan approved by the board, the $250 million project includes structural repairs, new marble floors, nearly $12 million in "acoustical improvements" and a plan to temporarily move the famed, eight-foot, bronze bust of Kennedy that sits in the center's main foyer. Under this plan, the main campus would reopen in the summer of 2028. The details of the proposal and the potential name change were first reported by The New York Times. The individual who was briefed on the vote spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The board's decisions will be subject to the federal judge's approval. Thursday's board meeting was held by Zoom, and was not public. In the days leading up to Thursday's vote, Democratic legislators who serve as ex-officio Kennedy Center trustees told the Washington Post that they had still not been given access to any assessments of what such a closure would mean for the long-term wellbeing of the institution. The arts complex is chaired by President Trump, and the majority of its current board are Trump allies appointed by the president.

Read this article at NPR - Subscribers Only

The U.S. surveilled left-leaning groups during immigration crackdown in Minnesota

Homeland Security officials secretly spied on and investigated progressive groups and protesters during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year, new court filings show. The motion for discovery, filed in the U.S.’s ongoing federal case against local activists, details two undercover surveillance operations that targeted protesters and dissidents during and following the Homeland Security Department’s January descent into the Twin Cities. Through “Operation Puppet Master” and “Project Whipple Shield,” undercover agents attended community meetings across the capital region, covertly recorded conversations and obtained financial records — all without any basis for suspecting criminal activity. Attorneys who represent the 15 people charged with conspiring to impede or injure federal agents say the usage of such surveillance tactics on those practicing political dissent violated the First Amendment.

DHS officials conducted these operations under a directive President Donald Trump signed last September that tasked that agency and the Justice Department with investigating individuals and groups under an expanded definition of domestic terrorism. Operation Puppet Master was opened four days after federal immigration agents fatally shot Alex Pretti while he filmed officers detaining a woman. Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh used Trump’s September memo to encourage officials and prosecutors to pursue a sweeping set of cases that could generate headlines, The New York Times reported in March. “Go big and go loud,” Singh said at the time. One exhibit features a PowerPoint diagram of 18 organizations — including Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America, Minnesota ICE Watch and labor union chapters like the AFL-CIO — that Homeland Security Investigations alleges were conspiring to interfere with the work of federal immigration agents in the state. DHS reports lay out plans to investigate “funding sources, organizational structures and predicate actions” for those organizations and others, over two dozen filings show, even before agents had identified any specific criminal basis to do so.

Read this article at NOTUS - Subscribers Only

Trump orders Navy to restore older tech on aircraft carriers, costing billions

President Trump has directed the Navy to tear out a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead go back to using steam catapults, a move Navy officials have fought for years and will likely cost billions of dollars. U.S. officials say Trump signed a national security memorandum Thursday directing the change, which would involve removing the electromagnetic catapult system used by the ships in the Gerald R. Ford class of carriers. By doing so, Trump is making good on a promise he made almost 10 years ago to go back to the steam system after hearing a sailor praise it while visiting a ship during his first term. But since Trump said in an interview with Time in 2017 that he told the Navy to go back to “goddamn steam,” top Navy and industry leaders have resisted the move because of the enormous expense to tear out such a complex system that was integral to the design of the Ford class.

The move directs the Navy to redesign the fourth ship in the class—to be named the Doris Miller—and all remaining ships. The first three ships—the Ford, John F. Kennedy and Enterprise—will retain the electromagnetic system. “They’re not nearly as good, too complex,” Trump said last month at a conference in Pennsylvania, referring to the electromagnetic system. The memo includes several other directives aimed at improving submarine maintenance and repair and driving foreign investment into the U.S. shipbuilding sector as the Navy tries to increase the size of its fleet. The order marks Trump’s latest foray into the design and development of military programs. He inserted himself into negotiations for the Air Force One and the F-35 jet fighter programs, directed design changes to the Constellation-class frigate and championed the creation of Trump-class battleships. “This decision will result in carriers that are enabled by battle-tested steam and hydraulic systems that are more resilient and robust than the present, more exquisite, follow-on systems,” the White House said in a statement. “It will also reactivate portions of the maritime industrial base that are easier to scale.”

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

Republicans love working with Elizabeth Warren

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is well known for her progressive stances on “Medicare for All” and taxing the rich. But over the past year, the senior Democratic senator from Massachusetts has collaborated with a number of conservative Republicans. Warren partnered with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina to overwhelmingly pass a bill aimed at increasing the country’s housing supply, authored an op-ed alongside Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno on the future of social security and introduced a measure with Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley to limit stock buybacks by defense contractors. “We have a great work relationship,” Hawley said about Warren. “We’ve done a lot of issues that are really pocketbook issues that are about trying to make sure that working people can afford health care, see their doctor.”

Warren told NOTUS that she is always looking for common ground with lawmakers across the ideological spectrum and has found areas of overlap with some Republicans on cost-of-living and anti-corruption issues. “It’s about lowering costs for working families. I look for places of intersection,” she said. “We may disagree on 99 things, but if I can find one that we agree on and make some progress, I am ready to go.” Hawley, who over the years has worked with Warren on legislation to break up health care conglomerates, rein in pharmacy benefit managers and tackle electricity costs for data centers, told NOTUS that he has long looked to Warren as a partner in the Democratic Party. Moreno, another Republican who has praised President Donald Trump for creating a “new, populist Republican Party,” told NOTUS that his recent work with Warren was born out of a conversation in a budget hearing. Warren approached Moreno and asked to partner on a New York Times opinion piece on a plan for Social Security. Moreno said that work expanded quickly — the two met to try to identify a path forward and assembled a team that is working on a legislative solution before funds are set to run out in 2032.

Read this article at NOTUS - Subscribers Only

Lead Stories

Texas High Court appoints judges in school funding challenge

A special three-judge panel will preside over a school district’s constitutional challenge to Texas’s public education funding system that redistributes property tax revenue, according to a high court order issued Wednesday. The Texas Supreme Court granted a petition from Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) under a state statute ordering the court to convene such a panel upon request when cases involve public school system financing. Midland Independent School District’s suit alleges aspects of the school funding system violate local government bodies’ constitutional authority to levy property taxes. A Travis County Democrat assigned the case will be joined by two Republicans chosen by Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock. Blacklock's choices are Justice Emily Miskel of the Dallas Court of Appeals and District Court Judge Alfonso Charles of Longview. Aurora Martinez Jones of Travis County also on the panel.

Read this article at Bloomberg - Subscribers Only

Officials say data centers can boost local economies. In Abilene, they have spurred a housing crisis

Lexi Smith and her family have always had a plan. They wanted to buy land that was big enough to build multiple houses. That way she and her husband could raise their boys next door to their grandparents. “?Our family budgeted and...said yes to less so that we could pay our house off...and then, you know, this kind of stuff happens, and you just don’t have any control,” Smith said. Smith’s family settled down just outside of Abilene, where, before a few years ago, their only neighbors were other ranches. In 2024, construction on one of the biggest data centers in the world started across the street. The Stargate Project is one of dozens of data center campuses in Texas that some local, state and federal officials have promised will revitalize local economies. Some officials across Texas, including in the Austin area, say they will create jobs, ease the burden on taxpayers and transform downtowns. But in Abilene — a city with the most expensive data center project in the U.S. — residents and business owners say that hasn’t happened.

The Smiths do a little bit of everything. Her husband is an accountant but also co-owns an electrical company and sells turf for sports fields. She teaches K-12. Together they own and operate a fireworks stand just down the road. “?I can mark things by fireworks season. Two or three fireworks seasons ago, [things were] completely normal,” Smith said. Since then, she said the construction project has caused traffic, damaged roads, worsened air and water quality and, for her family, created a worse quality of life. “?We got taken, we got robbed,” Smith said. “Because when you see what kind of money they’re throwing into it, you’re like, ‘Holy cow.'” OpenAI, one of the companies behind the project, has said they will invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure over the next four years. That doesn’t mean much to Smith. “[Our] house has no more residential value. If we were ever able to sell, it would be purely commercial,” she said. That’s hard to grapple with after waiting so long and saving so much money to build their home out here. She said she resents the city for ever allowing the data centers to build. “?There’s no amount of money worth it. None,” Smith said. “I can’t tell you enough, there’s no dollar sign worth it.”

Read this article at KUT - Subscribers Only

Outside groups are raising money to help down-ballot Texas Democrats

James Talarico may be trouncing Ken Paxton in fundraising for the U.S. Senate race, but the Austin Democrat is an outlier in his own party when it comes to raking in campaign contributions. That's why several independent organizations are stepping in to raise millions ahead of Election Day, to help down-ballot Democrats do the legwork necessary to be competitive even as their GOP adversaries are awash in cash. Former state Sen. Wendy Davis, the Democrats' nominee for governor in 2014, helped launch a political action committee in May, Blueprint Texas, to provide Democrats running for the Legislature and targeted county offices with financial help and expertise. The goal is to replicate or improved on the 12 state House seats it picked up during President Donald Trump's first midterm election, in 2018. As of July 1, the group had pulled in just over $600,000.

Davis said the group does not make direct cash transfers to candidates, but instead tries to fill in logistical gaps such as paying for direct mail pieces, helping with media relations and get-out-the-vote efforts. "If we have a candidate who is trying to get a mailpiece out the door, but they're short of money, we will help make sure that they can," said Davis, who lost the 2014 race to Republican Greg Abbott. "What we want is for us to be running on all engines in each of these districts and counties that we're focusing on. Our hope is to make sure that we fill any holes that those (candidates) have." Davis added that the political landscape for Democrats this year is the best it's been since 2018, when Democratic Senate nominee Beto O'Rourke fell just 2.6 percentage points short of unseating U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. After his Senate bid, O'Rourke formed a grassroots organization called Powered by People that helps register young people and residents new to Texas to vote. So far this cycle, the group has spent more than $2.4 million to solicit and communicate with new voters. "We'll stay in touch with that voter during early voting until we can confirm from their county registrar that they have voted," said O'Rourke, who represented El Paso in Congress for three terms before his Senate run. According to its filing with the Federal Election Commission, Powered by People has received more than $200,000 in contributions through a political organization called Middle Seat that was founded by veterans of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns. It also has taken in several hundred contributions that were $10 or less.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

A small Texas law firm backs out of HHS contract after backlash

A small Houston-based law firm announced this week that it had withdrawn itself from consideration for a federal contract, worth up to $150 million, to facilitate legal representation for unaccompanied minors. Last week, President Donald Trump’s administration quietly unveiled its intent to award the firm a contract to provide legal services — quickly prompting backlash from advocates, as Burke Law Group seemed to have little experience in immigration law before the contract was published. This week, both the law firm and the Office of Refugee Resettlement backed away from the no-bid contract. “We were approached by the Trump administration to fill a gap in legal services and we were considering how we might help,” Burke Law Group wrote in a Tuesday statement addressing “false reporting” about its involvement, adding that the firm was “only considering applying for a small portion” of the $150 million contract.

The ORR is the Health and Human Service Department’s branch tasked with facilitating legal services for unaccompanied minors. The agency posted a notice on the Federal Register on Aug. 4 announcing its intent to award Burke Law Group the multimillion-dollar contract after the government’s previous contract expired that week. A spokesperson for ORR confirmed to NOTUS that Burke Law Group had declined to apply for a grant. “On August 4, 2026, a Federal Register Notice was published to share ORR’s intent to enter into a cooperative agreement with Burke Law Group, PLLC, a private law firm with a strong geographic presence in Texas,” the ORR spokesperson wrote in the statement. “Burke Law Group has declined to apply and has not been awarded any grant with ORR. ORR has published notices in the Federal Register in an abundance of transparency regarding a potential grant recipient.” Earlier versions of staff biographies indicated no one at the organization specialized in immigration law when the contract was first announced. Two profiles on the site were later updated to include “immigration and asylum” as specialties after initial reports about the contract were published.

Read this article at NOTUS - Subscribers Only

State Stories

Fermi finally secures Project Matador tenant in a $6.5B deal

Amid other announced data center projects, concerns and controversies, progress is quietly continuing on a massive site in the Texas Panhandle near Amarillo. On Aug. 10, Fermi America announced a binding lease agreement with its first tenant, TensorWave, at the Project Matador site in Carson County. The lease is expected to generate approximately $6.5 billion in total contracted revenue over a 15-year term, excluding any renewal terms, according to a company release. "Power is the critical constraint in AI infrastructure, and the vision and scope of what Fermi is building at Project Matador resonates with our own," said Darrick Horton, CEO and co-founder of TensorWave. "Our customers need hundreds of thousands of next-generation AMD Instinct GPUs in aggregate, on timelines they can count on. Fermi has assembled the power, land, and permits to deliver at that pace, and we are proud to be the first customer at a campus built for the decades ahead."

Fermi said the first phase is to deliver a complete turnkey data center solution with 222 megawatts (MW) beginning in the second half of 2027. "The lease between Fermi's subsidiary Fermi Campus 1 LLC and TensorWave TEX1, LLC, a subsidiary of AI cloud provider TensorWave Inc., covers a facility supported by 222 megawatts (MW) of total facility power following commencement of the final delivery phase," the release states. "Once fully delivered, the facility is being designed to support tens of thousands of next-generation AMD Instinct GPUs for large-scale AI training and inference. The lease carries expansion rights for two additional data centers that when exercised, would bring the partnership to a total of more than 650 MW." TensorWave delivers high-bandwidth, memory-optimized infrastructure that scales with training and inference workloads, backed by funding from investors including Magnetar, AMD Ventures, Maverick Silicon, Nexus Venture Partners, and Western Frontier. Fermi said approximately 6 GW of the planned 17 GW are already permitted for the 7,570-acre campus being built in the Panhandle. "As a result, Fermi is positioned to deliver AI data center capacity in a market where many projects are still raising the capital required to build or being blocked by permitting issues," the release states.

Read this article at Amarillo Globe-News - Subscribers Only

Permian Basin community seeks fix for radium in its drinking water

Many residents of Imperial, Texas drive long distances to buy bottled water instead of opening up the tap. Pecos County Fresh Water, a county-operated utility, provides drinking water for 800 people in Imperial and the surrounding area. The utility routinely violates safe drinking water standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency for “combined radium” and “gross alpha,” two metrics of radioactivity in water. The culprit is naturally occurring radioactive material in the aquifer. Imperial is one of many rural communities in Texas where deposits of radioactive materials dissolve into the groundwater. But small communities often struggle to pay for costly treatment technology or alternative water sources that could fix the problem. During 2025, 29 public water systems that serve more than 22,000 people in Texas violated maximum levels of radionuclides. That’s down slightly from 2018, when a report by the non-profit Environmental Working Group found that 38 Texas utilities exceeded legal limits for radionuclides.

“It needs to be fixed,” said Pecos County Commissioner Nathan Reeves, who represents Imperial. “It’s a problem that should have been dealt with a long time ago.” Reeves said the county has been rejected for several grants to address the problem, but recently obtained some funding. Pecos County is evaluating alternatives including blending with another water source or drilling a new well. In the meantime, residents rely on purchasing drinking water 30 miles away in Fort Stockton. “[Radiation] is especially an issue for these smaller systems that only have a limited number of wells they can rely on,” said Tasha Stoiber, an environmental chemist and senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group. “It’s a huge inequity and disparity of who is being exposed more.” In August 2025, Pecos County Fresh Water once again notified its customers that the utility had exceeded the EPA’s maximum level for radionuclides in drinking water. “This is not an emergency,” the notice pinned in the Imperial post office and mailed to water customers declared, explaining that some radioactive minerals in water emit alpha radiation. “Some people who drink water containing alpha emitters in excess of the [Maximum Contaminant Limit] over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer.”

Read this article at Inside Climate News - Subscribers Only

Baby at center of surrogacy controversy born in North Texas

McKenna West, a surrogate from Alaska, has given birth to the baby who’s been at the center of a multistate controversy over parental rights and abortion. Get coverage about the businesses, industries and developments shaping North Texas. West gave birth Wednesday morning in the Dallas area, attorney Lincoln Wilson told The Dallas Morning News. West’s legal team has referred to the baby as “Baby Gabriel.” An attorney for the intended parents, Lee Budner, confirmed in a written statement to The News that the baby was born Wednesday morning and is currently undergoing medical care.

“Our clients’ only focus at this time is ensuring that their baby receives the medical care that he vitally needs and that they, as his parents, are able to spend every precious moment they can with him,” Budner wrote. The baby has been part of a controversy that’s made national headlines. West was carrying the baby under a surrogacy contract that she signed with a California couple. The surrogacy contract, according to Wilson and a recorded interview that West participated in for The Megyn Kelly Show, allowed the intended parents to choose to terminate the pregnancy in the case of fetal anomalies. When West was about 20 weeks pregnant, the fetus she was carrying was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which is a severe congenital heart condition. The intended parents then decided they wanted to terminate the pregnancy. West, however, refused to undergo an abortion. She later traveled to Texas, seeking a hospital with expertise in caring for infants with this congenital condition. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has waded into the legal case in Dallas County court. Paxton’s office announced that it obtained an emergency court order requiring two Dallas hospitals — UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas — to provide life-saving care to the baby.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

Randy Galloway quits Dallas Express over distorted views on legacy media

Veteran sports columnist Randy Galloway quit the Dallas Express Sports Network (DXSN) after only a handful of podcast appearances, saying the outlet distorted his views on legacy media and made him feel “used.” In February, the Dallas Express established a partnership with the Dallas Sports Network, a digital sports media platform founded by Chris Yates, an award-winning former FOX 4 News sportscaster. The launch announcement for DXSN touted a number of prominent writers, producers, and sports personalities, including Galloway, whose decades-long career in sports media at the Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and ESPN Radio’s Dallas affiliate earned him an induction into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2020. “You heard that right,” Dallas Express CEO Chris Putnam wrote on X on February 22. “Randy Bleeping Galloway.”

Galloway appeared to be a major get for the right-wing Dallas Express, which fashions itself as an ascendant alternative to the “dying” legacy media. But within a matter of months, Galloway’s name was absent from the list of contributors. I called him to find out why. “I liked the guys I was working with,” Galloway said. “But one screwup pissed me off.” His departure stemmed from his objections to a headline on one of his podcast segments: “Randy Galloway: Old Media is DEAD—Social Media is Taking Over.” Yates promoted the clip in a post on X, stating: “That’s why he’s teamed up with us at Dallas Express Sports Network. He’s a great addition to our team.” But Galloway said the headline distorted his point. “My point was that the golden days are dead,” Galloway said. “But newspapers aren’t.” Galloway also recalled making positive statements about contemporary local newspapers that were absent from the published segment. When he raised the issue with Yates, Galloway said, he was told an unidentified editor was responsible. DXSN never published Galloway’s full remarks. He quit soon afterward. Galloway was not denying the newspaper industry’s well-documented decline. Massive changes in the economics of newspaper publishing, the rise of digital media, and corporate consolidation have dramatically reshaped journalism, contributing to the closure of thousands of local papers since 2005. Sustained political attacks and polarization have meanwhile helped drive public trust in the media to historic lows.

Read this article at D Magazine - Subscribers Only

Water produced at South Padre Island RGV Desal plant to be privately owned

RGV Desal has pitched itself as a potential solution to the Rio Grande Valley’s longstanding water woes. This new resource, however, will be privately owned. Cities and water districts throughout the region could eventually depend on the water produced at the $1 billion seawater desalination plant — water that will belong to a for-profit company. The desalination plant to be located on South Padre Island is a joint venture between US Desal and Israeli company IDE Technologies. Both will own the water produced, but the infrastructure for distribution will be a public affair. Additionally, water will be sold at a set price at the plant’s “fenceline” but the consumer’s distance from the plant will impact total cost.

The company’s preferred customers will be cities and water districts, as well as industrial companies, according to US Desal Board Director Doug Allison. RGV Desal’s leadership board is composed of both US Desal and IDE Technologies board members. IDE Technologies will oversee construction with additional US Desal oversight, and are signed onto a 20- to 30-year contract, according to Allison. RGV Desal will own the completed plant as well as the water it produces, and will control pricing, contracts, and potential expansion. RGV Desal is a for-profit enterprise. It is privately financed with a limited number of investors, none of which are from the Valley, according to Allison. Some investors are within the state. While at this time Allison could not disclose the identity or quantity of investors, he did say they range from smaller investors to private equity groups. Allison said “lots of people” stand to profit if the plant proves successful, and cited the local communities as an example. He specified that they will benefit by “not running out of water.”

Read this article at MyRGV - Subscribers Only

G. Brint Ryan completes buyout of Mr Gatti's

G. Brint Ryan's family office has completed its acquisition of the remaining ownership interest in Texas-born pizza and entertainment chain Mr Gatti's Pizza. Dallas-based OneRyan Global LLC announced the closing of the deal Aug. 6. CEO Jim Phillips, who has led Fort Worth-based Mr. Gatti's since 2015, will also retire at an unspecified date, according to the announcement. Phillips will remain CEO during the transition to OneRyan's ownership, and the company said it will announce his successor at a later date. The latest transaction follows OneRyan's acquisition of a controlling stake in Mr. Gatti's in January. As of April, Mr Gatti's reported having 234 open and upcoming locations, including those inside Walmart stores.

Though born in Austin in 1969, Mr Gatti's relocated its headquarters to Fort Worth in 2015. The chain moved after being acquired by Sovrano LLC, an affiliate of Fort Worth-based FundCorp Inc. Mr Gatti's evokes nostalgic memories for many Gen Xers and millennials who grew up in Texas, especially a catchy jingle that was ubiquitous on radio and television ads. During the last decade, Phillips guided the chain through turbulent times as it went through financial challenges. The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2019 and re-emerged the following year while embarking on a plan to expand through franchise sales. The company now has more than 200 locations open or in development across Texas and the southeastern United States. During Phillips' tenure, Mr Gatti's expanded its restaurant footprint by 50% and nearly doubled revenue over the past five years, according to the announcement.

Read this article at Dallas Business Journal - Subscribers Only

Appeals court revives key parts of Texas voter suppression law found to harm voters with disabilities

A federal appeals court Wednesday overturned a ruling that had blocked key parts of Texas’ sweeping voter suppression law, allowing those provisions to remain in effect despite a lower court’s finding that they violated federal protections for voters with disabilities. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s decision in full, delivering another win for anti-voting Texas Republicans in the yearslong legal fight over Senate Bill 1 (SB 1). The ruling affects several restrictions on mail-in voting and voter assistance. Among them are rules requiring some voters to provide an identification number that matches state records, requirements for people who help voters cast ballots and limits on paid voter assistance and canvassing.

The opinion opened with an unusual and extraordinary attack on mail-in voting, portraying the practice itself as a threat to democracy. “It has long been established that mail-in ballots are prone to fraud,” Judge Andrew Oldham wrote. “That is why voting by mail jeopardizes election integrity and democracy itself.” The sweeping claim goes well beyond what the evidence shows. Fraud involving mail-in ballots is exceedingly rare, and research has not found evidence that mail-in voting produces widespread voter fraud as anti-voting activists have suggested over the years. Election officials also use safeguards including ballot tracking and other security measures to detect improper ballots. Oldham cited a 2014 federal district court opinion stating that mail-in ballots are “not secure,” a decision the Fifth Circuit later affirmed in relevant part. But his broader assertion that mail-in voting itself jeopardizes democracy was the court’s characterization, not a finding that widespread mail-ballot fraud had occurred. A federal district court blocked nine provisions of SB 1 in March 2025 after finding that they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, two federal laws that protect people with disabilities from discrimination.

Read this article at Democracy Docket - Subscribers Only

HUD wants to overhaul a homelessness response program. North Texas communities are worried.

Tanisha Thomas isn’t usually one to ask for help. But when she dialed 2-1-1, Texas’ free hotline that connects people to local resources, three and a half years ago, she was at rock bottom. Thomas and her 1-year-old son were experiencing homelessness after she'd lost her job, and they'd worn out their welcome with friends and family. With no car, her phone shut off, and her three oldest children staying with their dad back home in Iowa, she arrived at the door of Center for Transforming Live’s historic old lodge in Fort Worth with a weight on her shoulders and nowhere else to go. That's when the shelter's intake coordinator, Miss Sydney, gave Thomas exactly what she needed.

"I just remember when I got to the room, I was looking out the window and I started crying and she came and gave me a hug and... I guess you just, you don't think about hugs and stuff like that at a time like that," she said. "But I really needed, I really just needed to feel, you know human, like somebody loved me or somebody cared." The nonprofit later helped Thomas and her son move into an apartment — where she received counseling, childcare, financial coaching and 18 months of rental assistance to get back on her feet. But now, Thomas' program, and others like it across the country, are on the chopping block as the Trump administration threatens to overhaul the federal homeless aid program that fuel them. Last Friday, a federal judge in Rhode Island struck down a second attempt by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s to significantly restructure the Continuum of Care program. The ruling blocked changes that critics said would have put more than 5,000 Texans at risk for re-entering homelessness next year.

Read this article at KERA - Subscribers Only

Texas hemp-derived THC ban hits businesses as Senate candidates clash over policy

Nearly two weeks after Texas enacted a statewide ban on most hemp-derived THC products, local businesses say they are feeling the financial impact while political candidates continue to debate the policy’s effects ahead of the state’s U.S. Senate race. Cristina Da Costa, owner of Vida Botanicals in El Paso, said the new law forced her to remove and dispose of thousands of dollars’ worth of inventory. “I ended up having to dispose of thousands of dollars’ worth of products,” Da Costa said. “It’s impacted my business that, obviously, a certain section of the population here in El Paso no longer comes to buy my products.”

The ban, which took effect this month, prohibits the sale of numerous hemp-derived THC products that had previously been available in Texas stores. Supporters of the law argue it is necessary to protect consumers from potentially dangerous products, while opponents say it limits access to products many Texans use for wellness purposes and could hurt small businesses. Da Costa said many of her customers have expressed frustration with the state’s decision. “People are frustrated that Texas has taken this stance,” she said. “Millennials, Gen Zers are not drinking. They are doing other things that they feel are healthier for their bodies, which includes the edibles.” The issue has also become a point of debate in Texas politics. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, criticized the ban and said voters across the political spectrum have opposed the move. “People are outraged across the state, and it’s not any one political party,” Talarico said. “It’s people across the spectrum.”

Read this article at KTSM - Subscribers Only

City leaders hope a Democratic wave election will protect Pre-K 4 SA from future cuts

Democratic strategists believe their party’s enthusiasm is at a high headed into the November midterm election, and some San Antonio city leaders want to harness it to protect a signature anti-poverty initiative from potential spending cuts in the future. Pre-K 4 SA, the landmark tuition-free early childhood education program started under-then Mayor Julián Castro, is about to see its first class of enrollees graduate from high school next year. While most policymakers consider the program an unmitigated success for a city trying to improve its low educational attainment rates, the one-eighth-cent sales tax underwriting requires periodic reauthorization from voters, including another election when the current funding expires in 2029.

This week, San Antonio’s City Council will vote on a proposal to bump that decision up by several years to the Nov. 3 midterm — when they could have the wind at their backs with Democrats already revved up about the partisan races on the same ballot. “All signs are pointing toward major Democratic turnout in November with the U.S. Senate race … so this would be the time to do it,” said San Antonio political consultant Mohammad Rassool, referring to the high-profile race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico. Voters will also be weighing in on a governor’s race, a Bexar County Judge race, and a number of targeted congressional and state legislative contests. “The political environment is ripe,” said San Antonio political consultant Bert Santibañez, who has worked on citywide ballot initiatives in the past. “Childhood education issues are very Democratic-centric.” This week a proposal to reauthorize the program was added to Thursday’s council agenda with the support of four members. It would extend the funding for an unprecedented 20 years before it needs another public vote — something Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) said would allow for more “thoughtful long-term planning” on a program that already proved its popularity when voters re-upped it in 2020.

Read this article at San Antonio Report - Subscribers Only

Man arrested after profanity at last week’s Tarrant commissioners meeting

Last week, he used profanity in a public government meeting. On Wednesday morning, he was in jail. Fort Worth police arrested Efrin “EJ” Carrion around 3 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, on a warrant from Tarrant County, his friend Alexander Montalvo said. Carrion is a fixture at most city and county public meetings and hosts the 817 Podcast. Montalvo and Carrion were out late celebrating after Fort Worth City Council began the process to restrict data centers, a decision the pair among many others have been pushing for.

Around 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, Carrion was on the phone with Montalvo while driving home when he said there were police pulling him over. The next time Montalvo heard from his friend, Carrion was in police custody under a warrant from Tarrant County. On Aug. 4, Carrion was kicked out of the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting after he twice used a profane word during his minute of public comment. He said the Republicans’ extremism and the Republican court members themselves were baloney, in choice terms. The Tarrant County decorum policy prohibits personal attacks and impertinent, profane, obscene or slanderous remarks. Promptly after, County Judge Tim O’Hare told sheriff’s deputies to remove Carrion from the meeting, but he was already leaving. On his way out, Carrion called O’Hare a “small man” and “crybaby.” Carrion was the first of five people kicked out of the court that day, including the arrest of former Texas Rep. Lon Burnam for picking up the microphone in support of another man who was kicked out for doing the same.

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

National Stories

They’re making record profits, but oil companies still won’t ‘drill, baby, drill’

Over the last two weeks, oil companies have announced eye-popping profits from the spring quarter. Exxon Mobil pulled in $14.5 billion. Chevron landed $12 billion, its highest quarterly profit on record. Shell posted $9.8 billion — more than twice its earnings from the same time last year. These profits are largely a product of supply constraints brought on by the war in the Middle East. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively blockaded, oil suppliers have rerouted shipments over land and through pipelines. The resulting supply shortages, constrained refining capacity, and higher transportation costs have driven up oil and gasoline prices, delivering windfall profits for producers. But companies aren’t using those profits to drill lots of new wells or explore untapped oil fields. Instead, they’re pocketing the cash and paying their shareholders, experts say.

What was once an industry defined by the “drill, baby, drill” ethos is now defined by another term: “capital discipline.” It’s a phenomenon in which rampant drilling and production growth has given way to tightened belts and bigger payouts to investors. Oil executives expected a weak financial year in 2026 due to a supply glut, but the closure of the Strait of Hormuz constrained oil production and allowed companies to charge top dollar for use of their refineries outside the Middle East. “While we didn’t anticipate the current situation, we were prepared for it,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a July call with analysts, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Despite the temporary loss of approximately 10 percent of our upstream production, we delivered exceptional financial results.” Chevron executives offered a similar assessment. In July, Chief Financial Officer Eimear Bonner told Bloomberg that the company didn’t adjust their production as prices rose. “We did not change any of our plan,” she said.

Read this article at Grist - Subscribers Only

ICE wants to give agents gloves that deliver electric shocks

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers could soon be provided gloves that administer painful electric shocks, the latest in a series of costly purchases to bolster President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort. The Department of Homeland Security posted a notice about the purchase on Monday in the Acquisition Planning Forecast System, which provides alerts on contracts that the agency intends to issue in the coming days. The contract for the gloves, which the agency says would be used as a “distraction and de-escalation device,” would be issued to Enforcement Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations officers. The contract could be awarded as early as Friday and is estimated to cost anywhere from $10 million to $20 million. It lists a completion date of March 31, 2027.

Although the notice of a potential contract does not name a company, the gloves in question — CTG-5 G.L.O.V.E., or Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — are made by Compliant Technologies, a Kentucky-based company that has sold its gloves to various law enforcement agencies, according to its website. The plan to purchase the gloves was first reported by The Associated Press. Jeff Niklaus, the founder and CEO of Compliant Technologies, said in an email to NOTUS that the organization was “unable to comment” on any potential contract. A spokesperson for DHS told NOTUS that ICE is “constantly assessing the needs of our officers in the field to ensure they have the tools and equipment necessary to safely arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our country.” “Every decision is made with careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to ensure that any technology ICE utilizes is consistent with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards,” the spokesperson said, pointing to the agency’s use of force policy.

Read this article at NOTUS - Subscribers Only

The backlash to social media bans has already begun

Banning social media for minors has, well, gone viral. In less than a year, the world has witnessed a rapid-fire succession of political proposals to restrict youth access to social media: from the left-wing prime minister of Spain to the right-wing prime minister of Greece, the Australian Labor Party leader and a Texan Republican senator, and on to the national agendas of Brazil, Rwanda and, most recently, Vietnam. Creating new government limits to keep young people off digital platforms is increasingly seen as good politics, a popular piece of legislation that touts the protection of kids while tapping into bubbling anger at Big Tech platforms. Three decades into the digital era, policymakers around the world are converging on the idea that much of the time we spend online is not good for us — and that children are the most vulnerable.

Yet eight months since Australia’s groundbreaking under-16 social media ban triggered a surge of similar legislation around the world, doubts are already spreading about both the efficacy and unintended side effects of a blanket ban. The rash of new laws and the subsequent backlash is prompting people to ask if social media bans are going too far, too fast — and whether there may be a smarter way to protect kids online than forcing them off. Lorena Giuberti Coutinho, an online safety commissioner for Brazil’s independent data protection authority, told POLITICO that social media bans increasingly appear “quite hard to impose,” and questioned whether global momentum for that approach would persist. “The incentives for teenagers to continue on social media are quite strong because this is where they communicate,” said Coutinho. Brazilian lawmakers passed a law last year that allows teenagers to keep using social media but legally requires platforms to anticipate and reduce potential harm to children. For under-16s, the law also bans targeted advertising and “loot boxes” commonly offered as online gaming rewards, while requiring the availability of parental-control tools.

Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only

AI data center developer 5C secures half a billion dollars in new financing

AI data center developer 5C Group has secured $605 million in debt financing to expand its projects across North America. The financing, led by Brookfield Asset Management, follows the raise of $835m in equity and debt capital that 5C raised in 2025. 5C says it builds “AI factories,” defined as large-scale, high-performance data center campuses for “dense and complex AI workloads.” The developer said the funding would allow it to accelerate the development of its portfolio of priority sites, fund the acquisition and construction of a campus in Memphis, Tennessee, and support the development of its campuses in Phoenix, Arizona, and Ohio.

“This financing reflects strong confidence in 5C's strategy and our ability to execute at scale," said Jonathan Ahdoot, CEO of 5C. "It strengthens our ability to build next-generation AI infrastructure while investing for the long term in communities." Hamish Kidd, managing partner, Investments – Infrastructure at Brookfield Asset Management, added: "We are pleased to expand our partnership with 5C and support the continued growth of its AI infrastructure platform. 5C combines strong execution capabilities with a long-term approach to developing critical digital infrastructure, and we believe its North American campuses are well positioned to support growing demand for advanced AI capacity." Launched in 2023, 5C describes itself as one of North America’s largest AI digital infrastructure providers. The company says it has more than 1.5GW of capacity in the pipeline. 5C was acquired by Hypertec Cloud last year.

Read this article at Data Center Dynamics - Subscribers Only

Farrah Hassen: The fight against Flock cameras is just the beginning

(OtherWords columnist Farrah Hassen, J.D., is a writer, policy analyst, and educator. ) Government surveillance isn’t new, but new wide-ranging technologies that can detect our faces and track our movements are making it more ubiquitous. While the tools have changed, the purpose remains the same: to chill independent thought, free speech, and dissent, bringing our country closer to 1984. Millions of Americans are being watched as the U.S. ramps up mass surveillance with help from AI, data brokers, and partnerships with private tech companies. Immigrants, people seeking reproductive health care, and activists are among the most intensely monitored, but tech like Flock cameras has brought the issue into communities across the country. According to the ACLU, police departments have increasingly deployed automated license plate readers (ALPRs) powered by AI to track drivers “without a warrant, probable cause, or even reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.” And they’re doing this with little to no oversight or regulation.

Flock Safety is one of the largest ALPR vendors in the U.S. Their solar-powered, teardrop-shaped cameras capture images of all passing vehicles, storing the car’s make, model, and other identifying features. Any law enforcement agency with a Flock contract can access the company’s nationwide database without a warrant. Flock cameras also track people. Their “FreeForm search” feature has allowed police departments to search the database using phrases like “male with tattoos” and “person on skateboard,” according to data reviewed by 404 Media. DeFlock, an open-source project that maps license plate readers, has identified over 128,000 ALPRs in the U.S. Even my small town of around 20,000 people in Southern California has at least 35 ALPRs, most of them Flock cameras. No independent research has shown that ALPRs can reduce crime. But there’s mounting evidence of the technology’s alarmingly high error rate. An analysis by the Roseville, California police department found that 71 percent of Flock’s alerts to the Roseville police incorrectly flagged vehicles as stolen or used in a felony.

Read this article at OtherWords - Subscribers Only

Mamdani’s honeymoon with New York is over

Zohran Mamdani was riding high as the mayor of New York City earlier this summer, after fulfilling a campaign pledge to put a new tax on the wealthy, flexing his political might with successful endorsements of three progressive congressional candidates and handing the victorious New York Knicks the keys to the city. Now, after a streak of good fortune, Mamdani is facing growing discontent from New Yorkers upset with his anti-Israel rhetoric and slights against the business community. Efforts to fulfill some of his marquee campaign pledges have stumbled, including the messy launch of the pied-à-terre tax. His relationship with the City Council is fraying. The latest setback for the mayor came this week when a judge swiftly paused a new tax on luxury second homes after a group of residents, including one of Mamdani’s own supporters, filed a lawsuit accusing the city of botching the rollout.

The city quickly appealed the decision, automatically putting the lower-court order on hold, but not before the judge criticized the administration’s handling of the matter. The city posted an online list of more than 900,000 properties, which included homes that might be subject to the tax but many more that likely won’t. It also sent out notices to 17,000 property owners saying they might be subject to the tax, including some who said they were longtime New Yorkers. At a hearing Monday, Justice Wayne Ozzi questioned why the city needed to post such a broad list. “I’m sure it caused concern amongst people,” the judge said. “Some may be embarrassed, some may be quizzical.” He also said the city had made “missteps,” noting that it could have done more due diligence before sending out the mail notices. President Trump—who earlier in the year had appeared to have struck up an avuncular political friendship with the new mayor—chimed in on Tuesday, saying his administration was looking into legal action the federal government could take to stop the tax. He called it a “dangerous political experiment.”

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to leave administration

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave the administration at the end of August, one of the most high-profile exits of Trump’s second term, with the midterms less than three months away. Leavitt, 28, was the youngest press secretary in history and the first to give birth while serving in the role. She has been a loyal adviser to President Donald Trump who played a highly visible role in his efforts to remake the presidency and erode trust in traditional media reporting, in part through aggressive moves to control which news outlets have access to the White House. In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said that Leavitt will leave her role to spend more time with her children. Leavitt gave birth to a girl in May and is also the mother of a 2-year-old boy. Trump said that she would continue to serve as an outside adviser.

“Karoline will now be one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party, as we work to defy History, and conclusively win the Midterm Elections,” Trump wrote. Leavitt said in a lengthy social media post that the job has been the “honor and adventure of a lifetime,” but that she had decided to leave the administration after she returned from maternity leave this summer. “The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary — and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life,” she wrote. The White House has not announced who will succeed Leavitt. One of her deputies, Abigail Jackson, also left this month, adding to staffing complications. During Leavitt’s maternity leave, a rotating cast of Cabinet secretaries filled in for occasional press briefings.

Read this article at Washington Post - Subscribers Only

Copyright August 20, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved