Lead Stories

US consumer confidence plummets to Covid-era low as trade war stokes anxiety

Americans’ confidence in the economy slumped for the fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as anxiety over the impact of tariffs takes a heavy toll. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.9 points in April to 86, its lowest reading since May 2020. Nearly one-third of consumers expect hiring to slow in the coming months, nearly matching the level reached in April 2009, when the economy was mired in the Great Recession. The figures reflect a rapidly souring mood among Americans, most of whom expect prices to rise because of the widespread tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. About half of Americans are also worried about the potential for a recession, according to a survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center.

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“Rattled consumers spend less than confident consumers,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, in an email. “If confidence sags and consumers retrench, growth will go down.” A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market plunged 12.5 points to 54.4, the lowest level in more than 13 years. The reading is well below 80, which typically signals a recession ahead. How this gloomy mood translates into spending, hiring, and growth will become clearer in the coming days and weeks. On Wednesday, the government will report on U.S. economic growth during the first three months of the year, and economists are expecting a sharp slowdown as Americans pulled back on spending after a strong winter holiday shopping season. And on Friday the Labor Department will release its latest report on hiring and the unemployment rate. Overall, economists expect it should still show steady job gains, though some forecast it could report sharply reduced hiring.

How Miriam Adelson went from big MAGA Winner to casino loser in Trump’s first 100 days

One hundred days ago, Miriam Adelson was on top of the world. The billionaire and far-right mega-donor was in the Capitol Rotunda, dressed in an all-white version of a Sgt. Pepper’s coat and her signature round sunglasses, standing next to Laura Bush and Barack Obama, watching her chosen candidate, the man she had spent more than $100 million on, be sworn in as president. Her basketball team, the Dallas Mavericks, was fresh off of a run to the NBA finals, thanks to Luka Doncic, the league’s most talented young superstar. Las Vegas Sands, the gambling company founded by her late husband and fellow kingmaker Sheldon Adelson, was making slow progress toward its long-term goal of building a casino about 20 minutes’ drive from the squad’s home court. Perhaps most exciting, at least from a pure profit perspective, was the firm’s potential to land a license to operate a casino on Long Island, just outside of New York City, widely believed to be the one of the most lucrative untapped gambling markets on the planet. If Sands could secure it, the MAGA queen would have a cash register that would never stop ringing. Of course she was happy. But that was 100 days ago.

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In the three months or so since, Trump’s approval rating has tanked as he declared a trade war on the entire world—even on Israel, where Adelson was born, and where she remains an influential figure. Under the leadership of Adelson’s son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, the Mavericks gave away their superstar in what was instantly panned as the worst trade in NBA history. The Adelsons’ family-controlled company, Las Vegas Sands, dropped its plans to build the Dallas-area gambling house for now. And now there’s New York, where Sands spent about $400 million and hired a squad of lawyers, lobbyists, architects, engineers, and image makers, all for a chance at that jackpot in Nassau County. On Wednesday, Sands president Dumont announced to investors that the Adeslon family was ending its East Coast pursuit, after more than a decade of trying. Miriam’s winning streak was over. Dumont, in an investor call, blamed Sands’ change of heart on the rise of online gambling as a competitor to real-world action. (A company spokesperson declined to comment on the record for this story, and pointed to Sands’ statement on the topic.) Multiple sources familiar with the situation tell Vanity Fair that’s only a partial answer. Politics was one of several other factors. Adelson wasn’t the only Trump superfan trying to bid in this cobalt blue state. But she was the most visible.

Lottery Commission formally bans third-party courier companies from selling tickets online

The Texas Lottery Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to ban third-party "courier companies" that broker game ticket sales through smartphone apps, a practice that has been in place for years but only recently gained political attention. Tuesday's action came with little discussion, a far cry from the stinging criticism lawmakers heaped on the recently resigned former executive director of the state-run gaming operation during a series of legislative hearings. Several lawmakers expressed concern that the couriers are effectively a work-around to the 1991 state law that established the Texas Lottery, which expressly forbids using a telephone to buy and sell tickets. Others warned that faceless transactions can invite money launderers or those underage to illegally play the lottery in Texas.

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Ryan Mindell, the director who resigned this month, and his predecessor Gary Grief, who resigned in February 2024, each told legislative committees that they were powerless under state law to regulate couriers. However, after forceful pushback from lawmakers and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick earlier this year, Mindell reversed course. He said the law permits him to revoke the licenses of lottery retailers who do business with couriers, which the commission affirmed with its vote Tuesday. Commissioner Mark Franz said that initially he was skeptical of imposing a ban on courier companies, noting the Legislature is considering action to either regulate the way they operate in Texas or to outlaw them outright. However, he said, his mind changed once he took a closer look over the weeks since Mindell made his recommendation. "I have during this 30-day period weighed all evidence, and I am persuaded that this is the right move to go forward, and that we should do the maximum amount allowable under our current statute, which is what this does my in understanding," he said during the meeting. The measure will promote and ensure integrity, security, honesty and fairness in the operation and administration of the lottery, the rule states.

Bill clarifying when doctors can perform abortion unanimously passes Texas Senate

A bill that would clarify when Texas physicians can legally perform an abortion to save a mother’s life unanimously passed the state Senate on Tuesday. Senate Bill 31, also known as the Life of the Mother Act, would allow doctors to intervene and provide abortion care to pregnant women who are experiencing medical emergencies. Current law includes an exception for patients with a “life-threatening physical condition” but requires the doctor performing the procedure to provide “the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive.” Doctors have said that language is vague and confusing, making many hesitant to perform an abortion to save a mother’s life. Violating the state’s near total abortion ban is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine — in addition to a $100,000 civil penalty.

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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, thanked Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, for his work crafting a proposal that garnered “universal support from all sides.” In a statement issued after the final vote, Patrick credited Texas for leading the way “in protecting life,” noting the Life of the Mother Act “is only designed to provide legal clarity for doctors in rare cases when a mother’s life is threatened.” Despite how divisive abortion is politically, Hughes said, the entire legislative body agreed that a pregnant woman’s life must be protected. “These are difficult matters to grapple with,” he said. “We can all agree — we can all agree — that when the life of the mother is at risk, she should be protected. That’s what this bill is about.”

State Stories

Why legislation to protect mothers’ lives in Texas went from bipartisan to belligerent

In the annals of the Texas Legislature, it may be that no bill has suffered the kind of instant whiplash as the one Republican Senator Bryan Hughes christened the “Life of the Mother Act.” Senate Bill 31, which Hughes filed exactly one hour before the deadline on March 14, was presented as one that would free Texas doctors to provide abortions when their pregnant patients were suffering from medical emergencies—without fear of the career-killing, prison sentence-inducing penalties for violating Texas law. “The intent of this bill is to remove any excuse, when a mom is in danger . . . that’s always been an exception we have recognized,” Hughes said. “We want to love them both. There’s a mom and a baby. We want to love and respect and protect them both.” The bill was championed by fervent abortion opponents, including Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who named its passage one of his top priorities. Also supporting the Life of the Mother Act: notable reproductive rights advocates. Its coauthors in the Senate and joint authors of the companion House Bill 44, including three of the most liberal surviving Democrats, Senator Carol Alvarado and Representative Ann Johnson of Houston and Representative Donna Howard of Austin, got to savor the rarest of bipartisan triumphs.

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All in all, March 14 seemed like the happiest of days in the capital, when legislators across the political spectrum could feel good about doing good. Republican Representative Charlie Geren from Fort Worth, another abortion foe who is cosponsoring the bill in the House, put it best when he declared, “Too many women have suffered. Too many women have died.” Well, yeah. In hospitals and doctors’ offices across the state, chaos and tragedy have ensued since the Legislature enacted a series of restrictive laws including 2021’s Senate Bill 8, which allows anyone to sue individuals who “aid or abet” an abortion after about six weeks of gestation, and the “trigger law,” which outlawed most abortions after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. In combination, these laws made virtually all abortions illegal, with no exceptions for rape, incest, or fetal abnormalities and included only a vague passage referring to “medical emergencies” that place “a woman in danger of death or serious risk of substantial impairment of a bodily function.” Doctors who didn’t follow the law could be charged with a felony, fined $100,000, lose their medical license, and be sentenced to life in prison. Meanwhile, those who reported doctors and others who assisted with abortions—anyone from nurses to neighbors to Uber drivers—could reap a $10,000 “bounty,” as the cash reward came to be known. The Life of the Mother Act would, in the words of its proponents, save women’s lives—in a state where the government seems only marginally interested in doing so. But the bill isn’t far reaching. For instance, it excludes exemptions for abortions in the case of fatal birth defects or complications that damage a woman’s future fertility. It doesn’t address pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. Democratic leaders know that trying to get such changes through the GOP-dominated Legislature would be counter-productive. So, to mix metaphors, those working to even slightly to expand reproductive rights here have to crawl over glass to grab what crumbs they can.

Texas lawmakers have the lottery on the chopping block

It is a real possibility that the Texas lottery can go away in the wake of two major payout scandals. The Texas Lottery Commission is up for its every-12-year review known as the Sunset Commission. Last week, Texas Lottery Commission Executive Director Ryan Mindell was the latest to resign. This came after a public grilling earlier this Spring in a Texas Senate committee hearing. The Texas Rangers, the Texas Attorney General, and select lawmakers continue to investigate whether large electronic lottery courier companies improperly had their thumb on the scale for two huge payouts: one for $95 million and another for $83 million. They're also investigating whether state regulators looked the other way. Courier services are companies like Lotto.com and Jackpocket, which sell lottery tickets online or through mobile apps.

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In April, the Texas House zeroed out the budget for the Lottery Commission, killing the program if they don't make a different decision while negotiating with the Texas Senate. The legislative session ends in early June. “It’s a hard thing even for someone like me to comprehend," said Rob Kohler, a longtime anti-gambling lobbyist for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. According to state data, lottery sales have plummeted since the legislature began to scrutinize the industry. Earlier this Spring, the commission abruptly reversed its years-long course and decided that it could ban third-party lottery courier services. Sales in both scratch-offs and draw games have decreased. Lotto.com filed a lawsuit against the state for its quick backpedal to ban the courier services. Kohler told NBC 5 on Monday that it may be because people heard of the scandal and lost faith that it was fair. “They’ve lost players. There’s no doubt. You can look on social media. There’s folks they care enough that they bother to write down several sentences, you know I used to do this and I’m not going to do it anymore because it’s fixed," said Kohler.

Latinx organizations, supporters advocate on behalf of undocumented students at state Capitol

Abigail Holguin, a government and Mexican American studies junior, reads from a piece of paper to a staffer in state Rep. John Lujan’s office. Speaking the words written by a friend, who is an undocumented student, Holguin rattled off the bevy of adjectives used to describe immigrant communities: “lazy,” “criminals,” “we come to steal jobs.” “While it might be convenient for these negative outliers to define all undocumented persons, the students would be significantly impacted by (Texas) House Bill 160 or law-abiding, morally conscious and hard-working people,” Holguin said. A group of students led by the UT chapter of predominantly Latino fraternity Sigma Lambda Beta lobbied lawmakers and testified before the Texas Senate Education Committee on April 22. They spoke against Texas Senate Bill 1798 and Texas House Bill 160, which would neutralize the Texas Dream Act, which is a law granting in-state tuition eligibility for undocumented students.

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Marco Julian Gonzalez, a member of the Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity, led the advocacy planning efforts over multiple months, bringing together 15 students from his organization and advocates across UT. Holguin was one of those students. She and two other students met with staffers from the office of state Sen. Donna Campbell, along with representatives from the offices of John Lujan and Terry Wilson. Those offices are where she read her friend’s statement. “It’s a lot to tell someone this, especially when you’re so used to not talking about it, especially in the very political climate we live in,” Holguin said. “Being one of the trusted friends to not only know your story, but also be one of your trusted friends to tell the story for you really puts into perspective how important it is knowing about this (and) talking about this.” The organization split into smaller groups and spoke to representatives and senators across the political spectrum. Interpersonal communications sophomore Samuel Lawrence Brainard said lawmakers should not treat the issue with as much partisanship. “Speaking as someone who voted for Donald Trump and I’m sure that plenty of people in this office probably did as well, being concerned about immigration is not mutually exclusive from offering the students who are not here of their own volition, basic opportunities and economic mobility and being able to climb the social ladder,” Brainard said.

Noem takes look at cross-border tunnel during El Paso visit

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited El Paso on Monday. The trip included meeting with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials and a walk along the border wall near the spot where federal officials a few months ago discovered a cross-border tunnel believed to have been used by Mexican cartels to bring across drugs and “high value” migrants. Noem’s visit followed that of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week to highlight El Paso’s importance in the Trump administration’s border security strategy even as migrant encounters have plummeted. Noem’s trip came unannounced and wasn’t open to local news media. It came a little more than a month after DHS announced a series of international ads telling migrants not to come to America and warning they would be hunted down if they commit crimes. The president of Mexico called the ads “discriminatory” and vowed to change her country’s laws so they wouldn’t run in the future. Noem later countered saying the ads are working.

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Tilman Fertitta confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Italy by Senate

Houston's Tilman Fertitta has been confirmed as United States ambassador to Italy and San Marino. The billionaire businessman, who was nominated to the post by then President-elect Donald Trump in December, was approved by the Senate on Tuesday evening by a vote of 83-14. Fertitta, who was born in Galveston and is of Sicilian descent, described himself as a longtime admirer of Italy's culture, food and patriotic spirit in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations committee earlier this month. "If confirmed, I take the responsibility of being an ambassador at this crucial moment in history as the most important job of my life," Fertitta said. "You have my commitment, and America has my commitment, to always represent the United States and President Trump with dignity, pride, friendship and strength."

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The confirmation will mean changes for many Houston institutions, given the scope of Fertitta's business and civic activities since he launched his entertainment empire with a single restaurant, Landry's Seafood in Katy, in 1986. He is the wealthiest person in Houston according to Forbes magazine. In a letter to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Fertitta said that, if confirmed, he would resign as CEO of Landry's, Inc., which has grown to include about 600 dining, gaming and entertainment locations. He is also expected to step down as chair of the University of Houston System Board of Regents. However, Fertitta will retain his role as owner of the Houston Rockets, he said in the letter.

Texas lawmakers propose scrapping the STAAR test in favor of three much shorter exams

House lawmakers are proposing to replace the state’s annual STAAR exams with a series of tests given throughout the year under a plan they say would reduce the exams’ high-stakes nature and relieve pressure on students. The widely-criticized State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests would be scrapped in favor of three much shorter tests given at the start, middle, and end of each school year, according to draft legislation released on Tuesday. The plan would mark the most dramatic redesign of the state’s tests since STAAR was established for public and charter school students in 2011.

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State Rep. Diego Bernal, a San Antonio Democrat who authored the bill, said having multiple short tests makes the purpose less about grading a student’s learning each year, and more about diagnosing any problem areas and improving them over time. It also means teachers and schools can be better evaluated on student improvement in between tests, he said, rather than just raw performance scores. “We’re not just teaching to the test anymore, we’re allowing teachers to shift and give individualized calibration and attention to students,” Bernal said. “You see the starting point, what kind of progress they’ve made, and how they are doing at the end.” House Bill 4 is up for its first public hearing Tuesday afternoon in the House education committee, whose chair, Republican state Rep. Brad Buckley, is the bill’s primary author. It is a priority bill for House Speaker Dustin Burrows and comes as part of a wider education package that includes vouchers for private schools and a boost in funding for public schools.

Texas man charged with failing to register as an undocumented migrant

The Justice Department charged a migrant man in a West Texas federal court for failing to register his undocumented status with the federal government. The charge comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January requiring migrants to register based on a rarely used provision from a 1952 law. The executive order directed the Homeland Security secretary to “announce and publicize information about the legal obligation of all previously unregistered aliens in the United States to comply.” The Texas case follows one of an Arizona man charged earlier this month for failing to register. The Justice Department charged Hugo Moreno-Mendez with two misdemeanors. One was for refusing to provide DNA and the other was for willful failure to register. The second charge confused Moreno-Mendez’s attorney.

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“This is not a charge I’ve ever seen before,” said Lauren McLeod, who has practiced law for 17 years, the last eight as a criminal defense attorney in Waco. Moreno-Mendez is accused of illegally entering the United States more than two decades ago and failing to register with the federal government. It’s unclear if his case is related to Trump’s executive order. In February, Department of Homeland Security officials announced they would create a registry for people who were in the U.S. illegally. DHS set a deadline of April 11 for people to comply with the new rule. Anyone who did not register with the federal government could be criminally prosecuted or fined. Moreno-Mendez reported to the McLennan County Probation Department on March 13 according to court records, and was arrested that day. Moreno-Mendez was on a 12-month probation after a September conviction on unlawfully installing a tracking device, local court records show. Justice Department officials noted in court filings that he entered the country illegally in 2004 “and willfully failed or refused to make such application or to be fingerprinted after thirty days.” Failing to register is punishable by up to six months in prison.

State ethics panel to review allegations of ‘dark money’ in Prosper ISD trustee race

The Texas Ethics Commission has agreed to review allegations that a political action committee broke election laws when it spent $50,000 supporting two challengers running for the Prosper Independent School District school board. The PAC, known as the Accountable Leadership Committee, received $50,000 from a Washington, D.C., fund to support candidates in the trustee races, campaign finance records filed with the school district show. The money supported two candidates trying to unseat incumbents: Scott Bray, who is challenging incumbent Kelly Cavender for the Place 3 trustee seat, and Janette Church, who is challenging incumbent Garrett Linker for Place 6.

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Bray and Church have said they are not involved with the committee, which has sent out advertisements supporting them. The committee’s website doesn’t give information on its mission or origins apart from the statement that it is “fighting for accountability and transparency.” The complaint was filed by Doug Charles, who founded a now-inactive political action committee that supported Linker in Prosper ISD’s 2022 trustee race. In an interview, Charles called the $50,000 contribution “dark money” — donations that can’t be traced because the source isn’t disclosed. The committee lists Dustin McIntyre as its treasurer on campaign finance records and includes a Nevada phone number and an address with a Frisco mailbox. Calls made to McIntyre’s listed number were not returned Monday. The ethics commission will review Charles’ complaint at 9 a.m. on Sept. 17 in Austin. The commission accepted jurisdiction on the complaint this month, which does not mean the commission found that a violation occurred. “It is scary. … $50,000 just didn’t randomly show up from Washington, D.C., into Prosper ISD,” Charles said in an interview. “There’s an agenda. It’s deep, it’s dark, and it’s ugly, and we need to know why.”

Simplifying Texas child vaccine exemptions sparks partisan tensions amid measles outbreak

Legislation designed to make it easier for parents to exempt school children from vaccine requirements is fueling tensions over declining vaccination rates amid the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas. Currently, to exempt a child from school vaccine requirements, a parent must request the required form from the Texas Department of State Health Services. The department then mails the form to a parent, who must then fill it out and have it notarized before taking it to the school. State Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston, wants the form available on the department’s website, cutting days or weeks from the process as parents wait to receive the required paperwork. During a debate that went late into Monday night, Hull said her House Bill 1586 was a “DOGE-like” proposal solely about government efficiency.

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However, several testified before lawmakers that the proposal would undermine public health, expose children to diseases and further erode vaccination rates that have been declining in schools. “By making it easier for parents to opt out of routine childhood vaccinations required for school entry, this bill threatens the protection of vulnerable children who cannot be vaccinated,” said Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The partisan divide was evident during the House Public Health committee’s debate as a Democratic lawmaker questioned an advocate representing an organization dedicated to banning vaccine mandates. Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, said taking sides on the issue based solely on political party affiliation will hurt public health at large. “If we make this purely Republican and Democrats, guess who suffers? All of us,” said Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston.

Texas House gives initial passage to antisemitism bill

The Texas House gave initial approval to legislation Tuesday designed to tamp down on antisemitism in Texas’ public schools and universities. The 134-2 vote gives the proposal a clear path for it to become law. The bill comes as President Donald Trump has taken a strong stance against pro-Palestine protests that many on the right view as anti-Jewish hate. Trump has threatened to cancel international student visas and deport any students found to have committed a hate crime. Texas has taken up the mantle as well. A groundswell of conservative support for legislation like the bill passed Tuesday came after pro-Palestine protests erupted at some public universities in 2024. State troopers arrested dozens of protesters at University of Texas campuses in Dallas and Austin last March.

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In response to the demonstrations, Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order that directed schools to update free speech guidelines to address what he described as rising antisemitism on campuses. Opponents of the bill said they fear it will chill free speech on campuses, especially related to protests of Israeli military action in Gaza. The bill adds the definition of antisemitism to bullying statutes and requires public schools and colleges to consider if antisemitism was involved in any disciplinary action. Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, who said he is the House’s lone “fully Jewish member,” initially opposed the bill. Rosenthal said the Jewish community is divided on the bill. He expressed his own personal reservations over the use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition in state law — a definition that was not intended to be used in laws or legal documents.

Keller ISD split bill debated in Texas House committee

Local control, voter participation and the Keller school district were front and center at an April 29 House committee hearing in Austin, as lawmakers considered a bill that would put the splitting of a school district up to a public vote. The proposal at the center of the discussion — House Bill 5089 — comes after news broke in January that some Keller school trustees were considering a plan to divide the district in half along U.S. 377 through a process called detachment. The move would have separated Keller, Southlake, Watauga and Colleyville from district residents west of 377 in Fort Worth. The district ultimately didn’t go through with the idea, but different interpretations of state law over whether the splitting of a district must be approved by voters became apparent amid public outcry.

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“Over the last four months, I’ve learned more about the Education Code than I have in the past three decades, and frankly, I’m embarrassed to to admit that, but I had to learn because we discovered a confusing and dangerous loophole that our board of trustees attempted to exploit,” said Angela Hall, a parent in the Keller school district who testified at the House Public Education Committee hearing. As a split was debated in Keller, there was debate over whether it could be done unilaterally if proposed through a resolution by the board or if a split must be taken to residents for a vote. House Bill 5089 by Rep. Charlie Geren, a Fort Worth Republican, clarifies that the process of detachment must go through voters. The bill as filed says a petition signed by 20% of registered voters in the existing district would be presented to the Texas State Board of Education. The state board would then determine if the petition is valid. If it is, an election would be held.

North Texas lawmakers want transparency around jail deaths

Tarrant County lawmakers and advocates for those incarcerated in Texas jails called for more transparency surrounding in-custody deaths during an April 28 subcommittee hearing. The legislation comes as the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office faces scrutiny over recent jail deaths, with family members and advocates demanding more information about the circumstances surrounding people’s deaths while in jail custody. “Government must be accountable to the people it serves,” said Rep. Nicole Collier, a Fort Worth Democrat, during the subcommittee hearing. “When oversight laws are ignored or transparency is lacking, it sends the wrong message that accountability is optional. That’s unacceptable.”

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House Bill 3841 by Collier and Rep. David Lowe, a North Richland Hills Republican, says a jail death investigation would begin “as soon as practicable” after an outside law enforcement agency is appointed to investigate. If a conflict of interest arises, the appointed investigative agency must notify the Texas Commission on Jail Standards so a new agency can be tapped to investigate, Collier said during the hearing. For each county jail death, the commission would need to publish on its website monthly: The county where the death occurred. The date the death occurred. The name of the law enforcement agency investigating the death and the date they were appointed. This information would also be required for any new law enforcement agency appointed to investigate due to a conflict of interest. Whether the investigation is pending or complete. The information would stay on the website until at least the second anniversary of the inmate’s death.

Communities In Schools of Houston highlights mental health initiative during Mental Health Awareness Month in May

Communities In Schools of Houston (CIS), a leading educational nonprofit, proudly joins the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in recognizing Mental Health Awareness Month this May. This year’s national campaign, “In Every Story, There’s Strength,” highlights the power of personal stories to foster connection, understanding, and hope. NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI’s campaign celebrates the power of storytelling to fuel connection, understanding, and hope for those navigating their own mental health path. For 46 years, CIS has championed student well-being, placing mental health at the core of its mission. Since launching the CIS Mental Health Initiative (MHI) 13 years ago, CIS has grown to become the largest school-based provider of mental health services in Harris County.

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National Stories

Trump, back in rally mode, marks 100 days in office with boisterous Michigan speech

Donald Trump's Michigan rally celebrating the 100th day of his second term wasn't a campaign rally, but it resembled one in many ways. He spoke for almost an hour and a half, falsely claimed to have won the 2020 presidential election, danced to "YMCA," and acknowledged the regulars that have shown up to his rallies for years. "I miss you guys," he said to the Front Row Joes, one group of Trump faithful. "I miss the campaign." While the Tuesday night rally had been billed as a way to celebrate his 100-day record, it served many more purposes. Trump also used his time on stage to luxuriate in the crowd's adoration, blame Joe Biden for various national problems, and insist that he, as president, is not getting the credit he deserves for his accomplishments.

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Among the policies Trump celebrated was his deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador — a move that courts have challenged. In recent days, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked new deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, the law the Trump administration has used to deport more than 200 people to El Salvador. "Now the courts are trying to say that, you know, that doesn't matter. I don't think it's going to be allowed to stand," he said. "We are delivering mass deportation, and it's happening very fast. And the worst of the worst are being sent to a no-nonsense prison in El Salvador." He then presented a video of prisoners being flown to El Salvador and treated roughly — having their heads shaved and being marched, bent-over, into prison cells — while the crowd cheered.

Secret deals, foreign investments, presidential policy changes: The rise of Trump’s crypto firm

The pitch from “ZMoney” arrived on the encrypted messaging app Signal just days before Donald J. Trump’s presidential inauguration. “ZMoney” was Zachary Folkman, an entrepreneur who once ran a company called Date Hotter Girls and was now representing World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency firm that Mr. Trump and his sons had recently unveiled. Mr. Folkman was writing to a crypto startup in the Cayman Islands, offering a “partnership” in which the firms would buy each other’s digital coins, a deal that would bolster the startup’s public profile. But there was a catch, The New York Times found. For the privilege of associating with the Trumps, the startup would have to make, in effect, a secret multimillion dollar payment to World Liberty. “Everything we do gets a lot of exposure and credibility,” Mr. Folkman wrote, asserting that other business partners had committed between $10 million and $30 million to World Liberty.

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The Cayman startup rejected the offer, as did several other firms that received a similar pitch from World Liberty, executives said. They considered the deal unethical, concluding that World Liberty was essentially selling an endorsement — and hiding the arrangement from the public. World Liberty’s executives, who have maintained that they did nothing improper, were undeterred. They successfully pitched similar deals to other firms while also marketing their coin to buyers around the world, reaping more than $550 million in sales, with a large cut earmarked for the president’s family. Mr. Trump’s return to the White House has opened lucrative new pathways for him to cash in on his power, whether through his social media company or new overseas real estate deals. But none of the Trump family’s other business endeavors pose conflicts of interest that compare to those that have emerged since the birth of World Liberty. The firm, largely owned by a Trump family corporate entity, has erased centuries-old presidential norms, eviscerating the boundary between private enterprise and government policy in a manner without precedent in modern American history.

Jennifer Hegseth holds unorthodox role shaping Pentagon affairs

Hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived at the Pentagon on his first full day in office, his wife, Jennifer, made a request. Would the defense secretary’s staff, she asked, edit and post a video to the Defense Department’s social media accounts of his initial remarks to reporters? The ask felt to some like a directive, according to people familiar with the matter and messages reviewed by The Washington Post. Though defense officials were aware of Jennifer Hegseth’s quiet yet omnipresent role in her husband’s bruising Senate confirmation process and her background — like his — at Fox News, she had no experience working in government and — importantly, these people said — had not been appointed to any official role in the Trump administration. “We would always hear that she was saying what kind of videos he should be doing, and what kind of statements he should be doing, and how the press should be handled,” recalled one person, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a dynamic viewed inside the Pentagon as unorthodox and sometimes problematic.

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The role of Jennifer Hegseth, 40, throughout her husband’s budding tenure in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet has snapped into focus in recent weeks, after damaging news reports about Pete Hegseth’s stumbles as his on-the-job training plays out in public view — including the revelation that she was among a group of people with whom he shared advance notice of a U.S. military operation in Yemen. Others in the unclassified group chat, created by the defense secretary using the commercially available Signal app, included his brother and personal lawyer. It’s one of at least two such group chats established by her husband that Jennifer Hegseth has been included in along with other political appointees at the Pentagon, said two people familiar with the matter. The other group chat includes Sean Parnell, a senior adviser and spokesman, and Tami Radabaugh, a former Fox News producer overseeing how Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon engage with the media, these people said. It was not immediately clear whether that group chat, which has not been previously reported, also has included highly sensitive information. Jennifer Hegseth on multiple occasions has informed her husband’s staff of media interviews he planned to do, underscoring a belief among some officials that she wields outsize influence over certain Pentagon operations. Typically, such responsibilities fall to dedicated media-engagement professionals employed by the Defense Department, not the secretary’s wife.

The big decision that could shape AOC’s future

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is at a crossroads — again. Five months ago, she chose to play the inside game with her fellow House Democrats, running for her party’s top post on the high-profile Oversight Committee. She came up short to a more senior lawmaker, Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, and left the committee entirely. Now she has a second chance. Connolly unexpectedly announced Monday he will soon step aside for health reasons, leaving her with another critical choice — one made even more momentous by how much has changed inside the Democratic Party since she last chose to try and move up the House ranks.

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Faced with the stresses of President Donald Trump’s second term, Democratic voters are yearning for younger and more assertive leadership. Many see exactly what they are looking for in Ocasio-Cortez, 35, who has traveled the country in recent months, packing rally after rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and fueling speculation about a potential White House run. In other words, the stage afforded as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee is suddenly looking a whole lot smaller, and Ocasio-Cortez is remaining publicly and privately noncommittal as speculation swirls about Connolly’s successor. Even colleagues who enthusiastically backed her Oversight bid last year have been left guessing about her final decision. “The group of us who were her whip team have asked for her plans, and she’s still sorting out what she wants to do,” said Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.). “I think, to the person, we’ve all said, ‘Just let us know what you want to do, and we’ll work on your behalf.’”

‘There’s no playbook for this': Trump allies press SEC on businesses

Paul Atkins took over as Wall Street’s chief regulator just a week ago, but he’s already staring at what could become a political headache: all the president’s friends. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s new chair is facing a battery of decisions that directly involve some of President Donald Trump’s closest connections. Crypto firms, whose donations helped catapult Republicans to power, want the SEC to green-light a wave of novel products for everyday investors. The agency must decide how to proceed with a lawsuit against Elon Musk, whom it sued just before Inauguration Day. Trump Media & Technology Group, whose largest shareholder is the president, has called for an investigation of a London-based hedge fund’s bet against its stock. And Trump Media, Truth Social’s parent, is poised to launch a series of investment products of its own, likely needing SEC approval.

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On top of all that, Atkins’ agency is running into MAGA world just as the White House pushes for more control over historically independent regulators like the SEC — setting up a potential challenge for the new chair, who was a member of the commission until 2008. “He already has a hard job, and now that job will include managing a relationship with the White House that will be more robust than any chair previously would have had to manage,” said Jennifer Schulp, director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute, the libertarian-leaning think tank. “It’s going to be a lot of feeling in the dark.” The rush of activity underlines a broader concern over the close ties that businesses have with the Trump administration, which has already begun shepherding major regulatory changes in corporate America’s favor. It comes as the president’s own business empire shows little hesitation about striking new deals or ventures, even if the optics raise alarms. Last week, a website for a memecoin that Trump launched right before his inauguration unveiled plans to host an “intimate, private” dinner with him for its biggest holders.

New York bans smartphones in schools, joining national movement

New York will require schools statewide to ban smartphone use during school hours, joining a national movement aimed at preventing compulsive social media use and distractions that interfere with school work, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced this week. In more than 700 districts including New York City, school leaders will be required to create plans to store students’ smartphones “from bell to bell” and prevent their “unsanctioned use” during class, lunch and other parts of the school day. The ban, which applies to students in kindergarten through 12th grade, will also restrict other “internet-enabled personal devices” such as smartwatches. The ban will not apply to basic cellphones that lack internet access, state officials said.

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New York will join roughly a dozen other states including California, Florida, Louisiana and Virginia that have moved in recent years to require districts to limit phone use, though the policies vary. Some states have banned devices only during classes; others have ordered districts to create their own restrictions. The bipartisan movement to crack down on phones has been fueled by anxiety over the consequences of an “always online” youth culture. Today, about 90 percent of U.S. teenagers own a smartphone, surveys show. Nearly one in three 8-year-olds have a smartphone. These bans come as policymakers are searching for solutions to soaring rates of depression, anxiety and self-harm among adolescents in the past decade. The U.S. surgeon general in the Biden administration warned last year that the addictive nature of social media could be part of the crisis, especially for young girls, though research on the issue is nuanced and mixed.

Whitmer, Michigan’s Democratic Governor, appears with Trump again

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan didn’t hide her face when she appeared Tuesday with President Trump in her state as he marked his 100th day in office and announced new jet fighters for a National Guard base there. Their joint appearance stood in contrast to an awkward one when Whitmer found herself inside the Oval Office earlier this month while Trump signed a set of executive orders and held a question-and-answer session with reporters. She proceeded to try to hide herself—she was photographed holding blue folders in front of her face—and the fact that she was in such proximity to a Republican president many in her party try to avoid. This time at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base, where the president announced that A-10 fighter planes would be replaced with new F-15 jet fighters, Trump gestured for her to come to the microphone and stand behind his presidential seal.

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“I hadn’t planned to speak,” Whitmer said. “But on behalf of all the military men and women who serve our country and serve so honorably on behalf of the state of Michigan, I am really damn happy we are here.” During her White House visit earlier in the month, Whitmer had been trying to secure funding for an expansion of the base near Detroit and warn the president about the impact of his tariffs on her state’s auto industry. “I’m so grateful this announcement was made today,” Whitmer, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, said of the expansion of the base’s assets, before shaking Trump’s hand. Trump said Whitmer had “done a very good job” and noted that she had visited him at the White House to lobby for the base. “She was very effective,” he added. The Michigan governor has shown a greater willingness to try to work with Trump than some other Democratic governors. Their meeting at the National Guard base was held before Trump appeared at a rally in Macomb County, a suburban battleground area north of Detroit in a swing state that Trump won in November. Away from Trump, Whitmer has expressed concern about what his trade war will mean for her state’s large auto and manufacturing industries.

Lead Stories

Tariff ‘chaos’ drags key Texas manufacturing gauge to worst since 2020

A widely followed measure of Texas manufacturing activity weakened significantly as executives used words like “chaos” and “insanity” to describe the turmoil spurred by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. A general gauge of business activity plunged to its worst reading since May 2020 based on recent survey responses from 87 Texas manufacturers, the Dallas Fed said Monday. While responses indicated modest current growth in production, company outlooks fell to a post-pandemic low as respondents pointed to frazzled supply lines and difficulty in forecasting. Survey indexes tracking the prices of raw materials and finished goods came in well above average, and almost 60% of respondents said higher tariffs would negatively impact their business this year.

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Even as a majority of companies said they would pass higher costs onto customers, some 38% said it’s becoming harder or much harder to do so. US prices have increased more than 20% in the past four years, increasing concern that consumers may be fatigued, or have less spending power, to tolerate another ramp up in inflation. “The tariff issue is a mess, and we are now starting to see vendors passing along increases, which we will have to in turn pass along to our customers,” a respondent in the printing industry told the Dallas Fed. Another in food manufacturing said “tariffs and tariff uncertainty are wreaking havoc on our supply lines and capital spending plans.” An executive in electronics manufacturing said, “We have already had to turn around and refuse shipments because customers cannot afford the tariffs, delaying our ability to build, which will eventually lead to job losses.” Even companies with domestic inputs felt pressure because of a reduction in demand, one survey respondent said. Texas accounts for about 10% of total US manufacturing. One executive in the solidly Republican state told the Dallas Fed that “we believe the direction the current administration is leading our country is on target, but the pain to get there may be longer and more intense than originally anticipated.”

'Burn it all down': Hardline conservative bloc declares war on Texas House GOP leadership

A group of insurgent Texas House Republicans has declared open war on GOP leadership and the lower chamber’s regular order of business, vowing to kill every local and consent calendar for the rest of the legislative session. The extraordinary move will slow down the passage of legislation about a month before the regular session's end and has some lawmakers fearing a repeat of the 2017 “Mother’s Day Massacre,” when the hardline Freedom Caucus killed more than 100 local and consent bills ahead of a deadline. “You won’t see another (L&C calendar) for the rest of this Session and we’re not even close to being finished,” state Rep. Steve Toth, R-Conroe, said in a social media post Saturday morning. “Burrows’ Leadership team has left us no other options than to burn it all down.”

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If the local and uncontroversial bills are to survive, they will have to come up one at a time and be discussed on the House floor. And because there are scores of such bills waiting in the queue, such debates could threaten the future of those bills and other far-reaching measures in the five weeks remaining before the 2025 regular session ends June 2. Long-simmering tensions between the conservative bloc of lawmakers and House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, exploded Friday when Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park led a maneuver to pop every Democrat-led proposal from the L&C calendar, which is generally reserved for uncontroversial measures, including the naming of roads, that are voted unanimously out of committee. The first to fall was a bipartisan bill targeting white-tailed deer overpopulation. The second, a proposal to let a Native American tribe commission peace officers in Texas. The third would help the state go after motor fuel theft.

Texas House Dems appear to fold on threat prompted by vote on education savings accounts

House Democrats appeared to fold over a threat to block all proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. By Monday afternoon, at least six such amendments passed — including funneling money to dementia research and a nuclear power incentive fund. Leaders of the minority party in the House threatened to lock arms to block any amendments requiring a two-thirds majority to be placed before Texas voters on a ballot. They hinted at such a move to force compromise on the vote over education savings accounts. However, Republicans refused to put the issue on a statewide ballot as well and punted other proposed compromises on the bill now heading to the governor’s desk. Amendments need 100 votes to pass the House, which would require support from at least 12 of the 62 Democrat members of the House. Democrats showed some resistance early Monday, blocking the full passage of one amendment that would add a provision to the state Constitution blocking estate taxes.

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That resistance soon crumbled, however, as large majorities passed six other amendments. They included $3 billion in dementia research funding and a $2 billion nuclear power incentive fund. Several amendments were held up for weeks in the Texas House after it became clear that they lacked the votes needed to pass and be placed on November’s ballot. Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, authored a proposed amendment that extends property tax exemptions to the spouses of veterans who died from medical conditions associated with military service. Turner’s proposal passed Monday with wide bipartisan support. Turner said he knew it had wide bipartisan support and that the House Democratic Caucus may still work to block other amendments with less support. “For Democratic members, there are always some that we would oppose on the merits and some we would support,” he said. As for whether the caucus might block less popular proposed amendments, “Those discussions are ongoing,” he said. House Democratic Caucus chair Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, did not comment when asked about the votes. Other amendments likely to come before the House include increases to homestead exemptions for property taxes and tax cuts for businesses, bail law reform to make it harder for people accused of violent crimes to be released and funding for water projects.

Trump’s next 100 days: Trade deals, foreign policy and reconciliation

As President Trump looks to his next 100 days in office, White House officials said his focus can be summarized in five words: Trade deals and peace deals. Trump’s first 100 days in office saw a flood of executive action to rapidly deliver on key campaign promises around immigration and culture war issues, as well as a blitz against major agencies to slash the scope and size of government staffing and spending. Trump is expected to take additional deregulatory actions and sign more executive actions to enforce immigration and other aspects of his agenda, officials said.

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But as Trump charts the path forward, the president and his aides are devoting significant time and resources to trying to negotiate trade deals to resolve tariff disputes and the potential economic fallout largely created by Trump’s own policies. Trump is also expected to focus in the weeks ahead on foreign policy, where he has struggled to deliver on a pledge to end the war in Ukraine and has kept a close eye on the Middle East. “I think we’re now entering this new era where we’ll now be able to focus on peace and prosperity,” a White House official said. “Peace in the world, prosperity at home by fixing our trade relationships and finding peace deals.” White House officials indicated that trade deals would be at the center of Trump’s agenda and schedule in the coming weeks. The president announced earlier this month a 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs for many countries to allow for talks, creating a deadline of July 8.

State Stories

'Cannabis civil war': Why Texas lawmakers want to boost medical marijuana and end hemp sales

With 15 surgeries, head trauma, a disc replacement and documented post-traumatic stress disorder, former LSU football player Jamal Pack believes he is a perfect candidate for the state’s medicinal marijuana program. But the cost and hurdles to participate are too high, the Houston resident said, especially when the state is awash in hemp-derived THC products that work just as well. “If medical marijuana became more accessible, I would switch over," he said. "I know I can get approved for it, but I’d have to pay so much and travel is hard.”

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The rise of cheap, loosely regulated delta-8 products in Texas after the state legalized hemp has undercut the state’s medicinal marijuana program, known as the Texas Compassionate Use Program, which operates under strict rules and has struggled to gain traction since its start a decade ago. This year, state lawmakers have proposed overhauling the playing field with bills that would support a dramatic expansion of the medicinal program, while banning all hemp-derived THC and effectively putting the burgeoning industry out of business. The approach has split the patient community, including veterans seeking alternatives to traditional pharmaceuticals. David Bass, director of Texas Veterans for Medical Marijuana, explained that though many veterans do enjoy easy access to cheap products, the hemp market undermines a core philosophy of the medical program: that cannabis is legitimate medicine and should be treated and regulated as such. Meanwhile, Mitch Fuller, legislative advocate for Veterans of Foreign Wars, said he welcomed an expansion but felt many veterans currently purchasing hemp products would fall through the cracks during a market transition or struggle to afford the more expensive medicinal products.

Texas lawmakers hear proposal to fine, jail noncitizen donors

Noncitizens who make political contributions in Texas elections could be fined and jailed under a bill taken up by a legislative committee Monday. It is illegal for foreign nationals to donate or spend money in federal, state and local elections under federal law. But Rep. Dennis Paul, R-Houston, said “enforcement is rare and often focused on national races.” Paul’s House Bill 4312 would prohibit anyone who is not an American citizen from knowingly donating to a Texas candidate or political committee. An offense would be a Class A misdemeanor, and violators would face up to a $4,000 fine, a year in jail or both. “This applies at every level of government — including school board, judicial, local races — ensuring foreign money has no influence in Texas politics,” Paul said Monday morning. “The bill aligns with federal law, but it ensures Texas can defend its election without waiting on Washington and gives our state clear legal grounds to enforce that standard.”

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Paul said his proposal would empower the state “to investigate and penalize violations directly, especially in the small local contests where oversight is a weakness.” Daniel Hunt, a member of the State Republican Executive Committee, said Texas needs to eliminate outside influences in its elections. “Texans should be determining who their representatives are, who their governor is, etc.,” Hunt said. “This goes all the way down to school board and city council elections.” Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo, asked Paul to amend his bill to also make it illegal for Texas candidates to accept contributions from noncitizens. Paul said it would be a good floor amendment. Other members of the House State Affairs Committee raised concerns over enforcement, including Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, who has introduced legislation to limit out-of-state contributions in Texas elections and other bills related to campaign donations and advertising.

Potential Head Start defunding could hurt Texas economy, schools

National and local Head Start providers in Texas are calling on community members to reach out to elected officials in light of reports that the federal government is proposing to slash the program that provides child care and creates job opportunities for low-income families. Head Start, a federally funded child care and preschool program for children ages 0-5, is among the latest programs being eyed for budget cuts by the Trump administration, according to a leaked proposal for fiscal year 2026 that allocates no money toward it. Any budget decisions would have to be approved by Congress. In a virtual press conference on Monday, April 28, program providers and advocates said dismantling Head Start would have far-reaching consequences for the Texas economy and workforce by taking away services that help children thrive and allow parents to go to work.

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The proposal also comes on the heels of recent cuts to the federal offices of Head Start and Child Care. Kriston Jackson-Jones, of the Dallas-based Child Care Group, said other services beyond child care such as health screenings, mental health supports and disability services are also at risk with the defunding proposal. “That’s the real power of Head Start. It builds strong children, strong families and most importantly, strong communities,” she said, noting that 19,000 jobs in Texas’ early childhood sector are also on the line. More than 65,000 children and 50,000 parents in Texas rely on Head Start and Early Head Start, which focuses on infants and toddlers, according to child advocacy nonprofit Children at Risk. Texas’ economy is estimated to be losing out on $9.4 billion a year due to affordability and accessibility issues in the child care system, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The return on investment, officials said on Monday, ranges from $7-9 for every $1 spent on Head Start.

Voucher bill requires public schools to help administer the program for students with disabilities

Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican legislators have pitched vouchers as an escape hatch for students with disabilities struggling in public schools, who will get up to $30,000 a year to spend on private education. But the program could also prove a major strain on public schools, which are saddled with the time-consuming and costly task of evaluating whether interested students qualify for special education services. The bill headed to Abbott’s desk requires public schools to complete comprehensive special education evaluations for all students interested in private school vouchers, including those with no intention of ever enrolling in public districts, within a 45-day deadline.

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Since students with disabilities are first in line to receive the vouchers and can receive higher dollar amounts based on their needs, the law is expected to spur additional demand for the evaluations. Public schools fear the new rush of requests will further clog a system that’s already overwhelmed: Special education evaluations have increased by more than 70% in the last decade, and school districts are struggling to complete those on time amid a staffing shortage. State Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Conroe Republican who authored the school voucher bill, acknowledged the hardship for public school districts. But he said that the districts are already required to complete evaluations for students who need them, even if they’re enrolled in private schools. “There’s been an incredible uptick in the number of evaluations requested,” he told Hearst Newspapers in an interview. “I'm not sure exactly how it will tie into (the new program), but we'll have to wait and see on that.”

A 106-year tax break? Texas lawmakers look to close loopholes in unchecked economic development laws

The Texas Legislature is considering closing loopholes in a tax incentive program that lets cities and counties give public funds to private businesses with no limits and little oversight. Other types of economic development incentives in Texas, such as abatements on city, county and school property taxes, cap each deal at 10 years. Those programs also come with other guardrails and transparency measures. Chapters 380 (for cities) and 381 (for counties), by contrast, let city and county officials reduce any type of tax or fee that companies pay — or simply give away public money to companies as grants. A 2021 Houston Chronicle investigation found the state statutes impose no limits on each deal and do not require officials to write rules guiding their programs, hold public meetings before the deals are approved or reclaim funds paid to companies that fail to meet their commitments.

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One city even extended a 60-year sales tax rebate deal last spring through 2099 – meaning the agreement will run for 106 years. A bill filed by state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, would address some of these weaknesses. Senate Bill 878 passed the Senate 27-4 this month and awaits a hearing in the House Ways & Means Committee. The bill would force cities and counties to hold public hearings on each deal before putting it to a vote of the commissioners court or city council, post information about the deals on their websites and include “appropriate performance metrics” in each agreement. It would cap the deals at 25 years – 10 years plus up to three 5-year renewals, which could be approved only if the deal’s performance metrics are met. The bill also would block cities and counties from using the laws to reduce businesses’ property taxes, limiting those abatements to other chapters of state law that cap those deals at 10 years.

CenterPoint Energy to launch 100 weather stations across Houston metro ahead of hurricane season

CenterPoint Energy plans to install a network of 100 weather stations across its 12-county service territory in the Greater Houston area before hurricane season kicks off on June 1, the company announced Monday. The weather stations are expected to help the Houston-area electric utility better forecast severe weather and more precisely distribute resources, among other improvements, according to CenterPoint’s statement. CenterPoint said it would be the first investor-owned utility in Texas to establish its own weather station network. “Our weather network will provide invaluable situational awareness, in real-time, to help us act quickly, proactively and precisely before weather threatens to impact the electrical system and our customers,” Matt Lanza, CenterPoint’s meteorology manager, said in the statement.

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Fort Worth ISD risks TEA takeover after failing ratings

When Texas education officials released long-delayed 2023 A-F accountability scores last week, the Fort Worth Independent School District found itself at risk for a possible state takeover like the one that occurred two years ago in the state’s largest school district. After a now-closed sixth grade center in the district received a failure rating for five consecutive years, Fort Worth ISD is facing the possibility of state intervention. But the specifics of the situation make it difficult to predict what that intervention looks like — and even whether it happens at all. When a school receives a failure rating for five consecutive years, state law requires the education commissioner to do one of two things: Shut that campus down, or take over the entire district, replacing its elected school board with a state-appointed board of managers made up of district residents. The commissioner may also replace the superintendent, but isn’t required to do so.

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Because of a change in state law, TEA didn’t issue failure ratings in 2021 and 2022. But that change was a pause, not a reset. That means any campus that racked up four consecutive failure ratings between 2016-2019 and then received an F in 2023’s ratings could place its district at risk of state takeover. Across Texas, there’s only one campus in that situation: Fort Worth ISD’s Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade, formerly known as Glencrest Sixth Grade. Complicating matters is the fact that Fort Worth ISD has already closed Forest Oak Sixth Grade. After the sixth grade center lost about a quarter of its enrollment between 2019 and 2022, the district shut the campus down at the beginning of the current school year and consolidated it with the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Middle School, about a mile away. It’s unclear if the district’s closure of its own campus satisfies the law requiring Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to intervene or, if not, what action the commissioner would take. TEA officials have noted that the ratings are considered preliminary until they’re finalized in August, and every district has the opportunity to appeal.

San Antonio Express-News Editorial: Funding air conditioning in Texas prisons a moral, constitutional imperative

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice and Texas Legislature have had years to correct a deficiency that renders a typical Texas prison into what a U.S. district judge likened to “unconstitutional punishment.” Instead, disregard for fellow humans amid a populist tough-on-criminals mentality has kept the state from making meaningful progress toward installing air conditioning in Texas’ notoriously and dangerously hot prisons. From 2001 to 2019, at least 271 deaths in Texas prisons were attributable to extreme heat in facilities without air conditioning, public health researchers from Harvard, Boston and Brown universities found.

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Now, legislation recently passed out of the Texas House Committee on Corrections aims to put the state on track — sort of — to have air conditioning throughout state prisons by 2032. House Bill 3006 calls for the TDCJ to complete such a transformation for one-third of its prisons by 2028, another third by 2030 and the rest two years after that. But even if the bill — a seemingly earnest effort by its sponsor, state Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg — were to become law, something no prison air conditioning bill has done, it’s questionable whether its intent would be realized. For one thing, the bill caps spending on each phase at $100 million, while the TDCJ has estimated it would take $1.3 billion to install climate-control systems in inmate housing areas, according to the Texas Legislative Budget Board. And the bill’s tasking of the TDCJ is contingent on the Legislature providing such funding, which is hardly assured. We hope state lawmakers will do the right thing by correcting this decadeslong deadly deficiency and overcoming the misguided notion that prison inmates deserve to suffer.

Shirtless J6er spews white supremacist lies about Texas teen’s killing

White supremacists are attempting to make the tragic murder of a North Texas teenager about Black-on-white crime, and the grieving father of the white victim isn’t playing along. What began as a bizarre tragedy that made headlines all across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is becoming a national story tied to January 6 rioters who were pardoned from prison by President Donald Trump. The story begins on Wednesday, April 2, in Frisco, Texas, a far northern suburb of Dallas. Austin Metcalf, a 17-year-old white student from Memorial High School in Frisco, and 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony, a Black student from Centennial High School in Frisco, ended up next to each other in a tent during a rainstorm.

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This tent was for the Memorial High School team, not the Centennial High School team. According to reports from the scene, Anthony came under the other team’s tent because it was raining. The two teens apparently did not know each other. However, by Anthony’s account, Metcalf told him he had to leave the tent and threatened him. The Black student reportedly replied: “Touch me and see what happens.” The white student persisted in trying to expel the Black student from the tent. According to eyewitness accounts, Anthony pulled out a black knife from his backpack and stabbed Metcalf once in the chest before running away. Metcalf was pronounced dead soon after at a local hospital. Locally, racial tensions accelerated because of the murder, which Anthony claims was not intended to be a murder and was his response to being bullied by Metcalf. By some accounts, Metcalf and his twin brother were known bullies. By other accounts, the victim was a model student. Anthony told police as he was being escorted away: “He put his hands on me, I told him not to.” Here’s a question no one seems to be asking: How is it possible for a high school junior to have a large knife at a track meet? Was there no security at the stadium? Texas is a state where the attorney general is suing cities to force them to allow guns in other public venues such as the state fair and theatrical performances. But still: Why was it possible for a high school student to bring a murder weapon to a track meet? Instead, the national debate has turned to race, and that is being done by what might be called “outside agitators” sparked by local race baiting.

Members of Ed Young's Houston megachurch claim church shut them out

In May 2024, Pastor H. Edwin "Ed" Young told his congregation that he was resigning from his leadership post at Second Baptist in Houston, ending his 46-year tenure as one of America's most influential and charismatic pastors. The pastor, then 87 years old, named his son Ben Young as his successor. Nearly a year later, a group of current and former Second Baptist members say the father and son, associate pastor Lee H. Maxcy and attorney Dennis Brewer (together dubbed "the Young Group"), abolished the right of church members to vote for their next pastor and installed Ben Young as an act of self-interest to "takeover" the church. Earlier this month, members of the congregation filed a suit in Harris County District Court.

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The case against Second Baptist is led by a newly formed, Houston-based nonprofit called the Jeremiah Counsel Corporation that says its purpose is to "promote, protect and restore integrity, accountable governance and donor protection for churches" in Texas. In a statement Friday, the Jeremiah Counsel alleged that the Young Group "deceived and manipulated" the Second Baptist's 90,000 members by amending the church bylaws to deny them their right to vote for a new pastor. It claimed church members never received copies of the proposed bylaws, and the Young Group now controls over $1 billion in assets. "The church membership and the assets have been put at great risk because of the deceitful and deceptive practices of the church leadership, including the Senior Pastor, collectively ‘the Young Group,’ which has stripped all church members of the voting rights they have had since the church was founded nearly 100 years ago," the Jeremiah Counsel said.

MD Anderson implements hiring pause after $43M loss, anxiety over Trump tariffs

MD Anderson Cancer Center has implemented a hiring pause for some positions and cut back “non-essential” spending after seeing a budget shortfall through the first half of the fiscal year, according to an internal email from the cancer center’s president, Dr. Peter Pisters. In the email, sent to employees April 17, Pisters said the cancer center took a $43 million operating loss through March – or $18.3 million below projections. Expenses had outpaced revenue, with more doctors on staff and fewer new patients coming to the hospital compared to last year, Pisters said. The losses reflect only a small percentage of MD Anderson’s 2025 budget, which listed $7.8 billion in total projected revenue through August. However, inflation and uncertainty in the financial markets – including the prospect of tariffs raising prices on medications – prompted the institution to take action, Pisters said in an interview with the Chronicle.

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“The economic climate makes it very difficult to forecast,” Pisters said. “And that’s not a personal view, that’s a shared view among CEOs that I speak with.” Pisters characterized the changes as “mild” and said he was confident they would be enough to reach the $140 million budget surplus expected by August. The hiring pause will only affect positions that aren’t directly tied to patient care, he said. Research positions funded by external grants and contracts will still be considered. Additionally, MD Anderson employees have been asked to cut back on business travel and conference attendance, unless there’s a legitimate need. Pisters said he’s no longer planning to attend two major cancer research conferences held by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Association for Cancer Research. MD Anderson is among many health systems struggling with increasing costs, in part because of supply chain disruptions and workforce shortages. Fifteen hospitals have closed so far in 2025, already exceeding the total closures in 2023, according to Becker’s Hospital Review.

Texas school ratings reveal stark east-west divide in Austin: 'There is work to be done'

The 2023 Texas Education Agency's academic accountability scores released last week highlighted a stark divide running generally along Interstate 35 in Austin: schools that earned A ratings — the highest passing scores — were mostly located west of the bisecting highway, and those with failing scores were concentrated along the corridor and to its east. West of I-35 and south of Texas 183 lay swaths of campuses that received A ratings by the TEA's A-F letter grading system, which is used to designate which schools meet state academic standards. Campuses that failed to meet state standards are concentrated to the east and north of the two major thoroughfares. The sharp image also comes into focus as the Austin school district — along with many others across the state — saw an increase in schools earning F ratings in 2023 compared with the previous year.

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In Austin the disparity is visually blaring, underscoring a historic imbalance in the district's allocation of resources and a lack of teacher and staff stability at campuses with the greatest needs, according to local education advocates and experts. The Austin district considers demographics, such as economic and emergent bilingual data, when deciding which resources or staff members to allocate to campuses, spokesman JJ Maldonado said. Some students may face family challenges that affect their ability to get to school, and some changes to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test, such as its move to online instead of paper form, could be difficult for students who only access computers at school, Maldonado said. "We recognize there is work to be done throughout our schools and we’re working with our communities to transform Austin ISD — not only to succeed within the state system but to continue delivering the excellence our students and families expect and deserve," he said. Campuses that have been rated an F do tend to experience higher teacher turnover, especially among newer educators, which can contribute to a lack of stability at schools, Maldonado said.

National Stories

Mark Carney warns Canadians in Liberal Party victory speech: 'Trump is trying to break us'

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won Canada’s federal election on Monday, capping a stunning turnaround in fortunes fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s annexation threats and trade war. After polls closed, the Liberals were projected to win more of Parliament’s 343 seats than the Conservatives. It wasn’t immediately clear, though, if they would win an outright majority — at least 172 — or would need to rely on one of the smaller parties to pass legislation. The Liberals looked headed for a crushing defeat until the American president started attacking Canada’s economy and threatening its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state. Trump’s actions infuriated Canadians and stoked a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative and win a fourth-straight term in power.

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In a victory speech before supporters in Ottawa, Carney stressed the importance of Canadian unity in the face of Washington’s threats. He also said the mutually beneficial system Canada and the U.S. had shared since World War II had ended. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” he said. “As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country,” Carney said. “These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never ... ever happen. But we also must recognize the reality that our world has fundamentally changed.” The Conservative Party’s leader, Pierre Poilievre, hoped to make the election a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose. But Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney, a two-time central banker, became the Liberal Party’s leader and prime minister. In a concession speech and with his own House of Commons seat still in doubt, Poilievre vowed to keep fighting for Canadians.

It’s not just ‘leftist’ judges. GOP appointees have many sharp words for Trump.

President Donald Trump has spent almost his entire political career attacking the independence of the judicial system. But even against that backdrop, the first three months of his second term have been something else. As judges have halted his actions or ruled against him in dozens of cases, he and his top allies have increasingly cast their decisions as an illegal and unconstitutional power grab from another branch of government. It’s the kind of talk that could lead to ugly places. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday cited “rogue district court judges.” Top White House adviser Stephen Miller late Wednesday denounced “a rogue radical left judiciary.” Vice President JD Vance has railed against “radical left judges.”

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Attorney General Pam Bondi referred to “low-level leftist judges who are trying to dictate President Trump’s executive powers.” Elon Musk has gone so far as to claim that a “judicial coup” is underway and has pushed for impeaching individual judges. One of the most popular memes in right-wing social media circles this week is a comparison of the number of legal injunctions faced by Trump versus other recent presidents. Trump has faced many more than the others, even as the meme butchers the data. There is at least one very good reason for those numbers, though, and that is that Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to test the limits of his power. He has even done transparently illegal things in hopes that the Supreme Court will change its precedents. But there’s another aspect of Trump’s attack on the judiciary that should not be lost: It’s not just Democratic-appointed, so-called “leftist” judges who are rebuking him. A fast-increasing number of Republican appointees have also cast the administration’s actions as blatantly illegal, lawless and even dangerous to U.S. democracy.

Harris to criticize Trump in first major address since leaving office

Former Vice President Kamala Harris will jab at President Trump in the keynote address at the Emerge gala on Wednesday, making her first public remarks since leaving office in January, a source told The Hill. In her remarks, the former vice president, who lost to Trump in November, is expected to offer pointed criticism of the administration, the source said. Harris is also expected to honor the organization for its role empowering women in politics and issue a call to action to combat Trump’s economic policies and his push to overhaul the federal government. Emerge, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary with the gala, is an organization that helps recruit and train Democratic women to run for office. Harris worked with the Emerge co-founder Andrea Dew Steele on her run for district attorney of San Francisco in 2003.

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Harris earlier this month made a surprise appearance at a leadership summit for Black women in California and told the crowd, “I’m not going anywhere.” She also signed on with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the entertainment firm, earlier this year. Speculation has swirled surrounding whether Harris is mulling a run for California governor in 2026, and she is expected to make a formal decision by the end of the summer. Early polling has shown that if Harris was to launch a bid, she would be the Democratic front-runner. The former vice president nabbed nearly 6 in 10 likely primary voters in a February survey from Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics/The Hill.

Civil rights lawyers leave en masse as Justice Dept. mission shifts

The new head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division is dramatically reshaping the office to propel President Donald Trump’s social agenda, prompting the departure of about half of the division’s lawyers in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the situation and public statements from top officials. Since being sworn in this month, civil rights director Harmeet K. Dhillon has redirected her staff to focus on combating antisemitism, the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports and what Trump and his allies have described as anti-Christian bias and the Democrats’ “woke ideology.” The division changed mission statements across its sections to focus less on racial discrimination and more on fighting diversity initiatives. And department officials reassigned more than a dozen career staffers — including section chiefs overseeing police brutality, disability and voting rights cases — to areas outside their legal expertise.

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The changes under Dhillon, a longtime Republican activist, coincide with a second White House offer to federal workers that allows them to resign from their positions and be paid through September. The deadline for that offer is late Monday evening, and civil rights employees have been submitting their resignations en masse as the deadline nears, said people familiar with the division who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. More than 100 division attorneys have already said they will leave their jobs, Dhillon told conservative podcaster Glenn Beck during an appearance on his show Saturday. Many departed because they disagree with the division’s new direction, she said. The division had about 380 attorneys when Trump began his second term in the White House. Approximately half have left or said they will leave, according to people familiar with the division, and Dhillon told Beck she had no problem with their departures. “I think that’s fine,” Dhillon said. “We don’t want people in the federal government who feel like it’s their pet project to go persecute police departments based on statistical evidence or persecute people praying outside abortion facilities instead of doing violence. … The job here is to enforce the federal civil rights laws — not woke ideology.”

'60 Minutes' correspondent Scott Pelley calls out parent company Paramount

Turmoil at "60 Minutes" spilled from behind the scenes to front of camera over the weekend. In a rare on-air rebuke April 27, longtime correspondent for the CBS newsmagazine Scott Pelley said the broadcaster's parent company Paramount had become heavy-handed in its oversight. His comments came in response to executive producer Bill Owens' resignation from the show last week. Owens resigned after saying he had lost journalistic independence. "It was hard on him and hard on us," Pelley said. "But he did it for us and you. "Stories we've pursued for 57 years are often controversial: lately, the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill made sure they were accurate and fair. He was tough that way," he continued.

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"But our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways," Pelley said. "None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires." Announcing his resignation, Owens wrote in an internal memo seen by Reuters that it had "become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it" or "to make independent decisions," and that after defending the show "from every angle, over time with everything I could," he had elected to step down. USA TODAY has reached out to a rep for "60 Minutes" for comment. Pelley's comments come as the Trump administration bears down on media outlets it views as biased or over-critical. Both as a candidate and now as president, Donald Trump has taken legal action against several of the major news networks, and his press office has shut out some legacy media outlets from access they previously enjoyed.

Can public money flow to Catholic charter school? The Supreme Court will decide

The Catholic Church in Oklahoma wants taxpayers to fund an online charter school that “is faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ.” The Supreme Court could well approve. St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would be the nation’s first religious charter school. A ruling from the high court allowing public money to flow directly to a religious school almost certainly would lead to others. Opponents warn it would blur the separation between church and state, sap money from public schools and possibly upend the rules governing charter schools in almost every state. The court hears arguments Wednesday in one of the term’s most closely watched cases.

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The case comes to the court amid efforts, mainly in conservative-led states, to insert religion into public schools. Those include a challenged Louisiana requirement that the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms and a mandate from Oklahoma’s state schools superintendent that the Bible be placed in public school classrooms. Conservative justices in recent years have delivered a series of decisions allowing public money to be spent at religious institutions, leading liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor to lament that the court “continues to dismantle the wall of separation between church and state that the Framers fought to build.” The justices are reviewing an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision last year in which a lopsided majority invalidated a state board’s approval of an application filed jointly by two Catholic dioceses in Oklahoma. The K-12 online school had planned to start classes for its first 200 enrollees last fall, with part of its mission to evangelize its students in the Catholic faith.

Lead Stories

Only about half of Republicans say Trump has focused on the right priorities, AP-NORC poll finds

Many Americans do not agree with President Trump’s aggressive efforts to quickly enact his agenda, a new poll finds, and even Republicans are not overwhelmingly convinced that his attention has been in the right place. Americans are nearly twice as likely to say Trump has been mostly focusing on the wrong priorities as to say he has been focusing on the right ones, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Further, about 4 in 10 Americans say Trump has been a “terrible” president in his second term, and about 1 in 10 say he has been “poor.” In contrast, about 3 in 10 say he has been “great or ”good,” while just under 2 in 10 say he has been “average.”

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Most haven’t been shocked by the drama of Trump’s first 100 days. About 7 in 10 U.S. adults say the first few months of Trump’s second term have been mostly what they expected, and only about 3 in 10 say the Republican president’s actions have been mostly unexpected. But that does not mean they are pleased with how those opening months have gone. In fact, Democrats seem even unhappier with the reality of the second Trump term than before he was sworn in on Jan. 20. About three-quarters of Democrats say Trump is focused on the wrong topics and about 7 in 10 think he has been a “terrible” president so far. That is an increase from January, when about 6 in 10 anticipated that he would be “terrible.” Rahsaan Henderson, a Democrat from California, said “it has been one of the longest 100 days I’ve ever had to sit through.” “I think the next four years will be a test of seeing who can resist the most and continue defying whatever he’s trying to do, since he defies everything, including the Supreme Court,” said Henderson, 40.

Texas House and Senate at odds over how to boost public school funding and teacher pay

The Texas House and Senate have each supported billions in new investments for public schools, but their strategies and bottom-line amounts remain far apart as lawmakers from each chamber head to the negotiating table in the closing weeks of session. The House passed a landmark $7.7 billion school funding bill last week that would revamp special education, invest in merit-based teacher pay and make dozens of changes big and small to the complex funding formulas that decide what schools get how much. It would also raise schools’ base, per-student funding for the first time since 2019 — providing huge relief to districts statewide, many of which have cut budgets, closed campuses or run deficits in recent years. The Senate prefers much more targeted increases that specify how the districts can use the money, including one bill that would make a similar investment in special education and a $4.3 billion measure earmarked directly for teacher pay bonuses.

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“There’s a philosophical difference in how to deliver the money to the school districts,” said H.D. Chambers, executive director of the Texas School Alliance. “Do you put it in buckets? Or do you do it more discretionary, and you let the schools decide?” Proposals in both chambers would likely provide the most significant investments to rural school districts, with legislators saying it’s because smaller districts lack the economies of scale of larger ones, causing struggles to recruit and retain staff. Most of the state’s small and rural school districts are represented by Republicans, who control the Legislature, while the larger, urban districts in big cities like Houston and San Antonio often are represented by Democrats. The two chambers must hash out the differences before the session ends on June 2.

John Cornyn or Ken Paxton? Trump says he’s not ready to endorse next Texan for U.S. Senate.

President Donald Trump says he is not ready to tap which Texan he wants to send to the U.S. Senate. The commander in chief told reporters Friday that he likes both incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and outgoing Attorney General Ken Paxton — the two Republicans vying for the seat — but hasn’t made a decision on which would be best for the job. “In a way, I wish they weren’t running against each other,” Trump said in a press gaggle aboard Air Force One, according to The Washington Post. “I’ll make a decision somewhere along the line.”

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Cornyn, 73, has held the seat for two dozen years. Before being elected to the U.S. Senate, he was state attorney general and sat on the Texas Supreme Court. He also held the position of Senate majority whip, a position that required him to corral votes for GOP priorities. Paxton, 62, has served a decade as state attorney general. He previously won seats in both the Texas Senate and Texas House, representing the McKinney area. The two men have split repeatedly over the years, most recently spurred by Cornyn’s criticisms of Paxton’s legal troubles. Cornyn has called Paxton, who was impeached and later acquitted for alleged corruption, a “con man.” Paxton says Cornyn is not sufficiently conservative, and has criticized him for his votes on foreign aid and gun policy.

Academic freedom, DEI: Texas colleges face major overhaul this legislative session

Texas’ public colleges face a major overhaul that would shift more power over what’s taught and who’s hired to politically connected regents, furthering Republican leaders’ efforts to exert control over universities they see as overtaken by liberal bias. Governor-appointed regents could veto nearly any campus-based decision, cut core classes they determine not “foundational and fundamental” and have more oversight across public universities in the state under Senate Bill 37. The priority bill would reduce professors’ influence and create a state office to ensure schools are complying with new state laws, such as the ban on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that passed in 2023. Many see SB 37 as an expansion of the state’s DEI ban — aiming to limit what’s taught in classrooms. The proposal is a major shift from how the state universities have historically operated.

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The legislation passed the Texas Senate in a 20-11 vote, but House members have not held a hearing on the bill. Professors and campus leaders have long had the academic freedom to determine what courses are offered and to participate in the hiring process of presidents, provosts, deans and other faculty. Faculty members see SB 37 as a push by the state GOP to infringe upon freedom of speech on campuses and to weaken higher education, which would make it difficult for Texas to attract the best talent. The bill is a “political invasion” of higher education, said Leonard Bright, a professor at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service. It’s “wasteful and needlessly vindictive,” Bright said. “Ultimately, the goal of the bill is to intimidate faculty, quiet our voices and to punish us for having the courage to speak truth to power.” The increased scrutiny of higher education in the state has already led to schools making changes. In early April, officials at University of Texas at Austin announced the school eliminated its signature “flags” program that sought to ensure students had exposure to core disciplines — from writing skills to global cultures. A new program aims to focus on workforce skills, UT leaders have said.

State Stories

Texas Democrats push inquiry into Trump deals with prominent law firms

U.S. Reps. Lloyd Doggett and Sylvia Garcia of Texas are pushing an inquiry into whether deals between several prominent law firms' and President Donald Trump constituted the bribe of a government official. The pair joined 14 other Democratic members in penning letters to nine large firms on Thursday, several of which have offices in Texas, requesting details on how their deals with Trump came together and what exactly they agreed to in order to maintain access within the federal government. Trump reached the agreements with some of the nation's largest firms after he issued executive orders taking away their attorneys' security clearance and barring government agencies from working with them.

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Many of those orders were revoked after firms agreed to provide tens of millions of dollars worth of pro bono legal work for causes important to Trump, as well as refraining from hiring practices designed to promote "diversity, equity and inclusion." "Agreements of this kind also signal acquiescence to an abuse of federal power, raising serious questions about how or whether your firm would represent clients or take on matters that might be seen as antagonistic to President Trump or his agenda," the Democrats wrote. Paul Weiss, the first of the firms to come to a deal with Trump, did not return a request for comment Friday. The others have yet to comment publicly. Trump touted the deals as providing legal support for issues important to the country, saying earlier this month, "Have you noticed lots of law firms have been signing up with Trump? $100 million (worth of pro bono legal work), another $100 million for the damages they’ve done."

Two new PACs get busy in Dallas elections

If you hadn’t already heard, it’s municipal election season in Dallas. Early voting has begun. And like budding flowers to springtime, so are burgeoning PACs to election season. Two new political action committees have recently distributed physical mailers and digital ads endorsing slates of Dallas city council candidates. But until now, the PACs’ funding has been a mystery. They were only recently created, and mandated financial reports weren’t released until this week. One PAC is an apparent surrogate for the Dallas County Republican Party. The other is a vehicle for the interests of Airbnb. Let’s take them one at a time.

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The Dallas County Republican Party has previously issued direct endorsements for city council candidates, but this time around it has instead funded an arms-length PAC to push endorsements. On February 10, the wonderfully named Committee for a Strong Econcomy PAC was created. Yes, the name is misspelled on official filing documents. Its only donor is the Dallas County GOP, which has contributed $6,000. The second Dallas-focused PAC to recently pop up appears to have a more serious backer. Revitalize Dallas PAC was formed on March 30, and so far, Airbnb has contributed $500,000. Revitalize Dallas has sent mailers endorsing candidates in three districts with open seats: Maxie Johnson, District 4; Monica Alonzo, District 6; and Erik Wilson, District 8. The endorsements are related to a questionnaire that the PAC sent via email to all candidates in races where there is no incumbent. The questionnaire sought candidates’ stances on a number of topics. One question asked candidates about their position on destination gambling. Others asked about housing affordability and public safety. But the majority of the questions related to short-term rentals, which the City Council passed an ordinance to ban in single-family neighborhoods—over 90 percent of the city—by a narrow vote of 8-7 in 2023. That ordinance has since been blocked by court decisions.

Northwest school district announces more teacher cuts

The Northwest school district will be eliminating 33 more staff positions by attrition than the district originally thought heading into the 2025-26 school year. In a Facebook Live, the district also gave parents more details regarding the cuts and plans to increase the student-teacher ratio as it addresses a $16 million budget gap. Despite having 33% more students since 2019, the district has had to stay on the same ever-tightening budget provided by the state. The Senate is set to consider a bill that would increase the basic allotment to $6,555 per student, with 40% of that additional revenue dedicated to teacher pay raises.

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State lawmakers have not changed the basic allotment of $6,160 per student since 2019 despite inflation. Nor has the state provided funding for teacher raises, meaning districts have had to restructure their existing budgets to compensate. Anthony Tosie, Northwest’s spokesperson, told the Star-Telegram that proposed increase “does not come close to meeting the structural needs of school districts.” In February, the district announced it planned to cut 101 teacher positions, but it now plans to eliminate 134 spots through attrition. The district announced the cuts after voters rejected a tax increase in November. Over the last four years, the fast-growing district has hired 869 staff members primarily on-campus. Through a Facebook Live hosted by the district, viewers were also given details as to which grade levels will see more students in desks per classroom. The district expects to save $13 million through the staff reductions and $3 million by ending contracts.

Houston's ConocoPhillips may face layoffs after sweeping firings at Marathon Oil last year

Employees of ConocoPhillips face more layoffs after the oil company's merger with Marathon Oil, which triggered sweeping job cuts in Houston last year. A spokesman for the Houston oil giant confirmed Friday that the company had informed employees about additional layoffs, but declined to specify how many or when the layoffs would take place. “We are working through the process carefully and won’t speculate on timing or numbers while our evaluation is ongoing,” he said in a statement.

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Reuters reported Tuesday that ConocoPhillips hired Boston Consulting Group to guide its restructuring and layoff program. The layoffs come as the company works to operate more efficiently after the $22.5 billion merger that closed in November. Marathon Oil notified the Texas Workforce Commission last year that it would cut more than 500 people at its CityCentre offices as a result of the union. The company said last year that it expected the merged company to save $500 million annually in costs, including $250 million in general and administrative costs related to salaries, benefits and facilities. However, ConocoPhillips’ CEO, Ryan Lance, sent a letter to employees implying that the cost savings would not result in workforce reductions. Marathon did not receive the same letter before its layoffs, according to a report in the Houston Business Journal.

Houston Chronicle named 2024 Newsroom of the Year by Texas Managing Editors

The Houston Chronicle on Sunday was named the state's 2024 Newsroom of the Year by Texas Managing Editors, with its journalists taking home numerous awards in other categories, including editorial writing, comment and criticism; news photography; and Star Reporter of the Year. The Houston Chronicle placed in 18 categories and also received several honorable mentions in Class AAA, which comprises print and web-only news organizations with at least 20 full-time journalists. Entries are judged by out-of-state journalists, with the Charles E. Green Star Awards judged by the Headliners Foundation. “With our work, we seek to serve Houston and have an impact here in our city through our journalism," said Kelly Ann Scott, editor-in-chief of the Houston Chronicle. "There’s so much good journalism being done in Texas, and we’re so very honored to have our work recognized with this award. Congratulations to everyone on our team.”

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Fort Behavioral Health, accused of abusing juvenile patients in Fort Worth, faces another lawsuit

The family of a teen who lost an eye at Fort Behavioral Health in Fort Worth is suing for “far in excess of $1 million,” according to a news release from the family’s attorneys. The 15-year-old boy was in a bathroom at the hospital when he was attacked by 10 other boys and lost his eye, according to the lawsuit. The family says in the suit that a supervisor at the facility laughed about the assault. Fort Behavioral’s adolescent programs were shut down in 2023 following a Fort Worth Star-Telegram investigation which uncovered allegations of abuse and neglect at Fort Behavioral Health Center. Its adult offerings were abruptly ended last year.

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The lawsuit, originally filed March 17, seeks damages from Fort Behavioral, several employees along with the families of two children. The petition was amended April 9. KERA News could not reach any attorneys representing Fort Behavioral, its employees or those named in the suit as assailants, Bobby Patton, the owner of Fort Behavioral, did not respond to a KERA News request for comment. Patton is also a minority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Patton Land and Cattle. Fort Behavioral promoted itself as a treatment center for minors 11 to 17 years of age experiencing combined addiction and mental illness. That’s why on Sept. 11, 2023, the teen’s mother took him to Fort Behavioral Health for in-patient treatment, according to the lawsuit. The boy, identified in the petition with only his last initial “L,” was diagnosed with depression, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and autism prior to his admittance, according to the suit. His mother took him there because she believed he would be safe, and the treatment program would help him.

Latest Texas Supreme Court ruling highlights the high bar on proving police recklessness

A Killeen man whose vehicle was hit by a police cruiser en route to a 911 call can't sue the officer unless the man can prove he violated emergency response laws, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday. It's the latest ruling to highlight the high bar on claims against police officers after the court's decision in the case of an Austin driver set a higher standard in proving an officer’s alleged recklessness in police responses. Aamir Terry sued the city of Killeen after Officer Jonathan Player hit Terry’s car in 2017 on the way to a reported stabbing. Terry alleged Player wasn’t complying with state laws on driving emergency vehicles and was driving recklessly.

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Lower courts rejected the city’s claims that the case should be dismissed on the grounds of governmental immunity. But drawing from their decision in an Austin police chase crash case late last year, the high court justices ruled it would take more for Terry to claim the officer was reckless and the city shouldn’t be immune from suit. “The Texas Supreme Court, I think, in this ruling is just inserting an additional level of immunity for officers who injure a plaintiff when responding to an emergency call,” said Tammy Holt, an attorney for the plaintiff. Attorneys for the city of Killeen did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Both sides agree Player activated his lights and sirens and sounded his horn as he approached the intersection of West Trimmier Road and East Stan Schlueter Loop. Player testified he slowed to check for oncoming traffic before he drove through the red light.

Can this Texas House bill help curb high ticket prices? Depends whom you ask

It’s not just you: Like groceries and other expenses, going to concerts, plays and sporting events has gotten more costly. Ticket prices have risen nearly 20% since 2021, according to data collected by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. A bill pending in the Texas House of Representatives aims to address some common frustrations with the ticketing process by making it easier to see the total cost of the ticket up front. But opponents say the language prioritizes ticket resellers over fans by preventing venues and artists from placing a price cap on resale tickets. “I hope the legislators hear that this is an important issue and the bill as written does not solve the issue and will make it worse,” said Warren Tranquada, president and CEO of the AT&T Performing Arts Center. “I really think it needs to be thrown out, and we can start over and work collaboratively with all the players, secondary ticket providers, primary ticket providers and artists to come up with a reasonable solution that protects customers.”

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The measure, House Bill 3621, would: Require sellers to display the full price of the ticket — including the fees but not taxes — up front; Prevent the price from jumping during the transaction; Require sellers to be transparent about the location of the seats, when applicable. "If you stop there, then people will say, this is a great bill,” said Serona Elton, chair of the music industry department at the University of Miami. “But that's misleading because that is only one small piece of a multipart bill where the other parts of the bill actually do the opposite in terms of protecting the consumer.” The bill would also: Prevent venues from barring secondary sales of their tickets, with a few exceptions, including when all ticket proceeds are donated to charity. Prohibit price restrictions for tickets on the secondary market, and require all tickets to be delivered by the seventh day after purchase. Prevent sellers from listing tickets they do not have while still allowing the use of concierge services, where consumers pay someone else to acquire tickets on their behalf. While introducing the bill for discussion before the House’s Trade, Workforce and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday, the bill’s author said he did not understand why the measure was controversial. “Not long ago, buying a ticket was a simple process,” said state Rep. Benjamin Bumgarner, R-Flower Mound. “When you bought a ticket, it was yours. You could hold it in your hand, give it to a friend or sell it if your plans changed. Technology was supposed to make the process easier, instead it has made it more complicated and frustrating.

Communities In Schools of North Texas celebrates 31 years of changing lives

Tasha Moore lives for what many might call the little things. Like the countless times she and other dedicated staff and volunteers at Communities In Schools of North Texas took 15 or 20 minutes to help a struggling middle schooler prepare for an important math test—then watched as they sprinted down the hall, test paper in hand, shouting with pride that they passed. Or the way a student’s face instantly brightens upon hearing that their mentor will be on campus later that day to spend time with them. Over the years, she has also seen those small moments ripple out to families. The relief on a parent’s face when they learn that their child’s school now offers after-school care—a space for tutoring, a hot meal to hold them over and even a ride home when needed. Meanwhile, countless individuals and businesses donate their time, money and resources to support these efforts.

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To some, these might seem like minor victories spread out over Communities In Schools of North Texas’ rich 31-year history. To the kids and families who benefit, they are life-changing. “I was impressed with what this organization was doing from the first day I started as a Site Coordinator at Hedrick Middle School (in Lewisville) in 2012. We were in four school districts back then, but my predecessors had incredible foresight to help us keep growing, and I knew this was something I wanted to keep being a part of,” said Moore, who has been the CEO for two years. “Today, we’ve doubled and tripled in size regarding the schools we serve and programs we offer.” “The things I’ve seen might seem like they are simply a part of the daily lifecycle of being in school,” she said. “But for the kids and parents, it’s huge. It’s extremely humbling to think about the monumental impact we can all make when the community comes together.” It’s easy to assume schools are well-oiled machines that can meet these needs and more independently. It’s also easy to assume that all kids lead healthy, happy and supported lives in and outside school. But it’s not always that simple. In North Texas, one in two kids is at risk of dropping out of school. According to the Texas Education Agency, students are considered at-risk if they meet one or more of 14 criteria, including homelessness, Limited English Proficiency, pregnancy or parenting, foster care and if they have one or more incarcerated parents. Many students are also economically disadvantaged and have barriers to academic success.

Rick W. Merrill: Fort Worth-area families could lose health coverage choice

(Rick W. Merrill is president and CEO of Cook Children’s Health Care System.) A health plan that serves 125,000 vulnerable children and families in the Tarrant County area is in danger of being destroyed. Cook Children’s dedication to the North Texas community dates back 107 years; it is far-reaching and deeply rooted. We operate two medical centers, neighborhood health centers, urgent cares, home health services and more, And our Cook Children’s Health Plan has provided health care coverage for families and children with limited resources for more than 20 years. However, last year, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission denied Cook Children’s Health Plan a renewed contract to serve its membership. The commission’s decision would upend the coverage choices of thousands of Dallas-Fort Worth area families. We are doing everything we can to protect those families.

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Two bills proposed in Austin offer a ray of hope. House Bill 3538, introduced by Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, and Senate Bill 2331, filed by Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, would give families the right to choose whether they want to remain on Cook Children’s Health Plan and other care plans. Cook Children’s Health Plan provides care through two state programs: STAR (which is part of Medicaid) and CHIP. The state health commission oversees the contracts — and therefore, the funding — for those programs. In March 2024, the commission announced it would not renew contracts for major community-based, not-for-profit health plans, including Cook Children’s Health Plan and two other health plans in South Texas and the Houston area. Instead, the commission chose to give those contracts to for-profit health care companies, all of which keep their central operations out-of-state. Their proceeds benefit out-of-state shareholders. The decision would force 1.8 million children and pregnant women who qualify for the Medicaid STAR and CHIP programs to switch from the health plans they rely upon to unfamiliar, corporate insurers.

Feds use Texas mass shooting to cite domestic violence as risk factor

Mass shootings such as the one at a Sutherland Springs church in 2017 could be prevented if courts, police, health care practitioners and community groups collaborate to perform risk assessments on people with troubling and documented histories of violence — and domestic violence in particular. That is the finding of a new U.S. Secret Service case study looking at the warning signs that were missed in the young shooter responsible for the massacre at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs near San Antonio that left more than two-dozen people dead. The report also mentioned “red flag laws” as one such prevention tool — a measure that Texas does not have and which has faced strong opposition in the state Legislature. Red flag laws allow state courts to temporarily prevent individuals who are deemed dangerous from having guns.

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On the morning of Nov. 5, 2017, a man dressed in black clothing, tactical body armor and a black mask painted with a skull design arrived at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. Devin Patrick Kelley, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and two handguns, fired more than 200 times into the church before entering. Once inside, he kept firing, killing 26 people, including his wife’s grandmother, and wounding 22 others. The 26-year-old walked up and down the aisles shooting at the congregants, sometimes hitting people multiple times. The Secret Service said in its 40-page report that a goal of the case study was to highlight the link between domestic violence and mass casualty violence. The report said “behavioral threat assessments” by community members are important proactive ways to identify and address the risk of violence in certain people in order to prevent mass shootings. This was not done in Kelley’s case despite multiple indicators in his past, according to the report. “This case study depicts an attacker with a long history of deeply disturbing behavior…including numerous instances of physical, emotional, and sexual violence; child abuse; animal cruelty; explicit threats; and other concerning communications and behaviors,” the report said.

Bishop T.D. Jakes is handing Potter’s House leadership to daughter, son-in-law

Bishop T.D. Jakes, who founded The Potter’s House and has led the Dallas megachurch for almost 30 years, announced at a Sunday morning service that he will be handing leadership of the church over to his daughter Sarah Jakes Roberts and son-in-law Touré Roberts. “As I enter my 50th year in the public spotlight, I recognize the urgent need to address more challenges of our time, particularly the looming threat of a disappearing middle class, social unrest and closing opportunity gaps,” Jakes said in a news release prepared before Sunday’s service. “Elevating Pastor Touré and Pastor Sarah as the new senior pastors of The Potter’s House, we will honor our rich history while embracing a future that demands innovative ministry for the coming age.”

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Their appointment will occur later this year. After the transition, Jakes will continue in his role as chairman of the T.D. Jakes Group, which includes his real estate company, social impact holding company and T.D. Jakes Foundation. Jakes’ announcement comes nearly six months after a major health incident that he later described as a “massive heart attack.” The health incident occurred while Jakes was delivering a sermon on stage last November. That same month, Jakes filed a lawsuit against a former minister who accused Jakes of alleged attempted sexual assault. On Sunday morning, Jakes delivered a sermon titled “Whatever God commands” on God’s call for unity. With his trademark humor and booming voice, Jakes urged his flock to compromise and put down their egos to prioritize unity with one another. At the end of his message, Jakes raised his voice as piano and organ chords punctuated his words. Audience members cheered, clapped and danced, and a few dozen gathered in front of the stage with raised hands and bowed heads. Jakes quieted the room as he began discussing the transition he said he’d been planning for at least six years. “I have seen too many men build something and stay so long that they kill what they built,” the pastor said. “I cannot afford, especially after November, to risk something happening to me and you be sheep without a shepherd.”

San Antonio Express-News wins top Texas prize for investigative reporting

The San Antonio Express-News won top honors in investigative reporting and deadline writing in the Texas Managing Editors’ annual Excellence in Journalism competition. Business reporter Sara DiNatale won the first-place prize in Star Investigative Report of the Year for her series about how thousands of Texas homeowners were victimized by predatory salespeople, lenders and installers in the residential solar power industry. A team of Express-News journalists won first place in deadline writing for their early, exclusive report that former Uvalde school police chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo had been indicted in connection with the much-maligned police response to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting. Express-News staff members also were recognized in feature writing, general column writing, sports column writing, criticism, business reporting, specialty reporting, informational graphics, sports photography and other categories. The TME awards recognized outstanding journalism published in 2024. Go here to see the full list of winners.

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National Stories

Canada vs. Trump: How Monday’s election will play out

In March, shortly after Ontario Premier Doug Ford decisively won re-election here, Canada Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre grudgingly telephoned the leader of this country’s most populous province to grudgingly ask for advice from a conservative rival. “People said, ‘You’ve got to call him,’” Ford happily recalled to me this week. “He said, ‘What advice can I get?’ I said it’s one thing, our polling shows it, we just came off a big victory: It’s the tariffs. A number of years ago, [James] Carville said, ‘It’s the economy, stupid.’ Well, it’s the tariffs, stupid. That’s what it is.” So why didn’t Poilievre adjust his message? “I can’t figure it out,” Ford said, happy to plunge the knife in days before Canadians vote on a new government.

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For months now, the dynamics of Monday’s federal election here seemed easy enough to grasp on either side of the border: A campaign that had been a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s increasingly unpopular decade-long tenure had, once Trudeau stepped down, become a vote on who was best able to manage Donald Trump, his tariff arsenal and designs on annexing Canada. But it isn’t that simple. Liberals are poised to hold power, and Prime Minister Mark Carney may even claim a majority of Canada’s 343 House of Commons seats, because Poilievre never pivoted to accommodate a changed race and alienated crucial leaders and voters; because Liberals didn’t just dump Trudeau, they replaced him with a sober central banker, an Alan Greenspan from the Northwest Territories who can still lace up the skates; and because Canada has momentarily imported two-party, tribal politics from America into their multi-party parliamentary democracy. It’s this final element that may prove most crucial — and could determine whether Liberals claim a majority or minority government — but is not easily grasped in the U.S. Canada has long had robust minor parties that play a pivotal role in both provincial and federal politics, most notably the left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Bloc Québécois, which advocates for Québécois nationalism in Canada’s Francophone province. Yet the effect of Trump’s existential threat has been to marginalize these parties, to render purity politics or domestic questions as a bit like the clogged sink disposal when the house is on fire.

Pritzker’s speech in New Hampshire drives presidential campaign buzz

In a fiery address to New Hampshire Democrats on Sunday night, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker condemned what he described as President Donald Trump’s “authoritarian power grabs” while also blasting the “do-nothing” Democrats in his party — stating it is “time to fight everywhere, all at once.” The billionaire Democratic governor repeatedly brought the crowd to its feet with acidic attacks on the morals and ethics of the president, adviser and top donor Elon Musk, as well as members of the president’s Cabinet. He slammed their efforts to dismantle government programs that the most vulnerable Americans rely on and said the Democratic Party must “abandon the culture of incrementalism that has led us to swallow their cruelty.” It is time for his party, he said, to “knock the rust off poll-tested language” that has obscured “our better instincts.”

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Pritzker was most searing in his condemnation of what he cast as the Trump administration’s infringement on the rights enshrined in the Constitution, stating that it should be easy for Democrats to say “it’s wrong to snatch a person off the street and ship them to a foreign gulag with no chance to defend themselves in a court of law.” “Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now,” Pritzker said to a standing ovation accompanied by whistles and cheers from the audience. “These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They must understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soap box and then punish them at the ballot box.” Calling out Trump’s “xenophobia” and thirst for power, the Illinois governor said Democrats must “stop thinking we can reason or negotiate with a madman.” His hope, he added, is that Republicans who enable Trump “feel in their bones that when we survive this shameful episode of American history” that their portraits will be relegated “to the museum halls reserved for tyrants and traitors.” Turning to his own party, Pritzker argued that Democrats have spent too long listening to voices who “would tell you that the house is not on fire, even as they feel the flames licking their face” and called out politicians “whose simpering timidity served as a kindle for the arsonists.”

Democrats seize on a new issue to use against the GOP: Social Security

Democrats, after weeks of struggling to find a message that resonates with ordinary Americans while President Donald Trump dominates the news, are beginning to settle on one: the allegation that Trump and his allies are crippling Social Security. Former president Joe Biden used his first public comments since leaving office to criticize Trump’s handling of the popular program. Early Democratic ads are targeting Republican senators on Social Security. Democrats have visited Social Security offices around the country, sometimes getting turned away and going public. Senate Democrats have set up a “war room” to deliver the message. Democrats say there is evidence that the push is working. Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-Washington) reported having more than 22,000 constituents on a recent tele-town hall on Social Security. Martin O’Malley, a former Maryland governor who served as Social Security commissioner toward the end of Biden’s term, has drawn crowds to town halls in Florida and elsewhere.

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“For much of the country, Washington might as well be Mars for all the connection it has to them,” Sen. Ron Wyden (Oregon), the top Democrat on the committee that oversees Social Security, said in an interview. “But Social Security is something where there is connective tissue between the government and the people.” The elimination of 7,000 Social Security jobs — more than 12 percent of the workforce — and other cuts have led to long waits, dropped calls and other widespread service issues. Democrats say the worsening problems create a clear link between Trump’s chaotic style and Americans’ day-to-day well-being. Michael Astrue, who led the Social Security Administration under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama — and says he voted for Trump — sharply criticized cuts to the agency by Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency. “I think you have a group of very immature people coming out of Silicon Valley bro culture, and they have decided federal agencies are filled with bad people doing bad things, and if you go in and hack away, and you don’t have to know what you are doing, you can improve it because less is more,” Astrue said. More than 73 million Americans receive Social Security benefits, spanning all states and districts. It is the government’s marquee program for elderly and disabled people, so beneficiaries are concentrated among older Americans, who vote in high proportions. Voters 65 and up narrowly backed Trump 50 percent to 49 percent in November.

Over 100 immigrants arrested in raid on underground Colorado nightclub where active-duty military members worked, feds say

More than 100 immigrants, allegedly in the country illegally, were detained in Colorado Springs after an overnight raid at what authorities described as an underground nightclub in a strip mall. “What was happening inside was significant drug trafficking, prostitution, crimes of violence,” Jonathan C. Pullen, the Special Agent in Charge at the DEA Rocky Mountain Division, said at a news conference Sunday morning. “We seized a number of guns in there.” Over a dozen active-duty military members were also at the club during the raid, and federal officials said some were working at the illicit operation. “We had active-duty service members who were running security at the club and involved in some of these crimes,” Pullen said.

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Authorities also found drugs at the underground club, including cocaine and so-called pink cocaine, also known as “tusi,” Pullen said. The nightclub had been under surveillance by the DEA and partner agencies for “a number of months,” according to Pullen, who said authorities documented drug trafficking, prostitution, and the presence of alleged members from the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and the Hells Angels. “I don’t have the information about whether those members were there tonight, but we’re still working through a lot of that, because we have so many people in custody,” Pullen said. “Colorado Springs is waking up to a safer city this Sunday morning,” he said. Hundreds of agents across over 10 federal agencies participated in the raid, Pullen said. Agents from the FBI, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement joined in carrying out the operation, the DEA said on X.

Ron and Casey DeSantis were plotting a political dynasty in Florida. Then came a scandal

A year after his presidential ambitions collapsed, Gov. Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey can no longer lay claim to the future of the Republican Party. And in Florida, even their present is in jeopardy. Once firmly in his corner, many Sunshine State Republicans have lately turned on DeSantis, stymying his agenda and frustrating him to no end. At the same time, Casey DeSantis, long regarded as a political force in her own right, is encountering quiet but firm resistance as she lays the groundwork for a potential run to succeed her husband — a campaign that would pit her against President Donald Trump’s handpicked choice to lead the state, Rep. Byron Donalds.

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Now, a funding scandal involving one of Casey’s signature initiatives — a state assistance program known as Hope Florida — is casting a shadow over the governor’s legacy and complicating her political ambitions. Lawmakers spent the spring investigating why $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement was routed to a charity connected to Hope Florida, which then transferred the same amount to two groups that financially backed a DeSantis-led campaign against legalizing recreational marijuana. Key lawmakers have publicly suggested the flow of money appears illegal. The couple have fiercely stood by their work and denied wrongdoing. DeSantis this week called the criticism of Hope Florida “all political.” Standing alongside her husband Thursday, Casey DeSantis characterized the program as “a philosophy” that “shows we can help people in need.” Remarkably, the investigation into Hope Florida was not by Democrats, but by Republicans — a striking sign of DeSantis’ eroding clout in a state capital he once controlled with unchallenged authority. Outside Tallahassee, some of Trump’s staunchest allies in Florida have helped to amplify the controversy to their MAGA followers.

Trump-aligned club for the ultra rich launches in Washington

A new club is coming to Washington — and you probably can’t get in. Donald Trump Jr., megadonor Omeed Malik and several other investors are launching an invite-only club that costs more than half a million to join with an exclusive post-White House Correspondents’ Dinner gathering, according to an invite obtained by POLITICO and two people with knowledge of the venture, granted anonymity to discuss the private organization. The “Executive Branch” is the brainchild of Malik and the president’s eldest son, and their partners at conservative fund 1789 Capital. It will be located in Georgetown. Their goal, the people familiar with the plans say, is to create the highest-end private club that Washington has ever had, and cater to the business and tech moguls who are looking to nurture their relationships with the Trump administration.

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The referral requirements and prohibitive pricing is meant to ensure the C-suite crowd can mingle with Trump advisers and cabinet members without the prying eyes of the press and wanna-be insiders. The price tag won’t be a problem for Trump’s cabinet — given it’s by far the wealthiest in history. The club already has a waitlist. Spokespeople for Trump Jr., Malik and other investors declined to comment. Some parts of the group’s plans this weekend were first reported by Puck and Semafor.

China’s billion-dollar footprint near Florida coast poses US national security risk, expert warns

China is steadily expanding in the Bahamas through projects that blur economic development and geopolitical aims, an expert warned. "The People's Republic of China has been making diplomatic, economic and even military and quasi-military inroads into the Caribbean, South and Central America for the past couple of decades," retired Rear Adm. Peter Brown, former Homeland Security advisor to President Donald Trump, told Fox News Digital. Brown pointed to the rise in dual-use infrastructure projects along the Bahamas coastline, which is located just 50 miles off the coast of Florida. "It doesn't take a lot of imagination for the People's Republic of China to use its commercial footprint in the Bahamas to monitor, exploit and perhaps even do worse to [the] U.S.," he said.

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Pointing to the Chinese-controlled British Colonial Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas, Brown said that its location directly across from the U.S. Embassy could give way to intelligence gathering on U.S. personnel. "It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to think that additional electronics were put in there with the purpose and the task of keeping an eye not only on the U.S. Embassy itself, but also the U.S. Embassy visitors," he said. The hotel is owned by a Chinese company, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, which has raised geopolitical concerns given its location. Fox News Digital has reached out to the British Colonial Hotel for comment. China has invested heavily in the Bahamas through a range of additional high-profile projects, including a $40 million grant for a national stadium, a $3 billion mega-port in Freeport, and $40 million for the North Abaco Port and Little Abaco Bridge. Additionally, China EXIM Bank provided over $54 million in loans to construct a four-lane highway and nearly $3 billion to finance the development of the Baha Mar Resort.

Lead Stories

Trump has lowest 100-day approval rating in 80 years: poll

Donald Trump has the lowest 100-day job approval rating of any president in the past 80 years, with public pushback on many of his policies and extensive economic discontent, including broad fears of a recession, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll. Yet he still beats the Democrats in Congress in terms of trust to handle the nation's main problems. Thirty-nine percent of respondents in this ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll said they approve of how Trump is handling his job as president, down 6 percentage points from February, while 55% said they disapprove. The previous low in approval for a president at or near 100 days in office, in polls dating to 1945, was Trump's 42% in 2017.

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Perhaps most threatening to Trump, given his promise of an economic turnaround, is the extent of negative views on the economy: Seventy-two percent said they think it's very or somewhat likely that his economic policies will cause a recession in the short term. Seventy-three percent said the economy is in bad shape, 53% said it's gotten worse since Trump took office and 41% said their own finances have worsened -- which is as many as those who said so under President Joe Biden last summer. Sixty-two percent said prices, which as a candidate, Trump pledged to curb, are rising. Seventy-one percent said they see his tariffs as a negative factor in price inflation. And just 31% in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates with fieldwork by Ipsos, said they accept Trump's argument that the economy will emerge with a stronger foundation for the long term. Negative assessments go beyond the economy. Sixty-five percent said Trump's administration is trying to avoid complying with federal court orders, and 64% said he's going too far in trying to expand presidential powers. Sixty-two percent said they don't think his administration respects the rule of law.

Beto O’Rourke says ‘if’ Texans want him to run for U.S. Senate, ‘yes I will’

Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, defeated for U.S. Senate and Texas governor in recent elections but a prodigious national fundraiser, now says that “if” Texans want him to run for Senate again in 2026, “then yes I wlll.” It may be the closest O’Rourke, an El Paso Democrat, has come to announcing for what is expected to be a $200 million-plus campaign against either incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn or challenger Attorney General Ken Paxton, a McKinney Republican. O’Rourke, then a member of the U.S. House, lost to incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz by 3 percentage points in a 2018 election that lifted him into the national spotlight. In 2022, he lost to Gov. Greg Abbott by 11 points. He raised nearly $180 million for the two campaigns. The 2026 Democratic nominee for Senate will be expected to raise as much as $100 million.

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In 2019, he launched a 2020 campaign for president. He dropped out that November, a year before the election, but was considered a possible running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden until Biden committed to choosing a Black woman for the ticket. Biden ultimately chose California Sen. Kamala Harris. Speaking to several hundred people April 26 in Denton, Texas, O’Rourke rallied voters at what was billed as a town hall for his voter mobilization organization, Powered by People. Asked in the Q-and-A after his speech whether he would run for Senate, O’Rourke grinned and said, “I’m gonna infer from your question that you do not want Ken Paxton to be your next senator.” He went on to loud cheers: “If ... this is what the people of Texas want — that it’s the highest and best use of what I can give to you — then yes, I will.”

$100K abortion pill ‘bounty’ bill divides Texans, lawmakers

Debate over a proposal that would eliminate Texans’ access to abortion pills dominated a legislative hearing Friday. Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen, laid out a revised version of a bill Friday morning that would crack down on the commerce of abortion-inducing drugs by banning them from being manufactured or distributed in Texas or mailed, transported, delivered or prescribed to any person or place within the state. The 30-page bill was significantly pared from Leach’s initial 43-page proposal, which would have made providing someone information on obtaining an abortion pill an illegal act subject to at least $100,000 in damages. Critics said the latest iteration of House Bill 5510 could have far-reaching consequences on the national production of important medication and still amounts to a bounty because it would allow anyone to sue to recover six-figure damages against someone who participated in the distribution of an abortion pill for wrongful death or the personal injury of the pregnant mother or unborn child.

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The Senate version advanced out of committee Wednesday and could be voted on as soon as next week. Shellie Hayes-McMahon, co-executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, told the House State Affairs Committee the proposal is government overreach. “This isn’t about stopping illegal activity. It’s about stretching Texas law beyond its borders and dragging out-of-state health providers into Texas courtrooms to punish them for helping Texans,” Hayes-McMahon said. “The $100,000 in damages that state-empowered vigilantes can collect from anyone in the country isn’t justice,” she added. “It’s a bounty meant to scare providers and helpers into silence.” At the outset of the hearing — a two-part session that stretched several hours before moving on to other proposals — Leach acknowledged the partisan divide over abortion policy and distinguished his bill from a separate measure that was withdrawn from another House committee earlier this week. Filed by Rep. Brent Money, R-Greenville, that policy would have made elective abortion a criminally negligent homicide, which is a state jail felony.

Mighty and meek say farewell to Pope Francis during Vatican funeral and last popemobile ride

World leaders and rank-and-file Catholic faithful bade farewell to Pope Francis in a funeral Saturday that highlighted his concern for people on the peripheries and reflected his wish to be remembered as a simple pastor. Though presidents and princes attended the Mass in St. Peter’s Square, prisoners and migrants welcomed Francis’ coffin at his final resting place in a basilica across town. According to Vatican estimates, some 250,000 people flocked to the funeral Mass at the Vatican and 150,000 more lined the motorcade route through downtown Rome to witness the first funeral procession for a pope in a century. They clapped and cheered “Papa Francesco” as his simple wooden coffin traveled aboard a modified popemobile to St. Mary Major Basilica, some 6 kilometers (3.5-miles) away.

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As bells tolled, the pallbearers brought the coffin past several dozen migrants, prisoners and homeless people holding white roses outside the basilica. Once inside, the pallbearers stopped in front of the icon of the Virgin Mary that Francis loved. Four children deposited the roses at the foot of the altar before cardinals performed the burial rite at his tomb in a nearby niche. “I’m so sorry that we’ve lost him,” said Mohammed Abdallah, a 35-year-old migrant from Sudan who was one of the people who welcomed Francis to his final resting place. “Francis helped so many people, refugees like us, and many other people in the world.” Earlier, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re eulogized history’s first Latin American pontiff during the Vatican Mass as a pope of the people, a pastor who knew how to communicate to the “least among us” with an informal, spontaneous style. “He was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone,” the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals said in a highly personal sermon. He drew applause from the crowd when he recounted Francis’ constant concern for migrants, exemplified by celebrating Mass at the U.S.-Mexico border and traveling to a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, when he brought 12 migrants home with him.

ICE: ‘First-of-its-kind’ operation with local law enforcement leads to nearly 800 immigrant arrests in Florida

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Saturday the agency and state law enforcement in Florida have arrested nearly 800 people over four days in a “massive, multi-agency immigration enforcement crackdown.” ICE’s office in Miami calls the “highly successful” operation “a first-of-its-kind partnership between state and federal partners.” CNN has reached out to ICE for more details about who was arrested, their legal status and the scope of the operation. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hailed the operation as “an example of FL and (the Department of Homeland Security) partnering to deliver big results on immigration enforcement and deportations,” according to a statement on X.

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“Florida is leading the nation in active cooperation with the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and deportation operations!” DeSantis wrote in a separate post Saturday. The massive number of reported arrests comes amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration and as the Department of Justice moves to prosecute state and local officials accused of impeding that effort. DeSantis and other Republican leaders in Florida have pushed local officials in the state to sign agreements with ICE under the 287(g) Program, which allows local authorities to be trained by and partner with ICE to enforce aspects of US immigration law. Florida leaders have warned that state law allows for the removal of officials who refuse to cooperate with the federal government’s immigration efforts. Statewide agencies, including the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida State Guard, the Florida Department of Agricultural Law Enforcement and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, all signed collaboration agreements with ICE, according to an announcement by DeSantis in February.

State Stories

The peak of Texas severe weather season is about to arrive. Here's what that means.

Texas has just gone through its most active stretch of severe weather so far this year. Over the past four days, from Tuesday to Friday, the state has produced 120 reports of large hail (measuring at least one inch in diameter). That brings April’s running total to 212 reports of large hail so far. However, we haven’t even reached the peak of the Texas severe weather season. That typically arrives in May, a month when high moisture levels and increased atmospheric instability creates the perfect environment for severe storms to develop. During May, Texas averages 372 reports of large hail, by far the most of any month. Tornadoes are also most common during May, with an average of 43 confirmed tornado reports throughout the state. Severe weather starts to decrease during June, when high atmospheric pressure regularly stifles storm chances and produces 100-degree heat. Reports of large hail in Texas decrease by 59% as compared to May, and confirmed tornadoes decrease by 74%.

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Can a Republican win the mayor’s race in blue San Antonio?

Hours before the start of early voting on Tuesday, the Bexar County Democratic Party unleashed a 30-second video attacking mayoral candidate Rolando Pablos’ connection to Gov. Greg Abbott. “Greg Abbott and his friends are putting $2 million into his campaign,” the video says. “Makes you wonder who would Pablos be working for if elected, Greg Abbott or Abbott’s rich friends?” Pablos blasted the ad as an attempt to insert partisan politics into a race for a nonpartisan office. More importantly, he said, it’s an indication that local Democrats see his campaign “as a real threat.” “Nobody kicks a dead dog, right?” he said. Since entering the crowded field to replace term-limited Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Pablos’ mantra has been “check your partisanship at the door” of City Hall.

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Pablos isn’t running as a Republican, but he has been active in GOP politics for decades. Abbott appointed him Texas secretary of state in late 2016 to serve as the state’s chief elections officer and a top adviser on border issues, a role from which Pablos resigned in 2018. Previously, then-Gov. Rick Perry, also a Republican, named Pablos to the Texas Public Utility Commission in 2011. And Pablos has struck themes in his campaign that resonate with Republican voters, such as cutting “unnecessary spending” and his focus on reducing crime and picking up the pace of the city’s police hiring. San Antonio is a Democratic city where Abbott carried only 37% of the vote in 2022, according to a San Antonio Express-News analysis — while he cruised to reelection with 55% of the vote statewide. The city hasn’t had a Republican mayor since 1995, when voters elected oral surgeon William “Bill” Thornton, who served one term before failing to even make it into the 1997 runoff.

Chris Tomlinson: Free speech could come with legal fees if proposed law progresses in Texas Legislature

I know all too well that getting sued is no fun. A few years ago, a journalist from Art News emailed to ask my co-authors and me to comment on a defamation lawsuit filed by two antiquities dealers over our book “Forget the Alamo” and a Texas Monthly cover story. They were angry about our investigation into allegations that some items rock singer Phil Collins donated to the Alamo might not be authentic. As journalists, it pained us to say we had no comment, because we hadn’t even seen the complaint, let alone consulted an attorney. Our publisher, Penguin Random House, hired a Texas attorney, and Texas Monthly’s counsel jumped on the case. Lawyers from both organizations had gone through our reporting and writing with a fine-tooth comb to ensure everything we documented was bullet-proof before we published. We were confident in our reporting.

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What we didn’t know, though, was whether the lawsuit was legitimate or an attempt by rich and powerful people to harass the authors and publishers of a truthful book and article that had made a LOT of people angry. One of the attorneys was connected to a conservative political group. We took comfort in knowing that the Texas Citizens’ Participation Act protects everyone against such strategic lawsuits against public participation, known as SLAPPs. The powerful may be able to sic a team of lawyers to shut up an activist or journalist in other states, but not in Texas. The TCPA guarantees Texans the right to speak up about matters of public importance. Whether you are a journalist looking into the authenticity of Alamo artifacts or protesting a wind energy project, the law forbids bullies from using lawsuits to silence protected speech. I’m sharing my story from 2022 because wealthy and powerful people are trying to weaken the TCPA. If several bills working their way through the Texas Legislature become law, SLAPPs will become more common, and citizens will be far less protected. Wealthy people and organizations employ attorneys, so filing a lawsuit costs them little more than the filing fee. Retaining a lawyer and filing a response can quickly run up $50,000 in attorneys' fees before you even appear before a judge.

John Moritz: Scandals are no strangers to Texas Lottery Commission directors. Here's some history.

Seven people have held the title of executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission over the 34-year life of the state-run gambling operation, and none of them left their jobs under happy circumstances. Two of them were fired for cause, four left amid the shadow of scandal, and the other died in office. On Tuesday, the commissioners who oversee the lottery will formally begin the process of hiring an eighth director, who — assuming the lottery survives — will be tasked with righting a revenue-producing agency that has lost the confidence of several high-ranking state officeholders. The Texas Lottery's long arc of history suggests whoever ends up with the job will face the minefield that comes with managing a multibillion-dollar, gambling-oriented state agency that has vexed their predecessors. The shorter arc suggests the new lottery boss will be tiptoeing through that minefield under the brightest of political spotlights.

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Quick review: On Monday, lottery director Ryan Mindell resigned without stating a reason for his exit. But his departure comes after withering criticism from lawmakers, much of it centered on actions taken by his predecessor who retired in February 2024, just as a scathing report by the state's watchdog was coming out. Lawmakers were demanding to know why the lottery had not taken steps to prevent third-party vendors known as couriers from brokering the sale of game tickets through smartphone apps, even though state law expressly forbids buying and selling lottery tickets by phone. The use of couriers, which have been operating for several years in Texas, became widely discussed during the 2023 legislative session when lawmakers questioned then-Executive Director Gary Grief about them. Grief said at the time that the law was silent on whether tickets could be ordered online but purchased in person from a licensed retailer on a player's behalf by a broker.

What to know about Harris County's stalled universal basic income program

The Texas Senate passed a bill Thursday that would ban guaranteed income programs — a move that the bill's author said was in response to Uplift Harris, a county program that would have provided direct financial assistance to low-income families. Sen. Paul Bettencourt, who wrote the bill, and other conservative lawmakers have decried the program as "lottery socialism," and alleged it violates a clause in the Texas Constitution prohibiting state-sponsored gifts. Proponents of Uplift Harris, including Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Judge Lina Hidalgo, point to research indicating guaranteed income programs can improve employment outcomes and help families break free from poverty.

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"The families living under the crushing weight of poverty are expecting to have their lives changed by the program. This financial assistance would have been a lifeline in helping families put food on the table and pay rent," Ellis said in a statement Thursday. The program, initially called Uplift Harris, hit its first legal snag after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the county, alleging the program would violate the Texas Constitution. Following an April order from the Texas Supreme Court temporarily halting payments under the program, the county went back to the drawing board and announced the Community Prosperity Program. Unlike Uplift Harris, the Community Prosperity Program included the caveat that the county would ensure the funds provided to families would be used only for basic needs. It was a change officials hoped would prevent further legal action from Paxton, but those hopes were dashed when he filed a second lawsuit. Despite a favorable ruling from a district judge in that case, Paxton appealed and secured another halt to the program in December.

ICE reportedly visiting homes of Houston migrant children, sparking fear of sponsor deportations

Alexa Sendukas, managing attorney at the Galveston-Houston Immigration Project, said in recent weeks, 18 of her clients sponsoring unaccompanied children have reported ICE officers in plain clothes have visited or called their homes, prompting fear and concern they are being targeted for deportation. The visits have also been reported in recent weeks across the U.S as an effort to crack down on potential human trafficking, The Washington Post reported. Sendukas said the visits — which in some cases, clients have told her involved ICE agents asking sponsors for their immigration status — are concerning because sponsors and their homes have already gone through rigorous vetting by contractors part of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

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Most clients have reported that four ICE officers visit their homes, with 3 men and 1 woman, and ask varying questions, from asking how the child is doing in school to wanting to speak to the child and see their bedroom, Sendukas said. She added all the unaccompanied minors have already had removal orders dimissed through immigration court, or are in proceeding to have them dismissed. But the immigration status of the children’s sponsors, whom the immigration project does not represent, is not entirely known, Sendukas said. “If ICE does go after undocumented sponsors, we’re looking at the next version of family separation, and it will be devastating,” she said. “We have young children who are gong to be irreparably harmed.” Sendukas said ICE has not previously been involved in welfare checks for unaccompanied minors, and that the work has been typically done through post release services part of refugee service providers across the Houston area. The Trump administration’s freeze on funding to the U.S Refugee Admissions Program has slashed millions of dollars in funding to Houston-area refugee services.

'Leaving South by Southwest was definitely not my decision.' Hugh Forrest out at SXSW

South by Southwest will go on without its longtime top programmer and president, and the festival and conference is reportedly laying off staff again. Hugh Forrest, who has served as SXSW co-president since 2022 and president since 2024, was let go by P-MRC Holdings, LLC, a venture owned by MRC and Penske Media Corporation. Forrest’s departure comes just over a month after SXSW concluded its 2025 event, after which it announced next year's event will be shorter and more consolidated. In addition to his leadership roles, Forrest originated and nurtured to prominence the tech portion of South by Southwest, known for a time as Interactive, which helped the event raise its profile during SXSW's biggest period of growth from the late 2000s to the early 2010s. P-MRC bought a majority stake in South by Southwest in 2021.

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In a statement, Forrest wrote, "Leaving South by Southwest was definitely not my decision." He added, "I put my heart and soul into this event for more than 35 years, and I was looking forward to leading several more editions. To this end, I will be rooting big time for the Austin team on the go forward. The city, the country, the world needs the positive energy South by Southwest has traditionally provided and needs it now more than ever." A message to Penske Media Corporation, which bought a majority stake in South by Southwest in 2021, was not immediately returned. The change was apparently recent; as recently as this week, Forrest was posting about technology in relation to SXSW on social media. On social media comments on posts about Forrest's departure, other staff members were said to have been let go. On Saturday, the Austin Chronicle reported that "10 or more staff members, including senior leadership at Music and Comedy, as well as staff and management in behind-the-scenes roles, have left the company, either through previously planned departures or unexpectedly."

Texas Senate considers whether college students without legal status in U.S. should receive financial aid

The Texas Senate is considering a bill that would prevent students without legal status in the United States from receiving financial support from the state to enroll at colleges or universities. State Sen. Mayes Middleton, a Republican from Galveston who authored Senate Bill 1798, said during a committee hearing in Austin this week that it would amend state law so that students without legal status — including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients — would also have to pay out-of-state tuition rates to attend universities or colleges in Texas. “These are funds that could have been used to support lawful residents, perhaps even used to lower tuition or fees for citizens,” he said. “And we have all heard about the issues of tuition inflation in our public universities.”

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The bill was left pending in the Senate Committee on Education K-16. It would need to be passed by the committee to get a vote by the full Senate, which could then reject the proposed legislation or approve it and send it to the Texas House for consideration. Students without legal status currently can qualify for in-state tuition and financial aid through the Texas Dream Act passed in 2001. According to the American Immigration Council, Texas was the first of 25 states to pass this sort of legislation. Former Houston-area state Rep. Rick Noriega authored the Texas Dream Act. During the committee meeting, he said the law was made for people who otherwise would not be able to afford to go to college. “My intent was to just create an opportunity, not a subsidy,” he said. “Not a handout, but a hand-up. And then the rest of things works out based on competition and worthiness of people, their ability to produce, and make good with an opportunity.”

US judge temporarily stops west Texas immigrant deportations under Alien Enemies Act

A federal judge in west Texas joined other courts in temporarily blocking the deportations of Venezuelan immigrants under an 18th-century wartime law known as the Alien Enemies Act. U.S. District Judge David Briones in El Paso, Texas, issued the ruling Friday while he ordered the release of a couple accused of being members of a Venezuelan criminal gang. Briones wrote that government lawyers “have not demonstrated they have any lawful basis” to continue detaining the couple on a suspected alien enemy violation. A message left with an attorney for the couple wasn’t immediately returned Saturday. The couple is accused of being part of Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act from 1798 that lets the president deport noncitizens 14 years or older who are from a country with which the U.S. is at war.

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UTSA students' visas reinstated as U.S. reverses legal status terminations

Five of the seven visas that had been revoked from current and former international students at the University of Texas at San Antonio have been reinstated as federal government officials announced they would reverse the spate of terminations Friday. Joe Izbrand, UTSA’s chief communications officer, confirmed the reinstatements. Twelve of 23 affected students at Texas A&M University also had their records reinstated by federal authorities, school officials said. The about-face came as legal challenges mounted around the U.S., many of them successful in obtaining the students short-term relief, including for one at the state flagship. Around 230 foreign students at other Texas schools were also affected and likely awaiting reinstatement, according to a tally by Inside Higher Education. Federal judges had already issued temporary restraining orders for some of the international students, restoring them to a federal database maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Lawyers for the students argued that ICE and the Department of Homeland Security didn't have the authority to change the legal status, which stripped them of on- or off-campus employment authorization, the ability to re-enter the U.S., and any dependents' legal status. At least 1,800 students had their records terminated in the database, according to Inside Higher Education, leading to confusion about the scholars' ability to remain in the country as DHS officials said self-deportation was the safest option. In Texas, those students had enrolled at private and public colleges alike.

Federal judge orders temporary restoration of legal status for Iranian student at Texas A&M

A federal judge in Houston has ordered the U.S. government to temporarily restore the terminated legal status of an Iranian international student at Texas A&M University. Ahmad Beyhaqi is among the foreign students beginning to stack up wins in court. U.S. District Judge David Hittner said Tuesday that Beyhaqi was likely to succeed in his case, where he has alleged that the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement had no authority to terminate his status. “The Supreme Court has made clear that all persons in the United States, including aliens whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful, temporary or permanent enjoy due process constitutional protections,” Hittner wrote.

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Beyhaqi is one of 23 students at Texas A&M facing terminations alongside many others across the state and region, including at Rice University, University of Houston and Houston Community College. Texas A&M officials said Thursday that no students have had their records reinstated by the government. Beyhaqi, who is pursuing a doctorate in engineering, said he was informed by Texas A&M on April 10 that his student status was terminated and his F-1 visa was revoked, according to his lawsuit. The federal database labeled him as being identified in a criminal records check “and/or” having had his visa revoked – a contention that Beyhaqi and his attorneys called vague. Attorney Caridad Pastor said that Beyhaqi has never been convicted of a crime, though he had a prior dismissed charge. (Those case records are sealed, she said.) None of her clients have been convicted of violent offenses, she said, and as in the case of many affected students across the country, some only had records of minor misdemeanors, like unpaid parking tickets that led to revoked driver's licenses.

The Lege’s 'big government intrusion' into university academics

Even at Texas Woman’s University, whose very name shows its legacy, gender studies programs face potential pushback from lawmakers. Just three years ago, Texas Woman’s University (TWU) approved a new bachelor’s degree program in Multicultural Women’s and Gender Studies. Danielle Phillips-Cunningham, who began teaching at the university in 2011, proposed the new major as a way to bring more students into the program amid decreases in enrollment during COVID-19. Phillips-Cunningham said the undergraduate students she taught had a clear desire to major in the field. “The courses really do a good job of demonstrating the links between politics and people’s personal lives,” Phillips-Cunningham said. Despite having recently downsized their department, she saw the university’s approval of the new degree program as a sign of its commitment to this academic field. At the time, other institutions had begun to cut funding for similar programs as reactionary animus against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) set in.

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Legislators directed intense scrutiny toward DEI initiatives in higher education last session, with passage of Senate Bill 17, a law prohibiting DEI offices and practices at Texas’ public universities. Following its implementation, universities shut down multicultural and gender and sexuality centers—and cut over 100 positions. Academia and scholarly research were, however, excepted under the law, leaving degrees and programs like Texas Woman’s University’s safe, at least for the time being. But at the outset of the 2025 session, Governor Greg Abbott signaled he wanted to continue pushing against what he considers DEI in higher education. “We must purge it from every corner of our schools and return the focus to merit,” Abbott said during his State of the State address in February. Now, legislators have launched attacks on targeting gender and ethnic studies departments, programs, and courses, which some educators say threatens academic freedom and the prestige of Texas universities.

City Stories

Fort Worth stockyards developer departs as legal battle ensues

A former executive at a company that led new developments at Fort Worth's Stockyards, Craig Cavileer, has left the project as he becomes embroiled in a legal battle with his former company. Cavileer led the development as executive vice president of California-based Majestic Realty Co. starting in 2014, adding the popular Mule Alley and Hotel Drover, in partnership with Hickman Cos. and retail partner M2G Ventures. Cavileer was positioned to lead another major expansion, which would add 300,000 square feet of commercial space to the area. Now, Cavileer appears to be out of the picture as a legal battle ensues. Meanwhile, Majestic appointed a new leader to oversee the stockyards, including its major expansion.

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Majestic Realty filed a lawsuit in December alleging Cavileer failed to pay back loans and breached a contract. Majestic is seeking nearly $76 million plus any additional interest, according to a legal document filed in January. Cavileer has denied the allegations in court documents filed April 15. A jury trial is scheduled Oct. 26, 2026 at a California court. Lawyers representing Majestic and Cavileer did not respond to Dallas Business Journal inquiries. Cavileer's share of ownership of buildings across Fort Worth's stockyards are being auctioned May 6. The properties include the Stockyard's six-story, 200-room Hotel Drover at 200 Mule Alley, five-story 101-room Hyatt Place Fort Worth at 132 E. Exchange Ave. and the three-story 52-room Stockyards Hotel at 109 E. Exchange Ave. Majestic planned to renovate the Stockyards Hotel last year. The company is seeking to auction more shares of investments across Fort Worth, including about 157 acres of undeveloped land and the Majestic Silver Creek industrial park, which Google leased last year. Marty Schechter, a spokesman representing Majestic, declined to comment on Cavileer's departure, but referred to a April 24 press release announcing a new leader for the Stockyards development.

National Stories

ICE deports immigrant mother of an infant and 3 children who are US citizens, lawyers say

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have in recent days deported the Cuban-born mother of a 1-year-old girl — separating them indefinitely — and three children ages 2, 4 and 7 who are U.S. citizens along with their Honduran-born mothers, their lawyers said Saturday. The three cases raise questions about who is being deported, and why, and come amid a battle in federal courts over whether President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has gone too far and too quickly at the expense of fundamental rights. Lawyers in the cases described how the women were arrested at routine check-ins at ICE offices, given virtually no opportunity to speak with lawyers or their family members and then deported within three days or less.

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The American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Project and several other allied groups said in a statement that the way ICE deported children who are U.S. citizens and their mothers is a “shocking — although increasingly common — abuse of power.” Gracie Willis of the National Immigration Project said the mothers, at the very least, did not have a fair opportunity to decide whether they wanted the children to stay in the United States. “We have no idea what ICE was telling them, and in this case what has come to light is that ICE didn’t give them another alternative,” Willis said in an interview. “They didn’t gave them a choice, that these mothers only had the option to take their children with them despite loving caregivers being available in the United States to keep them here.” The 4-year-old — who is suffering from a rare form of cancer — and the 7-year-old were deported to Honduras within a day of being arrested with their mother, Willis said.

Trump denies disaster aid, tells states to do more

In the wake of recent natural disasters, state leaders across the country are finding that emergency support from the federal government is no longer a given. Under President Donald Trump, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied federal assistance for tornadoes in Arkansas, flooding in West Virginia and a windstorm in Washington state. It also has refused North Carolina’s request for extended relief funding in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. While it’s not uncommon for the feds to turn down some requests for disaster declarations, which unlock federal aid, state leaders say the Trump administration’s denials have taken them by surprise. White House officials are signaling a new approach to federal emergency response, even as Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threaten to shut down FEMA altogether.

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“The Federal Government focuses its support on truly catastrophic disasters—massive hurricanes, devastating earthquakes, or wide-scale attacks on the homeland,” Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the National Security Council, which advises the president on issues of national security, said in a statement to Stateline. Hughes said state and local governments “often remain an impediment to their own community’s resilience.” He called on states to take on a more extensive role. “States must have adequate emergency management staff, adoption and enforcement of modern building codes, responsible planning and strategic investment to reduce future risk, commonsense policies that prioritize preparedness over politics, disaster reserve funds to handle what should be routine emergencies, pre-negotiated mutual aid and contingency contracts that speed up recovery, and above all, an appetite to own the problem,” the statement said.

Democrats embrace the f-bomb

Democrats are embracing the f-bomb in congressional campaign messaging as they seek to tap into their party’s anger. In recent weeks, a number of newly launched Democratic hopefuls for key House and Senate seats have pledged to “unf--- our country” or have urged their party to “drop the excuses and grow a f---ing spine.” The ads are indicative of the rising temperature in American politics generally, but they also underscore the ways politicians are trying to resonate with base voters, many of whom have expressed frustration with Democratic leaders. “I think that in the case of the Democratic candidates … the swearing reflects their sense of crisis,” said Michael Adams, a lexicography expert and author of the book “In Praise of Profanity.”

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“There’s just a point at which the usual vocabulary will not be sufficiently expressive in the moment,” Adams said. “I suspect that this is a ‘no, I really mean it,’ type of emphasis … All of the niceties, all of the conventions, all that stuff — we have to put that aside because the situation in which we find ourselves is so dire politically, culturally and historically, that we just need to act.” Democrat Nathan Sage last week launched his campaign by decrying that farmers have been “f---ed over” and vowing to “kick corporate Republican [Sen.] Joni Ernsts’s a--” in the midterms. A spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) hit back, arguing that Democrats “seem obsessed with saying ‘f---ing’ and ‘a--’ as the strategy to win back the voters that rejected them in 2024.” They pointed The Hill to examples of sitting congressional Democrats leaning on the language lately. Sage appears as the latest of a handful of Democratic hopefuls who have used strong language in their polished ads.

More Americans are financing groceries with buy now, pay later loans — and more are paying those bills late, survey says

A growing number of Americans are using buy now, pay later loans to buy groceries, and more people are paying those bills late, according to new Lending Tree data released Friday. The figures are the latest indicator that some consumers are cracking under the pressure of an uncertain economy and are having trouble affording essentials such as groceries as they contend with persistent inflation, high interest rates and concerns around tariffs. In a survey conducted April 2-3 of 2,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 79, around half reported having used buy now, pay later services. Of those consumers, 25% of respondents said they were using BNPL loans to buy groceries, up from 14% in 2024 and 21% in 2023, the firm said. Meanwhile, 41% of respondents said they made a late payment on a BNPL loan in the past year, up from 34% in the year prior, the survey found.

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Lending Tree’s chief consumer finance analyst, Matt Schulz, said that of those respondents who said they paid a BNPL bill late, most said it was by no more than a week or so. “A lot of people are struggling and looking for ways to extend their budget,” Schulz said. “Inflation is still a problem. Interest rates are still really high. There’s a lot of uncertainty around tariffs and other economic issues, and it’s all going to add up to a lot of people looking for ways to extend their budget however they can.” “For an awful lot of people, that’s going to mean leaning on buy now, pay later loans, for better or for worse,” he said. He stopped short of calling the results a recession indicator but said conditions are expected to decline further before they get better. “I do think it’s going to get worse, at least in the short term,” said Schulz. “I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of reason to expect these numbers to get better in the near term.”

At least nine people killed after driver plows into street party in Canada

A driver plowed into a group of partygoers attending a Filipino street festival on Saturday evening in Vancouver, British Columbia, killing at least nine people, according to the local authorities. Vancouver police said earlier that they were investigating a “mass casualty incident” at a neighborhood block party. The police said they had taken “a lone suspect” into custody at the scene: the driver, a 30-year-old Vancouver man. Investigators had ruled out terrorism as a motive, Vancouver police said in an email, but they did not offer further details. Photographs published by news agencies showed what appeared to be a black SUV with significant damage to the front of the vehicle, and its airbags deployed.

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“At approximately 8:14 p.m. on April 26, a man drove into a large crowd of people attending the Lapu Lapu Day Festival near East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street,” the Vancouver police said in a post on social media. The annual event celebrates Datu Lapu Lapu, a national hero in the Philippines. “As of now, we can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd at last night’s Lapu Lapu Festival,” the police said in another post on social media early Sunday. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident.” In a news conference, Steve Rai, the interim police chief, did not address a possible motive for the incident, but said the driver had been known to the police. Members of the crowd had subdued the man before officers got to the scene, he said. The incident occurred less than 48 hours before federal elections were set to take place in Canada. When asked by reporters whether the incident was related to the elections, Mr. Rai said, “I don’t know anything about that.”

GOP Medicaid debate intensifies as Republicans search for cuts

House Republicans are under the gun to get specific on how they will offset President Trump’s domestic policy agenda, and they will soon need to decide if they will touch the political stove by trying to scale back Medicaid benefits. Medicaid is at the heart of the GOP plan to pass a “big beautiful bill” and make budget space for an extension of Trump’s tax cuts. Party leaders have been vague about their plans, but the topic has divided members who are facing a menu of politically perilous cuts to the program that provides health coverage to more than 70 million people. Conservatives are agitating for steep cuts to Medicaid, while moderates have said they would oppose any bill that rolls back coverage and benefits for their constituents.

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“We won’t vote for something that takes away benefits from seniors, disabled and vulnerable people that we represent who rely on Medicaid,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) told reporters earlier this month, after the House adopted the GOP budget plan. Malliotakis was among a group of 12 vulnerable and moderate Republicans who earlier this month wrote a letter to House leaders warning that they would not back the reconciliation plan over concerns about cuts to Medicaid. The rubber meets the road on May 7, when the House Energy and Commerce Committee is planning a markup of its portion of the sweeping reconciliation bill. The committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, has been tasked with finding $880 billion in savings. According to the Congressional Budget Office, that’s an impossible task to do without cutting Medicaid.

The power of performance pay. Smarter teacher retention and accelerated student achievement in Dallas.

Teacher evaluation reform dominated education policy throughout the 2010s when new performance-based ratings were mandated in 44 states and Washington, D.C. Though high-stakes evaluation has since receded from the headlines, improving teacher quality remains a critical strategy to boost student outcomes and respond to new challenges, such as pandemic learning loss. So, it’s worth taking a close look at the evidence on how performance-based evaluations can affect teacher quality and student achievement. What does the research show, and what can we learn by looking at districts that made the biggest changes? One oft-cited 2021 study finds that high-stakes evaluations did not change teachers’ paychecks and were, for the most part, a dud. Joshua Bleiberg and co-authors looked across the United States and found negligible effects from new evaluations that included multiple measures of teacher performance, including student test scores.

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Just like the perfunctory evaluations they replaced, many new systems rated less than 1 percent of teachers “unsatisfactory.” In most states and districts, these systems also were disconnected from pay scales, which maintained traditional step-and-lane schedules that base teacher salaries on experience and education. Despite federal funding for incentives, evaluation reforms were too weak on their own to inform or induce meaningful changes in the quality of states’ teacher workforces. But that wasn’t the case everywhere. Several large, urban districts implemented sweeping changes that linked performance-based evaluations with new, merit-based pay schedules. In Washington, D.C., for example, the IMPACT system rated teachers based on a variety of outcomes, including student test scores and professional observations, and triggered boosts in pay, targeted supports, or dismissal notices for educators at the ends of the spectrum. A long-running study by Thomas Dee and James Wyckoff found substantial improvement in teacher quality after IMPACT began in 2009, with greater retention of high performers and quick exits or improvements among teachers with lower performance rankings (see “A Lasting Impact,” research, Fall 2017). Student achievement accelerated, particularly in math. Over the past several years, we have investigated an even more comprehensive effort in Texas that, to date, has received far less attention. Starting in 2013, the Dallas Independent School District completely replaced its traditional pay scales for principals and teachers with an evaluation and compensation system based on multiple measures of effectiveness, including student achievement and student survey responses.

Lead Stories

Gov. Greg Abbott’s school money bill just needs his approval after Texas Senate vote

A program that will fundamentally change Texas education by sending public dollars toward private schools is headed to the governor’s desk. The state Senate voted Thursday to send Senate Bill 2 to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has promised to swiftly sign the measure creating education savings accounts after working for more than two years to pass a school voucher-like proposal. On a vote of 19-12, the Senate approved the ESA proposal that the House passed last week after a marathon debate in the Legislature’s lower chamber. The vote tally was largely partisan, with one Republican, Jacksonville Sen. Robert Nichols, joining Democrats in opposition. “School choice has come to Texas,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said following the vote.

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The Senate approved the House’s version of the bill, which allowed the bill to avoid a conference committee in which lawmakers from both chambers would have smoothed out differences between the two proposals. House Republicans rebuffed every attempt by Democrats to alter the plan, including a last-ditch effort to force Texans to vote on the proposal. SB 2 creates a program that allows parents to apply for an ESA — worth roughly $10,000 at today’s levels — that they can use to pay for private school expenses, such as tuition, uniforms, meals and educational materials. The programs’ budget is capped at $1 billion in 2027, but estimates show it could cost as much as $4 billion a year by 2030. Patrick has pushed for a similar program for more than a decade. The Senate has passed numerous versions of a voucher-like bill in previous sessions. Texas’ efforts gained momentum in the past two years after Abbott began campaigning on the issue. He crisscrossed the state making the case for his proposal at friendly receptions at Christian private schools.

Corporate giants shred outlooks over tariff uncertainty

The CEOs of American Airlines, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and many other major U.S. companies warned that shape-shifting tariff threats make it virtually impossible to plan and are spooking consumers. American, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Air Group told investors and analysts that leisure travel had already softened and pulled their full-year outlooks because the economic climate makes it too tough to forecast. Procter & Gamble, the maker of Pampers diapers and Tide detergent, said it was considering raising prices on some items. And auto-industry groups representing General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota sent a letter to President Trump imploring him to reconsider the 25% tariff on car parts that goes into effect May 3, because it will make buying and repairing cars and trucks more expensive. “We don’t know what is going to happen,” Robert Isom, chief executive of American, told investors and analysts on Thursday. So the airline is being cautious. “What does that mean? It means that we don’t hire as much. It means that we don’t bring on as many planes, potentially. It means a reduction in overall economic activity.”

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The same frustrating limbo looms over people trying to plan vacations, Isom said, adding that nobody relishes uncertainty when they are talking about spending their hard-earned dollars. More executives, from Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon to Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, warned Wall Street and the Trump administration of the damage to the economy that tariffs will cause. Branson said Trump could do lasting harm with his unpredictable trade policies that took a booming economy and shook it to its core. “It’s just such a pity because everything was going so bloody well up to about three months ago,” Branson said. White House spokesman Kush Desai said: “Under President Trump, business leaders are making trillions in historic investment commitments [and] driving the robust private-sector hiring reflected in multiple jobs reports.” CEOs have sought to assure investors they can weather the tariff storm, but many also said they hoped the erratic nature of the Trump administration’s tariff strategy would end soon. Planning for the future—and forecasting profitability—amid constantly changing guidance hasn’t just caused several companies, including British drinks maker Diageo, to drop their outlook. It led United Airlines to issue two forecasts: one for a stable economy and another for a recessionary one. Trump’s 90-day delay on imposing so-called reciprocal tariffs has only amped up the uncertainty, Solomon told CNBC. The mood now is completely different than it was as Trump took office in January and the World Economic Forum in Davos was abuzz with optimism that he would usher in a new age of less regulation.

Houston metro could need 50% more electricity by 2031 at peak times, says CenterPoint

Greater Houston is growing. So is its voracious appetite for electricity. In fact, CenterPoint Energy’s Houston-area customers could require 50% more electricity during peak usage times by 2031, company executives told investors Tuesday. That’s like adding two San Antonio metros to the Houston region. Even then, the projection is a “conservative forecast,” meaning the region’s actual electricity needs might end up much higher, CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call Tuesday morning. The local power grid would require billions of dollars of investments to accommodate this growth, if it pans out — a lucrative opportunity for CenterPoint, since the company makes money by spending big on capital projects.

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“We're not seeing growth slow down in the Greater Houston region. If anything, it's accelerating. So, I think the electric transmission build-out will only accelerate as we get into the next decade,” Wells said Tuesday. The cost of those projects, meanwhile, would be paid for via electricity rate increases spread out across CenterPoint’s expanding customer base. CenterPoint earned $297 million in profits in the first quarter, a 15% decrease from the same period last year. Still, Tuesday’s earnings call was upbeat as executives touted the company’s plan to spend more than $27 billion in capital projects through 2030. Approximately $20 billion of those investments are planned for CenterPoint’s electric utility businesses in Houston and Indiana. Another $7 billion is planned for the company’s natural gas utilities across Texas, Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio.

In rare rebuke of Putin, Trump urges Russia to ‘STOP!’ after deadly attack on Kyiv

President Donald Trump on Thursday offered rare criticism of Vladimir Putin, urging the Russian leader to “STOP!” after a deadly barrage of attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying.” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!” Russia struck Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones. At least 12 people were killed and 90 were injured in the deadliest assault on the city since last July. Trump’s frustration is growing as a U.S.-led effort to get a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia has not made progress. The comments about Putin came after Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday and accused him of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula as part of a possible deal. Russia illegally annexed that area in 2014.

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With his assertion that Putin demonstrated “very bad timing” with the massive attack, Trump appeared to suggest that the Russian leader was doing himself no favors toward achieving the Kremlin’s demand that any peace agreement include Russia keeping control of Crimea as well as Ukrainian territory in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions it has seized since invading in February 2022. Later Thursday during an Oval Office meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Trump said that Crimea was taken from Ukraine without a fight. He also noted that annexation of the Black Sea peninsula happened under President Barack Obama’s watch. Asked what Putin is doing now to help forge a peace deal, Trump responded, “stopping taking the whole country, pretty big concession.” But the notion is one that Ukraine and much of Europe have fiercely pushed back against, arguing that Russia pausing a land grab is hardly a concession. Zelenskyy has repeated many times that recognizing occupied territory as Russia’s is a red line for Ukraine. He noted Thursday that Ukraine had agreed to a U.S. ceasefire proposal 44 days ago as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that Moscow’s attacks had continued.

State Stories

God, Texas, and film incentives

Lawmakers took another big step yesterday towards the biggest boost in film and TV incentives in the history of Texas. However, stumbling blocks that could make its passage into law much more complex have become apparent as elected officials start to raise concerns about how much the revised program would help Texans. Last week, the Senate approved Senate Bill 22, which would create the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund, guaranteeing a $2.5 billion incentive fund for film, TV, and online production over the next decade. Yesterday the House Committee on Culture, Recreation, and Tourism took up House Bill 4568, the House companion bill to SB 22. "It's good to have Texans promoting Texas," glowed bill author Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, waving towards Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, who were taking another day off from filming their upcoming series, Brothers to stump for the bill.

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Texas already has a rebate, the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, but the issue isn't nor has it ever been how TMIIIP operates. In many ways it’s regarded as the gold standard of incentive programs: a baseline 25% rebate on verified in-state spending for eligible projects that submit extensive and heavily reviewed accounts. With other states being seen as using incentive cash or transferrable tax credits in a desperate attempt to bring in any production, TMIIIP had proved its worth with an estimated $4.69 spent in state for every $1 reimbursed. Texas already has a rebate, the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, but the issue isn't nor has it ever been how TMIIIP operates. In many ways it’s regarded as the gold standard of incentive programs: a baseline 25% rebate on verified in-state spending for eligible projects that submit extensive and heavily reviewed accounts. With other states being seen as using incentive cash or transferrable tax credits in a desperate attempt to bring in any production, TMIIIP had proved its worth with an estimated $4.69 spent in state for every $1 reimbursed. But the uplifts are, ultimately, relatively minor points. There's one number in the bill that could completely undo all the good work TMIIIP has done and turn TMIIIF into an accounting failure. That number is 35. As in, 35% of all cast and crew must be Texas residents for a project to be eligible for TMIIIF funding.

Why is Beto O’Rourke back on the rally circuit?

After three high-profile but unsuccessful campaigns, Beto O’Rourke is back on the trail. This time rallying the resistance against President Donald Trump. “We have clearly the greatest challenge that we’ve ever faced as a country, and it’s not just Donald Trump,” O’Rourke told The Dallas Morning News. “It’s also clear that our country is coming apart, and was coming apart before Trump, and our institutions and our government weren’t working for everybody.” The former congressman from El Paso, who forged a national profile in his 2020 run for president, will host a 4 p.m. Saturday town hall event at Anderson’s Eatery & Distillery in Denton. The rally, one of five O’Rourke has staged across the state, is sponsored by his group Powered By People. He’s had events in Mansfield, Wichita Falls and Fort Bend County, where he was joined by Minnesota governor and 2024 vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.

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Does the public tour signal another run for statewide office for O’Rourke? For now, he’s just out talking with people and listening to what they need. He loves public events, and says they provide an outlet for political action. “My theory of the case is that the only way we’re going to overcome things is by bringing people together,” O’Rourke said. “It’s not going to be Republicans who are now in power who are going to make this better. And frankly, it’s not just going to be Democrats, who are trying to gain power, who are going to make it better. It’s got to be people across the state, across the political spectrum, including, perhaps, people who dropped out of politics because it just doesn’t seem to be working for them.” O’Rourke being back on the trail has been raising eyebrows. In 2018 he came within 2.6 percentage points of beating Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. He parlayed that campaign into a failed run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. And in 2022 Gov. Greg Abbott beat him in the race for governor. He says he’s now focused on “being useful” rather than deciding whether to run for office.

John Cornyn: I’ve worked hand-in-glove with President Trump to accomplish his agenda during his first 100 days

On Nov. 5, Americans went to the polls to elect President Donald Trump for a second term by a decisive margin. The message was clear: Americans were ready to turn the page on the last four years of failed policies under Democratic leadership. The question then became: could the new Republican majority hit the ground running, deliver on his ambitious agenda, and put the Senate back to work? As we near the end of President Trump’s first 100 days, the answer is a resounding yes. The first step in delivering on this mandate was giving President Trump his team by confirming his Cabinet. The Senate provides an important role in giving advice and consent to the President’s nominees for important positions across the executive branch. So this was the first major hurdle to clear, and an opportunity to deliver the president an early win.

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President Trump selected many eminently qualified nominees for his Cabinet, including several Texans: John Ratcliffe, Scott Turner, and Brooke Rollins. I was proud to help shepherd all three of these impressive Texans through their respective committee hearings. While Republicans had secured a clear majority of 53 seats in the Senate, getting 50 members on the same page is never an easy task. Maneuvering in united government is sometimes even harder than in divided government. But on top of this inherent difficulty, Democrats insisted on pulling out all of the stops. They tried everything from exaggerated smear campaigns to all-night grandstanding. Some even demanded that their colleagues, “blow [the Senate] up.” Despite the doubts of our critics, Senate Republicans set a new standard for speed. I was proud to vote for every single one of the President’s Cabinet picks, and in just 10 weeks, the Republican-led Senate completed our first task at the fastest pace in a generation. By the end of February, the Senate had confirmed 13 of the President’s nominees, whereas only six were confirmed at that point during Biden’s presidency.

Statesman journalist Bayliss Wagner finalist for Livingston Award

Four Austin American-Statesman journalists are finalists for two prestigious national awards for their reporting last year that examined a rural community's book ban battle and the aftermath of a deadly school bus crash. State politics reporter Bayliss Wagner on Wednesday was named a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, given to journalists who are 35 or younger. She is among 20 journalists across the U.S. honored as a finalist for the prize awarded through the University of Michigan. Wagner is being recognized for her series, "The Cost of a Texas Town's Book Ban Battle," which both chronicled and investigated the far-reaching effects of an ideologically-driven effort to remove more than a dozen books from Llano County public libraries.

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The work explained how the county and 17 Republican attorneys general hope to overturn a 30-year precedent barring officials from removing books for political reasons, detailed a citizen-led effort to combat the removals and revealed that Washington D.C.-based conservative nonprofit America First Legal collected $80,000 from a fundraiser ostensibly held to offset the county’s legal costs. Winners for the prize will be announced in June in New York City.

Statesman journalists Emiliano Tahui Gómez, Keri Heath and Tony Plohetski finalists Education Writers Association prize

A three-member Statesman reporting team also is one of three finalists in their division for an award from the national Education Writers Association for investigative and public service reporting. The series, "A Fatal Field Trip," by Latino community affairs reporter Emiliano Tahui Gómez, education writer Keri Heath and Tony Plohetski, associate editor for investigations who oversaw and co-authored the project, chronicled the emotional aftermath of the March 2024 deadly bus crash in Bastrop County involving a Hays school district bus. The series also exposed regulatory lapses that contributed to the crash and examined a lack of seatbelts on Texas school buses.

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Houston lawsuit is a tale of pastoral succession, megachurch wealth and family dynasty

Pastoral succession, megachurch wealth and family dynasties combine in a lawsuit filed against Second Baptist Church of Houston and its leaders April 15. The Southern Baptist congregation is the 17th largest church in America, according to Outreach magazine, with average weekly attendance of 19,735 in 2024. After 46 years as senior pastor, Ed Young stepped down last May and named one of his sons, Ben Young, his successor. Another son, also named Ed Young, leads a Dallas-area megachurch called Fellowship Church, which is the 13th largest church in America. But all is not well in Houston, nearly one year after Ed Young the elder took a sudden retirement at age 87 — amid grumblings inside and outside the church that he had become a bit unhinged in his rambling sermons — and orchestrated naming his son as successor.

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This turn of events pitted two groups within the church membership against each other: Younger members who wanted new leadership versus older, wealthier members who remained loyal to Ed Young regardless. But that’s only the beginning of this saga. Now there are allegations of deceptive practices, an illegal church business meeting and a family’s attempt to enrich itself by control of the church’s $1 billion in assets. The elder Young is Southern Baptist Convention royalty and a legend among American pastors. He not only was elected president of the SBC twice during the “conservative resurgence,” but he grew the church from about 500 people in 1976 to tens of thousands today. Second Baptist Houston was a megachurch before most Americans knew what a megachurch was. Now, a group of members has formed a nonprofit corporation called Jeremiah Counsel “to promote, protect and restore integrity, accountable governance and donor protection for churches in Texas.” Specifically Second Baptist. Jeremiah Counsel filed suit against Ben Young, Ed Young, Associate Pastor Lee Maxcy and North Texas attorney Dennis Brewer, who served as chief financial officer of Fellowship Church in North Texas. The plaintiffs charge these defendants — labeled “The Young Group” — conspired to steal church assets and take away the congregation’s right to choose its own pastor. They accuse the elder Ed Young of enacting a series of changes beginning in 2023 “to secure the ascendance of his son, Ben Young … as senior pastor to Second Baptist’s 94,000 congregants.” That “circumvented the democratic processes which had long been observed under existing church bylaws for 95 years,” the plaintiffs charge. “This move was not merely about family succession. It was also about consolidating power and control over church governance and church assets.”

Houston Chronicle Editorial: Keep Texas free speech strong. Leave anti-SLAPP laws alone.

A couple, upset that their pet-sitting company left their beloved fish swimming in dirty water, takes to the internet to write a negative review. The company files a $1 million libel suit. A homeowner writes a strongly worded open letter to his homeowners association criticizing how they’ve squandered neighborhood funds. The HOA sues him for slander in retaliation. A media investigation reveals that a respected doctor did not follow protocol in their research. The doctor sues for defamation. These cases are known as SLAPPs, or “strategic lawsuits against public participation.” They discourage the exercise of our constitutional right to free speech. Try to hold power to account and you get SLAPPed. Even if a court is likely to side with the defendants, the cost of hiring lawyers in such cases has a chilling effect. Free speech becomes a right only for the rich.

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At least that was the case in Texas until the Legislature enacted one of the country’s strongest anti-SLAPP laws. Passed in 2011, the Texas Citizens Participation Act allows defendants to file motions requiring plaintiffs to prove to judges, before cases move forward to the discovery phase, that their lawsuits are not frivolous. If judges rule against plaintiffs, they are responsible for the initial legal costs the defendants have incurred. The pet owner, homeowner and investigative journalists would all get their cases dismissed by filing anti-SLAPP motions. So don't fret over your old online reviews. Two bills before the Texas Legislature, however, would undermine this critical free speech protection. Senate Bill 336, filed by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican from Mineola, would allow SLAPP cases to move forward while an appeal is pending. That would pile up substantial legal costs for defendants and clog the courts. Only lawyers and those with bottomless pockets would win. House Bill 2988, authored by Spring Branch Republican Mano DeAyala, repeals the existing rule requiring the plaintiff to pay the defendant’s legal fees.

North Texas ranch owners say online rumors linking them to a Mexican cartel fueled threats

Visitors to the Izaguirre Ranch in the North Texas town of Whitewright can’t miss the horse-themed decor. On the chairs, horse figures are carved into wood. Horses adorn leather seat covers, hand-painted vases containing dried flowers, a sign in the cantina and two saddles in the living room. The ranch, settled in Whitewright, a rural area 60 miles north of Dallas, has a black metal gate adorned with rearing horses. It’s a symbol that social media users have speculated is somehow connected to a controversial site in Mexico.

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Online posts suggest the symbol that adorns the ranch in Texas resembles the gate of an identically named ranch in Teuchitlan, Jalisco, that Mexican authorities say was a training site for a cartel. On March 5, Jalisco authorities found 200 pairs of shoes and other personal belongings at what was being called a clandestine “crematorium” believed to be associated with the New Generation Jalisco Cartel. Perla Villarreal, the owner of the property in North Texas, told The Dallas Morning News that she was being targeted on social media because of the similarities between the two properties. Online users have linked her ranch to events in Jalisco and drug cartels, despite her declarations of not being involved. “We are not even from Jalisco,” Villarreal said, “We haven’t done anything illegal.” Villarreal said the resemblance has made her family a target of online rumors. The wife and mother said she is not afraid of being mistaken as part of organized crime; her fear is how people might react to those rumors. “I’m afraid of racism because we are in a small town where there are almost only Americans, and I am afraid that a crazy person will think that we are with the cartel and come to shoot us,” Villarreal told The News.

Federal judge orders temporary restoration of legal status for Iranian student at Texas A&M

A federal judge in Houston has ordered the U.S. government to temporarily restore the terminated legal status of an Iranian international student at Texas A&M University. Ahmad Beyhaqi is among the foreign students beginning to stack up wins in court. U.S. District Judge David Hittner said Tuesday that Beyhaqi was likely to succeed in his case, where he has alleged that the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement had no authority to terminate his status. “The Supreme Court has made clear that all persons in the United States, including aliens whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful, temporary or permanent enjoy due process constitutional protections,” Hittner wrote.

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Court cases have sprung up across the country as the government has revoked student visas or terminated the legal status of more than a thousand international students through a federal database managed by the Department of Homeland Security. The students say that the database removals are an attempt to coerce them to leave the country as they face confusion about their legal options. Beyhaqi is one of 23 students at Texas A&M facing terminations alongside many others across the state and region, including at Rice University, University of Houston and Houston Community College. Texas A&M officials said Thursday that no students have had their records reinstated by the government. Beyhaqi, who is pursuing a doctorate in engineering, said he was informed by Texas A&M on April 10 that his student status was terminated and his F-1 visa was revoked, according to his lawsuit. The federal database labeled him as being identified in a criminal records check “and/or” having had his visa revoked – a contention that Beyhaqi and his attorneys called vague.

14 indicted on charges related to pro-Palestine encampment at UT Dallas

Nearly one year after UTD students set up an encampment on campus to protest the war in Gaza, 14 were indicted on misdemeanor charges. Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said in a Thursday news release that they were indicted on charges of obstructing a passageway, which is a Class B misdemeanor. On May 1, protestors built an encampment overnight at the University of Texas at Dallas using tents and a barrier made from tires, pallets and signs. State troopers and other law enforcement arrived to dismantle the area, and 21 people were arrested. “Free speech is protected. Blocking access and refusing lawful commands is not,” Willis said in the release. “These charges reflect that a clear line exists between protest and unlawful disruption.”

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Lawyers representing the 21 arrested condemned the Colin County decision. “This is a blatant attack on free speech and complete denial of the right to hold peaceful protests,” they said in a statement Thursday. The obstruction statue “cannot be used as a blanket authority for police to shut down any protest, any time, and anywhere simply by declaring it an obstruction.” The lawyers, from the D-FW chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, said those arrested originally faced charges of criminal trespassing and a case couldn’t be made for those charges. “The use of a grand jury and the filing of a new charge nearly a year after the arrest — both highly unusual in a misdemeanor case — show clearly that Willis is not handling this as an ordinary misdemeanor case but is singling out these arrestees,” they said. The new charges are a “desperate attempt” to find a legal way to punish protesters, they added.

Dallas-Fort Worth International taps operations exec Chris McLaughlin to serve as new CEO

Chris McLaughlin will be the new chief executive officer of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, it announced Thursday. McLaughlin succeeds Sean Donohue, who in October announced plans to retire from the world’s third busiest airport in terms of traffic. Donohue has been with DFW Airport since 2013, the final stop of his four decades-long career in aviation. Currently serving as DFW’s executive vice president of operations, McLaughlin has held that role since 2021. He was appointed CEO following a unanimous vote by the airport’s board of directors, and will step into his new role May 19.

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“I am inheriting one of the best teams in the business, surrounded by true industry partners with a shared vision, supporting a community and a region that my family proudly calls home,” he said in a release. “Working together with our board, our employees, the community and our stakeholders, we’ll continue to transform travel for our region and the world,” he added. After Donohue’s announcement, the airport’s board of directors initiated a global search for his successor, but they didn’t have to go far to find him. “Chris McLaughlin is the right person to lead the airport into its next exciting chapter of growth,” Donohue said in a statement, saying the executive “possesses the experience, leadership and expertise needed to guide an enterprise the magnitude of DFW.” According to DeMetris Sampson, Chair of the DFW Airport Board of Directors, McLaughlin “stood out in a global pool of exceptional candidates as a forward-thinking, inclusive leader who understands both the scale and the impact of our mission.”

Amanda Pope and Jordan Pacelli Everett: Texas lawmakers want even faster evictions. It will cause hunger and sickness.

(Amanda Pope is a policy analyst with the Houston Food Bank. Jordan Pacelli Everett is an associate program manager with Prevention Institute.) Houston — and Texas as a whole — faces the worst affordable housing crisis in generations, threatening a basic human need from becoming a reality for many. Housing costs outpace wages: many people are one unexpected expense — a missed shift, a busted transmission, an ER visit, or cancelled childcare — from being unable to pay rent. Current proposed legislation, House Bill 32 and its Senate companion, Senate Bill 38, would escalate this crisis by making evictions faster, easier and far more common. At the Houston Food Bank and Prevention Institute, we know housing is foundational to all aspects of family and community stability and health. We envision a world where food banks do not exist because they are not needed anymore and where all people experience their full potential for health, safety and wellbeing. HB 32 and SB 38 are being sold as a fix for “squatters,” people who trespass and reside in a home without a lease. In reality, the bills are Trojan horse policies that would dismantle protections for all renters in Texas.

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These bills would fast-track evictions, strip tenants of due process, weaken rules for how tenants are notified of an eviction and reduce opportunities for legal representation — leaving families vulnerable to homelessness, hunger and preventable health crises. Let’s be clear: this is not about squatters. It’s about making eviction even easier for landlords including the large, often out-of-state corporate landlords who already clog the system. According to an analysis by Texas Housers, one in every 10 Harris County evictions are from just 30 properties, and over a third of the owners are based outside Texas. The process moves quickly. In Harris County, the median time from a landlord filing an eviction to a judge making a decision was under three weeks.

South Texas water crisis champion forced to resign by Trump

Maria-Elena Giner, the woman who has served as commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) for nearly four years, resigned Monday under pressure from the Trump administration. Giner was instrumental in addressing the binational water crisis that has afflicted South Texas and parts of northern Mexico for decades. But, under mounting pressure from the Trump administration over sewage-contaminated water flowing north from the Tijuana River, Giner was forced to resign or be fired, according to The Washington Post. The issue of raw sewage flowing into the Tijuana River dates back a century, according to reporting by The Coronado News.

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Giner has been replaced by William “Chad” McIntosh, acting deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency who, just last week, announced plans for a “reorganized EPA.” In September 2021, President Joe Biden appointed Giner to lead the IBWC, the federal agency responsible for overseeing and enforcing the binational treaties between the U.S. and Mexico, including a 1944 treaty that governs water sharing along the Colorado River and Rio Grande watersheds. As part of the treaty, Mexico is obligated to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the Rio Grande from six Mexican tributaries over the course of a five-year cycle. The Rio Grande supplies nearly three-fourths of the Rio Grande Valley's water.

National progressives back Houston attorney who fought GOP in court in Texas special election

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee on Thursday won the endorsement of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) in the special House election for Texas’s 18th Congressional District. Menefee, the youngest county attorney in Houston history, will face off against a crowded slate of largely young, progressive Democrats vying to represent one of the state’s most populous districts following the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner (D) in March. “Christian is the proven fighter Texas’s 18th district needs. We are proud to back his campaign,” Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC members Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said in a Thursday statement.

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They pointed to Menefee’s history of “multi-million dollar settlements holding corporations accountable” and his legal fights against Texas Republicans. Menefee, they wrote, “has a demonstrated record of standing up to Republican overreach and delivering results for working families.” Menefee told The Hill that Texas progressives occupy a critical role in a national party seeking to claw its way out of the wilderness. He added that decades under far-right rule have given Texas Democrats something the national party needs: the ability to “be scrappy” and fight against tough odds. The state’s Democrats have been “cast aside” by party members nationally “who don’t believe that Texas has the ability to flip,” Menefee said. But faced with Republican control of all three branches of state government, he argued, Harris County Democrats — and the county attorney specifically — have repeatedly fought the state GOP to a standstill. “We’re resourceful. We know what it looks like to be in a situation where you feel like your back is up against the wall, where the only thing protecting communities you love and the people you serve is your ability to fight,” he said. “We can show national Democrats how to leave no stone unturned when it comes to trying to advocate for the people we care about,” he added.

National Stories

March home sales drop to their slowest pace since 2009

Higher mortgage rates and concern over the broader economy are making for a weak start to the all-important spring housing market. Sales of previously owned homes in March fell 5.9% from February to 4.02 million units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s the slowest March sales pace since 2009. Sales were 2.4% lower than in March 2024 and slumped across all regions month to month. They fell hardest in the West, the priciest region of the country, down more than 9%. The West, however, was the only region to see a year-over-year gain, due to strong activity in the Rocky Mountain states, where job growth is strong. This count is based on closings, therefore contracts likely signed in January and February, when the average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage was over 7%. It did not fall solidly below 7% until Feb. 20, according to Mortgage News Daily.

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“Home buying and selling remained sluggish in March due to the affordability challenges associated with high mortgage rates,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Residential housing mobility, currently at historical lows, signals the troublesome possibility of less economic mobility for society.” Sales fell despite a sharp increase in available listings. At the end of March, there were 1.33 million units for sale, an increase of nearly 20% from March 2024. At the current sales pace, that is equivalent to a 4-month supply, which is still on the lean side. A 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyer and seller. More inventory and slower sales are starting put a chill on prices. The median price of an existing home sold in March was $403,700. That is still an all-time high for the month, but it’s only up 2.7% from last March. That annual comparison has been shrinking since December and is the smallest gain since August. “In a stark contrast to the stock and bond markets, household wealth in residential real estate continues to reach new heights,” Yun said. “With real estate asset valuation at $52 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Flow of Funds, each percentage point gain in home prices adds more than $500 billion to the household balance sheet.” First-time buyers made up 32% of the market in March, the same as in March 2024. Historically they make up roughly 40%. All-cash sales dropped to 26% from 28% the year before, but investors held steady at 15% of sales.

Hegseth’s chief of staff exits amid Pentagon turmoil

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff departed his post Thursday, he said, the latest twist in an extended period of turmoil at the Pentagon that has included infighting among Hegseth’s advisers, the firing of at least three political appointees and deepening scrutiny of the secretary’s stewardship of the government’s largest agency. Joe Kasper, the departing chief of staff, leaves the role voluntarily and will become a part-time special government employee with a focus on science, technology and industry, he told The Washington Post, though his exact role and title were not yet clear. The designation means he may work up to 130 days as a government employee in any one 365-day period, in similar fashion to a role that billionaire Elon Musk has held in the Trump administration while overseeing dramatic cuts to the federal government.

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Kasper had been discussing the move with colleagues for weeks, and Hegseth appeared to allude to the possibility in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday. Kasper, he said, is a “great American,” and was “certainly not fired.” Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, did not respond to a request for comment. Kasper’s final departure had been forecast for days, and it was reported earlier by Politico. His exit follows weeks of friction between him and Hegseth’s other senior advisers, and questions about how the Pentagon is being managed under the former Fox News personality and the leadership he assembled upon taking office just three months ago. The spate of departures and firings — which also have targeted nearly a dozen senior military officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Navy’s top admiral — is a mark of disruption and instability the likes of which the Pentagon has seldom experienced. Defense officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to be candid about the situation, have described Hegseth, 44, as paranoid and increasingly isolated. He is surrounded by only a small team of people whom he trusts and has become keenly focused on daily news coverage dissecting his missteps and decision-making.

Trump pardons Nevada politician who paid for cosmetic surgery with funds to honor a slain officer

President Donald Trump has pardoned a Nevada Republican politician who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she used money meant for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery. Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and state lawmaker who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for state treasurer, was found guilty in October of six counts of federal wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was out of custody ahead of her sentencing, which had been scheduled for next month. In a lengthy statement Thursday on Facebook, the loyal Trump supporter expressed gratitude to the president while also accusing the U.S. government and “select media outlets” of a broad, decade-long conspiracy to “target and dismantle” her life.

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The White House confirmed Fiore had been pardoned but did not comment on the president’s decision. The pardon, issued Wednesday, comes less than a week after Fiore lost a bid for a new trial. She had been facing the possibility of decades in prison. Federal prosecutors said at trial that Fiore, 54, had raised more than $70,000 for the statue of a Las Vegas police officer who was fatally shot in 2014 in the line of duty, but had instead spent some of it on cosmetic surgery, rent and her daughter’s wedding. “Michele Fiore used a tragedy to line her pockets,” federal prosecutor Dahoud Askar said. FBI agents in 2021 subpoenaed records and searched Fiore’s home in Las Vegas in connection with her campaign spending.

Trump’s first-term pick to run the National Science Foundation quits: ‘I have done all I can’

The head of the US National Science Foundation, a $9 billion agency charged with advancing discoveries across the scientific spectrum, resigned Thursday amid sweeping changes spearheaded by the current Trump administration. NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan has led the agency since he was selected by President Donald Trump during his first term and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in June 2020. “I believe I have done all I can to advance the critical mission of the agency and feel that it is time for me to pass the baton to new leadership,” Panchanathan said in parting remarks, which were provided to CNN on Thursday by an agency spokesperson.

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The director’s departure comes as the National Science Foundation is grappling with demands from the new Trump administration and DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort established in January to slash government spending. “This is a pivotal moment for our nation in terms of global competitiveness,” Panchanathan said in the statement. “NSF is an extremely important investment to make U.S. scientific dominance a reality. We must not lose our competitive edge.” The federal agency announced earlier this month that it would cancel hundreds of grants totaling more than $230 million. The terminations included — but were not limited to — research related to “diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and misinformation/disinformation,” according to information released by the NSF. The Trump administration issued a series of executive orders earlier this year demanding federal agencies cease activities related to promoting DEI. The canceled grants included those titled with phrases such as “Racial Equity in STEM,” “Antiracist Teacher Leadership” and “Advancing Gender Equity in Computing.”

Why did a charity tied to Casey DeSantis suddenly get a $10 million boost?

A charity meant to help people stay off public assistance was the signature project of Florida’s popular first lady, Casey DeSantis. But over three years, it had managed to raise only about $2 million to help struggling families in Florida. Then last fall, a $10 million windfall suddenly arrived from an unlikely source: a Medicaid contractor embroiled in a case of overbilling. Within weeks, the money was gone — not to churches or other groups helping the needy. Instead, the Hope Florida Foundation quietly funneled it to two nonprofit political committees that helped Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies defeat a November ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana. The mystery of the $10 million — and how it ended up being used to help the governor’s political aims — has engulfed Mr. DeSantis and his wife in a growing scandal in Florida.

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Republican state lawmakers and news reporters are investigating the money trail just as Mr. and Ms. DeSantis are mulling whether she should run for governor next year to succeed her husband. Ms. DeSantis has made the Hope Florida initiative central to her public persona since she started the program in 2021. Hope Florida connects low-income families with churches and local groups that might help them with housing, food or other needs so that they do not seek government assistance; the Hope Florida Foundation is its nonprofit fund-raising arm. “Hope Florida is a philosophy,” Ms. DeSantis said in St. Augustine, Fla., on Thursday at an event with the governor trumpeting the initiative’s achievements. “It shows we can help people in need.” Members of the governor’s own party see other motives, and they’re sounding alarms. At the State Capitol in Tallahassee on Thursday, State Representative Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican who was leading the investigation for the House, referred to what happened with the $10 million as a potential “conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud.”

Tens of thousands file into St. Peter’s Basilica to pay final respects to Pope Francis

So many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state in a simple wooden coffin inside St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night due to higher-than-expected turnout, closing the basilica for just an hour and a half Thursday morning for cleaning. The basilica was bathed in a hushed silence as mourners from across the globe made a slow, shuffling procession up the main aisle to pay their last respects to Francis, who died Monday at age 88 after a stroke. The Vatican said more than 90,000 people had paid their respects by Thursday evening, a day and a half after opening. The basilica closed for just a short time Thursday morning, and will stay open Thursday night as long as there are mourners, the Vatican said. The hours spent on line up the stately via della Conciliazione through St. Peter’s Square and through the Holy Door into the basilica has allowed mourners to find community around the Argentine pontiff’s legacy of inclusion and humble persona.

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Emiliano Fernandez, a Catholic from Mexico, was waiting in line around midnight, and after two hours still had not reached the basilica. “I don’t even care how much time I wait here. It’s just the opportunity to (show) how I admired Francisco in his life,” said Fernandez, whose admiration for the pope grew during his 2016 visit to Mexico. Robert Healy, a pilgrim from Ireland, flew on the spur of the moment from Dublin just to pay his respects. “I think it’s just really important to be here, to show our respect to the Holy Father,” he said. “We flew from Dublin last night, we’re staying for one day, home tonight then. We just felt it was really important to be here.” Among the first-day mourners was a church group of 14-year-olds from near Milan who arrived for the now-suspended canonization of the first millennial saint, as well as a woman who prayed to the pope for a successful operation and an Italian family who brought their small children to see the pope’s body.

Santos says he expects to receive maximum sentence: ‘I’m totally resigned’

Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) said he’s prepared to receive the maximum 87-month prison sentence that prosecutors are seeking when he appears for his sentencing on Friday, but said he hopes the judge extends him some grace. “Right now, my expectation is I’m going to prison for 87 months,” Santos said in a phone interview with The New York Times on Wednesday. “I’m totally resigned.” “I came to this world alone. I will deal with it alone, and I will go out alone,” he added. In an OANN interview Thursday with former congressman-turned-host Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Santos discussed his expectations for the sentencing hearing Friday. “What I hope happens tomorrow is that the judge is fair, balanced, and even. And, unlike federal prosecutors who are trying to drop a anchor on my head…, she is a lot more matter-of-fact and doesn’t take this… in a personal direction,” Santos said.

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“I take full responsibility for bad actions I’ve made, and I regret them,” Santos added. “But I feel like seven years, you don’t see some pretty bad people get that long.” Asked what he thinks would be a fair prison length, Santos told his former colleague, “I don’t know what would be fair, but I know seven years is pretty, pretty out there, in my opinion.” Prosecutors are seeking a seven-year prison sentence for the disgraced former congressman who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft last year after being expelled from the chamber when the House Ethics Committee reported he deceived donors in an effort to raise funds for personal benefit. Santos’s attorneys have asked for a two-year sentence, the minimum sentence for an aggravated identity theft charge. Santos, a controversial figure, said he fears for his safety and plans to make an application to serve his sentence in protective custody. “Number one is, I plan to serve the entirety of any [incarcerated] sentence in solitary confinement because I fear for my safety,” Santos told Gaetz. “So it is definitely not an easy task, and it’s a monumental one to do.”

Lead Stories

Texas' insurance crisis is hitting an unexpected target: Public schools

Hurricane Harvey ravaged the Port Aransas Independent School District when it hit in 2017, damaging every classroom and prompting weeks-long school closures. The district is still facing ripple effects today, but in a new form: its insurance costs have skyrocketed, forcing superintendent Sharon McKinney to choose between giving teachers raises and insuring school buildings. School districts across Texas have struggled to keep up with rising property insurance costs as severe weather batters school buildings. Insurance costs for districts have increased by 44% statewide since 2020, according to financial data from the Texas Education Agency. Now, state lawmakers are considering two proposals to help offset these costs – at least in coastal counties, where the crisis is particularly acute. A provision in House Bill 2, the major school finance package that passed the House last week, would reimburse school districts in the 14 coastal counties covered by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, the safety net insurance plan, for property insurance increases above the state average.

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And a bill filed by state Rep. Todd Hunter, a Corpus Christi Republican, would give districts in coastal counties a credit against recapture payments for wind and hail coverage. Hunter’s bill covers Tier 1 and 2 counties, which would include Harris County and Houston ISD. (Because it includes Tier 1 only, the provision in HB 2 excludes Harris County.) “You don’t want education to suffer because you’re worried about getting money to cover buildings for the kids,” Hunter said in an interview. At the hearing on Hunter’s bill, school superintendents from three districts near Corpus Christi told lawmakers that high insurance costs have restricted funds that could be used to pay teachers and provide services for students. In Port Aransas, McKinney said, the school district now spends 10% of its $10 million annual budget paying for property insurance. In Rockport, the cost to insure school buildings has nearly tripled from $1 million in 2019 to $2.8 million in 2024, said Rockport-Fulton ISD superintendent Lesley Austin.

Trump meets his match: the markets

President Trump has met his biggest opponent—and it’s the stock market. Since returning to Washington three months ago, Trump has toppled federal agencies, consolidated executive power, challenged global alliances and reconfigured America’s economic relationships around the globe. His moves have been met with protests, court challenges, dipping poll numbers and political opposition. Yet so far, the only force that has reliably prompted him to back down is Wall Street. In recent weeks, Trump has softened his economic and trade stances following periods of market turmoil. Early this month, he imposed a 90-day pause on many of the tariffs he had put in place just days earlier, as the stock market cratered and a selloff of U.S. bonds rattled investors. This week, he softened his tone on China after ratcheting up tariffs on imports from the country to 145%. And he ruled out—for now—attempting to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after his public musings about terminating him triggered another market plunge.

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Both the president and White House officials argue that the sharp U-turns are all part of a long-term plan to force allies and adversaries alike to strike trade deals with the U.S. And they stress that Trump remains determined to follow through on his pledge to reset global trade. But in each scenario, Trump was presented with evidence by his aides and cabinet secretaries, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, that holding firm on his decisions would spur further disarray in the markets, according to people familiar with the matter. Earlier this month, Trump acknowledged that he paused the tariffs in part because he watched the bond markets and people were getting a “little queasy.” “The only interest guiding President Trump’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said. The president is also hearing regularly from executives concerned about how his trade policies are affecting their bottom lines. On Monday, Trump met with top executives at the country’s biggest retailers, including Target, Walmart and Home Depot. They delivered a stark warning to the president that tariffs could scramble supply chains and raise prices, according to people familiar with the discussion. Trump’s current and former advisers said he watches the markets closely, and as an avid media consumer can’t avoid the dramatic ups and downs that have been displayed across television screens and on front pages for weeks. “He looks at the markets as a barometer of how things are going,” said David Urban, a former Trump political adviser. “In his view, it’s an important barometer of people’s opinion of life and the financial world.”

100 days of DOGE: lots of chaos, not so much efficiency

At the Social Security Administration, lawyers, statisticians and other high-ranking agency officials are being sent from the Baltimore headquarters to regional offices to replace veteran claims processors who have been fired or taken buyouts from the Trump administration. But most of the new arrivals don't know how to do the job, leading to longer wait times for disabled and elderly Americans who depend on these benefits, according to two people familiar with the situation. Asked about the changes, an SSA official said in an email that reassigned employees "have vast knowledge about our programs and services." At the Internal Revenue Service, the internet has become so patchy since President Donald Trump ordered remote workers back to overcrowded offices that staff are resorting to personal hotspots, crashing their computers at the height of tax processing season, two IRS officials told Reuters. The IRS did not respond to a request for comment.

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Nearly 100 days into what Trump and tech billionaire Elon Muskhave called a mission to make the federal bureaucracy more efficient, Reuters found 20 instances where the staff and funding cuts led to purchasing bottlenecks and increased costs; paralysis in decision-making; longer public wait times; higher-paid civil servants filling in menial jobs, and a brain drain of scientific and technological talent. "DOGE is not a serious exercise," said Jessica Riedl, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a fiscally conservative think tank that supports streamlining government. She estimates DOGE has only saved $5 billion to date, and believes it will end up costing more than it saves. The examples - previously unreported - span 14 government agencies and were described in Reuters interviews with three dozen federal workers, union representatives and governance experts. In response to questions about the impact of DOGE's cuts on government efficiency, White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement that Musk's team "has already modernized government technology, prevented fraud, streamlined processes, and identified billions of dollars in savings for American taxpayers." Fields did not offer examples of improvements to government computer systems or workforce efficiency.

State now has ‘Texas-style’ DOGE office with first bill signed by Greg Abbott this session

A new state agency dedicated to simplifying and streamlining Texas government statutes and business regulations was established Wednesday under legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Senate Bill 14, by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, creates the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office and advisory council aimed at reducing ineffective regulatory requirements and outdated rules that stand in the way of doing business in the state, Abbott said. The new law requires the creation of an online portal where users can look up and understand the requirements, impact of regulations and protocols by state agencies. And it requires agencies to publish their rules in plain language that’s easy for non-bureacrats to understand.

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“We are putting in the forefront of legislation, the shaping, formation and recalibration of government in the state of Texas by making it more responsible, more responsive, less costly, and more efficient,” Abbott said. SB 14 is the first bill Abbott has signed since the Legislature convened in January. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, also a Republican, made the proposal one of the session’s priorities. The goal, Abbott said, is save taxpayer money that is being wasted on too much bureaucratic red tape, raise government transparency and accountability, and remove barriers that have turned Texas into one of the most heavily regulated states for business in the country. Some of those changes could include reducing required training hours for employees or license holders, reducing the number of forms and amount of information required by some business owners, slashing fees, or creating waivers and exemptions for some regulations, according to the legislation. The office is not identical to the Department of Government Efficiency, run by billionaire and entrepreneur Elon Musk that was created in January by an executive order from President Donald Trump.

State Stories

Democratic leaders rebuke John Whitmire's plans to appear at Dan Crenshaw fundraiser

Around 30 precinct and Congressional chairs with the Harris County Democratic Party signed a resolution Tuesday to admonish Mayor John Whitmire, accusing him of undermining the “values and mission of the Democratic Party” the same day Whitmire planned to attend a fundraiser for GOP U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw. The resolution seeks to apply the same rules precinct chairs are bound to when they take their oath to elected officials. Precinct chairs are not allowed to endorse, fundraise or support candidates from opposing political parties, a statement released Tuesday reads. The resolution also seeks to bar Whitmire from seeking endorsement from the party in future elections. In their statement, the precinct chairs wrote that Whitmire had “stood on the sidelines” as President Donald Trump overhauled the upper rungs of the federal government, and that Whitmire failed to speak up for Houstonians who suffered the consequences. The statement also points to how the Houston Police Department has cooperated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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“John Whitmire’s agenda is indistinguishable from that of a MAGA mayor,” the statement reads, referring to the Trump campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” “With Trump in office and pursuing an illegal and authoritarian agenda impacting millions of Houstonians, we deserve to have a fighter who wants to represent us, not a willing enabler of an emerging dictatorship,” the statement continued. “If Whitmire wants to be a Republican, that’s OK, but he shouldn’t be able to do that and count on the support of thousands of grassroots volunteers who shed blood, sweat and tears to knock on doors and elect people who represent our values.” Whitmire's spokesperson Mary Benton said Tuesday the mayor formed partnerships that were in the city's best interest. Party chair Mike Doyle said Tuesday that he was disappointed in Whitmire and that he thought Democratic officials should be supporting other good Democratic officials. "I think anybody that's supporting somebody who's lock-step with Trump and Elon Musk, that's just not good at best," Doyle said. "I think we're in difficult times now, and it's important that people recognize what kind of behaviors you're supporting." Whether the resolution will come before the whole party for a vote is yet to be determined. Usually resolutions have to go through the party's resolution committee before they're brought to the body as a whole, Doyle said. Precinct chairs have not sent the resolution to the committee yet.

A Texas bill targeting squatters would also hurt renters, leaving some homeless

(Mary Spector is a law professor and associate dean for experiential learning, and Julie Forrester Rogers is a Provost Faculty Research Fellow and law professor at the Dedman School of Law at SMU. Spector directs the Civil/Consumer Law Clinic and teaches and researches consumer law. Rogers teaches and researches property and real estate law.) Texas legislators wanting to get tough on squatters may, in the process, negatively impact some of the millions of legitimate renters in the Lone Star State. More than 11 million Texans are renters. Renters and their families comprise more than 37% of the population. In 2023, approximately 400,000 families, or 3.5% of Texas renters, faced eviction. According to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, there are approximately 291,290 renter households in Travis County. Of those, approximately 13,384, or 4.6%, were the subject of an eviction filing in the last year. Similar Texas statistics illustrate possible renter peril statewide.

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Texas rules require that an eviction hearing or trial be held in as little as six days after the tenant is served with a petition. Two bills making their way through the Texas Legislature would cut that time to just four days in an expedited process and allow a landlord to ask a judge to award back rent without evidence of the debt. Proponents of House Bill 32 and its companion bill, SB 38, claim the bills target squatters. The Texas Apartment Association, a trade association of the rental housing industry, maintains the bill would close loopholes exploited by squatters and make removing them easier and less expensive. But squatters are not tenants. They are trespassers — people who occupy dwellings without permission of the owner. The number of Texas squatters is unknown, but according to the National Rental Home Council, in 2024 there were just 475 in the Dallas-Fort-Worth area, or less than 0.1% of occupants in rental housing. Yet the so-called anti-squatters bill would also apply to the 99.9% of people in rental housing who occupy their homes by virtue of a written or oral lease. It would almost certainly increase evictions across the state, cause housing instability and negatively impact tenants’ physical and mental health. Current Texas law already provides a fast track for landlords, requiring a tenant to appear before a judge more quickly than in any other type of civil matter. Typical response time in justice courts is 14 days. The law already gives tenants only six to 10 days to respond after being served with the petition, enabling a judge to quickly determine who is entitled to the premises and how much money, if any, a tenant may owe.

Jasmine Crockett says she would ‘absolutely’ go head-to-head with Donald Trump on IQ test

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett was on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Tuesday night, roasting Republicans and pitching her approach to politics as a winning strategy for fellow Democrats. Crockett, serving her second term in the U.S. House, is viewed as a rising star in the party. She has commanded attention with blunt and at-times profane take-downs of her political opponents. Kimmel suggested President Donald Trump might be a fan of the Dallas congresswoman, even if he would never admit it, because the president likes people who are aggressive and funny. The late night host played a clip of Trump invoking Crockett’s name during a recent speech at a Republican congressional fundraising dinner in Washington. Trump was arguing Democrats have lost their confidence.

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“How about this new one they have, their new star, Crockett . . . If that’s their new star, they’re in serious trouble,” Trump said in the clip. Crockett, who said she’s never met Trump, laughed and said she was aware of the clip but hadn’t watched it before going on the show. “It says a lot when you literally are supposed to be the leader of the free world and you’re worried about a rising sophomore in the House,” she said. Trump called her a “lowlife” and “a very low-IQ person” after she referred to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, as “Governor Hot Wheels.” Kimmel pointed out Trump questioning her intelligence and asked if she would be willing to take an “IQ test publicly, head-to-head against the president of the United States.” “Absolutely,” Crockett said as the audience cheered. “Absolutely.” She took jabs at several prominent Republicans, standing by previous comments questioning the intelligence of U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. A confrontation with Greene during a committee hearing last year helped fuel Crockett’s rise to prominence.

At town halls, Democrats turn attention to Social Security and Medicaid to fight Trump

Republicans in Congress may be hesitant these days to hold town hall meetings after being warned about potential public backlash, but Democrats are showing they are more than willing to fill the void — even if not in their congressional districts. Last week, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, held one in Fredericksburg in U.S. Rep. Chip Roy’s district, and on Saturday, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, was in Pflugerville to host one in U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul’s district. Both Roy and McCaul are Austin Republicans. Castro said if Republicans aren’t going to hold meetings to talk about the future of Social Security and Medicaid, then Democrats will. “We’re working to turn up the pressure on congressional Republicans,” Castro said in an email explaining the strategy. “We’re going to make sure voters know that they have the power to put a check on Trump’s destructive agenda.”

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It’s part of a broader national directive by U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who has called on members to hold town halls all over the country. In response, Democrats have hosted more than 70 town hall meetings over the last month around the nation. There was another example on Tuesday in Houston, where Castro traveled down Interstate 10 to have one with U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia in her district. Reporter Dug Begley was there and said the two Democrats took turns blasting the Trump administration for trying to cut social service programs that working Texans and seniors rely on. Garcia said Trump's real goal is to “dismantle government little by little.” "They call it streamlining," Garcia said. "All that frankly, as we say in Texas, is horseshit." Castro said the public needs to put more pressure on Congress to stop the GOP from gutting critical programs like Social Security and Medicaid.

Dallas’ $1.65 billion plan to rebuild Interstate 345 is still unfunded

A proposed $1.65 billion rebuild of Interstate 345 in Dallas remains unfunded more than a decade after the Texas Department of Transportation first took a look at the project. The agency plans to rebuild the highway that runs between downtown and Deep Ellum in a below-grade trench with new street overpasses above. TxDOT officials have said the project will accommodate future growth in the region and help mitigate maintenance costs for the aging stretch of roadway, which carries more than 180,000 vehicles daily. Despite enthusiasm for the rebuild of the 51-year-old roadway, no funds have yet been committed to the project, TxDOT officials told the Dallas Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Tuesday.

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“We do not have any funding on the project to date so that will take us time to find that funding,” TxDOT representative Ceason Clemens said. “I’d expect it to take at least 3 to 5 years just to find that magnitude of funding.” A 2012 feasibility study first examined the 2.8-mile stretch of elevated highway from Interstate 30 to Woodall Rodgers Freeway. A series of follow-up studies and meetings with the City of Dallas, including 2023 Dallas City Council approval of the project, followed. The project would restitch Deep Ellum and southern Dallas with the city center. Locals have pointed to the highway as an example of government-sanctioned segregation, where freeways bisected or walled off historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods like Deep Ellum. Committee members on Tuesday commended the agency for extensive community outreach for the project, including two public hearings this week. TxDOT staff made several changes to plans based on public feedback. Those include removing a planned highway connection onto Allen Street, after the nearby neighborhood raised concerns about traffic impacts, and reconfiguring Cesar Chavez Boulevard. “You’ve not only gone out to the community and listened to them, you actually then made changes based on what you heard…so thank you for that part,” council member Cara Mendelsohn said Tuesday. “I don’t know where you’re going to find the $1.6 billion dollars, but I do think that when we get to construction, it’s going to be difficult, having lived through a lot of construction in my district over the past couple years. When it’s concentrated like this in one area, it’s really hard.” Environmental assessment is expected to be completed by the end of summer 2025, according to TxDOT.

Houston ISD plans around estimated 6,800 student drop for next academic year

Houston ISD will offset up to 10% of a school's projected budget loss due to declines in enrollment and average daily attendance. This 10%-back mechanism follows last school year's 12% cap on budget reductions to bolster schools. The state's largest school district is tip-toeing through its budget projections as it grapples with declining enrollment and awaits an expected increase in per-student funding from the state. State-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles said Wednesday the district expects a 6,800 drop in the district's student body. That's less than the 8,000-student drop projected in February, however, because of increases in prekindergarten enrollment, HISD Chief of Finance and Business Services James Terry said.

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The district plans to settle budgets in October after an enrollment snapshot for the state is completed. "We make a good estimation, and then we meet them (the schools) halfway, or something like that, so that we give them the money up front ... Let's just say the projection is a hundred-kid loss," Miles said as an example. "So we may have changed that to 50. And then if it comes out that it is a 100-student loss, we will true up in late October." Schools will submit their budgets on April 28. "We are working with a handful of schools that are struggling to make ends meet, so to speak, and the finance department is helping them with that. Same with the chief of schools office," Miles said. He reiterated the district's commitment not to close schools in the coming year. For schools in Miles' New Education System, executing reforms, the district is in the process of matching staffing levels to enrollment numbers.

Ex-HISD principal sues Mike Miles for $3M over emotional distress, 1 year after mass exodus

A former Houston ISD principal has filed a $3 million lawsuit alleging defamation, emotional distress, and intolerable work conditions, among other claims, against the district, state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles, the appointed Board of Managers and a Houston-based law firm representing the district. Jessica Berry, the former principal at Herod Elementary School, filed the complaint in March for the district's alleged violation of employment law and requested $3 million in damages. The lawsuit also asks for sanctions against the district, board and superintendent, as well as the termination of Miles and the termination of the board.

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Berry alleged eight counts: intentional infliction of emotional distress; defamation; falsification of books and records; that the district's actions created intolerable working conditions violated state labor laws; Family Medical Leave Act violations; Texas Labor Code violations; and Texas Whistleblower Act and Department of Education Whistleblower Protections violations. The filing references Berry becoming aware that Miles put half of the district's principal on notice for low performance after the Houston Chronicle published an article about the list in spring 2024. (Community pressure ultimately led the superintendent to backtrack.) Her school's executive director, ranking above her, told her on April 23 of that year that the district was not in compliance with operating procedures required by the Texas Education Agency, according to this complaint filed by the 11-year educator. The filing also covers memos Berry received on April 23 and 24 from the district alleging six violations of Employee Standards of Conduct occurring from March 22 through April 24. This appears to reference notice she received for expressing concern to supervisors about printing special education documents with confidential information.

Texas Space Commission awards $26M in its third round of grants

Four Houston-area companies and an Austin firm that makes 3D-printed homes will get a combined $26 million in state funds from the Texas Space Commission in its third batch of grants. The funding approved last week will go toward developing space-based manufacturing capabilities, materials that mimic lunar dirt, a center of excellence at the Texas A&M Space Institute, power-saving technologies for spacecraft and a rocket engine test site at the Houston Spaceport. The awards bring the commission’s investment to $95.3 million of the $150 million that the Texas Legislature appropriated in 2023 for the state’s Space Exploration and Aeronautics Research fund.

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“This is a pivotal moment in strengthening and accelerating the Texas space economy,” said Gwen Griffin, chair of the Texas Space Commission’s board. “The projects awarded funding today will each play a critical role in ensuring Texas’ place as a leader in the emerging space economy while expanding our capabilities as a nation.” In addition to Austin’s Icon Technology Inc., grant money also will go to three Houston companies—Aegis Aerospace Inc., Interlune Corp. and Venus Aerospace Corp. — and KULR Technology Group Inc. of Webster. Some of the companies have direct connections to the commission.

San Antonio businesses lose $375M in contracts from Musk’s DOGE cuts

Elon Musk’s government cost-cutting agency has killed nearly $583 million in federal contracts across Texas — and businesses in San Antonio are bearing the brunt. The latest data from the Department of Government Efficiency shows local entities have lost contracts worth $375 million since early this year, about two-thirds of the statewide total. The cuts are part of the Trump administration’s effort to reduce government workforce and services. Actual amounts saved are significantly less than the contracts’ value because many of the projects are underway or already complete.

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Across the state, DOGE’s recent cuts have targeted Department of Homeland Security-funded citizenship and naturalization education programs and multi-million-dollar cybersecurity training programs for students in South Texas. They’ve also ceased Defense Department studies into evolving threats and several Veterans Affairs health care contracts. In San Antonio, DOGE’s latest moves killed contracts supporting migrant border camps, consulting with the VA on Legionella in its water systems, support for the Centers for Disease Control, naturalization education and the State Department’s agreement with the University of Texas at San Antonio to restore of a 12th century mausoleum in Turkmenistan.

Texas bill jeopardizes the Trinity Railway Express, DART says

A rail linking Dallas and Fort Worth that is frequented by sports fans and concertgoers from Tarrant County could be at risk if a bill pending before Texas lawmakers is passed into law, Dallas Area Rapid Transit warns. The Trinity Railway Express line is used by thousands each years and has stops between the two cities. Among them, the American Airlines Center, which hosts the Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars and musicians like Katy Perry and Dua Lipa. Dallas Area Rapid Transit cautions that a bill set to go before a House committee on April 24 would lead to service reductions, including for the Dallas to Fort Worth line.

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House Bill 3187 requires cities that fund DART to set aside up to 25% of the sales and use tax that would otherwise go to the agency for a general mobility program. The dollars could be used to fund things like sidewalk construction and maintenance, hiking and biking trails, drainage improvements, and street lights and traffic control improvements. The bill, authored by Rep. Matt Shaheen, a Plano Republican, as written could also lead to an additional 25% drop in the overall sales and use tax revenue that funds DART, though that provision will be removed from the bill, Shaheen said in an interview after this article’s initial publication. Jeamy Molina, a DART spokesperson, on April 22 said that if passed DART would be looking at job losses and a 30% service reductions across its service area, which spans Addison, Carrollton, Cockrell Hill, Dallas, Farmers Branch, Garland, Glenn Heights, Highland Park, Irving, Richardson, Rowlett, Plano and University Park.

North Texan man from Venezuela disappears from ICE custody

A Venezuelan man has disappeared into the U.S. immigration system. His family is looking for answers. Where is their brother? Where is her boyfriend? Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel, 27, was admitted into the U.S. in June 2023, after crossing the southern border through a scheduled appointment with immigration authorities — part of a digital portal created under the Biden administration to manage the flow of migrants entering from Mexico. In his hand, he carried a phone. In his heart, a mission: to build a future for his 6-year-old daughter, Isabela, still in Venezuela, his family said.

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Leon Rengel was born in 1998 — the same year Hugo Chávez rose to power, marking the beginning of Venezuela’s unraveling. His generation came of age amid blackouts, food shortages and collapsing institutions. For six years, Leon Rengel lived in Colombia, where according to the national police he had no criminal record. In 2023, he took a risk, packed his barber tools and headed north. Once in the U.S., he lived picking up odd jobs, cutting hair, saving money. In Dallas, he met Alejandra Gutierrez, also a Venezuelan migrant. They were together for over a year, building a life. They had a dog named Princesa, and he helped Gutierrez raise her daughter. According to Gutierrez, federal agents detained Leon Rengel in the parking garage of their Irving apartment, as he was leaving for a hair-cutting gig. “They didn’t have an arrest warrant,” Gutierrez said. “They asked him to lift his shirt to show his tattoos, and when they saw them, they claimed he was affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang. They took his documents — and took him away.” That was the last time she saw him.

Jail commission, Fort Worth PD change statements on receipt of jail death videos

After initially telling the Star-Telegram they did not have all of the video evidence collected by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office during the investigation into a jail death, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and the Fort Worth Police Department changed previous statements that they had not received the video. According to investigation documents received through an open records request to the jail commission, the Sheriff’s Office collected two sources of video footage of the events involving the death of Chasity Bonner on May 27, 2024. Bonner died of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to the medical examiner’s autopsy report, which was also included in the documents the Star-Telegram received.

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A report by a crime scene investigator that was submitted to the jail commission states the Sheriff’s Office collected footage from mounted cameras in the jail and from a handheld camera operated by an officer, which begins after medical personnel responded. The Star-Telegram received the handheld footage from the jail commission. But the request for the mounted camera footage could not be fulfilled, the records office said, because the Sheriff’s Office never sent it to the commission. After initial publication of this article, Brandon Wood, executive director of the jail commission, called the Star-Telegram to say the commission had received the video, but it was unable to upload it to a file sharing website. The commission employee who processes open records requests “made an error” when she said the Sheriff’s Office hadn’t sent the video, Wood said. The Sheriff’s Office appealed to the Texas Attorney General’s Office to withhold the footage from both cameras in response to the Star-Telegram’s records requests to that agency.

Inside the decision to allow 2 victims to hug the gunman who killed their loved ones

When Yolanda Tinajero told the man that killed her brother Arturo Benavides that she felt a desire to hug him but knew it wasn’t allowed, District Judge Sam Medrano felt a personal connection. “The first thing that moved me about her was her true faith in trying to forgive. And I’ll be honest with you, she reminded me of my mom. My mom would do the same thing,” Medrano said in an interview with El Paso Matters on Wednesday, a day after two women who lost loved ones to gunman Patrick Crusius in the 2019 Walmart mass shooting chose to forgive and hug him. So Medrano, who has presided over the 409th District Court for 29 years, asked Tinajero: “Ma’am, would it truly bring you peace and comfort if you were to hug him?” She said yes, and Medrano granted permission for the hug.

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Adriana Zandri of Ciudad Juárez, whose husband, Ivan Filiberto Manzano, was among the 23 people killed by Crusius on Aug. 3, 2019, had given her victim impact statement Monday. But she remained in El Paso to listen to the statements of other victims’ families, and was moved by Tinajero’s hug. She asked to do the same, and Medrano and defense attorneys agreed. So she returned to the courtroom Tuesday afternoon and gave her hug of forgiveness, moments before the proceedings in the 5½-year-old criminal case ended. The powerful gestures of forgiveness by two women – one Mexican-American, the other Mexican – to a white man who slaughtered innocents to stop “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” has drawn worldwide attention. “If you read one thing today, I hope it’s this. Forgiving the unforgivable,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox wrote on the social media platform X, sharing the El Paso Matters story on the hugs. Robert Enright, a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Wisconsin who founded the scientific study of forgiveness, called Tinajero and Zandri “heroic.”

National Stories

$1 trillion of wealth was created for the 19 richest U.S. households last year

The wealthiest have gotten richer, and control a record share of America’s wealth. New data suggest $1 trillion of wealth was created for the 19 richest American households alone in 2024. That is more than the value of Switzerland’s entire economy. It took four decades for the top 0.00001% of Americans’ share of total U.S. household wealth to grow from 0.1% in 1982—when 11 households made up that rarefied group—to 1.2% in 2023, according to an analysis by Gabriel Zucman, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley and the Paris School of Economics. In one year, by the end of 2024, the share of total U.S. household wealth for the modern 0.00001%—those 19 households—jumped to 1.8%, or about $2.6 trillion. That is the biggest one-year increase on record, according to Zucman.

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Total U.S. household wealth stood at about $148 trillion at the end of 2024, according to a measure Zucman used that subtracts the value of big-ticket items such as appliances as well as unfunded pensions from the Federal Reserve’s estimate of household wealth. The average net worth of all groups has climbed since the third quarter of 1990 as the U.S. economy has grown. The growth in wealth of the richest Americans has far outpaced that of all other U.S. wealth groups. “You see this gradual rise and then, very recently, dramatic acceleration in the rise of the share of wealth owned by the truly superwealthy,” said Zucman. His analysis looks at wealth distribution from 1913, part of a period known as America’s Gilded Age, through 2024. The work of Zucman and his colleague Emmanuel Saez was cited by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) in their 2020-era arguments to increase taxes on the wealthy.

House GOP bumps Pentagon spending, eyes $150B target for party-line package

House Republicans will seek a $150 billion Pentagon spending hike as part of their party-line megabill, according to three people familiar with the process, granted anonymity to describe private deliberations, abandoning a lower defense target and aligning with plans set by their Senate counterparts. The upward move by the House is a win for defense hawks, who have been pushing to use GOP’s control of Congress and the White House to maximize military spending. The House Armed Services Committee will debate its portion of Republicans’ reconciliation package next week when lawmakers return from their recess and committees begin to advance their respective sections of the sprawling domestic policy legislation.

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In endorsing a larger defense hike, House Republicans are preemptively smoothing over one of what are expected to be many major differences with the Senate as both chambers work to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda. Republicans still face intraparty divisions over how far to go on Medicaid cuts, the size of tax breaks and how to offset the package’s cost. Punchbowl News first reported the higher House defense spending target. A budget framework that cleared both chambers earlier this month proposed $150 billion in additional defense spending on the Senate side, while the House settled for a lower $100 billion Pentagon goal. The instructions for House committees in the budget blueprint, however, can be waived with the same majority vote needed to pass a final bill. Neither chamber’s Republicans have unveiled defense legislation yet, though the final product is likely to fund a mix of immediate needs and long-term programs.

Trump orders changes to civil rights rules, college accreditation

President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders Wednesday aimed at undoing his predecessor’s policies and furthering a conservative agenda to reshape American education. The seven orders took on a wide range of topics, from discipline and the use of artificial intelligence in schools to foreign donations and accreditation at colleges. Among the new orders is a directive to eliminate a civil rights enforcement tool long used to fight discrimination in education, housing and other aspects of American life — and long criticized by conservatives. Under the concept of disparate impact, actions can amount to discrimination if they have an uneven effect on people from different groups even if that was not the intent. It relies on data analysis to help identify discriminatory results. The new order Trump signed Wednesday instructs the attorney general to “repeal or amend” Title VI regulations that include disparate impact liability.

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Supporters of disparate-impact analysis say it is a critical tool because finding “smoking gun” evidence to prove someone intended to discriminate is difficult. But conservatives have argued that proving discrimination should require proof that someone intended to treat people differently. And they say the reliance on data may encourage the use of racial quotas. At the Education Department, officials are reviewing agreements already reached with school districts where civil rights violations were alleged, looking to cancel agreements to resolve issues that may be based on statistical disparities. This month, the agency terminated an agreement reached last year with the school district in Rapid City, South Dakota, where Native American students were more likely to be disciplined and less likely to be in advanced classes. In signing the order, Trump said disparate impact hinders civil rights. “Under my Administration, citizens will be treated equally before the law and as individuals, not consigned to a certain fate based on their immutable characteristics,” the order said.

Musk damaged Tesla's brand in just a few months. Fixing it will likely take longer

Elon Musk has been called a Moonshot Master, the Edison of Our Age and the Architect of the Future, but he’s got a big problem at his car company and it’s not clear he can fix it: damage to its brand. Sales have plunged for Tesla amid protests and boycotts over Musk’s embrace of far right-wing views. Profits have been sliced by two-thirds so far this year, and rivals from China, Europe and the U.S. are pouncing. On Tuesday came some relief as Musk announced in an earnings call with investors that he would be scaling back his government cost-cutting job in Washington to a “day or two per week” to focus more on his old job as Tesla’s boss. Investors pushed up Tesla’s stock 5% Wednesday, though there are plenty of challenges ahead.

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Musk seemed to downplay the role that brand damage played in the drop in first-quarter sales on the investor call. Instead, he emphasized something more fleeting — an upgrade to Tesla’s best-selling Model Y that forced a shutdown of factories and pinched both supply and demand. While financial analysts following the company have noted that potential buyers probably held back while waiting for the upgrade, hurting results, even the most bullish among them say the brand damage is real, and more worrisome. “This is a full blown crisis,” said Wedbush Securities’ normally upbeat Dan Ives earlier this month. In a note to its clients, JP Morgan warned of “unprecedented brand damage.” Musk dismissed the protests against Tesla on the call as the work of people angry at his leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency because “those who are receiving the waste and fraud wish it to continue.” But the protests in Europe, thousands of miles from Washington, came after Musk supported far-right politicians there. Angry Europeans hung Musk in effigy in Milan, projected an image of him doing a straight-arm salute on a Tesla factory in Berlin and put up posters in London urging people not to buy “Swasticars” from him. Sales in Europe have gone into a free fall in the first three months of this year — down 39%. In Germany, sales plunged 62%. Another worrying sign: On Tuesday, Tesla backed off its earlier promise that sales would recover this year after dropping in 2024 for the first time a dozen years. Tesla said the global trade situation was too uncertain and declined to repeat the forecast.

Prominent role of Pete Hegseth’s wife at Pentagon draws scrutiny

News over the weekend that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wife Jennifer was included in a second group chat where he shared sensitive military operations details has focused attention on the prominent role she has occupied at the Pentagon without being formally employed during her husband’s short tenure running the US military. Jennifer Hegseth has been a constant presence in her husband’s inner circle from even before he was confirmed to the Cabinet job. Her involvement thrust her back into the spotlight over the weekend, when it was reported that?she was in a Signal group chat with her husband, his brother, and his lawyer, in which the secretary disclosed sensitive information about military operations against the Houthis. While Hegseth’s brother Phil and his lawyer Tim Parlatore have official positions within the Defense Department, Jennifer Hegseth does not.

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A source familiar with the situation told CNN Jennifer Hegseth submitted paperwork for a security clearance, but it was unclear if she received one. When asked by CNN if Jennifer Hegseth has a clearance, a spokesperson said the department does not discuss security clearances for any individual. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson, however, added that Jennifer Hegseth has “never attended a meeting where sensitive information or classified information was discussed.” Multiple sources told CNN that as Hegseth has grown increasingly paranoid about the potential of leaks to the media within the Pentagon and has begun largely depending on a small circle for counsel, including his wife. CNN previously reported that the group chat that included Jennifer Hegseth was originally created to strategize during his confirmation process, but that it continued being used after he was confirmed.

Cardinals gather in Vatican to fine tune preparations for Pope’s funeral

Priests, pilgrims and cardinals dressed in black robes and red sashes mixed in the streets of the Vatican on Thursday as tens of thousands of Catholics paid their respects to Pope Francis and preparations for the funeral accelerated. The conclave to select the next pope has not yet started — the Vatican has not announced the date when voting will begin — but cardinals on Thursday morning held their third congregation meeting in the Holy See’s apostolic palace since Francis died on Easter Monday. During the gatherings, the cardinals decide on the logistics of the mourning period, but Vatican experts say they can also set the agenda for the conclave and privately lay out their priorities as they get ready to choose the next pope. More cardinals have arrived in Rome in recent days ahead of Francis’ funeral on Saturday.

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As they trickled out of a door in the Vatican near the Sant’Anna church on Wednesday, after their second meeting since Francis died, some cardinals outlined topics that they wanted the church to focus on. “The central point is the preaching of the authentic faith as it is,” said one conservative cardinal, Mauro Piacenza. Most of the cardinals’ decisions that have been publicly disclosed have related to arrangements for Francis’ funeral and commemorations, but the churchmen will also need to pick a date for the conclave. During one of the congregation meetings before the 2013 conclave, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio gave a speech that emphasized the church’s duty to reach those at the “peripheries.” The speech made a significant mark, and Cardinal Bergoglio was elected in the ensuing conclave, becoming Pope Francis. Since Wednesday, about 50,000 people have paid their respects to Francis, whose body was lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican said. Thousands more were lining up in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday morning. “Pope Francis is watching us from up there,” said Bruna Donato, 70, one of the mourners. “He knows who goes and who doesn’t.”

12 states sue Trump over his tariffs

A dozen states, most of them led by Democrats, sued President Trump over his tariffs on Wednesday, arguing that he has no power to “arbitrarily impose tariffs as he has done here.” Contending that only Congress has the power to legislate tariffs, the states are asking the court to block the Trump administration from enforcing what they said were unlawful tariffs. “These edicts reflect a national trade policy that now hinges on the president’s whims rather than the sound exercise of his lawful authority,” said the lawsuit, filed by the states’ attorneys general in the U.S. Court of International Trade. The states, including New York, Illinois and Oregon, are the latest parties to take the Trump administration to court over the tariffs. Their case comes after California filed its own lawsuit last week, in which Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state attorney general accused the administration of escalating a trade war that has caused “immediate and irreparable harm” to that state’s economy.

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Officials and businesses from Oregon, the lead plaintiff in the suit filed Wednesday, have also expressed concerns about the vulnerability of the state’s trade-dependent economy, as well as its sportswear industry, as a result of the tariffs. “When a president pushes an unlawful policy that drives up prices at the grocery store and spikes utility bills, we don’t have the luxury of standing by,” said Dan Rayfield, Oregon’s attorney general, in a statement. “These tariffs hit every corner of our lives — from the checkout line to the doctor’s office — and we have a responsibility to push back.” Asked about the latest lawsuit, Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, called it a “witch hunt” by Democrats against Mr. Trump. “The Trump administration remains committed to using its full legal authority to confront the distinct national emergencies our country is currently facing,” he said, “both the scourge of illegal migration and fentanyl flows across our border and the exploding annual U.S. goods trade deficit.”

Lead Stories

Abortion clarification bill heads to full Texas Senate, with some amendments

A proposal to clarify Texas’ strict abortion laws and allow doctors to provide emergency abortion care — along with amendments aimed at addressing concerns that pregnant women themselves could be criminalized — passed a key legislative hurdle Tuesday. The Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs voted 11-0 to send an amended version of Senate Bill 31 to the full Senate. That bill was authored by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola. Abortion rights advocates have raised concerns that the originally filed version of the bill could resurrect a century-old law that would criminalize women who receive abortions. They’ve called for the bill to be amended. Before sending the bill to the full Senate, the Committee on State Affairs adopted a substitute version of Senate Bill 31.

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Hughes described the changes to the bill in the committee meeting. “The committee substitute reflects feedback to strengthen the bill, make sure that pregnant women — further clarify they would not be prosecuted in any way,” Hughes said. Hughes’ office sent a copy of the substitute version to The Dallas Morning News. The substitute version removes some of the references to the century-old abortion ban. The substitute also makes it clearer that doctors do not need to wait until a medical condition is “actively injuring” the pregnant woman before providing necessary abortion care. In a joint statement Tuesday evening, five abortion rights advocates and survivors of traumatic pregnancies said they had learned of the changes earlier in the day. They were taking time to review the changes to the bills, according to the statement, which was issued by reproductive rights organization Free & Just. Tuesday’s committee meeting, which lasted about six minutes according to the recording posted online, did not include any discussion of the bill.

Impeachment overhaul passes Texas Senate

A package of legislation that would dramatically overhaul the state’s impeachment process by laying out guidelines for both chambers, requiring all witness testimony under oath and tracking costs unanimously passed the Texas Senate on Tuesday. “This is a message [that] we want to do the right thing in the future,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, said after the vote. “It’s not a criticism of the past. It’s an improvement on the past, and we hope our fellow members over in the House will work with us to have an appropriate impeachment proceeding moving forward.” Identical proposals in the House are pending but have not been scheduled for a public hearing.

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The current reform effort resulted from confusion around the process that governed the House’s historic and controversial impeachment in 2023 of Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was acquitted by the Senate after a two-week trial that generated national headlines. Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, said clarifying legislation is necessary because Texas has separate systems for impeachment — one for statewide elected officials and another for leaders of state agencies — that was difficult for members of the Legislature and the public to understand last session. Birdwell’s proposed constitutional amendment would give voters a say in whether to update the process in November. The amendment would allow impeached officers to be suspended with pay while the process plays out, clarify that the governor could make a provisional appointment for suspended officers unless the governor is impeached and empower lawmakers to enact general laws around impeachment. Paxton, who has not recovered any wages from his suspension, was impeached over alleged bribery, abuse of office and obstruction of justice after senior aides accused him of using his agency to benefit real estate developer and campaign donor Nate Paul, who renovated Paxton’s Austin home and employed a woman Paxton was reportedly romantically involved with.

Tesla CEO Musk says time he spends on DOGE will drop ‘significantly’ next month

Tesla CEO Elon Musk began his company’s earnings call on Tuesday by saying that his time spent running President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency will drop “significantly” starting in May. Musk, who has watched Tesla’s stock tumble by more than 40% this year, said he’ll continue to support the president with DOGE “to make sure that the waste and fraud that we stop does not come roaring back.” After spending almost $300 million in the 2024 campaign to help return Trump to the White House, Musk created DOGE and joined the administration with a mission to drastically reduce the size and capability of the federal government. He said he’ll continue to spend a “day or two per week” on government issues “for as long as the president would like me to do so.”

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Musk’s commentary came after his company reported disappointing first-quarter results, including a 20% year-over-year slump in automotive revenue and 71% plunge in net income. In addition to challenges the company already faced, such as competition out of China and an aging fleet of electric vehicles, Tesla has recently been hit with protests in the U.S. and Europe and brand damage due to Musk’s ties to Trump and his support of Germany’s far-right AfD party. “The protests that you’ll see out there, they’re very organized,” Musk said on Tuesday’s call. He claimed, without evidence, that some people are likely protesting “because they’re receiving fraudulent money” or are “recipients of wasteful largesse.” On its website, which was last updated on Sunday, DOGE says its cuts have led to an estimated $160 billion in savings. However, Musk’s estimates of savings have been challenged, and DOGE has deleted some of the largest purported savings.

US Treasury secretary says trade war with China is not 'sustainable'

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Tuesday speech that the ongoing tariffs showdown against China is unsustainable and he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. But in a private speech in Washington for JPMorgan Chase, Bessent also cautioned that talks between the United States and China had yet to formally start. U.S. President Donald Trump placed import taxes of 145% on China, which has countered with 125% tariffs on U.S. goods. Trump has placed tariffs on several dozen countries, causing the stock market to stumble and interest rates to increase on U.S. debt as investors worry about slower economic growth and higher inflationary pressures. Details of the speech were confirmed by two people familiar with the remarks who insisted on anonymity to discuss them.

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“I do say China is going to be a slog in terms of the negotiations,” Bessent said according to a transcript obtained by The Associated Press. “Neither side thinks the status quo is sustainable.” AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying a trade war with China is not sustainable. The S&P 500 stock index rose 2.5% after Bloomberg News initially reported Bessent’s remarks. Trump acknowledged the increase in the stock market in remarks to reporters afterward on Tuesday, but he avoided confirming if he, too, thought the situation with China was unsustainable as Bessent had said behind closed doors. “We’re doing fine with China,” Trump said. Despite his high tariffs, Trump said he would be “very nice” to China and not play hardball with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “We’re going to live together very happily and ideally work together,” Trump said. The U.S. president said that the final tariff rate with China would come down “substantially” from the current 145%.

State Stories

Walmart mass shooter pleads guilty to state charges

Saying the only way he will leave prison will be in a coffin, a state district judge on Monday accepted the guilty pleas of El Paso Walmart shooter Patrick Wood Crusius and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Crusius, a North Texas resident, posted an online manifesto decrying the “Hispanic” invasion of Texas and drove 10 hours to El Paso, killing 23 people and wounding 22 with a rifle in the parking lot and inside the Walmart store near Cielo Vista Mall on Aug. 3, 2019. “As you remain locked up, remember this: You did not divide this city; you strengthened it,” Medrano told Crusius during the 409th Judicial District court hearing. “El Paso rose stronger and braver. The community you tried to break has become a symbol of resilience, love versus hate, and endurance” in the face of evil.

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Several people involved in the case expressed hope Monday’s hearing, in which Crusius pled guilty to multiple capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, will bring closure to survivors and relatives of the victims of the mass shooting. Delays dogged the state case against Crusius, who in 2023 was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms on hate crime charges by a federal judge. Dressed in an orange-and-white jail uniform and a black bulletproof vest, Crusius only spoke when he was in court. Medrano repeatedly asked him if he understood the charges and his plea. His attorney, Joe Spencer, addressed the court at length to paint a picture of a mentally troubled young man who came to a peaceful community to inflict unimaginable horror. He said his client suffers from schizoaffective disorder, has “profound breaks” with reality, and suffers from hallucinations and delusional thinking. He said Crusius turned to “the darkest corners” of the internet and was influenced by the political rhetoric of the time – when illegal immigration was a flashpoint in the discourse.

Harris County leaders say mobility projects are at risk if this Texas bill becomes law

The tolls you pay in Harris County fix more than just toll roads. State lawmakers want to limit Harris County’s ability to spend the surplus money from the Harris County Toll Road Authority on neighborhood streets, and sidewalks. The political fight could potentially derail important safety solutions across Harris County. A resident of West Aldine says sidewalks are desperately needed in underserved areas. One project that could benefit from the HCTRA money is building sidewalks here in North Houston, where a child was hit by a truck. Resident Shirley Ronquillo, a community organizer remembers a difficult day.

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“A couple years ago, a young man, Raul [Morales], was hit by a vehicle, and he fell face down into a ditch,” Ronquillo said. KHOU 11 spoke to Raul and his family days after the crash on West Gulf Bank Road near Airline. Since the crash, there’s been a push for safety changes at the spot where he was hit. “There is advocacy behind the incident, the family requested sidewalks, the child requested sidewalks,” Ronquillo said. Funding for that project, and others like it across the city, are at risk. “Currently I have $80 million worth of projects for the city of Houston that if this bill were to go through, it’ll put those $80 million into jeopardy,” Pct. 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia told KHOU. Garcia is concerned with a proposal to divert 30% of the Harris County Toll Road Authority’s surplus toll money, worth millions of dollars, to the city of Houston "for the cost of providing law enforcement and other emergency services" on toll roads, according to the bill. Two Harris County commissioners expressed opposition to the bill.

A $750M nuclear power fund advances in Texas House

The Texas House approved a bill that would create a nuclear power incentive program designed to jump-start a long-dormant energy industry. Its passage is a step forward in an energy arms race against China and Russia, the bill’s author said. The proposal would create a grant program for the development of a nuclear industry in Texas that could cost taxpayers as much as $2.75 billion if voters approve a related amendment to the Texas Constitution. “Investment in nuclear technology has now become a strategic and moral imperative for our country,” Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, said. “The global race for energy dominance is not just an economic competition. It is a geopolitical contest with immense national security implications.” The proposal was approved with bipartisan support on a voice vote.

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House Bill 14 would create a Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office overseen by the governor. The office would manage the state’s grant program and assist nuclear development organizations in navigating the federal permitting process. The House budgeted $750 million for the program. Harris has a proposed amendment to the Texas Constitution that could increase its budget by $2 billion. Lawmakers haven’t voted on the amendment. Eligible projects could receive grants of up to $200 million for those that produce electricity. Businesses and universities researching and developing nuclear technology would be eligible for $12.5 million grants. Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, opposed the bill. He said he supports the nuclear industry but creating a new state office and an incentive program was not the way forward. “It creates more government. It creates more bureaucracy,” Harrison said. “It adds more bureaucrats and, guys, this is pure crony corporatism and corporate welfare.” The bill requires passage from the Senate before it can become law. A Senate companion to the bill has yet to advance in that chamber. Gov. Greg Abbott signaled he would approve a nuclear fund as large as $5 billion last year after a regulatory task force recommended creating similar incentive programs.

Carol Iodice: For the rich, free speech — for others, a SLAPP in the face

(Carolyn Iodice is Legislative and Policy Director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a national free speech group.?) Fourteen years ago, the legislature passed vital protections for freedom of speech in the Texas Citizens Participation Act. This week, they’re looking to gut it. The TCPA addresses the common problem of “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” or SLAPPs. These are frivolous lawsuits brought by the wealthy or powerful against private citizens to stop them from exercising their free speech rights. For example, say your loved one is in an assisted living facility, and you think the facility is neglecting their care. You file a complaint with state regulators and then post honest, negative reviews of the facility online so that other people can make an informed choice about sending their family members there. Then the facility sues you, claiming that you defamed them. Even though the case is frivolous and your criticism is protected by the First Amendment, you have a tough choice: stop talking about the facility or hire an attorney to defend you. You don’t want to be silenced, but you don’t want to go through a lengthy, expensive, and exhausting legal battle. This was the choice facing Carol Hemphill when she was sued for criticizing the facility housing her brother, who needed daily care after a traumatic brain injury.

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Thankfully, the TCPA helps people like Carol. It allows SLAPP victims to get cases dismissed quickly, without racking up huge legal bills. It also helps the victims get lawyers to stand up to the bullies trying to silence them through the courts. First, the TCPA lets a victim immediately move to dismiss the case if they can show the claim is meritless and targets their speech on issues important to the community. Then, if the court denies the motion to dismiss, there’s another layer of protection. The law automatically pauses any further court proceedings while the victim appeals the ruling, so that the case doesn’t turn into a sprawling legal battle before the court of appeals gets the chance to toss it out. When a victim successfully gets the case dismissed, the TCPA also requires the other side to pay their legal bills. This helps ensure SLAPP victims can afford legal representation to fight the case, and it deters people from filing SLAPPs in the first place. Plus, it’s just basic fairness: if someone deliberately brings a frivolous SLAPP against you, they should reimburse you for the costs of getting it dismissed. These protections ensure that everyone, not just those with money, can afford to fight for their rights. They helped Carol get her case dismissed and her legal bills paid. They helped Ken Martin, an independent local journalist, who was sued by a politician for reporting factual information about him. And they helped Dante Flores-Demarchi, who was sued by a wealthy school board member for publicly raising concerns about corruption.

El Paso Walmart shooter receives rebuke and forgiveness as he gets 23 life sentences

Yolanda Tinajero stood up in court and walked over to the man who killed her brother. She wrapped her arms around him while he hunched over into her embrace. "I feel in my heart to hug you very tight so you could feel my forgiveness, especially my loss," Tinajero said. She had just offered her impact statement at the end of the case involving the man who in 2019 killed 23 people and injured dozens at a Walmart in what's considered one of the worst attacks on Hispanics in the U.S. in modern history. Judge Sam Medrano allowed her to approach the gunman after she said it would bring her peace, comfort and healing.

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Adriana Zandri, whose husband Ivan Feliberto Manzano was murdered during the attack, also hugged the gunman, bringing an end to one of the most painful moments of this largely Hispanic city that borders Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. On Monday, Patrick Crusius was sentenced to 23 consecutive life sentences after he pleaded guilty to capital murder and nearly two dozen aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges in state court. The gunman drove more than 650 miles from his home in Allen, Texas, to this city and opened fire on shoppers at a Walmart on Aug. 3, 2019. The Texas gunman targeted people he thought were Mexicans, according to police. Hours before the shooting, Crusius published an online screed saying his actions were a response to the "Hispanic invasion of Texas." In 2023 a federal judge sentenced him to 90 consecutive life sentences, after he pleaded guilty to hate crimes and firearms violations.

Texas storms are blowing up homeowners’ insurance premiums

It’s getting more expensive to protect your home in North Texas. Homeowners insurance premiums increased 22% in 2024, according to the Texas Department of Insurance, and insurance companies have had to pay out more claims because there have been more severe storms. The state has had more disasters causing $1 billion in damages in the last five years than the previous decade, according the National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration. While legislators in Austin are working to lower residential property taxes, insurance brokers, Realtors, and industry experts say not much can be done when it comes to insurance — the other major cost of a monthly mortgage payment. More storms and inflation have pushed rates higher. It’s making housing more expensive, and causing some to fear losing their homes.

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The biggest cost driver in North Texas has been wind and hail, said Chandler Crouch, a Realtor known for helping his clients lower their property tax bills. Crouch even tried his hand at offering homeowners insurance a few years ago, but found many carriers were avoiding new business in North Texas because of storm losses. “I’ve been in the business since 2002 and I’ve seen a lot of market changes, and I’ve never seen insurance rates this bad,” he said. “It’s pretty bleak out there.” Texas ranks at or near the top of states that experience weather catastrophes, including hurricanes, hail, flooding, fire, wind, and tornadoes, said Richard Johnson, a spokesperson for the Insurance Council of Texas. The cost of materials is also going up, said Frank McArthur, a Tarrant County roofing contractor who primarily works on insurance claims. It’s not unusual to get a notice from suppliers twice a year that materials are going up 2% or 3%, but about a month ago, McArthur said one of his suppliers told him prices were going up 10%. He used to not think much of it, because insurance companies were always going to pay, but now McArthur is seeing how rising prices are having an impact on the broader market.

Lockheed Martin gives outlook for F-35 fighter jet program

Lockheed Martin Corporation executives told analysts Tuesday they remain confident that the defense and aerospace manufacturer will be able to weather potential tariffs with minimal impact on business. The Trump administration issued a 90-day pause on new tariffs on almost every country in the world earlier this month, but the duties are still scheduled to go into effect on July 9. During a first quarter earnings call Tuesday, Lockheed CFO Evan Scott said the company expects it will be able to mitigate the impacts of tariffs. Scott, who was named chief financial officer on Thursday, said the gap between when Lockheed incurs a tariff cost and recovers it will be key. Lockheed’s sales were up 4% in the first quarter of 2025, hitting $18 billion. The F-35 program, which assembles the fighter jets in Fort Worth, saw a $215 million increase in sales.

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The company did not adjust its 2025 earnings forecast to account for tariffs, Trump’s executive orders or Boeing being selected to develop the world’s sixth-generation fighter aircraft, the F-47. Other major defense manufacturers are split on how tariffs could hurt their business. Northrop Grumman also didn’t change its earnings forecast to account for potential tariffs. RTX Corp., previously known as Raytheon Technologies, said tariffs could cause an $850 million decline in profit this year, which led to a sharp drop in its stock price. Lockheed expects to maintain its F-35 Lighting II production rate of over 150 aircraft per year. Company leaders don’t expect the United States to cut back on purchasing the aircraft. But if it happens, they said, international demand would likely make up any decline in U.S. sales. Some experts say the defense industry may be more isolated from tariffs than others, due to the protected nature of its supply chains. Defense firms are banned from getting certain items from China. The U.S. has imposed a 145% tariff on Chinese goods, while China has placed a 125% duty on American products. A 2023 report found Chinese products are still part of the Department of Defense’s supply chain. On April 9, the Trump administration ordered the Department of Defense to begin reviewing acquisition programs. The administration is also working to make it easier for U.S. defense companies to sell items to other countries. “I’m really encouraged and energized by what the administration is doing here,” Lockheed’s chairman, president and CEO James Taiclet said during Tuesday’s conference call.

Texas water board will have to decide whether Marvin Nichols Reservoir creates conflict

State water leaders will now have to decide whether the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir, designed to be built in northeast Texas and pump water more than 100 miles back to Dallas-Fort Worth, is an interregional conflict — potentially causing water plans to be altered. On Tuesday, Region D Water Planning Group chairman Jim Thompson penned a letter officially asking the Texas Water Development Board to declare the inclusion of the reservoir as a conflict and resolve it. The reservoir is planned to be built in the Sulphur River Basin in portions of Franklin, Red River and Titus counties, where families have lived for generations and where timber, ranch and farming industries operate.

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The dispute over the 66,000-acre manmade lake has been ongoing between the northeastern Texas region, where it would be built, and the greater Dallas area, which would receive the water, for at least 20 years. Despite officials from both regional groups meeting multiple times ahead the respective 2026 Water Plan drafts being submitted in March, the stalemate hasn’t been resolved. Region C included the reservoir as a recommended strategy while Region D included language vehemently opposing it. Region D’s stance is that the lake “would have substantial adverse effect” on their area, including economic, agricultural and natural resources, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Dallas Morning News. “We have also heard from a tremendous number of people that live in our Region, industry and business leaders, community leaders and others regarding the substantial adverse effects this proposed project would have on our Region,” Thompson wrote in the letter. “The amount of opposition from the citizens of Region D to Marvin Nichols Reservoir is simply unexplainable in words.”

Details emerge in stabbing of Denton County commissioner and husband, as tributes pour in

Tributes poured in for Denton County Precinct 3 Commissioner Bobbie Mitchell and her slain husband, Fred, as more details emerged Tuesday about a stabbing that police say led to the arrest of the couple’s grandson Monday morning at their home in Lewisville. Fred Mitchell, 75, died from his wounds soon after the incident, police said, while commissioner Mitchell, 76, is expected to recover after undergoing surgery. The couple’s 23-year-old grandson, Mitchell Reinacher, is suspected of stabbing his grandparents and is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police have not said what might have led to the deadly attack but an arrest-warrant affidavit for Reinacher provided some details of the chaos and violence at the Mitchell residence early Monday.

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A 911 caller notified authorities shortly before 4 a.m. of a possible knife attack in the 1000 block of Springwood Drive in Lewisville, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit obtained by The Dallas Morning News. “Lots of screaming” and “what sounded like a physical struggle” were heard over the phone, the affidavit stated. At the address, an officer saw a white vehicle parked on the street in front of the home. The driver’s side door of the vehicle was open and the headlights were on, according to the affidavit. The officer heard screaming from inside the home. When the officer entered the front door, they saw Reinacher in the hallway, standing “over the body” of Fred Mitchell, who was “bleeding severely from knife wounds to his chest,” according to the affidavit. Reinacher had been living with the Mitchells since late 2024, according to police. Bobbie Mitchell, who also had knife injuries, was found inside the same house. She told police “her grandson broke into their house” and that “he was going to kill them,” the affidavit stated. Police said a 6-inch serrated steak knife was used in the attack and authorities found evidence of forced entry of the home.

Gov. Greg Abbott expands Texas border wall in new deal with Laredo, even as crossings plummet

Border crossings have plummeted in Texas, but that isn’t stopping Gov. Greg Abbott from building more border walls, even in areas that have traditionally resisted past efforts. Earlier this month, the Laredo City Council voted 6-2 to let Abbott and the state lease about 1,600 feet of city easements in an area northwest of the city to help the state build another three miles of border barrier. The state has targeted an area around Colombia Bridge — an international bridge about 25 miles from the city’s downtown. The vote has set off a cascade of criticism from locals who successfully blocked President Donald Trump from building border walls there during his first term in office. “This is a shocking move by our city leaders,” said Tannya Benavides, a local community organizer. “The state came in and bullied their way into city hall with threats and scare tactics, falsely making it seem like we had no options. It was very manipulative and shows how they see us: just some small town that can be pushed around. It’s a huge sign of disrespect shown to our border community.”

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But city officials are defending the move, saying they are trying to maintain a working relationship with state officials to make sure they have input on barrier projects in more critical areas. City manager Joseph Neeb said that by giving the state access to a less populated area for a wall, it should give the city more influence over how the state approaches “more important, sensitive areas.” “I think the people who are impassioned in this don’t understand that side of it because they would rather have a ‘hell no, we don’t want it at all,’” he said, according to the Laredo Morning Times. While the Biden administration halted most border wall construction after the 2020 presidential election, Abbott instructed the state to start building its own border wall. The state has since built 60 miles with another 10 miles in the works, according to Abbott. During a meeting at the White House in February, Abbott told Trump the state secured another 100 miles of easements for more. And Abbott might have even more to build soon. The Texas Legislature is working on a budget deal that could set aside another $2.8 billion for barriers along the Rio Grande.

Houston Rep. Al Green says Tennessee lawmaker's comments about cane, calling him 'boy' are racist

U.S. Rep. Al Green on Tuesday said a Tennessee lawmaker's comments about him were racist. Republican U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger last week referred to the congressman as "boy" and claimed he doesn't need a cane to walk in an interview with Christian media organization F.A.M.E. Ministries. "Gosh dangit, boy, put that cane — he does not need that cane," Harshbarger said. Green said he uses the cane for stability when walking and climbing stairs after temporarily losing function in his left foot. "This is an attempt to normalize, whether it's done wittingly or unwittingly, this type of slur, and it's something that we cannot tolerate," Green said during a Tuesday news conference. Members of Houston's City Council, the NAACP and local LGBTQ+ advocates also joined Green in condemning Harshbarger's comments.

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'No evidence' to support Republican-backed 2022 election challenge, says appeals court

The 14th Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that “no evidence” was found to support a Republican-backed challenge of the 2022 district clerk election results. Chris Daniel was one of 21 Republican candidates who filed election contest lawsuits after the results of the 2022 Harris County midterm elections. Daniel, who ran for Harris County District Clerk against Democratic incumbent Marilyn Burgess, alleged ballot paper shortages at several polling locations constituted "voter suppression," and asked the court to overturn the results. Following a November 2023 trial court ruling in favor of Burgess, Daniel's legal team filed an appeal. Republican chief justice for the 14th Court of Appeals, Tracy Christopher, wrote in an opinion that while some residents may have been prevented from voting, Daniel's attorneys did not provide sufficient evidence to prove he would have won the election had they been able to cast ballots.

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"Daniel bore the burden to produce legally sufficient evidence from which a reasonable factfinder could infer that the mistakes or misconduct of Harris County election officials prevented at least 25,640 eligible Harris County voters from voting on November 8, 2022," the 14th Court of Appeals' opinion read. "Because he did not do so, we affirm the trial court’s judgment." The Harris County GOP did not respond to the Houston Chronicle's request for comment. Daniel told a reporter he was unaware of the court's decision, and needed to read it before he could provide input. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who was also the target of a since-dropped election contest filed by Republican challenger Alexandra Del Moral Mealer, took to X shortly after the ruling to celebrate Burgess' win. "We won!! The final surviving GOP-led lawsuit challenging Harris County’s 2022 (I know, still on that!) elections has been dismissed — upholding our District Clerk Marilyn Burgess’ win," Hidalgo wrote."This is one of many (failed) lawsuits, including one against my victory, that were filed on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection."

Ted Cruz becomes first sitting senator with a talk radio show as his podcast hits AM radio

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is now the first sitting senator with a talk radio show after the Texas Republican’s podcast began airing nationwide over the weekend. Cruz’s podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” is being broadcast on AM radio stations under an extension of the senator’s deal with iHeartMedia, the massive radio network that has distributed the podcast online since 2022. “It’s a great opportunity just to take listeners behind the scenes, behind the curtain of what’s going on,” Cruz told his co-host, Ben Ferguson. Ferguson noted that Fox News host Sean Hannity, who also has a radio program distributed by Premiere Networks, texted Cruz to congratulate him on the deal.

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The deal comes as the senator has pushed legislation to require car manufacturers to keep AM radio in their vehicles, calling the shift by some away from AM an effort to “silence conservative voices” that dominate the talk radio airwaves. It also follows the dismissal of ethics complaints related to iHeartMedia’s six-figure donations to a political action committee supporting the Texas Republican. Cruz’s office didn’t immediately respond to questions about the deal. On an episode this week, Cruz said the Friday installment of the three-times-a-week show will now air over the weekend via Premiere Networks, the iHeart subsidiary carrying the podcast. He said it has launched on 84 stations and he hopes more will pick it up. In Texas, the show is airing on KFXR-AM 1190 in Dallas-Fort Worth and KPRC-AM 950 in Houston, a spokeswoman for Premiere Networks said. “Sen. Cruz is a political insider whose views and opinions are valued by audiences,” Julie Talbott, president of Premiere Networks, said in a statement announcing the deal. “By harnessing the immense power of broadcast radio, we’re confident Verdict with Ted Cruz will reach millions more listeners across America every week.”

National Stories

Tesla profit sinks, hurt by backlash over Elon Musk’s political role

Tesla’s net income slid 71% in the first quarter, as the company struggled to overcome competitive pressure overseas and a reputational hit from Chief Executive Elon Musk’s polarizing role in the Trump administration. Musk said he would be devoting significantly less time to his federal cost-cutting work at the Department of Government Efficiency starting next month, but struck a defiant tone against critics. “I believe the right thing to do is to fight the waste and fraud and try to get the country back on the right track,” Musk said on a call with analysts after the quarterly earnings report Tuesday. The electric-vehicle maker also reported adjusted earnings per share of 27 cents, which missed analysts’ expectations of 41 cents. Tesla said that shifting trade policies, exacerbated by the administration’s tariff regime, are stressing supply chains while adding to the automaker’s costs. Tesla imports some of its battery cells from China, but said it was looking to source them from the U.S. instead.

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The trade fight and “changing political sentiment” could weigh on demand for its vehicles, the company said, leading it to potentially revisit its sales forecast for the year. Tesla previously said it expected vehicle sales to rise this year, after reporting a rare drop in 2024. Musk sighed deeply on Tuesday’s call before addressing the Trump administration’s trade war. The CEO said he has advocated for lower tariffs and would continue to do so. “I just want to emphasize that the tariff decision is entirely up to the president of the United States,” Musk said. “Whether he will listen to my advice is up to him.” Tesla shares were up more than 3% in after-hours trading on Tuesday, after gaining 4.6% ahead of the first-quarter report. Analysts attributed the rise to investors taking comfort in Tesla reaffirming plans to launch more affordable models later this year. The company’s first-quarter revenue fell after a steep decline in automotive sales, including double-digit percentage drops in crucial markets such as the U.S., China and Germany.

Why MAGA World is so protective of Hegseth

As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth finds himself staring down yet another controversy and more calls from critics to resign, he has a potent ally not just in President Trump, but in Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. Influential MAGA voices have used their platforms to back Hegseth, who they see as a product of the movement. He is considered a dyed-in-the-wool Trump backer who is attuned to the president on culture war issues. Where critics see a lack of experience, supporters see a government outsider capable of enacting change. “Much like Trump himself, Hegseth is viewed by the base as a genuine outsider and disrupter,” one longtime Trump adviser told The Hill. “And because of the years he spent on Fox, they feel a real connection with him.”

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Hegseth has faced questions from the time of his surprising nomination about his judgment and ability to manage the vast Department of Defense. Those questions have resurfaced following fresh public criticism from his former aides and new revelations about his use of the Signal app to share attack plans with family members. But the fierce reaction from Trump’s orbit underscores how Hegseth has a connection with the MAGA base like few others in the Cabinet. “The secretary of Defense is doing a tremendous job, and he is bringing monumental change to the Pentagon,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “And there’s a lot of people in this city who reject monumental change, and I think frankly that’s why we’ve seen a smear campaign against the secretary of Defense since the moment that President Trump announced his nomination,” she added.

Supreme Court hears clash over LGBTQ storybooks and parent demands for opt-out

Do parents of public school children have a constitutional right to opt-out their kids from classroom lessons involving storybooks that feature LGBTQ themes or characters? The Supreme Court will tackle that question Tuesday in a closely watched First Amendment case that comes as the Trump administration moves to empower parents and root out diversity and inclusion initiatives across the U.S. education system. A group of parents, including Muslims, Orthodox Ukrainians, Christians and Jews from Montgomery County, Maryland, claim constitutional protections for religious exercise mean they must have an opportunity to exempt their children from any instruction on gender or sexuality that may be counter to teachings of faith.

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“We’re under no illusion, they’ll learn about these things, but in the formative years, what ultimately we could not agree with [Montgomery County Public Schools], is where inclusion stopped and indoctrination started,” said Wael Elkoshairi, who is homeschooling his fourth-grade daughter because he says the books infringe on his Muslim faith. The school board, made up of locally elected representatives, says the purpose of education is to expose children to a broad mix of people and ideas -- and that the Constitution does not guarantee students the right to skip lessons inconsistent with their beliefs. Lower courts sided with the board. The justices will now take a closer look at whether the county’s refusal to grant an opt-out to parents illegally burdens their religious rights. “The case is a good illustration of the fact that public schools are at ground zero in the culture wars,” said Jim Walsh, a Texas lawyer who represents school boards and is a member of the National School Attorneys Association. “We all want the school to reflect our values, but we don’t agree on our values. And certainly issues about same-sex marriage, the rights of lesbians and gays, are right at the center of that,” he said.

‘60 Minutes’ executive producer resigns, citing a loss of independence in the wake of Trump lawsuit

Bill Owens, the executive producer for CBS News’ flagship “60 Minutes” program, announced he will resign from the top job on Tuesday, saying he no longer has control over the show. In a memo obtained by CNN, Owens said to “60 Minutes” staff that the last few months have made it clear that he “would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it” or make “independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes.” “So, having defended this show — and what we stand for — from every angle, over time with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward,” Owens wrote, adding that “the show is too important to the country, it has to continue, just not with me as the Executive Producer.”

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However, Owens praised Wendy McMahon, stressing that the CBS News chief executive “has always had our back, and agrees that 60 Minutes needs to be run by a 60 Minute (sic) producer.” Owens’ decision to step down, which was first reported by The New York Times, comes as media outlets’ credibility has hit a low and as outlets find themselves under attack — including frequent jabs from the White House. In November, President Donald Trump slapped CBS News and its parent company, Paramount Global, with a $10 billion lawsuit that claims a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris was grossly mis-edited by CBS at the Harris campaign’s direction. Since then, Trump has repeatedly called for the network to lose its license and urged the Federal Communications Commission to punish the broadcaster. Ultimately, “60 Minutes” handed over the full transcript and video of the contested interview to the FCC, and Trump and Paramount this month agreed on a mediator in the lawsuit.

Rubio unveils a massive overhaul of the State Department that would cut staff and bureaus

Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled a massive overhaul of the State Department on Tuesday, with plans to reduce staff in the U.S. by 15% while closing and consolidating more than 100 bureaus worldwide as part of the Trump administration’s “America First” mandate. The reorganization plan, announced by Rubio on social media and detailed in documents obtained by The Associated Press, is the latest effort by the White House to reimagine U.S. foreign policy and scale back the size of the federal government. The restructuring was driven in part by the need to find a new home for the remaining functions of the U.S. Agency for International Development, an agency that Trump administration officials and billionaire ally Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have dismantled.

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“We cannot win the battle for the 21st century with bloated bureaucracy that stifles innovation and misallocates scarce resources,” Rubio said in a department-wide email obtained by AP. He said the reorganization aimed to “meet the immense challenges of the 21st Century and put America First.” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce echoed that sentiment, saying the “sweeping changes will empower our talented diplomats” but would not result in the immediate dismissal of personnel. “It’s not something where people are being fired today,” Bruce told reporters Tuesday. “They’re not going to be walking out of the building. It’s not that kind of a dynamic. It is a roadmap. It’s a plan.” At a news conference, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce says the massive reorganization is aimed at trimming a bloated bureaucracy. It includes consolidating 734 bureaus and offices down to 602, as well as transitioning 137 offices to another location within the department to “increase efficiency,” according to a fact sheet obtained by AP. There will be a “reimagined” office focused on foreign and humanitarian affairs to coordinate the aid programs overseas that remain at the State Department.

The New York Times didn't libel former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, jury finds

The New York Times did not libel former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a 2017 editorial that contained an error she claimed had damaged her reputation, a jury concluded Tuesday. The jury deliberated a little over two hours before reaching its verdict. A judge and a different jury had reached the same conclusion about Palin’s defamation claims in 2022, but her lawsuit was revived by an appeals court. Palin was subdued as she left the courthouse and made her way to a waiting car, telling reporters: “I get to go home to a beautiful family of five kids and grandkids and a beautiful property and get on with life. And that’s nice.” Later, she posted on the social platform X that she planned to “keep asking the press to quit making things up.”

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Danielle Rhoades Ha, a Times spokesperson, said in a statement that the verdict “reaffirms an important tenet of American law: publishers are not liable for honest mistakes.” Palin, who earned a journalism degree in college, sued the Times for unspecified damages in 2017, about a decade after she burst onto the national stage as the Republican vice presidential nominee. Her lawsuit stemmed from an editorial about gun control published after U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was wounded in 2017 when a man with a history of anti-GOP activity opened fire on a Congressional baseball team practice in Washington. In the editorial, the Times wrote that before the 2011 mass shooting in Arizona that severely wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and killed six others, Palin’s political action committee had contributed to an atmosphere of violence by circulating a map of electoral districts that put Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized crosshairs.

Copyright April 30, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved