Lead Stories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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State Stories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Texas Tech University System implements guidelines to meet curriculum standards

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

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

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

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

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

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Local charter school network accepts tougher TEA intervention to end probes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Texas AG Ken Paxton investigates Shein for unethical labor practices

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

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

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North Texas city struggles with infighting as growth surges

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

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

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

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

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

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Lawsuit accusing Tarrant County of racial gerrymandering dropped, one remains

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

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

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National Stories

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

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

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

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Bitcoin logs its worst day since March

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

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

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

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

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American consumers lose patience with high car prices

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

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

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In Trump country, suburban grandmas push back against ICE

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

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

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

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

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

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Vaccine committee may make significant changes to childhood schedule

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

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

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Abortion opponents coming before the Supreme Court on Tuesday

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

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

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Lead Stories

A weary Congress stares down a whirlwind December sprint

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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State Stories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Identical twin brother wants to replace Republican Troy Nehls in Congress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Austin light rail moves closer to construction with federal approval

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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National Stories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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White House launches tracker to call out 'media offenders'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Lead Stories

Turning Point USA talked expansion with Texas education chief

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath recently met with a top official from Turning Point USA to discuss creating chapters of the conservative youth organization in all of the state’s high schools, days before Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick promised $1 million in campaign funds to help bring the project to life. The meeting between Morath and Turning Point USA Senior Director Josh Thifault took place on Nov. 3 in Austin, according to records obtained by The Texas Tribune. The two gathered in person weeks after Thifault reached out to the agency to ask when the commissioner “would like to speak with me” about the possibility of a partnership to establish Turning Point USA chapters in high schools across Texas, similar to initiatives launched in other states. After their meeting, Thifault followed up with Morath via email to provide additional information about the right-wing group’s existing partnerships with Florida and Oklahoma.

“Both states have issued stern warnings against anyone attempting to stop students from forming Club America chapters,” Thifault wrote, referring to the official name of the clubs. It is unclear if Morath formally agreed to a partnership with Turning Point USA or on any next steps. Responding to questions from the Tribune about the meeting, including how such a partnership would work and what precedent exists of the commissioner meeting with national politically affiliated organizations, Texas Education Agency spokesperson Jake Kobersky said, “Commissioner Morath meets with a variety of stakeholders interested in public education.” Thifault did not respond to an email, phone call or text message for comment about the meeting. Doug Deason, a conservative activist and donor whom Thifault copied on the emails scheduling the conversation, also did not respond to an email from the Tribune. Since the Sept. 10 killing of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk — the Turning Point USA founder praised by conservatives as a champion of free speech and criticized for comments that many found hateful toward LGBTQ+ Americans, women and people of color — Republicans’ interest in the group has surged.

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State investigates Harris County for allegedly registering P.O. boxes as voter addresses

The Texas Secretary of State has initiated an investigation after state Sen. Paul Bettencourt filed a complaint claiming that Harris County allowed voters to register their home addresses as post office boxes in violation of bills he authored in 2023. In a November letter to Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Annette Ramirez, Bettencourt asserted that Harris County failed to remove voters from the county’s rolls who had registered their addresses to local United Parcel Service stores. The alleged oversight, he wrote, could put the county in violation of state laws that aim to boost election integrity. The complaint mentions two UPS locations on Westheimer Road and Waugh Drive that found more than 120 registered voters registered to P.O. boxes there. In a statement on Tuesday, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson said that county election officials are obligated to maintain accurate voting registrations and remove ineligible voters.

“If we find reason to believe the Harris County Elections Office is failing to protect voter rolls or is not operating in the good faith Texans deserve, we will not hesitate to take the next step toward state oversight,” Nelson said. Another layer of oversight imposed on Harris County could restrict state funding from the registrar. This wouldn’t be the first time that Texas officials have called for stronger state supervision over the county’s election practices. The state office did not return a request for comment. Bettencourt and other Republican state lawmakers in 2023 introduced bills to bolster election integrity, some of which targeted Harris County — the state’s largest Democratic stronghold. One piece of legislation written into law that year aimed to eliminate Harris County’s Elections Administrator position and turn over voter registration control to the tax assessor-collector’s office. State lawmakers also advanced a Senate bill that would grant state oversight under specific circumstances for county elections through a complaint process — allowing Texas to override those same elected officials. Under the legislation, complaints can be filed by an individual who participated in an election, including candidates, county or state chairs of a political party, election judges or heads of certain political committees.

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Consumer confidence hits lowest point since April as job worries grow

Consumers soured on the current economy and their prospects for the future, with worries growing over the ability to find a job, according to a Conference Board survey released Tuesday. The board’s Consumer Confidence Index for November slumped to 88.7, a drop of 6.8 points from the prior month for its lowest reading since April. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were looking for a reading of 93.2. In addition, the expectations index tumbled 8.6 points to 63.2, while the present situation index slipped to 126.9, a decline of 4.3 points. “Consumers were notably more pessimistic about business conditions six months from now,” said Dana Peterson, the board’s chief economist. “Mid-2026 expectations for labor market conditions remained decidedly negative, and expectations for increased household incomes shrunk dramatically, after six months of strongly positive readings.”

A key reading within the report that measures job expectations showed deterioration. The share of workers saying that jobs are “plentiful” slid to 6%, down from 28.6% in October and reflective of the “no hire, no fire” current job climate showing in other data points. Another question asking whether jobs were “hard to get” edged lower to 17.9%, a drop of 0.4 percentage point. Those results come the same day that payrolls processing firm ADP reported that private companies shed an average 13,500 jobs over the past four weeks. Moreover, the Conference Board survey is consistent with other measures showing weakening sentiment among consumers. For instance, the University of Michigan’s sentiment gauge dropped 4.9% in November on a monthly basis and was off 29% from a year ago. The weakening numbers have coincided with public statements from several key Federal Reserve officials who believe further interest rate reductions are warranted. Traders are pricing in a high probability that the Fed lowers its key borrowing rate by another quarter percentage point in December. In the Conference Board survey, Peterson noted weakness across income and political groups.

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Shorter days, signs of fatigue: Trump faces realities of aging in office

The day before Halloween, President Trump landed at Joint Base Andrews after spending nearly a week in Japan and South Korea. He was then whisked to the White House, where he passed out candy to trick-or-treaters. Allies crowed over the president’s stamina: “This man has been nonstop for DAYS!” one wrote online. A week later, Mr. Trump appeared to doze off during an event in the Oval Office. With headline-grabbing posts on social media, combative interactions with reporters and speeches full of partisan red meat, Mr. Trump can project round-the-clock energy, virility and physical stamina. Now at the end of his eighth decade, Mr. Trump and the people around him still talk about him as if he is the Energizer Bunny of presidential politics. The reality is more complicated: Mr. Trump, 79, is the oldest person to be elected to the presidency, and he is aging.

To pre-empt any criticism about his age, he often compares himself to President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who at 82 was the oldest person to hold the office, and whose aides took measures to shield his growing frailty from the public, including by tightly managing his appearances. Mr. Trump has hung a photo of an autopen in a space where Mr. Biden’s portrait would otherwise be, and disparages his predecessor’s physicality often. “He sleeps all the time — during the day, during the night, on the beach,” Mr. Trump said about Mr. Biden last week, adding: “I’m not a sleeper.” Mr. Trump remains almost omnipresent in American life. He appears before the news media and takes questions far more often than Mr. Biden did. Foreign leaders, chief executives, donors and others have regular access to Mr. Trump and see him in action. Still, nearly a year into his second term, Americans see Mr. Trump less than they used to, according to a New York Times analysis of his schedule. Mr. Trump has fewer public events on his schedule and is traveling domestically much less than he did by this point during his first year in office, in 2017, although he is taking more foreign trips.

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State Stories

Tesla stands to lose millions in tax rebates if it doesn't meet Travis County requirements

Travis County’s tax rebate deal with Tesla is under review as the automaker has failed to provide sufficient documentation that it is upholding its end of the agreement, Travis County officials said. The deal, which was finalized in 2020, offers Tesla a 70% property tax rebate on a the first $1.1 billion the company invests in the factory and up to 80% if Tesla invests more than $2 billion. The rebate only applies to a portion of property taxes paid to the county. Tesla must also ensure at least half of its gigafactory employees live in Travis County and are paid at least $15 an hour. Tesla agreed to scale its minimum wage over time in accordance with the Consumer Price Index.

In 2020, the county estimated the deal would result in $14 million in savings for Tesla over the first 10 years of the agreement. So far, Travis County hasn’t paid Tesla any rebates. As first reported by the Austin-American Statesman, the agreement is under a compliance review because Tesla has not provided sufficient documentation to prove it is meeting the requirements. Travis County also has active tax rebate agreements with Apple, Samsung and HID Global, a manufacturer of secure identity products. County spokesperson Hector Nieto said compliance reviews are a normal part of the process, and rebate payments to those companies have usually occurred within the same year the companies submit annual reports. Travis County officials declined to specify which parts of the deal Tesla may be failing to uphold or provide documentation for. In a statement, Nieto said the review includes “verification of multiple data points submitted in the compliance report.” In a statement, Commissioner Margaret Gomez said she will “push on staff” to determine if Tesla is in compliance.

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Spring-area homeowners face lengthy recovery after tornado hits their neighborhood

Saw dust, pine needles, even small shards of glass were strewn throughout Driftstone Drive in the Spring area. You could hardly walk 10 feet without stepping over a tree limb. "We don't have a home," said Michelle Amaro, a resident of more than five years. "I can't live here. I'm probably going to be displaced for, like, three to six months, according to the insurance." After two tornadoes touched down northwest of Houston on Monday, hitting several residential areas including the Memorial Northwest neighborhood, Amaro said her roof was torn completely open. Rain later in the evening soaked the inside of her home. Her insurance company provided her with a hotel on Monday night, but the idea of potentially moving out of her home on Driftstone Drive was difficult to grasp. "I'm almost like, just let me stay in here," she said, gesturing toward her home. As if remembering, she added, "My AC unit is ripped out. It's like on the other side of my yard."

By Tuesday morning, Amaro was one of several residents along Driftstone watching trees be taken apart with chainsaws and ripped from the ground. She, like other nearby residents who spoke with Houston Public Media, said the recovery process has brought the neighborhood together. Just a few houses over, Walter Overcash stood outside his home of 28 years, watching as a massive tree in his front yard was sawed in parts. "We've had hurricanes, that kind of stuff, but never a tornado directly at us," he said. He was home during the storm on Monday, which he said he didn't take quite so seriously at first. "But when you feel the pressure drop in your ears kind of thing? And you hear that go roar? It's like, maybe I should go jump in the closet." Landscaping crews from J and J Custom Tree Service were assisting residents along Driftstone, free of charge. At one point, a J and J crew member approached a Houston Public Media reporter and asked if they were a homeowner in the area needing assistance. No injuries had been reported by local authorities as of Tuesday afternoon, when the National Weather Service confirmed that two tornadoes had ripped through northwest Harris County within a span of 30 minutes on Monday afternoon. The one that hit Driftstone Drive had estimated peak wind speeds of 116 mph, making it an EF-2 rated tornado, while an EF-1 tornado with peak wind speeds of 110 mph hit the Riata Ranch area in Cypress.

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Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign against Muslim group faces challenges under Texas and federal law

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has launched a campaign against the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), declaring the Muslim civil rights organization a foreign terrorist organization. What's unclear is whether that will hold up under a legal challenge from CAIR, either with respect to federal law or even Texas' own statutes. Syed al-Ferdous immigrated to the Houston area from Bangladesh more than 20 years ago. He now attends services at the Maryam Islamic Center in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, every evening. He said Abbott's calling CAIR a terrorist organization shows a lack of education about Islam. "I think it’s very juvenile to say the least," al-Ferdous said. "It’s very immature, and it just doesn’t hold any water whatsoever."

Last week, Abbott invoked a 2023 Texas law to brand CAIR a foreign terrorist organization and a transnational criminal organization. He accused CAIR of trying to "forcibly impose Sharia law," and he followed up by ordering the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch criminal investigations of the group. At the same time, Abbott also applied the designation to the foreign-based Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR then filed a lawsuit against Abbott in federal court, and a representative of the organization’s Houston chapter said Friday that it plans to join the lawsuit. "What does a civil rights organization in the United States, incorporated in the United States, run by American citizens, got to do with a foreign entity?" al-Ferdous asked. That's a question Kenneth Williams —who teaches constitutional and civil rights law at Texas Tech University —said cuts directly to the heart of whether Abbott has the authority to go after CAIR. "The statute specifically requires that there be at least, an organization at least partially outside the United States, who engage in criminal activity and threaten the security of this state or its residents," Williams said. "So, if they’re not operating outside the United States, it would seem like this designation is illegal and not authorized under the statute."

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

After an inauspicious start, a state incentive program created to encourage the construction of natural gas power plants has begun issuing loans. State lawmakers created the Texas Energy Fund in 2023 and have dedicated roughly $7 billion to the fund. After seeing numerous proposed projects drop out and one allegation of fraud, energy regulators can now point to progress that began this summer. Since June 26, the Public Utility Commission of Texas has authorized about $2.5 billion in loans to six power plant projects that, when completed, will have the capacity to power at least 875,000 homes. They include a $278 million loan to Houston-based Calpine, which will use the government loan to finance a 460-megawatt plant about 85 miles southeast of Dallas in Freestone County. The Legislature created the Texas Energy Fund in response to the February 2021 winter blackouts that killed more than 200 Texans. Many Republican lawmakers blamed renewable energy for the power outages, despite clear evidence fossil-fuel power plants also failed during the record-breaking freeze.

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

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Ronell Smith: The opening Democrats see in Texas Senate District 9 is a mirage

(Ronell Smith is a former Southlake city councilman.) Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to set Jan. 31 as the date for the Senate District 9 runoff extends the shockwaves from earlier this month when Democrat Taylor Rehmet stunned both parties by finishing with nearly 48% of the vote in that race — about 12 points ahead of Republican Leigh Wambsganss, whom he’ll now face in January. The result, while giving beleaguered Texas Democrats a rare gust of momentum, sent chills through Texas Republicans, who were rightly reminded of what happens when disaffected voters stay home. But in my conversations with political scientists and strategists who study these races, one theme emerged: Rehmet likely reached his ceiling.

Democrats did overperform this year — both Texas special elections and important races in other states — but two forces explain the pattern, said Sean Theriault, University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Smaller elections produce smaller electorates, he noted, and President Donald Trump’s weak approval rating has galvanized Democratic turnout nationwide. “What we know about the Trump realignment is that his voters are lower-propensity voters — less educated, lower income,” Theriault said. “The combined effect means that races that are +10 Republican districts are now competitive.” I anticipated that with two conservatives in the race, the district that Trump carried by 17 points in 2024 would split evenly between Wambsganss and former Southlake Mayor John Huffman, forcing a runoff. But my suspicions proved more accurate than my hopes. Huffman’s pathway was always narrow. Wambsganss — a well-regarded conservative activist with a statewide profile — entered as the most ideologically aligned candidate for the district’s dominant voting bloc. That left Huffman with one lane to occupy: the less-conservative option. From the outset, I suspected it would ultimately be the losing one. That assessment was echoed by Christopher Wilson, whose firm, Stratus Intelligence, closely tracked the race and conducted four waves of surveys leading up to Election Day. “Wambsganss consistently led Huffman across every survey, with the gap widening over time,” Wilson told me. “She had a decisive edge with very conservative voters, Trump-aligned Republicans, and high-propensity GOP voters. Huffman retained some name ID advantage among older suburban Republicans early on, but never translated that into a ballot lead in any of the data we saw.”

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If the Dallas Stars move to the suburbs, what city deals could help fund a new $1B arena?

As speculation surrounds the Dallas Stars eyeing a move to the site of a Plano shopping mall, there are few details available on the NHL team’s potential new $1 billion arena — or the incentives cities may offer to attract the team in a competitive market. From grants to tax breaks, there are several tools Texas cities can use for economic development. Some go to the ballot, but other incentives can go through without a vote as cities vie for the prestige, potential economic boost and tax revenue that comes with hosting a major sports team and its stadium. After discussions with Frisco, The Colony, Arlington and Fort Worth, the Dallas Stars are considering relocating from the American Airlines Center in Dallas to The Shops at Willow Bend, two people with knowledge of the team’s efforts told The Dallas Morning News this fall, potentially following the lead of many major U.S. sports teams’ exodus to the suburbs.

Nola Agha, professor at the University of San Francisco, researches the economic impact of teams and stadiums. While a team’s move might not generate much new economic activity at the regional level, a move within North Texas can make things competitive, she said. “When you live in a suburb, and you care about your own tax base … you see this competition between municipalities for shifting that activity,” Agha said. City officials will not comment on the Stars or a potential arena, but Plano has historically used incentives to attract companies like Toyota, Capital One and JPMorgan Chase to anchor regional headquarters in the city. Ted Benavides, former Dallas city manager and a professor of social sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, said Plano is well-positioned to pursue a deal with the Stars, as cities like Arlington and Frisco have done with major North Texas teams. “They have money,” Benavides said. “They’re very active on the economic development front, so there’s a lot of things they could do.”

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Pam Perillo’s sisterhood of the condemned

Pam Perillo greets me at the door of her trailer, the yaps of a chihuahua named Peewee nearly drowning out our niceties. Perillo had just been looking for something to put on TV to soothe her animals—the territorial dog, two cats named Karla Faye and Tucker, plus a kitten she just rescued—while she leaves for a few hours. I’m driving her from her home in Prairie View, a nearly 9,000-person town at the far edge of the Houston metro, into the city for an event where she’s speaking. Perillo, 69, is tiny in height and build, with massive blue-green eyes and numerous facial piercings. Tattoos peek out from the sleeves of her pink business-casual blouse. In the car, she brainstorms what to say; she’s been allotted 10 minutes to talk about herself. “I don’t really know what to talk about,” she says on the August morning as we start our drive. “I think 10 minutes is a long time.” It’s arguably not long enough for her to scratch the surface of her story. And nowhere near as long as the 40 years she spent in prison, half of that on women’s death row. “I guess I could just say I’m a death row survivor,” she muses.

In 1980, a Harris County jury sentenced a 24-year-old Perillo to prison for capital murder. Along with two others, she’d been arrested for the robbery and murder of two men, Robert Banks and Bob Skeens, in Houston on February 23 of that year. Both Perillo and a man named James “Mike” Briddle received the death penalty, Perillo for Skeens’ murder and Briddle for Banks’. The third person charged, Briddle’s then-wife Linda Fletcher, was ultimately re-indicted for aggravated robbery after prosecutors dropped the capital murder charge against her. She testified against Briddle and Perillo and received five years’ probation. For 20 years, Perillo waited for the state to kill her, twice receiving scheduled dates before eventually getting stays. Then, in 2000, her fate changed. A federal appeals court found major problems with her trial—including a concerning relationship between Perillo’s attorney and her codefendant Fletcher—enough to invalidate the conviction. Rather than re-try Perillo for a 20-year old crime, the State of Texas offered her a deal: life plus 30 years in prison. In 2019, she was released on parole. Perillo doesn’t celebrate the fact that she walked free after expecting to be executed. She doesn’t think she’s really any different from other, less-fortunate women; she was guilty of the crime she committed. She has no explanation for why she was spared, except that “God must still have a lot of work to do.” She can even exhibit a kind of guilt, as though she believes her second chance should have gone to someone else—another of those women she met on death row who became perhaps the first stable community Perillo had ever known.

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Argyle 20-year-old pleads not guilty to planning Haitian island invasion, attorney says

Three days after news broke about two North Texas men’s stranger-than-fiction plot to subjugate a Haitian island, two former federal prosecutors told NPR on Sunday that their clients plan to plead not guilty. Tanner Thomas, 20, of Argyle and Gavin Weisenburg, 21, of Allen were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to murder, maim or kidnap in a foreign country and production of child sexual abuse images. Both face up to life in prison for the conspiracy charges and 15-30 years in federal prison on the child sexual abuse image charges. Dallas attorney John Helms, who’s representing Thomas, told the Denton Record-Chronicle that his client made his initial appearance in federal court Monday morning in Sherman and entered a plea of not guilty.

Thomas, who was booked Thursday, was released Monday from the Collin County Jail to U.S. Marshals Service custody, where Helms said he will remain as the case continues. “At this point, I am looking forward to receiving the information and evidence the Government is required to produce to support these charges, and I will be vigorously defending Tanner against these charges,” Helms wrote in a message to the Record-Chronicle on Monday. In a Monday email, Dallas attorney David Finn, a former criminal trial judge who is representing Weisenburg, told the Record-Chronicle that he was limited as to what he could say at this stage and doesn’t plan to try Weisenburg’s case in the press. Weisenburg was booked into the Collin County Jail on June 3 and released on June 8 to another agency. “If anyone’s initial reaction to the Government’s Press Release was ‘this sounds crazy, wild, impossible or beyond belief,’ I would encourage them to hold that thought and hold their horses,” Finn wrote. “In fact, the Press Release highlights and underscores the sheer lunacy of this alleged pirate fantasy.

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Addison joins other North Texas cities considering leaving DART

Pressure is increasing on Dallas Area Rapid Transit as a fifth city is now considering an election to withdraw from the agency. The city of Addison has called a special meeting on Dec. 2 to address concerns from the council over funding for the transit agency. If the council votes to call an election, it would join four other cities — Farmers Branch, Highland Park, Irving and Plano — that will ask voters this spring whether or not to leave DART. “Following the decision of four other cities to call DART withdrawal elections, the Addison City Council has decided to call a special meeting to determine the best path forward for our community,” Addison’s director of marketing and tourism Mary Rosenbleeth said in a written statement.

The city is identified as a “donor” city according to a 2024 report by the consulting firm Ernst & Young that showed the Addison contributed about $16 million while only receiving $9.5 million in services in Fiscal Year 2023. The report does not take into account the recently added Silver Line that began providing service to the city in October. The decision to consider a withdrawal election is a blow to DART’s standing with the city, which earlier this year passed a resolution to support full funding for the agency after North Texas legislators filed a bill to reduce the agency’s funding by at least 25%. When that effort in the legislature failed, the DART board of directors voted to approve a General Mobility Program (GMP) to return 5% of sales tax funds to donor cities, including Addison; DART later stipulated cities would need to cease efforts to leave the agency or reduce its funding in order to receive their share of the GMP. According to a presentation prepared by city staff for the Dec. 2 meeting, Addison's legal team advised the council not to approve the GMP "as written and have made our concerns known to DART.” If Addison residents vote to leave the agency, service would end the day after the election. A spokesperson for DART told KERA in a statement the agency is aware of the Dec. 2 meeting. “DART remains committed to negotiating transparently and in good faith to ensure North Texans have access to transit solutions that work best for them,” the statement said. DART CEO Nadine Lee has previously said that cities withdrawing from the agency would have a detrimental impact on the entire system. “What I tell people is, you pay with your time or your money,” Lee said in a recent interview on WFAA’s Y'allitics podcast. “You’re going to sit in congestion and maybe you’ll have the option to work from home but in 20 years, who knows what’s going to happen?”

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Texas title companies allege rival carried out ‘systematic raid’ of workers

Sister companies Alamo Title Co. of San Antonio and Chicago Title of Texas LLC of The Woodlands have alleged in separate lawsuits that a competitor carried out a “systematic raid” of each company’s workforce. WFG National Title Company of Texas LLC is accused of hiring away 30 employees from Alamo Title in June and July and 41 workers from Chicago Title in January. The sister companies also allege that they’ve been directly harmed by WFG soliciting their customers and misappropriating sensitive or confidential business information. Alamo sued in August in state District Court in San Antonio, but WFG on Friday moved the case to the 4th Business Court Division, which handles disputes over $5 million. Chicago filed suit in July in Harris County District Court and, according to a court filing, is seeking $9.6 million in lost revenue.

WFG has denied the allegations in both cases. It declined to comment on the lawsuits, according to one of its attorneys. It had filed a motion in September to transfer Alamo’s case to Harris County given Chicago’s pending case there and the similarity of the claims. Before the motion could be heard, though, WFG moved the case to Business Court. Alamo and Chicago are subsidiaries of Alamo Title Holding Co., which is owned by Fidelity National Financial Inc. — a publicly traded company based in Jacksonville, Fla., that generated $13.7 billion in revenue last year. WFG is part of Williston Financial Group of Portland, Ore. Title insurance companies protect real estate buyers by searching for problems — such as unpaid property taxes, fraudulent paperwork or unknown heirs claiming ownership — ahead of a sale.

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Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones asks City Council to move municipal elections to November

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has asked City Council to move the city’s municipal elections from May to November, a move state lawmakers set the stage for earlier this year. The change would save taxpayers $1 million, improve voter turnout and bring San Antonio in line with what many other local governments in Texas are doing, according to a letter Jones sent to council on Tuesday. Texas lawmakers passed bipartisan legislation earlier this year allowing local governments to move their elections in odd-numbered years to November. But individual city councils still need to vote in order to move their elections by Dec. 31, or they’ll miss out on the opportunity, absent additional legislation.

Not moving the elections would make San Antonio an outlier among the largest cities in Texas, Jones argued in her letter to council members. Houston and Austin already hold their municipal elections in November, and earlier this month, Dallas City Council voted to join them. The mayor provided additional materials to council, including a commentary from political science professors Melissa Marschall with Rice University and Zoltan Hajnal with University of California in San Diego arguing that the busier November elections lead to better municipal turnout. “Nationwide research also indicates that a move from May to November could double turnout, and numbers for Houston and the other Texas cities that hold November elections are in the same ballpark,” the researchers wrote, adding that holding multiple contests on the same ballot is more efficient, and often saves money for local governments. Jones argued that the move makes sense. “I haven’t heard of a good reason [not to do it],” the mayor said in a phone interview. “I think that’s why you’ve seen so many people do this. The cost saving, which is significant, but also ensuring that our election results could be more representative of the cross-section of our population.”

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Judge approves Elliott affiliate Amber Energy as Citgo buyer with $5.89B deal

An affiliate of Elliott Investment Management LP has officially been approved to buy Houston-based Citgo Petroleum Corp. for $5.89 billion. Judge Leonard P. Stark of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware ruled on Nov. 25 that he had approved Amber Energy Inc.’s unsolicited bid for PDV Holding Inc., the parent company of Citgo. Citgo is being auctioned off to satisfy what Reuters says is roughly $21 billion worth of claims against PDV Holding’s parent, Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly called PDVSA. Amber Energy said the transaction is expected to close in 2026 with Gregory Goff, the CEO of Amber Energy, assuming the role of CEO under the Citgo name.

Goff previously served as CEO of San Antonio-based Andeavor, which was previously named Tesoro and was later acquired by Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC). Goff also worked at Houston-based ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) for nearly 30 years. He currently serves as CEO of Claire Technologies Inc., a decarbonization company based in Fife, Washington. "We look forward to working with the talented Citgo team to strengthen the business through capital investment and operational excellence," Goff said. "I am confident that together we will help enhance America's energy leadership position." Amber Energy’s journey to be able to acquire Citgo has been a rocky one ever since its earlier $7.29 billion bid was selected as the recommended stalking horse bidder by Special Master Robert Pincus in September 2024. However, this recommendation “did not receive public support from the sale process parties or additional judgment creditors,” according to a court filing earlier this year. In April, the court then approved a $3.7 billion bid by Red Tree — an indirect subsidiary of Contrarian Funds LLC, which is an affiliate of Connecticut-based Contrarian Capital Management LLC — as the new stalking horse bidder.

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Jacob Beck: Texas used to have universities.

(Jacob Beck is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at York University.) Over the past few months, several universities in Texas have done something that threatens their status as universities: They have restricted the topics that may be discussed in the classroom. Professors who dare to address certain taboo topics risk losing their jobs. If a university is a place where students and educators engage in free inquiry in the service of understanding, Texas now has fewer places that meet that definition. Some examples: In September, Texas A&M fired a lecturer when one of her students claimed course material recognized more than two genders. Later that month, Angelo State forbade instructors to so much as discuss transgender identities in class. Then Texas Tech likewise told faculty members they must recognize only male and female sexes in their instruction. On Nov. 13, Texas A&M banned the “advocacy” of topics or ideologies related to race, gender or sexual orientation in the classroom without prior approval from the university president. Supporters of these actions say they are justified because professors are straying from their syllabi. But that’s a dodge.

If an instructor in Calculus 101 teaches Hamlet, the reaction would not be to ban Shakespeare instruction throughout the university. The dean would simply hold the instructor to account. The Nov. 13 decree only bans advocacy, which might seem harmless. Surely professors should be educators, not advocates! But if the point were to prohibit advocacy, why focus exclusively on gender and race? Why not forbid advocacy of all kinds? The answer is clear. Leaders at these institutions want to ban only certain topics from discussion. To do so, they have issued vague directives that no one knows how to interpret. My first job as a philosophy professor was at Texas Tech. When I taught Beginning Philosophy, I would present arguments for and against the existence of God. If I did that in College Station, would the regents have thought I was “advocating” for theism and atheism? Could I play the “devil’s advocate” and expose weaknesses in my students’ arguments? No one knows. The regents haven’t defined advocacy. The result is what First Amendment scholars call a chilling effect: Certain topics are avoided for fear of reprisal. Already at Texas Tech, classes have been canceled and syllabi amended. Were I still teaching in Texas, I wouldn’t be writing this. It is important to see how radical this new direction in Texas education is. Texas never banned the topics of Naziism or fascism. It never prohibited discussion of child molestation.

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National Stories

FBI seeks interviews with six Democrats Trump accused of 'seditious behavior'

The FBI is working to schedule interviews with the six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a video urging members of the military and intelligence community not to comply with illegal orders, according to a person familiar with the efforts. The move, first reported by Fox News, comes days after President Donald Trump accused the Democrats, all of whom served in the military or in intelligence roles, of "seditious behavior." Details of the investigation were not immediately clear. The lawmakers confirmed they had heard from the House or Senate sergeants-at-arms about the FBI effort. In a joint statement, four of the Democrats in the video, all members of the House, accused Trump of “using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass Members of Congress.”

“No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution," the statement from Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, and Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania said. “We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. We will not be bullied. We will never give up the ship.” The other two Democrats in the video are senators: Mark Kelly, of Arizona, and Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan. U.S. Capitol Police referred questions to the FBI, where a bureau spokesperson declined to comment. Slotkin said at an event in Michigan on Tuesday afternoon that the lawmakers were contacted by the FBI on Monday evening. "Last night the counterterrorism division at the FBI sent a note to members of, the members of Congress saying they are opening what appears to be an inquiry against the six of us," she said.

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After Trump pressure, Indiana lawmakers shift to convene on redistricting

Indiana Republican leaders said Tuesday that the state legislature would reconvene in December to consider redrawing the state’s congressional map, a reversal amid pressure from President Donald Trump. State House Speaker Todd Huston (R) said the chamber’s Republicans will gavel in on Dec. 1 to consider “all legislative business,” including “redrawing the state’s congressional map.” Shortly after his announcement, state Senate president pro tempore Rodric Bray (R) said the Senate will reconvene on Dec. 8 to “make a final decision … on any redistricting proposal sent from the House.” The decision marked a sharp a turnaround from earlier this month, when Bray said there were not enough votes to move forward with redrawing the map, “and the Senate will not reconvene in December.”

While it was not clear Tuesday whether the Trump-backed push would have the support to succeed, the change in plans was the latest turn in a nationwide fight between Republicans and Democrats to redraw U.S. House maps ahead of next year’s midterm elections. A Trump-backed effort to add seats favoring the GOP in Texas set off the scramble, which has involved court fights, a statewide ballot measure and intense partisan showdowns in many states. Indiana has proved a more challenging target for Trump than some other Republican-led states, with GOP leaders there showing public resistance this year. For months, Trump and other administration officials have pressured lawmakers in the state to produce a new map — a process normally undertaken every 10 years — even hosting Hoosiers at the White House and dispatching Vice President JD Vance to the state to rally support. Trump celebrated the news Tuesday and continued to threaten to primary Republicans in the state who do not get on board with his plan. “I am glad to hear the Indiana House is stepping up to do the right thing, and I hope the Senate finds the Votes,” Trump wrote on social media. “If they do, I will make sure that all of those people supporting me win their Primaries, and go on to Greatness but, if they don’t, I will partner with the incredibly powerful MAGA Grassroots Republicans to elect STRONG Republicans who are ready to do what is needed.”

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Trump’s CMS touts $12B savings from Medicare drug price negotiations

The Trump administration on Tuesday announced $12 billion in federal savings from the second year of Medicare drug price negotiations — a total health officials assert roughly doubles what President Joe Biden secured in the inaugural year of his signature drug pricing law. The agreed-upon prices will take effect starting in 2027 for 15 drugs, saving people with Medicare prescription drug coverage an estimated $685 million in out-of-pocket costs. The medications were used by about 5.3 million Medicare beneficiaries last year. They include Pfizer’s breast cancer therapy Ibrance, which was used by 16,000 Medicare Part D beneficiaries in 2024, and Boehringer Ingelheim’s lung fibrosis treatment Ofev, which was used by 24,000 people. The government reached a 50 percent discount on both of those drugs compared to their 2024 list prices.

Notably, Novo Nordisk’s drugs for diabetes and weight loss were also part of the negotiations, which yielded a negotiated price of $274 for Ozempic and Rybelsus and $385 for Wegovy for a 30-day supply for conditions covered by Medicare — a 71 percent discount from the 2024 list price. Nearly 2.3 million Medicare beneficiaries with prescription drug coverage took those drugs last year. That appears to be a higher number than the price President Donald Trump achieved earlier this month through a most-favored nations deal with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly for their weight-loss drugs, which also impacts Medicare beneficiaries. However, it is unclear how the two programs will interact with each other. “President Trump directed us to stop at nothing to lower health care costs for the American people,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “As we work to Make America Healthy Again, we will use every tool at our disposal to deliver affordable health care to seniors.” The key factor in the second round of price negotiations was the administration’s willingness to walk away from the table if they didn’t reach a deal, said Chris Klomp, deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which handled the talks.

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Unions brace to bargain with new boss Zohran Mamdani

At a party during SOMOS, the annual Puerto Rico getaway for New York’s political class, District Council 37 executive director Henry Garrido proudly introduced Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to a packed outdoor crowd at the Caribe Hilton of jubilant union officials, political insiders and government lobbyists. Just days after Mamdani’s election, the public display of support from the union leader — highlighted with a hug — underscored the emerging alliance between the incoming mayor and the leader of New York City’s largest public-sector union. That bond is about to be tested, or at least leaned on more than ever before, as Mamdani and his still-forming team prepare to craft a new collective-bargaining agreement whose wages and benefits will ripple across every municipal union in New York City.

As Mamdani prepares to deliver on his mandate to uplift New York’s working class and his affordability agenda, while engendering a renewed faith in what he has referred to “public excellence,” the democratic socialist must also contend with the work of being a boss to the city’s 300,000 civil servants, complete with tough decisions and compromises as the city faces a tough fiscal outlook. For more than a century, New York City labor negotiators have relied on a system known as pattern bargaining. That system, which is not required by law, uses one union to strike a deal on wages, health care, and other benefits that then becomes the baseline for every other municipal union. Which union sets that pattern is a matter of intense attention and maneuvering across the city’s labor landscape. Traditionally, City Hall has pushed for DC 37 or the United Federation of Teachers — the two largest civilian unions — to establish the pattern. There’s also the matter of the contentious new health benefits plan for city workers and some retirees, designed to reduce costs some $1 billion annually as part of a union-management health savings pact in prior bargaining. It is scheduled to go into effect the day Mamdani is sworn in but is the subject of lawsuits seeking to stop the switch.

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Trump spares turkeys — but not his political opponents — at annual pardoning ceremony

President Donald Trump didn’t bring much holiday cheer Tuesday when bestowing ceremonial pardons on two Thanksgiving turkeys, dispensing more insults than goodwill at the traditional White House ritual. He joked about sending the turkeys to an infamous prison in El Salvador that has been used to house migrants deported from the United States. He said the birds should be named Chuck and Nancy — after Democratic stalwarts Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi — but “I would never pardon those people.” Trump claimed that last year’s turkey pardons, issued by President Joe Biden, were invalid because he used an autopen. “Where’s Hunter?” he said, suggesting that his predecessor’s son could once again face legal jeopardy.

And all of that was before Trump turned his attention to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat who has resisted the White House’s plans to deploy the National Guard in Chicago. Trump said he had a joke prepared about Pritzker, but “I refuse to talk about the fact that he’s a fat slob. I don’t mention it.” Scattered laughter rippled through the audience, which sat under cloudy skies and an intermittent drizzle on the Rose Garden patio. Trump eventually got around to the business at hand, which was pardoning the turkeys Gobble and Waddle. Both were spared the dinner table, but only one got the spotlight. “Gobble, I just want to tell you this — very important — you are hereby unconditionally pardoned,” Trump said. He reached over to run his hand over the feathers, saying, “Who would want to harm this beautiful bird?” Waddle had previously been spotted in the White House briefing room. “Waddle, want to give us a gobble?” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt asked. The turkey obliged. “Very on message!” Leavitt said. Trump used part of his ceremonial remarks to insist that the price of Thanksgiving meals was dropping under his leadership, although his numbers are misleading. Some research indicates that holiday dinners could cost more this year, a reminder of persistent frustration with inflation. The president plans to fly south to his private Florida resort later Tuesday, a holiday interlude during what has been a turbulent and uncertain chapter of his second term. Trump is struggling to advance a plan to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine after an earlier version faced swift criticism from European allies and even some Republicans. The U.S. military is also poised to target Venezuela with military strikes, part of an anti-drug operation that could ultimately destabilize the country’s leadership.

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Trump wants a bigger White House ballroom. His architect disagrees.

President Donald Trump has argued with the architect he handpicked to design a White House ballroom over the size of the project, reflecting a conflict between architectural norms and Trump’s grandiose aesthetic, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations. Trump’s desire to go big with the project has put him at odds with architect James McCrery II, the people said, who has counseled restraint over concerns the planned 90,000-square-foot addition could dwarf the 55,000-square-foot mansion in violation of a general architectural rule: don’t build an addition that overshadows the main building. A White House official acknowledged the two have disagreed but would not say why or elaborate on the tensions, characterizing Trump and McCrery’s conversations about the ballroom as “constructive dialogue.”

“As with any building, there is a conversation between the principal and the architect,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. “All parties are excited to execute on the president’s vision on what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office.” McCrery declined an interview request through a representative who declined to answer questions about the architect’s interactions with Trump in recent weeks. Trump’s intense focus on the project and insistence on realizing his vision over the objections of his own hire, historic preservationists and others concerned by a lack of public input in the project reflect his singular belief in himself as a tastemaker and obsessive attention to details. In the first 10 months of his second term, Trump has waged a campaign to remake the White House in his gilded aesthetic and done so unilaterally — using a who’s-going-to-stop-me ethos he honed for decades as a developer. Multiple administration officials have acknowledged that Trump has at times veered into micromanagement of the ballroom project, holding frequent meetings about its design and materials. A model of the ballroom has also become a regular fixture in the Oval Office.

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Data centers are embedding themselves in American communities. Who will pay?

Data center developers are offering towns and cities across the country tempting reasons to allow them to set up shop. It’s leaving local officials grappling with a decision: decline what could amount to millions of dollars in revenue, or jump on a building spree that some increasingly see as unsustainable. Tech giants like Meta, Microsoft and Google told investors this fall they expect to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new data center developments by the end of next year. The tech industry is projected to spend roughly $7 trillion on data centers by 2030. These staggering investments could be transformative for many small towns and rural communities that for decades have struggled with slow economic growth and aging populations. Developing artificial intelligence models requires an enormous amount of computing power, and tech giants are under enormous pressure to keep innovating. However, even the most successful AI ventures like OpenAI are a far way out from turning a profit, and are going into massive amounts of debt to build these data centers. That’s casting doubt over the long-term viability of the market.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, sees both opportunity and risk. “It’s economic development,” Moreno told NOTUS. “They bring construction jobs that are clearly very important; there is also a lot of material that goes into data centers, and those jobs are also localized.” But he added a warning. “Safety is important here,” Moreno said. “You’ve got to be careful. Because it’s possible [that we’re overdeveloping].” “Things sometimes feel a little bubbly,” he added. The data center boom of recent years presents communities with a unique opportunity that few other industrial projects can match. These facilities bring temporary construction jobs to a town and once they’re up and running, usually employ a few hundred highly skilled, highly paid workers. And, above all, these facilities might result in millions of dollars in property taxes. The data center development craze led by tech giants in the U.S. has been welcomed in many circles in Washington as an opportunity to expand the domestic economy. Republicans in particular are enthusiastic about its alignment with President Donald Trump’s goal of bringing back manufacturing to the U.S. and stopping the reliance on the global supply chain.

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Lead Stories

Tornado leaves path of destruction across northwest Harris County

A line of strong storms moved through the Houston area on Monday, causing damage to several structures and setting off a string of Tornado Warnings. A Tornado Watch was in effect Monday for most of the Houston area and Southeast Texas. It was cancelled around 10:15 p.m. At one point, while the storms were passing through, CenterPoint's outage tracker reported more than 27,000 customers without power. There was also a ground stop issued at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. A string of Tornado Warnings went off beginning around 11:30 a.m. and lasted through 2:15 p.m. A storm spotter reported a funnel cloud in northwest Harris County that touched the ground as a weak tornado.

KHOU 11 Chief Meteorologist David Paul said there were several photos and videos of a funnel cloud in the area on Monday afternoon, but it didn't appear to have touched down to the ground. Paul said the funnel cloud appeared to be at "tree-top level," which caused substantial damage. Paul said he believes we could have had an EF-0 or EF-1 funnel cloud that never touched the ground. A Klein Fire Department official said a tornado seemed to touch down around the Hooks Airport area. They said it went down Stuebner Airline and crossed over the Klein FD administration building, causing damage to a fence, a trailer and other structures. A Klein Fire Department deputy chief said the storms took down several "heavily rooted trees" that ended up blocking roads in the area. One house sustained heavy damage, while others had minor damage. Officials said it happened between 1:40 p.m. and 1:50 p.m. and there were no reports of injuries as of about 3 p.m. Several traffic signals were out in the area, and officials warned people to avoid the area.

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Fed Chair Powell’s allies provide opening for December rate cut

Allies of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have laid the groundwork for him to push a rate cut through a divided committee at next month’s meeting even though it could draw multiple dissents. The unusual level of division inside the Fed means that, to an even greater degree than usual, the final call rests with Powell. To negotiate these stark divisions, Powell is likely to weigh two approaches, each with drawbacks. The first: cut rates, as markets now expect, and use the exquisitely negotiated postmeeting statement to signal a higher bar for further reductions. This “cut then hold” approach would mirror what Powell did in late 2019 when, like now, three cuts met meaningful resistance from his colleagues. This option would also likely trigger objections from officials who don’t support any cut. But it could end the soap opera of officials airing their disagreements in public by stitching together a new consensus that further cuts aren’t warranted if recent conditions persist.

The alternative is to hold rates steady and reassess in January, when officials will have more of the employment and inflation data that was suspended by a federal government shutdown. But that approach could prolong the public discord for another seven weeks, with no guarantee the additional data will resolve the underlying disagreements. The divide reflects economic crosscurrents that have split the committee more than at any point in Powell’s nearly eight-year tenure: Job growth is stagnating but inflation is uncomfortably elevated, which carries a whiff of what economists call stagflation. Because the labor market is cooling but not collapsing and inflation is neither accelerating nor improving meaningfully, “it’s hard to declare victory” on either side, Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin said in an interview last week. Powell’s decision depends on what he considers the greater risk, and which would be harder to fix if he is wrong. Two consecutive cuts brought rates down to a range between 3.75% and 4% last month to guard against the risks of softening job-market conditions, even as inflation has run closer to 3% than the Fed’s 2% goal.

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Trump’s perilous path on health care

President Donald Trump appeared ready to roll out a health care proposal intended to address an imminent Obamacare subsidy cliff — a sign the White House is eager to avoid the political blowback that would likely result from a sharp rise in health care premiums. But the White House’s decision to press pause on the rollout Monday just as quickly as they floated it underscores how difficult it’ll be, especially at this late stage, to get a bill over the finish line. The fact that the White House was even seriously working on a plan caught Hill Republicans by surprise when news of it leaked on Sunday. By Monday morning, the White House was preparing to unveil the proposal — before eventually backtracking amid resistance from conservatives and a general sense among Republicans that the White House was mismanaging the issue. It’s now unclear when — or even whether — the plan could see the light of day.

The proposal, detailed below, amounts to a pared-back short-term extension of the Obamacare enhanced premium tax credits, the issue Democrats latched onto as they forced the longest government shutdown in history. During that shutdown, Republican leaders in both chambers said repeatedly that they didn’t support extending the subsidies despite modest support within the GOP rank-and-file. The plan, though, mirrors what some GOP senators, most notably Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), were privately pitching to Trump last week as a way to buy time for a larger health care fix and, simultaneously, prevent politically damaging premium hikes in the near-term, as we scooped. Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.) and Maggie Hassan (N.H.) — all of whom voted to end the shutdown — issued statements welcoming Trump’s push. Shaheen, for example, called it “a serious proposal to begin negotiations” and expressed optimism that a bipartisan deal can be reached. Republicans were a lot less excited about the proposal, concerned about the overall policy and, perhaps more critically, whether it protects the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer money from being spent on abortion.

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Local property tax hikes faced an uphill battle this November, election results show

This year, voters in communities across Texas were skeptical of local property tax hikes and supportive of larger tax breaks for homeowners and businesses, results from the Nov. 4 election show. Voters in Community Impact’s coverage areas approved just over half of the local bond propositions and tax rate elections on the November ballot, according to previous Community Impact reporting. Statewide, 40% of tax rate elections and 45.9% of bond propositions passed, according to data from the office of Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican and property tax policy writer. Cities, counties, school districts and other local government entities use funding from tax hikes to build new schools and facilities; hire educators and first responders; and maintain local infrastructure. However, amid high inflation nationwide, more Texas residents are tightening their belts and asking local officials to do the same, fiscal policy experts told Community Impact.

“Texas voters understand that our schools and local governments provide essential services for everybody—they pave the roads, they pay for police services, fire services,” said Shannon Halbrook, who leads fiscal policy research for the progressive think tank Every Texan, in a Nov. 21 interview. “Our school districts obviously educate our kids, and all that stuff needs tax dollars for it to operate.” Halbrook said that in “more uncertain [economic] times, like what we’re in now,” voters are more worried about paying their own bills than funding the construction of a new school building. “I think the way that schools and local governments have to respond to those kinds of things is just—they have to be more upfront about what they're spending the money on,” he said. “They have to make a better case, basically, for why they're asking for this additional money from voters.” From 2000 to 2024, local governments throughout Texas put over 8,000 individual bond measures before voters, who approved nearly 80% of them, according to data from the Texas Bond Review Board.

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State Stories

Can AISD jump through enough hoops to avoid state takeover?

Five weeks into the school year, on a Monday morning at Lively Middle School, English teachers were called in for an unexpected training session with Austin ISD officials. They were soon informed that, starting that Wednesday, they had to trash the syllabi they were already teaching – Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills-compliant lesson plans that many of the teachers had crafted and used over several years – and begin to teach directly out of a textbook called SAVVAS myPerspectives, to which they previously had access but were not strictly limited. “One of the best parts of my job is the freedom to develop curriculum using texts that are personally meaningful and use them to design high-quality instruction for my students,” Elijah Benson, one of those teachers, wrote to the Chronicle a week later. “For all intents and purposes, I have to learn how to do my job anew. I’ve never taught from a textbook before.” The same thing happened around that time at eight other middle schools in AISD, including two that are now slated to be closed next year, Martin and Bedichek.

The nine schools had been selected to “pilot” this change to using a uniform instructional material in every classroom, one designed for test prep – a move recommended by a third-party education consulting nonprofit partnered with AISD called TNTP (formerly known as The New Teacher Project) – in an effort to raise students’ scores on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam. “It’s not a secret that we have middle schools where we want to see students’ performance increasing,” Jessica Jolliffe, AISD’s secondary director of humanities who led the training, told the Chronicle. “We want to help support teachers in that work. And this work required a shift when we received our accountability rating [on Aug. 13]. It became really clear that we really needed to make some quick and fast adjustments to our curriculum.” Thus, the impromptu training for teachers five weeks later on Sept. 22 and 23. “And everyone knows this is an abrupt change,” Jolliffe acknowledged, later adding, “We can’t control when we get our accountability scores.” Jolliffe also said that her department, at the district level, had already developed curriculum for the entire year that they also needed to revise. Low scores on the STAAR exam since the COVID-19 pandemic in AISD (and across the entire state) have triggered an escalating cascade of “accountability” intervention from the Texas Education Agency, the state agency charged to hold public school districts accountable for educating students effectively. The TEA measures how effectively students are learning largely by one metric: standardized testing.

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Texas data center expansion raises blackout risk during extreme winter weather

The rapid expansion of data centers in Texas is driving electricity demand higher during the winter, compounding the risk of supply shortfalls that could lead to blackouts during freezing temperatures. The Lone Star state is attracting a huge amount of data center requests, driven by its abundant renewable energy and natural gas resources as well as its business friendly environment. OpenAI, for example, is developing its flagship Stargate campus in Abilene, about 150 miles west of Dallas-Forth Worth. The campus could require up to 1.2 gigawatts of power, the equivalent of a large nuclear plant. The North American Electric Relibaility Corporation warned this week that data centers’ round-the-clock energy consumption will make it more difficult to sustain sufficient electricity supply under extreme demand conditions during freezing temperatures like catastropic Winter Storm Uri in 2021.

“Strong load growth from new data centers and other large industrial end users is driving higher winter electricity demand forecasts and contributing to continued risk of supply shortfalls,” NERC said of Texas in an analysis published Tuesday. Texas faces elevated risk during extreme winter weather, but the state’s grid is reliable during normal peak demand, NERC said. During Uri, demand spiked for home heating in response to the freezing temperatures at the same time power plants failed in large numbers due to the same weather. Texas grid operator ERCOT ordered 20 gigawatts of rolling blackouts to prevent the system from collapsing, according to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission report. The majority of the power plants went offline ran on natural gas. It was the “largest manually controlled load shedding event in U.S. history” resulting 4.5 million people losing power for several days. At least 210 people died during the storm. Most of the fatalities were connected to the outages and included cases of hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, and medical conditions exacerbated by freezing termperatures, according to FERC.

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UT has not signed or rejected deal with Trump before deadline

Even though a key deadline has passed, the University of Texas will not say whether it plans to sign the Compact of Academic Excellence in Higher Education, a deal extended by the administration of President Donald Trump. In an email on Oct. 1, a member of the Trump administration made an offer — exclusive federal funding benefits in exchange for allegiance to conservative priorities. UT was one of nine universities extended the deal that the White House aimed “to have a signed agreement by no later than Nov. 21, 2025.” The federal official requested feedback “in writing” before Oct. 20. UT is the only institution that has not commented publicly on the compact and has denied multiple requests for comment from the American-Statesman.

But some provisions, such as teaching that there are only two genders and banning or fixing departments that “belittle” conservative voices, could pose threats to academic freedom — a concept the university made a “nonnegotiable” commitment to earlier this month. Seven of the nine universities rejected the compact before Oct. 20, citing fears that their university’s independence would be infringed upon and commitments to base funding for academic research on merit alone. Meanwhile, UT Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife said on Oct. 2 that his university system was “honored” its flagship received the offer and looked forward to reviewing and working with the Trump administration. UT’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, which has been leading the fight against the compact, celebrated UT’s recent silence on the compact in a statement, saying it was a “shared victory.” “The University of Texas backed down because students and faculty stood together to fight the compact at every step,” a statement on the SDS Instagram said. “They backed down because they know we will hold them accountable every time they try to undermine our academic freedom.”

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Texas tightens car registration rules after backlash over immigrants

Hundreds of thousands of Texans without legal status can no longer register or renew vehicle registrations after the state quietly tightened ID requirements, a sudden policy shift that has left some county tax offices and motorists bewildered. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles alerted county tax offices on Nov. 18 that residents must now show current proof of legal status—such as a valid Texas driver’s license, unexpired U.S. passport or foreign passport with a visa—to register or renew a vehicle. The change came one day after Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison demanded that Gov. Greg Abbott direct his appointees on the DMV’s board to stop “issuing vehicle registrations to illegal aliens.” Harrison took credit for prompting the shift through the letter and a two-week-long social media campaign that blasted the agency, though the DMV has not confirmed that he played any role in the decision.

The abrupt rule change, which took effect immediately, has left county tax offices unsure how to proceed. Texas already requires proof of legal residency for people seeking drivers’ licenses, but it hasn’t previously done so for registrations. “It’s going to be a big change,” said Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector Albert Uresti. “There’s still a lot more information that needs to come out… it’s gonna be a learning curve.” Previously, counties could accept recently expired IDs, including passports or driver’s licenses, up to 12 months past expiration. With Texas’ months-long delays for driver’s license appointments, some residents may struggle to renew paperwork in time. “From everything we hear talking to people here, it takes about six months to get an appointment to get your driver's license renewed,” Uresti, the Bexar County assessor-collector, said. “So that's going to be the other impact… if you do not have a current driver's license, you're going to have to get it renewed.” The Migration Policy Institute estimates that two million immigrants live in Texas without legal authorization, including more than 600,000 in Harris County, 100,000 in Bexar County and 85,000 in Travis County. Many have lived in the U.S. for a decade or more.

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Bobby Pulido on 'Desvelado' legacy, Congress run and never playing RodeoHouston

Three decades into a career that has delivered platinum albums, a certified Tejano classic and a Latin Grammy win earlier this month, Bobby Pulido is making a pivot. The singer who helped define the '90s Tejano sound is retiring from music at the end of his current Por la Puerta Grande Tour, a phrase used in bullfighting that translates to a "Triumphant Exit, often on the shoulders of the crowd, after a successful run. Pulido, 54, is leveraging the cultural platform he built on heritage and community to launch a Democratic campaign for Congress. "People think I might be crazy, but I want my life to have a bigger purpose than just music," Pulido says during a Zoom call. The boyish charm that made him a heartthrob is still apparent beneath his cowboy hat. He performs Friday at the Arena Theatre with his dad Roberto Pulido, who is "in good spirits" after a fall that broke five ribs.

Pulido, who thought about entering politics for several years, is challenging GOP U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz in the 15th Congressional District of Texas, which goes from McAllen to Seguin. The former Democratic stronghold and largely Hispanic seat flipped Republican largely because of redistricting, but new maps have shifted it east to include all or parts of seven new counties, potentially weakening De La Cruz's advantage. Pulido must first defeat Ada Cuellar, a fellow Democrat and emergency room doctor, in the primary to secure the nomination. "I thought a lot about my kids. What kind of world do I want to leave them in? Right now, our younger generation is getting left behind," Pulido says. He has four sons, including one born in 2019. Pulido knows he's a dark horse in this process. And he's also drawn the ire of the "shut up and sing crowd" — people who think celebrities, including musicians, have no place in politics. The Chicks were banished from country radio and became the target of death threats after Natalie Maines told a crowd she was "ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas." More recently, fellow Texan Maren Morris chose to separate herself from the country music industry because of its refusal to reckon with issues of misogyny, racism and anti-LGBTQ+ views. Nevermind the President of the United States is a onetime reality star who "fired" C-list celebrities.

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Texas men charged with plotting coup on Haitian island to carry out 'rape fantasies'

The Justice Department on Thursday indicted two Texas men on charges they plotted to kill all the men on a small island off the coast of Haiti so they could enslave the remaining women and children as sex slaves. Prosecutors also allege the conspirators planned to sail to the island and overthrow the local government there with the help of a mercenary army made up of homeless people from Washington, D.C. Gavin Weisenburg, 21, of the Dallas suburb of Allen, and Tanner Thomas, 20, of Argyle, another North Texas bedroom community — are charged with conspiracy to murder, maim or kidnap in a foreign country and production of child pornography. They face life in prison on the conspiracy charge and 15 to 30 years on the child-porn charge.

Prosecutors allege Weisenburg and Thomas hatched the bizarre plot in August 2024 and went to great lengths to turn what federal prosecutors described as their “rape fantasies” into reality. Attorneys representing Thomas and Weisenburg told NPR that the government’s allegations are overblown and that both their clients intend to plead not guilty. According to federal prosecutors, the men planned to pilot a sailboat to Gonave — a Haitian island of about 87,000 people located 30 miles off the coast of Port-au-Prince — and overthrow the local government. They planned to kill all the men and enslave the women and children, according to court documents. The pair planned to carry out the feat with the help of a mercenary army, in part, made up of homeless people recruited from the streets of Washington, D.C., prosecutors allege. Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and asked to be reassigned to Joint Base Andrews, near D.C., so he could recruit and learn necessary skills for the coup, the feds maintain. Meanwhile, Weisenburg enrolled in the North Texas Fire Academy to train in command-and-control protocols, skills he would need for the operation, according to authorities. He flunked out six months later. Weisenburg subsequently flew to Thailand to enroll in a sailing school so he could captain the boat to Gonave, prosecutors allege. However, that didn’t work out either, since the classes were too expensive. At some point, both Thomas and Weisenburg began learning Haitian Creole, according to the feds’ court document, which also accuse the pair of creating child pornography.

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Jaynie Schultz: A great city keeps its landmarks

(Jaynie Schultz is a former member of the Dallas City Council.) As a former member of both the Dallas City Council and the City Plan Commission, I am often asked for my view on the growing debate over the future of Dallas City Hall. The current deliberation about selling the property demands real courage and real perspective. This is not simply a local land use scuffle. It is a decision about how we define our city and what we choose to value. Years ago, when I was serving on the Plan Commission, I introduced myself to a former council member. He looked at me and said, “I have heard of you. Stay out of my district.” I replied that this would be difficult, because his district was inside my city. That exchange comes to mind today as I listen to arguments about City Hall. It may sit in one district and it may fall under the current council’s authority, but it belongs to the entire city – past, present and future. It is not just an address on a map. It is an internationally recognized civic landmark created by I. M. Pei, one of the most celebrated architects of the modern era.

We have a responsibility to protect it, not demolish it. This building is part of the visual identity of Dallas. It is photographed by visitors from around the world. It appears in textbooks and architectural tours. It is one of the few structures in our region that unquestionably rises to the level of national significance. We do not have the right to destroy something of such cultural and historical value simply because it requires investment. Some say that the sudden interest in redeveloping the site is tied to a desire to build a new sports arena. Perhaps. Perhaps not. What matters is that the public deserves full transparency and a real voice before any irrevocable step is taken. A decision of this magnitude must be made by the voters of Dallas, not by any temporary political majority and certainly not in response to pressure from wealthy interests. We should listen closely to the tourism community, to preservationists, to architects and urban planners, and to the thousands of residents who have already spoken up. Consider what is at risk. We have preserved the Texas School Book Depository. We have preserved the Old Red courthouse. What else have we protected in a city that is now almost 170 years old? Do we really want Dallas to be known as the place that erases its own history?

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Church employee posed as ICE agent to extort victim for money, HPD says

A church safety director is under arrest after being accused of posing as an ICE agent to extort a woman for money. Donald Doolittle, 58, is charged with impersonating a public servant. He's listed as safety director on the Gateway Community Church of Webster's website and noted he's worked at the church for 10 years in an affidavit filed with the court. Eyewitness News has learned the victim of the alleged extortion plot is a massage therapist operating out of a northwest Houston office building. Police say Doolittle booked and received a massage Thursday, but that problems arose when he went to pay. Officers say Doolittle wanted to pay with a credit card, but that the victim told him she only accepts cash or Zelle payments.

At that point, police say Doolittle pulled out an ID card labelled 'ICE,' identified himself as an ICE agent and said he needed to see the victim's ID. Police say she complied and showed him her temporary visa, but that he then demanded money. "He demanded she Zelle him $500 or he would take her away and she would never see her family or children again," a magistrate said during Doolittle's probable cause hearing Saturday. Zelle is a digital payment network that allows people to send and receive money between bank accounts. After the victim sent Doolittle the money, police say he texted her that she wouldn't hear from any other ICE agents because he had marked her case for non-prosecution. He also allegedly asked her to delete the text messages. Police say the victim told her story to officers whom she happened to run into the next day at a luncheon. When interviewed by investigators, police say Doolittle denied getting a massage or going to the victim's business, but police say surveillance video proved otherwise. Gateway Community Church didn't respond to a request for comment.

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Mickey Leland legacy: Where does it stand in 2025?

George Thomas “Mickey” Leland, born Nov. 27, 1944, in Lubbock and raised in Houston’s Fifth Ward, emerged as a trailblazer whose work transcended politics. A grassroots organizer at his core, Leland was reluctant to run for office until persuaded that his impact could stretch further from the halls of government. He ultimately served as a State Representative in Texas from 1973 to 1979. He then went on to serve in the U.S. Congress as the representative for the historic District 18, a position he held from 1979 until his death in 1989. Once he stepped into public life, he became a global force for good, battling hunger, poverty, and racial injustice across the U.S. and the world. Yet in 2025, his standing is complicated. Many Houstonians, especially Millennials and Gen Z, know little to nothing about one of the most influential leaders the city has ever produced. While Leland died tragically in 1989 during a humanitarian mission to Ethiopia, the loss of his legacy today is a tragedy of its own.

So, where does the Leland legacy stand? It depends on whom you ask. For many Houstonians, Leland is still a giant. Alison Leland, Mickey’s widow and a University of Houston law and politics professor, notes that the love for her late husband continues to surface in unexpected places. She recalls her brother visiting a barbershop on Almeda where photos of her family hang beside images of Dr. King. “There is enormous love in Houston, and I feel it… for me, for my family, for Mickey,” she shared. She adds that the monuments matter—the federal building, the airport terminal, the statue in Hermann Park—but what brings her the greatest pride are her and Mickey’s three sons, along with “the students who bear his name as Leland interns.” County Commissioner Rodney Ellis agrees. “The fact that Mickey Leland died in 1989… for him to still reverberate with people is really pretty amazing. Rev. Darla Bolden knows Leland as a fighter for Black people and a member of Congress who died during a mission. Barry Coe, who moved to Houston in 2017, admits, “I have not heard that name before.” Millennial Houstonian Maurice Blandon echoed the same: “Nothing. I never heard the name before today.” Others have fragments. Psychologist Karen Hickman, a Houston transplant from Chicago, remembers him vaguely as “a fighter who was taken way too soon.” These mixed levels of awareness highlight a truth: legacy does not preserve itself. It must be taught, cultivated, and renewed.

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Amanda Tyler: The court case that could accelerate mixing religion and politics

Every faith tradition teaches that some things are too sacred to sell. The pulpit is one of them. Yet this week, a federal judge will hold a hearing in Dallas to consider a settlement that would invite politics into the sanctuary, eroding the wall of integrity that has long protected churches from partisan pollution. On Nov. 25, Judge Campbell Barker will consider whether to approve a consent judgment that would exempt two Texas churches from the long-standing provision of federal law that says that nonprofit organizations, sometimes also known as 501(c)(3) organizations, may not “participate in, or intervene in … any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office” without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status. This law helps keep houses of worship and charities free from the grasp of politicians. The case, National Religious Broadcasters vs. Bessent, may appear technical, but its implications reach every congregation that values the freedom to preach without interference from candidates and their campaigns.

(Amanda Tyler is executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.) For more than 70 years, this provision of the tax code, sometimes called the Johnson Amendment because it was Sen. Lyndon Baines Johnson who sponsored the provision in 1954, has helped protect the integrity of tax-exempt organizations, religious and secular alike. Contrary to arguments from a vocal minority, the law does not silence faith. It simply draws a boundary between the work of houses of worship and the machinery of partisan electoral politics. Ministers remain free to speak on any moral or civic issue, to endorse candidates as private citizens, and to run for office themselves. What they cannot do, under the protection of this law, is turn the pulpit into a campaign platform funded by taxpayers. Some now seek to blur that line. The proposed settlement purports to create a new rule for the parties in this case that “[w]hen a house of worship in good faith speaks to its congregation, through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with religious services, concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of faith” it does not violate the law. Rather, they argue, these communications should be regarded as “a family discussion concerning candidates.” This novel interpretation of the law could lead to political campaigns pressuring pastors for pulpit endorsements. While some pastors are already feeling that pressure — and a distinct minority are intervening in political campaigns now largely without legal repercussions — this change could result in a sizable intrusion of partisan politics into religious life, an outcome people of faith should resist.

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Abbott’s reelection plan would ‘eliminate public education,’ Johnson warns

A reelection campaign pledge by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is a further attempt to “eliminate public education,” according to Charles Foster Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Texas Children. In announcing his unusual bid for a fourth term as governor Nov. 9, Abbott laid out an ambitious six-point plan for property tax reform. The sixth point of his plan calls for eliminating property taxes that fund local school districts. Currently, local property taxes are the largest single source of funding for Texas public schools, accounting for about 48% of total school funding. The remaining funding comes from state sources (about 34%) and the federal government (about 18%).

Texas is one of nine U.S. states with no income tax, which means most local services must be funded by sales taxes, property taxes and user fees. Texas consistently ranks among states with the highest property tax rates in the country. The average property tax in Texas is 1.8%, higher than the national average of 1.1%. Property tax rates are set at the local level and vary widely. Proponents of the property taxes point out the countervailing benefit of living in a state with no income tax. Property tax reform is a perennial political topic in Texas and a favorite especially of fiscal conservatives who believe all government spending is overgrown. But Abbott’s call not just to reform but to eliminate property taxers that fund public schools is about more than tax policy, said Johnson, a longtime Baptist pastor and ally for public schools. “It is no surprise that Greg Abbott wants to eliminate property taxes,” he explained. “The unavoidable conclusion from his policies is that he wants to eliminate public education. His entire tenure has been marked by defunding classrooms, over-testing children, expanding charter schools, shifting local control to Austin and subsidizing private schools through vouchers.

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Former Texas youth pastor facing reindictment, new charges

A former youth pastor at four Texas churches is facing a slew of new criminal charges as his long-delayed trial is now set to begin Dec. 1. The new indictment returned by a grand jury three months ago charges Luke Cunningham of Lubbock, Texas, with 16 counts of sexual assault of a child under a first-degree felony enhancement known as “sexual assault of a child — bigamy.” Cunningham’s case has drawn national attention since Baptist News Global first reported in June 2024 that he had been arrested by U.S. marshals on initial child sexual assault charges and was under federal investigation by the FBI for possible international and interstate sex trafficking.

BNG’s original reporting revealed that federal investigators were examining allegations of abuse that occurred during out-of-state and overseas mission trips while Cunningham was employed by Turning Point Community Church, a Lubbock megachurch. The state of that federal probe remains unclear, as no publicly available records exist with Cunningham listed as a criminal defendant. In a follow-up story published July 5, 2024, BNG reported prosecutors characterized Cunningham as a “violent offender” who slapped and choked his victims and used church trips as opportunities to isolate and groom minors. At that time, he faced three felony counts and remained in custody on a $500,000 bond. According to court records obtained from the Lubbock County District Clerk, Cunningham’s Aug. 26 reindictment supersedes previous charges and adds significant enhancements under Texas Penal Code 22.011(f). This statute escalates sexual assault charges to first-degree felonies when the offender is accused of assaulting a person “whom the actor was prohibited from marrying or living with under the appearance of marriage,” as defined by Texas bigamy laws.

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City Stories

Austin's Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems turns 50

What quickly emerges after sitting down to talk with co-directors Pliny Fisk III and Gail Vittori, during an afternoon lull in a hallmark season for the Austin-based Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS), is that 50 years of doing has not slaked its thirst for more of it. Its propulsive impulse to ask questions, generate ideas, and pitch schemes will remain one of the Center’s inspirational and lasting legacies. And its many achievements are proof its “commotion” is to be taken seriously. As Fisk remarked, “The commotion is deliberate and all about being consequential—it’s the opportunity for a small non-profit organization to gain visibility and have influence on the most compelling issues confronting the built environment. Whether it be constructing concrete structures with no Portland cement, operating a fully water-balanced building, or having an on-site wastewater treatment system.” Since its inception in 1975, the work of the Center, known colloquially as Max’s Pot, has expanded in influential and exploratory ways.

Projects span sustainability consulting, ecological planning and design, education, policy, and combinations of all the above. As pioneers in the field of sustainability, the organization is rooted in a systems-based approach; it embraces and intertwines theory, practice, methodology, and data in its work and experimentations. For example, design prototypes have a strong theoretical undergirding; and conceptual frameworks, laid out in meticulously crafted graphic language and rich visual displays, bake measurable information into proof of concept. In true 1970s form, as the design community sought forward-thinking solutions, Fisk, and Vittori, who joined in 1979, forged Max Pot out of whole systems design, ecological awareness, a technological optimism grounded in ethics and human wellbeing, and a spirit of invention. A visit to the Center’s compound along FM 969 in East Austin feels like submersion into an alternative construction reality. At its core stands the Advanced Green Builder Demonstration Building (AGBD). Built in 1998, at the end of the decade that saw the development of the green building movement of which Fisk and Vittori were key players, the AGBD feels like the organization’s central brain.

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National Stories

Study: Latino Christians disapprove of Trump, hit hard by mass deportation campaign

Though President Donald Trump’s gains with Hispanic Christians were a crucial part of his winning coalition in the 2024 election, those gains are showing signs of eroding. A year after the election, a majority of Latino Catholics and Protestants have mostly negative views on Trump’s job so far as president, especially when it comes to his immigration policies. A Pew Research Center report on U.S. Latinos’ views on the second Trump administration, compiled from two separate polls conducted in September and October and released on Monday (Nov. 24), revealed that the majority of U.S. Latinos (70%) disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president (55% very strongly disapprove and 15% not strongly disapprove), about two-thirds disapprove of his approach to immigration (65%, combined very strongly and not strongly) and 6 in 10 say his economic policies have made economic conditions worse (61%).

The report found these perspectives heightened among Latino Catholics, three-quarters of whom disapprove of Trump’s job as president in his second term, and among religiously unaffiliated Latinos (76%). Latino Protestants are somewhat less likely to disapprove of the president’s work so far in 2025 (58% disapprove). Pew also found that about a third of Latinos reported struggling to afford different daily necessities, and 68% said the situation of Latinos in the U.S. today has gotten worse, compared to 26% in 2021. Among Latino Christians, disapproval of Trump’s immigration policies is significant: 7 in 10 Latino Catholics (70%) disapprove of how the Trump administration is handling immigration, while 55% of Latino evangelical Protestants also disapprove of the administration’s approach to immigration. (Among religiously unaffiliated Latinos, 72% disapprove.) Those opinions are being shaped as a majority of Latino Christians are witnessing the impacts of Trump’s mass deportation campaign in their own neighborhoods. In religion data provided to RNS, six in 10 Latino Catholics (62%) said they had seen or heard of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in their local area. Among Latino Protestants, 55% said that they had seen or heard about ICE raids in their local area.

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Trump administration ends protected status for nearly 4,000 immigrants from Myanmar

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that she’s terminating deportation protections for immigrants from Myanmar, adding them to the hundreds of thousands of people whose reprieve has ended under President Donald Trump’s second term. Nearly 4,000 people from Myanmar currently have temporary protected status. Under TPS, some immigrants are granted authorization to live and work in the United States to prevent their removal to countries ravaged by armed conflict, humanitarian crises or natural disasters. In a notice, Noem cited the Myanmar military government’s end of a state of emergency in July — which it first declared after seizing power in 2021 — as a factor for ending the country’s TPS designation. DHS first granted immigrants from Myanmar, also known as Burma, TPS designation in 2021, and it was set to expire Tuesday.

Noem wrote that TPS holders can safely return to the country because of a ceasefire China brokered in Myanmar’s ongoing civil war and its military chief’s announcement that the country planned to hold elections in December and January. The legitimacy of those elections has been widely rejected by human rights organizations. “While certain extraordinary and temporary conditions may remain, such conditions no longer hinder the safe return of aliens who are nationals of Burma to the country,” Noem wrote in the notice posted on the Federal Register. More than 150 human rights, civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups wrote a letter in June to Trump, Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, pleading with them to extend the TPS designation for immigrants from Myanmar in light of a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck the country in March, as well as the armed conflict. The United Nations released a report earlier this month stating Myanmar is projected to soon reach famine or near-famine conditions.

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Pentagon says it's investigating Sen. Mark Kelly over video urging troops to defy 'illegal orders'

The Pentagon announced Monday it is investigating Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over possible breaches of military law after the former Navy pilot joined a handful of other lawmakers in a video that called for troops to defy “illegal orders.” The Pentagon’s statement, posted on social media, cited a federal law that allows retired service members to be recalled to active duty on orders of the defense secretary for possible court martial or other measures. It is extraordinary for the Pentagon, which until President Donald Trump’s second term had usually gone out of its way to act and appear apolitical, to directly threaten a sitting member of Congress with investigation. It comes after Trump ramped up the rhetoric by accusing the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post days after the video was released last week.

In its statement Monday, the Pentagon suggested that Kelly’s statements in the video interfered with the “loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces” by citing the federal law that prohibits such actions. “A thorough review of these allegations has been initiated to determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures,” the statement said. Kelly said he upheld his oath to the Constitution and dismissed the Pentagon investigation as the work of “bullies.” “If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work,” Kelly said in a statement. Kelly was one of six Democratic lawmakers who have served in the military or intelligence community to speak “directly to members of the military.” The other lawmakers are Sen. Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan, who are seen as possible future aspirants for higher office and elevated their political profiles with the video’s wide exposure. Kelly, who was a fighter pilot before becoming an astronaut and then retiring at the rank of captain, told troops that “you can refuse illegal orders,” while other lawmakers in the video said they needed troops to “stand up for our laws ... our Constitution.”

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Judge dismisses cases against James Comey and Letitia James after finding prosecutor was unlawfully appointed

A federal judge dismissed the criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, finding the prosecutor who brought the cases, former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, was not lawfully appointed. U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie said she agreed with Comey, who moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that Halligan's appointment was illegal. "Because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey’s motion and dismiss the indictment," Currie wrote in finding that Halligan lacked the authority to present a case to a grand jury.

A federal judge dismissed the criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, finding the prosecutor who brought the cases, former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, was not lawfully appointed. U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie said she agreed with Comey, who moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that Halligan's appointment was illegal. "Because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey’s motion and dismiss the indictment," Currie wrote in finding that Halligan lacked the authority to present a case to a grand jury. Attorney General Pam Bondi reacted to the dismissal of the cases by saying during a news conference in Memphis that the Justice Department will "be taking all available legal action, including an immediate appeal." Bondi also defended Halligan, calling her "an excellent" attorney. After the ruling, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “Lindsey Halligan was legally appointed, and that’s the administration’s position.”

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How right-wing superstar Riley Gaines built an anti-trans empire

At a White House ceremony last February, before President Donald Trump signed an executive order to defund schools if they permit transgender girls to play girls’ sports, he turned and looked over his shoulder. Behind him stood former college swimmer Riley Gaines, wearing suffragette white in a crowd of young female athletes and conservative activists. “You’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Trump told the 24-year-old. Almost three years, to be exact. Since tying for fifth place in a March 2022 championship race against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, Gaines has used the story of their matchup to leap to the vanguard of the anti-trans movement, campaigning not just to ban trans women from women’s sports, but to end public acceptance of transgender people. Gaines joined the political fray just as 14 states had already enacted restrictions on trans athletes and four more were on the verge of doing the same.

With backing from GOP donors like the Amway billionaire DeVos family, she has crisscrossed the country with a simple message: Women’s sports need “saving” from “men”—that is, transgender girls and women. No matter that the NCAA president said in 2024 that less than 0.002 percent of college athletes at the time were openly transgender (the percentage of Olympians is about the same). Gaines and her allies argue that trans athletes are stealing opportunities from every woman and girl who competes with them. Alongside other athletes, she filed a federal lawsuit against the NCAA seeking to ban trans girls from girls’ school sports nationwide, arguing that trans-inclusive policies are a form of discrimination against women. “She’s a perfect message,” says Ronnee Schreiber, a political science professor at San Diego State University who studies women in the conservative movement. Even voters who generally support transgender people, Schreiber adds, are “still a little anxious about the trans athlete thing.” Indeed, before Gaines arrived on the scene, right-wing politicos had sought for years to draw attention to transgender women in sports—a poll-tested wedge issue to stoke anti-trans outrage among voters across the political spectrum. Lia Thomas, tall and unapologetic, was the villain they’d been waiting for, and Gaines—feminine, poised, outspoken—the ideal victim. Within months of her race against Thomas, Trump was summoning Gaines onstage at CPAC: “Where’s our beautiful, great swimmer?”

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Elon Musk’s worthless, poisoned hall of mirrors

Over the weekend, Elon Musk’s X rolled out a feature that had the immediate result of sowing maximum chaos. The update, called “About This Account,” allows people to click on the profile of an X user and see such information as: which country the account was created in, where its user is currently based, and how many times the username has been changed. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, said the feature was “an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square.” Roughly four hours later, with the update in the wild, Bier sent another post: “I need a drink.” Almost immediately, “About This Account” stated that many prominent and prolific pro-MAGA accounts, which signaled that they were run by “patriotic” Americans, were based in countries such as Nigeria, Russia, India, and Thailand. @MAGANationX, an account with almost 400,000 followers and whose bio says it is a “Patriot Voice for We The People,” is based in “Eastern Europe (Non-EU),” according to the feature, and has changed its username five times since the account was made, last year. On X and Bluesky, users dredged up countless examples of fake or misleading rage-baiting accounts posting aggressive culture-war takes to large audiences. An account called “Maga Nadine” claims to be living in and posting from the United States but is, according to X, based in Morocco. An “America First” account with 67,000 followers is apparently based in Bangladesh. Poetically, the X handle @American is based in Pakistan, according to the feature.

At first glance, these revelations appear to confirm what researchers and close observers have long known: that foreign actors (whether bots or humans) are posing as Americans and piping political-engagement bait, mis- and disinformation, and spam into people’s timeline. (X and Musk did not respond to my requests for comment.) X’s decision to show where accounts are based is, theoretically, a positive step in the direction of transparency for the platform, which has let troll and spam accounts proliferate since Musk’s purchase, in late 2022. And yet the scale of the deception—as revealed by the “About” feature—suggests that in his haste to turn X into a political weapon for the far right, Musk may have revealed that the platform he’s long called “the number 1 source of news on Earth” is really just a worthless, poisoned hall of mirrors. If only it were that simple. Adding to the confusion of the feature’s rollout are multiple claims from users that the “About” function has incorrectly labeled some accounts. The X account of Hank Green, a popular YouTuber, says his account is based in Japan; Green told me Sunday that he’d never been to Japan.

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Copyright December 03, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved