Lead Stories

Man shot by ICE agent speaks from detention as bullet remains lodged near his spine

The Austin DoorDash delivery driver shot during an encounter with federal immigration agents on Sunday remains in custody and says the bullet is still in his body, lodged near his spine. 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez spoke by phone during a news conference Monday afternoon from the Pearsall Detention Facility. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, translated portions of his remarks, describing his physical condition and treatment following the shooting. “He’s saying that he’s in a lot of pain, that they did not take out the bullet because it was close to his spine, but that they had him in a very cold room without a bed,” Wilber said during the phone call.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed Wilber was in federal custody pending removal from the country. In a statement, DHS said he entered the United States illegally. However, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar said Wilber entered the country legally through the now-discontinued CBP One program. His attorney acknowledged that he later missed a court date, resulting in a removal order. Wilber’s wife, Elizdar, told their attorney that she wanted to spend Sunday with her husband, but he chose to work to earn money for the family. According to Elizdar, she received a phone call from Wilber telling her he had been shot and was in pain, but she was given little information about where he was being treated. She said hospital security personnel told her her husband was not there. Supporters at Monday’s news conference said the family’s experience has only added to the uncertainty surrounding the shooting and Wilber’s detention. “This is about a wife and a mother that is suffering,” Casar said. “This is about a husband and a father who is in pain without pain medication in a prison in the desert right now.”

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Much of Trump’s promised midterm election spending has yet to surface, new filing shows

President Donald Trump’s flagship super PAC grew its $400 million-plus war chest again in August, even as Republican candidates press him to put more of it to work with six weeks to go before the 2026 midterm election. MAGA Inc. ended August with about $415.8 million in cash after modest spending, more than $12 million above the $403.5 million it held at the beginning of the month, according to a Federal Election Commission filing posted late Sunday. The super PAC took in more than twice as much as it spent in August, reporting raising about $23.7 million while spending $11.4 million. Among those replenishing its coffers were cryptocurrency billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who contributed $10 million combined; NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who gave $2 million; and venture capital firm Trousdale Ventures CEO Phillip Sarofim, who gave $1 million.

That left MAGA Inc.’s cash pile still growing just days before Trump said on Sept. 4 he planned to deploy $400 million to $500 million from MAGA Inc. to help Republicans in November. Yet, more than two weeks later, MAGA Inc. itself has publicly disclosed only a fraction of that amount in spending. The FEC’s reporting requirements generally require disclosure within 48 hours when independent expenditures reach $10,000 for a political race. So far in September, the super PAC has reported about $15 million in spending in the Texas Senate race. However, a much larger Trump-linked advertising blitz is instead being booked through two super PACs created Sept. 1: No Going Back PAC Inc. and Safety & Affordability PAC Inc. The groups have reserved at least $126 million in advertising — about $98.5 million from No Going Back and $27 million from Safety & Affordability, according to AdImpact data and federal filings. No Going Back PAC also shares a treasurer, address and phone number with MAGA Inc. The spending follows months of public pressure from Republicans who questioned why Trump’s massive political war chest remained largely on the sidelines.

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Wall Street is growing skeptical of the data center boom

The backlash against data centers that is shaping elections and kitchen table debates across the country is now spilling onto Wall Street. Companies that house the data centers or supply them with energy and land for construction were expected to dominate the initial public offering market over the coming months, feeding investors’ seemingly insatiable appetite for everything related to artificial intelligence. But some investors are voicing increasing skepticism about the growth expectations for data centers and the risks associated with their build-out, forcing industry executives and their advisers to recalibrate their plans to raise tens of billions of dollars in public markets. SB Energy, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank that has proposed to build the largest data center project in the world in Ohio, had originally planned its I.P.O. for this month.

But the offering has been delayed, as investors question the company’s sought-after valuation of $50 billion or more, according to interviews with four people familiar with the deal’s marketing efforts. So far, bankers have struggled to find enough buyers of SB Energy stock within price ranges the company and its bankers had sought. SB Energy’s struggles to win over investors come as Holtec, a company serving the nuclear energy industry that is looking to supply power for A.I., said last week that it was pausing its I.P.O. plans indefinitely, citing several factors that have “impaired investor confidence in the market for new public offerings.” Holtec pointed to the “uncertainty of data center development” as the primary reason for the postponement, according to a company release. Holtec Nuclear owns and operates one main nuclear power site and builds small nuclear reactors that can be used to power data centers. The company, which had planned to start trading on Nasdaq last week, was seeking to raise as much as $900 million at a valuation of up to $10 billion.

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New Texas rules require deposits for data center grid connections

Texas’ utility regulators are requiring new data center and other large industrial projects to pay up when asking to hook up to the state’s grid. The Public Utility Commission approved new rules aimed at weeding out speculative projects in an effort to get a better handle on how much energy demand is expected to grow. The rules require developers to provide a security deposit of $50,000 per megawatt of requested capacity before the state will even begin an interconnection study of the project’s application. In addition, developers will have to pay a $100,000 study fee.

Commissioner Kathleen Jackson called the security deposit requirement “a huge, heavy lift,” that will help the grid meet the unprecedented energy demand forecast by the state’s grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. ERCOT is projecting demand growth to quadruple by 2032, driven by industry and residential growth and increasingly severe weather. “This is a tremendous work product,” Jackson said. “It really will help to position us to do the kind of things we know that we need to do for the grid for reliability as well as to be able to accommodate the large amount of load that’s coming.” The goal of the new rules is to continue supporting growth while taking steps to offset the costs of expanding infrastructure to meet projected demand when a developer reserves substantial amounts of grid capacity but then abandons a project. The new rules for large industrial projects also require developers to demonstrate that they control the project site, whether through ownership or leasing. Developers will be required to share more details, such as load-ramping schedules and expected water usage.

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State Stories

George W. Bush and Cornyn leave out Paxton as they raise cash for Senate candidates

Former President George W. Bush and Senator John Cornyn, two top Texas Republicans, are rallying conservative donors behind the party’s Senate candidates — except for the one running in their own state, Ken Paxton. Mr. Cornyn is hosting a fund-raiser on Monday evening in Dallas for six Republican nominees in battleground states, according to an invitation to the event that was obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Bush, listed on the invite as a “special guest,” is attending the event, his spokesman confirmed. The event will benefit Maintain the Majority, a new joint fund-raising committee supporting the Senate candidates, who are defending Republican-held seats in Maine, Ohio, Alaska and Iowa and looking to flip seats in Michigan and New Hampshire. An email sent to attendees on Sunday and viewed by The Times also said that Michele Tafoya, the Republican nominee for Senate in Minnesota, was a late addition to the event.

But Mr. Paxton, the Republican nominee in Texas, who defeated Mr. Cornyn in a costly and bitter primary, was not included. His campaign declined to comment on the fund-raiser. The fund-raising omission of Mr. Paxton is another escalation in the standoff between old-guard Bush Republicans and the fiery insurgent wing represented by Mr. Paxton, President Trump and their allies. And it comes as the parties battle for cash and advertising time in the Texas Senate race, one of this year’s top contests. Mr. Paxton has badly trailed his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, in campaign fund-raising, but super PACs tied to Mr. Trump and Senate Republicans have come to Mr. Paxton’s aid, reserving more than $80 million in outside advertising in Texas. Mr. Paxton, the state attorney general, has long been a polarizing figure among Texas Republicans. He was impeached by the Republican-dominated Texas House on corruption charges in 2023, though he was acquitted in the State Senate, and he pushed to oust Republican lawmakers and judges who disagreed with him in his party’s primaries in 2024. This year, Mr. Cornyn and establishment Republican donors spent more than $130 million on advertising backing the senator and bashing Mr. Paxton in their contentious primary. (Mr. Bush chipped in $5,000 for Mr. Cornyn.) In the months since, Mr. Cornyn has continually criticized Mr. Paxton’s character and campaign.

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Harris Co. Judge Lina Hidalgo said she won't vote for fellow Democrat, Commissioner Lesley Briones

After losing the budget battle, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is eyeing the November elections and said she won't be supporting one of her democratic colleagues. Last week, after one of the largest tax rate increases in recent county history passed, Hidalgo encouraged people to vote. "As the composition of the court changed, I'm afraid it has put the county down a problematic financial path," Hidalgo said. "I hope people get out and vote on November 3rd." At the time, ABC13 asked Hidalgo, a Democrat, if that meant she was advocating for republicans. She told ABC13 to circle back. On Monday, ABC13 did. Not only did Eyewitness News learn who she won't vote for, but also the efforts she made to try to block the tax rate vote. Hidalgo isn't on the ballot this November, but it doesn't mean she's shying away from those who are. "I'm going to get in that voting booth, and you better believe I'm not going to vote for Commissioner Briones," Hidalgo said.

Hidalgo wouldn't say if she's voting for Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones' Republican opponent. Hidalgo said she won't support Briones over her blocking a proposal to have voters decide whether to fund childcare programs and how the commissioner has spent other money. ABC13 reached out to Briones' office after our interview. They pointed us to her campaign team. ABC13 didn't receive a response. Last week, commissioners approved a $3.1 billion budget that budget officials said will increase the average homeowner's property taxes by around $190 a year. The three Democratic members of the court approved the tax rate. Commissioner Tom Ramsey, the lone Republican, did not. During the vote, Hidalgo walked away. Four years ago, Ramsey and a former Republican commissioner didn't show up for the tax rate vote. Knowing this, Hidalgo said she hoped Ramsey would do something similar to deny a quorum, making a vote on the tax rate impossible. "At some point, I passed him a note," Hidalgo recalled. "My note said, 'Have you spoken to anyone else about the tax rate vote? If not, can you and I speak?' He said, 'I did speak to somebody about it.' The thing is, it's not lawful for more than two of us to speak about a topic." ABC13 reached out to Ramsey's office regarding the note and whether he considered a quorum break with Hidalgo. ABC13 didn't receive a response.

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Internal GOP poll shows Republicans getting annihilated in Trump +17 Texas district

Polls have been looking grim for President Donald Trump and Republicans as the midterm elections have loomed ever closer, but a new internal poll from a Texas legislative district is a five-alarm fire for the GOP. The polling numbers for President Donald Trump and the GOP have been brutal as his second term has progressed, with Americans’ views on his handling of the economy and immigration — topics on which he had previously outpolled Democrats — taking a dive. The president’s war in Iran has been another issue dragging down his polling, specifically because of its impact on gas prices. Republican woes are even evident in Texas, threatening to shatter decades of GOP majority control.

In the Texas Senate race, scandal-plagued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is lagging badly behind Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D) in both polling and fundraising. Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the primary with Trump’s endorsement, but it required a runoff, burned through campaign funds, and put a spotlight on the series of scandals, lawsuits, a bitter divorce from his state senator wife, and other controversies that have dogged Paxton for years. Texas State Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D) has long been viewed as much more of an underdog against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), who, unlike Paxton, does have a substantial fundraising lead, plus far higher name recognition from years as governor and previously as the state’s attorney general. But several recent polls have shown Hinojosa within the margin of error with Abbott. And one district in particular is looking like a bellwether for Republicans’ fate in Texas and nationally this November: Texas State Senate District 9, which covers parts of Tarrant County including a large portion of Fort Worth. The district already rattled GOP nerves this January when it flipped blue for the first time since 1991 in a special election runoff that Democrat Taylor Rehmet won, defeating Republican Leigh Wambsganss by over 14 points. In 2024, Trump won Texas SD 9 by 17 points, making Rehmet’s win an upset. But a January primary runoff has far lower turnout than a November general election with multiple races drawing major media attention, so was this race an outlier? A new poll reported by Quorum Report editor Scott Braddock may shed some light on that question.

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Ken Paxton donations tied to Chinese real estate investment firm

Ken Paxton and his allies have spent millions this election cycle on ads that accuse his Democratic U.S. Senate challenger, James Talarico, of helping Chinese investors buy up Texas land. But before unleashing the attacks, Paxton’s campaign took in $40,000 from donors who work for companies that facilitate the exact kind of Chinese investments he has criticized, according to a review of campaign finance documents by Hearst Newspapers. The donations, all made before the most recent June 30 filing deadline, were far from the largest to Paxton’s campaign. They are significant, however, given how heavily he and the GOP at large have gone in on making Chinese influence a marquee issue in the race.

A spokesperson for Paxton did not address questions about the donations, but said in a statement that the attorney general has spent “more than a decade fighting the Chinese Communist Party’s influence and protecting Texas from foreign threats, including suing CCP-aligned companies.” “Meanwhile, James Talarico picked a side, and it was decidedly pro-Chinese Communist Party and anti-Texas,” the spokesperson, Madison Cercy, said. Most of the donations are linked to a U.S.-based real estate development company called Wan Bridge, which solicits foreign investors for its housing developments in Texas. Cofounder Ting Qiao donated nearly $30,000 to Paxton and PACs affiliated with him from June of last year through April. Danting Li, a cofounder and the company’s chief operations officer, donated just over $10,000 through two donations last year. Both are based in Texas, according to their social media profiles. A third donor, John Chiang, works at a U.S. development firm that contracts with Wan Bridge, along with a U.S. subsidiary of a Chinese company connected to the Communist Party of China.

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Judge dismisses Burnam's request seeking to remove Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare

A petition to remove Republican Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare from office was dismissed Monday morning by a district court judge. The ouster request was filed by former state Rep. Lon Burnam, who O’Hare’s campaign called a “radical activist,” after he was kicked out and arrested for disturbing an Aug. 4 Commissioners Court meeting. Judge James Johnson, of the 431st Judicial District Court, dismissed the petition because the facts presented by Burnam were not “sufficient to constitute official misconduct or incompetency,” according to the legal document. Burnam has a related lawsuit against O’Hare and the county in federal court as well as a request to dismiss the charges placed against him for disrupting a meeting and disorderly conduct.

The 73-year-old was ejected from the Commissioners Court meeting by O’Hare for picking up the public comment microphone during his allotted minute. Burnam did so as a form of protest because O’Hare kicked out another speaker, Base Mego, shortly before for picking up the microphone as a soothing tactic. Mego has autism and claimed he had gotten prior permission to hold the microphone. O’Hare said Mego was granted the ability to use a handheld microphone after the fact.” When O’Hare told sheriff’s deputies to remove Burnam, he laid on the floor and the deputies had to carry him out by his limbs. The Monday dismissal does not require O’Hare to respond to the filing, as requested by Burnam. O’Hare’s campaign called the decision a win for the county judge. Burnam’s defense attorney, Tiffany Burks, did not respond to the Star-Telegram’s request for comment. Burks is running against Republican District Attorney Phil Sorrells for his county seat in the November election.

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Kerr County businesses struggle to recover eight weeks after flooding without state or federal aid

More than eight weeks after floodwaters swept through parts of the Hill Country, some Kerr County businesses are still trying to recover without state or federal assistance. For many owners, reopening has meant relying on savings, grants and community support to keep employees working. Texas Power and Controls, a generator company on Goat Creek Road near Interstate 10, was among the businesses hit hard when nearby creek water rose rapidly and became a raging river. Kathryn Stafford, the company’s office manager, said the damage has been difficult to watch, especially for her boss, who is determined to keep the business going. “I’ve been with the company for almost two years now, and it’s just heartbreaking to see how hard this hit him,” Stafford said.

Eight people depend on the company’s survival. To avoid taking chances with another flood, the business moved out of its damaged location and shifted operations. “We moved a lot of stuff out of here, whatever we could save,” Stafford said. “We used my home for about a month to put the office, to set us up to try to get us back going so that way we could get our guys back out as soon as possible.” Texas Power and Controls is one of dozens of local businesses damaged in the July flooding. The Kerrville Chamber of Commerce said 119 Kerr businesses were damaged, including 102 within city limits. Of those, 25 were destroyed or had major damage. For many business owners, recovery has been slowed by the lack of state and federal money. Stafford said Texas Power and Controls was able to secure a grant, but before that, the company was struggling. “There has been nothing,” Stafford said. “We were barely thinking that we would be able to make payroll.” Texas Power and Controls received a grant through LiftFund, a nonprofit distributing $5 million to businesses affected by the flooding. The Kerrville Chamber of Commerce has also provided money to 32 of the 70 businesses that applied for assistance. “All of us are in it together, so we’re going to keep pushing forward,” Stafford said. Some businesses have used savings to reopen while waiting for possible state or federal help. Others remain closed and may not be able to reopen. One way the community can help is by supporting affected businesses through purchases or by becoming clients as recovery continues.

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Texas bishop denounces ICE shooting in Austin, says people ‘living in terror and fear’

After a man was shot and wounded by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 20, Bishop Daniel E. Garcia denounced the shooting and called for “a viable immigration policy that respects the rule of law while recognizing the dignity of every person.” The individual who was shot was delivering for DoorDash at the time of the encounter with ICE, his lawyer said. A video obtained by CNN showed officers cutting off the man’s shirt after the incident, revealing a bullet wound in his back.

In a Sept. 20 statement, Bishop Garcia, who leads the Diocese of Austin, said he was “deeply saddened and disturbed” by the shooting. “We find ourselves in a time in this country and city, when people are living in terror and fear because of the increased activity of ICE agents on our streets. Many people are often being detained only due to the color of their skin or the language they speak,” he said. “Today the credibility of a federal agency that is supposed to protect us has been weakened by incidences such as the one that took place today. “I ask the faithful of the Diocese of Austin to pray for this man who was shot, his family, for all those who have been affected, all who have been involved and for our entire community,” Bishop Garcia continued. “As an investigation begins, let us pray that the Federal, State and City authorities will be transparent and honest about what occurred this afternoon, so that confidence in our governmental entities may be strengthened, not weakened.” Austin city officials have called for an independent investigation of the incident.

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An old idea with new drive: Takeaways from the alliance uniting ATX-SATX region leaders

What began at a barbecue joint on San Antonio’s East Side only months ago progressed Friday to hosting its inaugural event with representation from 13 counties covering over 11,000 square miles and a population of 5.4 million. In the Student Union at Texas State University-San Marcos, a spectrum of disparate needs coalesced around a single goal: collaborating as a mega region under the banner of the Central Texas Alliance. On issues ranging from light rail to water, civic, business and academic leaders met to form a consensus and commit to working together.

Formed earlier this year to support the Austin-San Antonio corridor, the Alliance seeks to enable the region’s leaders to act with one voice. The upcoming 90th Texas Legislative Session was on all their minds. A year ago, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros published “The Austin-San Antonio Megaregion: Opportunity and Challenges in the Lone Star State,” with authors Robert Rivard and David Hendricks. The book outlines how projected growth will put demands on housing, energy and water resources, mobility infrastructure and the workforce along the I-35 corridor. Texas is considered the fastest growing economy and population in the nation. The Austin-San Antonio corridor, with a population of 5.3 million, is on target to add 3 million more residents by 2050, according to census data. As a region, Austin and San Antonio are catching up to Houston in the share of jobs, said Roberto Coronado, senior vice president and senior economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Unlike other major metropolexes in the state, the rapidly growing region is not served by one entity that works to develop consensus around priorities for the region, despite previous attempts. Until now. “This was a concept in a book in February,” said the nonprofit’s CEO, A.J. Rodriguez. After an unexpected meeting with Cisneros while at Reese Bros Barbecue, he accepted the charge to lead the Alliance.

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Democrat drops out of Texas House election for north Tarrant seat, citing eligibility

Democrat Ericka Lomick announced Monday that she is suspending her Texas House campaign for a northern Tarrant County seat, seemingly clearing the way for Republican Alan Blaylock’s victory in November. Lomick made the decision after a political action committee supporting Blaylock questioned her eligibility as a candidate, accusing her of “federal convictions, unpaid taxes and deceptive statements.” Without confirming or denying the accusations, Lomick said in a statement that she wanted to “allow the people of HD 93 to elect someone who can serve the district without the burden of defending against attacks that would threaten to derail the business of the people.”

Last week, the Protect and Serve Texas PAC published records showing Lomick was indicted and pleaded guilty to three federal felonies: mortgage fraud conspiracy, bank fraud related to a mortgage fraud scheme and money laundering conspiracy. “After careful consideration, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for House District 93,” Lomick said in the statement. “Although this was not an easy decision, I am convinced that it was the right one for the people of HD 93.” Lomick appears to have since deleted her campaign accounts on social media. She did not return requests for comment. Allison Campolo, chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, said via text message that Lomick notified the party of the plan to suspend her campaign, and the party was assessing the situation. Campolo declined to comment further, deferring questions to Lomick’s statement.

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State Rep. Gary VanDeaver to step down after decade in Texas House

After serving public office for more than a decade, State Rep. Gary VanDeaver, announced his resignation, effective at the end of day Monday. In a letter directed to the citizens of House District 1, VanDeaver (R-New Boston) wrote he delivered his resignation letter to Gov. Greg Abbott notifying him of the decision. “Serving in the Texas House has been one of the great honors of my life,” the state representative wrote. VanDeaver wrote that his reasons for leaving before his term expires in January is “two-fold.” “First, the constituents of HD1 remain the priority and this decision will provide the opportunity for my successor to be better positioned to serve the great people of HD1,” he wrote. “Secondly, this decision will allow me to better prepare for life after the legislature as I continue to search for ways to make Texas a better place.”

VanDeaver went on to thank his staff and the friendship and support of “so many others.” A retired lifelong educator, VanDeaver was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2015 after working for several school districts in Northeast Texas. VanDeaver ran in the 2024 Republican primary against Chris Spencer and Dale Huls, eventually winning in a run-off against Spencer with 53.5% of the vote while Spencer received 46.3%. Last December, VanDeaver announced he would not seek re-election to a seventh term, stating he would serve out the remainder of his term until Jan. 1, 2027. Spencer won the 2026 Republican primary against Josh Bray with 50.9% of the vote opposed to Bray’s 49.1%. He faces Democratic candidate Sean Huffman in November. He was one of few Republicans to oppose the statewide school voucher program and one of five representatives censured by the Republican Party of Texas for opposing its priorities and supporting then-Texas Speaker Dade Phelan. “May God continue to bless the great state of Texas!” he concluded in the letter.

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American exec teases new gates, restaurants at DFW Airport's Terminal A

American Airlines Group Inc. plans to open 10 new gates at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport's Terminal A before the end of the year, adding new restaurants, shopping and passenger amenities as the carrier continues expanding at its largest hub. The Fort Worth-based airline on Sept. 18 provided an update on the terminal's ongoing construction during its Forever Forward online video series. Derrick Proffitt, managing director of customer care, said the 10 gates will open before the end of the year, with Terminal A becoming the busiest for the airline at DFW Airport. Currently, Terminal C is the busiest for American.

Proffitt also teased some of the new concessions planned for the expanded terminal. Alongside familiar brands such as McDonald's and Auntie Anne's, travelers can expect a P.F. Chang's and Chick-fil-A, as well as "really cool local Dallas and Fort Worth flavors coming into the terminal as well," he said. Those additions will join a lineup that includes Mesero, Ciao & Go, Salad and Go, Mozart's Bakehouse, Olivella's Pizzeria and Minute Suites, Dallas Business Journal previously reported. "When this opens, our team members and customers are going to want to come to this terminal just for the concessions and the shopping," Proffitt said. Proffitt said the new gates are being "built with the customer in mind" and will have a "modern feel" with "open, bright and airy comfortable seating" similar to Terminal C's newly opened gates. DFW Airport and American in June opened the first phase of a $3 billion expansion at Terminal C. American has also improved the roadway leading into Terminal A for improved traffic flow, Proffitt said.

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Texas Stock Exchange CEO explains luring $115 billion in corporate listings during monumental week

The Texas Stock Exchange's recent week of achievements and announcements felt a lot like a watching a football team rack up touchdowns on its way to a victory. Between Sept. 10 and Sept. 18, several companies currently trading on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq announced plans to transfer their listings to the upstart Texas Stock Exchange with $115 billion in combined market capitalization. It started with a slew of energy companies, including Energy Transfer LP and Sunoco LP, followed by Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. and Origin Bancshares Inc. Dillard's Inc. capped the week on Sept. 18 when it announced its planned transfer, a $10 billion corporate listing on its own. TXSE also hosted two bell-ringing ceremonies to celebrate key achievements. First, Dallas-based Texas Capital became the first company to establish primary listings in Texas on Sept. 16 after transferring two exchange-traded funds to the new exchange. The following day, on Sept. 17, Dallas-based Westwood Holdings Group Inc.'s Salient Enhanced Power & Infrastructure ETF became the first new ETF launched on TXSE.

All together, the monumental week shows how far TXSE has come in a relatively short period of time as it seeks to disrupt the status quo of the U.S. capital markets. And TXSE is just getting started. In another analogy to football, TXSE CEO James Lee said the "transfer portal is full." He said during a Sept. 17 interview with Dallas Business Journal to expect a "steady series of announcements that will run through the end of the year and all the way through the spring" across in Texas and the country. "This is not just a Texas exchange with Texas adoption with Texas companies," Lee said. "All through the rest of this month in October, you're going to see movement from around the country towards the Texas Stock Exchange. ... You're just seeing a little bit. This is the tip of the iceberg." The new Dallas-based exchange, a subsidiary of TXSE Group Inc., publicly launched in 2024 and received regulatory approval in fall 2025. It has raised more than $275 million in funding from Wall Street giants like BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Kelcy Warren, a billionaire who is tied to the oil companies that are moving their listings to TXSE, owns a 28% stake in the exchange, according to a federal filing.

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National Stories

Trump heads into a week of diplomacy, hampered by a lack of allies

When President Donald Trump treks out to Joint Base Andrews to greet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, it will be as a leader who increasingly stands alone as he engages with his biggest geopolitical counterpart. A decade ago, Trump swept into his first term with a sharp approach to China. He abandoned years of a strategy in which Washington and its allies deepened trade with Beijing and hoped that greater political openness would follow. Trump said China was a strategic rival and needed to be confronted more directly, and Europe and other allies moved in his direction. In his second term, though, Trump has eased his rhetoric on China while setting his sights on allies. Canada is unsettled about his rhetoric about turning it into the 51st state.

Europeans rushed troops to Greenland this year amid fears of a potential U.S. effort to take the Danish territory by force. Taiwan has worried about a possible shift in long-standing U.S. policy supporting it. Those allies have been forced to change their calculations about Washington. And as Trump has alternated between wooing Xi with trade deals and blasting him with tariffs, he has found few countries lining up to join him. Those strains will be very much at the center of attention as Trump dives into a week of international engagement capped by a day of meetings with Xi on Thursday. “We get along well. We’re doing very well with China,” Trump told reporters Friday. “I would say others maybe not so well, but we’re doing very well with China. And President Xi and I have a good relationship.” The diplomacy will begin in New York, where he is scheduled to speak Tuesday to the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

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Mamdani and Trump advance giant housing plan in friendly Gracie Mansion meeting

Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted President Donald Trump on Monday at Gracie Mansion, where they discussed funding for counterterrorism security and the planned Sunnyside Yard housing development, along with immigration enforcement. In a wide-ranging meeting convened by the mayor while the president was in New York City for the U.N. General Assembly, the pair focused on the city’s success — despite their differences. “Each time the president and I speak, it is about the same topics: how to improve the lives of New Yorkers and how to use the power of government to take on the cost of living crisis, to grow our economy and to build a better, stronger New York,” Mamdani said as he stood alongside Trump in the backyard of Gracie Mansion after their meeting.

“I have said time and again that I will work with anyone, no matter what party they belong to, no matter how much we may disagree on other topics,” the mayor said. The president praised New York’s democratic socialist mayor, saying he’s “off to a start” toward being a “great” mayor. They acknowledged their differences, particularly over immigration. During their meeting, which was also attended by the mayor’s and president’s chiefs of staff, Trump agreed to ramp up consultations about funding for Sunnyside Yard, which could bring up to 12,000 new homes built over a 190-acre Queens railyard. “We’ve agreed to set up a new level of that conversation between our housing and operations team at City Hall and the White House team,” Mamdani said. The project, Trump said, is “going to need a lot of federal approvals and probably some federal money to do it. But it’s always been a great location.”

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Apartment landlords have a $2 trillion debt problem that is only getting worse

Few investors are feeling more pain from rising interest rates than America’s apartment landlords. These property owners face a bill of more than $1.8 trillion in debt over the next decade. From this year to 2028, about $757 billion of those loans are coming due, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That is the most of any commercial real-estate sector. Nearly $300 billion of those loans are maturing in 2026 alone. This follows a record-setting 2025, when $310 billion in loans came due, the highest the sector had seen in a single year since the Mortgage Bankers Association started tracking. Another $223 billion is due next year. Now, after the Federal Reserve raised rates a quarter point and with bond yields rising, that debt is about to become a much bigger burden. Landlords are having to refinance when borrowing rates are roughly twice the level of five years ago, when many of these loans were made.

When apartment-mortgage rates tumbled to historic lows of around 3% in 2020 and 2021, multifamily buildings were the hottest investment in commercial real estate. Office and retail properties suffered after urban downtowns were hollowed out by remote work. The lodging business took a hit when travel activity drooped during the pandemic, while soaring operating costs and plunging occupancy rates caused hundreds of senior housing facilities to close. Apartment rents, meanwhile, were surging at double digits nationwide. Multifamily became a refuge for real-estate investors amid the doom spiral in other sectors. “There was a sense of relative euphoria,” said Mike Wolfson, Newmark’s managing director for multifamily capital-markets research. “But things turned very quickly.” New apartment construction flooded the market, mostly concentrated in the Sunbelt region. Cities such as Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta and Austin, Texas, were inundated with new luxury apartments and not enough people to fill them. Fast forward, many of the same apartment landlords riding high are now preparing to sell at a loss, hand back the keys to their lenders or reconfigure their balance sheets to shoulder millions more in mortgage payments after refinancing.

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How David Ellison ended his stalemate with California

Earlier this month, there were few signs that California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison were moving any closer to resolving their differences. Paramount and the coalition of states Bonta was leading in an antitrust suit seeking to block the company’s $81 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery were having on and off settlement negotiations, but little progress had been made, according to people close to the discussions. The clock was ticking for Ellison. He had spent a year fighting for the merger and was staring down the prospect of costly fees the company had agreed to in order to clinch the deal. Paramount would have to pay $650 million a quarter to Warner shareholders, or $7 million a day, starting Oct. 1 if the deal wasn’t closed.

Bonta was under pressure, too. Paramount, the studio behind “The Godfather” and “Titanic,” had threatened to leave its home state, which would be an economic and symbolic blow to a city already suffering from a leaner Hollywood. Paramount held talks with officials in Tennessee, people familiar with the discussions said. In conversations with the attorney general, California Gov. Gavin Newsom reiterated concerns that losing Paramount would hurt the state’s economic engine. Newsom was concerned Bonta would lose at trial and at times acted as an unofficial mediator between the two sides, people familiar with the matter said. Then, last week, Ellison made his biggest concession yet: to spend at least $1.5 billion more on domestic production over five years, people familiar with the offer said. He flew between Los Angeles and Northern California to meet with Bonta, his staff and other attorneys general to complete settlement terms, from the editorial independence of CBS and CNN to allocating money for entertainment worker benefits and the potential sale of cable channels.

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Sylvester Stallone reveals what he said to Trump after surprise Hollywood ambassador appointment

Sylvester Stallone revealed that he was blindsided when President Donald Trump announced his appointment as a special ambassador to Hollywood. Days before his second inauguration in January 2025, Trump shared a post on his platform Truth Social in which he named Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight as "Special Envoys," describing the role as a way for the three actors to serve as his "eyes and ears" in Hollywood and advise him on efforts to bring film and television production back to the U.S. During a recent interview with The Sunday Times, the 80-year-old "Rocky" star recalled that he found out about the appointment while watching television.

"I was watching TV one night, and they go, ‘So Stallone and Mel Gibson and Jon Voight will be …’ And I went, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Excuse me? Really?’ Because if they had asked me in the beginning, I would have said, ‘This is not possible,'" Stallone said. Stallone told the outlet that he was hesitant about taking on the role because he didn't believe it was feasible. When asked if he had reservations after Trump's announcement, Stallone said, "Yes. Yes, because Hollywood, I guess it’s like feudal states." "They have their little kingdoms," he continued. "You don’t go in and tell six studios how to do things. And Mel Gibson and Jon Voight, we’re kind of do-our-own-thing people. No, it won’t work." The "Tulsa King" star recalled that he later explained his reasoning to Trump. "I said thank you and ciao, because it’s impossible," Stallone said. "Hollywood works, and it will evolve." "It’s corporate, and corporate people won’t want to hear me tell them about finance," he added. In his original post on Jan. 16, 2025, Trump wrote, "It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California." "They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!" he continued. "These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!"

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Republican support for Trump’s handling of war in Iran shows cracks in new CNN poll

Americans’ opposition to the war in Iran has hardened, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, with almost two-thirds saying the US is not winning the conflict and more saying President Donald Trump isn’t doing enough to end it. Americans have never held positive views about the war, and nearly seven months after it began, broad majorities say the conflict has hurt US interests, has not been worth the costs and that the president lacks a clear plan to handle it. The findings come as Trump prepares to address the United Nations and meet with Gulf leaders about the future of the Iran war. They also come as he is confronting a metastasizing crisis with the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Overall, 29% of US adults approve of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs, a new low in CNN polling across both of his terms as president, while 71% say they disapprove. More see his foreign policy decisions this term as harming America’s standing in the world rather than helping it. Only 26% say they approve of the president’s handling of the situation in Iran, down from 33% a month after the war began. Much of the decline in approval of his handling of Iran comes among Republicans. Views among Democrats and independents have been steadily negative throughout the conflict. In March, though, 73% of Republicans approved of the way Trump was handling it. Now, that figure stands at 60%. Among Republican and Republican-leaning adults, approval of Trump’s handling of Iran dips into negative territory among those younger than 45 (53% disapprove) and those who say they are not members of the Make America Great Again movement (54% disapprove). Republicans are also less positive now than they were earlier this year about the impact of Trump’s foreign policies more broadly: About half of Republicans now say that his decisions have helped the US’ standing in the world, down 13 points since March.

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Democrats fume after Jared Golden endorses a Republican in a key race

Democrats are fuming at outgoing Rep. Jared Golden of Maine after he deepened the rift between himself and his party by endorsing a swing-district House Republican. In an op-ed published Monday, Golden endorsed Rep. Mike Lawler (R-New York) for reelection, calling him one of the most bipartisan members of Congress. It’s bad news for Democratic candidate Cait Conley, who is heavily backed by House Democrats’ campaign arm. Some Democrats were swift to condemn the choice. “Doesn’t sound like a Democrat to me. And his voting record doesn’t show he’s a Democrat either,” said one House Democrat who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. Golden often votes with Republicans. Another said Golden was undercutting Conley.

“It’s a winnable seat that he’s helping to make more difficult,” the second House Democrat told The Washington Sun. “Also what is he doing to help us elsewhere?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries released a statement dismissive of Lawler, the endorsement and Golden, but did not say Golden would face any sort of punishment. A spokesperson also did not say whether the Maine congressman would face any consequences for breaking with the party. “Mike Lawler is a partisan hack and Trump sycophant who Cait Conley will defeat in November. In desperation, he is peddling an 11th hour endorsement from a retiring Congressmember who represents an out of town district more than 400 miles away,” Jeffries said. “This smoke and mirrors ploy will do nothing to change the outcome of the race. The election will be decided by the people of Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley.” Lawler’s seat is one of the most coveted by Democrats as they look to regain the majority in November. Golden is already on thin ice with the Democratic Party: In September alone, he helped advance two procedural votes with Republicans along with Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Washington). Golden is retiring, but Gluesenkamp Perez is still running for reelection.

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Lead Stories

Tarrant lawmaker plans Texas data center transparency legislation

A Fort Worth-area Texas lawmaker plans to introduce legislation on a hot button topic: data centers. After co-authoring laws regulating the use of artificial intelligence within state and local government agencies, state Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, is crafting bills relating to the fast-growing technology hubs. Public outcry around the data centers has led the Fort Worth City Council to vote for a moratorium, and Gov. Greg Abbott has introduced a temporary moratorium. Though he did not provide any specifics, Parker said at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce Leaders in Government series on Sept. 17 that the legislation will be informed by his experience during the Barnett Shale natural gas drilling growth in the early part of this century. Then, Parker was representing communities in north Tarrant and Denton counties.

“One of the bills I will carry next session will be a framework that is based on historical experience with other industries,” he said. That initial experience with the oil and gas industry setting up drilling sites in populated areas was not good, he said. “They came in arrogant, out of touch, tone deaf,” he said. “They were not paying attention to local interests.” Parker said he worked with the oil and gas industry to change that behavior and get them involved with and answering community questions. Parker also authored an amendment to a bill requiring oil and gas companies to publicly disclose the chemicals used in fracking. Parker said he plans to write data center legislation that establishes public discussion and transparency requirements. “I don’t mandate things on business,” he said. “It will incentivize them. I will encourage good behavior, and that’s what we did at that time (during the Barnett Shale).” While Parker works on plans to file a bill when the Texas Legislature meets starting Jan. 12, he also made clear he believes data centers are key to the future success of the state.

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ICE officer shoots Venezuelan man delivering food in Austin, lawyer says

An ICE officer shot and seriously wounded a Venezuelan man Sunday afternoon as he was delivering food in Austin, Texas, his lawyer said. The man was taken to a local hospital and was “in serious but stable condition” after being shot in the torso, Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said at a news conference earlier. The White House referred NBC News to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. A spokesperson for the DHS, the federal agency to which Immigration and Customs Enforcement belongs, said in a statement late Sunday that the man was stable and was in federal custody pending removal from the U.S. Immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch identified him as Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez, 28, and said he was an asylum seeker who entered the country through a parole program.

“Today at 12:30, Wilber called his wife to tell her that he had been shot,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said in an interview. “And he was yelling in agony, and the call cut off. That was all she knew.” The DHS spokesperson said Garcés Perez entered the country illegally under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal, adding that Homeland Security Investigations, with help from the FBI, will lead an investigation into the shooting. The shooting occurred around 1 p.m. in North Austin. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Sheridan Nolen said the agency received a request for assistance from ICE for a vehicle pursuit involving a blue Toyota Corolla. A social media video verified by NBC News captures the sound of tires screeching followed by a person exiting a dark-colored SUV as a blue sedan is stopped next to it, both vehicles facing one another. At least three gunshots are heard as the person approaches the sedan and runs up to it as it slowly lurches forward. The video shows the person standing next to the sedan’s driver’s side as it stops in front of an intersection. The sedan also appears to be damaged on the passenger side.

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A shortage of oil tankers is threatening to keep gas prices high

The Iran war has created a new shortage on the oil market. This time the scarce commodity isn’t just crude—it is the ships that carry it. Drone attacks that shut Saudi Arabia’s bypass pipeline earlier this month have forced more crude back through the Strait of Hormuz and onto a tanker fleet already stretched thin. The impact has spread worldwide, as longer voyages and shuttle runs around Hormuz tie up ships and push the daily rate of hiring oil tankers to records. The squeeze adds another cost to a war that has been disrupting energy supplies across the globe. Fewer available tankers are slowing oil deliveries just as record shipping costs squeeze refiners’ margins, threatening to keep fuel prices high even if global crude prices fall. That could add fresh pressure on U.S. gasoline prices before November’s midterm elections.

“What matters for refiners is the delivered cost of the crude, and that includes freight,” said Adi Imsirovic, a former energy trader, and lecturer at the University of Oxford. “The price at the pump includes all of it and the consumer has to pay the full price.” The sudden supply crunch among oil supertankers—known as very large crude carriers, or VLCCs—has boosted the cost of hauling oil through the strait to the highest on record. Earlier this month, the cost of hiring an oil supertanker to load inside the Persian Gulf and transit the Strait of Hormuz topped $1 million a day, according to maritime-intelligence firm Windward. That works out to $26 a barrel, or roughly a quarter of the crude’s value based on the current market price. Normally, shipping costs are a fraction of the value of a crude cargo. The tanker shortage extends beyond the Middle East. Rates around the world, such as those for the West Africa to China route, are also surging. Globally, average daily earnings for a VLCC reached $651,107 Thursday, nearly doubling from a week earlier, before Saudi’s bypass pipeline, known as the East-West Pipeline, was shut, according to Clarksons Research.

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Trump decries Democrats as ‘communists,’ even as he looks to impress China’s communist leader

Communism, President Donald Trump says, is the greatest threat the U.S. has ever faced. This summer, citing similarly grave concerns, he took the rare step of delivering a primetime address to the nation, accusing China of “sinister election meddling” in 2020 and reviving his yearslong push to dispute his loss in that year’s election. Even as Trump seeks to decry Democrats as communists ahead of November’s midterm elections, he is rolling out the red carpet this week for Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leader of the world’s most powerful communist country. The state visit comes as the president himself has increasingly directed his administration to take large stakes in private companies to try to stimulate the economy — something even some Republicans decry as corporate socialism. The contradictions between Trump’s words and actions risk muddying Republican attack lines on Democrats.

“I do think that we’re not offering a clear contrast,” said Marc Short, who was chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence and worked in Trump’s White House in his first term. During the recent Republican midterm convention in Dallas, the president repeatedly branded Democrats as communists, even proclaiming, “It’s going to be a communist country if they win.” “In state after state, the Democrat establishment has been overthrown and replaced by crazed lunatics and radicals,” he said, adding, “America has beaten communism before, and we will beat it again.” That’s a reference to candidates aligned with democratic socialists who won Democratic primaries in Michigan, Colorado, New York, Florida and Pennsylvania. Trump and other Republicans argue it shows the party is too extreme, although they exaggerate many of the political realities. It is a way to shift the narrative in the face of a series of drags on the popularity of Trump and his party with Election Day looming. Those include an increasingly unpopular war in Iran, concerns about inflation remaining high and Trump’s approval ratings retreating to near historic lows.

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State Stories

Vikki Goodwin accuses Dan Patrick of violating Texas deepfake law

The Democratic candidate for Texas lieutenant governor filed a police report on Saturday accusing the Republican incumbent, Dan Patrick, of violating a state law that makes it a crime to produce deepfake videos of political candidates near an election. The filing centers on two ads released by Mr. Patrick this month that used videos generated by artificial intelligence to depict the Democratic candidate, Vikki Goodwin, describing her policies in words she never said. “Although the ‘person’ in the video appears to be me, it was not actually me,” Ms. Goodwin, an Austin-area state representative, wrote in an affidavit accompanying the report. “This outrageous behavior by an elected official is criminal.”

Political campaigns around the country have leveraged A.I. to generate attack ads against rival candidates in the 2026 midterm elections. But the filing appeared to be among the few instances of a candidate seeking criminal penalties in response to an A.I. attack. It was unclear whether Mr. Patrick’s ads were covered by state law, which bars the use of A.I.-generated deepfake videos within 30 days of an election. The ads were posted on Mr. Patrick’s social media accounts during the first two weeks of this month — more than 30 days before Election Day in November. Sign up to get J. David Goodman's articles emailed to you. J. David Goodman is a Houston-based reporter covering the people and politics of Texas. In the affidavit, Ms. Goodwin argued that the videos violated the law because they remained online within 30 days of the start of early voting. Allen Blakemore, a campaign spokesman for Mr. Patrick, stood by the video on Saturday, saying it was “an obvious parody produced to entertain.” “No reasonable person could view it any other way,” Mr. Blakemore said. “Furthermore, we have not published or distributed any of these parodies within 30 days of the election.”

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‘We will send hundreds of millions’: Patrick pushes desalination during Corpus Christi visit

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick brought his reelection campaign to Corpus Christi, where he addressed the city’s ongoing water crisis ahead of his November matchup against Democrat Vikki Goodwin. Patrick stopped at the Valero refinery to meet with workers and outline several of his priorities for another term in office. During the visit, Patrick called for a desalination plant in Corpus Christi and criticized the city’s elected leaders for rejecting proposals intended to address the water shortage.

“We need a desalination plant here in Corpus Christi,” Patrick said. “I don’t know the politics of your local government, but I don’t know why they keep voting that down.” Patrick said the state is prepared to provide Corpus Christi with hundreds of millions of dollars to help address the crisis, but the city must approve a project. “The state of Texas, I want to be very clear, we have said we will send hundreds of millions of dollars to Corpus (Christi) to help you through this water crisis, but we need a local government that says 'yes',” Patrick said. “They’re turning their back on this money that can address these water issues you have right now that’s turning into a crisis.” The water crisis was among several local and statewide issues Patrick discussed during the campaign stop as he made his case for another four years in office.

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Democrats challenge Gov. Abbott's TV ad on property tax cuts

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is appearing in a television ad touting property tax cuts and drawing criticism from Democrats. In the ad, Abbott names local property tax reductions a top campaign goal as he seeks reelection to a fourth term to potentially become the longest serving governor in Texas history. "Number 1 is to slash your property taxes, whereas the Democrats, they want to increase your taxes," the governor says in the television ad, airing frequently as Election Day approaches on Nov. 3. But the Democratic nominee for governor, State Representative Gina Hinojosa of McAllen, questioned why the governor has not acted already to cut taxes. "Greg Abbott has had 12 years to lower Texans' property taxes and is lying that he's going to tackle (the issue) with less than two months until the election," she said in a statement to Texas Public Radio, which looked into the merits of the ad.

"His plan, like his terrible ad, makes no sense. Texans need real relief. As governor, I'll reduce property taxes by eliminating billions of taxpayer dollars Abbott has given to his corporate donors that have undermined our economy, our schools, and working families," the statement said. Precinct 2 Democratic Bexar County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, a former state representative, did not respond directly to the governor's ad, but earlier this month, he said the county spends a lot of local property taxes on state mandates to which the state attaches little or no funding. In other words, the state orders local programs or services to be implemented, and then we pay for it locally — with property taxes. "85% of our general fund appropriations has legislatively directed services or necessary support costs, so that's significant." Rodriguez said during budget talks among county commissioners at the courthouse. The largest portion of local property tax bills are for schools. The state and federal government combined pay about one-half of local education costs, while local property taxpayers must pay for the other half, according to the organization, Raise Your Hand Texas, a public schools advocacy group. To be more exact, 47.7% of school funding is paid for locally, 38.6% is funded by the state, and 13.7% is funded by the federal government.

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Jail accountability stalls in Texas Legislature

In 2024, Jaleen Anderson was transferred from the Harris County Jail to the LaSalle Correctional Center in Olla, Louisiana, where he died from a seizure and complications with cardiovascular diseases. The next year, Erik Carlson, who was also transferred from Harris County, died there from an untreated strep infection. They were two of four Harris County jail inmates who were transferred to and died in an out-of-state facility since 2022. On March 19 of this year, the Harris County Commissioners Court debated a $38 million contract to send more than 1,000 people in Beaumont and Louisiana through 2027. Before the vote Erik’s mother Kim Carlson begged them to not send another dollar to “the people that killed our sons.”

The contract was approved. But, according to Senator Borris Miles, D-Houston, a contract that size “should come with a very high level of transparency and accountability for the people being held under it.” Those deaths and lack of scrutiny prompted him to file Senate Bill 2289 during the 2025 legislative session. Miles said he filed a bill “focused on something Texas could realistically require.” Under current law, once a Texas detainee is transferred out of state, Texas agencies have no jurisdiction over them. The bill would have given the state slightly more oversight by requiring counties to annually report the number of prisoners transferred out-of-state and who died to the Commission on Jail Standards, which oversees jails in the state. The commission would then send a summary to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker and the legislative committees that oversee it. Miles told the Texas Signal he filed it because Texas has no way to learn about a death in another state. "There was no clear mechanism for Texas to receive and track that death, and the state had no jurisdiction to investigate what happened,” he said. It was one of three bills aiming for more accountability from county jails.

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Mark Z. Barabak: The worst, most vile candidate in Texas isn't who you might think

(Mark Z. Barabak is a political columnist for the Los Angeles Times, focusing on California and the West.) In the second week of the college football season, in a clash of titans, the University of Texas scored 21 unanswered points to surge past Ohio State in the fourth quarter and win, 24-23. The comeback, Gov. Greg Abbott decreed, was the greatest home victory in more than 130 years of Longhorn football. A screen grab of one celebratory moment showed a group of students ecstatic beyond belief. They were clad in the university’s signature burnt orange. Two wore cowboy hats. One flashed “Hook ‘em Horns,” the university’s proud hand signal. To see the picture earlier this month was to witness pure, untempered joy. But Bo French, the Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commission, saw something different.

Most of the students were darkly complected and apparently of South Asian heritage. French posted the photo and wrote on X, “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” He followed with a second post, doubling down on the racist “Great Replacement” theory. “Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners,” French spewed. “It’s everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine.” In many places, French’s unapologetic, unvarnished bigotry would be disqualifying. But given Texas’ strong Republican leaning he stands a better-than-even chance of being elected in November to the state Railroad Commission, which, despite its name, oversees Texas’ vast oil and gas industry. The hateful gibe was perfectly in character. “In some ways in Texas this is old news,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, who teaches political science at the University of Houston. Last year, as chairman of the Tarrant County GOP, French posted an online poll asking, “Who is a bigger threat to America?” The choice on offer: Muslims or Jews. Speaking in March at a political conference, he urged President Trump to round up and deport every Muslim in the country, calling the Islamic faith subversive and a clear and present danger to America.

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It’s raining boxes: Amazon drones overwhelm a Texas suburb

The sound came out of nowhere. It began as an unnerving high-pitched hum, like a mosquito flying around a dark room at bedtime, and it grew louder as it drew closer. A family lounging in a backyard pool in Richardson, Texas, just north of Dallas, couldn’t help but notice it. “There’s another one coming this way!” shouted Eric Anderson from his pool float, pointing to an area above a tall line of trees. His 9-year-old daughter, Isla, removed her swim goggles for a clearer look at what could be a scene from science fiction. Within a minute or so, an 83-pound drone with six blue arms and whirring propellers appeared in a corner of the sky before zipping over nearby houses, looking like a cross between a mechanical dragonfly and an X-wing fighter, and buzzing like a battalion of bees. The drone’s mission: delivering an Amazon package.

The single cardboard box of cargo held a maximum of five pounds and was loaded into the drone at Amazon’s distribution center less than a mile from the backyard pool. It could have been bound for anywhere within a seven-and-a-half mile radius of takeoff. Richardson city officials gave Amazon zoning approval to start the drone delivery service in December as part of the company’s nascent Prime Air program. It promises customers tens of thousands of items — nail trimmers for pets, ankle bracelets, handcrafted, razor-tipped bread lames for scoring sourdough — in as little as 30 minutes. The delivery could be free or cost up to $4.99. The Federal Aviation Administration, which governs U.S. airspace, gave Amazon clearance to fly its drones. Now many other parts of the United States can expect their own drone deliveries, a welcome convenience for some, but an invasion for others. Last month, Amazon announced that Prime Air deliveries would expand to 500 towns and cities by the end of the year. Other companies are also using drone deliveries, and the F.A.A. has forecast that by 2030 the number could explode to more than 3.5 million, up from the current number of 897,000 registered drones.

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Texas adds new solar panel protections as homeowners report higher bills, costly contracts

Texas homeowners considering solar panels have new protections as some customers report unexpected costs, long-term contracts and electric bills higher than promised. When a solar sales team showed up at Craig McKinney's Waxahachie home last year, he was intrigued. "They said, 'I think that we could get rid of your electric bill and all you would have to pay is for this — would you be interested?'" McKinney said. He says as a husband and father of four, every dollar counts. So, he asked for more information about their leasing program. "They sent over a contract to me to kind of start with that... and I'm not the smartest with all those, so what I did is I ran it through ChatGPT, seeing if I could get some help with that," said McKinney. "And it looked at it and said 'Hey, what they're saying makes a lot of sense.' So, I went with it."

He said that's when the problems began. "They said, 'Oh, we looked at the house, and we realized you're not going to get enough panels on here to get the electricity out, but don't worry, we got a backup plan,'" McKinney said. McKinney says that backup plan included installing batteries and switching to a new electric company that offered free nights, which is when he was told to charge them. But he says instead of getting rid of his bill, he's now paying even more. "So what's happening is we're paying our normal electric bill at $300 a month, plus paying our bill to them at $320 a month, and so now we're paying $620 a month," said McKinney. "So frustrated! So mad!" All this comes as Texas is putting new protections in place. As of Sept. 1, residential solar retailers and salespeople generally must be registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, or TDLR. The state can also act against companies or salespeople who violate the rules. Other protections, including a five-business-day right to cancel most residential solar contracts, have been in effect since last year. "I think there probably needs to be even more protections," said McKinney. McKinney is trying to get out of his lease, but says so far, he has been unsuccessful.

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Texas's new plastic roads could solve a big problem with heatwaves

Texas may have found a novel way to make its roads more resistant to damage from blistering heat. Even better, the method could give discarded plastic a new purpose, reducing how much of it ends up in landfill while we continue to look for other, better ways to dispose of it. The process involves mixing plastic into asphalt to make the road material more flexible and heat-resistant, creating a mixture that's less likely to crack in extremely hot conditions. Texas needs a solution as roads face increasing risks from extreme summer heat. Temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, while the asphalt can get even hotter. As temperatures rise, asphalt softens, making the surface of the road more vulnerable to the pounding of heavy vehicles.

The stress can cause the softened road to deform, causing cracks and ruts. During the record-breaking heat of 2023, parts of Texas saw temperatures rise to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, with the extreme conditions causing roads to buckle and crack. The idea to mix recycled plastic into asphalt is the work of researchers at the University of Texas in Arlington (UTA). The team is already testing the material in sections of UTA parking lots, and also on a stretch of road about a mile long in Rockwall, a city near Dallas, where it's using around 4.5 tons of recycled plastic. The process involves cleaning and shredding the plastic before mixing it into the asphalt at high temperatures. It then melts and bonds with the asphalt binder, a thick, sticky substance called bitumen. The processed plastic replaces around 8% to 10% of the bitumen, creating a mixture that helps the asphalt better withstand extreme heat and heavy traffic. Promisingly, the test road in Rockwall has been holding together well, remaining damage free on days when temperatures exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but it's still too early to know how the material will perform over many years. UTA's team has also helped implement and evaluate a road made with asphalt and recycled plastic in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Built in 2023, the road has been exposed to hot temperatures and plenty of traffic. During a prolonged period of extreme heat in 2024, the road held up well, while other comparable roads suffered damage.

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Outlet mall owners ask Texas Supreme Court to axe mass shooting lawsuit

The largest mall owner in the nation urged the top court in Texas to throw out a lawsuit by victims of a 2023 mass shooting, but at least one justice was skeptical Wednesday. The victims and their families claim the owners of the mall — an open-air shopping center in Allen, Texas, called Allen Premium Outlets — failed to protect against the massacre, which took the lives of eight people and injured seven others. Although the motive of the shooting has never been confirmed, authorities say the shooter, 33-year-old Mauricio Martinez Garcia, had expressed white supremacist and neo-Nazi views and committed the massacre while wearing a tactical vest embroidered with a “RWDS” (“Right Wing Death Squad”) patch. In their August 2024 lawsuit, the plaintiffs argue the mall’s owners — real estate giant Simon Property Group and a pair of corporate affiliates — were negligent by staffing a single unarmed security guard to protect the entire 611,000-square-foot property.

Simon Property Group operates over 200 malls and outlet centers across the U.S., making it the largest mall owner in the country. Byron Henry, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, told the Texas Supreme Court that the owners of Allen Premium Outlets were on notice about the risk of shootings involving multiple victims because their other properties had previously experienced them. But the owners’ attorney, Monica Latin, urged the court to rule that the owners did not have a legal duty to protect against the mass shooting. For over 30 years, she said, the Texas Supreme Court has “confirmed the foundational rule that property owners have no general duty under Texas law to protect against third-party acts on their premises, especially criminal acts, and that the exceptions to that general rule are and should be limited.” Justice Debra Lehrmann questioned whether mass shootings should be held to the same standard as other crime. “This is a completely unique, different thing that our country, unlike most countries, has to deal with, it seems,” she said.

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Texas data center leaders say shale boom offers lessons for industry

As the data center industry booms in Texas, industry leaders said they can look to the shale revolution for helpful comparisons, especially when it comes to the importance of educating and working with the communities they’re building in. Business executives, experts, academics and students explored this juxtaposition Thursday evening during Energy Night at Southern Methodist University hosted by the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity and the Lyle School of Engineering. The panels included wide-ranging conversations on energy storage, geothermal energy, data center growth and more.

“The shale boom really brought about a change in the Texas economy, and it brought new jobs and investment along with it, but that also brought with it questions from the communities about how can they share in those in those local benefits,” said panel moderator Molly Ward, former global energy and sustainability sourcing and supply manager at Apple. “While data centers are not the same as oil and gas operations, a lot of the questions that the industries face are really similar, such as who bears that cost, what’s driving this spike in growth, how can local communities benefit, how can [companies] earn trust while also addressing legitimate concerns.” Josh Levi, president of Data Center Coalition, also set the stage for the hourlong discussion describing the moment society is in as interesting, exciting and challenging. He talked about key factors driving the need for the digital infrastructure build out and growing data center demand, including serving the 5.5 billion people online, 45% of which he said came online since 2018. At one point, he pulled out a piece of paper and read off statistics. Every minute, he said, this amount of computing happens: About 251.1 million emails are sent, 18.8 million texts are sent, 362,962 hours of Netflix is streamed, 16,000 videos are uploaded to TikTok, 138.9 million reels are played on Facebook and Instagram, 229 million meeting minutes are recorded on Microsoft Teams, and 1.15 billion steps are stored, accessed and cataloged.

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If Texas schools must offer voter registration, why are so few teens signed up?

An obscure state law requires Texas high schools to give eligible students an opportunity to register to vote. But voting-rights groups say many schools don’t bother. New data from a national nonprofit advocacy group shows Texas and Bexar County lag behind much of the country in the percentage of 18-year-olds registered to vote. Research published Aug. 11 by The Civics Center, which trains students and educators to run nonpartisan high school voter registration drives, found only 29% of roughly 420,000 18-year-old Texans are registered to vote — down 13 percentage points from 2022 and below the national average of 42%. “Texas is one of very few states that declined,” said Laura Brill, founder and CEO of the nonprofit that was created in 2018 and is based in Los Angeles.

It's a timely issue, with an Oct. 5 registration deadline looming for the Nov. 3 midterm and local elections in Texas. The group published an online map of Texas showing voter-registration rates of 18-year-olds by county. While rural counties such as Pecos, Andrews and Lavaca had rates above 90%, only 35% of Bexar County residents who are 18 were registered as of May 5. Other urban counties also posted rates below the national average with Dallas County at 27%, Harris County at 38% and Travis and Tarrant counties at 39%. “Texas is one of the most difficult states in the country in which to register to vote,” leaving an onus on schools and local advocates to guide teens through the process, Brill said. Aside from being one of seven states without online voter registration, Texas doesn’t let teens apply to vote until they’re 17 years and 10 months old. Teens in other states can pre-register at 16, then begin voting when they’re 18. Texas also doesn’t have automatic voter registration as other states do for teens applying for driver’s licenses. In another requirement that most other states don't have, Texas mandates deputy voter registrars take a test through their county, Brill said.

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Drug toxicity caused Tarrant County Jail detainee's death in April, medical examiner says

A man who died in Tarrant County Jail custody in April was ruled an accident caused by drug toxicity, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office ruled. John Barr, 36, died April 19 at John Peter Smith Hospital after he was found unresponsive is his cell. Barr's death was listed as an accident from fentanyl, methadone and methamphetamine toxicity. A custodial death report sent to the Texas Attorney General's Office listed Barr's death as a drug overdose and may have been experiencing medical problems. Laurie Passman, a spokesperson for the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, told KERA News Barr self-reported that he had "substantial amounts of drugs" already in his system when he was booked into the jail and placed on a detoxification protocol under medical supervision.

"The cause and manner of death listed in the autopsy report and custodial death report do not indicate that Mr. Barr obtained or ingested drugs while in the custody of the Tarrant County Jail," Passman said. "Based on the information available, it would be inaccurate to conclude that the presence of these substances resulted from access to drugs while incarcerated." Jail records show Barr was booked into the jail April 16 over a parole violation. He was arrested in 2022 on a charge of possession of a controlled substance — heroin — of more than four grams and less than 200 grams, according to court records. All in-custody deaths are investigated and reviewed by Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office jail staff, the TCSO Criminal Investigations Division, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, an outside law enforcement agency, JPS medical staff, the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. The Haltom City Police Department is investigating Barr's death as the outside law enforcement agency.

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Attorney busts ‘biggest misconception’ in Karmelo Anthony filing that could be key in track meet murder case

A 75-page court filing detailing alleged threats, gun photos and violent text messages tied to convicted Texas killer Karmelo Anthony appears at first glance to be a roadmap of evidence prosecutors planned to present at trial. But a veteran Texas criminal defense attorney says one of the biggest misconceptions surrounding the document is that jurors were never guaranteed to see any of it. Fox News Digital recently obtained the filing, which prosecutors submitted before Anthony's murder trial under Texas Rule of Evidence 404(b). The filing has taken on renewed importance because Anthony's bid for a new trial focuses on an alleged pretrial agreement governing character evidence. Anthony argues confusion over that agreement affected his decision not to testify, while prosecutors dispute that claim.

The notice catalogs dozens of alleged prior acts prosecutors said they may seek to introduce, including allegations that Anthony stalked his girlfriend hours before fatally stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Frisco high school track meet on April 2, 2025. Prosecutors also cited text messages in which Anthony allegedly said he was "on the verge," posed with firearms, made violent threats and repeatedly discussed fighting. The filing also includes allegations that Anthony talked about committing robberies, buying firearms and extended magazines, selling narcotics and threatening multiple people, including his then-girlfriend, in text messages spanning several years. Prosecutors also cited screenshots they said represent only portions of larger conversations and noted the alleged prior acts were separate from the charged offense. To some readers, the filing might appear to be a blueprint of the prosecution's case. But appearances can be misleading. Tiffany Burks, a partner at Texas law firm Varghese Summersett and a former prosecutor, said that's not how Rule 404(b) works.

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National Stories

Trump says his planned arch would also become a 'military complex'

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the massive arch he wants to build between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery would become a “top grade Military Complex” able to host drones and snipers while storing ammunition. It is one more example of how Trump is insisting that his initiatives to beautify the White House and D.C. are also serving a defensive purpose. Trump has been calling the new White House ballroom a “military complex” and arguing it is necessary for national security purposes. The Pentagon said it had no information beyond the president’s statement. Trump’s announcement also comes as the arch, like his other projects, faces legal challenges. Though the arch has received early approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were all tapped by Trump, a group of three veterans and an architectural historian sued, saying the project needs to be approved by Congress.

“The President’s belated efforts to manufacture a national security justification for this project do nothing to cure its fundamental illegality,” Nicolas Sansone, one of the attorneys representing the litigants, said Sunday. “Congress has not authorized the arch and unless and until Congress does so, the project should not be permitted to move forward.” The president said in a social media post that he had agreed, at the “strong request” of the military, to convert the planned 250-foot-tall memorial arch “into a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage.” The arch is proposed for a circle adjacent to the Memorial Bridge, which is a heavy-traffic area as one of a handful of connecting bridges between the nation’s capital and Northern Virginia. Rep. Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat who represents a district that includes Arlington County and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, called out the potential dangers of Trump’s plan given the arch’s proximity to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

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Trump ramps up bid to dismantle International Criminal Court

The Trump administration is preparing to impose sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court, according to officials, a sharp escalation in Washington’s efforts to dismantle the institution after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The sanctions would forbid most transactions with the ICC after a grace period of six to seven months, according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal and U.S. officials. That could potentially cripple the court by prohibiting it from conducting transactions in U.S. dollars, cutting it off from much of the global financial system. It is unclear when a final decision and announcement might come, though some U.S. officials said the move could be finalized as soon as this week during the United Nations General Assembly meeting or in the following days. A State Department spokesman wouldn’t preview any sanctions decisions but noted Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s view that the ICC poses a threat to American sovereignty.

The Treasury Department declined to comment. The International Criminal Court didn’t respond to a request for comment. The U.S. already has sanctioned a number of ICC officials in its assault on the court. They include the former Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, whom the ICC ousted in July over sexual assault allegations against him; the president of the ICC, Tomoko Akane, and several other judges; the court’s two deputy prosecutors; and the lead prosecutor in the case against Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. Khan has denied any sexual misconduct. The Trump administration is now preparing sanctions that are expected to be far more punitive, officials said. They would apply to a range of transactions with the ICC rather than individual officials. The measures would exempt transactions related to communications services, according to the documents. European nations and other major backers of the court such as Japan have pledged to protect the ICC from the Trump administration’s onslaught, but it’s unclear how they plan to do that. The European Union could require the bloc’s banks to continue working with the court. Rubio in July said the administration was preparing a wide-ranging campaign against the ICC, saying it would dismantle the court “brick by brick” if necessary.

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Trump gets caught in a dilemma over a Saudi plea for military help

For two weeks, the question of whether to yield to pleas from Saudi Arabia and order the U.S. military to strike targets in Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis has bedeviled President Trump. A decision to go forward could open another front in the war against Iran that Mr. Trump started but has been unable to end as it spreads economic shock around the globe. The president had wavered for weeks over the Saudi appeals for help in fighting the Houthis, who took advantage of the instability in the Middle East and reignited their war with the kingdom this summer. But things came to a head on Thursday: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader and a major ally in the Iran war, called the president to implore him, again, to step in to help blunt the rapidly advancing group, administration officials said. Mr. Trump had met with advisers just the day before and told them he did not favor strikes.

But after speaking with the Saudi crown prince, he reversed himself and told the Pentagon to prepare for airstrikes against the Houthis. But by midday Sunday, the president appeared to have reversed himself again. There would be no U.S. airstrikes against the Houthis — at least not for the time being, according to administration officials. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss military planning. The White House press office declined to discuss Mr. Trump’s deliberations for the record. A senior administration official would say only that “the U.S. has a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia and we will always defend our allies.” Sign up to get Maggie Haberman's articles emailed to you. Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent reporting on President Trump. Most of the president’s inner circle was either deeply skeptical or outright opposed to joining the Saudi fight against the Houthis, especially given the existing strains facing the U.S. military in the war with Iran, according to a senior administration official. Mr. Trump’s decision to pull back from, or at least delay, striking Houthi targets came as commanders had approved target lists, troops were loading bombs onto U.S. warplanes selected for the missions and the wave of attacks was just about to begin, according to two people briefed on the operation.

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The Sydney Sweeney football ad is making people mad for the wrong reason

Everyone needs hobbies, and one of mine is getting annoyed at everything Sydney Sweeney does. Oh, is it your hobby too? Makes sense—it’s our new national pastime, and I’m pretty sure Sweeney likes it that way. The only thing is, I’m finding it a little hard to be annoyed by her latest stunt. Sweeney is starring in a new ad campaign, because she is always starring in a new ad campaign, and she is naked in it, because she is often naked. This time it’s for a company called Novig, a previously little-known sports betting app that is counting on this new marketing push to get its name out to the masses. (Sweeney herself is an equity holder.) The way Novig has chosen to differentiate itself from Kalshi and Polymarket is to emphasize that it is an app for betting on sports and sports alone, meaning you can’t use it to bet on wars, death, or politics.

So it follows that in the ads, Sweeney is nude and surrounded by sports equipment—in one shot, she covers her breasts with two footballs, and in another, her substantial underboob peeks out of a set of shoulder pads while one football has been repurposed to cover her crotch. It’s more cheeky button-pushing from the 29-year-old actress who previously caused a stir with her American Eagle ads and her gig selling Dr. Squatch soap and body wash. Sweeney has developed a playbook for pissing us off, and the Novig ad sticks to it: 1) Find a company that targets the masses or men specifically. 2) Deliver some suggestive lines in trademark purr-meets-mumble. 3) Do this while wearing very little. 4) Profit. We should probably all stop taking the bait (and, to be fair, far fewer people seem as outraged about this as they were about the jeans, thank goodness), because she’s mocking us at this point. This woman is straddling a basketball hoop! Instead, people are mad again, but this time for a more specific reason than Sweeney’s general trollery. The charge is that the campaign is insulting to women in sports. Accomplished professional female athletes have accused the ads of sexualizing women’s bodies in the athletic realm, the exact thing they’ve been fighting against for decades. But this is a bit of a reach: At no point does Sweeney represent herself as a “woman in sports” in the ads. There’s a case to be made that she is objectifying all women, everywhere, and go ahead and make it, but it seems to me that female athletes have no more reason to be offended than the rest of us.

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Stocks rise on AI optimism; lower oil helps bonds

Global stocks rose on ?Monday, recovering some poise, as evidence of booming AI demand lifted tech shares and oil retreated on reports that more supply was leaving ?the Gulf than previously thought despite the ongoing conflict. The bond market, which last week endured a sixth straight weekly selloff in the face of rising interest rates and a persistently high oil price, rallied, with European debt leading gains.

South Korean data showed exports for the first 20 days of this month hit a record high, thanks to surging demand ?for chips. S&P futures gained 0.6%. Some of the concern that rattled investors last week about global central banks possibly embarking on a ?hiking cycle subsided, as the oil price edged back towards $100 a barrel, from highs last week above $109. "Maybe things got a little bit apocalyptic last week, and they're just ?easing off. But obviously the direction of travel in oil prices is still higher, this is just a minor correction," IG chief market strategist Chris Beauchamp said. "Then again, ?the AI demand was cited overnight as the reason why tech stocks have bounced, so the ongoing themes just keep coming back to the fore ... it's just the sort of the dance where one narrative prevails over the other for the time being," he added. On the geopolitical front beyond the Middle East, US President Donald Trump will attend the United Nations General Assembly this week, ahead ?of a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.

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The crypto industry targets Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a top Democratic Senate candidate

The cryptocurrency industry, furious at Democrats for blocking the passage of a major business-friendly bill last week, is beginning to wage war on the party’s midterm candidates. The industry’s main super PAC, Fairshake, which is backed by some of the richest people in Silicon Valley, is starting to unspool a planned $30 million advertising campaign against former Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a Democrat running again for the chamber, the group told The New York Times. The push is by far the crypto industry’s most aggressive move yet in the midterms, and it could have significant implications for the Ohio Senate race, one of this year’s top contests for control of Congress. Fairshake spent $41 million on advertising in 2024 to target Mr. Brown, a progressive critic of the industry who was then the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. He lost, and many Republicans credit the crypto industry for helping them win.

Fairshake has cast itself as a bipartisan super PAC, and it supported some Democrats in the 2024 elections. But with Republicans in control of Washington, the industry has enjoyed a light regulatory touch and warm relations with party leaders. President Trump has also pulled in more than $1.4 billion from his family’s crypto businesses in his first year back in office, raising a host of ethical concerns. After Democrats last week blocked the Clarity Act, which would have shielded the crypto industry from a regulatory crackdown under a future Democratic administration, Fairshake’s overall spending in this year’s general election is expected to lean heavily toward Republicans. The group said it would soon announce additional spending in both House and Senate races, in support of both Democrats and Republicans. Fairshake is one of the most financially powerful interest groups in the midterms. Along with two affiliated groups, the super PAC has a war chest of $120.4 million, according to federal filings released on Sunday. Both parties have been watching closely to see how much Fairshake spends on the November elections.

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MS NOW, CNN and Politico are suing Trump and senior officials over White House ban

Three news organizations — MS NOW, CNN and Politico — are suing President Donald Trump and several top administration officials for blocking reporters’ access to the White House, alleging that the ban constitutes viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment. The news outlets on Monday are asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to immediately block the ban and restore both press credentials and access to the affected journalists. On Saturday, reporters for each of the news organizations, including MS NOW, attempted to enter the White House and their badges were confiscated. “The President banned CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO, and the individual reporters covering the news for those media organizations, in disregard of the most basic guarantees of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause,” the lawsuit says.

“He did so expressly for the improper purpose of retaliating against Plaintiffs for past news coverage because he deemed it ‘negative’ and chilling future reporting about him and his administration’s policies and actions.” “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the complaint continues. The lawsuit marks the first formal action taken in response to Trump’s announcement Friday that the three news organizations would be barred from the White House, citing coverage that he claims is unfair to him. The ban marks a sharp escalation in the administration’s ongoing offensive against the news media, including the firing of journalists leading the military’s independent newspaper, unusual reviews of broadcast licenses by federal officials and previous moves to bar reporters from other news outlets from the White House and Pentagon in which litigation is ongoing. MS NOW, CNN and Politico announced the lawsuit Monday in a joint statement. “This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” the statement read.

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Lead Stories

Behind Trump’s public confidence, his private view of midterms is sobering

In interviews and speeches, President Donald Trump has maintained that midterm politics don’t affect his decisions on Iran, that the war has been worth the cost, and that he would do it all over again despite Republicans bracing for defeat in November. But in some private conversation with advisers, Trump has signaled that he understands his decisions on the war have contributed to the especially poor political environment his party faces — making the president more intent on helping Republicans mitigate the expected losses. Trump in recent weeks has become sober about the gravity of the political situation, listening intently as he is presented with often discouraging polling, according to four people with knowledge of his recent comments, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. That shift has prompted him to take more action on the midterms — pledging to stump for candidates and opening his war chest in competitive races, for example — although it remains to be seen how effectively Republicans can gain ground over the next six weeks.

Trump has long dismissed unfavorable polls, fastening his attention on surveys that present him in an artificially positive light. He often says that negative surveys are fake and not to be believed. Increasingly, however, he has accepted his team’s polling that shows his and his party’s poor standing with voters, his advisers say. Several of Trump’s advisers said they had become “increasingly blunt” with him, as one put it, and that in recent weeks he was listening to them about the electoral reality the GOP faces. It didn’t always translate to a good mood for Trump. The president, who faces his lowest approval rating of his second term, has focused much of his attention this year on a war with Iran that has sharply raised oil prices and on construction projects in Washington to cement his legacy. That came even as he failed to meaningfully lower prices, which he pledged to do while he campaigned in 2024. “He definitely feels like some of his decisions have led to the dynamics where he’s unpopular and things aren’t looking great for the midterms,” one of the people said. A second person who confirmed Trump has subtly acknowledged some degree of responsibility for the situation noted that he has made similar remarks in public. Another person in frequent communication with Trump about the midterms, however, pushed back on the notion that he has accepted any blame, saying he feels strongly that his not being on the ballot this year is the biggest problem the GOP faces.

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French calls backlash ‘shocking,’ links his disparaging posts on UT fans to Trump, GOP leaders

A week after attacking a group of University of Texas football fans as “foreigners” who displaced Americans, Bo French said Saturday he was shocked by the backlash and that his remarks echoed President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders on immigration and culture. At a "Take Back America" conference in Grapevine, French, the GOP nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, renewed his defense of his social media posts widely condemned as racist, a characterization he denies. "The outrage was shocking to me," he said. "These are things that Donald Trump has been talking about. These are the things leaders in our party have been talking about."

French’s comments Saturday widened his public explanations since Republicans and Democrats condemned him for posting a photo of jubilant Longhorns fans celebrating a fourth-quarter comeback victory over top-ranked Ohio State. The students were largely of South Asian descent. "I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it," he wrote on X. "The problem is now obviously worse than anyone imagined." In a follow-up post, he said the photo showed foreigners taking the place of Americans. Two students pictured told The Dallas Morning News they are U.S. citizens. One said he is a Texas resident who pays in-state tuition. On Saturday, French warned that cultural erosion threatened Texas and the country. He also said that in the past 40 years, no group had been "discriminated against more than the young, white male." Some in the crowd of about 100 clapped and stood while French spoke at the gathering hosted by the Eagle Forum, a conservative advocacy group founded by activist Phyllis Schlafly in 1972.

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Texas construction firms facing labor squeeze

Blaine Beckman remembers his elementary and middle school teachers telling him and other students that if they didn’t get good grades, they could end up working in construction. Beckman, now the president of San Antonio general contractor company Nunnelly, had an internal battle when he first discovered his passion for construction. “Even though I loved the feeling it gave me, I thought I didn’t want to be in construction or be viewed as a construction worker,” he said. “I wanted to get my four-year degree and be a doctor because that’s what I thought success was, not construction.” This stereotype is a major factor why the industry is struggling to find skilled trade workers. The Associated General Contractors of America recently released its annual Construction Workforce Survey results, which revealed that labor availability is the construction industry’s central challenge in Texas. The association represents more than 28,000 companies, general and specialty contractors, and subcontractors.

The United States historically has invested more in college prep than vocational training, particularly following the 1983 A Nation at Risk report, which spurred school districts to replace hands-on vocational classes, like shop, with computer labs and academic requirements. Most say hiring has become harder, with electricians and pipefitters/welders being especially difficult to recruit. Half of the respondents said available candidates are not qualified to work in the industry, and the labor shortage is leading to project delays. They’re also competing against data center projects, which are offering higher wages and pulling workers from housing, infrastructure and conventional commercial projects. Firms are responding with higher pay, expanded training, digital recruiting and school partnerships. “We need to get more people exposed to the trades earlier,” said Lauren Mandel, president of the San Antonio AGC. “We need to get to students in middle school and let them know that construction careers aren’t just jobs to move on from. There are incredible ways to build a career in the construction industry, whether you start off as a laborer and move your way up to a superintendent or a leadership role.”

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Federal judge pauses Texas Republicans’ bid to close primaries

A federal judge on Friday afternoon paused a bid by Texas Republicans to restrict participation in the GOP’s primary elections to voters registered with the party. While Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a U.S. district judge based in Amarillo, stopped the effort, he wrote in his order that he expects the state’s Republican Party to succeed in closing its primaries during the upcoming Legislative Session. “Prominent Texas politicians support similar legislative action,” Kacsmaryk wrote, later adding that his decision to put the lawsuit on hold is “because the Texas Legislature may soon amend the law challenged here.” A year ago, the Republican Party of Texas sued then-Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, challenging her to limit eligible Republican voters during primary elections. Currently, any Texas voter can cast a ballot in GOP primaries.

Crossing party lines during primaries is a tactic some use to sway who their party’s opponent is during general elections. For example, Houston City Council Member Joe Panzarella received sharp criticism earlier this year during his campaign after it was revealed that he voted in the 2016 Republican primary despite being Democrat. Panzarella defended his decision to cast his ballot in the GOP primary as a “protest vote” against Donald Trump, according to the Houston Chronicle. The Republican Party in its lawsuit argued that the state’s open primaries violate their First Amendment right to choose party leaders. Republicans have been trying to close primaries for years, but urgency to do so intensified in 2024 when two incumbent state representatives viewed as moderates — former House Speaker Dade Phelan and Gary VanDeaver — held off challengers in their primary races by fewer than 800 votes. Some Republican leaders claimed Phelan and VanDeaver only won because they’d received votes from Democratic- and independent-leaning voters. Gov. Greg Abbott made clear at the Texas Republican Convention in June that he wants to make sure that “only Republicans vote in Republican primaries.” Nelson took heat from Republicans when she said changes to election laws has to be done through the state Legislature. Many lawmakers urged Abbott to fire her. She stepped down in June, and her successor, Robert Howden, said in a legal filing in August that he’s going to defend the state’s open primary system. Although Kacsmaryk wrote that it’s likely that lawmakers next year will pass legislation to close the state’s primaries, it’s not certain. “Texas’s current primary system may be distinct from a pure open primary anyways, because voting in a Texas primary does entail some level of party affiliation,” he wrote. The state’s next primary election for all parties is in 2028.

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An era of low interest rates and low inflation could be over

President Donald Trump has renewed his attacks on the Federal Reserve after it hiked its benchmark interest rate Wednesday, but the Fed matters less than broader economic trends when it comes to longer-term borrowing costs, economists say. The economy is growing steadily despite being hit with repeated shocks — and may even be accelerating — while inflation remains stubbornly high. And big tech firms are borrowing huge amounts of cash to plow into data center construction while the federal government is still running large yearly budget deficits. All these trends point to higher interest rates regardless of what the Fed does, analysts say. As a result, the low interest-rate, low-inflation world that lasted for nearly 15 years after the Great Recession is over and a higher-priced, higher-rate world is taking its place.

Mortgage rates fell into the 3% range in the 2010s and even lower during COVID-19, but such deals are long gone. The average 30-year mortgage rate reached 6.95% last week, the highest in more than a year and a half. Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax consulting firm, said that a big reason for the change is a shift from the pre-pandemic economy in which consumer and business demand was weak, to the current economy in which healthy consumer and business spending is colliding with supply shocks and bottlenecks. In addition to higher oil and gas prices because of the Iran war, the AI buildout has struggled with an insufficient supply of computer chips, electronic equipment, and workers to put it all together. “We’ve undergone a structural transformation of the economy,” Brusuelas said. “The regime change in inflation and interest rates is the outcome.” The shift, in many ways, returns the economy to where it was before the financial crisis in December 2007 that lasted through June 2009. But even after the downturn ended, consumer and business spending remained weak. Millions of Americans in the 2010s focused on paying down outsized mortgages and credit card debt instead. Businesses saw few investment opportunities, and many big tech firms such as Alphabet’s Google and Meta’s Facebook piled up cash.

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State Stories

Paxton kept close to alleged child abuser long after the allegations surfaced, taking money from him

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has spent more than a decade cultivating a political alliance with Paul Pressler, the once-revered Southern Baptist power broker who was accused by at least eight men of sexually abusing them, and with the two men most closely tied to covering for him. Even after the allegations became public, Paxton kept taking their money, kept using their endorsements, and kept standing by them. Pressler was one of the architects of the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention in the late 20th century and a mentor to a generation of Texas Republicans, including Ted Cruz and Paxton himself. But behind that reputation, according to Texas Monthly’s investigation, “abundant suspicions” about his relationships with young men circulated for decades, beginning in the late 1970s when he was quietly pushed out of a church youth ministry after an alleged incident at his home. Those suspicions became public allegations in December 2017, when Duane Rollins filed a lawsuit claiming Pressler began raping him in 1979, when Rollins was 14 and Pressler was a sitting justice on Texas’ 14th Court of Appeals, and continued abusing him two to three times a month for the next quarter century. According to the Houston Chronicle, the suit alleged the abuse took place in Pressler’s home study with his wife, Nancy, “usually on the premises.” At least seven other men came forward with similar accusations once the case was filed.

Paxton had already built a close political relationship with Pressler well before any of this became public. In November 2013, Paxton’s campaign touted Pressler’s endorsement as coming from a “respected conservative icon” across Texas, and Paxton personally said he had “admired and respected” the judge “for so many years.” A year later, after winning his race for attorney general, Paxton named Pressler to his transition advisory team. The relationship didn’t end when the allegations became public. Campaign finance filings with the Texas Ethics Commission show Pressler and his wife donated to Paxton’s campaigns in 2016, 2017, and again in 2018 and 2022, the latter two coming after Rollins’ lawsuit was filed and receiving national attention. Nancy Pressler also gave to Paxton’s campaign in 2022 and to the “Stand with Paxton” PAC set up to defend him during his 2023 impeachment. In total, records show the Presslers gave Paxton roughly $1,600 across the two accounts. The lawsuit against Pressler was ultimately settled in December 2023, with the Southern Baptist Convention, its Executive Committee, and First Baptist Church of Houston all named as defendants alongside Pressler himself. In a statement announcing the confidential settlement, attorneys for the SBC cited “the horrendous nature of the abuse allegations” as a chief reason for resolving the case rather than going to trial. Weeks later, the SBC’s own outside counsel, Gene Besen, went further, calling Pressler a “monster” and a “dangerous predator” whose “actions are of the devil.” Pressler died in June 2024 at 94, his death covered by the Associated Press and by the New York Times under the headline “Paul Pressler, Disgraced Christian Conservative Leader, Dies at 94.”

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Austin ISD appeals two failing school ratings in bid to avoid takeover

The Austin school district has appealed the failing ratings of Webb and Burnet middle schools to the Texas Education Agency, according to TEA spokesman Jake Kobersky, making a last attempt to change the grades that have put the district at risk of state intervention. The appeal of the schools’ 2025-26 ratings is the district’s latest move to avoid a state intervention, which the two schools triggered after receiving their fifth consecutive failing ratings. And the margin is narrow: Burnet fell one point short of a D, while Webb fell two points short. If an appeal raises the schools to a D, it would break the campuses streaks of failing ratings and remove the schools’ trigger for mandatory intervention. The stakes are unusually high. If either school’s fifth consecutive F becomes final, state law requires Education Commissioner Mike Morath to either close the campus or appoint a board of managers to replace Austin ISD’s superintendent and elected school board. But if TEA grants an appeal and changes both schools’ ratings, the district could avoid the intervention, including a possible full takeover of the district, triggered by this year’s grades.

Preliminary data showed Burnet Middle School received an overall score of 59 and Webb a score of 58. That puts the schools one and two points, respectively, below the 60 overall score required to get a D rating. Districts typically file appeals based on the data used to rate schools, Superintendent Matias Segura told Austin Current in August. State standardized testing scores play a large role in how schools are rated, though other factors such as college and career readiness also factor into the calculations. If TEA determines an error was made in assigning the schools’ ratings, the agency can change them. For Burnet and Webb, even a small change could be significant. TEA declined to provide more details on the appeal, including when Austin ISD submitted it and the specific grounds on which the district is challenging the ratings, because the process is ongoing. The deadline for districts to appeal ratings was Sept. 11. Austin ISD confirmed the district appealed the ratings of both schools but declined to provide further details. The appeal comes as Mayor Kirk Watson has joined AISD supporters in calling for the school district to remain independent as the threat of a state takeover looms. Earlier this month, Watson called on parents of Burnet and Webb to form a Parent Petition for Action asking the state to close the campuses rather than take over the district.

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Former Dallas mayors Rawlings, Leppert and Kirk seek more power for mayor

Three former Dallas mayors plan to launch a campaign to put more power in the mayor’s hands, saying that City Hall’s divided leadership leaves no one clearly accountable for its failures. Mike Rawlings, Tom Leppert and Ron Kirk want the next mayor to select and remove the city manager and city attorney, subject to City Council approval and other checks. While their plan gives the mayor more authority, it should not be considered a “strong mayor” form of government like in Chicago, New York or Houston, where the mayor has broader, more sweeping powers.

Their proposal, which the three outlined Thursday in a joint interview with The Dallas Morning News, also would give the mayor responsibility for submitting the city budget and the power to veto individual spending items. The former mayors said they plan to gather the 20,000 signatures needed to put the proposed charter amendments before voters in May 2027. If approved, the changes would take effect Jan. 1, 2028, after the current mayor leaves office. The effort would mark a major change in the city’s governing structure and revive a defining Dallas debate: Should the city’s public face also have the power to lead City Hall? “We've got a great city and we can have a great future,” Kirk said. “But you've got to have really aggressive, thoughtful leadership out selling this city every day” and to do that, “the businesses you're talking to have to believe the mayor has some reasonable ability to make those commitments and be able to follow them up.” Under Dallas’ council-manager system, the mayor presides over the City Council but has no independent authority over the city manager or daily operations.

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Inside West Texans’ relentless fight against Big Bend border wall contractors

For several days this summer, the rumor in the tiny West Texas hamlet of Sanderson, a 643-person community 125 miles east of Big Bend National Park, was that contractors had descended upon the area to begin constructing a border wall. Nobody knew who they were or what they looked like, but almost everyone in town was on the lookout for the alleged interlopers. That included the manager at the Desert Air Motel, who noticed that four men had booked separate reservations for the same dates at the quaint, retro-style lodge, which beckons travelers along U.S. 90 with a vintage sign promising “Refrigerated Air.” Like undercover cops trying to appear nonchalant at a high school keg party, the men didn’t remain inconspicuous for long. They drove white pickup trucks, wore heavy construction boots, and seemed to make a show of holding up the “No Big Bend Wall” flyers stacked on the motel’s front desk and snickering about them, according to employees.

During check-in, when the front desk clerk politely asked the men if they were helping build a border wall, the crew denied any involvement before eventually admitting that they had been contracted to build a four-to-six-foot-high vehicle-barrier system along the Rio Grande in Terrell County. The motel’s affable owner, Sara Ryza, later confirmed that the crew included the CEO of Fisher Sand & Gravel, a North Dakota construction company that has won multiple high-profile federal and private contracts to build barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. The manager canceled the men’s reservations and asked them to leave the premises. More than a month later, Ryza has no regrets about that decision. (Fisher Sand & Gravel did not respond to a request for comment about the incident.) “We worked so hard to try and put Sanderson on the map as a destination for tourists exploring the Big Bend region,” Ryza told me during a recent tour of the renovated motel, which was built in 1960 and still has original vintage pink tiles in its bathrooms. “We just can’t accept money from anyone associated with the border wall and contribute to what we feel is the destruction of our community and our tourism economy––the same one that we’ve been fighting so hard for.” Construction may have been paused in Big Bend National Park, unleashing a flurry of headlines and social media celebration, but the region remains in a state of hypervigilance and paranoia, not unlike a coastal community preparing for a churning hurricane on the horizon.

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‘We punted’: San Antonio approves first tax increase without mayor’s support

Facing a major budget deficit and a struggling economy, the San Antonio City Council approved a 3.9% property tax increase Thursday — the city’s first in more than three decades. The 7-4 vote largely split members along socioeconomic lines, with wealthier Northside districts opposing the 3.9% increase and members from less affluent districts voting in favor. Initially, nearly all council members balked at raising taxes when inflation is already putting so many residents in a financial strain. But weeks of reviewing alternate budget scenarios led a majority to believe that more spending reductions — on top of the $90 million worth of cuts already planned over the next two years — would hit most vulnerable residents too hard. “[In] the conversations I’ve had [with residents] … it’s actually been the most humble among us who have been the first to say, ‘yes,'” said Councilman Edward Mungia (D4), whose Southside district is among the poorest.

“…That’s a stark contrast with those who have had the most, I’ve heard from people today who own more than one parcel of property, saying that they can’t afford that.” This year slowed economic growth left many Texas cities and counties in a similar boat, looking high and low for cuts to balance their budgets. In San Antonio, that meant a public reckoning over some big recent economic development investments, including whether to help fund a new Spurs arena, led by Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones. A deeply divided council still never found consensus on a different approach, however, and City Manager Erik Walsh told them this week that they’d run out of time. The city is legally obligated to pass a balanced budget every year, and voting down the rate hike would delegate an additional $75 million worth of cuts to city staff. Councilwoman Ivalis Meza Gonzalez (D8), who was considered a swing vote on the tax hike, said that was a bridge too far, and ultimately split with other Northside members to approved the increase. “These right-sizing initiatives do not cut to the bone … [but] if the property tax increase were to fail, it would fall to the city manager’s office,” said Meza Gonzalez. “I believe that amounts to an abdication of my responsibilities. … I really want my colleagues to recognize that decision.”

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David Brockman: The state’s Bible-only reading list is a disservice to Texas kids

Should Texas public school students learn about the Bible? Yes, they should—but not in the way Texas education officials are going about it. In June, Texas became the first state to require all public school students to read religious texts, as part of a newly approved list of nearly 200 readings—from “Hickory Dickory Dock” to Hamlet—mandated for all Texas public school students, Kindergarten through 12th grade. But what makes the new list especially controversial is that all of its religious readings come solely from a single text: the Bible. The list excludes texts sacred to faith traditions other than Christianity and Judaism—despite the fact that about one-third of Texans belong to neither of those religions. This requirement that students read only the Bible, as I also argued in a recent report for Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, does a tremendous disservice to students, parents, and teachers.

The “Bible-only” list doesn’t meet the need to learn about the major religious traditions that make up Texas and the nation today. It could impair public schools’ ability to serve a religiously diverse population. Worse, it threatens to turn non-Christian and non-religious Texans into outsiders in their own public schools. The list, which takes effect in 2030, was developed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), and, after contentious public hearings and some revisions, was approved by the State Board of Education in June. In all, the mandate includes 14 biblical selections—about one Bible passage for every 13 required texts. Among the many selected passages are readings about Jonah and the Whale (Grade 1), Moses and the Burning Bush (Grade 5), eight of Jesus’ Beatitudes (Grade 7), full chapters from Ecclesiastes and Lamentations (Grade 8), and 16 chapters from Job (High School). That’s a lot of Bible—even when spread out over twelve grade levels. TEA justified the biblical content by citing a 2007 statute requiring schools to offer an “enrichment curriculum” incorporating “religious literature, including the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament, and its impact on history and literature.”

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Texas ICE agent pleads not guilty to lying to FBI charge in Minnesota shooting

A federal immigration agent who shot and wounded a man in north Minneapolis this winter pleaded not guilty in federal court in St. Paul on Friday to charges of lying to the FBI. On Friday morning, U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright set Christian Castro's bond at $75,000 with conditions, including that he not break any laws and only travel between Minnesota and Texas. Castro must also stay in his residence from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and go through a mental health evaluation. Wright ordered the parties to submit a motion to designate the case as complex and the proposed schedule for the case by Oct. 2. Castro, 52, is also facing state assault charges for the shooting on Jan. 14. Castro is accused of firing through the closed door of a home and injuring Julio Sosa-Celis, an immigrant from Venezuela, after a car chase involving Sosa-Celis' roommate Alfredo Aljorna.

The judge overseeing the state case set Castro's bond Thursday at $200,000 with conditions that include pre-signing a waiver of extradition, surrendering his passport and electronic home monitoring. He's also not allowed to talk with other ICE agents. Prosecutors in the state case argued that Castro was a flight risk due to numerous phone conversations he had in prison with a Mexican resident about potentially purchasing property there. Castro posted bail and was released from the Hennepin County jail by Thursday evening. The Department of Homeland Security initially claimed that the federal agent was assaulted by men with a broom and shovel and charged Sosa-Celis and Aljorna. That narrative fell apart and charges were dropped against the two men after footage emerged from a Minneapolis surveillance camera on the street. After being released from Texas jail, Castro was indicted by a federal grand jury on six counts of lying to the FBI. Castro was arrested in downtown Minneapolis by state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents on Wednesday. His attorney said Castro had planned to surrender to state authorities. But Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said on Thursday that Castro hadn't followed directions. State Attorney General Keith Ellison said on Thursday that he was dropping a lawsuit against the state of Texas over Abbott's failure to extradite Castro.

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Unable to shop due to ICE fears, colonia residents benefit from strangers’ kindness

On a particularly humid Thursday morning, Ana Carolina “Caly” Fernandez drove a U-Haul truck full of provisions down the street of a colonia, where she would be delivering food to one of the most impoverished areas in the Rio Grande Valley. With the current immigration enforcement and constant roaming of ICE vehicles among colonia streets, many residents have feared simply stepping outside their home. Although some residents have compared the fear and isolation to that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, one resident believes the current situation is worse than before. One person, Mira, who has lived in the colonia of around 165 residents for about 24 years, shook her head with sadness in her eyes as she spoke of life in the colonias.

“The situation is sad, the depression of wanting to go outside and you can’t,” Mira, who’s full name is being withheld to protect her identity, said in Spanish. “It’s like the pandemic or worse because at least before you could still step outside with a face mask,” she added. “Now you can’t.” Mira spoke softly as she explained that she’s rarely left her home since the crackdown on immigration began. “They come here often, that’s why we have our gates and everything closed,” Mira said. Despite an H-E-B location being only seven minutes from the community, many of the colonia residents are too scared to leave their homes for basic necessities, or they have no means of transportation. This is where Fernandez and the House of Love and Justice have become a saving grace for residents. Colonia residents waited outside their homes to greet Fernandez with a smile as she made her way into the community. The men gathered around the truck to collect the heavier boxes while Fernandez, her grandson Saul and Maria Treviño, a promotora de Salud, helped organize the fruits and vegetables across two tables.

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‘The Life of the Party’ documentary explores women in Texas GOP

Geanie Morrison, Sarah Davis and Mayra Flores each made their entrances to Republican electoral politics at pivotal points in the modern history of their party in Texas. Morrison's ascent to the Texas House in 1998 came the same year George W. Bush was reelected as governor with 69% of the vote on a message of "compassionate conservatism," which would underpin his image when he sought and won the presidency two years later. Davis was among the roughly two dozen Republicans who swept into office in the wave of 2010, when her party emerged with 101 seats in the 150-member Texas House. Flores' victory in a 2022 special election for a congressional seat was the harbinger of the Republican tide that two years later would fracture the Democrats' grip on politics in the Rio Grande Valley.

Their stories provide the anchor for a documentary being released this week called "The Life of the Party," which examines the place of women in Texas Republican politics and how their role has evolved over the past three decades. The documentary by filmmakers Meg Griffiths and Scott Faris neither promotes nor denigrates the Texas GOP. "Rather than advocating for a party, candidate, or political position, the campaign uses the stories in the film as a jumping-off point for three simple calls to action: vote thoughtfully, encourage women to lead, and talk to someone you disagree with," the filmmakers said in a news release. When Morrison and Flores launched their political careers, each was well inside the mainstream of where the Texas Republican Party was at the time. The 1998 election established the GOP's continuing grip on every statewide office, and although Democrats would retain control of the Texas House, it was clear that the business-minded wing of the Republican Party was setting the agenda. By the time Flores sought her congressional seat 24 years later, it was clear that the mercurial political style of Donald Trump had supplanted the Bush brand of pragmatic government.

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Cody Campbell promised retribution. Now Texas Tech football has to deliver

Cody Campbell might have finally written a check he can't cash. After an offseason laden with off-the-field drama, Texas Tech is 2-0 as it begins Big 12 play against Houston on Sept. 18. The Red Raiders, following a bit of a scare against Oregon State, have a bone to pick with their conference-mates after trying to add Brendan Sorsby via transfer after it was discovered Sorsby had a gambling addiction dating back to his time at Indiana, when he bet on games he was around the team for. As a result, a protracted battle between Texas Tech and everyone else commenced. The college football world at large — other schools, pundits, and fans alike — said Texas Tech shouldn't add Sorsby. And Texas Tech dug its heels in each time, with a big band striking up for a video that ran north of 20 minutes in which AD Kirby Hocutt and coach Joey McGuire were joined by other Texas Tech staff to explain the Sorsby situation.

That video was widely derided, and Texas Tech and Sorsby parted ways less than a week later following a lawsuit from the Big 12 against Texas Tech (that lawsuit has since been dropped). Campbell, however, wasn't going to let sleeping dogs lie. In the Paramount Plus documentary "The Program," which chronicled Texas Tech's offseason, Campbell said of the drama: “Looking back on it, I know that Texas Tech and I handled everything with integrity, and we did things the right way. I think this is something that could have been handled much more privately. We’re not going to forget about that, and I don’t think they’ll forget about it either when we’re up by 40 and still throwing the ball in the fourth quarter. That’s where the retribution will come.” Campbell, who serves as chairman of the Board of Regents through January 2027, is one of the most prominent boosters in college athletics.

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National Stories

U.S. childcare costs are astronomical. More families are turning to grandparents

A few years ago, when Stacia Bourne and her husband would talk about having a second child, the conversation often turned to money. "We were thinking we couldn't afford it," said Bourne, a University of Delaware psychology professor who lives in Maryland. Their first child, George, was born in 2020 and started daycare when he was 2. "The cost for childcare for him is about the same as our mortgage," Bourne said. The prospect of taking on the expense of another child gave the couple pause when deciding whether to grow their family. That was until Bourne's mother, Mary Jo Galusha, 67, made an offer: If Bourne wanted to have another baby, Galusha said, she'd retire and relocate from Idaho to the East Coast to help provide childcare. Several months later, her phone rang. "I got a call that Stacia was expecting and that I better start planning on retiring," Galusha recalled with a laugh.

She retired from her job as a schoolteacher, packed up her belongings and drove cross-country in her red Volkswagen Beetle. The grandmother of five now lives in Newark, Del., and has since traded in the VW Bug for an SUV in order to fit two car seats in the back row more easily. Robin, who was born in late 2024, spends around 30 hours a week in Galusha's care while Bourne and her husband work. "It's a joy," Galusha said. "It's like magic to watch them grow up." Grandparents helping to take care of their grandchildren is nothing new. But the surging cost of childcare in the U.S. has made familial support even more critical for some parents who need childcare and may not otherwise be able to afford it. According to the group Child Care Aware of America, the average annual cost of childcare for children under 5 in the U.S. in 2025 was $13,184. In some cases, even higher childcare costs can rival the price of rent or college tuition. Families that are unable to shoulder those expenses or find open seats at daycare facilities are increasingly leaning on older generations for help, said Nicole Jorwic, chief program officer at the national caregiving group Caring Across Generations. "The reality is that because this country hasn't invested in a childcare infrastructure that is flexible and affordable and reliable, grandparents are filling in the gaps that the service system leaves behind," she said.

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President Trump says he will ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House

President Donald Trump said Friday that he was barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House due to what he called unfavorable coverage and “fake news,” and threatened that more such media bans could be coming — the latest salvo in the president's increasingly aggressive response to media coverage he finds unfavorable. Like many of Trump's other confrontations with news organizations — some of which are playing out in the legal arena — this threat has potential First Amendment implications. There was no immediate indication, though, that he was following through. Trump wrote on his social media site that effective immediately, “I am banning” CNN, MS NOW and Politico “from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” Minutes later, speaking at an event in the Oval Office, Trump was asked to explain his statement.

“Because they’re fake news,” he said. “You get so tired of reading and seeing fake news. When you look at CNN, it’s just fake. That’s why their ratings are no good. When you look at MS NOW … , it’s fake news.” “And when you look at Politico ... the stories they wrote are fake. So there’s a lot of news and there may be others to join them, and maybe they can get better," he said. "But our country has to have honest news.” He gave no further details on how the ban would be implemented. Journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico were still on the White House grounds as of late Friday afternoon with no signs of being removed. CNN denounced the move, saying it stands behind its White House team and their “fair and accurate reporting.”

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Farm-state Republicans are having a cow over Trump's beef imports as Election Day approaches

Farm-state Republicans don’t support President Donald Trump’s move to import cheap beef — but they’re still getting grilled for it. Trump’s plan to combat sky-high beef prices by introducing discounted, tariff-free foreign beef has been widely condemned by ag-state Republicans who are concerned it will undercut the domestic beef industry and hurt ranchers, a normally reliable constituency. And their opponents see an opening to paint Republicans as unconcerned about voters’ pocketbook concerns. “Our ranchers and our farmers keep getting kicked in the teeth, and we have politicians that keep telling us that everything’s great, that we’re the hottest country,” Dan Osborn, an independent running for Senate in Nebraska, said in an interview. “And to be quite frank, I’m pretty pissed off about it.”

Osborn’s state is one of the top four top cattle-producing states — along with Texas, Kansas and Iowa — all of which have more-competitive-than-expected Senate races this cycle. And Trump’s controversial plan to remove tariffs from 300,000 metric tons of imported beef, sold at 25 percent below current market prices, is doing Republicans no favors. Osborn’s campaign went on air with a pun-filled ad this week in which he says the import plan is “selling out American farmers and ranchers,” and blasts Congress for being “too chicken to stand up to the corporations who bought them off.” The campaign says it plans to spend at least six figures airing the spot. It’s the first major spending from a campaign focused on the beef import plan. But it plays into a larger economic argument Democrats are pushing to break through with farmers and ranchers: Trump and Republicans have turned their backs on rural America, as a worsening farm crisis and spiking fuel and fertilizer prices pinch agricultural communities. “It’s part of a wider frustration,” said an adviser to one of the farm-state GOP senators, granted anonymity to speak openly. “I don’t think it sways anyone’s vote, but it isn’t a great look. … It isn’t fun for me to read the headline. It’s frustrating.”

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Even in reliably red Kansas, Republican enthusiasm is fading

At the Kansas State Fair’s Senate debate, incumbent Republican Roger Marshall was on home turf. His town is a short drive for friends and supporters. And the fair serves as an exaltation of farmers, the conservative base that has helped the GOP win every Senate race in Kansas since 1932. Yet when Marshall stepped to the microphone last weekend, hundreds of those gathered at an outdoor pavilion booed, hissed, and jeered. “Liar!” attendees shouted from the bleachers when Marshall suggested gasoline was cheaper under President Trump than under previous presidents. Supporters of his Democratic rival, Adam Hamilton, easily outnumbered and outshouted Marshall’s backers. Kansas State Fair debates are notoriously boisterous, with both Democratic and Republican campaigns busing in supporters who give as good as they get.

But the lopsided showdown was unusually bad, some Republicans privately admitted afterward. The thrashing laid bare a growing anxiety among GOP officials and strategists nationwide that Democrats are fired up for November, while many Republicans aren’t. With Election Day approaching, Republican worries about voter enthusiasm are spilling beyond swing states into red bastions such as Kansas, Texas, Alaska, Ohio, Iowa and Nebraska. Trump’s approval rating sits near record lows, and frustrations are growing over the state of the economy, tariffs and the war in Iran. At stake is control of Congress: Democrats need to pick up just three seats to retake the House and four to win back the Senate. “If Republicans don’t turn out, we’re in a world of hurt,” warned Danedri Herbert, chair of the Kansas Republican Party. Herbert urged national Republican groups to pour more resources and money into Kansas before it is too late. “Kansas gets overlooked a lot because we are reliably red,” she said, “but this is a weird cycle.”

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How President Trump broke the Kennedy Center

A storm brought down a five-foot piece of ceiling plaster at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this month and its leadership sprang into action. One thing they did not do was repair the damage. Instead staff members left the mess on the carpet for nearly two weeks, posting photos on social media with commentary like “the place is falling apart and @realDonaldTrump wants to fix it.” They measured plaster shards and mapped the “debris field” like investigators after a plane crash, for a 55-page briefing for the center’s board about the building’s decay. No one was injured but Mr. Trump claimed online that a security guard had narrowly avoided “certain death.” Less than two hours later, his allies on the board voted to close the center, citing safety concerns. Mr. Trump’s threats this past week suggest that saving face, not lives, better explains why he shuttered the Kennedy Center on Tuesday for what officials said would be a temporary closure. The president, who is the center’s chairman, first announced in February that it would close for two years of renovations.

Democratic lawmakers on the board said it was an excuse to avoid the humiliation of plummeting ticket sales and fleeing artists. Since then Mr. Trump has fought to add his name to the memorial to a slain president, drawing multiple court injunctions. When a judge denied him again last week, the president made his priority clear. He decreed that the closing would take place immediately but that the renovation would not begin until courts — potentially the Supreme Court — allow his name on the building front. Then, as heavy construction fencing went up around the building, he went further. “The Trump administration should certainly have recognition,” he said, arguing that his name on the center would help lift it out of physical and financial turmoil. “Because frankly if we don’t do that it’s going to close, it’ll end up being ripped down.” On Friday night, a large crowd of demonstrators locked arms to form a human chain around the building in protest of Mr. Trump’s efforts to close the center amid fears that he might ultimately bulldoze it.\ The closure is the apotheosis of the wreckage and chaos created in the less than two years since Mr. Trump’s takeover of the center, once a bipartisan global model of public access to the arts.

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Republicans see bright spot in New Hampshire with Sununu

A political family dynasty, a strong Republican governor and an influx of GOP cash threatens to put Democrats on defense in New Hampshire as Republicans see a prime pickup opportunity in the marquee Senate contest. Republicans nabbed a recruitment win with former Sen. John E. Sununu (R) running against Rep. Chris Pappas (D) for retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s (D) seat, and Cook Political Report shifted the contest in the GOP’s favor last week. Republicans are also investing heavily in the state, including the MAGA Inc.-aligned No Going Back PAC, which has already reserved over $10 million in the New Hampshire Senate race, according to The New York Times. The GOP says they feel optimistic New Hampshire’s electorate could buck political headwinds facing the party and elect Sununu, whose brother and father both served as governor in the state.

Yet, they concede the Granite State — which went for former Vice President Kamala Harris by 3 points in 2024 — is not impervious to President Trump’s poor approval ratings and national issues like the high cost of living. “If we continue to see high costs and, you know, a war that is very unpopular, it’s going to be a tough environment for Republicans,” longtime Republican strategist Jim Merrill said. “I’d say given all of that, John Sununu is the very best person at this moment to maybe do something that no one expects,” he added. A win in New Hampshire for Republicans would mark a serious win for the party as it looks to hold control of the Senate and cushion its majority in November. On the trail, Pappas has leaned into his track record in Congress and his local roots, including working at his family-owned Puritan Backroom restaurant — which famously claims to have invented chicken tenders. The House Democrat, like Sununu, is looking to nationalize the race too. “John Sununu’s record of supporting Donald Trump’s disastrous agenda that’s driving up costs and hurting Granite Staters stands in stark contrast to Chris Pappas’s record of fighting for New Hampshire,” Pappas campaign manager Rachel Petri said in a statement.

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Ed Sheeran calls situation in Gaza 'catastrophic and unjustifiable' as he opens solo concert

Ed Sheeran opened a concert Saturday with comments about Gaza after controversy swirled around his tour and supporting acts withdrew in solidarity with opener Macklemore, who was dropped after making pro-Palestinian comments onstage. Sheeran began the concert alone on stage with no opener, but was joined by other musicians later in the show. Sheeran said he wants his music and shows to be about unity and humanity, not politics. But he said the attacks in Israel of Oct. 7, 2023, were horrific and what is happening in Gaza “catastrophic and unjustifiable.” “I don’t want to disappoint fans, and I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet,” Sheeran said during his performance at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

The comments before a nearly full stadium came after a tumultuous week that began with rapper Macklemore, Sheeran's original U.S. opener, being dropped in response to exclaiming “Free Palestine” during a Sept. 5 show in New Jersey. Sheeran has said he was not responsible for the decision, which came at the urging of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. His company owns a stadium where Sheeran’s tour was scheduled to play on Friday. Within hours of Sheeran’s statement Tuesday, his supporting acts withdrew. Sheeran has performed many songs solo during his Loop Tour concerts, but was joined for several songs at each stop by the Irish folk band Beoga before they dropped out in support of Macklemore. Macklemore was replaced by Danish band Lukas Graham and Irish singer Aaron Rowe before they backed out, and Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother and musical collaborator, was due to tour with Sheeran in South America later this year before he too dropped out this week. Before Saturday's show, a small group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators congregated outside the stadium. Hillary Steinberg, 34, said she got concert tickets a year ago but wound up getting a refund and attended the demonstration instead, disappointed that Sheeran did not take a stand.

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Lead Stories

Texas Democrat sees a fundraising surge following opponent’s racist posts

Republican Bo French’s racist social media posts targeting South Asian university students have resulted in a fundraising windfall for his Democratic opponent in Texas’ railroad commission race. State Rep. Jon Rosenthal told The Washington Sun on Thursday that he’s raised around $150,000 — major dollars for a Democrat in what is normally an under-the-radar race — after French posted a photo of a crowd of South Asian students at the University of Texas-Austin football game celebrating the school’s comeback win Saturday, saying, “the problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” The comment drew national attention to the race. Rosenthal said his phone began “ringing off the hook” Sunday morning after the posts went viral and brought in a slate of new donors for him.

“For me, that’s monumental,” Rosenthal said. “It’s good to have the resources for the campaign, but certainly it’s even better to have the moral support and feel like people are with me.” The Railroad Commission of Texas is a crucial regulatory agency: Commissioners, who are elected statewide for staggered six-year terms, no longer directly oversee the state’s railroads but rather its powerful oil, natural gas and utilities industries. A Democrat hasn’t served on the panel since 1999. Rosenthal said the new influx of money will allow him to travel more throughout Texas in hopes of flipping people who supported French’s primary runoff opponent, Jim Wright, who lost by 14,800 votes in May, or less than one percentage point. The state representative also hopes to put spots up on AM radio and increase digital advertising across new counties. “There’s no avoiding that this will be, in some part, a referendum on Bo French and his brand of politics,” Rosenthal said. “It does make this an opportunity to change the direction of politics in the state — and maybe even in the country.”

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Weeks before the midterms, almost everything is getting more expensive

Mortgage rates close to 7%. Gas prices near their highest levels since 2022. A Federal Reserve interest-rate hike for the first time in three years. Everything from buying a house to filling up your gas tank now costs more than even a week ago—putting affordability back in the spotlight just before midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. “If you’re the average American household, you’re probably wondering, ‘What did I do to deserve this?’” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM. A robust economy driven in part by President Trump’s tax cuts, reduced regulations and historic AI spending has boosted growth and investment. But tariffs and the data-center build-out have also added to inflation. The war with Iran has set off an energy shock that is raising prices for gasoline, diesel and heating oil.

The unemployment rate stands at a low 4.1%. Thanks in part to a gravity-defying stock market, the Federal Reserve reported that household net worth hit $186 trillion in the second quarter of this year—a gain of $26 trillion from the fourth quarter of 2024. A stronger-than-expected August retail sales report this week showed consumer spending remains strong. “Consider the geopolitical landscape of shocks and uncertainty, and you begin to appreciate the resilience of the U.S. economy,” Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said Wednesday in explaining the decision to raise interest rates. The yield on 10-year Treasurys—a critical driver of long-term interest rates for consumers and businesses—crossed 5% for the first time since 2023 this week. It closed just below that level Thursday. Futures markets indicate there is about a 50% chance of the central bank raising rates again at its October meeting, a week before Election Day. Most Fed officials project one rate increase by the end of the year. Consumer prices were up 3.4% from a year earlier in August, extending five years of price pressures on Americans.

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Why Democrats are starting to feel bullish about a midterm wave

Democrats’ wary optimism about the midterms gave way to growing confidence this week. The party has seen strong post-Labor Day polls in key battlegrounds — and even in traditionally red areas. Recent escalations in the war in Iran, including an attack on a major pipeline in Saudi Arabia, mean the rising gas prices bedeviling Republicans will not be going down anytime soon. Republicans have not been able to bring prices under control more generally. And President Donald Trump’s unpopularity is at near-record levels. Considering all this, Democrats now think conditions are right for the party to retake control of the House and possibly the Senate later this year. “If the election were held today, we would win the majority,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (New York) said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Schumer said he felt “considerably more bullish” about Democrats’ chances of retaking the Senate than he did a few months ago. He described the environment as uncannily similar to 2006, when discontent with the war in Iraq helped Democrats recapture the Senate and the House. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Massachusetts) said Democrats’ recent momentum is driven by their focus on the economy, with voters believing that the party understands the financial pain they’ve felt in the years since Republicans swept into unified control. “That is what is driving these polls,” Clark told The Post on Thursday. Still, Democratic fears remain. Democrats need at least four more seats to take the Senate majority and would have to win at least two in states Trump carried by double-digit margins in 2024. Republicans are seeking to blunt any Democratic gains by flipping Democratic-held open seats in Michigan and New Hampshire, where polls show competitive races. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted its rating of the Senate contest in New Hampshire from “Lean Democrat” to “Toss Up” this week.

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Warren Buffett steps down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, after more than 60 years guiding the firm that turned him into a household name for millions of investors worldwide. Buffett was named chairman emeritus effective immediately, with his son Howard G. Buffett taking over as chairman, Berkshire said in a statement Friday. “As Chairman Emeritus, Mr. Buffett will remain a member of the Board of Directors and will continue to offer his valued judgment and perspective,” Berkshire said. The announcement comes just eight months after Buffett stepped down as CEO of the conglomerate he built into a trillion-dollar company.

“Father Time always wins,” Buffett wrote Friday in a letter to Berkshire’s shareholders. “He has, however, been generous with me. He has given me the opportunity to see Berkshire reach a point where I am more confident than ever about what lies ahead.” At 96 years old, Buffett had still appeared in interviews with CNBC as recently as July. However, his voice sounded weak of late. Buffett noted in the letter that he has “served Berkshire since 1965.” Since Buffett started to use Berkshire Hathaway as his primary investment vehicle in the 1960s, the company’s share price had risen more than 5,500,000% by the time he retired as CEO. By comparison, the return for the S&P 500 over the same period is a mere 39,000%. Under Buffett’s leadership, Nebraska-based Berkshire thrived at the intersection of Wall Street and Main Street, with investments in industries ranging from railroads and insurance to candy and ice cream. Even in the last two months, Buffett was still a highly active investors. In July, Buffett told CNBC that he initiated an investment in Alphabet by Berkshire. In the interview, Buffett said he “made a mistake” by not investing in the tech giant earlier. The investment is now worth more than $27 billion and ranks as Berkshire’s fifth largest holding. He was replaced as CEO by Greg Abel, his longtime lieutenant.

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State Stories

After Medicaid funding standoff, feds approve $12B for Texas

The state of Texas will receive nearly $12 billion in federal healthcare funding, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office announced Thursday, restoring withheld funds that were costing Texas hospitals millions per day. Since Sept. 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began withholding billions in Medicaid funding over legal questions about Texas’ provider tax system. The withheld funds, according to a report from the Texas Hospital Association, were costing Texas hospitals $27 million per day.

The billions in restored Medicaid funding came after months of negotiations with the federal agency, according to Abbott’s office. The governor’s office in early August wrote a stern letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the situation. In the letter, Abbott criticized the lack of clarity in the federal agency’s requirements on taxing, and he also said the state would be willing to collaborate on changes to the tax system. While the funding shortfall was ongoing, hospital advocates warned that if it continued, rural hospitals would be particularly hard hit and might be forced to cut back on their services. “This funding is a major victory for Texas patients,” Abbott’s Thursday statement said. “Emergency rooms will stay open, rural families will retain local care, and Texans will have access to the treatment they need. I thank CMS and the Trump Administration for helping ensure Texans get the medical care they need.”

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Ken Paxton investigates Taylor AI data center parkland dispute

Hope was dwindling for a group of Taylor residents after City Hall and the courts rejected their attempts to halt an artificial intelligence data center planned on land donated to the city for a public park. On Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, said his office had opened an investigation into the development. The 87-acre tract off East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was deeded to the Texas Parks and Recreation Foundation for a future public park in 1999. But after changing hands several times with no park development, the land was eventually designated for data center development. Paxton said his office will determine whether the 1999 deed’s park restriction was legally modified or terminated before Blueprint Data Centers purchased the property. The office said it will seek court intervention if its investigation finds that the tract is required to remain a park.

“I will not allow any person or entity to disregard the rule of law or obligations owed to the public,” Paxton said in a statemen. “If the Taylor data center development is unlawful, I will do everything in my power to stop it and hold those who have violated the law accountable.” Pamela Griffin and other Taylor residents first raised concerns about the project last year after Griffin learned the property next to her home was slated to become the site of Blueprint’s proposed $1 billion, 135,000-square-foot project. Taylor approved the project in 2024. “I’m coming up here begging for a whole year, asking y’all to stop this data center because it’s going to harm human lives,” Griffin told Taylor City Council in July. “Do you all care about human lives?” Residents also filed a lawsuit against Blueprint to halt the project, but last year a state District Court judge struck down the residents' request, seemingly clearing a path for the development. The residents have appealed and filed additional suits against Blueprint. HALT, a grassroots anti-data center group in Taylor, said Thursday it was “overjoyed that there is intention to investigate.” The group said it is confident Paxton will find merit to take action on the property. The City of Taylor said Thursday that it was aware of the investigation and plans to cooperate with the attorney general’s office.

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Bud Kennedy: Why won’t Fort Worth, Tarrant leaders speak up against Bo French?

Bo French hates Texas. But he has oil money and a cadre of trash-talkers behind him, so most Fort Worth leaders are too gutless to criticize him. There is no other way to explain the events of the last week, when a spoiled son of Westover Hills went on his latest public tirade and was met with loud pushback across America — but mostly embarrassed silence in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. This time, the Republican candidate to regulate the oil industry on the misnamed Texas Railroad Commission complained about some of Texas’ top college students — just because they don’t look like him. French posted a photo on X.com of a crowd of happy Indian-American students. They were wildly cheering the University of Texas Longhorns’ come-from-behind football victory over the No. 1 team in the country.

His comment: “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. ... The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” French explained later in so many words that he was referring to residency status, not race. Children of immigrants here on work permits are counted as residents up to age 21, meaning they count toward the state requirement that UT admit 90% residents in each freshman class. But when reporters found students in the photo, the first two identified were both American citizens. About one-third of U.S. college students are first- or second-generation immigrants, but a majority are American citizens. In other words, what French saw was mostly a section of cheering American college football fans, because a lot of the smartest kids in Texas and America today are Indian-American and Asian-American. He thinks that’s all wrong. Then, Fort Worth leaders sat in near-complete silence. They shook their heads and tut-tutted the French family’s wayward boy just as if he were a curly-haired brat wreaking havoc in the grand ballroom at a blue-blood country club. Look, Bo French is not a TCU frat boy anymore.

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Ted Cruz pushes back on calls for government testing of AI models

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is working behind the scenes to block a proposal that would require advanced artificial intelligence technologies to undergo federal testing before they are released to the public, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations. The Texas Republican has warned the measure, being pushed by Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, would hurt U.S. companies and give a leg up to Chinese competitors, according to the person, who asked to not be not be named because they weren't authorized to speak about closed-door discussions. Instead, he is pushing for a broader requirement that AI companies take steps to prevent their models from developing "advanced threat capabilities," and that they disclose to the federal government any active or imminent security breaches.

Cruz, who leads the powerful Senate Commerce, Science and Technology Committee, is involved in negotiations with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Senate Majority Leader John Thune on a bipartisan response to warnings from a former Anthropic employee this month that AI models are growing dangerously advanced. Cantwell, a ranking member on the commerce committee, has been arguing publicly that pre-deployment testing is necessary to try and stop up-and-coming AI models from developing dangerous capabilities like creating a deadly virus or hacking into nuclear weapons systems. "Meaningful legislation would require the most powerful AI models undergo testing by scientists and experts at our national laboratories to assess whether they could enable sophisticated cyberattacks or aid the development of biological or nuclear weapons," she told reporters earlier this week While Cruz called openly last week for "guardrails" to protect against catastrophic risks, he has also suggested that AI developers are already incentivised to police themselves. "If any company sells a product that causes massive harm, they’ll get sued into oblivion," he wrote on X Wednesday. "That’s how companies go broke and rich people become poor people."

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Poll shows Social Security reform could sway Texas voters

Growing concerns about the viability of Social Security may emerge as a deciding factor this midterm election, according to a nonpartisan poll conducted among voters in states with competitive Senate races, including Texas. According to the newly released survey by Peter G. Peterson Foundation, candidates with a plan to reform Social Security are more likely to do well among voters in battleground states such as Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. Across the country, 91% of voters support Social Security reforms, according to the survey. In Texas especially, about 57% of voters vs. 49% overall, and want lawmakers to prevent benefit cuts by reforming the program.

Democratic firm Global Strategy Group and Republican firm North Star Opinion Research conducted a phone and text-to-web survey on behalf of the foundation. They spoke to 2,500 voters in key Senate battleground states, including 500 voters in Texas, between August 20 and August 27. By 2032, Social Security’s primary Trust Fund is projected to run dry if the program continues to pay out more than it receives in income. If Congress doesn’t act sooner, the program will become insolvent, causing an automatic 22% cut in retirement checks for current and newly retired Social Security beneficiaries across the U.S. In Texas, this would reduce each retirement check by nearly $500, according to a June analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal policy think tank. Yet pollsters found half of Texas voters (49%) were unaware of the impending Social Security benefit cuts and more than 89% of voters said lawmakers should talk about it more. Once they were made aware, nearly all respondents (91%) said it was important for lawmakers to have a plan to reform Social Security to prevent cuts.

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As Texas rejects heat safeguards, thousands of workers are getting sick in extreme temperatures

On July 22, UPS driver James Francis Edelen III was rounding out his usual delivery route when Houston’s extreme summer heat caught up with him. After nearly 10 hours on the road on the hottest day of Houston’s summer, Edelen’s hands cramped as he made stops at an apartment complex. He struggled to shift gears and grip the steering wheel. Soon his arms and legs were cramping, too, and he felt dizzy and nauseated. That day, Houston temperatures climbed above 100 degrees for the first time this year, with a heat index – a measure of how it feels, accounting for humidity – surpassing 115 degrees. City data show that at least 95 people were treated locally that day for heat-related illnesses.

Across the country, over half a dozen states — including California and Colorado — now require employers to implement measures to protect workers such as rest, water breaks and access to shade. But Texas, one of the hottest states in the country, not only lacks statewide heat-safety standards but also blocked cities from adopting their own. Experts and advocates said that lack of protection leaves workers especially vulnerable. “Every worker needs to get some training. Every worker should have access to rest, water and shade,” said Barrak Alahmad, a senior research scientist at Harvard University. “Right now, we're saying, ‘Employers, you're responsible for this.’ We're basically just handing workers over to be at the mercy of employers.” Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows Texas has recorded 1,720 heat-related workplace injuries and illnesses between 2023 and 2024, the latest available years of data, averaging about 860 a year. This marks a 60% increase in injuries compared to 2021 and 2022. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that the actual number could be up to seven times higher due to misidentified and unreported cases. In the most extreme cases, workplace heat exposure can be fatal. The same labor data has recorded eight deaths between 2023 and 2024. OSHA states that the actual number of heat-related fatalities could be up to 14 times higher.

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Mayor says $27M question looming as data center takes Harlingen offer to Cameron County

A $27 million question’s hanging over the area as a developer launches construction of a 1,100-acre data center project between Harlingen and Rio Hondo. Days after offering Harlingen $20 million along with $7 million to fund a drainage project, Fluidstack took its proffer to Cameron County, Mayor Norma Sepulveda said. “I was told they’re getting a $27 million investment,” she said Wednesday in an interview. Meanwhile, Fluidstack’s decided not to respond to questions surrounding any negotiations with county officials. After county officials granted the company a worksite permit late last week, Fluidstack launched construction of the project’s $4 billion first phase in the area of Gomez Road and FM 1595, about 4 miles southwest of Rio Hondo in Harlingen’s northeastern outskirts.

About a week earlier in Harlingen, Kate Franko, Fluidstack’s head of public affairs, requested city commissioners allow the company to discharge stormwater into a major canal draining Valley International Airport, which flooded during the historic March 2025 storm. While the company offered the city $20 million to help fund infrastructure projects, Fluidstack also offered to fund a $7 million project aimed at widening the 90-foot canal running four miles from the airport to the Arroyo Colorado. In response, commissioners, facing months of residents’ opposition to data center projects, requested Fluidstack hold a town hall meeting to respond to concerns while fielding questions surrounding the company’s project. “While the city was still engaged in that process, Cameron County moved forward with permitting that provided Fluidstack an alternative drainage option,” Sepulveda said in a statement Wednesday. “The county was aware of the approximately $7 million in drainage improvements being discussed at the site. They were also aware of the proposed $20 million investment in Harlingen infrastructure.”

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Texas AG commissioner calls for gas tax pause

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller urged Gov. Greg Abbott to temporarily suspend the state’s 20-cent-per-gallon gasoline and undyed diesel tax as gas prices remain above $3. On Wednesday, Miller called on the governor to temporarily suspend the state’s tax on gasoline and undyed diesel. We don’t control the price of oil, but we control the taxes we put on it,” Miller said. “Governor Abbott has the tools to act. There’s no excuse for sitting around and watching our farmers, ranchers, truckers, and families bleed money at the pump. Texas producers and Texas families can’t wait any longer.

In a press release, Miller urged Abbott and other state lawmakers to take action and provide relief to Texans while fuel prices continue to rise. “High diesel prices are a tax on everything,” Miller said. “They raise the cost of growing food, hauling freight, running a business, and putting groceries on the table. Every penny matters, and Texas shouldn’t be piling another 20 cents on top of the pain.” Miller continued, “If other states can step up when their people are getting crushed at the pump, Texas sure as hell can. Texas is the energy capital of America. We ought to be leading the charge on fuel tax relief, not watching from the sidelines.” Abbott was on his campaign trail in Amarillo on Wednesday, talking to residents about his “Affordability Agenda,” which aims to reduce costs for insurance, college, housing, and energy. There was no mention of plans to bring down the cost for Texans at the pump during his campaign stop.

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Iran says hackers launched a cyberattack on a massive oil tanker bound for Galveston

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating a cyberattack targeting an oil supertanker that was traveling through the Gulf toward Galveston last month. A specialized team of Coast Guard and FBI officials boarded the VL Prosperity in the Gulf on Aug. 21 after authorities learned that the South Korean-managed vessel’s computer network had been compromised, Coast Guard officials said. Iranian state media reported that hackers took control of the tanker’s navigation and propulsion systems and disabled its communications for about 30 hours. U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed those details. Rear Adm. Amy Grable, who leads the Coast Guard’s Cyber Command, said the incident highlights the potential dangers of cyberattacks targeting vessels at sea.

“Of course we’re worried about a collision, an explosion,” Grable said. Grable said malicious computer code is becoming increasingly accessible to hackers and warned that similar incidents could become more frequent. “Especially with the advent of artificial intelligence, that’s sort of accelerating the rate at which we need to take action,” she said. The VL Prosperity left Egypt on Aug. 1 bound for Galveston and was reportedly hacked near the Strait of Gibraltar. The Coast Guard said the ship’s crew and shore-based corporate staff played an important role in responding to the cyber threat. “The captain, crew and shoreside corporate staff were critical partners in helping to ensure the threats were mitigated,” the Coast Guard said in a statement. The Coast Guard and FBI intercepted the tanker before it reached Galveston. Officials have not said how close the vessel was to land when agents boarded it. Coast Guard officials are now urging vessels at sea to remain vigilant and request cybersecurity assistance when needed.

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U of Austin won’t seek ABA Accreditation for new law school

The University of Austin, a five-year-old institution founded by CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss and others, says it won’t seek the American Bar Association Accreditation Council’s recognition for its legal program. UATX, which first accepted students in fall 2024, doesn’t yet have institutional accreditation, though it’s seeking it. The institution’s announcement comes after the Education Department recommended last month that the ABA Council lose federal recognition to accredit law schools, meaning its accreditation wouldn't unlock federal student aid for those schools. Some Republican-controlled states have also targeted the ABA Council, which has received criticism for its past support of diversity, equity and inclusion. Earlier this year, the Texas Supreme Court allowed lawyers who haven’t graduated from ABA Council–accredited schools to practice in the state.

In a lengthy Substack post Thursday, UATX General Counsel Adam Biggs condemned the ABA. “The ABA is a private trade association that has spent seventy years making sure no one builds a law school that doesn’t conform to its exact vision for legal education,” Biggs wrote, adding that the “model it enforces is expensive and outdated, and it stifles anyone who tries to build something different.” He said UATX will partner with the conservative Federalist Society in its undergraduate legal education, supporting courses “that go further into the Constitution’s text, history, and tradition, taught by judges, practicing lawyers, and scholars.” He criticized ABA standards in detail, including requirements for tenured positions. He said the standards also “make creating [legal] clinics largely unavoidable.” “Students working real cases sounds good, in the abstract,” Biggs wrote. “Yet it is the most expensive way to teach anything. A professor teaching Property reaches hundreds of students. A clinical professor works with about eight.”

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Arch Manning to 'learn' from Holly Rowe controversy, Sarkisian says

Days after Texas football star Arch Manning ignited a social media firestorm by laughing at an AI-generated video of his coach Steve Sarkisian slapping ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe, Sarkisian said, “Arch recognizes he made a mistake, and it's an unfortunate one.” “Nowhere do we condone domestic violence or violence against women,” Sarkisian said Thursday during his weekly Zoom meeting with reporters. “Nothing in our program says that. I think if (Arch) could take it back, he would. He has since apologized to Holly. He's made a public apology, and our goal is that we can move forward and him be the guy that that we all know that he is and what he represents.”

The fake video after the Longhorns' 24-23 comeback win over Ohio State spoofed a postgame interaction between Sarkisian and Rowe, ending with the journalist being struck in the face. A reporter asked Monday if Manning had seen any online videos that had been posted about Saturday night's postgame scene at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Manning said he had seen an AI-edited video about the abrupt interview between Sarkisian and Rowe. After his response received some laughter and goading from media members, Manning smiled as he asked: "Y'all seen that one? That's a good one. Of him slapping Holly Rowe? Yeah, it's hilarious." Manning apologized for the comments Tuesday and Sarkisian addressed the matter for the first time Thursday. The ensuing uproar criticized Manning for making light of violence against women, Sarkisian for blowing off interviews with Rowe and fellow ESPN sideline reporter Laura Rutledge, and a roomful of reporters who chuckled at Manning’s response. On Tuesday, Manning issued an apology to Rowe on his Instagram account.

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Pete Hegseth Texas trip to include Austin startup, Texas A&M game

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is visiting Austin on Friday, with his visit coming just days after the U.S. House postponed a vote on his impeachment. Hegseth will speak at Austin-based Saronic Technologies Inc., a critical commercial partner for the U.S. military. His visit comes roughly two months after the defense startup announced its $3.2 billion South Texas shipyard for the manufacturing of its autonomous military ships and drones. In July, the U.S. Navy used three of its sea drones to attack an Iranian naval base in the Strait of Hormuz — the first known U.S. use of such craft in combat. The same type of vessel was used to rescue the pilots of a U.S. Apache helicopter that had been downed near the strait — also a first.

Late last year, Saronic landed a $392 million production contract for its 24-foot-long Corsair vessels. The speedboats, which cost about $1 million each, can travel more than 1,000 miles and carry payloads of up to 1,000 pounds at speeds of up to 35 knots. Corsairs were used in both the recent attack on Iran and last month’s pilot rescue. Hegseth will also stop by Capital Factory, the Austin-based venture capital firm and startup incubator that helped propel Saronic and other local tech companies such as Apptronik and Firefly Aerospace. He also will administer the oath of enlistment to new recruits at the Austin Armed Forces Reserve Center. Afterward, Hegseth will go to College Station to tour the Veterans Resource Center and deliver remarks to the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. He plans to attend the Texas A&M’s game against Kentucky on Saturday afternoon. His stops in Texas are part of what he is calling his Arsenal of Freedom Tour, which is taking Hegseth across the country to “rebuild the U.S. defense industrial base and boost domestic manufacturing.” On Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson sent U.S. House members home early for their recess ahead of the midterm elections. But the early dismissal also avoided an impeachment vote for Hegseth over his handling of the U.S. war with Iran.

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National Stories

RFK Jr. says anti-vaccine activists have a friend in the White House

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave the keynote address Thursday at a conference of an anti-vaccine activist group he once chaired, telling the hundreds in attendance that they had a friend in President Donald Trump’s White House. It was Kennedy’s first time appearing at the Children’s Health Defense conference since he became secretary. Kennedy took leave from the group when he launched his bid to become president in 2023, but his speech Thursday served as a sort of homecoming, offering him a platform from which to hail the administration’s steps to scale back vaccine guidance and reassure the activists in attendance that he was working to turn their priorities into policy.

“Let me be clear: You have a strong and steadfast friend in the White House. We’ve accomplished in 19 months things that would have seemed unthinkable two years ago,” he said. The speech, peppered with questions about long established vaccine safety, also highlighted how once fringe views on vaccines have been given a prominent pulpit under the Trump administration. Kennedy boasted about the administration’s moves to downsize the childhood vaccination schedule and reshape a key vaccine advisory board — steps that have since been halted by a judge. Kennedy lauded Trump for pushing ahead with attempts to overhaul vaccine guidance, including an executive order last month calling for spacing out the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, against medical groups’ recommendations. That executive order and now Kennedy’s keynote speech at the Children’s Health Defense conference mark a pivot by the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services, who earlier this year had appeared to be moving beyond vaccine efforts and toward a less contentious agenda on healthy food ahead of November’s midterm elections. HHS promoted the speech on its social media channels.

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Blanche’s political campaigning breaks an ethical norm going back to Watergate

Attorney General Todd Blanche has repeatedly participated in campaign events and spoken in partisan terms about the coming midterm elections since his confirmation last month, despite criticism that he violated a longstanding Justice Department principle of steering clear of electoral politics. This week he waded again into those waters — twice. Since August, Mr. Blanche has come under fire for making campaign-tinged public appearances and comments. Last month, at a rally-style event on Long Island, he praised Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for governor of New York. Last week, Mr. Blanche delivered remarks at the Republican Party’s midterm convention. On Tuesday, he stood at the White House podium and disparaged Democratic lawmakers while invoking the coming election, dismissing their concerns about artificial intelligence as “nothing but an effort to influence the midterms.”

And on Wednesday, Mr. Blanche spoke at a campaign rally for Michael Whatley, the Republican Senate candidate in North Carolina. Echoing his convention speech, he portrayed crime rates, which continued a long-term downward trend to reach new lows in 2025, as “President Trump and Vice President Vance delivering on a promise.” Worries about the Justice Department abandoning its long-held commitment to appear apolitical in order to maintain institutional credibility may seem beside the point. Since January 2025, dozens of judges have viewed its representations with suspicion, eroding the traditional bonds of trust, known as the “presumption of regularity,” that the courts typically grant the department. The second Trump administration has also unabashedly destroyed the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from the White House in investigative decisions. Early on, Mr. Blanche’s predecessor, Pam Bondi, declared, “We are so proud to work at the directive of Donald Trump.” Last September, after Mr. Trump publicly demanded that she charge several perceived adversaries, the department pushed through short-lived indictments of two of them. Still, Mr. Blanche is dismantling another post-Watergate principle: that Justice Department leaders stay away from partisan politicking.

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How Bessent, America's bond salesman, cornered Japan on big spending

When Japanese finance minister Satsuki Katayama called Scott Bessent for help to support the cratering yen in June, her U.S. counterpart's response was familiar: If Tokyo wanted assistance, it had to get its fiscal house in order. For months, Treasury Secretary Bessent had told Katayama and other officials privately that Japan should rein in its massive fiscal spending and that its central bank ?needed to raise interest rates, according to three people familiar with the situation. Make sense of global markets with the Trading Day newsletter. Sign up here. The Japanese worried that inflation stoked by the weaker yen would hurt Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with voters. Bessent was more concerned that a sell-off in Japanese bonds could spill over to U.S. debt, the ?people said. Katayama's call for Washington's help in a coordinated yen-buying spree enabled Bessent to press his case.

He urged Japan to first address fundamental factors driving down the yen — a reference to Takaichi's big spending plans — and avoid any "inconsistency" between monetary and fiscal policies, two of the people said. In short: overhaul the policies that counter the Bank of Japan's fight against inflation. The June 22 call, the details of which haven't been previously reported, helped set the stage for massive joint intervention by Washington and Tokyo in late July, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. This account of the interactions between Japan and the U.S. shows how Bessent used Washington's leverage over currency and Treasury markets to extract policy concessions from a key ally — forcing Takaichi to navigate the competing demands of ?voters and her most important security partner. "Bessent has run out of patience with Japan," said David Boling, managing director for Japan at The Asia Group, a consultancy. The U.S., he said, wants a stronger, more stable yen, less risk of Japanese selling of Treasuries, and policy that looks more credible to markets ?on inflation and fiscal stability.

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The quiet campaign to stop Kamala 2028 is growing louder

On Wednesday, LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic Party megadonor Reid Hoffman threw cold water on the prospect of a 2028 presidential campaign from former Vice President Kamala Harris. “I think it would be a very challenging path for her and it’s going to be a very noisy field,” Hoffman said when asked at a Politico event in Washington, DC, whether Harris should run again. His statement comes the same week CNN aired an interview with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who told Jake Tapper (while fly-fishing?) that he would not run for president if Harris did so — a curious move from someone who swung through South Carolina barely two weeks ago, and who has long been treated as a presumed frontrunner for 2028. Taken together — and thinking back to our America, Actually episode on the question of whether Harris will run — I think you’re seeing the early stages of what I’d call a light public pressure campaign.

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A scorned Trump gathers bulldozers for the Kennedy Center

Fall nears. The trade wars continue to rage. The Iran war drags ever onward. The midterms are coming. And what is Donald Trump doing to drag the country out of the several, concentrically deepening holes he has dug for America, the Republican Party, and himself? The answer, of course, is: preparing to demolish the Kennedy Center, rather than let anyone else have it. Washington’s official federal performing arts venue will not make it to the end of Trump’s term. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s certainly what the president wants everyone to think. He’s signaling his next move so openly at this point that he might as well be using semaphore flags.

To recap: Trump has long betrayed a quietly deep obsession with the world of the theater arts — which he no doubt associates with the New York of his youth. He is, famously, equally as obsessed with Kennedy family glamour — why, he even found his own collectible Kennedy to add to the administration! — and desperately wants to associate his own (decidedly grubbier) name with a national martyr. Therefore, it was perhaps inevitable that he would take a heavy hand with the Kennedy Center — the federally owned and directed performing arts venue for the nation’s capital, named for the slain president in 1964, prior to opening. It was one of the shiniest baubles in (what he regards as) his personal presidential treasury to play with and admire. Nobody expected him to try to slap his name on it, however. Nobody expected him to be that crude or lawless. The building is named by statute; renaming it anything else is not optional, unless approved by Congress. Trump doesn’t care: His openly stated philosophy is to put his own name (or Trump-like “stamp”) onto everything he possibly can while still president. “Nobody else will,” he says, correctly. So he installed his faithful myrmidons on the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, who “voted” to rename it after him. Bookings immediately vanished — no artist in America with any profile would ever recover from ratifying such an imperial ego-grab with their presence — and when the courts ordered him to remove his name, he instead erected a scaffolding to permanently prevent the world from seeing the title of the venue without his name on it.

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Environment, health groups sue over Trump move to wipe out climate rules for power plants

Environmental and public health-focused organizations are suing the Trump administration over its move to wipe out most climate regulations on coal and gas power plants. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, Clean Air Council, Clean Wisconsin and the Environmental Defense Fund filed the suit on Thursday. The move comes just days after the administration finalized its move to gut the nation’s climate rules for coal and gas plants, eliminating the vast majority of rules that the Biden administration said would prevent 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon emissions through 2047, the equivalent of taking 328 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year.

That’s because existing coal and new gas plants will no longer have to prevent 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere. As the electric sector makes up a quarter of the U.S.’s total planet-heating emissions, that move could be one of the Trump administration’s most consequential climate rollbacks. The administration estimated that it could save $310 billion. The groups that sued Thursday said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a legal responsibility to limit planet-warming emissions, and that not doing so would have significant health consequences. “Repealing these standards without a replacement is an abdication of EPA’s legal responsibility to protect public health and the environment,” said Meredith Hankins, federal climate legal director at NRDC, in a written statement. “The Clean Air Act and Supreme Court precedent demand that the EPA address climate pollution from the largest industrial source in the nation. The EPA’s legal reasoning is fatally flawed, so we are going to court.” “Emissions from power plants drive climate change, and climate change is a health emergency,” said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association. “Measures that clean up power plant emissions also clean up other lung-harming pollutants at the same time. EPA has the authority and the responsibility to protect people’s health from air pollution.” The EPA declined The Hill’s request for comment on the lawsuit. When it put forward the rule, the agency said that its move was a money saver. “For over 15 years, the Obama and Biden administrations implemented a war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy. The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.

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Democrats keep pressure on Hakeem Jeffries to punish rogue members

House Democrats aren’t letting rogue members off the hook for bucking their party. They hope Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries won’t either. “Obviously, there’s got to be” punishment for the two Democrats who twice this month bucked their party to advance a slate of Republican priorities, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) said in an interview. “Otherwise, then,” he said, “it’s open season.” Democrats are watching closely how — and if — Jeffries doles out consequences for Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington who have twice provided the decisive votes for GOP procedural measures this month.

Jeffries and his leadership team condemned the two members when they first defected two weeks ago, slamming a “breach of trust” warranting a “serious response” but have yet to inflict any public consequences. On Tuesday, they defied leadership a second time, infuriating House Democrats and resurrecting questions about how leadership plans to keep its caucus in line — especially if they have a slim majority next term. “We have to all be united, and I think it’s pretty simple,” said one House Democrat who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “If there’s not [a punishment], I find it hard to see a path forward in the majority, which we’re all pushing for.” Asked if leadership should punish the two aisle-crossers, Rep. Troy Carter pointed to his time as minority leader of the Louisiana state Senate: “When I had members that did not work within the confines of the philosophical views of our party, I took them off our caucus.” “I don’t want to second-guess anybody’s timing, but I will tell you that these things cannot allow to fester,” he added. “We have to have a strict message: Either you’re with the team on those fundamental issues of governance or you aren’t.”

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Lead Stories

The Fed raised rates. What comes next?

After four months of talking tough about inflation, Kevin M. Warsh finally followed through. On Wednesday, the chairman of the Federal Reserve announced with his colleagues that the central bank had raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to a new range of 3.75 percent to 4 percent. The move was widely expected, with financial markets ascribing over 90 percent odds to an increase ahead of the gathering. The question now is what comes next. Mr. Warsh, in an abridged news conference, sought to keep the Fed’s options open. He underscored his aversion to providing guidance about what the future path of policy might be and said plainly that he did not want to “prejudge any future decisions we make.” But in parsing through Mr. Warsh’s comments on Wednesday, and a new set of economic projections from officials that accompanied the rate decision, it was clear that the Fed was not done raising rates.

It showed that 16 of the 18 policymakers who submitted projections expected at least one more quarter-point move by the end of the year. That would push rates to a range of 4 percent to 4.25 percent. Most wanted rates to stay at or above that level throughout 2027. They also raised their estimates for rates for 2028 and beyond compared to three months ago. Mr. Warsh, as in June, did not submit projections, in keeping with his opposition to the dot plot as a communications tool. But he appeared aligned with the message that the Fed’s work was not complete. Mr. Warsh struck an upbeat tone about economic growth and the labor market, emphasizing that the Fed’s focus had to be on inflation at this juncture. He emphasized the unanimity around the rate decision, which he said showed “we’re serious about this.” And he made clear that he was unsatisfied with the recent trend in the data that showed lackluster progress toward the 2 percent inflation goal. The comment that garnered the most attention, however, was his description of Wednesday’s move as the Fed having “removed a dose of accommodation so that financial and credit conditions would be more consistent with our ultimate objectives.”

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Karl Rove: Why I’m voting for a Texas Democrat

It was a moment every student in Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium will remember for life. Forty-one seconds into the final quarter on Saturday, No. 4 ranked University of Texas at Austin was down 23-3 against No. 1 ranked Ohio State. Quarterback Arch Manning brought the Longhorns alive with a 91-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Ryan Wingo. That cut the margin to 13. And the Longhorns weren’t done. Mr. Manning picked apart Ohio State’s defense with a 72-yard drive followed by a 73-yard drive, each ending with running back Hollywood Smothers scoring. Texas went up 24-23. The Buckeyes had 25 seconds on the clock, time enough for their explosive offense. But Texas held, leaving Ohio one second to try for a miracle with a long bomb. That’s when Longhorn defensive back Graceson Littleton made the interception, the clock ran out, the cannon boomed, and the stadium went wild.

So how did Bo French—a UT grad and Republican statewide candidate for Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry—mark this special moment? He posted a picture of screaming, joyous, celebrating burnt-orange-clad students. Referring to students who appeared to be South Asian or Hispanic in the photo’s foreground, he declared, “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” Mr. French’s not-so-subtle claim that UT has too many Hispanics and South Asians—he later said his issue is too many “foreigners”—is raw, uncut bigotry. UT admissions are based on merit, not race, and 90% of each class comes from Texas. Some Republican leaders immediately denounced Mr. French. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn condemned his “intolerance and racism,” warning “this is how great political parties self-destruct.” State House Speaker Dustin Burrows said Mr. French’s post “crossed the line” by “demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity.” Other GOP state legislators called the post “racism, plain and simple,” “disgusting” and “well below the standard set by Christ.” One said it made him “sick.”

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Consumers hit by one-two punch of oil and rates from Iran war. The estimated bill is $1,700 per household

Consumers are facing a double-whammy of jumping oil prices and Treasury yields amid the U.S. war with Iran that is leaving them increasingly cash-strapped. Crude prices reaccelerated in recent weeks as fighting between the U.S. and Iran has ramped back up, a development that will lead to higher prices at the pump. On top of that, the 10-year Treasury yield jumped this week to its highest in 19 years, threatening to intensify affordability challenges for consumers as borrowing costs rise for items like homes and cars. “Consumers are under a lot of financial pressure,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

The total bill per household since the U.S.-Iran conflict began is around $1,760, according to an analysis from Moody’s Analytics as of Sept. 11. Zandi said $930 — or more than half — of that total bill for households comes from higher costs for energy, a category that includes pressures from rising prices on items like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Cumulatively, Moody’s found that U.S. consumers have spent more than $121 billion extra on energy since the war began. Another $425 of that $1,760 stems from higher interest rates since the war broke out. The final $405 comes from higher military spending, which Zandi said consumers will foot the bill for through either national debt expansion or increased taxes. U.S. crude oil prices topped $105 per barrel on Tuesday, its highest closing level since mid May. Tuesday’s jump came despite Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s assurance to CNBC that the closure of a Saudi Arabian pipeline would only last a few days.

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These groups are driving the DeFlock movement in Austin. Now, they're ready for statewide action

"Big Brother is watching you." The slogan from George Orwell's famous novel, 1984, has reverberated through popular culture for decades. The book is what first came to mind for Lydia Fortuna when she learned about Flock Safety and its automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, in 2024. Fortuna said she had a roommate who was stopped by police due to a misread license plate about a year after she learned of the technology. She had already found the readers concerning, but after learning that ALPRs and cameras were set up around the city, Fortuna joined a local group called No ALPRs. The coalition has become an important force in the anti-Flock movement. In August, she participated in a “Flock Walk," an event where people walk to different cameras and learn more about their usage.

“The reason that I'm out here today is because of the history of fascism and what it means to take a stand in the beginning before you see everything — anything — criminalized,” Fortuna said. “To the individuals that don't care if it doesn't affect them, it's only a matter of time.” The pushback against automated license plate readers, known as the "DeFlock" movement, is growing. Who’s behind the local 'DeFlock' movement? The No ALPRs coalition is made of groups like the Texas Civil Rights Project, Local Progress, Austin Democratic Socialists of America, and Grassroots Leadership, which have been organizing against the readers. There are also residents, like Fortuna, who joined the coalition. The DeFlock movement isn't new. In June of last year, Austin City Council voted to end its contract with Flock. At the time, Council Member Mike Siegel was one of the local representatives who voted against a contract renewal in Austin. He is also a member of Local Progress. "Ever since then, as an elected official and member of national organizations, I've been trying to recruit folks from around the country to join us in opposing Flock Safety and opposing ALPRs," Siegel said. "And one of the most important things that came out of the Austin movement was a collection of community-based organizations that formed what they call the No ALPRs Coalition."

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State Stories

Texas House candidate no-shows at debate after unearthed crude social media posts

Republican Jorge Borrego bailed on the League of Women Voters’ candidate forum Wednesday evening — forcing the group to cancel one of the only opportunities voters have to hear from both candidates ahead of a highly contested Texas House race. Borrego and Democrat Kristian Carranza are running to replace state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio) in Texas House District 118. In gerrymandered Texas, it’s one of the only state legislative districts that remains competitive enough to go either way in November, and Democrats consider it a must-win in their efforts to gain power in the Texas House. In a nod to the race’s significance, roughly 60 people were waiting at 6 p.m. in the Sydney Board Room at Brooks City Base on Wednesday evening, including some of Borrego’s supporters.

Around 6:20 p.m., however, the League of Women Voters’ San Antonio Chapter President Jill Tolbert came out and announced that they wouldn’t be able to continue as planned. “I am so thrilled that so many people came out to see a candidate forum tonight … but Jorge Borrego is a no-show,” Tolbert told the crowd. “The League rules are that we cannot proceed with just one candidate.” Borrego’s supporters in the audience spoke to him on the phone and said he got stuck at an event on the other side of town. When they contacted him, he said he wouldn’t be able to make it in time. After, Borrego followed up to say he’d had an “incident” that he wasn’t able to resolve, but had tried to contact the League earlier in the day. Event organizer Claire Oxley confirmed later Wednesday night that she’d received an email from him saying he wouldn’t be able to make it at 4:13 p.m. She’d said she’d already left for the event at that point, didn’t have access to her email until she got home. His email said the group could “try to reschedule for another date.”

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Rural Texans hope to derail a proposed battery-storage site in the heart of wine country

Six miles outside the tourist hot spot of Fredericksburg, past idyllic vineyards, wildlife trails, and ranches, visitors turning onto Country Creek Lane are greeted by a rectangular red sign propped up against a fence: “Stop Dangerous Solar/BESS in Gillespie Co.” Nearly every yard on the mostly residential street, home to eighteen families, has a smaller red sign with the same message. Here, between the rolling hills and clear streams that locals say their tourism-heavy economy depends upon, hundreds of residents have united in opposition to a roughly thousand-acre solar farm and accompanying battery-energy storage system—BESS, for short—called the Marshall Springs project. John Love, a father of two, has lived on Country Creek Lane for nearly a decade and become a leader of the opposition movement. In October, he started Fight FBG Solar, a group dedicated to halting the project’s construction. As of September, its Facebook group has amassed nearly five hundred members.

The development, located in the Marshall Springs neighborhood, is still in its early stages—the site developer, Ampyr Energy, has a lease for a local family’s land and has secured an interconnection agreement, but it has yet to file a formal application with the county. Residents who oppose the development believe it’s just a matter of time. The development in Marshall Springs is part of a larger trend, as rural parts of Texas become prime real estate for those seeking to build data centers, solar and wind farms, and battery-storage sites. Battery storage, in particular, has skyrocketed in recent years. Earlier this year, Texas surpassed California to become the country’s leader in battery-storage capacity. As of August, that capacity is 18,275 megawatts—enough energy to power over 3 million homes—according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. BESS sites play a critical role in stabilizing the state’s power grid, releasing stored energy when demand exceeds supply and intermittent energy sources go offline—Texas currently has 255 utility-scale BESS sites, including 55 built last year. These consist of rows of large metal containers or blocks filled with lithium-ion battery racks, paired with cooling fans, battery inverters (which convert electricity into usable form), and transformers (which transfer electricity from one circuit to another). In 2021, a winter storm caused a days-long failure of the Texas power grid, leaving at least 246 people dead. In response, lawmakers approved bills to overhaul the electric grid and prioritize reliability, such as that year’s Senate Bill 3, which required power plants to weatherize, making them able to withstand extreme weather events. Battery storage, energy experts say, is part of this solution, providing power when the grid is most strained.

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Texas oil and gas regulator doubles down and defies state legislature

A chair with Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian’s name on it sat empty Tuesday in the hearing room of the Texas House Committee on Energy Resources. Committee Chairman Drew Darby had called Christian to testify before the panel, which oversees the Railroad Commission, regulator of the state’s powerful oil and gas industry. Christian failed to appear before the committee and wrote in a letter that he had a scheduling conflict. Darby, a Republican from San Angelo, opened the committee meeting with stern words for the commissioner. “I do not recall my request for his presence as being optional,” he said. “It is beyond clear that Commissioner Christian has willfully chosen to defy this committee.” Disagreement over a change in the Railroad Commission’s public participation policy threatens to spill over into a larger dispute between the oversight committee and the oil and gas overseer, whose three members are elected statewide.

The tensions come as Texas faces a growing backlog of abandoned oil and gas wells it’s on the hook to plug, and large volumes of oilfield wastewater injected underground are causing blowouts and leaks. Meanwhile, Republican Bo French and Democrat Jon Rosenthal are locked in an unusually close race for a seat on the Railroad Commission. Christian has doubled down on the new public participation policy that he introduced last month at a commission meeting, as first reported by Inside Climate News. The new policy increases the frequency of listening sessions but leaves it to the discretion of the commissioners whether there will be a public comment period at each meeting, which previously had been standard. Darby had criticized the new policy and called on Christian to testify. In written testimony provided to the House committee, Christian wrote that the policy should be judged by its results over time. He also called out the nonprofit Commission Shift, which advocates for reforms to oil and gas oversight in Texas, for accepting funding from national foundations that support climate activism.

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Chris Brown addresses Texas lawmakers’ recognition and backlash

Chris Brown is pushing back after Texas lawmakers honored him during his Arlington concert, saying he never asked to be recognized and criticizing one lawmaker who later apologized. U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. Venton Jones took the stage with Brown during the second show of The R&B Tour's three-night stop at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, according to the Dallas Morning News, where they presented him with congressional and state legislative recognition. Usher did not appear onstage at the time, though the Congressional Record entry recognized both Brown and Usher. Shortly after Crockett honored Brown and Usher with an entry in the Congressional Record, the recognition drew online criticism over Brown’s history of domestic abuse.

Jones issued a statement Tuesday, apologizing to his constituents and saying the honor was intended to encourage voter turnout in the November midterm election. Brown then pushed back on the recognition and said he "never asked to be honored." "YALL CAME TO ME WITH THIS! NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND," Brown wrote in an Instagram story posted Tuesday. "I was minding my damn business. My shows in Dallas were already sold out. I ain't ask to be honored because I knew some s—t like this would happen and (Jones) immediately started tap dancing and apologizing because he didn't wanna lose voters and support. "I have a great idea.. how about y'all leave me the f—k alone and let me focus on the fans that spent their money to actually see and support me." Though Brown pleaded guilty in 2009 to felony assault in connection with an assault involving Rihanna, his then-girlfriend, he has continued to attract significant fan support, including audiences at sold-out shows.

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Texas won’t release first maternal death report since overturning of Roe v. Wade until after midterms

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announced last week that it would not release its biannual maternal mortality report until December, pushing the release date to after the November election. The report, which had traditionally been released every other year on or near Sept. 1, was expected to contain the first full year of data on maternal mortality in the state since its near-total abortion ban went into effect. Texas officially banned nearly all abortions in August 2022, just two months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. One year prior, in 2021, the state had passed the Texas Heartbeat Act, which banned any abortions at six weeks. Researchers, such as Faith Fletcher, a public health and bioethics expert, said the report provides essential data.

"We need the data so that we can understand why women are dying [and] what are some solutions that we can propose," Fletcher told Houston Public Media. Fletcher, along with Kari White — a nonresident fellow in maternal and reproductive health at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy — authored an opinion in the Houston Chronicle last week criticizing DSHS's decision to push back the release date. Fletcher said the report will be key to understanding what effect the state's abortion ban has had on maternal health. "Based on what the trends have been, yes, we did expect an increase [in maternal mortality], but without having the comprehensive data specifically in Texas, it's hard to really make those assumptions," Fletcher said. In Texas, Black and Hispanic women are disproportionately impacted by maternal deaths, Fletcher said.

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UT Austin plans to cut Mexican American, African, women's and gender studies majors

The University of Texas at Austin is planning to eliminate four majors: African and African diaspora studies, Mexican American and Latina/o studies, women's and gender studies, and the race, indigeneity and migration major. Danielle Pilar Clealand, the interim chair of the Social and Cultural Analysis Department, told faculty Tuesday that "the Provost's office rejected our proposal to keep our majors," in an email obtained by KUT News. University officials announced plans to consolidate seven ethnic and gender studies departments at the College of Liberal Arts into two new departments in February. David Sosa, then the interim dean of the college, said the university would continue to look at changes to majors, minors and course offerings within the college. The university also said students would be able to finish their current majors, but these new changes have faculty questioning if that will be the case.

Mike Rosen, a university spokesperson, confirmed UT is no longer enrolling new students into the Mexican American and Latina/o studies, African and African Diaspora studies, and women's and gender studies programs. "Students currently enrolled in those majors will be able to complete their degree," Rosen said. Julie Minich, a professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis who teaches Mexican American and Latina/o studies, said faculty were given two weeks in August to come up with a proposal for what majors to offer. She said they proposed a new social and cultural analysis major and asked to keep most of the now-eliminated programs. Minich said many institutions across the country offer these majors because, to better prepare students for many professional fields, it is essential for them to engage in deep study about people of different races and gender orientations. “Eliminating a major in this way is censorship. It is reducing what students are able to study,” Minich said. “As these classes become less available to students, one, it curtails student freedom to learn, but two, it curtails students' career prospects.”

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North Texas businesses outpace New York, L.A. in AI use, report finds

More than a quarter of North Texas businesses are using artificial intelligence — a higher percentage than in New York or Los Angeles, according to a recent analysis of U.S. Census data conducted by WeWork. The report found that 26% of D-FW-area firms were using AI in July, up from just over 20% in January. D-FW’s usage rate ranked above the national average, which registered around 22% in July, and higher than the usage rate in the nation’s three largest metro areas. In greater New York, the rate was around 18%, in greater LA it was around 20% and in greater Chicago it was around 22%.

Broadly, the report also reiterated a prevailing business trend, whereby AI has become widely adopted by large firms and in certain sectors, while other sectors and smaller businesses have been slower to embrace the technology. “Read together, the numbers point to unevenness," WeWork’s report noted. “For all its revolutionizing potential, AI is still a relatively new technology that continues to advance unevenly and at an unpredictable pace.” It also offers additional evidence of D-FW’s emerging status as a national tech hub: Earlier this summer, a different analysis of BLS data, from the IT company CompTIA, found that D-FW had nearly 11,000 tech-related job postings, a number that ranked third among all U.S. metro areas. Another recent analysis, from the commercial real estate firm CBRE, ranked D-FW as the eighth best market for tech workers in North America, three spots behind Austin and ahead of Vancouver, Denver and greater LA.

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San Marcos council member charged after Austin security guard incident

San Marcos City Council Member Lorenzo Gonzalez was arrested Sunday in downtown Austin and charged with assault on a public servant, a third-degree felony, after authorities said he bit a security guard outside a downtown restaurant, according to an arrest affidavit. Austin police responded to a report of a physical disturbance at 301 Lavaca St. When officers arrived, witnesses described two separate altercations outside a restaurant. The affidavit does not identify the restaurant or specify when the incident occurred, but the Austin Police Department’s incident reports database shows an “assault with injury” call at the address at 6:24 p.m. Sunday.

The first incident involved a man identified in the affidavit as Richard, who was allegedly struck in the face by an unidentified assailant who left before officers arrived. Officers said that while Richard was speaking with security guards, Gonzalez, 38, walked up and began arguing with the guards, according to the affidavit. The affidavit does not specify whether Gonzalez knew Richard or the unidentified assailant. Investigators reviewed surveillance video from a neighboring bar that, according to the affidavit, showed Gonzalez arguing with a security guard. The video allegedly shows Gonzalez pushing the guard twice before the guard pushed him back. Seconds later, according to the affidavit, additional security guards approached Gonzalez. Investigators allege Gonzalez bit one of the guards on the webbing between his left thumb and index finger. Officers observed a puncture wound and bleeding, according to the affidavit. The affidavit states the guard was wearing a tactical security vest displaying his company’s name and logo, “clearly distinguishing” him as a security guard. Investigators determined the incident met the elements of assault on a public servant. Gonzalez, who was elected to his first term on the San Marcos City Council in 2024, was released from the Travis County Jail on Monday after posting a $5,000 bond, according to court records. Gonzalez and his attorney, Sandra Ritz, did not return requests for comment Wednesday. San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson declined to comment Wednesday.

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Fill your hypocrisy meter in a new video game starring Ken Paxton

When Austin musician and software developer Mark Sean watched Ken Paxton win the Republican senate primary, a lightbulb went off. Something about the attorney general got under Sean’s skin, he told me. “People in his own party don’t even like him,” Sean said. “He’s a classic example of the corrupt politician.” So Sean made a game. “I grew up on South Park. I have a subversive sense of humor,” he said. “I wanted to do something that would be more interactive and engaging with people.”

Sean describes Biblical Grounds as a “Game Boy-style RPG.” You play as present-day Ken Paxton, battling your soon-to-be ex-wife Angela Paxton, political opponents James Talarico and Ted Brown, the hemp industry, reporters, and a process server calmly trying to hand you an envelope. You begin in the AG’s office. Your first objective: do not get served. Back to front, the game is about hypocrisy. “Paxton’s is such a unique case study in political hypocrisy,” Sean said. “If you look at his history, he’s been indicted and impeached.” As you learn more about Paxton’s menagerie of run-ins with his own published statements, you fill your “Hypocrisy Meter.” Chances are upon hearing the concept, your mind went to Paxton’s ongoing divorce. “The title comes from his wife’s reasoning for divorcing him,” Sean said. “On biblical grounds.”

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Blue Energy submits NRC application for Texas nuclear project

Blue Energy Global Inc. has begun an application to install a small reactor at a Texas power plant it’s developing to supply a Crusoe Inc. data center, which will initially run on natural gas before adding nuclear power. The company said it had submitted the first part of its application for a construction permit to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A second portion is expected to follow in the second half of 2027, it said in a statement. Blue Energy plans to install gas turbines at the project in Port of Victoria, 140 miles (225 kilometers) southwest of Houston, before adding as many as five small modular reactors. It’s one of several companies pursuing nuclear power for data centers, betting on round-the-clock clean energy from reactor designs that are still unproven. The company has said its plan to begin with gas turbines could help it to deliver power faster than relying solely on nuclear systems, which may take years to approve and construct. The company already has deals in place to use GE Vernova Inc. gas turbines, and a 300-megawatt reactor design from GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy.

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Dallas pioneered specialty criminal courts decades ago. Are they still working?

The women streamed into the Dallas County courtroom in a single-file line. Fourteen in all, they fanned out across the gallery’s wooden pews just after 2 p.m. and burst into conversations. Most women here knew one another, and they knew how the next hour would go. That mid-August day, they knew the face staring back at them, too. “Where you been?” one woman called out. “In trial,” Judge Nancy Mulder replied from the bench. “I know, I know. All the auxiliary court judges were all busy, so I couldn’t find somebody to take over for me.” “I haven’t seen you in so long,” the woman said. “I thought you retired.” Unlike usual court proceedings, this session is for celebration, not judgment. But in the last year and a half, these biweekly 60 minutes haven’t been guaranteed because of how often court has been canceled. This is STAR (Strengthening, Transition, and Recovery), a diversion program for women with felony prostitution charges. It is one of 14 Dallas County courts that steer adults away from incarceration and toward supervision and treatment.

People who volunteer to enroll prior to their trials are eligible to have their charges dismissed. The others can receive services during probation and reduce their fines or community service requirements. It takes 18 to 24 months for most to complete the programs. Studies show these courts can lessen the likelihood of someone committing another crime and guide them to self-sufficiency so long as the judge ensures they are receiving required drug tests, counseling, and probation check-ins. Judges usually schedule two to four court hearings a month to encourage participants and admonish any who have veered off track. But in Dallas, problems abound. The Lab Report obtained specialty court grant applications, benchmark reports, and peer reviews; observed court proceedings; and interviewed nine people either enrolled or involved in operating the Dallas programs. State adjudicators subjected seven of the 14 courts to rigorous peer reviews last year, which are requested if they spot inconsistencies in court paperwork or have questions about how the courts are operating. Records from the third-party reviews included the following shortcomings: Some courts were overly punitive with jail sanctions for participants who did not follow all the program’s requirements. Eligibility criteria was subjective or warranted a review because of low participation. Court staff needed better understanding of how past trauma can impact participant behavior. Participants struggled to keep their jobs while enrolled in the programs. Judges didn’t always hold court consistently or spent less than the minimum of three minutes recommended per person. Three of the Dallas specialty courts — Felony DWI, a drug program called STAC, and the STAR prostitution court — shared multiple findings. But judicial experts say the judges have autonomy as to how their courtrooms run, even when their decisions undercut the goals of the specialty programs.

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Texas universities purge core courses as political pressure takes its toll

Public universities in Texas have dropped hundreds of courses from their core curricula — or altogether — amid rising political pressure over the last two years. Texas A&M University has removed 350 core listings across its system, many dealing with gender, race and other popular GOP targets. The University of Houston has nixed 133 classes from its core curriculum, and the University of Texas at Austin has dropped 113. Professors say students are missing out on subjects relevant to their future careers, and some educators are moving on to private schools, where political winds are less fierce. Students are required to take a select number of core classes in college in order to graduate. They typically choose from an array of courses to satisfy this requirement, but public universities are increasingly making optional selections that focus on women’s studies, LGBTQ issues, climate change and other left-leaning concepts, leading to the possibility of less student interest in the topics.

While these efforts have been ongoing in multiple red states, colleges in Texas are on the front lines as Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is able to appoint the members of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which oversees all public universities in the state. Universities also must take into consideration a new law known as S.B. 37, passed last year, that says core classes at public universities need to cover “foundational” concepts for entering the workforce and civic life. The combination of the conservative board, the new law and threatening remarks from state lawmakers has led universities to take a proactive approach on removing courses aligned with traditional liberal values, despite no official directive to do so. And while the majority of changes have been to core curricula, some classes and indeed entire degrees are simply no longer being offered. Texas A&M announced early this year it was eliminating its entire women’s and gender studies degree program. Texas State University completely removed a course called LGBTQ+ Communication Studies after backlash. Asked for comment, Texas A&M pointed The Hill to an email to faculty and staff in which it said the recommended changes to its core classes were the result of a review committee that was made up of more than 20 faculty members, administrators, community leaders and industry representatives.

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As Texas Republicans target Islam, a once-quiet Muslim community fights back

Inshira Daher waited hours to speak at a June Texas State Board of Education meeting. When her turn finally came around 7 p.m., the social studies teacher of 15 years was direct. “These children cannot yet distinguish a fact from an opinion,” she told the board. “And yet here we are prioritizing politically charged content over the fundamentals.” Daher, who is Muslim, was one of nearly 500 people who came to the Austin meeting to weigh in on a proposed social studies curriculum that would introduce Bible readings into classrooms and teach Islam through the lens of fundamentalism and medieval conquest. Outside the hearing room, the day’s battle lines were already visible: In one overflow room, women in hijabs and many interfaith organizers strategized; in another, attendees clutched Bibles, some wearing hats that read “No Sharia allowed!”

That sentiment found perhaps its most direct expression from Tony Robertson, a local Republican party leader, who pleaded with the board: “Please do not Shariah our Texas” — warning, without evidence, that rejecting the curriculum would ultimately open the door to Islamic law replacing the U.S. Constitution. The Republican-led board would go on to adopt the elementary and middle school curriculums four days later and a similarly controversial high school curriculum in early September. But by the time the 15-hour June meeting ended, one thing was already clear: While anti-Muslim rhetoric had become commonplace in Texas, a growing group of Muslims in the state was also pushing back, determined not to let anti-Muslim activists set the narrative. As some national G.O.P leaders have made Islamophobic rhetoric a cornerstone of their 2026 midterm campaigns, Texas Muslims have increasingly found themselves in the eye of the storm. They have also faced a barrage of attacks, most led by state officials, from a ban on an Eid swim party to the Texas governor designating a Muslim civil rights group a terrorist organization. On the ground, activists, attorneys and ordinary Muslim residents are packing city council meetings, staging protests, filing lawsuits and building interfaith coalitions. So far, they have had mixed success. Still, many said they are engaged in an existential fight.

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National Stories

Trump says he backs Warsh after Fed raised interest rates

President Trump said he was standing by Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh and that he spoke to him just before the central bank unanimously voted to raise interest rates. “I’m relying on Kevin. But he has a very tough board,” Trump told reporters Wednesday in response to a question on whether he had confidence in Warsh. “I talked to Kevin. I said ‘You might as well vote with the board because it’s not going to matter.’ ” He added, “I said ‘Do what you want.’ ” Trump has spoken repeatedly with Warsh since he became chairman of the Fed, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. The Federal Reserve raised rates earlier Wednesday for the first time in three years, a reversal that began taking back cuts it made last year and implicitly undercut the White House view that inflation isn’t a concern.

Trump’s conversation with Warsh before the decision to raise rates will likely heighten scrutiny around the independence of the Fed. During Warsh’s Wednesday press conference, the Fed chair addressed questions around his relationship with the president by making the case for the central bank’s independence. “Part of the independence of the Federal Reserve is we stay in our lane,” Warsh said. “Independence is a two-way street. We let people that do trade policy and fiscal policy stay in their lane too. That’s how we can stand up here and call them the way we see them.” In his comments to reporters Wednesday night, Trump said he wants Warsh to be independent. The Fed declined to comment. The increase, approved unanimously, will raise the benchmark federal-funds rate range by a quarter point to between 3.75% and 4%. In addition, most officials penciled in one more hike this year in interest-rate projections released after the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. Trump’s continued alliance with Warsh comes after he regularly criticized former Fed Chair Jerome Powell and even weighed trying to fire him.

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Paramount is looking for Nashville office space as it weighs leaving LA

Paramount Skydance is actively looking for office space in Nashville — a sign the company is seriously considering moving at least some operations from Los Angeles amid the legal fight over its purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to two people familiar with the search who were granted anonymity to discuss it. Paramount, headquartered in Hollywood, has sought about 400,000 square feet of space in the Tennessee capital that it could move into in two to three years, according to one of the people. However, no existing building there has a vacancy that aligns with the company’s needs and timeline, the person said. Representatives of the studio have also reached out to at least two real estate developers about constructing new offices in Nashville that the company could occupy in three years, the person said. Paramount representatives were recently shown a vacant multi-acre parcel outside of downtown Nashville where the company could build new headquarters, according to the other person with knowledge of the matter. Paramount declined to comment.

The studio, which faces an antitrust lawsuit from 12 states including California, has said for months that it is considering leaving the state, while also acknowledging its ties to Los Angeles. Critics have cast Paramount’s possible relocation as an attempt by the company to gain leverage in settlement talks with the attorneys general. “His intent is to be committed to California,” Paramount Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim said of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison at POLITICO’s The California Agenda: Sacramento Summit in August. But, Delrahim noted, “There is a point at which you have a fiduciary duty to shareholders.” Paramount, whose assets include a namesake streaming service and CBS, is the last major studio to maintain its headquarters in Hollywood. The departure of the company from its historic Melrose Avenue studio would be a psychic and economic blow to a region that is already grappling with the ongoing runaway production crisis. More than 42,000 film and television jobs were lost in Los Angeles County between 2022 and 2024. Tennessee has actively courted Paramount, and other states including Georgia have been floated as possible destinations for the company. Oracle, the tech company co-founded by Larry Ellison — who is a financial backstop to his son’s Warner Bros. acquisition — announced its move to Nashville in 2024. The company has yet to open its new headquarters there.

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Trump wanted Canada as the 51st state. He ended up pushing it toward the European Union.

Early in his second term, President Trump wanted Canada so entwined with the United States that he even set out to make it the 51st state. Instead, he has driven Canada into the arms of the European Union, after antagonizing the Canadians for months, taunting the country’s prime minister and waging a relentless trade war. The invitation by the European Union on Wednesday for Canada to become an “associate member” is a sign of the knock-on effects of Mr. Trump’s brand of diplomacy, which often involves threatening countries that once were considered America’s closest friends. And even if the gesture by the E.U. ends up being more symbolic than substantive, it shows how Mr. Trump is upending global relationships in ways that will be difficult to undo.

“We should see this action from Canada and the E.U. as a direct consequence of Trump’s actions and rhetoric,” said James Batchik, a deputy director at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center. “The rhetoric around making Canada the 51st state, and the threats against Greenland, which are still highly, highly, controversial and remembered in Brussels, are really reminders for both sides that the United States is not necessarily that trusted ally that it once was.” At every turn, Mr. Trump’s bullying approach to Canada has appeared to backfire. His trade war stirred up trouble for embattled Republicans in swing states, endangering G.O.P. control of the Senate. And his hostility toward Canadian leaders helped surge the country’s struggling liberal party, no friend of Mr. Trump’s, to electoral victory. President Trump responded to the E.U.’s overture to Canada with fury while speaking to reporters Wednesday night. “Canada’s been a terrible trade partner,” he said. “No, I don’t see that. If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things. So, if they do that, if Europe does that, with a bad intention — if it’s a good intention, that’s fine — if it’s a bad intention we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe, which is a possibility.”

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How Jon Ossoff won the algorithm – and garnered Obama comparisons ahead of 2028

Delivering a speech in Atlanta last month, Jon Ossoff accused Donald Trump of corruption, incompetence and fecklessness, and peppered his remarks with substantive observations of dates and times and places. But the comment that ricocheted across the internet – a clip of just a few seconds – was an almost-throwaway reference about how the US president wants to “travel with Natalie” onboard Air Force One. The crowd cheered the US senator, who is running for re-election in battleground Georgia and is increasingly seen as a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2028. But his target audience that day – and this year – spanned far beyond the concert hall. After his remark went viral, stories about Trump’s young, exceptionally devoted, presidential aide Natalie Harp rippled through social and established media. Often enough, they were accompanied by an image of Ossoff, his sharp jawline captured from below as he looks into the middle distance.

This photographic framing has increasingly been referred to as the “Ossoff angle”, perhaps in a disservice to myriad politicians from John F Kennedy to Barack Obama who also employed the technique, snapped at a low angle from a camera pit over the past century. While the approach is not new, it has helped the senator for Georgia to reach the social media feeds of users far beyond his state. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, professor of communication at Penn’s Annenberg School, likened Ossoff to Kennedy. The first millennial senator has mastered the medium of the moment, she suggested, much as Kennedy was the first president who really understood television. “How do you communicate that this is a new generation of leadership?,” Jamieson asked. “And how do you do that rhetorically? Because you can’t just stand up and say, ‘This is a new generation of leadership.’ “You have to have people draw that conclusion about you. And part of the way you do that is you master the media of the time, and you demonstrate that in the process you have leadership capacity and that you have the capacity to deal with the old order.” At 33 years, 11 months and four days, Ossoff was the youngest US senator sworn into the 117th Congress. At 39 today, and ever so slightly gray at the temple, he remains the youngest in a chamber with an average age of 65. The value of good lighting, a good background and a good angle in a social media post is not lost on a film-maker, as Ossoff was before turning to public office. The former documentarian has a knack for winning the algorithm with plain language, surfacing absurdities in an era of absurdities.

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Nebraska Senate candidate responds to leaked audio criticizing Trump voters: ‘We’re all angry right now’

Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn on Wednesday appeared to confirm the authenticity of a leaked recording in which he is purported to criticize voters who support President Donald Trump. “Billy Bob in f**king Red Cloud, Nebraska, who lives next door to the f**king Trump store as you pull into town and is waving the Trump flag … all he knows is he’s like on the winning team,” a speaker said in audio obtained by the Omaha World-Herald. “He’s been so effective at taking Billy Bob and his wife Mary Jane or Mary Jo and telling them, look we’re winning. You’re on the winning team. And that’s all they care about, because their lives probably suck so f**king.” Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on “Inside Politics” if he was the speaker, Osborn replied, “It sure sounds like me.”

“I don’t remember the context of this one particular conversation, but it certainly does sound out of character for myself,” he said, adding, “I would apologize to those people that might be offended, but I gotta tell them, I feel their pain. I absolutely feel their pain. We’re all angry right now and sometimes when you’re angry you say some things.” Osborn, running as an independent in ruby red Nebraska, is challenging Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts. Democratic party leaders decided to stand down and support Osborn, leaving no Democrat on the ballot, in hopes of ousting the incumbent in a state Trump carried by roughly 20 points in 2024. A Navy veteran and former union leader, Osborn is running on a populist, working-class message, blending support for labor and some abortion rights with backing for gun rights and tougher immigration enforcement. Osborn defended his outreach to voters across the state, including those who support Trump. He told CNN he’s visited 55 counties on his tour with less than two months until Election Day.

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OpenAI discloses six new incidents of ‘concerning’ A.I. behavior

OpenAI on Wednesday disclosed six new instances in which artificial intelligence systems hid mistakes, made up data and moved files onto the open internet without permission, amid an ongoing industrywide debate about A.I. safety. The San Francisco company revealed what it said was the “unexpected or concerning” behavior of its A.I. models as part of a new framework for reporting “misalignment,” which is when the goals or actions of A.I. systems diverge from human intentions and values. OpenAI said it did not believe the industry “has solved alignment and monitoring to a sufficient degree to continue responsibly scaling at maximum speed for much longer.” Decisions about how A.I. should advance, the company said, must rest on evidence that people outside the labs building it “can examine for themselves.”

The disclosures land amid intensifying scrutiny over whether A.I. development needs to be slowed to address the technology’s potential dangers. The escalating debate was driven partly by OpenAI’s systems going rogue earlier this year and attacking the A.I. start-up Hugging Face. OpenAI was not aware of the hack until it was informed by Hugging Face weeks later. Since then, A.I. leaders such as Dario Amodei, the chief executive of Anthropic, have called for a pause in the technology’s development to provide more time to build proper guardrails. His call has been echoed by Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, as well as Elon Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla, and Demis Hassabis, the chair of Google DeepMind. Other A.I. executives have said no slowdown is needed. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. The two companies have denied the suit’s claims.) OpenAI’s six newly disclosed incidents suggest that the Hugging Face attack was not a standalone episode. OpenAI said the incidents covered behavior observed over roughly the past six months and that they largely emerged while its systems were being developed and tested.

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Trump’s arch will harm historic sites but must proceed, federal officials say

Federal officials acknowledge that President Donald Trump’s planned triumphal arch will unavoidably harm historic sites if built as planned, but they say the project must move forward, according to a National Park Service document and emails obtained by The Washington Post. Trump’s 250-foot-tall proposed arch would be built in Memorial Circle, a traffic roundabout tucked inside Washington’s boundaries near Arlington National Cemetery. Historic preservationists, veterans groups and others have called on the administration to shrink the monument’s planned size or build it elsewhere, warning that the towering structure would overshadow the cemetery, interrupt the solemn corridor that was intended between the cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, and create other disruptions. National Park Service officials agree that the arch would adversely affect the cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial and several dozen other historic sites.

The “adverse effects cannot be fully avoided,” Park Service officials wrote in a document circulated Tuesday and obtained by The Washington Post. But, they said, the project cannot be constructed somewhere else because “the proposed location at Memorial Circle is central to the undertaking,” according to the NPS document. The document is a proposed agreement that the administration wants local historic-preservation officers to sign onto as part of a federally required process to offer feedback on the project. The NPS proposal says that since the harms cannot be avoided, federal officials would pursue efforts that they contend would mitigate the arch’s impact, such as creating new signs and webpages to explain the project to the public. Officials also said they would manage construction to reduce interference with burials at the cemetery and document the current landscape before construction begins. “NPS recognizes that Memorial Circle is located within a highly sensitive historic and commemorative landscape and that the Undertaking’s location contributes to adverse effects to historic properties whose significance is associated with setting, design, feeling, association, spatial organization, circulation, and contributing views and vistas,” the proposed agreement says.

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Lead Stories

Fed rates, tariffs will test GOP midterm defenses

There are 48 days until Election Day. There are many pivotal moments in an election cycle. Today is one of the most important. The Federal Open Market Committee will announce this afternoon whether it’s raising interest rates for the first time in three years to counter persistently high inflation and calm a bond market that’s punishing U.S. bonds. A hike would raise the cost of living for tens of millions of Americans. President Donald Trump and other top administration officials have insisted the Fed cut rates. “The United States is so strong, we should be paying the lowest interest rate in the world, regardless of their formulas,” Trump said over the weekend. But the furor in global markets over inflation may prove more powerful than Trump’s demands. And the fallout will be huge — credit cards, mortgages and car loans all get more expensive when interest rates rise. So does the cost of servicing the massive U.S. debt.

If Fed Chair Kevin Warsh and other governors are forced to keep raising rates in order to quash inflation, the economy will eventually slow, with all the political fallout that carries for Trump and GOP lawmakers. There’s already bad news for Republicans on the affordability front, the issue dominating this election. Thanks to the Iran war, gas prices hit $4.36 per gallon nationally, up from $4.15 last week. Diesel is at a record $6.26 and headed higher, which will make groceries and everything else more costly. Stores are limiting sales of motor oil, and it’s going to cost more to heat your home this winter. Healthcare costs will rise dramatically next year. Electricity and water prices are surging, with data centers at least partly to blame. Meanwhile, the GOP-run Senate is debating a college sports bill while legislation that would address Americans’ economic concerns languishes. Even Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the most endangered GOP incumbent, complained in a private Republican meeting Tuesday that the Senate should take up bills that actually help regular Americans, pointing to permitting reform and her bipartisan insulin bill. Tariffs. Trump’s trade wars have helped push costs higher, a fact Democrats are hammering on the campaign trail. The escalation with Canada — one of America’s biggest trading partners — shows how painful the tariffs have been for the GOP. The standoff hits hardest in border and farm states where there are a handful of key Senate races. A Republican senator on the ballot this year told us that the White House is “putting a noose around all of our necks” by escalating a trade war this close to the election.

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Texas Republicans are scrambling after Bo French’s outburst

Texas Republicans were already fretting about slipping support with voters of color. Then Bo French got on X. The Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner posted a photo of a crowd of University of Texas football fans, most of them people of color, saying, “The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” The Sunday morning comments, which appeared to target South Asian students, sent Lone Star Republicans into a frenzy, worried about the impact the rhetoric could have on GOP candidates up and down the ballot, including Attorney General Ken Paxton’s high-profile Senate race and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s reelection fight. A number of Republican lawmakers, including some in tough races, quickly denounced the post as racist, as others squirmed with carefully worded statements. And GOP operatives winced at the potential electoral backlash — in a year that’s already looking tougher-than-normal for a party that has dominated the state for decades. Still, no one explicitly called for him to drop out of the race. “His post on social media is profoundly unhelpful if his goal is to see Republicans win statewide races in a tough political environment in 50 days,” said Matt Mackowiak, an Austin-based GOP consultant who advised Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) unsuccessful primary campaign against Paxton.

Cornyn condemned the post, asking whether other GOP officials would “condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized.” Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas), who is facing a tough reelection fight in a Hispanic-majority district, told POLITICO in a statement she’s willing to “condemn racism” wherever it comes from. “All I see in that photograph is a group of kids celebrating a Longhorns win. What can be more Texan than that?” De La Cruz said, before taking a shot at her Democratic opponent, Bobby Pulido, for his past racial comments. And Karl Rove, a longtime adviser to former President George W. Bush, called French a “bigot” at a private lunch event and said he’s voting for French’s Democratic opponent, The Texas Tribune reported. Meanwhile, state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, the Democrat running against French, said he had his best fundraising day of the cycle after French’s post. French didn’t respond to requests for comment. He repeatedly stood by his comments since Sunday morning. During a local radio appearance Monday, he said he didn’t have any personal animosity against the students at the football game, but said that it is “not racist to point out that we should be favoring Texans over foreigners” and that his fellow Republicans are afraid of being called racist.

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Trump plans blitz of $138 million and counting to save midterm Republicans

President Trump’s political operation has unleashed its vast financial resources to try to save the Republican Party’s control of Congress, reserving nearly $138 million over the past 10 days to help the party’s midterm candidates. The planned spending linked to Mr. Trump’s $400 million super PAC has grown by the day, and is set to fuel a massive ad campaign supporting battleground Republican candidates beginning this month. Some Republicans for months have criticized Mr. Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., for not seriously engaging in the midterms despite its huge war chest. But now a blitz of spending tied to the group has arrived.

A new super PAC that The New York Times previously reported was linked to MAGA Inc., No Going Back PAC Inc., has booked over $95 million worth of ads, according to data from AdImpact, a media tracking firm. Another $27 million worth of ads is slated to come from another new super PAC called Safety and Affordability PAC Inc. The group is financially backed by MAGA Inc., according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose a confidential arrangement. The group has not yet begun advertising. The paperwork for No Going Back and Safety and Affordability was filed with the Federal Election Commission six minutes apart by the same treasurer. Sign up to get Maggie Haberman's articles emailed to you. Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent reporting on President Trump. So far, Safety and Affordability PAC has appeared to focus on helping House Republicans. It has booked ads in 15 races for the lower chamber. No Going Back PAC, by contrast, has booked two-thirds of its ad reservations on Senate races. And MAGA Inc. itself has booked another $9 million in ads — so far only in the Texas Senate race. The three super PACs seem to have essentially carved up the midterm map; so far, their only overlapping advertising spending is in just two House races, New York’s 17th District and Michigan’s 4th District.

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House leader threatens to abolish Texas Railroad Commission

The head of the House oversight committee for the Texas Railroad Commission threatened to abolish the oil and gas regulatory agency Tuesday after a commissioner refused to appear at a hearing. Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian had been called to testify at Tuesday’s meeting of the House Energy Resources Committee in response to the commission’s recent decision to eliminate public comment from its meetings. Christian notified the head of the committee, Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, that he would not attend, saying he had to honor a prior commitment, according to a letter Christian sent to Darby’s office.

“A sitting commissioner absconding from his agency's oversight hearing is nothing more than a mockery of the Texas Legislature and the legislative process,” Darby said. In fiery remarks, Darby said that because of Christian’s refusal to appear, the Legislature would take a close look at the operations of the Railroad Commission. “We could abolish the Railroad Commission with a simple majority vote in the Legislature if we so choose,” Darby said, adding that every authority the commission has derives from state lawmakers. “The Legislature giveth and it taketh. That is not a threat. It is a fact.” In an emailed statement, Christian called Darby’s comments “an attack on democracy.” “Chairman Darby’s answer to a minor adjustment to the public-input process is to threaten the ultimate form of public input: Texans’ right to elect their Railroad Commissioners," Christian said. Darby’s committee plans to schedule another meeting with Christian's testimony as its sole agenda item. If he refuses to appear again, Darby said the committee would issue a subpoena. “If Commissioner Christian is listening, and I bet he is, I would tell him to keep his calendar clear,” Darby said. The spat between Darby and Christian erupted out of the commission’s decision in August to remove public comment from its regular meetings. For 21 years, members of the public have had an opportunity to address the three-member panel of elected oil regulators at each meeting. Christian proposed the change, saying some people were abusing the privilege. In place of public comments, staff would host listening sessions. The change passed 2-1, with outgoing Commissioner Jim Wright in favor and Chair Christi Craddick opposed.

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State Stories

Ex-state Rep. Burnam files lawsuit against Judge Tim O’Hare, Tarrant County

A former Texas representative who was ejected from a Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting in August and subsequently arrested is suing the county and Judge Tim O’Hare in federal court, according to court documents. O’Hare ordered Lon Burnam removed from the Aug. 4 meeting when the 73-year-old picked up the microphone — in an alleged violation of the meeting rules — during his one minute of public comment. Burnam said he was protesting O’Hare’s removal of another public speaker for handling the microphone when the incident occurred. The former state representative lay down on the floor in what he described as “nonviolent resistance,” and deputies from the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office had to carry him out. Burnam alleges that O’Hare violated his First Amendment rights and claims that the county has repeatedly used its authority to silence “critical speakers,” according to the lawsuit.

Burnam’s complaint was filed Sept. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The day of Burnam’s arrest, the commissioners were discussing cutting the number of polling locations for the Nov. 3 midterm election. O’Hare removed one man during public comments for picking up the microphone. The former state representative said in the court documents that he’d understood the man is autistic and had previously received permission to handle the microphone. Burnam felt O’Hare treated the speaker unfairly and decided to protest. The 73-year-old defended his behavior at the meeting, stating in the lawsuit that he “did not damage the microphone, threaten anyone, strike anyone, block the proceedings, attempt to obtain a second speaking turn, or prevent another speaker from being heard.” Burnam has been charged with disrupting a meeting and disorderly conduct. His defense attorney, Tiffany Burks, filed a motion on Sept. 9 seeking to dismiss the charges. Burnam was previously removed from a Tarrant County Commissioners meeting on July 2, 2024. According to the lawsuit, he approached O’Hare after the public portion of the meeting and criticized him for his alleged treatment of Commissioner Alisa Simmons. Burnam states that he observed O’Hare cut off Simmons and declare her out of order while she was questioning county staff.

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Texas argues it needs DHS’s overhauled immigration database for the midterms

As the Supreme Court deliberates the legality of an overhauled immigration database that some states want to use to purge noncitizens from voter rolls ahead of the midterms, Texas is arguing that the system’s updates — which include citizens’ Social Security data — has been “transformational” for the state’s ability to administer elections. After President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court to lift a lower court’s order that halted use of the modified Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, database, Texas filed a brief Tuesday arguing that its implementation has been essential for monitoring voter roll accuracy. “By forcing the States to utilize an outdated and inefficient SAVE program, the district court’s order undermines Texas’ interest in maintaining accurate, up-to-date voter rolls — which in turn impedes Texas’ interest in ensuring voter confidence and administering an orderly election,” state leaders, including state Attorney General Ken Paxton, wrote in a filing with the high court.

The SAVE database, which spawned a tangled legal process, was originally intended to track the status of immigrants in the country but was revamped after Trump’s March 2025 executive order aimed at rooting out potential noncitizen voters. Expanding the database by adding personal data and new features prompted a lawsuit over concerns that the Social Security number search feature constituted a privacy violation — amid broader concerns that the database could have inaccuracies that would lead to American citizens being erroneously flagged as ineligible to vote. Texas’ brief coincides with the arrests of seven people indicted for “illegal activity” related to the 2024 general election, Paxton announced on Tuesday. The Texas secretary of state’s office said that 117 out of 2,724 flagged potential noncitizen voters have been referred to Paxton’s office for further investigation, while 578 voters had demonstrated citizenship upon further review. Travis County, home of Texas’ capital, Austin, filed an amicus brief on Tuesday, arguing the SAVE system was unreliable and risked purging American citizens ahead of the midterms. The county cited an existing state code that requires voters who have been flagged to provide proof of citizenship within 30 days or risk being removed from state voter rolls.

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After backlash, power grid officials back away from agreement to give ERCOT CEO millions in additional bonuses

The president and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas secured approval for a contract Tuesday that documents suggested could pay up to $6.4 million next year. But after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick publicly criticized the move, Pablo Vegas told The Texas Tribune that the contract won’t be executed and he’ll remain under his current employment agreement. Both ERCOT’s board of directors and the Public Utility Commission, which regulates the grid, advanced a six-year contract extension for Pablo Vegas on Tuesday during ERCOT’s regular board meeting. But Patrick said on social media that he told the chairs of both agencies to “immediately reverse their action” and that they complied. “During a time of increasing utility costs, this is not the time to give the CEO of ERCOT a multi-million-dollar pay raise on the backs of ratepayers,” Patrick said.

Patrick’s post came after The Texas Tribune published an earlier version of this story about the contract approval. A PUC spokesperson confirmed the vote to grant Vegas the new contract, but did not mention any reversed decisions. Vegas said the boards of directors did not vote Tuesday to rescind their approval of the contract, but decided not to sign it. He said he did not know when Patrick called ERCOT board chair Bill Flores and PUC chair Thomas Gleason. Vegas said that immediately after the meeting’s closed-door executive session, Flores publicly brought back up the approved contract and said the board would not finalize it Tuesday but did not give a reason why. ERCOT operates as a nonprofit and is funded mostly by an administration fee of $0.61 per megawatt-hour, which is paid directly by retail electric providers and municipal utilities and typically passed on to their customers. ERCOT reduced its administration fee from $0.63 per MWh at the start of the year. Statewide, electric rates have risen about 40% on average since 2020, up from an average residential rate of 11.50¢ per kWh in 2020 to 16.11¢ per kWh in 2026, according to data from independent electricity marketplace ElectricChoice. ERCOT anticipates nearly $486 million in revenue in 2026, according to its 2026-2027 biennial budget.

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Republicans face death threats for condemning nominee's racist rant: report

Republicans in Texas are starting to split over one of their most controversial nominees — and their own safety is in jeopardy because of it. According to Quorum Report's Scott Braddock on Monday, "Well-placed sources say the Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating death threats against Republican lawmakers who condemned Bo French's racist comments about UT students." French is running for the Texas Railroad Commission, a three-member body that regulates the state's oil and gas industry. He has a long history of extreme anti-immigration posts, particularly against people of color.

The latest controversy exploded after French posted an image of mostly South Asian students at the University of Texas celebrating a win by the Longhorns college football team. "Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners. It’s everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine," he wrote. His remarks were condemned by a number of local Republican officials. Even Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, though he went out of his way to avoid condemning French directly, said his comments "are not my message." In one of the most surprising developments, legendary former George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove, a ruthless Texas Republican operative, announced he would be voting for French's Democratic opponent, oil and gas engineer Jon Rosenthal.

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Joshua Schroeder: Weighing facts, not fear, on data centers

(Joshua Schroeder is Georgetown's mayor.) The controversy surrounding land in Taylor shows how quickly a local issue can spiral once social media takes over. What began as a property dispute soon became much larger. Context disappeared, assumptions filled the gaps, and before long, people were debating claims that bore little resemblance to the original facts. Unfortunately, that's becoming an increasingly common pattern. Local issues are amplified online, speculation replaces evidence, and communities are left sorting through headlines instead of facts. Texans can separate fact from internet fiction, and our public conversations should reflect that. The debate over data centers is a good example. Headlines, viral posts, and political rhetoric have fueled the perception that these facilities are inherently harmful to our communities, resources and health. Every major infrastructure project deserves scrutiny, and data centers should be no exception.

A recent Austin American-Statesman article raised questions about the potential impacts of data centers in Central Texas. Those questions deserve serious answers, but they also deserve context. Communities are best served when these discussions are grounded in evidence rather than speculation. As mayor of Georgetown, I've consistently defended local control over land use because I believe cities should evaluate every proposed project through a transparent process based on objective standards. I don't have the luxury of debating growth in the abstract. Our community experiences it every day. Georgetown sits in one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, alongside communities like Taylor and Temple. Growth is not something happening to us; it is something we are responsible for managing through transparency, careful planning, and common sense. That means data centers should be judged the same way we evaluate any major investment: with facts, evidence, and honest public debate—not fear, misinformation or selective skepticism. That responsibility includes balancing infrastructure needs, public safety and quality-of-life investments while responding to pressure to reduce the property tax burden on homeowners. Data centers generate substantial local tax revenue while placing limited demands on roads and municipal services.

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News 4 WOAI, Fox News 29 face layoffs amid shifting TV news industry

As major changes continue to sweep through the TV news industry, two popular San Antonio news outlets have laid off multiple staff members. News 4 WOAI and KABB Fox News 29, sister stations owned by American media company Sinclair Broadcast Group, notified staff members of the layoffs Wednesday. “WOAI and KABB are committed to positioning the stations for long-term sustainability,” a Sinclair spokesperson told the Express-News. “We have made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of positions in our content center.” The spokesperson noted that the layoffs would allow the stations to “operate more efficiently and continue delivering exceptional local news and content to San Antonio viewers. We thank those affected for their contributions to the stations and the community,” the spokesperson added.

Although Sinclair’s statement did not disclose exactly how many employees were laid off or identify the positions that were eliminated, the cuts come as the company has made similar newsroom reductions at other Texas-based stations. On Aug. 6, the company abruptly laid off morning anchor John-Carlos Estrada and traffic anchor Jenna Wilson, who led CBS Austin’s “This Morning” program. "Beginning mid-September, CBS Austin will debut a refreshed format for CBS Austin 'This Morning,' designed to better serve our audience while continuing to deliver the local journalism and community coverage our viewers expect," station leaders said in an August statement. "As part of that transition, the station has made the difficult decision to eliminate two positions. We are grateful to the talented employees whose positions were impacted and thank them for their contributions to the newscast."

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CenterPoint Energy confirms breach after hacker leaks data

Texas utility CenterPoint Energy confirmed on Monday that a threat actor has obtained customers’ personal information. The disclosure comes just days after a hacker claimed to have stolen millions of records. CenterPoint Energy is a Houston-based public utility that delivers electricity and natural gas to roughly 7 million customers across Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas. The company told the SEC that it has launched an investigation after becoming aware of someone claiming to have obtained customer information. “While the investigation remains ongoing, the Company has determined that an unauthorized third party obtained personal information relating to a portion of the Company’s customers through one of the Company’s external facing systems,” it said in the SEC filing.

The utility noted that the cybersecurity incident has not impacted the delivery of electric and gas services and it does not believe that the data breach will have a material impact. The company’s disclosure comes after a hacker leaked data allegedly stolen from its systems. The claims were made on a popular cybercrime forum on September 12. The hacker allegedly obtained nearly 7.5 million user records, threatening that “next time we won’t simply pull data, we’ll start attacking the main infrastructure.” The threat actor has made available for download a 2.5 GB archive file allegedly containing data stolen from CenterPoint Energy. SecurityWeek cannot confirm the validity of the data and it’s not uncommon for hackers to make false or exaggerated claims. This is not the first time a hacker has claimed to have stolen CenterPoint Energy data. In 2024, it was one of several energy companies targeted by an access broker named AntiBrok3rs. A few months later, a different hacker claimed to have obtained the company’s data. In both cases, the stolen data was believed to have come from the Cl0p ransomware group’s 2023 MOVEit campaign. Analysts believed at the time that the CenterPoint Energy data originated from a third party rather than directly from the company’s systems.

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ExxonMobil wins approval for Texas carbon capture in 2-to-1 vote

ExxonMobil Holdings Corp. won approval for its Rose carbon-capture project in Texas, allowing the company to move ahead with the emission-reducing development that could be among the biggest of its kind. The Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s primary oil and natural gas regulator, approved a permit to inject carbon dioxide underground with two commissioners voting in support and one against, according to a statement release by dissenting member Wayne Christian. The permit allows ExxonMobil to inject as much as 53 million tons of carbon dioxide over a 13-year period from industrial emitters along the Gulf Coast into rock strata about one mile (1.6 kilometers) underground for permanent storage. ExxonMobil didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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San Marcos city council member arrested in Austin, court records show

A San Marcos city council member faces an assault on a public servant charge, a third-degree felony, following a “disturbance” that happened between him and a security guard in downtown Austin over the weekend, according to an arrest affidavit. The council member involved is Lorenzo Gonzalez, who represents Place 5. KXAN confirmed his position via his bond document, which marks his employer as the “City of San Marcos” and his position as “city council.” Gonzalez attended Tuesday’s city council work session. KXAN tried to speak with him as council broke for executive session, but Gonzalez did not answer our questions, and he walked into an area of city hall not accessible to the public. We also asked Mayor Jane Hughson for comment outside of council chambers, but she did not respond to our questions either.

According to the arrest affidavit, Gonzalez approached security guards near Lavaca and Third Streets downtown on Sunday after another man, named Richard, was hit in the face. The affidavit did not clearly state if or how Richard and Gonzalez knew each other. “Gonzalez walked up to security staff and began arguing, telling the security guards Richard was the victim. [APD] explained that during this interaction, a disturbance occurred between Gonzalez and the security staff,” the affidavit reads. One of the security guards told APD he was trying to de-escalate the situation with the man that got hit, and Gonzalez and a woman “got into the way.” Witnesses said Gonzalez shoved a security guard. Another security guard said Gonzalez bit him on the hand as he tried to detain him. The affidavit also included notes about an interview with the owner of the private security company involved. That owner, named Daniel, said a fight happened outside of a bar involving someone hitting Richard in the face. Daniel said one of Richard’s friends accused the security guards of assaulting Richard, and the security guards tried to explain that the person who punched Richard ran off. Daniel told police he reviewed security footage that showed Gonzalez arguing with one guard, and another guard trying to calm things down. He said the video also showed Gonzalez push a guard twice, before Gonzalez “fell to the ground.” According to Travis County Court Records, Gonzalez’ bond was released on a $5,000 bond.

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State leaders question handling of suspect before deadly Round Rock homicide

A Labor Day homicide in Round Rock is now drawing attention from state leaders who are questioning how the man accused of killing a 62-year-old man was released from jail earlier this year. Andrew James Wimsatt was fatally stabbed at Chandler Creek Park near Double File Trail Elementary School. Investigators believe the attack was random and that Wimsatt and the suspect, 26-year-old Benedict Ogbodiegwu, did not know each other. According to an arrest affidavit, Wimsatt was sitting on a park bench when Ogbodiegwu approached him from behind and attacked him. Ogbodiegwu was arrested later that day and charged with murder.

Williamson County court records show Ogbodiegwu was arrested twice earlier this year. One case involved a misdemeanor theft charge, while another involved failing to identify or providing false information. Ogbodiegwu also had a previous felony arrest in 2017 for theft from a person. Gov. Greg Abbott called Wimsatt’s death a “senseless, preventable tragedy” and pointed to the case while discussing his push to create a Texas Statewide Prosecutor. “This is exactly why I am creating a Texas Statewide Prosecutor to keep dangerous repeat offenders behind bars where they belong,” Abbott said. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows also called for answers about why Ogbodiegwu was released after multiple arrests. Burrows said the Texas House’s Governmental Oversight Select Committee will investigate “prosecutorial integrity” and whether officials put ideology ahead of public safety. The committee is scheduled to meet Sept. 30.

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Texas General Land Office to explore power plant development on state lands

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham on Tuesday announced that her office would "explore the development" of geothermal, natural gas and small nuclear power plants on state land. "We have an opportunity to look beyond traditional energy sources and develop the resources and technologies that can keep Texas powered for decades to come," Buckingham said in a news release. "Geothermal, advanced nuclear technology and natural gas plants represent very different approaches to the same challenge: producing dependable power right here at home. The GLO is going to explore every responsible opportunity to make Texas energy stronger, more reliable, and more secure." The Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance praised Buckingham's announcement.

"Texas is proving that geothermal is happening now, and it’s happening here," the alliance's executive vice president Matt Welch said in a statement. The Texas General Land Office (GLO) leases state land for oil and gas development, farming, solar and wind farms and other commercial uses, allocating the money to fund state schools. "Allowing surface property to be developed for power plants ... [and] geothermal energy sites — that's all part of the portfolio and usage of Texas land," University of Houston Energy Fellow Ed Hirs said. Hirs said the GLO's announcement isn't surprising. "The Texas General Land Office is always looking for ways to make some money off of the land," he said. "Opening it up for power plant development is just a logical extension of their business model."

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Family blames Texas' "merciless" abortion ban for woman's death, files lawsuit targeting Paxton, doctors

The family of Tierra Walker, who died of preeclampsia at the age of 37 when she was 20 weeks pregnant, has filed a lawsuit in Texas, saying she was denied an abortion that could have saved her life as her health quickly deteriorated. Lawyers for Walker's family filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Bexar County District Court accusing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, several of her doctors and others of "deliberate indifference, discrimination, and medical mistreatment [that] ultimately caused her horrific and tragic death" in 2024. Preeclampsia is a severe high blood pressure condition in pregnancy that can be fatal. Walker's family alleges Paxton — a Republican who is currently running for Senate — and another defendant, Stephen Brint Carlton, executive director of the Texas Medical Board, stripped her of her right to life by imposing "a merciless blanket prohibition" on abortion, while the doctors allegedly failed to offer life-saving medical treatment.

Paxton has been outspoken in his defense of Texas' near-total abortion ban. He has filed lawsuits against doctors and organizations who ship abortion pills to Texas from out of state. His office has not responded to CBS News' request for comment. "At every turn, Texas's political and medical establishments not only failed but actively harmed Ms. Walker," the lawsuit alleges. "Tierra Walker is dead because not one of her … healthcare providers would give her the one medical procedure that would have saved her life," Michelle Maloney, an attorney representing the family, told CBS News. They refused, she said, because of "the immense culture of fear" around abortion in the state of Texas. ProPublica was first to report on the circumstances of Walker's death. CBS News has reached out to all the parties involved in the lawsuit. University Health said in a statement that it could not comment on individual patients or litigation, but said, "Our priority is to provide medically appropriate and timely care, while safeguarding patient privacy and complying with all applicable laws and regulations." Walker learned she was nearly eight weeks pregnant on Sept. 19, 2024, during an emergency room visit.

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Kids with disabilities have limited childcare options. Texas plan offers solutions

State agencies want to improve access to early childhood settings for children with disabilities and developmental delays. Experts say a strategic plan to do so needs to be backed by funding and resources to achieve that goal. A new four-year strategic plan created by the Texas Education Agency, Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Workforce Commission outlines the obstacles families face when navigating childcare, pre-K and support services for their children statewide. It also lays out a roadmap to inclusion for these children with recommendations from childcare providers, parents and early childhood intervention staff. Experts say the plan acknowledges gaps that have been apparent for years, including in Tarrant County. A 2024 report by the Early Learning Alliance found that less than 25% of licensed or registered childcare programs in Tarrant County served children with disabilities.

A lack of funding, resources and training for childcare providers and their staff forces them to turn away these children, according to the report. This echoes findings in the new state plan, which included survey responses from childcare providers, families, school district staff and more. Workforce shortages were identified as the main barrier to inclusion when serving children with disabilities, with more than half of respondents “citing a lack of trained specialists and nearly half citing limited training and coaching opportunities, compounded by high turnover and low pay.” Bethany Edwards, co-author of the Early Learning Alliance report, said she views the plan as a promising first step but that it’s up to lawmakers to enact the ideas through policy and investment. Edwards, who is also the director for research and evaluation at the Center for Transforming Lives in Tarrant County, said she views the inaccessibility to early education and care as an economic issue that prevents parents from working, pursuing education or building financial stability. Edwards is also the mother of a child with a disability.

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More choices, fewer students: How San Antonio school options are changing this year

As a new school year opened in San Antonio, the number of students in neighborhood public schools dwindled yet again as more families sought out different ways of schooling. The changes may be driven in part by Texas' new school voucher program or mounting state pressure on public school districts to improve test scores — either way, families have more options than ever before. They’re leaving neighborhood schools to escape bullying, find smaller classes, have more flexible schedules, pursue more rigorous academics or give children a head start on their future careers. In the past three years, 37 neighborhood schools have closed across the area. Charter growth and declining birth rates are driving falling enrollment at 12 of the metro area’s 19 school districts. At the same time, population growth on San Antonio’s outskirts is fueling demand for new neighborhood campuses. This school year, two districts — one suburban and one more remote — opened new high, middle and elementary schools.

For longtime parent advocate Maribel Gardea, the expanding list of options presents families with a mixed bag. “I’ve always been an advocate for school choice,” she said. “So I think growing and learning with parents in that way is going to be helpful, helping them understand what their options and what they actually look like and how they feel in these schools.” Gardea, who lives in the San Antonio Independent School District, considered using a voucher for her 15-year-old son Voozeki but ultimately decided against it. She worried private schools would limit her family’s autonomy over their son’s education. She also worries students in low-income neighborhoods near the city’s urban core may not have access to the same range of options as families in more affluent areas — where private schools may be more plentiful and families have fewer barriers to getting their children to school. Regardless, what school looks like in San Antonio is changing. For some students, more rigid classroom routines designed to boost test scores strictly structure the school day. Others learn alongside kids several years older and younger or log into class from their living rooms. New schooling models are reshaping what families expect from school as public districts compete to keep students enrolled.

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National Stories

Dems grill Patel on sex with animals, drinking on the job, frat boy goals in off-the-rails hearing: ‘Shut up’

Senate Democrats grilled FBI boss Kash Patel on whether the bureau hires people who had sex with animals, blasted him as a “thug,” and accused him of being a drunk during an off-the-rails Judiciary Committee hearing. Patel had been summoned before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a routine oversight hearing and came prepared to crow about plummeting crime rates, but Democrats derailed that plan by latching onto a litany of scandals during the explosive confrontation instead. “You have been so drunk that briefings have been rescheduled so you could sleep it off,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) swiped, goading him into taking an alcohol test. Patel, who showed up to the hearing armed with opposition research notes against his Democratic foes, did a double-take upon hearing that and shook his head, but Hirono didn’t give him a chance to respond.

The premise of Hirono’s claim stems from a bombshell report in The Atlantic about Patel’s alleged drinking habits, which prompted him to slap a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the outlet. Fueling that narrative was footage of Patel chugging beer with the US men’s Olympic hockey champion team. “The players who are my friends invited me to the locker room,” Patel fired back when asked about the chugging by Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). “I go where I want to go after delivering the most prolific crime reduction in US history.” But that did little to mollify the attacks. “He’s like an 18-year-old kid who wants to join a fraternity that he could never be a member of, doing keg stands and chugging with friends,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) chided. “He’s an embarrassment. He is a disgrace. This is a mockery and a sham. What’s bad are the people enabling him.” Booker, who ran for president in 2020 and has a knack for impassioned screeds at hearings, raged at Republicans for allowing Patel to lash out at Welch as a “complete and total fraud.” He accused Patel of using the FBI’s resources to intimidate journalists.

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Kennedy Center closes as Trump threatens to stop repairs over naming fight

President Donald Trump’s 19-month effort to seize full control of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts came to a head Tuesday as its board voted to immediately close the building for a two-year renovation — a roughly $250 million overhaul that Trump publicly threatened to block unless his name is added to the institution. Hours after a federal judge barred the center from putting Trump’s name back on the building, the president said that although the center would close immediately, renovations “cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name.” (That appeals court in June rejected an attempt to keep Trump’s name on the building.) If the appeals court rules against the center and the Supreme Court does not overturn that decision, Trump said, “the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.”

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), the Kennedy Center trustee who challenged the addition of Trump’s name in court, accused the president of putting his desire for recognition ahead of an institution that serves as both a memorial to an assassinated president and as one of the nation’s premier performing arts venues. “President Trump is holding the Kennedy Center hostage unless he can put his name on this sacred memorial,” Beatty said. “The Court just rejected this proposal for the second time. This unlawfulness is as breathtaking as it is wrong, and it needs to stop.” The extraordinary sequence brought together nearly every strand of Trump’s transformation of the national cultural institution: his efforts to put his name on the presidential memorial, a renovation he has championed as essential to saving the aging building, a deepening financial crisis and a legal fight with a board minority that has repeatedly challenged his plans. The consequences became visible within hours.

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ICE has no plans to ‘sweep polling locations’ for noncitizens, Homan says

White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday said there are no plans in place for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to “sweep polling locations” in the November midterm elections. Homan told Fox News host Jacqui Heinreich on “The Sunday Briefing” that he has not seen “any operational plans or any discussions on any immigration enforcement operation at polling places,” when Heinreich asked if there was any truth to claims that ICE will be “raiding” polling locations. “This is another fear tactic. This is another attack on ICE and this administration,” Homan said about the claims. “I mean, they don’t want ICE near the polling places, they don’t want to vote for voter ID, they don’t want observers. What have they got to hide to begin with, right? But there is no plan for enforcement action at polling places. It’s just another attempt to smear ICE and smear the president.”

Homan also pushed back on reports of ICE arrests at elementary schools, hospitals and places of worship, saying there’s no “sensitive location” policy. “If you’re a criminal alien, you’re a national security threat, there’s no sanctuary,” he said. “But look at the past two years. Not one instance of ICE operating at a sensitive location, [including] polling places.” Latino civil rights and voting rights groups, along with the city of Denver, last week filed a lawsuit to block ICE from polling locations. The plaintiffs cited post-Civil War-era federal laws barring armed federal personnel at polling locations to prevent the intimidation of voters. Lawyers for Denver and other plaintiffs — which include immigrant rights groups League of United Latin American Citizens, Common Cause and UnidosUS — wrote, “the specter of armed officers at polling places threatens the freedom of this upcoming election.” “It places voters in fear that they will be confronted by armed federal immigration enforcement officers if they choose to cast a ballot,” they added. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said earlier this month that ICE would appear at polling places if there is a threat or a warrant for “someone that we have been actively tracking down.” He made similar remarks in an interview with CNN’s Kasie Hunt in June, noting that ICE would not be at polling locations because “only people that should be voting there is American citizens.”

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New photos show widespread damage at U.S. positions caused by Iranian missile, drone attacks

New photos obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal for the first time the widespread damage and destruction of buildings and vehicles at multiple U.S. positions across the Middle East, as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks. The images were sent to CBS News by active service members on condition of anonymity because of rigid media restrictions within the military. "This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public," one deployed service member told CBS News. "We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face."

One photo, taken at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia, shows a direct hit on the back half of a Boeing E-3 Sentry four-engine aircraft, its tail severed from the charred fuselage that also supported a rotating radar that is essential for collecting midair intelligence. Other photos taken from the base show hollowed-out buildings and barracks whose shells ironically stand next to unaffected cement "T-wall" structures, which were once regarded as critical fortifications against grenade and mortar attacks but proved critically ineffective against an aerial assault. Similarly grim pictures were captured at Camp Buehring in Kuwait, a major staging area for U.S. Army ground troops, armored vehicles and some aircraft; the post is located in a remote desert region far northwest of Kuwait City. The Defense Department's inspector general this week released a fresh report on the war in Iran that revealed "equipment losses" worth up to $3.7 billion — including nearly 60 aircraft. In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, the inspector general added that U.S. Central Command reported Iranian strikes at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

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"60 Minutes" premiere ratings dropped to 25-year low

60 Minutes appears on track to record its worst season premiere ratings in more than a quarter-century as the storied CBS newsmagazine returned Sunday following a staff overhaul under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. Sunday’s season opener drew an estimated 7.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen data, making it the least-watched 60 Minutes premiere in records stretching back to at least 2000. Under these figures, the audience was down 21% from last year’s premiere, while viewership among adults aged 25 to 54 plunged 33%. In October 2000, for example, the show premiered with a whopping 11.2 million total viewers. The result is an early setback for CBS after months of intense scrutiny surrounding Weiss’s remake of one of television’s most prominent news programs.

Perhaps more striking was the audience delivered to the broadcast. An NFL game immediately preceding 60 Minutes attracted 18.4 million viewers, meaning more than 10 million viewers disappeared before the newsmagazine began. The numbers, however, are preliminary and could rise when Nielsen releases its final figures Tuesday afternoon. Another factor at play is the NFL game that preceded 60 Minutes, according to a source familiar with the ratings. Sunday’s gridiron match-up between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings on CBS failed to generate the same viewership as last year’s contest between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens. In addition, there was also a late-afternoon game between the Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles on Fox to contend with. Last year, Fox did not air a late-afternoon game. Sunday’s premiere featured correspondent Norah O’Donnell interviewing an Air Force officer shot down over Iran, Lesley Stahl investigating the presidential pardon business and Jon Wertheim profiling the Los Angeles Rams. Former New York Times conservative columnist Ross Douthat closed the broadcast with a segment about artificial intelligence and the importance of “journalism you can trust.”

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EU chief backs plan for Canada to become 'associate member'

Some countries in the western Balkans including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia are already on the long road towards full EU membership. In Eastern Europe, Georgia and Moldova are also applying. Ten of the bloc's 27 members are yet to ratify a free-trade agreement struck with Ottawa nearly a decade ago, and some capitals would prefer to build on existing defence and trade agreements rather than create a new form of membership for Canada. Setting out the EU's political and policy priorities for year ahead, von der Leyen also proposed the formation of a European Security Council, which would include the UK and Ukraine, amid an ongoing threat to the continent from Russia.

"For a long time, we have discussed a leaders' format focused on the security of our continent, with partners like Canada, Norway, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and others involved," she said in the wide-ranging address. "This is even more urgent now, given the nature and scale of the risks at play. This is why we will set out our ideas to make a European Security Council a reality." Alongside global threats, von der Leyen also said many European families were worried about the cost of living, and the "dizzying speed of change" of technology and its impacts on jobs and society. Other proposals included inviting the world's largest AI labs for talks on how to support industry efforts to pace the frontier, as well as slashing bureaucracy for businesses in the EU.

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OpenAI's rogue agents probed Hugging Face for weaknesses two months before major hack

Rogue AI agents from OpenAI hijacked Hugging ?Face user accounts and probed the site itself for vulnerabilities as early as May, nearly two months before the July breach of the ?open-source repository drew global attention, according to researchers who reviewed the activity. The newly uncovered malicious activity showed that the rogue agents' efforts to find a way into Hugging Face began earlier than publicly known. Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here. OpenAI had previously disclosed one aspect of the malicious activity — the theft of a Hugging Face user's digital credential to access a biology-related file — in its ?last month, but researchers told Reuters the probing activity against Hugging Face appeared to go beyond what was described in the report.

The activity ?was discovered by independent researcher Jonas Wiedermann-Moeller last week, he told Reuters. He said he found evidence that the OpenAI ?agents compromised two Hugging Face user accounts and used them to send unusually formatted files to the company's servers as early as May 13. He and ?other researchers who reviewed the evidence said the behavior resembled an attempt to map or test parts of Hugging Face's network for ways to infiltrate, although they ?stressed there was no evidence the effort resulted in an actual breach. OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company had disclosed the May 13 event, privately notified Hugging Face about the activity flagged by Wiedermann-Moeller and was "committed to transparency about these issues and to sharing what we learn as our review continues." Hugging Face, recently acquired by chipmaker Nvidia did not respond to ?requests for comment.

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House votes for a third time to end the Iran war as conflict drags on

For a third time, the U.S. House has voted to end the war in Iran, approving a war powers resolution that would halt President Donald Trump’s ability to continue military action without congressional approval. The roll call late Tuesday, 220-204, was similar to earlier efforts this summer, with a few more Republicans joining all Democrats voting to bring an end to the conflict. None of the resolutions have made it to the president’s desk, where Trump would almost certainly veto the measure. “Remember when Donald Trump said that this war would last just a few weeks?” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who served as a Marine during the Iraq War and pushed the resolution forward. He said it’s time for Congress to “actually ask tough questions, as the Constitution directs us to do, rather than be subservient to another warmongering administration.”

Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, questioned which military resources Democrats would want to remove from the region where he said Iran remains a threat. Mast said Trump is against “forever wars, and that is what he is ending” — the decades of hostilities from Iran. “They are a continuous ongoing threat to the United States,” Mast said. “Enough is enough.” The action is likely the last House vote on the Iran war ahead of the midterm elections, where the conflict overseas is playing a substantial role in the political campaigns. The war that Trump launched Feb. 28 has dragged, with on-again, off-again deadly missile strikes being exchanged and causing havoc in the region for nearly seven months. Lawmakers are heading home at the end of the week to campaign nearly full-time, with less than 50 days to go before the elections that will determine control of Congress as Democrats try to wrest power from Republicans.

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Cleveland City Council decides to rename Lake Erie to ‘Gulf of Cleveland’

The Cleveland, Ohio, City Council on Monday voted to rename a portion of Lake Erie as the “Gulf of Cleveland,” taking a jab at President Trump’s executive order declaring that Lake Ontario be called the “Gulf of America.” The emergency resolution led by Councilmember Kris Harsh passed in a 13-1 vote and was intended to take effect immediately. The resolution is not legally binding. Harsh’s speech to attendees ahead of the vote referred to Trump’s order to rename Lake Ontario, as well as ordering the Gulf of Mexico be called “the Gulf of America” last year, and his recent suggestion of calling New Mexico “New America” after a viral social media post falsely claimed he signed such an executive order. The resolution applies to the 2-mile stretch of water from the city shoreline, from its eastern to its western borders. It additionally requires the city clerk to notify Apple and other national mapping companies about this new name.

“President Trump’s orders to assign new names without reference to history, tradition, and other acts of Congress have opened the door for United States officials to rename other geography,” Harsh said. “Thanks to him, this is a man who clearly isn’t afraid to say what no one is thinking.” Harsh added that Trump’s moves made him “emboldened” to rename Cleveland’s neighboring Great Lake. He held up a map during his speech that showed “Gulf of Cleveland” written over the portion of the lake closest to the city. Harsh also speculated on any pushback to the renaming before replying to that hypothetical pushback with “Who cares?” “Listen to me very carefully and jot this down: Words don’t matter,” he added, later mocking Trump’s style of ending Truth Social posts by saying at the end of his own speech: “Thank you for your attention to this matter.” Trump’s orders to rename Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico were quickly integrated into Google’s and Apple’s online maps and visible to users in the U.S. International users saw both names, while Canadian and Mexican users, respectively, saw the commonly used names of both bodies of water on the platforms. It also prompted MapQuest downloads to soar, as the company left the names of both bodies of water unchanged.

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Lead Stories

Trump-backed married Republican accused of throwing massive tantrum after being caught on camera with mistress

An American tourist has accused US Senate candidate Ken Paxton of lunging at him and trying to snatch his phone after he filmed the Texas Attorney General walking with his lover in London. The man, who exclusively spoke to Daily Mail so long as we not name him or his wife, said he reported the alleged confrontation to London's Metropolitan Police after it unfolded on Westminster Bridge, close to the London Eye, on July 1. The tourist said he recognized the scandal-hit Republican walking with his mistress, Tracy Duhon, while sightseeing in the British capital with his wife and decided to record a short video on his phone. Paxton and Duhon were in the middle of a trip across Europe and had been spotted together in Iceland just days earlier in footage first reported by the Daily Mail. Paxton, 63, is running against Democrat James Talarico in the hotly contested Texas Senate race, the outcome of which could determine if Trump's party remains in power.

The Daily Mail first exposed the affair between Paxton and Duhon a year ago, revealing that Paxton and the mom of seven became romantically involved in May 2024 after meeting at the Kentucky Derby while they were both still married to other people. Neither Paxton or Duhon have ever denied their affair. After recording an 18-second clip, which was later published by the Daily Mail on July 7, the tourist said he walked away. Moments later, he claimed, he suddenly felt a bump against his left shoulder. When he looked over, he described Paxton standing shoulder to shoulder with him. 'Were you filming me back there?' Paxton allegedly demanded. 'And I said, "Yes, I was." And he said, "You can't do that,"' the tourist told the Daily Mail. 'I stopped because I was just hot, and I said, "I can absolutely film you. You're a public figure in a public place, and I can film you all I want." 'Now we're facing each other and he's mad, and he says, "Let me see what you filmed," and he lunged for my phone,' according to the tourist. He claims the encounter then descended into a heated public confrontation, with Paxton repeatedly demanding his phone as he tried to move away. 'He says, "You can't do that. Let me have your phone. I want your phone," and then at this point it's a confrontation,' he added. 'He's yelling at me, and I'm telling him to back off. He lunged at the phone a second time and tried to force it from me.' By then, the man's wife said she realized her husband was in trouble and began running toward him.

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Oil executives say the great fuel crisis is here

American oil executives warned for months that the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz was bound to cause a fuel crisis. Now, they say it is here. Commercial fuel stocks around the world have been depleting for more than six months, and strategic crude reserves can’t be tapped much further. Attacks last week shut down a crucial crude pipeline in Saudi Arabia that bypassed the Strait, stranding at least 2.5 million barrels a day from an already tight global oil market, analysts estimate. “All these mechanisms helped to mitigate the price and supply risk,” Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth said Friday at an energy conference in Austin, Texas. “Those have largely now played out, and we don’t have nearly the buffers in the system that we did when it began.”

It is hard to predict where oil prices will go, he added, but at the moment, it is difficult to envision prices coming back down quickly. “I wish I could tell you that I saw some reason why things would ease, but it’s difficult right now to see that happen,” he said. Veteran energy advisers say that with no resolution to the Iran war in sight, the situation risks spinning out of control. Diesel prices have soared to a record $6.23 a gallon and gasoline prices, which slipped below $4 a gallon this summer, have rebounded to $4.32. Some energy analysts say they have been fielding investor questions about when consumers pinched by the high prices will start pulling back on new purchases. The Trump administration has repeatedly promised Americans that prices at the pump would decline and that energy flows out of the Middle East would keep increasing. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said at a Houston G-20 event on Monday that “the prices in the prior administration were this high anyway” and that Americans would have paid those prices permanently because former President Joe Biden was “pursuing a policy of energy subtraction and shutting down refineries.” “If you want to write about the prices, make sure you include the word ‘temporary’ because this is a temporary disruption,” Burgum told reporters.

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The Supreme Court rejects Trump's mail voting restrictions for this year's midterms

The Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, rejecting his efforts to enact new mail-in voting restrictions for the midterm election. The ruling released Monday by the high court means the U.S. Postal Service is expected to continue delivering ballots as usual. Voting by mail has already begun in states including Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin, with more soon to follow — including Western states such as Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, where elections are held primarily or fully with mail ballots. Under the still-blocked USPS plan, which followed an executive order by Trump, states would have had to turn over lists of voters' names and addresses and have certain specific barcodes on ballot envelopes in order to have them delivered by the mailing agency.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Boston issued a preliminary injunction against USPS, blocking it from imposing those new ballot requirements on states. The judge found the requirements are likely illegal because the Postal Service has no authority to control mail-in voting. A second federal judge issued another preliminary injunction late Sunday. Now, a majority of the Supreme Court decided to keep that injunction in place. The court said the Trump administration was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge. Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a short concurring opinion, saying "there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service's statutory authority." But, he added, "applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections." Indeed several Republican state election officials, including from the mostly vote-by-mail state of Utah, signed on to a Supreme Court brief, warning that any attempt to carry out the USPS plan now "will almost certainly lead to mistakes, delays, and confusion for both voters and election officials."

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Bo French stands firm, and is fundraising on his UT post condemned as racist

Over the weekend, former Tarrant County GOP chairman and Railroad commissioner candidate Bo French got in hot water among Republicans and Democrats alike for saying there is a problem with the number University of Texas students are of South Asian descent. On Monday morning, he doubled down and fundraised off the original post. French’s Saturday night post came after Texas made a remarkable comeback in the Longhorns defeat of Ohio State. He shared a photo of a group of UT students, predominantly of South Asian descent, celebrating the victory. He wrote: “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”

Texas Republicans officials, such Sen. John Cornyn and Speaker of the Texas House Dustin Burrows, criticized French for his “intolerance and racism,” as Cornyn put it. Others stood up for French, saying he is right in calling out the university for allowing foreign students to make up about 10% of its enrollment of 55,000. Founder and CEO of True Texas Project, Julie McCarty said French is a rock star and that the elected Republicans condemning him aren’t going to keep their seats for long. “Most of them have already been booted and are just trying to feign relevancy,” McCarty said on Facebook. “Anyone anti-Bo is anti-America, and they have no clue how [angry] the masses are.” French followed the post with a call to donate to his Railroad commission campaign. On a conservative talk radio show Monday morning, French said the post was a commentary on H-1B visas, which allow employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. French said on the talk show H-1B visas allow those employees’ children to be defined as residents and receive in-state tuition. The University of Texas policy allows the children of H-1B visa holders to receive in-state tuition as long as they have lived in Texas for 12 months. He said undocumented immigrants get the same benefit. In June 2025, a federal court blocked in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants. “The left always wants to make it about race, it’s not about race,” French said. “It’s about policy.” French said it’s not racist to say Texans should be prioritized over foreigners. Under state law, 90% of first-year students at the University of Texas must be in-state residents. “The bigger conversation is: are we going to have policies that prioritize Americans and the exceptionalism that I believe Americans have, or are we going to have policies that prioritize foreigners,” French said. “I think most people in the America First movement think we ought to be prioritizing Americans.”

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State Stories

Texas landowners sue to block Trump border wall plans

Landowners, ranchers and business owners in the Big Bend region of Texas along with a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the region’s landscape and heritage are suing to stop the Trump administration’s plans to build a wall and other border infrastructure through the remote section of the state. The lawsuit, filed by Conserve Big Bend and six landowners and with the support of dozens more people along the border, comes as the administration is ramping up a $46 billion effort to line the roughly 2,000-mile southern border with a collection of 30-foot (9-meter) steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, and technology intended to keep out smugglers and migrants. In Texas, the effort has run up against numerous lawsuits and bipartisan opposition from sheriffs, elected officials, tour guides, environmental groups and landowners.

Officials backing the wall “were woefully unprepared for the hornet’s nest they stirred up because they had no idea how much we love this place,” said David Keller, an archaeologist and historian who specializes in the Big Bend and lives in the region. “For us, the Big Bend is not an empty place on the map,” he said at a press conference announcing the suit. “It is our home.” As part of its wall-building efforts, the administration has waived numerous regulations and statutes designed to protect the environment, archaeology or wildlife, on the basis that there’s an urgent need to protect the border in what Homeland Security has called areas of “high illegal entry.” But in the lawsuit announced Monday, the plaintiffs argue that when it comes to the Big Bend region, that’s not an accurate description. They’ve cited historical statistics issued by Customs and Border Protection showing how few people cross the border in Big Bend compared with other areas along the U.S.-Mexico border. Big Bend has about 500 miles of border __ roughly one quarter of the total length of the border with Mexico from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. But the region only accounted for about 1% of arrests, according to the lawsuit’s stats.

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Karl Rove said he’ll break 30 years of only supporting Republicans to vote against “bigot” Bo French

Karl Rove, former adviser to President George W. Bush and longtime Texas GOP political consultant, said he will vote for Jon Rosenthal, a Houston Democrat running to serve the Texas Railroad Commission, after Republican Bo French posted racist comments on Sunday about South Asian students at the University of Texas at Austin. Rove made the comments at a members-only lunch event at the Headliners Club in Austin, where he called French a “bigot,” according to three attendees to whom The Texas Tribune has granted anonymity to discuss the conversation. Rove said he has only ever voted for one Democratic candidate, Texas Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, who was up for reelection in 1994.

Neither Rove nor French were immediately reachable to comment. French came under fire Sunday for sharing a post on X showing a photo of the student section cheering a Texas Longhorn victory against Ohio State, referring to the students as “foreigners” who displaced Americans, without having any information about their status. “I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined,” French wrote, drawing excoriation from Democrats and Republicans alike, many of whom called on French to delete the post. Earlier Monday, French doubled down on his comments and said Republicans who criticized him were “less conservative.” Rove, who teaches graduate students at the university’s school of public affairs, praised one of his students of South Asian descent, calling him one of the more hardworking people he’d taught. The student was a Texan at heart, Rove said, according to the people present for the conversation. Rove also praised Texas Republicans for decrying French’s comments.

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Collin County commissioners increase property tax rate for the first time in decades

Collin County commissioners voted to raise property taxes for the first time in 33 years despite pushback from the county judge. Commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the county’s budget and tax rate for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 at Monday’s commissioner’s court meeting. The new tax rate is about $0.151 per $100 of a home’s value, an increase of about 2.4% from the current rate of about $0.149 per $100 of a home’s value. Collin County Judge Chris Hill voted against the budget and tax rate, citing the impact on taxpayers. Hill has voted against the county’s budget and tax rate the past several years.

The county kept the same property tax rate for the past few years, but property tax bills still increased due to an increase in home values. The increase in property tax revenue will add about $16.3 million to the county’s budget according to county budget documents. The median home value in Collin County this year was $517,911 according to county budget documents. The median homeowner in the county with a homestead exemption can expect to pay $744.98 in property taxes under the new rate. Last year, the median home value in Collin County was $480,773 according to the 2026 fiscal year adopted budget. The average homeowner with a homestead exemption paid $682.10 in property taxes to the county under the previous budget’s tax rate. Hill proposed asking the county’s departments to cut 2.67% and of their budgets and forgoing raises for county employees to prevent raising taxes but his motion failed to move forward. He made the same motions two other times at previous commissioners’ court meetings.

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One of the top Texas House races could come down to a single issue: Water

Water is one of many issues at the forefront of Texas politics this election cycle, no place more so than in Corpus Christi. Texas’ sparkling city by the sea has received national attention in recent months over ever-worsening conditions for residents deluged by years of drought restrictions. Predictions of an impending water emergency have been pushed back month by month thanks in part to some timely rains but still remain within arm’s reach. Governor Greg Abbott previously indicated a state takeover of the city may be necessary to handle its water woes. Local leaders have faced intense scrutiny over their perceived lack of foresight to get ahead of the crisis and more recently, a lack of sufficient action coupled with controversial policies allowing industrial plants and factories to use large sums of water amid restrictions in exchange for a monthly fee.

Now, the race for Texas House District 34, which includes half of Corpus, could in some ways serve as a referendum on the region’s water crisis and even help shape the future direction of its water policy. Once a relatively safe blue seat, incumbent state Representative Abel Herrero opted not to run again in 2024, and Republican Denise Villalobos, a former local school board trustee and oil and gas project manager, flipped the seat by a margin of more than 10 points—marking a notable downballot extension of the Trump-fueled wave among South Texas Latino voters. Trump won the district by 2 points. The last time a Republican held that seat was when Connie Scott, now the Nueces County judge, ousted Herrero in the tea-party wave of 2010 but only held onto the seat for one term. While she won in a red wave, Villalobos now faces reelection in a potential blue wave season and will face Democratic challenger Stephanie Guerrero Sáenz at the ballot box in November. It’s a top race for state Democrats this election cycle, one of the highest priority targets in their effort to expand their numbers or even take control of the Texas House. Per the latest Census data, about three quarters of the district’s constituents are Hispanic. Now, polling data suggests Latino voters who voted for Trump and other down-ballot GOP candidates in 2024 are swinging the other direction. “If Democrats are going to take back the Texas House, they have to flip seats like this,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “This is a heavily Latino seat, and the trends for Democrats have been moving in a favorable direction.”

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Texas Supreme Court strikes Harris County commissioner candidate’s effort to remove incumbent from office

The Supreme Court of Texas has denied a Harris County commissioner candidate’s petition to remove Democratic Commissioner Adrian Garcia from office, whose appointment to a local flood resiliency board was previously determined to be illegal. A Sept. 9 ruling by the Texas Supreme Court denied Richard Vega’s lawsuit against the Harris County Commissioners Court, which argued Garcia effectively vacated his seat on commissioners court in 2021 when he was appointed to the Gulf Coast Protection District, a local government entity. In a statement to Houston Public Media, Scott Spiegel, a spokesperson for Garcia’s office, said the ruling proves the effort has been a “waste of taxpayer resources and everyone’s time from the very beginning.”

Vega, a Republican who is seeking to replace Garcia on commissioners court in November, and Mark Goloby, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate, originally filed a lawsuit against Harris County in 2024 arguing the appointment should’ve triggered Garcia’s immediate vacancy on the court. The First Court of Appeals in April agreed with former County Attorney Jonathan Fombonne, who argued Garcia’s appointment to the protection district was not legal to begin with, making it void. The appeals court ultimately ruled Garcia could maintain his seat on the court. “It’s bad enough that they petitioned for relief that is not allowable under the Texas Election Code, but also, those who filed this garbage appeal further embarrassed themselves with now three courts effectively saying their case was nonsense,” Spiegel said on Monday. Vega’s lawyers have asserted in legal filings that Garcia’s move to assume a second office conflicted with his loyalty to the commissioners court, a position he has held since 2019. The Texas Constitution generally restricts an elected officer from holding more than one public office at a time — accepting a second office can act as an immediate resignation from the first office.

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UT students denounce social media attack by Republican Bo French

Dhairya Gupta and his friends arrived at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday wearing orange, hoping for an upset. The Longhorns squeaked out a victory against top-ranked Ohio State with a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback. The camera cut to Gupta and his friends after the go-ahead touchdown. Gupta, his arms outstretched to the sky as he flashed the “Hook ‘em” sign with both hands, grinned for all to see. To his right was Rahul Kodali, a friend since the first day of freshman year, his face frozen in apparent disbelief. Kodali lost his voice that night. Gupta went home to watch the highlights. Saturday was a blast.

Then came Sunday morning. A man Gupta had never heard of, Bo French, was trending on X after singling out a photo of Gupta, Kodali and other Texas students celebrating. French said the photo, largely depicting men with brown skin, illustrated a problem at the university. “It was just us having some enjoyment,” Gupta, 21, said in a phone interview Sunday. “And now it's just people being blatantly racist toward us.” French’s tweet has received condemnation from across the political spectrum, with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers denouncing the post as racist and urging him to delete it. He didn’t. He posted the picture a second time Sunday morning, saying social media showed “how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners.” French, a Republican running to oversee the state’s oil and gas industry, has spent much of his campaign speaking about mass deportations, eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion policies and also targeting racial and religious groups. French has called for deporting every Muslim in the U.S. and also deporting 100 million people. Gupta, a senior and computer science major, picked UT because he believed it was a great school with a thriving athletics department located in a major city that keeps growing. He met Kodali his first day of school as a freshman, and they bonded over their love of the English soccer team Chelsea.

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Dallas County, Sheriff Marian Brown sued for violating free speech

The Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) is suing Dallas County, Sheriff Marian Brown and Chief Deputy Shane Sowell for allegedly violating free speech and due process rights. The lawsuit alleges the jail’s current rules and procedures surrounding access to physical books, magazines and periodicals amount to a near-total ban and violate the Constitution’s First and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as the Texas Constitution. “For incarcerated readers, materials like HRDC’s publications provide life-changing access to education,” the lawsuit, filed on Sept. 4, says. HRDC is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of people in detention facilities. The organization has multiple publications, including Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News, designed to educate and inform incarcerated individuals about their legal rights.

“Each of HRDC’s publications provides information about important legal issues, such as access to courts and counsel, disciplinary hearings, prison conditions, court opinions, excessive force cases, mail censorship, jail litigation, visitation, access to telephones, religious freedom, sexual assault, and the death penalty, among other topics,” the lawsuit says. The lawsuit states the HDRC materials are not accessible on jail-issued tablets, which incarcerated people use instead of physical reading materials. “We have tablets that are issued to inmates and books are available on those tablets each and every day,” Brown said in a video statement on Facebook on Aug. 27. Brown said the department removed access to physical books from inmates because some were using the materials to “compromise the security operation of the doors.” She said inmates still have access to physical books in the jail libraries. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on ongoing litigation. In April, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice cracked down on hardcover books entering its prisons because of an uptick in narcotics.

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San Antonio lawyer Edward Valdespino sued again; another $1M in escrow funds allegedly missing

Another company has sued San Antonio lawyer Edward Valdespino over money placed in his lawyer trust account, bringing to three the number of lawsuits filed this year alleging he failed to return money held in escrow. R.E.H. & P.L. LLC, a Tucson, Ariz.-based private lending and project financing company, alleges in a seven-page complaint filed in federal court in San Antonio that two of its investors wired $1 million in loans directly to Valdespino’s lawyer trust account at PNC Bank on April 13 to be held in escrow pending what the suit describes as a structured transaction. The proposed transaction didn’t happen within the agreed 30-business-day period, prompting R.E.H. to repeatedly instruct Valdespino to return the escrow funds. He has refused, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit filed Thursday follows two others filed this earlier year by parties who similarly allege Valdespino failed to return money they had placed in his lawyer trust account to be held in escrow. Together, the three lawsuits seek to recover at least $7 million from Valdespino. R.E.H. is suing Valdespino on allegations of civil theft under the Texas Theft Liability Act, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. The company also seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to preserve the $1 million. Valdespino didn’t respond to a request for comment, but he previously denied the allegations in the first two lawsuits. Kelli Cubeta, a San Antonio lawyer representing R.E.H., also didn’t immediately respond. R.E.H.'s allegations bear similarities to two other lawsuits filed this year. In one, Boca Raton, Fla.-based I.C. Deposits Development Inc., also represented by Cubeta, alleges it transferred $5 million into Valdespino’s lawyer trust account to be held in escrow for a private investment transaction that never closed. In the other, New York couple Kevin and Holly Wyse allege they wired $1 million into Valdespino’s lawyer trust account for a purported investment program and never got their money back. Like the earlier complaints, R.E.H. contends a written escrow agreement required the money to be returned if the underlying transaction did not proceed. The company alleges the escrow period expired months ago and that Valdespino ignored repeated demands for the money’s return.

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Austin ISD lawsuit: LBJ teacher sexually abused student after report

A single mother was sitting in a darkened hospital room in July 2024, watching over one critically ill son, when she began worrying about another. Her 17-year-old son, a junior at LBJ Early College High School, had recently lost interest in extracurricular activities. Looking for clues, she reviewed his Cash App transactions. She found nearly 70 payments from Rodney Childers, the school’s assistant band director, totaling more than $2,000. The payments covered haircuts, Uber rides and gifts, according to court records and documents she provided to the American-Statesman. She immediately suspected Childers was sexually abusing her son.

“I said, ‘I know he did something,’” she said. “It’s just a feeling you get. I know he did something to my child.” The mother, who the American-Statesman is not naming to protect her son’s identity, spent much of the next morning figuring out how and where to report her concerns. She eventually contacted an Austin Independent School District police officer assigned to LBJ. What happened next is at the center of a recently filed lawsuit against the district. The mother alleges that school district police and administrators failed to act quickly enough after she reported her suspicions, did not keep her informed about the investigation and did not immediately interview her son. She also alleges that Childers continued to sexually abuse her son after she sounded the alarm, while she traveled between Austin and Temple to care for her hospitalized son. The suit, filed in mid-July, seeks unspecified monetary damages.

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‘Culture of sabotage’: How San Antonio’s City Council went off the rails at budget time

San Antonio is staring down a budget deficit that could raise taxes for the first time in decades and take an ax to the city services many leaders hold most dear. Yet days out from a critical budget vote, council members tasked with overseeing such matters can barely stand to be in the same room as one another — much less come together on spending priorities. Unlike Congress, which can kick the can of such disagreements indefinitely, the City Council is legally obligated to pass a balanced budget. Public libraries, nutrition centers and additional police officers are all on the chopping block in the plan coming before them this Thursday, but such usual sacred cows have been overshadowed by disagreements so personal that some members are no longer talking, according to Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2).

In a three-part social media video after last week’s council meeting, McKee-Rodriguez described a “culture of sabotage,” where otherwise ideologically aligned members who dug in during last year’s vote on a new NBA arena have now grown more interested in spiting one another than advancing longtime policy goals. “If we can’t have a real conversation, if I can’t disagree with you, if I can’t make an amendment to an item that impacts my constituents without you trying to f*** me and my constituents over — I can’t work with you,” McKee-Rodriguez said in the video. “Unfortunately, that is where most people are with each other at this point.” The posts drew an equally unconventional video response from Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1) who argued that some members are working collaboratively to build a majority coalition — while being mistreated by those who aren’t in the “starting lineup.” “What’s been created is a toxic workplace that’s quite frankly visible to all of our residents to see,” Kaur said. In a highly unusual budget cycle, this week the council is preparing final budget amendments without ever having agreed on their topline spending numbers. That means the council won’t know whether they need to make $89 million worth of cuts or $165 million until members vote on the tax rate — which happens in the same meeting as their budget vote this Thursday.

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Texas PUC changes Howard-Solstice transmission line route

The voices of hundreds of landowners who turned out to argue against the proposed route of a massive power line from San Antonio through the Hill Country to West Texas helped reshape the route. Before approving the state’s largest-ever transmission line, regulators altered the route proposed by CPS Energy and American Electric Power, the two utilities building the Howard-Solstice transmission line, to mitigate its impact on landowners. The Public Utility Commission on Friday directed it to go north of Uvalde County to prioritize running parallel to existing transmission lines. The previous route crossed the county. The decision came after Texans turned out in droves for weeks to make commissioners and lawmakers aware of how the Hill Country and South Plains could be harmed by the project to build one of the state’s largest-ever power lines.

The voices included that of John Burrow, a Bell County landowner who testified Friday that those speaking out about the historic project are not dots on a route map but farmers, ranchers and parents raising their children. “They are not fighting because they oppose the progress,” he said. “They’re fighting because this is their home. Many of them don’t have the team of lawyers, engineers, lobbyists and consultants that are sitting in this room. They have their land. They have their families and their voices and their faith that Texas will stand with them.” Commissioner Courtney Hjaltman said their fight influenced the route change. “I want you to know that your participation really did matter,” she said. “My goal in making these changes was to reduce the impacts where possible by encouraging greater use of existing corridors and really minimizing the disruption of the land.” Concerns about limited use of existing right-of-way were often raised after landowners started learning about the project barreling toward approval under a compressed timeline. At the previous PUC meeting, a representative from the Zachry Hughes Group said that only 1%, or 4 miles, of the 370-mile line would parallel existing transmission lines. Commissioners opted to delay making a decision at that meeting.

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Abbott orders penalties for data centers that fail to report water use

On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott shared that he is directing the Texas Water Development Board to penalize data centers that fail to enforce state water-use reporting requirements. The governor’s office said that some major water users, including data centers, appear to have violated state law by failing to provide required information about their water use. Abbott directed the Texas Water Development Board, or TWDB, to impose legal consequences for past and future reporting failures.

“Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water. The Texas Water Code requires a complete and accurate water use survey. I direct the Texas Water Development Board to use its enforcement authority to penalize past failures and to impose legal consequences for any future failure to comply,” Abbott said in a statement. Under the Texas Water Code, recipients of a TWDB water-use survey are required to complete and return it. According to Abbott’s office, a data center that fails to do so could face criminal consequences and become ineligible for certain Texas Commission on Environmental Quality permits, amendments or renewals. TWDB can also refer noncompliance to the appropriate county or district attorney.

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Child advocates urge Texas lawmakers to strengthen protections for minors on gaming platforms

Child advocates, pediatricians and mental health experts urged Texas lawmakers on Monday to expand online safety protections for children, arguing that today’s gaming platforms pose many of the same risks as social media and are increasingly affecting children’s mental health, sleep, academic performance and overall development. The discussion came during a hearing before the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee, where advocates called for stronger safeguards for minors and greater accountability for gaming companies. Dr. Lauren Gambill, an Austin pediatrician representing the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Pediatric Society, told lawmakers gaming has become a central part of how children and teens spend their time. She said roughly 85% of U.S. teens report playing video games, with 41% saying they play daily. While gaming can provide some benefits, she said modern platforms expose children to risks that did not exist a decade ago.

“Gaming today looks very different than it did back when I was a kid, 20 years ago, even 10 years ago,” Gambill said. “We know that games have become social interactive platforms with many of the same safety concerns that we see with social media.” Gambill said gaming can influence children’s mental and physical health, academic performance and sleep habits. “The data will tell you that about 41% of teens who play video games report that it’s hurt their sleep,” Gambill said. “But clinically I’ll tell you this number, while it’s already significant, doesn’t begin to paint the picture of what we’re seeing is happening with these kids.” She argued many gaming platforms are intentionally designed to keep users engaged for long periods of time. “These platforms are intentionally designed to make it really difficult to stop,” Gambill said. “There’s features like streaks, persistent notifications, rewards, leader boards, social pressure mechanisms that just encourage kids to stay online continuously or return back to these games over and over and over again.”

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National Stories

Warsh set for showdown with Trump as Fed faces pressure to raise rates

Days before President Trump named Kevin M. Warsh as his pick to run the Federal Reserve, he griped about his past experience picking the leader of the central bank. “They’re saying everything I want to hear,” he told attendees at the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland in late January. “They get the job, and all of a sudden, ‘Let’s raise rates a little bit.’” Four months in, Mr. Warsh is on the cusp of doing exactly that. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, as it tries to stamp out inflation that has overshot the central bank’s 2 percent target for five years. It would be the first increase since July 2023.

Raising rates from the current 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent level would directly defy Mr. Trump less than two months before midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans retain control of Congress. Mr. Trump has long pressured the Fed to lower borrowing costs to boost economic growth and make interest payments on the national debt less costly. He repeatedly demanded this of Jerome H. Powell, whom the president elevated to chair in his first term. Mr. Trump’s Justice Department later opened a criminal investigation into Mr. Powell when he did not comply. This week’s decision has morphed into a litmus test for Mr. Warsh, who had been staunchly critical of the central bank’s handling of inflation before taking the helm. As chairman, he vowed to vanquish it once and for all. Now faced with an economy on solid footing, unemployment low and price pressures barely abating, Mr. Warsh and his colleagues on the policy-making committee appear boxed in to raising rates. Financial markets see an increase this week as all but guaranteed, driven in large part by Mr. Warsh’s own tough talk, which he delivered as recently as last month at the Fed’s annual conference in Jackson, Wyo. Failing to follow through now risks eroding Mr. Warsh’s credibility and exacerbating a sell-off in U.S. government bonds that has already pushed yields on 10-year Treasuries this week to a multiyear high of 5 percent.

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Costco raises price of Kirkland motor oil and limits how much shoppers can buy

Costco has raised the price of motor oil sold under its exclusive private-label Kirkland brand and is now limiting how much customers can purchase weekly amid rising oil prices. A 10-quart case of Kirkland Signature full synthetic motor oil is now $58, according to Costco’s website, after previously selling for roughly $30 to $35 for much of the past several years. Customers are limited to two cases per week, the product page reads in bold.

Additionally, Costco is limiting purchases of Mobil 1 full-synthetic motor oil’s 1-quart six-pack, which is listed at about $44, to five per membership. FOX Business reached out to Costco for comment. The synthetic motor oil relies heavily on Group III base oils, which are produced by refining crude oil. Industry analysts say a significant share of the Group III base oils used in the U.S. is imported from producers in the Persian Gulf, where supply disruptions tied to the conflict have tightened availability. The price of a barrel of Brent Crude exceeded $109 on Monday morning as the conflict in the Middle East keeps disrupting global oil shipments. Brent has increased from less than $72 in early July amid uncertainty over whether a diplomatic resolution will restore normal oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Rising oil prices have pushed the national average price of regular gasoline to nearly $4.32 per gallon, up from $4.08 a month ago and $3.18 a year ago, according to AAA.

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Newsom says he won’t challenge Harris if she runs in 2028

Gov. Gavin Newsom will not run in 2028 if former Vice President Kamala Harris decides to make another bid for the presidency. Widely considered a top contender to become the next Democratic nominee for president, the California governor told CNN that a contest between him and Harris “doesn’t make sense.” “I wouldn’t run if she ran,” Newsom said. “I know her base of supporters. I know her friends. The Venn diagram on that is just pure crossover. … I wouldn’t do that to people.”

Newsom has laid miles of groundwork for a 2028 presidential campaign, recently visiting early primary and battleground states like South Carolina, in a “take it back” tour to rally base voters and confront Republican policies. He’s also positioned himself as a reliable Democratic surrogate, and has participated in media appearances to cement himself as an ideological foil to MAGA Republicans, including a televised debate against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Newsom said Monday contesting Harris for the nomination would be “a gift from God” to his political opponents. “They’d enjoy the hell out of it — mutual assured destruction,” he said. “It services no greater good.” Harris ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2020 and again in 2024 after then-President Joe Biden dropped out of his reelection bid.

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Nancy Mace calls for public execution of Lindsay Clancy

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said Monday that Lindsay Clancy should be publicly executed, as the Massachusetts woman faces a new trial for allegedly murdering her three children. “Her children are dead, she should be dead too,” Mace told TMZ. The South Carolina Republican later said, “She should get the death penalty. It should be public, it should be a public execution,” adding Clancy “deserves nothing less” than such a punishment. “It could be by firearm, it could electric chair, I don’t really care,” the outgoing lawmaker added, later saying it would serve as a “warning to women everywhere [that] you don’t kill your kids.”

Judge William Sullivan, who is overseeing the case, declared a mistrial earlier this month. That came after the jury, composed of nine women and three men, told him they were unable to come to a unanimous decision after seven days of deliberation and five weeks of testimony. Prior to Sullivan declaring a mistrial, the jurors said they had an 11-1 majority in favor of acquittal by reason of insanity due to postpartum psychosis, with one holdout. Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz (R) has not said whether he will retry the case. A court hearing on the case is scheduled for Sept. 29 at Plymouth Superior Court, with Clancy being held at a psychiatric facility until then. Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, has asked President Trump for a pardon — despite the president not having the authority to do so, as Clancy is facing state, and not federal, charges. After Sullivan declared a mistrial on Sept. 4, Trump called the situation “a horrible tragedy.” The president told reporters, “Look, [Clancy] did a horrible, horrible thing. Can’t be worse, but you’ll find out what the price to pay is. There’ll be a price. It’s going to be [a] mental institution or jail or something, but I guess they’re going to go through another trial. It’s too bad.”

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Why a lawyer who launched the Christian legal movement believes it’s gone astray

In the beforetimes, when Americans weren’t yet debating whether Starbucks holiday cups were Christmas-y enough or whether bakers should make cakes for same-sex weddings, a lanky Southerner named John Whitehead started something totally new: a Christian religious liberty law firm. It was hard to raise money, Whitehead recalled, or get support for the firm — even from evangelical leaders — for Christians fighting in court for the right to home-school or a police officer wanting to wear a cross to work. “They said ‘Christians don’t sue,’ or that ‘Christians shouldn’t get mixed up with the government,’” or they didn’t see the cause as a donor draw, Whitehead said in an interview. “I made appointments with these fancy ministers but no one seemed interested.”

Today the Christian legal movement Whitehead helped pioneer is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has touched many aspects of American life. Its firms, many sprinkled with his former protégés, have been on a winning spree at the Supreme Court, overturning long-standing legal limits on religious expression by public officials, expanding religious exemptions and elevating the place of religious exercise to its highest point in modern times. But Whitehead says the movement is not what he envisioned when he launched the Rutherford Institute in 1982. The cause has become dangerously politicized and intertwined with right-wing politics, he says, wrongly staying quiet as Muslim rights are under attack and as President Donald Trump allows immigration enforcement officers into houses of worship. While religious-liberties-focused law firms have successfully argued in federal courts to greatly expand what it means to freely exercise one’s faith, Whitehead says the movement has wrongly elevated the rights of conservative Christians over those of religious minorities. He points to new laws in a handful of states mandating public schools to prominently hang the King James version of the Ten Commandments and threats last month by Texas officials against airports that offer foot-washing stations for Muslim travelers.

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Emmy Awards: The complete winners list

The 2026 Emmy Awards were handed out Monday night. Widow’s Bay was named best comedy series (setting a record), The Pitt won best drama series, and DTF St. Louis was named best limited or anthology series. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won best variety series, and The Traitors was named best reality competition program. Among the acting winners are Jean Smart for Hacks, Kate O’Flynn for Widow’s Bay, Matthew Rhys (twice! which marks a record) for The Beast in Me and Widow’s Bay, Allison Janney for The Diplomat, Rhea Seehorn for Pluribus, Noah Wyle for The Pitt, Stephen Root for Widow’s Bay, Tom Pelphrey for Task and Sally Field for Remarkably Bright Creatures.

Katie Dippold and Vince Gilligan won best writing for Widow’s Bay and Pluribus, respectively. Hiro Murai and Saul Metzstein scooped up directing trophies for Widow’s Bay and Slow Horses, respectively. Awards in 19 categories — including best drama and comedy series — were presented at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles. (See the red carpet arrivals.) This year, The Pitt led the pack with 25 total nominations, followed by Hacks (with 24 nominations, a comedy series record), Widow’s Bay (19), Pluribus (18), and Beef (16). The Creative Arts ceremonies were held last weekend over two nights; click here and here to see the winners. Mariska Hargitay hosted the Emmys (which also featured a surprise appearance by Taylor Swift during a pretaped segment). Hargitay picked up two wins last week to her documentary My Mom Jayne. The ceremony aired live on NBC and Peacock.

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McConnell returns to the Senate for first time since his hospitalization

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky returned to the Senate to vote on Monday for the first time in three months, looking noticeably more frail after he was hospitalized for a June fall in his home. McConnell’s lengthy absence from the Senate generated a flood of criticism and online speculation, as he initially remained quiet for weeks about his condition. The 84-year-old senator eventually disclosed a month later that he had been “briefly unconscious” due to the fall and had also been treated for mild pneumonia in the hospital. He briefly addressed reporters Monday from a wheelchair outside the Senate chamber, smiling but speaking slowly and with some difficulty. McConnell joked that he wasn’t sure how many reporters would be there after dodging so many questions during his almost two decades as leader.

He said he was back in the Senate to work on a pending farm bill and because he has an ongoing interest in NATO and “backing up our good friends who are totally in the fight against the Russians.” Reporters and photographers were told by Senate staff not to take video of his remarks in the second-floor hallway, even though video is often permitted in that area. Still images were allowed. McConnell, who holds the distinction of being the longest-serving Senate leader, is in his final months of his four decades in office. He is retiring at the end of January after one of the most consequential careers in modern politics. Republicans have nominated U.S. Rep. Andy Barr to replace him, while Democrats have nominated former state lawmaker Charles Booker. McConnell has said he is determined to finish out his term. In a statement issued before his remarks, McConnell made clear that he may still miss some votes due to his health issues. He said that he is “still not quite back to 100%, but I’ve assured Leader (John) Thune that, as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me.” “My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier,” McConnell said in the statement. The senator’s extended leave highlighted increasing public concern about the age of lawmakers and their capacity to carry out their duties. Speculation about his condition grew so intense at one point that Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear took the extraordinary step of issuing a public letter asking McConnell to update the public in a “transparent manner.” McConnell’s absence was also felt over the summer as Republicans were unable to advance a farm bill out of committee. His return could give GOP leaders a needed vote as they try to advance legislation on cryptocurrency regulation and college sports.

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Crypto campaign cash could come at a cost for Democrats

The cryptocurrency industry is becoming a political liability on the left. A massive spending spree by crypto companies in the 2024 elections established the industry as a political force capable of making allies and breaking critics in big races. But in a series of Democratic primaries this year, progressive candidates have turned their opponents’ ties to crypto — and the industry’s campaign spending — into a successful line of attack. The cryptocurrency industry is becoming a political liability on the left. A massive spending spree by crypto companies in the 2024 elections established the industry as a political force capable of making allies and breaking critics in big races. But in a series of Democratic primaries this year, progressive candidates have turned their opponents’ ties to crypto — and the industry’s campaign spending — into a successful line of attack. The dynamic is emerging at a bad time for the industry. The Senate this week will take up a bill that represents the longtime top lobbying priority of crypto companies, and it needs bipartisan support in order to advance. Democrats considering supporting the measure must now weigh the future risk of increased blowback from their base if they bless a crypto-backed proposal. The crypto sector, though, wields a formidable war chest of campaign cash that could be deployed against Democrats if they stand in the way.

“You do not want to be in a Democratic primary as a pro-crypto candidate — no matter how much money the crypto people give you,” said Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat and longtime crypto skeptic. When Sherman, a 15-term Los Angeles-area Democrat, conducted polling on the most effective attack against a primary challenger he faced earlier this year, he said targeting contributions his opponent received from figures in the crypto world “was the single best attack.” “I had other attacks,” he said. “That was the best.” The shifting politics of crypto on the left poses a major dilemma for the Senate Democrats weighing whether to vote for the Clarity Act, the sweeping bill that would create a bespoke new regulatory framework for digital assets. Leading crypto companies have spent years — and hundreds of millions of dollars — lobbying for such a bill because they believe it will lock in legal certainty for their business models and help legitimize digital assets as mainstream financial products. Proponents say it will also add necessary new consumer protections in the crypto space. About a dozen Democrats have been involved in negotiations over the bill and say they are open to supporting it. But President Donald Trump’s family business entanglements in digital assets have made the politics of the bill worse on the left, and Democrats are demanding an ethics provision restricting Trump’s ability to profit from his family’s crypto businesses. None of the Democrats negotiating on the Clarity bill face serious threats this November. But at least two — Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Cory Booker of New Jersey — are potential 2028 presidential candidates, and others could face primary challenges in the future.

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Copyright September 22, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved