Lead Stories

Nate Schatzline's role in Abbott's office unclear despite high salary

Gov. Greg Abbott’s new senior official advising on election integrity, Nate Schatzline, is among his highest paid employees, even as Schatzline’s duties remain a mystery. Schatzline, a former state lawmaker and consistent 2020 election denier, is making an annual salary of $275,000, according to payroll records. That puts him in the top 10 highest-paid governor's office staffers, and at a higher salary than Abbott himself. Abbott announced earlier this month the Fort Worth Republican would serve as his senior adviser for election integrity, but has yet to specify what his new role entails. Hiring documents reviewed by Hearst Newspapers make little mention of how Schatzline will be expected to help shape state elections policy. The two-page job description says the position is “responsible for providing policy and strategic direction related to legislative and electoral matters,” but doesn’t mention elections again in any of the 18 essential duties.

A spokesperson for Abbott's office did not answer questions about Schatzline's role or whether there were any other applicants for the job. “Governor Abbott appointed Nate Schatzline as Senior Advisor because of his proven conservative record fighting for election security,” said spokesman Andrew Mahaleris. “As the Governor stated: his experience in the Texas House will be a tremendous asset as we protect the voices of Texas voters.” The July 2 announcement of his hiring came just weeks before Secretary of State Jane Nelson stepped down ahead of the high-profile midterm elections, and as Republicans are pushing for stricter voting laws in next year’s legislative session. Schatzline has advocated for closing the state’s GOP primaries and denied the results of the 2020 presidential election. In his resume, he described himself as “a spiritual leader who has given his life to bringing Godly reformation to the Governmental realm.” He listed work experience as a pastor at a Fort Worth megachurch and as president of a nonprofit that mobilizes religious leaders to run for office.

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Why Republicans aren’t funding the Texas Senate race yet

In one of this year’s most competitive Senate races, Republicans are refusing to spend money — so far. That peculiar dynamic is playing out in Texas, where the fate of the Republican nominee, Ken Paxton, will help decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. But Mr. Paxton has struggled to raise cash, and no one has stepped in yet to help him. Mr. Paxton finds himself in a unique situation among Senate candidates, according to interviews with a dozen Republicans with ties to his campaign. Republican donors still hold grudges from a bruising primary. The state, with its 18-plus television markets, is an epically expensive setting. And his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, has proved to be a particularly strong fund-raiser.

Perhaps the most striking piece of Mr. Paxton’s money woes is the high-stakes game of chicken that two of the Republican Party’s biggest money committees, along with their allied donors, are playing. Both of those groups, the Senate Leadership Fund and MAGA Inc., are not so secretly hoping that the other one swoops in to boost Mr. Paxton with tens of millions in spending, the Republicans said. Neither group has reached for its wallet yet. “Somebody is going to have to spend big money,” said Dan Eberhart, an oil executive who is raising contributions for Mr. Paxton. “We’ll see who blinks.” In the primary, Mr. Paxton defeated Senator John Cornyn, a favorite of many of the country’s and state’s largest donors. The Republican nominee still lacks enthusiasm from these contributors, who financed ads in the primary repeatedly calling him a criminal and a womanizer. Their opinions largely haven’t changed, especially with the continuing drumbeat of revelations of Mr. Paxton’s world travels with his girlfriend, the Republicans said. Mr. Paxton is not getting help from Washington, either. National Republican groups are slated to spend tens of millions of dollars this summer and fall in every other top-tier Senate race, including in some states that prominent handicappers think are not as competitive as Texas. They even plan to spend more in noncompetitive Kansas. In most states, Republicans are expected to outspend Democrats — for instance in Ohio, where the G.O.P. commitment totals over $100 million.

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With Cornyn holding up nomination, Todd Blanche won’t get Thursday vote in Senate Judiciary Committee

The Senate Judiciary Committee has abandoned plans to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general Thursday, a significant speed bump that will make it difficult for Republicans to confirm him before the chamber begins its August recess next week. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) held firm Wednesday in his demand that Blanche revise a controversial settlement agreement between President Donald Trump and the IRS. Cornyn, who was defeated for renomination earlier this year by a Trump-backed primary challenger, was explicit on the legal language he needed from Blanche — even providing the Justice Department with a revision to the agreement that would address his concerns — but an agreement could not be reached in time to have the Thursday morning vote.

“We actually sent them a red-line strikeout of what we need, and they just need to make a decision,” Cornyn said earlier Wednesday, adding that he was “trying to make it easy for them.” Just one GOP “no” vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee would effectively sink Blanche’s nomination. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another member of the panel with concerns about the settlement, said he would follow Cornyn’s lead. Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), along with Tillis, met late afternoon in Cornyn’s office to hammer out the issues on Blanche, but with no resolution. “We made it clear that we need the language to move forward with the markup,” Tillis said of the meeting. The vote could still be rescheduled if Cornyn and Tillis are satisfied, though it might not happen in time to get Blanche across the floor before the recess begins at the end of next week. A DOJ official granted anonymity to describe the negotiations said the department sent “new language” to the two senators and remains “in discussion” with them.

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American oil majors trying to get into Venezuela have hit a wall

Seven months after the U.S. deposed strongman Nicolás Maduro, Big Oil has yet to make any big moves in Venezuela. ExxonMobil, Chevron, and other major oil companies are fighting for a small number of the country’s most attractive drilling spots, but some of the talks with Venezuelan leaders recently hit an impasse, according to people familiar with the negotiations. President Trump and his lieutenants had high hopes that big U.S. oil companies would quickly sign investment deals to kick-start production in Venezuela, home to some of the world’s largest reserves. They see the country’s rising oil exports as a boon to U.S. supplies while Iran hobbles shipping lanes in the Middle East that typically carry 20% of the world’s oil and gas.

The administration is also putting pressure on interim President Delcy Rodriguez to boost Venezuela’s production quickly—before the end of Trump’s second term. Among the issues that have handicapped any big deals: Major U.S. oil producers are interested in many of the same prized assets, including fields in eastern Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt and the northeastern state of Monagas—and they want to secure the most favorable fiscal and regulatory terms possible. The devastating earthquake that shook the country last month also slowed the progress. “Few of them are really jumping into the water,” said José Ignacio Hernández, a law professor and consultant at advisory firm Aurora Macro Strategies. “It’s like when you’re trying to sell your house. You have a very successful open house with 100 people attending, but then nobody calls.” The negotiations are largely being led by state-run Petróleos de Venezuela, which is holding separate meetings with companies and making private offerings. Some of the American companies, which are more accustomed to public bidding processes, have requested U.S. officials intervene. So far, the administration has let the process play out without choosing any winners.

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State Stories

Gov. Abbott suggests lowering health insurance costs by nixing state mandates

Gov. Greg Abbott raised the curtain on the third part of his plan to lower insurance costs for Texans. This section focuses on health insurance costs for small businesses and their employees. In conversations with small business owners, Abbott said, he heard time and time again that the employers were having trouble providing health insurance to their workers due to rising premiums. According to the Texas Association of Health Plans, insurance premiums for small businesses in Texas are jumping 15-20% in 2026 — 36-82% above the national average. As a result, only about 38% of the small businesses can afford to offer healthcare coverage to their employees.

Because Texas is one of the most heavily mandated states in the country, the state is one of most expensive for healthcare, says the Texas Association of Health Plans. Texas’ regulations mean health insurance policies in the state exceed what is required by the Affordable Care Act and federal regulations. Abbott is suggesting to nix dozens of those mandates, equating to less coverage for Texans but at a more affordable price for the small businesses they work for. He said at a press conference in Fort Worth on Wednesday that the health insurance policies offered would still cover the necessities. In conversation with local entrepreneurs, Abbott heard from Vicki Cisneros, owner of the Stockyards’s staple Tex-Mex restaurant Los Vaqueros. She told him about 90% of their employees had insurance “not too long ago,” but today, only about 10% have insurance because of the rising cost.

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Texas virtual schools expand as new law opens online opportunities

Several North Texas school districts are launching virtual schools this fall, giving leaders another way to stay competitive at a time when enrollments are dropping statewide, and creating more options for students who want to go to school without actually going to school. Last year, lawmakers loosened the state’s rules around virtual schools, making it easier for school districts to build course programs that are partially or entirely online. Following the change, several North Texas school districts, including Frisco ISD, Arlington ISD and Grand Prairie ISD, are launching virtual school programs with the beginning of the upcoming school year. District leaders say those programs give them more flexibility to meet their students’ needs, and another tool to prop up their enrollments at a time when the number of students in public schools across the state is shrinking.

Last year, Texas lawmakers passed a bill overhauling the state’s framework for virtual schools. Senate Bill 569 makes it easier for public school districts and charter schools to offer individual courses or entire programs online. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, the bill’s author, said it’s intended to replace "a patchwork of outdated virtual learning laws with a clear structure." Among other changes, the bill allows school districts to count students in their virtual and hybrid programs toward their average daily attendance, meaning they receive state funding for those students at the same rate as for in-person students. That provision in the bill was critical in getting Grand Prairie ISD’s new virtual program off the ground, said Felicia Layne, chancellor of the district’s Grand Prairie Collegiate Institute. The new program, called Grand Prairie Collegiate Institute: NEXT, launches this fall. District leaders had discussed the possibility of launching a virtual school for years, Layne said. After schools reopened during the pandemic, some of the district’s students transferred to virtual programs, she said. So district leaders got to work building a virtual program that would allow Grand Prairie ISD students to take some or all of their classes online. The idea was to give students and their families another option for their education and, in doing so, avoid losing those students to other school systems, she said. The district has lost about 3,600 since 2019, and while virtual schools aren’t the only factor driving that decline, Layne said the program is part of a larger strategy geared toward keeping students in the district.

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Texas Capital CEO blasts proxy advisers, vows to renew 'Dexit' push

Texas Capital CEO Rob Holmes intends to renew a campaign to move the company's legal home from Delaware to Texas after shareholders rejected such a proposal earlier this year and has blasted proxy advisory firms that came out against the change for having "too much power." The bank, which is based in Uptown Dallas, asked shareholders to vote on a proposal to "redomicile" in Texas at its annual meeting in April. The move failed to win shareholder approval, with about 45% of votes cast in favor and 55% opposed, according to a regulatory filing. Shareholders cast 18.2 million votes supporting the redomicile and 22 million against it, preventing the company from completing the move to Texas. Proxy advisory firms influenced many investors to oppose the move, Holmes said during a July 23 conference call with analysts to discuss the company's second-quarter financial results.

"I think we would have gotten the vote, had our shareholder base been more retail as opposed to institutional where they listen to irresponsible, uninformed proxy advisers," he said. "And I'll go on the record and say it ... it's a problem, and they have too much power. So we'll do it again, and we look forward to continuing educating our shareholder base, and we look forward to becoming incorporated in the great state of Texas." At the center of the redomiciling debate are the two largest proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis & Co. Large institutional investors such as BlackRock Inc., T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP — all shareholders of Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: TCBI) — often align their votes with the recommendations issued by those firms. Texas Capital's push for reincorporating from Delaware to Texas comes amid a recent influx of reincorporations by other companies including ExxonMobil Holdings Corp., Dell Technologies and Tesla, a trend referred to as "Dexit." The legal domicile of a business is important because it determines tax obligations and legal jurisdiction, among other things. Delaware has long been the country's top destination for incorporation but that has been changing amid growing frustration among corporate leaders with its courts.

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Flock cameras expand across Bexar County as privacy concerns grow

Automated license-plate readers are spreading across Bexar County, giving police a powerful investigative tool while prompting concerns about mass surveillance, civil rights and documented misuse. Flock Safety cameras record license plates, vehicle descriptions, locations and times. Police use the searchable database to locate stolen vehicles, missing people and vehicles connected to crimes. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office operates 33 cameras. Its public dashboard recently showed more than 750,000 vehicle detections during a 30-day period. Flock cameras are also used by area municipalities and homeowners’ associations. Live Oak has credited the technology with arrests in 16 stolen-vehicle cases, while New Braunfels reported 19 arrests.

But Savannah Kumar, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Texas, told TPR’s The Source that the cameras collect information about everyone, not only suspects. “They’re actually recording the license plate and all of this other accompanying information of every car that’s passing by, logging the movements of every driver regardless of whether they’ve done anything wrong,” Kumar said. Michael Soyfer, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, said misuse is a foreseeable consequence of allowing officers to search the system without judicial supervision. “We’ve found tons of cases of law enforcement officers using these databases to stalk past and potential romantic partners all across the country,” Soyfer said. “They don’t have to go to a judge. They don’t have to prove probable cause.” A Pasadena, Texas, officer resigned after being accused of using the system to monitor a female colleague. In Johnson County, a deputy used the nationwide network while searching for a woman whose family reported her missing after she had self-administered an abortion.

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Miguel Solis: Tom Luce’s odyssey made Texas better

(Miguel Solis is president of The Commit Partnership, and formerly president of the Dallas ISD board of trustees.) Christopher Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey has rekindled interest in one of literature’s greatest stories. Caught up in that renewed interest, I'd been rereading Homer's epic. Then I learned that Tom Luce, the noted Texas attorney and public servant, had passed away. I've since been reflecting on Tom's 86-year journey and its epic impact on those of us who were lucky enough to join him in it. Since his passing, many tributes have celebrated Tom's Odyssey-like life, one that moved from chapter to chapter of Texas history the way Odysseus moved from island to island. They should. Few Texans have shaped our state as profoundly. He helped transform public education; advised local, state and federal officials including presidents; stood beside Ross Perot during defining moments including freeing two Electronic Data Systems employees imprisoned in Iran; helped shepherd a 13th century copy of the Magna Carta across the Atlantic; built institutions still shaping education, mental health, biotechnology, workforce development and public policy, and that's just the beginning. Like Odysseus, he had a story for nearly every shore.

I had the privilege of knowing Tom for more than a decade. Our first meeting came out of the blue: He invited me to discuss challenges facing Texas school districts, the first of many such invitations over the years. His questions were thoughtful and pointed, hinting at a bigger vision for state education policy that would position students, and Texas, for success. I'd later come to realize what he was doing: plotting the creation of Texas 2036, a non-partisan policy think tank that has helped shape Texas education for nearly a decade. As the invitations grew, I realized this instinct to build things that would outlast him showed up everywhere. I'd eventually learn where that instinct came from. Raised by a single mother doing her best under difficult circumstances, Tom never embraced the mythology of the self-made man. He spoke often about the teachers, mentors and civic leaders who believed in him early, and the impact this had on his life. I'm sure he also thought often about the kids who never got that same break, whose potential went unclaimed simply because no one showed up in time, and how easily an entire life could tip the other way. Rather than simply expressing gratitude, Tom repaid that debt through a dogged pursuit of better systems, and through conversations, quiet investment and coalition building aimed at solving the systemic issues holding Texans back. My colleague Todd Williams, CEO of Commit and a frequent collaborator of Tom's, described him as “relentlessly committed to systemically making Texas a better place.” His expansive interests were all connected by one question that animated the second half of his life: How can our state remain a place where every child has greater opportunities than the generation before them?

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Bee Moorhead: A call to end ICE violence on behalf of Texas faith communities

(Bee Moorhead is executive director of Texas Impact.) As Texans of faith and conscience, we affirm the belief—widely shared and deeply held across the world and throughout history—that all people, regardless of country of origin, are members of the family of God, and that we are called to welcome the stranger. While recognizing the need to maintain our national borders, we oppose policies that dehumanize, criminalize, or endanger our immigrant neighbors. We hold that public policy must protect human life and human dignity, especially the lives of the most vulnerable among us. We call for restoration of trust and an end to enforcement that terrorizes communities. We call on our leaders to reject enforcement practices that treat entire neighborhoods as targets and that make our immigrant neighbors afraid to drive to work, report a crime, or seek help.

We renew our long-standing call for just, humane, and comprehensive immigration reform that keeps families together and honors the dignity of every person. We acknowledge that immigration policy and policy enforcement are under the purview of the federal government. We also assert that state officials can impact federal policy in two ways: first, by intervening with federal officials on behalf of their communities, and second, by shaping incrementally how federal policies are carried out in their state. We believe change is needed at the federal level, and that Texas officials can help. We call on federal authorities to make the following reforms to ICE enforcement operations: Clear, enforced limits on the use of lethal force, and an end to vehicle-based enforcement tactics that predictably escalate to deadly outcomes; An immediate review and restriction of the use of unmarked vehicles and plainclothes agents in routine enforcement stops, which sow confusion and fear and make peaceful compliance nearly impossible; A binding requirement that federal immigration agents wear activated body cameras and visible identification during all enforcement operations; Prompt and humane notification of families when a loved one is injured, detained, or killed, so that no family again learns of a death through social media; Independent oversight of ICE operations and real accountability when agents violate policy or the law.

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Gov. Abbott reappoints all 10 Texas Business Court judges to new terms

Governor Greg Abbott reappointed all 10 Texas Business Court judges to new two-year terms Wednesday. The terms will begin on Sept. 1, the judges' second since the court was created in the 2023 legislative session. “Businesses choose Texas in record numbers because Texas delivers results,” said Abbott in a release. “The Texas Business Court has resolved complex commercial disputes with unmatched speed and expertise. Hundreds of cases already filed and scores resolved prove these judges fuel Texas’ status as the economic engine of America. I have reappointed these skilled judges to protect that success and to ensure that Texas’ business jurisprudence is on steady ground for years to come.”

The Texas Business Court specializes in complex corporate litigation that normal district courts may not have the time or expertise to deal with effectively, and it is currently made up of five divisions each helmed by two experienced jurists. Unlike state district court judges, who are elected, business court judges are appointed by the governor. The inaugural 10 judges were sworn in in September of 2024, and in their first year on the bench, the Texas Business Court saw more than 180 cases filed. The judges are: Andrea K. Bouressa, Bill Whitehill, Melissa Davis Andrews, Patrick K. Sweeten, Marialyn Barnard, Stacy Sharp, Jerry D. Bullard, Brian Stagner, Sofia Adrogué, and Grant Dorfman.

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Texas law shields San Antonio-area data center water usage from public records requests

As data centers rapidly expand across South Texas, KSAT Investigates learned the public cannot find out how much water San Antonio-area data centers are using because of a Texas law that its author says is being interpreted far more broadly than intended. Water is used to cool and produce power used by data centers. Data centers could potentially account for 3% to 9% of Texas’ water use by 2040, according to a report from University of Texas at Austin researchers. A 39-acre plot of land in Cibolo is expected to become home to a new data center. Legacy Investing plans to build a 243,000-square-foot facility on the property, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.

To better understand how much water existing data centers are using, KSAT Investigates filed a public information request with the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) seeking water usage records for 36 data centers in Bexar County over the past three years. SAWS said they could not release data from after the implementation of smart water meters, which would start around 2023, because of a provision in Texas law. That provision is the result of a six-year-old law written by Texas State Representative Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, which he said was meant to protect individuals and families’ water usage data from payday lenders — not corporations or companies. “Data centers are doing tremendous damage to Texas, to our water supply, to air quality,” said Bernal. “We need to know as much as we possibly can.”

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Ken Paxton investigates RGV hospitals over 'birth tourism' claims

Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday that his office will investigate two South Texas hospitals for “potentially unlawful birth tourism schemes,” escalating state Republicans’ latest effort to crack down on immigration. The hospitals, Mission Regional Medical Center and Knapp Medical Center, came under fire after photos of Spanish-language billboards advertising their childbirth services, including the email “havemybabyinTEXAS.com,” went viral on social media. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to investigate the claims, and the agency asked Paxton to investigate the South Texas Hospitals earlier this month.

“My office will investigate any suspected illegal birth tourism schemes in Texas, including the operations of two South Texas hospitals that appeared to advertise birth tourism on a billboard near the border,” Paxton said in a release. “My office will continue to hold accountable any entity that knowingly facilitates fraud in our state.” Texas Republicans have ramped up their fight against foreigners coming to the U.S. to give birth since the Supreme Court issued a ruling that protected birthright citizenship. Paxton sued Houston-area center De’Ai Postpartum Care Center in April for allegedly encouraging Chinese nationals to come to Texas to have children, and the state GOP adopted language supporting a ban on commercial surrogacy for foreign nationals in June. It’s not illegal for foreigners to give birth in the U.S., but critics have accused the centers of engaging in visa fraud by facilitating travel for that express purpose. Estimates suggest the practice does occur, but is rare and affects about 10,000 to 26,000 children a year. Some experts note that pregnant foreign nationals may come to the U.S. for higher-quality medical care, not expressly to access citizenship for their children.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Rush Enterprises ends profit slide as demand improves

Rush Enterprises Inc. broke a three-year streak of falling profit while reporting signs of further improvement on the horizon. Among those signs: Demand for aftermarket parts and service is gradually improving as fleets are driving more miles, and repair activity is starting to pick back up as customers resume spending on vehicle maintenance. “While the recovery remains in early stages, improving freight rates and customer confidence, increased quoting activity and significantly stronger new truck order intake all contributed to better business conditions as the quarter progressed,” CEO and President W.M. “Rusty” Rush said during a Wednesday morning call with investors. “We feel good about the second half of the year.”

On the sales front, the New Braunfels-based commercial truck company is faring better than the market as a whole, which saw a decline in the quarter. Rush’s sales remained relatively flat compared with the second quarter of 2025, with 3,172 Class 8 trucks sold in the U.S. Rush said the company’s diversified business model has been key to navigating the turbulence of the last 16 months. There have been more variables, including tariffs and technology changes, “than I’ve seen” before, he said. The company is doubling down on that diversification strategy by getting into the refrigerated transport business and expanding geographically. Rush entered into a 50-50 joint venture with MCT Cos., a commercial-transport refrigeration business, last week. The move will help establish the New Braunfels company’s presence in the refrigerated transportation market, which the CEO said complements its core dealership operations. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.

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Joe Rogan warns liberals against trying to turn Texas blue, says it would wreck the state's 'delicate balance'

Podcaster Joe Rogan warned liberals Tuesday that moving to Texas and turning the state blue would ruin the delicate balance for everybody, including liberal Texans. "The liberals that want to turn Texas blue, like, don't. You're going to ruin it," he said. Rogan, a former Californian, has spoken out numerous times about his choice to leave California over its far-left policies, particularly those from the COVID-19 pandemic years. Rogan lamented that many "coastal elites" and "coastal snobs" often "have this idea of it being filled with rednecks and ignorant people and foolish people. It's not that way at all. Especially Austin. Austin is like one of the most, like, liberal, easygoing, progressive cities, but even the progressives here, they’re like, more reasonable."

He specified that liberal Texans, while they shifted somewhat leftward in recent years, are nowhere near the same far-left positions as those of Los Angeles or New York. "There’s this saying about Austin: ‘Keep Austin Weird … and surrounded,’" Rogan said. "And surrounded? What is the ‘and surrounded?’" guest Forrest Galante asked. "Surrounded by red people. Like it’s all red states around you, and it’s this pocket of blue that’s in the center of this red state," Rogan said. "I think that's good for everybody. I think that's good. It's a balance." Rogan warned against liberals fleeing blue states only to vote for the same left-wing policies. He compared the state’s delicate political balance to that of an ecosystem. "You're going to ruin it," he warned. "You're going to ruin it for you too. You don't get it. Balance is important. … You can't kill all the predators because then the deer get overrun, and you're hitting them with cars. And you can't kill all the deer because then there's no food. That's what they did when they were market hunting. Balance. And you need balance with humans, too.

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National Stories

Government report to show how US economy performed amid Iran war

A government report on Thursday will show whether the United States economy held sturdy as an inflation surge took hold over the early months of the Iran war. The fresh data is set to provide gross domestic product (GDP) over three months ending in June, a period that followed a historic global oil shock. The national average price for a gallon of gasoline soared to a price as high as $4.56 a gallon in May, AAA data showed, before easing somewhat after a preliminary peace agreement last month. Annual inflation has climbed to 3.5%, putting it more than percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2%. Still, hiring has proven more resilient than many economists feared, despite elevated costs for businesses and shoppers.

Economists expect GDP to have grown at an annualized pace of 1.8% in the second quarter, which would mark a slight slowdown from 2.1% growth in the previous three-month period. Still, the anticipated figure would amount to better performance than 0.5% annualized GDP recorded over final three months of 2025. In recent quarters, a burst of investment in artificial intelligence has accounted for a large share of the nation's economic growth. A surge of AI spending accounted for roughly two-thirds of gross domestic product growth over the first half of 2025, JPMorgan Asset Management found, outpacing the contribution made by hundreds of millions of U.S. consumers. Many of the nation's largest companies have poured funds into the chips and data centers necessary to operate AI. Observers will likely pay close attention to whether that trend held steady in the data to be released on Thursday.

Read this article at ABC News - Subscribers Only

FIFA plan for Kushner-backed $20 billion operation to run World Cup meets fury from Europe’s UEFA

FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s plan to create a $20 billion company running the World Cup with private investors, including the Kushner family, was announced Tuesday — and immediately attacked by European soccer body UEFA. “It is not FIFA’s to sell,” UEFA said in a statement. “None of us are the owners of football.” Infantino’s plans to form a commercial subsidiary, which would be called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), running competitions like the World Cup and Club World Cup was first reported by The Times of London. FIFA said in a statement FFE would raise up to $4.2 billion later this year to help fund development programs “based on an initial equity valuation of $20 billion by carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests.”

FIFA is working with J.P. Morgan while intended investors include Thrive Eternal launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is a son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump. The men’s World Cup that finished this month only deepened the political and personal ties between Trump and Infantino, and fueled concerns about those ties, including from UEFA. “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially,” UEFA said Tuesday, responding to the reports of selling stakes in FIFA competitions. FIFA is currently a Swiss-based not-for-profit association of its 211 national member federations worldwide. Those members must approve any plan and would get the chance “to access up to $20 million in one-off capital,” FIFA said.

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Democrats fear viral DSA interview on Fox News will leave a scar

Democrats are worried that widely circulated comments from a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) leader outlining the group’s priorities could become Republican attack fodder as the midterm elections draw closer. The unease from moderate Democrats intensified after Megan Romer, DSA co-chair, was asked a lightning round of questions on Sunday during a Fox News interview about the organization’s platform, answering true to several proposals, including abolishing the Senate and — as a long-term goal — prisons. The moment has also circulated widely online and has been played up on other cable news networks. Democrats say the interview could not have come at a worse time.

They fear Republicans will seize on Romer’s comments in campaign ads, much as President Trump’s 2024 campaign repeatedly highlighted then-Vice President Kamala Harris’s past support for taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for prisoners. The ad — which concluded “Kamala Harris is for they/them, President Trump is for you” — was devastating to Democrats at the time. Now, on the heels of a string of primary victories by DSA candidates in states including New York and Colorado, some Democrats worry that it will have an impact on Democrats across the board. “You now have to argue to voters that you aren’t insane when you want to talk about making groceries cheaper,” said Democratic strategist Steve Schale. “It’s all just off message,” Schale said, adding that Democrats in competitive races will now “have to spend time and research dollars learning how it impacts the race, then you may have to spend limited campaign resources pushing back on the idea that you want to eliminate the presidency or close prisons when you need to be talking about how to make life more affordable.”

Read this article at The Hill - Subscribers Only

Redacted Fauci diary entries depict him personally helping Katie Miller

Former White House official and conservative influencer Katie Miller heralded the release of Anthony Fauci’s diaries as a bombshell discovery that outed him as a calculating attention-seeker. “The most disturbing part of Fauci’s diary — is what he decided to memorialize versus what he kept out of his diary,” she wrote in a post on X on Monday. “It’s almost like he knew this diary would one day become public. He wanted to cast himself as the hero, as famous, as the savior.” Katie Miller, who is married to Trump adviser and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, has called for Fauci to be jailed. She derided Fauci’s appearance in front of the Senate Wednesday, questioning why he repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment. And she’s said he caused “decades of harm” to children as a leader of the federal government’s COVID-19 response.

Since-redacted excerpts from Fauci’s diary indicate his relationship with Katie Miller was not always this way. In entries dated to 2020, Fauci’s diary suggests he had a close relationship with Katie Miller, who was Vice President Mike Pence’s communications director at the time and heavily involved in the White House’s COVID-19 response. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a longtime critic of Fauci’s, published more than 1,000 pages of the infectious disease doctor’s diary Saturday. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Fox News that he handed the entries over to Senate Republicans after finding them on government servers. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases who served as the face of the Trump administration’s COVID-19 response, writes about providing medical advice to Katie and Stephen Miller. He writes that he counseled the family after Katie Miller tested positive for COVID-19 while pregnant in 2020, when Stephen Miller tested positive and when their newborn child experienced a medical episode later that year.

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Trump’s support for Graham’s sister stirs GOP backlash in South Carolina

President Donald Trump has put his weight behind Sen. Darline Graham in her bid to succeed her late brother, Lindsey Graham, for a full term. But rather than embracing the president’s endorsed candidate in a whirlwind election less than two weeks away, influential conservative activists in South Carolina say they’re not swayed. Trump’s conservative base could again reject one of his chosen candidates this year — as they did in South Carolina’s GOP gubernatorial primary in June — as his supporters question whether the president is acting with their top priorities in mind. “People are going to be independently minded in this, and I don’t think that Trump is the end all, be all that he used to be,” said CJ Westfall, chairman of the Dorchester County Republican Party.

Many conservative activists say they aren’t sold on Graham because of her lack of a political record, besides her public support for her brother. Trump initially appointed Graham to serve the remaining six months of her brother’s term, then quickly backed her after she unexpectedly decided to seek a full term. A dozen GOP candidates filed to run in the Aug. 11 primary election before this week’s deadline. They include U.S. Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry, who have conservative voting records in Congress, and former governor Mark Sanford. The crowded special election is expected to go to an Aug. 25 runoff. And runoff elections, Westfall said, “typically bring out the hard core of the hard core.” Even national Republican operatives sympathetic to Darline Graham, and who were aligned with her brother, are privately conceding that her odds of success in the primary race appear slim. In interviews, more than a dozen South Carolina Republican operatives and activists described three issues working against Graham: She had never held office and is little-known across the state, despite her brother’s high profile.

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Establishment fails to stop rise of democratic socialist in Wisconsin

A democratic socialist is surging in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary race for governor, and establishment figures are showing no signs of stopping her. Polling this week shows that state Rep. Francesca Hong is well-positioned to win the five-way primary on Aug. 11. She had 38 percent of the vote in a survey of likely voters released Wednesday by Marquette University Law School. Behind her were former lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes with 16 percent and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley with 7 percent. Two other candidates — state Sen. Kelda Roys and former state administration secretary Joel Brennan — trailed with 2 percent each. More than a third of those polled were undecided.

Hong also led in a State Navigate poll released Tuesday that showed her with support from 44 percent of likely voters. Crowley had 15 percent, Barnes 14 percent and the other two in the low single digits. Thirteen percent of likely voters were undecided. Democratic socialists have performed well this year in solidly Democratic urban areas, and they hope to expand their reach into swing states that President Donald Trump has won. Hong offers a test case of how progressives can fare in such places, as does Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for Senate in Michigan’s Aug. 4 Democratic primary on a left-wing platform. Establishment Democrats worry that Hong can’t win the general election, but they have not coalesced around a single alternative to try to truncate her rise. The polling shows those challenges would continue even if they did rally behind someone. In the only televised debate of the primary campaign Tuesday, Hong’s opponents took a hands-off approach. None of them used the debate to criticize her, even when moderators left them openings by asking Hong about her past calls to abolish the police. The winner of the Democratic primary contest is expected to face U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who has a nominal opponent in the Republican primary race.

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Lead Stories

Financial woes weigh on Texas school bond ratings

As Texas public schools gear up for the coming school year, some are facing financial pressures that have led to negative underlying rating actions, while competition for students could heat up with the advent of state-funded private and home school vouchers. A legal battle over a state funding system aimed at addressing inequities between districts with high property values and those with low values is brewing as well. Fitch Ratings reported last week that about 26% of public schools it rates in Texas had their outlooks revised or their underlying ratings downgraded, including some by multiple notches, since January 2025 due largely to deteriorating financial profiles.

"Weaker finances are driven by enrollment pressures and limited and infrequent increases in the state's basic allotment to school districts that has often failed to keep pace with rising labor, benefits, and other operating costs," the rating agency said in a report. "This has resulted in narrowing or negative operating margins and lower reserves. Even districts with a longstanding strong fiscal track record are reporting weaker-than-expected results." Last year, state lawmakers boosted funding by $8.5 billion, including raising the $6,160 per student basic allotment in place since 2019 by $55 per student — a less-than-1% increase seen as inadequate given the surge in inflation over that time period. The Republican-controlled legislature also created a $1 billion Texas Education Freedom Account program that launches with the 2026-27 school year. Nearly 106,660 students received accounts out of more than 274,000 applicants. Gov. Greg Abbott and legislative leaders have alluded to increasing funding for the program in Texas' next biennial budget.

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Floodwaters from devastating Texas storms help delay Corpus Christi water emergency

The same floodwaters that caused widespread devastation across parts of Central and South Texas are providing unexpected relief for Corpus Christi’s strained water supply. Water flowing down the Frio and Nueces rivers is replenishing Choke Canyon Reservoir and Lake Corpus Christi, prompting city officials to push the projected start of a Level 1 water emergency from September 2027 to September 2028. “The rains have been beneficial to our reservoir levels, to our water supply, and it’s pushing off what we have talked about for well over a year, which is this Level 1 water emergency until September 2028,” Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni told KSAT.

He added that the city recognizes the devastating toll the flooding has taken on communities upstream. “We have sympathy for those regions that were impacted by the floods,” Zanoni added. “We know that persons were in harm’s way, property was, whole communities were. We sympathize with that, and we’re thinking of those individuals in those communities. Just weeks ago, city leaders warned that a Level 1 water emergency could begin as early as September 2027. Earlier forecasts this spring projected the emergency could arrive even sooner, in December 2025, before seasonal rainfall improved reservoir conditions. A Level 1 water emergency is triggered when water supply projections show the city will have only about 180 days of water remaining to meet demand under Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) guidelines.

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ICE arrests surge at airports, opening new front in deportation drive

The Trump administration has begun arresting foreign citizens with expired U.S. visas as they travel through airports, including spouses of Americans, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and interviews with immigration lawyers — a tactic that opens up a vast new pool of people for deportation. Immigration agents in plain clothes have whisked away targets at check-in counters and arrival gates, with enforcement actions in at least 15 airports in recent weeks. Some of the arrests have occurred quietly, while others have happened as angry fellow passengers filmed the encounters. The recent arrests appear to be an expansion of an arrangement between the Transportation Security Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Times reported in December that ICE officers were arresting people with deportation orders at airports with the help of information provided by airlines to the T.S.A.

Now, through a review of Homeland Security Department documents and interviews with lawyers for more than 25 people from more than a dozen countries recently detained at airports, The Times has learned that the program apparently now includes people with expired visas — a much larger group. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants and visitors overstay visas each year. Many with expired visas occupy a legal gray area, as they are awaiting visa extensions or green cards and have been issued work permits. Such individuals were not prioritized for deportation in the past unless they had committed crimes, and they were rarely detained while waiting for visa extensions or green cards. But that has changed under President Trump, whose administration has undertaken a campaign of mass deportation and views all visa overstays as illegal. “This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport,” a spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department said in a statement. The agency did not confirm the expansion of the program.

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OpenAI, Anthropic ask U.S. government to consider slowing down AI

Two of the biggest players in the race to develop artificial intelligence endorsed a letter asking the U.S. government to find a way to slow down the development of the technology should it become too rapid. ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and its main rival, Anthropic, which provides the Claude chatbot, endorsed a petition released Tuesday that had been signed by hundreds of employees at the two companies, as well as Google, Meta and other leading companies working on AI. The letter warned that companies could be close to automating the work of AI research, a development that it said could lead the technology to careen out of control. “We request that the U.S. government support an international effort to develop the technical and governance tools needed to deliberately pace the frontier of automated AI development,” the petition said. (The Washington Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.)

Coordinating international agreement to limit AI development would be a gargantuan diplomatic task that has been likened to implementing a nuclear weapons control treaty for software that can be freely distributed through the internet. In the United States and around the world, development of AI is largely unconstrained by regulation. Companies and national governments are investing billions of dollars to build and deploy the best technology they can. That race has become a central part of the geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China. Despite the corporate endorsements and broad range of signatories to Tuesday’s letter, many people in the AI industry and across Silicon Valley argue that the technology should be aggressively pursued to bring about new innovations, cure diseases and help the U.S. maintain its military edge in the coming decades. The letter follows several other tech industry petitions since the 2022 launch of ChatGPT in which prominent AI researchers or executives called for a pause on AI development or warned that AI could wipe out humanity. The previous letters did not lead to major shifts in how companies or governments approached AI development.

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State Stories

With 2 weeks to go, an update on school vouchers

Delia Scott has two dyslexic daughters who need more specialized attention than what she says they were getting at their Katy ISD elementary school. When the state’s voucher program started taking applications in February, Scott seized the chance to send her girls to private school. “I don’t know why everybody isn’t doing this,” says Scott, who works in compliance for a construction company while her husband is a homemaker. “I told at least 10 people about it, whose kids are friends with my kids. Only one parent applied and she got the grant.” The reasons vary as to why everybody is not getting in on the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program. Some people applied and got rejected. Some were approved for voucher money but turned down by the private school they picked. One Houston family moved to be closer to a Catholic school they’d selected for their son but still hasn’t heard if they’ll be bumped up from a waitlist.

Meanwhile, more than half of the state’s public school administrators don’t know how many students they’re going to lose to the voucher program because the comptroller’s office is withholding data from districts where fewer than 30 students accepted vouchers. And the clock is ticking. Houston ISD starts August 10. Fort Bend ISD goes back on August 11. Cypress-Fairbanks and Katy ISDs start August 12, and Spring Branch ISD returns to class on August 13. Scott says she was thrilled to learn that each of her children would receive $16,000 and were accepted to Texas Christian School, where tuition is $9,800 per student per year. The excess can be used for uniforms and some school supplies, but it stays in a protected fund rather than being deposited in the recipient’s bank account. Scott’s children didn’t get the $30,000 top award amount offered to students with disabilities, but hardly anyone did. The dollar figures are based on Individualized Education Plans, so the voucher may go toward speech therapy for one student and tutoring for another. Those who don’t have a child with a disability are eligible for $10,474, and homeschool families can get up to $2,000 per child.

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Willie Nelson joins backlash to ‘water thieving, light polluting’ data centers

Texas music legend Willie Nelson on Tuesday came out against data center development, adding his voice to a growing chorus of bipartisan critics. Nelson, who grew up in Abbott and still owns a home there, wrote in a social media post that the last thing the community needs is a “loud, water thieving, light polluting data center.” “Now our community, like many others, needs to fight against data centers invading our land,” Nelson wrote. His post comes as data centers have emerged as an unexpected flashpoint ahead of November’s midterms. But the message from the country music staple is a sign the backlash is spilling beyond the grassroots activists and rural voters who have been calling for a moratorium.

Polling from the University of Texas at Austin last month found most Texans do not want data centers built in their communities, with opposition especially strong among rural voters. This week, community activists and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller staged a protest outside the Capitol and urged Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session for lawmakers to strip tax breaks for data centers and set rules on where they can be built. Abbott has sought to address the bubbling backlash among voters in deep-red rural Texas by directing state regulators to ensure data centers do not pass on costs for new electrical infrastructure to ratepayers. He has resisted calls to bring lawmakers back to Austin, but has called for them to take action when they reconvene in January. Nelson is a longtime advocate for family farms and a co-founder of Farm Aid, an event that raises money for farms. He’s also a regular supporter of Democratic candidates. "The strength of rural America has never come from big industrial footprints," he wrote. "It comes from generations of people, open spaces, local businesses and a connection to the land."

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Harris County Jail explores using AI cameras to monitor inmates

Artificial intelligence could soon be used to monitor inmates at the Harris County Jail. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office recently invited companies to submit proposals for an AI-powered camera system capable of analyzing inmates’ behavior and detecting weapons and other contraband. While the sheriff’s office has not yet chosen a vendor, it’s the first step toward bringing the technology into the jail and follows a wider pattern of AI implementation across county government. The jail is a multi-building facility in downtown Houston along the banks of Buffalo Bayou. Its location, and the complexity of its layout, make it difficult for staff to monitor the thousands of inmates who enter and exit each day, said Jason Spencer, a senior policy advisor to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

“There are lots of blind spots and little nooks and crannies throughout the jail,” Spencer said. “So it’s a challenge keeping eyes on every square foot of that building. I don’t know that this kind of technology would fix that entirely, but it seems like it has the potential to help.” Spencer compared what the sheriff’s office is looking for to similar technologies already in use at stadiums and by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. The hope, he said, is that the same technology can be adapted for use in a jail setting. The move comes amid mounting public scrutiny toward AI-powered monitoring systems, such as FLOCK cameras and other license plate readers. But a 1984 Supreme Court ruling found prisoners do not have a right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment, so implementing the technology in a jail setting would be less politically fraught than the ongoing roll-out of license plate readers along streets and highways. “It's not out in the community, and the intent is to enhance the safety of the people who are held in the jail and the people who work there,” Spencer said. “There’s already cameras all over the jail. This seems like a good use of the technology that doesn’t come with any significant privacy concerns.”

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'Extraordinary life' | Janice McNair, co-founder and senior chair of the Houston Texans, laid to rest

Janice McNair, the co-founder and senior chair of the Houston Texans, has been laid to rest. She died last week at the age of 89. The service was held Friday, July 24, in the sanctuary of St. Luke's United Methodist Church. "Janice lived an extraordinary life rooted in faith, family, philanthropy and football," her obituary read. "A gracious Southern woman and beloved matriarch of the Houston Texans, Janice welcomed everyone she met with her signature warmth, radiant smile and genuine kindness." Serving as pallbearers were D. Cal McNair, her son; Robert D. McNair, her grandson; Calhoun McNair, her grandson; Michael McNair, her grandson; Dr. Judson Suber and Jonathan Suber.

She and her husband, Bob McNair, helped bring the NFL back to Houston and were instrumental in founding the Texans. Through the Houston Texans Foundation and The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, the couple donated more than $500 million to education, medical research and community programs across the city. In 2025, McNair was inducted as the fourth member of the Texans Ring of Honor in recognition of her role in bringing football back to Houston and her lasting impact on the organization and the community. She is survived by her four children, 16 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

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Travis County hires D.C. law firm to represent José Garza in GOP probe

Travis County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to hire a Washington, D.C.-based law firm to represent District Attorney José Garza in a congressional investigation of his office’s prosecution of noncitizens and interactions with federal immigration authorities.. After discussing the matter in closed session, commissioners voted unanimously to pay Miller & Chevalier up to $60,000 to help Garza respond to a request from the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee for five years of records.

Garza received the demand in a June 23 letter from three committee members, including Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, who accused him of pursuing “pro-crime, pro-illegal immigration policies” that allowed undocumented criminals “to freely operate, terrorize local communities, and reoffend without consequences.” The committee members cited statements Garza made while campaigning in which he pledged to consider the consequences of criminal charges and convictions and avoid imposing excessively harsh sentences.. The letter also accused his office of taking a “soft-on-crime approach” that resulted in the release of at least five non-citizens in 2024. Roy said on social media that Garza’s “dereliction of duty has raised questions about whether repeat offenders, including criminal aliens, are being adequately prosecuted and whether the safety of law-abiding Austin residents is being put first.”

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Lawmakers renew push to close Dilley as number of detained children rises

Members of Congress said Tuesday that more than 500 people were being held at the South Texas facility, including 112 children, as they renewed their months-long push to close it. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio said 96 children were being held at Dilley during a congressional visit in May. He and other lawmakers also raised concerns about detainees’ access to legal information. Tuesday’s visit came less than two weeks after Castro led 110 other House Democrats in a letter urging the Department of Homeland Security to close Dilley and end family detention nationwide. Castro was joined by members of the Congressional Democratic Women’s Caucus, advocates from FWD.us and Families Belong Together, and pediatric critical care physician Dr. Anita Patel. The delegation held a news conference in San Antonio after the tour.

Castro said Tuesday marked his seventh visit to Dilley. He criticized the federal government’s use of CoreCivic, a private prison company, to operate the center under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We have commodified child imprisonment in our nation,” Castro said. “CoreCivic is a private prison company whose investors include some of the largest asset managers in this country. They are making money. The more kids that are put in Dilley.” Castro attributed the reported increase in detainees to intensified ICE enforcement over the past month. “I believe that is the result of the ICE surge that we’ve seen over the last month or so,” Castro said. “We’ve seen families that have been torn apart on the street and brutality on the street. The result of that is that more families and more children are now imprisoned at Dilley.” Castro also questioned how detainees were being informed about their rights under the Flores Settlement Agreement, which establishes standards for the treatment and release of immigrant children in federal custody.

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‘A deal with the devil’: Religion motivates data center opponents in Texas

When Matt Long stood before the Granbury, Texas, city council zoning meeting back in April to oppose the influx of proposed data centers in Hood County, he likened them to a spiritual abomination. “I’d consider us a Christian city inside a Christian county,” said Long, a member of the county’s development commission who lives near Granbury. “As Christians, do we think that trading 2,100 acres of natural beauty for godless technological complexes is moving us closer to the creation, or further away?” “Do we think that entering into negotiations with Google, Meta and Amazon are closer to making a covenant with God, or making a deal with the devil?” he asked the council. Christians, Long concluded to applause, must stand up against data centers.

Controversy surrounding data center construction has roiled Texas in recent months, fostering a bipartisan coalition of opposition, particularly among rural and suburban residents. With at least 248 planned data center projects and 335 in operation, the state is poised to become a leader in data center development. Much of the opposition focuses on environmental impact and the large amounts of water and power needed by massive facilities that operate AI applications. But opposition has also coalesced around religious appeals from a theologically diverse group of residents, leaders and politicians who see data center development as an affront to their most sacred values. Clayton Tucker, a Democrat running for Texas agriculture commissioner, is a leader in the anti-data center movement. A Catholic, he wonders if data centers are akin to the apple in the Garden of Eden. “If we take a bite of that apple of knowledge, is that what’s going to kick us out of this blue marble of Eden … that we call Earth?” he said. Religion isn’t solely the domain of the opposition. Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian, a Republican, said he supports data center construction because “throughout history, Christians have embraced innovations that improve lives, from the printing press to modern medicine.” “We should approach data centers the same way: embracing their benefits while ensuring they’re built responsibly,” Christian said in a statement.

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Texas lawmaker introduces bill to protect Mount Cristo Rey from border wall construction

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) has introduced legislation that would prevent the federal government from using eminent domain or federal funding to construct border security infrastructure on or near Mount Cristo Rey, a prominent Catholic pilgrimage site overlooking the border region of Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. The Mount Cristo Rey Protection Act comes after the federal government initiated legal action to obtain approximately 14 acres of land near the base of the mountain in Sunland Park, New Mexico. The land is owned by the Diocese of Las Cruces, and the proposed acquisition is intended to support an extension of the barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. Escobar, a Democrat who represents El Paso in Congress, told NCR the bill is one of several efforts her office is pursuing to prevent construction from affecting the mountain and the religious activities that take place there.

"Mount Cristo Rey is a very special place for my community, for the region, for people of faith, not just in the region, but people of faith who have come to visit and hike to the top," Escobar said in a phone interview. "My constituents have asked me about what I am doing to try to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from, in their eyes and in our eyes, desecrating such a sacred site." The mountain is topped by a 29-foot limestone statue of Jesus Christ, dedicated in October 1939. More than 40,000 people visit the site annually, according to Escobar's office. Pilgrimages traditionally take place on Good Friday and during the Feast of Christ the King, drawing participants from Texas, New Mexico and the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Under the proposed legislation, no federal funds could be used to litigate the government's eminent-domain case concerning the 14.259-acre property. The bill would also prohibit federal funding for roads, fencing, vehicle barriers, security lighting, cameras, sensors or related structures on or near the mountain.

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Texas bet on privatized foster care. EMPOWER tested its limits

Among Nicolette LaRoe is a court-appointed attorney for kids in the child welfare system. But she advocates for them like they're her own. That's why she's so passionate about CJ. “CJ” is how a recent court filing refers to the boy, whose full name and age aren’t disclosed. According to the document, CJ was diagnosed in June 2024 with type of lupus induced by Depakote or divalproex sodium, a medication used to treat epilepsy and other conditions. But caseworkers for EMPOWER — the private nonprofit managing foster care in the Dallas area at the time — didn’t properly document CJ’s medical needs in his case record and authorized the hospital to give the boy divalproex sodium Nov. 26, 2024.

CJ was admitted to the hospital February 19, 2025, with chest pain and pneumonia, according to the filing — conditions believed to be caused by lupus. In the eight months between his diagnosis and his admission to the hospital with lupus-related conditions, the document states, CJ had five different EMPOWER caseworkers assigned to him. His medical needs were miscommunicated in the shuffle. “All the stuff that has happened has been tragic,” LaRoe said in a July interview with KERA News. “And while they were going through all these caseworkers and supervisors and different directors and all this crap, it's like trying to hold jelly in your hand. You can never get a grip on anything.” A KERA News analysis of two years of DFPS corrective plans showed CJ's case wasn't seen as an outlier: EMPOWER’s caseworkers reportedly weren’t showing up to court — and when they were, they were unprepared. Caseworkers dealt with large caseloads, lacked basic training and made simple mistakes that led to negative — and sometimes fatal — outcomes for kids, according to those documents.

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Austinites storm DA José Garza's office to protest APD's fatal shooting of unarmed teen

More than two dozen protesters gathered at Wooldridge Park Tuesday afternoon under an unforgiving sun to demand accountability — and prosecution — for the officers involved in last week's fatal shooting of a teenager identified Tuesday as Anthoneil Williams II. Williams allegedly called police to report a young man brandishing a gun. Officers responded just after 4 a.m. last Friday and fired dozens of rounds into Williams after he lifted up his shirt. Williams was unarmed, carrying only a water bottle. The officers involved in the shooting are on administrative leave, and the incident is under investigation. Williams' friend Ameer Alogaili, 16, said he always "put a smile on everybody's face." Alogaili attended Bohls Middle School and Connally High School with Williams. He said the officers "took a part of me with him" and asked for some accountability.

"[There are] so many families that are suffering right now all because of these cops and them wanting to shoot their guns at a little kid at a park for having a water bottle," he said. "Long live Anthoneil." After remarks, the protesters marched to Travis County District Attorney José Garza's office lobby, storming past metal detectors and chanting "Jail killer cops!" The protest escalated after one demonstrator approached a Travis County Sheriff's deputy at the front desk. After staring down the crowd, the deputy locked himself away in a nearby room as an unidentified protester pounded on the door. Two Travis County Sheriff's deputies responded, pushing the crowd outside and barring the doors after a brief scuffle with demonstrators that was broken up by Anthoneil Williams II's father. The elder Williams pleaded with protesters to fall back as another 10 deputies approached the DA's office.

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Two Wilmer officials arrested following alleged racist confrontation at gas station

Two Wilmer city officials were arrested this month following an investigation into racially charged threats allegedly made at a gas station, according to arrest warrant affidavits obtained Tuesday by The Dallas Morning News. Moses Garcia, 53, elected to the city council in May, was arrested Monday by Wilmer police after he was linked to a July 22 disturbance at a Shell gas station. He faces a terroristic threat charge. Wilmer police allege acting police Chief Jesus Mancillas, 57, attempted to take control of the investigation into Garcia’s actions and interfered with the collection of evidence, according to his affidavit. Wilmer is in Dallas County about 15 miles southeast of Dallas.

Mancillas was appointed as acting chief last week, according to a statement from Wilmer Interim City Administrator Frank Posada, and was expected to provide leadership and oversight as the department addressed ongoing administrative issues. He is accused of inserting himself into an active criminal investigation and preventing the lead detective from performing assigned duties. “I had no knowledge that the Wilmer Police Department was contemplating or carrying out an arrest involving Mr. Mancillas,” Posada said. “He was assisting the city of Wilmer at my request, and I am disappointed by what has occurred.” According to surveillance video footage described in Garcia’s affidavit, Garcia arrived at the gas station in a Tesla and began talking with a man and an employee. In the footage, the group can be seen continuing their conversation until Garcia allegedly calls the man an explicit name. Garcia then begins making statements regarding his influence on Wilmer’s city council, according to the descriptions in the affidavit.

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6 matches, $8.4M in booze: AT&T Stadium broke its record, but did Dallas profit from FIFA?

Take a guess: how many beers and margs do you think were sold at AT&T Stadium during each game of the World Cup? All along, one of the great questions was how much impact the games would have on local bars and restaurants. Projections from the Dallas Sports Commission estimated it would generate up to $2.1 billion for all of North Texas. The state of Texas just released its June mixed beverage gross receipts report, which shows the amount of alcohol every bar or restaurant with a TABC license sold in the month. TABSReport makes it easy to sort through. We looked at the just-released June report for both Dallas and Arlington, and it’s clear that, overall, the World Cup had a financial impact on alcohol sales alone. In some cases, the impact was huge, but don’t get too excited because FIFA kept a lot of that.

While this is just a sliver of the story — just booze in June — it’s something real and substantive, not just figureheads talking. The giant stadium in Arlington hosted six World Cup matches in June (and another three in July, for a total of nine). The stadium sold $8,396,103 in alcohol in June. For comparison, in June of 2025 it sold just $572,605. Previously, during the NFL season, the most it had sold was $8.2 million, making this a new record. (Of course, there would never be six NFL games at the stadium in one month, so it feels like the Cowboys win here.) How many beers and margs is $8.4 million? Let’s say each drink is $20 (beers averaged about $17 and a margarita was $25.50); that’s 419,805 drinks. Over six games, that’s 69,967 drinks per game. Before you get excited for the Cowboys and all that money they just made, it goes to FIFA, the nonprofit that runs the world’s largest soccer tournament. Per its agreement with host cities, it gets all revenue from tickets, concessions, parking and broadcast rights. Host cities pay for security, transportation and most of the Fanfest. Feels a little lopsided, right? Some cities, including Chicago, bowed out of even hosting games because they couldn’t justify the costs versus potential revenue.

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National Stories

Diary entries, a subpoena and an anticipated clash: Dr. Anthony Fauci and Rand Paul’s long-running battle returns to the Hill

Even before the US enacted a national shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci pondered whether he might have testified before Congress more than any other official. As the longtime face of the government’s infectious disease response, he was on Capitol Hill roughly 250 times over the course of his career to discuss threats such as the HIV/AIDS crisis and Ebola. On Wednesday, the retired scientist will notch one more testimony, in what is expected to be a combative hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. The appearance will mark the latest showdown with Sen. Rand Paul, the committee’s chairman, who has long sought to blame the Covid pandemic and shortcomings of the US response on Fauci.

Fauci did not agree to turn up willingly. In June, Paul subpoenaed the 85-year-old former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his appearance. Internal correspondence shared with CNN shows that Fauci initially declined to appear voluntarily, citing his past clashes with Paul and the senator’s efforts to indict him. “Your request that Dr. Fauci appear before the Committee arises within a context that cannot be ignored — the context of repeated public and absolutely baseless pronouncements by you, a sitting United States Senator, that Dr. Fauci should be prosecuted and jailed,” his lawyers wrote in a letter to Paul. Ahead of the hearing, the committee released more than 1,100 pages of Fauci’s personal diary from 2019 to 2022. Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday night on Fox News that he had recently handed the files over to Paul and Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson after finding them on government servers following an eight-month search.

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DHS stats chief rips Trump’s ‘war on immigrants’ in blistering resignation letter

A top official at the Department of Homeland Security announced his resignation over the weekend in a blistering letter that lashed out at President Donald Trump and excoriated what he described as the administration’s “war on immigrants.” Marc Rosenblum, the former executive director of the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, wrote in a public LinkedIn post on Saturday that he was “sad, and thrilled, to say that yesterday was my last day working at DHS.” Rosenblum joined the Office of Immigration Statistics in 2016, and said he watched the team grow from a “scrappy team of 11” to a staff of 45 prior to Trump’s second term. In the more than 10 years Rosenblum served at the agency, he said, his team expanded its data processing and reporting efforts.

“But it will come as no surprise that I’m thrilled to end my relationship with the current administration,” Rosenblum wrote. “Between the war on immigrants, the war on feds, and the war on facts (not to mention the crazy war in Iran and the brazen corruption), I just need a change.” A representative for DHS told NOTUS that while the department does not comment on personnel decisions, “people are always welcome to their opinion — that doesn’t make it right or factual.” The White House declined to comment. The Trump administration launched expanded immigration enforcement efforts at the beginning of the president’s second term, but critics on both sides of the aisle have requested better data on the impact of those efforts. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not release data on either detentions or deportations from April 9 until July 24, 2026, missing multiple semimonthly “Detention Management” reports that typically include arrests, detentions and deportations, according to The Marshall Project. Rosenblum did not address the data-sharing lapses explicitly in his resignation letter — though he described a “challenging and often hostile work environment” that he and others allegedly experienced at DHS. Multiple organizations have taken legal action against the Trump administration, seeking data on immigration enforcement and detention practices. The Oversight Project, a conservative-leaning advocacy group, filed a lawsuit this month against DHS to release the updated data. American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group, filed a lawsuit against the department in June seeking records relating to deaths in immigration custody.

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Iran launches surprise ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East

Iran targeted American forces in the Middle East with ballistic missiles late Tuesday stateside, U.S. Central Command said, raising tensions in the region again after the warring sides had briefly halted hostilities. Centcom in a post on X said that the attack originated from Iran, but all missiles were intercepted. “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East.“ While the U.S. military command did not specify where the attacks were aimed at, Axios reported the attack was directed at a U.S. base in Jordan, citing U.S. officials. In a subsequent statement posted on X, Centcom said U.S. and Saudi forces struck “multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites” in eastern Iraq Tuesday stateside, retaliating against more than 30 drone attacks in the past three days by “Iran-aligned terrorists.“

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said the strikes were carried out in coordination with U.S. Central Command, and added the kingdom does not seek escalation, but will respond to any aggression it faces. Riyadh said earlier that drones launched from Iraq by “Iran-affiliated terrorist militias” attempted to target petroleum facilities in Saudi Arabia. The Iran-backed Iraqi Mobilization Forces said in a statement later on Tuesday that at least 20 of its members had been killed in the strikes and 32 had been wounded. Tensions have escalated after a two-day pause in hostilities between Washington and Tehran, sending oil surging, after prices declined for three straight days. U.S. President Donald Trump had set aside plans to escalate the war against Iran amid worries over diminishing stockpiles of Patriot interceptors and other air defense munitions in the Middle East, The New York Times had reported. Trump had dismissed concerns over stockpile depletion.

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Senate votes to confirm Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton will become the next director of national intelligence after the Senate voted to confirm his nomination following a monthslong stalemate. Clayton's nomination was confirmed by a 51-47 party-line vote. Clayton's confirmation comes as senators work to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, a critical national security tool that went dark after Democrats revolted against its extension over concerns over the next DNI.

Following the resignation of previous DNI Tulsi Gabbard in May, President Donald Trump tapped Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte as acting DNI despite his lack of intelligence experience. The move caused all Democrats, with the exception of Sen. John Fetterman, to vote against moving forward with consideration of the FISA authorization despite the fact that some, including Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner, had previously been supportive of FISA reauthorization. Trump's appointment of Pulte as acting DNI also frustrated some Republicans, including Majority Leader John Thune, who argued the reauthorization had a bipartisan, bicameral path forward but was derailed due to the timing of Trump's announcement. "There have been timing issues around several things that they've done in the last few weeks," Thune said of the administration in early June. "I'm sure that's the, you know, that's the conclusion Democrats have drawn, but I still think that, not withstanding their feelings on that, that it's irresponsible not to keep this agency going," Thune said.

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Trump, Senate give tearful goodbye to Lindsey Graham

Former Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) received an emotional send-off Wednesday at two memorial services, where political allies and foes, some of whom had shifted back and forth during the South Carolinian’s long career, bid him tribute. “He was a force of nature, and I will miss him greatly,” President Trump said at the latter service at Washington National Cathedral, where the political crowd was dominated by Trump administration officials and global leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump nodded to his friendship with his fellow Republican, which grew from a rivalry when the two were running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2015.

“As you remember, Lindsey and I did not exactly get off to the best of starts, running against each other,” Trump said, recounting how he had publicly given out Graham’s cellphone number at a campaign event in response to a political attack. “His phone totally, I don’t know what he did with it, but it exploded,” the president joked. Graham went on to become one of Trump’s strongest allies in the Senate, a major turn given the South Carolina Republican’s previous alliance with former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who died in 2018 as a firm GOP opponent of Trump. “That was the beginning of a friendship, in a way,” Trump said of the cellphone episode. “But it was Lindsey who had the last laugh, because while I blew up his phone for one day, we became great friends, and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years. It was not easy.” Earlier in the day, Graham was honored in a memorial service at the Capitol Rotunda, which was attended by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

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New Mexico is divided over what to do with $75 Billion in oil cash

In a beige office park on the edge of town not far from a Walmart, waves of oil-and-gas money are crashing on Jon Clark’s desk. A flood of $7.6 billion arrived in 2024. Followed by an additional $5.3 billion in 2025. This year, Clark, New Mexico’s state investment officer, is projecting $5.4 billion. New Mexico’s oil-and-gas bounty has helped build a $75 billion investment fund that would be the envy of Wall Street. New Mexico has become the second-largest-producing oil state in the country, behind Texas, and soaring crude prices from the U.S. war with Iran are translating into another burst of revenue. The question for the state now: What to do with it?

New Mexico is one of America’s poorest states, and many here in the state capital believe its relatively new oil wealth is its path to stability. That opportunity comes with inherent tension over what to fund now and how much to save for the future. Spending more of the money today will eat into the state’s safety net for the next time crude prices crater or the wells run dry. It isn’t as simple as saving or spending. Some state officials are betting that shelling out on new programs now can help bolster the economy before the next bust. When energy prices were low early this year, about $160 million flowed into the largest bucket of New Mexico’s fund each month from royalties paid by energy companies pumping on publicly owned land. That jumped to $241 million in March after the Iran war sent crude prices higher. More cash is expected to arrive from taxes on oil-and-gas sales. “We’re going to increasingly be part of how the state pays for everything moving forward,” Clark said. “The potential for impact is almost limitless in the long term.”

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Lead Stories

A rare bipartisan coalition takes aim at Texas data centers, urging Abbott to call a special session

Calls are growing among data center opponents for Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session for lawmakers to rein in the projects that have roiled rural communities. On Monday morning, in advance of two interim hearings this week dealing with data centers, grassroots organizers from across the state convened at the Capitol to voice their opposition to the massive computing centers that have proliferated rapidly over the last year. The protest comes as data centers have emerged as an unexpected flashpoint ahead of November’s midterms. Roughly 40 people held signs reading “Governor Abbott is all hat and no cattle” and chanted “special session now.” Abbott, who as recently as November touted Texas as the “epicenter of AI development,” has sought to address the bubbling backlash among voters in deep-red rural Texas by directing state regulators to ensure data centers do not pass on costs for new electrical infrastructure to ratepayers.

He has urged lawmakers, who reconvene for the next Legislative session in January, to repeal the centers’ lucrative sales tax exemptions and set up rules on where they can be built. Troy Jones, a GOP precinct chair from Paris, said Abbott has not gone far enough. “To go far enough would be to have a special session to get the House and the Senate to get on board and to get something done,” Jones said. “It just keeps getting kicked down the road. Nobody really wants to do anything. Counties' hands are tied. They can't do anything.” Abbott is the only official with the power to bring lawmakers back for a special session. Sid Miller, the outgoing Republican Agricultural Commissioner whom Abbott campaigned against in the primary, pointed to the governor’s office and urged the crowd to call on him to act. “He can hear everything we're saying, and I invite him to come down here and join us today,” Miller said. “The governor has authority to bring the legislature back tomorrow. He can have them in session tomorrow. So we're calling on him to do just that.”

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Judge orders release of a witness to Lorenzo Salgado's shooting

A federal judge on Monday ordered U.S. immigration authorities to release Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, one of the witnesses to Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's shooting death. U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison granted Rojas' habeas petition and ordered ICE to release him from a Conroe detention facility within 48 hours, according to a filing issued in the Southern District of Texas. Ellison said Rojas' continued detention would violate his Fifth Amendment rights to due process, if he were held without an "individualized justification." Justice Department lawyers argued in a Friday motion that precedent set by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans allowed Rojas to be detained throughout removal proceedings. Ellison noted the Fifth Circuit's ruling, but wrote that it had "no effect" on Rojas' claims.

Rojas' lawyer couldn't immediately be reached for comment. The U.S. Attorney's office and Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Rojas has been held at the Conroe facility since July 7. He was one of three construction workers whom Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was driving to work that morning, shortly before immigration agents began pursuing the van they were riding in. The chase ended on Canal Street in Houston's East End, where an ICE agent fatally shot Salgado. Federal officials have said in statements that Salgado "weaponized" his van and rammed pursing ICE vehicles. But through statements passed through their lawyers, Rojas and the other men have denied that Salgado attempted to hit anyone on purpose. Salgado's death sparked weeks of protests in Houston and prompted calls for independent investigations. At least three agencies — the Department of Homeland Security, the Harris County District Attorney's Office and the Texas Rangers — have said they are investigating the shooting. Rojas had been detained without a bond determination while removal proceedings continue. He has applied for a U visa based on the circumstances of the shooting, with certification from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

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Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow new mail-in voting rules

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow federal agencies to move forward with new mail-in voting policies. The application seeks to lift a lower court ruling that blocked, in nearly half of all states and the District of Columbia, two parts of an executive order from March that directed the U.S. Postal Service to create mail ballot rules and the Department of Homeland Security to compile a national database of eligible voters. Attorneys for the administration argued that an injunction against the policies is “premature” because the agencies have not yet implemented the executive order, which gave them “substantial discretion” to do so. “Accordingly, much remains uncertain as to what a final USPS rule might include or what the contents or uses of any DHS lists might be,” the filing says.

And, with fewer than 100 days until the midterm elections, the administration said it does not have time to let the lower court process play out first. “Even if the agencies’ implementation plans end up being entirely lawful, there is not enough time to obtain ordinary appellate relief from the injunction in order to carry them out before the November election, especially given that any such plans will need to be implemented well before November given the timing of election procedures concerning voter-roll verification and mail voting,” the filing says. Efforts to implement any DHS rule or USPS rule would need to begin as soon as early- to mid-August to be in place for the 2026 election, the filing argued, “particularly given that absentee and mail-in voting begin (in some States) several weeks prior to Election Day.” The order would require USPS to regulate the redesign of mail-in ballots and envelopes. A state must also notify USPS if “it intends to allow for mail-in or absentee ballots to be transmitted by the USPS,” 90 days before the election, and any mail-in ballots submitted must be checked through a preapproved list of eligible voters.

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ICE extends no-bid contract for major detention center in Texas, rejecting calls for closure

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to keep one of its largest and most expensive detention facilities open for at least another year despite calls to close it over reported human rights abuses, according to a notice published last week. ICE plans to extend the no-bid contract of the firm that runs Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, through Sept. 30, 2027, at a potential additional cost to taxpayers of $776 million, the notice says. This is on top of a $452 million initial contract that the firm, Amentum Services Inc., was awarded in March when it was hastily installed to take over the camp’s operation from a contractor removed for poor performance.

For months, Democratic members of Congress and several advocacy organizations have called for Camp East Montana to be closed, citing reports that detainees have been routinely mistreated since its opening in August 2025. A report released earlier this month by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union alleged that staff routinely beat detainees, denied them medical care, made them live in filthy conditions and fed them inedible meals. Reports by federal agencies have also found unsafe detention conditions and that the Army and ICE have wasted millions of dollars paying for unnecessary services. At least three Camp East Montana detainees have died. The facility at Fort Bliss, an Army base near the U.S.-Mexico border, has housed an average of more than 2,000 male and female detainees a day since Oct. 1, though its population has declined significantly in recent months, according to ICE data.

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State Stories

House ethics panel investigating Gooden, who rejected the allegations

The House Ethics Committee announced Monday it is investigating unspecified allegations against Republican Rep. Lance Gooden of Terrell. The Office of Congressional Conduct referred the matter to the committee June 10. Gooden indicated the allegations are related to “spending” and he dismissed them as unfounded. “These are bogus spending allegations perpetrated by dishonest unelected OCC bureaucrats, and as the fifth Texas GOP ally of the president to endure one of these attacks, I am confident the House Ethics Committee will confirm their baseless nature,” Gooden said in a statement.

He did not specify whether the spending in question was by his official office or his campaign. The committee provided no details about the allegations, saying it will announce next steps by Nov. 9. “The committee notes that the mere fact of a referral or an extension, and the mandatory disclosure of such an extension and the name of the subject of the matter, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the committee,” it said in the announcement. The Office of Congressional Conduct, previously called the Office of Congressional Ethics, fields many complaints and refers a small number to the committee for further review. Under House rules, the panel can review those complaints confidentially for a period, but is required to issue a public statement if it needs more time.

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Why Greg Abbott is targeting James Talarico instead of Gina Hinojosa

Greg Abbott’s challenger for governor is Democrat Gina Hinojosa, but Senate nominee James Talarico is commanding most of his attention. Abbott and his GOP allies see Talarico’s record-breaking fundraising and voter turnout operation as a bigger threat to Republicans up and down the November ballot. They see no need to engage with Hinojosa, a state representative from Austin who is not as widely known and lacks the same political resources. So whether it's a rally, news conference or fundraising appeal, Abbott doesn't say Hinojosa's name. And when his campaign aides are asked about Hinojosa, they respond by asking, "Who?" It's an old-school strategy for a new-era race.

"We don't talk about her. We don't think about her. We don't care about her," said Dave Carney, Abbott's longtime chief political strategist. "We are running our own campaign, and she can run her own campaign." In response, Hinojosa said Abbott is "scared" to engage her because he's in the pocket of corporate donors and has a poor record to tout. "Greg Abbott won't talk about me because he's afraid to run against me," she said in a text message. "He sees the polling showing this is the closest race of his political career." Talarico, a state representative from Austin, raised more than $31 million in the second quarter of this year, more than tripling the $9.3 million hauled in by his Republican rival, Attorney General Ken Paxton. Carney warned that along with the money Talarico raises for his individual campaign, up to $400 million in outside money could pour into Texas to mobilize Democratic voters.

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North Richland Hills City Council unanimously approves more data center regulations

North Richland Hills council members unanimously voted to amend zoning requirements for data centers that want to locate in the city. After a public hearing Monday, July 27, the council voted to require that data centers must have specific use permits before they can operate. Councilman Matt Blake was absent because of work. Planning Director Cori Reaume told the council that the specific use permits means city staff would consider noise, water systems and effects of data centers on adjacent properties. She added that there are specific use permits for other types of businesses, including drive-thru restaurants and secondhand goods sales.

Reaume also said that a FlashVote survey went out to residents asking them to list their top four concerns about data centers. Those concerns included high water use, noise from backup generators and the concern that tax revenues wouldn’t cover the infrastructure demands that data centers would cause. During the public hearing, speakers shared similar concerns. Resident Karen Martin said the recommendation for specific use permits is a “good starting place.” “Time is of the essence because our doors are open,” she said. Martin also said she is worried about the grid, although improvements have been made. She provided information packets to the council members and said she had concerns about “heat islands” from data centers. North Richland Hills adopted data center regulations in June 2025 to address the new use. Some requirements include specifying that data centers larger than 10,000 square feet are allowed on industrial property by right, or on commercial property with a specific use permit.

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Fort Worth council member says cop who shot child sex offender did ‘Lord’s work’

Fort Worth City Council member Charles Lauersdorf was criticized over the weekend following his Facebook post saying the officer who fatally shot a convicted child sex offender was doing the Lord’s work. Lauersdorf made the post shortly after midnight on July 26 after he attended a press conference with Police Chief Eddie Garcia at the scene of the shooting in south Fort Worth. Police were looking for 56-year-old Ricky Shane Lindsey on a felony warrant for cutting off his ankle monitor, Garcia told reporters late Saturday night. Lindsey was convicted in McLennan County in 2004 on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child, according to the Fort Worth police department’s sex offender registry.

He was released from prison in October 2024, but indicted in January 2026 for failing to register with the Fort Worth Police Department, according to court records. Lindsey was spotted driving near Interstate 35W and Risinger Road about 8 p.m. After a short vehicle pursuit, Lindsey stopped at a motel parking lot on the 100 block of Palette Drive, just south of the Everman Parkway exit, where police say he produced a weapon, Garcia said. Police fired, Lindsey was struck, and died after receiving medical attention, Garcia said. In his post, Lauersdorf characterized the shooting as the Lord’s work. “Our Directed Response Unit took a sex offender off the street - Permanently - saving taxpayers money and keeping us safe. I couldn’t be more proud!” Lauersdorf said in his post. One person called Lauersdorf’s post disgusting, arguing police don’t sign up to be “judge, jury and executioner.”

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Inside the parish-led fight against a $123M ICE facility in Texas

In the 1980s, Maria Estella Padilla went door to door after Mass, organizing house meetings to bring running water and sewerage services to hundreds of thousands of homes along the Texas-Mexico border. Today, at 82, she’s back to organizing her neighbors and fellow parishioners at La Purisima Catholic Church in an effort aimed both at stopping a planned immigration detention center and protecting the access to water that she and others fought so hard to win decades ago. “We did it back then when we didn’t have the internet, when we didn’t have social media, but now they communicate quickly. It would be easier in a way to do it now than it was back then when we had to go door to door and take signups after Mass,” she said of her latest fight.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, then headed by Secretary Kristi Noem, announced a $38 billion plan to buy and retrofit 11 warehouses across the country to convert them into sprawling detention facilities to serve the administration’s mass deportation program for undocumented immigrants. (DHS spent $1 billion on buying the 11 facilities.) That included three warehouses on the edge of Socorro, about 15 miles southeast of the El Paso city limits, which were built to hold nuts harvested from nearby pecan groves. The property, sold to DHS for $123 million by a Kansas City area developer, included three reinforced concrete warehouses of about 296,000 square feet each, with an adjacent plot of land available for expansion. DHS initially said the Socorro facility would hold up to 8,500 immigrants awaiting deportation, which would have made it one of the largest immigrant detention centers in the country.

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Kerr County officials still taking stock of damage from latest flood

County Judge Rob Kelly picked up his wooden name plate on Monday morning and tapped it like a gavel on a folding table. That was how the Kerr County Commissioners Court started its first regular meeting since flooding struck the county on July 16. “That’s as good as I got today,” Kelly said. “Where in God’s name do we begin?” With their usual home at the Kerr County courthouse rendered unusable by the flooding, the commissioners met at the old Kerrville municipal court building. They sat behind two joined folding tables, with a small console table serving as a podium. As they continue to take stock of the damage done to county infrastructure by this year's flooding, the commissioners on Monday got briefings from multiple county officials. Some of the takeaways include:

County officials aren’t sure when they can return to the flood-damaged courthouse; Several flood-damaged bridges remain closed; County staffers are still assessing damage to infrastructure along the Guadalupe River. As much as seven feet of water flowed into the basement of the county courthouse, and it could take a year to repair, Kelly said. Damage to the courthouse varies by level, Kelly said. The first floor will take at least a month to reopen. Before employees can return to the first floor, it must be cleared of asbestos, mold and bad odors, Kelly said. The courthouse’s second floor was not damaged by the flood, but the building’s elevator is out of commission. Kelly said federal law prevents county offices from operating on the second floor if a working elevator is not available. “The nastiness downstairs has caused problems upstairs,” Kelly said. Kelly said it's not clear when the elevator will be repaired. Flooding did significant damage to 10 bridges in Kerr County and four of those remain closed, said Kelly Hoffer, administrator of the county's road and bridge department. Flood debris remains wedged under some of the bridges, and the county lacks the proper equipment to remove it and will need to "get some help" Hoffer said.

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How a Dallas mom says leaders of a nonprofit tried to take her baby

(Editor’s note: WFAA repeatedly reached out to the leaders of Reflection Ministries, including traveling to Midland to try to talk to them. Both declined to answer questions.) On a recent day inside a Dallas courtroom, there were baby gifts, balloons and a small celebration. For DeAmber Brown, it was a moment she wasn’t sure she’d ever see — holding her baby again after months of separation, court fights and weeks in jail. “I’m just happy to have my baby back,” Brown said. But Brown also said her ordeal is far from over. What started as a search for shelter while she was pregnant turned into a fight for her freedom and her child that stretched from Dallas to Midland. Brown, a human trafficking survivor, says the leaders of a West Texas ministry that promised to help her instead tried to take and keep her baby. “To hear what I have to say is unbelievable,” Brown told WFAA.

Brown’s story began in November 2025. “I was at the end of my pregnancy,” she said. “I’d just quit both my jobs, too big to work,” she said. Homeless and in need of help, Brown says a Dallas shelter referred her to Reflection Ministries, a Midland-based nonprofit that works with trafficking survivors. On Nov. 21, Brown arrived at the group’s housing complex outside Midland, known as “The Village.” “I really thought it'd be a place where I could start over, bring my other kids, have a life, a new life,” she said. Ten days later, Brown underwent an emergency C-section at Midland Memorial Hospital. “They were like, you're going to have this baby tonight,” Brown said. Brown says while she was in the hospital, Elizabeth Walker, the chief operating officer of Reflection Ministries, began making strange comments. “’She's just having a baby for me. She's just the surrogate,’” Brown recalled Walker saying. “And I really thought she was joking. I was laughing and never in a million years did I think it was real,” Brown said. Reflection Ministries’ founder, Lisa Bownds, would later produce paperwork – which has since been filed in court and obtained by WFAA – claiming Brown signed over temporary guardianship of her newborn to her.

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Texas AG Ken Paxton launches investigations into feminine care products

The Texas attorney general says he's launching an investigation of popular cosmetics and feminine care products that potentially contain toxic chemicals. On Monday, AG Ken Paxton announced investigations into Tampax and Kotex, as well as products that brand themselves as "clean" and "non-toxic," like LOLA and L. The investigation cites a UC Berkeley study that found heavy metals like lead, cadmium and arsenic in tampons. “I will continue to work tirelessly to help Make America Healthy Again by stopping companies that illegally put toxic heavy metals and dangerous chemicals in their products,” Paxton said in a media release.

“Many corporations have neglected the health of women by using harmful ingredients in their everyday products, but my office will fight to defend Texas women and their health. No corporation should mislead women about the safety of its products, and my office will thoroughly investigate any company that harms the health of Texans.” KVUE reached out to the companies mentioned, but we have not heard back yet. The attorney general also said he's investigating lip products that may contain harmful ingredients like titanium dioxide. He did not name specific cosmetic companies he's looking into. Paxton said the investigations will focus on potential violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and whether consumers were misled over the safety, quality or chemical makeup of the products.

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As bus drivers threaten to strike, CapMetro board member urges more pressure on management

With the possibility of a transit strike shutting down virtually all fixed-route bus service in Austin, a CapMetro board member joined transit workers Monday in calling on the agency to push harder for a labor agreement. Meanwhile, an executive with Keolis, the private contractor which operates most of CapMetro's bus service, acknowledged to KUT News that the company must negotiate within financial limits set by the transit agency. Council Member Zo Qadri, who also serves on the CapMetro board, told reporters that he's asked tough questions of the agency's leadership as about 1,400 bus drivers, mechanics and other workers threaten their first strike since 2008.

Asked whether CapMetro controls how much workers can be paid, Qadri said "it seems like CapMetro could put their thumb on it ... a little bit firmer." The comments increase scrutiny on a central question in the dispute: How much control does CapMetro have over negotiations it has publicly characterized as being a matter between Keolis and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1091? Keolis Assistant General Manager Cynthia Rasco said the company decides how to bargain within the constraints of money available. And she confirmed the limits are set by CapMetro. "Not that they tell us how to do that, but there's a certain financial parameter that we do have to remain within," Rasco said. A July memo to CapMetro's board uses similar language, saying Keolis is negotiating "within the financial parameters provided by CapMetro." The memo says Keolis may have to find savings elsewhere in the union agreement.

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Fort Bend resident whose lawsuit led to Daniel Wong’s appointment as county judge wants that decision vacated

Fort Bend County's Democratic commissioners remain in a stalemate with their Republican counterparts over Daniel Wong's authority to serve as county judge – a key question as the suburban Houston-area county approaches tax rate discussions and the elected position is set to be on the November ballot. The county resident who filed a lawsuit last fall against former county judge KP George – which led to Wong's interim appointment in April – is asking a district court judge to help provide an answer. Wong, a Republican who is facing Commissioner Dexter McCoy in November's county judge election, was appointed to serve in the role by Judge Jeth Jones.

The visiting Republican judge from Galveston County did so while suspending George – in response to a civil lawsuit filed by a resident who claimed George violated her free-speech rights and was incompetent to hold office. Jones' decision followed George's criminal conviction in March on felony money laundering charges. Now an attorney representing the resident who filed the civil suit, Sarah Roberts, is asking Jones to vacate his temporary appointment of Wong as of June 17, the date the lawsuit was initially dismissed at Roberts' request. Jones presided over a court hearing last Thursday that included Roberts' attorney as well as legal counsel for Wong, who is challenging Roberts' request. Jones called the case “complex” and indicated he would make a ruling “soon,” also discussing the possibility of another hearing in the case. In addition to arguing that Wong's appointment became invalidated when the lawsuit against George was dismissed, Roberts' attorney, Dylan B. Russell, also argued that his client lacked standing to sue in the first place because a county attorney or county district attorney was not involved in litigating the matter.

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In ‘limbo’: North Texas family’s legal battle with school district could affect special ed statewide

Shannon Harriman is careful when he talks about his son, Kelton Lightfoot. Harriman describes his son as a funny 17-year-old who wants to get a job, learn how to drive and spend time with the family’s gentle black labrador retriever, Hudson. For all of his affection and devotion to Kelton, there’s also exhaustion, frustration and concern. “A lot of times, it is good,” Harriman said. “[He] can be funny and great to be around. It’s just when it’s bad, it’s sometimes really bad.” Kelton’s intellectual and behavioral development has been significantly affected by a traumatic brain injury he sustained when he was two weeks old. Harriman said Kelton’s disabilities manifest mostly in his behaviors — which can often be violent.

“He can go from being happy to spitting on you, to hitting, throwing things, threatening you with knives, a lot of verbal escalation as well,” he said. For several years, Harriman has split his time and energy between his job in IT and trying to ensure his son has the resources he needs. That’s how Kelton became the center of a legal battle that could have far-reaching implications for accessible education across Texas. Earlier this year, Weatherford ISD — about 30 miles west of Fort Worth — was given 10 days to comply with an order to provide specific resources for Kelton. Months later, the family is still waiting — and advocates warn Kelton might not be the only kid affected. As a child, Kelton went between school districts, full-time therapy providers and short-term treatment programs.

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The latest front in the Texas trans wars? The American Revolution

A Texas member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and her supporters are calling on the national nonprofit organization to bar transgender women from its ranks, pitting traditionalists against progressives on yet another culture war battlefield. At the group’s 135th Continental Congress in June, members voted down a resolution to clarify the term “woman,” as used in the organization’s bylaws, to only include “a woman who was born female.” For three years before that, Laura McDonald, a member from Mount Pleasant, had lobbied to keep transgender women out of the group, known as the DAR. McDonald said she discovered in 2023 that the DAR had transgender members. While investigating further, she found a frequently asked questions document that had circulated among state and national officers of the DAR confirming the organization’s stance on allowing transgender women. According to a copy of that document, which McDonald shared, the DAR’s position is that because transgender women live and identify as women, they are permitted to join the DAR as long as they meet other membership requirements.

The stipulation is that transgender individuals seeking membership must have birth certificates stating they are female. In all but a handful of states, people can change the gender on their birth certificates. Texas, however, is not one of them. The head of the DAR in Texas, Susan Johnston, referred the Star-Telegram to the organization’s national president, Ginnie Storage. Storage did not respond to an email asking for perspective on the DAR’s policy regarding transgender members. None of the Fort Worth DAR chapters responded to requests for comment. The DAR was founded in 1890 by women who were excluded from joining the Sons of the American Revolution, a historical preservation organization founded by men whose forebears helped the United States secure independence from Great Britain in the previous century. The DAR’s bylaws state that membership in the organization is open to women 18 or older who can prove “direct lineal bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided the fight for American independence.” According to the DAR’s website, there are 175,000 members and 3,000 chapters in the U.S. and abroad. When asked how many transgender women were in the DAR, McDonald said she was told there were three or four.

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City Stories

Dallas 'hid' homeless people from FIFA, council member says, cites ongoing 'inhumane' conditions

Dallas City Council Member Cara Mendelsohn — who chairs the city's Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee — says the city hid its homeless community from FIFA World Cup visitors and pushed unsheltered individuals out of downtown with no enforcement. The comments were part of a Facebook post made on her official District 12 profile late last week. Mendelsohn wrote that she cared deeply about homelessness but also voiced frustration that some people experiencing homelessness push back attempts to help. "If you are homeless in Dallas, and aren't willing to go to any shelter or program, be reunited with your family, go to in-patient detox or mental health care, there has to be a forced removal and some kind of consequence," she wrote.

"People can't take over public land and make our medians their toilet. It's not safe and sanitary for Dallas residents, businesses, or the homeless. In the post, Mendelsohn said she received notice that a “bucket” of human feces was found dumped at the intersection of Frankford Road and the Dallas North Tollway. She later clarified in a follow up post that a city contractor sent out to clean the debris said it was sausage and ribs, not human feces. “The city isn't enforcing state laws and local ordinances,” Mendelsohn told KERA. “It is unsafe and inhumane to ignore that people are living unsheltered.” There were 44,545 calls regarding homeless encampments between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2025, according to the latest data from Dallas 311. Several Texas Penal codes and Dallas City codes prohibit camping, obstructing roadways, sleeping in public places, and urinating or defecating in public. Mendelsohn said in her post that the city needs to encourage people to move to shelter and, if necessary, enforce the law to make that happen. She says the answer should be as unique as the individual's situation or crisis that led them to become unsheltered.

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Under pressure from Mayor Jones, Spurs to pay part of penalty over failed MLS bid

The Spurs organization will pay the city of San Antonio and Bexar County a penalty of $2.6 million because it failed to lure a Major League Soccer team to the Alamo City — a requirement under a decade-old soccer stadium deal. Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has made it her mission to enforce the provision, repeatedly calling on Spurs Sports & Entertainment to fulfill its end of the $21 million agreement, which resulted in the city and county purchasing Toyota Field from philanthropist and one-time developer Gordon Hartman in 2015. “Payment in accordance with the contract would remind everyone of the strength of the City’s relationship with the Spurs owners — a relationship built on mutual respect,” Jones said to SS&E managing partner Peter J. Holt in a May 15 letter.

SS&E, which owns San Antonio FC, agreed to repay the San Antonio-Bexar County Soccer Public Facility Corporation a combined $5 million penalty if it failed to secure an MLS expansion team by 2021. The corporation is the city-county entity that owns Toyota Field, which San Antonio FC leases for $100,000 a year. San Antonio FC plays in the USL Championship, a men’s professional league a tier below MLS. SS&E declined to answer questions about the payment, which the PFC board will vote to approve on Thursday. “This will fulfill the City’s portion of the amount owed to the PFC by SS&E,” said city spokesperson Brian Chasnoff. To date, SS&E has repaid $250,000, according to the city. It has missed $1.75 million worth of scheduled payments, which amounted to more than $2.1 million after factoring interest as of April.

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National Stories

Pentagon reports more than 600 Iran war casualties in quiet database update

The Pentagon updated its official war casualty database over the weekend, adding more than 140 wounded service members. The Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) also introduced a new casualty category labeled “Overseas Operations” for personnel killed and wounded “starting July 7”. According to the updated database, the official toll for the earlier phase of the US-Iran war, known as Operation Epic Fury, now stands at 14 service members killed and more than 400 wounded in action. These figures have been a point of contention after the Pentagon previously reduced the totals from 18 deaths and 482 wounded that had been recorded just days earlier.

The dispute comes after the collapse of the ceasefire with Iran and the resumption of near-daily airstrikes beginning on 6 July. Analysts and officials have questioned whether casualties from the renewed fighting should be counted separately from Operation Epic Fury, a move that would be unprecedented. The Trump administration is seeking to classify the renewed military campaign as separate from Operation Epic Fury, the US military’s official name for the Iran conflict. The change is tied to the War Powers Act of 1973, which requires the president to end military operations within 60 days unless Congress authorizes an extension. The Trump administration has argued that the April ceasefire with Iran paused the clock on 1 May for the conflict’s initial period. The separate casualty count beginning on 7 July follows that interpretation.

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McConnell says he is unable to return to US Senate yet

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell said he will not ?rejoin the Senate when it returns to work on ?Monday because he is still recovering from a fall and from pneumonia. "As much as it frustrates me, this process takes time," McConnell said in a ?statement on Sunday, his first since he was hospitalized last month. "And ?on the advice of my doctors, I won’t be ?able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet." He ?said that he suffered a fall in mid-June that left him ?briefly unconscious. While hospitalized, he developed pneumonia and was treated with antibiotics, according to a separate statement that McConnell's office attributed to the attending physician. ?The physician was not identified.

McConnell, 84, said he is now at ?a rehabilitation center, which he did not name. He will focus on "physical therapy and ?strategies ?to reduce his risk of future falls," according to the physician's statement. The Kentucky Republican and former Senate majority leader, who now chairs the Senate Rules Committee, said he has been working with his ?legislative staff on ?current issues ?and keeping in touch with Senate colleagues. McConnell has been out of public view since mid-June, when he ?was taken from his home to a hospital ?in the ?Washington area for reasons that were not disclosed until the latest statement. Less than a day earlier, the office of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a ?South ?Carolina Republican and one of the ?chamber's most prominent members, announced that he had died from a heart ailment.

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Kevin Warsh’s first two months as Fed Chair: What he changed, and what could happen next

On the evening of June 15, before the first day of his first policy meeting as Federal Reserve chairman, Kevin Warsh sat down to dinner with the 18 officials who set interest rates alongside him. Gathered around a rectangular table, he announced his plan: five panels of outside experts would spend the next few months examining how the Fed reads the economy and explains itself. Governor Christopher Waller, a former economics professor with a reputation for saying what others won’t, put Warsh on the spot, according to several people familiar with the dinner. What’s the point of all this, he asked. Tell me who you’re putting on these groups, he said, and I’ll tell you what they’ll say. There were no brilliant ideas out there that everyone had somehow missed. The dinner was an early sign of the central tension of Warsh’s chairmanship. He is determined to remake the Fed and convinced it can’t afford to wait.

Last year, Warsh persuaded the most rate-cut-hungry president in modern memory to hand the central bank to him despite his long record of worrying about inflation. Now he faces another tricky sale: convincing his colleagues to abandon the intellectual habits of an economics profession he thinks led it astray. The Fed meets again this week with an outcome that is unusually uncertain. Many expect it to hold rates steady, but a renewed inflation scare has put a surprise increase in play. Part of why it’s so hard to call is Warsh’s signature early move on Fed reform: He is saying less—about the economy, about where policy is headed, about his own thinking—and that silence is generating its own tension. Last month’s dinnertime exchange was, in one sense, exactly what Warsh says he wants: a “good family fight,” in the phrase he uses often, over outcomes not settled in advance. Waller had obliged, insinuating Warsh was importing outside authority to ratify long-held views and dressing them up as discovery.

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Why Trump’s SAVE threats aren’t working

President Donald Trump is upping his pressure campaign on Senate Majority Leader John Thune over the SAVE America Act, backing a push from hardline conservatives to scrap the August recess to try to pass the voter ID and proof-of-citizenship bill. But it’s not as easy as Trump makes it out to be. First of all, Thune doesn’t want to cancel the recess for a bill that has nowhere close to 60 votes. And he’s not alone. There are two potential paths to get the bill moving — blowing up the filibuster or bringing the House-passed budget resolution to the floor. Nuking the filibuster isn’t happening. Trump has pushed for months to eliminate the 60-vote threshold on legislation, and a big chunk of Senate Republicans still won’t budge. More alarming for the White House: Senate Republicans still don’t have the requisite 50 votes to proceed to the House-passed budget resolution.

And even if they did, the SAVE America Act’s $10 billion blueprint may not pass muster with the Senate parliamentarian. The hangups. Why is the budget resolution so unpopular in the Senate Republican Conference? There are those like Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) who won’t vote for anything that includes SAVE Act provisions. “It doesn’t have the votes,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who backs the measure. “It is an exercise in futility if the votes aren’t there. Period, end of story. Do something productive with your life.” Another big problem: Defense hawks say the House’s $67 billion for the Pentagon isn’t nearly enough amid the war in Iran and Trump’s massive $1.5 trillion FY2027 budget request. Thune told us Monday he’d “prefer doubling” the defense number — and then suggested it may have to be bumped up to get 50 Senate Republicans on board. “I do think that’s an issue,” Thune said in an interview. “Frankly, if we’re going to do this — and what it’s going to take to get this done — you kind of want to make it worthwhile. I think the president asked for $350 billion… We’re at $67 [billion].”

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El-Sayed comes under fire for 'ogre on a pike' leaked comment

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing backlash from within his own party after using controversial rhetoric to describe the stakes of his victory in a recent donor meeting. “If I win ... well y’all came at me so now I get to come at you, and you know, primarying people like John Fetterman, I have no problem to do that,” he said, according to audio of a Zoom meeting obtained by POLITICO. “Ideally you put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message, and all of a sudden starts to sound a lot different,” El-Sayed added later, referencing how he could help propel the progressive moment. On Monday, several Democrats were quick to slam his comments. “Violent, vulgar threats have no place in a democratic electoral contest,” said Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.). “With political violence on the rise, we need to be doing everything we can to lower the temperature — not raise it. It’s the American people who suffer most when we degrade the political process this way.”

Some took El-Sayed’s remarks as an attack on the party. Shannon Watts, founder of gun violence prevention group Moms Demand Action, said on X that El-Sayed “doesn’t mean Republicans.” Another gun control activist, Fred Guttenberg, wrote: “That is what Abdul El-Sayed and his DSA movement think of Democrats and the party.” Guttenberg — whose daughter was killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting — urged Michiganders to support El-Sayed’s primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, and “show AES the loss he deserves.” An El-Sayed campaign spokesperson referred POLITICO back to an earlier statement that the candidate was “speaking metaphorically” about his intention to support a primary against Fetterman, a Pennsylvania senator. Fetterman and El-Sayed have clashed over support for Israel. The senator, who possesses a towering stature, has been mocked for his physical appearance by political rivals, and the “ogre” moniker partly stems from an attack by Kari Lake, a failed Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate and ally of President Donald Trump.

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A desert town may run out of water. Others could face the same fate.

Mayor Curtis Stacy starts every morning checking two websites that tell him how much he needs to worry about water. One site tells him about the reservoir that supplies his tiny desert town — it’s effectively empty. The other site tells him if the town gets additional water that other communities with more senior rights aren’t using; right now, the answer is yes. But Stacy tries to remind Kearny’s roughly 2,000 residents that they could easily tip back into crisis mode, just like this spring. In newsletters, he underscores that fragility with no less than 20 exclamation points. If other communities call for more water, they will have to cut back again. “!!!!!!!!!!THIS SITUATION IS ALMOST CERTAINLY TEMPORARY!!!!!!!!!!” he wrote in one bulletin posted on the Kearny Facebook page and taped up and down the glass doors of the town office.

Kearny is an extreme example of the water crunch facing communities across the West as states and cities stare down a future of “megadrought” and fight over scarce resources. An unusually dry winter this year left the Southwest parched, with not enough water for everyone laying claim to it. In the complex web of water rights that govern how that short supply is distributed, the tiny town of Kearny comes last. Other cities around the West could face similar challenges and cutbacks. The federal government is set to release a plan for the shrinking supply of Colorado River water this summer that could force dramatic cuts. Kearny is not directly affected by the Colorado River negotiations, officials say, but its dilemma shows how dwindling resources — and water-rights rules that can feel arbitrary to those most affected — can upend daily life. Kearny usually uses about 280 acre-feet of water a year; this year, it was allocated 77 acre-feet (one acre-foot supplies about three homes annually). Town officials realized they were on track to run out of water in July. The crisis forced steep reductions in water use and now hangs over the town’s future, testing residents’ ability to adapt to shortage. It has also consumed much of Stacy’s final year in charge, giving him new gray hairs and new worries about his hometown, a community where everyone knows everyone and where you can get ahold of the mayor by walking into his office.

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Washington says goodbye to Sen. Lindsey Graham

President Donald Trump, congressional colleagues and world leaders Tuesday will say their final goodbye to Sen. Lindsey Graham, the influential and colorful foreign policy hawk whose sudden death this month at age 71 stunned Washington and reverberated in capitals around the globe. Two days of ceremonies and funeral services will begin around 10 a.m. ET Tuesday when Graham’s casket arrives at the Capitol for a brief ceremony in the rotunda that will include nods to both his military service and his more than three decades in Congress. The ceremony will be private but livestreamed.

From there, Graham’s casket will depart for Washington National Cathedral for an invitation-only funeral service at 2 p.m. ET. That also will be livestreamed. Trump is expected to speak at the funeral. Cabinet officials and congressional and military leaders are expected to be on hand, as are global leaders who viewed Graham as a key American ally on defense and foreign policy matters, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Also present will be Graham’s sister and successor, Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., who was sworn in to her late brother’s seat this month and plans to run for a full term in an Aug. 11 primary. Remembrances will continue at the South Carolina State House on Wednesday morning. Graham’s casket will be carried by a South Carolina State Guard horse-drawn military wagon, known as a caisson, followed by an F-16 flyover to mark his more than three decades in the Air Force and Air Force Reserve.

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SpaceX stock-purchasing by Congress members fuels conflict concerns

Three days after SpaceX’s blockbuster public debut, Rep. William Timmons bought as much as $100,000 of the rocket company’s stock. The South Carolina Republican chairs a House oversight panel on military and foreign affairs and sits on a financial services subcommittee covering artificial intelligence — two sectors central to Elon Musk’s newly public empire. He was not the only member of Congress to buy in. Within six days of the June 12 initial public offering, at least six House members or their immediate families purchased a total of between roughly $83,000 and $245,000 in SpaceX shares, according to a CNBC tally of the amounts reported in House financial disclosures, where transactions are reported in ranges. Joining Timmons were Reps. John McGuire, R-Va., Dan Meuser, R-Pa., Gil Cisneros, D-Calif., John James, R-Mich., and Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.

That total reflects the combined minimum and maximum values reported for the six transactions: $50,001 to $100,000 for Timmons; $1,001 to $15,000 for McGuire, Moskowitz and Cisneros; and $15,001 to $50,000 for James and Meuser. That count could rise. House members must report stock trades over $1,000 within 30 days of learning of them and no later than 45 days after the transaction. Monday was the deadline for reporting IPO-day purchases; trades in the following six days are due by Aug. 2. Five of those members serve on committees overseeing aspects of SpaceX’s business — including defense, satellite communications and AI — and securities markets. The company relies heavily on federal approvals and receives billions in government contracts — spending directed by the very lawmakers buying its stock. There is no evidence the lawmakers traded on nonpublic information, violated congressional trading rules or used their offices to benefit SpaceX. The trades are legal; three were made by a spouse or child, and some lawmakers say outside advisors manage their portfolios. While there have been efforts to limit the practice, Congress members are allowed to own and buy individual stocks provided they disclose their purchases and holdings.

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Lead Stories

Tom Luce, one of the state’s most influential behind-the-scenes leaders, dies at 86

Tom Luce, a Dallas attorney and one of the state's most influential behind-the-scenes leaders in education, public policy, and civic philanthropy over the past half century, has died. He was 86. “We have lost a great Texan with the death of Thomas W. Luce, III,” said former President George W. Bush, in a statement on Sunday. “Tom was a champion of education reform. He believed that every child had potential and deserved the right to read and succeed. Without Tom, Texas would not be the powerhouse that it is.” Luce, a champion of public education, was born in Dallas and attended school in Highland Park. He earned his law degree from SMU. Luce was a long-time advisor and personal attorney to Ross Perot, Sr. Luce also chaired Perot’s 1992 campaign for president.

In the early 1980s, Perot and Luce led the state’s school reform effort. It transformed public education in Texas by introducing higher academic standards, teacher accountability, statewide testing, and stronger graduation requirements. “I was one of so many people whose careers were shaped by Tom’s passion for education reform," said Margaret Spellings, the former U.S. Secretary of Education for President George W. Bush." He gave me my start in 1984 when he hired me to staff a special committee of the Texas legislature, which led to major education legislation. When I became U.S. secretary of education, I brought Tom to the department to help create a coordinated policy team to implement the No Child Left Behind act, laying the groundwork for improved math and reading skills for millions of students.” Luce served as the Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education in 2005 and 2006. He ran for governor in 1990 but placed third in the Republican primary. But he served in multiple roles for different Texas governors including chief justice pro tempore of the state Supreme Court. Luce later founded Texas 2036, a bi-partisan think tank to tackle the state’s most pressing problems in the coming decade. “Tom was a visionary leader whose dedication to public service transformed the lives and opportunities of millions of people across our state,” said David W. Leebron, president and CEO of Texas 2036. Circumstances of Luce’s death and arrangements have not yet been made public.

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The DNC put up its headquarters as collateral to obtain its massive loan

The Democratic National Committee put its physical headquarters up for collateral last year in order to obtain a $15 million line of credit to help invest in off-year elections, according to D.C. deed records not previously reported. The building, located in Southeast Washington and partially owned by the DNC, has been used as collateral in the past, including in other election cycles. That the DNC had to do so again ahead of the 2026 elections to obtain its biggest-ever off-year loan raised concerns among some members that it was further evidence of its intensifying financial strain. The DNC did not explicitly declare the building as its collateral in its monthly or loan-related filings to the Federal Election Commission.

“Ken gaslighting us about the DNC’s finances and not being transparent about the financial situation makes us doubt if he can oversee the DNC during the most important primary of our lifetime,” said a DNC member, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. The DNC is working toward two main goals: to help the party win back control of Congress in November, as well as gubernatorial and local elections across the country. And it’s also preparing for the 2028 presidential primary, which is expected to be wide open and have no clear front-runner. Those objectives have been complicated by the DNC’s current lack of money. Federal disclosures from June showed it only had about $16 million in its account and $18 million in debt. That’s a sobering amount of money compared to the Republican National Committee, which declared that it had $128 million in cash with no outstanding debts.

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Musk’s SpaceX tumbles back to Earth, dragging Tesla stock down with it

It seemed to be only good news for Elon Musk and investors in companies he oversees. SpaceX had marked a record-setting IPO, Musk was the first trillionaire in history, and the rocket company vaulted to an all-time high of more than $225 per share. That was last month. Since then, their fortunes have shifted. Musk has shed hundreds of billions in wealth, demoting him from trillionaire status, and SpaceX’s stock price has been cut practically in half. On top of that, electric vehicle maker Tesla has lost more than 18 percent of its value over the past week, in part after falling short of its quarterly earnings expectations, as investor patience for its artificial intelligence and robotics bets has worn thin. Musk cheekily nodded at the situation in a post on X on Friday. “(Former) Trillionaire,” he wrote.

But while the world’s richest person could become a trillionaire again with a few big up days in the market, the challenges for SpaceX are deeper. It’s a new era for a company that was once on a glide path, that seemingly could do no wrong on its way to a historic $75 billion initial public offering. For SpaceX, “one of the benefits of being private is that there wasn’t a market to weigh in on and evaluate business decisions,” said David Meier, senior investment analyst at the Motley Fool. “Being publicly traded means everything will be evaluated and information transmitted through market prices. So every SpaceX launch, every Starlink decision and every xAI decision will be scrutinized by the market,” he added, referring to the company’s satellite internet service and artificial intelligence arm. Case in point: After SpaceX aborted a launch because of engine issues this month, the company faced another problem — a plummeting stock. SpaceX’s IPO documents had touted its plans to establish a colony on Mars and put data centers in space. Then SpaceX was dealt its latest setback in propelling Starship off the ground. The company is trying to power its data center and exploration bets by using a roughly 400-foot rocket to carry out missions including taking humans back to the moon.

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Baytown police investigates officer who may have misused Flock cameras

A Baytown police officer is being investigated for potential misuse of the Flock license plate reader system. Baytown Police Chief John Stringer on Friday announced the investigation via Facebook, where he said he authorized an internal affairs investigation for potential policy misconduct. He also said there will be a separate criminal investigation for potential criminal misconduct. For the criminal investigation, Stringer said he has requested the help of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. “The executive staff of the Baytown Police Department and I recognize our community's concerns for the protection and respect of individual privacy, as well as for police accountability,” Stringer said in the video. The department has not identified the officer.

“If these allegations are sustained, then the employee involved will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law and policy,” Stringer said. Flock Safety is a public safety technology company, and its license plate reader cameras provide 24/7 monitoring for police departments, businesses and neighborhoods. The company has been the subject of debate across the country and in Houston. The Harris County Commissioners Court voted in May to renew the county's contract with Flock Safety through June 2027, but Conroe residents voiced their opposition to the cameras at Conroe City Council last week. “The Baytown Police Department has worked very hard to build trust and establish strong relationships in our community,” Stringer said. “I value those relationships. They're important to the Baytown Police Department. And we want you to know that we hold fast to the standards and trust that our community has given to us, and that they expect from us.” The Baytown officer isn’t the first in the Houston-area to be accused of misusing the technology. A Pasadena officer resigned this month during an internal investigation in which he was accused of using the Flock camera systems to monitor and stalk a female officer.

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State Stories

Texan Christopher Wingate, former Cruz aide and Heritage employee was caught with drugs trying to get into the Senate

A Heritage Foundation employee faces a drug-possession charge after a security screening at a Senate office building turned what tested presumptively positive as cocaine and fentanyl, according to court records. Capitol Police officers detained Matthew Christopher Wingate on July 14 after he entered the Russell Senate Office Building and placed his bag on the X-ray belt as part of routine screening, according to an affidavit filed in Washington, D.C., superior court. Wingate is the government-relations director for defense and foreign policy at the Heritage Foundation, and previously worked as a national security adviser for Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and a military legislative assistant for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), according to Legistorm.

An officer observed an image consistent with a pistol magazine inside the brown briefcase, and a secondary screening found a magazine with 10 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, the affidavit states. Officers placed him under arrest, the affidavit states. That was apparently because of the magazine. Firearms and ammunition are generally prohibited from being carried into Senate office buildings. Officers ran a check through the Metropolitan Police Department’s Gun Registry Unit, which confirmed Wingate held a valid license to carry a firearm in D.C., the affidavit states. A crime-scene officer discovered a plastic sandwich bag in the exterior pocket of the briefcase containing four capsules and three blue-pressed tablets, the affidavit states. Field testing of the blue pills, which were imprinted with the letter “A” on one side and “7 6” on the other side, returned a presumptive positive result for cocaine and fentanyl, the affidavit states. Under questioning, Wingate said he forgot the magazine was in the briefcase and “explained that the drugs were his and were prescribed to him from a medical professional,” the affidavit states.

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USMCA uncertainty threatens border investment, Cuellar says

President Donald Trump’s decision not to extend the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement for another 16 years is creating economic uncertainty along the Texas-Mexico border, where businesses depend on predictable trade rules. “I’m not looking to renew it,” Trump said in June. “We don’t need anything that Canada has. We don’t need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything that we have. They have to treat us better.” The Trump administration subsequently declined to extend the agreement in its current form, saying it wants to address the pact’s “shortcomings” and U.S. trade deficits. The USMCA, which Trump negotiated to replace NAFTA during his first term, remains in force until July 2036. The decision triggers annual reviews until the three countries agree to an extension or the pact expires.

Democratic Laredo Congressman Henry Cuellar said he views Trump’s threat as a familiar negotiating tactic and does not believe the president ultimately wants to eliminate North American free trade. “He took the same approach when he said he was going to not do this NAFTA,” Cuellar said. “But at the end of the day, Congress played a role in this.” Cuellar argues Trump cannot terminate the congressionally approved agreement without Congress, although the division of withdrawal authority between the president and lawmakers remains legally disputed. “The only thing he can do is just start a cycle of yearly renewals,” Cuellar said. “But this renewal causes a lot of uncertainty.” That uncertainty has immediate consequences for border communities, Cuellar said. “Being in the largest port of entry in the United States, I’ve seen that uncertainty of the trade agreement really freeze investment — new warehouses, the new money coming in,” he said.

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China oil contracts at center of Texas Fuel Group fraud case

An oil deal in China was supposed to pay millions to a group of Texans, but one investor says the deal may never have existed. Round Rock-based Fuel Group Trading LLC said it had contracts with Chinese companies needing a combined 22 million barrels of fuel each month, according to court records. It sold equity in the company, saying $1 million could net an investor as much as $550,000 each month in return. Now the company is facing a lawsuit alleging fraud. It filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.

“We are defending this action, and the Chapter 11 is part of that defense strategy,” Fuel Group Trading CEO Dennis Kruse said in an emailed response to questions. “I have no further comment.” Attorneys for the company did not respond to requests for comment. In his lawsuit, Houston eye surgeon Stephen Slade said that in 2021, his friend Tommy Soriero told him he had a line on a great investment and introduced him to another friend: Kruse. They told Slade that Kruse had “proprietary methods” and contacts high up in the Chinese military, along with contracts to deliver oil to several companies and potential deals with government agencies. Court documents say Kruse alleged he had contracts with Jiujian Refining/Sinopec Shandong Energy and Hainan Yingu Energy. Juijian appears to be a misspelled reference to Jiujiang Petrochemical or Sinopec Jiujiang Co. He also said it had prospective deals with a Chinese rail company. According to Slade’s suit, Kruse provided copies of documents showing that $200 million in credit from a Chinese bank was available to a company with which it apparently would do business.

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Can Democratic Representative Jon Rosenthal flip the Texas Railroad Commission?

Democratic State Representative Jon Rosenthal (HD-135) is seeking to become Texas’ next Railroad Commissioner, saying it’s time for someone with firsthand oil and gas experience to lead the agency and bring meaningful change. Rosenthal has represented House District 135 for nearly eight years. A mechanical engineer, he spent more than 25 years working in the oil and gas industry before serving four terms in the Texas House. Now, the Houston-area lawmaker is taking his campaign statewide. Rosenthal said he decided to run following the widespread power outages during Winter Storm Uri in 2021, which exposed weaknesses in Texas’ energy infrastructure.

“When the chairman of the Energy Resources Committee flatly refused to act on the problem, I was extremely frustrated. I used some coarse language… I had decided I was going to come back to address this problem, and this is me coming back to address that problem,” Rosenthal shared. “The first thing is weatherizing natural gas facilities, and we’re [the oil and gas industry] already working on it… In that, you want to make sure that your most critical production fields will stay up and operating if a massive winter storm happens again, and so I would just work with industry on reliability plans to weatherize our most critical natural gas facilities.” Rosenthal said the Railroad Commission oversees roughly 1,000 employees and operates with a biennial budget of about $500 million. He believes his engineering background sets him apart from the current commission. “I feel like you need that kind of experience to develop sensible solutions that work with our industry partners to move our state forward, keep our industry responsible and profitable at the same time. And I’ll just say, when a Democrat wins in the state of Texas for the first time in decades over 30 years, I think that’s an opportunity to shake up the status quo and really push for real change,” Rosenthal said.

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North Texas housing advocates say the affordability crisis has deep roots

Housing advocates say the affordability crisis North Texans are facing did not materialize overnight and that Dallas' housing challenges have been years in the making. Dallas Housing Coalition executive director Bryan Tony and historian Jerry Hawkins say the recently passed bipartisan federal housing package, called the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, is an important first step but it's only the beginning of addressing the issue. "This will take time," Tony said. "We have built ourselves into a big hole in terms of our housing shortage and it's going to take time to build ourselves out of that hole." Tony and Hawkins partnered with the Dallas Free Press to create the zine, A People's Guide to Dallas Housing History. It outlines how the decades of housing decisions that continue to influence affordability, neighborhood development, and opportunity across the city.

Hawkins traces Dallas' housing history back to the displacement of Native American communities. "Dallas, like many other American cities, started with the displacement of American Indian/Native American groups," he said. "They had housing here. They would build very sustainable housing." After Indigenous communities were removed, segregation quickly became embedded in how Dallas developed, according to Hawkins. Segregation laws were written into the city's 1907 charter. That, plus single-family zoning rules and other policies, deliberately separated Black and white residents. Hawkins also pointed to examples of intentional segregation, like the construction of highways through historically Black neighborhoods such as Deep Ellum.? He said eminent Domain was exercised to take over minority business districts that were thriving. Hawkins argues that public policy consistently shaped where people could live, and where wealth could be built. "The ability for people to own a house to gain equity and to build wealth in this country," he said. "Everyone wasn't allowed to do that." And that, Hawkins said, is contributing to the widening wealth gap.

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Recent rains prompt Edwards Aquifer Authority to ease pumping restrictions

Recent rainfall has helped raise Edwards Aquifer levels, allowing the authority to ease pumping restrictions across the region. Permit holders in the San Antonio Pool, which includes Bexar County and parts of several surrounding counties, have moved from Stage 2 to Stage 1. Under Stage 1, they must reduce pumping by 20%. Conditions have also improved in the Uvalde Pool. Under the EAA’s Critical Period Management Plan, it moved out of Stage 4 last week for the first time since March 2024. The pool has since moved from Stage 3 to Stage 2, reducing the required pumping cut from 10% to 5%.

The changes apply to municipal water utilities, including the San Antonio Water System, and other permit holders that draw large amounts of water from the aquifer. SAWS residential and commercial customers remain under Stage 3 watering rules. The utility relies on several water sources beyond the Edwards Aquifer, so its watering restrictions do not always change when the authority adjusts pumping limits. The Edwards Aquifer Authority is the groundwater conservation district that manages and protects the aquifer, which supplies water to more than 2 million people in the region. Its jurisdiction covers eight counties: all of Uvalde, Medina and Bexar counties and parts of Atascosa, Caldwell, Comal, Guadalupe and Hays counties.

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North Texas grew the state’s best wheat crop. Urban sprawl threatens what’s left

Rain levels and viruses led to a statewide nightmare for wheat farmers this season, though the Dallas-Fort Worth area had the best in Texas, according to a report from Texas A&M. The report found that DFW has the best non-irrigated wheat in the state due to rainfall at the right times and the fungal issues in the wheat crops in other parts of the state. Throughout the rest of Texas, triticum mosaic viruses took over wheat crops due to the lack of rainfall. In DFW, the crops faced fungal pathogens and insect pressure from pests like Hessian flies. Brandon Gerrish, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension statewide small grains specialist, performs variety testing for grains across Texas. He said that this year, a lot of the wheat won’t even be harvested because of “how bad it was.”

Around 1.6 million acres of wheat is expected to be harvested throughout Texas this season, though that is only around 29% of the 5.5 million acres that was planted. This is the lowest harvested acreage since 2022, when 1.3 million acres were harvested. Despite the lower amount of Texas wheat, consumers shouldn’t see a noticeable price increase for items containing wheat at the grocery store. The European Union, China, India and Russia are all top producers of wheat. Though considered the best in the state, the DFW crop was “less of a tragedy than others,” according to Robert Braden, president and CEO of the Texas Grain and Feed Association, who noted that North Texas farmers still struggled significantly compared to previous years. Across Texas, farmers faced freezes, hail, heavy winds, rainfall and lack thereof. “Mother Nature is wreaking havoc from one end of the state to the other. We love rain, but there are times and amounts that are not that are just not helpful,” Braden said. “And we’re living that nightmare right now.”

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Morales Shaw says school funding, immigration policies are key issues affecting youth

State Rep. Penny Morales Shaw said increasing school funding and protecting immigrant families should remain top priorities as Texas lawmakers work to address challenges facing children and young adults across the state. Morales Shaw, who represents House District 148 in northwest Houston, discussed education, immigration and youth issues during a recent conversation with Houston Community Media. The Democratic lawmaker argued that adequate school funding plays a critical role in addressing issues ranging from academic success to student mental health and school violence.

“There are some schools that have more affluent students or families” and can raise additional money through their communities, Morales Shaw said. She said state and federal funding helps level the playing field for students who don’t have access to the same resources. Morales Shaw said while lawmakers approved billions of dollars for public education during the last legislative session, she believes it still wasn’t enough to meet the needs of Texas schools. She said lawmakers pushed for at least a $1,000 increase in per-student funding to help schools cover classroom supplies, teacher pay, building maintenance and other essential services. Without adequate funding, she said, schools struggle to provide students with the support they need. The Houston lawmaker also addressed concerns about how federal immigration policies and actions by Texas leaders could affect immigrant families. Morales Shaw said cuts to grant funding have impacted nonprofits and organizations that provide food assistance, housing support and other services many families rely on. She also criticized recent state directives requiring proof of lawful presence for certain professional license renewals and housing programs that receive government funding, saying the changes could disproportionately affect immigrant communities.

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Passenger rail between San Antonio and Austin? Two routes, major hurdles

Recent studies have found that expanded passenger rail service between Austin and San Antonio is possible, though getting trains on the tracks remains a long way off. The Texas Department of Transportation recently released its Austin-San Antonio Passenger Rail Study. A separate study commissioned by the Travis County Commissioners Court is expected to be released soon. The TxDOT study looked at using the existing rail corridor between the two cities near Interstate 35. The Travis County study examines a potential route along State Highway 130 and Interstate 10 east of San Antonio.

Amtrak currently provides passenger rail service between the two cities, but its one round-trip per day offers limited scheduling options. An estimated 266,000 trips are made between the Austin and San Antonio areas on a typical weekday, most of them along the Interstate 35 corridor. The proposal using the existing rail corridor is estimated to cost between roughly $810 million and $1.9 billion. The alternative route could cost considerably more because much of it would need to be elevated. Neither proposal has secured construction funding.

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Trump revives ‘Talafreako’ nickname in Talarico roast

James Talarico was one of the Democrats President Donald Trump mocked Friday night at a redo of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Trump’s remarks were delivered in his typical riffing style over about an hour. He roasted a series of prominent Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He also directed a few jabs at Talarico, who is running for Senate in Texas against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Trump referred to the Austin state representative as “James Talafreako” and accused him of hating guns, oil, sex, women and Christianity. “Other than that, I think his platform is quite good,” Trump said sarcastically. “And that means that he's not going to do very well against Ken Paxton.” The Talarico campaign has previously rejected similar Republican attacks as distortions of his record and religious faith. In his remarks, Trump said Talarico looks like Mad magazine’s fictional character Alfred E. Neuman, a resemblance Trump brought up when Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick visited Trump in June in the Oval Office. On the campaign trail, Paxton has tossed around a number of nicknames portraying Talarico as weak and radical, including the “Talafreako” sobriquet Trump deployed Friday night.

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Dallas mayor’s budget blueprint: Reduce taxes, shrink bureaucracy

Coffee shops in Dallas libraries. Higher prices for suburban visitors at the zoo, arboretum and other city attractions. A smaller city government. Mayor Eric Johnson proposed those ideas in a newsletter Sunday as ways to cut spending and raise revenue while Dallas confronts a projected $51 million gap in its next budget. In his most extensive prescription yet for confronting the shortfall, Johnson called for cutting excess spending and shifting some services to other government or private entities while protecting public safety and reducing the property tax rate.

“The City’s bureaucracy is simply too large and too expensive,” Johnson wrote in a memo Friday to the city manager. He said spending has expanded over the past decade, and while some of it was necessary – such as in public safety – much of it has been “growth for the sake of growth.” Johnson’s suggestions come as most city employees are being asked to take unpaid leave to overcome a midyear gap in the current budget. City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert previously ordered hiring freezes and travel restrictions, saying rising costs, constrained sales tax collections and overtime expenses meant the city already was short nearly $30 million. Johnson’s recommendations are not binding. Tolbert will present her proposed budget to the mayor and City Council, which can revise the plan before it goes into effect Oct. 1. Her draft will be made public Aug. 11, kicking off town halls in every district where residents can weigh in. In his memo and newsletter, Johnson said Dallas should concentrate its resources on public safety, streets, infrastructure, parks, planning and development and code compliance. Services outside those areas should be examined to determine whether they could be handled by Dallas County, private businesses or other organizations, he said.

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National Stories

An admiral’s rise reveals the politics driving Hegseth’s Pentagon

Adm. Daryl Caudle saw an opening to land the Navy’s top job last year, and he seized it. Before Pete Hegseth had even been sworn in as defense secretary, Admiral Caudle, then the head of a major Navy training command, offered to help Mr. Hegseth prepare for his politically contentious Senate confirmation hearing, according to current and former defense officials. Nothing came of the offer. But soon after Mr. Hegseth took office, he fired the first woman to lead the Navy: Admiral Caudle’s boss. Days later, a senior officer on Admiral Caudle’s staff contacted Mr. Hegseth’s team in another breach of protocol. The outreach was a breach of military ethics, the officials said. Senior military officers are supposed to avoid any hint of partisan bias or political activity.

His pitch: Mr. Hegseth should choose Admiral Caudle to be the next chief of naval operations, the current and former officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. The officer described Admiral Caudle in terms that matched Mr. Hegseth’s view of the values that military officers should embody. There was “no one more in line” with Mr. Hegseth’s vision for remaking the military, he said, according to an official familiar with the exchange. The officer cast Admiral Caudle as a “warfighter” who wanted to remove “woke barriers” that he claimed were weakening the force, the official said. Even though Admiral Caudle was not on a list of candidates recommended by senior Navy officials, Mr. Hegseth chose him for the job. But before the promotion could be finalized, the admiral needed to address another problem. There was an unresolved inspector general investigation into comments he had made to sailors about the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevent and Response program, officials said. Some interpreted his remarks as blaming victims.

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U.S.-Iran War pauses for 2nd straight day with both sides holding off on strikes

The war between the United States and Iran remained on pause for a second straight day on Sunday, while the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that there had been some movement in talks between Tehran and mediators over the Strait of Hormuz. No U.S. strikes on Iran have been reported since Friday, while Iran has similarly held off attacking American allies around the Middle East after about two weeks of skirmishes brought the two countries back to the brink of full-blown war. President Trump decided last week to put off plans to escalate the U.S. assault on Iran, at least for now, according to U.S. officials. Mr. Trump and his aides were motivated in part by dwindling stockpiles of interceptors to shoot down Iranian missiles, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

Mr. Trump has struggled to decisively end the war on Iran that the United States and Israel started jointly five months ago, even as the global economic toll and number of American casualties have mounted. A cease-fire signed last month effectively collapsed after Iran continued to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for global oil and gas shipments. Two weeks of American bombing runs on southern Iran have failed to break the deadlock over the strait. Before the war, ships could freely travel through the waterway — but Tehran has since effectively blocked transit, throttling global energy markets and increasing the pressure on Mr. Trump to end the war. Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that officials from the Gulf sultanate of Oman, which abuts the Strait of Hormuz, visited Tehran over the weekend for talks about the waterway. Oman has occasionally served as a mediator between Iran and the United States. “These talks were useful, and progress was achieved,” Mr. Baghaei said in remarks carried by state media, though he offered no further details.

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Big companies are starting to hire again, defying predictions of AI wipeout

America’s biggest companies say they might need more people after all. For months, major employers treated hiring as an expensive last resort. Now, a shift is emerging across industries. Companies ranging from railroad giant CSX to Google parent Alphabet have told investors in recent days that they plan to hire to meet growth goals or to seize on emerging technologies. The push to expand head count, at least modestly, is a reversal from the prevailing corporate messaging during much of the AI era. Major employers largely held back on adding people due to economic uncertainties or a belief that artificial intelligence could shoulder more tasks on the job. But some executives say the costs and limitations of AI now demand that more people be added; others want to hire people back following layoffs.

“We actually need to accelerate hiring a bit. We’re a little bit behind right now,” Booz Allen Hamilton’s Chief Operating Officer Kristine Martin Anderson told investors Friday. “We’re addressing that now.” The government contractor cut thousands of jobs last year as the Trump administration slashed federal contracts and asked firms to justify their costs. Total head count stood at roughly 30,900 as of June 30, down 7.5% from a year earlier. But the company now sees healthy demand for its services, including in national security for workers who need security clearances. For much of the past 18 months, big employers were convinced fewer workers meant faster growth. U.S. public companies shrank their white-collar workforces. Now layoffs are shrinking. The most recent week of U.S. jobless claims was the lowest on record since 1969, according to federal data. Part of the change in hiring also reflects a recalibration among employers about what AI can do, said Sarah Franklin, CEO of the human-resources platform Lattice.

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America’s big cities are rapidly losing kids

When Fernando and Patricia Escobedo moved to the Willows, an affluent neighborhood in El Paso, Texas, 25 years ago, kids were everywhere. About half of the homes on their cul-de-sac had children. Growing up, the couple’s twin daughters used to ride their scooters outside with other neighborhood kids. At an annual block party, they jumped around in a bouncy house and climbed into the local firetruck. The twins are now in college—and the neighborhood feels a lot different. The Escobedos also have a 12-year-old at home, and Fernando said she is one of a few children under 18 on the block. The local elementary school has noticeably fewer kids. And Fernando said he’s more likely to see a retired neighbor gardening than a child on a bicycle. “It’s not the vibe it was 10 years ago when there were still kids here,” he said.

With the nation’s fertility rate at record lows, the number of children under 18 is falling across the U.S. The decline is especially pronounced in big cities, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The number of children under 18 living in big U.S. cities is down 6% in the past decade, the Journal found, compared with a 1% decline nationwide. The drop is especially stark among families with little kids: The number of children under age 5 in big cities fell 15%, compared with a drop of 7% nationwide. Even cities that are gaining population are losing children. In all, the number of children declined in about two-thirds of the 38 U.S. cities with more than 500,000 residents. The Journal analyzed census data from 2015 through 2024, the most recent data available. Families with children cite concerns about costs, safety and quality of life in their move away from cities. Also contributing to the drop is a growing number of childless residents opting to stay that way, worried about the financial implications and lifestyle trade-offs of having a family. The drop is happening in cities across the economic spectrum.

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New UK Prime Minister Burnham says he would be prepared to call out Trump

The U.K.‘s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, said he would be willing to call out U.S. President Donald Trump to defend the U.K.’s national interest, as he set the tone for the key trans-Atlantic relationship. Speaking to the BBC in an interview aired Sunday, Burnham said he had a phone conversation with Trump on Monday when he officially took on the role, describing it as “a good exchange” and that he found Trump “warm”. “We will continue to build the relationship as we go forward,” Burnham added. Asked if Burnham would place his trust in Trump, Burnham said: “it’s a changing world isn’t it, and you just obviously have to call things as they develop”. Trump has frequently criticized the U.K., among other European and NATO allies, for not pulling their weight in the U.S.-led war on Iran.

But Trump has welcomed Burnham’s plan to fast-track oil and gas exploration in already-licensed fields in the North Sea. Writing on Truth Social last week, Trump called North Sea oil “invaluable,” adding it will take the U.K. from a “Poverty Stricken Disaster, to one of the Richest Countries anywhere in the World!” Trump had criticized Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer, over the U.K.’s energy policy. In an interview with The Telegraph newspaper in April, Trump said: “All Starmer wants is costly windmills that are driving your energy prices through the roof.” Starmer announced last month that he would step down from his post. His two years in office were marked by a series of policy U-turns, scandals over staffing appointments and a dramatic loss in Britain’s local elections which sparked calls for his resignation from within his own ranks. Asked by BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg if he would call out Trump if it was the right thing to do, Burnham said, “of course”, and added: “You have to defend your own national interest before anything else. That’s what you’re required to do if you’re to do this job properly.” “I can’t at any point say that I won’t take a different opinion from him, that I will need to voice a different idea that is right for Britain,” Burnham said.

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Inside the fights to maintain TPS status for thousands after the Supreme Court sided with Trump

Dahlia Doe is holding on to hope. A month after the Supreme Court curtailed lower courts’ ability to block the Trump administration from revoking temporary deportation protections, fresh efforts to halt the government’s plans for the Syrian national and thousands of others fleeing war and natural disasters are heating up around the country. “I feel so much stress and uncertainty,” Doe, who arrived in the US in 2015 as the civil war in Syria intensified, told CNN. “There’s nothing for us to do but to continue fighting and not give up.” Doe, a pseudonym, is one of several Syrians who sued to keep the government from revoking the humanitarian program, known as Temporary Protected Status for nearly 4,000 others from the country.

The high court’s conservative supermajority said in late June that judges do not have the power to review challenges to the Homeland Security secretary’s decision to end TPS for a slew of countries based on claims the administration didn’t follow proper legal procedure. But the justices left the door open for TPS beneficiaries to bring constitutional challenges to the administration’s actions. In recent days, legal advocates representing Doe and migrants from a handful of countries have either repackaged their earlier procedural arguments into new constitutional claims or signaled plans to do so soon. For several of those countries, attorneys defending the TPS designations are also now pushing novel, non-constitutional arguments about whether the department has the authority in the first place to terminate the protections. Time is of the essence, said Shane Kadidal, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights who is challenging the revocation of TPS for migrants from Yemen. He pointed to an effort underway by the Justice Department to get judges who previously ruled against the administration to quickly lift those orders so officials can begin deporting scores of migrants from Haiti, Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burma, Somalia and Yemen who have been living legally in the United States.

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NBA star rips socialist NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani as 'mayor playing president' after Netanyahu video

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's remarks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew criticism over the weekend from an unlikely source: Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma, who mocked the democratic socialist as a "mayor playing president." Responding to the mayor's video on X, the nine-year NBA veteran suggested Mamdani was more concerned with appearances than governing, labeling the mayor's talking points as performative.

"This is 2026. People cosplaying as things they don’t have the authority, the talent, or the track record to actually be. Just for content," Kuzma wrote, quote-tweeting Mamdani's address. The response came after Mamdani released a video calling for the arrest of Netanyahu under an International Criminal Court warrant ahead of the United Nations General Assembly. "A mayor playing president. A founder playing operator. A content creator playing one-on-one, thinking he’s a pro. A 25-year-old with a ring light playing economist. Everyone auditioning. Nobody building. We're raising a generation that is learning the reward isn’t in doing the thing; it’s in looking like you did the thing.

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Lead Stories

Ken Paxton now has to do the unthinkable: Try

Elías Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News via Getty Digital subscribers can listen to this article. Subscribe today for unlimited access to Texas Monthly. Already a subscriber? Log in. Say you woke up one morning and HaShem, with his infinite wisdom and his unknowable plans, had blessed you with extraordinary protection. No harm would come to you; no endeavor would truly fail. Each setback would set you up for greater success down the road. The normal laws of gravity wouldn’t apply to you. No weapon, or impeachment, formed against you would prosper. For an exceptional type of person, maybe, this would be an invitation to thrive—to do extreme sports, write a novel, fight crime at night. For most of us, it would probably result in a certain dulling of the senses. What makes the pickpocket develop his art, of course, is the fear of getting caught. With God’s protection, we could stop staying at work after five, walk out of any meeting that bored us. We could finally stop trying. Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has received a similar kind of blessing, found himself in an unfamiliar position upon defeating John Cornyn to become his party’s candidate for Senate.

He would finally have to work hard for something. He would have to start giving stump speeches for normal voters, speeches of the kind a candidate seeking high office gives often. By rights, he should have done this thousands of times already, and his oration should have been polished. But when he got up on stage the night he won the runoff, he revealed that, though the spirit may be willing, the flesh was weak. He just wasn’t very good at it. Paxton stared at the teleprompter a few feet away, in the way conservatives used to make fun of Uncle Brandon for doing, and mumbled his way through a half-hearted pitch about affordability. But in a sense he had lucked out again. In a recurring theme in Paxton’s career, his weaknesses, which might have provided an opportunity for humility and self-reflection, had become everyone else’s problem. Right now in Texas there is a team of people who wake up every morning stressed, conspiring to find ways to sell this man to the median voter. God bless, you know. Part of getting him over the hump is holding public events. The point of these, in the main, is to get little snippets of Paxton sounding tough and competent onto local news broadcasts. So it was, this week, that Paxton found himself in front of a passel of cameras in Fort Worth. The Sheriff’s Association of Texas was meeting nearby, and the Paxton campaign gathered more than twenty of them in a show of force, along with Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn and state Representative A.?J. Louderback, a former Jackson County sheriff. These events are a subgenre of political life in Texas. You get law enforcement officers together, dress ’em up nice, and have them bring the biggest, whitest hats they have. Big guns too, if they can. It’s a venerable version of what the kids call “aura farming.” The thing is, the strength of the men behind you is supposed to make the candidate look stronger.

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Trump's tariffs are based on a forced-labor argument. Are they just a way to avoid Congress?

The Trump administration has imposed double-digit tariffs on more than 60 countries, using a legal justification that permits the president to levy import taxes and other sanctions against countries found to engage in “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” trade practices. The new tariffs announced in recent days take effect just as temporary 10% worldwide tariffs expired, and critics say they are less about cracking down on forced labor than they are a way to replace those tariffs. The expired tariffs were themselves a temporary replacement for worldwide tariffs the Supreme Court struck down in February. The tariffs were levied on countries that the U.S. says either don’t have or don’t effectively enforce a forced-labor import ban. The affected countries, which account for 99% of U.S. imports, were quick to protest, calling the Trump administration’s claims unfounded and arbitrary, as nations with vastly different records on forced labor received the same tariff level.

The U.S. spent four months investigating but gave few details on how it arrived at the tariff rates, which are either 10% or 12.5%. The tariffs were levied under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on countries that the U.S. determined had failed “to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.” During President Donald Trump ‘s first term, he cited Section 301 to impose sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports amid a dispute over the sharp-elbowed tactics Beijing was using to challenge America’s technological dominance. The U.S. is also using 301 powers to counter what it calls unfair Chinese practices in the shipbuilding industry. “The 301s allow a permanent tariff without going to Congress to settle the dispute,” said Barry Appleton, a law professor and co-director of New York Law School’s Center for International Law. “That’s what all of this is about. The president doesn’t want to knock on the front door of Congress, so he’s trying every side door and every unlatched window to get in.”

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Higher prices are rewriting grocery lists and family menus in 2026

What’s for dinner? Lately, at Apral Jack’s house, it’s whatever is on sale. Jack scouts an app for deals at her local supermarket before she buys groceries. When she reaches the store, she grabs the weekly circular to look for coupons she might have missed. If the shelf prices look too high, she scratches items off her list or tries to find lower prices someplace else. “The apples went up here, the ones I eat, so now I’m not going to get them here. I’ll go to Market Basket, where I can get them cheaper,” Jack, 50, said as she pushed a cart into a Stop & Shop near her home in Lexington, Massachusetts. Couponing, comparison shopping and cutting back on favorite foods are new habits for her and millions of other Americans as they absorb the biggest jump in grocery prices in a half-century. Buying food to eat at home has gotten 33% more expensive in U.S. cities since the beginning of 2019, according to government figures. In the 7 1/2 years before that, prices rose 6.4%.

The historic increase happened for numerous reasons. The coronavirus pandemic snarled supply chains and raised labor and transportation costs. Droughts, hurricanes and diseases like bird flu drove down production. Tariffs raised prices on foreign products like coffee, tomatoes and chocolate. Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine disrupted oil and fertilizer supplies. With a fresh conflict in the Middle East accelerating food price inflation again this year, the cost of filling their refrigerators, freezers and pantries has become a frustration for Americans and made affordability a central issue in the fall midterm elections. By some measures, Americans are better equipped to handle the higher prices, if only slightly. The average weekly earnings of people with full-time jobs job have gone up a bit faster than the cost of groceries since 2019, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But consumers have long memories when it comes to food shopping, and they know their dollars aren’t going as far as they used to, said Jared Bernstein, a senior policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy.

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Republicans see ‘scary’ lack of enthusiasm among core voters ahead of midterms

Republican pollsters and political groups are raising the alarm that their party faces a listless and demotivated base ahead of November’s midterm elections. A raft of discouraging data from polling, door knocking and focus groups is unsettling Republicans as their party heads into a midterm election season that would be challenging no matter what, given President Donald Trump’s low standing in polls and the fact that the party in control in Washington almost always loses seats. The lack of enthusiasm is reaching deep into Republicans’ loyal base, spreading to the party’s most consistent voters — who have shown up to vote in all of the past four primaries and general elections, according to an analysis done by Americans for Prosperity Action, a conservative super PAC that was founded by billionaire Charles Koch. This new issue with the base adds to the party’s more enduring problem of turning out less-frequent voters who support Trump but often skip midterm elections.

About 1 in 5 reliable Republican base voters are at risk this November, according to Nathan Nascimento, executive director at AFP Action. Those voters in Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, Montana, New Hampshire and Michigan are either saying they may stay home or are weighing voting for Democrats, according to their data, which is based on polling and extensive efforts to engage targeted Republican voters by knocking on their doors. The voters are primarily worried about inflation and the economy. “This is a big chunk,” Nascimento said. “This is a scary number.” The group has found that reaching these voters at the door usually moves them toward Republican candidates — or at least away from Democratic ones and toward undecided, he said. The 20 percent of Republican base voters the group sees this issue with does not take into account low-propensity conservative voters who tend to turn out in general election years to support Trump but skip other elections. Motivating those Trump voters is a separate issue Republicans face in November.

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Inside the phone-throwing drama at the troubled, broke Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is so short on cash that leaders at its headquarters have undertaken a new gambit to mask the severity of the problems: asking vendors not to send bills until after the midterm elections. The bookkeeping maneuver, which was described by three people briefed on it, is the latest sign of financial duress for the Democratic National Committee and its embattled leader as money troubles threaten to undercut Democratic momentum with 100 days until the midterms. So much is going politically right for Democrats these days. President Trump’s approval is down, gas prices are up and an unpopular war with Iran drags on. But dysfunction and debt inside one of the party’s key institutions — which is getting crushed in fund-raising by its Republican counterpart — are creating rising anxiety for top Democrats.

At the center is Ken Martin, the 53-year-old party chairman, who has found himself increasingly isolated, gripped by the fear that he will lose his job and relying on a vanishingly small circle of people he trusts, according to interviews with more than two dozen Democrats, including current and former D.N.C. officials and members. Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s troubled state of affairs. Mr. Martin’s fraying nerves are showing. In a pique of frustration in early July, he threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide while upbraiding the person. The phone-tossing incident resulted in a formal complaint to the D.N.C.’s human resources department. The fallout from the phone-throwing episode was described by half a dozen people familiar with the incident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal party matters. None of them witnessed the encounter, and there was some dispute over how aggressively the phone was tossed. Mr. Martin was said to have thrown the phone at the desk, rather than at the aide. Mr. Martin later met with D.N.C. human resources officials about his behavior, according to three of the people. The Democratic National Committee declined to comment on the incident. Mr. Martin declined an interview request.

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State Stories

Congressional Democrats demand ICE reforms in wake of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s killing in Houston

Democratic members of Congress are signaling they plan to investigate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and enact changes if they regain control of Congress this fall. They held a forum in Houston on Friday to gather testimony on the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE agents earlier this month in the city’s East End. U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee, D-Houston, offered some of the strongest condemnation of ICE. "This is an agency that needs to be torn down to the studs and rebuilt into an agency that enforces immigration law, while recognizing the dignity of the people that it encounters," Menefee said. "But we all know that that will not happen under this administration, and it won't happen under this Congress that's currently controlled by Republicans."

That, he argued, would likely change after November's midterm elections. He said one of the first orders of business if Democrats regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives will be an investigation with regards to the deaths of Salgado Araujo and others at the hands of ICE agents since Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025. Salgado Araujo, 52, was a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years without legal status, according to his family. He was not the intended target of the ICE operation that resulted in his shooting death. "In January, new leadership will happen in the halls of Congress. And I know that every single person sitting up on this dais right now will be in full-throated support of an investigation," Menefee said. Salgado Araujo's two sons were among the first to testify, lending additional weight to such calls."There must be a thorough, truly independent investigation, not one where the agency under investigation also controls the evidence and is able to unilaterally clear its own personnel of any wrongdoing," said Ronaldo Salgado. "Congress should insist that federal, state, and local investigations all move forward with full federal cooperation and should demand answers on a public timeline."

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Gov. Abbott confirms third fatality in July floods

State officials have confirmed a third death connected to this month’s flooding, while warning that dangerous conditions will continue for communities downstream along the Nueces River for days. Governor Greg Abbott announced at a press conference in Cotulla on Friday that a person died after driving into high water in Val Verde, bringing the statewide death toll from the July flooding to three. “On July the 20th, there was a report that in Val Verde County, a report of a death of someone who was driving through high waters and got swept away and lost their life,” said Abbott. Previous fatalities were reported in Kerr and Uvalde counties.

Abbott made the announcement during a visit to the La Salle County Courthouse, where state and local officials reviewed damage and recovery efforts following widespread flooding along the Nueces River. The governor praised local leaders in La Salle County, saying early warnings and evacuation efforts helped prevent additional deaths as floodwaters rose around Cotulla. “They were knocking on doors 10 days in advance, letting local residents know they needed to either evacuate or to be prepared for the rising water and to take measures days before the water got there,” Abbott said. The Nueces River crested at more than 29 feet in Cotulla, flooding homes, businesses and roads. Although water levels have begun falling, much of La Salle County remains inaccessible, and damage assessments have been delayed. Abbott said an aerial tour revealed the extent of the flooding and will help support the state’s request for federal disaster assistance. “By being able to fly over in the air, we were able to observe submerged properties right now that we otherwise would not have seen,” said Abbott. That informs us about what needs to be done in response but also provides us information we need to make our full request to the federal government for their assistance.”

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San Antonio Mayor Jones asks execs, philanthropists to help close city budget gap

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has asked local business and philanthropic leaders to financially support organizations that have counted on city dollars to trim a little from the city’s nearly $160 million deficit over the next two years. It’s the second such proposal Jones unveiled this week to cut city spending without affecting city services. On Tuesday, she suggested redirecting millions of sales tax dollars that were raised for the Ready to Work job-training program to other projects. Jones has said raising property taxes to generate more revenue is a “last resort.” City staff have proposed raising the tax rate from 54 cents per $100 of assessed property value to almost 58 cents. Both of Jones’ proposals have taken City Hall by surprise, with the mayor announcing them via memo or letter — her preferred way of conducting city business.

Jones’ Friday letter is addressed broadly to “Business, Foundation, and Philanthropic Leaders.” Chief of Staff Andrew Fuentes has not responded to a request for the specific recipients. Jones asks whether the leaders would consider “a three-year funding commitment” to match what the city gave 15 organizations this fiscal year. The organizations received a combined $6.5 million this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. They include the San Antonio Botanical Garden, which Jones singled out during a June 18 budget briefing as an entity that should not receive city dollars at the expense of other services, such as city-run nutrition sites that provide free lunches to seniors. “If you charge a ticket fee, then you can figure it out,” Jones said at that meeting. The garden received nearly $1.1 million in this year’s general fund budget, which pays for city services such as fire and police protection, libraries, parks, and street maintenance and repairs. The nonprofit pushed back against the mayor’s comments, saying a funding cut would limit its ability to offer free or reduced-entry.

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U.S. resumes Mexican cattle imports as screwworm spread continues

The United States will reopen parts of the southern border to Mexican cattle imports in August after keeping it closed for more than a year to prevent the spread of the New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite that infects calves and threatens the cattle industry. The port of entry for cattle in Douglas, Ariz., will reopen on Aug. 24, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Forty-two screwworm cases had been reported in the U.S. as of Friday, according to the USDA. All but one case has been in Texas. The Trump administration closed the border to cattle imports in spring 2025 in response to a rise in screwworm cases in northern Mexico. The Biden administration had cut off imports for the same reason in 2024 but President Donald Trump reopened it shortly after taking office in January 2025.

They pose a major threat to Texas' $17 billion cattle industry, which produces more beef than any other state in the U.S. The flies can also infest any warm-blooded animals, including pets. “The closure of the Southern ports of entry for the last year has been a tough but necessary action to control the spread of NWS in Mexico and protect the American livestock industry,” Agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement. The plan to reopen the border to cattle is contingent upon Mexico adhering to a joint action plan to combat the screwworm outbreak, the USDA said in a statement. Every animal that crosses the border will be screened for screwworm. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller praised the move. “Resuming cattle importation from Mexico is the right move for ranchers and American consumers, but it’s a decision that should have been made sooner,” Miller said in a statement. “While I’m pleased to see this important trade relationship restored, the prolonged closure has already taken a toll on producers, disrupted supply chains, and created uncertainty that could have lasting consequences for the cattle industry.” The fight against the parasite is ongoing. The Texas Animal Health Commission has restricted the movement of cattle in 22 different Texas counties due to the parasite. Any warm-blooded animal in a so-called “Infested Zone” can’t leave the area without approval from the state.

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Knocked down by yet another flood, can Kerr County get back up again?

As the July 4 fireworks exploded above the Guadalupe River, the crowd filling Kerrville's Louis Hays Park cheered, then marveled as a drone show lit up the sky. The city's annual Fourth on the River felt like more than a typical holiday celebration. It signaled the end of a hard-fought year of working to recover from the flood that struck last Independence Day, killing 119 people and cutting a swath of devastation along the Guadalupe River. Watching the fireworks from the Sidney Baker Bridge, Carra Gray said it felt like a milestone. People were still grieving, still struggling to get back on their feet, still weary. But that night, for the first time in a long while, “we all kind of had this big exhale,” said Gray, who lives in Hunt. Twelve days later, that feeling was ripped away.

A second flood tore through Kerr County on July 16, as heavy rainfall sent creeks surging out of their banks and rushing through homes and businesses. State officials estimate about 500 homes and 100 businesses in the county suffered flood damage this time. The death toll was far lower than in 2025, as only one person died in Kerr County during the most recent flooding. But being hit with a second devastating flood on the heels of the 2025 disaster was a gut punch for Kerr County's residents. It shattered a fragile sense of progress and security that had begun to set in — and left many wondering how they could get back up after being knocked down yet again. “The damage to homes, businesses, streets and other infrastructure is staggering,” said Bill Blackburn, a former Kerrville mayor and local minister. “And there is real damage to hope."

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Regina Lankenau: What Black voters say about James Talarico when he’s not there

(Regina Lankenau is an editorial writer, columnist and a member of the Houston Chronicle editorial board.) “Talarico’s got a Black people problem.” That was the frank analysis of Christian Alexander, a 36-year-old political podcaster and strategist for Houston Black American Democrats. I met him on Tuesday inside the Third Ward Multi-Service Center right past an abandoned convenience store and down the street from Texas Southern University. Alexander wasn’t the only one with a lot to say about the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. Already, James Talarico, the former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian, had gotten a tough scolding over the weekend. During a town hall in southwest Houston, he’d said all the right things: about protecting voter rights, supporting Black candidates and fighting for public education funding. He’d touted his efforts, showing up at a handful of Baptist churches and historically Black universities and stopping for a plate of smothered chicken at Mikki’s Soul Food.

He’d even pledged to spend $25 million on Black voter outreach – a level of investment he said was a first in Texas' modern political history. But when Talarico’s campaign staff tried to wrap up questions after about an hour, Kandice Webber, a Houston nurse and political content creator, wasn’t impressed. “Our people don't trust you for this reason," said Webber, who is Black. "And you cannot win without us. So you stay here, you answer our questions, or you suffer the consequences." The tense moment went viral, of course, even if it didn’t reflect the prevailing cordial tone of the town hall. But what Webber said, about Black voters being the backbone of any winning Democratic campaign, is true – and Talarico knows it. He’d said as much in his opening remarks. And after the primary, where U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett won 8 of 10 Black votes in Houston and Dallas, Talarico also knows that he can’t take for granted that those voters will show up for him in the general election. Recent polling shows a majority of likely Black voters do plan to support him over his ethically challenged, dismally unfit opponent Ken Paxton. But to flip this seat, Talarico needs the unlikely voters – the young, the disaffected and the ones not quite persuaded yet. Webber, the influencer, later posted another video in which she said “real Black folks” were going to sit the election out to teach “white moderates” a lesson about earning the support of Black voters. I don’t doubt that Talarico’s earnest pitch – about fighting for the bottom and middle at a time of yawning inequality – resonates with many Black Americans. I think it resonates with many people, period. But what would it take for Talarico’s Black doubters to truly believe him, to want to head to the ballot box and give this self-described choir boy a chance?

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Katherine McLane: Winning the conversation before breaking ground on data centers

(Katherine McLane is the founder and CEO of The Mach 1 Group.) Despite all the political and cultural changes the U.S. has experienced in recent years, one truth remains constant: When public opinion reaches critical mass, government has little choice but to respond. We're watching that play out with data centers. Demand for AI, cloud computing and digital infrastructure is driving an unprecedented wave of data center development. New facilities are being proposed across the country, and industry analysts expect demand for additional capacity to continue growing throughout the decade. As construction accelerates, so does public scrutiny. Across the country, familiar concerns are emerging at the local level: water consumption, tax incentives, infrastructure demands and energy use. Virginia experienced this first. Texas, now the nation's leading data center market, is following a similar path. Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently delivered a blunt message to the industry: Bring your own power and reuse your water.

The lessons from Virginia and Texas are clear: Buying land and securing permits is no longer enough. From an industry perspective, data centers represent investment, high-paying jobs, tax revenue and America's leadership in the digital economy. At the local level, however, residents are asking a much simpler question: What will this mean for my community? No two communities evaluate projects the same way. In rural communities, where agriculture and groundwater are central to the local economy, concerns often center on water use, land impacts and long-term resource availability. Messaging built around innovation or national competitiveness may miss the issues residents care about most. In fast-growing metropolitan areas, the conversation is more likely to focus on grid reliability, transmission capacity, traffic congestion and how additional industrial development fits within broader growth plans. The communications challenge facing the industry is becoming increasingly local. The traditional development model — buy land, file permits and break ground — can leave communities feeling surprised, excluded or forced to react after major decisions have already been made. When that happens, organized opposition becomes far more likely, placing projects, timelines and investments at risk.

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After a hometown soldier’s death, a Texas suburb wrestles with Trump’s Iran war

The “Wall of Honor” is just inside the entrance to American Legion Post 597 in this Dallas suburb’s historic downtown, an alcove covered with pictures of dozens of local service members killed in recent overseas conflicts. Now, they have another: U.S. Army Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, killed in an Iranian strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17, according to the Pentagon. Russ Ganzer knows some of the others memorialized on the wall. The retired fishing guide didn’t know Gonzales, but said he’s a father of six, his youngest daughter just four years older than Gonzales. “Any loss of life is terrible,” Ganzer, 65, said. “But when it’s your hometown, it hits you. Especially when they’re so young.”

The death strikes close for many in this diverse, politically divided Dallas suburb of about 135,000, which last lost a member of the military at war 16 years ago. Gonzales is one of 18 U.S. service members to have been killed since President Donald Trump ordered the first strikes in late February, four of them since the ceasefire collapsed July 7. Her death has prompted people here to reflect on the necessity of a war that has divided public opinion from its inception. Gonzales attended nearby Hebron High School, where she served in Junior ROTC and wore a U.S. Army stole to graduation last year. She enlisted last spring, was assigned as an air and missile defense crew member to the 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany. “We’re just so proud of her. We were very proud of her when she went in and she paid the ultimate service,” said her mother’s aunt, Elizabeth Muniz, 58, of La Feria, Texas.

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Texas GOP cuts ticket prices to Trump’s unconventional convention

The cost of getting close to President Donald Trump is falling. Texas Republicans have slashed the price of their premium convention packages, cutting thousands of dollars off the price of a coveted spot at the Trump-led September gathering in Dallas. D’rinda Randall, chair of the Republican Party of Texas, said in a July 14 video on X that the party had fielded “questions about the cost and the access” to its top-tier offerings for the Sept. 9-10 event at the American Airlines Center.

The discounts offer one of the first public glimpses into how Republicans are building the gathering, and how state parties are taking markedly different approaches to deciding who gets in. When Trump announced the event, it carried the trappings of a national political convention. Weeks later, it increasingly resembles a hybrid rally and GOP fundraiser with convention-style branding. State parties are selling or distributing access through five-figure honorary delegate packages, premium tickets, raffles and applications, even though there will be no presidential nomination, delegate votes or official party business. At the same time, Republicans have not disclosed overall attendance projections, state-by-state participation estimates or the expected public cost to Dallas taxpayers. Randall, the Texas GOP chief, has said fundraising has been part of the concept from the outset.

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Texas among states in Federal “SIM Farm” raids tied to text scams

Texas was one of several states targeted in a nationwide ICE Homeland Security Investigations crackdown on illegal “SIM farm” operations. Authorities say the ‘SIM farms’ are used to flood phones with phishing and scam texts while disguising where the messages come from. “SIM farms” are collections of devices — called SIM boxes — that can hold hundreds or thousands of SIM cards, allowing criminals to route communications over the internet and disguise their origin, ICE said. The agency cited Federal Trade Commission estimates that these operations cost Americans about $15 million each year.

Operation Signal Break, ran June 22nd through July 10th and included deployments to Texas along with California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Since 2024, HSI says it has executed more than 116 federal search warrants, seizing more than 500,000 SIM cards, over 1,900 SIM boxes and more than $700,000 in alleged illegal proceeds. HSI also reported one criminal arrest, 11 administrative arrests, and the disruption of 68 SIM farms in 15 states. HSI said analysts will examine seized SIM data and network evidence to identify victims, measure losses and trace money allegedly linked to Chinese transnational criminal organizations, supporting potential future indictments, asset seizures and sanctions.

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Austin police fatally shoot unarmed teenager in what they say may be 'suicide by police'

Police officers killed an unarmed 17-year-old in Northeast Austin on Friday morning in what Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis characterized as “potentially a suicide by police.” The Austin Police Department responded to a 911 call at 3:51 a.m. Friday about a teen in a parking lot possibly brandishing a gun. Officers responded to the scene and found the 17-year-old, a Black male, on the playground at a community park in the 10100 block of Baden Lane, Davis said at a press conference on Friday afternoon. Body cam footage released by APD on Friday shows officers approaching the playground and telling the teen to keep his hands up repeatedly. Shortly after, the teen appears to lift his shirt and reach for his waistband, and officers immediately fire multiple times, causing him to fall to the ground. Officers shoot again in response to the teen apparently moving on the ground.

After securing the scene, Davis said, the officers rendered aid until Austin-Travis County EMS arrived. The teen died on the scene at 4:25 a.m. APD said it will release the teen’s name after identification from the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office. Officers didn’t find a gun on the scene. A water bottle was in the teen’s waistband, Davis said. APD said it determined that the initial 911 call came from the teen’s phone. Audio from the call shared by police starts with the dispatcher asking if the caller needs police, fire, EMS or mental health services. The caller responds with police. Police radio traffic audio released by APD indicates that the caller hung up and didn’t respond to a follow-up call. “All points are indicating that this was a suicide by police,” Davis said. Davis said APD has not had prior interactions with the teen. “A young man lost his life,” she said. “I cannot imagine the pain and the grief that his family is going through, and I want them to know that I am thinking about them. And I am very sorry about this incident.”

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Ken Paxton touts his efforts to fight voter fraud. His Senate opponent is now accusing him of committing it.

The Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas is trying to turn a key talking point of his Republican opponent against him — alleging Attorney General Ken Paxton is guilty of the same type of voter fraud he has spent years trying to eliminate. “As our state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton has gone on a voter fraud witch hunt,” state Rep. James Talarico, who is challenging Paxton in the race to replace U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, said during a campaign event in Houston. “Turns out, he was committing voter fraud the whole time, voting illegally in six elections in a row from the wrong address.” Talarico’s comments come after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune revealed that Paxton moved out of the home he shared with his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, in 2024 but continued to vote using that address, including during the March Republican primary in which he beat Cornyn. Three election experts told the news organizations that Paxton may have broken state law.

Last week, the Collin County Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Texas secretary of state, urging that office to investigate Paxton for election fraud. Paxton has repeatedly declined to answer the newsrooms’ questions about his voter registration and residency. On Tuesday, he held a rare news conference to tout the endorsement of nearly two dozen sheriffs and attacked Talarico as soft on crime. Talarico denied the charge at his own news conference Wednesday, saying he’d voted for billions of dollars in law enforcement funding as a member of the Legislature. When a Dallas Morning News political writer asked Paxton why he voted in Collin County, the attorney general shook his head as a campaign aide interceded. “We’re just going to answer questions on law enforcement today,” the aide said. Paxton’s office and campaign did not respond to similar questions on Thursday from ProPublica and the Tribune. They also did not answer questions about Talarico’s comments.

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For CCISD students, Communities in Schools is giving students a lifeline, a future, and a fighting chance.”

The CCISD board of trustees held a special meeting on Monday evening, during which the upcoming budget for the 2026-2027 school year was discussed. Not on the budget this year is funding for Communities In Schools, which places a site coordinator on each campus, save for the prekindergarten campus. $200,000 partially funded the site coordinators. CIS has had a presence on CCISD campuses for more than three decades, according to CIS board member Bruce Vasbinder. During the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting, BrendaLiz Gomez addressed the board, sharing her concerns that without CIS reps on district campuses, counselors at CCHS will not be able to fill the need.

“Our high school counselors currently serve approximately 550 students each, which is well above the American School Counselor Association and the Texas School Counselors Association recommended ratio of 250 students per counselor. While our counselors work tirelessly to support students, that caseload makes it nearly impossible to meet every academic, social, emotional, and family need,” Gomez told the board. “Communities In Schools helped fill the gap. Ms. Vines worked alongside counselors, administrators, teachers, local businesses, churches, and community organizations to meet the needs that often extended beyond the classroom. She connected families with food, clothing, hygiene items, and basic utilities during times of crisis. She helped students experiencing housing instability, supported families facing medical emergencies, and ensured students could remain focused on learning instead of worrying about their basic needs. She also helped students participate in milestone experiences like prom, giving many the opportunity to feel included and valued. “These services were not a duplication of existing roles; they were an expansion of support.” Winett Vines likewise addressed the board. Vines has been the CIS site coordinator at CCHS and appealed to the board regarding the students she has served. She acknowledged what she called a “riff” on social media about CCISD not continuing to contract with CIS in the upcoming school year.

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National Stories

Former ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Cecilia Vega details claims CBS News brass wanted her to insert political bias in stories

Cecilia Vega, one of the 60 Minutes correspondents fired in a management overhaul of the show earlier this year, followed up on her claim that she was instructed to insert political bias into stories. Vega appeared Thursday at a session at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference in New Orleans. In her remarks, reported by Status newsletter, she told John Quiñones that, among other things, she was encouraged to insert footage of protesters attacking ICE officers in plain clothes, but could find no credible examples for a piece on the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, in which federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Per Status, Vega said another suggestion was made to find a clip of Minneapolis’ police chief rolling his eyes at Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s suggestion that local police confront ICE agents. No such moment was found, she said.

On another piece about the war in Iran, Vega said she was told to introduce a story by saying, “Who is winning the war? Iran is totally outgunned by the United States and Israel.” Per Status, Vega called it an “administration talking point.” In another example, on West Virginians impacted by cuts to nutritional assistance programs, she said that she was queried why she did not interview JD Vance, who wrote Hillbilly Elegy, even though his account of his experiences in Ohio was published a decade ago. The proposed changes did not make it into her pieces. Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi were among those fired from 60 Minutes in May, with executive producer Tanya Simon replaced by Nick Bilton. Correspondent Scott Pelley was fired the next week after he challenged Bilton in a staff meeting and said that CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss was “murdering” the show. Vega issued a statement at the time saying, “In recent months, my producing teams and I have experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories. Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions.

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Maine Democrats pick Troy Jackson to replace Platner as Senate nominee

With just over 100 days to go until the midterm elections, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson officially clinched the Democratic nomination for Senate at a party convention here Saturday, setting up a marquee fall matchup against longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Jackson will replace Graham Platner, who withdrew as the nominee just over two weeks ago after an allegation of sexual assault, which he denies. “This process came together faster than any of us expected,” Jackson said in his victory speech before the gathered delegates and party officials at the Cross Insurance Center. “But this is important. The movement represented in this room did not just begin two weeks ago.” Delegates picked Jackson over pharmaceutical executive Saundra Pelletier by a vote of 566-5 during a roughly two-and-a-half hour party convention that also served as a fall campaign kickoff for the state’s Democratic faithful.

“Power is never just given to working people. We have to band together and take it,” Jackson said earlier Saturday during his nominating address. “When the people in power refuse to listen, well, you have to organize. You have to stand together in solidarity together.” “That’s how we took on the companies exploiting Maine loggers, and it’s how we’re going to take on Susan Collins,” he said. Jackson’s pick wraps up a chaotic few weeks for Maine Democrats, who had to convene Saturday’s convention to pick a new nominee ahead of a Monday deadline. They’ve been seeking to move on from Platner, who easily defeated Gov. Janet Mills in a primary last month with a populist message that resonated with Democratic voters despite a series of negative headlines that dogged his nearly yearlong campaign. Jackson, who unsuccessfully ran for governor this year, came into the convention as the prohibitive favorite after securing the support of a vast majority of delegates elected across the state’s counties last weekend to serve at the convention. Eve Breedlove, a young delegate from Penobscot County, said she’d supported Jackson in the gubernatorial race because of his support for progressive policies, which she said were similar to what Platner had campaigned on. “People still had that momentum behind him, and just with all of this happening, it’s unprecedented,” she said. “But in a way, I’m only 20 years old, so everything that’s ever happened in my life is very unprecedented.”

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Vance, Caine raised concerns about escalating war in Iran, sources say as US pauses consecutive nights of strikes

Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine both raised concerns about escalating the war in Iran as President Donald Trump weighed the possibility during a White House meeting on Friday, a source familiar with the matter and a US official told CNN. On Friday night, the US appeared to pause its bombing campaign on Iran after nearly two weeks of consecutive nights of strikes. Operations are “on a hold,” a Department of Defense source told CNN on Saturday. On Friday, Caine specifically raised concerns about the US munitions stockpile and other potential negative implications, according to the sources. One of the sources said that Caine told Trump and the US military they could carry out the options available to him and be successful but then warned of the possible implications.

The stockpile concern was one of many raised to Trump during the meeting, both sources said. It’s currently unclear if the stockpile concern or warning about escalation were the primary reasons why the US paused consecutive nights of strikes or whether it will continue to do so. “President Trump has always been consistent in saying he prefers a diplomatic solution, but he continues to retain all options if Iran continues terrorist activities in the (Strait) of Hormuz or against allies,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement. “Combined with successful sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy and 13 straight days of strikes against military targets in response to their repeated aggression, it would be wise for Iran to work towards a negotiated deal. Otherwise, they know what will happen.” CNN has also reached out to Vance’s office for comment. This comes as key US weapons stockpiles remain significantly depleted and could come under more pressure if strikes on Iran continue, as CNN has previously reported.

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Standout moments from Trump’s appearance at makeup WHCA dinner

President Trump was given a second chance Friday evening to deliver a speech before the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner — his first time addressing the crowd as president. Three months after the first event was derailed by an assassination attempt, Trump took to the podium at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, acknowledging he had to amend his remarks in light of the April shooting. His words were mixed with familiar jabs at the media, political opponents and even himself. Here are some of the standout moments. Following the dinner portion, which included steak and lobster, the event began on a somber note with a tribute to the U.S. Secret Service, law enforcement officers and hotel staff who responded to the April 24 incident. One Secret Service agent, Officer Victor Gonzales, was awarded the WHCA President’s Award for Exceptional Service. Gonzales was shot while confronting the gunman, but his bulletproof vest likely saved his life.

One of the night’s most memorable visuals — aside from the stunning Czech crystal chandeliers overhead — was Trump’s signature red hat. Instead of the familiar “Make America Great Again” slogan, this version simply read: “Trump 2028.” “When I’m not around, you’re going to be broke. There’s not going to be anyone to report on,” he joked. “To show just how much I care about the press, and I want to save your ratings, I am pleased to announce my intention to, and this is somewhat of a scoop, my intention to run for a fourth term as president of the United States,” Trump said before producing the cap from behind the lectern and placing it on his head. “I won three times and now, I’m going to do it again,” he added later, likely including the 2020 presidential election which he lost to former President Biden. Though, he maintains without evidence that the race was stolen from him. “I’m gonna do it. It should be easy. I’m getting very good at running for president.” The quip was met with a room full of laughter. The president several times in the speech insisted the idea was just a ruse.

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GOP leans into anti-communist messaging amid DSA surge

Republicans are increasingly leaning on anti-communist messaging as a cudgel against Democrats heading into the November elections. With only 100 days until the midterm elections, Republicans have launched repeated attacks tying the rise in socialism in the Democratic Party to communism. Democrats have seen a surge in socialist candidates in the 2026 cycle, with the socialist wing of the Democratic Party set to more than double its numbers after November. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) held a roundtable last week on the “threat of communism,” and said during her opening remarks that “What my biggest concern is today is what we’re witnessing here in America, and what we’re witnessing is the rise of communism.

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AI chatbots know how to make deadly biological weapons. Some will teach you.

After OpenAI enhanced the brain power of its chatbot last summer, hundreds of users worldwide began asking it how to make and deploy biological weapons and poisons. The models, operating largely free of U.S. government restrictions, patiently answered, issuing step-by-step instructions described by company employees as simple enough for a high-school biology student to follow. Biology and terrorism experts later reviewed the exchanges for ChatGPT and judged some as deadly accurate, said people familiar with the matter. Most queries were about concocting poisons, according to OpenAI. OpenAI banned these and other user accounts that asked about how to make poisons and biological weapons, but it didn’t alert law-enforcement officials. The U.S. has no federal laws requiring AI companies to either restrict or disclose queries about making weapons or formulating plans that pose a safety threat.

The absence of mandated safeguards coincides with a rise in queries from users asking AI models how to kill en masse—and chatbots responding with credible plans for mass-casualty attacks, according to current and former employees at the major AI labs, including OpenAI, as well as policy advisers and researchers who study biological weapons. The queries followed troubling exchanges earlier in the year: Users asked ChatGPT how to aerosolize pathogens, essentially converting infectious germs to a deadly, breathable mist. One wanted to know how to modify the measles virus to make an outbreak resistant to the measles vaccine. In those cases, the chatbot provided instructions. Another user wanted to know how to make ricin, a highly toxic poison banned under international treaties, according to people familiar with the matter. The chatbot gave detailed instructions, and the user said something about killing his parents. OpenAI banned these accounts but didn’t alert authorities.

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The shrinking world of former president Joe Biden

Joe Biden’s world has grown smaller. Eighteen months after leaving the White House, the 83-year-old former president moves within a narrowed circle of relatives, old friends and longtime aides as he undergoes treatment for metastatic cancer. The treatment appears to be working, according to five former aides and others close to Biden, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss his health and private life. But the disease — and the toll of treating it — has left him visibly frail. Those around Biden describe a post-presidency constrained by illness with his days increasingly organized around treatment, family and efforts to shape his legacy. Unlike some recent predecessors, Biden has maintained a limited public schedule, has yet to build a sprawling philanthropic or policy operation and has struggled to raise money for a presidential library, leaving him with fewer avenues to influence how his presidency is remembered.

That frailty is likely to become harder to keep private this fall, when Biden begins promoting a memoir scheduled for publication on Nov. 17, two weeks after the midterm elections. The timing has unsettled some friends and former advisers, who worry not only about Biden’s well-being, but also about how much his visible health struggle could revive the bitter arguments of 2024 just as Democrats are trying to make the election a referendum on President Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly mocked Biden’s age and acuity and replaced his portrait along a White House colonnade with an image of an autopen, a visual taunt built on the unsupported allegation that aides used the device to exercise presidential authority for a debilitated commander in chief. Those close to Biden bristle at the way his illness and physical decline have become part of his critics’ case against him and his party. Hunter Biden gave voice to the family’s frustration last month after a critic attacked his father’s cancer diagnosis on social media. “Listen man — I understand if you don’t like my Dad’s politics and you hate me because you believe everything Fox News has told you,” he wrote. “I’m fine with that, but my Dad has cancer. How is that an issue you want to attack. What sickness is in you that makes that fair game?”

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Lead Stories

Democrats try to harness AI data center backlash against Republicans

When Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for Texas governor, began her campaign last year, candidates weren’t talking about — or hearing about — data centers that power artificial intelligence. But with barely three months until November’s contest, the perceived threat to rural life, ranchland and dwindling water supplies could become a defining issue for her long-shot challenge to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, dividing conservative rural areas that have traditionally served as a counterweight to Democrats’ urban strongholds. The backlash to energy-guzzling server warehouses is also shaping other statewide campaigns from Arizona to Ohio to New York, and even giving Democrats a glimmer of hope in Texas, where Republicans have dominated for three decades.

“There is this little issue that I recently started hearing about that I wanted to tell you about, in case you don’t know,” Hinojosa quipped to a Democratic Party-organized crowd of about 160 seated on fold-out chairs at an Amarillo social club in Texas’ panhandle. “It’s this issue of data centers.” The crowd booed, and she went on: “They are owned by the richest men in the world. We’re all footing the bill. There are no rules. It is the wild west of data centers.” The fast growth of massive data centers has already upended races for local offices across the country, often uniting conservatives and liberals in revolting against projects in their midst. People don’t like the secrecy surrounding the projects or the prospect of air, noise, water and light pollution. They fear electric bills going up, wells going dry and losing open space, farmland or forest. Now the ripple effects have spread to top-of-the-ticket races, where incumbents and challengers are trying to show that they hear an angry electorate. In Ohio, Democratic nominee Sherrod Brown aired a television advertisement attacking Republican U.S. Sen. John Husted as the “face of data centers in Ohio” as people gather signatures for a statewide referendum to outright ban their construction.

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The Texas Panhandle was hit by a magnitude 5.0 earthquake

A rare magnitude 5.0 earthquake rattled parts of the Texas Panhandle early Thursday morning. It's the strongest quake to hit that region in at least 100 years, according to online data compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The epicenter was located about 24 miles southeast of Spearman, a town northeast of Amarillo, USGS reported. "My cat woke me up. He kind of freaked out about it a little bit and that woke me up," said Robertson County Judge Mitchell Locke, who serves as emergency management coordinator. "But I did feel it. There was some shaking. Nothing too extreme, though."

Robertson County is a rural community with a population of about 900 people. As of Thursday morning, Locke said he had not heard reports of any significant damage. One area of concern is the potential damage to the extensive oil and gas industry in the region. Earthquakes in the Permian Basin to the south have been linked to industrial activity associated with drilling for oil, such as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The process involves injecting large quantities of contaminated, salty water deep underground. "All of those companies, especially the pipeline companies, they do have earthquake protocols, and they will go check lines around the epicenter and check pressure in their lines, things like that," Locke said. "They do have earthquake plans." Damage to the oil and gas industry is also an area of concern for Hansfield County Sheriff Bob Mahaffee, who serves a neighboring county in the region. "Our main concern is the pipelines," Mahaffee said. "The companies are doing their pressure checks and everything they do to make sure the lines are normal." Earthquakes in Texas are not uncommon. However, their intensity has increased over the past six years.

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Trump to slap 'sweeping' new tariffs on 60 trade partners as global duties expire

The Trump administration will impose new tariffs just after midnight ET Friday on dozens of countries over alleged forced-labor violations, according to a notice in the Federal Register. The duties, set between 10% and 12.5%, will effectively replace President Donald Trump’s temporary 10% global tariffs, which are set to expire at the same time as the new ones take effect. The forthcoming tariffs will apply to 60 trade partners and cover 99.4% of U.S. trade, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a fact sheet Thursday afternoon. The office separately told CNBC that it could not provide an estimate of how much revenue the new tariffs will generate.

The move “is the most sweeping international labor rights action the United States has ever taken — that any country has ever taken,” a senior Trump administration official told reporters in a call earlier Thursday. The official noted that the new tariffs would not “stack” on top of existing import taxes on steel and aluminum, known as “Section 232? duties, that Trump imposed last year on national-security grounds. Thursday’s announcement underscores how the Trump administration is ramping its aggressive use of tariffs back up, after the president’s protectionist agenda suffered major legal setbacks earlier this year. Trump has long touted tariffs as key tools for generating revenue and gaining leverage over foreign trade partners, while brushing aside criticisms that they tax U.S. importers and raise prices for U.S. consumers. The White House recently imposed 25% tariffs on most U.S. imports from Brazil, which took effect Wednesday, and 50% tariffs on a wide range of goods from Canada, which are set to begin next month.

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OpenAI’s breach of Hugging Face stokes fears about what’s next for AI

Washington and the technology industry are on high alert this week after OpenAI revealed that some of its AI agents went rogue and hacked into the systems of technology start-up Hugging Face. The incident bore out years of warnings from the tech and cybersecurity community about the growing capabilities and hypothetical risks artificial intelligence could pose to critical infrastructure. Amid the warnings, Washington has tried to play catch-up to manage the cybersecurity risks, but concerns were stoked this week by the incident and fluctuating policy.

“What makes this wildly different,” for security teams at companies, is that it “brings the theoretical scenario of AI being capable of breaching a company and moving faster than a company can detect and respond to attack from theory to reality,” said Adam Ely, the general manager of AI security at the cybersecurity firm Check Point Software. OpenAI revealed on Tuesday that two of its models, including its latest GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased model, were being evaluated in an internal, testing sandbox, but breached past the environment and broke into Hugging Face’s database without any prompt to do so. The incident caught the attention of even well-versed cybersecurity experts, as it involved autonomous agents and two separate companies. ‘Whether it’s sort of an autonomous situation that wasn’t intended to be malicious, or whether it’s attackers controlling a model to do that, that’s different than what most people have experienced,” Ely said. OpenAI in a blog post called the incident an “unprecedented cyber incident, involving state-of-the-art cyber capabilities.”

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State Stories

State Rep. Denise Villalobos seeks to replace Corpus Christi Groundwater District

A political dispute over groundwater oversight in Nueces County is continuing as State Rep. Denise Villalobos seeks to replace Corpus Christi's Aquifer Storage and Recovery Groundwater Conservation District with an independent district. Villalobos is expected to meet with Corpus Christi city leaders next week to discuss her proposal. According to Villalobos, the current structure creates a conflict of interest because the city regulates the aquifer while also being one of its largest users. City leaders dispute that claim, saying the groundwater district was created by the Texas Legislature and that the city has followed state law and the required permitting process since the district was established.

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Wesley Hunt remains silent on reported photo with Tate brothers

Texas U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt has declined to explain a photo circulating online that appears to show him with influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate inside what appears to be his congressional office. The Tate brothers are prominent figures in the online "manosphere," promoting male dominance and so-called red-pill ideology. The self-described misogynists, who live in Romania, face criminal allegations in multiple countries and were arrested in Miami last week in connection with extradition proceedings involving the United Kingdom. The arrest came days after a photo surfaced showing Hunt standing between the brothers, smiling inside what appears to be his congressional office.

The American-Statesman contacted Hunt's office seeking comment and to independently verify the photo's date and authenticity. The Statesman also contacted representatives for the Tates but did not receive a response before publication. In a video published by TMZ DC, Hunt immediately responded "no comment" when asked about the brothers' arrest and whether he regretted taking the photo. The Tate brothers have denied allegations against them stemming from investigations in Romania and Britain, where they face accusations including human trafficking. Andrew Tate also faces a rape charge in the U.K. A Florida woman also sued the brothers, alleging they lured her to Romania and forced her into sex work. Most of her claims were dismissed last month, though a judge allowed her to refile them, according to ProPublica. No criminal charges have been filed against the brothers in the United States. ProPublica also reported that White House official Paul Ingrassia, who previously represented the brothers before joining the administration, urged Department of Homeland Security officials to return electronic devices seized from the brothers during a 2025 visit to the U.S. The brothers' attorney, Joseph McBride, told ProPublica his clients were innocent, that no illicit material was found on the devices and that multiple investigations had produced no evidence of criminal conduct. Andrew Tate has repeatedly praised President Donald Trump and compared his legal troubles to those of the president in posts on X.

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Texas appeals court reverses temporary injunction against midwife accused of violating state abortion ban

A Texas appeals court on Thursday reversed a temporary injunction against a Houston-area woman accused of violating the state's abortion ban. Maria Margarita Rojas was arrested in March 2025 and accused of providing "illegal abortions" and practicing medicine without a license at a network of clinics in northwestern Houston, according to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Rojas' attorneys have argued that the allegations are not true and that the state has failed to prove any abortions were happening at the clinics or that any unlawful practice was occurring. A lower court in Waller County issued a temporary injunction against Rojas in May of last year, effectively shutting down the three clinics at which she worked.

In Thursday's memorandum opinion, the Fifteenth Court of Appeals in Austin found that "the State of Texas did not provide the trial court with sufficient evidence on which the trial court could grant a temporary injunction." The panel of three judges found the state improperly presented probable-cause affidavits from Rojas' separate criminal case at the civil hearing. "As a result, the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the probable-cause affidavits," the opinion read. "Without the probable-cause affidavits, the remaining evidence in the record does not reasonably support the State's allegations that abortions have been performed at the Clinics." However, the opinion notes that it only determines the status of the injunction and does not address not whether the allegations against Rojas are true. "Although the suit underlying this interlocutory appeal involves allegations that the appellants, a licensed midwife and a group of associated clinics, performed illegal abortions and practiced medicine without a license, this opinion does not decide whether those acts occurred," the opinion states.

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Toro District, others may be in doubt after judge voids 2021 election

A recent court ruling invalidating an amendment to the Texas Constitution could complicate Harris County’s plan for financing the Toro District and send ripples through a network of little-known taxing districts the county formed prior to the ruling. The amendment, which voters approved as Proposition 2 in 2021, was framed as giving county reinvestment zones the ability to issue debt. But some counties responded by creating these zones for the first time. Harris County has since created four and is negotiating with the Houston Texans and Howard Hughes to form a fifth to fund infrastructure for a new practice field and surrounding development in northwest Harris County. But state District Judge Jan Soifer’s July 10 ruling in a lawsuit brought by a group of conservative organizations may frustrate those plans.

Soifer agreed with the plaintiffs’ allegation that the ballot language used to describe the amendment failed to inform voters how the zones’ investments would be paid for – namely, by issuing bonds. “Therefore,” Soifer wrote, “the ballot language of Proposition 2 … omitted a chief feature of the amendment and misled the voters.” The lawsuit was brought against the Texas Secretary of State’s Office by Texas Uniting for Reform and Freedom, Grassroots America — We the People PAC and the True Texas Project. The organizations warned the language was misleading in a letter one of their lawyers sent state officials in August 2021, before the issue appeared on the ballot. Attorney Garrett McMillan pointed to a “nearly identical” proposal voters rejected in 2011. That proposal, he wrote, made clear that the reinvestment zones would fund projects through property taxes, unlike the 2021 measure.

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'It's killing us:' Austin's watercraft ban spells trouble for local businesses

The City of Austin extended its ban on watercraft, and lakefront businesses say it's affecting their margins. The ban was set in place on Friday, July 17, due to floodgate activity at several dams on the river following last week's floods. It was originally scheduled to be lifted on Tuesday, but city and water officials extended the ban through Thursday, July 23 at 5 p.m. "The 48-hour extension is necessary because higher and faster flows are expected to continue on the water for several days," the City of Austin wrote. Several waterfront businesses that rent out various watercraft have been forced to close temporarily.

Connor Champagne, Chief of Texas Operations at Lone Star Kayak Tours, says the hit to revenue is already apparent. "A weekend, generally, for a business like us is going to be a good 50% of our revenue for that particular week," he said. "It's usually like a $10,000 hit for us. And I imagine for larger businesses like Rowing Dock or Live Love Paddle who have bigger operations, they're probably seeing an even bigger hit to their margins." Casey Vick, the owner of Live Love Paddle, put it plainly: "It's killing us... it's killed our business. July is the busiest time of year," he said. This is the second year in a row that a watercraft ban has been implemented due to flooding. Last year's ban was prompted by the Fourth of July floods that ravaged much of Central Texas. "Safety is always first, of course," Vick said. "But in my opinion, [it] seems like they use an overabundance of caution, and maybe they need to consider the businesses on the lake a little more often than they do." If the ban lifts tomorrow as intended, Champagne says his tour guides will waste no time getting back on the water.

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Screwworm cases rise across Texas

On June 3, the first case of the New World screwworm (NWS) was discovered in La Pryor, Texas, infecting a three-week-old calf. Since then, screwworm cases have continued to gradually rise. As of July 22, 42 reported cases in cows, sheep, goats, and dogs have expanded throughout New Mexico and Texas – 41 of those reported in the Lone Star State. NWS are the larvae of the parasitic NWS fly, which burrows and eats the living flesh of warm-blooded animals. Screwworm flies lay eggs in the open wounds of animals, and the eggs hatch into maggots that “screw into” and feed on healthy tissue. Most commonly, the NWS is spread to livestock, pets, and wildlife. Infestations can cause serious and deadly injury to animals if untreated.

Infestations are highly treatable, as long as ranchers and farmers recognize signs early on and treat infested animals with medication. Anyone who notices an animal they suspect to have an NWS infection can report it to the USDA. The NWS outbreak is not a food safety issue, as NWS burrow only in the living flesh of animals. The NWS was largely eradicated from the U.S. in 1966, according to the USDA, through intense sterile fly programs. The sterile insect technique (SIT) involves breeding and introducing sterile NWS flies to known populations to slow reproduction and contain the spread. The program was extremely effective in the Sixties, but costly for ranchers and the state agencies that spearheaded it. NWS returned in 1976 in an isolated outbreak across Texas. SIT once again contained the infestation, but it put significant financial pressure on ranchers and farmers.

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San Antonio city attorney suggests mayor’s plan to end Ready to Work early may run afoul of state law

City Attorney Andy Segovia has responded to Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones’ latest idea to plug San Antonio’s $158 million budget gap, saying that asking voters to redirect funds from the Ready to Work program comes with significant limitations. The mayor made waves earlier this week when she floated the idea that ending the taxpayer-funded workforce development program early could divert up to $100 million of its collected funds to the city’s general fund. On Thursday, the city attorney advised council members that there could be strict limits on how Ready to Work funds can be used, according to a city memo obtained by the San Antonio Report. In the memo sent to the mayor and City Council, Segovia said Ready to Work funds are restricted under Texas’ Better Jobs Act.

State law allows the funds to be used for a specific purpose, he noted, related to developing a skilled workforce. That includes literacy and education — the memo mentions scholarships, secondary schools and after school programs as examples. Using it for unrelated purposes, like drainage or street improvements, wouldn’t be consistent with state law, according to the memo. Jones mentioned infrastructure improvements as a more pressing need in an interview with Texas Public Radio’s “The Source” on Monday. In her memo to council members on Tuesday, however, the mayor only pointed to high priority projects in the city’s general fund or 2027 bond as possible landing places for the money. Jones urged council members to consider putting the issue to voters as soon as the November ballot — and on Thursday, she didn’t seem to take Segovia’s response as a “no.”

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Southwest Airlines under fire after viral ICE airport arrest video

A viral video showing Department of Homeland Security officers detaining a woman as she attempted to board a Southwest Airlines flight at Denver International Airport has prompted criticism of the Texas-based airline on social media. The video, posted Tuesday on Instagram, shows 27-year-old Chantal Alejandra Morales Rojas of Ecuador being detained by plainclothes Department of Homeland Security officers while attempting to board a flight from Denver to Oakland. In a statement, DHS said Morales Rojas entered the United States on a visa that allowed her to work as an au pair through Jan. 4, 2025, but remained in the country after it expired "in violation of our nation's laws." The footage quickly spread across social media, where many users criticized Southwest Airlines, accusing the carrier of helping facilitate the arrest. Some commenters said they planned to boycott the airline or cancel upcoming flights.

"I fly southwest for my commute and actually looking at my app right now to cancel all further flights. This is AWFUL," @jennifa_o_jenny wrote. "@southwestair I was looking at tickets last night with y’all. Glad I didn’t buy, taking my family trip business elsewhere," @frisco_lens added. Others criticized Southwest employees' actions during the incident, arguing they should not have assisted law enforcement officers. "Wow @southwestair you really threatened passengers to remove them from flights?!! That agent needs to be fired," @nuwing wrote. "I will never fly @southwestair ever again. Your employees don’t need to stand in the way but they sure as hell don’t need to assist," added @teep85. Southwest Airlines said it did not inform DHS officials about Morales Rojas' immigration status, CBS reported. However, the airline said the Transportation Security Administration and DHS have access to passenger information as part of the federal security screening process. Denver International Airport told CBS that "a number of federal agencies lawfully operate and have jurisdiction at DEN. As such, they are not required to inform the airport of their activity." Southwest Airlines also said that it has "provided guidance to its employees to help ensure appropriate legal documentation is presented by law enforcement agencies prior to interactions in the gate areas."

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Austin City Council set to approve outside firm to audit city operations

Austin’s first citywide efficiency audit is poised to move forward July 30, when City Council is expected to approve the selection of an independent firm to evaluate operations across all city departments. Pennsylvania-based public policy consulting firm Public Works LLC submitted the winning proposal, one of 25 bids received to perform a comprehensive assessment of all city departments. The proposed contract comes as Council also prepares to consider an initiative petition brought by conservative watchdog Save Austin Now PAC, which would require regular performance audits of city operations, potentially putting the issue of government accountability before voters this November.

The group collected more than the required 20,000 signatures to qualify the proposed charter amendment for the November ballot. Council must either place the measure on the November ballot or adopt it outright. It’s unclear how the city will proceed should voters approve the charter amendment while a separate assessment by Public Works gets underway. Council Member Marc Duchen, who unsuccessfully proposed an efficiency audit last year in response to a looming budget deficit, said the ordinance Council passed in February to create the Comprehensive Efficiency Assessment Program is not that far apart from what Save Austin Now’s initiative seeks to accomplish with a charter amendment. Mayor Kirk Watson brought forward the February ordinance to restore public trust in Council and the city as a whole. The PAC launched its petition drive after voters last year soundly rejected the city’s Proposition Q, which would have increased the property tax rate by more than 20%, resulting in the average Austin property owner paying an additional $200 a year.

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Conroe City Council backs Flock cameras despite residents' opposition

The Conroe City Council unanimously shelved two proposals Thursday that would have reviewed or reconsidered the city's use of Flock Safety license plate cameras, signaling strong support for the technology despite growing public opposition. Newly elected Council Member Kristin Hoisington called an effort to remove the cameras an “anti-police campaign.” “Over the last few days, it has become abundantly clear that this is no longer about creating reasonable policy; it’s being perpetuated by bad actors and performative agitators. In my opinion, it is an anti-police campaign,” Hoisington said.

“Its sole objective is to harass public servants and target families, stir up online outrage and suggest action that endangers those who serve the community.” Hoisington said she, along with fellow council members, has received “troubling” phone calls regarding the issue and said she would not put other community members in that position. She, along with Mayor Pro Tem John Sellars, brought forward an item to create a committee to study the cameras and their use in the community for council discussion. Hoisington asked the council to table the item indefinitely. The council agreed unanimously. The committee proposal was intended to examine how the city uses Flock Safety's automated license plate reader cameras amid growing public concern over privacy and surveillance. Opponents argue the cameras collect more information than the city has acknowledged, while city officials maintain the technology is a crime-fighting tool that records license plate numbers and vehicle characteristics — not people — and does not use facial recognition. Thursday's vote effectively halted efforts to further review the program or reconsider its future.

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TMPA warns of legal action against Mission regarding police chief

Mission could be hit with a lawsuit for failing to address “serious concerns” against Police Chief Cesar Torres, according to the Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA). “TMPA prefers professional dialogue over litigation, but we are prepared to use whatever legal measures are necessary to protect our members and hold failed leadership accountable,” read a letter written by Kevin Lawrence, the association’s executive director. Lawrence said he submitted the letter to the mayor and city council on June 30, with the document noting he was denied the opportunity to voice concerns during a regular meeting on June 23.

And on Monday, Lawrence said that his only statement regarding the letter was that he has not heard from the city since then, despite submitting it in person and through emails. “They have not responded at all,” Lawrence said. “I hand delivered that letter to city hall and I emailed it to every one of them — to their city email addresses — so I feel very confident they received them so they’ve chosen not to respond.” As for Mission, the city said in a statement Tuesday it received Lawrence’s letter, both in person and electronically, and has reviewed its contents. “As with any correspondence of this nature, the City handles such matters through the appropriate administrative and legal processes,” the statement read. “Because this involves personnel-related issues, the City has no further comment at this time.” Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza echoed similar sentiments Tuesday, also confirming they received the letter and that it’s being reviewed by their attorney. “I am expecting a response from the attorney to Mr. Lawrence so I think that would be the proper thing to do,” she said. “I have not seen what’s been drafted, I couldn’t tell you what the comments are gonna be, but it is being reviewed.” As for Torres, he didn’t immediately respond to repeated requests for comment, including an in-person request from a reporter following a city council workshop Tuesday afternoon. In the letter, Lawrence told the council if he had been allowed to speak, he would’ve reminded them that the TMPA raised concerns regarding Torres before he was hired. “We believe the City either failed to fully vet him or chose to ignore his prior misconduct,” the letter stated. When asked why Lawrence wasn’t able to speak during the June 23 meeting, the city said it “follows established City Council procedures that provide members of the public an opportunity to address the Council on agenda items during the designated public comment period.” “The individual referenced sought to speak on a matter that was not listed on the posted agenda,” the city’s statement continued. “The City’s procedures were applied consistently in accordance with the Council’s established rules for public participation.”

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Sister Letty delivers statement following June ICE detainment

A crowd of parishioners gathered at a set of tables inside the conference room at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church Thursday morning. Just before 10 a.m., they began to applaud in support as Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja entered the room. Ugboaja took a seat at a table in the center of the room, sitting between Sister Norma Pimentel and her attorney Carlos Moctezuma Garcia. The occasion marked Ugboaja’s first public appearance since she was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while walking to Mass on the morning of June 28.

Garcia addressed the crowd of supporters and local media, informing everyone that Ugboaja would be reading a statement and would not be taking questions. “Good morning, everyone, and welcome,” she said. “It’s my pleasure to speak after all these weeks, days of stress, of anxiety, of fear. But according to the scriptures, ‘Do not be afraid, because I am with you always.’” As she continued reading her statement, she shared some details of her experience with ICE agents on the morning when she was detained. She said that she was stopped right outside the Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School. “Honestly, in that moment, I did not understand what was going on, what was happening to me, because I was busy reflecting on the readings of the Mass that very day,” she recalled. “I was very much afraid, with cold sweat. I can just hear my heart very tachycardic.” Ugboaja is originally from Nigeria, but she has been a community member for over a decade. While devoting her time to her religious services, she has spent many years working at different hospitals as well.

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Former WilCo sheriff, attorney demand $35M settlement in new civil lawsuit

The legal battle over the death of Javier Ambler is taking another turn. Just days after the felony case against former Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody and former County Attorney Jason Nassour was dismissed, they are now demanding $35 million from Williamson County to settle a new civil lawsuit. What they're saying: "This is one of the worst malicious prosecution cases that we've come across," Chody & Nassour’s attorney, Ryan Johnson, said. Chody and Nassour faced felony charges for tampering with evidence.

Prosecutors accused them of allowing producers for the reality TV show "Live PD" to destroy raw video of the March 2019 in custody death of Javier Ambler. It was later revealed Chody and Nassour never possessed or controlled the video and the footage had never been legally obtained before it was erased. The defense argued that is because prosecutors failed to use the proper legal process to obtain it. Former Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody and attorney Jason Nassour have filed a civil lawsuit against Travis and Williamson counties and their district attorneys, alleging malicious prosecution after evidence-tampering charges related to missing Live PD footage from the 2019 death of Javier Ambler were dropped. "They basically failed what a first-year law student would understand how to do and so that's embarrassing, and they tried to blame the county attorney, and they tried to blame a sheriff for doing their job and ultimately, it didn't hold up, and their case fell apart as it should," Johnson said. About a week-and-a-half ago. A judge dismissed all charges with prejudice. "When the charges were dismissed, I think that the main feeling was relief, some vindication, but they want to hold these people responsible because not only did they ruin their lives, they wasted millions of dollars in taxpayer money on a case that had absolutely no foundation," Johnson said.

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National Stories

Mortgage rates hit highest levels in nearly a year

Mortgage rates rose to their highest level in almost a year, as rising tensions in the Middle East spurred fears of higher inflation. The 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.58% this week, up from 6.55% the week prior, according to Freddie Mac, the highest level to date this year. Mortgage rates are closely tied to the 10-year Treasury yield, which hit an 18-month high Thursday due to rising oil prices. Yemen’s Houthi militants claimed attacks on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, promising to further constrict oil supply. The move sent oil prices past $100 a barrel Thursday. “Given what’s happened in just recent days with the 10-year Treasury, I think mortgage rates will get closer to 7% in the coming weeks,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American.

Mortgage rates briefly fell below 6% in February, sparking hope for a rebound in home sales following years of stagnation. But the beginning of the Iran war drove rates upward and they have remained volatile since. The surge in mortgage rates comes at the worst possible time. The real-estate industry had been hoping this year’s spring selling season, typically the busiest period of the year, would shake the frozen market loose. Instead, it was largely a bust, with buyers spooked by higher rates and uncertain about the path of the economy and job market. Earlier this month, the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes slid 2.4% in June over the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million, well below expectations. The housing market has been stuck in what is now a four-year slump after the rise in mortgage rates in 2022 concluded a pandemic-era buying frenzy.

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Satellite images show Iran is rebuilding. Fast.

Iran has quickly rebuilt infrastructure damaged during the U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign over recent months, from missile bases nestled deep inside mountains to bridges, ports and production facilities, according to Israeli and Western officials and a review of satellite imagery. The faster-than-expected progress worries some Israeli officials. It helps explain Iran’s continued resilience despite an air campaign that involved more than 20,000 strikes at the height of the war and that continues along Iran’s coast in an effort to break Tehran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Near Kangavar, in western Iran, satellite imagery from Planet Labs in March showed two tunnel entrances and an access road damaged by airstrikes aimed at blocking access to an Iranian missile base. Within weeks, imagery from Airbus revealed a neatly paved road leading to freshly excavated entrances.

In another case, an Israeli military official said Iran repaired a bridge that Israel had struck with three bombs within days, surprising Israeli officials and prompting them to question the effectiveness of their targeting. Planet Labs satellite images from the beginning of July also showed partial reconstruction efforts at a shipyard in the port of Bandar Anzali on the Caspian Sea that is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the paramilitary group tasked with defending the regime. Israel said it hit dozens of targets there in March, including warships, the port, a command center and a shipyard used to repair and maintain vessels, aiming at a Russia-Iran supply line and calling it one of its most significant attacks of the war. Ran Kochav, a former commander of Israel’s air and missile defense forces, said the rapid recovery is consistent with skills Iran demonstrated in rebuilding its infrastructure and missile stockpile after the 12-day Israel-Iran war last June, before the new war began in February. “They refilled their stockpiles,” he said. “They have very impressive industrialization and reconstruction capabilities.”

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‘Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway’ signs face backlash from Vietnam veterans

Vietnam veterans in Sumner County, Tenn., are objecting to official signs honoring the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk that have appeared on a stretch of a state highway that has been designated Vietnam Veterans Boulevard since 1987. The signs, which say “Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway,” appeared on State Route 386 in Sumner County, north of Nashville, last month to the surprise of a number of Vietnam veterans who live in the area. “We woke up to find that there were signs placed on Vietnam Veterans Boulevard,” said David Black, 78, a Vietnam veteran and professor at Vanderbilt University, “and that road has been designated as a memorial to Vietnam veterans for over four decades.” Barry Rice, 80, president of the Tennessee State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said “many of our veterans are very supportive of some memorial somewhere for Charlie Kirk.”

“But,” he added, “not on our Vietnam Veterans Boulevard.” Representative Johnny Garrett, a Republican who represents Sumner County in the Tennessee General Assembly, proposed a memorial designation for State Route 386 honoring Mr. Kirk in March. “This past year I was approached by several constituents who wished to find a way to honor Charlie Kirk for the life he lived defending the freedom of speech and inspiring an entire generation of young people to stand up for the freedoms and Christian values that our nation was built on,” Mr. Garrett said in an email. Mr. Garrett said he chose the location “because it is the main entrance to Sumner County from Nashville.” Vietnam veterans in Sumner County were “totally blindsided” by the move, according to Dr. Black, a Marine Corps veteran who said “no one from the Legislature reached out to us.”

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Government withdraws subpoenas of 3 reporters for The New York Times

Criticized by a federal judge for sloppy legal work, the government on Thursday grudgingly withdrew subpoenas that would have compelled three New York Times reporters to testify about their sources for articles about President Donald Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet. The withdrawals in U.S. District Court followed a remarkable back-and-forth between a visibly irritated Judge Arun Subramanian and government lawyers. They come at a time when the Trump administration is vigorously going after news organizations whose reporting and coverage it doesn’t like — and also trying to crack down on leaks inside the government. The government’s turnabout in the face of vigorous legal opposition and a stern reprimand from a judge marked the latest instance of the Justice Department making aggressive moves to compel journalists to identify their sources before a grand jury — only to later retreat.

The administration recently withdrew similar subpoenas that sought to compel testimony from journalists for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal related to separate national security coverage. Subramanian said he otherwise would have granted the newspaper’s request to reject the subpoenas because regulations pertaining to subpoenas served on journalists maintain that they should be issued as a last resort in an investigation. “Subpoenas are the last step, not the first step, but the last step,” the judge said, citing rules set to protect against violations of the First Amendment. He said the government’s actions had turned the law and the regulations “on its head.” “When you see something like this, if this were a civil proceeding, what I would normally do is ask the parties to show causes why sanctions should not be issued,” the judge said, referencing punishment for lawyers for egregious actions. After the hearing, the Justice Department lashed out at Subramanian in a statement, saying he “threatened our attorneys with sanctions unless subpoenas were withdrawn, and blocked us from presenting the meticulous process of this investigation.”

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Trump returns to White House correspondents' dinner after April attack halted gala

U.S. President Donald Trump will address the White House Correspondents' Association at a rescheduled dinner on Friday, nearly three months after a shooting at ?the Washington Hilton hotel interrupted the event. The black-tie gathering of journalists, politicians and administration officials was called off ?on April 25 after a man tried to force his way through a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun outside the ballroom where Trump and members of his cabinet were taking their seats. Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here. The suspect, Cole Allen, pleaded not guilty in May to charges including attempting to assassinate the president.

The dinner has been moved ?to the Waldorf Astoria hotel and will take place under heightened security. Secret Service Director Sean Curran told reporters Wednesday ?that an advance team was implementing a comprehensive security plan at the hotel. “We do expect bad people to ?show up," Curran said. "It's just a reality of where we are, but we're treating it no differently than any other site ?that the president goes to.” Trump has said the shooting in April showed the need for a $400 million ballroom being built at the White ?House, saying that holding such events there would increase the president's security. Friday's dinner will honor Secret Service officer Victor Gonzales, who was shot at a security checkpoint outside the ballroom in April and credited with stopping the attack. He was wearing a protective vest and was the only person injured ?that night. Washington Hilton staff who assisted guests will also be recognized, the WHCA said.

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Mike Johnson is ‘sick of this sh*t’ (but sorry he said so)

Speaker Mike Johnson was at his wit’s end. For months, he had been dealing with one rebellion after another, and now members were about to tank a bipartisan veterans bill. The House was scheduled to quickly approve the bill that Thursday morning and head out for the weekend. Trying to salvage another priority for his party, Johnson brought a handful of members, including those threatening to block the bill, into his “ceremonial room” across from the House chamber. Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida), who opposed the bill, and Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), who supported it, started yelling at each other. Luna then pointed her anger toward Johnson. Fed up, the speaker snapped and replied, “I’m sick of this shit,” according to multiple sources in the room.

Witnesses were shocked that the typically even-keeled Johnson had lost his cool. Almost immediately, he apologized to Luna for his outburst. He then walked over to the elementary-school-aged son of Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colorado), who had witnessed the interaction, and got down on one knee and apologized for cursing in front of him, the sources said. Johnson left the room and did what he’s been forced to do repeatedly this Congress: pull the bill because a few Republicans wouldn’t agree to vote for it. NOTUS spoke with more than a dozen lawmakers and aides for a broader view of how the speaker’s daily crises — often brought about by his own members — continue to derail his party’s agenda. Most rank-and-file Republican members are upset with the handful who regularly make the House look like a hot mess. Some lawmakers refuse to be team players, and the incentive structure that rewards them makes governing impossible, they say. (Proposals that would punish those who step out of line are even being considered, sources told NOTUS.)

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Number of U.S. troop deaths in Iran war appears lower on Pentagon website

On Wednesday, the Pentagon reported on its casualties website that a total of 18 American service members had been killed during the war in Iran. By Thursday, the Defense Department had lowered that number, reporting that 14 American troops had been killed in the war. Three military officials said that one reason behind the change was that the Trump administration decided to remove four service members killed this past weekend from the list — three in Jordan and one in northern Iraq — because their deaths occurred after President Trump declared a cease-fire in the war in April. The officials described sensitive internal discussions on the condition of anonymity. The acting press secretary for the Pentagon, Joel Valdez, attributed the change instead to “temporary data disruptions” on the website that he suggested would be quickly fixed.

Since the cease-fire collapsed, the Pentagon has provided little information about the American military strategy and has been slow to release information about troops’ injuries. The last major Pentagon briefing on the war was in early May. The Defense Department has said that disclosing Iranian strikes on bases where U.S. troops are housed would compromise operational security. The Pentagon withheld information about three Iranian strikes last week in Jordan that injured dozens of U.S. service members and damaged several helicopters, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. After an Iranian strike in Jordan on Friday killed three soldiers, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, acknowledged that the number of U.S. military casualties since July 7 had risen to nearly 100. Defense Department officials say they are bound by law to report troop deaths, but not injuries. Critics, including Democratic senators, say the Trump administration is obligated to inform the public about the conduct of the war.

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Lead Stories

Texas politicians call for AI guardrails after OpenAI security incident

Texas politicians across the political spectrum are calling for guardrails on artificial intelligence and data centers. This comes after OpenAI disclosed that one of its AI models gained access to another company’s systems during a security evaluation. On Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said via social media, “We had a significant security incident during evaluation of our models.” OpenAI identified the target as Hugging Face, an AI platform that hosts models and datasets. “The model searched for and successfully found ways to gain access to secret information,” OpenAI said in a recent statement. The model then used that information to access Hugging Face servers.

The incident raises a broader legal question if it were to happen again: Who is responsible when an AI system hacks a company? University of Texas Law Professor Kevin Frazier says the answer is not so simple. “It depends,” Frazier told Nexstar Wednesday. “We know that the laws we have on the books in many ways were not written with these highly sophisticated AI models in mind.” Frazier says existing laws often focus on human decisions and company actions, creating uncertainty when AI systems act in unexpected ways. “The law that is currently being evaluated by legal scholars and by AI pundits is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA),” he said. “So it includes, in many of its provisions, a intent provision asking, for example, did a computer user intend to hack into another system? We’re not sure how that’s going to apply to situations like this one in which intent is really hard to attribute to an AI system.” Frazier noted the law likely won’t be tested in this circumstance, as OpenAI and Hugging Face appear to be handling the situation together.

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James Talarico rolls out plan to rein in data centers. It's a lot like Greg Abbott's.

Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on Wednesday rolled out a plan to address the growing backlash to data centers — and it sounded a lot like the one pushed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Opposition to the centers has galvanized voters, especially in deep-red rural parts of the state, and has led to calls for a moratorium from several Democrats on the ticket in November. Talarico’s proposal stops short of that. The Austin Democrat and the Republican governor — who is not running for U.S. Senate, but has sought to brand Talarico as “out of step” with Texans — are both pushing for a middle ground. “I don't know what Greg Abbott's plan is, but I'm willing to work with anybody, including the governor, to pass these common sense regulations,” Talarico said at a press conference in Austin, where he laid out his proposal. “We have to strike a balance between welcoming growth, welcoming investment, and protecting people and communities.”

Talarico and Abbott both want to repeal tax breaks that are driving the data center boom across the state. They want to require data centers to reuse water and to stop companies from passing on infrastructure costs to ratepayers in the communities where they build. The sales tax exemption for data centers was created before Abbott was elected governor in 2014, but he signed a law expanding it in 2015, well before demand boomed amid the rise of artificial intelligence. Talarico’s plan does go a little further than Abbott’s in some ways. Perhaps most notably, Talarico says he wants to “empower local communities to decide whether they want a data center in their town.” Any changes he wants to make in the U.S. Senate will have to be at the federal level, which could be more complicated, politically. “The biggest concern I hear from communities across the state is that this is being done without their consent,” Talarico said. “They may be open to some of these projects, depending on the guardrails, depending on if demands are met. But right now, folks in the community, taxpayers, aren't getting that input, and that's what we have to change.”

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‘We’re getting into an ugly phase’: Trump’s new tariffs are angering voters and U.S. allies alike

Tariffs are back — and they couldn’t come at a worse time for the GOP. Some Republicans fear the eye-popping new levies President Donald Trump threatened to slap on Canada and generic drug makers this week will aggravate Americans who were already blaming the tariffs for stubborn inflation ahead of a midterm election dominated by economic issues. The president has long brandished tariffs as a cudgel in negotiations and some industry insiders see the promise of a future 50 percent tariff on $20 billion of Canadian goods and 100 percent levies on generic drugs as the latest example of a well-worn tactic. The administration is hoping to get Canada to re-negotiate a trade pact and pharmaceutical companies to reshore manufacturing.

But the president’s allies fear that nuance will be lost on voters and argue the new tariffs — which could raise the prices of popular goods like alcohol and bacon, and the heart pills necessary to mitigate their effects — threaten to undercut the long list of victories Republicans would rather be touting. “Everything that you do that’s not focused on affordability is not helpful. This might not be a negative five, but it’s a negative 0.5. Anything that you’re doing that is not on the plus side of the scale is a problem,” said one person close to the White House, granted anonymity to speak about the impact of the tariffs on the GOP’s midterm chances. “When you announce new tariffs, it’s not like, okay, well, let’s see what they do. It’s, ‘Oh crap, those are the bad things.’” The threat of new levies — the duties on Canada are not scheduled to take effect until mid-August and the generic duties until 2028 — come as the administration slowly rebuilds its tariff wall in the aftermath of a February Supreme Court ruling that struck down a broad swath of Trump’s trade regime. The president is set to unveil another set of tariffs ranging from 10 to 12.5 percent on 97 countries in the coming days. The administration also has several ongoing investigations that could result in tariffs on everything from wind turbines to industrial machinery.

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Ken Paxton’s fundraising woes are beginning to worry some in the GOP

James Talarico is the most well-funded Texas Democratic Senate candidate in years. Some in the Republican Party are worried about the challenge Attorney General Ken Paxton is mounting in return. “A joke,” one GOP strategist said of Paxton’s fundraising this week. Another, when asked if they were worried about the impact Paxton’s cash disadvantage could have on downballot races, said “everybody is.” “I’m more concerned than I was in 2018,” said Jill Tate, president of the Texas Federation of Republican Women, referring to Beto O’Rourke’s close loss to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. “Talarico is a formidable opponent.” Paxton’s campaign said it raised $9 million in the quarter ending last month, compared to Talarico’s $30 million

Some Republicans who support Paxton are optimistic that his strong connections to the base and to President Donald Trump will drive turnout in November. Others say his scorched-earth primary fight with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn turned off traditional GOP donors and is evidence that enthusiasm in the broader Republican umbrella is not what it needs to be ahead of a pivotal election. A candidate’s fundraising is important outside of the fate of their own race. Down-ballot candidates are often buoyed by high performers in their party who fund get-out-the-vote efforts, campaign events and generate excitement. Tate said Talarico comes across as likable and well spoken, and “that’s what affects the entire ballot.” She’s not the only one who thinks so. Cruz said Talarico has a “real chance” to beat Paxton on a radio show earlier this month. He’s now reportedly helping Paxton smooth things over with some major Republican donors.

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State Stories

Nvidia supplier Wistron launches $700 million Texas factory for AI system production

Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang calls a partner's new supercomputer assembly plant in Fort Worth a key part of the artificial intelligence infrastructure ecosystem that will "re-industrialize" the United States. Huang and other executives from the world's most valuable company were on hand for the July 21 opening of the first of two Wistron Corp. plants in the city. They pulled a curtain off the first GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Superchip built by the Taiwanese company in Fort Worth, with Huang signing the chip: "The world's first made in Texas, U.S.A." Those chips ultimately will be installed in supercomputer racks for the GB300, the most powerful AI supercomputer in the world. The computers weigh two tons, cost $4 million and consist of 1.5 million parts. They are installed in data centers that power AI systems.

"We're producing them like phones right here in Wistron," Huang said. Huang believes Wistron's manufacturing sites in Fort Worth, an estimated $761 million investment, will be key to his company's $500 billion initiative to build out AI infrastructure. Other partners include Taiwanese companies Foxconn and TSMC. Nvidia is the most valuable company in the world with a market capitalization of $5.2 billion, according to Yahoo Finance. The first factory by Wistron in Fort Worth, called D1, is located in a 324,598-square-foot building at 15200 Heritage Parkway. The building is part of Hillwood’s 27,000-acre AllianceTexas development in far north Fort Worth. Wistron estimates the investment could create up to 900 jobs, which will assemble and test the technology. Wistron is one of several companies in Dallas-Fort Worth partnering with Nvidia to build out artificial intelligence infrastructure. Earlier in July, Huang spoke at a Coherent groundbreaking in Sherman about how artificial intelligence will "re-industrialize" the U.S. The city of Irving, in Dallas County, approved incentives for Nvidia projects.

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A tiny Texas town fights Trump's border wall plan

On one side: a small community in rural Texas. On the other: the Trump administration. A tiny Texan town along the border with Mexico is fighting the administration’s efforts to build a border wall running through a levee system protecting the community. The town argued in court Tuesday that the wall could cause flooding and that the administration isn’t following the law as it rushes forward with its plans. The hearing in federal court came as the Department of Homeland Security charges forward with its $46 billion plan to complete a border wall from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and deliver on what has long been a signature promise of President Donald Trump. But the department is running into opposition by landowners, environmental groups, Native American tribes and others who argue that the government’s rapid construction endangers historical and religious sites and a way of life along the border, when crossings from Mexico are already at extreme lows.

The lawsuit brought by the development district of Presidio pits a small town of a little over 3,200 residents against a department key to the Trump administration’s plans to carry out its mass deportations agenda. It also showcases a context that has long been important to many Americans, particularly Republicans: the scratchiness that sometimes arises between the most local of municipalities and the federal government in Washington. Lawyers for the development district contend the government’s plans could compromise the levee system protecting the town from flash flooding — a formidable problem in Texas — and that the government flouted a key act that requires it to seek permission from the Army Corps of Engineers before building on or near the levees. The government argues that there is no final plan for where the border wall will go or how it will be built. Regardless, the administration asserts it has the authority to waive a vast swath of regulations to build the wall as it seeks to get the number of people crossing the border every day to zero.

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Laredo's future rides on Trump’s next trade moves

Tractor-trailers rumble through the gates of the World Trade Bridge, punctuated by the squeals of air brakes and growls of engines. South of the border, a line of trucks stretches back into Mexico, extending for more than a mile at the busiest times. President Trump’s tariffs have reshaped America’s trading relationship with the world. Imports from countries like China have steadily fallen as tariffs went into effect. As a result, manufacturers have sought low-cost factories closer to home, prompting a boom in trade between the United States and Mexico. Laredo, Texas, has been a winner from the shift. A border city on the Rio Grande, it directly connects the factories surrounding Monterrey, Mexico, about 150 miles away, with Interstate 35, a central artery in the United States, and other highways that carry Mexican products throughout the country. Roughly 40 percent of U.S.-Mexico trade passes through Laredo.

That trade is now in question as Mr. Trump demands changes to the North American trade agreement that has stitched together the economies of Mexico, Canada and the United States for more than three decades. In negotiations in Mexico City this week, U.S. officials will push for significant revisions to the trade deal the president signed during his first term — the United States Mexico Canada Agreement — which replaced NAFTA. Under those deals, goods have been allowed to move between the countries tariff free, as long as they follow the rules of the pact. Mr. Trump has already taken a highly disruptive approach to North American trade. He has threatened to scrap U.S.M.C.A. altogether unless the United States gets a better deal, a disastrous scenario for the businesses that depend on it. On July 1, he declined to renew the agreement, starting a 10-year clock for its expiration. And on Monday, Mr. Trump signed orders to impose a 50 percent tariff, starting next month, on Canadian goods ranging from plywood and paper to cement and hockey sticks, a move some speculated was an effort to force Canada to the negotiating table. Negotiations with Mexico have been smoother, but U.S. officials say they want to see big changes to the relationship. Since U.S.M.C.A. was signed in 2018, the U.S. trade deficit in goods with Mexico has more than doubled, irking Mr. Trump. U.S. officials want their Mexican counterparts to adopt changes to the pact that would require manufacturing more products in the United States and give U.S. companies greater access to the Mexican market. Mr. Trump has put tariffs on some goods from Mexico, including steel, copper and tomatoes, but most U.S.M.C.A. goods continue to come into the United States tariff free.

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Secret’s out: Amazon is the company behind Austin’s fast-tracked Dog’s Head project

The identity of the Fortune 100 company that has quietly driven the city’s push to fast-track approvals for the Dog’s Head development is finally public: Amazon. Austin Assistant City Manager Eric Johnson revealed at the City Council’s work session Tuesday that Amazon’s robotics division is the anchor tenant Dog’s Head developers have been trying to lure to the proposed 2,600-acre, mixed-use project in Southeast Austin. Johnson had argued for months that the city’s ability to land the company depended on moving quickly through the approval process. The urgency shaped the city’s handling of Dog’s Head. Before the project drew widespread public scrutiny, the City Council annexed the Southeast Austin land in late May. The city also signed off on a 45-year, wide-ranging agreement that allows the developer, Endeavor, to build almost anything.

Until Tuesday, the city and Endeavor had refused to name Amazon publicly due to confidentiality agreements. The disclosure answers a question that has lingered for months as residents and environmental advocates criticized the city for accelerating approvals without fully explaining what was driving the urgency. Dog’s Head is a four-square-mile proposed mixed-used development that could bring thousands of houses, businesses, industrial plants and even data centers to the site. Residents and environmentalists have protested the project, saying the city is moving too fast and regulating the development too loosely. Dog’s Head won’t move forward unless the City Council approves a tax increment reinvestment zone, or TIRZ, a financing tool. Under a TIRZ, Endeavor would build infrastructure, such as water and sewer lines. The city would reimburse much of that cost over time using the new property tax revenue generated within Dog’s Head. The council is expected to vote on that plan at its Thursday meeting.

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Elon Musk pumps nearly $5M into Texas GOP, Abbott campaign

Texas Republicans and their causes have received nearly $5 million from the world’s richest man this year. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, has given $500,000 to Texans for Greg Abbott in the six months through June, according to the latest campaign finance reports filed with the state. Other high-profile donations include $250,000 to Rep. Dustin Burrows, the speaker of the Texas House, and the Elon Musk Revocable Trust gave another $500,000 to Texans for Dan Patrick, the campaign committee of the lieutenant governor. At the start of the year, he gave $500,000 to Patrick’s Texas Senate Leadership Fund ahead of a Senate special election in North Texas. The Musk trust’s other political contributions this year include $2 million to the Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC and $1 million to the Judicial Fairness PAC.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which backs tort reform, has overwhelmingly supported Republican candidates for office. From 2025 through April, it is also the political action committee that has spent the most on state elections. The Judicial Fairness PAC has supported Republican judicial candidates across Texas. Musk is making donations outside of Texas, too. He gave $5 million to a super PAC supporting Republican billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign for Ohio governor. He also sent $10 million to both the Senate Leadership Fund and Congressional Leadership Fund, which support Republicans. He contributed less than $500,000 in the second quarter to his own America PAC, which backed President Donald Trump’s re-election. In all, his donations for the midterm election cycle are at least $90 million. From September 2024 to April, he had given $5.5 million to political action committees in Texas. The year 2024 also saw his funding of a group that unsuccessfully tried to unseat Travis County District Attorney José Garza in the Democratic primary. Until increasing sharply in 2024, his donations to Texas politicians totaled $69,500, almost all of which was given in 2014. Musk’s personal net worth is tied largely to his 42% stake in SpaceX and roughly 15% ownership stake in Tesla. Much of his fortune is on paper, tied to the fortunes of his companies, and he’s said less than 0.1% of it is in cash. He briefly became the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX went public in June. The company’s shares shot as high as $176 on their first day of trading, pushing Musk’s personal wealth above the $1 trillion mark and the company’s market value to $2.2 trillion. In recent days, Musk’s net worth has dropped to less than $800 billion as investors have driven down SpaceX shares after it aborted the 13th launch of its Starship rocket last week for engine trouble.

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Paxton dodges ethics questions while claiming Talarico isn’t Christian

Within the last week, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton has claimed his opponent holds views “antithetical … to historical Christian views” while refusing to answer questions about his own alleged illegal voting. Paxton, a Southern Baptist layman, will face Presbyterian minister James Talarico in this November’s general election for a U.S. Senate seat from Texas. Paxton already defeated Republican incumbent John Cornyn, a devout Catholic, in the May primary. Paxton has been dogged by ethics complaints for decades and was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives but spared conviction by the Texas Senate after Donald Trump threatened revenge against any state senator who voted against Paxton. This year, Trump endorsed Paxton in the primary despite a trail of ethics complaints.

One of the key themes of Paxton and the GOP in general against Talarico is that he is not an authentic Christian but someone who embraces the Social Gospel. That makes him not only a liberal in their eyes but also not a Christian. Other Republican leaders have falsely labeled Talarico as a homosexual and a transgender man. On June 25, Paxton appeared on the “Lieutenant Dan” podcast with Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and said this about Talarico: “His views are antithetical to Christian, historical Christian views. They’re — it’s deceptive for him to present his views as historical Christianity. They are not Christian views. They are his views that he’s adopted from liberal theology that do not reflect what Scripture says. None of his views that I’ve heard match up. They’re literally the opposite of Christianity.” Talarico’s “liberal” views include the belief that Christians should care for the poor, welcome immigrants, support public education, reject Christian nationalism, protect religious freedom and treat LGBTQ people with dignity. Paxton recently reached an out-of-court divorce settlement with his estranged wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, who filed for divorce “on biblical grounds.” The Texas attorney general’s extramarital relationships have been well documented.

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Floods expose dangers of Trump’s $3 billion Rio Grande buoy barrier plan

The Rio Grande floodwaters in Laredo and Eagle Pass are subsiding, but not the mess, which includes the closure of international bridges and financial losses estimated in the millions. This is all thanks to the Trump administration’s massive orange “waterborne barrier” buoys, each weighing a ton, which private contractors are still retrieving from the river. Dozens of buoys are also lodged on the Mexican side of the river. Texas border cities from Brownsville to Eagle Pass have opposed the administration’s plan to deter border crossers by turning the Rio Grande into what will look like the world’s largest swim lane, with 536 miles of chained-together orange buoys. Border city officials oppose the plan for various reasons, including flooding hazards and a lack of environmental and safety studies. The plan also violates the binational water treaty with Mexico. But the Department of Homeland Security is moving forward with the barriers anyway, doling out $3 billion in taxpayer money to a handful of private contractors.

Thousands of these buoys are waiting to be installed, staged up and down the river in different areas, many of them on private land. At least 17 miles of buoy barrier have already been installed at the southernmost part of the Rio Grande in Brownsville, where there was no flooding over the weekend. This weekend’s river flows were less than half of the historic flood of 2010, when Hurricane Alex dropped more than 50 inches of rain and the Rio Grande crested at 57 feet. But it was enough to demonstrate the failures, and the danger, of the administration’s plan for the “waterborne barriers.” The buoy plan has been carried out largely in secrecy after the DHS waived more than 30 federal laws that would have required public oversight and input. In most cases, city officials don’t know where the buoy staging areas are located, given that the administration and contractors haven’t communicated any of this information. When The Border Chronicle contacted city officials in Eagle Pass and Laredo on Monday, they were still trying to obtain information from DHS on how the buoys would be retrieved from the river and where exactly they came from.

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As state takeover pressure mounts, Austin ISD will close another middle school

The Austin school district is moving to immediately close Paredes Middle School before the start of the 2026-27 school year, a drastic step the district is taking as the campus faces the possibility of failing another state accountability rating and further state intervention. While Austin ISD in a statement on Wednesday attributed the imminent closure to slow academic progress, labor union Education Austin said district leaders told the group they expected the campus to earn a fourth consecutive failed rating when state ratings are released in mid-August. The closure comes at a pivotal moment for Austin ISD as it awaits state accountability ratings expected in mid-August. The ratings for Dobie, Webb and Burnet middle schools could determine whether the district faces a state takeover. If any of those campuses receive a fifth consecutive rating, Education Commissioner Mike Morath could either order the campus closed or replace Austin ISD’s elected board with an appointed one.

The district announced its proposal just months after Superintendent Matias Segura pledged to avoid additional school closures. Ken Zarifis, president of Education Austin, said the district informed the union midday Wednesday. Education Austin made public the proposed closure on a statement posted to social media Wednesday afternoon. Austin ISD trustees are expected to vote on the proposal next week after reviewing the proposal and gathering community input on July 28 and 30. School closures require board approval. Austin ISD said the proposal is a difficult decision, but district leaders are committed to high expectations and rigor for all students. “Middle school is a critical bridge to high school, college, and future careers,” Matias Segura said in the statement. “We cannot afford to wait when we have the ability to give these students access to stronger academic environments right now,” Zarifis said the closure is a difficult but necessary step to avoid more interruptions during the school year, particularly if the Texas Education Agency were to require further intervention at the school in response to another low academic accountability rating.

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A gas leak caused by a line strike outside an Uptown Dallas apartment forced an evacuation

A gas line struck by a construction company outside an Uptown apartment complex Wednesday afternoon caused a gas leak and the evacuation of over 180 apartments, Dallas Fire-Rescue said. The scene was cleared by 6 p.m. and residents had returned to their apartments, according to DFR. Firefighters responded to the gas leak at the MAA Meridian Apartments around 1:20 p.m. and dispatched the HazMat team to address the situation despite there being no gas readings inside the building, according to Jason Evans, a DFR spokesperson.

Reports indicated the leak was caused by a construction company hitting a 6-inch commercial gas line, Evans said. Atmos technicians were on location to address the leak. An investigation by KERA found excavators in Texas have struck thousands of gas lines this year alone. Most notably, a gas explosion in May killed three people in an Oak Cliff apartment. A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report found a drilling company hit an unmarked gas line outside the apartment, causing a gas leak that led to the explosion. Multiple wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against Atmos Energy in the wake of the explosion, claiming the company failed to locate and mark the gas line that was hit.

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Dallas poll tests mayoral candidates and bond measures

Shortly after the dinner hour Tuesday, a text message popped up on my phone. It was “James with Zylun Insights” asking me to take a survey “on issues important to residents of Dallas County.” Now, usually I ignore these things. I have a limited list of things I use my phone for, and that’s not one of them. But the name of the company asking made me click through. Zylun Insights is now Clear Insights. The link in the text says Clear Insights. If you go to the Zylun Insights website, it redirects to Clear Insights. In April, WFAA’s Cole Sullivan led the charge in trying to uncover who hired Zylun/Clear Insights to survey Dallas residents about future arena sites. (The city’s contract for polling is with ZenCity.) That particular survey had 30 questions designed to feel out a survey taker about various high-profile Dallasites, including Mayor Eric Johnson, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, and others, as well as people connected with the American Airlines Center and the Mavericks, such as Miriam Adelson and Mark Cuban.

But it also asked the survey taker to choose from four options for a future arena site: City Hall, the former Valley View Mall site, the AAC, and an “unnamed location outside Dallas city limits but still inside Dallas County.” It also queried about whether people would be down with a future ballot measure that would direct tax dollars toward financing the arena. Yesterday’s survey kicks off by asking about the likelihood of the respondent voting in the November midterms. It then launches into specific Dallas questions: Is the city on the right path? What is the number one challenge the city faces? Will you still live in Dallas in two years? What would make you change your mind about living in Dallas? It also asked respondents to give the city an A-F grade on transparency, crime and public safety, cost of living and affordability, responsible use of taxpayer dollars, availability of good paying jobs, tourism and culture, homelessness, business and economic development, pensions and taking care of seniors, debt and long term finances, education and taking care of children, roads and transportation, sports and recreation, and city leadership. It also asked whether the survey taker has a favorable opinion on specific people: potential mayoral candidates like former mayoral candidate Lynn McBee and former Dallas ISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa, Dallas police Chief Daniel Comeaux, former police chief David Brown, and former Dallas City Councilmember Jennifer Staubach Gates. It also asks for job approval responses for Mayor Eric Johnson, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Councilmember Gay Donnell Willis, Dallas City Council as a whole, the Dallas police and fire departments, and Dallas City Hall staff and administration. The survey then turns its attention to two bond measures that will likely appear on the November ballot. One would ask voters to approve nearly $400 million in bonds to complete two police training facilities. The other would ask voters to approve $500 million in bonds to address the city’s public safety pension shortfall. Both questions ask survey takers to say how likely they are to vote for or against the bonds, from “Definitely Against” to “Definitely For”. The next few questions lead survey takers through several statements that have or could appear in news stories or campaign materials for those ballot measures, asking the respondent to indicate whether the statement would make them more or less likely to change their minds about their leaning, or if it didn’t move the needle at all.

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ERCOT prepares for record demand during Texas heat wave

Texas power grid operators are preparing for record-breaking demand this week, due to a heat wave that is driving up energy use in the Houston area and across the state. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said Wednesday the grid is currently operating under normal conditions. "ERCOT continues a reliability-first approach to grid operations and will continue to operate the grid conservatively, bringing generating resources online early to mitigate sudden changes in generation or demand," spokesperson Trudi Webster said in a statement.

In the Houston region, an extreme heat warning was issued by the National Weather Service for Wednesday as triple-digit temperatures were forecasted along with heat indices, or “feels-like” temperatures, in the 110-115 range. There was a heat advisory on Tuesday. ERCOT's record demand of 85,508 megawatts occurred on Aug. 10, 2023. The council said the state may have set a new record on Tuesday, surpassing that usage by about 2,000 MW. However, ERCOT cautioned the numbers from this week were still preliminary, and have yet to be confirmed. In 2023, ERCOT narrowly avoided a power grid failure and rolling blackouts during one of the state's hottest summers on record. However, University of Houston Energy Fellow Ed Hirs said Texans don't have to worry about grid failures this summer, due to a growth in renewable energy. "We have more than enough capacity for wind, solar (and) batteries pitching in to meet the ever-rising demand on the Texas grid," he said.

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SpaceX makes history as one of the worst IPOs in years

Just over a month since its historic initial public offering, SpaceX has delivered one of the weakest post-debut performances of any major U.S. listing since the end of the Great Recession. A Barron’s analysis found that the stock has performed worse than 90% of other U.S. IPOs with market capitalizations of $1 billion or more since July, 2009. Over the first 27 trading days, SpaceX was down 23% from its first day closing price of $161. Across 955 public offerings, the typical IPO returned 0.8% over the equivalent period. On Tuesday, SpaceX broke a seven-day losing streak in which the shares fell 21%, gaining 3.1% to $123.54 by market close.

SpaceX IPO price was $135, but it is now trading below that price. The IPO was made available to large numbers of retail investors, unlike the typical IPO that is largely only available to institutional investors or those with large brokerage accounts. Poor IPO performance doesn’t determine a company’s long-term trajectory. Meta Platforms ultimately rewarded patient investors after its rocky debut, but the turnaround was far from immediate. In the months following its public listing, Meta came under renewed pressure after the lock-up period expired and insiders were free to sell. SpaceX faces a similar challenge: beginning in August, billions of previously restricted shares are expected to become eligible for sale, increasing the supply of stock at a time when demand has already weakened. Not all of those shares will hit the market at once. Shares held by founder Elon Musk are locked up until June 2027 and cannot be sold earlier. Together with holdings from other major pre-IPO investors, this group accounts for roughly 7.8 billion shares, or about 60% of the company’s 13 billion in outstanding shares after the IPO.

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‘This isn’t a peacekeeping initiative — this is a terror campaign’: Texas faith leaders condemn ICE deaths

A group of religious leaders gathered Wednesday (July 22) at the Texas State Capitol to condemn recent immigration enforcement-related deaths in Texas, Maine and Florida and to demand that federal immigration agents end what one pastor called a “terror campaign” against migrants. “We grieve every death, every act of violence and every enforcement practice that unnecessarily endangers human life or diminishes the God-given dignity of our immigrant neighbors,” said Bishop Sue Briner of the Southwestern Texas Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “When fear begins to shape the daily lives of our neighbors, it is time for the church to show up.” The news conference inside the Capitol brought together about two dozen leaders from the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, the South Central Conference of the United Church of Christ, the National Council of Jewish Women and other faith-related groups.

Texas Impact, an interfaith grassroots advocacy network, organized the event in response to the July 7 fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Houston. The religious leaders present condemned deportations, detention centers and enforcement-related deaths involving ICE amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. Federal agents who determine that their actions have been immoral should “resign and find other work,” said the Rev. Jim Harrington of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Austin, where he works with immigrants, and who is also a lawyer who founded the Texas Civil Rights Project. “Following orders is never a justification in the Christian tradition — nor in international law — to perpetuate evil,” Harrington said. The Rev. Dan De Leon, senior pastor at Friends Congregational Church in College Station, invoked the Sermon on the Mount. “Jesus says, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.’ Notice that Jesus does not say, ‘Blessed are the peacekeepers,’ which is what ICE alleges to be doing in our communities,” De Leon said.

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National Stories

Ratepayer bill gains momentum in House amid data center backlash

A bill that seeks to mitigate data centers’ impacts on Americans’ electric bills is gaining steam in the House, as lawmakers face pressure to act in the face of sharp backlash to the sprawling AI infrastructure. The bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act would require states to “consider” standards that put the costs on tech companies, rather than individuals. Its supporters say it could help alleviate potential price spikes caused by power-hungry data centers, but critics say it doesn’t go far enough to solve the problem. The legislation advanced out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday in a 52-0 vote, a strong display of bipartisan support and a reflection of how the backlash to the data center buildout has crossed party lines.

The measure, which aims to codify a White House pledge signed by tech giants earlier this year, forces state regulators to hold a hearing on a standard that would ensure that large data centers pay for the cost of new power or power lines stemming from their electricity use. It does not force them to actually adopt such standards. “[I]t has become clear that across the entire industry there is one entity uniquely positioned to stand up for families and communities who are the ones paying electricity bills-and that is this Committee, and our colleagues in Congress,” House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said in a statement. The Ratepayer Protection Act also recently got a companion in the Senate, bolstering its chances of becoming law. Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) introduced the measure in the upper chamber last week. A spokesperson for the senator said in a statement that he is “encouraged by the bipartisan support and committee passage in the House” and will continue working with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to get the bill “across the finish line in the Senate.”

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Senate GOP expresses concern over Iran endgame after Hegseth hearing

Senate Republicans are growing increasingly concerned about what they say is a lack of a clear plan to end the military conflict with Iran, warning that rising U.S. casualties and stubbornly high gas prices are going to hurt their party in the midterm election. GOP lawmakers came away dissatisfied from a hearing Tuesday at which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified in support of the administration’s request for another $80 billion in emergency funding for the Iran war. Republicans want to provide the Pentagon with more money to replenish its munitions but are frustrated the administration hasn’t given them a clearer picture of how to end the conflict, which has dragged on since Feb. 28. “There’s got to be an off-ramp, that’s all there is to it,” said Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.).

“Naturally all of us are concerned because we’ve lost three wonderful, wonderful service people in the last little while,” he said, referring to three U.S. service members killed in recent days. Justice also raised concern about mounting civilian casualties in Iran, which are believed to range from 1,700 to more than 3,000 people killed. “Every last one of us is super concerned about civilian casualties because first and foremost it’s terrible. Secondarily, it’s generally not very popular in the world,” Justice said. “In this situation, where we’re at right now, we’ve got to make one of two decisions, either just pull out and leave and roll the dice and hope for the best, or we’ve got to win, and winning is only one thing: Make sure they don’t have a nuclear weapon,” he added. Trump on Wednesday threatened to strike civilian infrastructure in Iran, such as bridges and power plants, if Iranian forces continue to target ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

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Stop the trucks: Inside Taco Bell’s rush to contain cyclospora

The word went out from Taco Bell’s leaders on the evening of July 14: Stop the trucks. Public-health officials that night had notified the chain that the shredded lettuce garnishing Crunchwrap Supremes, Cantina Chicken Burritos and other menu items was the suspected culprit in a rapidly expanding cyclospora outbreak. Executives rushed to halt shipments then on their way to hundreds of Taco Bell’s 7,785 U.S. locations. Over the course of late-night virtual meetings and gatherings since early last week, Taco Bell executives have pushed to respond to one of the biggest food-safety crises in the chain’s history—an episode that has lodged the phrase “explosive diarrhea” firmly in national headlines. More than 1,600 people who became ill in the outbreak reported eating at Taco Bell locations across five states, federal health officials said last week. Officials later named produce giant Taylor Farms as the lettuce supplier.

Taco Bell’s efforts to contain the cyclospora outbreak are testing the agility of a chain known as one of fast-food’s top operators and challenging the durability of its customer base, a dedicated and youthful clientele that has helped Taco Bell stand out in a challenged industry. The chain has said that it voluntarily acted to protect consumers, and urged other restaurants and retailers to do the same. This article is based on interviews with current and former Taco Bell officials and people familiar with its operations. It could take months for Taco Bell to rebuild its business, based on the experiences of other restaurant chains trying to move past a food safety crisis. Taco Bell risks alienating customers with its social-media messages and advertising since the outbreak, which have included a playful tone and kissy emojis, said Pam Goldstein, a crisis communications consultant who helped McDonald’s when it contended with a 2024 E. coli outbreak.

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The White House pushes healthy eating. It cut a landmark nutrition education program

Wholesome eating is a central part of the Trump administration's efforts to Make America Healthy Again. But a landmark nutrition education program for recipients of federal food assistance and other low-income people will cease to exist within weeks after President Trump eliminated it last summer when he signed a massive Republican spending and tax bill. For decades, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program, known as SNAP-Ed, has funded programs such as community cooking classes, farmers markets in low-income neighborhoods, school nutrition lessons and more in every U.S. state. The program is a "pillar of the public health infrastructure in the US," according to a report published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

The decision to end SNAP-Ed at a time of rising food prices and the Trump administration's push for healthy eating has mystified nutrition advocates and public health experts alike. "It doesn't make sense when we have an administration [promoting] the Make America Healthy Again efforts that are focused on decreasing consumption of ultraprocessed foods and wanting to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables," said Tashara Leak, a professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University, "to then get rid of the largest federally-funded nutrition education program that helps to achieve those goals." The White House did not provide specifics to NPR about how or whether eliminating this program aligned with the goals of the MAHA agenda, but said the law signed by President Trump had strengthened SNAP for future generations and provided tax cuts that improved all Americans' financial situations. Some recent SNAP-Ed projects include a series of cooking workshops led by indigenous chefs and traditional food experts in Southwest Colorado, classes on meal planning and budgeting in Kansas and a social marketing campaign in Michigan that urged parents and caregivers to model healthy behaviors for children. One North Carolina church built a fitness center that's free to use.

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Maine Democrat Troy Jackson has raised $1M for his Senate bid so far

Maine Democrat Troy Jackson has raised $1 million in the less than two weeks since he entered the race for Senate shortly after Graham Platner dropped out, his campaign told POLITICO on Wednesday morning. Jackson, the presumptive Democratic nominee, raised $613,000 of that haul since Sunday following the selection of the 601 delegates who will determine Platner’s replacement this weekend. More than 90 percent of those delegates have pledged to back Jackson.

The fundraising number is a strong showing for Jackson, who only raised a bit over $1 million in his entire run for governor earlier this year. But he still has a lot of work to do to catch up to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is sitting on an $11 million war chest. Jackson’s campaign said they received 27,283 contributions from 24,669 individual donors. A University of New Hampshire poll released Tuesday showed Jackson with a narrow lead against Collins, 49 percent to 46 percent. The Maine Senate seat is a must-win for Democrats hoping to retake control of the upper chamber. Collins is the only sitting Republican senator up for reelection in a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024.

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U.S. signs nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that gives it path to enriching fuel

The Trump administration on Wednesday signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia that gives that country a pathway to enriching nuclear fuel and commits it to using U.S. firms to supply its reactors. The agreement, which the Energy Department announced had been signed, is certain to spark heated debate in Congress, where many lawmakers have long expressed concern that exporting enrichment capabilities will lead to a proliferation of nuclear arms. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has spoken openly about working to develop nuclear weapons if Iran is not stopped from getting them. While the Trump administration offered little information about the agreement’s contents, three people familiar with it shared details with The Washington Post. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the agreement publicly.

The people familiar with the new agreement say it is designed with safeguards to keep the Saudis from enriching nuclear fuel to weapons-grade level. But they also acknowledge it includes a waiver that exempts the Saudis from the aggressive international inspections required in nuclear reactor deals with other countries, including the United Arab Emirates. Instead, sensitive inspections would be executed by American teams under terms spelled out in the agreement, which was initially worked out when the crown prince visited Washington in November. “These agreements reflect our two nations’ shared commitment to strengthening U.S.-Saudi commercial relations, delivering prosperity at home and security to our allies abroad,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “Rest assured, these agreements uphold the highest standards of nuclear safety and nonproliferation, while relying on the world’s best nuclear technology and scientists, designed right here in the United States.” On Wednesday, Wright and his Saudi counterpart signed what is known as a 123 agreement, which lays out conditions for nuclear energy cooperation and includes stipulations aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

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The next big tests for the Left: Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota

Progressive Democrats have romped through primaries this summer, dispatching incumbents and minting new stars of the left in deep-blue territory in New York and Colorado. In the coming weeks, they’ll take their fight to tougher turf. Primary elections in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota will test whether Democratic voters in swingier territory have the appetite to send liberal candidates into statewide general elections where the outcome is not assured. The view from the left: Progressives believe that, in a moment of deep frustration with inequality and the cost of living, insurgent candidates can both win primaries and turn out voters in the fall — and send their party a sign that it should return to its populist roots.

The pushback: The rise of these candidates has spooked moderate Democrats who argue that their party’s activist base is on the verge of nominating figures who could fumble away winnable general elections. “We are in danger of losing some races we could otherwise win if we go too far left in states like Michigan that voted for Donald Trump a year and a half ago,” Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank, told me. The Senate primary here pits El-Sayed, who also has the support of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, against Representative Haley Stevens of Detroit’s northern suburbs. The contest has become a summertime battle royale, with tens of millions of dollars washing through the race. The state’s Democratic primary for governor has gotten messy, to put it mildly. State Representative Francesca Hong, 37, a democratic socialist, has been steadily rising in a crowded field, making the case that her politics will appeal to factory workers and farmers in one of the nation’s swingiest states. My colleague Kellen Browning explored her candidacy this month. This has worried Democrats who believe that anyone associated with socialism can’t win a heartland governorship that the party sees as a bulwark for its national ambitions.

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Copyright July 30, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved