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Newsclips - July 3, 2025 |
Lead Stories
House Republicans are pushing Trump's big bill to the brink of passage
House Republicans are preparing to vote on President Donald Trump’s $4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill early Thursday, up all night as GOP leaders and the president himself worked to persuade skeptical holdouts to drop their opposition and deliver by their Fourth of July deadline. Final debates began in the predawn hours after another chaotic day, and night, at the Capitol. House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted the House would meet the holiday deadline, with just days to go after the Senate approved the package on the narrowest of margins and Vice President JD Vance breaking a tie vote. “Our way is to plow through and get it done,” Johnson said, emerging in the middle of the night from a series of closed-door meetings. “We will meet our July 4th deadline.” The outcome would be milestone for the president and his party, a longshot effort to compile a long list of GOP priorities into what they call his “one big beautiful bill,” an 800-plus page package. With Democrats unified in opposition, the bill will become a defining measure of Trump’s return to the White House, with the sweep of Republican control of Congress.
At it core, the package’s priority is $4.5 trillion in tax breaks enacted in Trump’s first term, in 2017, that would expire if Congress failed to act, along with new ones. This includes allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and a $6,000 deduction for most older adults earning less than $75,000 a year. There’s also a hefty investment, $350 billion, in national security and Trump’s deportation agenda and to help develop the “Golden Dome” defensive system over the U.S.. To help offset the costs of lost tax revenue, the package includes $1.2 trillion in cutbacks to the Medicaid health care and food stamps, largely by imposing new work requirements, including for some parents and older people, and a massive rollback of green energy investments. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the package will add $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the decade and 11.8 million more people will go without health coverage. “This was a generational opportunity to deliver the most comprehensive and consequential set of conservative reforms in modern history, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the House Budget Committee chairman.
Read this article at Associated Press - Subscribers Only
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The private sector lost 33,000 jobs in June, badly missing expectations for a 100,000 increase, ADP says
Private sector hiring unexpectedly contracted in June, payrolls processing firm ADP said Wednesday, in a possible sign that the economy may not be as sturdy as investors believe as they bid the S&P 500 back up to record territory to end the month. Private payrolls lost 33,000 jobs in June, the ADP report showed, the first decrease since March 2023. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast an increase of 100,000 for the month. The May job growth figure was revised even lower to just 29,000 jobs added from 37,000. “Though layoffs continue to be rare, a hesitancy to hire and a reluctance to replace departing workers led to job losses last month,” Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, said in a press release published Wednesday morning. To be sure, the ADP report has a spotty track record on predicting the subsequent government jobs report, which investors tend to weigh more heavily. May’s soft ADP data ended up differing significantly from the monthly jobs report figures that came later in the week.
This week, the government’s nonfarm payrolls report will be out on Thursday with economists expecting a healthy 110,000 increase for June, per Dow Jones estimates. Economists are expecting the unemployment rate to tick higher to 4.3% from 4.2%. Some economists could revise down their jobs reports estimates following ADP’s data. Weekly jobless claims data is also due Thursday, with economists penciling in 240,000. This string of labor stats comes during a shortened trading week, with the market closing early on Thursday and remaining dark on Friday in honor of the July Fourth holiday. The bulk of job losses came in service roles tied to professional and business services and health and education, according to ADP. Professional/business services notched a decline of 56,000, while health/education saw a net loss of 52,000. Financial activity roles also contributed to the month’s decline with a drop of 14,000 on balance. But the contraction was capped by payroll expansions in goods-producing roles across industries such as manufacturing and mining. All together, goods-producing positions grew by 32,000 in the month, while payrolls for service roles overall fell by 66,000.
Read this article at CNBC - Subscribers Only
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Justice Dept. explores using criminal charges against election officials
Senior Justice Department officials are exploring whether they can bring criminal charges against state or local election officials if the Trump administration determines they have not sufficiently safeguarded their computer systems, according to people familiar with the discussions. The department’s effort, which is still in its early stages, is not based on new evidence, data or legal authority, according to the people, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. Instead, it is driven by the unsubstantiated argument made by many in the Trump administration that American elections are easy prey to voter fraud and foreign manipulation, these people said. Such a path could significantly raise the stakes for federal investigations of state or county officials, thrusting the Justice Department and the threat of criminalization into the election system in a way that has never been done before.
Federal voting laws place some mandates on how elections are conducted and ballots counted. But that work has historically been managed by state and local officials, with limited involvement or oversight from Washington. In recent days, senior officials have directed Justice Department lawyers to examine the ways in which a hypothetical failure by state or local officials to follow security standards for electronic voting could be charged as a crime, appearing to assume a kind of criminally negligent mismanagement of election systems. Already, the department has started to contact election officials across the country, asking for information on voting in the state. A spokesman for the Justice Department, Gates McGavick, said the agency “will leave no option off the table when it comes to promoting free, fair and secure elections.” Voting experts say the push by the Trump administration is alarming, particularly given that it has repeatedly argued, without reliable evidence, that the 2020 election that President Trump lost was affected by mass voter fraud. “The tactics we’re seeing out of D.O.J. right now are building on what we’ve seen from anti-democracy groups for years,” said Dax Goldstein, the program director of election protection at the States United Democracy Center, a nonprofit organization. “They’re rooted in the same lies about elections, and they’re all meant to create noise and fear and concerns about issues with our elections that just don’t exist. Our elections are safe and secure, and election officials are working to keep them that way.”
Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only
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One key to Houston ISD’s rising STAAR Scores? Holding students back.
Texas Monthly; Miles: Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP; Score sheet: Getty Mike Miles is taking a victory lap. Last month, the Houston Independent School District’s state-appointed superintendent unveiled the district’s latest standardized-test results at a packed school board meeting. Since 2023, when the Texas Education Agency replaced HISD’s elected board and installed Miles, citing poor student performance, the percentage of Houston elementary and middle school students meeting state reading standards has increased by between three and twelve points per grade. Miles announced that the students raised their math proficiency by between three and fifteen points over the same period. The district showed the most dramatic success in two required high school courses, with the percentage of students meeting state standards rising by 17 points in biology and 23 points in Algebra I over the past two years. (In the other three high school exams—English I, English II, and U.S. History—HISD had modest gains.) For Miles, the STAAR scores vindicate what he calls the New Education System—a heavily scripted curriculum, with components written by AI, that he implemented at 85 “historically underperforming” schools for the 2023–24 school year. After the addition of 45 more schools to the program in 2024–25, around half of the district now follows the NES model. Miles pioneered the system at his Third Future charter school network in Colorado before importing it into the state’s largest school district. “This sort of growth has never been done in Houston, or in the state of Texas,” the 68-year-old Miles told the board with a triumphant grin. “This intervention is working. The transformation is working.” He singled out the meteoric rise in algebra and biology scores, calling the gains “incredible.”
In his enthusiasm, though, Miles glossed over a crucial fact: The two-year jump in algebra and biology scores was, at least in part, a result of systematically pushing students at NES schools into less rigorous math and science classes. These moves, some of which were previously reported by the Houston Chronicle, inflated test scores by forcing thousands of students at struggling schools to take STAAR exams a year later than their peers at higher-performing campuses. In interviews, district representatives acknowledged these changes but told me they were intended to benefit students rather than inflate STAAR scores. Chief academic officer Kristen Hole explained that NES students need extra preparation before taking algebra and biology classes. “We have a lot of English-language learners in the district,” she said. “One additional year of English acquisition for students can always be particularly helpful, especially in a topic like biology, where you have a lot of heavy vocabulary.” (Miles declined an interview request.) Until the state takeover, most students took both Algebra I and biology in ninth grade, while higher-performing students could take algebra in eighth or even seventh grade. That’s still true at non-NES schools, such as Lanier Middle School and Bellaire High School, which tend to have wealthier, whiter populations. But at NES schools, the course sequence has become much more rigid. Since the state takeover, access to eighth-grade algebra has declined at many NES schools. Two middle schools that joined NES in 2023 (Cullen and Fondren) did not offer an algebra course that year; three schools that joined in 2024 (Deady, Fonville, and Gregory-Lincoln) also did not offer algebra their first year in the program. At many other schools, eighth-grade enrollment in Algebra I dropped by more than half from its pre-NES figure. Hole wouldn’t answer a question about why the course is no longer offered but said the district is in the process of implementing an accelerated math curriculum for lower grades so that future students will be prepared for eighth-grade algebra. (Cullen resumed offering Algebra I in 2024–25; seven students took the exam this spring.)
Read this article at Texas Monthly - Subscribers Only
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State Stories
Bud Kennedy: Ban Texans from running as Republicans — or voting? Behind the French fracas
The Texas Republican Wrestling League has returned for another season, with castoffs and outsiders grabbing at the seasoned old pros while everybody imitates America’s Bruiser-In-Chief. That is the best way to explain the events of recent days. A tag team of elected officials is retaliating against showoff Tarrant County party chairman Bo French, all for landing low blows against the senior faction. Texas is a two-party state. But now, it’s the MAGA Republican Party against the Even More MAGA Party. Texas’ MAGA Republicans passed school vouchers, strengthened the border, DOGEed the budget and did whatever President Donald Trump and estranged ally Elon Musk wanted. But that wasn’t enough. The Even More MAGA Party had to find something else to gripe about.
So now, eight months before a telltale party primary, the Even More MAGA Party is churning up opposition to incumbents over (1) property taxes, (2) LGBTQ whatever and (3) Muslim Americans, foreigners, Californians or anybody who looks New Around Here. French and his West Texas multimillionaire backers dominate the local organized party structure. They want to trap Republican elected officials in a leglock hold. Then they can declare some not MAGA enough and bar them from the March ballot. You think I’m kidding? The state party organization is about to file a lawsuit to bar some Republicans from even running for office. The same lawsuit would also let the party prevent Texans who don’t pre-register as Republicans from even casting a primary vote at all. See? This spiteful little club is at odds with elected officials, including many who have already been promised Trump’s endorsement. They even want to overturn current Texas election law. Is it any wonder that elected officials want to get rid of a showboating county chairman trolling America with viral shock posts on X.com? At @bofrenchtx, the Westover Hills Republican speaks Even More MAGA Party language. He says 100 million people in America are “third world” invaders and “savages” who should be deported. He calls his critics “retards.” He writes that “there are just some things where you can’t trust women” and that men “do the hard work” in society. French himself has conceded that it’s all for show. In October, he told a Dallas political website: “I tweet 50 to 100 times a day. Sometimes my tweets are absurd to demonstrate absurdity.” Sometimes they’re just absurd.
Read this article at Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Subscribers Only
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Texas AG defends shutdown of midwife Maria Rojas' health clinics amid abortion prosecution
Accused abortionist Maria Rojas' refusal to answer questions during a civil court hearing in March should be enough reason to for a court to keep her health clinics closed, the Texas Attorney General’s Office said this week. In a filing in a Texas appeals court on Monday, lawyers for Attorney General Ken Paxton said a Waller County judge’s civil injunction closing Rojas’ clinics amid her separate criminal case should be upheld. Rojas’ lawyers in May appealed Judge Gary Chaney’s injunction, arguing that the attorney general’s office can’t prove that an abortion took place and that only one entity, the Texas Medical Board, has the power to seek an injunction.
The attorney general’s office stood by its evidence and argued that the appeal, if granted, would gut the office’s powers to enforce the law. “[Rojas’] theory would leave the attorney general powerless to prevent the loss of unborn life, limiting him only to after-the-fact remedies,” the agency wrote. The case is the first test of the criminal and civil powers granted to the attorney general’s office under the Texas Human Life Protection Act, the 2023 law that mostly banned abortions in Texas. Along with criminalizing abortions, the law made it possible for the attorney general’s office to seek civil penalties against medical providers. Rojas, a licensed midwife, is accused of providing abortions out of four clinics she owned in northwest Harris and Waller counties. She and two other men are also accused of conspiring to provide medical treatment without a license. Rojas and another man, Cedan Ley, are not licensed physicians and were alleged to have paid the second man, Rubbildo Labanino Matos, to have access to the ability to write prescriptions and perform other tasks.
Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only
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New regulations are coming for driverless cars in Texas. Here's what to know
Self-driving cars and trucks deployed on Texas roads will soon face stricter scrutiny and state oversight. That’s thanks to a new law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott that requires autonomous vehicle companies to get state approval before operating without a driver — and gives the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles authority to revoke that approval if companies don’t follow safety standards. The move comes as Texas has become a “global leader” in autonomous vehicle deployment, according to Jeff Farrah, the CEO of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, a trade group. “Texas really stands out nationally when it comes to the level of interest from policymakers and regulatory agencies,” he said.
And it’s not just the Waymo cars that have become commonplace in Austin. In April, a company called Aurora started running driverless semitrucks on I-45 between Houston and Dallas. Another company, Kodiak, announced in May that it had deployed four driverless trucks in the Permian Basin. Several others have said they would pull their safety drivers from trucks by the end of this year. Although the law goes into effect Sept. 1, the new rules are not expected to be operational until “sometime in 2026,” said Adam Shaivitz, a spokesperson for TxDMV, in an email. Until then, the state has little authority to stop AVs from driving on public roads. In mid-June, a group of Central Texas lawmakers wrote to Tesla asking the company to delay its robotaxi launch in Austin until after Sept. 1 because of widespread concern over the safety of the company’s self-driving technology. Tesla’s self-driving system uses a camera-based technology, which differs from Waymo and other companies and that critics have warned is less safe. Tesla deployed its cars anyway and responded to the lawmakers via email that the company was “actively engaged in efforts by the Texas Legislature to update AV policy and will ensure that our vehicles and operational plans meet the planned statutory updates.” Nichols said the legislation passed with broad industry support. Companies were concerned that “if somebody else is a bad actor, it can hurt them all,” he said. “If someone’s out there harming the public, then the legislature will just shut the whole thing down.”
Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only
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North Texas newlywed released from ICE detention after more than 140 days
Ward Sakeik, a North Texas woman detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in February as she was returning home from her honeymoon, has been released from detention. The decision comes after she spent more than 140 days in ICE custody. The 22-year-old woman of Palestinian descent is also “stateless,” creating a situation that a lawyer previously described to The Dallas Morning News as a “procedural black hole.” On Tuesday night, Sakeik walked out of the Prairieland Detention Center — an ICE facility located less than an hour’s drive south from her Arlington home — and into the embrace of her husband, 28-year-old Taahir Shaikh. It’s not immediately clear why she was released. The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a comment request from The News on Wednesday morning.
Eric Lee, one of her attorneys, said he can’t speculate on the reasons why and declined to disclose for now the terms of Sakeik’s release. But he said she doesn’t have an ankle monitor. Sakeik’s attorneys also called her release “sudden” in a Wednesday press statement. They said ICE had just attempted to deport Sakeik early Monday, despite a federal court order prohibiting her removal. They added that they were not informed about which country she would have been sent to. “There is no country to which she can be removed where she would not face extreme hardship because she doesn’t have citizenship anywhere,” said Chris Godshall-Bennett, another attorney for Sakeik. “I just think it really underscores the cruelty and the complete lack of regard for human dignity and the approach to immigration that this administration is taking.” Monday’s described deportation attempt would be the second time the federal government has allegedly attempted to remove Sakeik from the U.S. in June. Sakeik and her husband previously told The News that she was driven to a Fort Worth-area airport and was almost deported on June 12 to the Israeli border. But she said she was later told that the plan was canceled for several reasons, including the Israel-Iran conflict.
Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only
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Texas families sue to block Ten Commandments law
A group of multifaith and nonreligious Texas families filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday to block a new state law requiring classroom displays of the Ten Commandments from taking effect in September. The suit is the latest legal challenge to the law that is set to take effect Sept. 1 as opponents call the requirement unconstitutional. The 16 families who are part of the new federal lawsuit allege that students will be “forcibly subjected” to state-sponsored scriptural principles such as “I AM the LORD thy God” and “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” “This simply cannot be reconciled with the fundamental religious freedom principles that animated the founding of our nation,” they argue in court documents.
They want the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to declare Senate Bill 10 a violation of the First Amendment’s establishment and free exercise clauses — which protect the separation of church and state and religious freedom, respectively — and preliminarily bar it from taking effect. The families — who are Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist, Hindu or nonreligious — said such displays “will substantially interfere with and burden” parents’ right to direct their children’s religious education and upbringing. Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 10 into law last month aware that it would be challenged in court. “Bring it,” Abbott wrote in a social media post in May, when civil rights groups threatened to sue after lawmakers passed the measure. If left in place, Texas public schools must conspicuously display a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments that is at least 16 inches by 20 inches. The law specifies the exact wording that must be used and requires the text size and typeface be readable for a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.
Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only
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A voice for the 'marginalized:' Austin Catholics get new bishop
The newly appointed bishop to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Austin promised to lead with unity and to speak up for the “overlooked and the marginalized," including unauthorized immigrants, in his introduction to his new flock. "That's where the church needs to be to make sure that people do not forget those who are often forgotten," said Daniel E. Garcia, whose appointment by Pope Leo XIV as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Austin was announced Wednesday morning. Garcia, 64, a native of Central Texas, will lead the diocese where he was first ordained in 1988 and where he rose to be an auxiliary bishop. He left in 2019 to become the bishop of Monterey in Central California. But the bishop’s eventual homecoming was so anticipated, the seminarians joked to themselves after his speech, that Garcia’s portrait already hangs front and center in the diocese offices from his first Austin stint.
Garcia said he was grateful to return home. His role, he said, would allow him to encourage people in their spiritual journey and to stand up for the church’s teachings, including the benevolent treatment of the vulnerable, like immigrants who lack authorization to be in the country. “There’s got to be a better way,” Garcia said of recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on immigrants. ”I think those are the kind of things that we as a church should elevate and to say there's something wrong with this picture.” He said that fostering change would require building relationships with political leaders — a tricky question of balancing church teachings and peoples’ political opinions. “You can disagree on policy,” Garcia said. “But the church’s role is to let people know that we are all created in the likeness of God.” Shelley Metcalf, a diocese employee who worked with Garcia during his original stint in Austin, said she believes Garcia’s “great character” and humility will help him build bridges with political and community leaders to advocate for the marginalized.
Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only
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Texas State prepared to ramp up resources to stay competitive in Pac-12 Conference
Texas State president Kelly Damphousse woke up Tuesday morning feeling like a dog who had finally caught up to the car. The university’s pursuit of a spot in the Pac-12 Conference had been underway for nearly a year, starting with outreach to the league’s commissioner and two remaining schools last summer. As the conference rebuilt and new members joined, Texas State continued to network. Damphousse shared the school’s story with the other presidents, and Bobcats athletic director Don Coryell relayed Texas State’s history and vision to his counterparts around the league. After the Pac-12 announced a media rights partnership with CBS Sports on June 23, Texas State’s courtship kicked into high gear. Damphousse said the university confirmed the Pac-12's interest in a more formal way for the first time that evening, and a few days of negotiations yielded an official offer Thursday. Texas State accepted on Friday, and the system's board of regents finalized the move Monday.
Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only
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Why this Texas farmer thinks he can stop Greg Abbott's reelection bid
While better-known Democrats are jockeying to see who might run for governor in 2026 against Gov. Greg Abbott, a farmer in Northeast Texas is already jumping into the race, saying the party needs an outsider to win the contest. Bobby Cole, a former firefighter and a farmer from Wood County, has hired campaign staffers and launched a website, and is vowing to take back the government for working people of the state. “Republicans have spent 30 years in office, and working men and women have been having to pay the cost,” Cole, 55, said during an interview. “It has to stop.” He said rising property taxes, underfunded public schools and tariffs hurting farmers and consumers are just some of the reasons he’s taking a shot at running for office.
“We need more people like us — working people — in the government,” Cole said. Cole was a firefighter in Texarkana and later in Plano. He also maintains his family’s farm in Quitman, where they have 300 head of cattle and raise chickens. He retired from firefighting as a lieutenant in 2017. Abbott has been governor since 2014 and already announced his reelection bid for what would be his fourth four-year term. Abbott won his last reelection campaign, in 2022, beating Democrat Beto O’Rourke by 11 percentage points. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, of San Antonio, and state Rep. James Talarico, of Austin, are among the Democrats looking at the race. “I’ll make a decision soon,” Castro said when asked on a gubernatorial run in an interview after a political rally in San Antonio on Friday with Talarico and O’Rourke. Talarico confirmed running for governor is a potential for him as well. He has also floated a possible run for U.S. Senate next year. "Everything is on the table right now," Talarico said. "I am trying to figure out how best I can serve."
Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only
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Prestonwood celebrates Trump and Supreme Court in morning worship
“This is a time for us to celebrate America,” Prestonwood Baptist Church Pastor Jack Graham declared in his all-white suit in a scene reminiscent of a Jesse Gemstone sermon in HBO Max’s The Righteous Gemstones. “Just because you love America doesn’t mean you don’t love Jesus more. And we do love Jesus most of all, but we love our country,” he said last Sunday at the suburban Dallas megachurch. As the worship team played the songs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine Corps to the sounds of explosions and jets flying overhead, those from the congregation who had served in each branch stood when their song was played. With American flags and official branch seals displayed on the screens, commanders from each branch stood on the stage and saluted the congregation. As they marched off stage, a men’s trio came forward to sing “God Bless America” as larger-then-life images of the American flag swirled across the wall-to-wall video screens behind them, as if they were draped in the flag.
It’s nearly the Fourth of July, so “God and country” services are on full display across the land — although few are likely as over the top as at Prestonwood, which also is known for its extravagant Christmas pageant with flying drummers suspended over the congregation. Remember it was in downtown Dallas in December 2021 when then-former President Donald Trump delivered the Christmas message at First Baptist Church of Dallas, using the pulpit to criticize his successor, President Joe Biden and warning, “Our country needs a savior right now.” Trump, of course, sees himself as that savior, as do so many of his followers. Whether at Christmas or the Fourth of July, these Christian nationalist-themed services are nothing new. When I first began leading worship in the 1990s at an independent fundamentalist Baptist church, I sang a song for the Sunday morning service comparing the U.S. military’s sacrifice to Jesus’ sacrifice, and then comparing our commitment to Jesus with our commitment to the United States. The worship of Trump and the United States is so over the top and obvious that it can be easy to condemn it as idolatry without reflecting on how its theology is built. But if we’re going to disarm Christian nationalism and turn authoritarian Christianity’s weapons of warfare into plowshares and garden tools, we’re going to need to be secure enough in our relationship with God and brave enough to question some of the underlying theological threads being used to sacralize harm.
Read this article at Baptist News Global - Subscribers Only
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More accusations fly at Second Baptist
Defendants in the lawsuit brought by disgruntled members of Second Baptist Church in Houston have asked the state district court to move the case to a special court that deals only in business matters. On June 9, defendants of Second Baptist Church — Ben Young, Homer Edwin Young, Lee Maxcy and Dennis Brewer Jr. — petitioned for the case to be moved from the 55th District Court in Harris County, Texas, to the 11th Division of the Business Court of Texas. This court division was created in 2024 by the Texas Legislature to provide a specialized venue for commercial disputes presided over by judges with a smaller docket and judicial or litigation experience in complex commercial matters.
The plaintiffs, organized into a nonprofit called Jeremiah Counsel, contend the church’s longtime pastor, H. Edwin Young, manipulated huge changes in church bylaws without proper notice. Those changes gave Young and his successors as senior pastor nearly total control over the church’s governance, assets and decision-making. Using that power, Young named one of his sons, Ben Young, his successor without a church vote. But the lawsuit is about much more than pastoral succession; it is about who controls the assets of the church, which are said to be at least $1 billion. The lawsuit was filed April 15. No further significant court actions have yet taken place. On April 27, Ben Young addressed the lawsuit in his Sunday morning sermon. “The allegations concerning me and my family are simply not true,” Young said, according to the Houston Chronicle, which reviewed multiple audio and video recordings of the sermon. The Chronicle stated: “Appearing to read from a script on the front stage podium, Young announced that the church has sought legal help from high-profile evangelical attorney Jay Sekulow, who personally represented President Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial. (Sekulow now heads the American Center for Law and Justice in Washington, D.C.) Church members told the Chronicle that Sekulow has spoken at Second Baptist in the past,” the newspaper reported.”
Read this article at Baptist News Global - Subscribers Only
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Dr. Phil’s Fort Worth media company files for bankruptcy
TV psychologist and talk-show host Dr. Phil McGraw’s Fort Worth-based Merit Street Media declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday and filed a lawsuit against its partner, Trinity Broadcasting Network. The bankruptcy was filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas. A bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday. The lawsuit alleges that its business partner, Trinity Broadcasting of Fort Worth, destroyed its television network and forced the bankruptcy declaration. According to court documents, Trinity Broadcast Network showed an “intentional pattern of choices made with full awareness that the consequence of which was to sabotage and seal the fate of a new but already nationally acclaimed network which has, since its launch in April of 2024, delivered its viewers with cutting edge reports, interviews, and in-depth analysis of national importance.”
The suit alleges that the network is going off the air because Trinity Broadcasting Network refused to honor its commitment and transfer its “must carry rights” and provide national distribution of programming for Merit Street. In June the Dr. Phil Show was placed on an “indefinite hiatus,” according to a LinkedIn post by a former employee. McGraw initially ended the show in 2023, shortly before announcing that he would start a new Fort Worth-based media company, Merit Street Media. The new show, “Dr. Phil Primetime,” launched in April 2024. In August 2024, 40 to 50 employees were let go as part of “ongoing consolidations of departments and roles in efforts to achieve efficiencies at the highest level.” According to the lawsuit, TBN saddled Merit Street Media with “unsustainable debt of over $100 million. In November, the Fort Worth-based Professional Bull Riders parted ways with Merit Street Media over a contract dispute involving payments of rights fees that were owed to the organization.
Read this article at Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Subscribers Only
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National Stories
ICE shut down this Latino market — without even showing up
On a typical weekend, 20,000 people stream through the metal gates at Broadacres Marketplace, thronging the aisles of the outdoor “swap meet” to hunt for the best deals, savor snacks and sip micheladas under the desert sky. Until late June, Broadacres’ familiar bustle had cemented its place as the heart of this city’s Latino community. That has been replaced with an eerie quiet. Hundreds of booths stand barren behind a chain-link fence, mostly stripped to their skeletal remains and covered in fabric or tarp. Save for one security guard at the main gate, there’s no one in sight. Broadacres Marketplace announced that it would temporarily close on June 21 because of the threat of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a statement online, the market’s management said the decision to close was made “out of an abundance of caution and concern for our community.” Broadacres’ owner, Greg Danz, is president and CEO of Newport Diversified Inc., a company that also owns two other swap meets in California.
“We don’t want any of our customers, vendors, or employees to be detained at our business or for us to be a beacon of shopping and entertainment while our federal government is raiding businesses and detaining its people,” the statement read, adding that management does not yet have a planned date to reopen. Over the past six months, the Trump administration has implemented aggressive immigration policies and enforcement, detaining and deporting tens of thousands of people since it took office. The mass deportation efforts have sparked protests nationwide and laid bare how devastating the arrests — and the fear of them — are in cities across the country. After Donald Trump campaigned on the promise to deport swaths of violent criminals, a small fraction of undocumented immigrants in ICE custody are known violent actors. Half of those in detention have neither been convicted nor charged with a crime, according to ICE data. Latinos, in particular, have been a prime target, heightening fears in the community, including among those who have legal status. The only other time in its nearly 50-year history that the swap meet closed for an extended time was for a few months in 2020 during the pandemic, according to two longtime vendors. Rico Ocampo, whose family has been selling goods at Broadacres for more than 20 years, said his parents financially rely on the swap meet. “As a family, we’re facing questions like: What are we going to do about the mortgage payment, with groceries? How are we going to recover from this?” he said. Ocampo, 34, said other vendors are most likely facing the same anxieties, while also managing real fears that they or their loved ones could get swept up in ICE raids. Earlier in June, ICE made arrests at the Santa Fe Spring Swap Meet in Southern California, which is under the same ownership as Broadacres, according to NBC Los Angeles. That has created fears that something similar could play out in Nevada.
Read this article at NBC News - Subscribers Only
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Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority strikes down 176-year-old abortion ban
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority struck down the state’s 176-year-old abortion ban on Wednesday, ruling 4-3 that it was superseded by newer state laws regulating the procedure, including statutes that criminalize abortions only after a fetus can survive outside the womb. The ruling came as no surprise given that liberal justices control the court. One of them went so far as to promise to uphold abortion rights during her campaign two years ago, and they blasted the ban during oral arguments in November. The statute Wisconsin legislators adopted in 1849, widely interpreted as a near-total ban on abortions, made it a felony for anyone other than the mother or a doctor in a medical emergency to destroy “an unborn child.” The ban was in effect until 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide nullified it. Legislators never officially repealed it, however, and conservatives argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe reactivated it.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit that year arguing that abortion restrictions enacted by Republican legislators during the nearly half-century that Roe was in effect trumped the ban. Kaul specifically cited a 1985 law that essentially permits abortions until viability. Some babies can survive with medical help after 21 weeks of gestation. Lawmakers also enacted abortion restrictions under Roe requiring women to undergo ultrasounds, wait 24 hours before having the procedure and provide written consent, and receive abortion-inducing drugs only from doctors during an in-person visit. “That comprehensive legislation so thoroughly covers the entire subject of abortion that it was clearly meant as a substitute for the 19th century near-total ban on abortion,” Justice Rebeca Dallet wrote for the majority. Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski, a Republican, defended the ban in court, arguing that it can coexist with the newer abortion restrictions. Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper ruled in 2023 that the 1849 ban outlaws feticide — which she defined as the killing of a fetus without the mother’s consent — but not consensual abortions. Abortions have been available in the state since that ruling, but the state Supreme Court decision gives providers and patients more certainty that abortions will remain legal in Wisconsin.
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After Trump cuts, what is left of George W. Bush's anti-AIDS program in Africa?
In just six months, the Trump administration has left one of the cornerstones of George W. Bush’s legacy hanging by a thread. Even though Bush’s program to fight the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa has been credited with saving millions of lives, the Trump administration is making dramatic changes that will limit the reach of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. On Tuesday, what is left of the slashed U.S. Agency for International Development, which administered much of the PEPFAR program through non-profits around the globe, was officially folded into the U.S. State Department. The move finalizes an executive order President Donald Trump issued earlier this year.
The administration is promising a more limited approach to fighting the disease in Africa in the future and has asked Congress to rescind $400 million that had already been budgeted for PEPFAR in 2024 and 2025. “It is something that our budget will be very trim on because we believe that many of these nonprofits are not geared towards the viewpoints of the administration,” White House budget director Russ Vought said of funding AIDS prevention work at a Senate hearing last month. “And we’re $37 trillion in debt. So at some point, the continent of Africa needs to absorb more of the burden of providing this health care.” But that has Bush, who has largely kept quiet during Trump’s second term, speaking out. He issued a recorded video message to USAID supporters on Monday, insisting that helping Africa was always intended to benefit the United States through diplomacy. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you,” Bush told supporters of the program in a video message viewed by the Associated Press. The program isn’t being totally shuttered. A bipartisan coalition of supporters in Congress has helped save parts of PEPFAR. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the program will continue to treat existing HIV-positive patients and support HIV prevention measures for pregnant and breastfeeding women. But that leaves out millions more who other prevention programs had targeted through PEPFAR. Former President Barack Obama was even more forceful in a message to the same audience Bush was speaking to. He called the dismantling of USAID “a colossal mistake.”
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The potential sentence faced by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs for his prostitution-related crime
The jury in the Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking trial convicted him of prostitution-related crime but cleared him of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. Here’s what we know about the potential sentence: Will Combs spend years in prison? The three-time Grammy award winner was convicted of flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and paid male sex workers, to engage in sexual encounters, a violation of a 115-year-old federal law called the Mann Act, named for James Mann, an Illinois congressman. The law originally prohibited the interstate transport of a woman or girl for “prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” It was later updated to be gender-neutral and for any sexual activity “for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense.”
In a court filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey estimated that Combs’ sentencing guidelines, which take into account many technical factors, will likely qualify him for a prison term of more than four years. He’ll get credit for his time in custody since his arrest in September. Combs’ defense team believes the guidelines will be much lower, around two years. The maximum possible sentence is 10 years in prison, though U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian will have much discretion. He proposed an Oct. 3 sentencing date. The government said Combs coerced women into abusive sex parties involving hired male sex workers, ensured their compliance with drugs like cocaine and threats to their careers, and silenced victims through blackmail and violence that included kidnapping, arson and beatings. The jury, however, acquitted Combs of the most serious charges — racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking — which could have carried a sentence of up to life in prison. Combs defeated the racketeering charge. Authorities had accused him of running a criminal enterprise that relied on bodyguards, household staff, personal assistants and others in his orbit to facilitate and cover up crimes. It’s commonly used to tackle organized crime, with prosecutors using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act, or RICO, to take on the Mafia in the 1970s.
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Harvard is staring at a billion-dollar budget shortfall from clash with Trump
Harvard University would face a budget shortfall of about a billion dollars a year if President Trump follows through on all of his plans and threats spanning research funding, tax policy and student enrollment, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. That grim math helps explain why Harvard has taken steps toward negotiating with the administration after months of defiance. The Journal’s estimate, based on publicly available data, is for a worst-case scenario in which Harvard loses all federal research funding, federal student aid and its ability to enroll international students, and Congress hikes its annual endowment tax to 8%. A sustained shortfall of that magnitude would severely strain Harvard’s ability to manage its $6.4 billion annual operating budget. Though Harvard has a $53 billion endowment, more than 80% of the money is subject to donor restrictions, meaning it can’t be touched to patch budget gaps without inviting lawsuits. “They’ve got enough money to keep going for a while, but eventually they’re going to have to make substantial cuts,” said Robert Kelchen, a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who studies education finance. “You would change the future of the institution.”
The Trump administration has sought to make Harvard a poster child in its fight against institutions it says haven’t taken concerns about antisemitism and diversity programs seriously. Harvard has said it is working to promote intellectual openness in the classroom and to enroll students willing to engage across perspectives. Talks between the two sides were under way as recently as mid-June, according to a social-media post by the president. The Trump administration on Monday told Harvard the university had violated federal civil-rights law over its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students, risking further funding. Asked about the pressure on Harvard’s finances, a senior White House official said the school will receive no money “until it ends its discriminatory and deeply embarrassing practices. The private sector is welcome to step in and support Harvard.” The university said in a statement: “Harvard has made significant strides to combat bigotry, hate and bias. We are not alone in confronting this challenge and recognize that this work is ongoing.” Harvard has rejected Trump’s demands for change and twice sued the administration, challenging the withdrawal of research funding and the ban on international students. A federal judge has halted the ban, a decision the Trump administration has said it would appeal. Lawmakers were working this week to complete comprehensive tax legislation that included the increase in the endowment levy. Trump has also asked the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the university’s tax-exempt status, a move that could slow donations and slap the university with a costly property tax bill.
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Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty at hearing in Idaho college student murders
Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and burglary in the November 2022 fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students — Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — at an off-campus house. Kohberger, then a doctoral student in criminal justice at nearby Washington State University, was arrested weeks after the killings based on DNA and other digital forensic evidence collected by law enforcement, according to an affidavit. Opening statements were set to begin Aug. 18 after months of delays over what evidence should be admissible. District Court Judge Steven Hippler had also declined to rule out the death penalty as punishment. Hippler accepted a plea of guilty as part of a deal that would drop the death penalty in exchange for a life sentence. Kohberger, 30, avoided a trial and waived his right to appeal. While at least the family of one of the victims is supportive of such an agreement, another says it feels “failed” by state prosecutors.
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Newsclips - July 2, 2025 |
Lead Stories
Senate passes One Big Beautiful Bill with host of Texas Republican priorities
The U.S. Senate passed a sweeping GOP tax policy bill Tuesday that represents the centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda. Republicans say the bill, which includes a number of specific provisions pushed by Texas’ Republican U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, will drive economic growth, promote domestic energy production and fund Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. Democrats described the measure as a giveaway to the wealthy and highlighted projections it would increase by millions the number of people without health insurance, due in large part to Medicaid changes. The Senate vote sends the bill back to the House where it faces resistance from some conservative deficit hawks, including U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin.
Texas Republicans have focused on using the bill as a vehicle to reimburse the state for border security and immigration enforcement expenses it incurred during former President Joe Biden’s administration. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has traveled to Washington multiple times this year to lobby for $11.1 billion to cover the cost of Operation Lone Star. As part of that initiative, Texas sent state troopers and National Guard soldiers to the border. It also placed physical barriers such as razor wire along the Rio Grande. Texas Democrats have criticized the operation as a failure. Republicans say the state should be reimbursed for doing the federal government’s job over the four years of Biden’s term. Cruz fought to preserve and expand the nationwide school choice program approved by the House that would provide a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for contributions to nonprofit organizations granting scholarships for K-12 public and private school students. Cruz pushed successfully to strip out language requiring eligible schools to maintain admissions standards that do not take into account whether students have an individualized education plan or if they require equitable services for a learning disability.
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House Republicans threaten to sink Trump’s megabill
House Republicans are already lining up to oppose President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” with conservatives and centrists blasting the legislation just hours after Vice President JD Vance cast his tiebreaking vote on the Senate version. At the moment, the number of House Republicans vowing to oppose the Senate version is enough to block the bill’s passage, unless there is again a last-minute scramble to negotiate with holdouts along with a successful pressure campaign by the president. Only three House Republicans need to oppose the bill to sink it. Rep. Ralph Norman (R., S.C.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told reporters about an hour after the Senate bill’s passage Tuesday that he wouldn’t vote to move the president’s tax bill out of the House Rules Committee. The panel is debating whether to advance the bill to a vote in the full House. If it does ultimately make it to the floor, Norman would oppose the bill there as well.
“Our bill has been completely changed—from the IRA credits to the deficit,” said Norman, referring to the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. “This bill’s a nonstarter. We want to do this, but this bill doesn’t do what the president wants it to do.” Norman later said he believes there are enough “no” votes in the House to sink the bill. If House Speaker Mike Johnson fails to get enough members to back it, they will go to a process in which the House and Senate work to reconcile differences. That would likely blow through Trump’s fast-approaching deadline of July 4 to pass the bill. A crescendo of complaints began building across the disparate wings of the House Republican conference days before the Senate passed the bill, following an exhaustive 27-hour marathon of amendment votes. The legislation would broadly fund Trump’s biggest priorities including the extension of his 2017 tax cuts; no tax on tips and overtime; and a large funding boost to the president’s immigration and border policies.
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How tech’s bold bid to curb AI laws fell apart
Republican leaders had appeared poised to deliver on one of the U.S. tech industry’s wildest policy dreams as the Senate convened Monday morning to begin a marathon voting session on the sprawling tax and immigration bill. Less than 24 hours later, the measure was dead. And Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee was holding the knife. The night before, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had hammered out a hard-won compromise with Blackburn to preserve the essence of a moratorium on state laws regulating artificial intelligence. The deal came after 11th-hour lobbying by tech groups giddy at the prospect of rolling back regulations they viewed as obstacles to unfettered innovation. It wasn’t to be. The Senate voted 99-1 in the predawn hours Tuesday to strip the AI-law moratorium from the bill — a resounding defeat for the tech industry and a dramatic reversal of fortune for the provision’s supporters.
Blackburn — who has pushed bills to protect kids online and to protect Nashville’s country music industry from AI imitations — proposed the amendment to strip the provision at the end of a day-long pressure campaign Monday by its opponents. A defeated Cruz ultimately joined her, as did every senator except for Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), who had recently announced he won’t run for reelection. The vote on the AI moratorium came as part of a 27-hour “vote-a-rama” on a slew of proposed changes to the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which carries much of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda. The Senate approved the amended bill later Tuesday morning, sending it back to the House with the AI provisions no longer mentioned. Blackburn’s turnaround, insiders told The Washington Post on Tuesday, followed pleas from allies who feared the moratorium would jeopardize child safety regulations despite language in the compromise intended to exempt them. Republican leaders and tech trade groups had pitched a 10-year freeze on state AI regulations as necessary to pave the way for American tech firms to innovate and outcompete their Chinese counterparts. The idea echoed a 2024 proposal by the R Street Institute, a free-market think tank, which proposed a “learning period” moratorium on AI laws to prevent a “looming patchwork of inconsistent state and local laws.”
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Powell confirms that the Fed would have cut by now were it not for tariffs
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the U.S. central bank would have eased monetary policy by now if not for President Donald Trump’s tariff plan. When asked during a panel if the Fed would have lowered rates again this year had Trump not announced his controversial plan to impose higher levies on imported goods earlier this year, Powell said, “I think that’s right.” “In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs,” Powell said at European Central Bank forum in Sintra, Portugal. Powell’s admission comes as the Fed has entered a holding pattern on interest rates despite mounting pressure from the White House.
The Fed last month held the key borrowing rate steady once again, keeping fed funds at the same range between 4.25% and 4.5% where it’s been since December. The central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee indicated via its so-called dot plot of members’ projections that there could be two cuts by the end of 2025. However, Powell also said at a press conference last month that the Fed was “well positioned” to remain in a wait-and-see mode. On Tuesday, Powell was asked if July would be too soon for markets to expect a rate cut. He answered that that he “really can’t say” and that “it’s going to depend on the data.” Fed funds futures traders are pricing in a more than 76% likelihood that the central bank once again holds rates steady at the July policy gathering, according to the CME FedWatch tool. “We are going meeting by meeting,” Powell said during Tuesday’s panel. “I wouldn’t take any meeting off the table or put it directly on the table. It’s going to depend on how the data evolve.”
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State Stories
3 families say lack of air conditioning in Texas prisons caused their loved ones' deaths
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is facing more legal action over sweltering conditions in state prisons. The families of three inmates who died in 2023 are suing the department in federal court, claiming their loved ones died due to a lack of air conditioning in prisons. The families of Jon Southards, Elizabeth Hagerty and John Skinner say their loved ones had multiple disabilities, making them more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. But the families say the TDCJ failed to provide them with cooled housing. The three were housed in different facilities: one in Gatesville and two near Huntsville.
WFAA, KVUE's news partners in North Texas, spoke with Southards' mother just after his death in 2023. She said her son was in prison for burglary, and he told her about the hot conditions just before he died. "I thought my baby would be rehabilitated. I thought he would serve his time, which, deservingly, he needed to," Tona Southards-Maranjo said. "Jon was not just my son. John was my best friend, my baby." KVUE reached out to the TDCJ for a comment about the new lawsuit. We received the following response: "Core to this department’s mission is protecting the public, our employees, and the inmates in our custody. It is a responsibility that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice takes seriously. The agency takes numerous precautions to lessen the effects of hot temperatures for those in our facilities. Over the last several years, the agency has worked to increase the number of cool beds available. TDCJ is dedicated to continuing to add air-conditioned beds in our facilities. During the 88th Texas Legislative session, TDCJ received a historic infusion of funding for major repair and improvement projects at facilities. Specifically, the agency received $85 million to install additional air conditioning. Additionally, TDCJ’s Legislative Appropriations Request for the FY2026-27 biennium includes an exceptional item request for $118 million for the installation of air conditioning. This would provide an additional 18,000 air-conditioned beds to the system. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that extreme heat in TDCJ facilities is unconstitutional, but he stopped short of requiring the TDCJ to add air condition to all its units due to the cost. The supplemental appropriations bill lawmakers passed this past session will include $118 million to help the TDCJ add 11,000 air-conditioned beds to prisons. But a bill that would have required Texas to add A/C to all prisons passed in the House this session, then failed in the Senate.
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Chip Roy is in the hot seat again on Trump's tax cut bill
Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy reluctantly voted for a Republican budget plan, saying while it didn't go far enough in cutting government spending, he had gotten assurances from President Donald Trump the cuts he wanted would be there in the end. Three months later, those cuts have not materialized. The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," which includes expensive tax breaks and increased spending on the border and military in a package the Congressional Budget Office estimates would add $3.3 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade. Now, Roy and his allies in the House Freedom Caucus must decide between pleasing Trump or resisting the type of government spending increase they have long railed against.
Roy expressed his frustration in a social media post Monday night. "We’ve got to deliver for the President—but it has to be the right bill," the Austin Republican said, according to a post by his press team on X. "One that actually stops the spending, ends the inflation, and stops subsidizing our own destruction.” Since being elected to Congress in 2018, Roy has repeatedly threatened to block Republican budget packages he believes overspend, only to relent and cut deals with leadership to allow their passage. With Trump back in the White House and Republicans narrowly controlling both the House and Senate, Roy is in his best position yet to wield influence and bring down the deficit. In an interview late last year, he acknowledged the challenges in getting Congress to cut spending that members' states had come to rely on, while describing the national debt crisis in histrionic terms. “I know I can’t get everything I want, but I know I won’t get anything if just get in the boat heading to the iceberg," he said.
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Trump officials want to give TxDOT more power over highway expansions
The Trump administration wants to give Texas more authority – and require less transparency – as the state expands existing highways and builds new ones. In November, the Texas Department of Transportation asked the Federal Highway Administration to extend a special designation that lets it oversee its own compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA requires the state to document community and environmental impacts of road projects. Now, TxDOT has submitted a new application, with changes that would give itself drastically more oversight and authority over its own federal environmental review. The draft rule would allow TxDOT to skip annual self-assessments and monthly reports that document the agency’s compliance with the federal law.
The application was revised after federal leadership “presented an opportunity to address unnecessary administrative requirements in a renegotiated MOU that preserves all of the legal requirements of the NEPA assignment program,” said Adam Hammons, a TxDOT spokesperson, in an email. He said that TxDOT was still subject to monitoring and audits by the Federal Highway Administration. If approved, TxDOT won’t have to inform community members of their right to sue the state agency or file a civil rights complaint with the FHWA, as dozens of people did in 2021 in response to the I-45 expansion in Houston. The new agreement also removes a requirement that TxDOT reevaluate old projects, meaning projects originally approved years ago could begin construction without public notice or input. “The Biden Administration added burdensome NEPA requirements like environmental justice initiatives that delayed progress on vital road and bridge projects,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy when he announced the proposed changes. “If enacted, Texas’ new agreement will allow the state to tackle critical infrastructure bigger, better and faster.”
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100+ felony bonds reduced by Travis County Justice of the Peace
The release of an Austin man charged with capital murder after a Travis County Justice of the Peace granted him a significant bond reduction prompted a KXAN investigation. It uncovered that same judge has reduced or modified bonds for at least 100 additional defendants facing felony charges since she took office in January. Aden Munoz, 18, was arrested on Feb. 13 and faced a Capital Murder charge. An Austin Municipal Court Judge required him to post a $750,000 bond. Less than four weeks later, court records show another judge reduced his original bond to $5,000, and he was released from custody. Three days after Munoz was released from jail, the Travis County District Attorney‘s Office filed a motion to reinstate the original $750,000 bond, alleging a violation of Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Section 17.091, which requires the attorney representing the state receive reasonable notice of any proposed bail reduction and be given the opportunity to have a hearing on the proposed reduction for all first degree felony offenses as well as any offense listed in Article 42A.054 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
“No representative of the State was notified of any of these proceedings,” the motion stated. The order modifying and reducing the original bond to $5,000 was issued by Tanisa Jeffers, the newly-elected Travis County Justice of the Peace for Precinct 5, which serves downtown and parts of central and northwest Austin. She formerly served as an associate judge at the Austin Municipal Court before beginning her current term in January 2025. In Travis County, Austin municipal court judges provide criminal magistrate services and are tasked with determining bail amounts and bond conditions as appropriate during preliminary proceedings in felony and misdemeanor cases, according to the Interlocal Agreement between Travis County and the City of Austin. A Texas Justice of the Peace has jurisdiction to perform magistrate duties in Texas, however, the criminal workload for JPs in Travis County typically involves class C criminal misdemeanors and various civil law duties, according to the Travis County website. KXAN asked Judge Jeffers why the State was never notified of the bail reduction and what factors she considered before agreeing to a reduced bond of $5,000 for a defendant facing a capital murder charge.
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Cook Children’s Medicaid coverage remains in legal limbo
After a March brain surgery at Cook Children’s, 15-year-old Preston Benjamin-Sewell had to relearn how to walk, eat and talk. He was in the Fort Worth-based hospital for a little over a month and a half, a place he’s well acquainted with. The first several days were challenging, said Meghan Czarobski, his mother. Preston was bedridden and couldn’t do anything independently. “But once he gets up and going, nothing holds him back,” Czarobski said. “He just starts going. So, he went from, like, not being able to walk to, as soon as he got his footing, he was taking off.” The surgery was to help with seizures.
Preston has autism, an intellectual and developmental disability and a rare form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. He’s triple insured through Cook Children’s Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield and TRICARE to help cover health care costs, Czarobski said. They’re at Cook Children’s frequently, but the family and others in North Texas are concerned about possible disruptions to their health care coverage, after state lawmakers didn’t take action to address the way the state awards Medicaid contracts. Texas’ Health and Human Services Commission announced in March 2024 that it was not awarding its multibillion dollar Medicaid contract to Cook Children’s Health Plan. Texas pays insurance providers, like the Cook Children’s Health Plan, who administer health insurance to children and pregnant patients on the Medicaid STAR and CHIP programs. Instead of going to Cook’s Health Plan and a handful of other similar plans in Texas, the Health and Human Services Commission awarded the contract to Aetna, United Healthcare, Molina, Blue Cross and Blue Shield for Tarrant County and five neighboring counties. Also excluded were health plans associated with Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi. The contract award for STAR Kids, which provides Medicaid benefits to children and adults 20 and younger with disabilities, including Preston, is on hold by court order.
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Texas mom charged with killing son on FBI’s Most Wanted list
More than two years after a 6-year-old Everman boy went missing, his mother has been added to the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. Authorities have been searching for Cindy Rodriguez-Singh ever since she fled from North Texas to India with her husband and six other children on March 22, 2023, two days after she lied to investigators by saying the missing child was with his biological father in Mexico. Her son Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez is presumed dead, and Rodriguez-Singh has been charged with capital murder. The FBI’s Dallas office, Everman Police Department and Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office held a news conference Tuesday morning to announce that Rodriguez-Singh, 40, is the newest addition to the most wanted fugitives list.
Craig Spencer, former chief of police and current city manager and emergency management coordinator for the City of Everman, said somebody knows what happened to Noel, “and now they have 250,000 reasons to come forward.” “This designation puts the world on notice that Cindy Rodriguez-Singh is now one of the most wanted fugitives in America,” Spencer said. “You don’t end up on the FBI top 10 list by accident. This is as serious as it gets.” A concerned relative from out of town alerted Child Protective Services in March 2023 that Noel hadn’t been seen since the previous fall. On March 20, police went to the family’s home on Wisteria Drive to check on the child, but Rodriguez-Singh lied to them about his whereabouts. Investigators reached Noel’s biological father in Mexico on March 23, and he denied that the 6-year-old was with him. Federal authorities confirmed there was no record of Noel crossing the border into Mexico. Police tried to contact Rodriguez-Singh the following day, but were unsuccessful.
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Smaller nuclear reactors spark renewed interest in a once-shunned energy source
Bolstered by $3.2 million from a former Midland oilman, this West Texas city of 130,000 people is helping the Lone Star State lead a national nuclear energy resurgence. Doug Robison’s 2021 donation to Abilene Christian University helped the institution win federal approval to house an advanced small modular nuclear reactor, which might be finished as soon as next year. Small modular reactors are designed to be built in factories and then moved to a site, and require less upfront capital investment than traditional large reactors. The company Robison founded, Natura Resources, is investing another $30.5 million in the project. Only two small modular reactors are in operation, one in China and another in Russia. Natura Resources is one of two companies with federal permits to build one in the U.S.
“Nuclear is happening,” said Robison, who retired from the oil business and moved to Abilene to launch the company. “It has to happen.” Robison’s words are being echoed across the country with new state laws that aim to accelerate the spread of projects that embrace advanced nuclear technology — decades after the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl calamities soured many Americans on nuclear power. In the past two years, half the states have taken action to promote nuclear power, from creating nuclear task forces to integrating nuclear into long-term energy plans, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, which advocates for the industry. “I’ve been tracking legislation for 18 years, and when I first started tracking, there were maybe five or 10 bills that said the word ‘nuclear,’” said Christine Csizmadia, who directs state government affairs at the institute. “This legislative session, we’re tracking over 300 bills all across the country.” The push is bipartisan. In New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul last month directed the New York Power Authority to build a zero-emission advanced nuclear power plant somewhere upstate — her state’s first new nuclear plant in a generation. In Colorado, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in April signed legislation redefining nuclear energy, which doesn’t emit a significant amount of planet-warming greenhouse gases, as a “clean energy resource.” The law will allow future plants to receive state grants reserved for other carbon-free energy sources.
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Judge dismisses lawsuit against doctor in case of woman who gave birth alone in Tarrant County Jail
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against a doctor accused of neglecting a woman who gave birth alone in her Tarrant County Jail cell. Chasity Congious has intellectual disabilities and multiple serious mental health diagnoses, according to court records. She gave birth unattended in the Tarrant County Jail in 2020, and her daughter, Zenorah, died in the hospital 10 days later. Congious' family received $1.2 million in a lawsuit against Tarrant County, the largest settlement in county history. After that settlement, U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor allowed Congious’ mother to sue Dr. Aaron Ivy Shaw, the medical director at the Tarrant County Jail at the time Congious was incarcerated.
On Tuesday, O’Connor dismissed the lawsuit. Congious’ legal team failed to prove Shaw was “deliberately indifferent” to her medical needs, he ruled. “There is no doubt that this case is an abject tragedy,” O'Connor wrote. Deliberate indifference is difficult to prove, and requires a lot of evidence, O’Connor wrote. Shaw would have needed to do something like deny Congious care or ignore her complaints, he wrote. The lawsuit hinged on an email to Shaw that noted Congious was experiencing abdominal pain the day she gave birth. Previous medical evaluations determined Congious would not be able to recognize if she was having contractions and recommended induced labor for her, according to court documents. The court had previously dismissed the lawsuit against Shaw, but O’Connor brought it back after Congious’ attorney produced that email. That email was a warning Congious was likely in labor and Shaw did nothing about it, her legal team argued.
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Tarrant County approves $250K contract with law firm to fight racial gerrymandering lawsuit
Tarrant County commissioners approved a quarter million-dollar contract with a conservative law firm Tuesday to defend itself against a lawsuit over redistricting. The vote was 3-2, Republicans versus Democrats. Republican commissioners led an unusual mid-decade redistricting process this spring, redrawing the commissioners court precinct maps to add another Republican-majority precinct. They openly said they wanted to give themselves a larger majority on the commissioners court. Opponents to redistricting say Republicans created that extra conservative precinct by packing Democratic-leaning voters of color into a single district, diluting their voting power. The lawsuit, filed in June, accuses the county of unlawful racial gerrymandering.
The $250,000 legal agreement is with the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), the same law firm Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare handpicked to lead the redistricting process. “This is essentially hiring the arsonist to put out the fire,” Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons said. She and her fellow Democratic commissioner, Roderick Miles Jr., voted against the contract. Miles criticized PILF for refusing to speak to the public or answer their questions at a series of public hearings about redistricting. “Residents asked questions and received no answers. Commissioners sought clarity and were met with silence,” he said. Simmons wondered whether hiring PILF could be a conflict of interest, if any of the foundation’s attorneys are called as witnesses in the lawsuit. Republican County Commissioner Manny Ramirez called that a valid concern and asked county attorney Mark Kratovil his opinion. The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office — which represents the county in legal matters — doesn't have a problem with the contract at this time, Kratovil said. Whether there’s a conflict of interest or not will come up as the lawsuit progresses, he said.
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New Texas laws target roadside pet sales and puppy mills
Two new Texas laws taking effect later this year will tighten the leash on puppy mills and roadside pet sales by expanding local authority over outdoor animal vendors. With little government oversight, animals sold in parking lots and along roadsides often face poor conditions and neglect, typically at the hands of unlicensed breeders within large-scale breeding operations, colloquially referred to as puppy mills. But starting Sept. 1, House Bills 2012 and 2731 will allow counties near large metropolitan areas to ban animal sales in outdoor public spaces. These rules will also apply to counties along the U.S.-Mexico border with at least 200,000 residents.
According to Katie Fine, senior advocacy strategist at Best Friends Animal Society, the laws represent “significant progress in breaking the supply chain for puppy mills in Texas.” The organization works to end euthanasia in animal shelters across the nation. "These laws protect communities, empower consumers, and hold deceptive sellers accountable,” Fine said. "It is smart and responsible legislation that prioritizes public safety and transparency." Since 2007, only counties with at least 1.3 million residents could regulate outdoor animal sales in Texas. The new laws expand that power to counties with over 600,000 residents that border another county with more than 4 million people. Counties newly granted this authority include Fort Bend, Montgomery, El Paso, Cameron, Webb and Hidalgo. These counties now join Harris County and the cities of Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Fort Worth — which have all banned roadside sales of dogs and cats.
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CBP plans to process migrants arrested in new Rio Grande Valley military zone, agency says
Migrants who are apprehended from within a newly established military zone on the border in two South Texas counties will be processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, the agency told Border Report on Monday. Last week, the Air Force announced that 250 miles of borderlands in Hidalgo and Cameron counties, which were previously managed by the International Boundary and Water Commission, are now part of an extended military base. The lands are now part of Joint Base San Antonio, a facility near 250 miles north of the border with Mexico. Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez told Border Report that the military will have the authority to withhold those for trespassing on military property, but that they would turn them over to other federal authorities.
Border Patrol spokeswoman Christina Smallwood said in a statement: “All 9 stations in the RGV Sector are equipped with processing facilities. RGV Sector also has a Centralized Processing Center.” Cortez emphasized that the land transfer was from one federal agency to another, specifically to create the new National Defense Area along the Southwest border. It was completed on Wednesday by the General Services Administration. Cortez says he was not informed prior to the land transfer. But much of the land in Hidalgo and Cameron counties are privately owned. In 2018 almost 300,000 parcels of land in Hidalgo County were privately owned, and 175,000 parcels of land in Cameron County were privately owned, according to a 2019 report by Texas Land Trends, of Texas A&M. That included over 5,600 parcels within a mile of the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County, and over 24,000 parcels within a mile of the river in Cameron County.
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The Dallas Morning News picks 28-year veteran journalist as its next newsroom leader
The Dallas Morning News has appointed Colleen McCain Nelson as its next executive editor, following a four-month search. Her tenure will begin on Aug. 11. A veteran with nearly 30 years of experience, Nelson currently serves as executive editor of The Sacramento Bee, and is McClatchy Media’s California regional editor, leading five Golden State newsrooms. She is replacing Katrice Hardy, who departed The News in February to lead The Marshall Project. Nelson is returning to lead a newsroom where she spent 12 of her formative reporting years covering local, state and national politics — winning a Pulitzer Prize in the process. She takes the reins at a time when the newspaper is reimagining its newsroom to be more competitive in the digital era, and to better serve a rapidly evolving North Texas region that’s becoming an epicenter of Texas’ growth.
“We conducted a nationwide search to find the best executive editor in the United States, and I am confident we found that leader in Colleen,” Grant Moise, publisher of The Dallas Morning News, said in a statement. “Colleen is an outstanding journalist, and has been at the forefront of journalism’s digital transformation. We can’t wait to welcome her back to The Dallas Morning News.” In 2010, Nelson and her News colleagues Tod Robberson and William McKenzie were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, recognition for a series of editorials that condemned the stark economic and social disparities separating Dallas’ thriving northern half and struggling southern half. Nelson’s arrival coincides with DallasNews Corporation’s drive to improve its financial health, with The News’ parent company having recently completed a $43.5 million deal to sell its printing and distribution operation in Plano. In an interview, Nelson said she is embracing “the chance to learn from such great journalists here. I have always admired the company’s commitment to the community… and I never stopped rooting for and reading The Dallas Morning News.
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National Stories
Mortgage refinance demand surges, as interest rates drop further
ortgage rates fell last week to the lowest level since April, leading current homeowners to seek savings. Applications to refinance a home loan rose 7% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Demand was 40% higher than the same week one year ago. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $806,500 or less, decreased to 6.79% from 6.88%, with points decreasing to 0.62 from 0.63, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment. That rate is 24 basis points lower than the same week one year ago.
“This decline prompted an increase in refinance applications, driven by a 10 percent increase in conventional applications and a 22 percent increase in VA refinance applications,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “As borrowers with larger loans tend to be more sensitive to rate changes, the average loan size for a refinance application increased to $313,700 after averaging less than $300,000 for the past six weeks.” Homebuyers, however, were less driven by the drop in rates. Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home increased just 0.1% for the week and were 16% higher than the same week one year ago. “Purchase activity was essentially flat over the week, as overall uncertainty continues to hold homebuyers out of the market,” added Kan. Mortgage rates fell further to start this week, according to a separate survey from Mortgage News Daily. They were then flat Tuesday, following the release of job openings data which showed another increase.
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How holdout Alaska senator shaped Trump’s megabill
At 3 a.m. Tuesday, with President Trump’s sprawling domestic-policy bill in trouble on the Senate floor, no one had more leverage than Sen. Lisa Murkowski. With two GOP senators firmly opposed and Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) likely to vote “no,” the senior senator from Alaska was the pivotal vote for Trump’s legislative agenda. Murkowski, a patient and often inscrutable moderate Republican, was dead set on amending the bill to benefit her constituents and softening the blow from spending cuts in the package. By 5 a.m., Medicaid officials were on the phone with staffers representing Alaska’s other and more conservative Republican senator, Dan Sullivan, to iron out rural-hospital provisions that would help Murkowski get to “yes.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) could have chosen to shrink the bill’s debt-ceiling increase to sway Rand Paul (R., Ky.), or adjust the Medicaid provisions to woo Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) and Collins. Instead, he gave more to Alaska—and it worked.
At the end of a marathon voting session that lasted more than 26 hours, Murkowski offered a soft-spoken yes for the bill just before noon, bringing the total number of senators supporting it to 50 and allowing Vice President JD Vance to break the tie. Then she stepped outside the Senate chamber and said she hopes the House changes the bill she had just supported. “We do not have a perfect bill by any stretch of the imagination,” she told a clutch of reporters before heading off for a nap. Murkowski said that senators rushed too much because Trump created the July 4 deadline. In a subsequent statement, she said that while she protected Alaska’s interests, the bill was “not good enough for the rest of our nation.” House Republican leaders said they don’t plan to change the legislation and want it passed out of the chamber as soon as Wednesday—though the raucous nature of their members make the proceedings unpredictable. No members of the Democratic caucus supported the bill, and the wins for Alaska prompted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) to call the final legislation a “polar payoff.” Sullivan, who is up for re-election next year, brushed off the criticism. “I can see why he’s jealous of my hard work,” Sullivan said. “If he’s calling it the polar payoff, I’d call it the New York nothingburger.”
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Musk proposes a new political party, Trump suggests DOGE 'might have to go back and eat Elon'
Elon Musk’s feud with President Donald Trump — and seemingly any congressional Republicans who support the president’s massive tax cuts and spending package — has reignited, with the tech billionaire threatening to launch a new political party, and Trump suggesting Musk could be punished for his opposition. The dispute has laid bare not only the differences between the Republican president and one of his most vociferous one-time advocates, but also has reignited the possibility that the world’s richest man will — along with his billions — reenter the political spending arena.
Musk — who spent at least $250 million supporting Trump in the 2024 presidential campaign as the main contributor to America PAC — said in May that he would likely spend “a lot less” on politics in the future. But his recent statements seem to indicate Musk might be rethinking that stance. On Monday, the tech billionaire and former Department Of Government Efficiency chief lashed out multiple times at Republicans for backing Trump’s tax cuts bill, calling the GOP “the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” for including a provision that would raise the nation’s debt limit by $5 trillion and calling the bill “political suicide” for Republicans. After a post pledging to work toward supporting primary challengers for members of Congress who backed the bill, Musk responded “I will” to a post in which former Michigan Rep. Justin Amash asked for Musk’s support of Rep. Thomas Massie. Trump and his aides are already targeting the Kentucky Republican for voting against the measure, launching a new super PAC devoted to defeating him. Musk and Trump’s potent political alliance seemed to meet a dramatic end a month ago in an exchange of blistering epithets, with Trump threatening to go after Musk’s business interests, and Musk calling for Trump’s impeachment. Much of it has boiled down to Musk’s criticism of the tax cuts and spending bill, which he has called a “disgusting abomination.” Both the House and Senate versions propose a dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles and related technologies.
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Paramount to pay Trump $16 million to settle ‘60 Minutes’ lawsuit
Paramount said late Tuesday that it has agreed to pay President Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” an extraordinary concession to a sitting president by a major media organization. Paramount said its payment includes Mr. Trump’s legal fees and costs and that the money, minus the legal fees, will be paid to Mr. Trump’s future presidential library. As part of the settlement, Paramount said that it had agreed to release written transcripts of future “60 Minutes” interviews with presidential candidates. The company said that the settlement did not include an apology. The deal is the clearest sign yet that Mr. Trump’s ability to intimidate major American institutions extends to the media industry.
Many lawyers had dismissed Mr. Trump’s lawsuit as baseless and believed that CBS would have ultimately prevailed in court, in part because the network did not report anything factually inaccurate, and the First Amendment gives publishers wide leeway to determine how to present information. But Shari Redstone, the chair and controlling shareholder of Paramount, told her board that she favored exploring a settlement with Mr. Trump. Some executives at the company viewed the president’s lawsuit as a potential hurdle to completing a multibillion-dollar sale of the company to the Hollywood studio Skydance, which requires the Trump administration’s approval. After weeks of negotiations with a mediator, lawyers for Paramount and Mr. Trump worked through the weekend to reach a deal ahead of a court deadline that would have required both sides to begin producing internal documents for discovery, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. Another deadline loomed: Paramount was planning to make changes to its board of directors this week that could have complicated the settlement negotiations. A spokesman for Mr. Trump’s legal team said in a statement that the settlement was “another win for the American people” delivered by the president, who was holding “the fake news media accountable.”
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Trump tours 'Alligator Alcatraz,' a day before its first arrivals are expected
President Trump visited Florida on Tuesday to tour what's been dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," a controversial migrant detention center in the Everglades that officials say is poised to start filling its bed in a matter of hours. The president was joined by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state emergency management officials as he toured the makeshift facility, which the state put together within days of receiving federal approval last week. "I thought this was so professional, so well done," Trump said after touring the center, which features rows of fenced-in bunk beds and a razor-wire perimeter. "It's really government working together."
The facility is situated within the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, an isolated, 39-square mile airstrip located within the wetlands of the Big Cypress National Preserve, next to Everglades National Park. The site's nickname — coined by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier — references its proximity to the predators of the marshy Everglades, from pythons to alligators to mosquitoes. "What'll happen is you'll bring people in there, they ain't going anywhere once they're there unless you want them to go somewhere, because, good luck getting to civilization," DeSantis said at an unrelated news conference on Monday. "So the security is amazing — natural and otherwise." Speaking to reporters before departing for Florida, Trump described the facility as "an East Coast" version of the infamous island prison off the San Francisco coast. When asked if the idea was for detainees to get eaten by alligators if they try to escape, Trump replied, "I guess that's the concept." "Snakes are fast but alligators — we're going to teach them how to run away from an alligator. Don't run in a straight line, run like this," he said, waving his hands in a zigzag. "You know what, your chances go up about one percent." The airstrip's roughly 11,000-foot runway has largely been used for training purposes, but officials say it will soon accommodate deportation flights. DeSantis has repeatedly said the state will deputize National Guard judge advocates to serve as immigration judges in order to expedite the removal of migrants — both from the facility and the country.
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Three shootings at Utah Hare Krishna temple raise concerns about hate, safety
In the heart of Mormon Utah, a Hare Krishna temple has stood as a beloved cultural landmark for more than three decades. Tens of thousands of locals flock to the ISKCON Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork each spring for its annual Holi color festival, and children from diverse backgrounds enjoy field trips to the 15-acre property — which includes an AM radio station and an animal park with llamas, cows, peacocks and parrots — throughout the year. “We’re trying to do good and enrich the community pretty much 24 hours a day,” said Caru Das Adhikari, the temple’s founder and head priest, who once distributed copies of the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture, in the 1970s on the campus of Brigham Young University, the flagship university of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
But over the past month, three attacks on the temple’s building have left Utah’s Hare Krishna devotees concerned about the presence of hatred amid their otherwise peaceful coexistence. On June 18, Adhikari’s wife and temple co-founder, Vaibhavi Warden, heard a loud noise and observed smoke coming from the temple’s radio station roof. The next day, several bullet holes were discovered on various parts of the temple’s main structure, including on its hand-carved arches and through a second-story window that opens into the main worship hall. More gunfire followed later that night, and again on June 20, based on security footage reviewed by temple staff. No one was injured in the attacks. About 20 shell casings were recovered by Utah County police, who said in a statement that the shots were likely fired from over 100 yards away. Surveillance video from the three days captured a pickup truck approaching the temple grounds, stopping near its fence and someone opening fire from the vehicle before speeding away.
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Newsclips - July 1, 2025 |
Lead Stories
Dallas Democrat Colin Allred launches Senate campaign for seat held by John Cornyn
Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred has launched a campaign for the Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn, pledging to be a voice for Texans wracked by higher costs of living and what he views as a “rigged” political system. “Everything’s backwards. Folks are working harder than ever and they still can’t get ahead, but the folks who are cutting corners and cutting deals are doing just fine,” Allred told The Dallas Morning News in an exclusive interview, on Monday. “I know Washington is broken and I’m going to be laser-focused in this campaign on getting back to some of the basics, on lowering costs, on fighting for health care, for fighting against corrupt politicians like John Cornyn and Ken Paxton.” In a campaign kickoff video launched Tuesday, Allred stressed his commitment to working Texans.
“Texans are working harder than ever, not getting as much time with their kids, missing those special moments, all to be able to afford less,” Allred said in the video. “And the people that we elected to help — politicians like John Cornyn and Ken Paxton — are too corrupt to care about us and too weak to fight for us.” Allred, 42, is staging his second statewide campaign launch in two years. Last year he lost a Senate challenge against incumbent Ted Cruz by nearly 9 percentage points. It was a disappointment for Democrats hoping Allred would propel them to their first statewide contest since 1994. The March Senate primaries are expected to be competitive. Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, is challenging Cornyn in a GOP primary that could also draw other contenders. Several hopefuls are considering running in the Democratic primary. The Dallas Democrat said he’s learned from the loss to Cruz. His time away from Washington, spent primarily at home raising his two young sons, gave him a different view of the political scene. he said.
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Texas schools still struggle with deficits despite HB 2 funding boost
Many local school districts expect to collect millions from House Bill 2, an $8.5 billion funding package passed through the Texas Legislature and signed into law by the governor this month. The bill was the first comprehensive funding package state lawmakers have passed since 2019, though districts have received funding increases in areas such as tutoring, instructional materials and school safety. For many districts in Central Texas, HB 2 will provide some relief after two years of budget slashing, campus closures and staff layoffs. Despite the infusion of state funding, many local school leaders are still turning their attention to austerity measures next year to reduce lingering budget deficits.
HB 2’s largest investment is $4 billion for teacher and staff pay raises and an expansion of Texas’ merit-based teacher pay program, the Teacher Incentive Allotment. Gov. Greg Abbott declared teacher pay raises an emergency item at the beginning of this year's session. During a signing ceremony for HB 2 at Salado Middle School on June 4, Abbott touted the educator raises. "We want to attract and keep the very best teachers," Abbott said. The law allocates $1.3 billion for a new fixed cost allotment to help districts with operational costs, utilities or transportation; $850 million for special education; and almost $650 million for early literacy and numeracy. HB 2 also allocates $430 million in safety funding. The Austin district expects to collect about $35.9 million from HB 2, with almost $20 million going to staff raises. Interim Chief Financial Officer Katrina Montgomery told the school board at a Thursday meeting that she expects the district to net about $9 million in flexible money after accounting for directed spending and added costs – such as additional payments to teacher retirement.
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Senate's long day turns to night as GOP works to shore up support on Trump’s big bill
The Senate’s long day of voting churned into a long Monday night, with Republican leaders grasping for ways to shore up support for President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts while fending off proposed amendments from Democrats who oppose the package and are trying to defeat it. The outcome was not yet in sight. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota acknowledged the Republicans are “figuring out how to get to the end game.” And House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled the potential problems the Senate package could face when it is eventually sent back to his chamber for a final round of voting, which was expected later this week, ahead of Trump’s Fourth of July deadline. “I have prevailed upon my Senate colleagues to please, please, please keep it as close to the House product as possible,” said Johnson, the Louisiana Republican, as he left the Capitol around dinnertime. House Republicans had already passed their version last month.
It’s a pivotal moment for the Republicans, who have control of Congress and are racing to wrap up work with just days to go before Trump’s holiday deadline Friday. The 940-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as it’s formally titled, has consumed Congress as its shared priority with the president. The GOP leaders have no room to spare, with narrow majorities in both chambers. Thune can lose no more than three Republican senators, and already two — Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who warns people will lose access to Medicaid health care, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who opposes raising the debt limit — have indicated opposition. Tillis abruptly announced over the weekend he would not seek reelection after Trump threatened to campaign against him. Attention quickly turned to key senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who have also raised concerns about health care cuts, but also a loose coalition of four conservative GOP senators pushing for even steeper reductions. And on social media, billionaire Elon Musk was again lashing out at Republicans as “the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” for including a provision that would raise the nation’s debt limit by $5 trillion, which is needed to allow continued borrowing to pay the bills.
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‘The right person to step in’: Brazos County Commissioner talks new county judge appointment
Former Texas State Representative Kyle Kacal was appointed interim Brazos County Judge on Sunday as Judge Duane Peters recovers from a health issue. In a statement, now Judge Kacal said he feels “humbled and appreciative” to be stepping into the role. I am humbled and appreciative of Judge Peters’ request for me to serve as County Judge in his absence. He is a longtime, highly respected friend and I do not take this appointment lightly. Once my bond is approved by Commissioners Court and I am sworn-in to office, I will begin official duties as County Judge. Until then, I’m meeting with elected officials and department heads to gather as much information as possible. I am a public servant honored to answer a call to serve the residents of Brazos County once again and will do so as long as I am needed.
Brazos County Commissioner Bentley Nettles told KBTX this isn’t his first time working alongside Judge Kacal. According to Commissioner Nettles, the two worked together while he was the Executive Director of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Judge Kacal was still an elected representative. “He’s certainly a public servant and the right person to step in to be able to handle all the moving parts of a county,” he vouched. According to county officials, commissioners were not made aware until shortly after the appointment was made, nor did they have a say in the process. Commissioner Nettles said the county’s chief of staff informed him on Sunday that Judge Peters would have to make an appointment, but expected it to happen during the week. He explained why the decision was made unilaterally, saying under the law, Judge Peters has 30 days from the time of his last official act to make an appointment like this himself. “If he did not meet that 30-day requirement, then that burden would shift to the Commissioner’s Court to make an appointment,” detailed Commissioner Nettles. Judge Peters’ last official act was in early June.
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State Stories
Rep. Cook jumps into race to succeed Sen. Birdwell
Shorlty after Texas Sen. Brian Birdwell announced Monday that he will not seek re-election in 2026, state Rep. David Cook said he would run for the seat. Birdwell, a Granbury Republican representing Senate District 22 since 2010, thanked Jesus, his wife Mel, his constituents and his staff members for their support throughout his four terms. “It has been the high honor of my life, on par with commanding United States soldiers, to serve my fellow Texans for over 15 years,” Birdwell stated in a X post. Cook, 53, is a Mansfield Republican serving his third term for House District 96. He ran for House speaker before this past legislative session. In his announcement, he thanked Birdwell for his service, calling him “the personification of a servant leader.”
“While we’ve accomplished a great deal, there’s more work to be done!” Cook stated in the news release. “I look forward to hitting the campaign trail to earn the support of the people of Texas Senate District 22.” Other officials also showed their appreciation for Birdwell, including Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare. Some of Cook’s priorities include securing the border, lowering property taxes and supporting public schools, among others, according to his website. Birdwell, 63, will finish the remainder of his term, which will end in January 2027. The next Texas Senate election is in November 2026. Senate District 22 represents the counties of Bosque, Comanche, Eastland, Erath, Falls, Hamilton, Hill, Hood, McLennan and Somervell, as well as parts of Ellis and Tarrant counties.
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Abbott vetoes bill to boost oversight of migrant child detention centers
For years, Texas mom Sheena Rodriguez has worn a band with the number 3120 everywhere she goes. She had it on when she testified in Congress about unaccompanied migrant children, and every time she urged Texas state lawmakers to pass a bill that would increase oversight of facilities that house them. Human smugglers had put the band on a 13-year-old girl from Belize before she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Rodriguez, who met the girl there in fall 2022, told her she wouldn’t need it now that she was in the care of the U.S. It wasn’t until a few months ago that she registered that the bill she had fought for — House Bill 3120 by Republican state Rep. Stan Kitzman of Pattison — happened to have the same number. “You can’t make this up,” Rodriguez, a Republican, said in a phone interview.
Lawmakers passed the bill to address what the elected officials described as longstanding problems with abuse, neglect and sanitation at facilities that house unaccompanied minors – the majority of whom are migrant children. It would have required detention facilities to share information on safety practices, illness prevention, criminal incidents and education plans with local authorities. Facilities that receive state funding would also need to put new hires through criminal background checks. Gov. Greg Abbott, however, vetoed HB 3120 hours before a June 22 deadline, killing the bipartisan proposal that could have put the Trump administration’s immigration practices — and those of future presidents — under a microscope. The bill passed with just two “no” votes in the GOP-controlled House and gained unanimous approval in the Republican-led Senate this legislative session, three years after Kitzman first filed a version of the proposal. State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, sponsored it in the upper chamber. Unaccompanied children in U.S. detention centers have made thousands of reports of sexual abuse to federal authorities, including about 2,000 complaints in 2023 alone, according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Oversight agencies have also identified problems with overcrowding, dangerous flu outbreaks and lack of access to sufficient food and water. In legislative hearings, Kitzman and Huffman referenced these reports and expressed concern about a lack of communication with local authorities, including in two facilities in the rural southeast Texas communities they represent. Both facilities opened in the past four years, most recently in Wallis in 2022. In a veto statement, Abbott praised the bill’s goals, saying it could help local authorities respond to emergencies in detention centers.
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South Texas county judge calls military border zone ‘drastic’
Standing atop an earthen levee just north of the Rio Grande and near the famous Santa Ana National Wildlife Refugee, environmentalist Scott Nicol wondered Friday where signs indicating that this area is now a military zone would go. And if people would notice them, or face arrest. “Where are they going to put it? Look around,” said Nicol surrounded by mesquite trees and hardy drought-resistant thick brush. Nicol took a stroll atop the levee with Border Report, which now is part of a new military zone that the Air Force says spans 250 miles in Hidalgo and Cameron counties of deep South Texas. “It is very concerning because the whole part of this announcement is to restrict access – to make sure that people can’t get anywhere near the river, can’t get across the river. What does that also mean for residents? Does it mean the entire Rio Grande Valley is cut off from the river, which is the lifeblood of our region?” Nicol said.
The federal lands — previously under management by the International Boundary and Water Commission — were transferred Wednesday by the General Services Administration, an IBWC official confirmed to Border Report. The lands now are part of Joint Base San Antonio, a facility nearly 250 miles away. Establishing these new National Defense Areas along the Southwest border are “designed to support the Department of Defense’s ongoing mission to secure the southern border in coordination with inter-agency and partner stakeholders,” the Air Force said in a statement. But Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez on Friday told Border Report it’s a “drastic” move, annd one of which he had no knowledge. “We have an issue that we haven’t been able to resolve with immigration and I think that this is kind of a drastic way of addressing it,” Cortez said. Cortez, who is the top elected official in a county of 1 million people, said on Friday that federal officials told Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra that it’s meant as an extra layer of border security. “It’s all federal land and basically our understanding is it allows the military to be able to go in there and do surveillance of the property and anyone illegally trespassing they can withhold them. They cannot arrest them but they can withhold them and turn them over to other authorities,” Cortez said. That means that anyone caught on these lands can be arrested and charged with trespassing – a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to 18 months in prison.
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All 13 people killed in early June flash flood in San Antonio identified
The Bexar County Medical Examiner has identified the 13th victim deadly flooding and storms earlier this month. 77-year-old Esther Chung died near Loop 410 and Perrin?Beitel on the Northeast Side. She was the oldest victim recovered — the youngest was 28.
The storms unleashed more than 6 to 7 inches of rain in just a few hours on San Antonio, causing sudden flash floods across the city. Near Loop 410 and Perrin?Beitel on the Northeast Side, a wall of water swept more than a dozen vehicles into Beitel Creek — killing 11 of the 13 victims. The other two victims were found in separate flood-affected areas: near Leon Creek/Highway 90 and several miles upstream. The San Antonio Fire Department, along with SAPD and volunteers, including Texas A&M Task Force 1, launched extensive rescue operations. They conducted more than 70 water rescues and saved numerous individuals stranded in trees or stuck in waterlogged vehicles. In mid June, the City of San Antonio and Bexar County issued a joint disaster declaration following the floods. It called for the State of Texas to evaluate if the disaster qualifies to request federal assistance for the recovery process. City and county officials said they specifically seek state support to assist with cleanup, infrastructure stabilization, and any other recovery efforts.
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George Foreman IV to run for Congress in Houston district
George Foreman IV, the son of the legendary Houston boxer, is running for Congress. Foreman said he will run as an independent in the crowded race to replace the late U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, who died in March. A special election to determine who will finish Turner’s term for the 18th Congressional District will be held on Nov. 4. “I want to make life better for working families, for small business owners, for students trying to find their path, and for people who feel unseen,” Foreman said on his campaign website.
Foreman, who grew up in Humble, is an educator who has degrees in journalism and public administration from Texas Southern University. On his website, he emphasized wanting to help prepare young people for the workforce and supporting law enforcement. Foreman is one of 12 children of George Foreman Sr., a former heavyweight boxing champion, businessman and minister who died in March at the age of 76. There are 29 candidates who have announced they are running for the seat. Nineteen are Democrats, four are Republicans, and the rest are independent or minor party candidates. The district, previously represented by the late Sheila Jackson Lee, heavily favors Democrats. It includes downtown Houston, the Fifth Ward and stretches north into Humble. Other notable candidates in the race include Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, former Houston city councilwoman Amanda Edwards and State Rep. Jolanda Jones.
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Tarrant County commissioners to consider $250K contract with law firm in gerrymandering lawsuit
Tarrant County commissioners will consider a quarter million-dollar contract with the conservative law firm that led the county's controversial redistricting process — this time to defend the county in a lawsuit. A group of Tarrant County residents sued over the new commissioners court map on June 4, arguing the redrawn precinct boundaries are racially discriminatory. The map gives white non-Hispanics the majority in three out of four commissioners court precincts, even though they make up less than half the county’s population, the lawsuit states. The Public Interest Legal Foundation got a $30,000 contract to lead the redistricting process in April. Now, a vote for a $250,000 contract to defend the county in the lawsuit is on the commissioners court agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. The Republican commissioners, who led the push to redistrict, have denied the new map took race into consideration. All three have been open about their intentions to grow their existing majority on the commissioners court.
The redrawn map makes Precinct 2 — represented by Democratic County Commissioner Alisa Simmons — more conservative, past election data shared by the county shows. Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, a Republican, defended the county’s redistricting process in an interview on Lone Star Politics posted June 22. When asked whether the new maps targeted Black voters, who generally vote for Democrats, O’Hare responded that the media is responsible for a lot of this country’s polarization. “You’ll always talk about race, and race, race, race, and you do things that divide people,” he said. O’Hare did not consider race in choosing a new map, he said. “It's real simple, no matter how many ways you want to ask it, or how many ways you want to word it, I wanted another Republican on the court,” he said. “We have three Republicans on the court. We wanted another one, and that’s why we chose to do it.” The Public Interest Legal Foundation also defended Galveston County in a lawsuit over accusations of racial gerrymandering. The county commissioners court there redrew its maps and got rid of the lone majority-minority precinct, The Texas Tribune reported. A federal district court ordered the county to rethink that map, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out that ruling and sent the case back to district court. Different racial and ethnic groups – in this case, Black and Latino Galveston County residents – cannot form coalitions to sue over racial gerrymandering together, the appeals court ruled, going against decades of precedent, according to Houston Public Media.
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Dallas judge dismisses AG Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against State Fair of Texas’ gun ban
A Dallas County judge dismissed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against gun restrictions adopted by the State Fair of Texas following a 2023 shooting that injured three fairgoers. The ruling came a day after Cameron Turner, the 23-year-old gunman, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and 10 years for unlawfully carrying a weapon in a prohibited place. Judge Emily Tobolowsky, who previously denied Paxton’s request for a temporary stay on the fair’s ability to enact its gun policy, sided with the city and the State Fair again, and ended the lawsuit before it went into trial, according to a June 24 ruling. Her ruling did not explain her reason for dismissing the case. Paxton and the city of Dallas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Karissa Condoianis, a spokesperson for the State Fair of Texas, said Monday the fair was pleased with the outcome, and possibly the conclusion, of the litigation. “The State Fair takes no political position on the complex issues related to the lawful carrying of firearms in Texas, and in fact, has long been, and continues to be, a strong supporter of the rights of responsible gun owners in Texas,” she said, adding that last year’s gun policy was comparable to similar events like concerts, athletic competitions and other fairs and festivals. More than 200 uniformed police officers patrol the fairgrounds. “We take the safety of State Fair patrons very seriously and will continue to do so,” Condoianis said. Paxton’s lawsuit argued the city and the State Fair of Texas, its tenant at Fair Park during the 24-day event, violated state law and infringed upon a resident’s Second Amendment rights by prohibiting licensed owners from carrying their guns. Only current law enforcement officials and qualified retired officers can carry firearms at the fair in accordance with state law, officials said last year while announcing their plans to ramp up security screening.
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Bradford William Davis: GOP leaders slammed Tarrant chair over post, but some embraced this hater
It was the summer of 2020, and Black Lives Matter protests against police violence erupted across the country. As an energetic, multiracial coalition formed in opposition to the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, a rising star of Tarrant County Republican politics feared the rallies, but had a solution to keep the community safe. “Sadly, they need to die,” the rising star wrote about the demonstrators in a Facebook post advising Southlake residents to, if necessary, exercise their Second Amendment rights. Whatever that means. “But,” the GOP leader lamented of the protesters, many of them Black teens who had for years, identified racism at the school, “they would still vote.” I wouldn’t blame anyone for guessing this local leader was Bo French, the Tarrant County Republican Party chair who recently polled his followers over whether Jews or Muslims were the bigger threat to America. It provoked a host of local Republicans to call for his resignation, most notably Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who tweeted June 27 that “French’s words do not reflect my values nor the values of the Republican Party.
However, the apparent calls to murder protesters wasn’t from French. This time. No, that was Leigh Wambsganss, who suggested on her Facebook account that Southlake residents defend themselves by any means necessary against the student demonstrators. Yet while French was hastily disfellowshipped by Patrick and other Texas Republicans, including Sen. John Cornyn, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and U.S. Rep Craig Goldman of Fort Worth — the lieutenant governor celebrated Wambsganss’ announcement that she would campaign for the open Texas Senate District 9 seat. French’s X (formerly Twitter) feed is like a sponge rotting at the bottom of a dirty sink, absorbing and releasing the waste you forgot the human mind was capable of assembling. Jovial governor Tim Walz? “Gay child molester.” Immigrants? Deport 100 million of them, and their children. French’s hate-spewing is common knowledge. So why the sudden Republican intifada? French’s problem isn’t racism. No, he’s something worse: sloppy. When he tweets, you can feel the foam dripping from his lips. Wambsganss, however, cloaks her bigotry in a veneer of ambiguity so thin, you’d need your eyes stapled shut to miss it.
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Supreme Court upholds record $14M penalty against Exxon for Baytown air pollution
Air pollution from Exxon Mobil's petrochemical complex in Baytown took the national stage Monday as the U.S. Supreme Court denied the company's bid to overturn a record $14.25 million civil penalty levied against it in a Houston courtroom. The plaintiffs, nonprofit groups Environment Texas and Sierra Club, first filed the long-running lawsuit in 2010 on behalf of residents living near one of the largest petroleum and petrochemical complex in the nation. They sought penalties for the company's repeated violations of the Clean Air Act, a federal law that limits air pollution from industrial emitters. "Our members in Baytown knew Exxon might fight this case all the way to the Supreme Court, but we matched Exxon’s persistence," said Neil Carman, the Clean Air director of the Sierra Club in Texas.
The penalty Exxon must now pay to the federal government, issued by U.S. District Judge David Hittner in 2021, is the largest to date in a Clean Air Act lawsuit initiated by citizens. Exxon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Houston Chronicle. In its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Exxon argued that people who have been exposed to pollution from Clean Air Act violations should have standing to sue only if their injuries were "likely" caused by a company's conduct, rather than if they "could have been" caused by the pollution. Environmental contamination has cumulative impacts on human health, so while the health effects of air pollution are well established, it is often impossible to attribute an ailment exclusively to one pollution event or source. Exxon's anticipated payout is already reduced from Hittner's original ruling in 2017, which demanded the company pay $19.95 million for pollution released from its Baytown complex between 2005 and 2013. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the judge's first penalty, but upheld his revised amount of $14.25 million.
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Northside ISD responds to ESAs by opening its enrollment
With the passage of education savings accounts and enrollment decreases in San Antonio’s biggest school districts, it’s no surprise that “school choice” has become more competitive for public and private schools alike. Northside Independent School District, the largest district in San Antonio, recently started “Excellence Without Boundaries,” an open enrollment program allowing any student in the San Antonio area to apply to attend any one of its schools. While the district has long housed magnet schools and in-district charters that enroll students regardless of their address, Superintendent John Craft said it was the “right time” to go ahead with a more competitive strategy.
There are over 130 charter schools in San Antonio vying for the same pool of students, and the recently passed ESAs, which pay for private school tuition, therapy, transportation and other education-related costs, won’t help. ESAs, sometimes called school vouchers, cannot be used by families who enroll in public schools. Because of this, public school advocates and officials say school vouchers could result in the “disenrollment” from public schools. Schools rely on enrollment and average daily attendance of students to determine how much money they get from the state. There are a few caveats to NISD’s open enrollment program however, Craft said. Applying for the program doesn’t grant a student automatic acceptance to their preferred campus. Before accepting someone transferring from outside of the district, officials will consider a student’s attendance record, disciplinary history and the campus’ capacity. Formally launched June 18, the open enrollment application portal had 6,000 users and 76 applications within its first week, and Craft expects most of the students transferring into the district will be children of parents who commute to work within NISD’s boundaries.
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African American Museum, Dallas names new CEO.
Founding CEO Dr. Harry Robinson Jr. retired from the African American Museum, Dallas, in January, and the museum has been conducting a national search for the next CEO and president since. Today, it announced that Lisa Brown Ross would step into the role beginning July 21. Robinson led the museum for its entire first 50 years. In a statement this morning, he gave his full-throated support to the new hire.
“As someone who has spent a lifetime building this institution, I see in Lisa the same dedication to education, a steadfast resolve to preserving our heritage, and a passion for building community. She is not only capable – she is called to this work,” he said. “It brings me great joy to pass the torch to someone as accomplished, creative, and committed as Lisa.” Ross says Robinson “built something extraordinary,” adding that she sees her new job as “more than a professional calling—it’s a personal mission.” Ross most recently served as director of marketing and development at Anthem Strong Families, leading rebranding efforts and helping secure $15 million in federal funding. Her resume also includes stints at USAID, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Seattle Police Department. She has also been active in the North Texas arts community, helping the Bishop Arts Theatre complete its strategic plan, serving on the board of Jubilee Theatre in Fort Worth for six years, and more. Last summer, James Russell spoke with Robinson about the museum and his work, including his mission to acquire a piece by Dave the Potter. It’s a valuable insight into the work Ross is now undertaking.
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National Stories
Trump vowed to deport the 'worst of the worst' -- but new data shows a shift to also arresting non-criminals
President Donald Trump campaigned for president on the promise of mass deportations that targeted criminals -- and while ICE agents have arrested over 38,000 migrants with criminal convictions, new data shows a recent shift toward also arresting those who have not been accused of crimes. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has arrested an increasing number of migrants with no criminal convictions, according to an ABC News analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data. The numbers, which were obtained through a public records lawsuit and released by the Deportation Data Project at the University of California Berkeley, give the first real glimpse of how Trump's immigration enforcement policy is playing out in the streets.
Over the first five months of the Trump administration, ICE has arrested over 95,000 individuals, according to data analyzed by ABC's owned television stations' data team. At the start of the administration, ICE tended to target migrants with pending or criminal convictions. From Inauguration Day to May 4, 2025, 44% of those arrested had a criminal conviction, while 34% of those arrested had pending charges and 23% had no criminal history, according to the data. But beginning May 25, the data appears to show there was a shift in enforcement -- with individuals with criminal convictions making up only 30% of those arrested. Those arrested with pending criminal charges accounted for 26% of the individuals arrested and 44% had no criminal history. "It looks like there's been a shift from about Memorial Day this year up until now, to an increasing number of people who have been detained who have no criminal charges," said Austin Kocher, a professor at Syracuse University who reviewed the data.
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Preppers distance themselves from Minnesota murderer, say their movement is about defense, not violence
Troy McKinley was launching the first day of his Minnesota Prepper Expo on June 20 when someone handed him a phone with breaking news. Like most in the movement, McKinley bristled at the implication that Boelter’s actions had anything to do with being a prepper. The term denotes anyone who stockpiles food and supplies in preparation for an emergency, whether it’s a snowstorm or civil war. “It’s a simple word that’s been turned evil,” McKinley said. “You get people of all kinds: People worried about economic collapse, World War III. Look at Minneapolis — what happened down there," he said, referring to the riots that broke out after George Floyd’s killing by police. Authorities on preppers say most people associate the term with religious zealots. But preppers cross the political spectrum and date to the country’s founding.
“Americans have seen themselves as a people who are prepared to take on the dangers of the frontier on their own,” said Arizona State University associate professor Robert Kirsch, who co-authored a book on preppers. “That sort of individualistic character gets translated into emergency preparedness in unique ways.” Prepping is often viewed as a practice by “aberrant, marginal, fringe, weird people,” said Kirsch. But he found it’s a mainstream behavior that has “some worrying dimensions if taken too far.” As for Boelter being a prepper, he said: “Plenty of people do this kind of stuff and they don’t start murdering politicians.” FBI agent Terry Getsch said in an affidavit that Boelter and his wife Jenny were preppers who had a “bailout plan” to go to her mother’s home in Spring Brook, Wis. He wrote the affidavit while Boelter was on the run after shootings that killed Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and injured state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Prosecutors say that after shooting the Hortmans and Hoffmans, Boelter sent his family a text saying “Dad went to war,” and warning them to leave their house because people with guns might show up.
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Bush, Obama — and singer Bono — fault Trump's gutting of USAID on agency's last day
Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush delivered rare open criticism of the Trump administration — and singer Bono recited a poem — in an emotional video farewell Monday with staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Obama called the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID “a colossal mistake.” Monday was the last day as an independent agency for the six-decade-old humanitarian and development organization, created by President John F. Kennedy as a peaceful way of promoting U.S. national security by boosting goodwill and prosperity abroad. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered USAID absorbed into the State Department on Tuesday.
The former presidents and Bono spoke with thousands in the USAID community in a videoconference, which was billed as a closed-press event to allow political leaders and others privacy for sometimes angry and often teary remarks. Parts of the video were shared with The Associated Press. They expressed their appreciation for the thousands of USAID staffers who have lost their jobs and life’s work. Their agency was one of the first and most fiercely targeted for government-cutting by President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, with staffers abruptly locked out of systems and offices and terminated by mass emailing. Trump claimed the agency was run by “radical left lunatics” and rife with “tremendous fraud.” Musk called it “a criminal organization.” Obama, speaking in a recorded statement, offered assurances to the aid and development workers, some listening from overseas. “Your work has mattered and will matter for generations to come,” he told them. Obama has largely kept a low public profile during Trump’s second term and refrained from criticizing the monumental changes that Trump has made to U.S. programs and priorities at home and abroad.
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California dismantles landmark environmental law to tackle housing crisis
California lawmakers on Monday night rolled back one of the most stringent environmental laws in the country, after Gov. Gavin Newsom muscled through the effort in a dramatic move to combat the state’s affordability crisis. The Democratic governor—widely viewed as a 2028 presidential contender—made passage of two bills addressing an acute housing shortage a condition of his signing the 2025-2026 budget. A cornerstone of the legislation reigns in the California Environmental Quality Act, which for more than a half-century has been used by opponents to block almost any kind of development project. The abuses of the law have spread so widely that opponents used it to block some bicycle-lane expansions when Newsom served as San Francisco’s mayor, he said during a signing ceremony at the Sacramento capital. Democratic leaders of the Assembly and Senate, who had steered the bills to bipartisan passage earlier Monday, flanked him.
“We have seen this abuse over and over and over again,” the governor said. “We have fallen prey to a strategy of delay. As a result of that, we have too much demand chasing too little supply. This is not complicated, it is Econ 101.” Some environmentalists and other defenders of the longstanding law were furious, and warned that developers will now go unchecked. “Who needs Trump when we have a wolf in sheep clothing negotiating back room deals while he and his oligarch donors score big,” one critic wrote on X. The lack of affordable housing has climbed to the top of voter concerns in other coastal blue strongholds. New York City’s brutal rental market became a flashpoint in the city’s recent Democratic primary for mayor, and helped propel Zohran Mamdani to victory. But California sits at the epicenter of America’s home shortage. The state has faced a homelessness crisis. And nine of the 10 least affordable cities in the country are located there, according to a May 20 report by WalletHub, a personal finance company. And the heart of the problem, say housing experts, are the regulatory barriers to construction. The state needs 3.5 million units, but only about 100,000 are built annually. “We have turned off the spigot on housing for the last 20 to 30 years,” said Michael Lens, a professor of urban planning and policy at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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'Alligator Alcatraz' immigrant detention facility set to open, with Trump in attendance
President Donald Trump will be in the Florida Everglades on Tuesday for the opening of a controversial immigrant detention center spearheaded by state Republican leaders, which has faced vocal pushback from Democrats, Native American leaders and activist groups over humanitarian and environmental concerns. The facility, informally dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" by state Republicans, was the brainchild of state Attorney General James Uthmeier. It has received significant national attention, including during a "Fox and Friends" interview with Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday. DeSantis described the push as Florida's continued effort to align the state with Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown. But Trump's decision to attend in person, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has shifted some of the focus to the administration, which had to approve Florida’s plan to run the facility.
“When the president comes tomorrow, he’s going to be able to see the facility, which is expected to be ready for operation on Tuesday” DeSantis said at a news conference Monday. He said that he spoke to Trump over the weekend and that Trump is “very excited.” Noem said last week on X: “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens. We will expand facilities and bed spaces in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.” NBC News first reported Sunday night that Trump would attend, a big boost for the effort. Noem had to approve creating the project and is likely to reimburse the state with significant federal funding, but until Monday’s public announcement, it was unclear how the White House formally viewed the project. There has been significant pushback from Democrats and immigration advocates who see the project as inhumane. They have objected to putting people whom the administration has identified as being undocumented in the middle of a swamp surrounded by snakes and alligators in the middle of the Florida heat — and in an area of the state that is prone to hurricanes. But those reasons are why Uthmeier, DeSantis and other Republicans have said the facility is needed.
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Air travel hits new milestone with 6 record days in 2025 -- and July Fourth surge expected ahead
Air travel is surging to new highs, and the Transportation Security Administration has added two more record-breaking days to the history books amid a summer of staggering passenger volumes. Just last week, as millions of Americans took to the skies, June 27 and June 29 now rank as the seventh and eighth busiest days respectively in TSA history, pushing 2025 to claim six of the agency's top 10 busiest days on record. The surge shows no signs of slowing down. TSA expects to screen 18.5 million travelers during the upcoming Fourth of July holiday period, which officially starts Tuesday. Sunday, July 6, is projected to be the busiest day as an estimated 2.9 million passengers pass through security checkpoints.
This record-breaking trend began earlier this month when TSA screened nearly 3.1 million travelers on Sunday, June 22, marking the single busiest day in the agency's history. "Airlines are offering great deals, and with Fourth of July falling on a Friday this year, it extends the weekend for many folks," explains Keith Jeffries, former federal security director at Los Angeles International Airport. "People are out of school, and they're going to enjoy themselves this summer." The robust travel numbers reflect broader economic strength, according to Jeffries. "When you see TSA hitting some of the busiest days in its history, it's a testament to how well the economy is doing. People are traveling again, and that's exciting to see." Major airlines are preparing for the surge. American Airlines announced its largest-ever July Fourth operation, planning to accommodate nearly 7.6 million customers across 71,000 flights from June 27 through July 7. United Airlines expects to transport more than 6 million passengers during the same period -- 500,000 more than last year.
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In 24-hour span, two in GOP who split with Trump say they won’t seek reelection
Two of the best-known Republican lawmakers who have split with President Donald Trump in his second term said in a span of 24 hours this week that they would not seek reelection — illustrating how little room there is in the party for dissenting voices and complicating the GOP’s path to keeping its majorities in the midterm elections. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) — who has taken issue with Trump’s tariff policy, his posture toward Russia and Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, among other things — announced his retirement Monday, calling himself a “traditional conservative” caught in a “tug of war” in his party over issues such as foreign policy and trade. A day earlier, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) declared that he would not seek a third term, after drawing Trump’s wrath for opposing the president’s priority legislative package. The developments emboldened Democrats in their efforts to try to defeat the sweeping tax and immigration bill as well as capture both lawmakers’ seats next year — and worried some Republicans on both fronts.
Bacon represents one of only three GOP-held House districts nationwide that Trump lost last year, while Tillis was considered the most vulnerable Senate Republican up for reelection next year. “When the energy’s on the other side, you really don’t want to have to defend an open seat,” said Tom Davis, a former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. The ranks of Republican elected officials who have differed with Trump in recent years has thinned considerably, as fealty to him has become the biggest litmus test in the party and the president has frequently vowed retribution against his critics. Some have stepped down voluntarily, while others have been ousted in Republican primaries. That dynamic is in play once again ahead of the 2026 elections, with other Republicans facing difficult decisions. In Texas, Republican Sen. John Cornyn is already facing a tough primary challenger in a vocal Trump ally, state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Cornyn has said he is fully committed to running again. But Paxton sought to stoke doubts about that. “You next?” Paxton asked Cornyn on X after Tillis announced his retirement.
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Kristi Noem secretly took personal cut of political donations
In 2023, while Kristi Noem was governor of South Dakota, she supplemented her income by secretly accepting a cut of the money she raised for a nonprofit that promotes her political career, tax records show. In what experts described as a highly unusual arrangement, the nonprofit routed funds to a personal company of Noem’s that had recently been established in Delaware. The payment totaled $80,000 that year, a significant boost to her roughly $130,000 government salary. Since the nonprofit is a so-called dark money group — one that’s not required to disclose the names of its donors — the original source of the money remains unknown. Noem then failed to disclose the $80,000 payment to the public. After President Donald Trump selected Noem to be his secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, she had to release a detailed accounting of her assets and sources of income from 2023 on. She did not include the income from the dark money group on her disclosure form, which experts called a likely violation of federal ethics requirements.
Experts told ProPublica it was troubling that Noem was personally taking money that came from political donors. In a filing, the group, a nonprofit called American Resolve Policy Fund, described the $80,000 as a payment for fundraising. The organization said Noem had brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars. There is nothing remarkable about a politician raising money for nonprofits and other groups that promote their campaigns or agendas. What’s unusual, experts said, is for a politician to keep some of the money for themselves. “If donors to these nonprofits are not just holding the keys to an elected official’s political future but also literally providing them with their income, that’s new and disturbing,” said Daniel Weiner, a former Federal Election Commission attorney who now leads the Brennan Center’s work on campaign finance. ProPublica discovered details of the payment in the annual tax form of American Resolve Policy Fund, which is part of a network of political groups that promote Noem and her agenda. The nonprofit describes its mission as “fighting to preserve America for the next generation.” There’s little evidence in the public domain that the group has done much. In its first year, its main expenditures were paying Noem and covering the cost of some unspecified travel. It also maintains social media accounts devoted to promoting Noem. It has 100 followers on X.
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