Lead Stories

Miriam Adelson and the Texas Sands PAC are ones to watch

Miriam Adelson poured $4.1 million into a political action committee in Texas ahead of March's primary elections — signaling her increased interest in Lone Star State politics amid efforts to legalize gambling. Adelson, part of the new majority ownership group of the Dallas Mavericks and head of the family that controls Las Vegas Sands Corp., made the contribution to the Texas Sands PAC on Feb. 6, according to a Feb. 26 campaign finance report. Her contribution came two months after her family finalized its purchase of a majority stake in the Mavericks from longtime owner Mark Cuban on Dec. 27. Dallas Business Journal dove into the February campaign finance reports to examine the influence of Adelson and her family heading into next year's legislative session.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), a casino company that generated more than $10 billion in revenue in 2023, also contributed $9,000 to the PAC between December and February. The company launched the PAC in January 2022 with $2.3 million of initial funding from Adelson. The campaign finance report shows Texas Sands PAC spent $1.9 million supporting 35 candidates in primary races this year — an average of nearly $56,000 each. A spokesperson for Las Vegas Sands could not immediately be reached for comment. House Speaker Dade Phelan received the largest contribution at $200,000 in his heated state representative primary race. Phelan, a Republican from Beaumont, came in second to David Covey in the primary and the two are headed to a May runoff. Phalen has feuded with the far right wing of the GOP and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who backs Covey. Phelan supported the House's impeachment of Paxton last year. In North Texas, where it's common for Texans to go to Oklahoma to gamble, politicians whose campaigns received funding from the PAC included Rep. Frederick Frazier with $79,000, Rep. Justin Holland with $79,000, Rep. Charlie Geren with $60,000, Rep. Venton Jones with $54,000, Rep. Angie Chen Button with $29,000, Rep. Ben Bumgarner with $29,000, Rep. Morgan Meyer with $29,000 and Rep. Jeff Leach with $15,000.

Read this article at Austin Business Journal - Subscribers Only

Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas announces plans for new casino resort in Polk County

The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas has unveiled plans to construct a brand-new casino resort on its tribal lands in Polk County, a move expected to drive the tribe's economy and boost tourism. Announced on Monday, the plans for the new casino resort were met with enthusiasm from Tribal Council chairman, Ricky Sylestine, who expressed excitement about the project's potential impact. "We are incredibly excited to embark on this new chapter," said Sylestine. "This new casino resort will not only provide significant economic benefits for those living and working in the region, but it will also become a vibrant destination for visitors."

While specific details about the resort are still in the works, the property is expected to feature a state-of-the-art casino floor, hotel accommodations, and a diverse array of dining and entertainment options. To bring their vision to life, the tribe has enlisted architectural firm FFKR to design the new resort. In addition to the construction of the new casino resort, the tribe has also outlined plans for an extensive remodel of its existing Ischoopa/One Stop Convenience Store and Truck Stop. This renovation project will include the incorporation of electronic bingo machines. As the project progresses, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas has assured the public that they will continue to provide updates and news related to the new resort, as well as any additional developments that may arise in the coming months. The tribe also owns and operates Naskila Casino at 540 State Park Rd 56, Livingston, Texas.

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Candidates clash in race to succeed Whitmire in Texas Senate

If Houstonians found recent political debates to be largely uneventful events, then they were in for a big surprise Wednesday night, when state Rep. Jarvis Johnson and emergency room nurse Molly Cook took to the stage. The two candidates, running to succeed Mayor John Whitmire in the Texas Senate, repeatedly clashed over their backgrounds and records ahead of back-to-back elections. The District 15 seat became vacant for the first time since 1983 when Whitmire left the Legislature to serve as Houston's mayor. During the Democratic primary in March, Johnson and Cook received 36% and 21% of the ballots cast, respectively, eliminating four other candidates from the race. Since neither candidate received a majority of the vote, they are now set to compete against each other in a primary runoff on May 28.

Due to Whitmire’s early resignation, the two will also face off in a special election on May 4 to decide who will complete the remainder of Whitmire’s term this year. Early voting for the special election starts Monday. During a debate Wednesday evening, organized by the Bayou Blue Democrats, Johnson took aim at Cook for her lack of experience serving in elected office. Cook, striving to close a 15-percentage-point gap behind her opponent, in turn leveled sharp attacks against Johnson for the state representative’s voting and donation records. The district has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold, encompassing several of Houston's most prominent neighborhoods, such as Montrose and the Heights. The winning Democrat in the runoff will face local businessman Joseph Trahan, the sole Republican to enter the race for the seat, in November. Johnson’s attendance rate was not the only issue Cook raised on Wednesday. She cited several legislative actions that she argued demonstrate Johnson’s records are out of step with Democratic values. She criticized Johnson for supporting a Republican-backed bill that she said made it more difficult for individuals with pre-existing conditions to secure equitable health insurance coverage. The vote was particularly disturbing to her as a health care professional who “see(s) people day in and day out with fear in their eyes, disease in their bodies,” she said. Johnson said he supported the bill only after the Democrats had successfully added a favorable amendment to improve transparency in the process. Voting against the bill after securing the amendment, he said, would have jeopardized relationships with the Republican majority.

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Trump campaign asks for cut of candidates’ fundraising when they use his name and likeness

By asking Republican candidates to break off a chunk of their proceeds, the Trump campaign would enlarge its bank account. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO By ALEX ISENSTADT 04/17/2024 02:57 PM EDT Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has found a new way to press for badly needed cash. In a letter received by Republican digital vendors this week, the Trump campaign is asking for down-ballot candidates who use his name, image and likeness in fundraising appeals to give at least 5 percent of the proceeds to the campaign. “Beginning tomorrow, we ask that all candidates and committees who choose to use President Trump’s name, image, and likeness split a minimum of 5% of all fundraising solicitations to Trump National Committee JFC. This includes but is not limited to sending to the house file, prospecting vendors, and advertising,” Trump co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita wrote in the letter, which is dated April 15.

They add: “Any split that is higher than 5% will be seen favorably by the RNC and President Trump’s campaign and is routinely reported to the highest levels of leadership within both organizations.” Trump officials insisted that the purpose of the 5 percent request was not to raise money for themselves but rather to dissuade “scammers” from using Trump’s brand without his permission and diluting his ability to raise cash. The letter comes as Trump is struggling to close a fundraising gap with President Joe Biden. Biden’s campaign has said that it has raised over $190 million, more than double what Trump has taken in. Trump’s campaign has acknowledged that it will be outraised by Biden, though it has been looking to make up ground, with large and small donors alike. By asking Republican candidates to break off a chunk of their proceeds, the Trump campaign would enlarge its bank account. The letter was sent the same week Trump’s hush-money trial began in New York. The trial is expected to last at least six weeks and will greatly hinder the former president’s ability to hit the campaign trail with just seven months left before the November election.

Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only

State Stories

County judge calls on Texas to process, jail its own migrants

Citing a lack of resources, El Paso County officials are asking Texas to use its own judges and jail space to hold migrants arrested at the border wall on state charges. The plea comes after the Texas Department of Public Safety on Friday arrested another 200 migrants on rioting charges after some cut razor wire the state had placed along the Rio Grande, and tried to make their way to the Border Patrol on the other side. “It looks like we’ll be able to process 140 to 145 (by) today. […] We’re trying to process 20-30 at a time,” County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told KTSM on Tuesday. “We can handle this one, but if tomorrow we have a number this size… no more (jail) space and the District Attorney would not have the resources to process them.”

Migrants arrested at the border, either by the state or federal agents, are taken to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility. If they face local charges, they’re transferred to the jails. The Downtown County Jail normally can house up to 1,010 inmates but is undergoing construction that robs it of 300 to 350 beds a day. The Far East El Paso Jail Annex can hold another 1,800. County officials said Tuesday that the Jail Annex was at 94 percent capacity, while the Downtown facility was at capacity given the missing beds. Additionally, the county loses money when the state brings in inmates and the county has to turn down federal prisoners. State inmates cost the county $110 a day, while federal inmates bring in $85 to $87 a day. Samaniego suggests DPS take the migrants to the Rogelio Sanchez State Jail in El Paso or other state-run facilities.

Read this article at Border Report - Subscribers Only

Texas schools fund adopts ‘ESG skeptical’ proxy voting stance

The Texas Permanent School Fund is adopting an “ESG skeptical” proxy voting matrix which pushes back on ESG resolutions put forward during annual shareholder meetings, the fund announced Monday. The new matrix — offered through Institutional Shareholder Services, the fund’s external proxy voting manager — will take effect immediately and be used to cast votes on behalf of the fund during the first half of the year, according to Texas PSF. The matrix was established “in response to widespread criticism” that ISS’s voting policies supported too many ESG shareholder resolutions, the fund said in the release. Texas PSF, which manages over $53 billion in assets and distributes nearly $2.2 billion to Texas K-12 schools annually, said it was among the first to adopt the matrix, which provides specific proxy voting guidance. The new strategy is now poised to impact the 40,000-50,000 proxy votes the fund casts every year.

Read this article at ESG Dive - Subscribers Only

Communities In Schools of Houston celebrates Mental Health Awareness Month, supports students’ mental health

Communities In Schools of Houston (CIS), a Heights-based educational nonprofit, celebrates Mental Health Awareness Month in May, part of a national campaign by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), centered around the campaign theme “Take the Moment.” NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. In May, CIS team members will be raising awareness across campuses about the importance of good mental health, including coordinated activities. For the past 45 years, supporting students' mental health and well-being has been at the core of what CIS does. CIS of Houston, which celebrates 13 years since the launch of its Mental Health Initiative (MHI), is the largest provider of mental health services for schools in the Harris County area.

Read this article at The Leader - Subscribers Only

Newly released documentary alleges former Keller ISD trustee ‘begged’ crew to not air interview

After two months of anticipation among Keller ISD parents and staff, parts of an episode shot at Central High School were recently featured on an international TV show called “God, Jesus, Trump!” A film crew hired by a Netherlands-based broadcasting channel called Evangelische Omroep — or EO for short — visited the school in February to film an interview for an episode titled “Texas – War on Woke” with Sandi Walker, a Keller ISD trustee who later resigned. Show host Tijs van den Brink said during the April 14 episode that the aftermath of the visit had “traumatized” Walker and that the show had decided not to broadcast her interview per her request. Legal tensions remain between the district and EO over the footage that aired in the episode. A Keller ISD spokesperson told the Fort Worth Report that the district demanded the unauthorized footage be destroyed or returned to them. The district also said it was disappointed to see the release of the footage, which was “taken without proper approval.”

Keller ISD had about six minutes of airtime in the episode. Van den Brink said he and the film crew initially interviewed Walker about books banned from the school. In “Texas – War on Woke,” the film crew is shown entering the administration building where three Central High School staff members greet them. The crew is checked in, receives visitor stickers and heads to the library to speak with Walker. As part of the episode, van den Brink alleges he received a “desperate text” from Walker an hour after the interview and that Walker “begged” him and the crew to not air her segment. The episode includes local news segments initially covering the film crew’s visit as well as parent’s strong opposition of the visit on TV and school board meetings. In an EO article about the Texas episode, van den Brink wrote that he spoke with Walker in a Zoom call after their initial interview at Central High School. During the hour-long call, van den Brink describes Walker being concerned about how the interview would pose a risk to her husband’s job and kids. She asked him again to not broadcast her interview on the show, van den Brink wrote. “She begs us crying not to broadcast the images of the interview with herself either,” van den Brink wrote.

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In Travis County, a fight over bail hearings has big stakes for criminal defendants

In Travis County, the magistration process—the initial bail hearing after someone is arrested—isn’t cinematic. Arrestees are either led to a small room within the jail’s central booking area, or a Travis County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) employee might bring a computer to their holding cell. At the end of a short conversation, during which the arrestee can either remain silent or try to plead their case to get released on a personal bond instead of cash or surety bail, a magistrate—a judge who handles pre-trial hearings—determines the conditions of release. These routine hearings can have huge implications beyond determining how long someone will spend in jail (and the potential collateral damages like job loss) or how much they’ll have to pay to a bail bonds firm. If an arrestee chooses to plead their case at magistration, anything they say can be used against them in court. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that people have the right to an attorney at the magistration, also known as arraignment, stage. Yet most Texas counties don’t guarantee free attorneys at these early hearings for people who can’t pay.

“There is a constitutional right to counsel at a critical stage in a criminal case,” said ACLU of Texas staff attorney Savannah Kumar. “Unfortunately, constitutional rights are not always realized for people, even when those rights are firmly established.” In a bid to change this status quo, the Texas ACLU sued Travis County last week, alleging the county’s practices during magistration are unconstitutional. The federal suit, filed alongside the international law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, stems from the fact that, in Travis County, arrestees who can’t afford private attorneys are sent before magistrate judges without first speaking to a court-appointed lawyer. These hearings often result in high bail amounts that mean they’ll stay in jail until their trial—or until a lawyer can convince a judge to let them out. The suit asks the court to hold that Travis County’s practice is improper, which would force the county to take immediate action. “The lack of counsel at magistration fatally undermines the fairness of criminal proceedings in Travis County,” states the lawsuit. The question of whether lawyers are guaranteed at magistration is particularly critical amid Texas’ ongoing efforts to implement Senate Bill 4, currently blocked by the courts. The law, if it takes effect, could allow magistrates to effectively order the removal of undocumented arrestees as early as their magistration hearing.

Read this article at Texas Observer - Subscribers Only

Saving Lone Star Literary Life

Out in West Texas, a pair of aspiring novelists and enterprising small-town newspaper owners, Barbara Brannon and Kay Ellington, were dismayed by the number of publications that were dropping book sections, cutting critics, and otherwise decimating literary coverage, especially in the Lone Star State. By the 2010s, “93 percent of the state’s newspapers offer no regular books coverage of any kind,” they told the Writers’ League of Texas. Both newswomen worried that Texas authors in particular just weren’t getting enough attention—though plenty deserved it. Out of that gaping hole emerged, fittingly on Groundhog’s Day 2015, a new literary venture: Lone Star Literary Life, an online newsletter aimed at Texas readers, writers, and librarians. “Texas is second only in population to California, Florida is third and New York is fourth. We should be the 800-pound gorilla of literature,” Ellington said of their effort in a 2017 panel discussion.

Initially, it was only a side project for Brannon and Ellington, a dynamic duo who have now published several novels (a series all about The Paragraph Ranch) while still stubbornly championing small-town papers too. (Their company, Paragraph Ranch LLC, now owns three around Lubbock: the Texas Spur, in Spur; the Caprock Courier in Silverton; and the Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon.) Over the next nine years, Lone Star Literary Life grew, creating a network of 6,000 loyal subscribers, including Texas librarians, indie booksellers, publicists, and authors. In 2018, school librarian Kristine Hall took over and Lone Star Lit coasted through the pandemic when many Texans were home reading—and writing. But the upstart venture nearly died in April 2024, a victim perhaps of its own business model of providing substantive but low-cost (or free) services to readers and authors across Texas. It had become popular but not profitable enough to sustain a team of employees large enough to support it without burning out. Here’s the saga of how independent women business owners and book lovers in Texas founded that small company, expanded it, and now aim to save it.

Read this article at Texas Observer - Subscribers Only

Love and loss in a small Texas town

If you were asked to draw a picture of a cowboy, you’d end up drawing Buck Uptmor. Short and bandy-legged, with the permanently ruddy complexion of a man who spent much of his 45 years in a saddle, he looked exactly like a guy named Buck should look. It runs in the family. His younger brother, Brian, is short, too, but built like a fire hydrant. People call Brian “Peanut.” The Uptmors grew up in and around the tiny town of West, Texas, about an hour south of Dallas. Buck stayed in West and ran his own fencing and welding company. Brian left shortly after high school to fight fires. For a month shy of 11 years, Brian was a firefighter-paramedic in Killeen, near Fort Hood. “Firefighter, it’s the greatest job in the world—if you’re single,” he says. He’d work 24 hours, then have 48 off. He’d finish his shift, go have breakfast with his crew, go to the gym, sleep, return to the gym, then get cleaned up and go out drinking with his fellow firefighters.

Then he got married, had a couple of daughters, and it wasn’t the best job to have anymore. His mother was going to sell a piece of his grandfather’s land in Tours, a tiny town that hugs the east side of West, so Brian bought it to keep it in the family, built a house in 2007, retired from the fire department, and moved his wife and daughters there. He took a job selling cars at a Ford dealership in West. But when there is a pasture fire, or maybe someone is hurt, Brian still gets calls. He has all his certifications, even if he doesn’t do it for a living anymore. On Wednesday, April 17, about 7:30 in the evening, Brian got one of those calls. He was picking up his girls from St. Martin Parish in Tours. They were at their CCE class, the weekly catechism course most Catholic kids attend. His phone rang, but he figured he could call back whoever it was after he’d delivered his daughters safely home. The phone rang again, so he pulled into a parking lot to see who it was. The first call had come from Ted Uptmore Jr. There are many people with that surname in West; some spell it with an “e,” and some don’t. Uptmore’s father is the general manager at West Fertilizer Co., where he has worked for five decades. Now Ted’s wife, Sherry, was on the phone: “Brian, fertilizer plant’s on fire! Ted wants you up here.” West Fertilizer Co. opened in 1962 on a sprawling site hard by the railroad tracks on what was then the northernmost edge of town. It only employed a dozen or so people, but in a farming community like West, it was an important business, if only for the sake of convenience. It saved the farmers from having to make a trip to Waco or Hillsboro. The core of the facility was a 13,000-square-foot wooden building that stored solid fertilizer, such as ammonium nitrate, and two 12,000-gallon metal tanks that held anhydrous ammonia. A fleet of tanker trucks was generally parked outside, and a railroad spur led to the main tracks so that railcars could be loaded and unloaded. When it was built, the plant was surrounded by empty fields, some of which were used as pasture for horses and cattle.

Read this article at D Magazine - Subscribers Only

As the Suburbs Add More People, Dallas Watches Its Influence Over DART Wane

You don’t need a demographer to see that Dallas isn’t sharing in the rapid growth of its northern suburbs. This reality is beginning to settle in at City Hall, where, in discussions around land use and other policy decisions, planners wrestle with how to encourage more people to move, and afford to stay, in the region’s largest city. The trend affects transportation decisions, too. Dallas is now staring at a future where it no longer controls a majority of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board, whose seats are appointed based on the population share of Dallas and the transportation agency’s 12 suburban partners. DART and the City Council’s transportation and infrastructure committee held a dual meeting on Monday to explore the region’s changing demographics. The population trends show the board makeup flipping as soon as 2025, the next time apportionment gets reviewed, and almost certainly by 2030. (The makeup of board seats is adjusted every five years based on how many people are living in DART’s service area.)

Why is this important? The state statute that created DART tipped the scales to allow the region’s largest city to have a critical eighth seat on the body that sets policy. But since 2010, Dallas’ population has increased by only 9 percent while the surrounding service area has jumped by 40 percent. By 2030, projections show that most of DART’s service population will live outside the city of Dallas for the first time in the agency’s existence. “I’ve been on the board, at the pleasure of the City Council, for almost three and a half years,” said Trustee Rodney Schlosser, a Dallas appointee who put the report together. “In those three and a half years, I have picked up on what I think is obvious for any of us who are watchful of what’s going on in the region, which is there are differences of opinion between what someone in Dallas might consider to be a priority and what someone in a suburb might consider to be a priority.” This change is more of an existential threat than one that immediately dooms Dallas’ ability to direct its public transportation partner. After all, Dallas presently shares one of its seats with Glenn Heights and Cockrell Hill, and there is often a lack of consensus among the city’s appointees, anyway. They represent different neighborhoods that have different priorities, some of which may even align with those of the suburbs.

Read this article at D Magazine - Subscribers Only

Money, sports and politics catapult 3 Texans onto Time 100 Most Influential People list

Texas has gained some worldwide recognition thanks to some of the state’s biggest names joining Time Magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential of 2024. Dallas entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, Texas governor Greg Abbott and Tyler native Patrick Mahomes made the list this year. The New York-based magazine has been conducting a 100 most influential list since 2004 and chooses individuals based on how much influence they had on the most important stories of last year. The list takes a crew of more than 100 people from the magazine months to put together.

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Senate kills Mayorkas impeachment over calls for full trial from Cruz, Cornyn

Democrats put a swift end to the historic impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, dismissing both articles against him in a matter of hours over objections from Texas Republicans who called for a full trial. The House impeachment managers — a group of Republicans including U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, whose district stretches from Austin to Katy — never got to lay out their case to senators that Mayorkas “willfully and systematically” refused to enforce immigration laws as border crossings set records under his watch. Democrats dismissed the allegations as policy differences and said they fell short of the high crimes and misdemeanors necessary to remove a Cabinet member. The Senate voted along party lines to declare the two articles against Mayorkas unconstitutional after shooting down a series of efforts by Republicans to delay the votes.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the brief impeachment proceedings “the least legitimate, least substantive and most politicized impeachment trial ever in the history of the United States.” “To validate this gross abuse by the House would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future,” Schumer said. “For the sake of the Senate’s integrity and to protect impeachment for those rare cases we truly need it, senators should dismiss today’s charges.” Texas’ Republican U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn both pushed for a full trial. Cornyn said Mayorkas was impeached for “serious offenses” and dismissing the case without a trial would be a “dangerous precedent to set.” “This would be the first time in our nation’s history that the Senate failed to do its duty to consider evidence, hear witnesses and allow senators to vote guilty or not guilty,” Cornyn said in a recent speech on the Senate floor. “Impeachment is one of the most solemn features in our democracy, and the majority leader must not brush these articles under the rug.”

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

A Texas mayoral candidate's brother indicted in NBA multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme

The estranged brother of an El Paso mayoral candidate was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly running a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme by falsely claiming to be an NBA promoter. Timothy France Johnson, 61, was indicted March 20 on seven counts of wire fraud and three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity, federal court records show. Johnson is the brother of El Paso mayoral candidate Renard Johnson, who has not been implicated in playing any role in the alleged crime. "Like the rest of the public, I learned recently that my estranged brother has been indicted," Renard Johnson said in a statement. "I have not seen or spoken to him in many years. I have full confidence that our judicial system will resolve these allegations."

Timothy Johnson allegedly claimed to be a third-party promoter of NBA pre-season games and "convinced unwary investors to invest money with him to sponsor said pre-season games," officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas said. Timothy Johnson allegedly conducted the fraud through his companies, BOLO Entertainment LLC, BOLO Sports LLC and Shoot N’2 Sports LLC, the indictment states. The Ponzi scheme robbed investors of more than $3 million between Feb. 9, 2009, to May 14, 2020, a federal indictment states. There were at least 30 investors defrauded in the scheme. Timothy Johnson claimed to be a third-party promoter of NBA pre-season games and asked investors to invest money to help promote the pre-season games, the indictment states. He never used any of the investments to promote any NBA pre-season games, officials said. About $1 million of the $3 million taken from investors was used to pay fake investment profits to previous investors, the indictment states. Timothy Johnson allegedly used the rest of the funds for personal use.

Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only

'Generosity lived in his heart': Daughter reflects on father's life, killer's conviction

Miguel Rivera was a loving, caring and humble man — helping those in need get their lives back on track — but one of his last acts of generosity ended in his death. Rivera, 64, was fatally shot by a ranch hand, Eduardo Garza Santillana, in the 23100 block of Alameda Avenue in Tornillo, just south of El Paso, on July 25, 2018. Rivera was trying to help Garza fight his drug addiction, Marlene Rivera, Rivera's daughter, said. "My dad was a very, very honorable man," Marlene Rivera said. "Very caring. A very, very generous man. He was all about his family. He loved his family. He was always there to help everyone he met. That was the amazing man he was."

Nearly six years after the fatal shooting, Rivera's family finally received justice April 4, after a jury convicted Garza of capital murder and sentenced him to life in prison. Garza was also sentenced to 40 years on one count of aggravated robbery. The sentences will be served concurrently. While the Rivera family got justice for their father, nothing can ever take away the pain they suffer everyday without him. With Garza spending the rest of his life in prison, the healing process can start, a Rivera family member said. "My dad did get the justice that he deserved," Marlene Rivera said. "We got justice as well. There will really never be closure because my dad is no longer here. But I guess now we start the healing process again. With him (Garza) being convicted and sentenced, now we start the healing process again from scratch. "It's never going to be easy. My dad was, well is, a big part of our family. It's very difficult. Unfortunately, we have to move on, but of course our father's memory is always with us. There's not a day that passes that we don't think of him." Miguel Rivera's other ranch hand, Abelardo Moreno, was also shot by Garza. He survived his injuries. El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks hopes the guilty verdict will bring peace to the Rivera family.

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Karl Rove: Disinformation from Russia and China is evolving and has even spread to Capitol Hill.

As Speaker Mike Johnson maneuvered last week to bring Ukraine aid up for a vote, two respected House committee chairmen made a disturbing acknowledgment: Russian disinformation has helped undermine support for Ukraine among some Republicans. Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul admitted that “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States” and “infected a good chunk of my party’s base.” Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner said “anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages” have been “uttered on the House floor.” To get a sense of the magnitude of the problem, consider one truly ludicrous fiction that GOP lawmakers parroted: that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky diverted U.S. aid to purchase two super yachts.

The accusation surfaced in DC Weekly, a Russian website masquerading as a U.S. media organization. It’s one of many sites aimed at Americans tied to the media network of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin went down in a private jet crash last August, but his troll farm appears alive and well. Though the Soviet Union is long gone, America still seems to be crawling with useful idiots, Westerners who aid Moscow out of ignorance or naiveté. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R., Ohio) were among those who repeated the super-yacht charge. Neither has set the record straight or admitted being hoodwinked. Thanks to social media, false information spreads quicker and further. An anonymous Twitter user claimed earlier this month that large numbers of people had registered to vote in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Texas without a photo ID, suggesting they could be illegal aliens. Arizona and Texas election officials quickly denounced this as false, but were too late to keep Ms. Greene, Donald Trump and Elon Musk from drawing attention to the inaccurate posting. It has 64 million views and counting.

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

National Stories

Foreign holdings of US Treasuries hit record high; Japan holdings rise, data shows

Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries surged to a record in February, its fifth straight monthly rise, Treasury Department data released on Wednesday showed. Holdings totaled $7.965 trillion, up from a revised $7.945 trillion in January. Treasuries owned by foreigners rose 8.7% from a year earlier. Holdings of Treasuries grew the most in Belgium, by $27 billion, to hit $320 billion. Japan, the largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries, increased its U.S. government debt to $1.167 trillion, the largest since August 2022 when the country's holdings were at $1.196 trillion. Investors have been alert to the threat of Japanese intervention in the currency market to boost the yen, which plunged to a 34-year low of 154.79 per dollar on Tuesday.

The Bank of Japan intervened three times in 2022, selling the dollar to buy yen, first in September and again in October as the yen slid toward a 32-year low of 152 to the dollar. In September and October 2022, Japan's Treasury holdings declined $131.6 billion from $1.196 trillion in August. China's pile of Treasuries also fell in February to $775 billion, data showed. The monthly decline of $22.7 billion was the second biggest among the 20 major countries on the Treasury's list. Holdings of Treasuries by China, the world's second largest economy, have been declining, reaching $763.5 billion in February, the lowest since March 2009. Britain listed its Treasury holdings at $700.8 billion, up about $9 billion from January.

Read this article at Reuters - Subscribers Only

Mike Johnson defies GOP critics, setting up Ukraine-Israel aid showdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he would plunge ahead with a high-stakes vote to move long-stalled funding for Ukraine, Israel and other overseas allies, elbowing aside criticism from his conservative flank. The move sets up an unpredictable weekend showdown that could determine both the fate of the foreign-aid package—which appears closer than ever to actually becoming law—and Johnson’s political career after navigating months of bitter infighting in the Republican conference. Democrats were expected to line up firmly behind the aid effort, with President Biden issuing a strong endorsement. But many GOP lawmakers, angered by the lack of border provisions and critical of more aid for Ukraine, planned to oppose the measure, a familiar conundrum for House Republican leaders.

“We can’t play politics on this; we have to do the right thing,” Johnson said of the aid package. Asked if he was risking his job, he said: “Let the chips fall where they may—if I operated out of fear over a motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job.” Johnson indicated he expected to need Democratic votes to pass the rule tied to the legislation, a once-routine procedural step that has repeatedly been blocked by GOP holdouts in this Congress. He said he wasn’t seeking Democratic protection to keep his job. “The time has come for the House of Representatives to act, and act decisively, in America’s national security interests,” said Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.), adding that his conference was still reviewing the legislation. Johnson’s plan comprises four bills—one each for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, along with one containing many Republican priorities, including a ban or forced sale of TikTok in the U.S. Leaders posted the text of three of the four bills on Wednesday afternoon, laying out a $95 billion aid package that largely matches the price tag and contours of a measure that passed the Democratic-controlled Senate earlier this year. The text of the fourth bill was released Wednesday night.

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Combatting cannibalism and jailing librarians: Idaho Democrats see opportunity in extreme GOP agenda

Democrat Loree Peery knows she’s a long-shot candidate for the Idaho Legislature. But when her state House representative introduced a bill in February expanding an anti-cannibalism law — action prompted by a prank video — Peery decided she had to try to oust the far-right incumbent, Heather Scott. “You can’t win if you don’t run,” Peery said, adding that Scott’s focus on irrelevant issues like cannibalism shows she isn’t a serious lawmaker. “It forces the Republicans to work, it forces [Scott] to get out there and talk to people so they can see what she’s about. It forces Republicans to spend more resources on the races.” Peery, a retired nurse, is one of dozens of Idaho Democrats seeking an office in Boise for the first time.

Under new leadership, the Idaho Democratic Party has deployed a grassroots recruitment strategy to put a record number of candidates on the ballot. In fact, there’s a Democrat running in every district for the first time in at least 30 years. Democrats feel emboldened by the GOP supermajority’s obsession with culture war issues like enacting a strict abortion ban, attacking LGBTQ+ rights and proposing jailing librarians over violating book bans. They also see bitter infighting between the conservative and moderate flanks of the GOP as an opportunity to present voters with a different vision for the future of the state. Idaho was thrust into the national culture war debate again this week when the Supreme Court allowed state officials to temporarily enforce a ban on gender-affirming care, reinvigorating opposition to the law that was passed last year. It’s also not just Idaho. More Democrats than usual are running in states with GOP-dominated legislatures like Tennessee, Iowa and North Carolina. Democrats have made gains in recent years in state legislative races — flipping chambers in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Michigan — after more than a decade of nationwide GOP dominance. But Republicans still control 55 percent of state legislative seats, compared to 44 percent for Democrats.

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‘We’re a dead ship’: Hundreds of cargo ships lost propulsion in U.S. waters in recent years

Less than two weeks after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was destroyed by an out-of-control cargo ship, another huge container ship passed beneath a busy bridge connecting New York and New Jersey and then suddenly decelerated in a narrow artery of one of the nation’s largest ports. “We’re a dead ship,” said a voice over the maritime radio a short time later, invoking an industry term that often refers to a ship that is unable to move on it own. Three tug boats helped shepherd the APL Qingdao — a vessel more than 1,100 feet long and flying under the flag of Malta — from where it lost propulsion near the Bayonne Bridge to a safe location, authorities said. The ship dropped anchor just upstream from the even busier Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which carries about 200,000 vehicles per day.

The April 5 incident is one of hundreds in which massive cargo ships lost propulsion, many near bridges and ports, according to a Washington Post analysis of Coast Guard records. The findings indicate that the kind of failure that preceded the March 26 Baltimore bridge collapse — the 984-foot Dali is believed to have lost the ability to propel itself forward as it suffered a more widespread power outage — was far from a one-off among the increasingly large cargo ships that routinely sail close to critical infrastructure. Around Baltimore alone, ships lost propulsion nearly two dozen times in the three years before the tragedy last month, the Post review found — including a November 2021 incident in which a 981-foot container ship lost propulsion for 15 minutes soon after it passed under the Key Bridge. In 2020, a ship the same size as the Dali lost propulsion “in the vicinity of the Bay Bridge” near Annapolis, records show. Adding to the danger, experts say, is a lack of consistent rules on when cargo ships should be escorted by tug boats that can keep them on course even if engines turn off. While tugboats escorted the Qingdao, as was called for under local guidelines in the New York area, those attending to the Dali departed before it struck the bridge in Baltimore, where such decisions are left to ship captains and local pilots, the specially trained sailors who guide ships in and out of ports.

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Kari Lake suggests supporters 'strap on a Glock' to be ready for 2024

Arizona GOP Senate hopeful Kari Lake told supporters they can "strap on a Glock" to be prepared for the intensity of the 2024 campaign and urged military and law enforcement veterans to be "ready," as her race heats up in a key battleground state. “We need to send people to Washington, D.C., that the swamp does not want there,” Lake said toward the end of a Sunday speech to a crowd of Arizonans in Mohave County. “And I can think of a couple people they don’t want there. First on that list is Donald J. Trump; second is Kari Lake.” She described standing up to the “swamp” in Washington, saying: “They can’t bribe me, they can't blackmail me. That’s why they don’t want me in Washington, D.C. And that’s exactly what President Trump wants me there fighting with him.”

“He’s willing to sacrifice everything I am. That’s why they’re coming after us with lawfare, they’re going to come after us with everything. That’s why the next six months is going to be intense. And we need to strap on our — let’s see. What do we want to strap on?” Lake asked as some in the crowd chuckled. “We’re going to strap on our, our seat belt. We’re going to put on our helmet or your Kari Lake ball cap. We are going to put on the armor of God. And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us just in case.” “We’re not going to be the victims of crime,” Lake continued. “We’re not going to have our Second Amendment taken away. We’re certainly not going to have our First Amendment taken away by these tyrants.” Earlier in the roughly 30-minute remarks, Lake gave another warning about the period between now and Election Day.

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Fearing legal threats, doctors are performing C-sections in lieu of abortions

When news that Lizelle Gonzalez was suing the local prosecutor’s office for more than $1 million in damages, after being falsely imprisoned for murder over an attempted self-managed abortion in 2022, reproductive rights advocates cheered the move as a pathway to justice for the wrongfully charged southern Texas woman. However, a revelation in the lawsuit gave them pause: At the same hospital that reported her self-induced abortion to authorities, Gonzalez underwent a “classical C-section” for the delivery of her stillborn child, instead of abortion care. Major invasive surgery, Cesarean sections carry much higher risk for health complications, like hemorrhaging, compared with D&E abortion, and can jeopardize subsequent pregnancies. Nancy Cárdenas Peña, a longtime Rio Grande Valley reproductive justice advocate and campaign director for Abortion On Our Own Terms, which works to expand access to self-managed abortion, says that detail is new—and “disturbing”—information to the Texas activist groups that quickly mobilized following her arrest to advocate for her release from jail.

“It’s really alarming and something I’m still trying to wrap my head around,” Cárdenas Peña tells The Nation. “While the medical details are sealed so we don’t know exactly why this was performed, a C-section is not necessary for any sort of abortion management. A C-section carries a lot of risk, and it’s not something that should be happening. I’m still a bit in shock.” As the threat of criminal prosecution looms over doctors and hospitals in the 15 states where abortion is illegal, medical professionals, erring on the side of extreme caution because of vaguely worded laws and few meaningful exceptions, are resisting abortion care, even in life-threatening circumstances. Fear of lawsuits, loss of medical licenses, hefty fines, and considerable jail time have driven doctors to jeopardize patient care, either by delaying or denying pregnancy termination. And as we now know, this also has meant performing medical procedures that imperil patients, including substituting C-sections for abortion care, an emerging pattern researchers and abortion providers say will only increase over time. “I cannot imagine that Lizelle is the only person who has experienced this. There are surely other people in not just Texas but other abortion-hostile states,” says Cárdenas Peña, who has been working on behalf of people who have abortions for over a decade. “Her story is likely the tip of the iceberg.” Indeed, Texas physicians reported in a June 2022 New England Journal of Medicine study that their colleagues have “resorted” to using hysterotomy—a surgical incision in the uterus—because it “might not be construed as an abortion.”

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In House hearing, Columbia president’s performance impresses

Despite some tense moments, experts agree that Columbia University President Minouche Shafik gave a better performance addressing campus antisemitism before the House of Representatives’ Education and Workforce Committee than the presidents of MIT, Harvard and University of Pennsylvania did in December. Unlike her peers, Shafik and her fellow witnesses—Board of Trustees co-chairs David Greenwald and Claire Shipman, along with David Schizer, the law professor leading Columbia's antisemitism task force—quickly and definitively agreed that calling for the genocide of Jewish people would violate the university’s code of conduct.

“Columbia beat UPenn and Harvard,” said Karl Schonberg, a professor of government at St. Lawrence University, quoting what Florida Republican Aaron Bean said during the hearing. Schonberg has argued that Sally Kornbluth of MIT, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Liz Magill of University of Pennsylvania spoke without “moral clarity” at their hearing. He noted that witnessing their interrogation—and the subsequent backlash to their tepid answers—probably helped Shafik, as did the presence of her board members and Schizer. “The soundbites might be the moments when she was a little flustered or didn’t answer a question directly, and I don’t think you’re going to avoid that in that setting,“ he said. “[But] by the standards of the first hearing, which is setting the bar pretty low, I thought it was good.” Hollis Robbins, dean of humanities at the University of Utah, echoed that sentiment in text messages to Inside Higher Ed, saying that Shafik exhibited “poise” in the face of questions that ranged from serious inquiries to attempted “gotchas.” Overall, she said, Shafik’s testimony was especially effective at communicating to the committee the complexity of running a university and balancing the varied interests of campus constituents.

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Lead Stories

Russia-linked hacking group suspected of carrying out cyberattack on Texas water facility, cybersecurity firm says

A hacking group with ties to the Russian government is suspected of carrying out a cyberattack in January that caused a tank at a Texas water facility to overflow, experts from US cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Wednesday. The hack in the small town of Muleshoe, in north Texas, coincided with at least two other towns in north Texas taking precautionary defensive measures after detecting suspicious cyber activity on their networks, town officials told CNN. The FBI has been investigating the hacking activity, one of the officials said. The attack was a rare example of hackers using access to sensitive industrial equipment to disrupt regular operations at a US water facility, following a separate cyberattack last November on a Pennsylvania water plant that US officials blamed on Iran.

The cyber incidents in Texas also help explain a rare public appeal that US national security adviser Jake Sullivan made last month to state officials and water authorities to shore up their cyber defenses. Cyberattacks are hitting water and wastewater systems “throughout the United States” and state governments and water facilities must improve their defenses against the threat, Sullivan said in a joint letter with the Environmental Protection Agency chief to state officials. US officials have been concerned that many of the country’s 150,000 public water systems have struggled to find the cash and personnel to deal with persistent hacking threats from criminal and state actors. The Texas hacking incidents gained little national attention when they occurred as questions lingered about who was behind the activity. But on Wednesday, Mandiant publicly linked the channel on Telegram, a social media platform, where hackers claimed responsibility for the Muleshoe attack with previous hacking activity carried out by a notorious unit of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency.

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‘Now’s the time’: Amtrak leader urges momentum on Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail

Booming demand, Texas’s rapidly expanding population and growing political will have converged to create the right environment to move high-speed rail ahead, Amtrak leadership said Tuesday. Andy Byford, Amtrak’s senior vice president of high-speed rail development, told participants of the 20th annual Southwestern Rail Conference in Hurst that the Dallas-to-Houston corridor “ticks all the boxes” for a high-speed rail project. It would connect two large population centers, it has straightforward topography and “suboptimal alternatives” for travel, pointing to congestion on Interstate 45 and area airports. “If you put together all those characteristics, and then you figure out okay, which route would you build? There’s one that really stands out, and that is Dallas to Houston,” Byford said.

The proposed train would shuttle passengers from Dallas to Houston in about 90 minutes compared to the three-and-a-half-hour car trip on Interstate 45. Texas Central Partners, developers of the project, plan to model the bullet train after partner Japan Central Railways’ Shinkansen system. Amtrak announced last fall that it would explore a partnership with Texas Central to move the project forward, and it was awarded $500,000 for planning and development from the federal Corridor Identification and Development Program. The grant is a sliver of the estimated tens of billions needed to complete the project. The U.S. Department of Transportation and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism welcomed Amtrak leadership of the rail project following a State Dinner between President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida last week. Byford was not present at the meeting but said there is “huge interest” in the project among Japanese and American leadership. “I did have a meeting with Secretary Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, and he said he himself is very committed to the project, that the president himself is very committed to the project,” Byford said.

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Seven jurors picked in Trump’s N.Y. trial as judge presses ahead

The judge overseeing former president Donald Trump’s criminal trial said opening statements could begin as soon as Monday, as the jury selection process sped up and Trump got an earful from the people who might soon decide his fate. Lawyers for Trump on Tuesday repeatedly argued that old social media posts by many of the prospective jurors or their friends showed that they were not being forthcoming about their animosity toward him, while prosecutors argued that old dumb jokes on the internet were not a cause to dismiss someone from the panel. Trump, the likely Republican nominee for president in the November election, spent hours listening as potential jurors offered their opinions of him — some blunt, some guarded and some just funny. By the end of the day, seven people had been sworn in as jurors — more than a third of the total number of people that will be needed to hold a trial with a full jury and six alternates.

If New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan can stick to that pace, the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president will be fully underway in less than a week — a potential turning point for Trump’s campaign to return to the White House. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says Trump orchestrated a scheme before the 2016 election to pay off an adult-film actress to keep her quiet about a sexual liaison with him years earlier, and then created a false paper trail to hide the true purpose and source of the payment. The court will need to find 11 more panelists to sit in judgment of Trump, which will mean more chances for potential jurors to opine on the pugilistic politician. Merchan has ordered that the names of the prospective jurors remain confidential, although the prosecutors and defense lawyers are made aware of their names. Trump “stirs the pot; he speaks his mind,” said one potential juror, a woman who works at a senior care facility. “You can’t judge him because he speaks his mind.” Pressed by Trump lawyer Todd Blanche on what she thought of Trump’s outspoken nature, she laughed and said, “Come on, what can you say about that? If I told you all the time what I thought about people — I want to say some things to people, but my mama said be nice.”

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Senate set for showdown over Mayorkas impeachment articles

The Senate is set for a showdown over the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as Democrats are expected to move quickly to dismiss the articles, while Republicans insist there must be a full trial. The House transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate on Tuesday and senators are expected to be sworn in as jurors Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not specified exactly how he plans to handle the trial procedurally. But Democratic senators — as well as some Republicans — have suggested they expect the Senate will move to dismiss the case before a full trial. Democrats could pass a motion to dismiss or table the articles on a simple majority vote as early as Wednesday.

Whatever happens, it is highly doubtful that the chamber would vote to convict, which would require a two-thirds majority vote – an exceedingly high bar to clear. Senate Republicans are seeking to reach a time agreement with Democrats that would allow floor debate and for GOP senators to have votes on procedural motions. If a time agreement is not reached, it’s unclear clear how long the process will take as Republicans could attempt any number of procedural delays, although at some point the presiding officer could rule those efforts dilatory and cut them off. Mayorkas is the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in almost 150 years. House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas in February over his handling of the southern border by a narrow margin after failing to do so on their first try. Democrats have slammed the impeachment as a political stunt, saying that Republicans had no valid basis for the move and that policy disagreements are not a justification for the rarely used constitutional impeachment of a Cabinet official.

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State Stories

UT Austin president says 49 former DEI employees lost jobs, contradicting previous estimates

UT Austin President Jay Hartzell said 49 employees are losing their jobs as a result of changes the university has made to comply with a Texas law that bans diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs at public higher education institutions. "As the flagship university in this state, we are subject to more scrutiny than others," he said Monday during a meeting with the UT Faculty Council. Hartzell said the employees will be paid through July 5. Many of the affected employees worked for the Division of Campus and Community Engagement that UT Austin is closing. The division was formerly called the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. Hartzell announced the layoffs in an April 2 email but did not say how many positions were affected.

"For the record, because I've seen different numbers floated out, let me be as clear and careful as I can: On that day that we had the announcement there were 49 people whose positions were eliminated," Hartzell said. "Plus, eight associate or assistant deans who are going to return to their full faculty positions." But Brian Evans, president-elect of the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors (Texas AAUP), said that figure does not align with the terminations his group has counted. He said 62 employees, who previously worked on DEI programs and policies before Senate Bill 17 took effect Jan. 1, told Texas AAUP they found out this month they were losing their jobs. "So there's a difference in what we have documented in Texas AAUP from the staff themselves who were receiving these termination notices versus the count given at the Faculty Council meeting," he said. "So we'd like to know why these others aren't being counted." KUT previously reported that the Texas NAACP had verified the names of 66 people who had received termination notices.

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After fatal crash, Hays CISD needs to spend $8.9M for seat belts on all its buses

The Hays CISD’s Board of Trustees has created a plan to ensure all school buses are equipped with seat belts following a fatal Hays CISD bus crash last month. A Tom Green Elementary School bus was returning pre-K students from a field trip to a zoo in Bastrop County when a concrete truck hit the front of the bus, resulting in two deaths. Hays CISD began buying school buses with seat belts after a state law passed in 2017 requiring them in new buses, but the bus involved in the incident was an older model and didn’t have seat belts. The district plans to have 100% of its bus fleet equipped with seat belts as soon as possible, according to a plan it published on its website Friday. But the turnaround time for school bus purchases is about a year long. This means it could be a while before Hays CISD meets its goal.

Hays CISD has two types of buses: route buses and support buses. Route buses transport students to and from school each day and are also the first option for field trips. Support buses are the extra supply and are primarily used for athletics, but can also be pulled into rotation when needed. About 86% of route buses have seat belts, but only about 19% of support buses have them. The district plans to purchase new buses and retrofit older models with seat belts to fill in these gaps. Hays CISD has already received 21 new buses that will join the fleet in the next few weeks. The district says by April 30, all route buses and six more support buses will have seat belts. In total, Hays CISD would need to spend about $8.9 million to cover the cost of this proposed plan. The district is looking to retrofit 2017 and 2016 buses for $468,000, which would come from either bond interest money or surplus bond funds.

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Austin's airport is getting a new concourse and 20 more gates, but not until the 2030s

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) is gearing up to add at least 20 new gates, expanding capacity at the overcrowded airport as it struggles to serve millions more passengers each year than it was designed to handle. The planned gates will be located inside a newly constructed building — temporarily dubbed Concourse B — linked to the main Barbara Jordan Terminal by an underground pedestrian tunnel equipped with moving walkways.

The new concourse isn't expected to welcome the public until 2030 at the earliest. Over the longer term, the concourse could be further extended to accommodate up to 40 gates, more than doubling ABIA's current capacity of 34 gates. Concourse B has been in the planning stages for years, developed as part of a long-term strategy approved by the city council in 2018. That "ABIA 2040 Master Plan" plotted a trajectory for the airport to accommodate 30 million passengers a year by 2037. Those projections were underestimated by a decade. ABIA is already serving more than 22 million passengers per year and expects to reach 30 million by 2027. Since the last major expansion — the addition of nine gates on the east end of the Barbara Jordan Terminal in 2019 — ABIA has only been equipped to handle 15 million passengers annually.

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1st segment of Texas-funded border wall in Zapata County is going up

A segment of state-funded border wall is going up in rural Zapata County, the first to be built in this part of South Texas. Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell on Monday confirmed to Border Report that the segment is on private land in the ranching county of 14,000 residents east of the more populous border city of Laredo. Zapata County officials for years fought off the federal border wall from going through their land and a popular birding sanctuary in the remote hamlet of San Ygnacio. But Rathmell says they can’t do anything about state-funded border wall being built on private property. Rathmell said construction started within the past month. He says he has reached out to the International Boundary and Water Commission, a federal agency that oversees the Rio Grande, and was told they were unaware of the construction. “The county, we weren’t notified or advised of anything, so we were not involved in it. And the Boundary Commission folks, they also didn’t know anything about it. So I guess it’s a private landowner who is requesting that,” Rathmell said. “If it’s on private property — some landowners want that type of protection — so I don’t know there’s much we can do.”

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HISD scrapped its controversial principal screening after backlash. But teacher screenings remain.

Houston ISD teachers at about half of the district’s campuses will learn on May 6 whether they are eligible to keep their jobs under a proficiency screening process, even after the district reversed course on using a similar process for principals following community backlash. HISD introduced a proficiency screening this academic year to determine which teachers will be eligible to teach in the 130 schools designated as part of state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles’ New Education System program for the 2024-25 academic year. “Districts that are concerned about educational equity and who want to turn around academically struggling schools should place their most effective teachers with their least proficient students,” the district wrote in a document obtained by the Chronicle.

NES teachers must prove proficiency under the state evaluation system’s professionalism criteria and meet benchmarks on achievement and instruction on two screenings developed by HISD to be guaranteed to keep their jobs. If they don’t pass either screening, they will not be able to work at NES schools next year, and a small percentage will not be eligible for any job in the district. HISD notified teachers of the results of the first screening results on March 8 and required all current NES teachers who passed to sign contracts by March 29 or forfeit their positions, according to district documents. Teachers who participate in the second screening will either learn if their contract remains valid or if they obtained eligibility to work in the district in May. HISD still uses the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System as its official evaluation process for all teachers, which is a year-long review of teachers based on planning, instruction, learning environment and professionalism. The district states that the screening is separate from the evaluation process, as a teacher’s screening score may differ from T-TESS results.

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Texas DPS shifting resources at southern border, sources say

Law enforcement along the southern border are sounding the alarm, as sources confirm more than 150,000 “gotaways” have been recorded since Oct. 1. A sheriff in one of the busiest immigration sectors says he’s seeing more crossings and noticeably fewer resources. Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland says his officers are feeling the absence of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star between El Paso and Del Rio as resources are being shifted to the El Paso sector to respond to an increase in migrant crossings. “Texas decided to send more personnel out El Paso to help bolster that portion of the border,” said Cleveland. “And a lot of that personnel came from Sanderson and Terrell County. And that’s had an effect on us because now we’re starting to pick up again, and we just don’t have the resources here to assist Border Patrol.”

Cleveland told NewsNation that they would normally have about 15 officers working day shifts but that is now down to about three to four people a day. Cleveland said he relies heavily on state and federal partners as he’s responsible for 2,300 square miles of border-area territory. At current staffing, his department is only able to intercept about 50% of individuals who have crossed the border into Terrell County. Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Chris Olivarez said limited resources aren’t unique to Terrell County. “That’s what makes it very challenging with this whole border situation,” he said. “We’re trying to cover as much ground as we can in Texas. And of course, Texas is very large. We cover the majority of the border in Texas but trying to be in every single area and once really is impossible. But the fact is that we do have the majority of our resources dedicated to areas where we see increased activity.”

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As Mississippi nears Medicaid expansion, could Texas be next?

After a decade of resistance to expanding Medicaid in Mississippi, Medicaid expansion bills have passed both houses with two-thirds majorities, where Magnolia State Republicans have a supermajority in the legislature. While some wrangling about work requirements remains, the state is set to take advantage of $1 billion in federal funds and add coverage for 200,000 in the country’s poorest state. If there is a state with more conservative bonafides than Texas, it might be Mississippi. Yet, Republican lawmakers there have changed their tune on the legislation as more states take advantage of federal funds to help pay for mounting healthcare costs. Mississippi House Speaker Jason White told Mississippi Today that fiscal impact is responsible for the shift in opinion over the years. “My Republicans think that is the smart, common sense, business-minded thing to do. I’ll admit this. Most of my Republicans don’t get there because of compassion. They get there when they look at dollars and cents.”

Will Mississippi’s movement on Medicaid expansion impact Texas legislators when public opinion and research haven’t? A 2020 poll found that 69 percent of Texans support Medicaid expansion, which would include $5 billion in federal money to pick up 90 percent of the cost of providing insurance to 1.2 million Texas in a state with the highest uninsured rate in the country at 18 percent (the national average is around 8 percent). State leaders have resisted expansion on principle as part of Obama-era federal government expansion, and other thought leaders have argued that it would bust the state’s budget. However, Waco-based The Perryman Group research says that expanding Medicaid could save the state money. It would allow Texans to address their health issues before they become more expensive and require hospitalization. The study found that every $1 spent by the state to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would provide a $1.78 return in state government revenue over the first 10 years. An Episcopal Health Foundation report says the state would save $704 million yearly if the expansion occurred. The coverage gap worsened last year. As the public health emergency ended last year, Texas removed 1.7 million people from its Medicaid rolls.

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Houston Rockets, the most improved team in NBA, show real signs of optimism for future

The good news is the Rockets were the most improved team in the NBA this season. The bad news is, well, there is no bad news. As disappointed as head coach Ime Udoka and his team were at falling short of a winning record and the play-in tournament, the Rockets’ 2023-24 season was a successful one. They may have left a little meat on the bone with their .500 record, but they ate in what might be the most improvement the team has ever shown from one year to the next. As reasonable as the in-house expectations of making the playoffs were, a 19-game improvement in wins from last year’s 22-60 season ties for the best in franchise history, matching the jumps the Rockets made from 1983-84 to ‘84-85 and from 1977-78 to ’78-79.

No disrespect to the key newcomers to this year’s squad, but none of them is Hakeem Olajuwon or Moses Malone. Olajuwon joining the team as a rookie was the main reason the Rockets went from last in the Western Conference to third in the mid-1980s. The first time the Rockets had a 19-game improvement was in 1978-79. That came off a year in which they lost Rudy Tomjanovich early in the season to “The Punch,” and then went 4-17 to close the season after Moses Malone was injured. The following season, Malone was the league MVP. There were no extraordinary circumstances leading to the Rockets being the worst in the NBA in recent years. They were bad because they were bad. An upgraded roster and desire to win made a difference. As did Udoka, who shined in his first season in Houston. Tim Nissalke and Bill Fitch each coached the poor season and the 19-game uptick.

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Man who died when a semi-truck crashed into a Texas DPS office has been identified. What we know.

A Chappell Hill man crashed a stolen 18-wheeler into the Texas Department of Public Safety building in Brenham on Friday, which authorities said resulted in over a dozen injuries. Authorities charged 42-year-old Clenard Parker in connection with the crash and he was being held in Washington County Jail. Bobby Huff, 78, was transported by medical helicopter to CHI St. Joseph Regional Hospital-Bryan, where he succumbed to his injuries on Friday, according to a news release by the agency. Huff's wife told ABC13 he was there to renew his driver's license. The crash caused significant damage to the office building including a large gaping hole in the entrance. What's more, authorities allege he ran into the building intentionally in response to recently being denied a commercial driver's license,

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CPR for mental health? Dallas nonprofit offering free youth mental health first aid classes

A new survey is highlighting the mental health crisis in youth right now. Politico surveyed 1,400 mental health professionals across the country and found more than half are not happy with the current resources available to address mental health issues in children and teens. A local nonprofit is working to change that by teaching the community how to become a resource. Just like people can get certified in CPR First Aid, Communities In Schools of the Dallas Region is offering free classes that teach people how to become certified in Mental Health First Aid for youth, which can be just as crucial in saving a life.

"I always talk about the fact that first aid is taught pretty widespread, right? We have all heard some kind of way about how to do chest compressions until 911 arrives. And so this course is designed similarly to teach people how to do the metaphor ‘chest compressions’ until they can get the youth connected to their next best step,” said Dr. Summer Rose, chief clinical officer for Communities In Schools of the Dallas Region. "That might look like plugging them into resources. That might look like doing some in the moment kind of interventions to help stabilize them until 911, a youth mental health provider, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a school counselor, or somebody can intervene." The Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health and human services workers, and other caring citizens how to help an adolescent – between the ages of 12 and 18 – who is experiencing a mental health or addictions challenge or is in crisis.

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‘You’ll sit there and be quiet,’ Tarrant judge tells commissioner

Tempers flared Tuesday between County Judge Tim O’Hare and commissioner Alisa Simmons over a contract between the judge and a political consultant. O’Hare said the $5,000 contract with political consultant Noah Betz would replace a soon to be vacated communications position in his office. Betz is the principal of Bluestone Creatives, a Metroplex-based political marketing, communications and design firm. He also serves as executive director of Huffines Liberty Foundation, a think-tank that describes itself as advancing liberty and prosperity across Texas.

Before leading the foundation and Bluestone, Betz worked as a campaign consultant for candidates and organizations. Betz served on Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s re-election team and oversaw marketing and communications for Republican state Sen. Don Huffines. The argument between O’Hare and Simmons came after six people spoke to oppose the contract. The speakers cited Betz’s conservative political record, calling it an ethical violation and misuse of taxpayer dollars. Simmons then shared her own concerns with the contract. That prompted Simmons and O’Hare to bicker about their X accounts being political. At the peak of the argument O’Hare lashed out at Simmons and said, “I’m the one talking now, so you’ll sit there and be quiet and listen to me talk.” “Don’t tell me when and when not to talk,” Simmons responded. “This is my court too.” The contract passed with a 3-2 vote along party lines, with Simmons and fellow Democrat Roy Brooks voting against the contract.

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Texas lawmakers look to take zoning changes out of Dallas’ hands

Dallas’ update to its land use plan, which includes reexamining the city’s predominantly single-family zoning, has been met with significant pushback among vocal residents. But if some conservative state policymakers have their way, the debate could become moot. Lt. Dan Patrick has indicated a desire to at least discuss zoning as it relates to housing affordability in the next legislative session. Some conservative groups have also indicated their support for this legislation. ForwardDallas, the city’s not-yet-adopted plan, would only inform the city’s land use and zoning in the future. A great deal of concern around single-family neighborhoods centers on where and how to allow for more density—specifically middle or “gentle” density like triplexes, duplexes, and the like. In our April issue, Matt Goodman wrote about how Dallas needs density to survive, and about just how nasty the fight over density has become.

At a public information session at Samuell Grand Recreation Center recently, a mostly hostile audience took turns at the microphone, reiterating their distaste for the idea of eliminating what they felt protected “the character” of their neighborhoods: single-family zoning. There are very real questions about how and where to introduce middle density. But state Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas, issued a warning before the discussion began: the harsh reality is that Dallas might not have the final say in its zoning updates. Bryant warned that there is an effort to change zoning “at the state level,” too. He couched this as another way Austin would wrest local control from cities and counties. “The Legislature passed over the vigorous opposition of myself and others in this last session a bill that began the process of limiting the ability of cities to deal with a large number of matters that relate to us as local citizens,” he said. Bryant was referring to House Bill 2127, the so-called “Death Star” bill that limits city’s abilities to create ordinances that are more strict than state law. While urbanists and historians have long pointed to the racist history of exclusionary zoning, removing lot size minimums has long been considered somewhat of a “liberal” idea. In fact, four years ago conservative policy analyst Stanley Kurtz warned in the National Review that then Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden planned to “abolish the suburbs” by eliminating single family zoning.

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Texas Lieutenant Governor supports residents in opposition of proposed cement plant

Texas Lieutenant Governor, Dan Patrick, was in attendance at a town hall meeting Monday night to listen to residents’ concerns. By the end of the meeting, he assured Grayson County residents, saying: “I will be sending a letter that this project should not move forward to the TCEQ,” supporting their opposition to Black Mountain’s proposed 600-acre cement plant and quarry in Dorchester. At Monday night’s town hall meeting, citizens, some of whom are landowners and own or work for surrounding businesses, took a stance to express their concerns over the potential impact on air and water quality.

This comes just three weeks after the last public meeting, where over 500 Grayson County residents, including elected officials and nearby cities, let it be known that they do not want this project to move forward. Lieutenant Governor Patrick said though Texas is pro-business, companies that could impact other companies, the economy, and the health of citizens involve public interest. “That’s where you have to balance the two. And for what I’ve studied and what I know and what I’ve been told, this does not appear to be in the best public interest of Sherman,” he said. So, he came out to Sherman to hear from the residents themselves. “I need to get up here and hear from the people so that when I go to check to try to get this stopped, that I can say I’ve been there. I visited the plants, I’ve toured the city, I’ve talked to the people so you have as much credibility as you can because this seems like a really bad idea. I don’t think it helps the economy, I don’t think it helps the air quality,” he said.

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Dallas Rev. Frederick Haynes resigns from role in Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition

A Dallas pastor who took over leadership of the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s longtime civil rights organization resigned Tuesday after less than three months on the job. The Rev. Frederick Haynes III told The Associated Press that he submitted a letter with his resignation as head of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition, effective immediately. “After a time of prayer and consultation, I felt it was best to step down as president and CEO of Rainbow PUSH,” he said by phone from Texas. “I am forever honored that the Rev. Jackson graciously considered me worthy of following him as president of the organization that he founded.” Haynes, 63, said he felt it was “necessary” to move on in light of “challenges that continue to exist,” but declined to elaborate further.

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Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s resignation was in works a week before announcement

Outgoing Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax says City Council members began suggesting he resign one week before it was officially announced, according to a city memo obtained by The Dallas Morning News. In an April 8 memo to City Attorney Tammy Palomino, Broadnax identifies the names of the eight council members who suggested he resign as well as the dates and times, including three suggestions that came the day of the Feb. 21 announcement. Also in the memo, Broadnax says his resignation is now effective as of the end of May 2. He was announced as Austin’s next city manager on Apr. 4 and starts on May 6.

“I notified the City Council of my resignation from my position as City Manager on February 21, 2024 following suggestions that I resign by a majority of the City Council, to allow for a reset, refocus and transition to a new city manager to move the city forward,” Broadnax wrote. “For your awareness and in the interest of transparency, please find below the City Council members referred to above and the dates that the suggestion to resign was made.” According to Broadnax, council members Jaime Resendez and Jaynie Schultz first suggested he resign at 8:15 a.m. on Feb. 14. Council members Adam Bazaldua and Gay Donnell Willis suggested he resign two days later at 10:30 a.m. Council member Carolyn King Arnold, the city’s deputy mayor pro tem, suggested Broadnax resign on Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. Council members Paula Blackmon, Zarin Gracey and Chad West suggested the city manager resign on Feb. 21. Blackmon at 9:15 a.m., Gracey at 12:15 p.m. and West at 2 p.m.

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County Stories

Top deputy at Bexar County District Attorney's Office resigns

Christian Henricksen, the second in command at the Bexar County District Attorney's Office, announced Tuesday that he's resigning. Henricksen has played a key role in District Attorney Joe Gonzales' administration since the Democrat took office in 2019, first as chief of litigation and then as first assistant district attorney. Prior to that, Henricksen was Gonzales' law partner in private practice and served for eight years as a prosecutor. “Working with Joe Gonzales to serve the people of Bexar County has been the highlight of my career,”Henricksen said in a news release. “We’ve worked to highlight the issue of lower attorney salaries in the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. It’s a critical issue." "I have an opportunity I cannot pass up and, as my children get closer and closer to college age, that becomes more and more important,” he said.

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National Stories

Democrats return favor, blame GOP for border crisis

Calling it a “wake-up call” for colleagues using migrants as election campaign props, House Democrats have filed a resolution blaming the ongoing border humanitarian crisis on Republican inaction on immigration reform. The resolution enumerates several immigration reform bills from 2007 through 2023 that Republicans in the House or Senate voted down. It also accuses GOP leaders of declaring as “dead on arrival” immigration bills that might help President Joe Biden politically. “It’s been almost 40 years since the last comprehensive immigration reforms were enacted. Forty-years,” U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, said in a call with reporters on Monday.

“We almost had something from the Senate that was put on the table in a bipartisan way. If it weren’t for (former President) Trump telling the House, then the Senate not to bring something forward because he wanted to use it as a political (electoral) weapon, we would be talking about a proposal right now.” She blames Trump for sinking the latest attempt to address the crisis through legislation and Republicans in Congress for “following him right off that cliff.” The Democratic resolution is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico. It has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. “This broken immigration system that we have today has solutions if we can just work together,” Vasquez said during the call. “As we face urgent needs for additional resources at the border for Customs and Border Protection, for detention center oversight and modern border technology, we see a partisan block in Congress. We are here to find solutions, not play political games.”

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Donald Trump brings his campaign to the courthouse as his criminal hush money trial begins

Former President Donald Trump began his day as a criminal defendant lashing out at the judge and prosecutors, casting himself as a victim and angrily posting on social media. In other words: a familiar routine. But inside the courtroom, which was closed to TV cameras, Trump was a different man — reserved and muted in a stark departure from his feisty approach to other legal troubles. The contrast spoke to the gravity of his situation. Trump is now the first former president ever to stand trial on criminal charges and faces the prospect, if he loses, of becoming the first major American presidential candidate in history to run as a convicted felon. Trump is accused in the case of falsifying business records to hide alleged hush money payments made to a porn star to keep her from going public during his 2016 campaign with allegations of an affair.

The trial is expected to last at least six weeks and Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is required to attend every day court is in session — a schedule that will dramatically alter his daily life and his ability to campaign in battleground states. before and after the day’s proceedings, which he again cast as nothing more than a politically motivated effort by his rivals to hinder his campaign. “This is political persecution,” he steamed after arriving with a phalanx of lawyers and several senior aides, but without his wife or other family members. “This is an assault on our country,” he went on. Trump is already well practiced in the art of campaigning from the courtroom. In addition to appearances related to his four criminal trials, Trump this year voluntarily attended most days of his civil fraud trial as well as a defamation case brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll, who had accused Trump of rape. Those two trials did not end well for Trump: The former president was found liable in both cases, and now owes over half a billion dollars, including interest. During those hearings, Trump was often admonished by the judges, who instructed him to be quiet or answer questions more succinctly. At one point, the judge in the Carroll suit threatened to kick Trump out of the courtroom for speaking loudly. Another day he stormed out. Trump also openly sparred with the judge in his civil fraud case, including from the witness stand.

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Biden visits his Pennsylvania hometown to call for more taxes on the rich and cast Trump as elitist

President Joe Biden made a nostalgic return to the house where he grew up in working-class Scranton on Tuesday, kicking off three days of campaigning across Pennsylvania by calling for higher taxes on the rich and casting Donald Trump as an out-of-touch elitist. When the Democratic president wasn’t trying to blunt the populist appeal of his Republican predecessor’s comeback bid, he appeared to savor his trip down memory lane. He lingered longer than expected at his childhood home, where an American flag waved softly in the wind on the front porch and neighbors crowded the sidewalk under flowering trees and a pale blue sky. The president later posed for photos with children, some wearing school uniforms, in the backyard. Biden is looking to gain ground in a key battleground state while Trump spends much of the week in a New York City courtroom for his first criminal trial.

Biden heads to Pittsburgh on Wednesday and Philadelphia on Thursday, but he started his travels in Scranton, which has long played a starring role in his political autobiography. On Tuesday, the city of 75,000 provided a backdrop for Biden’s efforts to reframe the conversation around the economy, which has left many Americans feeling sour about their financial situations at a time of stubborn inflation and elevated interest rates despite low unemployment. The president said he wanted to make the tax code fairer, keeping more money in Americans’ pockets, while criticizing Trump, a billionaire himself, as a tool of wealthy interests. “When I look at the economy, I don’t look at it through the eyes of Mar-a-Lago. I look at it through the eyes of Scranton,” Biden said, contrasting his hometown with the Florida estate where Trump lives. Biden has proposed a 25% percent minimum tax rate for billionaires. He added that taxes are “how we invest in the country.”

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Michigan Democrats win special elections, regain full control of state government

Democrats won back a majority in the Michigan House and restored their party’s full control of state government Tuesday thanks to victories in two special elections. Mai Xiong won the special election in the 13th District, which covers Warren and part of Detroit, while Peter Herzberg won in the 25th District, which contains the cities of Wayne and Westland. Both candidates were favorites in the heavily Democratic districts. The lower chamber has been tied 54-54 between Democratic and Republican lawmakers since November, when two Democratic representatives vacated their seats after winning mayoral races in their hometowns. Democrats flipped both chambers in the 2022 midterms while maintaining control of the governor’s office to win a trifecta for the first time in 40 years. They moved quickly to roll back decades of Republican measures and implement the party’s agenda in their first year, including overhauling the state’s gun laws.

Since the House deadlocked, Republicans have pushed to pass legislation they say is bipartisan, such as a government transparency package, which would open the Legislature and governor’s office up to public record requests. With each Democratic candidate winning Tuesday, the party will regain control through the end of the year, with every seat in the House up for reelection in November. Xiong is a Macomb County commissioner who was endorsed in the primary by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Herzberg is a Westland City Council member who defeated a Whitmer-endorsed candidate in the primary earlier this year. Lawmakers are now expected to turn their focus to a state budget with a self-imposed July 1 deadline. Whitmer in her annual State of the State speech in January called on lawmakers to pass a $80 billion budget that would provide free community college for all high school graduates and free preschool for 4-year-olds. In recent months, Democrats have also deliberated on expanding the state’s hate crime law and enacting a comprehensive school safety package of bills in the wake of the 2021 mass shooting at Oxford High School.

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New campaign filings highlight rivalries and divides on Capitol Hill

When Kevin McCarthy was ousted as House speaker last fall, Republican operatives were concerned that his successor, Mike Johnson, would not be able to replicate his fundraising prowess. So far, those concerns appear valid, new federal filings show. Johnson announced earlier this month that he had raised $20 million total in the first three months of the year, funds that will go toward his campaign, fellow Republican colleagues and party committees. By comparison, in the first quarter of 2022, McCarthy announced raising $31.5 million for Republicans, and in the first quarter of 2023, he raised even more, $35 million. The latest filings from the leaders’ joint fundraising committees – which were due Monday with the Federal Election Commission – further illustrate that disparity. In last year’s first quarter, McCarthy’s joint fundraising committee, Protect The House 2024, raised $28 million. In contrast, Johnson’s joint fundraising operation, Grow the Majority, raised $9 million between January and March of this year.

McCarthy, of course, had years to cultivate relationships with donors and distribute funds to allies, while Johnson took over as speaker less than six months ago and faces the challenge of building out his fundraising operation in an election year. Still, his inability to match McCarthy’s fundraising could add pressure to the already embattled speaker as he continues to face ouster threats from rebellious members of his caucus. In a statement about his fundraising, Johnson said that “in less than six months as Speaker, we have hit the ground running to ensure House Republicans will have the resources necessary to win in battlegrounds across America – and we cannot slow down now. While families suffer under increasing inflation, rising crime, and open borders, we will stay focused on our goal to grow the majority in November and deliver solutions for our nation.” Meanwhile, the latest filings show that McCarthy, who resigned from Congress at the end of December, still has $6.3 million banked in his personal campaign account, funds he could direct toward other campaign efforts. He did some of that in the first quarter, making $4,000 contributions to both Vince Fong, a former staffer and California assemblyman who is running to succeed him in his Central Valley seat, and to Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, a McCarthy ally whose seat became more Democratic under a new map that is currently being challenged.

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Second Republican endorses push to fire Johnson as speaker

Speaker Mike Johnson’s strategy to pass long-stalled Ukraine aid has driven at least one Republican to join Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's bid to strip him of his gavel. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Tuesday became the second Republican to publicly back an attempt to end Johnson’s speakership, delivering the message directly to the Louisiana Republican during a closed-door GOP conference meeting. Massie is the first Republican to join Greene’s effort amid rising conservative frustration with the speaker’s proposed foreign aid package. It’s not clear when Greene plans to force the ouster vote, though she has vowed to do it eventually. If she does so after Friday, when Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) is retiring, Johnson would need to lean on Democrats to save his speakership. “The motion is going to get called, OK? Does anybody doubt that? The motion will get called. And then he's gonna lose more votes than Kevin McCarthy. And I have told him this in private, like weeks ago,” Massie said after the conference meeting.

The Kentucky Republican told Johnson, according to two lawmakers in the room, that “you’re not going to be the speaker much longer.” Massie also told reporters that he asked Johnson during the closed-door meeting to resign, but that the Louisiana Republican refused. Though Massie predicted there were more than two Republicans who would vote Johnson out, other critics of the speaker refused to say on Tuesday if they would support an effort to oust him. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) refused to talk about Johnson’s speakership, and instead dovetailed into a story about the Ohio state legislature. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who was the first member to warn of an attempt to oust Johnson earlier this year, said he’s “not going into that right now.” Meanwhile, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who like Davidson and Roy is a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, kept the door open to supporting an effort oust Johnson if the supplemental passes by the end of the week. “I don’t think it helps,” Perry said, responding to a question on whether Johnson’s strategy on foreign aid is a threat to his speakership. He added that “there’s always an alternative” to Johnson within the GOP’s ranks. Massie’s decision was not well received during the meeting, according to several members in the room. And Republicans across the conference, including some members of the Freedom Caucus, quickly pushed back on the idea of booting Johnson, noting it would spark chaos without a clear successor — a repeat of the House’s nightmare in October.

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Cheap natural gas means lower electricity prices except in Texas

In 2023, Texans paid more for wholesale electricity and suffered more calls for conservation than residents served by any other grid across the nation. And there's no reason to expect that to change anytime soon. The great irony for the energy capital of the world is that the low price of natural gas drove down electricity prices everywhere but Texas, the nation’s largest natural gas producer. Texas also has more utility scale renewable electricity generation than any other state. The low and zero fuel prices cannot overcome the flawed market design used by ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The market design handicaps the capital investment required to produce inexpensive and reliable electricity supplies.

We predicted this outcome more than a decade ago. Let’s review. For eight of the 10 years prior to ERCOT’s failure in 2021, the average wholesale price received by generators was less than the cost of building and operating new generating plants—natural gas turbine units to be specific. Unable to recover their costs, investors refused to build new power plants and, in fact, cut back on maintaining existing coal and natural gas power plants, many of which had already been written off. During 2023, ERCOT frequently reported more unplanned outages for its generator portfolio than PJM, a much larger grid that serves all or part of 13 states and the District of Columbia. At 1:38 a.m. February 15, 2021, the ERCOT grid suffered a cascading series of failures attributed to a lack of weatherization of key components of the electricity supply chain. Unprotected power plants froze. Natural gas deliveries dropped off. Coal piles froze. A pump for the cooling reservoir of a nuclear power plant froze and tripped off the reactor. ERCOT and the local utilities that distribute electricity failed to manage a process of rolling blackouts that could have preserved grid stability. Facing a demand call of more than 70,000 megawatts, ERCOT came up 52,000 megawatts short at the low point of the debacle. Extended blackouts across a customer base of 26 million people caused 246 deaths and cost the state more than $100 billion in property losses and economic losses. Hundreds of lawsuits for wrongful deaths and economic losses are pending.

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Lead Stories

Trump's historic hush money trial gets underway; 1st day ends without any jurors being picked

The historic hush money trial of Donald Trump got underway Monday with the arduous process of selecting a jury to hear the case charging the former president with falsifying business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life. The day ended without any jurors being chosen. The selection process was scheduled to resume Tuesday. The first criminal trial of any former U.S. president began as Trump vies to reclaim the White House, creating a remarkable split-screen spectacle of the presumptive Republican nominee spending his days as a criminal defendant while simultaneously campaigning for office. He's blended those roles over the last year by presenting himself to supporters, on the campaign trail and on social media, as a target of politically motivated prosecutions designed to derail his candidacy.

“It’s a scam. It’s a political witch hunt. It continues, and it continues forever,” Trump said after exiting the courtroom, where he sat at the defense table with his lawyers. After a norm-shattering presidency shadowed by years of investigations, the trial amounts to a reckoning for Trump, who faces four indictments charging him with crimes ranging from hoarding classified documents to plotting to overturn an election. Yet the political stakes are less clear because a conviction would not preclude him from becoming president and because the allegations in this case date back years and are seen as less grievous than the conduct behind the three other indictments. The day began with pretrial arguments — including over a potential fine for Trump — before moving in the afternoon into jury selection, where the parties will decide who might be picked to determine the legal fate of the former, and potentially future, American president. After the first members of the jury pool, 96 in all, were summoned into the courtroom, Trump craned his neck to look back at them, whispering to his lawyer as they entered the jury box.

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Judge finds Texas agency in contempt for foster care problems, imposes $100,000-a-day fine

The head of the state’s sweeping health agency is in contempt of court for failing to address shortcomings in the Texas’ foster care system and faces fines of $100,000 a day until they are corrected, a federal judge ruled Monday. In a 427-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack said foster care system officials failed to address prior court orders requiring adequate and prompt investigations into allegations of abuse and neglect involving children in state custody. “Delays in completing investigations can create risk of harm for children because alleged perpetrators might remain free to continue causing harm to children until the investigation is finally completed,” Jack wrote in her order. It was the third time the state has been held in contempt since Jack ruled in 2015 that children in state custody faced an unconstitutional risk of harm.

Paul Yetter, lead attorney for the foster children in the lawsuit that began in 2011, said the state continues “running an unsafe foster care system.” “The judge’s ruling is measured but urgent, given the shocking evidence. Innocent children are suffering every day,” Yetter said in an emailed statement. “After all these years, when will state leadership get serious about fixing this disaster?” Jack ruled that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission failed to ensure allegations of serious abuse and neglect are properly investigated in a timely fashion “and conducted taking into account at all times the child’s safety needs.” Cecile Erwin Young, head of the commission, was held in contempt and faces $100,000 in fines to be assessed daily until her agency certifies that problems with investigations have been addressed, Jack ruled. The judge also set a June 26 hearing on requests for additional contempt findings related to high caseloads for caseworkers, the use of psychotropic medications, and methods for informing foster children about how to report abuse. Complaints also persist about the treatment of children housed in unlicensed settings, including leased homes or motel rooms, and supervised by caseworkers on overtime. Asked for comment, agency spokesman José Andrés Araiza said: “HHSC is reviewing the 427 page order and its attachments.”

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Trump’s fundraising shows reliance on oil sector, wealthy donors

Donald Trump relied on a small cadre of donors to contribute a hefty portion of his March fundraising haul, showing the early success of his pivot to wealthy benefactors to finance his presidential bid. The $23.6 million from deep-pocketed donors accounted for a substantial part of the $65.6 million he and the Republican Party raised that month, the latest disclosures to the US Federal Election Commission show. While overall figures were known earlier, the filings released Monday were the first to detail donors and other information. Real estate and aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren and Linda McMahon, who was Trump’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration when he was president, were among those who gave more than $800,000 each to support him and the party, the disclosures showed.

Trump, whose criminal trial started Monday for falsifying business records related to hush money payments made in the 2016 election, is also raising money for Save America — the leadership PAC that’s been paying his legal fees. He’s been increasingly relying on the rich and the elite as his rallies fail to whip up enough small-dollar donations to fund his campaign. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has amassed a record war chest for this point in an election year. Outside groups supporting Biden, led by his main super political action committee, the Future Forward PAC, have now pledged $1 billion to support him. Billionaire John Paulson, former Renaissance Technologies co-president and co-CEO, Robert Mercer, as well as Harold Hamm of Continental Resources and Scott Bessent of Key Square Capital Management were among the donors writing big checks to the Trump 47 Committee, which the GOP nominee took over in mid-March. There were 73 donors in all, with some giving $1,000 or less.

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More than 2 million Texans lost Medicaid coverage in past year, at double the national rate

Texas continues to disenroll Medicaid recipients at one of the highest rates in the country, part of a broader trend that has seen state health departments across the nation move unqualified recipients off their rolls after a surge in enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas has so far removed 2.1 million Medicaid recipients from its rolls, which works out to 49% of the cases it has reviewed, more than twice the national average and a higher proportion than all but six other states, according to analysis by the nonprofit KFF. With the disenrollment process still ongoing, Texas’ Medicaid rolls were down to 4.4 million in December, compared with 4.2 million in February 2020, before the pandemic began.

“The big question is, at the end of the unwinding, where will enrollment stand?” said Bradley Corallo, senior policy analyst at KFF. “Some states like Utah and Idaho are already below pre-pandemic levels. Texas is right on the cusp, with one more batch (of recipients) to review.” The Texas Department of Health and Human Services did not return a request for comment. State health departments suspended their regular process of reviewing Medicaid rolls during the pandemic in exchange for federal funding authorized by Congress. That arrangement ended in March 2023, setting off a state review process that has so far resulted in 20 million Americans losing Medicaid coverage, a national disenrollment rate of 21%. The highest rates of Medicaid recipients losing coverage are in Republican-controlled states such as Texas, many of which had relatively low participation rates to begin with because of their decision not to expand Medicaid coverage beyond children, pregnant women and those in extreme poverty under the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act.

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State Stories

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson: State lawmakers should ban payouts for exiting city employees

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson says he believes state lawmakers should prevent contract payout clauses for municipal government employees like the lump sum payment due to outgoing City Manager T.C. Broadnax. Johnson in his weekly email newsletter to residents on Sunday called a severance clause in Broadnax’s contract that mandates he be paid a year’s worth of his $423,246 annual salary if he resigns at the suggestion of the majority of the City Council a “golden parachute” and said it leaves taxpayers footing the bill. The mayor referred to the exit as “backroom maneuvering” between other council members and Broadnax, whose resignation was announced Feb. 21. He was selected as Austin’s next city manager six weeks later on Apr. 4. Other cities have paid large severances to city managers, Johnson said, “although not in this way — and not to someone who was already lining up a job somewhere else.”

“The Texas Legislature ought to take the step to protect taxpayers by forbidding these golden parachutes for city employees in any locality in the state,” Johnson said in the newsletter. “Until then, as the search for a new city manager continues, it’s time for the Dallas City Council to take a stand by definitively stating that there won’t be a golden parachute clause in the next city manager’s contract.” Broadnax’s city contract was approved by the City Council in Dec. 2016. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn King Arnold is the only current council member who was elected at the time. Johnson is among a few of the 15-member City Council who has said publicly that they weren’t aware Broadnax was going to resign until it was announced. A city news release announced Broadnax’s resignation, as well as a joint news release from council members Adam Bazaldua, Zarin Gracey, Omar Narvaez, Jaime Resendez, Jaynie Schultz and Gay Donnell Willis saying the city manager was stepping down “at the suggestion of the majority of the Dallas City Council.” A key reason for the suggestion was that the working relationship between Johnson and Broadnax “has not been conducive to effective governance and the advancement of Dallas’ interests,” the February news release from the council members said. According to terms of Broadnax’s contract, the city must pay him a lump sum equal to 12 months of his base salary if there is an “involuntary separation” from his duties as city manager. He could also be in line to receive even more money in payouts tied to health care benefits and unused vacation days.

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Texas Agriculture Chief Sid Miller says bird flu concerns are ‘overhyped’

Concerns about avian influenza cases among dairy cows in Texas have been “a little bit overhyped” as its spread can be contained, according to the state’s top agriculture official. Texas hasn’t seen any further infections in almost three weeks, and new transmissions from migrating waterfowl are unlikely as birds have headed north, according to Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. What’s more, contagion through contaminated milk can be easily avoided by disinfecting equipment used in barns, he added. “We’re over the hump,” Miller said in an interview Thursday. “We can take measures to stop that.”

The infection of cows by the same virus strain that emerged in Europe in 2020 — and has since caused an unprecedented number of deaths in wild birds and poultry globally — has raised concerns that the outbreak may hurt demand for dairy and beef and disrupt supplies. Miller said only 10% of milking cows in the state have been infected by bird flu, and that little milk has been thrown away so there is not a shortage of the staple. While no infected dairy has entered the food chain, consumption of pasteurized milk as well as cooked eggs is safe. “If you’re worried about it, cook your eggs and make sure you get your milk pasteurized,” Miller said.

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Texas leaders, advocates build momentum on pre-K, child care ahead of Legislature

Statewide leaders and advocates want to build momentum on child care and early education conversations ahead of next year’s legislative session. Alfreda Norman, former senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said one of the most pressing challenges for families across the state continues to be finding affordable, high quality child care. The annual cost of infant care is comparable to that of a public university. Waitlists for child care scholarships are at an all-time high with more than 70,000 families currently hoping to receive such support, she said. Receive our in-depth coverage of education issues and stories that affect North Texans. “Too many children are missing out on an opportunity to receive a high-quality early education,” Norman said. The economy also takes a hit when parents can’t find options.

Texas loses about $9.4 billion annually because of child care issues, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Bryan Daniel in a panel spoke about the current landscape of early education in Texas. Kara Waddell, president and CEO of Child Care Associates, an advocacy nonprofit based in Fort Worth, moderated the discussion. The group noted how, in 2019, lawmakers attempted to expand pre-K options for Texas families by encouraging partnerships between school districts or charter networks and child care programs. However, only about 12 out of the state’s nearly 1,200 districts and charters figured out how to team up, Morath said. “From a school district perspective, it is actually quite logistically difficult to make these partnerships work,” Morath said. With districts already overburdened with other challenges, the Texas Education Agency recommends bringing in nonprofit organizations to act as intermediaries and simplify the process for school leaders, he suggested. Waddell noted how states can experience a greater return on investment by bolstering programs in the first three years of childrens’ lives. However, most of the country instead pours more funds into students in kindergarten through high school.

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Express News, MySA staffers opt not to join union

The San Antonio News Guild announced Friday afternoon that staffers at the Hearst-owned Express-News and MySA voted 36-31 against unionizing as part of the Media Guild of the West. Guild officials told the Current in February that 68% of union-eligible staff at both publications signed authorization cards to be represented by the Guild. In a Friday social media post, organizers blamed the failed vote on “strong union-busting tactics from Hearst.” Express-News Publisher Mark Medici was unavailable for comment for the Current's article. “Independent of today’s vote, my focus is on the journalism we produce and, with the support of Hearst, providing the best workplace I can for our journalists and all of our employees,” Medici said in a statement supplied to the Express-News.

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Precinct chair deemed ineligible after win sues Tarrant County Republican Party

A Republican precinct chair who won his election, only to be declared ineligible after the fact, is suing the Tarrant County Republican Party. Chris Rector won a primary election to chair Tarrant County Precinct 4230 with 75% of the vote. A week later, Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Bo French sent Rector a letter accusing him of pretending to be a Republican in order to dissolve the party and merge it with the Tarrant County Democratic Party. As a result, French wrote, he would not issue a certificate of election to Rector. The lawsuit, filed April 10, alleges French “concocted a bogus, fraudulent claim that Contestant was ineligible for the position to which he had been elected.”

Rector is asking a judge to declare him eligible and confirm his election as precinct chair. In the interim, he is asking for a temporary restraining order to ensure the Tarrant County Republican Party can’t appoint someone else as chair. No amount of money can compensate Rector for a lost political office, nor can it compensate the residents who voted for him, Rector’s lawyers argued in the suit. In a written statement, French said the party will defend itself against the lawsuit and win, “whatever it takes.” “This is a blatant assault on our First Amendment rights to freedom of association, engineered by Democrats bent on destroying our organization,” French wrote. The party chair said Rector’s lawsuit is a prime example of why Texas needs to close its primaries. Currently, Texas voters are not required to register as a Republican or Democrat before voting in either party’s primaries, a fact Republicans have lamented across the state. Julie McCarty, founder and CEO of the True Texas Project, joined French in calling for closed primaries following the lawsuit.

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Pilots union at American Airlines says it's seeing more safety and maintenance issues

The pilots union at American Airlines says there has been “a significant spike” in safety issues at the airline, including fewer routine aircraft inspections and shorter test flights on planes returning from major maintenance work. The union also says it has seen incidents in which tools were left in wheel wells and items were left in the sterile area around planes parked at airport gates. A spokesman said Monday that union officials have raised their concerns with senior managers at the airline and were encouraged by the company's response. American, which is based in Fort Worth said it has an industry-leading safety management system. An airline spokesperson said American is in regular contact with regulators and unions “to further bolster our strong safety record and enhance our ever-evolving safety culture."

Dennis Tajer, a pilot and spokesman for the union, said the union spoke recently with senior management, “and management’s initial response to our request was encouraging. We fully intend to do everything we can to assure that American maintains strong margins of safety.” The Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment directly on the union's allegations or whether the agency has increased its oversight of American as a result. In a statement, an FAA spokesperson said airlines required to have systems for identifying potential hazards before they become serious problems. The safety committee of the Allied Pilots Association said in an email to members Saturday that the union “has been tracking a significant spike in safety- and maintenance-related problems in our operation.” The union said American has increased the time between routine inspections on planes. It also said American has ended overnight maintenance checks unless a plane is written up for special attention or due for scheduled maintenance and now does “abbreviated” test flights on planes returning to service after major maintenance checks or long-term storage. The union asked its members to report any safety or maintenance problems.

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Students walk out of Wilmer-Hutchins High School days after on-campus shooting

Students at Wilmer-Hutchins High School staged a walkout Monday, saying they do not feel safe at school, days after a student shot and injured a classmate. The shooting happened Friday morning in a classroom and the victim was shot in the upper thigh, officials said at the time. The student suspected in the shooting was taken into custody but their identity has not been released to the public. No other injuries were reported. About 40 students could be seen in the parking lot of Wilmer-Hutchins High School on Monday morning, speaking to reporters, holding up signs and talking in small groups. Students said they had been outside for more than an hour when the walkout started to disperse.

Yanely Gamino, a student who participated in the walkout, said she felt like school leaders did not substantially address the shooting when they arrived at school Monday morning, instead telling students counseling services are available and sending them to do regular classwork. “It was like they brushed it over,” said Jose Morales, a fellow Wilmer-Hutchins student. Students said they had not planned the walkout in advance and instead discussed the possibility in first period. Other students said they heard about the possibility of a walkout from their teachers and decided to participate. Multiple students said the school’s metal detectors are not regularly used and the school does not consistently enforce its clear bag policies, both points of frustration. “We have whole metal detectors, we have wands, but now they want to finally use [them] after something bad happens,” Gamino said. Treasure Daniels, a student who walked out, also said school officials have been attempting to stop students from speaking to the media, something other students described as well.

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2 Dallas crash victims sue Chiefs’ Rashee Rice, SMU’s ‘Teddy’ Knox seeking more than $1M

A six-vehicle accident Saturday in northeast Dallas left at least four injured. Police suspect the crash may have involved Kansas City Chiefs' Rashee Rice. A Dallas couple is suing Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice and SMU cornerback Theodore “Teddy” Knox in connection with a multivehicle crash last month that injured them and at least five others. Edvard Petrovskiy and Irina Gromova are seeking more than $1 million through the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in Dallas County. Their attorney, Sanjay Mathur, told The Dallas Morning News on Monday they’re both “pretty upset about what occurred” and still undergoing treatment. He said they haven’t heard from Rice or Knox. “They felt that the accountability measures that need to be taking place — both for them, but also the public at large — would best be served by filing a lawsuit,” Mathur said.

Attorneys for Rice and Knox did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The lawsuit alleged the two football players challenged each other “to a high-speed race” despite knowing the road was “heavily trafficked with commuters.” Petrovskiy and Gromova were “severely injured,” the lawsuit said, noting brain trauma, lacerations to the face that required stitches, contusions, disfigurement and internal bleeding. The filing appeared to be the first lawsuit reported in connection with the March 30 crash. Rice and Knox also each face one criminal count of aggravated assault, a count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury, Dallas police officials announced last week. Officials have said Rice admitted to driving one of two high-end sports cars that triggered the six-vehicle crash in the 6600 block of North Central Expressway. He and Knox turned themselves into Glenn Heights police last week. Mathur said there are limits in the criminal justice system for how much money can be issued as a fine, noting most felonies have a maximum of $10,000.

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New vaping law lands hundreds of North Texas students in alternative school

Hundreds of North Texas students were sent to disciplinary alternative schools this school year because they were caught vaping — an offense that requires strict punishment under a new state law. More than one-fifth of students assigned to such campuses in eight Dallas County districts were there because of e-cigarettes, according to discipline records analyzed by The Dallas Morning News. The state mandate raises questions among education advocates — and even the legislator who pushed for the law addressing vaping. Some are worried that time spent in alternative school can derail students’ learning. Public health officials are concerned about the idea of disciplining children who likely need help. “You can’t punish your way out of an addiction issue,” said Charlie Gagen, the American Lung Association’s Director of Advocacy for Texas. “We’d really like to see more resources for youth education and cessation and leave the punishment aspect for those retailers” who sell products to minors.

The News requested data covering the first five months of the academic year that detailed how many students were sent to Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs, or DAEP, because of vaping. More than one in 10 Dallas ISD students sent to alternative schools as of Feb. 1 were removed from their home campuses because of e-cigarettes. The percentages are more striking in districts such as Duncanville and Mesquite, where around 40% of alternative school placements were for vaping. Students are generally sent to these alternative schools for serious offenses, such as making terroristic threats, selling drugs or assaulting an employee. Now schools across the state have information campaigns reminding students: VAPE = DAEP. Some DAEP campuses were pushed to capacity, which meant children were routed to in-school suspension instead. More than one in 10 high school students in Texas reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days in 2021, according to statewide survey data. Nearly 6% of middle schoolers did so. Dallas County reported its first vaping-related death — a teenager — in 2020.

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Biden administration to give $6.4 billion to Samsung to make computer chips near Austin

The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide up to $6.4 billion in direct funding for Samsung Electronics to develop a computer chip manufacturing and research cluster in Texas near Austin. The funding announced Monday by the Commerce Department is part of a total investment in the cluster that, with private money, is expected to exceed $40 billion. The government support comes from the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022 with the goal of reviving the production of advanced computer chips domestically. “The proposed project will propel Texas into a state of the art semiconductor ecosystem,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters. “It puts us on track to hit our goal of producing 20% of the world’s leading edge chips in the United States by the end of the decade.”

Raimondo said she expects the project will create at least 17,000 construction jobs and more than 4,500 manufacturing jobs. Samsung’s cluster in Taylor, a city of about 17,000 people some 35 miles northeast of Austin in Williamson County, would include two factories that would make four- and two-nanometer chips. Also, there would be a factory dedicated to research and development, as well as a facility for the packaging that surrounds chip components. The first factory is expected to be operational in 2026, with the second being operational in 2027, according to the government. The funding also would expand an existing Samsung facility in Austin. Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Samsung will be able to manufacture chips in Austin directly for the Defense Department as a result. Access to advanced technology has become a major national security concern amid competition between the U.S. and China.

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Study: Texas No.1 in fatal crashes involving construction zones

A new study identified Texas as the No.1 state for fatal automobile crashes occuring in the vicinity of road construction, according to the national law firm Schmidt & Clark. According to the law firm, Texas saw a staggering 582 fatal crashes involving construction zones of the total 17,549 crashes that occurred between 2017 and 2021. This means that 3.3 percent of all accidents during that five-year period involved work zones, which is more than double the national average of 1.3 percent. Schmidt & Clark examined data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on fatal motor vehicle crashes to determine which state has the most dangerous utility, construction, and maintenance work zones. The law firm said that construction zones and maintenance work zones are more accident-prone due to the higher probability of narrowed lanes, congested traffic and uneven pavement.

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Racism in the health care system is killing Black pregnant Texans

A few months after Si'Mone Scott gave birth to her daughter, she knew something was off. This was her third pregnancy, and her toughest. The Dallas resident had been put on bed rest early on in her first trimester because she was at high risk of a miscarriage. “I've never experienced a miscarriage before and I didn't want to,” Scott said. “I was already going through a lot at home, and then to basically have to stop working, I couldn't even clean.” When Scott gave birth to her daughter via C-section, she started bleeding, losing more than 1,300 units of blood. Postpartum hemorrhage is categorized as losing more than 1,000 units of blood within 24 hours to 12 weeks after delivery, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “I basically almost died on the operating table,” Scott said.

The health issues Scott experienced are some of the most common reasons Texans die in pregnancy. Texas is among the worst states in the country for maternal mortality, and Black Texans die at higher rates than their white counterparts from pregnancy-related causes. Scott got connected with Delighted to Doula Birth Services, a Black-led organization in Dallas providing postpartum doula support to new parents. The organization's aim is to reduce maternal mortality rates. Scott said she felt calm and relaxed immediately after coming to the office and meeting her doula. “Everything just started coming out of me,” Scott said. “I was speaking for hours, uninterrupted. She just listened. She just listened. And I know I was going on and on and on. But it was just being heard.” Over the next few months, Scott said she came to Delighted to Doula every week as part of her “self-care routine.” She started to notice changes in her mood. She felt happier and had more energy to play with her daughters. “They never treated me like I was overstaying my welcome or anything, I was always welcomed,” Scott said. “That helped me to realize that I do matter and that all my feelings are valid.”

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County Stories

Hidalgo says commissioners who stand in way of changing contract process are 'part of the problem'

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Monday called out the county's methods of awarding millions of dollars in contracts to companies building infrastructure like roads and parks, arguing that the county spends local tax dollars with far less transparency than when it is working with federal money. Hidalgo cited a recent report prepared by Harris County Auditor Michael Post's office that found the county doesn't produce a rigorous paper trail when choosing the winners of contracts. The engineering department, which oversees major infrastructure projects along with commissioners' offices, did not have consistent records available until as recently as July 2023. Now, Hidalgo is calling on her four colleagues on Harris County Commissioners Court to give up their control of these decisions and hand over the reins to the county's independent purchasing department.

"I'm not trying to point the finger with what I'm going to present," Hidalgo said at a news conference Monday. "But I am trying to say if you don't change this, and change it promptly, then you are part of the problem." Hidalgo said she will present her proposal at the upcoming April 23 meeting of Commissioners Court. Currently, companies are chosen by engineering department staff, as well as staff from the four commissioner's offices. There were no conflict of interest certifications on file for those employees and no written policies requiring staff to document their conflicts, according to the audit. The auditor report also surveyed that Harris County was the only county that procures professional services — such as engineering — independent of the purchasing office. Hidalgo has made repeated attempts to broach the topics of improving public trust and streamlining county services, even if that has sometimes meant going it alone. She has consistently refused contributions from county vendors since she ran for her first term in office in 2018, unlike her colleagues on court. At the March 26 meeting of Commissioners Court, Hidalgo argued the county's efforts to improve efficiency have a tendency to get left on the shelf when studies are completed but the results aren't released.

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National Stories

Biden raises oil and gas leasing costs on federal land

The Bureau of Land Management is raising bonding requirements and royalty rates for oil and gas companies operating on federal lands, the first major overhaul of leasing rules since the late 1980s. Under regulations finalized Friday, the minimum bond for oil and gas leases will be $150,000, up from $10,000, and minimum royalties on oil and gas production will increase to 16.7% from 12.5%, part of a Biden administration strategy to increase government revenues and deter oil companies from buying up oil leases and sitting on them as they wait for oil prices to rise. “These are the most significant reforms to the federal oil and gas leasing program in decades,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said. “They will cut wasteful speculation, increase returns for the public and protect taxpayers from being saddled with the costs of environmental cleanups.”

Minimum bids on oil leases will also increase to $10 per acre from $2. And rental rates paid on those leases will step up over time, reaching $15 an acre after eight years. The updated regulations have drawn pushback from oil and gas lobbyists, who maintain they will slow drilling on federal lands and shrink U.S. energy production. Federal lands accounted for 11% of U.S. oil production and 9% of natural gas production in 2022, according to BLM. “The regulatory environment has become so hostile to American oil and natural gas producers operating on federal land that it’s clear the Biden administration intends for 'multiple use' lands to only be used for conservation and recreation,” said Dan Naatz, chief operating officer of the trade group Independent Petroleum Association of America. The new oil and gas rules come as the Biden seeks to expand wind and solar energy generation on federal lands. BLM announced Thursday it was adjusting its rules to lower costs for renewable developers and speed up the permitting process, part of an effort to expand the more than 25 gigawatts of renewable projects already permitted.

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Biden’s options for retaliating against Iran risk antagonizing China

President Biden’s aides are preparing to hit Iran with economic sanctions over Tehran’s attack on Israel, but experts say they face limited meaningful options for doing so without antagonizing China or risking a spike in the price of oil. In retaliation for a strike against its consulate, Iran over the weekend sent more than 300 drones and missiles toward Israel. The unprecedented aerial barrage did not cause major damage or injuries, as U.S.-led forces intercepted most of the projectiles. Still, U.S. officials and their European allies are discussing potential economic responses to Iran, as leading Western officials converged Monday on Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Their options are limited because Iran is already one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world, with U.S. penalties in effect on its banking, manufacturing and energy sectors.

Among the most obvious remaining options is aggressively expanding sanctions on Chinese firms that have bought large quantities of Iranian crude oil exports, which have provided a financial lifeline for Tehran as it remains cut off from the West. The United States has over the last year imposed sanctions on some commercial links in the oil trade between China and Iran, but experts say the administration could go further by hitting many more Chinese refineries and banks with the restrictions. Doing so carries its own risks, however. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and other administration officials have tried stabilizing relations with China in recent months, and a sudden blow to energy production could infuriate Beijing. Additionally, cutting off sales of Iranian crude could cause oil prices to spike globally amid tighter supply, potentially leading to higher gas prices ahead of the 2024 presidential election. “There are not a lot of options that are game changers, because so much of Iran is already sanctioned,” said Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a foreign policy think tank. “But if you really want to cut off oil revenue for Iran, you have to go through China and Chinese institutions.”

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A tech-stock bubble and burst, all within three weeks

Distilled, the value proposition of buying public shares of the parent company of Truth Social is: Donald Trump will make you money. This is not an unusual value proposition for a stock, certainly; they are all predicated on someone making you money. In this case, though, the proposition is unusually centered in the moneymaking skills of one person, more so than perhaps any stock besides Tesla. This has been the value proposition of nearly everything Trump has ever done. Even his presidential campaigns are rooted to no small extent in the idea that Trump will make you richer; his 2024 campaign is certainly investing a lot of energy in the idea that he did or will present Americans with a financial windfall. The problem, of course, is that the most reliable beneficiary of Trump’s theories of enrichment is Donald Trump. In the case of Truth Social, even he isn’t doing terribly well at the moment.

It’s interesting to consider what Truth Social is presenting to potential investors without the Trump element. It’s a social network, like Twitter back when it was Twitter. There’s nothing technically exceptional about it; in fact, it’s simply a slightly modified instance of an out-of-the-box social-media-site tool kit called Mastodon. The only thing that makes it different from anything else is that Donald Trump owns it and posts on it and has pointed his huge base of support at it as a venue. And that was enough for a lot of people to jump in when the stock went public, including some people who bet their futures on it. What’s happened since the stock went public at the end of last month is not normal. Consider three other tech stocks, ones that put a bit more effort into the “tech” part. When Google and Twitter went public in 2004 and 2013, respectively, prices quickly jumped upward from their initial offer prices and then held fairly stable. Facebook’s stock, made public in 2012, stayed flat at the outset and then dropped over the next few weeks. Now let’s superimpose shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (ticker: DJT). It rose from the offer price, pushing Trump into Bloomberg’s list of the 500 richest billionaires in the world. And then it started steadily shedding value.

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Big Tech is downsizing workspace in another blow to office real estate

Big technology companies are cutting back on office space across major coastal cities, leaving some exposed landlords with empty buildings and steep losses. The pullback marks a sharp reversal after years when companies such as Amazon.com, Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Google parent Alphabet had been bolstering their office footprints by adding millions of square feet of space. Their expansion continued even after the pandemic erupted and many employees started working remotely. Tech companies have been the dominant tenant in West Coast cities like Seattle and San Francisco, and by 2021 these companies came to rival those in the finance industry as Manhattan’s biggest user of office space. Now, big tech companies are letting leases expire or looking to unload some offices. Amazon is ditching or not renewing some office leases and last year paused construction on its second headquarters in northern Virginia. Google has listed office space in Silicon Valley for sublease, according to data company CoStar. Meta has also dumped some office space and is leasing less than it did early on in the pandemic.

Salesforce, the cloud-based software company, said in a recent securities filing that it leased or owned about 900,000 square feet of San Francisco office space as of January. That is barely half the 1.6 million of office space it reported having in that city a year earlier. Tech giants looking to unload part of their workplace face a lot of competition. Office space listed for sublease in 30 cities with a lot of technology tenants has risen to the highest levels in at least a decade, according to brokerage CBRE. The 168.4 million square feet of office space for sublease in the first quarter was down slightly from the fourth-quarter 2023 peak but up almost threefold from early 2019. Even tech companies that are renewing or adding space want less than they did before. The amount of new office space tech companies leased fell by almost half in the fourth quarter of last year compared with 2019, CBRE said. Tech’s voracious appetite for office and other commercial real estate had been an economic boon for cities. The new workspace usually brought an influx of well-paid employees, boosted cities’ property-tax revenue and translated into more business for local retailers and shop owners.

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The House plans to hold separate votes on aid for Israel and Ukraine after delays

House Speaker Mike Johnson has announced a path forward on aid to Ukraine and Israel after months of delay because of GOP divisions. Iran's unprecedent attack on Israel over the weekend increased pressure on Congress to act. Johnson plans to bring forward three separate bills on funding for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. A fourth national security bill would likely include a provision that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the U.S. Lawmakers say there's renewed urgency in passing the aid to Israel after Saturday's attack. "My phone melted over the weekend, you know, with all the members letting me know all their ideas," Johnson told reporters after the closed-door meeting with his members Monday evening. "It really was the will of my colleagues to vote on these measures independently and not have them all sandwiched together, as the Senate had done."

Top congressional Democrats, President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had called on the House to swiftly vote on the Senate-passed $95 billion foreign aid package that combines aid for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. But that has long been a no-go in the House, where various GOP members remain deeply opposed to further funding for Ukraine. "The Ukraine piece is — clearly on the Republican side — the most controversial one, the one that has the most difference of opinion," Johnson said Monday. Timing of the House vote remains to be seen. House GOP rules require 72 hours to review legislation, which Johnson said he would honor. "That probably means that if we get bill text sometime early tomorrow — that's the hope, that's the ambition — then that probably puts us into perhaps Friday evening [for votes]," he said. "We'll have to see how the clock works." The proposal drew early signs of support from members. "It's the right way in which the House should function," said Republican New York Rep. Marc Molinaro. "The speaker wants four votes, four measures. Everybody can vote their conscience, vote their constituency, and then defend their position." Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, who is the chair of the Republican Study Committee, told reporters he thinks Johnson is "doing the right thing."

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US regional banks dramatically step up loans to oil and gas

A group of US regional banks is ratcheting up lending to oil, gas and coal clients, grabbing market share as bigger European rivals back away. The list of banks includes Citizens Financial Group Inc., BOK Financial Corp. and Truist Securities Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The companies have climbed between 13 and 40 steps up the league table for fossil-fuel lenders since the end of 2021, placing them among the world’s top 35 banks by number of deals. Fifth Third Securities Inc. and US Bancorp, already in the top 30, both ascended 10 steps in the same period. Five regional US banks dramatically stepped up lending to fossil-fuel clients since the start of 2022.

Since the start of 2022, the combined number of fossil-fuel loans provided by Citizens Financial, BOK Financial, Truist Securities, Fifth Third and US Bancorp rose more than 70% on an average annualized basis, compared with the preceding six years, the Bloomberg data show. Spokespeople for Truist, Fifth Third and US Bancorp declined to comment. Rory Sheehan, a spokesperson for Citizens Financial, said the bank supports initiatives enabling the transition toward a lower-carbon future. He also said the bank recognizes the role of the oil and gas industry. The development offers a glimpse of how the US banking landscape is being altered against a backdrop of stricter climate regulations across the Atlantic. US regional lenders — shaken by the crisis that followed Silicon Valley Bank’s meltdown — are participating in more fossil-fuel loans as banks in Europe begin to pull away for fear of getting caught on the wrong side of environmental, social and governance regulations and climate litigation.

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Lead Stories

Oil magnate Herbert Hunt — famous Texas wildcatter and developer — dies at 95

Oil wildcatter W. Herbert Hunt, a scion of the Hunt Oil dynasty who left a massive business and philanthropic footprint in Dallas and Texas, has died at the age of 95. Hunt became one of the world’s most prominent oil barons and investors throughout his seven-decade career, following his father’s lead along with brothers — Nelson Bunker Hunt and Lamar Hunt — to form Petro-Hunt, growing rich on fossil fuel work in East Texas and later as property developers. Hunt, born on March 6, 1929, died April 9. Hunt followed his father H.L. into the oil drilling and speculation business after finishing a Bachelor of Science degree in geology at Washington and Lee University, joining the family business that would create several billionaires and business titans.

Forbes estimated W. Herbert’s Hunt’s net worth at $5.3 billion in 2024, mostly from his ownership in the Petro-Hunt company, which had major oil patch holdings and operations in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota. Hunt used his fortune in oil to grow the footprint well outside of the energy industry into land purchases, including major developments that have shaped cities such as Richardson, Plano, Forney, Fate and more with major residential and industrial projects. Hunt and his brothers Nelson Bunker and Lamar nearly went broke in the early 1980s after an attempt to corner the silver market with several billion dollars in holdings after a run-up in the commodity in previous years. At one point, they reportedly held more than one-third of the private silver holdings in the world worth $4.5 billion. But after borrowing millions to finance the bet, the price dropped more than 50%, leading to a $1.7 billion loss. They were saved by a loan, but the bad investment was a major hit to the Hunt family’s fortunes, forcing the brothers to declare bankruptcy in 1988. The Hunts made it through the incident and rebuilt their fortune in the fields of oil, real estate and finance. Hunt’s family is one of the most successful oil dynasties in the country, and H.L. Hunt’s 15 children became major players across several fields. Herbert Hunt’s oldest sister is Margaret Hunt Hill, namesake of the iconic bridge in Dallas. Another sister, Caroline Rose Hunt, is the founder of the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts company. His half-brother Ray Lee Hunt is another energy industry billionaire in Dallas and his half-sister Swanee was a U.S. Ambassador to Austria. Herbert Hunt’s nephew, Clark Hunt, is the owner and chairman of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and the family owns and has developed thousands of acres of residential and industrial property throughout North Texas. Lamar, Herbert’s brother and Clark’s father, was one of the pioneers of professional football in the United States and founder of the American Football League, which later merged with the NFL to form the modern sports league.

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Trump’s first criminal trial is a historic and solemn moment for America

The United States will cross a historic threshold on Monday when for the first time a former president goes on criminal trial in a case laced with fateful significance because Donald Trump could be back in the Oval Office next year. When the presumptive GOP nominee walks into court for the start of jury selection, he and the country will enter a new state of reality as legal and political worlds collide in a trial almost guaranteed to deepen Americans’ bitter ideological estrangement. The trial, related to hush money payments to an adult film actress before the 2016 election, will mark yet another extraordinary twist in the story of Trump, whose incessant testing of the limits of presidential decorum and the law has caused nearly nine years of political tumult and may still have years left to run. It raises the possibility that, depending on the jury’s verdict, the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election could be a convicted felon.

And given the case’s subject matter — details about a payment to a woman who alleged that she had a sexual relationship with Trump, which he denies — it could reflect poorly on Trump’s character and ethics as voters weigh their decisions in November. Hush money payments are not illegal. Trump is accused of falsifying business records to keep unflattering information that could have hurt his campaign from the voters in an alleged early example of election interference. The fact that this case stems from alleged personal conduct means that it could have a lesser political impact than Trump’s three other looming trials, which are rooted in greater constitutional and legal concerns pertinent to the powers of the presidency. But the success of the ex-president’s legal delaying tactics in the other cases — related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and hoarding of classified documents — means the hush money trial may be the only one to take place before the election. And Trump — though he is entitled to the presumption of innocence and the airing of evidence like any other defendant — is showing signs of increasing agitation at the prospect of the trial and the indignity it represents for someone who used to be the most powerful man in the world.

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Homicides are plummeting in American cities

Homicides in American cities are falling at the fastest pace in decades, bringing them close to levels they were at before a pandemic-era jump. Nationwide, homicides dropped around 20% in 133 cities from the beginning of the year through the end of March compared with the same period in 2023, according to crime-data analyst Jeff Asher, who tabulated statistics from police departments across the country. Philadelphia saw a 35% drop in killings as of April 12 compared with the same period last year, police data show. In New York City, homicides fell 15% through April 7. Homicides in Columbus, Ohio, plunged 58% through April 7. And Boston had just two homicides this year as of March 31, compared with 11 over the same time frame last year. The drop is an acceleration of a trend that began last year, following a surge in the number of homicides during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The declines so far in 2024, on top of last year’s drop, mirror the steep declines in homicides of the late 1990s. “There’s just a ton of places that you can point to that are showing widespread, very positive trends,” said Asher, co-founder of criminal justice consulting firm AH Datalytics. “Nationally, you’re seeing a very similar situation to what you saw in the mid-to-late ’90s. But it’s potentially even larger in terms of the percentages and numbers of the drops.” If the trend continues, the U.S. could be on pace for a year like 2014, which saw the lowest homicide rate since the 1960s. But police officials and researchers cautioned that crime trends aren’t always consistent and future homicide rates are difficult to predict. Some cities, like Denver, Los Angeles, and Portland, Ore., reported rises in homicides as of early April, Asher’s data show. But such increases are outliers. More typical is Baltimore, where homicides have declined 30% so far this year. During the pandemic, homicide rates shot up around the country, sparking concerns that the progress made during a decadeslong drop in violent crimes had been undone. The number of homicides in the U.S. rose nearly 30% in 2020 from the prior year to 21,570, the largest single-year increase ever recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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Democrats see access to abortion, IVF as keys to defeating Sen. Ted Cruz

In his quest to defeat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Democrat Colin Allred is banking on abortion — and the lack of access in Texas — as a top issue that will motivate voters in the November election. Allred, a U.S. representative from Dallas, says Cruz’s support for the state’s “cruel abortion ban” is putting women’s health in danger. “The only way in Texas we’re going to restore this right is at the federal level by beating Ted Cruz,” Allred said during an appearance on MSNBC. “When I’m in the United States Senate, we will codify Roe v. Wade. We’ll go back to the standard we had for the last 50 years.” Cruz, a Republican senator for Texas since 2013, says the public overwhelmingly supports at least some limits on abortion access, including parental notification requirements for minors. He says federal legislation pushed by Democrats would prohibit states like Texas from adopting such restrictions.

“The position of today’s elected Democrats in Congress on abortion is wildly out of step with the American people,” Cruz said at a recent hearing on Capitol Hill. “It is a radical proposition.” Since the U.S. Supreme Court nullified the constitutional right to abortion when it overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022, Democrats have ridden the issue to election victories in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and other states. Texas Democrats hope for similar results in a state that has not elected a statewide Democrat since the 1990s. To drive the point home, Allred gave his guest ticket to last month’s State of the Union to Austin Dennard, a Dallas obstetrician/gynecologist who had to travel out of state for an abortion after learning her fetus had a severe, lethal birth defect. Dennard delivered emotional testimony two weeks later before the Senate Judiciary Committee, describing her humiliation at having to leave the state for a necessary abortion and the fear she sees in her patients. “We collectively hold our breath as we pass the pregnancy milestones, because my patients know that lawmakers have stripped away their rights to make decisions about their own health, their own body and their own family,” Dennard said.

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State Stories

Report: 'Junk fees' add a hidden burden to Texas tenants already struggling with high rents

While the rent is too darn high for many Texas renters, a new report points to another factor driving up housing costs: Junk fees. The report, released by the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, details charges added to a tenant’s bill on top of rent, which are often hidden or exceed the actual cost of the services they provide. “Junk fees are charges for mandatory services that tenants can't opt out of, and they're tacked onto their rent,” UT law professor Heather Way said. “Valet trash fees, monthly pest-control fees, those are the two most common types of fees we've seen, but then you have things like administrative billing fees, utility administration fee, facilities fee. We've even seen boiler management fees, fire hydrant fees, the list, it goes on and on and it just gets out of control.” Way said it’s hard to calculate exactly how much renters are paying in fees, because the information is not well-tracked. She said Austin renters may be paying more of them as landlords seek to increase revenues while keeping the listed rent price competitive in a market that has more market-rate rental housing than it needs.

But the practice has been documented across the country and drawn the scrutiny of the Biden Administration. “Right now, what we have is anecdotal evidence of this but what we’ve heard is that this is a trend that’s very common in larger apartment complexes where you have corporate landlords,” Way said. “I think it’s no surprise that as we see more Wall Street investment in our apartment market, we’re seeing a rise in these fees.” Many of these fees are recurring fees charged monthly. In some cases, tenants are automatically charged for a service that is optional until they opt out, like cable TV, the report said. “One of the big problems is that these fees are not typically disclosed in the listing price of the unit, so it prevents comparison shopping,” Way said. She said tenants often don’t discover the true cost of an apartment until after they’ve paid application fees, which can cost hundreds of dollars, or committed to a one-year lease, “and at that point, they’re stuck.” The report also details one-time charges that add cost to renters, including application fees, processing fees, move-in fees, and high-risk fees charged to tenants with low credit scores or no rental history. And the report describes tenants being charged fees for arbitrarily applied violations of vague community rules, or repair charges that are excessive or fix things tenants shouldn’t have to pay for, like storm damage.

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Unstoppable Scottie Scheffler wins another Masters green jacket

Scottie Scheffler had no doubts about this Masters, and neither did anyone watching. He pulled ahead with magnificent shots Sunday around the turn and poured it on along the back nine at Augusta National for a 4-under 68 to claim his second green jacket in three years. Scheffler is simply unstoppable at the moment, and he had help from a faltering cast of contenders to make it look easier than it was. Much like Tiger Woods he made the outcome look inevitable with sublime control, the difference being a peach shirt instead of Sunday red, and no fist pumps until it was over. After sharing hugs with caddie Ted Scott and Collin Morikawa, Scheffler turned to face the crowd with both arms raised. “WOOOOOO!” he yelled, slamming his fist.

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Dallas donors rally to protect Speaker Dade Phelan from anti-incumbent groundswell

On a rainy Wednesday in Dallas, powerful Republican donors gathered at the home of billionaire Kelcy Warren to help save the political career of House Speaker Dade Phelan. The speaker of the House is considered a titan of Texas politics, wielding the power to shape legislation, appoint committee leaders and amass a robust campaign fund to spend on protecting incumbents and other allies. That power wasn’t enough to protect Phelan from a surprisingly strong challenge by David Covey, who rode support from former President Donald Trump to a top finish in the March primary and forced Phelan into a precarious primary runoff on May 28. Covey harnessed growing discontent from the Republican Party’s right flank, which blamed Phelan for the demise of favored legislation, including public funding for private school tuition and several border-security initiatives.

If Phelan stumbles, centrist conservatives could find themselves with a shrinking role in the GOP and on the losing end in the fight over control of the Republican Party. “For the center-right wing of the Republican Party, this is, in some ways, the last stand,” Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said. Phelan’s Dallas fundraiser was a clarion call for establishment Republicans and conservatives who see value in saving Phelan’s career. “It’s a bellwether race for who will ultimately win the internecine battle between the Republicans on the right and the more centrist chamber of commerce Republicans,” said Jason Villalba, a former Republican House member from Dallas who is now an independent and CEO and board chairman of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation. “This civil war has been going on now for almost a decade. It’s culminating in this specific race,” Villalba said. Donors provide the campaign dollars to pay for costly television, direct mail and digital advertising, as well as fund a field operation and maintain staff. Last week’s fundraiser included some of the biggest GOP donors in the country, including businessman Harlan Crow. Money is not Phelan’s biggest concern. He had plenty to spend on the March 5 primary but finished with 43% of the vote behind Covey’s 46%.

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North Texas composer and SMU professor Xi Wang has won a Guggenheim Fellowship

This is turning into a notable year for composer-conductor XI Wang, who teaches composition and music theory at Southern Methodist University. In February, the Dallas Symphony presented the world premiere of her YEAR 2020: Concerto for Violin, Trumpet, and Orchestra. And today, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship — one of 188 people from a pool of almost 3,000 applicants. Wang has taught at SMU since 2009. She came to the United States from China in 2001 to pursue her graduate studies. A Guggenheim fellowship can award between $30,000 and $45,000. Wang hopes that the money and a leave of absence from SMU will allow her to travel to Tibet for the first time to research the Himalayan country's music and culture. "I have always had this dream and this desire of learning more about Tibet," she said. "And I feel it just naturally attracts me spiritually. I feel that is a place very pure. And a place I think that for me, very beautiful, therapeutic and exotic."

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NRG Park manager opposes Travis Scott effort to leave Astroworld lawsuit, court records show

The company that manages NRG Park this week asked a judge to reject rapper Travis Scott's effort to be dismissed from the Astroworld lawsuit. In an sharply worded and detailed motion filed Monday, lawyers representing ASM Global, the company that manages NRG Park, said a jury should decide how much responsibility Scott and employees of his company XX Global bore for the concert that killed 10 people and injured hundreds of others. The filing is one of the latest examples of defendants in the massive lawsuit taking positions ahead of anticipated May trial, which will center around the death of 23-year-old Madison Dubiski. The lawsuit accused ASM, and one of it's spin-off divisions, SMG, of failing to provide adequate management and safety measures on the day of concert.

The 44-page motion lays out a case, based on depositions and the Houston Police Department's review of the concert, that argues that Scott's team and a Live Nation executive countermanded a plan to end the concert at 10 p,m,, and instead allowed Scott and his guest performer Drake, to perform another 12 minutes as crisis continued to unfold. Scott's attorney in March filed a motion seeking his dismissal from the lawsuit, which included dozens of defendants and thousands of plaintiffs. Scott's attorneys argued the festival headliner and founder shouldn't be held liable for the tragedy because his role was as a performer and promoter who wasn't involved in the fine details of the concert's logistics. Scott's motion also argued the rapper ended the show as he was directed to, and said because Dubiski had died before 10 p.m., his extended performance couldn't make him liable for her death.

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South Texas groups sue Texas Parks and Wildlife for pursuing land swap deal with SpaceX

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is being sued for pursuing a land exchange deal with SpaceX as the company seeks to expand its South Texas facilities. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas and Save RGV filed the lawsuit in a Travis County district court last week. In March, TPWD approved pursuing a swap of 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park to SpaceX in exchange for nearly 500 acres of privately-owned land outside of Port Isabel the company is still in negotiations to purchase. The approval came despite thousands of public comments and hours of testimony from nearby residents and experts in opposition to the land swap, failing to sway the seemingly set opinion of the commissioners.

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HISD might ask taxpayers to back a multibillion-dollar bond. Is there time for community input?

Houston ISD officials are considering asking taxpayers to approve a multibillion-dollar bond in November, but Superintendent Mike Miles’ administration has yet to go through a widely used process to involve the community — and may be running short on time to do so. With seven months to go before a potential record bond election, HISD leaders haven’t convened a community committee to offer feedback and make recommendations about what should be included in a package. In recent years, all of the Houston area’s largest districts have assembled a similar committee, which helps get community buy-in for spending billions of dollars on school construction projects and other expensive upgrades. HISD could face a particularly tall task in garnering support for a bond this year, given widespread community opposition to the state-appointed superintendent and school board running the district.

An HISD spokesperson told the Houston Landing that district leaders are “considering” creating a group of community members to assist in the planning process. If HISD does form a committee, it likely will be later in the process relative to other districts, which generally set up the groups roughly six to nine months before the election date. Miles has not confirmed that the district will go out for a bond in November, but has repeatedly said his administration is looking into the possibility. “HISD students deserve better than the buildings they have inherited after more than a decade of neglect,” an HISD spokesperson wrote in an email to the Landing. “If and when the district moves forward with a bond election, the bond plan will address the most urgent student needs and will not raise taxes.” When voters approve a school bond, they give districts the green light to take on debt to pay for renovating aging buildings, buying new technology and updating school security, among many other projects. Districts largely use residents’ property taxes to pay back the borrowed money and interest.

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‘A little bit confused’: HISD board tables Chinese university partnership vote

Houston ISD’s board of managers opted to delay a vote Thursday on a proposal to establish a partnership with a Chinese university after Superintendent Mike Miles’ administration failed to answer some board members’ questions about the controversial program. Board members pushed a vote to their May meeting on the proposal, which would involve the university providing funding for Chinese language and cultural classes in HISD through a “Confucius Institute.” The decision followed board members asking several questions that Miles and other administrators didn’t answer, including the length of the partnership agreement, how HISD would decide which schools should access grant funding and where the money would come from.

Houston ISD’s board of managers opted to delay a vote Thursday on a proposal to establish a partnership with a Chinese university after Superintendent Mike Miles’ administration failed to answer some board members’ questions about the controversial program. Board members pushed a vote to their May meeting on the proposal, which would involve the university providing funding for Chinese language and cultural classes in HISD through a “Confucius Institute.” The decision followed board members asking several questions that Miles and other administrators didn’t answer, including the length of the partnership agreement, how HISD would decide which schools should access grant funding and where the money would come from.

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Marc Levin: Texas needs prosecutor transparency that’s practical, not political

(Marc A. Levin is chief policy counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice.) Texans have heard a lot about the case against state Attorney General Ken Paxton that was resolved last month through a pretrial diversion agreement, but they deserve to know more about similar decisions made in cases involving Texas' 30 million other residents. Fortunately, more transparency can be achieved without Paxton's plan to unearth thousands of individual case files in local prosecutors’ offices. Instead of an objective, nonpolitical review of all relevant data, he seeks an unworkable, paperwork-intensive plan that cherry-picks certain types of cases and case resolutions. Beyond this, the directive —which is being challenged by the Bexar County district attorney as compliance will cost millions of dollars — covers, for example, every email and other correspondence relating to an arrest for a violent offense in which an indictment was not obtained.

Paxton's plan is unnecessary because there already is a state agency — the Office of Court Administration, or OCA — that can fill the gap. The OCA publishes annual data showing how many and what type of cases result in convictions and dismissals, and thus is well-positioned to delineate the number and types of cases in which pretrial diversion is used. However, currently the cases that prosecutors divert simply show up as dismissals in state court statistics. Accordingly, the diverted case of a first-time, low-level drug possession defendant who successfully completed treatment looks just like that of a drug kingpin in which the prosecutor dropped the ball, causing the statute of limitations to run out. While this could be remedied without a new law, broader positive changes are on the horizon. Legislation Gov. Greg Abbott signed last year directs the OCA to electronically gather case-specific data from the online systems of local courts. This will give Texans a more detailed window into statewide case dispositions without a prosecutor or other local official being required to manually send files to Austin. Yet the need for such data is distinguishable from a sweeping rule issued by Paxton’s office on March 8 demanding individual case files from prosecutors. It requires district attorneys in counties with at least 250,000 people to send the attorney general's office troves of documents on select categories of cases.

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Despite delays, new state park will open next year in North Texas

Though later than originally planned, North Texas’ first new state park in more than two decades is inching toward its grand opening. The dirt is flying about 75 miles west of Fort Worth as crews continue to prepare Palo Pinto Mountains State Park for visitors, according to a recent Facebook post from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation. “We estimate all park facilities will open sometime in 2025,” the post reads. “Will you be one of the first to visit this new state park?” The more than 4,800 acres of former ranch land that make up the new park will include a natural playscape, a lakefront fishing pier, a pavilion, a visitor center and walk-in back country and equestrian campsites. Extensive networks of multi-use trails for hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders will lead to remote areas of the park with scenic views, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s website says. On Tucker Lake, the 90-acre centerpiece of the park, visitors will be able to fish, boat, swim and look for wildlife.

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Laredo border patrol agents seize $260,000 worth of heroin from vehicle

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Laredo seized more than $260,000 worth of heroin that was found hidden inside a vehicle, authorities said. Officers confiscated the heroin on April 6 at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, officers were conducting a secondary search of a 2017 Toyota Tundra driven by a 29-year-old woman, who is a U.S. citizen. Officers found two packages containing 13.5 pounds of alleged heroin hidden inside the truck, CBP said.

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Mark Bell: Shifting Texas needs from ‘fixing the grid’ to investing in the future

(Mark Bell is the president of the Association of Electric Companies of Texas.) Texas’ growth story is nothing short of remarkable. From July 2022 to July 2023, Texas once again had one of the fastest-growing economies in the United States, while also welcoming more than 473,00 new residents, outpacing every other state. Our economic might has become part of our Texas identity. Yet, beneath the surface of Texas’s remarkable success, pressure is mounting on our electric infrastructure. Over the past two summers, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas recorded 21 new consumption records due to residential growth, industrial electrification and extreme weather events. Put another way: electricity consumption spiked more in the past two summers than in the prior 12 years combined. These records are likely to be broken. Predictions for the summer of 2024 suggest another hot summer ahead, paired with growing electricity demand.

It’s easy to see why Texas is breaking consumption records. Current projections estimate that Texas will gain 17 million new residents by 2050 (more than the entire state of Pennsylvania). Use of electric vehicles, including long-haul trucks, will continue to grow. Plus, with the significant incentives for large industries, manufacturing and oil and gas to electrify, existing businesses will require more electricity. At the heart of this discussion lies the undeniable truth: electricity is the lifeblood of Texas’ prosperity. As Dan Brouillette, president of the Edison Electric Institute, noted, while electricity makes up roughly 5% of the GDP, “It is the very first 5% of the GDP because the American economy, indeed the world economy, depends upon the provision of electricity for so much of our lives.” Which is to say, assuring Texas residents and businesses that they can count on the reliable delivery of affordable electricity is fundamental to maintaining Texas’ status as the eighth-largest economy in the world. While state policymakers and regulators have made improvements to the grid since February 2021, the needs go further than “fixing the grid.” We need to grow the grid through constant, predictable and meaningful investment in electric generation, transmission and distribution. Electric companies in Texas are investing in the grid and doing their part to serve more people and maintain reliability while minimizing costs. But without continuous investment, Texas faces a future marred by grid instability and uncertainty, placing the well-being of every Texan and our economy in jeopardy. Residential growth in the state continues to outpace that of any other state. And with the proliferation of data centers, Texas ranks second, with nearly 1 million square feet under construction in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

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City Stories

Austin police begin new program of officers drawing blood in some DWI cases

Jail nurses won’t do it, and Austin-Travis County EMS medics are looking to get out of it. So now, people arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated could have their blood drawn at the jail by a specially trained Austin Police Department officer as part of a new pilot program. “We're (not) drawing blood on the side of the highway willy-nilly,” said Ryan Huling, sergeant over the Police Department's impaired driving investigations unit. “(Officers) are equally as trained … as the medics were before them. It's done in a sanitary, clean place under consent or warrant.” The Police Department says it is necessary for someone to remain available at the jail to take timely blood draws of people arrested on suspicion of DWI and that officers have been trained to do so. While police say the program is off to a good start, there are concerns from County Attorney Delia Garza the new process could lead to a “potential eroding of public trust.”

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A 'really special place': Arlington leaders begin preparing historic cemetery to sell new plots

On a sunny day in early April, Karen Reich walks Parkdale and Arlington cemeteries to snap pictures and collect information on the interred. Reich volunteers for Findagrave.com, which claims to house the largest gravesite collection. Despite growing up in town, she did not know about Arlington Cemetery. She was floored to see the familiar names like Ditto and Collins among the grave markers. “These are names of all of the movers and shakers. These are the major intersections, the major streets, the schools,” Reich said. The cemetery – one of the oldest in Arlington – is hard to differentiate from Parkdale Cemetery. No border separates the two, though the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission recently installed street signs and QR codes to help people find the city’s founders.

However, the historic burial place may soon gain new attention, as Arlington city leaders look to sell new plots for the first time since the municipal government took possession of the property as an abandoned cemetery in 1995. State law previously prohibited owners of abandoned cemeteries from selling new plots. However, a change to state law in September opened a path for cities that meet certain requirements to begin selling plots. Arlington city leaders and state legislators successfully pushed for the passage of H.B. 2371 after hearing from living notable figures who would like to be buried in Arlington Cemetery. Sarah Stubblefield, strategic initiatives manager, said the city is moving quickly to give residents the chance to purchase plots.

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National Stories

Tax Day reveals a major split in how Joe Biden and Donald Trump would govern

Tax Day reveals a major split in how Joe Biden and Donald Trump would govern: The presidential candidates have conflicting ideas about how much to reveal about their own finances and the best ways to boost the economy through tax policy. Biden, the sitting Democratic president, plans to release his income tax returns on Monday, the IRS filing deadline. And on Tuesday, he is scheduled to deliver a speech in Scranton, Pennsylvania, about why the wealthy should pay more in taxes to reduce the federal deficit and help fund programs for the poor and middle class. Biden is proud to say that he was largely without money for much of his decades-long career in public service, unlike Trump, who inherited hundreds of millions of dollars from his father and used his billionaire status to launch a TV show and later a presidential campaign. “For 36 years, I was listed as the poorest man in Congress,” Biden told donors in California in February. “Not a joke.”

In 2015, Trump declared as part of his candidacy, “I’m really rich.” The Republican former president has argued that voters have no need to see his tax data and that past financial disclosures are more than sufficient. He maintains that keeping taxes low for the wealthy will supercharge investment and lead to more jobs, while tax hikes would crush an economy still recovering from inflation that hit a four-decade peak in 2022. “Biden wants to give the IRS even more cash by proposing the largest tax hike on the American people in history when they are already being robbed by his record-high inflation crisis,” said Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for the Trump campaign. The split goes beyond an ideological difference to a very real challenge for whoever triumphs in the November election. At the end of 2025, many of the tax cuts that Trump signed into law in 2017 will expire — setting up an avalanche of choices about how much people across the income spectrum should pay as the national debt is expected to climb to unprecedented levels. Including interest costs, extending all the tax breaks could add another $3.8 trillion to the national debt through 2033, according to an analysis last year by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Biden would like to keep the majority of the tax breaks, based on his pledge that no one earning less than $400,000 will have to pay more. But he released a budget proposal this year with tax increases on the wealthy and corporations that would raise $4.9 trillion in revenues and trim forecasted deficits by $3.2 trillion over 10 years.

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World leaders urge restraint as Israel weighs retaliation against Iran

Israel on Monday was facing international pressure not to retaliate against Iran for its missile and drone attack over the weekend, even as some far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government called for a swift, aggressive response. Mr. Netanyahu faces a delicate calculation: Letting an unprecedented direct attack from Iran, even one that produced little damage, pass without a military response could open him up to criticism that he is endangering Israel. But overly aggressive retaliation could significantly raise the chances of a broader war in the Middle East as Israeli forces continue to battle Hamas in Gaza.

Mr. Netanyahu’s war cabinet met on Sunday evening without deciding how to respond to Iran’s assault, and the military had yet to detail possible options by nightfall, an official who was briefed on the meeting said. Israel has faced calls for restraint from the United States, the Group of 7 nations, the European Union and the secretary general of the United Nations. Israel’s next moves will have strategic implications for its war in Gaza against the armed group Hamas, which is funded and armed by Iran, and for Palestinian civilians who have been struggling for months with violence and severe hunger. Witnesses said that Israeli troops fired at a crowd in northern Gaza on Sunday. Nearly all of the drones and missiles that Iran fired at Israel on Saturday — in retaliation for a deadly airstrike on an Iranian Embassy building in Syria two weeks earlier — were shot down by Israel’s military with help from Britain, Jordan and the United States. The only serious casualty was a 7-year-old girl, Amina al-Hasoni, who was badly wounded.

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Federal criminal investigation opened into Key Bridge crash

The FBI has opened a criminal investigation focusing on the massive container ship that brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last month — a probe that will look at least in part at whether the crew left the port knowing the vessel had serious systems problems, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Authorities are reviewing the events leading up to the moment that the Dali, a 985-foot Singapore-flagged ship, lost power while leaving the Port of Baltimore and slammed into one of the bridge’s support pillars, said the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe. One official said that the investigation was being overseen by the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland. Spokespeople for the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland or the Justice Department.

The owner and operator of the ship and attorneys representing them also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The pre-dawn crash on March 26 crumpled the Key Bridge, where eight people were working to repair concrete and fill potholes. Six members of the construction crew fell into the water and died, officials said. Two survived. The criminal investigation is separate from the probe the National Transportation Safety Board has launched to determine the cause of the crash and assess other safety-related measures. President Biden and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) have both previously said that they intend to hold accountable any parties deemed potentially liable for the destruction of the bridge.

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The South has few unionized auto plants. Workers say this one could be next.

Growing up in eastern Tennessee, Jeremy Collins didn’t know many people with unionized jobs. But he remembers reading good things about unions fighting for the eight-hour work day and against child labor. That’s why Collins plans to vote yes when employees at his Volkswagen factory decide this week whether to join the United Auto Workers. And he thinks many of his co-workers will do the same — possibly making their factory one of the few auto plants in the South to unionize. Of 26 Volkswagen workers who stopped to talk to a Washington Post reporter outside the factory gates this month, more than two-thirds said they planned to vote yes in the historic ballot that will test the UAW’s strategy of organizing a dozen automakers’ southern factories. Six workers said they were undecided and two were opposed. “I’m pretty vocal about the union at work, and I usually ask a lot of people how they feel,” Collins said, en route to his shift building Atlas SUVs and electric ID.4 vehicles. “And from all the people I talk to, I’ve only come across three people who are against it.”

Those who spoke with The Post are a small fraction of the more than 4,000 workers eligible to vote in the ballot. And the UAW has failed in two previous efforts to organize the factory, in 2014 and 2019. But the union is expressing optimism this time around, saying that a supermajority of workers signed union authorization cards supporting UAW membership. Volkswagen Chattanooga would be the first auto plant in the South to unionize through an election since the 1940s, although there are other unionized auto factories in the South. The union drive in Chattanooga is happening as both President Biden and former president Trump vie to make the case that they can deliver for blue-collar factory workers. A yes vote, even in red Tennessee, could help shore up Biden’s support among union voters across the United States, including those still dubious about the improved economy. Biden’s staunch support of union workers has earned him the UAW’s endorsement and assistance on the campaign trail from its fiery president, Shawn Fain. Tennessee Republicans have seized on that relationship in their efforts to thwart the unionization drive. In an impromptu news conference next to the factory this month, local Republicans warned that workers in this right-leaning county would be aligning themselves with the Democrats by voting yes.

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Inside the secret battle to stop No Labels

Once upon a time, before the multimillion-dollar negative campaigns and allegations of running “a conspiracy to commit extortion, voter intimidation, and other criminal behavior,” they were friends. Good friends. The people who run No Labels and Third Way, two of the most prominent centrist organizations in Washington, had all come up together in the small world of Clinton-era center-left politics. Nancy Jacobson, an early Bill Clinton hire and the founder of No Labels, helped raise the initial money and secure the necessary political blessings to start Third Way. The think tank was co-founded by Jon Cowan, whom Jacobson viewed as something of a mentee. Cowan, now Third Way's president, even signed the ketubah (the Jewish wedding contract) at Jacobson's wedding to Mark Penn, whose firm conducts No Labels’ polls.

Then came the 2024 election — and No Labels’ decision to try to field a bipartisan “unity ticket” against both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, backed by a reported budget of $70 million. Third Way, which may be centrist but is firmly Democratic, viewed this as a misguided, no-hope effort that could only spoil the election for Biden and help to re-elect Trump, with potentially disastrous consequences. "There were deep personal stakes and relationships," Cowan said. A centrist civil war broke out in the C-suites and steakhouses of Washington and Manhattan. Like so many insider conflicts, it was deeply personal. There were betrayal, a double agent, a secret team of political operatives, some very unlikely allies — and a decisive victory for one side that left the other seething and bitter. Even some people close to No Labels acknowledge the campaign against it largely succeeded in its mission: dissuading any potential candidates from joining its ticket. But the cost, they say, will be a gaping wound at the center of what’s left of American centrism. "What does Third Way go back to?" asked former Rep. Max Rose, a moderate New York Democrat who spoke to NBC News at Jacobson's request. "Because it doesn’t seem logical that an organization that considers itself a centrist policy organization randomly makes war on another organization like this." Or as Holly Page, a longtime moderate Democratic strategist who has worked for both groups but ended up in No Labels' camp put it of Third Way: “They sold out the center so they could get a seat at the table with [former Biden chief of staff] Ron Klain."

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CBS News poll: Rising numbers of Americans say Biden should encourage Israel to stop Gaza actions

An increasing number of Americans want President Biden to encourage Israel to stop military actions in Gaza; and Mr. Biden's handling of the situation is now down to its lowest levels yet. In the poll, conducted before Iran's drone and missile attack on Israel, there wasn't much clamor among the U.S. public for U.S. military action against Iran, were Iran to strike Israel. More would instead have the U.S. support Israel's next actions. Mr. Biden faces particular pressure within his own party regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, where Democrats also express increasing sympathy with the Palestinian people, along with the Israelis; and Mr. Biden's handling has taken a particular hit among younger Americans as well.

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Supreme Court to weigh if Jan. 6 rioters can be charged with obstruction

In the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, federal prosecutors had to decide what charges to bring against hundreds of participants in the pro-Trump mob that disrupted the certification of a presidential election for the first time in U.S. history. In more than 350 cases, they included a federal charge that carries a hefty 20-year maximum penalty and is part of a law enacted after the exposure of massive fraud and shredding of documents during the collapse of the energy giant Enron. As of this month, more than 100 rioters have been convicted and sentenced under that statute for obstructing or impeding an official proceeding — in this case the joint session of Congress that convened on Jan. 6 to formally certify Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about whether prosecutors improperly stretched the law by charging people with that violation in the first place. The high court’s ruling, likely to land in late June, has the potential to undo the convictions and sentences of those who have already gone to trial or pleaded guilty, and upend the charges still pending for many more. Three Jan. 6 defendants have already had their sentences reduced ahead of a decision by the Supreme Court. The court’s decision could have political implications for this year’s election, since Donald Trump — the likely Republican nominee — has made accusations of prosecutorial overreach a core part of his appeal to voters. The case could also directly impact Trump’s own trial for allegedly trying to remain in power after his 2020 defeat; two of the four charges he faces are based on the obstruction statute, and he could move to have those charges dismissed if the Supreme Court rules for the rioters. Defense lawyers say prosecutors overreached by charging rioters with a crime that is limited to conduct that destroys or tampers with evidence sought by investigators. The government’s broad application of the statute, the lawyers warned in court filings, would allow prosecutors to target protesters or lobbyists who disrupt congressional committees.

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Lead Stories

1 dead and 13 injured in semitrailer crash at a Texas public safety office, with the driver jailed

A Texas semitrailer driver rammed a stolen 18-wheeler through the front of a public safety building where his renewal for a commercial driver’s license had been rejected, killing one person and injuring 13 others, authorities said Friday. The intentional crash into the single-story brick building off a highway in Brenham, a rural town outside of Houston, littered debris in the parking lot and left a gaping hole in the entrance. The crash damaged the front of the red semitrailer, which was hauling materials on a flatbed. After crashing into the building the first time, the driver backed up the truck with the intention of smashing it again before being detained, Brenham Mayor Atwood Kenjura said. “It’s unfortunate that we are here gathered for a really senseless tragedy,” Kenjura said.

The driver — identified as Clenard Parker, 42 — was pulled out of the truck by authorities at the Texas Department of Public Safety office. Authorities say Parker did not resist when he was taken into custody and would face multiple felonies, but did not specify the charges. On Thursday, Parker was told by employees at the office that he would not be eligible to renew his commercial driver’s license, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Justin Ruiz said. He did not elaborate as to why Parker’s renewal was rejected. One employee in the building was trapped “for a period of time” after the crash but no one who worked at the driver’s license office suffered serious injuries, Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst said. It was unclear Friday afternoon where the person who was killed was located at the time of the crash. Following the crash, two people were flown to a hospital in Bryan and another to Houston. Three people were transported to local hospitals but later released, and eight others were treated on the scene.

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Migration’s human toll overwhelms a border county in Texas

The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out of the Rio Grande minutes earlier. Now, her body lay stiff as mortician Jesus “Chuy” Gonzalez drove away from the muddy boat ramp and toward an overcrowded freezer, passing mobile homes and a casino along the way. Maverick County purchased the trailer during the pandemic to handle covid-19 victims. It was designed to hold 20 bodies but on this day held 28 — the putrefied remains testifying to two dozen shattered dreams of reaching the United States. Only half had names. Gonzalez didn’t flinch as he swung the freezer’s doors open. He has been around so much death that the stench of decomposition no longer bothers him. A large silver Virgen de Guadalupe dangled from his chest as he maneuvered the woman into a wooden barrack.

Nearby lay the body of a man whose arms were frozen as if he were blocking a blow. His jeans and shoes were still covered in river mud and his face marbled with sickly discoloration. Several members of a Venezuelan family who drowned together were also scattered inside the trailer. They had been there since mid-November. Record-level migration has brought record-breaking death to Maverick County, a border community that is ground zero in the feud between Texas and the Biden administration over migration. Whereas in a typical month years ago, officials here might have recovered one or two bodies from the river, more recently they have handled that amount in a single day. While border crossings draw the most attention in the national debate about immigration, the rising number of deaths in the Rio Grande has gone largely unnoticed. First responders have run out of body bags and burial plots. Their rescue boats and recovery trucks are covered in dents and scratches, scars from navigating through the brush to retrieve floating bodies. County officials say they don’t have the training or supplies to collect DNA samples of each unidentified migrant as required by state law, meaning bodies are sometimes left in fridges for months or even buried with scant attempt to identify them. At one point in 2022 as the body count rose, officials buried migrants in a potter’s field, their graves marked with crosses made out of PVC pipes. Over the past month, the number of deaths has dropped as migrant crossings dip, but officials are still girding themselves for another increase later this spring. To prepare, they are creating a new space to bury unidentified migrants, the boundaries already demarcated with wooden sticks spray-painted red and lodged into the dirt.

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Iran unleashes attack on Israel

Iran launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles toward Israel late Saturday in an unprecedented revenge mission that pushed the Middle East ever closer to a regionwide war. Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem as a series of explosions were heard in the skies. There is no immediate word from authorities on whether the explosions are an incoming attack or the sound of interceptions. The attack marked the first time Iran had ever launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Israel’s military said over 100 drones had been fired but that its air defenses were prepared for the attack and it was ready to respond. It didn’t mention ballistic missiles, which are less easily shot down, but Iran said they were part of the attack. The U.S., with its large troop presence in the region, said it would provide unspecified support to Israel. “We are monitoring the threat,” the Israeli military’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, announced in a nationwide television address, saying it would take several hours for the drones to reach Israel. The Israeli military said it could not confirm if it had intercepted any drones or what their targets were. Iran had vowed revenge since an April 1 airstrike in Syria killed two Iranian generals inside an Iranian consular building. Iran accused Israel of being behind the attack. Israel hasn’t commented on it.

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ERCOT warns rising temperatures may cause power emergency next week

Texans may soon be asked to help support the state’s grid. ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, is warning residents that higher temperatures will increase demand across the grid, resulting in a power emergency. ERCOT plans to delay and cancel planned generator outages across the state to help reinforce the grid during a time of high demand and strain. The power emergency is expected to last from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday, according to a Friday notice. The Electric Reliability Council of Texasdid not respond to The Dallas Morning News at the time of publication.

Temperatures in Dallas next week are expected to hit a high of 88 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday and stay in the 80s throughout the middle of the week. The grid operator has come under fire from residents in recent years over its inconsistency in handling extreme temperatures like the 2021 winter freeze, aging infrastructure, the organization’s deals with the Bitcoin miners and more. It’s previously called on Texans to reduce electricity usage to boost the grid’s reliability. However, ERCOT officials have also claimed that the grid has held strong during high-demand periods like the total solar eclipse and that improvements have been made since 2021 to ensure the grid’s reliability during the cold seasons.

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U.S. and Japan signal support for Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail after leaders meet

Following a White House visit from Japan’s chief executive, the U.S. and Japan have both seemed to reaffirm support of the Dallas to Houston high-speed rail project. The White House released a fact sheet Wednesday after President Joe Biden welcomed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The two leaders affirmed or reaffirmed several “political understandings” on a number of issues ranging from defense and security to economic cooperation to diplomacy and development. But leading up to the meeting, Reuters reported that Biden is seeking to revive interest in the multi-billion-dollar project. Three sources familiar with the summit preparations told the outlet that Texas Central’s project would be on the agenda for talks.

Following the meeting, the fact sheet noted the U.S. Department of Transportation and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism welcomed Amtrak’s leadership of the project. “The successful completion of development efforts and other requirements would position the project for potential future funding and financing opportunities,” White House officials wrote in the fact sheet. The proposal that aims to shuttle passengers from Dallas to Houston in about 90 minutes has been in development for a decade. The 220-mile drive between the proposed stations takes at least three-and-a-half hours. Japan has a stake in the project as Texas Central is partnered with Japan Central Railways, which owns and operates the country’s Shinkansen bullet train. It has gained steam in the last few months after Amtrak announced in August it is exploring a partnership with Texas Central for the route. With Amtrak’s involvement, the project was awarded $500,000 for planning and development from the Corridor Identification and Development Program, created after the passing of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.

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State Stories

Lawmaker behind new Texas DEI ban expects universities to still 'strive for diverse outcomes'

State Sen. Brandon Creighton sponsored the state’s new ban on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public universities. In letters sent last month, the Conroe Republican told university chancellors and regents that he was worried some may not be fully complying with the new law. His Senate committee plans to hold hearings in May to receive updates from universities. “I am deeply concerned with the possibility that many institutions may choose to merely rename their offices or employee titles,” Creighton wrote in letters to each of the state’s seven public university systems. Days later, the University of Texas at Austin fired dozens of employees who had previously worked in DEI-related roles. On Tuesday, UT-Dallas announced it was also laying off 20 workers and closing its Office of Campus Resources and Support, a new office meant to comply with the DEI ban.

At both campuses, news of the firings has roiled students and advocates, who argue that administrators are overreacting to the law and weakening the schools’ ability to recruit talented faculty. “I'd have to leave it up to university officials and their general counsel on exactly how they are taking actions to comply with the bill. I know through the university leadership's press releases and the statements they issued that they also took action on consolidation and what they phrase, I believe, as duplicative efforts where there was overlap and made some further adjustments. So I'm not sure that I would couch that as taking action beyond compliance necessary to be in line with the legislation. I just know that they're making some overall strategic moves for the future, as all of the universities have to continue to evolve in ways that will make sense with their budgets and their goals,” Creighton said.

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Spurs star Victor Wembanyama's historic rookie season comes to an end

Spurs sensation Victor Wembanyama's history-making rookie season came to an end Saturday with the team announcing he would miss the season finale due to right ankle injury management. The Spurs (21-60) host Detroit (14-67) at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Frost Bank Center. Wembanyama, 20, finished his maiden voyage through the NBA averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, an NBA-best 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals to become the first player to average those numbers or better for a season since the NBA and the ABA merged in summer 1976. And he did it while averaging just 29.7 minutes per outing over 71 games. Popovich said before Friday’s stunning 121-120 upset of Denver in which Wembanyama finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and one steal, that it was uncertain whether the French phenom would be available against the Pistons.

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UT firings anger students, advocates as lawmakers call for increased enforcement of Texas DEI ban

For Destiny Afinni-Myles, the University of Texas at Austin’s diversity, equity and inclusion office gave her group for Black and African American students opportunities to meet and plan events. So when the UT administration closed a rebranded version of the office and laid off dozens of employees last week to comply with a new state DEI ban, Afinni-Myles said she and many other students were left feeling “completely disheartened.”

“It’s a loss of belonging,” Afinni-Myles said. “A loss of community.” The university has not said how many staff were let go, but advocates say at least 66 people were fired, 40 of whom formerly held DEI-related jobs. UT-Dallas announced Tuesday it was also laying off 20 workers and closing its Office of Campus Resources and Support, a new office meant to comply with the DEI ban. The moves come after state Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Conroe Republican and the author of the ban, warned university officials that simply renaming DEI offices and job titles was not enough to comply with the law. In an interview this week, Creighton declined to comment on the layoffs directly. “I just know that they're making some overall strategic moves for the future, as all of the universities have to continue to evolve in ways that will make sense with their budgets and their goals,” he said. At UT-Austin and UT-Dallas, news of the firings has roiled students and advocates, who argue that administrators are overreacting to the law and weakening the schools’ ability to recruit talented faculty.

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Jim Blackburn: Save the fish. Save the shrimp. Save Texas' coastal wetlands.

(Jim Blackburn is a faculty scholar at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, a professor in the practice of environmental law in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Rice University and a practicing environmental lawyer with the Blackburn & Carter law firm in Houston.) The wetlands of the Texas coast — our most important coastal ecological system — are in danger of eradication from sea level rise. The science is clear. They will be gone if we don’t do something about it, and there are things we can do, but we need to get on it. Our coastal wetlands exist where water and land meet. They thrive when high tide covers plants’ roots, which become dry again during low tide. They can survive several days of high tide and inundation, but they will suffocate if the water stays up for months and years. That is what science indicates is happening now and will worsen into the future. Many may ask, why should I care? What difference does it make to me if these coastal wetlands continue to exist or not? And the simple answer is, the fishery of the Gulf of Mexico depends on these coastal marshes. They are the nurseries of the coast. Each acre of marsh produces thousands of white and brown shrimp which are excellent to eat, and they support our state’s commercial fishery. The same is true with blue crab and flounder, which also use nature’s nursery.

Perhaps more important to many Texans is the recreational fishery of the coast. Redfish and speckled trout are higher predators in the bay food chain, and they feed on the shrimp and smaller finfish produced by the marsh. Along with seagrass, which is prominent in the southern portion of the Texas coast, these marshes are the key to coastal recreational fishing. No marsh, no seagrass, no fish. It’s that simple. It is hard for me to imagine a Texas coast without wetlands. Near Rockport, the only wild flock of endangered whooping cranes relies upon these marshes, where they feed upon blue crabs. And literally thousands of other fish-eating birds rely on these marshes, contributing to the wonder of the coast. The politics surrounding climate change can be daunting. But concern about the future loss of our marshes is not about attacking any industry or anyone’s livelihood. Rather, this is a call to action for those concerned about the coastal marshes, about recreational and commercial fishing, about coastal birds. We must come together and act now to protect our future. So what can be done? Living shorelines can be constructed to protect these marshes from erosion forces and to help them trap sediment that is needed to keep up with sea level rise. These living shorelines are made of rock or concrete and are constructed about a hundred feet or so on the bay-side of the marsh. These structures are then seeded with oyster spat to generate oyster colonization. Once established, the oysters will grow and rise with sea level, representing a form of nature-based engineering.

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Texas Ag Commissioner talks rural hospital grant, potential cabinet position

Nearly $24 million will go toward technological improvements for Texas rural hospitals, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller announced on Tuesday. The program aims to help hospitals upgrade existing technologies to improve medical services and telehealth capabilities. Funding is also intended to enhance communication between hospitals and statewide specialists by expanding broadband infrastructure. “We have a lot of challenges,” Miller said, citing a large population of uninsured and elderly residents in rural counties. “And we have the two most accident-prone occupations, farming and field work. So it’s critical that we get good connectivity out into these rural communities.”

The $23.9 million was originally part of a federal COVID relief fund, reallocated for broadband improvements. A separate $50 million for rural hospitals was set aside in the state’s Health and Human Services department last legislative session. Miller says the money will be available to every rural hospital as a $100,000 grant. The application closes May 2. “We’re pretty nimble for a government agency, and we’ll get those turned around,” the commissioner said. “We’ll be getting those checks out for broadband improvements in the month of May.” Miller is the top name discussed as a potential candidate for U.S. Secretary of Agriculture if former President Donald Trump is elected in the 2024 election, according to a Politico article citing sources close to Trump. Miller said he has not directly spoken to Trump about the job, but expressed interest in the position. “I think it’s premature,” Miller said. “We got to get the man elected first, and that’s what I’m concentrating on.”

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Speckled trout, redfish, pranks plentiful at enormous Texas City Dike

It was an April Fools’ prank executed to perfection. In mid-morning on April 1, the city of Texas City made the rather surprising announcement on its Facebook page that the Texas City Dike, the world’s longest manmade fishing pier and a bottomless well of civic pride, would be adding another half-mile to the existing 5.3-mile breakwater jutting into Galveston Bay. The new addition would be called, of course, the “Baby Dike.” Not everyone read far enough to notice the #aprilfool hashtag tacked onto the end of the message. “I did have to go back in and edit the top just in case people didn't make it to that bottom hashtag—‘hope you enjoy our most popular April Fools’ Day prank yet!’—so that as it's getting shared all over the state and in fishing groups and things like that, people aren't coming and looking for the baby dike,” said Jennifer Laird, the city’s communications coordinator.

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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick eyeing ban on Delta-8 and Delta-9 products

Texas is still a year away from its next state legislative session, but we are already getting a picture of lawmakers' priorities. ABC13's news partners at the Houston Chronicle looked at Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's to-do list. It includes banning Delta-8 and Delta-9, which are cannabis-derived products currently legal in the state because of their low THC content. Patrick also wants to consider bills that would stop retailers from marketing these products to children. Delta 8 took off after the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp production federally. Since then, Delta-9 products also emerged in low-THC edible forms.

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Challengers sign ‘contract with Texas’ to push the legislature more conservative

Conservative candidates running to unseat Republicans in the Texas House joined with some of the most conservative representatives in signing the “Contract with Texas,” a commitment to procedural changes like eliminating Democratic committee chairs that they say will make the House more efficient in passing conservative priorities. “Texans are fundamentally annoyed, frustrated, disappointed with the obstruction, the dysfunction within the Texas House,” GOP nominee for House District 65 Mitch Little said. “Our desire in creating the Contract with Texas is to create a framework where a future speaker is going to have a chance to succeed in ways that are going to inspire Republican voters and empower people in the legislature to do the things that they send us down there to do.”

The contract calls for candidates for House Speaker to solicit support from only Republicans, to strip Democrats from committee chair positions, and give all Republican priorities a vote before considering any Democratic bills. The contract is signed by representatives Brian Harrison, J.M. Lozano, Nate Schatzline, Tony Tinderholy, and Steve Toth, as well as 18 other conservative candidates. “What we’re trying to do here with this contract is to put the voters back in charge, be responsive to the will of the voters that have elected Republicans,” State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, said. “We are trying to reform the House. And my goal is to make it Republican once again.” Republican Speaker Dade Phelan has heralded the two sessions over which he has presided as the most conservative in Texas history. A strengthening wing of his party pushing to oust him disagrees, pointing to specific conservative legislation that failed to pass.

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Dallas’ new permitting office never received full occupancy permit before workers moved in

An 11-story office tower in Dallas that was bought to house a new headquarters for city workers who issuebuilding permits was never given a permanent occupancy certificate before employees moved in, city records show. The city granted its building at 7800 N. Stemmons Freeway a temporary certificate of occupancy for the fifth floor in December, the month Development Service Department employees began to move in. But no other occupancy certificates had been granted for the rest of the building. City records list them as pending inspection as of Friday. A spokesman for the State Fire Marshal’s Office confirmed to The Dallas Morning News on Friday that it had received a complaint about the building on Jan. 25. He said the complaint was forwarded to Dallas Fire-Rescue, which declined to comment about the building.

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Don Powell: Reinstating Texas A&M University bonfire would disparage memory of those we lost

(Powell is a former Chairman of the Board of the Texas A&M University System.) Texas A&M University is unique for many reasons; its distinctive culture permeates every aspect of its existence. At the core of its culture is the courage to always do what is right regardless of opinion or consequences. While traditions are revered at A&M, those traditions can never supersede the dignity we accord every member of our community. The effort to reinstate the bonfire tradition would disparage the memory of those students who lost their lives, including those who suffered enduring injuries, and it would tarnish the culture of Texas A&M University.

What is the appropriate memorial for the loss of twelve young, brilliant lives? Perhaps in this case it is declaring that no amount of time erases that loss. Redemption is a powerful force, but it must have a powerful purpose. Simply reinstating a symbol of sports rivalry does not carry that power; in fact, it trivializes those twelve tragic deaths and deprives them of their basic dignity and the meaning of what they would have accomplished had they lived. The reinstatement of the traditional Thanksgiving football game between UT and A&M is rousing, but the game can be played without demeaning our values and disrespecting those we’ve lost.

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Bridget Grumet: UT Athletics pledged $10M to address homelessness. But the money may go elsewhere

The $10 million pledge "to help fight systemic homelessness," announced by University of Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte in February, seemed to come out of nowhere. In fact, the questions at the Feb. 13 Texas Athletics Town Hall had already moved on to the next topic — an inquiry about students’ access to tickets — when Del Conte jumped back to discussing the plans to build a new football practice facility and how that would involve demolishing the historic building that houses UT's Steve Hicks School of Social Work, a leading research program on social issues including homelessness. The demolition plan has been controversial for a year now, as UT wants to raze the 1930s schoolhouse that’s on the National Register of Historic Places to build another athletic facility. But Del Conte suggested the plan will serve a greater good.

“I think one of the things that we're looking at, too, is that the athletic department has committed a gift of $10 million to the School of Social Work to help fight systemic homelessness,” Del Conte announced at the town hall event. It was the first the public was hearing of any such pledge. “It starts early, it starts from little kids,” continued Del Conte, who grew up on a New Mexico ranch that his parents converted into a large group home where they helped scores of underprivileged youth each year. “You become a foster kid, you become (a part) of the system, and all of the sudden you're 18 years old, and what's next?” If people aging out of foster care don’t have the right support, Del Conte said, “things can happen, they spiral out of control,” and people can become homeless. He said the money from the athletic department could help “create an endowment to go out and start to get the very best minds to look at how we can deal with the homelessness.”

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John Moritz: As Texas campaigns heat up, so do desperate pleas for donations. Why? Because it works.

In the months since incumbent Republican Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, launched their campaigns for U.S. Senate, no fewer than 464,000 people have stepped up to hand them money. So are we talking about nearly a half-million spontaneous acts of generosity for the benefit of two politicians from Texas? Hardly. The selling of candidates is not much different from the marketing of products ranging from pharmaceuticals to fertilizer. It's kind of like waking up from a dream in which you were driving a new pickup and somehow your social media feed is overflowing with commercials about gleaming Silverados, F-150s or Tundras crawling up the side of a mountain or towing a travel-trailer through a national park.

Click on a news story about the Legislature or the governor, and suddenly you're drowning in ads for somebody running for something. Click one of the ads, and the frequency increases exponentially. And if you stumble across a candidate or two you like and sign up for notifications about their campaigns or follow them on social media, they've got you. Soon your email basket fills up with "URGENT!!" pleas for donations and breathless warnings that the very future of the republic rests on your shoulders alone. And the emails aren't only from the candidates whose site you visited or whose Instagram posts you liked. It seems as if every politician from your candidate's party — and some from the other one — has your email address and knows how to use it. It doesn't matter if you live in Texas and they're running in Tuscaloosa, they're still begging you for money. The messages are about a subtle as a stubbed toe, and they can stretch the truth. And nearly every email comes with a button icon that with a single click whisks the recipient off to the donation page of the candidate's website. But does all that actually work? In just the comparatively narrow universe of the 2024 Texas campaign for U.S. Senate, there are 464,000 pieces of evidence suggesting the answer is yes — and there are still more than 6½ months until the Nov. 5 election.

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Beaumont Examiner Editorial: Billionaires plotting takeover of Texas House

The following editorial reflects the views of Don J. Dodd, Publisher/CEO of The Examiner Corporation. Jeff Yass, a multi-billionaire and the wealthiest man in Pennsylvania has made substantial political donations – much of his money ending up right here in Southeast Texas. Boundaries of Yass’ vast fortune are untold, but his 15% stake in TikTok, according to Forbes Magazine, is alone worth $21 billion. Selling the secret lives of our children to China really brings home the bacon. Many of his recent contributions, totaling millions, have been directed toward the “Club for Growth Action,” a Political Action Committee (PAC) with no Texas-based staff that can be seen, which is sticking their Pinocchio nose into Southeast Texas politics. This PAC recently sent out a mailer featuring an image of Pinocchio to voters in Jefferson and Orange counties, accusing Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan of “Lying” and advocating for us to vote for Phelan’s opponent, David Covey, on May 28.

Who is David Covey? These mailers, that somehow manage to get delivered to our homes when we can’t seem to get regular mail or packages delivered by the post office in a reasonable time, don’t say a word about the candidate they want us to blindly elect. No one seems to know what Covey’s plans are to serve Southeast Texas; all we know is he had billionaires from West Texas, and now from Pennsylvania, paying millions of dollars for TV commercials, Deep Fakes on social media, unsolicited emails and text messages. As a newspaper, many have asked us about Covey and, while we fully endorse Dade Phelan because of his integrity and honesty while still securing state funding for Southeast Texas, we really know nothing of Covey – mostly because he won’t tell us. Numerous calls and emails have gone unanswered. Not interested in an interview? Ok. We sent a list of questions seeking his stance on important policy initiative; again, no answer. So, we searched the internet; Covey is listed on campaign filings as an Oil and Gas Consultant and Lawyer with work experience, yet he is not eligible to be a practicing lawyer with his mail-order, online degree. What Covey fails to mention in campaign literature is his 2013 and 2014 stint as Constituent Liaison for U.S. Congressman Steve Stockman, who, in November 2018, was sentenced to serve 120 months in prison and ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution for orchestrating a four-year scheme from 2010 to 2014 to defraud charitable donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars and secretly funnel the proceeds to pay for personal expenses and to finance his campaigns for public office illegally.

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National Stories

Iran’s attack on Israel raises fears of a wider war, but all sides have also scored gains

The unprecedented attack by Iran on Israel early Sunday ratcheted up regional tensions, confirming long-held fears about the Israel-Hamas war spiraling into a broader conflagration. But Iran, Israel, the United States and Hamas also walked away with some gains. Here’s a look at the fallout. As the more than 300 drones and missiles headed toward Israel in the early hours of Sunday, the country was able to successfully put to the test its aerial defense array, which, along with help from allies, blocked 99% of the projectiles and prevented any major damage.

By contrast, Israel’s military had suffered a bruising defeat at the hands of a far less equipped enemy when Hamas stormed from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7. That was a major blow to Israel’s image as a regional military powerhouse and shattered any sense of invincibility. The response to Iran’s attack could be what restores faith in the country’s military, even as its forces are bogged down in Gaza, more than six months after Israel declared war on Hamas there. Israel has also boasted about the coalition of forces that helped it repel the Iranian assault. It’s a much-needed show of support at a time when Israel is at its most isolated because of concerns surrounding its conduct during the war against Hamas, including a worsening humanitarian crisis and a staggering death toll in Gaza. Iran vowed repeatedly that it would respond to an apparent Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus on April 1 that killed two generals. Sunday’s assault allowed Iran to show to its citizens that it won’t stand by when its assets are attacked and that it was serious when it threatened revenge. With its strike, Iran was able to exhibit its fierce firepower, instill fear in some Israelis and disrupt the lives of many through school cancellations. But with little damage actually caused in Israel, Iran might hope that any response will be measured. Several hours after it launched the drones and missiles, Iran said the operation was over.

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Don’t sneer at white rural voters — or delude yourself about their politics

White rural Americans are a “racist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-gay” authoritarian fifth column that poses an existential threat to our republic. Unless they are actually a downtrodden people who rightly resent the condescension of liberal elites and wish for little more than “to preserve a sense of agency over their future and a continuity of their community’s values and social structures.” These are the twin poles of blue America’s current debate over why rural white folks vote the way they do. This argument is as old as the urban-rural divide itself. But the latest round was triggered by White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy, a bestselling book from the political scientist Tom Schaller and journalist Paul Waldman.

Schaller and Waldman argue that rural white voters are exceptionally reactionary, racist, and anti-democratic. In their telling, these retrograde impulses turn this group into easy prey for a Republican Party that shutters rural hospitals, denies workers’ health insurance, erodes labor rights — and then says, in so many words, let them eat hate. Many commentators and political scientists have taken exception to this argument. The Atlantic’s Tyler Austin Harper argues that White Rural Rage “illustrates how willing many members of the U.S. media and the public are to believe, and ultimately launder, abusive accusations against an economically disadvantaged group of people that would provoke sympathy if its members had different skin color and voting habits.” In his account, the real threat to American democracy “is not white rural rage, but white urban and suburban rage” — a fact that would be plain to Waldman and Schaller, Harper says, if they’d only paid more careful attention to the studies their book cites.

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Activists helped shut down an oil refinery after a series of explosions. The consequences weren’t what they expected

Bilal Motley, utilities manager at a former Philadelphia oil refinery, was working the graveyard shift when a massive explosion broke out in the early morning hours of June 21, 2019. He had only about an hour left of his shift, when frantic reports of a fire at the facility’s hydrofluoric acid unit came rushing in through the radios. Emergency sirens pierced the air, and soon, many of the workers were rushing to the scene of the fire. “I’m a manager, so I have to respond to that,” Motley said. “Then I hear ‘fire at 433.’ That’s our acid unit. That’s the boogeyman.” Fearful for his life, he got in his truck and made his way to the incident. Along the way, more explosions erupted.

A leaking pipe allowed a massive cloud of explosive chemicals to form, which ignited in a series of blasts. The largest explosion sent a 38,000-pound drum fragment, about the same weight as a firetruck, across the Schuylkill River, outside of the refinery’s boundaries. “I thought this was it,” said Motley, who worked at the refinery for nearly 15 years. “This is how I was going to die.” Philadelphia Energy Solutions, which processed 335,000 barrels of crude oil each day, was then the largest oil refining complex on the East Coast. It produced petroleum products including gasoline, jet and diesel fuel, heating oil and petrochemicals used to make things like plastic or rubber. The vast 1,300-acre site hugged the banks of the Schuylkill River on the southern part of the city, where heavy industry has been prominent since the 1860s. The explosion sent shockwaves across Philadelphia, particularly among the residents living less than a mile from the refinery. It wasn’t the first time the 150-year-old refinery had caught on fire. Numerous incidents have occurred at the plant in previous years, prompting local grassroots groups to protest outside the refinery’s gates. No one died from the 2019 explosions, but six workers suffered minor injuries.

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As Trump ponders V.P. contenders, he asks: Can they help me raise cash?

As former President Donald J. Trump sifts through potential running mates, he has peppered some advisers and associates with a direct question: Which Republican could best help him raise money for the rest of the presidential campaign? That inquiry reflects the evolving calculations of Mr. Trump’s vice-presidential search — and how his scramble to keep up with President Biden’s colossal fund-raising totals may be weighing on his mind as he considers his options. Mr. Trump’s selection process, which is still in its early stages, has largely revolved around conventional questions like who could step in as president if needed, political calculations including contenders’ position on abortion rights, and more Trumpian curiosities like whether a politician physically resembles his idea of a vice president.

But Mr. Trump has asked several people about the fund-raising prowess of possible running mates, according to three people with direct knowledge of the conversations, signaling a fresh angle in his search for a running mate. The initial feedback has pointed him toward a handful of members of Congress with strong donor connections and at least one deep-pocketed governor. One long-shot possibility with a proven record of raising piles of cash — former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina — was only recently a bitter presidential rival, and her name can spark outrage from Mr. Trump. “Trump is going to want a team player, and this is going to be about adding value to the ticket,” said former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who remains close with Mr. Trump and set records for Republican fund-raising. “It’s also going to be about someone who understands the job — who understands the Senate and the House — because he’s not going to want to waste one minute in office.” This article is based on interviews with nearly a dozen Republican operatives and politicians who are familiar with Mr. Trump’s deliberations, some of whom have ties to the possible contenders and all of whom insisted on anonymity to discuss the private conversations. In other cases, Mr. Trump has fixated on the whimsical over the practical. He has asked several people about running with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying he is intrigued by the branding potential of a “Trump-Kennedy” ticket despite his recent attacks on Mr. Kennedy and the unlikelihood of such a scenario. Mr. Trump’s campaign team remains adamantly opposed to the idea, and Mr. Kennedy, who is already running for president as an independent, has said he would not consider such an offer.

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As trial looms, Trump plays to a jury of millions

The first criminal trial of Donald J. Trump will begin on Monday, and the 45th president thinks he can win — no matter what the jury decides. Mr. Trump will aim to spin any outcome to his benefit and, if convicted, to become the first felon to win the White House. Manhattan prosecutors, who have accused Mr. Trump of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal, hold advantages that include a list of insider witnesses and a jury pool drawn from one of the country’s most liberal counties. Mr. Trump and some aides and lawyers privately concede that a jury is unlikely to outright acquit him, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. So Mr. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, is seeking to write his own reality, telling a story that he believes could pave his return to the White House. He has framed his failed efforts to delay the case as evidence he cannot receive a fair trial, casting himself as a political martyr under attack from the prosecution and the judge.

To pull off an acquittal, he is considering testifying to personally persuade jurors of his innocence. It would be a rare and risky move for most defendants. But Mr. Trump is putting his own stamp on the role, attacking the district attorney who brought the case, Alvin L. Bragg, with all the power of his bully pulpit. That behavior and its aftershocks are expected to continue throughout a weekslong trial. Mr. Trump, 77, is deploying the same tactics that made him the singular political figure of the last decade. Since announcing his first presidential candidacy, he has bulldozed through American life, flattening political and cultural norms as he goes. He stunned the world as the insurgent victor in the 2016 election, was twice impeached as president and pushed democracy to the brink as the incumbent who refused to concede his 2020 election loss. Now, with jury selection starting on Monday, Mr. Trump will become the first former U.S. president to stand trial on criminal charges. Win or lose, he will be the first presidential candidate whose political fate, before being decided by millions of voters, will be shaped by 12 people in a jury box.

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The century-old transmission line is getting a 21st century upgrade

The green energy transition has been stymied by a lack of long-haul transmission lines to carry clean power from remote wind and solar farms to cities and power-hungry data centers where it’s needed. The most discussed option is building more transmission projects. But startup TS Conductor Corp. says the key to addressing the shortfall isn’t just adding lines to the grid; it’s installing better ones that can deliver more electricity and potentially lower costs. The Huntington Beach, Calif.-based company has developed a power cable that weighs less and can carry more electricity than the standard wires that have been used for more than a century. While lining up permits and approvals to build new transmission projects can take years, TS Conductor contends that utilities can boost capacity now by replacing existing towers’ wires with its product. Tests are already underway, including by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

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Lead Stories

GOP closes community outreach centers in South Texas, hoping border policy will sway Hispanic voters

Four years ago, Donald Trump stunned Democrats when he made significant inroads in South Texas, chipping away at the longtime Democratic stronghold and flipping Zapata County red for the first time. National Republicans saw an opportunity to court Hispanic voters in South Texas, opening a handful of community centers across the region, including in McAllen, San Antonio and Laredo. They hosted candidate meet-and-greets, voter registration drives, classes and parties. The 2022 election came and went, though, with few gains for Republicans. They picked up one McAllen-based congressional seat, in part because redistricting made the seat redder, but Republicans largely underperformed the lofty expectations they’d set for themselves.

Heading into the 2024 election, and with Trump again at the top of the ticket, Republicans are campaigning less aggressively in South Texas. Instead of going all-in on the region and focusing heavily on congressional races, the party is hoping that hot-button immigration and border issues will drive local residents to vote for the GOP. The RNC has closed many of the Hispanic community centers it opened ahead of the 2022 election. One of its venues in McAllen relocated to Edinburg to reflect updated congressional lines. Other centers do not seem to have been replaced, and the RNC declined to confirm exactly how many centers were open in Texas in 2022 and how many are active now. A spokesperson for the RNC said the organization’s budget can only last through a chair’s tenure, so the centers’ leases ended when former Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel was ousted earlier this year. The organization decided to seek new locations for “some” of the sites. The New York Times reported last month that the RNC was also shuttering outreach centers in California, New York and North Carolina. Marco Frieri, the Hispanic media director for the Democratic National Committee, said Latinos are “one of the most powerful forces in our democracy,” but Republicans aren’t prioritizing them as such.

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Trump eyes Sid Miller for USDA chief

Former President Donald Trump is considering naming a former rodeo cowboy turned bomb-throwing Texas agriculture commissioner to lead the Agriculture Department if he wins the White House. Sid Miller, a MAGA loyalist, has warred with agriculture interests and threatened to “hunt” moderate “RINO” Republicans back home, including those who won reelection in 2024 or, as Miller put it, “ slipped the noose.” And he has been investigated, but not charged, for misusing state funds for travel to a rodeo. His former political consultant is also set to face trial this summer on theft and bribery charges in a scheme involving hemp licenses from Miller’s department. Nevertheless, Trump has indicated to some allies that Miller is a leading prospect for the top post at USDA, according to two people familiar with recent conversations Trump has had about his second term plans, who were granted anonymity to discuss the private talks.

For the Agriculture Department — and food and agriculture policy, writ large — Miller’s nomination would represent a seismic shift. As secretary, Miller would likely oversee attempts to claw back billions of dollars the Biden administration has dedicated to fighting climate change in agriculture, and to shrink the size of the country’s largest nutrition programs for low-income Americans. He could also play a key role in shaping the next farm bill — a $1.5 trillion legislative package that determines agriculture, nutrition and rural policy — should the current Congress end up punting it into 2025. And if Miller’s record in Texas is any indication, he’d struggle to find compromise with dissenters — from either party. Some former Trump officials dismiss the idea that Trump would ultimately put a lightning rod like Miller in charge of USDA, given how many critics he has in the GOP. As agriculture commissioner in Texas, he’s sparred with influential conservative-leaning agriculture groups after he hiked fees for department services. Miller has also openly clashed with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over pandemic and border policies, and even publicly teased a future challenge to the third-term governor.

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President Joe Biden considers executive action to close US border with Mexico

President Joe Biden, under intense pressure since the earliest days of his administration to stem the record pace of unlawful immigration, said he is considering taking unilateral action to close the nation's border with Mexico if circumstances warrant such a move. "We're examining whether or not I have that power," Biden told Univision in an interview Tuesday at the White House. "There's no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation. "Some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it, and if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court. But we're trying to work that right now." The comments to journalist Enrique Acevedo come as the Democratic president is gearing up for a rematch with former President Donald Trump, who is vowing to reinstate his own hard-line immigration policies if voters return him to the White House after the Nov. 5 election.

Biden has blamed Trump for scuttling what had been touted as a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill to address the border crisis by adding 1,500 Customs and Border Protection agents and 4,300 asylum officers. Trump urged congressional Republicans to vote against the measure to deprive Biden of a legislative victory in an election year. When Biden and Trump in early March were holding competing events on the same day along the Texas-Mexico border, the president called out his predecessor for derailing the measure. "Both houses supported this legislation until someone came along and said, 'Don't do that, it will benefit the incumbent,'" Biden said in Brownsville as Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott were in Eagle Pass, about 300 miles away. "That's a hell of a way to do business in America for such a serious problem." Trump returned fire in kind, saying of the border crisis: "This is a Joe Biden invasion," a term Texas Republicans have used to describe the surge in migrants and to provide cover for the state government implementing its own controversial border security measures. Democrats and rights groups have warned against painting asylum-seekers — many of whom are escaping violence and poverty in Venezuela, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba, according to the city of El Paso — as invaders as it could trigger violence against them.

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Trump to meet an embattled Johnson, putting their tortured ties on display

Speaker Mike Johnson may not have a functional majority in Congress, but his job is similar to the Republicans who preceded him in at least one respect: The duties include the difficult task of managing Donald J. Trump. Mr. Johnson on Friday will travel to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, to join him for what the speaker has billed as a “major announcement on election integrity.” No further details have been forthcoming. The two men had been planning to get together for a political meeting, but Mr. Johnson’s team suggested a joint public appearance on a topic Mr. Trump cares deeply about, according to two people familiar with the planning.

It will afford Mr. Johnson the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Trump at a precarious moment in his speakership, as he works to corral a minuscule and deeply divided majority around a legislative agenda many of them oppose — all while facing the threat of an ouster from Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Georgia Republican and ride-or-die Trump ally. Making matters even trickier, Mr. Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is helping to undermine that agenda. Even so, Republicans generally consider it good and politically helpful to be physically near Mr. Trump. “It’s about Trump embracing Johnson,” former Speaker Newt Gingrich said of Friday’s joint appearance. “This is Trump saying, ‘He is the speaker, I am his friend, we are together.’ That’s a pretty important thing for him. He just has to endure.” Mr. Trump does think of Mr. Johnson, who defended him in two impeachment trials and played a key role in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, as something like a friend, people close to him said. He likes the Louisiana Republican, and likes his loyalty even more. (He especially appreciated that Mr. Johnson quickly endorsed him after becoming speaker, a move that his predecessor Kevin McCarthy always resisted). The two speak regularly, and Mr. Trump has even come around on some of the congressional endorsements Mr. Johnson has lobbied him on. Still, if this is what an embrace looks like, it’s not clear that it’s so much better than the alternative.

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State Stories

U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess named House Rules Committee chairman

U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess can expect some busy days and late nights during his remaining months in Congress after being named chairman of the House Rules Committee on Thursday. The committee serves as a gatekeeper for most major legislation, setting the terms for amendments and debate on bills as they move toward a floor vote. Burgess, R-Pilot Point, highlighted the committee’s lack of constraints on speaking time that are typically imposed by other committees. Any House member is welcome to show up and speak on bills when they come up for discussion. “The Rules Committee is so important because it is literally every member’s opportunity to be heard,” Burgess told The Dallas Morning News.

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., gave up the Rules gavel to become chair of the Appropriations Committee, taking the place of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, who said she was stepping down early to ensure a smooth transition as she prepares to leave Congress at the end of the year. Burgess’ chairmanship will serve as a capstone for a career spanning more than two decades. Burgess, 73, announced last year that he would not seek a 12th term. He said Thursday he plans to spend the rest of this year focusing on important issues such as record-high inflation and border security. Burgess recalled joining the Rules Committee 10 years ago at the urging of then-chairman U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco, who wanted more policy experts on the panel. Burgess is one of 19 physicians in Congress and has been a prominent Republican voice on health care since he was first elected in 2002.

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Lt. Gov. Patrick asks senators to study the cost of eliminating property taxes

Less than a year after Texas lawmakers agreed to $18 billion in property tax cuts, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick directed senators to study how much it would cost to eliminate them entirely. Patrick, who leads the Senate, ordered legislators on Thursday to study a host of policies ahead of the upcoming legislative session, including whether Delta 8 and Delta 9 hemp products should be banned in Texas and how the state should regulate artificial intelligence. But the property tax issue, which dominated much of last year’s regular legislative session and two special sessions, may be the highest-profile item on the agenda.

In a news release, Patrick said “continued property tax relief” would be a top conservative priority when the Legislature reconvenes in Austin next January. The Republican tasked senators with identifying the best policy combinations to continue cutting tax bills, and he also asked them to determine how much it would cost the state to eliminate school maintenance and operation property taxes; all school property taxes; and all property taxes. While compiling that report, Patrick asked senators to review how the state would raise money to cover the losses and whether that would negatively impact Texas’ ability to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies. “For example, determine the effect on other state programs if general revenue were used to fully replace school property taxes, particularly during economic downturns,” the lieutenant governor wrote. Gov. Greg Abbott last year asked the GOP-led Legislature to pass a massive property tax cut through “compression,” which cuts school property taxes by replacing that revenue with state money, with the eventual goal of scrapping property taxes completely. That’s been a major priority for some Texas Republicans over the years, and it’s been championed by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential right-leaning think tank in Austin.

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Memorial Hermann doctor made 'inappropriate changes' to transplant patient records, hospital says

Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center has found evidence that a doctor was manipulating records for liver transplant candidates, potentially preventing some patients from receiving life-saving organs, according to a statement from the health system. The hospital declined to identify the doctor. The New York Times reported he is Dr. J. Steve Bynon, a prominent surgeon who, in 2011, took over the hospital’s abdominal transplant program, which includes kidney and liver operations. Bynon could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. The hospital said the “inappropriate changes… effectively inactivated the candidates on the liver transplant waiting list. Subsequently, these patients did not/were not able to receive organ donation offers while inactive.”

The allegations are a blow to Memorial Hermann, one of the largest hospitals in the country and the oldest in the Texas Medical Center, and to hundreds of patients awaiting a transplant there. Despite its size, the hospital’s liver transplant center is one of the smallest in Texas, having performed 30 transplants last year, according to federal data. Memorial Hermann halted its kidney transplant program on Tuesday, four days after it inactivated its liver transplant program. Both stoppages were due to “a pattern of irregularities” with liver donor acceptance criteria, the hospital said at the time. A hospital investigation found problems with information entered into a database used to match donor organs with patients, officials said Thursday. The information included the patient’s age and weight. The hospital did not provide further details. Memorial Hermann has seen an increasing number of its liver transplant candidates die on the wait list or become too sick for a transplant in recent years, according to data from the Organ Procurement Transplantation Network. The data shows that four patients fell into that criteria in 2021, followed by 11 in 2022 and 14 in 2023. Five patients have died or become too sick to transplant so far this year, while the hospital has performed only three liver transplants.

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Why Houston Congressman Dan Crenshaw called Tucker Carlson 'full of s—'

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw is settling scores with an old nemesis, publicly blasting former Fox News host Tucker Carlson as a “click-chaser” and “cowardly, know-nothing elitist who is full of s—.” The Houston Republican on Wednesday joined a list of conservative commentators angry with Carlson for airing allegations on his still-influential interview program that Israel’s war against Hamas is hurting Christians in Gaza and Benjamin Netanyahu's supporters in Congress are ignoring it. “A consistent but almost never noted theme of American foreign policy is that it is always the Christians who suffer,” Carlson said on his Tucker Carlson Uncensored program, which runs on the social media site X. “When there's a war abroad that the United States is funding, it is Christians who tend to die disproportionately.”

Carlson went on to interview an Evangelical Lutheran pastor from Bethlehem who said politicians know little about what is happening on the ground and suggested Americans were helping support Israel's damage to Christian communities. The interview has been met with wide criticism from supporters of Israel who accuse Carlson of intentionally pitting Christians against Jews to create divisions in the United States. John Podhoretz, a conservative commentator and former speechwriter for George H.W. Bush, called Carlson’s interview “Anti Semite filth.” Others on the right have accused Carlson of fanning anti-Israeli sentiment. Crenshaw, an ardent supporter of Israel in its war against Hamas, went on social media to blast Carlson for using “his platform to sow doubt and paranoia and false narratives.” “This nonsense about Christian mistreatment in Israel is just the latest example,” Crenshaw said. “Tucker will eventually fade into nothingness because his veneer of faux intellectualism is quickly falling apart and revealing who he truly is: a cowardly, know-nothing elitist who is full of s—.” Carlson has been a frequent critic of Crenshaw, especially over the congressman's support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. At one point, Carlson started calling Crenshaw “eye patch McCain,” a reference to the eye injury Crenshaw sustained as a Navy SEAL fighting in Afghanistan and former U.S. Sen. John McCain whom Carlson frequently accused of being too pro-war.

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Houston City Council approves Mayor Whitmire’s overhaul of Metro leadership

Mayor John Whitmire completed his overhaul of the Metro leadership Wednesday, winning City Council approval for a new slate of board members who he tasked with getting to work on what he calls nuts and bolts issues for all Houstonians. With little discussion, the council approved naming Christopher McMillan, Kathy Han and T. Leon Preston to the Metro board of directors. Council members also approved Whitmire’s reappointment of Teresa Morales, the sole holdover from board members named by former Mayor Sylvester Turner.

The appointees were later Wednesday sworn in as board members by Metro Chairwoman Elizabeth Brock. The new transit board will maintain a disability advocate on the board – McMillan. The board also will have its first Vietnamese member, Han, who as a municipal court judge, also adds a lawyer back to the board. Often the board is comprised of people with backgrounds in business, engineering and law. “This is a robust team that is fully committed to making Metro a safe, clean, accessible and viable option that people choose to use,” Brock said in a statement. The trio replace current city appointees Lex Frieden, Troi Taylor and Diann Lewter, and upon their confirmation to the board will be the fourth, fifth and sixth new members since mid-February. Whitmire appointed Brock as Metro chairwoman on Feb. 13, and she was sworn in Feb. 29, along with Harris County appointee Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, who replaced Houston Controller Chris Hollins. Hollins resigned, as required, when he took office following his election.

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HPD: Dozens of DNA matches in sex assaults went unnoticed until review of suspended cases

Dozens of sexual assault kits that were tested by forensic scientists and provided evidence in Houston Police Department investigations were uncovered in the last two weeks of the department’s investigation into cases suspended using an internal code citing a lack of personnel. Police Chief Troy Finner on Thursday afternoon provided details about the department’s review of more than 4,017 sex assault cases that were among the more than 264,000 incident reports marked down by police under a code called “SL” — Suspended: Lack of personnel” — since 2016. Finner released a statement about the sexual assault case review on Monday, with a promise to provide more details. During Thursday’s statement, Finner didn’t blame the Houston Forensic Science Center for the lapses in investigation, but it remained unclear how tested kits that provided matches to potential suspects in a federal database managed to still be suspended.

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Could geothermal be the energy of the future? Texas oil companies think maybe so

Oil companies have been drilling holes in the ground for close to a century, burrowing through miles of rock to access an energy source deep underground. So with a new wave of geothermal startups looking to drill wells thousands of feet beneath the earth's surface, where temperatures run over 300 degrees Fahrenheit, oil companies would seem a natural partner. And attention on them has only ramped up after Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called on oil companies last month to use "all of the skills and infrastructure of traditional oil and gas drilling" to bring what has been a niche industry into the mainstream. And with first wave of next generation geothermal projects scheduled to come online over the next two years, oil executives are watching closely to see if it's worth risking the hundreds of billions of dollars the Department of Energy estimates is needed to get geothermal up to scale.

"I would say they're dipping their toe into geothermal," said Cindy Taff, a longtime oil executive at Shell who is now CEO of Houston-based Sage Geosystems, a geothermal startup that uses hydraulic fracturing technology to drill geothermal wells in South Texas. "We need to crack the code on making it commercially viable. Until then they're watching the technology evolve, and then they’ll decide which horse to put their money on." Geothermal has long been something of a golden ring for the energy sector, offering carbon-free electricity without the radioactive waste problem of nuclear plants or intermittency of wind and solar power. But conventional geothermal wells, which tap into extremely hot underground aquifers, were limited to a small number of locations around the globe such as Indonesia and California. That all began to change a few years ago when companies began to experiment with using hydraulic fracturing and other technologies, injecting water underground to be heated up and brought back to the surface, allowing geothermal power plants in places that never would have made sense in the past, including Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico. After a series of successful pilot projects and lucrative subsidies made available by Congress through the Inflation Reduction Act, a small group of startups like Sage are launching their first commercial-scale projects.

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Texas millionaires are on the rise. What’s behind that growing wealth?

As the April 15 Tax Day approaches, the number of Texans who earned more than a million dollars last year could hit a new high, data suggests. In 2021, about 12.6 million tax returns were filed in Texas, according to Internal Revenue Service data released in February. Of those, 72,880 reported an adjusted gross income of at least $1 million, according to a new analysis from the Houston Business Journal. That’s a 47% increase from the 49,420 Texans who made it into the million-plus club in 2020. Those earners therefore qualified as members of Texas’ “1%,” along with some 50,000 other filers, according to the IRS data. While 2021 is the most recent year for which IRS data is available, it is likely that the number of million-dollar earners in Texas has grown since then, a result of the ongoing recovery from the pandemic.

Some of the filers who reported million-plus incomes in 2021 are likely newly minted Texans. Since the century began, domestic migration has steadily contributed to Texas' overall population growth, with some newcomers fleeing high-tax states such as California and New York. However, California and New York also had an increase in the number of filers reporting at least $1 million in income in 2021 compared with 2020, according to the data. California ranked first in the nation in terms of million-dollar earners in 2021, with about 156,000 people reporting that level of income compared with 110,000 in 2020. Another factor in the growing number of Texas millionaires, the Houston Business Journal reports, was “the rapidly evolving pay picture at all levels” as workers made more as a result of an extremely tight post-pandemic labor market, which has only loosened slightly since then. A booming stock market has helped boost incomes too, for Texans with the means to invest. According to Forbes magazine’s 38th annual World Billionaires List, released last week, there are now 15 billionaires in Houston, up from 12 in 2023, and the collective wealth of the 12 who were on the list last year has increased from $71.1 billion in 2023 to $81.5 billion as of this month.

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DEI, tenure, antisemitism: Texas Lt. Gov. Patrick’s priorities for higher education

Texas’ DEI ban at colleges, professors’ tenure and antisemitism on campuses are among the issues Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants reviewed ahead of next year’s legislative session. Patrick released a 15-page document Thursday detailing the interim charges for the Texas Senate to explore in the coming months, which included critical examinations of faculty on college campuses as well as free speech. One charge is to monitor the state’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion at public colleges and universities. He wants lawmakers to examine “the progress each institution has made in aligning university policies and procedures with the provisions of Senate Bill 17, ensuring Texas college campuses foster equal opportunity and reward individual merit and achievement.”

Out of seven higher education priorities, two focus on professors and instructors. Patrick wants senators to examine the role of faculty senates – a structure of governance in higher education where faculty members debate academic issues and voice opinions through internal votes and public statements with recommendations for the administration. Another is resurfacing his concerns about tenure, which he tried to abolish last year. The Lt. Gov. wants to focus on innovation and technology by investigating “opportunities and challenges of emerging technology on teaching and learning, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), online education, and digital resources.” He also wants to monitor implementation of a new community college funding model to ensure that Texas is educating the next generations for the workforce. Such campuses can earn more in state funding based on student success, which includes the number of degrees and industry certificates a college awards and those who transfer on to a four-year university.

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Challengers sign ‘contract with Texas’ to push the legislature more conservative

Conservative candidates running to unseat Republicans in the Texas House joined with some of the most conservative representatives in signing the “Contract with Texas,” a commitment to procedural changes like eliminating Democratic committee chairs that they say will make the House more efficient in passing conservative priorities. “Texans are fundamentally annoyed, frustrated, disappointed with the obstruction, the dysfunction within the Texas House,” GOP nominee for House District 65 Mitch Little said. “Our desire in creating the Contract with Texas is to create a framework where a future speaker is going to have a chance to succeed in ways that are going to inspire Republican voters and empower people in the legislature to do the things that they send us down there to do.”

The contract calls for candidates for House Speaker to solicit support from only Republicans, to strip Democrats from committee chair positions, and give all Republican priorities a vote before considering any Democratic bills. The contract is signed by representatives Brian Harrison, J.M. Lozano, Nate Schatzline, Tony Tinderholy, and Steve Toth, as well as 18 other conservative candidates. “What we’re trying to do here with this contract is to put the voters back in charge, be responsive to the will of the voters that have elected Republicans,” State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, said. “We are trying to reform the House. And my goal is to make it Republican once again.” Republican Speaker Dade Phelan has heralded the two sessions over which he has presided as the most conservative in Texas history. A strengthening wing of his party pushing to oust him disagrees, pointing to specific conservative legislation that failed to pass. Harrison and Little point to House Bill 20, a sweeping border security measure that would have created a state border patrol unit. They also point to measures to ban local governments from hiring lobbyists and ban some foreign citizens from buying property.

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Ted Cruz, Colin Allred each raise $9 million-plus over three months in US Senate race

Foreshadowing an expensive and spirited sprint to November, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Colin Allred have each raised more than $9 million in campaign contributions during the first three months of 2024. Cruz, seeking his third six-year term in Washington, said his campaign raised $9.7 million across three separate entities that are supporting his reelection. Allred, a three-term Dallas congressman who is giving up a safe seat to make his first statewide race, hauled in $9.5 million just from his Senate campaign.

Early fundraising numbers serve the twin purpose of demonstrating a candidate's ability to mount a credible campaign — especially in a large state like Texas, which has five major TV markets and about a dozen other midsize ones — and measuring support before a race shifts into high gear. The campaigns made their dollar-figure totals as well as other statistics for the first quarter of 2024 available ahead of the Federal Election Commission's finance reporting deadline later this month. The official filings will contain more detailed information. Allred and Cruz each issued news releases with top-line figures designed to show their campaigns' muscle. Cruz's camp boasted it has received contributions from people in each of Texas' 254 counties and all 50 states from Jan. 1 through March 31. Allred also highlighted his own broad geographical footprint, but with a caveat: contributions to the Democrat came from people in 247 counties, but his camp uses a yardstick that measures back to the launch of his candidacy almost a year ago, not just this year's first quarter. Allred did not say from how many states his contributions came. Allred said more than 285,000 people have sent his campaign money since he entered the race. Cruz listed his three-month count of campaign contributors at 179,000 and change.

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New Mexico on cartels’ radar as Texas cracks down on migration, GOP lawmakers say

Some Republican state senators from New Mexico have returned from the U.S.-Mexico border with demands for the governor to address the “escalating crisis,” saying that Texas’ crackdown on migration has forced it to their state. In a letter to Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the 13 senators urged her to call for a special session to secure the southern border. Among the demands are committing state resources and funding to improve surveillance and deploying the National Guard.

“Several of us have visited the border and witnessed firsthand the impacts of this crisis on our local communities and state,” said the letter. “The unchecked flow of illegal immigration is compromising our national security and exposing our constituents to heightened criminal activity, including human trafficking, drug trafficking, violent crime, and damage to private property. This has caused considerable strains on local resources and frankly, the situation is becoming altogether unmanageable.” The entire New Mexico border with Mexico is part of the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector, which stretches from the New Mexico-Arizona state lines to the edge of Husdspedth County, Texas, and includes all of El Paso County, Texas. CBP data for the El Paso Sector shows 225,565 illegal crossings between ports of entry in Fiscal Year 2023, which ended on Sept. 30, 2023. Border agents in the El Paso Sector have encountered 119,905 migrants so far this fiscal year. The senators believe illegal crossings will eclipse those of last year without action by the state. “Given the recent crackdown by Texas on illegal crossings, the cartels are now seeking alternative routes, and New Mexico is on their radar,” the senators wrote. The senators provided data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection that shows a spike in migrant encounters during every year that President Joe Biden has been in office. The data says migrant encounters rose from 125,628 in Fiscal Year 2021 to 170,846 in FY23 in New Mexico.

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American Airlines CEO Robert Isom’s pay package grows to $31.4 million in 2023

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom brought in a total of $31.4 million last year, according to a regulatory filing released Thursday. Isom’s pay package for 2023 was made up of three components: a $16.5 million direct salary, $11 million in a bonus that was reported in September and a $3.9 million annual bonus that was paid in 2023 but earned in 2022. Broken down further, Isom, 60, makes $1.3 million in a base salary, and $15.2 million in incentives and other compensation, totaling $16.5 million. Isom’s $11 million bump in September — a $2.75 million bonus and $8.25 million worth of restricted stock grants was aimed at incentivizing the CEO to keep the company performing during his tenure. He stepped into the job in March 2022.

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Rashee Rice, Kansas City Chiefs WR, surrenders after Dallas hit-and-run crash

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice turned himself into authorities and was booked into a DeSoto jail Thursday, more than a week after he was involved in a multivehicle collision in Dallas. Rice, a former Southern Methodist football player who grew up near Fort Worth, is facing eight charges related to a six-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 75. He admitted to driving a Lamborghini Urus involved in the collision, officials said, which injured four people. A DeSoto city spokesman told The Dallas Morning News that Rice had bonded out. Dallas police said in a news release sent about 9 p.m. Rice turned himself into Glenn Heights police. Records show his bail was set at $40,000. Theodore “Teddy” Knox, a current SMU football player, is facing the same charges in connection to the March 30 crash, Dallas police say. He is believed to have been driving a Chevrolet Corvette seen speeding right before the collision. Knox, 21, has been suspended from the team, the university announced Thursday. He is not in custody, Dallas police said Thursday.

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Chuck Swindoll steps down as senior pastor of Frisco megachurch

Chuck Swindoll is stepping down as senior pastor of Frisco’s Stonebriar Community Church, a nondenominational congregation he helped found in 1998 and has led since. The church announced the news in a press release Tuesday that named Jonathan Murphy, a professor and department chair at Dallas Theological Seminary, as its next senior pastor. Murphy will start on May 1, 2024, and Swindoll will transition to a new role as founding pastor and continue preaching on Sundays. More than 3,000 people attend Sunday services at Stonebriar, the press release says, and around 16,000 watch online.

A native of Texas and former Marine, he graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1963. He served at churches in Dallas, Irving and Massachusetts before spending over 20 years as senior pastor of First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, Calif. In 1994, he became president of Dallas Theological Seminary, a position he held until 2001. He placed second to Billy Graham in a 2009 survey that asked Protestant pastors to name the living Christian preachers who had most influenced them. “I am so pleased to see Jonathan joining the team,” Swindoll said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News. “There’s no one else I would want to share this experience with and we are excited to see what God has in store for us and the congregation of our church.” Originally from Northern Ireland, Jonathan Murphy has been a regular guest preacher at Stonebriar over the last five years, the church’s press release said.

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Activists protest as Biden administration OKs huge oil export terminal off Texas coast

In a move that environmentalists called a betrayal, the Biden administration has approved the construction of a deepwater oil export terminal off the Texas coast that would be the largest of its kind in the United States. The Sea Port Oil Terminal being developed off Freeport will be able to load two supertankers at once, with an export capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil per day. The $1.8 billion project by Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners received a deepwater port license from the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration this week, the final step in a five-year federal review. Environmentalists denounced the license approval, saying it contradicted President Joe Biden’s climate agenda and would lead to “disastrous” planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to nearly 90 coal-fired power plants. The action could jeopardize Biden’s support from environmental allies and young voters already disenchanted by the Democratic administration’s approval last year of the massive Willow oil project in Alaska.

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City Stories

Proposed tax freeze for seniors roils Terrell Hills

Older homeowners in Terrell Hills could reap significant savings if voters approve a property tax freeze for seniors next month. But city officials are warning that the measure — which is on the city's May 4 ballot — would leave younger property owners with two bad options: Pay higher taxes or receive fewer municipal services. Or maybe a combination of the two. John Low, mayor of this exclusive suburban city of 5,000, wedged between Alamo Heights and San Antonio, said as much in a recent city newsletter. “While the adoption of a senior tax freeze is certainly a benefit for our older residents, it will not come without a cost to our other tax-paying residents and/or an increased pressure on our first responders and other city departments to deliver the services our citizens have come to expect,” Low said.

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Wilmer's annexation grabs run afoul of the law, riles homeowners

Glenda Hefner calls where she lives “the black hole of Wilmer.” It doesn't look like a black hole on the city's planning map — more of a gray rectangle that captures her property and the one across the road from her. All around them is the city, mostly covered in warehouses: massive, flat structures, filled with tools, diapers, washing machines and other goods delivered from the nearby rail yard. From her 2-acre property, Hefner needs to drive only a short distance down North Goode Road before she runs into the industrial behemoths that have replaced the fields of her youth in Wilmer. At about a million square feet, the facilities have been affecting the water pressure from her neighbors’ wells. They appear all around Wilmer, even right near the center of the city. They have put Wilmer “on the map,” Mayor Sheila Petta says.

Once a city of 3,000 people, Wilmer was surrounded by farmland, fields of cotton and wheat, and scores of homes like Hefner’s just outside the city’s boundaries. Many of those property owners would like to keep it that way and not pay city taxes for services such as sewer and water they’re not receiving. Wilmer’s officials have other ideas, though, and they want those warehouses inside the city’s boundaries, so the city has gone on an aggressive annexation spree since 2008, roping in properties, often whether the owners like it or not. Trouble is, the Texas Legislature cares very much about whether property owners want to be annexed and effectively outlawed involuntary annexation in 2019. That fact and a handful of successful lawsuits over the years haven’t diminished Wilmer’s hunger, though. And the problem for homeowners in this rural, not affluent section of Dallas County is that fighting an unlawful annexation means going to court, which takes money. Hefner had fond memories of the roller rink in town and Cottonwood Creek where she and others played as children. Later, she would struggle to recall that fondness, in part because of certain city officials. They tried to force her property and others into the city, but they won't compel the diesel shop next door, which is inside city limits, to finish its parking lot.

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National Stories

O.J. Simpson dies of cancer at age 76, his family says

O.J. Simpson, the former NFL star and broadcaster whose athletic achievements and fame were eclipsed by his 1995 trial in the brutal killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, has died of cancer, his family announced Thursday on X. He was 76. A post from the “Simpson Family” on Simpson’s verified X account Thursday morning said: “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.” “He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”

Simpson’s prostate cancer diagnosis was made public about two months ago, Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in a statement. The Hall of Fame player had received chemotherapy treatment. While Simpson was a highly decorated athlete – winning the 1968 Heisman Trophy as a senior running back at the University of Southern California before playing for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and later the San Francisco 49ers – he became perhaps one of the most controversial figures of the late 20th century after he was charged with the murders of his former wife and her friend. A jury found him not guilty in a trial that saw America’s fascination with celebrity collide with its centuries-long struggle with race, as well as issues of class, policing and criminal justice. Those themes – and the judge’s decision to allow the trial to be televised – coalesced in what many called a “Trial of the Century” that held the country’s attention in a vise grip for nearly nine months before evolving into a cultural touchstone.

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Trump and Johnson build alliance on the falsehood of the stolen election

House Speaker Mike Johnson will stand Friday with Donald Trump at an appearance that will amplify the former president’s most damaging falsehood: that America’s democratic elections are catastrophically tainted by fraud. The country’s most powerful elected Republican, who is seeking to save his job under threat from Trump-aligned members of his own party in Congress, will travel to meet the true power in the GOP at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The visit comes as the the ex-president’s allies are eviscerating his authority and even threatening to topple him. It also takes place three days before Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, becomes the first former president to go on trial, with the beginning of jury selection in a New York case related to a hush money payment to an adult film star.

And there will be another twist Friday in the legal saga over Trump’s forthcoming trial in Florida over his hoarding of classified documents. Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, whose no-rush management of pre-trial litigation means it’s increasingly unlikely the case will be adjudicated before November’s election, will hear an attempt by two of Trump’s co-accused to have the case dismissed. The announced topic of Johnson and Trump’s joint public statement on Friday is “election integrity” – the catch-all term for the stew of conspiracy theories and lies about the 2020 election that Trump is now using as the foundation of his 2024 bid for a new term. The price for Republicans seeking the ex-president’s support has long been a willingness to promote his fictional stolen election conceit. So Johnson’s visit to Trump’s residence may suggest he’s ready to make a similar down payment if the ex-president prevents his ouster as speaker. The two GOP leaders are expected to draw attention to what they say are state proposals and lawsuits that would allow non-citizens to vote, CNN’s Kristen Holmes and Fredreka Schouten reported Thursday. Some cities or jurisdictions do allow non-citizens to cast ballots in non-federal elections — for positions on school boards for example.

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Senate Republicans furious over Trump derailing FISA bill

Senate Republicans vented their frustration after former President Trump helped derail a compromise House bill to extend Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authority, sending lawmakers scrambling to find a Plan B to keep the nation’s intelligence agencies from losing their ability to spy on adversaries and terrorists. Republican senators are warning that the nation’s spy program is about to go “dark” and that much of the intelligence that goes into President Biden’s daily briefing could be lost, putting the nation at risk for surprise attacks. “I’m very disappointed in President Trump’s assessment of FISA. It is an essential tool. It may need to be amended but it is absolutely essential as everyone in the intelligence community will tell you,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) warned that failure to pass the bill would cripple the nation’s intelligence gathering. “If we can’t spy on foreign terrorists and foreign spies overseas, we’re out of the intelligence business,” he said. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), another member of the Intelligence Committee, pointed out that much of the national security intelligence provided to Biden on a daily basis comes from information gathered under FISA’s Section 702. “So I think we need to reform it, not end it,” Cornyn said. Asked what it would mean for national security if Congress killed FISA’s warrantless surveillance authority under Section 702, Cornyn warned: “We’d go dark on a lot of threats. I’m hoping there can be a more extended conversation about what the reforms should look like.”

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RNC under Lara Trump spreads ‘massive fraud’ claims about 2020 election

The Republican National Committee last week sent out a scripted call to voters’ phones on behalf of new co-chair Lara Trump saying Democrats committed “massive fraud” in the 2020 election. It’s the latest example of how the RNC under the former president’s daughter-in-law is perpetuating lies about the 2020 election, even as prominent Republicans say the party needs to look forward to win in 2024. “We all know the problems. No photo IDs, unsecured ballot drop boxes, mass mailing of ballots, and voter rolls chock full of deceased people and non-citizens are just a few examples of the massive fraud that took place,” the RNC call said. “If Democrats have their way, your vote could be canceled out by someone who isn’t even an American citizen.”

The claim of “massive fraud” in the 2020 election marks a significant shift in messaging for the RNC because lies about the 2020 election had not been a consistent theme in its messaging since Donald Trump left office. But the call’s message is largely consistent with the views publicly espoused over the past four years by Lara Trump, who was elected as co-chair in early March as part of Donald Trump’s takeover of the GOP. Lara Trump has a long history of echoing his election fraud claims, according to a CNN KFile analysis of her past statements as a commentator and surrogate for the former president. “I’m sure you agree with co-chair Trump that we cannot allow the chaos and questions of the 2020 election to ever happen again,” said the call, which was obtained by CNN’s KFile from the anti-robocall application Nomorobo, which estimated 145,000 calls were sent with the message from April 1-7. It comes amid previous CNN reporting about the RNC asking employees who are reapplying for their jobs whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen in an apparent litmus test for hiring.

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Biden administration will require thousands more gun dealers to run background checks

Thousands more firearms dealers across the United States will have to run background checks on buyers at gun shows or other places outside brick-and-mortar stores, according to a Biden administration rule that will soon go into effect. The rule aims to close a loophole that has allowed tens of thousands of guns to be sold every year by unlicensed dealers who do not perform background checks to ensure the potential buyer is not legally prohibited from having a firearm. Gun rights groups are expected to fight it in court. It’s the administration’s latest effort to combat gun violence. But in a contentious election year, it’s also an effort to show voters — especially younger ones for whom gun violence deeply resonates — that the White House is trying to stop the deaths.

“This is going to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and felons,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “And my administration is going to continue to do everything we possibly can to save lives. Congress needs to finish the job and pass universal background checks legislation now.” The rule, which was finalized this week, makes clear that anyone who sells firearms predominantly to earn a profit must be federally licensed and conduct background checks, regardless of whether they are selling on the internet, at a gun show or at a brick-and-mortar store, Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters. Biden has made curtailing gun violence a major part of his administration and reelection campaign, creating the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden also has urged Congress to ban so-called assault weapons — something Democrats shied from even just a few years ago. The rule is likely to be challenged in court by gun rights activists who believe the Democratic president is unfairly targeting gun owners. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade group, has warned of a court challenge if the rule was finalized as written.

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SEC’s narrower emissions rules shaped by powerful farm lobby

For all of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s lobbying prowess in Washington, the Securities and Exchange Commission wasn’t a place where it had much experience. It hadn’t needed it. The SEC, after all, didn’t have much to do with farming. That is, until it proposed rules in 2022 that would have required big public companies to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of their suppliers—among them, family farmers. Lacking the agency contacts he had elsewhere, lobbyist Travis Cushman fell back on the argument the Farm Bureau has leaned on in Washington for so long: This was another case of bureaucrats saddling small farmers with unwarranted costs. Cushman also fell back on familiar faces in Congress. He won critical help from a fellow farmer in the Senate. But just as critically, the SEC’s chief Democratic nemesis in the Senate elected not to stand in the way of the agency killing that requirement as part of a broader package of climate reporting rules.

All that was enough for SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who’d sought more limited climate disclosure requirements to begin with. The final climate rules issued in March took out the so-called Scope 3 supply chain mandate in the draft that would drawn farmers into the reporting rules. “We were very, very concerned that it would be suddenly so burdensome that only the largest operations would really be able to survive,” Cushman said, citing the trend of small-farm consolidation over the last few decades. Scope 3, he—successfully—argued, would spell the demise of more farms. After releasing the rules without Scope 3, the SEC decided to pause the remaining ones in the face of 11 lawsuits challenging them. And Republicans, in charge of the House by a slim majority, also look to squash the rules via a Congressional Review Act resolution and to show the harm of the regulations in a hearing scheduled Wednesday. Farms run by families or individuals make up almost 85% of US farms, according to the US Department of Agriculture, and there are farms in each state. That made finding allies in Congress—especially those with clout—particularly easy.

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Lead Stories

Report: 40% of top Texas election officials resign each presidential cycle

As election officials in Texas and nationwide face increased pressure and harassment, a new report shows a steady increase in the turnover rate of top administrators. A Tuesday report from the Bipartisan Policy Center shows nationwide, turnover grew from 28% in 2004 to 39% in 2022. The report looked at turnover rate data from the years 2000 to 2024 amongst election officials, which it defines as a “change in a jurisdiction’s chief election administrator since the November general election held four years prior.” In Texas, there was a spike in the number of election administrators quitting in the mid-2000s — the turnover rate in 2004 was 28% and rose to 44% in 2008. It dropped again to 30% in 2012 and rose to 40% in 2016 — a rate that has stayed relatively the same since.

“We did this intentionally to add some historical context to current conversations around turnover, which tend to frame it as a tsunami or an exodus of local election officials,” said Rachel Orey, co-author of the study. Researchers cited threats to election officials as some of the main contributing factors for the increasing turnover. Approximately 25% of local election officials reported abuse, harassment or threats, according to a 2022 Early Voting Information Center survey of local election officials. “It’s draining on their psychological and physical safety,” Orey said. Election officials in urban areas experience more threats, the report shows. Two-thirds of officials in jurisdictions with more than 250,000 residents reported being harassed, while just 20% of respondents from areas with a population under 25,000 said the same. Dana DeBeauvoir — who oversaw elections as Travis County Clerk for more than 30 years — said she has major concerns about these trends and the future of elections. DeBeauvoir retired in 2022.

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Soft landing or no landing? Fed’s economic picture gets complicated.

America seemed headed for an economic fairy-tale ending in late 2023. The painfully rapid inflation that had kicked off in 2021 appeared to be cooling in earnest, and economic growth had begun to gradually moderate after a series of Federal Reserve interest rate increases. But 2024 has brought a spate of surprises: The economy is expanding rapidly, job gains are unexpectedly strong and progress on inflation shows signs of stalling. That could add up to a very different conclusion. Instead of the “soft landing” that many economists thought was underway — a situation in which inflation slows as growth gently calms without a painful recession — analysts are increasingly wary that America's economy is not landing at all.

Rather than settling down, the economy appears to be booming as prices continue to climb more quickly than usual. A “no landing” outcome might feel pretty good to the typical American household. Inflation is nowhere near as high as it was at its peak in 2022, wages are climbing and jobs are plentiful. But it would cause problems for the Federal Reserve, which has been determined to wrestle price increases back to their 2 percent target, a slow and steady pace that the Fed thinks is consistent with price stability. Policymakers raised interest rates sharply in 2022 and 2023, pushing them to a two-decade high in an attempt to weigh on growth and inflation. If inflation gets stuck at an elevated level for months on end, it could prod Fed officials to hold rates high for longer in an effort to cool the economy and ensure that prices come fully under control. “Persistent buoyancy in inflation numbers” probably “does give Fed officials pause that maybe the economy is running too hot right now for rate cuts,” said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide. “Right now, we’re not even seeing a ‘soft landing’ — we’re seeing a ‘no landing.’”

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Cities desperately need money to handle the migrant surge. Congress recently gave them less

If Catholic Charities of San Antonio doesn’t soon get more federal funding aimed at supporting asylum-seekers, it will have to close its Migrant Resource Center during the evening and overnight hours, which could leave busloads of newly arrived immigrants on the streets. The nonprofit received $55 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency program in the prior fiscal year, which it used to provide more than 220,000 people with temporary shelter, food and clothing, legal services, counseling and transportation to their final destination. But it only has $5.7 million left, so it is considering slashing the welcome center’s hours in coming weeks to preserve its ability to help migrants during the day for the rest of the year. Congress last month approved the fiscal year 2024 funding level for FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program in the federal funding package, nearly six months into the fiscal year.

Cities, counties and states around the nation have repeatedly asked the federal government for more money to handle the surge of migrants entering the US, and the Biden administration last year called on lawmakers to pump an additional $600 million into the program. The program has not been able to provide any additional financial support since late 2023. But instead, lawmakers cut the program’s funding to $650 million, down nearly 20% from the prior year. The House and Senate appropriations committees did not return requests for comment. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat who represents San Antonio, said that immigration is a federal responsibility. “Cities need more help – not less,” he said in a statement to CNN. “Funding from the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) has helped Catholic Charities and other groups in my city of San Antonio offer basic migrant services without straining local resources. Asylum-seekers are fleeing from some of the worst violence and oppression we can imagine, and nobody wants to see them sleeping on the streets.”

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott positions himself as Trump's biggest cheerleader. Is he vying for VP?

Gov. Greg Abbott keeps downplaying his interest in being Donald Trump’s running mate, but his actions over the last few weeks tell a different story. Just blocks from Trump Tower in New York City last week, Abbott sounded like an unofficial Trump surrogate in a series of live interviews and a speech. The Republican governor tailored his comments to echo Trump's own language on crime and immigration. He even doubled down on the former president's inflammatory comments about President Joe Biden perpetuating a "border blood bath." Abbott, 66, has no official role in Trump’s campaign. But his behavior likely shows why Trump has floated Abbott as a potential vice president in recent months, said Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University scholar who has written books on the selection of vice presidents in American history.

Trump's move helps boost the Texas governor’s national visibility. In return, Trump is getting Abbott and other possible running mates like U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and former GOP president candidate Vivek Ramaswamy promoting his campaign. “Trump is motivating these people to be out there doing this,” Goldstein said. While Abbott’s name percolated on some VP rumor lists, it took off in February when Trump told a national audience on Fox News that Abbott was absolutely on his short list of potential running mates. Trump praised Abbott’s work on the border and called him “a spectacular man.” But now it’s gone beyond that single moment. Trump frequently mentions Abbott at rallies on the campaign trail even in other states without the Texas governor in the crowd. In January he touted Abbott to a Nevada audience and last month spent time in Greensboro, North Carolina talking about how good of a job Abbott was doing in Texas.

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State Stories

An NHL team in Houston? Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta says 'I'm working on it' and likes WNBA, too

For the second time in more than a month, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has stated his interest in bringing an NHL team to Houston. Fertitta, in an interview Wednesday on CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” was asked about his pursuit of a hockey team as well as a WNBA franchise for Toyota Center. “We would like to work to get an NHL team in Houston — I’m working on it,” Fertitta said. Fertitta was asked about the WNBA, which has not had a team in Houston since the Comets' run from 1997 to 2008, in relation to the surge of interest in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, whose championship game on ABC for the first time drew a bigger TV audience than the men’s final that aired on TBS.

“I would consider, definitely, I think it’s a great topic with women’s sports to talk about a WNBA team in Houston also,” Fertitta said. In late February, Fertitta told Bloomberg that he viewed an NHL team and the 41 home games it would bring as a way to boost the downtown economy, saying “We are talking to the NHL, but it’s got to be good for both of us.” When he bought the Rockets in October 2017, Fertitta said he “would put an NHL team here tomorrow” but had said little publicly about hockey in the interim since before this year. He said he was open to bringing in an expansion franchise or relocating an existing one. Based on reports Wednesday, an expansion franchise might have to be Fertitta’s route to getting a team. Daily Faceoff reported that the NHL and Arizona Coyotes have made “significant and and meaningful progress” on an agreement to sell the franchise to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, who would move the embattled team to Salt Lake City for the 2024-25 season. The price tag for the sale and relocation would be “north of $1.2 billion,” per the report.

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Hidalgo calls Paxton lawsuit challenging Harris County's guaranteed income program ‘cruel’

Harris County leaders are defending their new guaranteed income program after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office sued to stop the initiative from going into effect, accusing the attorney general of targeting the Houston area while overlooking similar programs in San Antonio, Austin and El Paso. At a news conference on Wednesday, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo called the timing of the lawsuit "cruel" and "unscrupulous," alleging Paxton's office waited until recipients had been notified they had been selected for the program before filing the lawsuit. Harris County approved its pilot program last June, which aims to send $500 monthly payments for 18 months to around 1,900 low-income households.

Now, with recipients notified and the first payments scheduled for later this month, Paxton's office has asked a Harris County district court judge to stop the checks from going out and rule that the program is unconstitutional under state law. Commissioner Rodney Ellis said it was clear the state had become "too comfortable with using people as props," and some of the county’s poorest residents could pay the price. Though the $20.5 million Uplift Harris program is funded using a portion of the county's federal pandemic recovery dollars, Paxton's office is arguing the program violates a state law that prohibits the gift of public funds to any individual. Similar guaranteed income programs in other parts of Texas appear not to have drawn Paxton's scrutiny. San Antonio launched the state's first guaranteed income program in December 2020, Austin began its $1.1 million pilot program in September 2022 and, most recently, El Paso County approved its guaranteed income program in December. But Harris County's program caught Paxton's attention after State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, wrote to Paxton in January asking him to look into whether it is legal.

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‘An overreaction’: Black lawmakers, advocates denounce UT schools’ layoffs due to DEI ban

Laying off staff in the wake of Texas’ DEI ban is an overreaction and discriminatory, some legislators and advocacy groups said during a news conference Wednesday. Some of Texas’ Black lawmakers joined two advocacy groups to speak out against recent layoffs that appear to be efforts to comply with Texas’ DEI ban, also known as Senate Bill 17. UT laid off about 60 employees last week, and University of Texas at Dallas officials announced Tuesday that about 20 staffers would be cut at that school. Many of these staffers had been in positions that supported diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. After the state’s ban went into effect Jan. 1, schools moved many such employees to different roles that supported students in various ways.

The Texas chapter of the American Association of University Professors shared on social media late Wednesday evening documentation they said shows that university officials certified that employees reassigned jobs were in compliance with the law. University officials could not be reached immediately Wednesday evening. “This was MAGA politics at its worst,” Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, said of the DEI ban and its impact. As a result, Reynolds, who’s chairman of the Texas Legislature Black Caucus, said students are suffering because of partisan politics. “It’s the worst kind of leadership where you use Black, brown and LGBT communities as political pawns.” The cuts in Dallas and Austin came just weeks after Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, the Texas legislator who authored the DEI ban, sent a letter to university leaders reinforcing expectations of the new state law and the oversight process. Creighton stressed in that letter that simply renaming offices and programs is unacceptable and emphasized that universities could lose millions in state funding if they fail to comply. He sent the letter weeks after secret recordings went public showing some Texas university staff suggesting they would continue DEI work under different names. On Wednesday, the lawmakers and advocacy groups — which included the Texas chapters of the NAACP and of the American Association of University Professors — said that legislators pushing for the ban and university leaders promised no layoffs due to SB 17. That was the case until Creighton’s letter triggered an “overreaction,” they said.

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Biden admin approves deepwater oil export terminal off Texas Gulf Coast

The Biden administration approved the construction of a deepwater oil export terminal off the Texas Gulf Coast on Tuesday, following a long legal battle with environmental groups. To be built 30 miles offshore Freeport in more than 100 feet of water, the Sea Port Oil Terminal being developed by Houston-based Enterprise Product Partners is capable of loading two supertankers at once, with an export capacity of 2 million barrels of crude per day. The project, which would be the largest oil export terminal in the United States, had been awaiting a deepwater port license from the Department of Transportation, the final step in a four-year federal review. “The receipt of the license is the most significant milestone to date in the development and commercialization of SPOT,” AJ Teague, co-chief executive officer of Enterprise, said in a statement.

The decision followed a ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last week dismissing claims by environmental groups that federal agencies had failed to uphold federal environmental laws in their review of Enterprise’s export project. The Biden administration has also come under fire from Republicans including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who claimed “prolonged delays” in getting the Enterprise project and other offshore oil terminals approved was threatening the nation’s economy and energy security. “I’m thrilled that we’re helping bring more jobs to Texas and greater energy security to America and our allies,” Cruz said Tuesday. “That this victory was delayed by years of needless bureaucratic dithering shows why we need broader permitting reform in this country.”

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Outrage over judge's low bonds for violent offenders as repeat offender evades justice

Before his suspension last February, 228th District Judge Frank Aguilar granted some of the lowest bonds we've ever seen for kidnapping, sexual assault, witness tampering, and domestic violence charges. In February 2023, 21-year-old Frank Njoroge is sentenced to deferred probation after being convicted of assault with intent to impede breathing. Just two months on probation, Njoroge is charged with assault and violating a protective order. "Normally, if you're charged with offenses while you're on probation and you get a bond, the bond gets increased," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers. "His bonds kept getting lower."

Judge Frank Aguilar set bonds at just $100 for violent felonies like sexual assault, kidnapping, domestic violence, and witness tampering. Seven times, Aguilar set Njoroge's bond at just $100. "I don't know how in God's name you can not look at this and say, dude, you're a threat to public safety, you're a threat to these women," Kahan said. "That's crazy in itself for the things he's done, not just to my relative, but to other ladies. It's insane," said a relative of one of Njoroge's alleged victims. We are not identifying him to keep his relatives anonymous. In court documents, that woman was repeatedly terrorized and abused by Njoroge. "Choked her on a few occasions till she couldn't breathe. Bit her on quite a few occasions," the victim's relative said. "Bit her toenail off at one point."

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Lawmaker’s interfaith iftar dinner draws North Texas political, religious leaders

State Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, and Nima Bhojani’s interfaith iftar dinner Sunday evening drew religious leaders from across North Texas and about 40 regional politicians, including U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas. “Our prayer is that we may remember our shared values and the common call to righteousness that runs through all of our faith traditions,” Allred said in a brief speech. “And for our democracy, because ultimately our democracy is the safeguard of our ability to practice our faith traditions.” Interfaith relations is a topic of importance to Bhojani, who in 2022 became one of the first two Muslims elected to the Texas House. As a freshman legislator, he introduced several bills to expand religious freedom. One bipartisan bill passed, and now school districts cannot schedule standardized testing on certain holidays sacred to Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Christians.

Iftars are the fast-breaking meals after sundown each night during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Bhojani’s son Aarish, who introduced his father at the event, said Bhojani plans to hold the event annually. In addition to Allred and Bhojani, members of eight religions spoke at the event in Irving about how their traditions view interfaith relations. The speakers were Christian Pastor Patrick Moses, who is the Democratic candidate for Tarrant County sheriff; Joel Schwitzer, regional director of the American Jewish Committee; Imam Moujahed Bakhach of Fort Worth; Hindu representative Bindu Patel; Harbhajan Singh Virdee of the Sikh faith; Zoroastrian representative Ava Damri; Buddhist Bhante Virmalakitti; and Maha Iskandar of the Bahá'í faith.

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Who are Texas’ teachers? Some schools ‘hiring people off the street,’ state leader says

The rate of Texas teachers leaving the classroom is declining after hitting a historic high following the COVID pandemic. Education Commissioner Mike Morath presented fresh hiring data Wednesday, telling State Board of Education members that the state is “moving in a better direction.” Still, schools are struggling with educator recruitment and retention. The challenges mean districts are hiring more and more teachers who don’t hold a state certification. Morath said that, in recent years, it appears that some schools “gave up on teacher certification” and moved to “hiring people off the street.” While it is still higher than the pre-pandemic baseline, the rate of Texas teachers leaving the classroom is trending downward. The 2022-23 school year saw 13.4% teacher attrition. That figure dropped to 12.2% for 2023-24.

In the decade before COVID-19 hit, teacher attrition hovered around 10%. “Teachers are quitting the profession in slightly higher numbers than they did historically,” Morath said. Lack of respect and support, excessive workload and low pay are among the common reasons educators have given for why they think about leaving the classroom. Fewer new teachers take the traditional route to the classroom: Studying to be an educator while in college. Roughly 1 in 3 new teachers hired across Texas were uncertified, meaning the state has no way to know if they received rigorous training. The percentage of non-certified new hires grew to 34% — a historic high. Some uncertified educators are prepared to take on a classroom of their own, Morath said. In Dallas ISD, for example, uncertified educators get additional training and support during the school year. The district also pairs new hires with mentors to guide them. But Morath warned that many teachers without certification are not ready and quit prematurely. The trend has prompted concern among some teacher groups. “It’s unfair to the students, to the parents and to the educator themselves. They’re not fully prepared,” said Rena Honea, president of Alliance-AFT. “I don’t know of an attorney that’d be allowed to practice law without passing the bar exam.”

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These Texas DPS troopers say they faced racial discrimination at work. A judge agreed.

Special Agent Jari McPherson hoped he could make change within the Department of Public Safety in 2019 by calling out what he called a “racially hostile” environment at the Temple office where he worked. But after filing an internal complaint that went nowhere, he requested a transfer to the agency’s Austin office. His problems only continued to mount there, says McPherson, who is Black. Before he even arrived, his supervisor spoke poorly of him, citing the internal complaint, and seemed to treat white colleagues better. McPherson was later passed over for a different job that was given to a white employee with less experience, he says, and ultimately placed in a minority-only unit that was given “more difficult and onerous tasks, work, and assignments and given less days off” than other units containing only white employees.

McPherson, 42, is one of three former and current troopers who sued the agency in 2020, saying they were subjected to years of racial discrimination and that the agency failed to properly investigate their concerns. Their lawsuit recently cleared a major hurdle when a federal judge ruled it could go to trial this summer. The case is on hold while the state, which has denied the troopers’ allegations, appeals to the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. In his February opinion, U.S. District Judge David Ezra, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, wrote that McPherson and a co-plaintiff, Jerald Sams, who is also Black, had sufficiently proven that they were subjected to discrimination and retaliation while working at DPS. McPherson and Sams experienced “hostile” work environments due to their race,” Ezra wrote, and the state failed to take “prompt remedial action for every instance of harassment.” McPherson said he started seeing a therapist for the first time for the anxiety and depression this situation brought for him, and it caused problems at home as well.

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John Whitmire's first 100 days in office: Here's what Houston's new mayor has done so far

As Mayor John Whitmire marks his 100th day in office, he is celebrating the delivery of a major campaign promise that could have far-reaching consequences for how he tackles the remainder of his term. Whitmire’s landmark settlement with the firefighters union gives him a signature win in his first three months, but it also compounds an already dire financial picture at City Hall that will come into stark focus during budget season this year. Since announcing the deal, the new mayor has pitched a property tax hike and a garbage collection fee to help finance it, while creating breathing room for the city’s budget. Both options would likely create political tests – either at the ballot box or around the City Council horseshoe.

Elected officials often use the 100-day mark to reflect on their successes, but they also look to see how those successes might impact the next steps they must take in office. In Whitmire’s case, his early priority – getting a firefighter deal – could have lasting effects, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston. “The public wants progress, and they expect to see it early,” said Rottinghaus. “We are conditioned to want to see movement quickly, especially when there was a pretty heavy landslide and the issues were fairly obvious that the mayor wanted to address.” Even before the firefighter deal, the city’s financial outlook was grim, with Controller Chris Hollins predicting a $160 million to $200 million deficit – similar to the deficits the city ran pre-pandemic. With debt repayments and interest on the firefighter deal factored in, that number could now be closer to $230 million to $280 million, Hollins said. Whitmire's administration hopes to replace 125,000 water meter readers by years’ end. The mayor said fixing broken meter readers will address the “root” cause of customers receiving exorbitant water bills. Whitmire has appointed seven new department directors at City Hall, turning over leadership for about a third of the city’s government. Whitmire’s administration has also expressed skepticism over “Vision Zero,” the aspirational target to end traffic fatalities by 2030 by prioritizing safety and accessibility for all motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

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Texas cops: HS teacher recruits runaways into prostitution

A teacher was arrested on child sex trafficking and prostitution-related charges involving students, Texas authorities say. Kedria Grigsby, 42, faces three counts each of trafficking of children and compelling prostitution along with her son, 21-year-old Roger Magee, who was previously arrested, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. The compelling prostitution charge is defined as when a person knowingly “causes another by force, threat, coercion or fraud to commit prostitution.” The charge can also be applied when a person causes a child to commit prostitution. Grigsby is the cosmetology teacher at Klein Cain High School outside Houston and has been placed on administrative leave, a district spokesperson told KHOU and KPRC.

Authorities said Grigsby forced prostitution onto three reported runaways, ages 15, 16 and 17. The sheriff said Grigsby assisted her son in the alleged trafficking. “It appears Grigsby recruited troubled juveniles from local high schools by offering them a place to stay, which would be a hotel,” Gonzalez said. There have also been other teenagers who said “Grigsby was also attempting to recruit them while attending school,” according to the sheriff. Gonzalez announced the arrest of Grigsby on Monday, April 8, and said she was booked into the Harris County Jail. The school district said in its statement to KHOU and KPRC the allegations against Grigsby were “unsettling.” “As soon as we were notified of this information, the district took immediate action, apprehended, and immediately placed Ms. Grigsby on administrative leave,” the district said. “Klein ISD has NO intention of allowing this individual back to Klein Cain or any Klein ISD school, and we will report to all appropriate agencies at the conclusion of the investigation.”

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Austin Mayor Kirk Watson announces he will run again in November

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson will seek reelection in November, he announced Wednesday. Watson was elected in 2022 to serve a two-year term instead of a full four years. Austinites voted in 2021 to move mayoral elections to the same year as presidential elections in an effort to increase voter turnout. If reelected, Watson will serve a full four-year term. Watson previously served as mayor from 1997 to 2001, when he stepped down to run for state office. He served as a state senator for more than 13 years before returning to the job of mayor. Watson is the fourth candidate to announce his candidacy. He will face former City Council Member Kathie Tovo,East Austin community organizer Carmen Llanes Pulido and Doug Greco, the former director of Central Texas Interfaith.

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Bridget Grumet: Fate of historic schoolhouse — and future UT football facility — in state board's hands

Edwin Bautista knew it was a last-ditch effort, a long shot to save the 91-year-old historic building that the University of Texas wants to bulldoze so it can build a new football practice facility. Then, last week, a preliminary win. The state Antiquities Advisory Board recommended approval of Bautista’s request for protected landmark status for the old University Junior High building, a 1930s schoolhouse in the southeastern corner of the UT campus. The Spanish Revival building, notable for its role in desegregating Austin schools starting in the late 1950s, most recently housed the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (as well as the stunning stairwell mural by Rau´l Valdez that I wrote about last year). I should note: The advisory board’s 9-1 vote last Wednesday is just a recommendation. The matter now goes to the Texas Historical Commission, which is expected to consider the application in July.

The application process delays the building demolition that had been slated for June. And if the Texas Historical Commission decides to grant State Antiquities Landmark status to the old schoolhouse, UT wouldn’t be able to get a demolition permit without undergoing a rigorous state review — which would complicate, or possibly derail, its plans to build the new football practice facility on that coveted turf. Bautista said that’s the point: A building with this level of community importance, already listed in the National Register of Historic Places, shouldn’t be easy to tear down. “For the university to disregard (the University Junior High building’s history) is just so disappointing, because they are turning their back on our history, and that is something that I'm not willing to accept,” said Bautista, who earned his bachelor’s in urban studies and his master’s in community and regional planning at UT. “UT is all about changing the world and being leaders in sustainability,” Bautista added, arguing the aging schoolhouse should be restored, not razed. “Well, you know, here’s a chance for you to live up to what you say you’re about.” In response to the advisory board’s vote, UT spokesman Mike Rosen told me last week: “We respect the process. There are multiple steps, and we’ll let it play out.” One option: UT could formally oppose the nomination, triggering an administrative hearing process, Antiquities Advisory Board Chair Jim Bruseth said at last week’s meeting. “Things could get a lot more complex for the (Texas Historical) Commission down the road, and probably will, would be my guess,” Bruseth told his fellow board members.

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Austin schools face budget deficit next year. Here's how AISD plans to cut $30M in expenses

The Austin school district is looking to cut at least $30 million from its $976.2 million budget next year in anticipation of higher operating costs. The district expects to reach its goal mostly by slashing already vacant positions and reducing contract services, but officials have vowed to keep cuts contained to administrative positions — and away from classrooms — as much as possible. If the district can make $30 million in cuts, it will still face a $30 million deficit in the 2024-25 school year and would need to take on an even bigger shortfall if it wants to increase services, district Chief Financial Officer Eduardo Ramos said. The district spends the vast majority of its budget on employee pay, so officials hope they can significantly reduce the district's deficit by cutting administrative positions that haven't been filled. Officials are also looking to cut down on its contracts by either eliminating or reducing some of those services, Ramos said.

While some of those contracts involve people working directly in schools, the district hopes to reduce those services as little as possible, he said. Superintendent Matias Segura assured board members that the district will work to minimize any cuts that would directly affect students. "I would want to turn over every stone before I impacted classrooms," Segura said. Of the $956 million operating budget, 61%, or $581 million, is directly tied to campuses, he said. “Now we are having to make some difficult choices because we have not received additional funding on a per student basis, not only in Austin but throughout the state of Texas, since 2019,” Ramos said. The Austin school board took on a $52 million deficit for the ongoing 2023-24 school year budget, but it had managed to reduce that shortfall to about $31 million, according to the district.

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Texas Eclipse Fest organizers address rumors and complaints

Organizers of the Texas Eclipse Festival in Burnet County drew criticism and praise from attendees during the event, and after its cancellation a day early Monday due to severe weather. “TEXAS ECLIPSE WAS HELL ON EARTH. DISCO DONNIE YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF,” said Reddit user “Final_Meat” in a post on the subreddit r/TexasEclipse. That subreddit, made to discuss the Texas Eclipse Festival, had around 3,600 members at the time of reporting. Other complaints touched on perceived shortcomings of the event’s map, a lack of medical staff, poor lighting, rough camping conditions, a lack of bottled water, high food prices, unclean portable toilets, large crowds, long walks and dust. Some of the issues, such as poor cell signal and long vehicle lines, may have been caused by concentrating thousands of people into a rural area.

In a Wednesday statement, festival organizers Disco Presents told KXAN that free water was available at 10 stations around the venue, but said it was “saddened to hear that some guests may have encountered challenges in locating water” or clean portable toilets. It also responded to complaints about camping sites and the venue layout. “We implemented adjustments to the site layout and infrastructure with the guidance of industry experts, addressing the unique challenges of using this location as a first-time festival site,” said organizers. “The varying elevation and surface types prompted necessary real-time adaptations to our camping plans and logistics.” Rumors also claim that there were multiple deaths, which organizers and Burnet County Sheriff’s Office Captain Mike Sorenson said were untrue.

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City Stories

Did you get another purple notice from the city of Austin? Here's what it means.

The city of Austin is once again looking to make changes to its land development code, which dictates what can be built where and how big it can be. A hot-button issue in Austin, the proposed changes have sparked disagreement over their potential effectiveness and impact on housing affordability. The city recently sent a second round of purple notices to residents informing them of several proposed changes the council is set to vote on in May. The process of discussing and voting on the changes will be similar to that for Phase 1 of the Home Options for Middle-Income Empowerment, or HOME, initiative that the City Council approved in December. It will start with a joint meeting between the council and the Planning Commission at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Here's a look at the proposed land development code changes. For context, HOME Phase 1, which was approved in December, changed the city's code to allow for up to three units on many lots. This proposal was met with both strong support and opposition from community members and activists — some saying it would create more housing options while others were concerned about displacement of existing residents, specifically on the city's Eastern Crescent. Phase 2 of HOME seeks to reduce the minimum lot size required for construction of a single residential unit to 2,000 square feet from 5,750. The change would not require current or future homeowners to sell or subdivide their properties, according to the city's Planning Department. An ETOD overlay is intended to promote density along high-traffic transit corridors. The proposal being considered would affect certain properties within roughly a half mile of Phase 1 of Project Connect, the planned light rail line, and its priority extensions, according to the city's Planning Department. Some of these areas include sections of North Lamar Boulevard and South Congress Avenue.

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Dallas strip clubs’ lawsuit seeking exemption from curfew should be dismissed, city says

Dallas is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three strip clubs that want to be exempt from shutting down at 2 a.m. if they stop featuring sex work. In a motion brief filed Friday, city attorneys argued the lawsuit filed in January by the owners of XTC Cabaret, Silver City and Tiger Cabaret “is an obvious attempt to avoid the impact” of a city ordinance requiring all strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses to close between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Lawyers for the city contended the ordinance applies to sexually oriented businesses regardless of what services they happen to be providing at any given time, and the strip clubs haven’t sufficiently proven the rule is a constitutional violation. The lawyers representing the three strip clubs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

“The ordinance does not state that (a sexually oriented business) must cease only sexually-oriented activities between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., but states clearly that an SOB must close for business each day during those hours,” said the city’s brief, filed by City Attorney Tammy Palomino and two assistant city attorneys in her office. The hours restriction is “motivated by the city’s substantial governmental interest in addressing crime at SOB locations, not the expressive conduct itself,” the motion said. The three strip clubs have said in court filings they believe they were illegally threatened with sanctions by police when they decided to stay open past 2 a.m. They stopped featuring erotic dances and were mainly offering food and nonalcoholic drinks to customers who chose to stick around. The businesses also alleged the city was violating their constitutional and civil rights. A federal judge in February denied the strip clubs’ request to temporarily block the city from enforcing the ordinance.

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National Stories

‘Save Democracy’ Democrats look to win primaries on anti-Trump sentiment

Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer whose pitched battles with former President Donald J. Trump’s supporters on and after Jan. 6, 2021, vaulted him to political stardom, was greeted Tuesday evening in Annapolis, Md., like a celebrity. But there was also an undercurrent of skepticism among attendees at the Beacon Waterfront Restaurant, where he appeared at a campaign event to bolster his candidacy for the U.S. House. “We have a person here with a proven legislative record,” Jessica Sunshine, an Annapolis Democrat, told Mr. Dunn, referring to State Senator Sarah Elfreth, his main opponent in next month’s Democratic primary. But, she added, “You have heart.” But Mr. Dunn, an imposing former offensive lineman who stands 6-foot-7-inches and 325 pounds, didn’t shy away from the reason he is running: to save what he sees as democracy on the edge. “This moment, right now? It calls for a fighter,” he said.

He is not the only one making that case to Democrats. Over the next three months, primaries in three Mid-Atlantic House districts — from the exurbs of Washington, D.C., to Harrisburg, Pa. — will test the strength of Jan. 6 memories and whether the battle cry of “save democracy” will be enough even for Democratic voters who have many other concerns. For many voters, partisan celebrity is virtually the only factor in their support for candidates like Mr. Dunn, who played a starring role in the Jan. 6 hearings, and Yevgeny Vindman, who goes by Eugene and along with his identical twin brother, Alexander, played a key role in highlighting Mr. Trump’s effort to strong-arm Ukraine into digging up dirt on Joseph R. Biden Jr. Margaret Pepin, 71, could hardly believe it when Mr. Vindman rang her video doorbell on Tuesday afternoon in Occoquan, Va., and his unmistakable face, made famous during Mr. Trump’s first impeachment, popped on her security screen. “I looked at my Ring. I said, ‘Is it really him?’” she said, acknowledging that she might have confused him for his better-known twin brother. “I am thrilled.”

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College aid officials warn FAFSA mess will delay many grant and loan offers until May

Leaders of the college financial aid system assailed the Education Department over this year’s FAFSA debacle, warning that ongoing delays are extending institutions’ timelines for offering packages that many students’ decisions hinge on. “If there was a financial aid director or even a college president that delayed financial aid on their campus for up to six months, the professional price that would be paid for that would be pretty steep,” Justin Draeger, head of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. The hearing by the GOP-led House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development came one day after Education Department officials disclosed that at least 30% of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms submitted so far this year could contain errors resulting from widespread application glitches or other issues.

Those forms are set to be reprocessed in coming weeks, and many will start being sent to schools by May 1, the agency said. The federal government can typically turn around FAFSA information within days, but the lags this year have extended for months. Colleges and universities are already well behind schedule due to the botched overhaul of the application process — one that was meant to be easier and in many cases more generous, but has instead landed millions of households and campus officials in bureaucratic limbo. “It’s not a trivial task to roll this out, but this rollout has been disastrous and, frankly, inexcusable,” Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., said Wednesday. The hearing signaled growing bipartisan frustrations over the FAFSA chaos, much of it focusing on the Education Department, which Draeger said faced a “crisis of credibility.” Agency leaders didn’t testify at Wednesday’s hearing, but a spokesperson said Tuesday that officials have identified and fixed errors in the online application system “affecting the accurate processing of large numbers of FAFSA forms.”

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Consumer prices moved higher in March. Auto insurance costs were a major reason.

Wednesday's inflation report showed consumer price growth continues to drift higher. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported price growth accelerated to 3.5% in March, from 3.2% in February. Few categories had as big a jump year on year than auto insurance, which soared 22% from March 2023, the most significant year-on-year jump in that category since 1976. And over the last few years, average auto insurance rates have surged 43%. As of April, the national average cost of car insurance is $2,314 per year for full coverage and $644 per year for the bare minimum, according to Bankrate. That works out to about $193 a month for full coverage and $54 for minimum coverage.

A host of factors determine how much insurance companies charge drivers, but the cost of nearly all of them seem to be increasing. One major factor is simply the rising cost of modern vehicles themselves. Today, a new vehicle costs about $10,000 more than it did before the pandemic. Blame supply-chain issues that drove up the cost of vehicle parts, increased labor costs and customer demand, which has naturally pushed prices upward. The increasing sophistication of the technology in today’s vehicles also contributes to rising costs, said Robert Passmore, department vice president of personal lines at American Property Casualty Insurance Association. Cameras and sensors, which are used for various driver-assistance technologies, like emergency braking, automated parking and blind-spot monitoring, require parts that are more expensive to replace. They're also subject to higher labor costs, Passmore said. More complex and expensive repairs are also taking longer, and that shows up as higher vehicle costs, Passmore said. And worker shortages have resulted in higher pay for technicians.

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Biden aims to project united front against China at White House summit

President Biden intends to use a first-ever joint meeting with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines on Thursday to send a blunt diplomatic message to an increasingly aggressive China: Beijing’s harassment of Philippine ships in the South China Sea is a violation of international law and must stop. In recent months, Chinese coast guard ships have been ramming Philippine vessels, blasting them with water cannons and aiming lasers at their crews in what the United States condemns as “coercive and unlawful tactics” in one of the most crucial waterways in the world. So far, the Chinese provocations, asserting disputed claims to the international waters, have fallen short of the kinds of attacks that would trigger the military defense pact that the United States and the Philippines signed in 1951. But Biden administration officials said the meeting of the three leaders on Thursday is intended to demonstrate to China even stronger military and diplomatic unity among the leaders of the three allies.

One U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the meeting in advance, called the issue of security in the South China Sea a “pillar” of the discussions between Mr. Biden, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines. “The U.S., Japan, and the Philippines are three closely aligned maritime democracies with increasingly convergent strategic objectives and interests,” Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, said on Tuesday. “Just this past week, our three countries and Australia held joint naval drills in the South China Sea.” Officials said there would be similar drills in the months ahead as the nations continue to assert the freedom of travel through international waters that China claims as its own. They called Thursday’s meeting at the White House a demonstration of support from Mr. Biden and Mr. Kishida for the Philippines in its clashes with China. China has asserted greater control over the South China Sea over the years, trying to expand its military footprint in the region.

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The billionaire behind Trump’s $175 million bond is no stranger to risky deals

Billionaire businessman Don Hankey made headlines in early April when his company, Knight Specialty Insurance, provided the $175 million bond that Donald Trump posted in his New York civil fraud case. “I wouldn’t say I’m a big Trump fan,” Hankey told The Wall Street Journal this week. “I’ve voted for him in the past. And I think he’s business friendly. And that’s what I’m looking for.” It isn’t the first time Hankey has financially backed a troubled real-estate developer. In Los Angeles, where he is based, Hankey’s companies have bankrolled some of the area’s most ambitious—and sometimes eccentric—mansion developers. Sometimes, they did so just as those developers began to fall into financial jeopardy. Perhaps most notably, Hankey provided more than $100 million in financing for The One, a scandal-plagued Bel-Air megamansion once slated to ask as much as $500 million. The 105,000-square-foot estate was eventually sold at auction for a comparably paltry $126 million in 2022 after its developer, the bombastic and volatile spec-home builder Nile Niami, defaulted on loan payments.

In L.A. real-estate circles, Hankey is perhaps best known for backing Niami, whose decadelong odyssey to build The One, complete with its own nightclub and five swimming pools, captivated the real-estate industry amid delays, cost overruns and defaults. When Hankey issued the initial loan of $82.5 million, The One was about 80% complete. The financing was slated to help Niami pay back other creditors and apply the finishing touches. Bhakta said that Hankey made the loan because the company was confident that the U.S. single-family home market would continue to deliver $100 million-plus deals, as the economy created more and more billionaires. At the time, he said, Niami was considered a pioneer in the spec-home market. He had three or four unsold mansions on his books. Hankey figured that once Niami sold those, the developer would have a favorable cash position. Ultimately, The One unraveled along with Niami’s personal life. Following a 2017 divorce from his longtime partner Yvonne Niami, the developer began to get a reputation in the real-estate industry as a party boy with erratic ideas. “Sometimes, you look at someone’s track record, but that doesn’t necessarily correlate directly to what their future is going to look like,” Bhakta said. “In this case, his [wife] turned out to be the more rational person in that relationship and she kept him grounded. When he didn’t have that grounding, he kind of went crazy and unfortunately things unraveled there.” Rayni Williams, a luxury real-estate agent who worked with Niami on the deal, said Hankey gave Niami more chances than many lenders might have. “I think he was rooting for him to succeed,” she said.

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Conservatives deal another blow to Speaker Johnson, defeating FISA rule after Trump push

House conservatives revolted against GOP leadership and defeated a key vote on the floor Wednesday, the latest blow to Speaker Mike Johnson that comes after former President Donald Trump called on Republicans to kill a controversial surveillance law. Trump had urged House Republicans to reject a reauthorization of the law, known as FISA, ahead of the key procedural vote on Wednesday, adding to headaches for GOP leaders who have struggled to build support for the legislation, but were still attempting to forge ahead and advance the bill. “KILL FISA,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. This marks the fourth time in Johnson’s tenure that the House has defeated a rule vote, a major embarrassment for leadership.

The tally was 193 to 228, with 19 Republicans bucking House GOP leadership and voting with Democrats to sink the procedural vote and take down a rule to govern debate on the reauthorization bill as well as several other bills. House Republicans have been fiercely divided over how to handle the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reauthorization, putting pressure on Johnson to find a path forward amid competing factions within his conference. With the threat of a vote on his ouster looming, the Louisiana Republican’s every move is under even more intense scrutiny, and the speaker has once again found himself odds with his right flank over the surveillance law. Johnson signaled he still believes they can find a path forward on FISA this week despite deep divisions and little progress after two lengthy conference meetings devoted to the topic Wednesday. “We still have time on the clock this week,” he told reporters. “We are going to try and find a way to unlock the rule and I think it’s possible.” “We will be talking to members about it tonight, trying to figure that out,” he added.

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Copyright April 18, 2024, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved