Lead Stories

U.S. Supreme Court clears way for Texas’ new congressional map in 2026 elections

The U.S. Supreme Court says Texas can use its new congressional map that positions Republicans to gain five seats in Congress in the 2026 midterms. The court handed down the ruling on Thursday, siding with the state. It wrote that Texas would likely win its arguments that a lower court was erroneous in blocking use of the map in the 2026 elections. “The District Court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal-state balance in elections,” the order reads, according to a copy shared by a Politico reporter on X. The order was not immediately available on the Supreme Court website.

Justice Samuel Alito in a concurring opinion, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, wrote that “the impetus for the adoption of the Texas map (like the map subsequently adopted in California) was partisan advantage pure and simple.” Opponents of the map argue it was drawn in a way that disenfranchises Black and Hispanic voters. Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson – the court’s three Democratic appointees – dissented. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton celebrated that the “Big Beautiful Map will be in effect for 2026” in a Thursday statement. “Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state,” Paxton said. “This map reflects the political climate of our state and is a massive win for Texas and every conservative who is tired of watching the left try to upend the political system with bogus lawsuits.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said “we won!” in a statement responding to the Supreme Court’s decision “Texas is officially — and legally — more red,” Abbott said.

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Jasmine Crockett calls would-be opponents as she weighs jumping into Texas Senate Democratic primary

As intrigue grows over whether Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett plans to announce a U.S. Senate campaign next week, she confirms she's spoken with would-be opponents about the race. Crockett said earlier this week she will make a "special announcement" in Dallas at 4:30 p.m. Monday, 90 minutes before the state's deadline for candidates to file their campaign paperwork. "I cannot confirm what I will be announcing," Crockett, who represents most of Dallas in Congress, told CBS News on Thursday. But she acknowledged calling some of the current candidates in the race last Sunday to discuss polling that she had received and to answer any questions they might have. Crockett, 44, has amassed a national following and fundraising base after less than four years in Congress, fueled especially by her frequent appearances on national cable news programs and active social media accounts that highlight confrontations with Republicans in committee hearings.

She has declined to rule out a campaign for Senate next year, and told CBS News Texas last month she would only run if polling she commissioned showed she could win a general election by expanding the electorate and attracting new voters. Former Dallas Democratic Rep. Colin Allred and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, of Austin, are already campaigning to take on whoever emerges from an equally high-stakes GOP primary involving Sen. John Cornyn, a four-term incumbent who's being challenged by Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt and Attorney General Ken Paxton. A poll conducted between late September and Oct. 1 by the University of Houston and Texas Southern University showed Crockett leading a hypothetical Democratic primary with 31%. Talarico and former Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is not running, were tied for second place with 25% each. Allred had 13%, and 6% were unsure. But the same poll showed Republicans Cornyn, Hunt and Paxton defeating Crockett. The other Democratic candidates also trailed the GOP contenders in general election polling.

Read this article at CBS News - Subscribers Only

Montgomery County Republican Party votes not to support Texas Reps. Metcalf, Bell in 2026 reelection

Two longtime lawmakers accuse the Montgomery County Republican Party of "election interference" after its Executive Committee voted Tuesday not to support them in their reelection bids next year. The same committee in March voted to censure Texas Reps. Cecil Bell Jr. and Will Metcalf, claiming their support this year of Rep. Dustin Burrows over North Texas Rep. David Cook for House speaker aligned them too closely with Democrats, who also backed Burrows. But that censure effort, which was attempted under state party rules, failed to garner the required approval of two-thirds of party leaders in each of the lawmakers' districts. So county GOP leaders moved ahead with the reprimand outside of the state party rules, which would have provided certain consequences that the local effort does not.

“The censure says we don’t have to support these two people,” Herschel Williams, Precinct 63 chair, said during the party’s meeting Tuesday. “It’s time for us to have consequences for bad behavior.” Scott Robbins, Precinct 33 chair, said Metcalf and Bell “betrayed” them by supporting Burrows over Cook. In December 2024, the Montgomery County Republican Party passed a resolution urging local GOP lawmakers to vote for Cook for speaker, stating that the party would consider a vote for Burrows or any candidate “who depends on Democratic votes to be elected and was not supported by the Texas House Republican Caucus” as a censurable act. “They betrayed us, they betrayed the voters, they betrayed their oath, they betrayed everyone,” Robbins said. “I don’t think we should do anything extra to support them. They can’t make a mockery of this body and the Republican party and then expect us to support them.” Metcalf, who took office in 2015, balked at the action to deny him and Bell support and said it is continuing to cause “reckless division” of the local party. “A small group of political insiders is once again abusing the Montgomery County Republican Party to undermine the will of the voters who overwhelmingly elected their representation,” Metcalf said. “That is not grassroots conservatism; it is election interference.”

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Admiral says there was no 'kill them all' order in boat attack, but video alarms lawmakers

A Navy admiral commanding the U.S. military strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean told lawmakers Thursday that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but a stark video of the attack left grave questions as Congress scrutinizes the campaign that killed two survivors. Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the Capitol as lawmakers conduct an investigation after a report that he ordered the follow-on attack that killed the survivors to comply with Hegesth’s demands. Legal experts have said such a strike could be a violation of the laws of military warfare. “Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, as he exited a classified briefing.

While Cotton, R-Ark., defended the attack, Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the survivors being killed questioned the Trump administration’s rationale and said the incident was deeply concerning. “The order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Smith, who is demanding further investigation, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.” The classified sessions with Bradley, alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, provided fresh information at a crucial moment as Hegseth’s leadership comes under scrutiny. But they did little to resolve growing questions about the legal basis for President Donald Trump’s extraordinary campaign to use war powers against suspected drug smugglers. So far more than 80 people have been killed in some 20 strikes.

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State Stories

Death of Texas college student Brianna Aguilera ruled suicide: Police

The police chief said her "heart aches" for Brianna Aguilera's parents. The mysterious death of Texas A&M student Brianna Aguilera has been ruled a suicide, police said, noting a suicide note found on her phone and reported previous comments about self-harm. The investigation began at 12:46 a.m. Saturday when officers responded to an Austin apartment complex and found Aguilera on the ground with trauma from an apparent fall from a high floor, Austin Police Detective Robert Marshall said. Cameras showed Aguilera arriving at the apartment complex just after 11 p.m. Friday and going to an apartment on the 17th floor, Marshall said at a news conference on Thursday. The video showed "a large group of friends left that same apartment at 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 29, leaving just Brianna and three other girls in the apartment," he said.

Earlier on Friday, Aguilera was at a tailgate for the Texas A&M vs. University of Texas football game, and she "became intoxicated to a point where she was asked to leave," Marshall said. Aguilera told her friends that she lost her phone, and when they arrived at the apartment Friday night, she borrowed a phone to call her boyfriend, he said. Witnesses heard her argue on the phone with her boyfriend, Marshall said. That phone call took place from 12:43 a.m. to 12:44 am -- two minutes before a 911 call, he said. When police later found Aguilera's lost phone, they recovered a "deleted digital suicide note dated Tuesday, Nov. 25 of this year, which was written to specific people in her life," Marshall said. "Brianna had made suicidal comments previously to friends, back in October of this year," he said. "This continued through the evening of her death, with some self-harming actions early in the evening and a text message to another friend indicating the thought of suicide." No evidence in the investigation ever pointed to a crime, Marshall stressed, adding, "Every friend and witness during this investigation has been nothing but forthcoming and open." Aguilera's family told local media earlier this week the beloved college student was not suicidal and was planning to pursue a career in law. After Thursday's police news conference, family attorney Tony Buzbee maintained that the "circumstances surrounding her death are very suspicious." "The Austin Police Department's handling of this matter creates more questions than it provides answers," Buzbee said in a statement. "As far as we are concerned, this is an open investigation and will continue to be open until these parents are satisfied they know what happened to their daughter." Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said at the news conference, "I understand how grief and the need for answers can raise intense emotions and many questions. But sometimes the truth doesn't provide the answers we are hoping for, and that is this case." Davis said her "heart aches" for Aguilera's parents. "I have three daughters and a son, and I cannot begin to imagine the pain," Davis said.

Read this article at ABC News - Subscribers Only

Embattled judge Amber Givens challenges District Attorney John Creuzot in primary

Two state sanctions for misconduct on the bench and a federal lawsuit accusing her of false imprisonment have not stopped District Judge Amber Givens from trying to become the county’s top prosecutor. On Thursday, Givens filed paperwork to challenge District Attorney John Creuzot in the March 3 Democratic Primary. Givens held a news conference outside of the Dallas County Democratic Party headquarters, where she alluded to her recent controversies, saying she is running for district attorney “not to escape the fire but because I have learned how to stand in it.” “The system doesn’t need to be reformed when it’s operating exactly as it was designed – it needs to be rebuilt,” Givens said. “If the last five years have shown me anything about me, let it be this: I am committed to seeking justice, not because it is easy but because it’s necessary.”

After her announcement, she posted a letter on social media informing state officials she resigned her seat presiding over the 282nd district court. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct handed down the two sanctions against Givens in June for issues dating back to 2021 and 2023, respectively. Givens is scheduled to attend a hearing to appeal the sanctions on Wednesday. She received a reprimand, the harshest sanction available, for allowing her court coordinator to conduct an online hearing in 2021 with Givens’ picture on the screen without informing the parties the judge wasn’t actually there, according to the sanction. The second, an admonishment, was for jailing one man and revoking another’s bond in 2023 while she was recused from both cases and “lacked the legal authority to act” on them, according to the sanction. In October, one of the men at the center of her admonishment case, Ivan Paris, filed a federal lawsuit accusing Givens of false imprisonment for jailing him on an alleged probation violation more than a year after she had been removed from his case. Givens’ attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case on Nov. 19, alleging she is protected by judicial immunity. Paris’ complaint alleges Givens is liable for violating his constitutional rights and is not protected by judicial immunity because she lacked authority over his case when she ordered him to jail after her recusal.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

Texas law could let Lacy Lakeview lasso a $10 billion data center site and its tax riches

Lacy Lakeview’s city council on Tuesday is set to approve a preliminary agreement with Infrakey to build a $10 billion data center complex that company officials say could generate $50 million a year for the small town. That plan depends on Lacy Lakeview annexing the 520-acre site nearly 2 miles north of the city – a power that the city does not yet have but could gain through a new state law. At its 6 p.m. meeting the council will consider approving a nonbinding memorandum of understanding in which Lacy Lakeview, population 7,300, would annex the property and provide water and sewer to the site. Infrakey representatives will be present at the council meeting at Lacy Lakeview City Hall, 501 E. Craven Ave.

“We’re being asked to annex them and bring in quite a substantial increase in our tax base,” Lacy Lakeview Mayor Charles Wilson told The Waco Bridge on Wednesday. “And I don’t know how the city of Lacy Lakeview says no to that. … It’s municipal taxation that covers streets, water, sewer, etc. McLennan County officials are also involved in negotiations on the site, but the county has not yet committed to incentives. But a growing chorus of area residents is urging local governments to say no to data centers. Opponents have also organized through Instagram and Facebook accounts. Petition organizer Mary Beechner was among several opponents who brought their concerns to the Waco City Council’s meeting on Tuesday. “I speak on behalf of thousands of local residents when I say this,” Beechner told the council. “We do not consent to the Infrakey data center consuming over 500 acres of land to build their water guzzling, air and sound polluting, nature destroying and community offending AI data collection center.”

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Standoff over ‘terrorist’ label heats up between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Muslim rights group

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott keeps raising the stakes in his increasingly tense standoff with the country’s largest organization focused on advocating for the civil rights of Muslims — asking the federal government in a letter this week to remove the group’s tax-exempt status. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, immediately lashed back, calling Abbott “afraid” because his targeting of CAIR is unconstitutional and saying he is “desperate” to carry out his campaign against them. The escalation between the Republican governor and the 31-year-old organization was triggered by Abbott’s November proclamation declaring CAIR a foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organization. CAIR has filed a court challenge and calls Abbott’s efforts “a witch hunt.”

Abbott also called for investigations by the Texas attorney general, the Department of Public Safety and district attorneys and sheriffs of North Texas into groups in Collin and Dallas counties that he suspects of being “Sharia tribunals masquerading as legal courts” and enforcing Shariah — which is illegal in both Texas and the United States. “Legal disputes in Texas must be decided based on American law rooted in the fundamental principles of American due process, not according to Sharia law dispensed in modern day star chambers,” Abbott said in the Nov. 19 proclamation. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, only the U.S. secretary of state, in consultation with the attorney general and secretary of the treasury, can officially designate foreign terrorist organizations. In his Dec. 2 letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Abbott asked that the treasury department investigate the group and suspend its status as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization because “federal investigators and court filings identify CAIR as a direct subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood and as a ‘front group’ for Hamas in the United States.” “Accordingly, I respectfully request that you investigate CAIR for suspension of its tax-exempt status,” the letter reads. “Americans have generous hearts, and federal law wisely creates incentives to donate to nonprofit organizations that promote the public good. But charity must not become a backdoor to sponsor terrorism, endanger Americans, and subvert our democracy.”

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

Filing in KP George case reveals probe into stolen campaign funds targets staff member

Fort Bend County Judge KP George told the Houston Police Department that thousands of dollars were siphoned from his campaign account, according to investigation details that appeared in a court filing in George’s own felony case. George reported on Oct. 2 that several unauthorized electronic transfers totaling about $4,200 had been withdrawn from his Frost Bank campaign account between July and September. A heavily redacted Houston Police Department report classifies the case as an investigation into forgery and fraud and notes the payments were made to three vendors. George did not respond to requests for comment. District Attorney Brian Middleton declined to comment. Additional information about the investigation was included in a filing prosecutors submitted as they opposed George’s latest motion to remove Middleton from his criminal case. The filing details that the payments went to Greenridge Place Apartments, T-Mobile and Xfinity.

According to the district attorney’s document, HPD Detective J. Tucker traced the transactions to a Houston apartment and identified the sole resident as a person of interest. Using open-source searches, Tucker learned the individual publicly presented themselves as an employee of the Woodfill Law Firm PC, owned by George’s defense attorney, Jared Woodfill. Tucker later contacted another member of George’s defense team, attorney Terry Yates, who confirmed the person of interest had previously worked for the Woodfill firm, the filing states. Prosecutors did not identify the individual publicly, though the document says George’s defense team has been informed of the person’s identity. No arrests or charges have been reported. Prosecutors included the information as they opposed George’s effort to remove Middleton from the case. George is under indictment on charges that he used campaign funds to pay personal expenses, including property taxes and a home purchase, and underreported account balances. He has pleaded not guilty and says the case is politically motivated.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Commissioner Dexter McCoy launches bid for Fort Bend County judge, citing need for new leadership

Precinct 4 Commissioner Dexter McCoy on Thursday jumped into the race for Fort Bend County judge, saying the county needs new leadership as costs climb, growth accelerates and public trust erodes. McCoy, a Democrat elected in 2022, is challenging incumbent KP George, who recently switched from Democrat to Republican while facing felony money-laundering charges tied to allegations he misused campaign funds. McCoy has repeatedly called on George to step down as the cases move through court, saying Fort Bend County needs stability and renewed confidence in its leadership. "We need a judge who is ready to do the job on day one," McCoy said. McCoy said many residents feel increasingly disconnected from the opportunities that shaped his own life in Fort Bend County. Residents have also become disillusioned, he said, from a government he believes has become consumed by internal conflicts.

“We’re not satisfied with where we are,” McCoy said in an interview announcing his campaign. “People are looking at folks who are more concerned with their own political power and not the people who have built this county.” McCoy said affordability will be his top priority, arguing that residents are “on the ropes” as property taxes climb and the county struggles to keep pace with growth. “Top priority for me is affordability,” he said. “How do we position ourselves to attract more businesses that help shoulder the burden for our infrastructure and our rapidly growing community? How do we make sure we’re bringing jobs here where people can make a good living in the community where they live?” McCoy said the county’s current transit system is failing to keep up with population growth and aging infrastructure, leaving residents with fewer mobility options and longer commutes. “People are losing time from their work. People are losing time from their families as they sit in traffic, as they drive on deteriorating roads,” he said. “If you don’t have a car, you cannot survive in Fort Bend County. You can’t thrive in Fort Bend County, and we need to change that to make sure this community offers a diverse array of ways for people to connect.” He said he supports expanded mobility investments and a more reliable, long-term public transportation plan, arguing that Fort Bend Transit “is not keeping up with the demand of our community.”

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Texas student says she was living 'American Dream' before she was deported despite judge’s order

A 19-year old college student who was deported the week before Thanksgiving after a federal judge blocked her removal said she was handcuffed and later forced to sleep on the floor in a detention center. "I burst into tears because I couldn't believe it, and spending the night there, sleeping on the floor," Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, speaking from Honduras, told ABC News in an exclusive interview. Lopez Belloza, who entered the U.S. from Honduras with her family when she was 8 years old, was about to board her flight from Massachusetts to Texas last Friday to surprise her parents for the holiday when immigration authorities detained her. "When they told me, 'You're going to come with us' ... I was like, 'Oh, I have a plane that I literally have to be there right now.' They're like, 'No, you're not even going to go on the plane,'" Lopez Belloza said.

The college freshman told ABC News that immigration officers declined to answer her repeated questions about why she was arrested and where she was going. Court documents obtained by ABC News show that within hours of her detainment, a federal judge ordered the government not to remove Lopez Belloza from the U.S. and not to transfer her outside of Massachusetts. But she was transferred that evening to a detention center in Texas and deported to Honduras the next day despite the court order. "How does it feel to know that you were deported despite a judge saying that you should not be?" ABC News asked. "It feels unfair," Lopez Belloza said. "If there was an order, then why did everything happen to me so fast, within three days?" A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told ABC News that Lopez Belloza had been issued an order for removal in 2015, but Lopez Belloza said she was surprised when authorities informed her of that. "On November 20, CBP arrested Any Lopez-Belloza, an illegal alien from Honduras, as she was attempting to board a flight at Boston Logan International Airport," the DHS spokesperson said. "This illegal alien entered the country in 2014 and an immigration judge ordered her removed from the country in 2015, over 10 years ago. She has illegally stayed in the country since."

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Report: Texas road funding has saved billions, prevented thousands of deaths

A decade of added investment in Texas highways has saved drivers billions of dollars and helped prevent thousands of traffic deaths, according to a new report. The report from TRIP, a national transportation research group, credits two statewide ballot measures — Proposition 1 in 2014 and Proposition 7 in 2015 — with steering nearly $40 billion into Texas highways. The measures redirected part of the state’s oil and gas taxes, along with some sales tax revenue, to help pay for road and bridge projects. According to the report, smoother pavement, safer road design and new construction have saved Texas households an estimated $18.1 billion annually. Those savings come from fewer car repairs, less time wasted in traffic and lower costs tied to crashes.

TRIP also estimates that these improvements helped prevent more than 3,500 traffic deaths between 2015 and 2023. “When roads are in poor conditions, it puts more stress on vehicles, so you’re spending more on vehicle repairs,” said Rocky Moretti, director of policy & research with TRIP. “The public is getting to places quicker, they’re driving on a more reliable system so it’s reducing their hours stuck in congestion.” Drivers in the state’s largest cities benefited the most: Houston households saved about $2,264 a year, Dallas–Fort Worth drivers saved roughly $1,973 a year, San Antonio households saw savings of about $2,207, and Austin saw the highest estimated savings at about $2,301 per household. But even with those gains, many city streets are still struggling. The report found that more than half of major roads in the Houston area remain in “poor” condition.

Read this article at KERA - Subscribers Only

Defendant in Prairieland shooting case turns himself back in after accidental jail release

A man arrested in connection to the July 4 shooting outside an ICE facility turned himself in to federal authorities Thursday after he was mistakenly released for more than a week, according to his family members. Daniel Sanchez Estrada appeared in court Thursday back in handcuffs after he surrendered himself earlier that morning. Prosecutors did not acknowledge why he had been released from the Federal Medical Center prison in Fort Worth, but told Sanchez Estrada he would be returning to federal custody as a "danger to the community" amid his ongoing case. “I’m so happy that I’ve gotten to hug some favorite people and cry with them, and hear so many hopeful feelings,” Sanchez Estrada said in a press release before turning himself in. “The amount of prayers and all the efforts that people are doing to support me and others is beyond believable, and we all feel super blessed.”

Sanchez Estrada's sister, Jessica Bell, told KERA News Thursday her brother's release may have been a mistake on the court's end. Bell said she received a call from her brother the day before Thanksgiving, saying he was out of custody and asking to be picked up. "The happy moments together were priceless, but not 100% peaceful," Bell said. "Because we felt like we kept having to look over our shoulders." Sanchez Estrada was home for five days when Bell said they got a call from his attorney. He told Sanchez Estrada a judge said his release was a clerical error and he would have to turn himself in again Thursday. His attorney declined to comment to KERA News. Sanchez Estrada is one of 18 people arrested after a shooting outside the Prairieland Detention Center the night of July 4. Court records allege a group of people dressed in all black — some armed — were setting off fireworks toward the facility and vandalizing vehicles when correctional officers called 911. When an Alvarado officer arrived at the scene minutes later, several people began to flee on foot and ignore verbal commands, according to court records.

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New health report identifies affordability, mental health among top concerns for Austin residents

A new community-wide health assessment by Austin Public Health concludes that steep housing costs are among the key factors straining the health and well-being of local residents. For the 2025 Austin-Travis County Community Health Assessment, APH collaborated with other local health organizations to broadly study the area’s health challenges. The report’s authors pointed to rapid population growth, limited housing supply and rising property values exacerbating affordability issues in recent years. They observed that someone would need to earn $31.27/hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Austin at fair market rent as of 2023 — more than four times the minimum wage. U.S. Census estimates show that 36% of Austin households spend 30% or more of their income on housing — a greater percentage than at the state level.

"When housing costs consume a disproportionate share of household income, families are often forced to make difficult trade-offs between rent and other essential needs such as food, transportation and health care," the authors wrote. Housing costs have also pushed many residents to move to more affordable, outlying areas of Greater Austin, such as Manor, Del Valle and Pflugerville. APH noted this was particularly common among communities of color. However, these more affordable areas come with sparser health care access, per the assessment. Residents in these areas were more likely to report cost and transportation as barriers to getting care. These limitations were also seen along demographic lines, with Black and Hispanic residents reporting higher rates of poor physical health and chronic health issues compared to other groups. Another key takeaway identified by APH was widespread high rates of mental health distress across the county. Nearly 18% of adults in Travis County reported having been diagnosed with depression between 2019 and 2023. The rate was highest among women and White, non-Hispanic adults — though the report’s authors noted that national studies suggest depression may be under-diagnosed in Black communities.

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Mayor of Uhland accused of misapplication of property, jail says

Uhland Mayor Lacee Duke was arrested Wednesday and booked in Caldwell County Jail on a charge of misapplication of fiduciary property greater than $150,000 and less than $300,000, according to state records and Caldwell County District Attorney Fred Weber’s Office. A Caldwell County grand jury indicted Duke on Wednesday, the same day she was arrested. The charge is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison, according to Texas statute. A worker at the Caldwell County Jail confirmed Duke, 38, remained in custody Thursday morning. Bond is set at $20,000, according to Weber’s office. Uhland straddles the line between Hays and Caldwell counties about five miles east of Kyle. Leading up to Duke’s indictment, Texas Rangers and Weber’s office investigated allegations of an improper disbursement of $250,000 from the City of Uhland to Old Town Uhland LLC. The payment was related to the 2024 Uhland Fall Fest, according to Weber’s statement. In a statement provided to KXAN, Uhland Fall Fest’s Executive Producer and Founder, Christopher Durst, said his festival has been “welcomed with open arms by the City of Uhland and we have had nothing but positive experiences working with the Mayor.”

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Texas DPS now guard the Alamo; Stetson-wearing Alamo Rangers are gone

The Stetson-wearing Alamo Rangers guarded the battle site for 50 years, but no more. They've been replaced by Texas Department of Public Safety officers. The change is the first noticeable difference visitors are seeing at the historic mission and battle site under a new state law shifting oversight of the Alamo from the General Land Office to the newly created Alamo Commission. Unlike the Alamo Rangers, a force of uniformed private security officers created by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas in 1975, DPS personnel are commissioned peace officers. The nonprofit Alamo Trust, which oversees the site under a contract with the Land Office, had said while Senate Bill 3059 was pending in the Legislature in May that the Alamo Rangers would remain on the site, augmenting the DPS officers. But numerous sources say the Alamo Rangers were dismissed on Wednesday.

The Alamo Trust on Thursday confirmed the transfer of security operations, including "providing the necessary security officers, troopers, and supervisory and indirect support staff to ensure the safety and protection of both visitors and the historical integrity of the site." The trust said it's "grateful to the Alamo Rangers for their loyal and dedicated service." Officials did not say how much advance notice Alamo Rangers were given before the dismissal or whether they'll receive severance pay. “The Alamo Rangers' long-standing service to our Shrine of Texas Liberty and the State of Texas is greatly appreciated," Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in a statement. Texas Senate Bill 1, which took effect Sept. 1, directed DPS to " to provide law enforcement operations for the Alamo complex," she noted. “This effectively ended the Alamo Rangers' private security duties; however, they were given the opportunity to apply to DPS to continue their service to the Alamo," Buckingham said. "I have full confidence that Texas DPS will protect Texas' most visited and valued site with utmost honor and dignity.” It's unclear how many Alamo Rangers are transferring to DPS. A 2023 law gave the Land Office authority to commission qualifying Alamo Rangers as peace officers rather than relying on San Antonio police to enforce the law at the site and make arrests. But in drafting legislation this year, state leaders questioned why the Alamo needed its own police force.

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

In need of cash, Texas billionaire to sell stake in NHL team to buy NBA team

In need of some quick cash, a Texas billionaire will leverage his current team on ice for his future team on the hardwood. On Wednesday, Ben Horney of Front Office Sports (FOS) revealed that Tom Dundon is in negotiations to sell a minority ownership stake in the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes to raise funds to complete the purchase of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers at a valuation of $4 billion. Dundon, a Dallas-area native and Southern Methodist University graduate, reached an agreement in September to purchase the Blazers from the estate of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Per CNBC's Mike Ozanian, Dundon is "close to selling a significant LP stake" of the Hurricanes at a valuation of $2 billion.

Dundon, who is also the chairman and managing partner of Dallas private equity firm Dundon Capital Partners and chairman of Major League Pickleball, purchased a 52 percent stake of the Hurricanes in 2017 at a valuation of approximately $800 million. Four years later, Dundon bought out the remaining shares of the franchise, giving him complete ownership. Dundon’s ownership group includes Marc Zahr, co-founder of the asset management firm Blue Owl; Sheel Tyle, co-founder of the global investment firm Collective Global; and the Cherng Family Trust, the investment group of Panda Express co-founders Andrew and Peggy Cherng. Soon after Dundon’s acquisition of the Blazers was announced, RAJ Sports—owners of the Portland Fire and Thorns—filed a lawsuit against the Cherng family to prevent them from joining Dundon’s group "with respect to any transaction involving the Trail Blazers." RAJ claimed the Cherngs had initially signed a contract to bid on the Blazers but later dropped it to join Dundon. RAJ withdrew the lawsuit three weeks after filing, before Dundon submitted an affidavit stating he doesn’t need the Cherngs’ money to buy the team. RAJ Sports and the Cherngs settled out of court, with Dundon helping facilitate the agreement. The NBA has already approved two other franchise sales this year, including the Los Angeles Lakers, which sold for a record-breaking $10 billion to Los Angeles Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter. The Boston Celtics were sold for $6.1 billion to an ownership group led by Bill Chisholm.

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Cecilia Castellano announces second bid for HD 80

Cecilia Castellano, who has been charged in connection with a vote harvesting scandal in Frio County, announced her candidacy to be the state representative for District 80 in 2026. This is not Castellano’s first bid for this specific seat in the state House. In 2024, she defeated Rosie Cuellar — sister of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar — in the Democratic primary to represent the party in the general election against former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin. McLaughlin, a Republican, generated 60% of the vote to win the seat in November 2024. District 80 covers all or portions of the following counties: Atascosa, Dimmit, Frio, Uvalde, Webb and Zavala. “I am not a career politician — I am a community member who has spent years working hard for District 80,” Castellano told KSAT in a Thursday morning statement, in part. ”I’ve been on the ground, in our neighborhoods, talking to families, listening to their concerns, and advocating for real change. That is why I’m running — because our district deserves a fighter who won’t back down.”

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National Stories

More industries want Trump’s help hiring immigrant labor after farms get a break

As food prices remain high, the Trump administration has made it easier for farmers to hire foreign guest workers and to pay them less. Now, other industries with large immigrant workforces also are asking for relief as they combat labor shortages and raids. Visas for temporary foreign workers are a quick fix with bipartisan support in Congress. And Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ office told Stateline that “streamlining” visas for both agricultural and other jobs is a priority for the Trump administration. But some experts warn that such visas can be harmful if they postpone immigration overhauls that would give immigrant workers a path to green cards and citizenship.

“Lack of permanent status is costly to migrants, employers, and the broader economy,” wrote Pia Orrenius, a labor economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, in a report published in June. Workers are “vulnerable to policy changes triggered by a change in administration, most recently the threat of mass deportations.” In a Nov. 25 interview with Stateline, Orrenius said the crackdown on illegal immigration could be a good thing if it leads to permanent solutions. “If you can stop undocumented immigration, then great. This is a great time to work on comprehensive immigration reform,” Orrenius said. “Where is there a scarcity of workers and how do we address those legally instead of illegally?” Restaurants, construction and landscaping businesses have lost a combined 315,000 immigrant workers through August this year, more than any other industries, according to a Stateline analysis of Current Population Survey data provided by the University of Minnesota at ipums.org. The construction industry needs more foreign worker visas like those already being provided for agriculture to prevent more delays in building everything from homes to highways, business owners say.

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US raid allegedly killed Syrian undercover agent instead of Islamic State group official

A raid by U.S. forces and a local Syrian group aiming to capture an Islamic State group official instead killed a man who had been working undercover gathering intelligence on the extremists, family members and Syrian officials have told The Associated Press. The killing in October underscores the complex political and security landscape as the United States begins working with interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in the fight against remnants of IS. According to relatives, Khaled al-Masoud had been spying on IS for years on behalf of the insurgents led by al-Sharaa and then for al-Sharaa’s interim government, established after the fall of former President Bashar Assad a year ago. Al-Sharaa’s insurgents were mainly Islamists, some connected to al-Qaida, but enemies of IS who often clashed with it over the past decade.

Neither U.S. nor Syrian government officials have commented on al-Masoud’s death, an indication that neither side wants the incident to derail improving ties. Weeks after the Oct. 19 raid, al-Sharaa visited Washington and announced Syria would join the global coalition against IS. Still, al-Masoud’s death could be “quite a setback” for efforts to combat IS, said Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow with the Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank focused on security issues. Al-Masoud had been infiltrating IS in the southern deserts of Syria known as the Badiya, one of the places where remnants of the extremist group have remained active, Nasr said. The raid targeting him was a result of “the lack of coordination between the coalition and Damascus,” Nasr said. In the latest sign of the increasing cooperation, the U.S. Central Command said Sunday that American troops and forces from Syria’s Interior Ministry had located and destroyed 15 IS weapons caches in the south.

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The New York Times sues the Pentagon over new press restrictions

The New York Times on Thursday sued the Department of Defense, arguing the department’s new restrictions for journalists infringe upon the newspaper’s constitutionally protected rights. “The policy, in violation of the First Amendment, seeks to restrict journalists’ ability to do what journalists have always done — ask questions of government employees and gather information to report stories that take the public beyond official pronouncements,” the Times wrote in its 97-page filing. “These developments place the purpose and effect of the Policy in stark relief: to fundamentally restrict coverage of the Pentagon by independent journalists and news organizations, either by limiting what kind of information they can obtain and publish without incurring punishment, or by driving them out of the Pentagon with an unconstitutional Policy,” the suit continues.

The lawsuit argues against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s new host of restrictions for credentialed media, introduced in late September, which resulted in nearly every major news organization surrendering their in-house access to the agency. In their place, the department welcomed a host of more friendly conservative news organizations and influencers who have expressed more willingness to take direction from officials. As part of Hegseth’s new guidelines, strict limits have been imposed on how journalists can interact with military personnel, requiring prior approval for interviews and on-the-record conversations. Access to the building has become highly restricted without an approved escort, and reporters must sign nondisclosure agreements requiring them to agree to not publish unapproved information, even if it is unclassified. In a statement to NOTUS, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said, “We are aware of The New York Times lawsuit and look forward to addressing these arguments in court.”

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CDC advisers delay vote at chaotic vaccine meeting

A panel of government vaccine advisers delayed a vote Thursday on whether to change guidance that everyone receive the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. Members of the panel complained that they didn’t have enough time to review what they were voting on. The panel now plans to take up the issue on Friday. Last-minute changes to the hepatitis B vote language prompted the confusion. The shot protects against a virus that causes severe liver disease, but vaccine skeptics have long questioned giving it to everyone. Mothers can pass the virus to their babies, but the disease is mainly spread through sex and sharing needles. Leading medical experts emphasize that the shot is safe and serves as a safety net for infants.

When Robert Malone, the vice chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, read the proposal to stop recommending the shot for children born to mothers who test negative for the virus, it was different from what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had posted to its website Wednesday — confusing several of the panel’s members. The vaccine advisers make recommendations to the CDC, which ultimately decides what goes on the nation’s vaccine schedule. The proposal Malone read advises parents of children born to mothers who test negative for the virus to consult with their physician about whether their child should get the birth dose. It also says that those declining the birth dose should wait at least two months before starting the Hep B series, which typically consists of three shots administered by 18 months old. The panel was planning to take a second vote advising that parents of children whose mother’s infection status is unknown should also have their child vaccinated. The earlier version on the CDC website differed in that it said that parents of children whose mother’s infection status is unknown should make the decision in consultation with a doctor.

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Trump replaces architect overseeing $300m gilded ballroom project

President Donald Trump has replaced the architect he handpicked to design his White House ballroom, according to three people familiar with the project, ending the involvement of a boutique firm whose selection raised questions from the start about whether it had the capacity to complete the massive, high-profile endeavor. For more than three months, James McCrery II and his namesake architecture firm led the effort to design Trump’s $300 million ballroom building — until late October, when he stopped working on the project, one of the people said. It is unclear whether McCrery stepped back voluntarily, but the men parted on good terms and remain so, according to one of the people familiar with the project, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations. Trump and McCrery had clashed over the president’s desire to keep increasing the size of the building, but it was McCrery’s firm’s small workforce and inability to hit deadlines that became the decisive factor in him leaving, one of the people said.

Trump has chosen architect Shalom Baranes, who’s been designing and renovating government buildings in Washington for decades, to pick up the mantle, according to two of the people. Baranes’s firm has handled a number of large Washington projects dating back decades, including projects involving the main Treasury building near the White House, the Federal Reserve and the headquarters of the General Services Administration. Baranes led a $1 billion renovation of the Pentagon immediately after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which he described as his “proudest moment” in a 2017 Washington Post op-ed. His architectural approach, which includes modernist buildings, is different from McCrery’s classical style. “As we begin to transition into the next stage of development on the White House Ballroom, the Administration is excited to share that the highly talented Shalom Baranes has joined the team of experts to carry out President Trump’s vision on building what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office — the White House Ballroom,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a written statement. “Shalom is an accomplished architect whose work has shaped the architectural identity of our nation’s capital for decades and his experience will be a great asset to the completion of this project.”

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Netflix wins bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, will start exclusive deal talks

Netflix has emerged victorious with what appears to be the highest and so far the winning bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, Deadline has learned, and will start exclusive talks to finalize a deal. This caps a tumultuous day that saw Paramount move aggressively to counter the giant streamer and seal a deal of its own for WBD. Netflix offered around $28 a share for WBD, according to sources, mostly in cash. It’s been a fast moving auction and one that will reshape the entertainment landscape dramatically. WBD put itself on the block in October to open up the process after receiving three consecutive offers from Paramount. Warner has hoped to get a deal in place by mid-to-late December.

Netflix would acquire the Warner Bros. Studios and HBO Max streaming assets. Paramount’s offer was for all of WBD. Bloomberg is reporting that Netflix offered a $5 billion breakup fee if the deal fails to close. Comcast also bid for the studio and streaming businesses. Paramount has argued that it was the only one of the three with a clear path to closing, insisting in a letter to WBD that the rival offers from Netflix and Comcast both “present serious issues that no regulator will be able to ignore.” It believes Netflix, being the dominant streamer in the U.S. and globally, would face major antitrust hurdles adding HBO Max to the fold. David Ellison’s company also called the sale process unfair and tilted towards Netflix. WBD countered that its board “attends to its fiduciary obligations with the utmost care, and that they have fully and robustly complied with them and will continue to do so.”

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U.S. diplomats report broken morale and abandoned careers

America’s professional diplomats feel demoralized and ignored, with fully 98 percent saying in a new survey that workplace morale has fallen since the Trump administration took over in January. The findings are contained in a forthcoming report from the American Foreign Service Association, or A.F.S.A., that warns that “America’s diplomatic capacity is being decimated from within” as seasoned diplomats are laid off or choose to leave government. “The Foreign Service is in crisis,” said John Dinkelman, the association’s president. “Damage is being done to America’s diplomatic service that we will be paying for for decades to come.” The report, which will be officially released on Wednesday, paints a grim portrait of the diplomatic corps that is consistent with countless anecdotal complaints from both Foreign Service officers, trained professionals who work in embassies and consulates abroad, and the civil servants who mainly staff the State Department’s headquarters in Washington.

Most of the survey’s more than 2,100 respondents said they were managing tighter budgets and greater workloads amid the Trump administration’s spending cuts, including drastic reductions in U.S. foreign aid. Eighty-six percent said it had become harder to carry out U.S. foreign policy. Just 1 percent reported an improvement. Most likely fueling the dissatisfaction is a sense among current and former U.S. officials that, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the department has become more political and less relevant. Although Mr. Rubio initially assured department workers that he valued their expertise and wanted the department to play a greater role in foreign policy, numerous officials insist the opposite has happened. Diplomats sense that their input is not welcome, especially if it diverges from President Trump’s views. They have watched from the sidelines as much of America’s most sensitive diplomacy is conducted not by Mr. Rubio but by Trump insiders such as Steve Witkoff, a real estate mogul with no prior diplomatic experience, and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, often acting with little or no assistance from career diplomats. Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner traveled to Moscow this week to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Trump officials argue that Mr. Witkoff has been an effective diplomat, pointing to the cease-fire agreement he helped broker in October between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. But Mr. Witkoff’s diplomacy with Russia has raised questions about his judgment, even among some Republican allies of Mr. Trump’s.

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Grand jury declines to re-indict Letitia James

A grand jury declined to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, 10 days after a federal judge threw out the initial charges against her, according to a person familiar with the development Thursday. Another source familiar with the situation said there should be no premature celebration, because the Justice Department could try to seek the indictment a third time. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on grand jury matters. The grand jury was in court until noon on Thursday.

“As I have said from the start, the charges against me are baseless. It is time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop,” James said in a statement Thursday. “I am grateful to the members of the grand jury and humbled by the support I have received from across the country. Now, I will continue to do my job standing up for the rule of law and the people of New York.” The quick move by the Justice Department to present the case again to a grand jury shows the intensity of its efforts to prosecute James, a frequent Trump political target who was one of several enemies he has said on social media should face legal jeopardy. Late last month, a federal judge said that Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s handpicked prosecutor, was unlawfully appointed as an interim US attorney and therefore the cases against James and another Trump political opponent — former FBI Director James Comey — must be dismissed. Halligan, a former White House adviser, was given the job after the Justice Department pushed out the previous interim US attorney amid increasing pressure to bring cases against Comey and James.

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With Hollywood strapped for cash, Saudi Arabia is re-emerging as a key financial backer

Hollywood is feeling the lure of Saudi Arabian money. The stars are taking it, with many set to receive checks for attending this week’s Red Sea Film Festival. Studios are interested in it, with their executives traveling to the kingdom to meet about potential deals. And at the highest levels, Saudi money could end up helping to finance a massive media merger. For the entertainment industry, Saudi financing has become more appealing as other sources of money have dried up in the aftermath of the 2020 Covid pandemic, the 2023 dual actors’ and writers’ strikes, and shifting audience habits away from film and TV to social media.

“Money is good, that’s Hollywood’s perspective,” said entertainment attorney Schuylar (Sky) Moore at Greenberg Glusker. “For the Saudis, it’s all about building their own film industry, and they’re trying to get the expertise and the people there.” But Saudi Arabia’s controversial human rights record makes the relationship an uneasy one for some in the West — and a sensitive topic to talk about in Hollywood, where more than a dozen insiders including agents, producers, executives, bankers and publicists declined to go on the record about the inrush of potential Saudi cash. This week, many of them are headed to the kingdom’s coastal city of Jeddah for the Red Sea Film Festival, which runs through Dec. 13. In recent years, the festival, a nonprofit organization financed by Saudi government money, has paid talent up to $2.5 million to attend at least part of the event, according to two sources with knowledge of the deals who were not authorized to speak on the record about them. A spokesperson for the Red Sea Film Festival contested the figure, calling it “inaccurate, and not representative.”

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Lead Stories

Longtime Cuellar aide hopes Trump pardon will help own conspiracy case

A longtime aide to U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar hopes President Donald Trump’s pardon of the congressman will lead U.S. prosecutors to dismiss his own corruption case. Colin Strother, who has served as Cuellar’s campaign manager and chief of staff, agreed last year to plead guilty to charges that he conspired with Cuellar to launder more than $200,000 in bribes from a Mexican bank. “If the president has deemed this prosecution as unwarranted of proceeding, then I would expect and hope that the Department of Justice would dismiss the case against Mr. Strother,” Michael McCrum, Strother’s attorney, told the San Antonio Express-News on Wednesday.

McCrum said he has reached out to the DOJ “to see what their position is” regarding his client’s case. Cuellar was set to go to trial in April on charges that he and his wife had accepted about $600,000 in bribes between 2014 and 2021 from a Mexican bank and from an oil and gas company operated by the government of Azerbaijan. The longtime Laredo congressman is accused of advancing the bank’s interests in the U.S. Congress and by pushing foreign policy that would favor the former Soviet state. Both Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, have denied wrongdoing. They faced a maximum penalty of 204 years in prison if convicted of the bribery, money laundering, conspiracy and working on behalf of a foreign government charges. Henry Cuellar, a moderate Democrat, is running for reelection in the March primary to represent Texas’ 28th Congressional District, which stretches from Laredo to San Antonio. In a Truth Social post, Trump cast Cuellar as a fellow victim of a politicized DOJ under then-President Joe Biden, saying Cuellar was targeted for speaking out against “Open Borders and the Biden Border ‘Catastrophe.’” Trump’s pardon only applies to the Cuellars. The federal indictment against the couple depicts Strother as a middleman in the bribery scheme. Strother, who is based in Buda, allegedly helped launder $242,000 in illegal payments.

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Survivors of boat strike were actively continuing drug mission, admiral to tell lawmakers

Two survivors of a Sept. 2 U.S. strike on a boat in the Caribbean were killed in follow-up attacks after they were seen still aboard the damaged vessel alongside packages of illegal narcotics, a senior commander is expected to tell lawmakers Thursday. Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley plans to say he and his legal adviser concluded the two survivors were attempting to continue their drug run, making them and the already-damaged vessel legitimate targets for another attack, two defense officials said. The details of the strike have emerged as a matter of concern for members of Congress who are seeking more information about the role played by Bradley and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and whether aspects of the operation violated laws of war or Pentagon procedures. The version of events Bradley is expected to deliver would rebut claims by legal experts that the killing of the two survivors could have constituted a war crime.

Lawmakers are likely to press Bradley, who commanded Joint Special Operations Command at the time, in the closed-door briefing on the extent of the damage to the boat, whether the men were injured, how Bradley reached his conclusions that the survivors were still legitimate targets, and whether he considered rescuing them. The attack was the first use of military force against drug boats by the administration and the only one in which survivors are known to have been targeted and killed in follow-up strikes. In mid-October, the Coast Guard rescued two survivors of an attack on a submersible because they were deemed unable to fight, according to the defense officials. The administration has launched 21 strikes in all, killing more than 80 people. Many law-of-war analysts have criticized President Trump’s assertion that drug traffickers are terrorists purposefully killing Americans, rather than criminals providing illegal narcotics to willing buyers. They have homed in on whether the two survivors in the Sept. 2 attack should have been deemed out of action—and therefore no longer legitimate military targets. The accounts of the attacks provided so far by the administration have left even some Republicans questioning the legality. “There is a difference between being accused of being a bad guy and being a bad guy. It is called the presumption of innocence,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), often a critic of the administration’s national security policy. “It is called due process. It is called, basically, justice that our country was founded upon.” Trump signaled support Wednesday for releasing the surveillance video of the operation taken by overhead aircraft.

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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to give every Texas newborn $1,000

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he wants to give every newborn in Texas $1,000. Patrick posted his idea on X on Wednesday morning, saying he will push for legislation in 2027 that mimics the Invest America initiative — also known as “Trump Accounts” — created this year as part of President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. “If I see a great idea from the President that helps Texans, my first question is always, ‘Why not do it in Texas, too?’” the lieutenant governor said. Trump Accounts made news Tuesday after Michael and Susan Dell announced they would give $6.25 billion to the Invest America initiative, amounting to about $250 for every child 10 and under who is ineligible for the Trump accounts. Michael Dell is the founder of Dell Technologies Inc. and is estimated to be the 11th-richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg.

Patrick estimated that creating a similar fund for children born in Texas would cost about $400 million a year. He proposed calling it the “New Little Texan Savings Fund.” “That is about 1% or less of our total state appropriations,” Patrick said. “We will amend the state constitution to add this as a permanent program. This is a great way to return money back to families and to teach the value of savings and compound interest to young Texans.” Amending the Texas Constitution requires approval from two-thirds of each chamber of the Texas Legislature and a majority of voters. Patrick’s proposal drew backlash from some conservatives. “This is absolutely horrific and an absolutely terrible, terrible idea - not only at the federal level, but state level as well. This should not pass,” former state Sen. Konni Burton, who represented Colleyville from 2015 to 2019 as a Republican, posted on social media. However, it drew an endorsement from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who was instrumental in creating the federal Trump Accounts. Cruz called Patrick’s idea, “Fantastic!” “I’m thrilled to see the Lone Star State and my good friend @DanPatrick taking this even further for Texas kids. Bravo!” Cruz posted on X.

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Texas exodus underscores the state’s fading relevance in the House GOP

The Lone Star State is used to having a Texas-sized impact on the House Republican Conference. And, by the numbers, its influence should be larger than ever. If a bold redistricting plan pushed by President Donald Trump goes forward, Texas could have a massive 30-member GOP delegation come 2027. And yet by the measures of clout and seniority — the real markers of power inside the House — the state is clearly on the wane. Six members are retiring — some to pursue other political ambitions, others quitting cold turkey. Assuming the redistricting plan is approved — a Supreme Court ruling on the matter could come as soon as Thursday — another five Republicans would be freshman back-benchers from a state that once racked up committee gavels. The turnover has left many in the already huge delegation unsettled and wondering how the state’s clout declined so precipitously. Rep. Pete Sessions, Texas’ longest-serving Republican, said in an interview that it’s “the biggest change of any redistricting period” he has been through in a nearly 30-year career.

“The timing of this across the board has been difficult to get your hands around,” Sessions said. He noted the redistricting and other retirements will “add youth and opportunity to the Texas delegation but a lot of the inexperience and a lot of things that come at a time when my party needs a lot of teamwork and collegiality.” A younger colleague, Rep. Jake Ellzey, also said the delegation is facing a “drastic change” over the coming years: “There’s going to be a lot of introductory lunches, that’s for sure.” Already there has been a remarkable shift since the beginning of Trump’s first term, when Texans held sway over seven House committees — including the powerful Armed Services, Financial Services and Ways and Means panels — as well as three coveted Appropriations subcommittee chairs. The GOP delegation was known for zealously guarding its influence, holding weekly lunches to strategize, amassing seats on the influential steering committee that doles out committee assignments and often voting as a bloc on key matters. Today Texans hold only three committee gavels, all on relatively backwater panels, and just one Appropriations subcommittee chair. One of those chairs, Budget’s Jodey Arrington, is retiring. No Texans serve in the House GOP’s elected leadership.

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State Stories

Trump pardons US Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was granting a "full and unconditional pardon" to Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, and his wife Imelda, who were charged with bribery. Last year, Cuellar and his wife were indicted for allegedly accepting close to $600,000 in bribes in two schemes meant to benefit an Azerbaijani state-owned energy company and an unnamed bank based in Mexico. Read about innovative ideas and the people working on solutions to global crises with the Reuters Beacon newsletter. Sign up here. He has maintained his innocence and that of his wife.

With a pardon from the Republican president resolving his legal problems, Cuellar is seeking a 12th two-year term, backed by the Democratic Party establishment. In thanking Trump on social media, Cuellar said: "This pardon gives us a clean slate. The noise is gone. The work remains. And I intend to meet it head on." Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, linked Cuellar's indictment to his immigration policies, saying, "He was treated very badly because he said that people should not be allowed to pour into our country, and he was right. He didn't like open borders." Cuellar has the reputation of being the House's most conservative Democrat. He opposed former President Joe Biden's move to lift a provision allowing U.S. border agents to turn away migrants to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Trump had instituted that move when the virus began to spread during his first term.

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New Texas legislation cancels volunteer-run Girl Scout camp

A long-running summer tradition for Girl Scouts in Aggieland is coming to an unexpected halt. For generations, the Howdy Day Camp has been a place where Girl Scouts make friends, learn new skills, and explore the outdoors. But this summer, Christine Lawrence, Howdy Day Camp’s registrar, says the camp gates will stay closed. “Girl Scouts of Central Texas has decided, since legislation’s all over the place and we don’t know what it’s going to look like, they’re going to focus on getting the residential camps, which are the overnight camps, both in Belton and in Austin, up to compliance once they know that information,” Lawrence said. “And so they don’t want any volunteer-run camps for 2026 so that they can make sure that we are meeting those new safety expectations.” The Howdy Day Camp has been volunteer-run for nearly 70 years. But the Girl Scouts say new state laws designed to keep campers safe make running volunteer camps this year impossible.

Howdy Day Camp aide and former camper Korinne Yarbrough expressed how much the camp meant to her. “Camp Howdy means a lot to me, honestly. I’ve been going there for a while, and when I became an aide, you really get involved with a lot of other things,” Yarbrough said. “You help the girls with crafts and we go on the trails and we do songs.” Still, the announcement came as a shock to parents, campers, and volunteers who are now looking to the future. “I really hope that soon we can pass the safety guidelines so that we can comply and have it open again,” Yarbrough said. “I’m just really hoping for that as soon as possible.” The Girl Scout leaders of Bryan-College Station hope to bring back Howdy Day Camp next year and are working to ensure everything complies.

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Trump pardons Texas stadium developer his own DOJ indicted

President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned businessman Tim Leiweke, despite the fact that his own Department of Justice charged the stadium developer in July for allegedly rigging the bidding process for a $375 million multipurpose arena at the University of Texas at Austin. Leiweke, a longtime entertainment executive and co-founder of the development group Oak View, is alleged to have “entered into an agreement with another potential bidder for the arena to drop a competing effort in exchange for lucrative subcontracts” during the 2018 bidding process for a development project at the university’s Moody Center, according to a press release issued by the DOJ when he was indicted on one count of breaking federal antitrust law. As a result, Oak View Group was the only qualified bidder, winning the contract and, according to the indictment, continuing “to receive significant revenues from the project to date.”

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‘Only scratching the surface’: Texas just became the first state to purchase bitcoin

The state of Texas recently purchased about $5 million worth of bitcoin through a BlackRock-administered exchange-traded fund, a representative for the state comptroller’s office confirmed in an email to The Dallas Morning News on Monday. The purchase came several months after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Senate Bill 21, a high-profile and controversial legislative effort that enabled the Texas comptroller’s office to establish a publicly funded strategic cryptocurrency reserve. It also amounts to one of the first-ever cryptocurrency transactions by a state government amid a broader federal and state government embrace of the recently surging crypto industry. Other states, including New Hampshire and Arizona, have passed similar crypto reserve bills.

And last year, Wisconsin’s and Michigan’s pension funds also purchased crypto, although with the comptroller’s purchase Texas has now become the first state to actually fund such a reserve. “The industry is maturing and growing — it’ll continue to become more mainstream, and I think Texas staking out a leadership position will be very beneficial to Texans over time, similar to what the oil and gas industry has done over the last century,” said Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, a crypto lobbying group that championed the state legislative effort. “I think we’re only scratching the surface,” Bratcher said. The state made the roughly $5 million purchase through BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), a fund managed by the major asset management firm that trades in U.S. dollars but generally reflects the price of bitcoin. As of early afternoon Monday, IBIT was trading around $48, reflecting a roughly 20% loss over the past month and a 13% decrease since the beginning of the year. Those valuations broadly align with the recently highly volatile price of bitcoin: Early this year — amid a crypto frenzy inspired largely by the new, extremely crypto-friendly Trump administration — the world’s predominant cryptocurrency soared to above $100,000 for the first time in its history, and then in early October reached an all-time high above $126,000.

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Why Nature Nate is shifting from business to Texas politics

Fifteen years ago, Nathan Sheets was at a crossroads when an unexpected job loss left him scrambling. He had worked in marketing for more than a decade, but maybe it was time, he thought, to make a run at a honey side hustle he had going. A quest to learn more about a new beekeeping hobby had put him in touch with a retired contractor who kept about 100 hives and sold honey to local stores. When his mentor’s health declined, Sheets stepped in to help. As the beekeeper became more sick, he asked Sheets to buy the business. Although others advised against it, Sheets bought the small enterprise in 1997. He had no interest in growing the operation—he just couldn’t bear to see it die. But the surprise job loss changed things. Sheets decided to see if he could leverage his marketing expertise and generate enough income to support his family. He figured he’d need about $100,000 a year. He began by swinging for the fences, applying for a local vendor program through Walmart.

Within weeks, a corporate buyer called and told him the retailer wanted to test the honey in some of its Texas stores. Sheets’ first order from Walmart was for $107,000 worth of honey. He was all in. He branded to Nature Nate’s in 2012 and set a lofty goal of becoming the most trusted honey brand in the world. He’d do so, he figured, through transparency—pushing the fact that the honey was raw and unfiltered. “We approached it more like a vintner than a honey producer,” he says. The pandemic boosted demand. Within 10 years of rebranding, Nature Nate’s had become the industry’s leading honey brand. But keeping up with growth and dealing with a few setbacks meant it was time for outside capital. After a sale to Kraft Heinz Co. fell through, Sheets reconnected with a private equity firm that had previously expressed interest—Blue Road Capital. The company acquired Nature Nate’s in 2022 and merged it with another of its portfolio brands, Sweet Harvest Foods. Sheets stayed on as CEO and as the honey brand’s largest minority shareholder, but after the dust settled, he found himself at another crossroads. At the end of 2024, he had lunch with friend and politician Rick Santorum, and shared that he was trying to figure out what to do next. Santorum suggested he consider running for Ag Commissioner in Texas.

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Fourth lawsuit filed against Celina ISD and former teacher over sexual misconduct allegations

Celina ISD now faces a fourth lawsuit over allegations that a former teacher recorded students changing in the boys’ locker room. And attorneys say new evidence shows the district may have been aware of the misconduct before it was reported. Caleb Elliott, a former eighth-grade football coach at Moore Middle School in Celina ISD, was arrested in October after a student reported that Elliott was intentionally photographing boys “in various states of undress” in the locker room. Elliott now faces39 criminal charges, including eight federal charges of sexual exploitation of children. He has been in custody since Nov. 7. Texas House Rep. Mitch Little from Denton told reporters at a press conference outside the Collin County courthouse that multiple witnesses report another football coach at Moore Middle School confronted Elliott about his behavior before a student reported it to school principal Allison Ginn Oct.3.

“It is now apparent to me that Celina Police Department has stopped their investigation where they wanted to, and not necessarily where the evidence would lead them,” Little said. He also said Elliott may have shared photos and videos of students to unknown people on the social media app Snapchat. KERA has reached out to Celina ISD and the Celina Police Department for comment. The Celina Police Department concluded its investigation of the allegations against Elliott last month. Celina Police Chief John Cullison said at a press conference last month police found?no evidence to support allegations included in?lawsuits brought by families against the school district?that Elliot had set up hidden cameras in the locker room. Quentin Brogdon, one of the attorneys for the 17victims’ families included in the new lawsuit, said what happened was preventable. Brogdon said Celina ISD is deflecting blame for the allegations onto Elliott. “The district's credibility on what it knew about this sexual predator and when it knew it is like a carton of sour milk,” Brogdon said. “You don't have to take more than the first sip of it to know the entire carton is bad.” KERA filed an open records request for a copy of Elliott’s personnel file, as well as a copy of Ginn’s file and Bill and Nathan Elliott’s files. Bill Elliott is the head football coach at high school and Nathan Elliott is on the coaching staff. An attorney for Celina ISD said in a request for an Attorney General opinion the records contained a written reprimand and a report to the Texas Education Agency regarding an employee’s conduct.

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Texas border police chief who dodged past scandals is relieved of duties

Gilbert Guerrero has run into his share of trouble during seven years as police chief of the Rio Grande Valley city of Donna. But he always managed to hang onto his job. In 2022, he was fired — briefly — for allegedly refusing to investigate a credible tip about a planned mass shooting at Donna High School. He appealed his dismissal, and the interim city manager reinstated him 10 days later, citing his “long tenure” and popularity among officers. Two years later, Guerrero emerged unscathed from an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment. Guerrero was relieved of his duties last week, and Donna Police Department officers have a new boss: Capt. Juan Garcia.

“Effective immediately, Captain Garcia will serve as your primary point of contact and the head of the department until further notice,” City Manager Jorge L. Peña wrote in an email obtained by Hendricks. Peña told CBS 4 News the move was prompted by a “personnel matter.” He declined to elaborate. Guerrero was relieved of his responsibilities but has not been fired, city officials said. Technically, he’s still the chief. Guerrero graduated from Donna High School and started his career in law enforcement as a Donna police officer. He later worked for the neighboring Rio Grande Valley cities of Alamo and Pharr and became an investigator for the Texas Attorney General’s Office. In 2018, he returned to his hometown as police chief. Four years later, he was fired for allegedly refusing to investigate “viable information” about a planned armed assault on Donna High School, city records show. A senior police officer launched an investigation into the tip anyway, ignoring Guerrero’s “irresponsible directive,” then-interim City Manager Frank Perez wrote in a termination letter obtained by CBS 4 News.

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Parents of Brianna Aguilera retain high-profile Texas law firms after daughter’s death in Austin

The parents of Brianna Aguilera, a 19-year-old Texas A&M University student who died after falling from a high-rise apartment in Austin, have retained two high-profile law firms to represent them in the case. Manuel Aguilera and Stephanie Rodriguez retained the San Antonio-based Gamez Law Firm and the Houston-based Buzbee Law Firm “to assist them in determining what happened to their daughter,” attorney Tony Buzbee said in a Facebook post Wednesday. “Brianna’s parents firmly believe there is much more information that needs to be discovered regarding their daughter’s death,” Buzbee said in the post. “They feel certain this was not an accident. This was certainly not a suicide. This family deserves straight answers.”

Brianna Aguilera, of Laredo, was found unresponsive early Saturday morning outside the 21 Rio apartment complex, in the heart of the student living area for University of Texas at Austin students. She traveled to the city for the Texas vs. Texas A&M football game. The Austin Police Department said she fell from the 17th floor of the building, and initially said there were no signs of suspicious circumstances and that the case was not being investigated as a homicide. After follow-up questions from KSAT, the department clarified that the investigation is still “open and ongoing.” The cause of death is pending the Travis County Medical Examiner’s findings. Stephanie Rodriguez said the information she has been given doesn’t add up. “There are a lot of inconsistencies with the story,” she told KSAT. “It’s just so unbearable and unimaginable what happened to her that night, and I don’t have answers.”

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Trial delayed for former Texas youth pastor

The trial for a former youth pastor at four Texas churches has been reset to April 20, 2026, granting both the prosecution and defense more time to prepare for what is expected to be a contentious case. Luke Cunningham, 43, of Lubbock, Texas, faces charges that include 16 counts of sexual assault of a child. These charges carry a first-degree felony enhancement known as “bigamy” following a grand jury reindictment that superseded previous charges and added penal enhancements. The statute under which Cunningham has been reindicted escalates sexual assault charges to first-degree felonies when the offender is accused of assaulting a person “whom the actor was prohibited from marrying or living with under the appearance of marriage,” as defined by Texas bigamy laws.

Prosecutors based these charges on Cunningham’s alleged promises to marry his underage victims — teenagers in his youth group at Turning Point Community Church in Lubbock — once they turned 18. At the time of the alleged offenses, Cunningham was married and had several children with his then-spouse. Cunningham’s case drew national attention when BNG first reported in June 2024 that he had been arrested by U.S. marshals on child sexual assault charges. He also was reportedly under federal investigation by the FBI for possible international and interstate sex trafficking, as the alleged abuse reportedly took place overseas during mission trips. BNG has learned through multiple sources close to the case, including advocates and law enforcement officials speaking on background, that Cunningham’s reindictment occurred after a prospective plea deal fell through. Sources allege that prosecutors initially offered Cunningham a plea deal of 50 years in prison. Had he accepted, Cunningham would have been released at age 93, assuming he survived the full sentence. Cunningham allegedly refused this deal and countered with a prospective term of five years, which was summarily rejected by the prosecution.

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Judge dismisses Southwestern Seminary from Roe lawsuit

A federal judge has permanently dismissed Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from the long-running defamation lawsuit filed by Jane Roe, while leaving the door open for a jury trial against former seminary President Paige Patterson in the summer 2026. This lawsuit, originally filed in 2019, has become one of the most protracted legal battles in recent Southern Baptist history, keeping the details of Patterson’s controversial exit from Southwestern in the headlines seven years after his firing. In a Dec. 1 opinion, U.S. District Judge Sean D. Jordan ruled that while the seminary is no longer liable, claims against Patterson regarding a controversial 2018 donor letter remain active. However, the court simultaneously granted Patterson a final opportunity to seek dismissal before facing a jury.

The ruling clarifies a chaotic and long-running legal battle for what once was the nation’s largest freestanding theological seminary and its former embattled president. The legal path of the case has bounced between the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas. Plaintiff Jane Roe — a former student who alleges she was sexually assaulted by another student in 2014 — argued recent appellate decisions had revived her claims against both Patterson and the seminary. Judge Jordan disagreed, ruling the seminary cannot be held liable for the actions of employees who were working “against the interests” of the institution. The court found that while seminary employees, including Patterson’s former Chief of Staff Scott Colter, may have participated in drafting the defamation, they did so to criticize the seminary’s decision to fire Patterson.

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More North Texans with college degrees are struggling with poverty

A college education is not the ticket out of poverty that it used to be. A Dallas Morning News analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau found more North Texas adults with college degrees live in poverty today compared to a decade ago. That mirrors a trend across major metropolitan areas in the state and country. Since 2014, the number of North Texans with college degrees has increased by more than 50%. Higher education still leads to higher income, as the region’s rapid economic growth increased median incomes across educational levels, data shows. Yet the general decline in North Texas’ poverty rate largely comes from a drop in poverty levels among adults without a high school diploma, according to the data. Adults with at least a bachelor’s degree are least likely to live in poverty. But the share of those struggling below the poverty level has increased significantly since 2014.

Less than 12% or 59,000 adults in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area with college degrees lived below the poverty level in 2014, census data show. That headcount grew to over 80,000 or about 18% last year. In 2014, over a third of adults (more than 175,000) living below the poverty level, held less than a high school diploma. Their share dropped to less than 25% (or less than 114,000) as of 2024. Changes in the local labor market, driven by shifts from one industry to another, may be impacting the financial situation of college-educated adults, said Sean Reardon, a professor of poverty and inequality in education at Stanford University. For example, the shift from a manufacturing economy with lots of high-wage jobs that didn’t require a bachelor’s degree (think unionized auto or steel manufacturing jobs), to a service economy, where most high-wage jobs require a degree — think computer science and finance professions — changed the importance of having a college degree, he said. Changes in the education system itself are unlikely to have caused these shifts, Reardon further said, as all the adults surveyed are 25 years of age and above. “For most of them, their educational/college experience was decades ago,” he said. “So recent changes in their poverty rates are likely not related to their educational experiences.” The influx of big tech and financial companies over the past decade coincides with this trend in poverty levels.

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Muslim students warn of spate of harassment by far-right Christian agitators, Texas study finds

On a Sunday evening last month, several Muslim high schoolers were sipping drinks and playing board games at a coffee shop in Murphy, Texas, for what was supposed to be a casual social gathering. Around sunset, some of the students stepped outside Original Mocha coffee house, located in the suburb about 25 miles northeast of Dallas, to offer their evening prayer. They asked the cafe owners for permission to use the sidewalk, and 17-year-old Usman Kayani started leading the short prayer. That is when three men who identify themselves as Christian influencers approached the roughly 20 students and began making Islamophobic comments such as “I am mocking your religion” and “You need Jesus,” according to video footage.

Kayani didn’t look behind or cut short the prayer, he said, even as one of the men came close to him. “I was kind of scared at that moment because I thought he was going to attack me,” Kayani said. “So I just closed my eyes and continued reciting the Quran. I needed to keep my prayer steady.” Most in his group remained seated and quiet, he said, not wanting to escalate or give the agitators a reaction. “We were taught to hold ourselves with dignity even when others don’t,” said Kayani, who is president of Plano East Senior High School’s Muslim Student Association. He said the men who mocked them were questioned by police officers and given trespassing warnings. Eight days later on Nov. 18, at least one of the same men, who identified himself as Christopher Svochak via videos he posted of the incidents, disrupted an early morning prayer and breakfast event hosted by the MSA group at the University of South Florida in Tampa. And in late October, Svochak also recorded himself setting a Quran on fire after interrupting a Muslim student gathering at the University of Houston. Over the last two months, at least seven Muslim student groups in the United States have been harassed by right-wing Christian activists, said Mohamad Altabaa, a Texas-based student who is tracking harassment cases with a group called MSA Unity.

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Texas bathroom bill goes into effect. Here's how it impacts transgender students

Transgender students at Texas public universities will no longer legally be allowed to use multi-stall restrooms matching their gender identity starting Thursday, when Senate Bill 8 — better known as the “bathroom bill” — takes effect for public agencies, schools and universities across the state. The law mandates all multi-occupancy restrooms in public buildings be exclusively designated for males or females as defined by an individual’s reproductive organs, not their presenting or identifying gender. Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, who authored the law, called SB 8 the “strongest” women’s privacy act in the nation to protect women — though no statistical evidence indicates safety risks increase when transgender individuals use the bathroom matching their gender identity.

The new restrictions are another challenge that transgender students must reckon with in Texas higher education. Multiple university systems have recently restricted courses that appear to “advocate” for gender ideology, and the University of Texas and Texas A&M University no longer offer gender-affirming care for students. The Texas Tech University system will no longer teach the existence of more than two genders and is reviewing all courses concerning sexual orientation. Senate Bill 17, passed in 2023, removed university-sponsored support for marginalized students, which resulted in the closure of LGBTQ resource centers across the state. Rather than punish individuals, the 2025 law puts the onus on public agencies to take “every reasonable step” to ensure that the law is being followed — and invites individuals to report violations to the Attorney General that could lead to lawsuits or fines. “The actual legislation doesn’t really tell folks what they should be doing as far as enforcement is concerned,” Brad Pritchett, CEO of Equality Texas, an LGBTQ advocacy non-profit, said in an interview. “What it does is it kind of creates a kind of threat to any municipality. At any time someone could accuse them of being noncompliant with the law.” Texas universities are responding in different ways. Ahead of the compliance deadline, UT San Antonio relocated 30 students to different dorms, KSAT reported and the American-Statesman confirmed with the university, giving students little notice to move. Spokesperson Joe Izbrand said UTSA “is working with each of them individually to ensure a smooth transition.”

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Thousands of Austin drivers cited for not having car insurance, police say

The latest data from the Austin Police Department show traffic citations are up in the city compared to last year. Last month, APD’s assistant chief of patrol presented the numbers to the city of Austin’s Mobility Committee, the group responsible for improving transportation across the city. In addition to the ticket uptick, the data also showed over 8,000 drivers have been cited for driving without insurance so far this year. Data collected between January and September show driving without insurance citations were by far the most common ticket issued to Austin drivers with a total of 8,567. Tickets for driving without a license (5,293) and having an expired registration (3,915) followed by a few thousand citations.

Assistant Chief of Patrol Mike Chancellor said there are a few reasons why driving without insurance far outranks other citations. “First, insurance costs money and so not everyone spends that money to get the insurance,” Chancellor said. According to Chancellor, the biggest reason comes down to drivers being cited at stops for other violations. “We may pull you over for speeding. We may pull you over if you ran a red light. But then we may find that you don’t have a license or you don’t have insurance and we cite you for those things right there,” he said. Chancellor said APD uses a database called TexasSure to verify a driver’s insurance. However, if the database is down and the driver does not have a copy of their insurance, then APD will issue a citation. The ticket can later be dismissed in court. Car insurance is legally required in Texas, and Chancellor emphasized the importance of protecting yourself if an accident were to occur.

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Petrochemical expansion in Texas will fall heavily on communities of color, study finds

Researchers at Texas Southern University in Houston have analyzed demographic data around the locations of almost 100 industrial facilities proposed statewide and found that about 90 percent are located in counties with higher concentrations of people of color and families in poverty than statewide averages. In a report released this month, the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern also found that nearly half of those proposed industrial sites—petrochemicals plants for manufacturing plastics, coastal export terminals, refineries and other facilities—were already above the 90th percentile for pollution exposure under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory, a measurement of harmful industrial emissions. “Texas and other states must end decades-long industrial facility siting where economically disadvantaged fenceline communities serve as dumping grounds,” the report concluded.

Robert Bullard, the center’s director and lead author of the report, first came to prominence as a young sociologist at the university when he produced a 1979 study showing that all five of Houston’s city-owned landfills and six of eight city-owned incinerators were located in Black neighborhoods. “The process of the dumping, the siting, has not changed over these 45 years that I’ve been studying this,” Bullard said in an interview. “America is segregated and so is pollution.” Planned projects reviewed in the Bullard Center’s latest work, “Green Light to Pollute in Texas,“ cluster primarily around the state’s existing refinery hubs on the Gulf Coast, such as Port Arthur, the Houston Ship Channel, Freeport and Corpus Christi. Nearly half are located near neighborhoods that already face among the highest levels of toxic air pollution in the country, the report said. These petrochemical complexes have grown rapidly in the last decade, fueled by abundant oil and gas from the fracking boom in the oilfields of Texas and beyond. Plastics industries dominated that growth. Plastics producers in Texas last year sold $61.5 billion in materials and employed 54,000 people, more than any other state, according to a recent report by the American Chemistry Council, an industry group.

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National Stories

Discharge petitions are surging. Republican defectors say it’s not Mike Johnson’s fault.

Republican House members have attempted five times under Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership to bypass one of his biggest powers: choosing which bills should go for a vote. Still, many of the Republicans who supported discharge petitions that force a vote say they’re not a rebuke of Johnson’s leadership. “The speaker has done a pretty strong job,” Rep. Chip Roy told NOTUS, adding that discharge petitions “just shape the direction and drive a statement that there is a clear majority. The majority party can still grab the bill and do something with it.”

The typically unsuccessful political maneuver requires the support of 218 lawmakers, which typically means Republicans teaming up with Democrats to force votes on bills that leadership has declined to bring to the floor. Most recently, a measure introduced by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna demanding that the Justice Department release files on convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein passed the House 427-1. Massie said that the increasing level of successful discharge petitions was more about the House’s razor-thin margins than Johnson’s leadership. There are 219 Republicans and 213 Democrats in the House as of December, meaning Democrats need to win over only a small number of Republicans. “It’s going to be more likely to succeed with a narrow margin,” Massie said. “You can’t read too much into it.”

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Congress pulls major college sports bill after bipartisan backlash: 'Not ready for prime time'

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives pulled a bill scheduled for a final vote on Wednesday, Dec. 3 that would have allowed the NCAA and its newly-formed College Sports Commission to create and enforce national rules that have been under legal dispute in recent years. The SCORE Act (Student Compensation And Opportunity Through Rights and Endorsements) sought to provide more regulation and calm the chaotic environment created by the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation, revenue sharing and the transfer portal to college sports. It passed a procedural vote on Tuesday, 210-209, but the legislation drew bipartisan backlash as a final vote neared. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and the Congressional Black Caucus were among the vocal critics, and issues with how the bill infringed on athletes' rights inspired competing legislation from House Democrats earlier this week.

The move to pull the SCORE Act by House GOP leaders about two hours before it was originally slated for a final vote was seen as a sign it no longer had enough support to pass. "The SCORE Act was pulled from consideration because it simply didn't have the votes, a clear sign that Members on both sides saw it for what it was: a gift to the NCAA and the Power Two conferences at the expense of athletes. This bill would have imposed new restrictions on athletesm, while doing nothing to address the real instability in college athletics.," Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) wrote in a social media post after the vote was scuttled. The proposed bill, which was introduced in July by members of both parties with backing from leaders of three House committees, would permit the NCAA to set a cap on how much schools can spend on NIL deals and parameters for the manner in which athletes transfer, so long as they can transfer at least once and be immediately eligible. Other aspects of the proposed bill would put into law the fair-market-value assessment of athletes' NIL deals with entities other than schools provided under the House vs. NCAA settlement and allow universities to prevent athletes from having NIL deals that conflict with school sponsorship deals.

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USDA Chief Brooke Rollins threatens to pause state SNAP funding in data standoff

Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will pause federal funding to blue states that refuse to provide the information it requested on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program aid recipients. Rollins said during a Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump the pause would be in effect as of next week. The fight between the administration and states over personal data goes back months. “We have begun and will begin to stop moving federal funds into those states, until they comply, and they tell us and allow us to partner with them to root out this fraud and to protect these American taxpayers,” Rollins said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture told NOTUS in a statement that states refusing to turn over the data will have another opportunity to do so before losing funding. “We have sent Democrat States yet another request for data, and if they fail to comply, they will be provided with formal warning that USDA will pull their administrative funds,” the spokesperson said. Earlier this year, USDA asked all states to turn over their data and allow the agency to review how the program is managed. Rollins said it was an effort aimed at ensuring the food aid only goes to those who need it. But 21 blue states declined to provide the information, arguing in a court case the administration’s request was unlawful and likely to compromise recipients’ personal data. Still, nearly 30 states did hand over the information, which included details like Social Security numbers, benefit amounts and home addresses. The administration is now arguing that the data showed rampant fraudulent use of the benefits. “Twenty-nine states said ‘yes.’ Not surprisingly, the red states, and that’s where all of that data, that fraud comes from. But 21 states, including California, New York and Minnesota — blue states — continue to say ‘no,’” Rollins said. Rollins acknowledged in her remarks that SNAP funding had become a larger part of the national discourse during the government shutdown, when the aid was interrupted and the fight over contingency funding even reached the Supreme Court. Some states scrambled to cobble together funding for their constituents who rely on the service — nearly 42 million Americans rely on the aid. Even before the shutdown, Republicans in Washington set in motion major changes to the program that will shrink the number of people eligible and shift more of the administrative burden to states. Last month, Rollins also created uncertainty around the program when she said that people who receive SNAP would need to “reapply,” though the Agriculture Department later said it would continue to use existing eligibility verification processes, according to Politico.

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House Democrat launches investigation into Trump, ’60 Minutes’ interview edit

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is demanding CBS and its parent company Paramount provide more information about how it edited an interview with President Trump that aired on “60 Minutes” last month. Raskin, in a letter to newly appointed CBS News ombudsperson Ken Weinstein that was shared exclusively with The Hill, blasted the network for what he said was the “improper influence President Donald Trump wielded over CBS News’s editorial decisions” in recent weeks, including during the interview that aired Nov. 2 “President Trump increasingly appears to be exercising direct control over CBS’s editorial decisions, destroying CBS’s ‘journalistic integrity’ while violating its right to be free from governmental coercion and manipulation,” Raskin wrote.

The Democrat took specific issue with the network’s decision not to include a portion of Trump’s comments to journalist Norah O’Donnell in which he bragged about a $16 million settlement Paramount paid his presidential foundation earlier this year. The settlement was made to quell a lawsuit Trump brought against the company over its editing of a similar interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election. “And, actually, ’60 Minutes’ paid me a lot of money,” Trump said during the interview in comments that did not air in the broadcast but were included in a transcript posted online that evening. “And you don’t have to put this on, because I don’t want to embarrass you, and I’m sure you’re not … I think you have a great, new leader, frankly, who’s — the young woman that’s leading your whole enterprise is a great, from what I know.” After it faced intense backlash from Trump’s allies over the Harris edit, CBS vowed to publish full transcripts of all “60 Minutes” interviews with presidents and presidential candidates.

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Pope Leo XIV's distinctiveness begins to show

Pope Leo XIV's first foreign trip evidenced profound echoes of his predecessor, Pope Francis. Still, we are also starting to see points of difference emerge as well. As Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich said at the press conference the U.S. cardinal-electors held the day after Leo's election: "I think it's important to remember that when we have the appointment of a bishop in the church, we don't talk about a replacement, we talk about a successor. ... That is what we [the cardinal electors] were looking for as well." Leo is not Francis 2.0. Leo is Leo. Like Francis, Leo went to a country, Turkey, with very few Catholics. Francis, remember, went to Mongolia, which has only a few thousand Catholics. There are not that many more in Turkey and it is wonderful to see the bishop of Rome confirm the faithful in lands where they are so few. Leo met with the elderly as well as the youth, as did his predecessors on their trips. And he met with civic leaders. Like Francis, Leo championed the cause of Christian unity, looking forward to the great jubilee of 2033 when all Christians will celebrate the 2,000th anniversary of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord.

Like all of his recent predecessors, Leo emphasized the special closeness of the church of Rome with the Eastern churches. The scene at the site of the Council of Nicaea, where the pope was joined by almost all the patriarchs of the Eastern churches, was another step toward the restoration of full communion. His obvious and easy rapport with Patriarch Bartholomew brought to mind memories of Pope Paul VI meeting with Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem in 1964. Unlike Francis, Leo declined to pray while visiting the famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul. I feared that traditionalists who criticized Francis would seize on this point, as they did with Leo's wearing the scarlet mozzetta when he appeared on the loggia of St. Peter's after his election, seeing it a sign of secret traditionalist sympathies. Then people recalled that Pope Benedict XVI had also prayed when he visited the mosque, so that dog didn't hunt.

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Florida starts redistricting talks in a growing battle for House control in 2026 elections

Florida’s Republican-controlled House is holding the first meeting of its select committee on congressional redistricting Thursday, as the state becomes the latest to consider redrawing electoral maps amid a partisan battle for every edge in next year’s midterm elections. The national wave of redistricting efforts was instigated by President Donald Trump, who hopes to buck the historical trend of the president’s party losing seats in midterms, and his allies are wagering that his adopted home state could yield three to five more seats for Republicans. Each seat is crucial, because Democrats need a net gain of just three to control the chamber. But the push for redistricting faces major challenges in Florida due to bitter infighting between Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and leaders in the GOP-dominated Legislature, along with a provision in the state Constitution that explicitly bars redrawing maps with the intent to “favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.”

DeSantis has voiced support for redistricting and even called for a redo of the 2020 U.S. census, claiming that Florida was shortchanged in the count, which determines how many congressional seats each state gets. “We are going to press this issue,” DeSantis said in August. This week, in an interview with online outlet The Floridian, DeSantis floated the possibility of calling lawmakers back in a special session if they do not get redistricting done in the regular session, which is scheduled for Jan. 13 to March 13. The state Senate has declined to wade into the fray so far. Senate President Ben Albritton, also a Republican, has said there is “no ongoing work” on the matter in his chamber, citing the governor's desire to address it in the spring. Civil liberties and voting rights organizations say any redistricting for partisan gain in Florida is unconstitutional, and their supporters plan to pack committee meetings to voice opposition. “To redraw the lines for partisan reasons is illegal. Period, full stop,” said Genesis Robinson, executive director of the voter engagement organization Equal Ground. Florida has 28 congressional seats, with a Republican-Democratic split of 20-8. Nationwide, midcycle redistricting has resulted in nine more congressional seats that Republicans believe they can win and six that Democrats think they can win. The redistricting is being litigated in several states, however, and there is also no guarantee that the parties will win the remapped seats

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Scott Galloway on the masculinity crisis: ‘I worry we are evolving a new breed of asexual, asocial males’

It takes balls to title your book Notes on Being a Man. And, superficially, Scott Galloway could easily be lumped in with a dozen other manosphere-friendly alpha-bros promising to teach young men how to find their inner wolf. He is, after all, a wealthy, healthy, white, heterosexual, shaven-headed, 61-year-old Californian who made his name and fortune as a successful investor and podcaster. But in reality, he is almost the opposite: liberal, left-leaning and surprisingly sensitive. The guy who advises his readers on “how to address the masculinity crisis, build mental strength and raise good sons” has been described as a “progressive Jordan Peterson”, or “Gordon Gekko with a social conscience”. Galloway is also sufficiently self-aware not to claim he has all the answers. “I don’t think it would be well received for me to say, ‘This is how you become a man,’” he says, speaking from his London home. “What I’m trying to say is, this is where I’ve had some success, and mostly where I screwed up trying to become a man.”

When Galloway first started talking about masculinity, he says, people weren’t prepared to listen. “It was like, here’s more misogyny, here’s more men blaming women – the gag reflex was so strong.” This was about four years ago, but all that has now changed. When Notes On Being a Man was released in early November, it raced to the top of the New York Times advice books bestseller list and Galloway has been in demand in the media ever since, giving his take on what’s wrong with men, and what to do about it. Galloway has plenty of statistics to back up his claim that young men really are in trouble. Drawing on research by writers such as Richard Reeves (author of 2022’s Of Boys and Men) and his NYU colleague Jonathan Haidt (whose recent book The Anxious Generation sounded the alarm on social media), he sketches out a landscape of rising rates of everything from boys’ school suspensions to male unemployment, addictions, loneliness, and failure to complete college. “We’re going to graduate probably two women for every one man from college in the next five years, because men drop out at a greater rate.” Galloway suggests that the previous denial of the problem, especially by the political left, might even have put Donald Trump back in the White House. “Let me offer that the reason we elected [him] is because of struggling with men.” Two groups that pivoted hardest towards Trump in 2024, he says, were young men, and women aged 45 to 64, and “my thesis is that’s the mothers of young men.” While Trump embraced the manosphere, the Democrats championed the interests of virtually every special interest group except young men, he argues.

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Lead Stories

Plans for Jasmine Crockett, Marc Veasey 2026 campaigns become more clear

Jasmine Crockett plans announcement ahead of filing deadline on her future. The Dallas Democrat who now represents the 30th Congressional District said she will hold a special announcement in Dallas at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, 90 minutes before the state's deadline for candidates to file their campaign paperwork. The political dominoes started to fall into place for other North Texas Democrats, who are waiting to see if the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the 2025 Congressional maps after Justice Samuel Alito temporarily reinstated them last month. A source familiar with the situation told CBS News Texas that if the Supreme Court upholds the 2025 maps, Democratic Congressman Marc Veasey of Fort Worth will run in the newly drawn 30th Congressional District.

The district remains mostly in Dallas County and now also includes an additional 200,000 people in Tarrant County. The source said if the Supreme Court upholds the 2021 Congressional maps, Veasey will remain in the 33rd Congressional District, which he has represented since 2013. A variety of Democrats said Tuesday they believe Crockett is definitely running for the Senate. Crockett told CBS News Texas last month that she would only run statewide for U.S. Senate if polling she commissioned showed she could win a general election by expanding the electorate and attracting new voters. History has shown it is an uphill climb for any Democrat to win statewide in Texas because that hasn't happened in more than 30 years. Before Crockett can run in a general election, she has to win the primary and beat her fellow Democrats: former Dallas Congressman Colin Allred, who ran statewide last year and attracted some Republicans in his bid against Sen. Ted Cruz, and State Rep. James Talarico, who raised a record amount of money after his announcement and generated national headlines. Republicans are already expressing excitement for a likely Crockett Senate run because they believe she can't win a general election.

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Republicans hold Tennessee special election. But Democrats are still celebrating.

Republican Matt Van Epps (R) won a special election on Tuesday in Tennessee in what was seen as a likely bellwether for next year’s midterms. Van Epps defeated state Rep. Aftyn Behn (D) for a Nashville-area House seat that went for President Trump by over 20 points last year. According to voting data on Tuesday night, he won the seat by roughly 9 points, raising alarm bells for some in the GOP who fear the surprising competitiveness of the race could be a bad omen for next year. Democrats, meanwhile, are touting Behn’s performance as another reason to feel optimistic.

A defeat in the 7th district not only would have further narrowed the GOP’s already slim majority in the House, but it also would have been a humiliating loss for Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) at a time when both men are facing criticism from within their own party. The race also came less than a month after Democrats outperformed expectations in elections in New Jersey and Virginia, further raising GOP concerns about the midterms. While Republicans were always favored to win the district, recent polling suggested a tight contest. In a sign the party was worried, Trump and Johnson raced to shore up support for Van Epps in the final days of the race. The president was quick to take a victory lap on Tuesday. While they fell short of flipping the seat, Democrats still had reasons to feel optimistic Tuesday night. Behn overperformed in the district by about 13 points compared to 2024, making her race the latest example of Democrats surpassing expectations in special elections this year. Democrats were also looking at her performance as a gauge for how messaging on issues like affordability would play in Trump-friendly parts of the country.

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Michael and Susan Dell donate $6.25 billion to encourage families to claim 'Trump Accounts'

Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion Tuesday to provide 25 million American children 10 and under an incentive to claim the new investment accounts for children created as part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation. The historic gift has little precedent, with few single charitable commitments in the past 25 years exceeding $1 billion. Announced on GivingTuesday, the Dells believe it’s the largest single private commitment made to U.S. children. Its structure is also unusual. Essentially, it builds on the “ Trump Accounts " program, where the U.S. Department of the Treasury will deposit $1,000 into investment accounts it sets up for American children born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028. The Dells’ gift will use the “Trump Accounts” infrastructure to give $250 to each qualified child under 11.

“We believe that if every child can see a future worth saving for, this program will build something far greater than an account. It will build hope and opportunity and prosperity for generations to come,” said Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies whose estimated net worth is $148 billion, according to Forbes. Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion on Tuesday to provide an incentive to families to adopt new investment accounts for children. The accounts were created as part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation but have not yet launched. Though the “Trump Accounts” became law as part of the president’s signature legislation in July, the Dells say the accounts will not launch until July 4, 2026. Michael Dell said they wanted to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. “We want these kids to know that not only do their families care, but their communities care, their government, their country cares about them,” Susan Dell told The Associated Press.

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Hegseth, citing ‘fog of war,’ says he learned of survivors hours after strike

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that “a couple of hours” passed before he was made aware that a September military strike he authorized and “watched live” required an additional attack to kill two survivors, further distancing himself from an incident now facing congressional inquiry. Speaking in the Cabinet Room alongside President Donald Trump, Hegseth delivered the most extensive public accounting yet of his involvement in the strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea. Lawmakers and law of war experts have questioned whether the episode constitutes a war crime and, if so, who bears responsibility. “I did not personally see survivors,” he said in response to a reporter’s question, “… because that thing was on fire and was exploded, and fire, smoke, you can’t see anything. You got digital, there’s — this is called the fog of war.”

“I didn’t know about the second strike. I didn’t know anything about people. I wasn’t involved, and I knew they took out a boat,” Trump said during a meeting with members of his Cabinet. Officials in Congress and the Pentagon have said they are concerned that the Trump administration intends to scapegoat the admiral and that they view Hegseth’s public remarks as an attempt to insulate himself from any legal recourse. Spokespeople for U.S. Special Operations Command, where Bradley is the top commander, have not commented publicly on the matter. Hegseth said he had observed a live video of the initial attack before he “moved on to my next meeting.” “I watched that first strike live,” Hegseth said, noting that he did not witness the entire sequence of events that unfolded next. “As you can imagine,” he added, at the Defense Department “we got a lot of things to do. So I didn’t stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever. … A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the — which he had the complete authority to do, and by the way, Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.”

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State Stories

Tilman Fertitta’s son, Patrick, to succeed his father on University of Houston board of regents

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed the son of Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta to the University of Houston System Board of Regents, which Fertitta chaired until resigning earlier this year to become the U.S. Ambassador to Italy. Abbott announced the appointment of Patrick Fertitta on Tuesday, saying his term on the board of regents would expire on Aug. 31, 2027. Shortly after the announcement, UH Chancellor Renu Khator welcomed Patrick Fertitta to the board.

"With his passion for advancing our region and his business acumen, I am confident that he will further elevate our universities' academic standings and student success," Khator said in a statement. Patrick Fertitta, 31, is the director of Fertitta Entertainment — a Houston-based conglomerate founded by his father, which owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets, Landry's, Inc. and Golden Nugget Casinos. He earned his business degree from the University of Southern California. According to Abbott's office, Patrick Fertitta is also an alternate governor on the NBA board of governors as well as the director of the Space City Home Network and the Clutch City Foundation. His appointment comes several months after Tilman Fertitta resigned from the UH board of regents and Landry's, Inc. Shortly after, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the ambassador to Italy and San Marino. The elder Fertitta resigned from his business and the board of regents, which he chaired for more than 15 years, in compliance with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Tilman Fertitta still holds investments in his companies but wrote in a March letter to the U.S. Department of State that he would no longer actively participate in running them. President Donald Trump tapped Tilman Fertitta for the ambassadorship in December 2024, shortly after winning his second term in the White House. Tilman Fertitta has been a longtime Republican donor and has had a more than decade-long business relationship with Trump, including taking ownership of an Atlantic City casino in 2011 that was owned by Trump.

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While acting Harris County attorney seeks congressional seat, commissioners delay backfilling his position

While acting Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee is a frontrunner in the race to fill the vacant seat in Houston’s 18th Congressional District, questions remain about what happens next with his elected position as the county’s chief legal advisor. Though Menefee technically resigned from his position earlier this year after announcing his campaign for the special election to complete the term of late U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, he has continued to carry out the roles of county attorney in an acting capacity. Harris County commissioners are charged with appointing an interim. That hasn’t happened yet, though, and discussions about the position have taken place only during the commissioners’ recent closed-to-the-public executive sessions.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo scheduled a special meeting for Nov. 20 for the sole purpose of entering executive session to discuss the position. But the discussion fell through after scheduling conflicts among commissioners and Hidalgo’s unexplained absence. In a statement to Houston Public Media on Monday, Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis said the commissioners court should not try and influence the upcoming election. "Voters will soon have the chance to decide between several qualified candidates who have stepped forward to express interest in the county attorney position,” Ellis said. “My preference for this appointment is that commissioners court selects an internal candidate from within the current county attorney's office at the appropriate moment rather than puts its thumb on the scale ahead of the election." Neither Hidalgo nor any of the county’s other three elected commissioners — Democrats Lesley Briones, and Adrian Garcia, along with Republican Tom Ramsey — responded to requests for comment by deadline. Though Menefee provides legal counsel to the county government and acts as its representative in litigation, he’s repeatedly used his position to fight President Donald Trump’s administration in federal court.

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Addison leaders reject an election to leave DART

Addison will remain a member of Dallas Area Rapid Transit for the foreseeable future after some city council members rejected a call for an election to withdraw from the transit agency. After hours of public testimony and discussion Tuesday night, Addison City Council voted 4-3 not to hold an election this spring to leave DART. It comes after four other cities — Farmers Branch, Irving, Highland Park and Plano — voted to hold their own withdrawal elections in May. Addison Mayor Bruce Arfsten said he supports working with the agency. "It is about the bigger picture, the regional picture," he said. "It's really clear to me where the residents are and the community at large, beyond Addison."

Arfsten was talking about the dozens of residents and non-residents who came to speak to the council in support of DART. Madison Noelle McNair said she's a disabled DART rider who lives in Garland but regularly visits Addison to see her sister. "DART isn't just public transportation, it's freedom,” she said. “It's how I get to work, to the doctor, to see my friends and family. DART is how I live my life." Kennedy Bower said she’s lived in Addison since the ‘90s and saw how it grew from a suburban town with older motels and shopping centers to a vibrant, dense community with mixed-use corridors and major developments. “Addison has embraced a forward-looking development model, and our transportation strategy must evolve with it,” said Bower. “It's growing here, and as a young person, that's very exciting and very energizing.” Of the dozens of speakers at the meeting, only one spoke in support of holding a withdrawal election. Trisha Stewart said calling an election will let voters have their say on how the city spends its tax dollars.

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Camp Mystic says safety is 'utmost concern' as it details plans to reopen

Camp Mystic, the Hill Country retreat where 25 campers and two counselors died in the July 4 flood, is preparing to reopen next summer and has sent parents an email detailing safety improvements it says go beyond what's required under new camp safety laws. A group of grieving parents who are suing the camp reacted bitterly to the announcement, accusing Camp Mystic's management of "utter indifference to our suffering." A carefully worded message about the planned reopening was circulated via email Tuesday by the Eastland family, which owns and operates the Christian girls' camp in Kerr County. The message lists the dates of six 10-day camp sessions scheduled for late May through Aug. 9.

Addressed to "Dear Camp Mystic Family," the email opens with an oblique reference to the deadly flood, thanks parents for their support and asks for prayers for the victims of the disaster. "As we approach the end of a year filled with great sorrow," it says, "we want to extend our deepest gratitude to you and your families. We are forever thankful for your love, your messages of support and your prayers. We ask for your continued prayers for the families who lost their children in the horrible flood on July 4th. "We are preparing for next summer at Camp Mystic Cypress Lake and we know that safety is of the utmost concern to all of you, as it is for us," the message says, adding that "it is our goal not only to be in compliance with the new camp safety laws, but to exceed their requirements." The Eastlands plan to open only a newer section of the resort known as Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, where there were no deaths, injuries or property damage. All of the July 4 fatalities, including that of Richard "Dick" Eastland, 70, the camp's co-owner and co-director, happened in an older part of the camp called Camp Mystic Guadalupe River.

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She was deported after boarding a flight to Austin. Her attorney says that violates a judge's order.

A Boston-area college student with ties to Texas was deported while trying to surprise her parents for the holiday. Babson College student Any López Belloza boarded a flight to Austin the week before Thanksgiving to surprise her family when she was detained by immigration authorities, then sent to Texas before being deported to her native country of Honduras. López Belloza's attorney, Todd Pomerleau, said she was stopped for violating a deportation order. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told KUT that order was issued in 2015, but Pomerleau said he hasn't found any record of an active deportation order, and that López Belloza came to the U.S. when she was a child.

“At the end of the day, this is a college student who came here at 7 years old to seek asylum with her family," Pomerleau said. "She's not responsible under the law for any decisions her parents made about her. She was a child." Pomerleau said the deportation ran afoul of a federal court order filed on Nov. 21. Massachusetts U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs barred the government from deporting López Belloza until a court could hear her case, which would take at least three days. Pomerleau said she was flown to Texas and sent to Honduras on Nov. 22. ICE confirmed that López Belloza was arrested on Thanksgiving, but did not say why, given the judge's order to hold off on her deportation. "She received full due process and was removed to Honduras," an agency spokesperson said. A federal judge ordered responses in López Belloza's case by Dec. 3.

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Travis Johnson, former El Paso County judge and Southwest Airlines board member, dies at 89

Travis Johnson, an El Paso attorney who was prominent in Texas political and business circles for decades, died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 89. Johnson was appointed El Paso County judge, the highest executive position in county government, in 1965, when he was 29 years old. He was influential in El Paso and Texas Democratic politics for four decades. José Luis Sanchez, a retired attorney and lobbyist who had known Johnson for more than 40 years, called him “an El Paso legend.” “He loved El Paso and was fiercely proud of his roots in Ysleta and the Lower Valley. He worked actively on water issues on behalf of Lower Valley farmers, including the American Canal, later re-named for him,” said Sanchez, who worked as an aide to former U.S. Rep. Ron Coleman of El Paso.

Johnson supported Sanchez in his 1996 race against Silvestre Reyes for the Democratic nomination for Congress, which Reyes won in a runoff. Johnson then recommended him for a lobbyist job with Southwest Airlines, a job Sanchez held for 25 years. “I will miss Travis’ sound advice and quick wit. We had a great friendship,” Sanchez said. Johnson was an adviser and longtime friend of Lloyd Bentsen, the last Democrat elected to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. Bentsen was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1988 and served as President Bill Clinton’s secretary of the treasury from 1993 to 1994. Johnson was an honorary pallbearer at Bentsen’s funeral in 2006, along with former presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush and former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger, James Baker and Madeline Albright.

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Katy ISD among districts in new legal challenge over Texas Ten Commandments law

After receiving two favorable rulings from judges, a coalition of advocacy groups filed their third lawsuit Tuesday challenging a new state law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom in Texas. The new case was brought against 16 Texas school districts, adding Katy, Clear Creek, Deer Park, Pearland and Magnolia ISDs to the litigation. Courts have already barred the displays in Conroe, Houston, Fort Bend and Cypress-Fairbanks ISDs. The latest filing comes in an ongoing effort from groups such as the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

They represent families across the state who say placing posters of the Ten Commandments violates their First Amendment protections. All three cases have been filed in San Antonio federal court in the Western District of Texas. Tuesday’s filing is the first class-action lawsuit the groups have brought in the Ten Commandments litigation. The goal in the new case is to bar any public school districts not already involved in litigation from displaying the text, since the previous rulings have only applied to the districts being sued. The Ten Commandments law, which went into effect in September under Senate Bill 10, sparked intense debates on the role religion plays in public schools. SB10 tasks districts with placing the Ten Commandments in classrooms without any additional text alongside them, raising concerns from some parents who say the requirement excludes children of other faiths. While districts can — but are not required to — use their funds to purchase Ten Commandments displays, the law mandates they place posters received as donations in classrooms.

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Abbott urges Trump's treasury secretary to strip CAIR's nonprofit status

Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday urged the U.S. Department of the Treasury to strip an Islamic civil rights group of its tax exempt status weeks after the Texas Republican deemed it a foreign terrorist organization. Abbott wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushing him to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations and suspend its nonprofit status. "Americans have generous hearts, and federal law wisely creates incentives to donate to nonprofit organizations that promote the public good," Abbott wrote. "But charity must not become a backdoor to sponsor terrorism, endanger Americans, and subvert our democracy."

The move came the same day that members of CAIR and Democratic lawmakers held a press conference outside the Capitol, condemning the Texas Republican's attacks on the group as an effort to "fan the flames of anti-Muslim hysteria." "Hostile rhetoric that once lived only in online comments sections has now been changed into an official proclamation," said Shaimaa Zayan, operations manager for CAIR-Austin. "The cynicism of scapegoating vulnerable populations by a leadership that controls every single lever of power in the state of Texas is despicable, but more importantly, it's deadly dangerous," said state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, an Austin Democrat. It is the latest in Abbott's drive against the group, which he deemed last month as a foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organization. The move prohibits CAIR from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas and allows Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue to shut it down. Abbott has said he included CAIR because of a 2007 case in which the group was named as one of almost 300 with reported ties to the Holy Land Foundation, a Texas-based charity that was shut down by the U.S. government for funneling millions of dollars to Hamas. CAIR was never indicted and has denied the allegations. The group has since sued, calling the action “unconstitutional” and “defamatory.”

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Second Tarrant County redistricting lawsuit dismissed

A district judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Tarrant County over the new Commissioners Court’s precinct map. Texas Civil Rights Project on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County and a Fort Worth chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens argued that the map illegally diminished the voting power of Black and Latino voters. The lawsuit, filed in Tarrant County, aimed to throw out the new map and defer to the one that had been in place since 2011. Judge Megan Fahey dismissed the lawsuit in the 348th District Court, siding with defendants Tarrant County, the Commissioners Court and County Judge Tim O’Hare. The ruling can be appealed, though the plaintiffs’ law firm did not say whether they would.

“But, even if it is appealed, I would expect the ruling to be upheld,” Republican Commissioner Matt Krause said in a post on X. “Another very positive development and another blow to those who gaslighted hundreds throughout the redistricting process.” Fahey had previously denied a bid for an injunction blocking the map. The Commissioners Court seats held by Democrat Alisa Simmons and Republicans Manny Ramirez and O’Hare will be up for grabs in the Nov. 3 general election. The new map was presented to the court shortly before Republican commissioners voted to approve it in June. The redistricting is likely to flip Simmons’s seat to a Republican. On Monday, a group of eight Black and Latino Tarrant County voters dropped their federal lawsuit against the county. One of the plaintiffs, Alberto Govea, president of LULAC Council 4568, said he is concerned about the ability to receive justice in Tarrant County.

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Gabe Rivas, ex-staffer for Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons and son of Rep. Terry Meza, files for election to her seat

Gabe Rivas, a former staffer for Democrat Alisa Simmons, is running for her seat as Precinct 2 commissioner in Tarrant County. Simmons, who has not filed for or announced plans to seek reelection, did not respond to a KERA News phone call or voicemail requesting comment. Rivas filed for election Monday, he said. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram first reported his bid Monday evening. Rivas announced Tuesday that he has endorsements from around 50 people, including former State Representatives Victoria Neave Criado and Lon Burnam, Celina Vasquez of the Democratic National Convention Hispanic Caucus and nine others who have held, currently hold or are running for elected office. His mother, State Rep. Terry Meza, is also listed among Rivas' endorsements.

Rivas has worked in public service and politics for the past 20 years and with candidates and elected officials for the last three. He told KERA News in a phone call Tuesday that running for office was the next logical step. “I just see this as a continuation of the work I’ve been doing in the community, advocating for the residents of Tarrant County and continuing the outreach at a new county level,” he said on the call. One important task if he is elected would be helping residents understand changes brought about by the county’s mid-decade redistricting, Rivas said. “We have a county that's not just an urban county, but it also has some rural areas, also has some suburban areas," Rivas said. “I think one of the biggest challenges that we're going to face as a county is making sure that we can address the needs of all our residents and not just certain segments of it."

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Dallas hopes to offer DART respite amid potential suburban exodus, stagnant ridership

As North Texas cities contemplate leaving the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system, Dallas leaders are imploring the public transportation agency: “Can you please help us help you?” Council member Lorie Blair’s gentle query to Dallas Area Rapid Transit officials Tuesday marked the role Dallas — which constitutes 75% of the ridership — is going to play in the embattled transit agency’s future. In the past month, Highland Park, Farmers Branch, Irving and Plano approved elections in May for voters to decide whether to stay or leave the system. Addison was set to vote on holding a similar election Tuesday night. Each city has argued its 1-cent sales tax contributions far exceed the services it receives in return. The cities also question the 13-member transit agency’s governance model based on population, which gives Dallas more representation. If they prevail in the elections, cities would still be obligated to pay off their debt for several years, depending on their contributions.

At Dallas City Hall on Tuesday, council members offered transit officials some respite, urging DART officials to find ways to expand services in areas such as southern Dallas. “How can we partner better?” council member Paula Blackmon asked. City officials have been collaborating with DART to convert parking lots around stations into homes. In Pleasant Grove, Palladium USA, with help from the city and the transit agency, built mixed-income housing next to the Buckner station. Blackmon, whose district includes the Mockingbird station, asked what the city could do to accelerate similar projects, as more housing near transit hubs could spur ridership. DART board member Patrick Kennedy said the agency has an inventory of all its properties and the needs attached to them. Does this lot need underground utility improvements? Does it need to be rezoned?

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‘Gross deficiencies’: Lawyers request meeting with Texas hospital after video of mom in labor

Attorneys for a North Texas woman who was shown in a video screaming through contractions while hospital staff appeared to slow-roll her admission are requesting a meeting with the facility to discuss what happened and the possibility of financial compensation. In November, a local woman posted a video of her daughter in a waiting area of Dallas Regional Medical Center in Mesquite. The daughter, a Black woman, was seen twisting in a hospital wheelchair and screaming through contractions, while a hospital staff member calmly asked her questions about her pregnancy. The video caption said that the woman in labor, Kiara Jones, was made to wait for more than 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital and that she gave birth 12 minutes later.

The video went viral and sparked outrage about the treatment of Black women, particularly Black mothers, in medical settings. After the viral video, Jones’ family retained two law firms, including a firm that previously represented the families of George Floyd and Botham Jean, both Black men killed by police. On the day after Thanksgiving, one of the law firms — Chicago-based Romanucci & Blandin — sent a letter to Dallas Regional Medical Center requesting a meeting with the hospital staff to discuss the hospital’s “corrective steps” as well as potential compensation for Jones. The firm provided the letter to The Dallas Morning News on Dec. 2 and said that the hospital had not yet responded to the request. Hospital spokesperson Vince Falsarella did not immediately respond on Tuesday to a phone call or email requesting comment.

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Could Texas get a new Interstate? A new proposal connects DFW with East Texas

The state's newest Interstate could cut through East Texas and connect DFW to Amarillo, providing a more direct trade route between the Texas coast and the Panhandle. The $24.5 billion project would transform U.S. 287 into an Interstate. The transformation is outlined in a feasibility study published this summer by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The new Interstate would connect Port Arthur to Fort Worth and Fort Worth to Amarillo. The plan, which TxDOT planners are still considering, would increase the state's gross domestic product by $11.6 billion by 2050 and create about 47,000 jobs, according to the feasibility study. The study projects a total net return on investment of $39.6 billion.

The new Interstate would address growing congestion across the state, diverting traffic from some of the nation's busiest roads, the study found. Building the new interstate would save 44 minutes of travel time per vehicle, according to the study. "This is due to higher travel speeds, access-controlled facility, and elimination of frequent stops at intersections in towns," the study reads. The feasibility study analyzes the current conditions of the road, the potential benefits of the upgrade, and any challenges associated with creating the Interstate. U.S. 287 is currently 671 miles long and overlaps with 39 miles of existing interstates, which leaves 613 miles of non-interstate road to be upgraded, according to the study. The highway currently connects Texas' coast with Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.

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National Stories

Doodling, drowsiness and a conspicuous misspelling highlight Trump's last Cabinet meeting of 2025

With Tuesday’s White House Cabinet meeting chugging past the two-hour mark, President Donald Trump ‘s eyes fluttered and closed. His budget director busied himself doodling a fluffy cloud. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was lucky enough to speak early, but the title on his nameplate was misspelled. The sleepy, and occasionally slipshod, gathering nonetheless ended with a flurry of news. Trump declared that he didn’t want Somalis in the U.S. and Hegseth cited the “ fog of war ” in defending a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea in September. The president started things off by noting that it was the last time his Cabinet would gather until 2026. And, though marathon sessions with his top advisers lavishing praise have become a Trump trademark since he returned to the White House, this latest installment felt at times like a holiday break was needed.

The president then gave each Cabinet member a chance to speak, declaring, “We’re gonna go quickly.” That did little to stop most Cabinet members from offering long presentations. Hegseth went first and praised the Trump administration’s move to rename his agency the Department of War — something that can’t be officially done without an act of Congress. But the nameplate in front of Hegseth labeled him the “ssecretary of war,” including a mistaken double “S” that quickly became the source of searing online ridicule. After that, as each official took turns speaking, a TV camera trained on Trump showed him struggling to stay alert. The president sat back in his chair with his eyes occasionally drooping and sometimes shutting completely. Just as Trump’s admonishments to keep things tight were flouted, some of the Cabinet members also defied the president in their presentations when it came to the issue of affordability. Trump made a point in his opening remarks to call concerns that Democrats have raised about rising costs a “con job.” That didn’t stop many of his administration’s top voices from earnestly detailing how they were indeed seeking to reduce prices nationwide. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins talked about economic pressures on farmers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called affordability a “crisis,” and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said that hundreds of thousands of Americans becoming first-time homebuyers was an example of how the administration was making strides to achieve greater affordability.

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House Republicans can’t stop fighting with each other

On paper, Republican lawmakers should be in a great place as they finish their first year in the majority under President Donald Trump’s second term: They were able to pass a sweeping reconciliation bill with few defections, didn’t give into any Democratic demands to end the government shutdown and Democrats continue to fight amongst themselves over messaging. But as 2025 comes to a close, there’s just one problem: They can’t stand each other. A growing number of lawmakers are announcing they’re leaving the House, either to fully retire or to seek different offices, in part because of the incredibly low morale in the chamber. So far, of the 39 members who announced they will not be seeking reelection, 23 are Republicans. Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz told NOTUS that Congress “is a broken institution,” so it’s no wonder her colleagues are choosing to leave.

The House is “no science and politics, just drama and theater … and a lot of perverse incentives for people to govern and do politics,” Spartz added. “Of course people get burned out and frustrated, but hopefully we’ll be able to get back on track.” But rank-and-file Republicans are increasingly frustrated with their leadership — and much of that frustration is spilling out into the open. The tension between GOP members and House Republican leadership has been brewing for a while, but it was especially evident in Tuesday’s closed-door conference meeting. At one point, Rep. Byron Donalds and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise had a back-and-forth about the SCORE Act, a bipartisan college-sports bill expected to get a vote this week. Donalds told Scalise that “we shouldn’t bail out the NCAA and colleges for the mess they created,” according to a source in the room.

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Why Elise Stefanik is at war with Mike Johnson (again).

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is now engaged in an open war with Speaker Mike Johnson, a very public rift at the highest level of the House Republican Conference. This fight is ostensibly about a dispute in the NDAA, the annual Pentagon policy bill. Stefanik is so frustrated that she’s prepared to tank the must-pass defense bill — approved by lawmakers every year for more than six decades — if the speaker doesn’t include a provision requiring the FBI to alert Congress if it opens a counterintelligence investigation into an elected official or candidate. Democrats are opposed to this provision. “I’ll take down the rule,” Stefanik told us in an interview. Stefanik has made this message clear to House GOP leaders as well.

As of very early Wednesday morning, sources said that Stefanik’s war might be successful. There was an effort afoot to put the provision back in the NDAA, showing that Stefanik’s brutal bare-knuckled effort is gaining traction. And that’s why this fight says so much about today’s House. Stefanik, whom Johnson appointed the chair of the Republican leadership, is a wily operator. Remember, Stefanik helped topple former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) back in 2021 for not being loyal enough to President Donald Trump. Stefanik replaced Cheney in the leadership under then Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with whom she enjoyed a better relationship. Johnson is undergoing a particularly perilous moment. The Louisiana Republican is entering the most difficult stretch of his speakership, with anger over government spending, health care and the broader political climate rife inside the House GOP Conference. Members find it easy – even convenient – to hammer the speaker. Johnson has little choice but to bend as he has a two-vote margin. And the speaker has lots of retiring members who are running for other offices, often by bashing the very Congress they serve in.

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Trump vows to overhaul Dulles. An early target: Its ‘people movers.’

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said his administration would “rebuild” Dulles International Airport, pledging to make major changes to the 63-year-old airport. “It’s not a good airport. It should be a great airport,” the president said in a Cabinet meeting, claiming that his administration had an “amazing plan” to overhaul the facility. Dulles is already undergoing a massive transformation aimed at modernizing the airport, launched in 2023. One of the centerpieces of the multibillion-dollar program is a 14-gate, 400,000-square-foot concourse. The three-level space, the size of three football fields, is expected to be completed next year. The shuttles, which the airport refers to as “mobile lounges,” were involved in two accidents last month, drawing national attention and renewing questions about how the airport transports its passengers. On Nov. 10, a mobile lounge crash led to the hospitalization of 18 people, although officials said that no one was seriously injured. About a week after that crash, a United Airlines employee suffered minor injuries when another shuttle collided with a baggage cart.

Dulles “needs a complete refresh to assume its proper role as the premier international gateway into the capital of the greatest country in the world,” Duffy said in a statement. The White House and the Transportation Department did not immediately respond to questions about the administration’s plans for Dulles. In a statement, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which oversees Dulles, said they appreciate the administration’s interest in the airport. “We always embrace new ideas for Dulles,” the authority said. “We want to build on the existing $7 billion capital plan for Dulles, which is underway with a new concourse under construction and expected to open next fall.” In a statement, United Airlines, the largest carrier at Dulles, called the airport a “national asset.” “We look forward to working with President Trump, Secretary Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford to continue to enhance the airport’s infrastructure and operations in a meaningful and cost-effective way for the benefit of our customers and employees.”

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Trump calls Somali immigrants ‘garbage’ as US reportedly targets Minnesota community

Donald Trump on Tuesday called Somali immigrants “garbage” and said they should be sent back home in a rant that came as the administration is reportedly increasing immigration enforcement against undocumented Somalis in Minnesota. In a xenophobic rant during a cabinet meeting, Trump went off on Somalis and Ilhan Omar, the congressional representative who is from Somalia and is a US citizen. He said Somalia “stinks” and is “no good for a reason”. “They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you,” he said. He called Omar “garbage” and said “we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country”.

“These are people who do nothing but complain,” he said. “They complain, and from where they came from, they got nothing … When they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.” The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the Minneapolis-St Paul metro area, where most Somalis reside, would see stepped-up deportation efforts this week, focusing primarily on Somalis who have final deportation orders. It would use “strike teams” of ICE agents and other federal officers, bringing in about 100 agents from across the country, the Times reported. Other media outlets, including the Associated Press, have confirmed the reporting. The move comes after the right has seized on several fraud cases, spanning multiple years, that involve dozens of Somali residents who prosecutors allege lied to the state to receive reimbursements for meal disbursements, medical care, housing and autism services. The Trump administration previously threatened to revoketemporary protected status for Somalis in Minnesota, citing the state as a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity”.

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College sports bill to get House vote after years-long NCAA push

Lawmakers will soon take their biggest step yet to usher in a new era for college sports as the NCAA, tied up in years of billion-dollar lawsuits, asks Congress to set rules of the road for college athletics. Later this week, the House will vote on the SCORE Act, the first major sports bill to be brought to the floor since the Supreme Court cleared the way for student-athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness.

The 2021 ruling opened the floodgates to endorsement deals and booster-run collectives that are hastening the demise of amateur athletics. It also opened the NCAA, which long resisted player compensation, up to litigation as athletes sued for back pay damages, resulting in a $2.8 billion settlement over the summer. Many of the bill’s provisions mirror the settlement, which allows colleges to pay student-athletes directly for the first time. Notably, it would also fulfill the NCAA’s three biggest requests: protections from further lawsuits, a national standard that supersedes state laws, and language clarifying that students are not employees and, as such, should not receive salaries.

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Costco is poking the Trump bear

Big public companies have mostly treated President Donald Trump with kid gloves during his second term. They’ve quietly avoided conflict while seeking favor with ornate gifts, large donations to his pet projects and strategic deployments of CEOs to the Oval Office. That’s what made Costco’s decision last week to sue the Trump administration so shocking. Costco on Friday filed a lawsuit that contends Trump overstepped his emergency powers by imposing sweeping tariffs – and claimed the company is due a refund. Costco isn’t alone. A handful of other companies have separately sued the government on similar grounds, including Bumble Bee Foods, Ray-Bans parent EssilorLuxottica, Revlon and Kawasaki Motors. But Costco is the highest profile public company to do battle with the Trump White House on tariffs.

Few major corporations have been willing to publicly stick their necks out to combat Trump’s policies since he took office in January. That stands in contrast to his first term, when businesses and their leaders felt more comfortable speaking out – most notably when multiple CEOs quit his business council over comments Trump made in 2017 that downplayed neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. But Trump’s second term has largely been marked by Corporate America’s acquiescence. Several factors are at play: Trump has been willing to exact retribution on companies that lose favor with him. Big business has enjoyed Trump’s light regulatory touch, particularly on AI, which has exploded in growth and boosted the broader stock market. Getting on Trump’s good side can pay off. The famously transactional president has eased off some policies after companies won him over.

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Why Trump and Harvard have not reached a deal

President Trump has claimed for months that his administration and Harvard University were close to a monumental deal to end his extraordinary pressure campaign against the university. Even some at Harvard say that a deal appeared imminent this summer. But eight months after the rupture between Harvard and the government blew open, no deal has materialized. “Negotiations are proceeding and productive,” said Madi Biedermann, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, in a statement to The New York Times this week. The talks, though, have stumbled around arguments about where any money will go. Harvard has been open to spending $500 million on work-force training programs. But Trump officials have recently argued that some of the money should be paid directly to the federal government, a proposal that has not been previously reported.

The idea has caused Harvard officials to balk, according to six Harvard and Trump administration officials and others familiar with the negotiations. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. The administration reached its latest deal, with Northwestern University, late last week. That leaves Harvard as one of only several schools in ongoing talks with the government, though it is the one president has made it clear he cares most about. Harvard, where officials have been baffled by the roller coaster nature of a negotiation involving Mr. Trump, has repeatedly declined to comment on the talks. The prospect of an agreement has drawn broad criticism among faculty members, students and others who would see it as an act of capitulation. But some at Harvard believe an agreement is the only way for the university to secure its financial future. The Times has been reporting since the spring on Mr. Trump’s campaign against Harvard and the legal, financial, political and academic stakes for both the administration and one of the nation’s leading universities.

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Lead Stories

Fears grow inside military over illegal orders after Hegseth authorized follow-up boat strike

There is an increasing apprehension among service members that they may be asked to carry out an illegal order, amid reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered troops to “kill everybody” in a boat strike in September. The concerns, reflected in an uptick in calls to the Orders Project — which provides free legal advice to military personnel — come from the likes of staff officers involved in planning the strikes on supposed drug-carrying boats and those in charge of designating those on the vessels as a threat in order to carry out such attacks. Even as a reported Justice Department classified memo from this summer preemptively argued that U.S. troops involved in the strikes would not be in legal jeopardy, service members appear far more concerned than usual that the U.S. military may be opening them up to legal harm, according to Frank Rosenblatt, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, which runs the Orders Project.

“They have questions, because this didn’t come up before. This was never an issue throughout both administrations of the global war on terror in Iraq or Afghanistan. No one ever came down and said, ‘You’re immunized for any potential crimes you commit,’” Rosenblatt told The Hill of the increase in calls to his organization. Established in 2020, he said such “activity was generally very low until three months ago.” “I think most people knew they did their jobs faithfully and didn’t do things that are beyond the pale, like executing civilians, that they would be OK and wouldn’t be prosecuted. So now to have this immunity as part of the discussion really tends to chill people and make them ask, ‘What the heck’s going on? What is it that I might be asked to do?’” he added. Service members’ uncertainty over whether they will be asked to carry out an illegal order or pressured to go against their training is likely to be exacerbated after The Washington Post and CNN late last week reported that Hegseth authorized a highly unusual strike to kill all survivors aboard a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea this fall.

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Why Republicans are sweating Tuesday’s special election in Trump Country

Republicans are looking to hang on to a ruby-red congressional district Tuesday in a surprisingly competitive special election that has become a high-profile test of voters’ attitudes about President Donald Trump’s agenda and Democrats’ response less than a year before the midterm elections. The contest in Tennessee’s 7th District, which Trump won by more than 20 percentage points in 2024, has put the GOP on edge, while raising Democratic hopes about a massive upset or overperformance weeks after a strong showing in off-year elections across several states. Strategists in both parties say they see a competitive race that tilts toward the Republican candidate as each side has flooded the district with money, ads and prominent surrogates not typically seen in such a partisan stronghold. That national attention was evident on Monday, with Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) campaigning for Republican Matt Van Epps and Democrat Aftyn Behn hosting a virtual rally featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and former vice president Al Gore.

“It’s fair to say this Republican is a little nervous,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee). “It’s an off-year. It’s a special election. It’s around the holiday, and there’s just a lot of things that could play into the Democrats’ favor.” Republicans have been scrambling in recent weeks to save the seat in an area they have long dominated, spending millions of dollars trying to boost Van Epps across the finish line. Party strategists see the competition as something of a testing ground for tactics ahead of the midterms, when control of the House will hang in the balance. While far from a perfect predictor of future electoral outcomes, Tuesday’s contest features platforms from both candidates that are expected to resurface in the midterms. Behn, a 36-year-old left-leaning state representative, has run as a change candidate focusing on affordability, decrying high prices and inflation and GOP economic policies such as Trump’s tariffs. “If we get close,” she said in an interview with The Washington Post, it will be because of the “affordability crisis that we are experiencing in Tennessee and the fact that the federal administration has not delivered an economic agenda to address the needs of working people in the state.” Van Epps, a 42-year-old former lieutenant colonel in the Tennessee Army National Guard, has run as a Republican fully in line with Trump, who endorsed him in the primary and has touted him as “a true ‘America First’ patriot who has dedicated his entire life to serving our country.”

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Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announces 'painful' split from husband after 1 year of marriage

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo revealed Monday that she and her husband, David James, have separated, calling the decision “painful” but ultimately the right step for both of them. In an Instagram post, Hidalgo reflected on their decade-long relationship, describing their marriage as one marked by “joy, new experiences, major changes, important lessons… and deep love.” She wrote that their years together, spanning more than half of her adult life, were built on partnership and mutual support, even through challenges. “This year, life took a turn that made us see things differently,” Hidalgo said. “So, very much unexpectedly, this day of our anniversary, David and I are separated. It’s not what either of us wanted. It is what we confidently, though painfully, feel is best.” Hidalgo did not provide details about the separation. Earlier this year, Hidalgo and James were featured in Vogue's wedding section, where she spoke openly about her mental health journey, their engagement and their two weddings: a civil ceremony at the River Oaks Garden Club in November and a destination celebration in December 2024 at Amanpulo, a resort in the Philippines.

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Republicans started the redistricting war in Texas, but will they ultimately win it?

Riding high into his second term after defeating Kamala Harris and winning the popular vote, President Donald Trump claimed Republicans were "entitled to five more seats" in Congress from Texas – setting off a campaign to redraw the congressional map at the expense of Democrats. The comments marked the start of a high-stakes, nationwide redistricting fight before next year’s elections, with Republicans looking for opportunities to insulate their majority from the typical headwinds the president’s party faces in midterm elections. The map battle may not be over, but heading into 2026, what appeared to be a Republican advantage may be moving closer to a wash between both parties.

At first glance, Trump and Republicans appeared to have the upper hand: the GOP controlled the levers of power in more states than Democrats – who, for years, have championed nonpartisan redistricting measures and constitutional amendments in blue states. "Initially, it looked pretty good for Republicans to gain some seats," Shawn Donahue, a redistricting expert at the University of Buffalo, told ABC News. Heading into the fall, Texas Republicans adopted a map that could net the GOP as many as five new seats next year, while a legally required effort in Ohio and a review of North Carolina and Missouri’s maps resulted in the potential to flip a couple more Democrat-held seats. Together, more than half-a-dozen dozen pickup opportunities appeared ready to insulate what was House Speaker Mike Johnson’s three-seat margin -- and potentially raising the hurdle Democrats would have to clear in 2026 to recapture the House. With Republicans in Florida, Indiana and Nebraska also exploring their possibilities, the GOP seemed to have the wind at its back. But after November’s elections and a flurry of court activity, the GOP may no longer be in the driver’s seat. Their momentum was blunted by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts in California, where a seemingly long-shot bid to get voters to approve a new map until the end of the decade passed with overwhelming support – shoring up a handful of purple seats for Democrats, putting up to five Republican-held districts in play next year, and raising Newsom’s national profile.

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State Stories

In Houston suburbs, Abbott’s attacks on CAIR unnerve Muslim residents

Whether speaking at local government meetings or protesting over the war in Gaza and Islamophobia in public schools, Amina Ishaq counts on the Council on American-Islamic Relations to defend her rights and those of the growing Muslim community in this politically divided Houston suburb. “They used to come out to our protests to make sure we were okay,” said Ishaq, a social worker who is active at her local mosque. Earlier this month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR — one of America’s largest Muslim advocacy and civil rights groups — a “foreign terrorist organization,” along with the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization. He accused the groups of attempting to “subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment.” Abbott said the designation would bar CAIR from acquiring Texas land under a law passed by the state legislature earlier this year and clear the way for the state attorney general “to sue to shut them down.”

“These radical extremists are not welcome in our state,” Abbott said in a statement. To Ishaq, it is as if Abbott and other Republican officials are attacking the Anti-Defamation League, a historic anti-hate group founded to combat antisemitism, or the NAACP. “They’re protecting our civil liberties,” she said of CAIR. Abbott’s declaration accused the D.C.-based nonprofit of having ties to Hamas, which the federal government has labeled a terrorist group (CAIR officials deny any ties to Hamas). The governor also suggested, citing court cases, reports by the FBI, and the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, that CAIR leaders sought to impose Islamic law, or sharia, on Americans. CAIR officials, who along with the Muslim Legal Fund of America have sued Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) over the declaration, deny that allegation as well. CAIR’s Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin chapters asked a federal judge to strike down the proclamation, which also labeled the group “a transnational criminal organization.” “This attempt to punish the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization simply because Governor Abbott disagrees with its views is not only contrary to the United States Constitution, but finds no support in any Texas law,” the lawsuit says, noting that CAIR, founded in 1994, has 25 chapters nationwide.

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Dallas mayor met privately with ICE to discuss 287(g) program weeks before public debate

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson met with federal immigration officials in early September to discuss a proposal that would authorize city police to enforce federal immigration laws — weeks before the public would learn it had been under consideration. Records reviewed by The Dallas Morning News show Johnson met Sept. 4 with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to discuss the 287(g) program, which would give local officers the authority to enforce immigration laws normally handled by federal agents. The proposal, once it was widely known, drew strong opposition. The meeting was first disclosed by Johnson’s office when he conducted a sit-down interview with KTVT-TV (Channel 11) that aired in November, the day before a joint meeting he called so City Council members could discuss the idea.

The September meeting came nearly six weeks before police Chief Daniel Comeaux, while fielding questions about the department’s dealings with ICE, told an oversight panel in October he had already rejected a $25 million “offer” to join the program. It was Comeaux’s disclosure in October that thrust the federal program into the spotlight, sparking debate on the City Council and drawing condemnation from immigrant advocates. Days later, Johnson sent a memo — which did not mention his September meeting with ICE — to council members, asking two city committees to hold the special joint session to publicly discuss whether the program was a good fit for Dallas. In the memo, Johnson wrote that Comeaux had “unilaterally rejected” the program and that, “As the elected body charged with setting City policy and overseeing its budget, the City Council should be briefed on all the relevant information that went into Chief Comeaux’s decision in a public meeting and with an opportunity for input from residents.” Two City Council members said they had not been aware of Johnson’s meeting with ICE. One of them, Jaime Resendez, who represents District 5, said he was troubled the September meeting had not been widely communicated at the time.

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Texas A&M regents approve $25 million for new faculty hires

Texas A&M University is slowing the growth of enrollment but that doesn’t mean the university is slowing down on hiring as A&M is planning to add 167 new faculty positions over the next two years. To help hire those 167 new professors, the Texas A&M Board of Regents approved a $25 million investment into a new initiative at its quarterly meeting last month. The money will come from the Available University Fund (AUF). The initiative is called the FY2026-27 Faculty Hiring Program–Foundation for Good. It will position the university to meet growing instructional and research demands. The initiative also allows the university to address recommendations from the 2024 Capacity Study Report.

“This investment will allow us to strategically add faculty in departments with the greatest need, and strengthen the academic experience at every level,” Provost and Executive Vice President Alan Sams said in a statement. “We will enhance student learning, expand research opportunities and continue lowering student-to-faculty ratios. It positions us to better serve our students, remain competitive and continue attracting and supporting exceptional faculty who elevate Texas A&M’s mission every day.” The AUF is a constitutionally established source of funding for the Texas A&M System and the University of Texas System that is derived from returns of the Permanent University Fund and used for support of operations, maintenance and capital expenditures. “We have a new allocation of money out of the Permanent University Fund,” A&M Chancellor Glenn Hegar said after the regents meeting. “[The money] will deal with a lot of different priorities, whether that’s deferred maintenance across the university system or additional dollars to drive research, not just here at Texas A&M University but also at our regional members to raise them up to be stronger in research capabilities.”

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Texas Tech University System implements guidelines to meet curriculum standards

As a first step to ensure curriculum quality and compliance with local, state, and federal policies, Texas Tech University System (TTU System) officials have implemented new course content oversight standards for classroom instruction as well as a formal review process for faculty to conduct. The new framework will provide direction and guardrails to support Texas public institutions in their mission to educate students, advance research, and prepare the next generation of Texas leaders.

The newly created Course Content Review Process will also outline a path for faculty to submit materials for review by department and university leadership as well as the Academic, Clinical and Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Regents. “The Board’s responsibility is to safeguard the integrity of our academic mission and maintain the trust of Texans,” TTU System Board of Regents Chairman Cody Campbell said. “The Board welcomed the clarity provided by Senate Bill 37, which reaffirmed the Regents’ role in curriculum oversight. This new framework strengthens accountability, supports our faculty, and ensures that our universities remain focused on education, research, and innovation – core commitments that position the TTU System for continued national leadership.” In reference to the standards to which the course content should align, TTU officials said that “faculty should ensure that course content aligns with state standards on race- and sex-based discrimination and with laws recognizing two sexes. Faculty may continue to examine or critique disputed ideas, but should not present prohibited concepts as endorsed or require students to affirm those ideas.”

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‘Bathroom bill’ targeting trans Texans takes effect this week. It’s unclear how it'll be enforced.

Texas’ so-called “bathroom bill” officially takes effect this week. Starting Thursday, Dec. 4, the controversial new law restricts access to restrooms and locker rooms based on the user’s biological sex at birth. The measure, Senate Bill 8, only applies to publicly owned buildings like libraries, government facilities, public schools and prisons. Private businesses can choose their own bathroom policies. When Gov. Greg Abbott signed the measure earlier this year, he called it “common sense,” adding that it would allow “no men in women’s restrooms.” Opponents say the new law, also referred to as the “Women’s Privacy Act” by supporters, is actually a thinly veiled attack on transgender Texans. “It’s a discriminatory bill. It's designed to push transgender, intersex and nonbinary people out of public life,” said Ash Hall, a policy and advocacy strategist with the ACLU of Texas.

Nearly 20 other states have recently enacted some level of restrictions on restroom access for transgender people. Several of those cases are currently tied up in court. That includes a South Carolina law linking public school funding to bathroom restrictions — something the state has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in. It’s still unclear how the new Texas law will be implemented and Hall told The Texas Newsroom a lawsuit “is not off the table.” Texas Republicans first made bathroom access a major legislative issue in 2017 when they tried to pass a similar measure, but the proposal failed after pushback from business groups and law enforcement officials. The issue, however, was reignited earlier this year. During Texas’ second special session, a coalition of Republicans in the Texas Senate signed on to a new proposal, Senate Bill 8. Both advocacy groups and liberal lawmakers fought heavily against it at the Texas Capitol, where Democrats claimed Republicans were trying to solve a problem that didn’t exist. “It's been eight years since we banished this perverse bathroom bill and there have been zero crimes committed in the state of Texas that this bill would seek to remedy,” Rep. Rafael Anchia, a Dallas Democrat, said. But Republicans, who control both the Texas House and Senate, pushed back.

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Local charter school network accepts tougher TEA intervention to end probes

More than two years after former school leaders accused Great Hearts Texas of financial mismanagement and internal failures, the local charter school network has signed agreements clarifying its relationship with its national affiliate, wrapping up three state investigations. At a meeting this month, the Great Hearts Texas board of directors unanimously approved a legal settlement with the Texas Education Agency that will sharply tighten the state’s ongoing intervention in the charter school district while resolving several probes into allegations of noncompliance with state law. The board also voted to sign an agreement with the Arizona-based national Great Hearts organization, Great Hearts America, that narrows the scope of its involvement — but still permits it to receive payments. Both agreements are pending final TEA approval.

“This project has been ongoing for several years now, and we are pleased to see it brought to a successful conclusion,” Jim Rahn, Great Hearts Texas board chair, wrote in an email to families. “The agreement clarifies the long-standing association between our two mission-aligned organizations and ensures our Texas academies benefit from experience, clear processes and quality controls for shared services from (Great Hearts America).” Great Hearts Texas enrolls nearly 13,000 students in more than a dozen schools statewide, including seven in San Antonio, according to state data. The settlement agreement, obtained by the Express-News, stipulates that the Great Hearts Texas board will forfeit its right to appeal the state intervention and investigation findings. It also broadens the responsibilities of the charter school’s conservator, Paul Pastorek, a former Louisiana Superintendent of Education, who has been advising on human resource matters. Conservators have the power to direct school district boards, superintendents and principals.

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Rogers Healy’s second act: How the real estate veteran built a $100M venture capital portfolio

Rogers Healy has grown up. But not before chasing an acting career in Hollywood that fizzled almost as soon as it began. Not before failing the real estate licensing exam—22 times. Not before plastering his face on Dallas billboards in a quest to make his name impossible to ignore. Not before Britney Spears was photographed wearing his T-shirt—a moment that fueled tabloid rumors of a romance. And not before he faced a few lawsuits along the way. Healy knows many in the North Texas business market have their not-so-hot opinions about him. He knows he has made a few mistakes, professionally and personally. But one thing is for certain: He has made a mark on this town, growing Rogers Healy and Associates Real Estate into a firm that produces billions of dollars in annual sales, employs more than 400 people—and that paid for 1,000 people to earn their real estate licenses.

But all that success came in an industry he realized wasn’t even his true calling. What really lit him up, he’d come to learn, was venture capital investing. Four years ago, he launched Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners. (Healy, who is obsessed with music, named the firm for three of his favorite performers: Van Morrison, Jim Morrison, and Bob Seger.) Since then, he has closed more than 150 investments, building a portfolio that’s worth over $100 million. “I’ve experienced failure,” he says. “I’ve experienced success. But I’ve never gotten used to either one.” Rogers Healy is a first-generation Texan. Born in Corpus Christi, he’s the son of a father who grew up in Pakistan and a mother from New Mexico. From his earliest days, Healy recognized that his family pretty much operated off gut instincts. His parents were engaged after just four days. When he was 11, Healy and his family moved north to San Antonio, which he describes as the hardest thing they ever did. “It never felt good,” he remembers. “It just never felt like home.” It didn’t last long. Two days before Christmas in 1995, the family was out shopping at a Christian bookstore. But after leaving the store and almost making it back to their car, they found themselves being held at gunpoint. Healy, 15 at the time, felt the steel barrel of a shotgun pressed against his temple. The family would learn that they had been randomly targeted as part of a gang initiation. Miraculously, nothing tragic occurred. To this day, they never learned who the gang was. “There was no logic other than the fact that it was the worst timing,” Healy says. Four days later, the family moved to Dallas.

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How Visit Austin plans to attract events and tourists while the convention center is closed

Austin is slated to be without a large convention center until 2029, but local tourism officials say they're confident that the city will be able to attract plenty of leisure and business travelers in the interim. The old Austin Convention Center closed early this year and has since been demolished. Construction is underway to reopen an expanded Austin Convention Center with 70% more rentable space, but that won't happen before 2029's spring festival season. The lack of a downtown convention center is already being felt, with hotels reporting double-digit declines in monthly year-over-year revenue, said Wesley Lucas, director of communications for tourism agency Visit Austin. That's because business and group travel account for close to half of bookings for some downtown hotels.

Still, Visit Austin has recently been armed with a lucrative new revenue source to better market the city and help attract travelers and events. The so-called Tourism Public Improvement District that was put in place earlier this year — in which 2% nightly fees are added to most hotel rooms citywide — is expected to generate about $29.7 million in 2025 and even more in the years ahead. The money will be used in the following ways: The result will include year-long advertising campaigns in some cities rather than the usual seasonal campaigns. In addition, campaigns will be launched in more markets, with the aim of selling Austin as a destination for business travel even while the convention center is closed. “We want to continue to encourage that group business to come here and really kind of think about the city as a campus for your meeting,” said Tiffany Kerr, chief marketing officer for Visit Austin. “We can't offer the kind of ‘in a box’ solution of a convention center right now, but we have really impressive hotel inventory downtown with our rooms and with our meeting space. We've got unexpected venues that we can program, and that can be a benefit to local businesses.” While the Austin Convention Center has been closed, Visit Austin's sales team has been pushing the notion of ‘mini-wide’ events and meetings. The idea is that groups can book space at several properties across Austin, spreading out the economic impact and keeping overall bookings up. It's having success. So far, 37 mini-wide events that will take place between 2026 and 2028 have been booked, Lucas said.

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Gov. Greg Abbott makes case for Texas Longhorns’ inclusion in College Football Playoff

Governor Greg Abbott isn’t hiding how he feels about Texas’ College Football Playoff case. Abbott took to social media Monday to share his thoughts on the Longhorns’ chances of competing in the CFP. In a post on X/Twitter, Abbott shared a screenshot of the College Football Playoff selection committee’s principles. According to Abbott, Texas checks every box listed under the committee’s selection principles. “Texas is at the top of these criteria more than any team on the bubble,” Abbott wrote.

The criteria Abbott was referring to included the following topics: strength of schedule, head-to-head competition, comparative outcomes of common opponents and other relevant factors like unavailability of key players and coaches that may have affected a team’s performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance. It shouldn’t be too surprising to see Abbott pull for the Longhorns. The Texas governor earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas in 1981. Abbott isn’t the only prominent pushing for Texas’ inclusion in this year’s CFP. Shortly after his team’s 27-17 win over Texas A&M, Steve Sarkisian told ESPN it would be a “disservice” to the sport if the Longhorns missed out on the playoff. Texas ended the regular season at 9-3 and owns three top 10 wins over Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M with three losses on the road to Ohio State, Florida and Georgia.

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Texas’ rapidly expanding medical THC program names nine likely new providers

Nine cannabis providers were tentatively added Monday to the state’s rapidly expanding medical marijuana program, dramatically increasing the number of dispensaries that can offer medical-grade, prescription-only THC treatments to qualified patients, Texas Department of Public Safety officials said. The new companies, if they pass a final evaluation by the state, will join the three current license holders in the 10-year-old Texas Compassionate Use Program and be allowed to cultivate, manufacture, distribute and/or sell medical cannabis products through the program. Three more “conditional licenses” will be awarded by next April, DPS officials said.

Known as TCUP, the program serves about 116,000 patients in what has been one of the nation’s most anemic state medical marijuana programs. It’s a number state leaders and other medical marijuana supporters hope will grow now that lawmakers expanded the program earlier this year. The program is administered by the DPS. The expansion comes as the state’s hemp industry – the legal, recreational side of the cannabis market in Texas with more than 9,000 licensed retailers – wrestles with a potential federal ban on all hemp-based consumable items. Congress recently voted to make them illegal by November 2026, although there is movement in Washington D.C. to pass a law regulating the products and pre-empting the threatened ban. A statewide ban in Texas failed to become law after Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed it in June, saying it not only contrasted federal law allowing the products but also contradicted the idea that adults should be allowed to partake in certain substances as a matter of choice. He has since directed state health officials and alcohol regulators to enforce a 21-and-up age limit on those products.

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Texas AG Ken Paxton investigates Shein for unethical labor practices

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into the global fashion giant Shein US Services LLC Corporation and its affiliates. The investigation is over potential violations of state law related to unethical labor practices and the sale of unsafe consumer products. The investigation follows numerous reports alleging the retailer's supply chain relies on forced labor, utilizes toxic or hazardous materials, and engages in deceptive marketing regarding ethical sourcing and product safety. Shein, which generated more than $30 billion in global revenue in 2023 through its online platform, offers a vast range of apparel and home goods.

Attorney General Paxton said the investigation will determine whether the company’s manufacturing and supply chain practices mislead consumers or violate Texas law. "Any company that cuts corners on labor standards or product safety, especially those operating in foreign nations like China, will be held accountable," Paxton said in a statement Monday. He added that Texans "deserve to know that the companies they buy from are ethical, safe, transparent, and not exploiting workers or selling harmful products." The inquiry will specifically examine whether Shein is misleading consumers about the safety and ethical sourcing of its products. Additionally, the investigation will review the company’s data collection and privacy practices, citing potential risks to millions of American consumers.

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North Texas city struggles with infighting as growth surges

With more and more people moving north of Fort Worth every day, the city of Haslet is in a prime location to welcome that growth. But because of a schism on City Council, the city’s roads and infrastructure projects may not be ready until the expansion has passed them up. Haslet is at the heart of the booming Alliance corridor, one of the fastest growing areas in the country. Several Alliance distribution centers are housed in Haslet, which borders the runway of Perot Field Alliance Fort Worth Airport. Roughly 5,000 people live in Haslet this year, meaning the population has jumped 160% since 2020. If the growth continues along that trajectory, Haslet will be home to roughly 13,000 people in 2030.

The divide on City Council has barred progress that is necessary to ensure the city can take in thousands more people. For months, the council has voted and revoted on paying city staff a competitive salary and opening a position to manage all the infrastructure projects. Just north of East Bonds Ranch Road and directly south of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe train yard, the city’s eight square miles are governed by a mayor-council form of government. This means the mayor does not have voting power, but is the chief executive of the city. In most cities, this is not the case. Typically, the mayor has a vote on the council and the administrative tasks are given to a city manager who works for the City Council. In Haslet, the five council members often vote unanimously, but the difference of opinion comes with the mayor, Gary Hulsey.

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UNT is the first college in the state to get a naloxone vending machine

The University of North Texas is the first public college in Texas to get a free naloxone vending machine, and Regan Browne, director of the Recovery and Intervention Support and Education Center — called RISE — considers it a win. Browne is new to the director’s chair at RISE, and she was among locals who attended the unveiling of a naloxone vending machine at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, a storied Denton music venue, in June. A teen survived an overdose there in April because a quick-thinking patron knew the signs and administered naloxone, the generic form of the brand-name drug Narcan. Naloxone is a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of opioids, even a potentially lethal dose.

“I wanted to show support,” Browne said, thinking back to the event at Rubber Gloves, which brought the free vending machine to the venue through a partnership with the local nonprofit Reacting to Opioid Overdose, UT Health San Antonio and Be Well Texas, which oversees the statewide initiative Naloxone Texas. “To be honest, I was like, ‘This is incredible.’ [At] UNT, we already have naloxone on campus, because they push that initiative as well for harm reduction.” UT Health San Antonio and Be Well Texas were also both part of the installation at UNT. Browne said the naloxone vending machine is a step toward educating students, staff and the public about reducing the considerable harm that opioids pose. But for Browne, the vending machine is another step toward lowering the stigma of substance dependency and addiction. The addiction and recovery community asserts that reducing stigma lowers barriers to help that might otherwise keep people locked in substance abuse disorders longer, which makes recovery more arduous. “I was like, ‘This is just new,’” Browne said. “It’s creative. And also it’s 24/7 access. You know, it is also for community members, as well. There is no card swiping.”

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Lawsuit accusing Tarrant County of racial gerrymandering dropped, one remains

A group of Tarrant County residents who sued over the county’s new commissioners court precinct map withdrew their lawsuit Monday. It’s not clear from court filings why the group that filed the case, titled Jackson et. al. v. Tarrant County, decided to drop it. But it ends one of two lawsuits accusing Tarrant County of illegal racial gerrymandering. KERA News has reached out to attorneys on both sides for comment. In an emailed statement, Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare welcomed the news.

“The Commissioners Court’s action to redistrict was constitutional from the outset and remains so,” he said. “With today’s legal development, Tarrant County will continue to stand as the best place to live and run a business in America.” Earlier this year, O'Hare and Tarrant County's Republican commissioners pushed ahead with an unusual mid-decade redistricting effort, redrawing the precinct lines in their own favor. Opponents countered with two lawsuits, accusing the Republicans of creating a new right-leaning seat by shoving a disproportionate amount of Black and brown residents into one precinct. In both cases, judges allowed the map to go into effect. In October, federal appeals court judges evaluating the Jackson case acknowledged the new map disproportionately affects Black and Latino voters. But they decided the complainants failed to prove commissioners had anything but partisan intentions.

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National Stories

Trump’s push to end the Ukraine war is sowing fresh fear about NATO’s future

This week will bring a split screen that will reinforce growing doubts in Europe about the American commitment to the alliance that has served as the bedrock of Western unity since the end of World War II. On one side, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff will be in Moscow for the latest round of peace talks with the Kremlin over the Ukraine war. Witkoff, who has yet to visit Ukraine, is making his sixth trip to Moscow this year. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be skipping a biannual gathering of NATO foreign ministers and sending a deputy in his place. The last time the U.S.’s. top diplomat didn’t show up at the event was 1999, when Washington’s focus was on Middle East peace, a former NATO spokeswoman said. His absence will be felt acutely, coming as it does in the middle of peace talks over Ukraine that have prompted many European leaders to question whether Washington’s priorities are still aligned with those of Europe.

A leaked peace plan and transcripts of a call between Witkoff and a top Kremlin foreign-policy aide have left many with the impression that the Trump administration is more interested in improving ties and economic cooperation with Russia than defending the trans-Atlantic alliance. Two aspects of the 28-point peace plan, in particular, landed like bombshells in Europe’s defense and foreign-policy establishment. First, the plan treated Russia as a clear winner and Ukraine as the loser, forcing Kyiv to give up strategic land it hasn’t yet lost, shrink its military and leave it without an ironclad guarantee of protection from either the U.S. or European allies should Russia rearm and come back for more. Second, it described the U.S. as a mediator between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, suggesting America no longer saw itself as a member of the alliance it has long dominated and which has guaranteed much of Europe’s security since World War II. “It is a Versailles treaty, except one that punishes the victim and rewards the aggressor,” said Carlo Masala, professor of international politics at the Bundeswehr University Munich, referring to the treaty that ended World War I. “And I think it reflects the positions of a certain faction in the U.S. government.”

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Bitcoin logs its worst day since March

Bitcoin and ether fell sharply on Monday, as the recent sell-off in cryptocurrencies resumed. Bitcoin was last seen at about $85,894.03 at 04:19 p.m. ET, a 6% slide. Ether dropped 8.4% to hit $2,776.39. Solana had fallen more than 9%, and was last seen below $125, while other closely watched tokens were also in the red.

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Warner Bros Discovery gets mostly cash offer from Netflix, source says

Warner Bros Discovery has received a second round of bids, including a mostly cash offer from Netflix in an auction that could conclude in the coming days or weeks, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. Bankers for Paramount Skydance, Comcast and Netflix worked over the weekend on improved offers for all or part of Warner Bros, the source added.

The bids are binding, giving the board scope to approve a deal quickly if terms are met, though they have not been described as final, the person said. Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery declined to comment. Bloomberg News first reported the development. Last week, Warner Bros asked bidders to submit improved offers by December 1 after receiving preliminary buyout bids from Paramount Skydance, Comcast and Netflix. Reuters exclusively reported that Warner Bros Discovery's board had rejected Paramount's mostly cash offer of nearly $24 a share for the company, valuing it at $60 billion, and publicly announced it would evaluate strategic options for the studio.

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American consumers lose patience with high car prices

For years it has seemed no sticker price was too high for American car buyers. Even as average new car prices approached $50,000 this year, dealers fretted more over depleted inventories than losing customers to sticker shock. Those days are coming to an end. Increasingly stretched consumers are starting to draw the line on what they will pay for a new car, according to dealers, analysts and industry data. Car buyers are downsizing, buying used vehicles, taking on longer car loans and holding out for deals. “People are asking, ‘How can I afford this?’” said Robert Peltier, who owns dealerships in East Texas. He said traffic, while still solid, has slowed at his dealerships and more customers are gravitating toward less-costly cars such as the pint-size Chevrolet Trax. “There are people who are in debt and living paycheck to paycheck.” For the U.S. auto industry, 2025 was supposed to be a banner year fueled by tax cuts and a deregulatory wave.

Analysts predicted a third-straight annual sales increase as automakers, who had been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and semiconductor shortages, finally got their factories running full steam. Now forecasts predict muted or no growth for the year and more of the same in 2026. The industry had reason for optimism. Car prices soared due to short supply post-Covid, and consumers remained willing to pay up even as inventory came back and volumes approached historic norms. Car buyers continued to shrug off higher prices earlier this year even as they pared back shopping for everything from dishwashers to beer. But now auto tariffs, persistent inflation and a tighter job market have more Americans rethinking their biggest-ticket purchases. Meanwhile, the collapse of the U.S. electric-vehicle market—hastened by the end of the federal government’s $7,500 EV credit in September—has cost the industry hundreds of thousands of potential vehicle sales.

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In Trump country, suburban grandmas push back against ICE

A group that's grown almost 70-strong shows up weekly to commissioner meetings in this conservative Ohio county to protest officials' agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They're mostly grandmas. "I'm here because I'm outraged. I'm here because I'm angry," Cassie Stevens, who lives in Hamilton, said at a Butler County Commissioners meeting on Nov. 18. "I'm here because I need to be able to look my grandkids in the eye and say I did not remain silent." For 17 weeks, this group of Butler County residents has spoken at the commissioners' meetings in Hamilton. They want commissioners to cancel Sheriff Richard Jones' March agreement with ICE, which allows the Butler County Jail to detain people facing deportation.

Commissioners authorized the agreement, which brings millions of federal dollars to the county. At the latest commissioners' meeting, more than 70 people sat, stood and spilled through the doors. Most were White women who sported silver and white cropped hair. After the meeting, they took their protest outside, braving the November rain with fleece jackets and handmade signs. Sharon Meyer, who lives in Hamilton, criticized the county's agreement with ICE and said it sends one message: "If you don't look like us, bring a passport to Butler County." Some people cried as speakers shared their neighbors', friends' and grandchildren's classmates' fears about ICE arrests and detentions. Toward the end of the meeting's public comment portion, and after one commissioner told them not to, critics of the contract broke into song: "America the Beautiful." Anne Jantzen, 82, who lives in Seven Mile, first began attending commissioners meetings over the summer to protest the county's agreement with ICE. There, she met others with the same beliefs and started an email chain. "They said, 'I heard about you and I want to be part of this,'" she told The Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network, after the meeting.

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The U.S. is funding fewer grants in every area of science and medicine

In the past decade, the National Institutes of Health awarded top scientists $9 billion in competitive grants each year, to find cures for diseases and improve public health. This year, something unusual happened… Starting in January, the Trump administration stalled that funding. By summer, funding lagged by over $2 billion, or 41 percent below average. But in a surprising turn, the N.I.H. began to spend at a breakneck pace and narrow this gap. There was a catch, however: That money went to fewer grants. Which means less research was funded in areas such as aging, diabetes, strokes, cancer and mental health. To spend its budget, the N.I.H. made an unusual number of large lump-sum payments for many years of research, instead of its usual policy of paying for research one year at a time. As a result of this quiet policy shift, the average payment for competitive grants swelled from $472,000 in the first half of the fiscal year to over $830,000 in the last two months.

While this might sound like a boon for researchers, it’s actually a fundamental shift in how grants are funded — one that means more competition for funding, and less money and less time to do the research. In the past, the N.I.H. typically awarded grants in five annual installments. Researchers could request two more years to spend this money, at no cost. Under the new system, the N.I.H. pays up front for four years of work. And researchers can get one more year to spend this money. Which means that they get less money on average, and less time to spend it. And because these fully funded grants commit all of their money up front, it means that the agency’s annual budget is divided into fewer projects, instead of being spread among a larger number of scientific bets. The new policy directive came from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which in the summer instructed the N.I.H. to spend half of its remaining funds to fully fund research grants. In the past, the agency would do so only in special circumstances.

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Vaccine committee may make significant changes to childhood schedule

Advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appear poised to make consequential changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, delaying a shot that is routinely administered to newborns and discussing big changes to when or how other childhood immunizations are given. Decisions by the group are not legally binding, but they have profound implications for whether private insurance and government assistance programs are required to cover the vaccines. Depending on what the committee does, the changes could also further erode Americans’ confidence in immunizations. Although a majority of Americans still say they are confident about vaccines’ effectiveness, multiple surveys show the percentage has dropped sharply over the last few years. Members of the group, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, were handpicked by Mr. Kennedy, who has long campaigned against many childhood vaccines. They are scheduled to meet on Thursday and Friday.

The specific proposals the members will vote on are still unknown. The agenda is thin on details, listing neither specific speakers nor times, merely mentioning “votes” on the first day of the two-day meeting. But public comments by some panelists, as well as by President Trump and Mr. Kennedy, hint at some possible outcomes. The committee is likely to decide that a vaccine to prevent hepatitis B — a highly contagious disease that can severely damage the liver — should no longer be administered routinely at birth and perhaps should not be offered to children at all. The committee members may also question the safety of ingredients like aluminum salts that are present in many childhood vaccines. And they are likely to discuss whether vaccines for different diseases should be offered as separate shots rather than in the combination products currently used. The meeting comes on the heels of unsupported claims made by Dr. Vinay Prasad, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator, that Covid shots have killed “no fewer than 10” children. The internal memo did not provide any details or data. The memo went on to question the safety of administering multiple vaccines at the same time.

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Abortion opponents coming before the Supreme Court on Tuesday

A faith-based pregnancy center will come before the Supreme Court on Tuesday to challenge an investigation into whether it misled people to discourage abortions. The facilities often known as "crisis pregnancy centers" have been on the rise in the U.S., especially since the Supreme Court's conservative majority overturned abortion as a nationwide right in 2022. Most Republican-controlled states have since started enforcing bans or restrictions on abortion, and some have steered tax dollars to the centers. They generally provide prenatal care and encourage women to carry pregnancies to term. Many Democratic-aligned states have sought to protect abortion access and some have investigated whether pregnancy centers mislead women into thinking they offer abortions. In New Jersey, Democratic attorney general Matthew Platkin sent a subpoena to First Choice Women's Resource Centers for donor information.

First Choice pushed back, arguing the investigation was baseless and the demand for donor lists threatened their First Amendment rights. They tried to challenge the subpoena in federal court, but a judge found the case wasn't yet far enough along. An appeals court agreed. First Choice then turned to the Supreme Court. Executive director Aimee Huber said she hopes the high court will rule in their favor and send a message that protects facilities like hers. "I would hope that other attorneys general who have prosecuted or harmed or harassed other pregnancy centers, or are considering that, would back off as a result of our legal battle," she said. New Jersey counters that First Choice is seeking special treatment. The group hasn't even had to hand over any records since the judge overseeing the case hasn't ordered it. "The Subpoena itself does not require Petitioner to do anything, and compliance is entirely voluntary," state attorneys wrote in court documents. If the Supreme Court sides with First Choice, it would "open the federal courts to a flood of litigation challenging myriad state and local subpoenas," they argued. First Choice said access to federal court is important in cases where government investigators are accused of misusing investigative power. The American Civil Liberties Union joined the case in support of First Choice's free speech argument. Erin Hawley, an attorney for the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, said subpoenas can hurt advocacy groups with unpopular points of view. "It is a broad non-ideological issue that really does transcend ideological boundaries," she said.

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Lead Stories

A weary Congress stares down a whirlwind December sprint

Congress has endured an 11-month marathon that included a fight over the so-called Epstein files, a massive reconciliation bill, a contentious rescission bill, a handful of ethics scandals and censure attempts, a near government shutdown and an actual, record-setting government shutdown. Now, exhausted and miserable, Congress is staring down a three-week sprint to the end of 2025. And with expiring Affordable Care Act tax subsidies and another government funding deadline on the horizon, lawmakers will be limping to the finish line. At the top of Congress’ agenda is dealing with ACA subsidies set to expire on Dec. 31. Short of legislative intervention, health care premiums will skyrocket for millions of Americans. Members of both parties have vowed to find a fix. But a remedy that can realistically pass both chambers does not appear to be forthcoming, especially before Congress is slated to leave Washington on Dec. 19 — 13 legislative days from now. “It’s going to be tough,” Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi told NOTUS of a compromise solution, “just because everything’s so toxic.”

That toxicity has intensified since Senate Democrats refused to vote for a government funding patch without some ACA subsidy extension during a 43-day government shutdown. While a few ultimately changed their minds and reopened the government without any certain ACA concessions, Democrats succeeded in amplifying their message that Republicans were making health care less affordable. While moderate lawmakers in the House and the Senate attempt to broker a bipartisan solution, many Republicans are generally predisposed against bills that extend the ACA that aren’t paired with reform like income caps. “Any effort to address this cliff needs to include income caps and make serious reforms to the credits, including addressing the rampant fraud and abuse in the program,” Rep. Mike Flood, who chairs the 80-plus-member, leadership-aligned Main Street Caucus, said in a statement. Conservative lawmakers swiftly shot down a trial balloon from the White House that included a two-year extension of the subsidies, telling NOTUS they are holding out to force broader ACA reform. But more moderate members who are involved in talks, like Rep. Don Bacon, are concerned that major reform isn’t achievable before the credits expire, setting Republicans up for a major intra-party clash in the next three weeks.

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"The new price of eggs": The political shocks of data centers and electric bills

As loyal Republicans, Reece Payton said that he and his family of cattle ranchers in Hogansville, Ga., had one thing on their minds when they cast their ballots in November for the state’s utility board — “to make a statement.” They were already irked by their escalating electric bills, not to mention an extra $50 a month levied by their local utility to cover a new nuclear power plant more than 200 miles away. But after they heard a data center might be built next to their Logos Ranch, about 60 miles southwest of Atlanta, they had enough of Republicans who seemed far too receptive to the interests of the booming artificial intelligence industry. “That’s the first time I ever voted Democrat,” Mr. Payton, 58, said. Message sent. In some of Georgia’s reddest and most rural counties, Republicans crossed party lines this month and helped propel two Democrats, Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson, to landslide upsets, ousting the incumbent candidates on the Georgia Public Service Commission.

No Democrat has served on the five-person commission, which regulates utilities and helps set climate and energy policy, since 2007. Across the country, Democrats have seized on rising anxiety over electricity costs and data centers in what could be a template for the 2026 midterm elections. In Virginia, Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger pledged during her campaign to lower energy bills and make data centers pay more. In the House of Delegates, one Democratic challenger unseated a Republican incumbent by focusing on curbing the proliferation of data centers in Loudoun County and the exurbs of the nation’s capital. In New Jersey, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill promised to declare a state of emergency on utility costs and freeze rates. And in Memphis, State Representative Justin J. Pearson, who is challenging Representative Steve Cohen in a high-profile Democratic primary next year, has vowed to fight a supercomputer by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, that would be located in a predominantly Black neighborhood. Strong opposition by citizens forced the Tucson City Council in August to pull the plug on an Amazon data center slated for that Arizona city, and then in September forced Google to call off one in Indianapolis.

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Rep. Tony Gonzales tries to guide Republicans on immigration policies ahead of midterms

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales has heard the concerns that President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration operations are sweeping up individuals who shouldn’t be targeted, or at least shouldn’t warrant high priority for deportation. “The No. 1 thing that I see, that I hear, in a lot of these communities, people are just anxious,” Gonzales said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. The San Antonio Republican represents Texas’ 23rd congressional district, which includes more than 800 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. He said many district residents, including some die-hard Democrats, have horror stories about local services being overwhelmed by the record-setting flood of migrants who crossed the border when President Joe Biden was in the White House.

They’re grateful the Trump administration has closed the border and taken some hardened criminals off the street, Gonzales said, but the waters are being muddied by stories of people without criminal records being snared. It’s a nuanced picture Gonzales has been trying to paint for his fellow Republicans since taking over earlier this year as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, the first Texan to hold the position. Whether the party listens to him could have an impact on the midterm elections in Texas and across the country, as Republicans try to hold onto gains they made among Hispanic voters in 2024. Founded in 2003, the group consists of about a dozen Republican lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz of Edinburg, and serves as a counterpart to the Democrats’ older and larger Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Gonzales, De La Cruz and others sent a letter to immigration officials in June seeking information about how many people deported by the administration had criminal convictions.

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Lawmakers voice support for congressional reviews of Trump's military strikes on boats

Lawmakers from both parties said Sunday they support congressional reviews of U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, citing a published report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for all crew members to be killed as part of a Sept. 2 attack. The lawmakers said they did not know whether last week’s Washington Post report was true, and some Republicans were skeptical, but they said attacking survivors of an initial missile strike poses serious legal concerns. “This rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, when asked about a follow-up strike aimed at people no longer able to fight, said Congress does not have information that happened. He noted that leaders of the Armed Services Committee in both the House and Senate have opened investigations.

“Obviously, if that occurred, that would be very serious and I agree that that would be an illegal act,” Turner said. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Sunday evening while flying back to Washington from Florida, where he celebrated Thanksgiving, confirmed that he had recently spoken with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. administration says the strikes in the Caribbean are aimed at cartels, some of which it claims are controlled by Maduro. Trump also is weighing whether to carry out strikes on the Venezuelan mainland. Trump declined to comment on details of the call, which was first reported by The New York Times. “I wouldn’t say it went well or badly,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, when asked about the call. The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the call with Trump.

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State Stories

Texas loan program for gas power plants makes progress after a rocky start

After an inauspicious start, a state incentive program created to encourage the construction of natural gas power plants has begun issuing loans. State lawmakers created the Texas Energy Fund in 2023 and have dedicated roughly $7 billion to the fund. After seeing numerous proposed projects drop out and one allegation of fraud, energy regulators can now point to progress that began this summer. Since June 26, the Public Utility Commission of Texas has authorized about $2.5 billion in loans to six power plant projects that, when completed, will have the capacity to power at least 875,000 homes. They include a $278 million loan to Houston-based Calpine, which said it plans to use the government loan to finance a 460-megawatt plant about 85 miles southeast of Dallas in Freestone County.

The Legislature created the Texas Energy Fund in response to the February 2021 winter blackouts that killed more than 200 Texans. Many Republican lawmakers blamed renewable energy for the power outages, despite clear evidence fossil-fuel power plants also failed during the record-breaking freeze. With that in mind, the fund was created to encourage companies to build power plants that can generate electricity on demand, also known as dispatchable power. In Texas, the vast majority of dispatchable power is fueled by natural gas. Calpine appeared cognizant of the distinction in an Oct. 14 news release from Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. “This 460-megawatt, state-of-the-art facility is designed to start within minutes and will deliver safe, reliable power exactly when Texans need it most,” Caleb Stephenson, Calpine’s executive vice president of commercial operations, stated in the news release. The Public Utility Commission’s approval gave Calpine access to a 20-year, 3% loan to finance up to 60% of the plant’s construction cost. Other companies to take advantage of the loan program include NRG and Competitive Power Ventures. The issuance of the loans comes after the Texas Energy Fund got off to a rocky start. Lawmakers involved in the program’s creation fumed after it was discovered that one of the initial loan applicants chosen for the program may have committed fraud in their application and was selected despite the company’s leader being a federal felon.

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Patrick wants Texas Senate to probe solar firms for alleged China ties

A pair of solar companies with footprints in Texas are in the spotlight after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced that lawmakers would investigate their financial ties to China. Executives from Ontario-based Canadian Solar and Austin-based T1 Energy, which have both invested in Texas-based solar manufacturing facilities and infrastructure, will be asked to testify before the Texas Senate in early 2026, Patrick said. He cited a Fox News report published Tuesday that detailed alleged ties between the two companies and larger Chinese-backed corporations. “Based on a new report, it appears China may have a major stake in 2 solar companies in Texas,” Patrick wrote on social media Saturday. The companies’ leaders will be called early next year for a hearing before the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce, Patrick said. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, has been the chamber’s leading lawmaker on energy issues and chairs the committee that will hold the hearings.

The Republican-led state Legislature in recent sessions has ratcheted up efforts to counter Chinese influence in the state, including passing new laws in 2023 and 2025 that Republicans said would limit foreign interference on the Texas power grid. Patrick also backed a ban, passed this year, on Chinese nationals and businesses from buying Texas land.

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Identical twin brother wants to replace Republican Troy Nehls in Congress

Representative Troy Nehls's identical twin brother, Trever Nehls, has announced that he wants to replace his brother in Congress. In response to a request for comment, a representative for Troy Nehls directed Newsweek to remarks he shared on social media, where he endorsed his brother. "I am endorsing my brother, Trever, to succeed me in Congress because I trust him, I believe in him, and I know he will fight every single day for the people of this district. He won’t need on-the-job training; he’s ready now," he wrote. Newsweek reached out to Trever Nehls via social media message outside of regular working hours. Troy Nehls, a Texas Republican, has added his named to a growing list of lawmakers who are planning on leaving office soon. Troy Nehls is an ally of President Donald Trump and has been an advocate of his immigration crackdown, along with other policies.

The upcoming midterm elections come as the Republican Party has been in turmoil, split over multiple issues, including the public falling-out between Trump and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. This public spat has led to Greene announcing she will leave office in January before the end of her term. A number of other lawmakers, including Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, have announced they will not campaign for reelection in 2026. Both parties are pushing for redrawn congressional maps and seeking more favorable lines in hopes of gaining seats and securing a House majority. Republicans have a narrow majority in the House, 219-213. Historically, the party that does not hold the White House has tended to perform better in midterm elections. Trever Nehls announced his candidacy in a post on Facebook. “I am honored to announce my candidacy for Congressional District 22 to continue fighting for the people of this district,” he wrote.

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Texas grid operators and regulators iron out new rules for data centers

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law in June that empowers the state’s grid operator to remotely disconnect data centers and other large energy users if the grid is under extreme stress. The so-called “kill switch” is just one aspect of the wide-ranging state legislation meant to govern the growing number of energy-intensive supercomputer warehouses being planned and built out across the state. The legislation comes as Texas, like other states across the country, tries to balance remaining an attractive place to do business for the booming data center industry while addressing the challenges that come with the huge amounts of electricity the facilities demand, especially when grid capacity has been maxed out by extreme summer heat or freezing winter storms. Much of the legislation around energy and the grid in recent years has aimed at preventing a rerun of the February 2021 winter storm. During the dayslong freeze, millions of households went without power and at least 246 people died, while some industrial sites’ lights stayed on.

The new law, Senate Bill 6, which currently applies to electricity customers using at least 75 megawatts — equivalent to a medium-size power plant — aims to shift transmission costs to the large load users, so upgrades and new connection costs aren’t paid through residential and small commercial customer rates. The legislation also looks to establish grid reliability protection measures and add credibility to electricity demand forecasting. As with other aspects of Senate Bill 6, which created the new rules, the Public Utility of Commission of Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and other stakeholders are still working out how the new responsibilities and rules around data centers will be put in place. The public comment period for stakeholders on SB6 rulemaking ran through October. Both the energy and data center industries are expected to participate in and follow the rulemaking closely, as the two sectors have grown accustomed to the free trade of energy with few state-imposed restrictions.

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What Texas cannabis consumers have to look forward to (eventually)

Two weeks ago, I was the cannabis columnist for The Pitch Kansas City. I had just published an article regarding the unregulated hemp industry in Missouri, met with a local entrepreneur to highlight his cannabis manufacturing company’s recent expansion to Arizona’s legal market, and gobbled down a package of edibles for a product review. Now, I sit in my new Austin apartment as the Chronicle’s assistant news editor, wondering what I have gotten myself into. After MO legalized recreational cannabis in 2022, I thought I had it made. To walk down the street, stare at a large menu with a variety of products, and be out the door with whatever form of THC I was feeling that day … yeah, I’d say it was a pretty good deal. As I grew accustomed to the process, I constantly found myself wondering why anyone would want to live in a state where weed is illegal. Then I moved to Texas, one of the most restrictive states in terms of cannabis access, alongside my previous neighboring state, Kansas. Prior to making my 730-mile move, I thought to myself, At least Texas has a more open hemp industry. We’ll see what it has to offer.

But even that is changing. On my very last day with The Pitch, the U.S. House passed the Republican-proposed spending bill, which reopened the federal government after a historic nearly month-and-a-half-long shutdown. Within that spending bill is a provision that will change the nation’s hemp industry. Due to the 2018 Farm Bill, which created a federal loophole that allows for retailers to legally sell products that contain less than 0.3% THCa, states across the nation vary in terms of local hemp regulation. In turn, it has led to retailers selling products that contain well over the legal THCa limit. This is great for consumers in states like Texas, with an absent recreational cannabis industry, as it creates an easily accessible path to marijuana products. But in Missouri, along with others that already have an established cannabis market, the loophole creates consumer confusion. Now, after years of debates, the federal government has suddenly taken a stance on hemp that will phase out many of the products that are currently freely available in these states. And although there is a 12-month delay before the new rules are implemented, reform is on the horizon, and it has me curious about what’s next. If you are a Texan who has turned to your local hemp shop to get your fix, you are also probably wondering what’s next. As far as where the hemp market will go, that is pretty much up in the air, as anything can change within the next year before the new laws go into effect. What I can tell you is what’s next when legal recreational cannabis eventually hits the Lone Star State, albeit five, 10, or 20 years down the line.

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Glenn Rogers: The Texans mixing far-right politics with a fringe religious movement

“Trump has put God back in the White House!” Those were chilling words I heard on a chilly morning while attending a community Easter sunrise service overlooking Possum Kingdom Lake. I had no idea our omnipotent God could ever be taken out of the White House, public schools or anywhere else, or that God required Donald Trump to put him back. The speaker followed the Trump proclamation with a few statements about the “Seven Mountains Mandate.” My family and I had risen well before the crack of dawn and traveled to an outdoor Easter service, but not to receive a fringe right political message. Fortunately, the service was otherwise a meaningful experience. The sights and aromas of God’s creation clashed with unpredictable weather. The majestic sunrise and message about the empty tomb provided a joyful spiritual experience.

But on the drive home I couldn’t shake the feeling that we had witnessed the mixture of something holy with something profane. The Seven Mountains Mandate is part of a hyperpoliticized theology which teaches that believers should control seven spheres of society: religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and business. It doesn’t just teach Christians to contribute to those spheres, but to dominate them. It is also called dominionism. This charismatic, spiritual warfare movement, now closely aligned with far-right-wing politics, started in the 1970s, becoming more widely known in 2013 after publication of Invading Babylon: The 7 Mountain Mandate, by Lance Wallnau and Bill Johnson. It’s also intricately linked to the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and proselytized through figures like Paula White-Cain, senior adviser to the White House faith office in the Trump administration. The NAR is a controversial Christian supremacist movement, also associated with the far right, that contains Pentecostal and evangelical elements. The movement advocates for spiritual warfare to bring about Christian dominion over all aspects of society and end the separation of church and state. NAR leaders often refer to themselves as apostles and prophets. Landon Schott, pastor of a Fort Worth church called Mercy Culture, has claimed Christians cannot vote for Democrats and that critics of his church are witches and warlocks. In January, Nate Schatzline, another Mercy Culture pastor and a Texas state representative, prayed to remove demonic spirits from the state Capitol and give it back to the Holy Spirit. I could not agree more that the place needs cleansing. Perhaps part of the cleansing occurred last month when Schatzline announced he will not seek reelection. Instead, he will assume a new role with the National Faith Advisory Board, founded by White-Cain.

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Texas AG Paxton blocks universities from signing CSC’s participation agreement

Seven universities in Texas have been ordered by the state's attorney general not to sign the College Sports Commission NIL participation agreement. On Nov. 25, Texas AG Ken Paxton sent out a letter to Texas Tech, the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor University, University of Houston, Southern Methodist and Texas Christian urging them not to sign the CSC agreement, stating numerous issues with the agreement. "As the chief legal officer for the State of Texas, whose duties include providing advice, counsel, and legal representation to Texas public universities, I am particularly interested and gravely concerned by the wide-ranging implications entering into such an agreement portends for our state and its institutions," reads the letter.

For context, the 11-page university participant agreement would bind SEC, ACC and Big 12 schools to the terms of the House v. NCAA settlement and to the enforcement decisions of the new CSC, which stipulates that they waive their rights to contest whatever sanctions or rule changes the commission would make in the court of law. This sparked the attention of mega donor and chairman of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents, Cody Campbell, who said Texas Tech would not sign the agreement, arguing to the rules are not in compliance with Texas state Laws and university bylaws. "We will eagerly and fully engage in conversation aimed at finding a legal and workable solution, and I will personally commit to facilitating such discussions," Campbell said in a social media post. According to the CSC's website, it's "the organization overseeing the new system that allows schools to share revenue directly with student-athletes and ensures that NIL deals made with student-athletes are fair and comply with the rules." It stems from the House v. NCAA settlement on NIL deals for student-athletes and is led by inaugural CEO Bryan Seeley, who formerly served as the executive vice president of Legal and Operations at Major League Baseball. It reports that all current members of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC are participating in the new revenue-sharing model overseen by the CSC.

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United Airlines And Southwest's billboard battle becomes irrelevant after nightmare weekend of nearly 3,000 flight disruptions combined

It isn't uncommon for major airlines to take a swipe at one another. We have seen several examples throughout the year. Heck, just a couple of days ago, United Airlines' CEO Scott Kirby took a shot at American Airlines, claiming that its days may be numbered. Now, United Airlines seems to be in another feud. This time, the airline is battling Southwest Airlines over billboards in Denver. We'll take a closer look at the billboard feud. However, all the talk on Saturday wasn't about the billboards. Instead, passengers across the U.S. faced delays and cancellations on one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. Here's a closer look at the breakdown of the cancellations and delays, and what travelers can anticipate during the coming days.

Starting things on a lighter note, users online had some fun with the ongoing feud between United Airlines and Southwest Airlines. The rivalry took yet another turn, this time with some noticeable jabs on billboards in Denver, an area both airlines have many flights out of. It appears as though United launched the billboard feud. They wrote in their massive Denver billboard, "more flight southwest than, well, you know." Southwest Airlines wasted no time responding. The airline placed its own billboard atop United's message. Southwest Airlines wrote on its billboard, "These trophies sit united on our shelves." The billboard added, "#1 in Economy class customer satisfaction 4 years in a row." As expected, users online had a blast with the ads. One person wrote on Instagram, "One of their ads by terminal 1 at O'hare says: do we only fly out of midway? O’hare no." Another person wrote, "This is hysterical! They’re probably gonna lose all those awards with all the changes, which means maybe we will get a clap back from United soon!" Despite the attention of the feud, things have changed over the weekend. In fact, Denver International Airport was one of the hubs that proved disastrous for both airlines due to weather concerns. This shifted the focus for both airlines, which had to deal with thousands of delays and hundreds of cancellations.

Read this article at The Travel - Subscribers Only

Austin light rail moves closer to construction with federal approval

After years of setbacks and uncertainty, Austin’s light rail project is now one step closer to fruition. Federal transit officials last week gave Austin Light Rail a key vote of confidence, issuing a “medium-high’’ rating in an annual funding recommendation report that keeps the project on track for a 2027 groundbreaking. The rating positions Austin to compete for a federal Capital Investment Grant expected to cover roughly half the system’s cost. The federal mark is the latest sign of momentum for a transit plan that has struggled through years of redesigns, cost escalations and political blowback.

Since Austin voters approved Project Connect in 2020 — signing off on a generational $7 billion transit overhaul and an ongoing 20% property tax increase — the light rail component has repeatedly been scaled back as projected costs ballooned. The initial 27-mile vision shrank to fewer than 10 miles, even as the price tag grew and questions mounted about how far local dollars would stretch. The Austin Transit Partnership, the entity created to build the system, has also spent years recalibrating designs amid lawsuits, legislative pushback, inflation, right-of-way challenges and pressure to deliver something close to what voters were promised. Even with those complications, November’s rating brings ATP closer to securing about $4 billion in federal funding. The rating, the strongest overall grade FTA assigned for the 2026 fiscal year, signals that federal staff view the project as financially and technically viable. Greg Canally, ATP’s CEO, said the rating is one stage of a multistep, highly competitive funding gauntlet.

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Why ousted Alamo Trust CEO Kate Rogers isn't going quietly

In the weeks since Kate Rogers was ousted from her role as CEO of the Alamo Trust, Inc., the GOP state leaders who called for her resignation say the half-billion dollar redevelopment plan she was overseeing is moving forward without a hitch. But Rogers isn’t going quietly after passages from her two-year-old doctoral dissertation were held up as evidence her personal politics were “incompatible” with the way state leaders want the eventual museum, visitors center and surrounding plaza to convey the site’s history. Last week, Rogers sued Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham and members of the Alamo Trust’s board of directors, shedding new light on their efforts to influence such projects and asking that she be reinstated to her role.

In an interview with the San Antonio Report, Rogers said the current political environment compelled her to fight back against what she sees as a violation of academic freedom laws. Texas’ higher education institutions face increasing scrutiny from GOP leaders, who’ve spent the past year pushing out professors they disagree with, auditing curriculum for references of race and gender and appointing political allies to top leadership roles at the state’s largest public universities. University leaders have little leverage to push back, given the tremendous influence state and federal leaders have over their funding. But Rogers is now free to speak her mind — and hopes doing so could make a difference beyond her case. “People separate from their employment all the time. What’s unique about this situation is that the reason that I was asked to resign was because of something I wrote in my dissertation, which is protected speech under the First Amendment,” Rogers said. “I felt compelled to fight that, because that’s a dangerous precedent,” she continued. “Somebody took the trouble to find my dissertation. I think it puts a lot of people at risk.”

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Failure to launch: Don’t expect to take flying taxis to the World Cup after Arlington's plan delayed

Arlington won’t have flying taxis in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as city leaders had hoped last year. Arlington Mayor Jim Ross first announced the city was partnering with a startup with the hopes of making Arlington the first American city with advanced air mobility during his state of the city address in October 2024. “Theoretically, when it's all done and we expect it to be done for the World Cup in 2026, you can be flying these air taxis right into the Entertainment District,” Ross said during the address. But a year later, Ross and other experts say that won’t happen. This is due to a combination of factors, but the biggest obstacle is Federal Aviation Administration regulations that haven’t been completed.

Still, Ross told KERA News in a recent interview, Arlington hasn’t given up on being among the first in the country to have flying taxis. Those taxis would be eVTOL aircraft – electronic vertical take-off and landing. The vehicle would be powered by an electric motor instead of a combustion engine and would take off and land the same way as a helicopter. While the air taxis won’t be ready to move people in time for the World Cup, Ross said it’s not unreasonable to expect at least one of them to be in the skies over the Arlington Entertainment District in what the mayor referred to as a World’s Fair type demo. Ernest Huffman agrees. The aviation planning and education program coordinator for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Huffman’s job includes researching new forms of air travel often called advanced air mobility. The millions of visitors expected in North Texas for the World Cup wouldn’t be able to hop on an eVTOL and fly to the games, but Huffman said it could still benefit the region.

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UT Arlington researchers call for more insight on ‘potential lifeline’ for rural hospitals

Researchers in North Texas are calling for more insight into whether a federal program is improving access to care for rural communities. Certain rural hospitals were able to convert to “Rural Emergency Hospitals” beginning in 2020. The designation allows hospitals to participate in a new federal payment program designed to provide financial stability and ensure access in rural areas. Elizabeth Merwin, a nursing professor at UT Arlington, said researchers have questions about how the conditions of the program affect care. “There's very little evidence or research-based information on the outcomes of the use of –or the switch to rural emergency hospitals,” she said. About 1,500 hospitals were eligible for the program based on the specific requirements.

Since the first hospitals converted in 2023, 40 have joined the program. Currently, Texas is home to four of those hospitals. “In order to be eligible, a hospital had to be enrolled in Medicare,” said Suzanne Daly, another professor at UTA’s Center for Rural Health and Nursing. Daly said there were also stipulations based on the size of the hospital and the designation it already had. When hospitals enter the program, they can’t provide inpatient care. The program “does potentially provide a lifeline” for struggling rural hospitals and preserving “a baseline of care,” according to a recent paper written by the UTA researchers. The baseline focuses on emergency and outpatient care that “might ultimately be more profitable,” the paper said. Focusing on those services does mean losing vital inpatient services in rural communities, but keeping a source of care open in a community can be critical – especially with so many rural hospitals closing or facing a risk of closure.

Read this article at KERA - Subscribers Only

National Stories

December will begin with investors owning little stock. Is a year-end rally at play?

Wall Street thinks you don’t own enough stock. Not “you,” specifically, but investors as a collective are viewed as too lightly exposed to equities given the S & P 500 is three years into a bull market and is back to within 1% of its all-time peak from a month ago. Deutsche Bank’s comprehensive investor positioning gauge is hovering around neutral. John Flood, head of Americas equities sales trading at Goldman Sachs, says: “Our sentiment indicator has spent most of the year in negative territory reflecting relatively conservative institutional investor positioning. The wall of worry has been extremely high this year and remains omnipresent (this is a bullish signal).”

The reason to note such assessments is that we’ve entered the season when “flow-of-funds” trends and the mechanical maneuvering of investors toward a final scorecard for the year tend to form the core of the bulls’ argument. Essentially all earnings for 2025 are in the books. Recent Federal Reserve messaging has restored expectations of a rate cut on Dec. 10. Business-news flow is set to slow down as holidays encroach. Which leaves market handicappers trying to sort out how much latent buying power remains among investors. Through this lens, the S & P 500's first 5% setback in seven months, culminating a week ago Friday, was a big help in shaking out anxious investors, resetting investor sentiment and testing the key fundamental premises that have animated the bull market. Was that all that was needed to refresh a market uptrend that had grown pretty overheated with speculative momentum, complacency about the macroeconomic picture and low-quality-stock leadership into late October? Warren Pies, founder of 3Fourteen Research, last week upgraded equities to an overweight in part because he believes the answer to that question is “Yes.”

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Trump’s focus on drug war means big business for defense startups

The U.S. military has turned its attention southward, and the defense industry is lining up to sell it the tools for a different kind of war. Defense-tech companies and artificial-intelligence startups have found a vital new market in President Trump’s rapidly escalating drug war. Weapons and AI platforms that were designed for a future conflict with China or struggled to prove themselves on the Ukrainian battlefield have found a niche in the administration’s tech-enabled crackdown on drug trafficking. Drone and imaging companies are assisting the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy with interdiction operations in the Caribbean. AI companies from Silicon Valley to Dubai are pitching platforms that promise to map the hidden networks of fentanyl traffickers. On the southern U.S. border, a counterdrone system developed in Ukraine is being repurposed to deflect incursions from Mexico. As Washington has revived the rhetoric and legal tools of the global war on terror, more companies large and small have staked their claims to the emerging market, at times retooling to fit the latest mission.

They have rebranded their drones, sensors, AI tools and data platforms as custom tools for Trump’s fight against “narco-terror.” The effort has accelerated since early September, when the U.S. military began an unprecedented campaign against small drug-trafficking vessels, executing strikes that have killed more than 80 people. Some regional allies have accused the U.S. of extrajudicial killings of civilians. The Trump administration maintains that drug cartels pose an imminent threat to America’s national security. The legality of the boat strikes has been contested by U.S. lawmakers, foreign allies, the United Nations and human-rights groups. But the pushback mostly hasn’t deterred companies jockeying for a role in the Trump administration’s broader counternarcotics operations. In an interview, Palantir Technologies Chief Executive Alex Karp declined to say whether his company’s technology was involved in counternarcotics operations, but voiced support for the strikes. “If we are involved, I am very proud,” Karp said. “I believe that fentanyl is a scourge on the working class of America and that if this scourge was affecting non-working-class people we would use extreme violence and so I support what they’re doing.” While the administration’s upcoming national-defense strategy hasn’t been publicly released, people familiar with the document said much of it is devoted to homeland defense and hemispheric security—a significant shift toward the Western Hemisphere that gives concern over China a back seat. “The counternarcotics mission has already opened new, unanticipated revenue lines,” said Aubrey Manes, senior director of mission at Vannevar Labs, a startup providing intelligence to national-security agencies. The company said it uses AI to help U.S. authorities uncover and disrupt drug-supply chains by mapping transnational criminal organizations and China-based suppliers, and to gauge public sentiment regarding U.S. operations against suspected Venezuelan drug boats.

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

White House launches tracker to call out 'media offenders'

The White House launched a new page on its website on Friday called "media offenders," listing news sites, reporters, and stories it claims misled the public. The top publications cited as "media offenders of the week" were the Boston Globe, CBS News, and the Independent. Reporters from those outlets were singled out for stories about a controversial video released last week by six Democratic lawmakers. The lawmakers, all of whom are military veterans or former intelligence officials, reminded service members they are not obligated to follow illegal orders. In a video posted online last week, the lawmakers said, "Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home."

"Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal order. ... You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution," they added. US President Donald Trump called the lawmakers' actions "seditious" and "treason." The page included an "offender hall of shame" with a list of stories the White House considers mistruths. Each story is explained and categorized under labels such as "lie," "omission of context," or "left-wing lunacy." The White House described the site as "a record of the media’s false and misleading stories flagged by The White House." The page also features a leaderboard of news sites the administration claims reported stories incorrectly. The Washington Post tops the list, followed by MSNBC (recently rebranded as MS NOW), CBS News, CNN, The New York Times, Politico, and The Wall Street Journal. There's also a section with "repeat offenders" with outlets that the Trump administration objects to.

Read this article at DW - Subscribers Only

Trump invites families of 2 National Guard members who were shot to White House

President Donald Trump on Sunday said he's invited the family of a National Guard member fatally shot last week to the White House, saying he spoke to her parents and they were "devastated." U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom died after the Wednesday shooting in Washington, D.C., while her seriously injured colleague, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, remained in critical condition. The president said he's discussed a White House visit for the parents of both members of the West Virginia National Guard.

"I said, 'When you're ready, because that's a tough thing, come to the White House. We're going to honor Sarah," Trump told reporters. "And likewise with Andrew, recover or not." In recent days, local vigils in West Virginia have honored the soldiers, including one Saturday evening at Webster County High School, where Beckstrom attended classes. "Sarah was the kind of student that teachers hoped for, she carried herself with quiet strength, a contagious smile and a positive energy that lifted people around her," said Jarrod Hankins, the school's principal. "She was sweet, caring and always willing to help others." Beckstrom, 20, and Wolfe, 24 were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard as part of Trump's aggressive crime-fighting plan that federalized the D.C. police force. A 29-year-old Afghan national faces one count of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed in the shooting, which prompted the Trump administration to halt all asylum decisions and pause issuing visas for people traveling on Afghan passports.

Read this article at Associated Press - Subscribers Only

Trump’s pick to replace DeSantis faces a Republican pile-on in Florida

President Donald Trump’s endorsement was supposed to clear the field for Rep. Byron Donalds. Instead, the GOP governor’s race in Florida is veering toward a bitter and unpredictable brawl — with Gov. Ron DeSantis and his clout still lurking, adding to the drama in the fight to succeed him. Donalds has every reason to expect a glide path to the nomination: He’s got Trump behind him, support from many top state Republicans, millions in his campaign accounts and a steady presence on Fox News. Polls show him far out in front of other GOP hopefuls. But instead of the field collapsing, Donalds is drawing in new challengers with sharper attacks — including allies of term-limited DeSantis. The result is a disjointed and increasingly nasty primary in the nation’s third-largest state — one unfolding as Republicans continue to widen their voter registration advantage in the former battleground.

DeSantis has still not publicly backed any Donalds rival, and speculation abounds as to what steps he may be taking to block him. His pick for lieutenant governor — Jay Collins — appears poised to jump in the race, though it’s unclear if DeSantis will back him if he does. In short, Florida’s GOP primary is getting messy. “He just knows he doesn’t want Byron to be governor, but there isn’t a solid plan to stop him,” said one longtime Republican consultant familiar with DeSantis’ thinking, who was granted anonymity to candidly discuss the state of the race. This past week saw investor and online provocateur James Fishback splash into the governor’s race, where he immediately ripped into Donalds and even called the Black Republican a “slave” to donors and corporate interests. Even before he entered the contest, Fishback clashed online with top Trump advisers, including deputy chief of staff James Blair. On a conservative podcast this week, Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz called Fishback a “total scam artist.”

Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only

The next big battleground test: A Wisconsin race that has tortured Republicans

Republicans looking to recover after bruising electoral losses in November are sharply divided over one of the next big electoral tests: a statewide judicial race in battleground Wisconsin. Wisconsin voters will head to the polls in April to pick the state’s next Supreme Court justice for the fourth time since 2020. In the last three contests, liberal candidates have demolished the GOP-backed ones, sending conservatives — who in as recently as 2023 enjoyed a majority on the court — deep into the wilderness. And some Republicans in the state are already at odds over how to try to reverse that losing streak: Embrace the Republican Party brand, Trump and all, or try to separate as much as possible from a partisan label in a throwback bid to less contentious judicial contests. “If you don’t tell your voter where you are, you’re likely going to lessen their incentive,” said Brandon Scholz, the former executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party.

“Think about the liberal side. They’re going to turn on every anti-Donald Trump voter that’s been known to man in Wisconsin.” The elections are technically nonpartisan, but both Republicans and Democrats have poured tens of millions into the most recent contests because of the scope and potential cases appearing before the court. In July, liberals on the bench voted to overturn Wisconsin’s 176-year-old abortion ban. And in April, the court ruled that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers could lock in a 400-year school funding increase using his line-item veto power, a decision that also split along ideological lines. And Democrats hope the court will take up a redistricting case in time for the 2026 election. The conservative candidate for the court, Maria Lazar, said in an interview that the best way to recapture the seat is to refocus the election away from the political extremes. “This is not a Republican versus a Democrat,” said Lazar, a longtime judge who has spent the last three years on an appellate court in the Milwaukee metro-area city of Waukesha. “This is a judicial race, and the reason why it’s going to be different is that I am, through and through and all the way, a judge, not a politician.”

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Fewer international students are enrolling at U.S. colleges, which could cost the country $1 billion, reports find

After a battle over immigration policies and international student visas, fewer new international students chose to study on U.S. college campuses this fall, which comes at a significant economic cost. In the fall 2025 semester, the tally of new international students studying in the U.S. sank 17%, according to a fall snapshot from the U.S. Department of State and the Institute of International Education released earlier this month. Altogether, international students at U.S. colleges and universities contributed nearly $55 billion to the U.S. economy over the 2024-25 academic year, including tuition revenue as well as student spending, according to the IIE’s Open Doors report. This year’s sharp enrollment decline — largely due to the Trump administration’s changes to the student visa policy — is projected to cost the economy $1.1 billion, according to a separate analysis from NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

A separate analysis by Implan, an economic software and analysis company, found that when accounting for the direct loss of student spending as well as the ripple effects across the economy, the drop in enrollment amounts to a nearly $1 billion loss to gross domestic product. “International students do far more than attend classes — they sustain local economies,” said Bjorn Markeson, an economist at Implan. “Their spending supports thousands of jobs, stimulates local businesses, and generates tax revenue that underpins community services.” Before the Trump administration put a temporary pause on new visa applications in the spring, there were nearly 1.2 million international undergraduate and graduate students in the U.S., mostly from India and China, making up about 6% of the total U.S. higher education population, according to the Open Doors report. The U.S. has been the top host of international students, but the enrollment pipeline was already under pressure. Fewer new students from abroad also enrolled for the fall 2024 semester, notching the first decline since 2020-2021, during the Covid pandemic, according to the Open Doors data. More restrictive student visa policies in the U.S. and changing attitudes abroad about studying here were factors contributing to that decline, other research shows.

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Copyright December 06, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved