Lead Stories

Texas Senate polls give Ken Paxton and James Talarico reasons to worry

If the political truism that anyone trying to get elected to public office had best run scared — or run unopposed — still holds true, two recent polls in the Texas race for U.S. Senate suggest that both candidates are entering the final four months of the 2026 campaign with much trepidation. Both the Times/Siena Poll and one by the Texas Politics Project show Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico in a dead heat. The Times shows the race tied at 47-47, and the Politics Project, an arm of the University of Texas, gives Paxton the edge by just 1 percentage point. Those numbers should worry any Texas Republican.

Two years ago, Donald Trump carried Texas by 14 percentage points en route to his return to the White House. Two years before that, Paxton buried his Democratic opponent in his bid for a third term as Texas attorney general by a comfortable 10 points as Republicans kept alive their winning streak in statewide elections that began in 1998. Adding to Paxton's nail-biting is the nosedive in Trump's approval rating in the nation's most reliably Republican large state. In 2024, Trump beat Democratic nominee Kamala Harris 56% to 42% in Texas. The Politics Project poll that came out in late June shows Trump less popular in Texas now than Harris was 18 months ago. Trump announced last week that he plans to come to Dallas in September for an unusual midterm meeting of the Republican National Committee. No doubt that will excite Republicans, which would likely help Paxton. But because Trump is sitting at 43% approval and 51% disapproval in Texas, his appearance in Dallas could end up energizing more Democrats than Republicans.

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Treasury has an internal report warning about the dangers of an AI bubble

A draft report inside the Treasury Department is set to warn of the risks posed by the artificial intelligence market, likening key aspects of it to the dotcom bubble that upended the U.S. economy when it burst in the early 2000s. The document, the existence and contents of which have not been previously reported but was obtained by NOTUS, is a significant departure from the Trump administration’s public tone, which has focused on encouraging unrelenting investment to unlock exponential growth. Career Treasury analysts found that AI firms are more deeply entrenched in the U.S. economy than their dotcom predecessors and pose significant risk to the entire system if financial conditions change, productivity goals are missed or various choke points stymie growth. A downturn in the AI market would send shockwaves throughout the entire economic ecosystem, the analysts wrote.

The report concluded that the AI bubble’s popping would lead to less of an immediate crash than the U.S. economy experienced with dotcoms in the early 2000s. But the analysts predicted that companies would cut back, investors would lose confidence, and the economy would grow more slowly should the industry falter. Stock markets, private credit markets, companies financing data center buildouts, cloud providers, chip manufacturers and utilities would all feel the effect, according to the report. The report was prepared by Treasury analysts for Secretary Scott Bessent, Federal Reserve Board Chair Kevin Warsh and various federal financial regulators and offers a rare glimpse of how the Trump administration is examining the risks posed by AI. It has been completed for weeks and is awaiting formal approval before reaching its intended audience, which is eventually expected to include the public. The report stresses that AI companies maintain some fundamental differences from the businesses that dominated the dotcom boom of the late 1990s, which was defined by speculative excess and an overreliance on debt financing. Many of the top AI companies, by contrast, are more mature, profitable and maintain healthier balance sheets, which could blunt the impacts of the “bubble” bursting — or if it bursts at all.

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FIFA lifts US star striker Balogun’s red card suspension at World Cup after Trump calls Infantino

U.S. President Donald Trump intervened on behalf of star U.S. forward Folarin Balogun, whose red-card suspension was lifted in a decision that allows him to play in a World Cup match against Belgium on Monday. A single red card can completely change a World Cup match. Here’s why it’s the most feared punishment in soccer. Produced by Nandini Gupta Balogun, the American leader with three goals in the tournament, received a red card for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemovic of Bosnia-Herzegovina in a 2-0 round of 32 win on Wednesday, triggering an automatic one-game suspension. FIFA announced Sunday that the suspension had been lifted for the round of 16 match, an extraordinary move that triggered praise from Trump and outrage from Belgium’s team. It appeared to be the first time since 1962 that a red card during a World Cup didn’t result in a suspension.

Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the game asking FIFA review the red card, according to a person familiar with the call who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. “Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump said in a statement on social media. The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said it was “astonished,” and Belgium coach Rudi Garcia mocked FIFA’s action. “I didn’t know that in the offices of FIFA the fifth of July was the first of April in Europe,” Garcia said through a translator in an April Fools’ Day comparison. “The Belgian federation does not defend itself, it does not protect the national team. She defends football in general, she defends her integrity, her ethics. I think it’s the first time in the history of the World Cup that there is this kind of decision.” Garcia wouldn’t respond when asked about a possible appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport or whether he thought Trump impacted FIFA’s action. “In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options,” the Belgian federation said in a statement.

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Anti-incumbent mood sweeping country in troubling sign for GOP majorities

A sour, anti-incumbent mood is sweeping across the nation on its 250th anniversary in what political analysts say is an especially troubling sign for Republican control of the House and Senate, given President Trump’s slumping approval rating. Rising voter anger with the status quo has hit both parties, with eight House incumbents — five Democrats and three Republicans — losing primary races this year in addition to two GOP Senate incumbents, Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.) and John Cornyn (Texas). Republicans on Capitol Hill fear the antiestablishment mood could cost them control of the House and perhaps the Senate as well. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott (S.C.) has warned Senate GOP colleagues privately “about how bad polling is, currently, for Republicans and how bad the president is losing ground among all groups,” said a senior Republican aide.

Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton (Ark.) also shared polling with Senate Republicans at a recent lunch meeting that showed independents moving in large numbers away from the GOP and toward Democrats, according to a GOP senator who attended the presentation. Whit Ayres, a prominent Republican pollster, warned that Trump’s slumping approval rating is a red flag for Republican prospects, citing political trends over recent decades. “We know that the party in power tends to lose House seats in a midterm election, but the number of seats lost is highly correlated with the president’s popularity. When presidential job approval is above 50 percent, the average loss of House seats for his party is 14. When it’s below 50 percent, the average loss of House seats for his party is 32,” he said. Ayres said there is “a lot of variation around those numbers” and that with “extreme redistricting,” mid-decade redistricting and growing polarization among voters, GOP losses may be limited. “But there are very few people at this point who are predicting that the Democrats will not gain seats in the House,” he added.

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State Stories

For Central Texas flood survivors, recovery is 'storm after the storm'

Reminders of the family Terry Traugott and Sherry McCutcheon’s lost in last year’s Central Texas floods are everywhere in their Manor home. Their momma’s pink cane, covered with dirt they can’t yet wipe off. The burnt-out living room light bulb because their brother, Gary, always changed it. An incomplete puzzle their mother worked on. The sisters can’t finish it without her. On July 5, 2025, McCutcheon and Traugott lost their momma, Betty Massey West, 84, and brothers, Doug West, 54, and Gary Traugott, 60, when a raging flood in northwest Travis County destroyed their family home and claimed their lives.

The sisters spent the day with their mom on July 4, eating Chinese food and drinking Diet Cokes, sharing memories and watching fireworks through the rain on their way home. “The last day she spent with us. It was so weird, it was like magic. I felt love so thick, almost like you could cut it,” McCutcheon said. “I didn’t want her to leave.” Hours after the sisters dropped their mom at home, water from Big Sandy Creek poured into the house. In the historic July 5, 2025, flood, 18 people in Central Texas died, including 10 in Travis County. A day before, a devastating flood killed more than 100 people in Kerr County, about 130 miles west of Austin. One year later, almost no one in Travis County has begun to rebuild. Roads and river banks are weaker than before July 5, 2025, and families are living in temporary housing closer to the flood zone as they wait for permit approval, insurance awards, safety measures and state and federal aid, multiple survivors told the American-Statesman. Despite new emergency state legislation that requires counties to install warning sirens and flood gauges in flood-prone areas, the community is without those resources. It could be until 2027 before the county installs them.

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Austin bolstering its semiconductor ecosystem with bulk of state TSIF grants

KoMiCo Technology Inc. executives for years have been waiting for a decision on an application through the federal CHIPS and Science Act. That is all while its biggest customers, like chipmakers Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Texas Instruments Inc., were approved, allowing them to building large fabs in Taylor and Sherman. That’s complicated things at a long-planned 40,000-square-foot expansion at KoMiCo’s longtime facility at 201 Michelangelo Way in Round Rock, where the company is expected to be ready to service those large chipmakers and a wealth of other customers. It has instead been forced to pivot, securing $750,000 from the city of Round Rock and $2 million from the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund to accelerate that buildout. “We’re not like them,” said Ulysses Schussler, the company’s technical sales director, referring to Samsung and TI. “Our pockets are not as deep. It really takes a lot to commit the amount of capital needed to support those factories.”

The Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund – along with the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Consortium and TSIC executive committee – was established back during the 2023 legislative session. It provides funding to companies engaged in semiconductor research, design and manufacturing. It is already proving to be a lifeline for many companies in the Austin area – and further strengthening the metro's reputation as a semiconductor hub. The fund has awarded $458.9 million in grants to 28 different entities statewide, including direct semiconductor manufacturers, parts and materials suppliers and educational institutions, as of June 25, according to data compiled by the Austin Business Journal. The vast majority of that amount – roughly $358 million, or 78%, spread across 18 grants – has gone to Austin-area companies so far, according to an ABJ data analysis. That number nears 80% when you add in two grants awarded to companies in Killeen, increasingly part of the Austin area. Houston-area entities have only received about 11% of total grant award money. Lubbock-area companies have gotten around 4.3% and Dallas-area companies 4.1%, according to an analysis of that data.

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Data center developer donates millions for Ellis County animal shelter, college as pushback grows

As concerns grow around the influx of data centers being built across Texas – including from the state’s governor – one company in Ellis County is trying to better its relationship with the community. Compass Datacenters recently made a $15 million donation for a new animal shelter in Ellis County after the SPCA ended its contract there last year. "One of the things we always try to do in communities is if there's a need for any infrastructure, we always want to kind of know about it as a long-term neighbor and so there was an immediate need," said Chris Crosby, founder and CEO of Compass Datacenters. The county approved the donation last month. It comes as Compass is planning to build another facility in the town of Red Oak, where the Dallas Morning News reported the developer has been expanding its footprint in recent years.

Many residents questioned whether the donation was made with “strings attached.” At a commissioners meeting last month, Waxahachie resident Susie Hall said she understands the need for a shelter but didn’t agree with the county relying on a data center. “I hate to think that we're going to be obligated to Compass because there will be something they're going to want in return," Hall said. Ellis County Judge John Wray said the donation does not come with any obligations. "There is no strings attached," Wray told KERA." We understand it, this is the first time our county to my knowledge has entered into a community benefits agreement with a gift of this nature." Last week, Compass also donated a $12.6 million, 40,000-square-foot building to Texas State Technical College to expand the school’s Mechanical, Electrical, IT Data Center Pathway Program, which prepares students for careers in the data center industry. "We’ve watched students come into this program with no background in the field and walk out ready to start careers that will support their families for decades,” Chancellor Mike Reeser said in a statement. “That’s what happens when a curriculum is built around what employers need. This new facility means we will be able to give even more people the same life-changing opportunity.”

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New CDC data suggests Houston and suburbs new COVID-19 hotspot

Houston is now roughly six years removed from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But recent data suggests COVID might be surging once again in the Bayou City. Recent data released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) last week showed one in 264 Americans are currently "actively infectious" with COVID-19, with 186,000 new daily infections nationwide. A large portion of those infected are not "actively infectious," per the CDC, with less than one percent of reported cases deemed actively infectious across more than 40 of the 50 states across the U.S. That's not the situation in Texas, however. The CDC data shows Texas, Nevada and the territory of Guam have the most actively infectious cases as a share of the cases in a given state.

Portions of Central Texas show a 2.4 percent to 3.5 percent active infectious rate, a rate deemed "high" by CDC data. That share grows in Houston, Galveston and portions of East Texas, where there is a "very high" active infectious rate of more than 3.5 percent. Guam, parts of northern Nevada and small pockets of both California and the East Coast are the only other areas nationwide showing an active infectious rate over 3.5 percent. Mike Hoerger, an associate professor of psychology and psychiatry at the Tulane Cancer Center, wrote on X he is encouraged by decreasing levels of active infections in California and Hawaii. He's conversely concerned with the COVID levels in Fort Bend County, which he notes is "right next to Houston." CDC data showed COVID infections are growing in three states (including Texas) and declining in 34 states nationwide. The Houston Health Department and Rice University collaborated to produce a City of Houston SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Monitoring Dashboard, which tracks the likely incidence of COVID across local communities through wastewater testing. COVID levels rose in the northern Houston suburbs via data tracked on June 22, while the rest of the county remained stagnant.

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Life after the flood: How a Texas father’s loss spurred a quest to protect others

From Matthew Childress' home in Houston you can hear the bells at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, the same church where his daughter Chloe's funeral was held on July 12 — about a week after she lost her life in catastrophic flooding in the Texas Hill Country. For Childress, the funeral was overwhelming. He stood in front of a packed house in the church and told the crowd how he imagined Chloe and her fellow Camp Mystic counselor, Katherine Ferruzzo, were helping others as the floodwaters overtook their cabin. "Chloe was not just my hero. She was an actual hero," Childress said. "I know she was leading those children with Katherine by her side. Following the counselor policies, doing everything they could in their power when it got bad to lead those girls to safety. "She wasn't just my hero," he added. "She was their hero." Since then, he's turned his grief into action — advocating for public safety legislation and emergency warning systems in Texas and elsewhere.

As he heard the church bells ring in April, Childress paused. "It's beautiful," he said. Chloe was set to spend a month at Camp Mystic, having returned for the first time as a counselor. Instead, Matthew and Wendie Childress drove from Houston to the Hill Country after the flood and identified Chloe's body at a funeral home in Kerrville on July 5. Since then, Matthew said he's been oscillating between different stages of grief. "It could be a picture, it could be an action, it could be driving by a restaurant that you went to, but we live in this world every single day that I find myself just shaking my head, saying, ‘I can’t believe I find myself here,'" he said. In the months since Chloe's passing, Matthew, Wendie and other families who lost loved ones at the camp have immersed themselves in the work to make sense of their losses. They've pushed for state investigations and new legislation in Texas and across the U.S., along with filing lawsuits against the camp in hopes of preventing other families from experiencing a similar tragedy.

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Study finds Texas cities can impact weather patterns, storm intensity

A recent study out of Texas A&M found that cities have a role in shaping weather patterns. The findings, published in the science journal Nature earlier this year, show thunderstorms are more likely to develop and strengthen over large urban cities like Dallas and Houston, while cold fronts potentially weaken as they move across urban areas. “Cities appear to have an impact on rainfall systems and that impact depends on the type of system,” said state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, a co-author of the study. The key way cities affect weather is through temperature, Nielsen-Gammon said. Urban areas tend to hold on to heat longer because of the density of pavement and large buildings, known as the “heat island” effect.

“That presumably accounts for how it is that we saw more thunderstorms developing over cities than over the surrounding countryside,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “[The air is] just a little bit more unstable over the cities.” Researchers used radar data of more than 40,000 storms recorded between 1995 and 2017 to put together a three-dimensional picture of the atmosphere around Austin, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. “All four cities exhibit a higher frequency of isolated storms compared with their rural counterparts, with 7–16% increases in three inland cities,” read the study. In the Dallas area specifically, Nielsen-Gammon said researchers found that heat trapped in paved areas tends to amplify the heat island effect. “You've got these places where there's lots of evaporation in the rural areas with the reservoirs and the farms and so forth compared to the urban areas, where things tend to be a bit drier,” Nielsen-Gammon said. He added that continued population growth in major cities like Dallas and Houston only amplify the intensity of certain storms. “We're able to actually see that different types of storms are actually affected differently,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “That explains some of the different results that have appeared in previous studies.” Results from the study can help improve weather forecasting, flood mitigation and emergency preparedness in major cities.

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Delays in federal research funding hit Texas universities

The Trump administration is delaying tens of millions of dollars in federal research grants to some of Texas' biggest universities. While many institutions said they hope to eventually receive approval for the money, the administration's plans remain unclear amid a larger overhaul of the system by which grant applications are evaluated. Experts warn the holdup is leaving some universities to put research plans on hold. "The problem is uncertainty. These universities are trying to plan," said Dr. Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which represents scientists and researchers. "How many graduate students is the University of Texas or A&M going to accept? You base that on how much grant money you're going to get."

Texas A&M University in College Station saw direct grants from the National Science Foundation drop from $11.7 million over the first nine months of the 2025 fiscal year to $2.4 million over the same period this year, according to federal data compiled by the non-profit Grant Witness, which tracks federal research spending. In Houston, Rice University's NSF funding dropped from $14.1 million to $4.2 million over the same period, and the University of Houston's funding declined from $7.6 million to $2.8 million. National Institutes of Health funding going to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston dropped by 26% to $73 million this fiscal year. And Baylor College of Medicine has received $125 million in grants so far this fiscal year, down from $147 million the previous year. Those delays reflect a nationwide trend, with NSF awards down 39% so far this fiscal year and NIH awards down 24%, according to federal research spending tracker ScienceSpending.org. Those two programs represent close to one third of federal research dollars, with the rest largely coming from the Departments of Defense and Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Why are Republicans suddenly for Ibogaine?

A few years ago, former Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry traveled to Mexico to take a psychedelic. During his youth, Perry experienced three concussions and has dealt with mild insomnia and anxiety since his early 20s – around the same time he began serving in the Air Force. After years of his own research and having been evaluated by a neuroscientist who told him he had mild atrophy, Perry decided to leave the country and undergo psychedelic-assisted therapy, hoping to alleviate some of his health conditions. The hallucinogen was ibogaine – a psychoactive compound extracted from the Tabernanthe iboga plant and a Schedule I substance in the U.S., which meant he had to leave the country to legally pursue the treatment.

Studies have shown that the substance can help reduce opioid dependence and produce “long-term positive psychological outcomes,” specifically for individuals with traumatic brain injuries. However, there are serious risks that come with consuming the substance. Without suitable screening and expert supervision, evidence shows that taking the substance can result in cardiac arrest. He told the Chronicle that his experience with the substance took him on a “journey through outer space.” During his mental excursion, he saw different Mesoamerican emblems, hieroglyphics, and a satanic figure. “[It] was just a fascinating coursing through the universe and seeing a lot of things,” Perry said. After Perry returned home, the same neuroscientist conducted two sets of scans on his brain – one just a week after the treatment and another six months later. There was progress. “A neurosurgeon, who was a respectful skeptic initially, who has become a complete believer in this medicine, look[ed] at my before and after scans and said, ‘Your atrophy is gone. Your brain looks like a 40-year-old individual’s brain,’” Perry said. The now 76-year-old told us that he no longer battles with the mild cases of insomnia and anxiety that he had to manage for about 50 years while in the Air Force and later serving in multiple positions within the Texas government. “I don’t suffer from those,” he explained. “I don’t have to deal with those anymore.”

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Sen. Kolkhorst reflects on Guadalupe River flood legislation one year after deadly disaster

One year after the Guadalupe River floods killed 138 people across approximately four counties, state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-District 18, said Texas has made significant legislative progress on camp safety and flood warning infrastructure — but that more work remains. The July 4, 2025, floods killed 119 people in Kerr County alone. Twenty-five campers and two counselors at Camp Mystic were among those killed. Kolkhorst said the most prominent legislation to emerge from a special session following the disaster was Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 1, known as the Heaven’s 27 Acts. “Those legislations really focus on camp safety,” Kolkhorst said. “Some common sense things that we put in law that are requirements now.”

She said the bills require camps to designate a muster spot, ensure counselors are trained, prohibit cabins in floodplains, and file evacuation plans with every county where a camp operates. Evacuation plans must also be provided to parents. “SB1 and HB1, very good bills that are being looked at across our nation as the new standard for camp safety,” Kolkhorst said. Kolkhorst said Senate Bill 5 set aside $50 million for rain gauges and sirens distributed as grants to counties. She said Kerr County received eight sirens and rain gauges, six of which had been installed as of May 15. The remaining two were still being installed at the time of the interview. She said the initial funding prioritized counties included in Gov. Greg Abbott’s disaster declaration, an area she described as Flash Flood Alley — a wide swath of Texas counties. Kolkhorst also said the legislature set aside $28 million for meteorological equipment designed to better predict what she called “rain bombs.” She said the equipment, which will be unique to Texas, is still being built and would fill a gap in weather monitoring between Del Rio and Brownsville. “So much progress made, but still a lot needs to be done in making sure that we warn people properly,” Kolkhorst said.

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ICE detained Iranian Christian who taught preschool at Houston church

Zahra Razavinik, an Iranian immigrant who has lived in the United States for nearly three decades, is part of a team of teachers at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church who encourage preschool children to develop their “God-given gifts.” Federal immigration officials have deemed her a threat to national security and sent her to the El Valle detention center in Raymondville. She’s been detained since January, despite her lack of criminal history and efforts to relocate to a country that will grant her a visa. “She cannot go back to Iran. Keep in mind the country conditions over there,” Razavinik’s attorney, Misbah Chaudhry said. “Right now, it's open war between Iran and USA.” What’s just as concerning, Chaudhry added, is that Razavinik, 66, is a Christian.

“It's a fundamentalist government over there, very conservative,” she said. “She is a liberal and because of her religious activities, she has no option to go back.” It’s unclear how the current conflict between the United States and Iran could impact Razavinik’s fate. The United States and Iran came to an agreement this month to cease hostilities. Chaudhry doubts conditions for people like Razavinik will improve. Christians in Iran continue to be arrested and imprisoned in the aftermath of the June 2025 12-Day War with Israel, human rights groups have reported. Last year, authorities in Iran arrested more than 250 Christians on charges related to their religious beliefs, an increase of more than 80%, according to Article 18, a London-based nonprofit that advocates for religious freedom in Iran. More than 40 Christians were still serving sentences at the end of 2025, and at least 16 others remained in pre-trial detention, the report states.

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North Texas-affiliated White Nationalists march in Washington amid 250th anniversary celebrations

A large group of masked men wearing the markings of a well-known white nationalist group marched with flags and chanted “reclaim America!” in Washington on Saturday morning, as the capital city prepared for the main events celebrating the United States’ 250th birthday. The march, through neighborhoods around the U.S. Capitol, was brief, though bystanders posted scores of videos on social media. The group left the city sometime before 11 a.m., the Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement. The group of apparently several hundred people wore tan baseball hats marked with the logo of the white supremacist group Patriot Front, which includes a ring of 13 white stars, a reference to the first American colonies. They carried various flags, including the Confederate battle flag.

“M.P.D. recognizes the rights of individuals to peacefully express their views and remains committed to maintaining public safety and security for D.C. residents and visitors,” a police spokeswoman said in a statement. Patriot Front, which has long called for the United States to be turned into a white ethno-state, has a history of staging high-profile demonstrations, almost always in the same uniform of dark shirts, khaki pants, work boots and white face masks. “This definitely looks like Patriot Front,” said Mary McCord, a former assistant attorney general for national security under presidents Obama and Trump. She said the logo on their hats, which includes imagery resembling fascist symbols of Italy in the 1930s, was consistent with the group, as was the clothing. The group — which broke away from another white nationalist organization, Vanguard America, in 2017 after the bloody “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. — has employed the same tactics in different cities. Demonstrators often show up in public spaces in rented U-Hauls, spilling out onto the streets for a flag-waving march before piling back into the trucks and disappearing. Two summers ago, hundreds of Patriot Front members descended on Nashville, carrying upside-down American flags and causing a major uproar in the city.

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Eric Bronner: I’m a veteran. Closing Texas GOP primaries betrays conservative values

(Eric H. Bronner is a Navy veteran, Naval Academy graduate, lifelong independent voter, and founder of Veterans for All Voters, a national nonpartisan nonprofit.) Last month at the Texas GOP convention in Houston, Gov. Greg Abbott pledged to ensure that “only Republicans vote in Republican primaries.” He framed the proposal as an election-integrity measure. I understand why that line draws applause in a political party’s convention hall. I understand that party identity matters to many Texans. Principles matter. Private associations matter. But Texas primary elections are not private meetings. They are taxpayer-funded public elections, run under long-established rules set by the Texas Legislature. That is why Veterans for All Voters, the nonprofit I founded, filed an amicus brief in federal court: In Hunt v. Texas, we support the position taken by Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson.

As a nonpartisan veterans group, we oppose closed primaries in blue states, red states and anywhere else where party insiders try to wall off public elections from the public. Nelson, a Republican appointed by Abbott, will likely leave office this month. She rightly defended state law and opposed the GOP’s lawsuit to close the primaries. In an age when too many officials take cues from party elites before they read the law, she did the job that every Texan needed her to do. Now Texans should watch closely. The next secretary of state should be chosen for fidelity to the law, steadiness under pressure and a willingness to serve every Texan. A successor chosen to fold the state’s hand in court would send a very different message. The chief elections officer of Texas serves all voters. You don’t want them to be an errand-runner for party bosses. In Texas, voters do not register by party. They show up, choose one primary, and participate in that party’s contests for that election. They cannot vote in both primaries. Closing primaries would replace that simple system with additional registration and paperwork burdens on all voters and costly upgrades to the state's voter registration systems. Conservatives should be the first to reject that government overreach and unnecessary expense.

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National Stories

Trump says he overruled plan to cancel Mall celebration amid weather evacuations

President Donald Trump said Sunday he personally overruled a recommendation to cancel the July Fourth “Salute to America” event on the National Mall after approaching storms forced a chaotic evacuation of hundreds of thousands of revelers and triple-digit heat cast a sweltering pall over much of the day. The president — who took the stage just after 11 p.m. Saturday after a more than three-hour delay in the planned programming — on Sunday declared the event a rousing success in a Truth Social post. “When I heard that it was cancelled, I immediately overturned that decision,” he wrote. He congratulated law enforcement officials for quickly rescreening people who wanted to return once the storms passed. Still, the crowd who witnessed his speech and the fireworks show was less than half than those who had arrived earlier in the day, Trump said.

A senior White House official said Sunday that “all the entities involved” had recommended calling the festivities off altogether after storms forced the exodus from the Mall. “When POTUS heard this, he told all involved to invite everyone back in and the speech would take place, even if it meant waiting until 2 a.m.,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. In the end, Trump got the July Fourth rally and pyrotechnic show he wanted. And much like the event itself, which effectively supplanted earlier plans for Washington’s July Fourth celebrations that had been in the works for years, it happened primarily through his own sheer force of will. A spokesperson for Freedom 250 — the White House-led organization that put together Saturday’s event — did not respond to questions about Trump’s account of a recommended cancellation. Those involved in the planning acknowledged that the weather had presented challenges throughout the day, strained the patience of revelers, and drawn questions from critics about whether officials had adequately prepared for a weather forecast that days before the event had called for high heat and a strong chance of dangerous storms.

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DOGE self-deleted on July 4th. The grand experiment fell apart long before that.

President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting commission that once plunged the government into chaos is nearing its destiny — becoming a former federal initiative. Up for debate: how and when the end will truly come for the Department of Government Efficiency, which triggered thousands of federal employees to leave their jobs and voided billions of dollars in government contracts. Trump’s January 2025 executive order creating DOGE also established a July 4, 2026, sunset. “A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift” to America on its semiquincentennial birthday, the president said when he announced the commission. But DOGE didn’t really deliver on that promise, said Elizabeth Linos, a Harvard Kennedy School public policy and management professor, as did others who spoke to POLITICO about DOGE’s dramatic efforts over the past 18 months. Instead, it resulted in a near-immediate loss of expertise and live-saving programs but cost savings nowhere near the $2 trillion once promised.

Looking long term, Linos said that “effectively, DOGE told the American people that they can’t trust government to protect their data, to use their data and technology for good.” “That has really long-lasting effects on our ability to rebuild trust in government or even convince the next generation of talent to enter government to begin with,” she said. DOGE claims it saved $215 billion, or $1,335.40 per taxpayer, with its cuts, which included slashing duplicative software licenses, canceling diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, grants as well as ending leases for underused office space. That’s a pittance to the federal budget, which is now about $7 trillion each year. The effort faded relatively early too as tech mogul Elon Musk clashed with government officials and left DOGE in May last year. What comes next is not clear. “President Trump was given a clear mandate to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government,” said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle. “He has made significant progress in making the federal government more efficient to better serve the American taxpayer.”

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The company processing ICE's medical payments hasn't paid out a dime

The company hired to process payments to health providers caring for people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s custody has so far paid zero dollars for those services. Acentra Health, the Virginia-based company that signed on in October to process the payments, has pushed back the timeline for doing so by several months and most recently said it would start reimbursements later this year. Those payments are meant to go to dentists, pharmacies, emergency departments and others for providing offsite care for immigrants. This means that health care providers are seeing immigrants in ICE detention without getting paid. And it’s raising concerns that if the money doesn’t come through, immigrants will stop receiving treatment.

“I think the question goes to ICE,” said Deborah Fleischaker, acting ICE chief of staff during the Biden administration. “Is this acceptable? Are they meeting the terms of the contract? Why are you continuing with them? How long are you going to go without having these claims processed before you can’t find people to provide medical care?” The contract is worth millions. As of June 4, Acentra Health had received $44.6 million of the $67.5 million contract, which is set to end on July 31, according to a federal government contracting database. ICE did not respond to a NOTUS inquiry. In a contracting document, ICE said that payment processing was essential to ensure proper care for detainees. “ICE’s ability to pay for medically necessary offsite care has been compromised since ICE has no system in place to process or pay medical claims,” the November document states. “It is an absolute emergency for ICE to immediately procure claims processing support because lack of this support will delay critical medical care for IAs such as dialysis, prenatal care, oncology, chemotherapy, etc.”

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Paul Pelosi allegedly involved in hit-and-run in California

The husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was involved in a hit-and-run in California that left a parked car with “major” damage authorities said Saturday, and he could face misdemeanor charges. Paul Pelosi was driving his brown convertible Friday in Yountville, a town in the heart of wine country, when he struck a legally parked car on the side of the road, briefly stopped and then drove away, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. No injuries were reported. A witness saw the collision and called 911. Shortly afterward sheriff’s deputies found Pelosi with damage to the front of his car on a road roughly a quarter of a mile away. He reportedly told officers he knew he hit something but was not sure when or what caused the damage.

Pelosi, 86, did not have any alcohol in his system, according to the statement. The sheriff’s office referred him to the Department of Motor Vehicles for a process to determine whether he may continue to drive — something that officials say is common for older drivers. Pelosi was not arrested, and because no one was injured, the sheriff’s office recommended a misdemeanor charge for fleeing the scene of an accident. A staffer for Nancy Pelosi did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Paul Pelosi pleaded guilty in 2022 to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence in Napa County and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation. However, he served only two days in jail and received good conduct credit for two other days, leaving just one day to serve in a work program at the courthouse. As part of his probation, Pelosi was required to attend a three-month drinking driver class and install an ignition interlock device, which forces drivers to provide a breath sample to prove sobriety before the engine will start. He also was ordered to pay about $5,000 in victim restitution for medical bills and lost wages, along with nearly $2,000 in fines. That same year he was attacked and severely beaten with a hammer at the couple’s San Francisco home.

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After America’s 250th, Trump will test how far he can push NATO allies

Fresh off a week of star-spangled celebrations of America’s 250th, President Donald Trump departs for Turkey on Monday to meet with fellow leaders of NATO. They hope he wouldn’t declare independence from them. Trump has long been skeptical about NATO and European allies, asserting that the alliance the United States forged after World War II to fend off the Soviet Union has been taking advantage of Washington’s largesse. Deep into his second term, the president by now is now well acquainted with the theatrics of NATO gatherings, reveling, according to his associates, in the drama of threatening fellow leaders and watching them scramble to keep him happy. The strains increase every year, with Trump’s popularity sinking in Europe after he threatened to seize Greenland in January and sent energy prices spiking with his attack on Iran. The president has fumed that European allies didn’t do enough to help Washington in its war. And in recent days, he has renewed complaints about their defense spending, though he has successfully driven big increases.

Now, the alliance will again attempt to weather Trumpian pressure, by flattering him where possible and avoiding unnecessary confrontations. Trump is scheduled to arrive in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Tuesday and will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before having dinner with fellow NATO leaders that evening. The substantive meeting will be Wednesday morning, which diplomats have kept short to minimize potential disruptions. Afterward, Trump plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa before holding a news conference and returning to Washington, according to White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. The president’s grievances have already subsumed much of NATO’s business. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte laid the foundation last month, praising the president’s stewardship and delivering a presentation in the Oval Office of what he called the “Trump trillion,” with poster boards in golden, “Art of the Deal”-style lettering boasting increases in Europe’s defense spending over the last decade.

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Democrat Mallory McMorrow suspends her Michigan Senate campaign

Michigan Democrat Mallory McMorrow suspended her campaign for the U.S. Senate on Sunday, abruptly reshaping the party primary just a month before the election and leaving a two-person contest between moderate Haley Stevens and progressive Abdul El-Sayed. McMorrow’s exit comes after many Democrats increasingly viewed her as a long shot for the nomination. It also creates a fresh dynamic in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races, forcing Democratic voters into a direct choice between Stevens, a mainstream congresswoman backed by much of the party establishment, and El-Sayed, supported by many progressive movement leaders. The binary choice will be on full display Tuesday, when Stevens and El-Sayed are set to face off in a televised debate. During a May debate, El-Sayed repeatedly went on the offensive against Stevens, who mostly declined to engage directly with him.

McMorrow’s departure could also prompt influential Democrats in the state to announce their support for Stevens because of concerns about El-Sayed’s electability in a general election. Some had stayed on the sidelines because of relationships with McMorrow. The seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is one that the party must hold if it hopes to reclaim the Senate majority in this fall’s midterm elections. The primary winner is expected to face Republican Mike Rogers, who lost to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin in 2024. McMorrow made the announcement in a statement and video posted online Sunday, which came after ballots have already gone out. “Today, I’m announcing that I am suspending my campaign for United States Senate,” McMorrow wrote. “And I’m doing it with a deep, deep sense of gratitude,” she said. “For our thousands of volunteers, for everyone who donated what you could — building a campaign with zero corporate PAC dollars. For my staff, who built this team up from nothing. I thank you.”

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ITV and Sky reshape British TV landscape with $2.1 billion deal

Sky ?has agreed to buy the broadcast channels and streaming service of Britain's ITV for £1.6 billion ($2.13 billion), creating a British champion ?with the scale to compete with global players like Netflix, Amazon and Disney. Sky CEO Dana Strong said the deal, announced on Monday and confirming a recent Reuters story, was a "defining moment", one of the biggest in the history of British broadcasting. It will now face scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers.

The combination of Britain's biggest free-to-air commercial broadcaster ?and the pay-TV company Sky would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, but the rise of YouTube and the ?streaming giants, has left traditional companies exposed. The merger of the public ?service channels of ITV, and the leading pay-TV business of Sky, founded by Rupert Murdoch in 1989, would account for more than 70% of ?the UK television advertising market, analysts have said. Strong said the deal would deliver "outstanding British programming" in a rapidly changing world. "ITV will remain a public ?service broadcaster at the heart of British life, and we’re excited about the future we can build together," she said. To satisfy regulatory concerns, Sky may be forced to relinquish its third-party ad sales contracts, for example for Paramount-owned Channel 5, as the 70% television ad share includes those contracts.

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Lead Stories

Abbott appoints election denier lead 'election integrity' policy and firebrand as comptroller

A Texas state representative who believes the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump will lead election policy as a senior adviser to Gov. Greg Abbott. State Rep. Nate Schatzline, a Fort Worth Republican, resigned from the Texas House on Thursday to accept the new role developing policy and legislative strategy related to election integrity, according to a statement from the governor’s office. The two-term representative is among the most conservative members of the state House and a pastor at the Fort Worth mega church Mercy Culture. He does not have previous election administration experience.

He also annouynced on Thursday that Don Huffines will lead the comptroller’s office, elevating a one-time political nemesis to the post Huffines is seeking in the November election. The move comes after acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock — who Huffines beat in the March GOP primary — announced he was stepping down at the end of the month. Hancock is a close ally of Abbott’s and the governor backed him over Huffines in the primary. On Thursday, the governor said Huffines is the right man for the job, which includes overseeing the state’s finances and the rollout of the state’s new private school voucher program, a key policy priority for Abbott. The appointment is effective Aug. 1. In recent weeks, Schatzline was floated to replace Secretary of State Jane Nelson, who announced her retirement in June.

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Trump got the Senate candidates he wanted. How much will he spend to help them?

President Donald Trump reshaped this year’s U.S. Senate map by sidelining some Republican incumbents and promoting loyalists to replace them. Now the question is whether he’ll put his money where his mouth is. With four months to go until November’s elections, it’s still unclear how much MAGA Inc., the country’s largest political war chest with $382 million in the bank as of last month, plans to spend on key races. The silence has persisted even as Senate Republican leaders have urged Trump’s team, both privately and publicly, to pick up the tab for the president’s decisions. Front and center is Texas, where Trump successfully endorsed fiery conservative Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn, a choice that some Republicans grumble has turned a safe election into a toss-up that will drain resources away from other battlegrounds.

Democratic nominee James Talarico, a state lawmaker, has made Paxton’s history of corruption allegations a central target of his campaign. “The president picked Paxton, and he’s got $350 million dollars,” Cornyn recently told Semafor. “I think he can spend his money.” Another challenge has emerged in North Carolina, where Sen. Thom Tillis declined to run for reelection after feuding with Trump last year over healthcare spending. Trump backed Michael Whatley, his former handpicked chair of the Republican National Committee, to run instead, and Democrats hope to flip the seat with former Gov. Roy Cooper. Some in Republican campaign leadership are expecting MAGA Inc. to pitch in for Whatley in North Carolina, where the state’s several metro media markets can be pricey. Republicans will likely be able to count on generous support from well-funded official party committees, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this week should be allowed to make unlimited direct contributions to candidates’ campaigns. But even that sum falls short of what Trump has stockpiled in MAGA Inc. Even though the president is constitutionally barred from running again, he began raising money shortly after winning a second term, and he’s regularly held fundraisers at his resort properties where tickets cost $1 million per person.

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Immigrant arrests surge to 10,000 in 5 days as ICE clamps down

Federal immigration officials have detained more than 10,000 people in the last five days, a major surge that has stemmed from a push within Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase arrest rates. Agency leaders in recent days ordered top ICE officials to focus more of their officers’ efforts on picking up immigrants they want to deport, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and interviews with federal officials. ICE officers have arrested people at check-ins with immigration authorities, during traffic stops and on the street. The push has apparently yielded results, with recent arrest numbers roughly doubling from the 1,000 picked up each day earlier this year. ICE officials were told that the White House wanted an increase in arrests, according to three officials with knowledge of the conversations.

One of the officials said that it was unclear how long the pace could continue, but that ICE officials had been told that 2,000 arrests a day was the new standard for enforcement. The surge has occurred without the fanfare of highly visible operations last year, in which officials announced their intentions ahead of time to target cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles, and send officers pouring into the streets. Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, pledged to mount a quieter enforcement campaign following the chaos of a monthlong operation in Minnesota, where federal officers killed two U.S. citizens. The rise in arrests suggests that President Trump is determined to meet his pledge of mass deportations, a goal that is popular among his conservative supporters but that has fueled a political backlash amid the administration’s heavy-handed tactics. The Trump administration has promised more aggressive actions, particularly after the Supreme Court in recent days expanded the president’s power to set federal immigration policy, but undercut his effort to eliminate birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants and visitors.

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CPS Energy must pay nearly $400M over 2021 winter storm charges

A Bexar County judge ordered CPS Energy to pay nearly $400 million to two natural gas suppliers, rejecting the utility’s claim that prices charged during the February 2021 winter storm were unconscionable. State District Judge Laura Salinas ruled that Houston Pipe Line Co. LP and Oasis Pipeline LP charged market prices during the storm, that the contracts were enforceable and that CPS breached them by failing to pay the full invoices. Salinas found the prices charged by the subsidiaries of Dallas-based Energy Transfer LP were consistent with prevailing market prices and with prices paid by other buyers during the storm.

The judge awarded the two companies virtually everything they sought, including $263.7 million in unpaid gas charges, $119.1 million in prejudgment interest and $9.4 million in attorneys fees. In the five-page ruling issued Thursday, the judge also included court costs, post-judgment interest and additional attorneys fees if they prevail on appeal. In an emailed statement, CPS Energy said it is considering its appellate options. “CPS Energy is disappointed by the court’s decision, which will cost this community more than $390 million and may effectively end a key legal safeguard against grossly unfair treatment for essential services like natural gas during the next statewide disaster,” it said. Energy Transfer spokesperson Vicki Anderson Granado said it was pleased with the ruling. “The message is clear: CPS Energy must pay its bills just like everyone else,” she said. “The bills sent to CPS were for their many natural gas purchases and reflected the terms agreed to at that time based on market conditions. CPS failed to prepare appropriately for the winter storm season, and they put the interests of their customers at risk. We had no choice but to file suit to get CPS Energy to honor its contracts.”

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State Stories

Texas House candidate for Fort Worth area district posts racially coded meme

A Republican candidate for a Fort Worth area Texas House district posted and then deleted a racially coded meme on her campaign Facebook page. On July 1, Cheryl Bean posted on Facebook an AI-generated illustration of WNBA player Sophie Cunningham on a boat with her Indiana Fever teammates, posing similarly to the “Washington Crossing the Delaware” painting. In the image, Cunningham is pointing forward, referencing a June 22 game when she pointed dramatically at Phoenix Mercury player DeWanna Bonner after a physical altercation with Cunningham’s teammate Caitlin Clark. In the image, the Black players are wearing floaties while none of the white players are. “IYKYK A little humor for the day,” Bean wrote in the post on Cheryl Bean for Texas.

Bean is running for House District 94 in the Nov. 3 election. The district covers central Arlington, northeast Fort Worth, Hurst and parts of Bedford. The seat is held by Republican Tony Tinderholt, who announced his retirement in June 2025 and is now a candidate for Tarrant County commissioner. She is also the board chair of the Texas Center for Arts and Academics, which governs two public charter schools, one in Fort Worth. Several comments referenced why only the Black players have floaties and none of the white players do. “So the Floaties basically trying to say we can’t swim. Because from my angle I can see who doesn’t have them on,” one person wrote. Others laughed at the detail. “Not the black girls with floaties on” another person wrote with a laughing and cemetery emoji. “Okay Sophie looks fantastic but I noticed only the black women are wearing floaties. I think this made me laugh even more,” another wrote. “Why all the black ladies got water wings?” said another. By about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the post was deleted.

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Dallas GOP convention could cost up to $40 million

The Republican extravaganza planned in Dallas this fall could cost as much as $40 million, but it remains unclear how much of the cost will fall on taxpayers, the event’s co-chair said. The first-of-its-kind midterm convention — dubbed the “Trump-a-palooza” — will be privately funded by donors, but whether Dallas will receive reimbursement for police, fire, traffic control and other public services needed to host the event at the city-owned American Airlines Center is up in the air. The potentially hefty price tag comes as Republicans are fundraising ahead of what is expected to be an expensive midterm election in November. The U.S. Senate race between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic Texas House member James Talarico is already costly.

Dallas developer and prominent Republican donor Ray Washburne told The Dallas Morning News that he has not seen a final budget but expects the two-day event to cost between $30 million and $40 million. Washburne, the event’s co-chair, estimates about 20,000 people would attend each night. City officials didn’t respond Thursday to questions about whether Dallas has committed funding, personnel or other public resources to the Sept. 9 and 10 convention. The city also didn't say whether it has developed preliminary cost estimates. A nonprofit host committee, which will include people from the area, is expected to be announced next week. That committee will cover some costs for hosting the event, according to Rick Gorka, who identified himself as a convention spokesman. The number of GOP donors in Dallas may have helped attract the event, said Tami Brown Rodriquez, the former chair of the Dallas County Republican Party.

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‘TEXAS’ street mural near UT covered overnight

The city of Austin covered the “TEXAS” street mural on Guadalupe Street in front of the University of Texas at Austin campus overnight with a mixture of gravel and oil, according to Jeff Stensland, the public information officer for Austin Transportation & Public Works. The mural's removal, first reported by The Daily Texan, UT's student newspaper, occurred between 3 and 6 a.m., Stensland said. The removal came after Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Transportation to eliminate “non-standard surface markings, signage and signals” in October. The mural was first installed in May 2024 to celebrate the Longhorns' joining the Southeastern Conference. In May, the Texas Department of Transportation rejected the city of Austin’s appeal to preserve the street art. Austin removed multiple other street murals early Thursday morning. Cities across the state have removed their murals to comply with Abbott's directive. In Houston, Montrose's rainbow crosswalks were removed in October.

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State senator plans to challenge San Marcos’ data center ban, says city lacks legal authority

Less than a month after San Marcos became the first city in Texas to ban data centers citywide, one state lawmaker says he plans to challenge the ordinance, arguing the city does not have the legal authority to enact it. In a statement to KXAN, State Sen. Paul Bettencourt said the city’s zoning amendment conflicts with state law. “They should not use zoning to ban anything everywhere in the city of San Marcos because that’s not lawful under the state of Texas guidelines. A ban doesn’t work here, and this will get challenged.”

The San Marcos City Council approved the ordinance in June after months of discussion over the potential impact of data centers on the community. City leaders cited concerns over the facilities’ high water demand, land use and long-term effects on the city’s natural resources. In response to Bettencourt’s comments, the City of San Marcos said: “City Council provided initial authorization to update the Development Code in August 2025. As part of the process, City staff conducted public hearings, had meetings with the development community and held an open house to gather input and comments on the draft code. The draft was presented to the City Council, which reviewed staff recommendations and made amendments before adopting the updated code at the June 16, 2026, meeting.” Some locals who supported the ban said they expected the decision to face opposition but hope the city stands by it. “I think that’s very frustrating. If the city and the people within the city decide that this is what we want here, they should listen to that,” said Aimee Lewey. “Of course there’s going to be some pushback. The biggest thing with these data centers is it’s taking away not only our clean water that we need to live, but also these beautiful environments like the school that we have,” said Sylvia Ellis, San Marcos resident.

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Tarrant GOP’s election strategy focuses on $3.5M in donations, unified campaign

“One big beautiful campaign” and $3.5 million are the keystones to success for Tarrant County Republicans in the midterm elections, Tarrant’s GOP Chair Tim Davis said. On Wednesday, Davis outlined his vision at an Arlington Republican club called the Freedom Fighters. Davis was frank with the roughly 20 people in attendance, saying the November election will not be an easy victory. Anyone who thinks so is naive, Davis said. “Everything we have, we have to earn,” he said. “Everything we have, we have to fight to keep, and that’s going to be true in November.” Heavy-hitting positions on the ballot include the U.S. Senate seat, five U.S. Representative seats and a number of statewide offices.

Tarrant County’s Republican candidates will have the most integrated campaign than ever before and the party will raise $3.5 million to support them, Davis said. An integrated campaign will ensure that the candidates’ values, efforts and messaging are aligned up and down the ballot. “We don’t need to have 40 judges running around doing different things, we need to do that,” he said. “We need to be the quarterback for that at the party, and that’s what we’re working hard to do.” The staggering goal of $3.5 million will fund advertisements and voter research, Davis said. Much of the campaigning will be volunteer driven. On Saturday, the Tarrant County GOP swore in new precinct chairs. Davis said they are fired up to do the hard work until the election. “They get the fight that it’s going to take, they get the work that it’s going to take, they get the time that it’s going to take, the treasure it’s going to take for us to hold this great state and keep electing people like [State Board of Education member] Brandon Hall, keep electing people like Governor Abbott,” Davis said. “I keep saying Senator Paxton already. I hope I’m not jinxing it.”

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Texas Rep. Nehls says struggling Americans may not work hard enough

It's not unusual for politicians to be accused of being out of touch. One Texas congressman didn't do much to change that perception when he was asked about affordability. In a video shared online by MeidasTouch's Pablo Manríquez, Texas Rep. Troy Nehls was asked about the current affordability crisis Americans are facing with increased costs from the gas station to the grocery store.. Rather than immediately answering the question, Nehls pivoted to his own Fourth of July plans. "Affordability? What are you talking about?" Nehls asked before bragging about his upcoming Fourth of July plans in Texas.

"I'm gonna get me a couple of big lobster tails," he continued. "I'm gonna get me some nice ribeyes, I'm gonna sit in my backyard with my family, my neighbors, and we're going to be enjoying the fourth, celebrating 250 years, the birthday." Nehls eventually returned to the question of affordability by arguing that recent increases in energy prices were temporary and tied to ongoing conflict in the Middle East. "Everybody understands, you're gonna see a little increase in energy prices because of Iran. I mean, come on, people aren't stupid," he said. "But I think in the end, the short-term increase in some of the costs of energy, you know, gasoline and stuff, is temporary, but President [Donald] Trump has made it very clear to these companies, don't be gouging, no price gouging."

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Texas among hardest hit by explosive diarrhea parasite

Texas is nearly a nationwide leader in one statistic, per the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), though it isn't a mark worth celebrating in the Lone Star State. The CDC reports 145 people across the United States contracted the the parasite Cyclospora between May and its June 16 report, with 11-to-30 of those individuals residing in Texas. CDC data reports New York as the nation's leader in Cyclospora with 31-to-80 cases. Texas and Illinois are the only other states with more than 10 reported cases nationwide. The symptoms of Cyclospora aren't pretty. The CDC notes the most common symptoms as: watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, cramping, bloating, increased gas and nausea.

Cyclospora can often be contracted by eating or drinking contaminated food or water during travel outside the United States, though the CDC has not confirmed the specific source of Cyclospora in the 145 reported cases nationwide. Cyclospora cases can be treated via antibiotics, though symptoms can last for as long as a month if not immediately treated. Individuals who contracted Cyclospora range from 17-years-old to 89-years-old, per the CDC. The onset of Cyclospora resulted in 20 hospitalizations as of June 16, but no deaths to date. 2026 is far from the first time Cyclospora has emerged in the United States. A 2019 Cyclospora outbreak emerged via imported berries and herbs from Mexico, while 2018 saw 400 people get infected with Cyclospora via tainted salads at McDonalds. The CDC reports "investigations to identify potential sources [of Cyclospora] are ongoing."

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South Texas congressman trying to get border wall exemptions reinstated

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, says he’s working with Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee for exceptions to be put in the 2027 Homeland Security budget bill to exempt certain landmarks in the Rio Grande Valley from border wall construction. If approved, Cuellar says border wall exemptions that Congress had previously given to these landmarks — Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park; La Lomita Chapel; SpaceX; historic cemeteries; the National Butterfly Center and Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge — would once again apply.

“It’s not final. We got to make it final But I did get language in the bill to say that those exceptions that we got for the Valley – SpaceX, Butterfly Center (La Lomita) Chapel, all that – you can’t use appropriated dollars and you cannot use Big Beautiful Bill dollars, or reconciliation,” Cuellar told media Thursday. The measure isn’t expected to be voted on for months, however, by Congress. If passed, it likely will be too late to prevent border wall construction at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has told Border Report the agency plans to begin border wall construction starting this month. Funds for the border wall are paid through the $46.5 billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump last 4th of July, which had no exemptions written into the legislation.

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CapMetro employees threaten to go on strike

After a 10-month negotiation process, CapMetro workers and transit subcontractor Keolis are still at odds over desired wages, time off, and better training. After rejecting the company’s most recent offer, the union representing CapMetro workers, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1091, announced Tuesday, June 30, that 99.5% of its members have voted to authorize a strike. Brent Payne, president for ATU Local 1091, said that a strike is now “highly likely.” The disputes between the union and Keolis have resulted in months-long negotiations about how to move forward. In May, the union asked workers to not take overtime shifts after Keolis stalled negotiations. Though the contract was “maybe 60%” complete, Payne said that the offer did not meet all of the employees’ requests, resulting in the workers declining the deal.

“The best and final that they gave us still didn’t have benefits for my UT shuttle operators. They work full-time hours, meaning they work 40-hour workweeks, but they do not give them any kind of benefits,” Payne said. “We’re not close on a couple of issues.” Payne told us that the subcontractor’s final offer also did not include overtime pay for administrative employees, and offered a 12% pay increase over three years, coming up short of the union’s ask for 14% over the same period. According to the union, over 75% of CapMetro workers can’t afford to live in Austin. “Our members feel very strongly that everybody should have the same benefit package,” Payne said. The union has also pointed out the need for better training and adequate time off that is standard for transit workers across the industry. With a potential strike around the corner, Payne said that Austinites who typically use the public transportation system will likely be impacted. “We cover everything from big bus to all maintenance and UT shuttle operations. That’s everything in fixed route,” Payne said. “I would say a strike would severely disable the city of Austin.”

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New Houston charter school for dropouts raises red flags for critics

Over the last decade, Texas has approved a steady beat of new charter schools — four per year, on average. But for the second time in 30 years, just one charter district made it through the state’s lengthy application process, as the State Board of Education approved a new charter operator at last week's meeting. Critics already questioned creating new charter school districts as public school enrollment falls and charter schools close due to low performance. But now they say the proposed school raises financial concerns, too. The new charter plans to send public taxpayer dollars to an out-of-state, for-profit company with private equity backing to operate its Texas schools. Charter schools can be run by nonprofits — like YES Prep, KIPP and other flagship networks — or by private companies.

In both cases, they receive public funding and operate with more flexibility than traditional public schools. Charters educated about 446,600 Texas students in the 2025-26 school year and just over 99,000 students in the Houston region, according to state data. Patti Everett, an independent education policy researcher, told the State Board of Education last week that if they approved the charter’s management structure, it would represent a “paradigm shift” for charters in Texas. “This application raises many, many red flags, conflicts of interest, and it sets precedents that I think should give us all pause, even if you generally support charter schools,” Everett said. “The idea that taxpayer dollars would go to investors instead of to students, especially at-risk students, is a concerning precedent.” The new charter, Texas School for Dropout Prevention, Inc., has a contract with a private company, Second Mile Education, to operate the school, alongside an independent board and superintendent. Second Mile, which operates 27 schools across the United States, is owned by the private equity firm Satori Capital. The charter school applied last year for Texas approval but didn’t make it to the final rounds. The State Board of Education, whose members are chosen in partisan elections, approved the new charter application in a 9-5-1 vote last week, with board member Pam Little, a Republican from North Texas, abstaining. The vote was mostly along party lines. However, one Democratic representative voted for the charter, Staci Childs from Houston, and one Republican representative who voted against it, Evelyn Brooks of Frisco.

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Driver overrode Tesla's autopilot seconds before crashing into Katy-area home, killing woman: Docs

A bond has been set for the man who was behind the wheel of a Tesla that crashed into a Katy-area home, killing a woman, according to court records. The alleged driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, now faces a manslaughter charge. He went before a judge on Thursday morning, where his bond was set at $150,000. Online records show that as of Thursday morning, Butler is still in Harris County jail. According to authorities, the crash happened on June 19. Surveillance video shows Butler's Tesla barreling into the home on Blooming Park Lane in Katy. Court documents state Butler was working as a DoorDash driver at the time of the incident. Butler allegedly told investigators that the last thing he remembered was operating the car on Highway 6 and in full self-driving mode.

Butler reportedly said the car was on autopilot and then he "passed out." Records alleged Butler denied feeling ill earlier in the day and has no history of seizures. He also tested negative for seizures, stroke, or heart attack, and no alcohol or street drugs were found in his system. As a result of the crash, 76-year-old Martha Avila was killed. Her family told ABC13 they were cooking dinner and she happened to be in the front playroom of the home when the Tesla plowed through. At the time of the crash, investigators said Butler claimed his car was in self-driving mode, but Tesla since disputed that and claimed he overrode the feature. Updated court records state that investigators downloaded the crash data, black box, and received consent to search Butler's phone. They reportedly found that Butler used full self-driving mode for multiple DoorDash locations before the crash with no issues. Investigators accuse Butler of overriding the self-driving mode by using the accelerator just before the crash and rolling through a stop sign.

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"Weird" and "ironic": Detained San Antonio mariachi records national anthem for ICE

A San Antonio mariachi musician who was brought to the U.S. at age four and is facing possible deportation under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" Thursday for a July Fourth observance at the federal detention center in South Texas where he is being held. Hebert Kaleth Ibarra Castro, 20, said he agreed to be recorded singing the national anthem even though he considered the request "weird" and "ironic." “They can treat us this way and lock us up and chain us up like animals, but still request for us to sing a song that speaks about a land that is free,” he said in a phone interview from the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, 55 miles southwest of San Antonio.

Hebert was taken into custody June 25 after police pulled him over for speeding in China Grove, a small city 12 miles east of San Antonio. When he showed the officer a Mexican driver's license, local police contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose agents interviewed Hebert and determined he was in the country illegally. His performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" grew out of an effort to mark Independence Day for detainees at the ICE facility. The center held a contest in which detainees created Fourth of July-themed handkerchief arrangements. Winners received a goodie bag with Cokes, chips and cookies. Staff members at the facility also wanted someone to sing the national anthem, and Hebert said one of them asked him if he would do it. Many of his fellow detainees do not know English, much less the anthem, so he agreed, he said. On Thursday afternoon, Hebert stood beside a poster of the American flag and a display of detainees' red-white-and-blue handkerchief arrangements and belted out "The Star-Spangled Banner," according to his wife, Marisol Pantoja, who spoke to him by phone afterward and received a detailed account.

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Hill Country flood relief fund distributes $82 million one year after disaster

In the days after floodwaters tore through the Texas Hill Country on July 4, 2025, donations poured in from across the country. The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country quickly launched a relief effort, directing millions of dollars toward emergency assistance for survivors and affected communities. Like many across the Hill Country, the foundation’s CEO Austin Dickson lost loved ones in the flood. He said the anniversary has been a reminder of both the grief that remains and the progress the community has made. “You can be in grief and you can also be hopeful at the same time, and that's very much where I am personally,” Dickson said. “I'm hopeful because there's been so much generosity towards our community, and the Community Foundation has been able to translate that into results.”

The flood killed more than 130 people across the Hill Country and destroyed hundreds of homes, businesses and public spaces, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in Texas history. Now, one year later, the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country has raised $150 million for recovery efforts. Founded in 1982, the local nonprofit has so far awarded about $82 million to help families rebuild their lives, Dickson said. “We've moved really quickly and very deliberately and very systematically to make sure as many people as possible get the help that they need,” he said. The first phase of recovery focused on meeting immediate needs. Within 45 days of the flooding, the foundation distributed $15 million to more than 50 local nonprofits, Dickson said, providing direct financial assistance to survivors and crisis support. But as those emergency needs eased, the organization's priorities shifted to long-term recovery.

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National Stories

How a fertilizer shortage caused by the Iran war could affect U.S. food prices

When the war with Iran started, one of the top economic concerns globally was the slowdown of oil shipments. But there was another critical export that got stuck in the region when hostilities began: fertilizer. Before the war, around one-third of the world's fertilizer transported by sea passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according to UN Trade and Development. The waterway has become a shipping chokepoint in recent months. With the strait closed, fertilizer shipments from the Persian Gulf slumped and prices rose, affecting countries all around the world that import fertilizer. The war also created a global shortage of natural gas, a key component in nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing.

It caused a massive headache for U.S. farmers who were hit with higher fertilizer prices and limited availability just as they were deciding what to plant for the upcoming growing season. But the costs borne by farmers don't necessarily get passed on to consumers, and food system experts say they're unlikely to have a major impact on the retail prices of fruit and vegetables. "Consumers are going to see higher food prices come September to January, once harvests start coming in, and the few months thereafter," said Chris Barrett, a professor of agricultural economics at Cornell University. "Very little of that is going to be directly attributable to fertilizer." That's because food inflation is generally driven by larger factors affecting multiple parts of the food supply chain, such as fewer workers and high fuel costs. About one-third of the fertilizer used by U.S. farmers is imported, according to The Fertilizer Institute, an industry trade group. TFI Vice President of Public Affairs Christopher Glen said little of that comes through the Strait of Hormuz.

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Instant replay just cost Team USA its top goalscorer at the World Cup

Over the first four games of the World Cup, U.S. striker Folarin Balogun was nothing short of a revelation. But shortly after he gave the U.S. the lead against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday, Balogun became the focus of attention for a different reason. The referee went to the cameras for a replay review that left everyone from U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino to NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes in total disbelief. Balogun was ejected for accidentally stepping on an opponent’s ankle. And even though the Americans survived with only 10 players to beat Bosnia 2-0, the implications going forward are enormous: Balogun, the team’s leading scorer, is now suspended for the team’s round-of-16 clash against Belgium.

“For me, never it’s a red card,” Pochettino said. “It was a normal action in football that happened by accident. But it’s not intentional.” The moment was the soccer equivalent of an NFL wide receiver juggling a pass in a playoff game and nobody agreeing whether or not it was a catch after an endless delay for review. In this instance, the stoppage lasted several minutes as Brazilian referee Raphael Claus and the Video Assistant Referee team studied Balogun’s cleat landing on top of Tarik Muharemovic’s leg. Afterward, Claus reached into his right pocket and had a bright red present for Balogun. “Man what…” Mahomes posted on social media. U.S. fans immediately pointed to the parallels with a similar incident earlier in the tournament involving Lionel Messi against Algeria. On that night, in Kansas City, Messi lunged for a ball and raked his studs on the calf of an Algerian defender.

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MAGA base stays quiet after Trump reports billions in personal gains

President Trump’s $2.2 billion in personal earnings during his presidency has been met largely with silence from his MAGA base, which has been increasingly willing to revolt against policies they view as an abandonment of his promises to put everyday Americans first. Far-right members of Congress, prominent media pundits and grass-roots activists have criticized Mr. Trump’s war with Iran and openly broken ranks to demand the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. They have accused him of prioritizing his own interests over the needs of the voters who elected him to office. But few far-right voices aligned with Mr. Trump have criticized him over the scale of his personal haul, reported this week, or the conflict inherent in his status as a major cryptocurrency industry operator and its top policymaker.

Some described his earnings as a validation of the business acumen they have long admired in him. “Nobody who voted for Donald Trump — a guy with skyscrapers with his name on it, with a plane that has his name on it — is suspect of him making money,” Joe Borelli, the former New York City Council Republican leader and managing director of Chartwell Strategy Group, a lobbying firm, told CNN. “He made his whole career talking about how much money he makes.” Mr. Trump earned about $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency businesses, new mandatory financial disclosures show. A significant portion of that came in 2025, when an investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates bought nearly half of the Trump family’s main crypto company, World Liberty Financial. He also collected hundreds of millions of dollars from sales of his $TRUMP memecoin and World Liberty’s sale of its own digital tokens.

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Mitch McConnell is still in the hospital after medical episode, his office says

Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader. McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said. “Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

The statement did not explain why he was hospitalized last month. The update comes after multiple outlets reported details of a first responder dispatch call indicating emergency medical personnel responded to McConnell’s home last month to treat an unconscious person who had experienced “cardiac arrest.” POLITICO has not independently verified the dispatch call. The 84-year-old senator, who is retiring at the end of this term, has experienced multiple medical incidents in recent years. On two occasions in 2023, he froze while speaking with reporters. He has also suffered multiple falls and temporarily used a wheelchair, a move his office described at the time as a precautionary measure.

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Top elections to watch this July

After a busy stretch in May and June, the elections calendar is quieting down. Only one state is holding its regular primaries in July. It just so happens that this one state, Arizona, is hosting a string of primaries that showcase the extent of the Republican Party’s rightward drift. Arizona conservatives have spread false conspiracy theories about voter fraud since Donald Trump’s defeat here in 2020, and officials who fanned those flames are still running for office all these years later. Many Republicans who tried to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss will be on the ballot in the GOP’s July 21 primaries—including a fake elector. Plus, a former MAGA sheriff is running for Congress, and the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus is looking to grow its ranks by backing candidates in a dozen legislative districts and working to kick Republican incumbents off of the state’s utility commission.

Also on the menu: Anger over Trump’s immigration crackdown has spilled into municipal elections. That is notably the case in Mesa, which has closely partnered with ICE for a long time; elsewhere, local elections are revolving around the fate of immigration detention centers. Candidates are debating housing and data centers as well. And far from Arizona, Republicans are choosing their nominee for South Dakota governor in a runoff and Georgia voters are choosing a new member of Congress. Burned by a series of statewide losses after they nominated far-right figures, some of the Arizona GOP’s establishment hoped to nominate Karrin Taylor Robson for governor this year; they got Trump to endorse her, a move that seemed to seal the deal. But Trump blew up their plans two months later by also endorsing U.S. Representative Andy Biggs, former leader of the federal Freedom Caucus. Earlier this spring, Warren Petersen, the Republican president of the Arizona Senate, handed records related to the 2020 election to the FBI. This drew a strong rebuke from Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, whom Petersen is now challenging; Mayes accused Petersen of continuing to fan false conspiracy theories about Trump’s loss in the presidential race that year.

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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding set for Friday at MSG

Today will be a fairytale. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding is slated to take place Friday at Madison Square Garden, where the couple’s closest friends and family — and several hundred more — will attend what is expected to be an elaborate event inside the iconic New York venue. Many of the details surrounding the pending nuptials are still unknown, but a city permit obtained by The Associated Press shows that Friday’s wedding event is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. and could last until 4 a.m. the next morning. A law enforcement official briefed on security plans had previously told the AP that a smaller rehearsal dinner would be held Thursday night.

A tented area shielded guests from view as they were dropped off Thursday evening. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the events publicly. The wedding is the latest development in the superstar singer and football player’s relationship, which has continued to thrill and fascinate millions around the world — particularly the Swifties, the pop star’s enormous and ardent fan base — for the past three years ever since the pair first started dating. Key questions remain over how Swift and Kelce have transformed MSG into a wedding venue fit for a billionaire and the star tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, as well as who may perform and who will officiate. Trucks and crews have been going in and out of the venue for days, setting up tents and whisking massive materials inside, setting off more speculation about MSG’s makeover. And while fans have seen Swift wear wedding dresses in plenty of music videos over the years, many also remain eager to see what looks she will unveil at the wedding.

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Planned Parenthood set to regain federal funding as GOP ban expires

Planned Parenthood will regain access to federal funding on Saturday, one year after Republicans were able to cut its clinics off from Medicaid. Last year, Republicans were successful in using the party-line One Big Beautiful Bill Act to achieve their long sought-after goal of defunding Planned Parenthood. But the complicated Senate rules involved in passing the bill meant the ban only lasted one year instead of 10. Come July 4, Medicaid will once again cover non-abortion care at Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide. Medicaid is prohibited from paying for almost all abortions under the longstanding Hyde Amendment, but conservatives sought to put Planned Parenthood and other clinics that provide abortions out of business by withholding all federal funding from those clinics. They argued women can receive the same non-abortion care elsewhere.

While the ban did not completely devastate the organization’s finances and drive it to financial ruin like many GOP lawmakers had hoped, Planned Parenthood clinics suffered. “Tens of thousands of patients have been denied access to services like cancer screenings and birth control and STI testing and treatment. These are things that just can’t be undone,” said Nora Walsh-DeVries, vice president of political and legislative affairs at Planned Parenthood Action Fund. The law forced the closure of 30 clinics, according to a new report from Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In September 2025 alone, Planned Parenthood provided healthcare services at no cost to 100,000 Medicaid patients, covering an estimated $45 million in health costs. Keeping that up was “deeply unsustainable” and not something every affiliate could manage, Walsh-DeVries said.

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Lead Stories

Texas Governor’s Office asked for broadband rules that help Musk’s Starlink

The Texas office responsible for distributing over five billion dollars in state and federal money to expand rural broadband faced allegations of “favoritism” and offering “sweetheart” deals at a recent hearing of the State Senate’s Business and Commerce Committee. At the June 24 hearing, lawmakers suggested the Texas Broadband Development Office was changing rules and giving special treatment to companies that offer broadband via “low earth orbit,” or LEO, satellites. According to testimony, some of those changes came at the suggestion of the office of Governor Greg Abbott.

Currently, Elon Musk’s company Starlink is the only one in Texas offering residential broadband via low earth orbit satellites at scale, though the Amazon Leo service has also been applying for grants in the state, according to industry monitors. “I'll just say it bluntly, favoritism and transparency are real big concerns that have been brought to my office,” committee chair State Senator Charles Schwertner said. At the hearing, lawmakers criticized how the office has approached a range of its duties, from awarding grants to communicating with applicants to identifying where in Texas there is the greatest need for expanded broadband access. The allegations of favoritism started early in hearing when Schwertner questioned Broadband Development Office director Bryant Clayton about changes his department made to the way it disburses grant money to companies offering low earth orbit broadband service.

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Diocese of Brownsville calls nun’s detainment ‘wildly disturbing’

As questions remain unanswered about how a nun on her way to Mass in McAllen ended up detained by immigration officials, Bishop Daniel E. Flores said Monday that the Department of Homeland Security’s enforcement protocols are “wildly disturbing and need to be reformed.” Sister Leticia Ugboaja, also known as Sister Letty, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on Sunday morning while she was walking to Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen. Ugboaja would go on to be released from the Raymondville detention center later that same evening after Valley congressional delegates spoke with DHS.

“There are many questions remaining about the circumstances surrounding Sister Letty’s arrest and detention,” Flores said in a statement. “For now, it is clear that Homeland Security enforcement protocols that make it possible for a religious sister, or anyone, to be detained and handcuffed while peacefully walking to church on a Sunday morning are wildly disturbing and need to be reformed.” Following her release, Sister Letty was seen leaving the detention center in her nun garments while being greeted by Sister Norma Pimentel, according to footage from Telemundo 40. In addition to her volunteer work as an extraordinary minister of holy communion at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville said Sister Letty also works as a registered nurse at South Texas Health System McAllen. She previously served as a certified nursing assistant for 10 years at DHR Health in Edinburg.

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Feds release preliminary report on deadly Oak Cliff gas explosion

An investigative report released Wednesday determined the portion of the gas line that was hit before last month’s deadly explosion in Oak Cliff had not been marked as required before drilling began at the site. It's not clear why the struck line was not marked, a step designed to prevent drillers from hitting underground utility lines. The report, issued by the National Transportation Safety Board, is preliminary, and investigators say it could take more than a year to finish its probe into the cause of the disaster. The finding adds a key detail to a growing fight over responsibility, as residents and relatives of those killed press legal claims accusing Atmos Energy of not repairing repeated leaks, not replacing aging plastic pipe and not properly marking underground gas lines.

The gas utility has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing: “Third parties are responsible for the harms alleged in Plaintiffs’ petitions,” lawyers wrote Monday in a court filing. Dallas Fire-Rescue crews were responding May 28 to a reported gas leak at The Clyde apartments on East Ninth Street near Patton Avenue when the building exploded and caught fire. Three residents — Sylvia Collins, 79; Marisol Pérez, 37; and her 18-month-old son, Erik Pérez Sanchez Jr. — were killed. The NTSB report said at least six others were hurt. Previous reporting from The Dallas Morning News revealed a third-party contractor, Barba Drilling, had been hired to drill for a soil analysis at the site in preparation for future construction. A request to locate and mark utilities was required before drilling could begin. ECS Southwest, LLP, the engineering consulting firm that hired the driller, submitted that request. ECS said in a statement it could not provide further details during the NTSB investigation. Barba did not respond to an emailed request for comment. It’s unclear how the NTSB determined the line locations. In a statement, the agency said the investigation “has involved close coordination with all parties involved, including utility companies. Investigative activities have included the review of records, photographs, diagrams, and witness interviews.”

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How Trump made over $1 billion last year in Crypto, overshadowing real estate

The real estate mogul has become the billion-dollar crypto man. President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosure report showed he took in about $1.2 billion last year from various crypto holdings, overshadowing a real estate business that brought him fame and helped propel him to the nation’s top office. Whereas it took decades for Trump to amass his various properties, the rise of crypto in his portfolio was done in just over a year, a stunning development sped along by his own friendly policies toward the industry and help from billionaires and other actors with important business before the presidency. Running over 900 pages, the mandatory annual report showed Trump struck several other new veins of wealth last year, raising questions about whether he is profiting from his high office.

He took in tens of millions from new property holdings in foreign countries eager to please a man with power over where to deploy the U.S. military and how much to charge in tariffs. And he got tens of million more suing media companies worried they could lose their broadcast licenses or not get deals approved by his regulators. Ever the salesman, Trump even made big money off the smallest of things, pulling in millions by slapping his name on Bibles, guitars and watches — the latter alone bringing in $4.7 million. Trump got more than $500 million from his World Liberty Financial business selling “governance tokens” and “stablecoins” and other crypto assets. Another crypto business, CIC Digital LLC, took in more than $600 million from sales of souvenir-type “meme” coins stamped with his face. Both the tokens and the meme coins have plunged in value since his sales, partly because they are so difficult to value. Governance tokens, for instance, confer to holders only the power to vote on certain management policies at a company, not equity stakes, and so typical valuation measures don’t apply.

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State Stories

Corpus Christi City Council votes down federal funding application for Inner Harbor desalination project

The Corpus Christi City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday against allowing the city to apply for up to $120 million in federal funding for the Inner Harbor desalination project — the latest in a series of failed votes on the roughly $1 billion proposal. The grant was a part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Desalination Grant Program. Council members Roland Barrera, Mark Scott, and Everett Roy brought the motion forward. It would have authorized Corpus Christi to seek up to $120 million in federal grant funding for the project. Opponents of the motion argued the city would likely receive only a fraction of that amount. Council member Eric Cantu said the full figure was not guaranteed. "$120 million — that's not the case, we don't even know what we're going to get."

Council member Carolyn Vaughn echoed that concern, taking issue with how the funding figure had been characterized publicly. "The Mayor gets on Facebook and she does this and if we don't do this we're going to turn down $120 million — that's not the case. No one is going to get $120 million. There's $120 million to go around, they're going to pick 10 groups to get it," Vaughn said. Mayor Paulette Guajardo, who traveled to Washington, D.C. to pursue the federal funding, argued that seeking grant money before construction is standard practice for large infrastructure projects. "It is standard practice to go after grant funding before it's being constructed. This is the way large infrastructure projects work," she said. The five council members who voted against the motion said there is still not enough information to move forward on the project. Council member Kaylynn Paxson questioned how the council could support an application without firm details in hand. "How are we going to say yes to applying for something that we don't have firm information for?" The vote follows a failed vote on September 3, 2025, and a delayed vote on June 3. Barrera said the outcome Tuesday came as no surprise. "I mean I already knew where this was gonna go anyway because it's been that way for the last 18 months." One piece of information the council is seeking is additional study on how the Inner Harbor facility could affect marine life in the bay. City Manager Peter Zanoni said the city plans to give scientists who opposed the far field study an opportunity to review its findings.

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The Pentagon’s flu vaccine policy change created an ‘epidemiological time bomb’ at Lackland

In April, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth changed Pentagon policy to make flu shots voluntary for all military personnel, declaring that mandatory influenza vaccines “weaken our war-fighting capabilities.” Within weeks, recruits at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio started getting sick. The virus burned through boot camp, and by June 24, according to a statement from Congressman Joaquin Castro, 275 people had been infected. The Air Force confirmed one trainee died June 12 due to a “medical emergency,” though officials did not specify whether it was flu related. The speed with which this all happened was not a surprise, according to Dr. Luis Ostrosky, chief of infectious diseases at UT Health Houston. The April policy change created an “epidemiological time bomb.”

“Military settings are prime for transmission,” Ostrosky said. “When you have an introduction of a highly communicable disease in a congregate setting like this, it’s just going to spread like wildfire.” Secretary Hegseth argued the voluntary policy would pose no threat to military readiness. But Ostrosky says the outbreak demonstrates the opposite. He explained that even young, otherwise healthy recruits can be bedridden for days or hospitalized with influenza. “It ends up affecting our readiness for combat at a time when we’re having several conflicts throughout the world,” he said. San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, a Democrat who previously served as Undersecretary of the Air Force, drew a direct line between Hegseth’s decision and the outbreak at the base. “Regardless of whether you want to believe it, science is a thing. It’s really unfortunate that we’re playing politics with people’s public health and with things like vaccines.” While a guest on TPR’s The Source, she said this puts the nation’s overall health in a precarious place. “Not only are we dealing with cuts to public health, but we are also dealing with the misinformation around basic concepts in public health, and there are real consequences of that.”

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Ninth Prairieland defendant sentenced to 50 years in prison, 6 who pleaded guilty get 2-15 years

The ninth person convicted in federal court in March for the nonfatal shooting of a police officer outside a North Texas ICE facility was sentenced to 50 years in prison Wednesday. Six others who pleaded guilty in connection with the shooting received sentences ranging from just short of two years to 15 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor handed down the prison sentence for Ines Soto, 42, who was arrested near the Prairieland Detention Center the night of July 4 along with his wife Elizabeth Soto and eight others. Following the sentencing hearings, the Sotos’ son Estevan Soto read a letter from his father. In his statement, Ines Soto called the weight of Wednesday’s sentences “crushing” but said he was not surprised.

“The government has shown it’s willing to separate loved ones across borders, cage people in squalid detention centers, bring violence into loving neighborhoods and gun people down in the streets,” Estevan Soto said, reading the letter. “Their attempts to bury people in prisons falls right in line with these horrible acts.” Soto and about a dozen others gathered outside the ICE facility, chanted and shot off fireworks in a display they said was meant to support those detained inside. At least two people damaged cars and spray-painted structures within the property. Shooter Benjamin Song fired at Alvarado Police Lieutenant Thomas Gross, hitting the officer in the shoulder soon after he arrived at the detention center. Gross was released from the hospital within the next 24 hours. Song’s attorney and supporters contend Song fired at the ground as suppressive fire once he saw Gross draw his weapon. Soto was involved in Signal group chats planning the noise demonstration outside Prairieland in the days leading up to July 4, according to copies of the messages shown during trial. Prosecutors also showed evidence alleging the Sotos operated a printing press from their Fort Worth home.

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Galveston County commissioners approve new precinct map despite criticism from residents

Galveston County commissioners voted unanimously Monday to adopt new precinct boundaries for elected commissioners, constables and justices of the peace. The decision comes as the county continues to defend itself against claims that its previous map weakened the voting power of Black and Hispanic voters. The new lines take effect immediately and notably change the boundaries of Precinct 3, which has been at the center of the debate since commissioners radically shrunk the precinct's boundaries in 2021. It had been the county’s one precinct in which non-white voters represented a majority.

Even though Black and Latino residents combine to make up nearly 40% of the Galveston County population, people of color no longer made up the majority of a single precinct with the map approved in 2021, according to previous Houston Public Media reporting. While the newly drawn lines change the boundaries of Precinct 3 once again, Galveston County resident Lucille McGaskey said the new map still does not fairly represent minority voters. "The redrawn lines will not give a minority candidate a fair shot. They drew the lines for them to pick the politician. This is not for the people to pick the politician," McGaskey told Houston Public Media after Monday's vote. The move by Galveston County leaders comes about two months after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bans raced-based gerrymandering. The court’s decision, in a Louisiana case, makes it harder to bring voter discrimination claims against electoral maps. Throughout roughly two hours of public comment ahead of the Galveston County commissioners' vote Monday, residents expressed concern about the idea that the redrawn maps essentially decide the representatives for many residents.

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Dallas City Hall named to World Monuments Fund’s ‘Irreplaceable America’ list

Dallas City Hall has been recognized as one of 10 heritage places included on the World’s Monuments Fund (WMF) “Irreplaceable America” list. The list highlights significant locations across the United States, ranging from landmarks and colonial buildings to Indigenous heritage sites, that face urgent preservation needs. Dallas City Hall, designed by I.M. Pei, was built following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as part of an effort to rebrand the city and look toward the future. In addition to being named to the Irreplaceable America list, Dallas City Hall has also been placed on endangered lists by Preservation Texas and Preservation Dallas. As uncertainty remains over whether the building will be renovated or demolished, its inclusion on the Irreplaceable America list comes at a pivotal moment.

“Dallas City Hall is irreplaceable as a major civic anchor in downtown Dallas,” said Zaida Basora, vice president of the Save Dallas City Hall Coalition and executive director of AIA Dallas, in a press release. “Not only is this an architecturally and historically significant building, but it has all of the elements to serve as a catalyst for the kind of development and revitalization that the southern area of downtown Dallas needs.” The nationwide open call for nominations resulted in 75 submissions. Nominations were evaluated based on cultural significance, urgency of conservation needs and the potential community benefit of preservation.

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What Trump's Great American State Fair got right and wrong about Texas

Walking into the Texas booth at President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair, the first thing you notice is a welcome blast of Texas-style air conditioning. Washington is in the midst of its first big heat wave of the summer. But inside Texas' booth on the National Mall this week, it is dark and cool, with Selena and Willie Nelson playing on a jukebox in the corner and visitors mingling around replicas of Big Tex and the Alamo. This is the version of itself that Texas wants to present to the country, a fun, lively oasis where NASA sends astronauts into space and people bury Cadillacs in the ground for the sheer spectacle of it. There's plenty that the state's tourism officials missed. There are no blue bonnets or barbecue — save a brief flash of brisket in a video — no replicas of oil rigs or breakfast tacos.

Doug Latham, a South Carolinian who was stationed in Texas while serving in the Air Force, thought they'd done an okay job, except for one thing. "The size of Texas. There's no way you can comprehend that," he said. To be fair, there's only so much you can say with a modest-sized room of identical dimensions to the 39 other states participating in the fair — 11 states declined Trump's invitation. Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesman for the Governor's Economic Development and Tourism Office, which organized the booth, said the aim was to give visitors "a real taste of what makes our state exceptional." While Florida focused on their citrus industry and Arizona on the state's natural beauty, Texas's booth seemed to focus on its quirks and ingenuity. You can watch a video of musicians performing at the Austin City Limits music festival while checking out a scaled-down version of Amarillo's Cadillac Ranch before walking inside a replica of a NASA spacecraft.

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Rural Texas is losing Affordable Care Act access coverage even as statewide enrollment rises

Recent headlines have highlighted rising Affordable Care Act (ACA) plan enrollment in Texas, but statewide gains mask uneven trends across different communities. While overall enrollment in Texas increased by about 5%, enrollment fell more than 3% in rural areas and dropped roughly 5% in exurban counties, or metropolitan counties where at least one-third of residents live in rural-designated census blocks. Across the country, ACA Marketplace plan selections fell by more than one million people to 23.1 million in 2026, the largest year-over-year decline since the marketplaces were created over a decade ago. Actual enrollment is expected to drop even further because many consumers may not pay their premiums or may cancel coverage during the year as higher costs, following the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits, make plans less affordable.

With enhanced premium tax credits expiring, average monthly costs for ACA Marketplace enrollees rose 58% in 2026, leading many consumers to choose cheaper plans with higher out-of-pocket costs and pushing deductibles up by more than $1,000 on average—the largest jump in the marketplace history. “Rural enrollees may be shifting to lower tier plans that require more out-of-pocket costs or dropping healthcare coverage altogether because of recent Marketplace changes,” said Alexa McKinley Abel, director of government affairs and policy at the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). “Increases in ACA premiums combined with recently finalized regulations that incentivize enrollment in bronze and catastrophic plans will lead to higher healthcare costs for rural populations, and ultimately less access to care. These costs may come in the form of paying the higher premiums themselves, less generous coverage leading to higher out-of-pocket costs, or expensive medical bills for those who are no longer insured.” Texas remains an outlier nationally, posting enrollment growth even as Marketplace sign-ups fell across the country. Still, signs of the national affordability squeeze are emerging in rural parts of the state, where rising premiums are coinciding with sharp enrollment declines.

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Austin’s million-dollar home boom spills into Texas Hill Country

Three years ago, Jen Bachman noticed a woman who had started coming in twice a day to the cafe she owns with her husband in Wimberley, Texas, a small town about 45 miles southwest of Austin. The woman, Linda Nelson, said she’d made all her husband’s meals for over 40 years, and now that he’d died, she never wanted to cook again. Bachman made a coffee mug emblazoned with “Linda” for her to use, and hung it on the wall between Linda’s meals. She started doing the same for other regular customers, and now there are around 1,500 personalized mugs at Wimberley Café. Demand for the mugs got so strong that Bachman limited hanging them on the walls to customers who ate there at least five times a week. She’s up to making around 25 new mugs a month, and is running out of wall space. “There are so many people here now, I can barely keep up,” she said. Wimberley is one of several small towns ringing Austin to the west that have exploded with growth over the past six years.

The surge started as a reaction to Austin’s pandemic housing boom, when waves of remote workers and big-tech companies like Tesla and Oracle moved there. There were 729 Austin homes sold for over $1 million between January and April of this year, compared with 262 for that same period in 2019, according to Unlock MLS. People looking for less-expensive homes and more space moved out to nearby towns like Wimberley, Dripping Springs and Spicewood. These areas are part of Texas Hill Country, a region of farm and ranch towns that have long attracted city dwellers looking for a rural getaway. An hour’s drive or less to Austin, these towns are now seen as good spots for weekend homes and, in some cases, for commuting. Median home prices, and the number of homes sold over $1 million, in these towns soared between 2019 and 2023, according to Unlock MLS. Prices have started to soften over the past two years, but they are still significantly higher than they were before the pandemic. “Austin just keeps getting bigger and more expensive. The luxury market has spread out to these areas,” said Vaike O’Grady, market research adviser for Unlock MLS.

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TCEQ fines Freeport LNG for alleged air pollution, record keeping violations

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has fined one of the country's largest liquefied natural gas exporters for alleged air pollution violations dating back to 2019. The TCEQ said Freeport LNG, located south of Houston along the Gulf Coast, failed to keep its air pollution below the state's regulatory limits and maintain proper records. However, the state agency also agreed to defer part of Freeport LNG's fines and issued a new permit late last year that increases the amount of air pollution the company is allowed to produce. Freeport LNG paid $103,240 in fines, even as it denied allegations that it exceeded its air pollution limits and failed to meet the TCEQ's record-keeping requirements.

Environmental advocates expressed frustration that Freeport LNG received what they view as a minor punishment for repeated violations. "The fines are too small to get their attention," said Melanie Oldham, director of the nonprofit Better Brazoria County Clean Air and Water. Freeport LNG declined a request for comment from Houston Public Media. In TCEQ enforcement documents, Freeport LNG denied the agency's allegations. The TCEQ did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning. In enforcement documents, state environmental regulators said Freeport LNG has taken steps over the last five years to comply with TCEQ regulations. The TCEQ has agreed to waive an additional $25,810 in fines if Freeport LNG complies with the agency's enforcement order. State environmental regulators said Freeport LNG exceeded its allowed emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds. According to the TCEQ, the company released 14.33 tons of unauthorized nitrogen oxides, 118.53 tons of unauthorized carbon monoxide emissions and 7.31 tons of unauthorized VOC emissions.

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Texans voice opposition to data centers as couple's lawn message takes flight, the industry sharpens its pitch

A majority of Texans oppose having a data center built in their community — and a Red Oak couple has cut their answer into the lawn for anyone flying overhead to see. A new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll found 56% of Texas voters opposed to local data center construction, with opposition climbing to 62% in rural areas. Only 29% said they were in favor. The survey of 1,200 self-reported registered voters was conducted June 5–12 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points. In Ellis County, Deanna Tiffany said her husband cut "No more data centers" into the grass at their property, big enough to read from the air. "I don't want them in my neighborhood," she said.

Joshua Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project, said the industry has noticed. "Surely they're aware that they're fighting an uphill battle with public opinion, and they're making a greater effort to try to show that they're not as costly to the communities as they appear," Blank said. Companies are responding to concerns about how much power and water data centers consume. Microsoft and Chevron last week signed a 20-year agreement for Chevron to build a co-located natural gas power plant — Project Kilby — to provide dedicated electricity to a Microsoft-operated data center in West Texas. Google, which already operates data centers in Ellis County, announced a $10 million Texas Water Impact Fund earlier this month for water stewardship and infrastructure projects in communities where it builds. A new advocacy group is also entering the conversation. The Texas National Security Council, a recently launched public-interest nonprofit, has brought on former Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw as its public face. He frames the buildout as more than an economic question. "It's a national security imperative. If we lose the race for AI, and frankly, it is a race with AI with China right now. It compromises our capability, our military capability, tenfold," McCraw said. Still, McCraw said the industry has not done enough to bring residents along. "They just need to be more proactive in terms of talking to the communities themselves, plain and simple," he said. For now, more rural couples appear to be landing where the Tiffanys have. "Makes me proud. I'm fighting for my community," Tiffany said.

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Another man has died after being in Tarrant County Jail custody — the fourth death in 2 weeks

Another man has died after being in Tarrant County Jail custody — the fourth death in less than two weeks, raising more questions from family members. The family of Victor Runnels, 61, told reporters Tuesday they still do not know what medical emergency led to him being taken from the jail to John Peter Smith Hospital and said they received few answers from the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office. Runnels’ relatives called for transparency and an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death. “We want to know why,” Rogers said. “Why are we not afforded those answers?” Runnels was pronounced dead at 4:46 p.m. Friday at JPS, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s website. He was released from custody at the jail at 4:18 p.m. that same day, court records show.

Family members said they were notified he was in the intensive care unit by a family member before arriving after Runnels’ passing. According to the family, they were not informed he was transported to JPS. Runnels’ sister, Vicky Rogers, said the family is seeking justice and accountability. “I deeply, deeply love my brother,” Rogers said. “For this to happen to him, we must have answers. I want justice and accountability for my brother. I’m not going to rest in peace without it.” Runnels was arrested June 11 over a parole violation, according to court records. The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office says it will not be investigating the death, as it doesn’t match the criteria of an in-custody death. “The Texas Commission on Jail Standards reviewed the case and formally determined that it does not meet the criteria for an in-custody death,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Every day, people arrive at our jail already sick, struggling with addiction, or dealing with long-term untreated medical conditions. Unfortunately, there are cases where an individual’s illness is so advanced that there is no curative treatment available. We remain committed to ensuring that every person in our custody is treated with professionalism, dignity, and the highest standard of care.”

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National Stories

‘The battle line has been drawn’ around Virginia’s data centers

For decades, the world’s densest cluster of data centers has grown in Northern Virginia with little scrutiny and generous incentives. That changed this spring, when state lawmakers seriously considered taking away a key tax exemption that saved the state’s data centers $1.9 billion last year and doesn’t expire until 2035. For a while, it looked like Virginia would have its first-ever state government shutdown over whether to sunset the incentive early. Policymakers ultimately reached a compromise to avert a shutdown — and send a warning shot to the industry — by signing off on a budget Monday containing the first-ever statewide tax on data center energy consumption. Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger praised the initiative. “Virginia has a responsibility to make sure the data center industry is paying their fair share for the energy they use,” she said in a Monday evening address. “But this is only the beginning.”

Even activists and lawmakers who have been pushing for years to rein in Northern Virginia’s data center industry were surprised by how quickly cracks appeared in the foundation of what felt like a stable relationship. Northern Virginia is home to more than 300 data centers. About 200 more are expected to go up in the coming years. Loudoun County, specifically, has the world’s highest concentration of data centers, relying on the industry for almost half its property tax revenue. But Virginia voters have quickly soured on the issue. A recent Washington Post-Schar School poll of more than 1,100 found just 35% would be comfortable with a new data center going up in their community, putting pressure on politicians to effectively choose between the interests of their constituents and those of the data center operators whose business they depend on. “The battle line has been drawn around that question in Virginia,” said Brennan Gilmore, executive director of Clean Virginia, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on political corruption and utilities in the state. “And folks are lining up on either side of it.”

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U.S. beats Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 to advance to round of 16 and keep its World Cup dreams alive

Folarin Balogun scored his third goal of the World Cup before being sent off with a red card in the second half, and Malik Tillman converted on a free kick to give the 10-man United States a 2-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday night that advanced the Americans to the round of 16. Balogun dominated the first half with his 45th-minute goal, 14 minutes after he put the ball in the net but was called for offside. The Americans had to scramble down a man after his foul against Tarik Muharemovic in the 64th minute. Star Christian Pulisic had a goal disallowed for offside in the 78th minute, and Tillman helped seal the win when he curled in a free kick from from just outside the box in the 82nd, a shot off diving goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj’s right hand.

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Frustration mounts as GOP infighting derails House

Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated with the infighting that has brought work in the House to a halt and caused Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to send lawmakers home early for the second week in a row. Republican rebels are fuming over a voter ID bill and what they say is a broken promise from leadership to vote on border legislation by Independence Day. But those defectors are getting increasing heat from not only their colleagues, but from the president whose policies they claim to be fighting for. While hosting a group of Republican lawmakers for dinner Tuesday evening at the “Rose Garden Club” at the White House, President Trump turned to Johnson and asked if it was members of the House Freedom Caucus who tanked a procedural vote that would have teed up major funding and defense legislation.

Johnson, according to a source at the dinner, responded to Trump that some of the 13 lawmakers who voted down the rule were in the Freedom Caucus. Trump said that was “stupid” and that Republicans should stick together like the Democrats. Trump dubbed the rebels part of the “3 o’clock caucus” in an apparent reference to the kind of members he gets asked to call in the wee hours of the morning to help sway them on a vote, as he has previously publicly complained about. Trump said there were nine members of the 3 o’clock caucus, but he didn’t specify who the nine were, the source said. Punchbowl News first reported Trump’s remark at the dinner. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who is not a Freedom Caucus member, was the most visible of the 13 rebels this week. She had called for the annual defense authorization bill to include her amendment attaching the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, legislation pushed by Trump that would require voter ID to cast a ballot and proof of citizenship for voter registration. It has passed the House multiple times.

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States considering charging employers with Medicaid-covered workers

New Jersey is launching a new fee on companies whose workers have Medicaid health coverage instead of being covered by their employers. Other states are considering it, too. Democratic lawmakers and governors see it as a way to help pay for the joint federal and state insurance program that covers low-income residents as federal policy changes are expected to make the program more expensive for states and may lead to a reduction in the number of people with coverage. Proponents also say it’s about fairness because employers benefit from having some lower-income workers with taxpayer-funded health coverage. Business groups object. So do some liberal policy organizations.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a measure Tuesday night to charge employers that have at least 50 workers covered by Medicaid, and the state budget she approved earlier in the week counts on raising $145 million this year from the program. Under the plan, companies will be billed for each employee and employees’ dependent receiving Medicaid, the joint state-federal insurance program. The fees per person would start at $325 a year for companies with 50 to 249 Medicaid beneficiaries and top out at $725 annually for employers with at least 500 recipients. A bill passed this week in California doesn’t impose a charge now, but it does direct the state administration to present lawmakers options for doing so next year. Finishing the job would fall to the successor of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is leaving office in January. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra has made an employer charge part of his election platform. State Sen. John Laird, a Democrat who sponsored the California proposal, said the big tax and policy law President Donald Trump signed a year ago was a major factor in the need for action because it could prompt the state to spend more on Medicaid to plug holes left by federal changes.

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Vatican excommunicates bishops of breakaway traditionalist sect

The Vatican on Thursday said it had excommunicated top clerics in an archconservative Catholic sect with thousands of adherents in the United States and Europe for ordaining renegade bishops in defiance of the Holy See, triggering the most serious schism in decades within the world’s largest Christian faith. Pope Leo XIV had pleaded directly with the sect, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), not to move forward with the consecration of four traditionalist bishops, a move that, under church law, carries the penalty of automatic excommunication. In an extraordinary act of defiance, the group moved forward on Wednesday. By Thursday morning, the Vatican announced the excommunications — signaling the limits of Leo’s willingness to a accommodate traditionalists who reject modern church teachings.

The Vatican’s statement, issued by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, head of the Vatican’s powerful Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, came with a stern warning to priests and parishioners associated with the society. “As regards the lay faithful, those who formally join the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X … are to be considered schismatic and excommunicated,” Fernández declared in a letter published Thursday. In recent years, both conservatives and liberals have tested the Vatican by pushing the boundaries of official doctrine — moves that have threatened to create rifts in the church of 1.4 billion Catholics. Founded in Switzerland in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who opposed modernizing changes in the church a decade earlier, SSPX claims more than 700 priests and a half million members worldwide. Many will now have to choose between SSPX and the Catholic Church.

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Colorado Governor Polis fires officials who opposed freeing election denier

Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado on Wednesday fired two members of his clemency board after they spoke out against his decision to commute the prison sentence of the election denier Tina Peters. The board members, Hannah Seigel Proff and Azra Taslimi, had objected to Mr. Polis’s decision in May to release Ms. Peters from prison after pressure from President Trump. After the commutation, Ms. Proff and Ms. Taslimi revealed that the board — appointed by Mr. Polis — had twice voted unanimously to reject Ms. Peters’s application for a shortened sentence. Mr. Polis, a Democrat, has the final decision, and overruled the board.

The board normally operates in secret, and does not disclose the pardon and commutation recommendations it makes to the governor. Ms. Proff and Ms. Taslimi said they had been compelled to pierce that veil of secrecy in Ms. Peters’s case. On Wednesday, they said they had paid the price. They received a letter from the governor saying they were being dismissed for violating the board’s confidentiality standards. “You breached the required duty of confidentiality by publicly divulging board members’ votes,” Mr. Polis wrote to each of the women, who shared the letters with The New York Times. Ms. Peters, a former county clerk in conservative western Colorado, had been sentenced to nine years in prison after being convicted in 2024 in a plot to tamper with voting machines under her control in an attempt to show that the 2020 election had been rigged against Mr. Trump.

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C.I.A. reorganization prioritizes cyberoperations

John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, announced on Tuesday that the agency was reorganizing to ensure that it can adopt technology faster and further develop offensive cyberoperations division. He promised that the agency would use new technology more aggressively and take “smart risks,” even as it prioritized human decision making and oversight of artificial intelligence and other innovations. The changes are intended to strengthen the C.I.A.’s ability to collect intelligence by gaining access to additional computer networks or communications, or even just locating additional potential human sources. The overhaul, Mr. Ratcliffe said, is an acknowledgment that in the modern world, digital borders are as important as physical borders.

In his first major address as C.I.A. director, Mr. Ratcliffe said artificial intelligence is raising the stakes in America’s competition with its adversaries, since the new technology is itself a transformative weapon. “In conversations with many of the president’s other national security and economic security advisers, we’re talking about the impact of these frontier A.I. models,” he said. “It would be, as we’ve talked about, not misplaced to refer to their capabilities as akin to digital nuclear weapons.” To improve its collection, both through human spies and eavesdropping on communication networks, “more C.I.A. officers are going to have to become just as comfortable with handling lines of code as they are with handling human assets and sources,” Mr. Ratcliffe said. In a brief interview after the speech, Mr. Ratcliffe said the capabilities of the new generation of artificial intelligence model had promoted hard thinking about cyberdefenses and cyberoffensive operations. “These capabilities, it is fair to say, surprised everyone in terms of what that iteration was capable of versus what was predicted about where A.I. was going to go.”

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Trump administration seeks to stomp out all fires quickly, reviving policy that has been discredited

The deaths of three U.S. government firefighters in a Colorado wildfire are casting a spotlight on the Trump administration’s creation of a new federal fire service and its revival of a previously discredited policy to stomp out all wildfires quickly. One of the killed firefighters worked for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, established this year without customary congressional approval by drawing personnel from four agencies within the Interior Department. The victims were part of an elite, helicopter-based crew that got trapped Saturday in a fast-growing wildfire near the Utah border as they attacked the blaze on the ground. Five firefighters, including the ones who died, tried to shield themselves by deploying tentlike emergency shelters as flames overran their position. The two survivors were hospitalized with burn injuries.

The consolidation of thousands of personnel into the fire service has sown confusion among some firefighters about who their bosses are and what their responsibilities should be, according to former government officials. And the administration’s focus on “full suppression” of new fires marks a sharp reversal from a decades-long trend toward embracing flames as a tool — to burn off old vegetation and growth that acts like fuel and lessen the risk of catastrophic blazes being stoked by a warming planet. The changes benefit private fire aviation companies that are key to hitting blazes fast. Federal officials have not released details on the circumstances preceding the weekend deaths, including the firefighters’ objective at the site where they were overrun. “The question is, why were they attacking that fire in the first place?” asked Timothy Ingalsbee, a former federal firefighter and cofounder of the advocacy group Firefighters United For Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “What was actually at risk? If it was a bunch of shrubs on remote mountaintops, what was the real risk that justified putting those firefighters at risk?”

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Lead Stories

Greg Abbott calls for prohibition on data center construction in rural Texas neighborhoods

Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday called for a prohibition on data center construction in rural neighborhoods amid growing backlash to the energy and water-intensive facilities, especially in heavily Republican communities. The governor, who previously touted Texas as “the epicenter of AI development,” made the statement at a campaign event in a small town East Texas, which has seen a surge in data center development. “We must prohibit them from building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods,” Abbott said during the event in Bullard. It is the latest sign that the GOP sees the growing opposition to data centers as a potential liability heading into November’s high-stakes midterms.

Recent polling by the University of Texas at Austin found most Texans do not want data centers built in their communities, with opposition especially high, at 62%, among rural Texans whom Republicans have long counted as ardent supporters. At the campaign speech, Abbott also reiterated restrictions he called for in a June 10 letter to state regulators, including that new centers need to “bring their own power, reuse their own water, and do it in a way that reduces the cost of electricity for residents across our state.” And he again called for lawmakers to strip tax breaks from the facilities. A campaign spokesman for the governor said the position is no different from what he’s already called for. In the letter, Abbott didn’t say anything about prohibiting construction, but called for lawmakers to establish “best practices such as setbacks, noise-reduction technology, and other measures that take into account the concerns of neighbors.” “As the Governor said in the letter, he will work with lawmakers to ensure local communities are not adversely impacted,” Abbott spokesman Eduardo Leal said.

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Supreme Court rules on Trump’s birthright citizenship order, transgender athletes and campaign finance limits

The Supreme Court announced its final opinions of the term yesterday, covering some of the most high-profile issues facing the country. The court rejected President Donald Trump's executive order ending citizenship at birth for those born on U.S. soil. The court ruled that the executive order ran foul of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which has long been interpreted to bestow birthright citizenship on almost anyone born in the United States. The high court, in a ruling that combined two cases, upheld state laws that ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. Two student athletes in West Virginia and Idaho sued to overturn the bans. The justices also struck down longtime campaign finance rules challenged by Vice President JD Vance that place limits on how much a national political party committee can spend in coordination with individual candidates.

Leaders of various groups that represented the plaintiffs in the birthright citizenship case weighed in on future threats to the guarantee for those born on U.S. soil to automatically receive citizenship. "I’m expecting that this president will basically try and retaliate in some form or another. That’s what I’m expecting," said the CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Juan Proaño, during a press call with other groups. LULAC is the oldest and largest Hispanic and Latino civil rights organization in the U.S. But Cody Wofsy, the deputy director of ACLU's immigrants' rights project, said the organization doesn't "anticipate that there will be a round two of this fight over birthright citizenship — the Supreme Court has rejected it and rejected it emphatically." The Democratic National Committee and the campaign fundraising arms for House and Senate Democrats denounced the Supreme Court's ruling today overturning long-standing campaign finance restrictions. The governor and attorney general of Idaho, both Republicans, released separate statements praising the Supreme Court's ruling upholding the state's ban on transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports. The law, one of two that were upheld today, says that sports “designated for females, women, or girls should not be open to students of the male sex.”

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Trump reports over $1.4 billion in income from crypto ventures

U.S. President Donald Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from his family’s crypto ventures last year, showing how Trump now derives most of his income from ?digital assets that have benefited from his policies, according to a review of his latest financial disclosures on Tuesday. The filings, his annual disclosure for 2025 with ?the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, disclosed that his companies received almost $800 million from World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture he and his sons co-founded. That income, which the president splits with family members, included more than $520 million from sales of crypto tokens and more than $250 million from the sale of interests in the World Liberty business.

Trump reported another $635 million from the sale of his Trump meme coins. The news underlines how crypto has transformed the president's fortunes. In his disclosure a year ?ago, , for example, the president reported $57.35 million from token sales at World Liberty, which then leaped nine-fold in this year’s filing. Reuters recently estimated the Trump family has made at least $2.3 ?billion from crypto-related projects since Trump returned to the White House in 2025. On taking office, Trump began to put in place policies and initiatives that ?the industry saw as beneficial, from implementing federal rules for stablecoins to dialing back policing of the industry by the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. For 2025, the president also reported ?over $80 million in income from settlements with various media companies and $52 million in income from his company licensing his name to overseas property developers, driven principally by deals with Middle Eastern partners.

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Trump announces midterm convention for Republicans in Dallas in September

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Republicans will hold their first-ever national convention ahead of November's midterm elections, an unusual event aimed at boosting turnout in races that will decide whether the party maintains control of Congress. The convention will be held in Dallas on Sept. 9 and 10. Although both major parties traditionally hold blockbuster conventions during presidential campaigns, Trump has long floated the idea of a similar gathering this year to focus voters' attention on a sprawling collection of House and Senate races. If Democrats regain control of either chamber, they will be empowered to block Trump’s agenda and launch investigations into his administration for the final two years of his term.

Republicans have only slim majorities in Congress, and the party in power normally loses ground in the midterms. And without Trump on the ballot, Republican leaders worry that it could be hard to galvanize their voters. Trump hopes the convention would help change that dynamic, and he’s been talking about it since last year. He floated in a social media post that Republicans would use the event “to show the great things we have done since the Presidential Election of 2024.” “We will also have lots of Great Entertainment — It will be a RALLY like none other!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing the convention details. The Democratic National Committee considered hosting a similar midterm convention but ultimately rejected the idea. An expensive soiree could have strained the DNC’s finances, which are struggling with lackluster fundraising and millions in debt. Democrats have said the GOP convention will be a chance for them to tie Republican House and Senate candidates to Trump, whose approval rating is underwater.

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State Stories

Suzanne Bellsnyder: Abbott was for data centers before rural Texas was against them

Gov. Greg Abbott says he will not allow data centers to be built in rural Texas neighborhoods. Apparently, Abbott was for data centers before rural Texas was against them. The line recalls one of the most damaging political statements of the 2004 presidential campaign, when Democratic nominee John Kerry said he had voted for an $87 billion spending measure before voting against it. Republicans used the statement relentlessly as proof that Kerry would change positions whenever the politics became uncomfortable.

Now Texas’ Republican governor is performing his own version of the Kerry shuffle. For years, Abbott welcomed data centers, celebrated their investment and promoted Texas as the ideal home for the technology industry. His administration stood beside corporate executives at groundbreaking ceremonies and investment announcements. Texas provided qualifying data centers with a state sales-tax exemption now projected to cost the state more than $3 billion over two years. Abbott was present when Facebook broke ground on its Fort Worth data center in 2015. More recently, he celebrated Google’s announcement of a $40 billion Texas investment in artificial intelligence and data center infrastructure. This was not an industry that slipped quietly into Texas while the governor was looking the other way. Abbott recruited it. He promoted it. His state subsidized it. But now that rural Republican voters are angry about data centers consuming water, demanding enormous amounts of electricity and appearing beside homes and farms, Abbott suddenly wants to sound like the man standing between rural Texas and the industry he helped bring here.

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Ex-GOP candidate for railroad commission supports Democratic nominee

A Republican who wanted a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission is backing the Democrat instead. Hawk Dunlap, a fourth-generation oil worker who finished last among five candidates in the GOP primary in March, has endorsed state Rep. Jon Rosenthal of Houston for the agency that regulates the state’s oil and gas industry. Dunlap announced his support for Rosenthal in a Houston Chronicle op-ed last week, citing the Democrat's energy industry experience.

Rosenthal, a mechanical engineer who has spent his career in the oil and gas industry, faces the Republican nominee, Bo French, a former Tarrant County GOP chairman. Democrats have been shut out of the office for more than 30 years. Rosenthal said having the backing of a Republican candidate could help him appeal to moderate Republicans or right-leaning independent voters turned off by French’s extreme rhetoric on social media. “It’s important because we both find the Texas oil and gas industry, and the regulation of it, and protecting communities, is just too important for partisan politics,” Rosenthal said of Dunlap’s support Monday. French did not respond to a request for comment. At the Texas Republican Convention in Houston, French portrayed Rosenthal as a threat to the state’s energy industry. “Radical Rosenthal represents the same failed ideology that wants to shut down fossil fuels, raise energy prices and make America dependent on foreign adversaries,” French said in his speech June 12.

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These Texas GOP congressmen are pushing more federal oversight of AI

Two of the state's GOP congressmen are responding to growing concern among Texans around the societal repercussions of artificial intelligence technology. U.S. Reps. Brian Babin, chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, and Nathaniel Moran have filed legislation that would give the federal government a larger role in the development of new AI technologies. Moran's bill would require technology firms to report if their AI systems attempt to evade controls put in place by developers or show the ability to "enable offensive cyberattacks against critical infrastructure," along with other potential threats to national security and human safety. Right now, reporting is voluntary.

“AI is a powerful engine of innovation, and I want to see it flourish, but not without accountability and not without human oversight,” Moran, who represents East Texas, said in a statement. “This legislation ensures that when something goes wrong with a high-capability AI system, the U.S. Government has the information needed to act quickly.” At a hearing last week on a slate of new artificial intelligence bills, Babin called for increased funding for the U.S. Center for AI Security and Innovation, the federal government's primary mechanism for testing AI systems and recommending standards. While praising the economic gains, he also cautioned of the need to "address important challenges in the AI space while preserving America’s competitive advantage." The legislation comes amid the rapid development of advanced AI systems like Anthropic's Claude Mythos, the latest version of which the company has only released to government agencies and some large corporations out of concern it could be used to hack existing cyber security systems. The powerful tool has increased fears around the AI age, as residents and politicians alike grapple with not only the repercussions of the technology for jobs and national security, but also with the rapid construction of data centers that power the technology.

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Mayor Eric Johnson calls first-ever Republican midterm convention in Dallas 'a tremendous honor'

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the Republican Party's 2026 midterm convention would be held this September in Dallas, the first of its kind for the city. Ray Washburne, a billionaire Dallas developer and Republican donor who's co-chairing the event, confirmed to WFAA the convention will be held at the American Airlines Center. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson issued a statement through the Republican Mayors Association calling the news "a tremendous honor." "Dallas has become America’s top destination for business, families, and major events," Johnson wrote. "I look forward to welcoming my fellow Republicans from across the United States to Dallas this September."

Johnson, who is chairman of the Republican Mayors Association, further said he's confident this convention will energize the party, strengthen their movement and build momentum for the 2026 election. Johnson, formerly a longtime Democrat, made news in September 2023 when he announced in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that he was now a Republican, making Dallas the largest city in the U.S. with a Republican mayor. "After these wins for the people of Dallas — and after securing 98.7% of the vote in my re-election campaign this year — I have no intention of changing my approach to my job," Johnson wrote at the time. "But today I am changing my party affiliation. Next spring, I will be voting in the Republican primary. When my career in elected office ends in 2027 on the inauguration of my successor as mayor, I will leave office as a Republican."

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Dallas employees to take mandatory furlough days amid financial shortfall

City of Dallas employees will be required to take mandatory furlough days as the city tries to balance its budget. What we know: The mandatory furlough days affect employees paid by the city's General Fund. Employees will be required to take the furlough days on July 10, Sept. 4 and Sept. 28. Employees will not be able to take vacation, sick leave, or comp time on those dates. Two floating furlough days will also be required by General Fund employees and Internal Service Fund employees at or above the Assistant Director level before Sept. 16.

Several groups of Dallas employees are exempt from the furlough days, such as firefighters, police officers, sanitation workers and 911 employees. Dallas officials said in a statement that, despite previous measures, the city's General Fund expenses continue to outpace revenue, which prompted the furlough days. What they're saying: "Furloughs are not our preferred solution; however, they enable us to reduce expenses, protect jobs and employee health benefits, and continue delivering services to our residents," said Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert in a statement. "These steps are necessary to navigate the current financial challenges and to position the City responsibly for the upcoming FY27 and FY28 biennial budget." "Dallas deserves a city government that delivers core services effectively, efficiently, and affordably. The City cannot do everything, and we must prioritize spending that has the most meaningful impact," Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said in a statement. "Our partners in government and the private and not-for-profit sectors must also bear more of the burden that currently falls on Dallas taxpayers alone."

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Gov. Abbott blasts Supreme Court ruling preserving birthright citizenship

Gov. Greg Abbott blasted the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to preserve birthright citizenship on Tuesday, calling it "a missed opportunity" after the justices rejected President Donald Trump's effort to end the long-standing constitutional guarantee. On social media, the governor argued birthright citizenship has become "a powerful magnet for illegal immigration," and called automatic citizenship for children born to noncitizen parents "an absurdity that was never contemplated by our Constitution nor agreed to by the American people." "Congress must clarify that American citizenship means something," Abbott posted. "The American people and the sovereignty of our nation deserve nothing less."

Abbott was joined by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who called the ruling "a travesty." The court's highly-anticipated 6-3 ruling preserves a constitutional guarantee that has existed for more than a century. It also carries particular significance in Texas, which is home to the nation's second largest immigrant population. As of 2023, Texas was home to about 750,000 birthright citizen children under age 17 with noncitizen parents, according to The Urban Institute's Children of Immigrants Data Tool, which uses U.S. Census data. That's nearly 16% of the 4.7 million children in the same category throughout the U.S. Tuesday's ruling ensures future children born in Texas under similar circumstances will continue to receive automatic U.S. citizenship at birth. On Trump's first day back in office in 2025, he signed an executive order directing federal agencies not to recognize automatic citizenship for children born after the order took effect. Those children would no longer automatically become U.S. citizens under Trump's order if their mother was in the country without legal status. It also applied to mothers in the U.S. temporarily — such as on a student, work or tourist visa — and children whose father was neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident.

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First death confirmed in Lackland flu outbreak, Rep. Castro says

The Air Force has acknowledged that the recent death of a recruit in basic training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland was caused by a flu virus that has swept the base, according to U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro. It was the first confirmation that Airman 1st Class Keon Talik McDaniel, 25, of Grand Rapids, Mich., died of influenza. Previously, the Air Force said only that McDaniel, who was in his sixth week of basic training, suffered "a medical emergency" and died at Brooke Army Medical Center on June 16. Air Force officials did not disclose whether he had contracted the flu. They said the cause of death was under investigation. On Tuesday afternoon, however, Castro said in a statement: “The Air Force confirmed that trainee Keon McDaniel died from the flu during the outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio."

The San Antonio Democrat has been in contact with Air Force officials to track the influenza surge and has given regular public updates. He and two fellow Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday called for federal legislation to require flu vaccinations for all military personnel. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rescinded the flu vaccine requirement in April, and in May influenza began spreading at Lackland, which is the hub of Air Force basic training, graduating 35,000 airmen every year. Castro said McDaniel's death was "a tragedy that could have been prevented were it not for the reckless actions of Secretary Hegseth. I will continue to push for the Pentagon to fully restore its vaccine mandate and protect lives. Our military must be guided by science, not politics.” After the flu began spreading at Lackland, the Pentagon suspended the voluntary vaccine policy for recruits at the base; for the time being at least, they once again must be vaccinated.

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Judge dismisses Michael Cargill bankruptcy over tax returns

The bankruptcy case of Austin gun-rights advocate Michael Cargill has been tossed over his failure to file tax returns. The action leaves him without protections from collections for outstanding debts owed by his Central Texas Gun Works gun shop, which the company’s December filing put at $2.9 million, about five times its assets. It’s the second time in two years Cargill has been defeated by his own lack of due diligence in bankruptcy filings.

“We have the same tax issues that need to be resolved,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shad Robinson said Tuesday. “You appear to have a business that can be reorganized, but you have to dot your I’s and cross your T’s and check the boxes.” The court was acting on a request from bankruptcy trustee Kevin Epstein, who had asked the court to dismiss the case over Cargill’s failure to file tax returns for 2021 through 2025 for CTCHGC LLC, the gun shop’s registered name. The trustee acts as a watchdog for compliance. He also pointed to Cargill’s unauthorized use of thousands of company dollars for meals and other personal expenses, blowing through the amount budgeted by the court by nearly $20,000 in one month. In filings with the court, Epstein said Cargill and Central Texas Gun Works were abusing the process and asked that he be prevented from seeking bankruptcy protection again until federal tax returns are filed. Tuesday’s agreed order will bar him from filing again until he has all of his taxes filed and accepted into 2025. Cargill’s attorney admitted in filings that they failed to request authority to use court-authorized cash collateral, but said they have now done so. The court extended the company’s use of cash through the end of the case next week. Cargill denied the money was for personal meals, but instead said it was for classes the company offers.

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A year after the Hill Country floods, two communities face different recoveries

Nearly a year after floodwaters destroyed their home along the Upper Guadalupe River, Juliet and Scott Welden watched construction crews build a new one on the same property. This time, the house was elevated 8 feet above the ground in hopes that it can withstand another catastrophic flood. “We watched the water enter our home, and the floors buckled,” Juliet Welden said. “The furniture floated. Rooms began collapsing, and the water kept rising.” The force of the current pushed the couple out of their house. They survived by clinging to a large bush as the flood tore through their neighborhood.

At least 130 people died along the Upper Guadalupe River after torrential rain struck the Texas Hill Country during the Fourth of July holiday. The Weldens’ rebuilding effort has been supported by federal disaster assistance and contributions from churches, foundations and other community organizations. “The local community — there’s a lot of love, compassion, kindness, generosity,” she said, adding that churches and private groups often provided the most immediate assistance. The Weldens expect to move into their new home in October. Less than 100 miles away, survivors along Sandy Creek describe a much different recovery. The normally placid, spring-fed creek southwest of Austin became a violent river shortly after midnight on July 5, when the same storm system that flooded the Guadalupe moved through the area. Nine people died, and approximately 200 homes were damaged. Ashlee Willis lives with her family on an herb farm divided by Sandy Creek. Standing near the creek almost a year later, she pointed toward a utility pole that showed how high the water had risen. “You would be probably 15, 20 feet underwater right now where we’re standing,” Willis said. “The water was 10 feet up that pole. It’s hard to fathom.”

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Dallas jury finds for women who accused developer Bill Hutchinson of sexual assault.

Dallas County jury last week awarded damages to two of three women accusing developer Bill Hutchinson of sexual assault. The jury deliberated for hours following a trial that lasted two weeks. The two women were awarded a combined $860,000. The women said that they were assaulted in the summer of 2020 at the Dallas Virgin Hotels and Dunkirk apartments, which Hutchinson was affiliated with. Hutchinson is also a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at his Laguna Beach vacation home. (The official charge was misdemeanor sexual battery.)

“We are glad to see some vindication for our clients who bravely came forward against a rich and powerful man who clearly thinks the rules shouldn’t apply to him,” Michelle Simpson Tuegel, who represented the three women, said in a statement. “This was an extremely hard-fought case, but our efforts were well worth it to have a jury believe our clients and further validate Hutchinson’s record of sexually assaulting vulnerable women.” In 2021, we wrote about the accusations leveled at Hutchinson and the reactions of those who knew him well. At the time, he had stepped down as CEO of Dunhill Partners. He’s now CEO again.

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Texans paying half a dollar more for gas this Fourth of July

Many San Antonians, like most Texans and Americans, are hitting the road for the long Fourth of July weekend. And Daniel Armbruster, a spokesman for the Texas arm of the American Automobile Association (AAA), said Texans are finding prices quite a bit higher than last fourth of July, largely due to travel demand and some uncertainty over a lasting truce in the U.S. war against Iran. "Today (Tuesday) in Texas, the average is $3.30. A year ago, it was $2.77. So, we're still roughly about 50 cents higher than a year ago," said Armbruster. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in San Antonio on Tuesday was $3.19 or 55 cents higher than a year ago at $2.74. Armbruster, however, said overall prices in the Alamo City have been trending down in recent days.

Nationally, gas prices started the week at $3.91 a gallon, up 69 cents from last year's $3.22, AAA reported. Around 5 million Texans and 72 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more during the Fourth of July travel period, defined by AAA as between June 27 and July 5. Around 85% Americans are traveling by vehicle, and the majority of the rest are flying. Armburster said while the number of travelers is up in Texas and nationally this year over last, the increase is the smallest growth rate since the end of the pandemic. He said another interesting travel trend to note this Fourth of July is that many Americans started taking the entire week off as a holiday after the pandemic ended. Armbruster said more Texans and Americans are traveling this Fourth of July because the holiday is a three-day weekend for many. And since it's the nation's 250th birthday party, more Americans are feeling the holiday is extra special this year and willing to travel to some bigger celebrations that are planned across the country.

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City of Houston scales back plans to install power generators as HUD secretary celebrates progress

During his visit to Houston on Monday, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Scott Turner celebrated the installation of a backup power generator at the Acres Homes Multiservice Center in the northwest part of the city. "You identified a need for stronger energy, resilience," Turner said. "We gave $101 million out of the total available to support power generation and resilience program. This generator which is going to be outside today ... is a mark of the success of our cooperation and working together." The generator is one of 15 already installed under Mayor John Whitmire's Power Protection Initiative, launched after Hurricane Beryl and the derecho wind event in 2024 left millions of Houstonians — and many city facilities — without power for days.

HUD awarded about $315 million to the city after the natural disasters in 2024. Most of the money is flowing to the backup power generators and housing repairs. The award also funds homeless services and debris pickup. The city plans to install generators at an additional 49 locations across Houston. The update provided on Monday marked a scaling back of an earlier version of the initiative, in which more than 100 sites had been identified as priority locations for generators. "We had a big wish list. As we’re going through, we’re really trying to prioritize them based on the restrictions we have to follow, but also what communities and what areas need it the most," said Houston emergency management director Brian Mason. In the aftermath of the power outages caused by Hurricane Beryl, nearly 70,000 Houstonians sought shelter in the city’s cooling centers, according to Mason, the city's interim chief of resilience and recovery. Of the city’s 13 multiservice community centers, only one had a generator at the time. Houston Health Department director Theresa Tran said the city has seen a higher number of heat-related illnesses this June compared to last year.

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National Stories

Democratic primary voters oust an incumbent House member and reject a senator in Colorado

Democratic primary voters vented their frustration with their party’s establishment in Washington on Tuesday, ousting a long-serving member of Congress and rejecting a sitting senator’s campaign for governor. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser won the Democratic primary for governor, defeating Sen. Michael Bennet, who sought to return to Denver after 17 years in the Senate. And Melat Kiros, a lawyer who describes herself as a democratic socialist, beat Rep. Diana DeGette, who has spent nearly three decades in Congress. DeGette’s defeat comes a week after two House Democrats lost primaries in New York, where voters chose democratic socialists endorsed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani over sitting lawmakers backed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York).

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D) fared better, fending off a challenge from progressive state Sen. Julie Gonzales. Bennet, who has spent 17 years in the Senate, was considered the front-runner when he announced his campaign for governor more than a year ago. He had the support of Hickenlooper and a trio of House Democrats from Colorado. But Weiser gained ground in recent polling ahead of the primary as he made the case to voters that he had been more aggressive in confronting President Donald Trump than Bennet. He emphasized his record of suing the Trump administration dozens of times as state attorney general and criticized Bennet for voting to confirm eight of Trump’s Cabinet members. Bennet expressed regret about voting to confirm Energy Secretary Chris Wright but stood by his other votes, arguing that they helped him work with the Trump administration to make sure the state has the federal resources it needs to fight wildfires. “The easiest vote in America is for a Democrat to vote against these people,” Bennet said this month in a primary debate. “But I did it because it was the right thing to do for Colorado.”

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Chuck Schumer hits his limit

Everything was ready for Dan Kleban to launch his candidacy for Senate in Maine: He had informed top Democrats about his decision, hired staff to run his campaign and picked an early summer day in 2025 to make the public announcement. And then a call came in from Washington. It was a warning from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “They were basically like, don’t launch,” said one person with direct knowledge of the situation. “We’re telling you: ‘Don’t launch.’” Kleban’s campaign was stunned. Kleban was a politically active owner of a well-known brewery, and he hadn’t kept his plans a secret. Just a week earlier, Kleban and his aides had told the DSCC that they were announcing their campaign shortly after the July 4th holiday and received no pushback, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

Democratic frustration with Schumer goes far beyond Maine. To a previously unreported degree, the longtime Democratic leader, acting through the DSCC, has struggled to navigate a series of tumultuous primaries, beset by an angry base of voters, insurgent candidates and party officials who complain that he’s alternately done too little or too much to influence races. The result has been the messiest collection of Democratic primaries in decades. The Senate minority leader faces another fraught primary in Michigan in August, where a Schumer-backed candidate is struggling to best lefty favorite Abdul El-Sayed. The DSCC tried and failed to hold off a third candidate, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, mirroring the scramble — and ultimately the failure — to shape the primary in Maine. The tumult has amounted to a stunning rebuke of Schumer, who is seen by many Democrats as having controlled most primaries in battleground states with an iron grip for the last decade. “The thing about iron is it rusts,” El-Sayed told NOTUS in a recent interview. “I’m proud to be the only candidate in my race that the Senate minority leader has said that he would not be OK with.” “I do think people in Michigan are sick and tired of being told what they cannot have and should not fight for by people in D.C.,” he added. “And we present an opportunity to think differently about them.”

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Mike Johnson can’t get control of the House

House lawmakers will start their July 4 holiday early after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) lost control of the chamber for a second straight week. A growing group of conservative dissidents blocked a procedural vote on Tuesday that would have allowed GOP leaders to bring up a must-pass $1.15 trillion defense policy bill on the floor this week. The revolt started last week, when allies of President Donald Trump froze the floor, demanding passage of the SAVE America Act in the Senate, as a condition of voting on any legislation in the House. That bill requires proof of citizenship for those registering to vote and includes changes to mail-in voting laws, and it’s become Trump’s top legislative priority. This week, the issues for Johnson intensified. Fourteen House Republicans broke with the party to block the rule, and some of those lawmakers had more grievances than just the voting bill.

Some conservatives pointed to a promise House GOP leadership made to hold a vote on a border security package before July 4. But the bill was not scheduled for a vote this week. “We certainly didn’t see either committee action or floor action on it. That disappointed a number of people, myself included,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-Maryland), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, said of the border package. Harris voted to block the defense bill from moving ahead Tuesday. Others, including Harris, pointed to the Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday upholding birthright citizenship, arguing it only magnifies the need for the Republican Congress to pass a border security bill. “Particularly in line with birthright citizenship today, we need to be on offense and we’re not,” Rep Chip Roy (R-Texas) said. “We were told in Reconciliation 2.0 that we would get border security through, and that didn’t happen. So let’s do what we need to.” Johnson was unable to break the deadlock even after Trump himself posted on his social media warning House Republicans last week to stop blocking the speaker’s agenda. The Trump plea came only after the president last week canceled a bill-signing for a bipartisan housing bill over his demand that Congress first pass the voting bill.

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Trump now 'hates' his own trade deal. But he'll have a hard time killing it.

President Donald Trump keeps saying he wants to walk away from the $1 trillion-plus North American trade deal he negotiated in his first term. Nobody believes he will. But Trump’s refusal to commit to the tariff-lowering pact means that his administration must now enter a protracted period of negotiations with Mexico and Canada — extending what has already been a year of uncertainty for major U.S. industries like automakers and dairy farmers who rely on multibillion dollar supply chains and export markets across the continent. “Uncertainty makes it hard for businesses to plan. It’s that simple,” said Anne McKinney, the vice president of the Americas program for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “One of the main benefits of USMCA is the certainty that it provides, the stability. And when companies don’t have that, it makes it harder to plan investments.” When Trump signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement in early 2020, he called it “the largest, most significant, modern, and balanced trade agreement in history.”

Congress approved the pact, a renegotiated version of the 1990s North American Free Trade Agreement, by wide margins. But while the trade deal continues to enjoy broad, bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, the president has done a 180 — part of a broadside against free trade that has included raising tariffs around the globe to their highest rates in nearly a century (before many of them were struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year). Trump has taken a particularly aggressive stance towards the United States’ closest neighbors, singling out Canada and Mexico with tariff threats just days after winning reelection in 2024, and hasn’t let up. Earlier this year, he dismissed the three countries’ trade deal as “irrelevant.” This month he told reporters on Air Force One that he’s “not a big fan” and would rather have USMCA “terminated.” “Trump hates the USMCA. He’s not happy with it” said an industry official close to the administration, who said the president was never enthusiastic about the deal and had grown frustrated by loopholes in the deal that allow countries outside the continent, primarily China, to benefit from the lower tariff rates. “If he knew how it was going to play out after signing it, I don’t think he would have signed it.” The person was granted anonymity to discuss conversations with the administration.

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Felicia Lamb: Trulieve 'Megatron' facility threatens my home

(Felicia Lamb is a lifelong resident of Jefferson County whose family has lived and worked the same land in Waukeenah for nearly 200 years. Raised in a family of cattlemen and farmers, she has a deep appreciation for the land, its natural resources, and the heritage of rural North Florida.) There is a tale of two Trulieves: one celebrated on Wall Street as the first American marijuana company listed on the New York Stock Exchange; the other sending algae-filled water from its property onto mine in rural Jefferson County. Trulieve, a Florida-based medical marijuana company and one of the nation's largest cannabis producers, operates a more than 1-million-square-foot cultivation facility in Jefferson County, the rural North Florida community I have called home for much of my life and where my family has deep roots. I wish, however, the company cared as much about Main Street as they do about Wall Street. For nearly 200 years, before Florida was even a state, my family has lived on the same land in Waukeenah. Seven generations have called this place home.

Over those generations, neighbors became lifelong friends, and friends became family. That's the beauty of a small rural community. People know one another. They look out for one another. That is why protecting places like Waukeenah matters and deserves thoughtful stewardship so future generations can experience the same sense of belonging and connection that so many of us have been fortunate to enjoy. That all changed for me, my family and our community when Trulieve moved in right next door in 2019. Their indifference to the noise, water and odor pollution they have generated is the greatest threat to our community’s way of life in my family’s history. We are left to hope that state regulators can do what patience and pleading have not – make Trulieve be the good neighbor they promised to be. To be honest, I was not happy to learn Trulieve was moving next door. But you’re always hopeful when things change. I was prepared to see their building where my family had watched cattle roam and watermelon grow. And I was excited that they would bring jobs to our little community, allowing families to stay closer together instead of driving 30 minutes or more for work. But I wasn’t expecting an 80-acre factory complex – dubbed “Megatron” by Trulieve – with 11 buildings totaling more than a million square feet, with their own electric substation to keep the operation going 24/7. I also was not expecting a torrent of water rushing onto our property, cutting an erosion scar a quarter mile long, nearly 6 feet deep, and in places 20 feet wide, while carrying fluorescent green algae that contained who knew what and threatening to pollute nearby creeks and waterways all the way down to St. Marks.

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NPR retracts story about Alito retirement

NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg misheard an announcement about retirements as she was leaving the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. As a result, an NPR headline erroneously claimed that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. The headline sat atop a lengthy story that recapped the conservative justice's tenure. The error was also reported on NPR's airwaves. Alito is not retiring. The story was wrong. Here's how it happened. Totenberg was reporting on the final day of the Supreme Court session on Tuesday. As she was leaving the court, Chief Justice John Roberts was announcing upcoming retirements. Totenberg wondered why everyone else wasn't leaving and asked someone outside the court. According to her interview that same day on All Things Considered, Totenberg asked a bystander what was going on, and the person replied "retirement announcements." But Totenberg heard the reply in the singular, "announcement, " and assumed it was the notice that Alito was retiring.

NPR had the lengthy story about Alito's retirement already written, because that's what newsrooms do in anticipation of significant retirements and even deaths. Totenberg spoke with both her intern, who was at the court with her, and NPR Executive Editor Krishnadev Calamur and told them what she heard. Calamur surfaced the story that NPR had previously prepared for the day Alito did announce his retirement and published it. The information was also broadcast on NPR's airwaves. NPR was offering special live coverage of the court's decision on the birthright citizenship case. "We profoundly regret the error and the confusion that this has caused and Nina has reached out to Alito to apologize personally," Calamur told me. The story was published on NPR's website at 10:51 a.m. ET and it was live for about 5 minutes. It was up for longer periods on some member station websites. It was taken down and replaced with an editor's note by 10:57 a.m. The error was corrected on the broadcast at 11:07 a.m. ET. In the minutes after it was published, Totenberg called Calamur to tell him she was mistaken.

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Heat wave trudges east on Wednesday, putting millions more at risk

A significant heat wave that has broiled much of the Midwest this week is spreading farther east on Wednesday, bringing the potential for record-breaking high temperatures to millions more people. Little relief is expected for much of the country until the weekend. More than 160 million people are under extreme heat warnings or heat advisories, and for many it was the second or third straight day of severe warnings to avoid being outside in the warmest parts of the day. Triple-digit temperatures are being made worse by high levels of humidity, leading to oppressive heat index readings. Many emergency officials and meteorologists say the heat index is a more accurate measure of what if feels like outside than temperature alone.

And on Tuesday, the heat index was brutal: 106 in Chicago on Tuesday; 113 just north of Milwaukee; 103 in Cleveland; 113 in Southern Illinois. On Wednesday, the Weather Service said, cities from Kansas City to Boston will likely record heat index values between 100 and 115 degrees. Radley Horton, a professor at Columbia University’s Climate School, said this particular heat wave has been characterized by especially high humidity. “And when the amount of moisture in the air is particularly high, it tends to make nights that much warmer,” Dr. Horton said. “Temperatures don’t change as much between daytime and nighttime.” Most of the East Coast will be at some risk of dangerous temperatures, according to the Weather Service, but the most extreme temperatures will remain in the states around the Great Lakes. Most of Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois will be under the service’s most extreme and rare warning level, reserved for long-lasting heat that offers little to no relief at night. Bob Oravec, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center, said Wednesday was expected to be “the first big hot day,” with areas of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York expected to see the most anomalous temperatures on Wednesday. “That’s because typically their average temperature is lower,” he said. “But the highest temperatures on Wednesday are really not going to be much different anywhere. From the Great Lakes to the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, they’re going to reach 95 to 100.” Washington, D.C., could reach 100 degrees for four consecutive days between Wednesday and Saturday — with the potential to tie a record for the city, said Michael Muccilli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

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DOGE cut off small town America’s 250th birthday money

A local Ohio historical society had hoped to go big for America’s 250th anniversary. It settled on what it could afford: a limited “passport” project to encourage people to visit and engage with local history sites. President Donald Trump wanted a splashy, ambitious and unparalleled semiquincentennial. Local libraries and historical associations across the country were instead forced to abandon planning for ambitious history and civics initiatives when his administration axed federal funding for state and local humanities projects last year. “There’s certainly things that we could have done for America 250 if the funding was available. That just didn’t work out how we thought it could have,” said Meghan Reed, the executive director of the Trumbull County Historical Society.

In Trumbull County, Ohio, even the “passport” project had to be kept small because the historical society did not get the funds to print more booklets. Ohio Humanities, the council that distributes federal small-dollar grants to the states’ local historical societies and community groups, was just embarking on funding history projects for the 250th when DOGE axed its funding last year. So too were the humanities councils in West Virginia, Alabama and Washington state, the leaders of all three told NOTUS. In nearly every state and territory across the country, the official humanities nonprofits created by a congressional mandate to help make history and literature accessible to all Americans had to give up their anniversary planning when DOGE pulled their federal funding, according to people involved with the councils at both the federal and state level. “It means that we are not able to do things that are extra, things that are bigger projects. A lot of humanities organizations would have had some incredible projects that none of us have been able to complete,” said Jessica Cyders, the executive director of the Southeast Ohio History Center, another group that could have been a candidate for a 250th anniversary Ohio Humanities grant.

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Lead Stories

Justices expand presidential power over regulators, but not the Fed

The Supreme Court expanded presidential power on Monday by affirming President Trump’s ability to fire most independent regulators, though the justices explicitly affirmed the Federal Reserve’s independence and said its leaders could not be dismissed at will. The court’s 6-to-3 ruling to broadly allow the firing of federal regulators, with the three liberal justices dissenting, is a significant shift in power from Congress to the president that could usher in a drastic change to the government’s structure by giving the president more direct control over independent agencies. The justices ruled in two separate but related cases. One involved Mr. Trump’s efforts to fire Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission who did not align with his agenda, and another involved his efforts to fire the Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, whom the president had targeted as he pressured the central bank to lower interest rates.

In the first case, the justices found that Ms. Slaughter could be dismissed, but underscored the “unique role” of the Federal Reserve and cautioned that it should not be read as extending to the central bank. At the Federal Reserve — which has vast influence over the economy and a long history of independence from political forces — the justices affirmed that officials could not be fired at will, only for cause. In the second case, the justices decided in a 5-to-4 ruling that Ms. Cook could not be fired without the chance to refute the unproven allegations of mortgage fraud that the Trump administration cited in seeking her ouster. Agencies affected: The Federal Trade Commission is just one of dozens of agencies affected by the ruling in Trump v. Slaughter. The president will now be able to fire at will leaders from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Postal Service, ending nearly 90 years of legal protection for those jobs. In the F.T.C. case, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned in her dissent that the majority’s ruling would unleash “chaos” by transforming independent agencies, undoing centuries of political practice and concluding that “all three branches of government have been acting in open defiance of the Constitution all this time.” In the Cook case, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that the court had decided to “go big” when “a modest approach would have been appropriate.”

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Texas promised children with disabilities up to $30K vouchers. Fewer than 30 got the full amount.

One of the biggest selling points of Texas’ new private school voucher program was that it would support students with disabilities, offering up to $30,000 in state-funded accounts for tuition and other services. The possibility drew thousands of applications from across Texas, and hundreds of families flooded public school districts with requests for special education evaluations to qualify for higher amounts. However, fewer than 30 students with disabilities actually received the $30,000 maximum, according to data from the Comptroller’s Office. That’s less than 1% of applicants who indicated that they had a disability. It’s something the Texas Education Freedom Account directors tried to warn parents about earlier this year. “Most students will receive less than the maximum,” a handout about special education vouchers read.

But many families still hoped that they would get closer to $30,000 to pay for private schools dedicated to students with disabilities, which can easily cost between $25,000 to $60,000 a year, according to a Chronicle analysis. One in four of the over 100,000 students awarded vouchers had a documented disability, and their average funding award was about $16,000, or roughly half the maximum amount, according to the Texas Comptroller’s Office. While nearly 13,000 families received more than the base amount, only around 220 families received over $20,000, records shared with the Chronicle from June 23 show. “The headline in everything we communicated was: ‘Homeschoolers get $2,000, private school students get $10,474 and students in special education get up to $30,000,’” said Travis Pillow, communications director for the education accounts. “It might be natural to see that round number and say, ‘My student is getting $30,000.’ When in reality, the ‘up to’ was very important, and the vast majority are getting less than that.”

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Speaker Johnson announces gambit to attach SAVE America Act to must-pass defense bill

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced on Monday that he plans to use an unusual maneuver to merge the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after conservatives ground the House to a halt over the voter ID bill. Hard-line conservatives have said they would oppose any procedural rules that tee up debate and a final vote on legislation until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and the presentation of an ID to cast a ballot, or until the House takes further action to force the issue. Johnson said that he will use a process called MIRVing, in which a procedural rule directs separately passed legislation to be packaged together and sent to the Senate.

“We’re going to pass a MIRV, or what’s better known as a merge onto the rule. So what that means is, when Republicans vote for the rule, they’ll be voting not just for the NDAA and everything else is there, but they’ll be voting to merge onto that the SAVE America Act we passed back in February,” Johnson said. “So that will send both of those items together over to the Senate, and so if any Republicans choose to vote against the rule, they will be voting against that outcome. So we think this is another good way to show the resolve of the House,” he added. The plan will likely face obstacles and continue the standoff between the chambers over the SAVE America Act. The upper chamber can still strip out the SAVE America Act, which faces united Democratic opposition, from the NDAA. But the gambit risks complicating the passage of the defense bill, which is considered must-pass legislation. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who submitted an amendment to the House Rules Committee to attach the SAVE America Act to the NDAA, quickly came out against Johnson’s plan.

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Despite SCOTUS loss on mail-in voting, Trump still has ways to affect November’s elections

President Donald Trump has tried many ways to tighten his grip on U.S. elections, from signing executive orders to pushing restrictive legislation in Congress. Monday’s Supreme Court ruling siding with states that accept late-arriving mail ballots was the latest example showing the limits of his reach. It followed back-to-back rulings last week that barred his two sweeping executive orders seeking to change national election rules, more court rulings preventing his Department of Justice from obtaining detailed state voter data and his stalled attempts to get the Senate to pass the SAVE Act. That measure would eliminate nearly all absentee voting, require citizenship documents to register to vote and impose photo identification requirements nationwide right before the midterm elections. “It’s been a mixed bag for Republicans,” said University of Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller. But the president, he added, “has come up mostly empty-handed.”

Trump’s efforts have not been entirely fruitless. Republican-run states have satisfied his demands to redraw congressional district lines, efforts buoyed by the Supreme Court striking down a key section of the Voting Rights Act, and he has been directing his Department of Justice to investigate voting and election operations, which Democrats see as a possible prelude to their involvement in November. All the activity around how the nation votes and runs its elections is a reflection of the Republican president’s long fixation on his false claim that his 2020 election defeat was rigged. He has been so frustrated by the inability of the Senate to pass the SAVE Act that he has refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill. He weighed in again Monday after the Supreme Court’s decision in the mail ballot deadline case, saying on his social media account that he is trying to “save America from crooked elections.” The president has repeatedly said U.S. elections are riddled with fraud in part because of noncitizen voting. Research shows the problem to be rare, accounting for a minuscule percentage of fraud cases. Convictions are measured in the hundreds over periods in which tens of millions of ballots are cast. Trump’s view resulted in a multiagency push to nationalize voter data and use federal resources to help states remove voters from the rolls. The Department of Justice has sought detailed voter files from multiple states, data that would include dates of birth and partial Social Security numbers. Democratic and some Republican secretaries of state balked, and federal lawsuits followed. The administration has lost every case so far.

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State Stories

Paxton says ‘we need to look more into’ in vitro fertilization

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the GOP’s Senate nominee in the Lone Star State, said that “we need to look more into” in vitro fertilization as the procedure becomes a growing point of contention in the pro-life movement. Paxton’s comments come two weeks after delegates at the Texas Republican Party’s biennial convention in Houston called for an end to such procedures, which they argue in their platform “destroy embryonic life.” Paxton publicly broke with his party at the time, telling the Texas Tribune that he is a “strong supporter of IVF and pro-family policies.” Yet Paxton adopted a less absolute position in a Saturday interview on the sidelines of the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference in Washington, D.C.

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Texas Dems carefully navigate Israel-Gaza conflict at statewide convention

Jewish Democrats found themselves on defense at the Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi last week. While some party delegates were pushing in the platform to condemn Israel and accuse the nation of genocide in Gaza, the final version of the document approved on Saturday struck a more nuanced tone, recognizing Israel’s right to exist, condemning Hamas and calling for support for a Palestinian state. While many Texas Jewish Democrats have also been critical of Israeli political leadership, they have worried the tone can alienate Jewish voters and, at its worst, feel anti-Semitic. Some said they felt disrespected at times during the platform fight, but ultimately were pleased to see the final version lose most of the most divisive language.

“I’m relieved,” said Arthur Pronin, president of the Meyerland-area Democrats. The final platform closely mirrors the one adopted during the party's 2024 convention in El Paso. But Democrats added a key line that seemed aimed at reducing the tension, by saying the party recognizes “that criticizing the policies, laws, or actions of a specific regime should never be treated as an indictment of the citizens, many of whom may lack political power, hold differing views, or suffer under those exact same policies.” The party also added a line that would have been unheard of just a few years ago, jabbing — by name — at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has long been one of the most prolific fundraising arms in U.S. politics. The platform now calls for more accountability in campaign finance and to "eliminate and reject the influence and contributions of foreign-interest PACs and lobbying organizations, including AIPAC, on campaigns.”

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MAGA Senate candidate called out for visiting Iceland with 'some lady who's not his wife'

Texas Attorney General and GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton was questioned on Monday for allegedly traveling with "some lady who's not his wife," in a video shared on social media. The anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project called out the MAGA candidate in a critical midterm race. Paxton, who was backed by President Donald Trump and beat the president's adversary Sen. John Cornyn, will face off against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in November. Paxton was caught on video traveling with an alleged mistress from Dulles International Airport to Reykjavik, The Daily Mail reported. She was identified by the outlet as Tracy Duhon, a Christian influencer and mother of seven. He is married to Texas State Senator Angela Paxton, who filed for divorce under 'biblical' reasons; however, a state district judge canceled it last month.

In a series of posts on X, The Lincoln Project shared a video of Paxton and criticized the Republican, who has touted "family values" in his campaign. "Why is @KenPaxtonTX spending the week before the 4th of July in Iceland? He's in one of the most competitive races in the country, and he's not campaigning. Does this sound or look like someone willing to fight for the job or taking the campaign seriously?" The Lincoln Project posted on X. "This man is saying James Talarico doesn't represent Texas values.....So is this Texas values????" Covie, a political commentator with more than 179,000 followers, wrote on X. "Someone should put this s--- up on billboards all over Texas," political analyst and strategist Rachel Bitecofer wrote on X. "We have friends everywhere," Rick Wilson, former GOP strategist and The Lincoln Project co-founder, wrote on X.

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John Cornyn: Four years later, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is making a difference

It’s been four years since the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, or the BSCA, was signed into law. My Senate colleagues and I carefully crafted this legislation in response to the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, where 19 children and two teachers died on May 24, 2022. I am proud of the work we did to reject the calls for extreme measures that would have encroached on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Texans and instead delivered a practical solution, narrowly tailored to address the root causes of this senseless violence. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act provided hundreds of millions of dollars to Texas in grants for school safety and mental health infrastructure, and created new authorities to prosecute gun trafficking, all while protecting the due process rights of law-abiding firearms owners.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act marked a historic investment in resources for mental health and school safety. Texas has received more than $300 million to strengthen mental health care and school safety. These resources have allowed school districts to upgrade security cameras, implement threat alert systems and improve emergency response plans. This law expanded the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, or CCBHC, program, which has allowed clinics to expand their services for mental health and substance use disorders. There are now more than 500 CCBHCs operating in 46 states. Because of these provisions, those who are mentally troubled are more likely to receive the help they need, and children attending schools are safer due to enhanced security measures. This law also created narrow, targeted provisions consistent with existing law to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill using the National Instant Background Check, or NICS, system. Of course, some loud voices have tried to erode support for these narrow reforms by labeling them as gun control measures, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

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Nun released after being detained by ICE on her way to Mass

A Rio Grande Valley nun who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while on her way to Sunday Mass has been released, according to U.S. Reps. Monica De La Cruz and Henry Cuellar. De la Cruz, R-Texas, said on Facebook that after speaking with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mullin, Sister Letty Ugboaja is coming home. “My office worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security, and I’m grateful they acted to resolve this quickly. Thank you to everyone who kept her in their prayers,” De La Cruz said in her post. Cuellar, D-Texas, also said that after speaking with Mullin and border czar Tom Homan, he was pleased to share that Ugboaja is coming home.

“The order has been given for her to be released today instead of tomorrow, and she’ll be home tonight. My office stayed engaged with the Department of Homeland Security throughout this process, and I appreciate everyone who helped make this possible. Thank you to all who kept her in your prayers. We’re thankful for this good news,” Cuellar said. On Sunday, Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen announced on social media that Ugboaja had been detained by ICE while on her way to Mass: “We ask our parish family to please keep this religious Sister Letty in your prayers. Reports indicate that she was detained while on her way to Sunday Mass. We pray for her safety, peace, and strength during this difficult time, and we hope for a swift and just resolution that allows her to be released soon.” ValleyCentral reached out to Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, who confirmed that Ugboaja was on her way to Our Lady of Sorrows.

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New Texas food truck permit sparks cost concerns for Southeast Texas owners

Starting Wednesday, food trucks across Texas will operate under a new statewide permit system, replacing permits previously issued by individual cities and counties. The change comes from House Bill 2844, passed during the 89th Texas Legislature, with the goal of simplifying the process for food truck operators by creating one statewide permit through the Texas Department of State Health Services. But while the new system could make it easier for some vendors to operate across multiple communities, some local food truck owners and health officials say the change could create new financial challenges. In Beaumont, newly opened food truck El Patron is still focused on building its customer base and has not yet felt the impact of the new permit system.

For longtime operators, however, the change is raising concerns. Joseph Taylor, owner of T’s Barbecue and Blues, has operated his food truck for three years and said the new permit cost could make it harder for some businesses to continue. “$1,300. I have to sell a lot of brisket sandwiches to make that back up, and it has to be made back up for it to be a viable business decision,” Taylor said. Taylor said he currently spends about $400 a year on permits to operate in Port Arthur and Jefferson County. Under the new statewide system, food trucks could pay between roughly $300 and $1,400 for the initial application and licensing process, depending on their operation category. Inspection fees may also apply. For some operators, the change may not have a major impact. Joe Oates, owner of Boss Burger, said traveling throughout Southeast Texas already means paying multiple permit fees in different jurisdictions.

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Sundance Square scores big as World Cup crowds draw national attention

Whether It’s little kids playing in the fountain or folks seeking shade underneath the trees, people are coming out in the 90-degree weather to watch the World Cup at Sundance Square. Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth is hosting soccer viewing parties at the plaza for the entirety of the World Cup. The destination has been hugely popular, and the big crowds have put Fort Worth in the national spotlight. More than 7,000 people filled the plaza and surrounding streets for the Mexico vs. South Korea match on June 18, according to Andy Santos, who works at Stretch and Tone, a yoga studio and shop at 302 Main St.

“There’s been a lot of movement, like we’ve had a lot more people coming in the stores, people from all over the world, which is incredible,” Santos said. For Rafferty Berkey these events have been “nothing short of miraculous” for his hot dog truck, Coney Corner, which he has parked at the viewing events. “I’m super grateful to have the opportunity to just be out here, and to be able to provide food to people,” Berkey said. The owners of Hopscotch, Cesar Luna and Corina Duenes, say the watch parties have been great visibility for their business, which sells “traditional Mexican treats and sweets.” The shop is at 101 W. Third Street, right in the middle of Sundance Square, and has been open since 2023. “For some of the most popular games, people come out, and they support their team, and it has been really good for us, but it has been really wild,” Luna said. All the local businesses that spoke to Star-Telegram agreed that Mexico’s team draws the largest crowd.

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Chevron and Microsoft Sign $9b West Texas power-and-compute deal

Chevron and Microsoft announced a 20-year power purchase agreement on June 22, 2026, to co-locate a dedicated natural gas power plant with a Microsoft AI campus near Pecos in Reeves County, West Texas. The development is named Project Kilby. The project carries a total capital outlay estimated between $7 billion and $9 billion, with definitional dispersion between Bloomberg’s earlier estimate and a later figure from TD Securities.

Project Kilby is structured around Chevron’s wholly owned subsidiary Energy Forge One LLC. Energy Forge One partners with Joulent LLC, the energy venture of investment firm Engine No. 1. Joulent holds a 50 percent equity option in the project. The site covers more than 2,000 acres in Reeves County at the heart of the Permian Basin. TD Securities analyst Jason Gabelman estimated the capital outlay at approximately $9 billion, assuming predominantly project-financed capital at a developer internal rate of return of roughly 15 percent, which implies Microsoft pays approximately $150 per megawatt-hour under the PPA. The plant will ramp to 2.67 GW of nameplate generation capacity, built in phases. Microsoft will add approximately 2 GW of data center capacity over the next five to seven years to serve AI and cloud workloads. The agreement creates more than 6,000 construction jobs and generates hundreds of permanent operational roles.

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Texas A&M cleared after NSF research security review

The National Science Foundation found no violations in a major Texas A&M University contract that came under scrutiny when a key GOP leader alleged that the institution failed to protect other federally funded research from entities linked to the Chinese military. U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House of Representatives' select committee on China, had urged the NSF to conduct a review and pause funding for a project known as SECURE, or “Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem.” A&M received the five-year, $17 million contract in 2024 and is now analyzing data to identify and mitigate federal research risks with foreign organizations. The University of Washington received $50 million for its part in the initiative.

“NSF found no violations of the SECURE award terms and conditions,” Mike England, head of media affairs at the NSF, said in an email to the Houston Chronicle on Friday. “NSF takes research security very seriously and remains focused on maintaining robust oversight of the SECURE program.” Moolenaar did not accuse Texas A&M or the University of Washington of breaking the law as they work with SECURE, which stemmed from the CHIPS and Science Act under the Biden administration. In a letter to the NSF in March, he said he worried that the universities advancing the country's research security frameworks allegedly "collaborate with China’s defense research and industrial base, its nuclear weapons programs, its mass surveillance infrastructure, and institutions on U.S. government national security lists." A&M officials defended their research practices in a statement to the Houston Chronicle after Moolenaar urged the NSF to pause funding in March. They then submitted letters to the NSF and NASA, describing their policies in more detail and stating that A&M currently has no agreements or contracts with Chinese entities. Moolenaar, who previously described a vision to remake SECURE into a new national research security center, reaffirmed his belief that A&M has had "multiple research security failures where it published research with Chinese entities the U.S. government has designated as national security risks."

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Dan Patrick reiterates: ‘No separation of church and state’

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stood in the Oval Office last Friday afternoon and told the American people once again there should be no such thing as separation of church and state in America. Patrick, a Southern Baptist from Houston, chaired President Donald Trump’s controversial Religious Liberty Commission that was made up entirely of evangelical Christians and one Orthodox rabbi. Standing directly behind Trump, who was seated, Patrick declared: “No president in our history has stood more for God than this president. He has been unashamed to speak the word of Jesus. He’s been unashamed to speak up for all faiths.” Patrick lauded Trump as leading the fight for religious liberty as “one of your greatest legacies” and said he was “the perfect president to be here in the 250th celebration” of the nation’s birth. Earlier Friday, Trump spoke at the Faith and Freedom Coalition gathering at the Washington Hilton. There he said: “We saved religion, it was going down.” He accused the Biden administration of carrying out a “reign of persecution.” Trump also encouraged that crowd to get out and vote in the midterms or else sacrifice all the “progress” he has made.

Patrick defined religious liberty as “that little voice inside of us that tells us right from wrong. It’s that voice that when we’re in trouble we can talk to in our quiet moments. It’s that voice when we feel unloved and alone that can comfort us through a higher power.” Then he warned: “When governments can take away your religious liberty, they’re putting their hand in your heart and taking everything you believe in.” He compared such an atrocity to communism and told Trump, “We didn’t know about this communist movement a year ago.” Patrick referenced the 103 witnesses the commission chose to hear from — all were handpicked to testify before the panel — and declared those testimonies showed “one constant theme: The overwhelming majority of our witnesses said they were attacked and punished and what was used against them was one phrase that’s not in the Constitution and that phrase is ‘separation of church and state.’” He added: “The Left has used that one phrase that was one line out of one of hundreds of letters by Thomas Jefferson to batter and hammer people of faith for the last 70 to 80 years, and this report will speak very clearly that we want to be sure Americans understand they cannot be attacked by that phrase any longer.”

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Dallas mayor calls narrative that businesses have lost confidence in Downtown 'a bunch of bull'

In his regular newsletter this week, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson addressed the narrative of businesses losing faith in Downtown after a string of recently announced departures, calling that narrative "a bunch of bull." Johnson touted a recently approved incentive package meant to attract a $1.3 billion office tower and about 5,000 jobs from Morgan Stanley. The plan would include a lease of office space in Downtown Dallas through 2031. "Morgan Stanley choosing Dallas as a new regional hub would be a huge win for the fast-growing Y'all Street sector of the city," Johnson wrote.

Johnson went on to say Dallas has led the nation in post-pandemic economic recovery under his watch, and noted multiple business investments — including Goldman Sachs investing hundreds of millions of dollars into a new campus near Victory Park last year, meant to house 5,000 employees, and Frontier Communications' decision to relocate its headquarters from Connecticut to Dallas in 2023. Of course, there is also Nasdaq, the Texas Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange coming to town. Johnson pointed out that Neiman Marcus, despite closing its downtown shop, still plans on heavily investing in its NorthPark Center location, and that Fifth Third and the Dallas Mavericks plan to remain in the city, although not in Downtown. "FIFA chose Downtown Dallas — over many other interested cities — as the home of its international broadcast center for the World Cup and selected the region to host more matches than any other," Johnson wrote. "Does that sound like a loss of confidence, or does it sound like winning?"

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National Stories

Democratic socialists hope to build on NYC wins in Colorado primaries

After victories in New York City, democratic socialists are taking their fight against the Democratic establishment to Colorado. On Tuesday, Rep. Diana DeGette will face her toughest reelection fight yet, against 29-year-old attorney and democratic socialist Melat Kiros, who was born months after she won her seat in Congress, 30 years ago. Kiros, who was fired from her law firm in 2023 after writing an open letter criticizing her employers’ response to pro-Palestinian protests, told ABC News she hopes to build on the movement’s momentum from last Tuesday in New York and channel voters’ anger with the political system.

“Ultimately, folks are really tired of the party failing to meaningfully represent the values and policies that are extremely popular with our base,” she said. “And we're looking for leaders that are unbought and unafraid to stand up to a lot of these corporations and special interests that have gotten us into this mess in the first place.” While Kiros has netted the endorsement of progressive stalwart Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and some left-leaning groups, the race does not break down evenly along ideological fault lines. DeGette is a leading member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who has led Democratic messaging on abortion rights and served as a House impeachment manager during President Trump’s second impeachment trial. Unlike some incumbent Democrats facing primaries, she has criticized Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza and voted against additional U.S. military aid to Israel. “Denver knows I don’t back down. That’s why I’m taking on Donald Trump to protect our reproductive freedom, abolish ICE, and pass Medicare for All. Together we’ll win and deliver on our progressive values,” DeGette said in a statement to ABC News.

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Supreme Court rejects Trump push to toss $5M E. Jean Carroll verdict

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a push by President Donald Trump to throw out a jury’s $5 million finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her. The high court declined to take up the case in a brief, unexplained order, as is typical. There were no noted dissents. Trump also plans to appeal another $83.3 million verdict awarded to Carroll by a different jury after a second defamation trial, his lawyers have said. The decision comes as the court hands down its biggest opinions, including a ruling that expands his firing power over the federal bureaucracy with the exception of the Federal Reserve. Trump called the decision to pass on the Carroll case “surprising” in a social media post, and he said he would continue to fight the defamation claims. “This Case is really against the United States of America, and all it stands for,” he wrote.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that allegations leading to the verdict were propped up by “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago. Trump has denied all three women’s allegations. Trump’s attorneys argued the judge broke federal evidence rules in the case. They framed it as a distraction from Trump’s unique duties as president, though the verdict came before his return to the White House. “This mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand,” Attorney Justin D. Smith wrote in court documents. Trump, a Republican, has since nominated Smith to be an appeals court judge. His lawyers called the case “Liberal Lawfare” in a statement on Monday. Carroll’s lawyers had urged the justices to pass on the case. They argued that the women’s testimony was relevant because the allegations were similar and that Judge Lewis Kaplan’s decisions were in line with others around the country. “This question is not worthy of review,” wrote attorney Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge.

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Supreme Court OKs late-arriving mailed ballots in loss for Trump

The Supreme Court on June 29 said Mississippi can count late-arriving mail-in ballots, handing a defeat to President Donald Trump, who is trying to curtail voting by mail. The court upheld a state law allowing ballots cast by Election Day to be counted if they’re received within five days. Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's three liberal justices in backing the law. "The question today is not whether requiring ballots to be received by election day is a good or bad idea; the question is whether the idea has made its way into the United States Code," Barrett wrote for the 5-4 majority. And federal law, she concluded, dictates only that voters make a choice by a specific day, not that their ballots must be received on that day.

In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito said accepting late-arriving ballots "effectively postpones the date on which the electorate's choice is made, and federal law precludes that postponement." "Allowing absentee ballots to pour in over the days and weeks after election day, by which point preliminary elections returns are being publicly reported, creates greater opportunity for fraud and risks further undermining the public's confidence in election integrity," he wrote. More than a dozen states have laws similar to Mississippi. Additional states allow late-arriving ballots from military and overseas voters. Voting by mail has decreased since its peak during the COVID-19 pandemic. But nearly 30% of voters still cast a ballot that way in the 2024 elections. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to vote by mail. Supporters of mail-in voting say it makes it easier for people – including retirees, service members and rural residents – to cast a ballot. And grace periods prevent people from losing their vote over postal service delays. But Trump has long railed against mail-in voting as vulnerable to fraud, despite casting a ballot by mail himself in March. He has claimed without evidence that mail-in voting cost him the 2020 election.

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Trump nominates Acting Labor Secretary to lead department

President Trump said Monday that he would nominate Keith Sonderling as labor secretary. Sonderling has served as acting head of the department since Trump’s first labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, resigned in April after a tumultuous tenure at the agency. He will need Senate confirmation for the permanent role. In a social-media post, Trump said that Sonderling “has proven his dedication to delivering strong results for Hardworking People of our Country” and “will do an incredible job in his new role.” In a statement on X, Sonderling said that he’s grateful for Trump’s “trust and confidence” and looks forward to “advancing the President’s agenda on behalf of America’s workers, families, unions, and job creators.”

Sonderling was previously deputy labor secretary. He also worked in the Labor Department during the first Trump administration, as the acting administrator of the agency’s Wage and Hour Division. Sonderling worked as commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from September 2020 until August 2024, a Senate-confirmed role. Chavez-DeRemer, a former Republican congresswoman who was an unusual choice for labor secretary in a Republican administration, left the department amid a continuing inspector general investigation that looked at allegations of misused taxpayer funds and an improper relationship with a member of her security team. The results of that investigation have yet to be released. Chavez-DeRemer has denied wrongdoing. Her nomination was backed by Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, and she received support from more than a dozen Senate Democrats.

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How Trump chose a former Oklahoma state trooper to lead ICE — and handed Markwayne Mullin a win

After an occasionally rocky start in his new post, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin won an internal debate when President Donald Trump announced he was nominating Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, five sources familiar with the dynamic told CNN. The federal agency, which falls under DHS, is charged with carrying out Trump’s pledge of mass deportations; if confirmed, Schroyer would lead that task as the administration tries to deliver unprecedented results. He’d be charged with increasing immigration arrests and ramping up detention space, even as the administration had to sell or find ways to repurpose some warehouses that received bipartisan pushback. All three ICE directors in the second Trump administration have served in an acting capacity.

One of Mullin’s first tasks after assuming the role of secretary in March was selecting a leader for the agency after then-Acting Director Todd Lyons announced his departure. Mullin originally proposed a different candidate, Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado, which caused friction with some White House officials, who did not think he was the correct fit, the sources said. (Regalado said publicly he took himself out of consideration.) When it became clear that Mullin’s first choice was not going to get White House support, Mullin turned to Schroyer, whom he called a “good friend of mine” at a National Sheriffs’ Association event this year. Schroyer currently serves as a senior adviser to Mullin and was part of Mullin’s security detail in the Senate. But there were internal disagreements over whether he was the right fit, particularly when the administration is under pressure to show results from the president’s immigration crackdown, the sources said. “[Schroyer] is Markwayne’s person— but he was ultimately appointed by the president,” one source said, noting that Trump has interviewed Schroyer and liked him.

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Trump is using a $500M no-bid contract to build his White House ballroom

White House officials last year secretly awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500 million for the construction of the East Wing ballroom in an unusual arrangement that sidestepped typical contracting procedures designed to control costs, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Washington Post. The White House routed the contract through the Executive Residence, the document shows, an office that is exempt from rules that require federal agencies to solicit competitive bids and disclose details to the public. The office is typically responsible for routine repairs, entertainment expenses, and the purchase of furniture, art and other items for the executive mansion. The confidential contract with Clark Construction, along with related correspondence and records obtained by The Post, reveal for the first time how the Trump administration bypassed norms last summer as it set the ballroom project in motion.

Records also show that President Donald Trump was directly involved in negotiating some costs for the East Wing project. The East Wing contract is the latest example of the administration turning to no-bid deals to hasten a Trump-style makeover of the nation’s capital, which has included handpicking firms to upgrade Lafayette Square next to the White House and to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Competitive bidding is generally required at most federal agencies. Experts said the Executive Residence is exempt from those rules, and the president has legal authority to hire companies of his choosing to make changes to the executive mansion and the surrounding grounds. Those experts said soliciting bids would have ensured the best price for taxpayers, especially given the size and cost of the East Wing project. “I would certainly expect them to compete a project of this size and complexity,” said Anthony Costa, a former General Services Administration official who oversaw complex government real estate projects during a career that spanned four presidential administrations.

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Lead Stories

Inside Republicans’ plan to win the midterms

Donald Trump won the presidency in 2024 by turning out multitudes of people who usually don’t vote, in no small part because his campaign built an entire strategy around aggressively courting their support. Republicans, including some involved in Trump’s campaign, now think they can use the same strategy to save the GOP’s control of Congress. From almost the moment the 2024 campaign ended, Republicans have dedicated themselves to building a turnout operation with the sole focus of identifying, engaging and ultimately persuading “low propensity” voters — those who maybe cast a ballot two years ago but often skip midterm elections. It’s a program aimed at solving a traditional problem for parties in power during midterm elections, when their voters become more complacent and turn out in lower numbers than their opposition’s. And the years of dedicated work is an overlooked reason Republicans think they have a chance to defy widespread predictions of their electoral doom.

“There has never been an operation like this before,” Theresa Vaccaro, political director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told NOTUS. She, like others interviewed for this story, emphasized that the entire GOP political ecosystem — from political committees like hers to allied super PACs, the Republican National Committee and the White House itself — is working closely together to achieve the same goal. The NRCC has more than 30 so-called “battlestations” in key House districts: offices available to serve as a hub of voter outreach efforts for the whole party. Vaccaro said her committee held its first meeting about the program before Trump was inaugurated and built on efforts that started in 2024. Undergirding the whole operation is a dataset of the voters Republicans are trying to target, one that party strategists say they’ve spent most of this decade building and fine-tuning. That didn’t exist in the failed 2018 midterms campaign, they say, when the notion of a Trump turnout voter was still new. Republicans involved in the turnout effort acknowledge that what they’re trying to do won’t be easy. The political environment is hostile for Republicans this year, with Trump facing a sharp drop in approval and a continued deep and widespread public discontent with the economy.

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State commission declines to discipline a top Austin realtor — but expresses 'concerns'

A formal complaint case filed against one of Austin's top-selling Realtors is closed. The Texas Real Estate Commission decided there was not sufficient evidence warranting disciplinary action against Kuper Sotheby's International Realty agent Kumara Wilcoxon. But TREC staff attorney Kenneth Herring said in an advisory letter that the agency is "concerned" by her actions related to the multimillion dollar listing at the center of the complaint. In a Texas Real Estate Commission complaint prepared on Feb. 20, Moreland Properties broker associate Amy Deane claimed Wilcoxon did not present her clients' offers for a Tarrytown-neighboring property, which was listed for $9.45 million, when they indicated interest last September. Based on interactions related to that listing, Deane claimed several violations of the Texas Real Estate License Act and TREC rules like misrepresentation or dishonest conduct as well as failure to disclose a material fact.

The commission ultimately determined there was "insufficient evidence that Ms. Kumara Wilcoxon intentionally withheld material information or intentionally acted outside the client's best interest," according to the TREC letter. "Moving forward, unless specifically limited by the client, Ms. Kumara Wilcoxon should err on the side of disclosing all and allow the client to decide if the information is material," Herring said in the May 28 letter obtained by the ABJ. "At this time, we anticipate no further action regarding this complaint and expect Ms. Kumara Wilcoxon to take note of our concerns ... Failure to comply with this advisory letter could result in further disciplinary action in the future." Kuper Sotheby's representatives declined to comment for this story when the ABJ reached out to Wilcoxon. Despite repeated outreach to Wilcoxon and other associated agents, Deane said in the complaint that her clients' initial $9.5 million all-cash offer, which was $50,000 higher than the property's list price, and a subsequent $9.45 million offer with a leaseback option did not translate into a transaction. The seller's daughter "verified that neither offer had ever been presented to her or her mother; that they were told by Kumara that an offer was expected but advised to wait; and that they were later told, when they asked about the full-price offer, that it 'never materialized,'" Deane wrote in the February complaint.

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Left-wing Democratic primary wins pose a test for a Jeffries speakership

As New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and fellow democratic socialists celebrated a trio of insurgent leftist victories that rocked last week’s House primaries in New York, so did congressional Republicans. In the days since, the GOP has gleefully speculated that a potential Democratic majority next year could be just as unruly and restive as its own has been, with an ideological battle between liberals and moderates undermining a possible speakership of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York). “You can call it the Bolshevik Revolution of 2026,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said following the election results, while the National Republican Congressional Committee facetiously sent Jeffries a sympathy card and flowers. Jeffries and his Democratic allies have downplayed the tensions, noting that their party held together a broad spectrum of members the last time they were in charge of the House, from 2019 to 2023.

But there are warning signs for Jeffries, who already faces growing frustration from the Democratic base that he is not fighting back hard enough against President Donald Trump. If Democrats win only a narrow majority in the heavily gerrymandered chamber in November, it will give each vote outsize importance and Jeffries critics more opportunities to stir up trouble. Two of the challengers backed by Mamdani, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, defeated Democratic incumbents endorsed by Jeffries; only one of the three, Brad Lander, has committed to vote for him as speaker. Those candidates, all of whom are likely to win their heavily Democratic districts in November, and a handful of others who have prevailed against more moderate Democrats in primaries this year, are expected to push for more liberal policies, particularly regarding Israel and Gaza, immigration enforcement, and universal health care. “What I hope will happen is that Democratic leadership will incorporate the lessons that voters are sending into the agenda that we’re going to be fighting for,” Lander said. Jeffries, for his part, has projected his typical calm and refused to engage with conjecture about how his leadership could be challenged. His office did not respond to an inquiry from The Washington Post, but he congratulated Valdez, Lander and Avila Chevalier on social media Saturday.

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Supreme Court’s explosive final week: Here’s the biggest cases

The Supreme Court is expected to wrap up its term this week, with eight cases still awaiting rulings, including some of the most intensely debated of the past year. The court’s next release of decisions will take place this morning at 10 a.m., when rulings in some of the remaining cases will be announced. The next decision day will be revealed after that. Last week saw the court hand the Trump administration major wins, giving a green light to some of its moves on immigration policy. But a ruling on the contentious issue of birthright citizenship is still pending, along with the president’s right to fire federal appointees and the rights of transgender athletes, among other issues. Arguably the most anticipated ruling is on President Trump’s executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, which was one of his first acts after returning as president last year. Justices seemed skeptical of the administration’s arguments defending the order when they heard the case in April. In a sign of how important Trump has viewed the case, he became the first sitting president ever recorded to have attended Supreme Court arguments as a listener.

A decades-old precedent could be overturned if the court rules in Trump’s favor on his attempts to fire Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member Rebecca Slaughter. Trump decided to remove Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner who was first appointed in 2018, last year because her service was “inconsistent” with the administration’s policies. The act setting up the FTC only permits the president to remove commissioners for cause, and the Supreme Court’s 1935 ruling in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States upheld that barrier. But a majority of the court appeared open to allowing Trump to fire Slaughter without cause during arguments held in December. The ruling could also have wide-ranging implications for other federal agencies, limiting their independence from the president. One federal agency that the high court has seemed more inclined to protect is the Federal Reserve, which could be critical in saving board of governors member Lisa Cook’s job. Trump sought to fire Cook last summer over allegations of mortgage fraud against her, making him the first president to try to remove a sitting Fed governor in its history. Cook has rejected the allegations and argued the Justice Department investigation into her was politically motivated.

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State Stories

Maternal health ‘deserts’ endanger some Texas women, babies

Sarah Gipson knew something was wrong when the normally chatty sonogram technician fell silent and called for the doctor. Gipson was in the 32nd week of her high-risk pregnancy, and she felt horrible. She was seeing stars, had constant ringing in her ears, and had been on bed rest for several weeks. Still, she wasn’t alarmed. “It wasn’t anything abnormal for me to feel terrible,” she said. That Halloween Day in 2024, however, was different. The doctor told her she’d lost all amniotic fluid — that the baby was “dry” and had to be delivered immediately, both for the baby’s sake and for her own. But Gipson, who was expecting her first child, was all alone at the doctor’s office in Nacogdoches that day; she’d made the hourlong drive by herself from her home in Hemphill in Sabine County. Her mother arrived just in time for the surgery.

Gipson is one of thousands of women across Texas living in a maternal healthcare “desert,” with limited access to care during pregnancy, according to an analysis by Public Health Watch of data published in a May 2024 report by the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals (TORCH). Of the more than 200 rural counties in Texas, about 70% have no hospital at all or have hospitals that don’t have facilities for delivering babies. Maternal access is even worse in East Texas, where more than 80% of the nearly 60 counties stretching from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast are considered rural. More than 72% of those counties lack hospitals or labor-and-delivery units. The cash-strapped rural hospitals can’t make enough money from private insurance or Medicaid to cover the costs of providing maternal care, according to John Henderson, TORCH chief executive officer. “The pure economics of it are just problematic,” he said. In the last five years, more than 100 rural hospitals nationwide have stopped delivering babies, leaving fewer than half of rural hospitals across the country with labor-and-delivery services, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform released in January.

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Country hit 'Choosin' Texas' has surprising parallels to the Texas Senate race

It’s tough to pinpoint the exact moment when Ella Langley’s hit single “Choosin’ Texas” grew bigger than country music, bigger than the singer’s starriest aspirations, bigger than the state of Texas itself, but like the universe, its expansion continues. It’s a history-making smash about a love triangle that finds the 27-year-old country star losing her man to a woman from the Lone Star State. “She’s from Texas,” Langley sings. “I can tell by the way he’s two-stepping ’round the room.” The mild rasp in her voice sounds defeated, deflated. Her twang suggests the rise and fall of a shrug. Her man hasn’t left her yet, but it’s no use. He’s as good as gone. “And judging by the smile that’s written on his face,” Langley concedes, “there’s nothing I can do.” Since February, “Choosin’ Texas” has been every bit as unstoppable, two-stepping in and out of the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, topping the chart for a total of 10 weeks, making it one of the biggest country crossover hits ever. It’s currently holding steady at No. 2 behind a shiny new Taylor Swift single. “Every day I wake up, it’s like something more insane has happened,” Langley, an Alabama native, told Billboard a few months ago.

When any song gets that massive, we start peeking behind the breezy rhythms and golden melodies. We start listening more closely for secret meanings, for cosmic coincidences, for thematic subcurrents whispering to the greater American psyche — or at least for some meaningful parallelisms that might help explain a runaway hit’s sudden exceptionality. With “Choosin’ Texas,” we can probably find our answers in the lyrics alone. Langley is narrating her breakup from the position of a helpless outsider, lamenting the far-off place that’s suddenly created a hole in her life. The geography matters here. She isn’t singing about Montana, or New Hampshire, or Ohio. Langley is anxious about Texas. Feel familiar? This summer, plenty of Americans are wondering if the fate of our democracy is riding on a U.S. Senate race that most of us won’t vote in. On one side, there’s the Democrat James Talarico, a Texas lawmaker and Presbyterian seminarian with a soothsaying voice that The New Yorker recently described as “civic A.S.M.R. for anyone sick of Donald Trump.” On the other side is Republican Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general whose endorsement from Trump helped him defeat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a gnarly runoff last month. Come November, the implications will be national and long term. Yes, Talarico is trying to flip a reliably red Senate seat, but he’s ultimately trying to awaken the Democratic Party within Texas writ large. After the 2030 Census, Texas is expected to gain four votes in the Electoral College, making it a necessary win for any candidate hoping to reach the White House in 2032 and beyond. None of the rest of us asked for Texas to hold this kind of power over our lives, but, like in the song, here we are.

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Gary Susswein: A KUT-University of Texas breakup would only deepen our divide

(Gary Susswein is the principal owner of BandOne, an Austin-based communications and strategy firm. He previously served as Chief Communications Officer at UT Austin and Metro Editor at the Austin American-Statesman.) I was the spokesperson for the University of Texas at Austin in 2012, when the Regents considered a proposal to purchase a second FM radio license and launch another public radio station, KUTX, alongside KUT. What was supposed to be a routine vote was delayed when Regents questioned the cost, structure and timeline. Underlying those on-the-record concerns, however, was one concern we kept hearing informally: Should our public university really be in the business of owning public radio stations? Questioning the relationship between UT and public radio felt shocking — even subversive — at the time. But today, it’s at the top of many Austinites’ minds after the university’s and KUT’s clashes over a festival and the firing of general manager Debbie Hiott (who was previously a colleague of mine at the Statesman and is an outstanding journalist).

It’s tempting to say the answer should be a resounding “no.” But as a crisis communications professional, I know the worst decisions are sometimes made in moments of anger, stress and broken trust, and I believe the right path forward is to recognize that our public university really should be in the business of owning public radio stations. In many ways, the recent blow-up felt inevitable. While KUT’s local reporting is fiercely independent and fair, the station is part of a national network that unquestionably leans left. At the same time, the UT administration is moving away from the politically progressive approaches that have anchored higher education administration. University backers see this as an overdue correction to reflect statewide values and restore public trust. Some faculty members may warn that it is an overreaction that stifles free speech and harms the school, but UT is continuing to climb in national academic rankings, applications and fundraising. Against this backdrop, there have always been uncomfortable questions about whether journalists should be employed by a huge public agency that is part of a state government they must cover objectively and thoroughly. During my years at UT, I sometimes disagreed with university decisions. But my role as a public employee was to get on board and implement them. That’s more challenging for a journalist covering the institution, surrounded by tenured faculty members who enjoy academic freedom.

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Tesla quietly settles lawsuit over deadly crash involving Full Self-Driving system

Tesla Inc. has quietly resolved a lawsuit stemming from a fatal 2023 crash that precipitated a defect investigation into the carmaker’s automated-driving technology. The collision involved 71-year-old Johna Story, who had stepped out of her vehicle on an Arizona highway to help direct traffic around cars that had already crashed due to blinding sun glare. Moments later, she was struck at high speed by a Tesla Model Y SUV using the Austin company’s so-called Full Self-Driving system. Story’s death — one of 40,901 on U.S. roads that year — was the first known pedestrian fatality linked to Tesla’s automation technology. The crash prompted a federal investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and a lawsuit from Story’s daughter against Tesla and the driver.

Attorney Dustin Birch, who represents Story’s daughter, said in a phone interview that the case recently settled and “my client is happy to put this behind her.” Terms of the settlement were not disclosed and an attorney for Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment. Bloomberg News published an investigation last year that examined whether sun glare can compromise Tesla’s camera-based automated-driving system. The report reconstructed the crash in part through videos and photos obtained via public records requests. CEO Elon Musk has increasingly bet Tesla’s future on driverless-vehicle technology and robotaxis, with Full Self-Driving underpinning those ambitions. The automaker has sought approvals around the world for versions of the technology, even as some auto-safety advocates say that aspects of the system are defective. It is not approved for fully driverless operation in the U.S.

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There’s no evidence Plano mosque applies 'Sharia law' in its funeral practices, a federal judge says

An Austin federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit against the state's funeral agency and its former presiding officer that alleges religious discrimination against the East Plano Islamic Center, or EPIC. In a footnote, Ezra also wrote there is no evidence suggesting — and neither party is alleging — that EPIC is applying Sharia law in its practices, despite repeated public statements from Texas Republicans. "In resolving the present Order, and without purporting to be an expert in Islamic teachings," Judge David Alan Ezra wrote, "the Court simply notes the absence of any evidence or allegation that Islamic burial rites qualify as 'Sharia law' of the sort that threaten Texas law,” adding that the agency’s cease-and-desist letter against the mosque fails to identify any specific aspect of its services that violate state law.

Ezra ruled then-presiding officer Kristin Tips' involvement and conduct in the Texas Funeral Service Commission's investigation into EPIC's funeral practices violated the mosque's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. "The Court finds that targeting an organization’s religious funeral rites for prohibition while allowing similar rites by others and departing from longstanding TFSC practice violates EPIC’s Free Exercise and Equal Protection rights," Ezra wrote in his opinion. KERA News reached out to attorneys for Tips and the Texas Funeral Service Commission and will update this story with any response. The funeral commission sent EPIC a cease-and-desist letter last March alleging the mosque was illegally operating as a funeral home without a license. That prompted EPIC's lawsuit four months later accusing the commission of illegal overreach and violating the mosque's religious rights. The investigation was one of at least five state probes into EPIC prompted by Republican backlash over the mosque's proposed housing development in Collin and Hunt counties, formerly known as EPIC City and now called The Meadow. Opponents of EPIC and the development accuse the Islamic organization of trying to impose Sharia law in Texas.

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Democrat running for Texas railroad commissioner touts his experience

Jon Rosenthal is a four-term Democratic state Representative for District 135. He’s also a career mechanical engineer who’s worked in the oil and gas industry for more than 25 years. If you were to ask the Democrat what makes him different than his opponent for railroad commissioner, Republican Bo French, that is where he starts. “Sometimes my opponents have tried to say that I’m a Democrat that wants to destroy the oil and gas industry. My answer to that is it’s literally how I make my house payments. I’m not looking to cut the legs out from my own household,” Rosenthal told us on Inside Texas Politics. “I’m the expert in this race. My opponent has no experience.”

The Texas Railroad Commission is the oldest regulatory agency in Texas, celebrating 135 years in 2026. But it has nothing to do with trains anymore. It oversees the energy industry in Texas, from oil and gas, to coal, to pipelines. Rosenthal says the seed for his run for Railroad Commissioner was planted after Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 that caused more than 200 deaths, widespread power outages for days on end, and highlighted the vulnerability of the state’s power grid. “We came back into the legislature and they largely refused to act on the core issues for the problem, which was natural gas delivery. We make more electricity from natural gas in this state than any other form,” he explained. “And this is me coming back to fix our energy grid.” In terms of regulation, Rosenthal says the agency cannot add or remove any of the rules, that’s up to the legislature. But he does argue Texas should enforce the rules already in place. One regulation he says he might advocate changing involves “routine flaring,” or when excess natural gas is burned during oil production. “I do think we should be having stronger efforts to reduce that, capture the gas. It’s an energy source. You know, we burn $1.9 billion worth of natural gas into the air in Texas every year. It would be enough to provide natural gas for free every household in the state that uses it. So, it seems like we should be able to capture that, sell it, use the money from that to pay for the infrastructure,” argued the lawmaker.

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A case for appreciating city council speakers

As a longtime correspondent (and sometimes even enjoyer) of City Council meetings, I will admit that the public comment portion can be a mixed bag. You might even lean toward being irritated at times because the comments can seem disorganized, even incomprehensible. You might agree with every speaker, but at the end of the day, public comment is one of the most effective ways for citizens to tell their elected officials how they feel. If you sit through a couple of Dallas City Council meetings, you can begin to get a true picture of the city’s needs, if you pay attention. People who feel unheard when they attempt to discuss an issue through other means—emailing or calling a city council member or a city department, for instance—will often avail themselves of their three minutes at the microphone before the 15 people elected to do something about their city. The journey for a visitor to Council Chambers requires them to walk the length of City Hall, enter one door, go through security, and then walk the length of City Hall again once inside until they reach the elevators that will take them to their destination.

The speaking experience is often even less welcoming. Robert Wilonsky’s latest column in the Dallas Morning News explores how long the Council made people wait to speak about their tennis courts in Oak Cliff. Some were children, many were people getting their first glimpse into how a City Council meeting works. I don’t think they were left with a favorable impression. (At the same meeting, former Councilmember Bob Stimson was rushed away from the microphone by two Dallas police officers after he went a few seconds over his allotted time to wrap up a thought.) And it’s not unusual—citizens ready to speak about issues frequently find themselves waiting for hours to do so. It happened earlier this month, in fact. (Emma Ruby at the Dallas Observer talked to a few of the speakers.) It’s also worth noting that while the Council can duck away for a bite and stay hydrated by drinking at their seat, those in the gallery cannot—food and drink are not allowed, even if you’ve been there since 9 a.m. and the dinner hour is approaching, and you still haven’t had your chance to speak. If you sign up to speak at City Hall, you’re signing up for a long haul that will likely mean that you find yourself in chambers, hungry, and watching council members sing happy birthday to each other while holding a cake, right in front of you, like when you would go to the park with your mom and see some other kids having a birthday party and all you got to do was swing on some stupid swings and drink warm water from a fountain.

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How a South Texas official preserves public trust in elections

Cameron County sits at the southernmost tip of Texas. Remi Garza, the county’s election administrator, has offices in Brownsville, the county seat. He’s two miles from the Mexican border, but far from the charged political atmosphere in other parts of Texas. The county population is 90 percent Hispanic. Donald Trump won over its voters in 2024, but it’s a consistently blue island in the country’s biggest red state. Despite this, Garza’s office hasn’t been under siege in recent years like other election offices across the country, where some public officials have received threats and been accused of manipulating outcomes. (Investigations have not turned up any evidence of widespread voter fraud anywhere in the country.) “We’ve been very fortunate,” Garza says. “We have good support, good communication with community leaders and the general public. That isn't true for others in the state of Texas.”

Garza’s first government job was in the county judge’s office, where he worked for 12 years. He came to it through involvement with a community organization helping local longshoremen. (Brownsville is a port town, the only deepwater port on the U.S.-Mexico border.) At the time, the county was growing, becoming less rural and more urban. The judge’s office was dealing with the construction of a new international bridge, a new jail facility and the renovation of a historic courthouse. The latter, an imposing three-story building with an octagonal rotunda and an art-glass dome, sits catty-corner from Garza’s present workplace. Garza liked the feeling of being involved in work that was having a positive impact, developing projects and seeing them move forward to completion. His parents had a history of community involvement; his father, a doctor, had been an elected member of the school board.

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Texas Rep. Gene Wu says underfunded schools are fueling juvenile justice challenges

State Rep. Gene Wu says Texas must do more to support public education and address the root causes of youth crime, arguing that underfunded schools and a lack of mental health resources are contributing to problems in the state’s juvenile justice system. During a Houston Community Media news briefing focused on challenges facing children and teenagers, Wu said the state’s education system is one of the biggest issues facing young Texans. “I would say one of the biggest issues right now, bar none, is our education system,” Wu said. Wu said Texas schools are not equipped to serve students who come from troubled homes, experience poverty or struggle with mental health and behavioral issues. He also criticized lawmakers for failing to fully fund public education.

“Every year we defund our schools more and more,” Wu said. According to Wu, lawmakers were told during the 2025 legislative session that Texas public schools faced a $16 billion funding shortfall but only allocated about half that amount. He said the result has been school closures, larger class sizes and increasing pressure on teachers across the state. “Classroom sizes are getting bigger and bigger. Teachers are getting more and more frustrated,” Wu said. Wu also criticized the state’s emphasis on standardized testing, arguing that schools are financially incentivized to move students through the system rather than ensure they are learning. “The system right now is only geared toward testing,” Wu said. “It does not actually care whether students learn or not.” Wu said the lack of educational resources has also changed how schools respond to student behavior, with law enforcement increasingly becoming involved in situations that were once handled by administrators. “Back when I was in school, there were no cops in school,” Wu said. “If you got into a fight, you went to the principal’s office.”

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Target rolls out THC beverages in Texas as the future for such products remains unclear across U.S.

Target has rolled out THC beverages at nearly every Texas location, according to the company. The retailer confirmed the beverages have been available at Lone Star State stores since May 10. This comes amid a court battle over hemp-THC regulations in Texas and as a federal ban on such products approaches in November. The legal landscape for hemp-THC products is up in the air in Texas and across the country. In Texas, the future of smokable hemp hinges on a legal battle out of Travis County. There, hemp organizations and businesses have filed suit against state officials over new regulations that could ban smokable products and impose higher fees on retailers and manufacturers.

At the federal level, new rules for hemp products are set to take effect as part of a government funding bill signed by President Donald Trump last year. The rules would impose new THC potency restrictions that would see many products banned. However, according to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a coalition of different hemp companies and organizations across the country, the White House recently sent a funding request to Congress regarding the looming ban. In the request sent to Congress, Russell T. Vought, director of the United States Office of Management and Budget, asks that regulation be changed “to ensure the fair treatment of hemp products.” More specifically, the request seeks to have hemp products regulated in a way consistent with rules proposed by Congressman Andy Barr in the House Rules Committee. Barr’s proposal would protect hemp products that are currently set to be banned come November. At a minimum, Vought’s funding request asks Congress to delay the incoming federal ban. It is still uncertain how Congress will respond to the request.

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National Stories

A 'heat dome' is driving dangerous heat across the U.S. into the July 4 weekend

Extreme heat this week will blanket a majority of American states through the July 4 weekend, according to forecasters. The National Weather Service on Sunday said "dangerous to record setting heat will expand across the eastern two-thirds" of the country. In areas including Ohio, parts of North Carolina and Washington, D.C., the extreme temperatures and humidity will be especially threatening for people with respiratory issues and the elderly. "With the combination of high humidity, heat indices may reach 100-110 Degrees," said the NWS. "Much of the central and eastern U.S. is under a Moderate to Major HeatRisk, which can pose health impacts on those without hydration or cooling."

Parts of Iowa, Missouri and Kansas are under extreme heat warnings. A heat dome is driving the heatwave. It occurs when a very hot air mass parks itself over a region and gets trapped under a "lid" above the Earth's surface. But the high temperatures are not the only concern, said NWS forecaster Bryan Putnam. "You get temperatures in the 90s to low 100s, that's obviously pretty hot. But you combine that with the humidity, those heat indices will go well into the 100s and that's the temperature that it's going to feel like," Putnam told NPR on Sunday. Risks for extreme heat are also expected to continue after July 4 and in the West. Daytime temperatures could feel like 100 to 105 degrees and the heat could limit overnight relief, the NWS said. Putnam said people gathering outdoors for the July 4 weekend, including at night to see fireworks, should be vigilant. "Your temperatures might stay in the 80s and the 90s in the heat in the evening, as well as the fact is with the humidity, that's going to keep those heat indices high as well," he said. "Just because the sun goes down doesn't mean it still isn't going to be hot."

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Millions drop Obamacare health plans after subsidies expire and costs rise

About 3 million fewer people in the United States had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in February compared with the same time last year, according to new federal data. In the report released Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested the 13% drop in enrollment from 22.1 million people in 2025 to 19.2 million this year could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or “phantom” enrollment. But health analysts said it was more likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies, which caused a surge in plan costs that resulted in many people being unable to pay their premiums. “We know that real people lost their health insurance coverage,” said Cynthia Cox, a vice president and director of the ACA program at the healthcare research nonprofit KFF, citing survey findings on people who had left their plans. “This coverage loss happened at the same time millions of people faced double or even triple digit increases in their premium payments.”

The new data, compiled in April but showing coverage in February, represents the government’s first official look at how people’s inability to pay their first bills this year affected total enrollment. That is because the figures capture the marketplace after a nonpayment grace period expired. A federal estimate in January showed that about 800,000 fewer people had signed up for ACA plans compared with the same time last year, marking the first time in the past four years that enrollment had been down from the previous year at that point in the shopping window. Cox said KFF expects the total number of people in the government healthcare program to continue to decline throughout the year, potentially to a low of about 17.5 million. That would be a significant drop for the government’s flagship subsidized health insurance program for working-age people who do not qualify for Medicaid. In recent years, ACA plans have become a popular choice for gig workers, farmers, ranchers, hairstylists and others without health coverage through an employer. The ACA subsidies that expired this year were at the center of a bitter fight in Congress last fall, with Democrats and some Republicans calling for their renewal. Sharp increases in health costs across ACA and other health insurance programs come as voters in the approaching November elections say affordability is among their top concerns.

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How the Reflecting Pool turned green: Missing ‘Bubblers’ and a rush job

The nanobubblers had to go. It was early June, and the Trump administration was planning an event at the Lincoln Memorial on June 12 to promote President Trump’s Ultimate Fighting Championship birthday celebration at the White House. Dotted around the perimeter of the memorial’s Reflecting Pool were the nanobubblers, the temporary water-purification machines meant to keep the pool clear of algae. Encased in black fencing and powered by large generators, the machines were something of an eyesore. Before the event, the National Park Service asked Greenwater Services, which won a $1.7 million no-bid contract to install the nanobubblers, to remove them, according to two people briefed on the decision. The people asked for anonymity because they feared retaliation from the administration. The Park Service did not provide a reason for the removal, but it coincided exactly with the promotional event, which drew crowds to the Reflecting Pool.

Photos from that evening showed the pool without the hoses or enormous machines working to keep the water clean. The water looked dark blue. But by the time the purification systems were reinstalled 36 hours later, enormous algae blooms were starting to spread unchecked, turning the water green. Once the algae started growing, it proved difficult to eliminate. Even with the nanobubblers back online, Park Service workers tried dumping jugs of hydrogen peroxide into the water to clear the algae more quickly. But the peroxide largely dissolved before it could reach the large clumps in the middle of the basin. The result was a Reflecting Pool that stayed green and murky for about a week because of the residual chlorophyll — a highly visible symbol of one of Mr. Trump’s pet projects gone very wrong. The decision to remove the water-treatment systems, which has not previously been reported, was one of several missteps that have plagued Mr. Trump’s $16.4 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool. There have been no-bid contracts, peeling strips of waterproof coating in Mr. Trump’s handpicked shade of “American flag blue,” and even a dead duck floating in the water (though it is not clear if the renovation had anything to do with the duck’s demise).

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Ukraine's drones set another Russian oil refinery ablaze

Ukraine kept up its heavy drone assault on Russia, setting fire to a major oil refinery in the south, as President Vladimir Putin acknowledged for the first time on Sunday that the country was facing a “certain deficit” of fuel and vowed to strengthen protection of oil facilities and boost fuel output. Ukraine has markedly stepped up its long-range attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities in recent months, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for its invasion — now in its fifth year — and make Russians feel the consequences. “Our ‘long-range sanctions’ reached two oil refineries in Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday. “Each (strike) means a reduction in the resources that fuel the Russian war machine, and another step toward peace.”

The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies, causing widespread shortages and long lines at gas stations across the country and prompting authorities in many regions to introduce fuel rationing. According to Western analysts, it has also slowed Moscow’s efforts on the battlefield, heaping pressure on the Kremlin to come to the negotiating table. Speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, Putin described the Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries as an attempt to “cause a split in Russian society and force Russia to halt, even if only briefly, the advance of our troops along the line of contact, and create conditions for launching a negotiation process on terms advantageous to our adversary.” “We will not give them that chance,” Putin said, adding that “strikes on our infrastructure, wherever they are directed, have absolutely no effect on the situation at the front, on the line of contact.” He said for the first time that Ukraine has proposed a halt on deep strikes, arguing that Kyiv made the offer because Russian strikes deep into Ukrainian territory are more powerful and devastating.

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The Supreme Court is building its own massive police force

A series of slickly produced videos show agents clad in suits and sunglasses striding confidently in slow motion. They usher VIPs into armored SUVs, as specially trained dogs sniff out explosives and officers toting assault rifles keep watch. The scenes evoke Hollywood films about the Secret Service, but the real-life protectees are not the president or the first family: They’re the justices of the Supreme Court, and these videos are part of an aggressive recruitment pitch for officers to defend them. The staid Supreme Court now has sizzle reels and even a pithy tag line from a dulcet-toned announcer: “The highest court. A higher calling.” It’s often said that the Supreme Court has no army. Yet, with little fanfare, the size of the Supreme Court’s police force has begun mushrooming. For years, the force sat at fewer than 200 officers, but now officials are aiming to more than double the ranks of the agents and officers who protect the justices and the Supreme Court’s building.

The push for a rapid security buildout stems from the substantial threats to the justices at a moment of growing political violence in the U.S. and the sense that the system has just not been up to the task of keeping them safe. That’s a belief that appears to be shared by at least some of the justices themselves. “The justices are averse to the intrusion into their personal lives that comes with increased security, but they are resigned to the need for it both personally and for the court as an institution,” said one former court staffer, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the court’s security practices. A spokesperson for the Supreme Court declined to comment for this article. The Supreme Court has never been so central to the political system, nor so public in the way it exercises power — be it snarling the pre-election prosecution of Donald Trump, blocking the president’s tariffs or scaling back the Voting Rights Act. Yet even as the court boasts sweeping authority, it remains reflexively opaque to the public. The prospect that Americans grow restless at being ruled by nine robed lawyers they never see doing their jobs has the potential to fuel a crisis of legitimacy. The Supreme Court cloaks its deliberations in secrecy and still banishes cameras from its ornate courtroom. Court officials are loath to discuss the security measures being undertaken to protect the justices.

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Trump’s takeover of 250th birthday celebrations is bumming out Congress

Congress wanted the nation’s 250th birthday to unite America in celebrating its founding principles, common bonds and democratic institutions that have made the country so unique. It passed bipartisan legislation a decade ago creating a commission to support events in the capital and around the country to mark the occasion. Instead, the semiquincentennial events in Washington, D.C., have become intensely partisan, with President Donald Trump essentially taking over as master of ceremonies. The president and his administration have spurned congressional efforts to celebrate the anniversary in favor of their own high-profile events, such as the UFC match at the White House and campaign-style rallies on the National Mall, culminating with one on July Fourth that Trump has dubbed “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all.”

“I will be speaking at approximately 9 P.M., preceding the Fireworks which again, like the Airshow, will be approximately ten times larger than any Fireworks in the History of our Country. So, if you like Airplanes and Fireworks and President Trump, be there!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. A handful of Democratic-led states are openly boycotting Trump’s 16-day Great American State Fair, progressive activists are organizing competing events in D.C., and some Washingtonians are skipping the traditionally bipartisan July 4 events on the National Mall altogether. “I think that’s sad,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told NOTUS. “If the celebration of the miracle of democracy that comes from the founding of this nation becomes partisan, shame on us,” lamented Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina). Trump this week kicked off 250th celebrations with a campaign-sounding speech on the National Mall in which he touted anti-transgender policies, praised immigration agents implementing his deportation push, and promoted a tentative peace deal with Iran.

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MAHA feels betrayed after Supreme Court ruling on Monsanto, glyphosate

Prominent activists with the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement are raging and saying they feel betrayed after the Supreme Court sided with pesticide maker Monsanto on Thursday and said it did not need to put a warning label about a potential cancer risk associated with its Roundup weedkiller. The backlash could test the movement’s ties with the Republican Party,?especially after the Trump administration backed Monsanto in the case. Several studies have found a link between glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, and cancer, including a major study from last year. Bayer and Monsanto have denied any such connection. But MAHA followers have long been alarmed by the idea, and many have grown impatient with a White House that has largely resisted their calls for tighter regulation of pesticides.

In April, President Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and high-level administration officials held a private meeting with MAHA activists to hear their complaints and try to smooth over any ill-will. Later that month, a MAHA-led coalition rallied outside the Supreme Court during oral arguments, saying people should be able to hold companies accountable. Inside, the justices heard arguments — including some by the Department of Justice — that companies should be protected. For some MAHA supporters, Thursday’s verdict showed that despite Trump’s alliance with Kennedy, the administration would rather prioritize the interests of pesticide makers. “A lot of MAHA voters are realizing they’ve been snookered, they’ve been had by Republicans that had no intention of protecting their health. It’s just a talking point that they added,” said David Murphy, founder of United We Eat and finance director of Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Murphy said the decision could be a tipping point for MAHA voters, who have historically been a loose collection of groups without a set political party.

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Copyright July 06, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved