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Newsclips - November 18, 2025 |
Lead Stories
FEMA to Texas? Disaster agency mulls move to Lone Star State
The Trump administration is considering moving the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters to Texas and putting the state’s top emergency manager in charge of the agency, two former senior FEMA officials told POLITICO’s E&E News. Moving the agency from its headquarters in Washington would create “huge challenges” coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA and is located across town from the agency, according to one former official, who was granted anonymity so they could speak freely. Shortly after President Donald Trump took office, White House officials interviewed Nim Kidd, head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, to run the nation’s disaster agency. After POLITICO’s E&E News reported the interview, Kidd posted a statement on his LinkedIn account acknowledging the interview but saying, “My work in Texas is not done.” On Monday, FEMA acting Administrator David Richardson resigned after a six-month tenure and is returning to the private sector. Starting Dec. 1, FEMA chief of staff Karen Evans will assume the role of acting administrator, a DHS spokesperson said.
A panel appointed by Trump to review FEMA plans is expected to recommend moving the agency to Texas, which would accommodate Kidd and his refusal to leave his home state, according to a former FEMA official. “The admin wanted him, but he refused to leave Texas,” one FEMA source said. Kidd has remained close to the Trump administration and is one of 13 members of Trump’s FEMA review panel, which is expected to make recommendations shortly. Kidd had a high profile in July after flash flooding overwhelmed central Texas and killed at least 130 people, including many young girls at a summer camp. Kidd was at a news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shortly after the deadly flood and met with Richardson at the disaster site. Kidd is widely respected and has extensive experience running one of the nation’s largest disaster agencies. He appears to meet all statutory requirements to run FEMA and likely would be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate. Kidd would be FEMA’s first permanent administrator since Trump returned to the White House in January. Before Richardson ran the agency, Cameron Hamilton was acting administrator until he was fired in May after publicly disagreeing with the administration about the importance of FEMA. When the White House interviewed Kidd in February, it also interviewed the head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie, who has helped Trump by establishing an immigrant detention site in the Everglades to handle the increasing number of detainees. Neither Kidd nor the Trump administration immediately responded to requests for comment.
Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only
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As Trump looks for distraction on Epstein, Justice Dept. rushes to his aid
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s prosecutorial sprint speed is improving, at least from the perspective of the man holding a stopwatch, President Trump. Just 217 minutes elapsed between Mr. Trump’s command on Friday morning that she investigate prominent Democrats like Bill Clinton who were named in documents Congress obtained from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate and Ms. Bondi’s announcement that she had referred the matter to the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Earlier demands took days, sometimes weeks, to fulfill. Ms. Bondi’s statement was an unmistakable demonstration of Mr. Trump’s near-total success in subordinating the Justice Department’s post-Watergate independence to his will. Friday was a milestone of sorts. The department was deployed, in effect, as an arm of the president’s rapid-response operation to help him muscle through a damaging news cycle, current and former officials said. “Whether you are investigated or prosecuted, or whether you are pardoned or have your sentence commuted, depends on whether you are an enemy or a friend of Donald Trump,” said Mary McCord, who once oversaw the Justice Department’s national security division and is now a professor at Georgetown Law.
“There is no pretense of evenhanded justice,” she said. “That core principle is gone.” Mr. Trump has ordered partisan investigations in bulk: James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director; Letitia James, New York’s attorney general; John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; Adam B. Schiff, a Democratic senator from California; and Jack Smith, the special counsel who twice indicted Mr. Trump, among others. Friday’s batch consisted of an all-Democratic roster of men who, like Mr. Trump, socialized with Mr. Epstein, a convicted sex offender. They included Mr. Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers, and the megadonor and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman, along with a bank that has longstanding ties to Mr. Epstein. Several Trump allies, requesting anonymity to speak candidly, conceded that the investigation was an effort to shift attention from messages in the trove that suggested the president knew far more about Mr. Epstein’s abuse of underage girls than he previously acknowledged. Just as important, they said, was Mr. Trump’s need to spin a new narrative to deflect an emerging challenge within his own party: the push to release the remaining Justice Department and F.B.I. investigative files on Mr. Epstein.
Read this article at New York Times - Subscribers Only
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As data flow revives, Fed still faces a deep policy divide
A divided U.S. Federal Reserve begins receiving updated economic reports from the now-reopened federal government this week as policymakers hope for clarity in their debate over whether to cut interest rates when they meet in just over three weeks. It remains unclear how much of the shutdown-delayed data on employment, inflation, retail spending, economic growth, and other aspects of the economy will be in hand by then. As of Monday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said it would publish the delayed employment report for September on Thursday, but the White House has said some of the October reports may be skipped altogether, while data gathering for November may also be hampered by a shutdown that stretched to mid-month. But the lines of debate have been sharply drawn, and minutes of the Fed's October meeting to be released on Wednesday could provide more detail on the split that has emerged over whether the risk of higher inflation remains pronounced enough to delay rate cuts for now, or whether slowing job growth and looser monetary policy should take priority.
"I am not worried about inflation accelerating or inflation expectations rising significantly," Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Monday. "My focus is on the labor market, and after months of weakening, it is unlikely that the September jobs report later this week or any other data in the next few weeks would change my view that another cut is in order" when the Fed meets on December 9-10. Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson meanwhile said the central bank should go "slowly" given the benchmark interest rate, in the 3.75%-to-4.00% range, is likely nearing the level where it will no longer discourage economic activity and put downward pressure on inflation. Clear camps have formed within the central bank, with several Fed governors - all appointees of President Donald Trump - arguing for another cut, and several regional reserve bank presidents taking a hard line on inflation. Still, the intensity of those divisions may mask a narrower set of concerns about timing and the desire for more data to show a clearer direction for the economy. The Fed's approval of a quarter-percentage-point rate cut at the October 28-29 meeting included dissents in favor of both looser and tighter monetary policy, a rarity in recent decades. Afterward, Fed Chair Jerome Powell offered unusual, explicit guidance about the outcome of the December meeting.
Read this article at Reuters - Subscribers Only
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Could Paxton's push to close the GOP primary election help him against Cornyn?
Attorney General Ken Paxton says his push to restrict the upcoming GOP primary only to registered Republican voters is based on legal grounds. But one of his top advisors recently suggested the move could also benefit Paxton politically as he seeks to oust U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in one of the state’s most heated primary races. Michelle Smith told conservatives that blocking independent and Democratic voters from participating in the March 3 contest would help Paxton and hurt Cornyn. “(Critics are) saying Paxton just wants this so he can win his primary, and I said, ‘Well, of course, any Republican, it's good for all Republicans, not just General Paxton,’” Smith said on an X Spaces live event last month, adding about Cornyn: “These guys know they need to trigger the Democrats to come vote for them, and without that, they know they won’t win."
Paxton’s office has joined the Republican Party of Texas in its lawsuit against the state to close the March primary election, arguing its a First Amendment issue. The decision has split the state’s top GOP leaders. Grassroots conservatives, who say closed primaries help guard against moderate candidates, are rallying behind Paxton. “Republicans, and only Republicans, should select Republican nominees,” Texas Republican Party chair Abraham George said. Secretary of State Jane Nelson is fighting the suit, saying that changing the system so close to an election would create confusion among voters. Other Republican officials worry that restricting participation could risk turning away new GOP voters. Experts say closing primaries has had no meaningful impact on the results and would be unlikely to benefit Paxton. “A belief has taken hold in the Republican Party that closed primaries are better because you're keeping out moderates. You're keeping out members of the other party who might want to mess with your nomination,” said Robert Boatright, a political science professor at Clark University in Massachusetts who studies primary elections. “There’s no evidence that this happens. There's no evidence that there are any elections that have been swung like this.”
Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only
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State Stories
Gov. Greg Abbott's 332-day gift to President Trump
In the end, Gov. Greg Abbott will have bought President Donald Trump at least an extra 332 days of advantage in a tightly held Congress. On Monday, Abbott finally set the runoff election for Jan. 31 to fill the seat left vacant by the late Sylvester Turner. Once those results are certified, typically the next week, either Democrat Amanda Edwards or Christian Menefee will head to Congress to give downtown Houston a vote in the U.S. House for the first time since March 5. ?Abbott’s delay in filling the seat has paid huge dividends for Trump. With one less Democrat in the House, it allowed Trump to get his big spending and tax cut plan passed in the U.S. House by one vote back in the summer. And it left the vote on releasing more Jeffrey Epstein files one vote short — that is until Arizona filled its own vacant congressional seat this month.
bbott never said he was delaying because of Trump. Instead, he said Harris County needed the extra time to conduct the election — something county officials have denied. ?Two other members of Congress, from Arizona and Virginia, died in office after Turner’s death in March, yet both of those seats have already been filled through special elections. And in Tennessee, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a Republican, resigned in July, but that seat will be filled in an election on Dec. 2 — just over 130 days after it was left vacant. ?Since 2002, there have been more than 100 vacancies in the U.S. House. On average it has taken 136 days to fill them. ?While Houston's 332-plus days without a representative will be one of the longest vacancies in history, it isn’t the record. In Michigan, longtime U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, resigned in December 2017. But then-Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, didn’t set the special election to fill the seat until November 2018 in the Democratically-dominated district, giving the House GOP an extra seat edge for 359 days. California Gov. Gavin Newsom returned the favor when U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican in a GOP-safe district, resigned in January 2020. Newsom, a Democrat, decided not to fill the seat at all, leaving the San Diego-based district without a member of Congress for 356 days.
Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only
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Texas lawmakers ask feds to reimburse state for immigration enforcement
Dozens of Republican Texas lawmakers are asking the federal government to reimburse the Lone Star State for years of immigration enforcement costs. Twenty-seven GOP lawmakers from Texas on Friday sent U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem letters asking that the state be reimbursed for $11.1 billion the state spent since 2021 on border enforcement operations through Operation Lone Star. “The State of Texas bore the heaviest burden, incurring $11.1 billion in costs over four years. We respectfully request that the departments prioritize Texas in disbursing these funds,” says the letter. The lawmakers, led by U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, cite the $13.5 billion in authorized reimbursement funds appropriated through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to repay states for immigration-related costs.
“President Biden’s open-border policies imposed a substantial cost on communities in Texas, through increased fentanyl trafficking, crime, and even stress on local emergency response services,” the letter says. Since March 2021, Texas has spent state funds on immigration enforcement including: Building miles of state-funded border wall. Spending $1 million for a 1,000-foot span of border buoys in Eagle Pass in the Rio Grande. Thousands of National Guard troops sent to the border. Prosecution of those suspected of crossing into the state illegally from Mexico. Dispatching of thousands of Texas state troopers to patrol border roads, especially in South Texas. “Texas’s actions through Operation Lone Star were absolutely vital to ensuring the safety and security of Americans across our great country. However, our State should not have had to bear alone the costs of securing the border,” the lawmakers say. “We therefore respectfully ask that, as the Departments prepare to disburse the funds set aside in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the State of Texas be fully reimbursed for the costs incurred to protect Americans from illegal immigration and drug trafficking.”
Read this article at Border Report - Subscribers Only
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Austin City Council faces showdown over public safety cuts
As the Austin City Council begins deliberating over a new austerity budget proposal Tuesday, public safety spending has become a major flashpoint. While the three public safety unions are pushing council to infuse millions of dollars into the fire department and emergency medical services, a coalition of nearly two dozen progressive organizations is advocating for a more equitable approach so that homeless services, parks and other programs don’t have to suffer cuts amid a nagging budget shortfall. The coalition also is calling for a reduction in police spending, which it described as “one of the few viable ways” to achieve its goal. The wrangling began in earnest last week after City Manager T.C. Broadnax released a revised budget proposal that reduced the Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS budgets by a combined $14 million-plus. Leaders of the Austin Firefighters Association and Austin EMS Association, along with the Austin Police Association, were quick to blast the cuts and warn they would put Austin residents at risk by slowing response times and weakening the ability of their agencies to respond to severe fires and medical emergencies.
“What the manager proposed doesn’t adequately fund the resources we need,” EMS Association President James Monks said in an interview. Broadnax’s budget proposal came days after the Nov. 4 election where voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition Q, a measure that would have generated nearly $110 million by increasing the city property tax rate by more than 20%. The $6.3 billion budget City Council approved in August accounted for that money, so the council must now approve a new spending plan. A city staff presentation posted online ahead of Tuesday’s budget work session says Broadnax’s proposal calls for net cuts of nearly $55 million to the Prop Q budget, along with the elimination of a $40.5 million planned transfer to reserves and a $14.1 million withdrawal from that savings account. The presentation also includes updated estimates that show the city’s deficit could grow to $37.4 million by 2029, assuming a modest annual tax rate increase of 3.5% and no further budget cuts. Under the Prop Q budget approved in August, EMS was set to receive $6.3 million to hire more staff and purchase new ambulances and other equipment while the Fire Department had been set to receive $8.3 million to cover overtime costs. Both sums are nixed in Broadnax’s proposal – though EMS’ overall budget is still set to increase when compared to the budget for the fiscal year that just ended. (That spending plan gave the agency $143 million; Broadnax’s proposal gives it $148.2 million.)
Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only
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‘What’s actually happening’: UT Austin students feel left in the dark, university remains silent on Trump compact deal
In just a few days, there’s a major Trump administration deadline. It’s one that the University of Texas at Austin has remained silent on. The school is among nine universities to be offered a deal that would give preferential federal funding in exchange for signing a compact that would change and double down on major changes to campus culture, hiring and admission processes, foreign student enrollment and more. Students are concerned how this deal, and other political influences might impact courses. There’s a worry that gender and ethnic study classes might be consolidated. “All we are looking for is transparency,” UT Junior and African Diaspora and Economics major Mikey Rush said. “We have an obligation to be at the table when decisions are made that affect us all. This silence has been intentional.”
UT Austin has not said whether it has plans to consolidate classes, but the UT system did announce in September it would be reviewing all gender studies courses at its 14 institutions to comply with state law and federal guidance. And in October, UT Austin announced a new core curriculum task force to review general education curriculum to comply with state law and federal guidance. President Jim Davis touched on academic integrity during his inauguration. “Some wonder if we’ve lost our way in how we teach,” Davis said. “We recognize that as a public university, we hold a position of public trust. And we recommit to our long-held and enduring values, that we teach with intellectual honesty. We honor the traditions of both academic freedom and academic responsibility. Year after year, Jacob Zaragoza has been by his family’s side for the small and big moments.Out of his 10 siblings, he’s someone they’ve looked up to. Now, a freshman at UT Austin, and the first in his family to go to college, he’s speaking up for the sake of those he loves most.“That’s why it’s so personal to me,” Zaragoza said. “Because it’s not just about my ability to do this. It’s about my younger siblings. I want them to have this luxury as well.” Zaragoza, a Mexican American, joined other Black and brown UT students on campus Monday to address concerns about whether UT will consolidate ethnic and gender studies. The university has still not said whether it’ll join the Trump compact deal, accepting federal funding in exchange for doubling down on no diversity, equity and inclusion practices, changing foreign admission policies and more.As the university constantly evolves, students said they feel left in the dark.“They’re hiding from us what’s actually happening,” a UT student said. Students told KXAN they’ve requested meetings, but have not been able to talk to UT Austin’s administration regarding its plans.
Read this article at KXAN - Subscribers Only
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New ‘Landman’ season gives oil, gas lobby a chance to promote itself
As Taylor Sheridan’s wildly popular West Texas oil drama, Landman, returned Sunday for its second season, the American Petroleum Institute also premiered new content: three 30-second ads featuring real workers in the oil patches. The TV show, which stars Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris, had more than 5 million viewers watch last year’s season premiere and broke streaming records. It also helped vault the modern oilfield into the pop culture spotlight. API president and CEO Mike Sommers told The Dallas Morning News that Landman, like other shows in Sheridan’s portfolio, is a reflection of the “current culture.” To be sure, the fossil fuels industry has its share of critics, particularly in an environmental movement motivated by climate change, and the imperative to shift away from oil and gas. But at least for now, “I think we are finally in a moment, a cultural moment, where people understand how important the oil and gas industry is,” Sommers said.
“There has been a lot of talk about the so-called ‘energy transition’ over the course of the last five years, but I think we’re finally at this point where people are starting to understand ‘energy reality,’ and that oil and gas are going to play a key role in our energy future for decades and decades to come," he added. More and more, politicians and leaders across the policy spectrum have called for an “all of the above” approach for meeting the world’s insatiable energy demand, as data centers and artificial intelligence surge and everyday life becomes increasingly digital. And rising numbers of Americans support offshore drilling and fracking today compared with five years ago, according to a Pew Research Center poll published in June. Just last week the International Energy Agency forecasted global oil production will increase through at least 2050. “I think people are understanding that the pie is getting bigger, and as the pie gets bigger there’s going to be a lot more new energy sources coming on, but the base is still going to come from the greatest industry in the world, the American oil and gas industry,” Sommer said. The show has also highlighted the “energy trilemma” of balancing conflicting goals of energy security, equity and environmental sustainability. Last year, API took out a seven-figure purchase of ads to run alongside the show in an effort to counter some negative depictions of the oil and gas industry.
Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only
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Former Alamo Trust CEO files federal lawsuit alleging first amendment violations
Former Alamo Trust President and CEO Kate Rogers has filed a federal lawsuit claiming she was fired for exercising her First Amendment rights. SAN ANTONIO - Former Alamo Trust President and CEO Kate Rogers has filed a federal lawsuit claiming she was fired for exercising her First Amendment rights. According to the lawsuit, Rogers alleges she was removed from her position in October 2025 after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick read her 2023 doctoral dissertation, which discussed her personal views on the Alamo’s role in unifying people by acknowledging differing historical interpretations. Rogers says the dissertation was written in her capacity as a private citizen.
The lawsuit claims Rogers was retaliated against again when she spoke to Texas Monthly about her termination and the importance of historical truth at the Alamo. After that interview, the filing states, the Alamo Trust and the Remember the Alamo Foundation revoked her severance offer. Rogers argues the organizations violated her constitutional rights by “silencing” her over viewpoints they disagreed with.
Read this article at News 4 SA - Subscribers Only
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A 370-mile powerline ‘superhighway’ sparks Hill Country outrage
As Jada Jo Smith wades into the clear water of the Sabinal River, she can see down to the stony base of the waterway, which is shaded by overhanging cypress trees. She’s spent countless summer days here, swimming alongside the Guadalupe bass and turtles as they navigate through the river grass. Her daughter, Viola, is growing up around the pristine waters. She recently celebrated her sixth birthday along the river, which is usually quiet save for the sounds of the trickling spring feeding it, humming insects and chirping birds. Many Texans have spent time here swimming, kayaking and fishing. The Hill Country the Sabinal runs through offers visitors an escape from the rapidly growing cities nearby, with a night sky still dark enough to view the Milky Way and a long history of ranches that have been in families for generations. Now, Smith says, one of the few parts of Texas still untouched by development is in danger.
Soon, a 370-mile-long swath of the Hill Country stretching from San Antonio to Fort Stockton could be sliced by a massive electric transmission line. Though the precise route of the 765-kilovolt line has yet to be determined, it would potentially cut through 14 counties including Uvalde, which includes the tiny town of Utopia. “It’s so important to save the uniqueness of it, the rawness of it,” Smith said. “Once it’s gone, you can never get it back.” The transmission line is a project of CPS Energy and American Electric Power. Known as the Howard-Solstice Transmission Line, it’s just the first step in what state officials say is a larger plan to improve grid reliability and transmission efficiency, with the immediate focus now on getting more electricity to the Permian Basin. Hill Country residents have been told the 160-foot towers carrying the highest-voltage lines ever seen in Texas are necessary to meet the state’s booming energy demand. But they’re questioning why pristine land and rivers must be sacrificed in the process. The headwaters of another Hill Country waterway, the West Nueces River, are the site of a ranch that’s been in Ted Flato’s family for nearly a century. The San Antonio architect’s father married into the ranch family and Flato said he and his dad learned together about fishing on the clear stream. Now, another generation — Flato’s daughter — lives on the property. So, when he heard about the power line project, he was concerned.
Read this article at San Antonio Express-News - Subscribers Only
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Fort Worth ISD’s new guidelines ask teachers to work from rigid scripts
In the weeks leading up to the announcement that the Texas Education Agency is taking over the Fort Worth Independent School District, parents and community members worried the district would roll out the same kinds of tightly scripted lessons leaders in Houston ISD implemented during a similar takeover there. But Fort Worth ISD is already using scripted lessons in many subject areas, district officials told the Star-Telegram. District leaders developed a series of lessons over the summer and rolled them out at the beginning of the current school year. Fort Worth ISD officials say the move is designed to relieve overburdened teachers of some of their responsibilities, allowing them more time to focus on students. But some teachers say the change strips them of autonomy and doesn’t allow them the flexibility to give students the personalized instruction they need.
The new scripted lessons are a part of Fort Worth ISD’s new instructional framework. Each lesson includes a slide show presentation and a script teachers are expected to follow. The script is detailed, teachers told the Star-Telegram — it outlines words teachers are expected to emphasize and time markers they’re expected to meet. At the end of each lesson, students take a short quiz that’s intended to gauge whether they understood the material. The framework includes a second script for teachers to follow to re-teach the lessons to students who don’t pass the quiz. MJ Bowman, Fort Worth ISD’s executive director for literacy, said the district began developing scripted lessons over the summer, after Superintendent Karen Molinar asked district leaders to find a way to take the responsibility of writing lesson plans off of teachers’ plates. Especially in elementary schools, where teachers get one planning period per day, it’s important that central office leaders do everything they can to help teachers maximize their time, she said. Kim Axtell, the district’s director for mathematics, said the re-teach portion of each lesson is designed to give students a second look at material they didn’t understand the first time. In addition to the re-teach session, each instructional block includes 20 minutes for teachers to give targeted support to students who need extra help, she said.
Read this article at Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Subscribers Only
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Election date set for North Texas Senate District 9 runoff
The runoff election to fill North Texas’ Senate District 9 is set for Jan. 31, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office announced Monday. Democrat Taylor Rehmet and Republican Leigh Wambsganss advanced to the runnoff to fill the North Texas district following a Nov. 4 special election. The seat is vacant after former Sen. Kelly Hancock, a North Richland Hills Republican, left for the Texas Comptroller’s office, where he currently serves as acting comptroller. Early voting starts Jan. 21 and runs through Jan. 27. Rehmet, a union leader and aircraft mechanic, was the top vote getter in the first round of voting, winning nearly 48% of the votes in the district, despite its being a historically Republican seat. Wambsganss, Patriot Mobile’s chief communication officer, got the second most votes— about 36%. Former Southlake Mayor John Huffman did not advance to the runoff. The Tarrant County district includes much of Northwest Tarrant County, including part of Fort Worth and suburban communities like Southlake, Keller and North Richland Hills.
Read this article at Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Subscribers Only
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Media blitz opposes removal of LGBTQ protections in Arlington
Thousands of mailers, social media posts and television commercials are pushing the city of Arlington to restore its anti-discrimination ordinance and questioning City Council members’ values. The media campaign, called Arlington Strikes Out, wants council members to keep LGBTQ protections after they overhauled programs and ordinances to protect the city’s $65 million in federal funding. DeeJay Johannessen, the CEO of HELP Center for LGBTQ Health, said the campaign is a direct response to a lack of action to protect LGBTQ residents. “The discomfort they are having is that, for the first time in Arlington’s history, the LGBTQ+ community has the resources to have this discussion in the public square,” Johannessen said. “It’s not about getting 250 people to show up at a City Council meeting. It’s about being in tens of thousands of living rooms telling people exactly what’s going on.”
The campaign was paid for by the HELP Center for LGBTQ Health. Johannessen declined to say how much money the organization spent on the ads. The HELP Center, or Health Education Learning Project, is a Fort Worth-based nonprofit focused on providing preventative resources for HIV, AIDS and STDs. Alongside the organization’s resource work, it also advocates for LGBTQ rights. Johannessen was one of the initial proponents of an anti-discrimination ordinance in Arlington. In 2021, then-Mayor Jeff Williams and Arlington City Council unanimously adopted the anti-discrimination ordinance. Ahead of that vote, Johannessen urged council members to adopt the measure. “This ordinance will not magically make discrimination disappear in Arlington, but what it will do is, for the very first time in our city’s history, put down in writing that in Arlington, Texas, the American Dream City, discrimination is not OK,” Johannessen said at the time. Williams’ involvement in passing the ordinance was the subject of one mailer that ended up in Arlington mailboxes over the weekend. The front of the flyer reads: “Former Mayor Jeff Williams championed the inclusion of sexual orientation.”
Read this article at Arlington Report - Subscribers Only
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Gov. Greg Abbott sets special election runoff date for Texas' 18th Congressional District
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee and former city council member Amanda Edwards will compete in a runoff election to represent Houston's 18th Congressional District on Jan. 31. Early voting will begin Jan. 21. Gov. Greg Abbott announced the date on Monday. The winner of the special election will finish out the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner's term representing an an area that includes downtown, the Greater Fifth Ward, Acres Homes and the area around George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
?Menefee and Edwards finished first and second in a 16-candidate field on Nov. 4, but were sent into a runoff because neither won 50% of the vote. ?The timing means Edwards and Menefee will have to run two elections at the same time. As they battle in the runoff, vote by mail for the March Democratic primary will be underway to represent the 18th Congressional District for a full two-year term starting in 2027. ?The late January runoff date means the 18th Congressional District will have gone more than 330 days without any representation in the U.S. House. Turner died on March 5, but Abbott refused to set a special election until Nov. 4. ?Abbott said he delayed the election because Harris County has a history of election management issues and he wanted to give them extra time to prepare. ?But politically, the move has been a big help to President Donald Trump. Without a replacement for Turner, Trump’s big spending and tax cut package in the summer passed the House by one vote.
Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only
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De La Cruz: UTRGV should not be stripped of funding
U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz has broken with President Trump over funding for Hispanic Serving Institutions. The Edinburg Republican disagrees with a recent decision by the U.S. Department of Education to rescind $350 million in funding from Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). UT-Rio Grande Valley is one of the HSIs affected. De La Cruz outlined her opposition to the decision in a letter sent to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon. It was co-penned by five of her colleagues in the Congressional Hispanic Conference, the only caucus of Hispanic Republican lawmakers in Congress. “As Hispanic Republicans, we firmly believe in upholding fiscal responsibility and have been strong proponents of supporting evidence and merit-based rationale over radical DEI policies as it relates to federal funding decisions.
“While we understand the Department raised constitutional concerns that HSI programs may violate the equal-protection component of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause “by conferring benefits exclusively to institutions that meet racial or ethnic quotas”, this reasoning overlooks the reality of most HSIs. “These institutions do not artificially seek to meet quotas to obtain federal funds; rather, they serve the communities in which they are located.” By way of example, the letter points out that UTRGV serves a population that is 91 percent Hispanic. The other five members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference to write to Mahon were Reps. Tony Gonzales, David Valadao, Juan Ciscomani, Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez. They said they were particularly concerned about suspension of the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (Title III, Part E), the Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (Title V, Part A), and the Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans Program (Title V, Part B). “Given the extraordinary value of these programs in strengthening America’s workforce and serving the very communities that have helped sustain our Republican majority, we respectfully urge you to reconsider this decision and ensure continued support for these vital programs,” the members of Congress wrote. The letter says UTRGV is doing great work in strengthening the nation’s health workforce.
Read this article at Rio Grande Guardian - Subscribers Only
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Texas raid targeting Tren de Aragua gang leads to arrest of 140 illegal immigrants
A raid at a sex and human trafficking operation in San Antonio operated by members of Tren de Aragua gang (TdA) resulted in at least 140 illegal immigrants being arrested, authorities said Monday. The raid was part of a joint operation between the Texas Department of Public Safety and federal and local authorities, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott said. On Monday, a regional Homeland Security Task Force was created to combat transnational criminal organizations. The aim of the task force is to dismantle drug cartels, foreign terrorist organizations, and criminal networks responsible for crimes like human trafficking, drug smuggling, and money laundering. Sunday’s raid was part of President Donald Trump’s executive order issued on Jan. 20 targeting transnational criminal organizations.
More than 140 illegal immigrants from Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico and other South American countries were taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The raid involved multiple federal agencies. “The Homeland Security Task Force enables the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to bring its sophisticated investigative techniques to the table, which have been instrumental in capturing the most violent drug trafficking organizations in the United States and worldwide,” said the Houston Field Division Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen. “We look forward to working hand in hand with our federal and state counterparts in bringing down drug traffickers pumping poison into our neighborhoods and devastating our communities,” he added. US Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, whose brother served as mayor of San Antonio, said he has asked the Justice Department and local agencies for more information on the raid. He claimed that raids conducted elsewhere have seen US citizens and immigrants with no criminal record arrested. Meanwhile, in Houston, ICE arrested 3,500 criminal illegal aliens, including child predators and murderers, during the 43-day government shutdown. The suspects taken into custody include 13 people convicted of murder, 51 child predators, 67 sex offenders and 23 gang members, including an MS-13 gang member charged with a triple homicide in Dallas, authorities said.
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Leader of Dallas’ largest police union placed on leave in internal affairs probe
Jaime Castro, a longtime officer who leads the Dallas Police Association, the city’s largest and oldest police union, was placed on administrative leave Friday while the department conducts an internal affairs investigation. The exact nature of the investigation was unclear Monday. Responding to a list of questions from The Dallas Morning News, a police spokesperson said no further information would be provided to “protect the integrity of the process.” “The Dallas Police Department expects every member of the organization to uphold the highest standards of integrity, professionalism and accountability,” Chief Daniel Comeaux said in a statement through the spokesperson. “Any allegation of misconduct is taken seriously and investigated thoroughly and fairly.” Castro did not immediately return messages seeking comment Monday. His attorney, John Snider, also did not return messages.
Castro, 52, joined the department in 1998. He holds the rank of senior corporal and is assigned to the department’s alarm unit, which is housed in the office of the police chief. Association members elected Castro president in January 2024, succeeding Mike Mata, who held the job for six years. Before then, Castro had served on the union’s executive board since 2016. As president, Castro has been a prominent voice for rank-and-file officers. He is a common fixture in debates around City Hall’s public safety obligations, particularly in the lead-up to a vote last November on a charter amendment to overhaul the Dallas Police Department. Voters overwhelmingly supported the measure, which requires Dallas to maintain a 4,000-officer force, devote half of new annual revenue to pensions and public safety, and ensure the department’s starting pay is competitive in North Texas.
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Mayor John Whitmire sets new date for annual State of the City address following hotel strike
Mayor John Whitmire will give his long-awaited State of the City address on the Houston's future on Feb. 12 after a postponement due to striking workers at Hilton-Americas, the event's venue. The State of the City event was originally set for Sept. 25. It is held every year at around the same time of year, and is jointly hosted by Houston First and the Greater Houston Partnership at the Hilton-Americas hotel in downtown Houston. But after workers at the hotel went on strike, Whitmire opted to postpone his remarks until they struck a deal.
Hotel workers were pressing for a $23 minimum wage, safety improvements and more consistent working hours. After a 40-day strike, the workers ended up with a contract that promised $20 minimum wages. They also secured safety improvements and reduced workloads. In a post on X, Whitmire's office said the mayor is expected to provide updates on quality of life issues, public safety and infrastructure at the sold-out event.
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National Stories
Saudi crown prince returns to U.S. for first time after diplomatic isolation
Whether viewed as a visionary reformist or a murderous despot, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, will be taking a huge step toward rejoining the international community when he meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Bin Salman, 40, became an international pariah after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a fierce critic of his government, in 2018, though Trump defended the Saudi government even after the CIA concluded that the crown prince himself ordered the killing. Then-President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2022 and controversially fist-bumped bin Salman, an image that went viral, at a time when most leaders had shunned the crown prince. Bin Salman said in 2019 that he took “full responsibility” for the Khashoggi killing since it happened on his watch, but denied ordering it.
But it is bin Salman’s trip Tuesday, his first during Trump’s second term, that will be seen more broadly as a move toward acceptance back into the diplomatic fold. “He’s a different kind of figure now. Obviously, the questions about the manner of his rule and internal repression, those things haven’t gone away. But he’s a changed figure; it’s a changed moment. And, I think, important symbolically in that sense,” said Michael Wahid Hanna, the U.S. program director at the International Crisis Group, a global nonprofit organization based in Brussels that works to prevent conflicts. He added: “He’s central to what this administration wants to do in the region.” Trump and bin Salman are expected to sign economic and defense agreements, a White House official told NBC News. Even before bin Salman had set foot in the United States, Trump confirmed at an Oval Office event Monday that he would be willing to sign off on the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to the kingdom, a contentious move that could shift the balance of power in the Middle East, where Israel has been the primary recipient of America’s cutting-edge military technology.
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Larry Summers stepping back from ‘public commitments’ over Epstein emails
Former Democratic treasury secretary Larry Summers is “deeply ashamed” of his years-long communication with Jeffrey Epstein and will be “stepping back from public commitments,” he said in a statement Monday night. “I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” Summers said. “I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein. While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.” The House Oversight Committee released a new trove of documents Wednesday highlighting Epstein’s extensive ties to world leaders, politicians and other close confidants. Much focus went to Epstein’s talk of Donald Trump. But the messages also ensnared a broader web of powerful friends, Summers among them.
After Summers’ statement, a growing number of boards and think tanks said they no longer had relationships with him. Summers was set to have a leading role in the rollout of a set of economic proposals from the left-leaning think tank the Center for American Progress. But the formal launch of that working group was put on hold as Summers continued to draw scrutiny. In a statement Monday, a CAP spokesperson said Summers was no longer a fellow at the think tank. A spokesperson for the Yale Budget Lab also said Summers had withdrawn from its advisory group. A former president of Harvard University, Summers still holds a professorship there. The school did not respond to a request for comment Monday. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), an emerita professor at Harvard, told CNN on Monday that the university should sever ties with Summers. Summers holds affiliations with a number of prominent liberal economic policy groups. He remains a member of the Hamilton Project Advisory Council at the Brookings Institution, a spokesperson said Monday. He is also the board chair of the Center for Global Development and vice chairman of the board of directors at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Representatives from those groups did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump are at war. What’s her endgame?
It’s hard to miss Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s office in the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill thanks to the enormous sign out front declaring, “There are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE.” Behind a pair of walnut doors, a photo of Donald Trump, fist in the air and blood smeared across his face, sits on a secretary’s desk. A “Gulf of America” hat rests on a table nearby. All this unsubtle iconography might dispel the perception, which has echoed around Washington and beyond lately, that the Georgia congresswoman has changed. It’s hard to escape the question these days: What’s going on with Marjorie Taylor Greene? The woman known for wearing a red “Trump Was Right About Everything!” hat to the president’s March address to Congress has been openly challenging the Trump administration on everything from the Epstein files to the war in Gaza. She’s appeared for a chummy confab on The View, and clips of her speaking empathetically about Americans not being able to afford health care are going viral. In an appearance on CNN over the weekend, Greene apologized for taking part in “toxic politics.” The rift exploded on Friday night, as Trump attacked Greene on Truth Social. “I am withdrawing my support and Endorsement of ‘Congresswoman’ Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the Great State of Georgia,” he wrote.
On Saturday morning, Trump bestowed upon Greene his ultimate token of disrespect: an insulting nickname. “Lightweight Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Brown (Green grass turns Brown when it begins to ROT!),” he wrote in one post, which was quickly followed up by another featuring a marginally improved alternative: “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Green.” Trump, who called Greene “Wacky,” “Fake,” “a disgrace,” a “RINO,” and a “ranting Lunatic” in his various posts, said if the “right person” were to challenge her in a primary, he’d pledge his “Unyielding” support. Greene is up for reelection in 2026. Her campaign has raised $1.9 million as of September, according to the Federal Election Commission, and her closest Republican challenger is a woman by the name of Star Black, who has $78,000 cash on hand and four followers on TikTok. “It’s astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level,” Greene wrote on X. In a post Sunday night, Greene said Trump’s “unwarranted and vicious attacks against me were a dog whistle to dangerous radicals that could lead to serious attacks on me and my family.” Since her ascension to Congress, Greene has fashioned herself as Trump’s most loyal foot soldier on Capitol Hill. She even looks a little like Trump; her hair is dyed platinum blond, and makeup covers her face in a cloak of ocher. Her smile, which comes easily, is the same perfect white as the vinyl trim her family’s construction business puts on the outside of homes across Georgia. Most Popular Olivia Nuzzi's American Canto: Read the Exclusive Excerpt News Olivia Nuzzi's American Canto: Read the Exclusive Excerpt By Olivia Nuzzi Timothée Chalamet and Adam Sandler Unite for Vanity Fair Scene Selection Live Hollywood Timothée Chalamet and Adam Sandler Unite for Vanity Fair Scene Selection Live By John Ross Inside the $700 Million Art Trove to Be Sold at Christie’s&-and That’s Not Counting the Secret Room Style Inside the $700 Million Art Trove to Be Sold at Christie’s—and That’s Not Counting the Secret Room By Nate Freeman On the day we met last week for an interview at her office, she wore nude pumps, black pleather pants, and a blue velvet blazer. From her neck dangled a crucifix; on her wrist, an iced-out paperclip bracelet. As I sank into a chesterfield sofa in the sitting room of Greene’s office, the president and his top officials were reportedly pressuring several House Republicans to kill a discharge petition compelling the release of further Epstein files. Greene, they had apparently determined, was a lost cause. That morning, Congress released thousands of documents from Epstein’s estate, several of which revealed shocking insights into the president and the disgraced financier’s relationship. Trump publicly urged Republicans to move on from the issue, calling it a “Hoax.” At a briefing last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the revived controversy “truly a manufactured hoax by the Democrat Party.” Greene had a distinctly different take. “If the cover-up continues, protecting rich, powerful people continues, we’re sending the scariest message to any victim—that no one will fight for you,” she told me.
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Democratic Lieutenant Governors want to be their party’s future
As Democrats continue to look around for a way out of the political wilderness, a group representing the nation’s seconds-in-command is suggesting primary voters consider making 2026 the Year of the Lieutenant Governor. “The LGs are a uniquely dynamic, diverse group of individuals and we should be the leaders that folks are elevating,” Austin Davis, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania and chair of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association, told NOTUS in a recent interview. “We’re in a moment when the Democratic Party is looking for leadership who aren’t just going to go to Washington or go to their state capitals and be part of the problem, but who are going to be part of the solution.” His candidates, Davis said, his fellow LGs, “are very exciting folks.” The DLGA just came back into being recently after years of dormancy. Like the official campaign arms for Democratic governors, senators and House members, it recruits new candidats and tries to grow the number of lieutenant governor seats held by Democrats. But unlike those groups, the DLGA is actively helping lieutenant governors run for different offices in open Democratic primaries.
The 2026 cycle will be the first major push for this plan, though the group spent some money on races in 2024. The “open primaries” distinction is incredibly important to the project, sources close to the DLGA said. When Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado of New York announced his intention to primary a fellow Democrat, Gov. Kathy Hochul, the DLGA pointedly said it was staying out. “We will offer our support only to Lt. Governors seeking higher office in open primaries,” the group said in a statement. The DLGA’s political operation expects to spend large sums backing candidates in high-profile primary campaigns like that of Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, running for the open Senate seat in Minnesota, and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, running in the open Senate primary in Illinois. The group is also spending money in high-profile gubernatorial open primaries like the one in Michigan, where Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist is running to replace the term-limited Gretchen Whitmer. The DLGA has also formally endorsed Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis in the open California gubernatorial primary (though Kounalakis has reportedly intimated she’d drop her bid if Kamala Harris enters the race, as many expect). A source at the DLGA said the group has already maxed out in hard money contributions to Flanagan, Stratton, Gilchrist and Kounalakis. The bulk of the support the open primary candidates get will come from an independent expenditure group. It’s too early to know exactly how big that total will be, but the expectation is seven figures of political spending in each targeted race.
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National Republicans send deceptive text to ‘confuse and intimidate’ Missouri voters
Political text messages are a dime a dozen, helping campaigns and political action committees (PACs) raise funds, promote candidates, or denigrate their opponents. But few go as hard as an intimidating message urging Missouri voters to remove their names from an anti-gerrymandering petition “before it’s too late.” The manipulative text, sent out last week, is just the latest tactic Republicans are using in their madcap effort to prevent Missourians from putting the GOP’s gerrymander plans to a statewide referendum. And unlike many such political texts, this one came directly from the national Republican Party. Referendum supporters are calling it a “blatant attempt to confuse and intimidate voters.”
“Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has declared TENS OF THOUSANDS of petition signatures IMPROPERLY COLLECTED. Did you accidentally sign this? Text back or call 417-612-9044 to withdraw your signature before it’s too late,” the message reads. It came to public attention after Elad Gross, a former Democratic candidate for Missouri Attorney General, received the text and published a screenshot on Facebook. Soon, other Missourians responded saying they had also received it. The ad was paid for by the Republican National Committee (RNC), according to a disclosure accompanying the text. Missouri is one of three states that moved to gerrymander its congressional map this year solely at the behest of President Donald Trump, who is demanding GOP-controlled states redraw to win more Republican seats in 2026. But unlike in Texas and North Carolina, the Missouri Constitution gives voters the power to stop the gerrymander by collecting signatures and putting a veto referendum on the ballot. To do that, People Not Politicians, the advocacy group leading the referendum effort, must gather over 106,000 signatures within 90 days after the state legislature’s special session on redistricting adjourned. That deadline is coming up on Dec. 11.
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Judge scolds Justice Department for 'profound investigative missteps' in Comey case
The Justice Department engaged in a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” in the process of securing an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, a federal judge ruled Monday in directing prosecutors to provide defense lawyers with all grand jury materials from the case. Those problems, wrote Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, include “fundamental misstatements of the law” by a prosecutor to the grand jury that indicted Comey in September, the use of potentially privileged communications during the investigation and unexplained irregularities in the transcript of the grand jury proceedings. “The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”
The 24-page opinion is the most blistering assessment yet by a judge of the Justice Department’s actions leading up to the Comey indictment. It underscores how procedural missteps and prosecutorial inexperience have combined to imperil the prosecution pushed by President Donald Trump for reasons separate and apart from the substance of the disputed allegations against Comey. The Comey case and a separate prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James have hastened concerns that the Justice Department is being weaponized in pursuit of Trump’s political opponents. Both defendants have filed multiple motions to dismiss the cases against them before trial, arguing that the prosecutions are improperly vindictive and that the prosecutor who filed the charges, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed. A different judge is expected to decide by Thanksgiving on the challenges by Comey and James to Halligan’s appointment. Though grand jury proceedings are presumptively secret, Comey’s lawyers had sought records from the process out of concern that irregularities may have tainted the case. The sole prosecutor who defense lawyers say presented the case to the grand jury was Halligan, a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience who was appointed just days before the indictment to the job of interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. In his order Monday, Fitzpatrick said that after reviewing the grand jury transcript himself, he had come away deeply concerned about the integrity of the case.
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Faith-based institutions navigate Trump’s higher ed policy changes
Leaders of faith-based colleges and universities have spoken out on a slew of political issues in recent months, sometimes standing alongside secular universities and at other times differentiating themselves and defending their unique standing and missions. The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities signed on to an October statement from the American Council on Education opposing the administration’s higher education compact, for example. Over the summer, CCCU also came out with a statement on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that echoed those of secular associations and institutions, expressing concern that “it ultimately falls short in supporting student access and success.” ACE’s Commission on Faith-Based Colleges and Universities was among the higher ed groups that lobbied hard against Pell Grant cuts, later dropped from the bill. At the same time, the University of Notre Dame and other faith-based institutions fought for an exemption for religious institutions from the higher education endowment tax, ultimately left out of the legislation’s final version.
Like their secular peers, faith-based colleges and universities have been buffeted by the rapid-fire policy changes roiling higher ed this year. Some leaders of religious colleges say their institutions are enjoying renewed support that they hope sets a precedent for future policymakers across party lines. At the same time, some advocates fear religious colleges—and their missions—are suffering collateral damage in Trump’s war against highly selective universities, and they’re making careful decisions about when and how to speak out. “I knew change would be coming,” said David Hoag, president of CCCU, “but I never expected the pace to be this fast.” Under any administration, CCCU’s job is to “make it possible for our institutions to achieve their missions,” Hoag said. But some recent policy changes pose an obstacle to that. Christian colleges—which tend to be small, enrolling about 2,500 students on average—can’t afford to join Trump’s proposed compact for higher ed, he said. He believes some of the compact’s demands, such as freezing tuition for five years, are a tall order with campus expenses on the rise. He also opposes the compact’s standardized test mandate when so many Christian colleges offer broad access, and he’s concerned by the possibility that government could have some control over curriculum, though he said the compact was unclear on that score. “On the curriculum side, most of our institutions are conservative. We have a solid Christian mission,” Hoag said. “I’m fine with civics being a part of some of the work that we do, but it, to me, starts to … step over academic freedom.” Christian colleges are also balking at the new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, which these institutions use to bring in visiting professors from other countries.
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If Democrats regain the White House, Trump's ballroom could be an early casualty
The East Wing that President Donald Trump tore down last month stood for decades. The ballroom he’s building in its place could be gone not long after the first wave of guests sit down for dinner, depending on the outcome of the 2028 presidential race. If elected, a Democratic president would have plenty to worry about aside from White House decor; war and peace can easily fill up a day. But a new president may face considerable pressure from within the Democratic fold to do something about a massive new ballroom forever linked to Trump. Already, prominent Democratic officials are workshopping ideas for repurposing the space in favor of something that’s decidedly un-Trump. If any of these come to fruition, the $300 million ballroom that Trump birthed could take on a function that he never intended.
Should the ballroom be used as the president plans? “No way,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who said he will consider a presidential bid if Democrats gain control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections. “This is a space that’s owned by the people and that serves the people,” Raskin said in an interview. “So, it should be used opposite of what Trump has in mind, which is for the American aristocracy and plutocracy to gather.” Rep. Ro Khanna of California, another Democrat viewed as a possible presidential candidate, said the ballroom should be used in a way that “celebrates and empowers forgotten Americans” as opposed to accommodating guests for glitzy state dinners. Letting the 90,000-square-foot structure remain a ballroom would only validate the means by which Trump built it: demolishing the East Wing without forewarning and bankrolling the project with private donations, Democratic officials suggested.
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Newsclips - November 17, 2025 |
Lead Stories
Texas’ top voucher vendor taps Abbott allies in contract bid, program rollout
Even before the Texas Legislature finally passed its private school voucher bill earlier this year, the race was on among the handful of firms in the burgeoning voucher vendor sector to win the lucrative contract to launch and administer what will be the largest program of its kind in the nation. That race is now over as the Texas Comptroller last month awarded the job to a New York firm called Odyssey. In winning the bid, and in its plans to ramp up the program, Odyssey cultivated close ties to the political world of Governor Greg Abbott. One of the top outfits in the voucher vendor game, Odyssey is backed with major venture capitalist investments. As the Texas Observer previously reported, Odyssey and others pushed hard to win the Texas contract, essentially the industry’s holy grail.
Awarding the contract to the private administrator of the program—known as a certified educational assistance organization (CEAO)—marks a key milestone in the voucher rollout as the comptroller delegates control of almost every facet of the program, from handling applications and approvals for students to accepting the private schools and other vendors eligible to participate, plus controlling the flow of state money to and fro. Odyssey will also be in charge of the marketing and PR involved with promoting and defending the program, which the state has dubbed “Texas Education Freedom Accounts.”” Voucher funds will be eligible to be used not only for participating private schools’ tuition and homeschooling but also for tutoring services and an array of other educational materials. Abbott staked much of his hard-earned political capital, and campaign cash, on getting the school voucher program over the finish line. In the 2024 Republican primaries, he used his political war chest to oust several anti-voucher incumbents who’d previously blocked passage in the Texas House. This effort was aided by a record $6 million in campaign contributions from Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvania billionaire and voucher advocate. During the legislative session, Odyssey tapped lobbyist Luis Saenz, who was previously Abbott’s longtime chief of staff, to work on its behalf as the governor worked to pass the bill (It also made Daniel Warner, ex-Speaker Dade Phelan’s education policy advisor, its state director.)
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In shift, Trump says House should vote to release Epstein files
In a sharp reversal, President Donald Trump said late Sunday that House Republicans should support a measure that would require the Justice Department to release the information it has related to its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — after key lawmakers said support was building ahead of a closely watched vote. Trump, who has resisted backing such a measure for weeks, said on social media that he believes Republican lawmakers “should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide.” “Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and, if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it” before the 2024 election, Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social, urging Republican lawmakers to focus on the economy instead. Before Trump’s post, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), who introduced the legislation with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California), suggested that “100 or more” House Republicans could vote in favor of releasing the Epstein files this week despite opposition from Trump. Early resistance from Republican leaders led the two to press for a discharge petition to compel a vote on the matter.
“We could have a deluge of Republicans,” Massie said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “I’m hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote.” Several Epstein survivors have been increasing the pressure campaign on lawmakers. A group released a video Sunday night through the organization World Without Exploitation to urge people to call their lawmakers to back the vote to release more files. Khanna said House members who have been backing the release of more documents are planning to hold a news conference Tuesday at the Capitol with survivors. The lawmakers are also asking Trump to meet with the women. Until Sunday, the president had been ramping up pressure against the measure, even urging the four Republicans who had signed the discharge petition to remove their names. Trump still insisted that the focus on the Epstein files was a “hoax” promoted by Democrats, but he said Sunday night that the push to release more documents was distracting the party. “All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT,” he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday night. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who controls which bills are brought to the floor, had resisted bringing the measure to a vote after it was introduced in July. But after the discharge petition obtained enough signatures last week to compel a vote, he said he is ready to put it before House lawmakers.
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Senate Republicans get more aggressive in defending John Cornyn in Texas
Tightening polls in North Carolina, Ohio and Maine have U.S. Senate Republicans starting to sweat more over the prospect of Texas falling into Democratic hands and the GOP losing its majority. ?Republicans currently have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning Democrats need four seats to flip the chamber, potentially roadblocking every future judicial or cabinet nomination from President Donald Trump in his final two years in office. Last week's election results, where Democrats stomped Republicans in purple states like Virginia, is only adding to the concern. ?Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., clearly knows the math and is taking a more hands-on approach in Texas. He put out an endorsement and fundraising letter for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn this week, stressing how vital the seat is for Republicans in making sure they hold the majority. ?“The Left has made Texas their top target,” Thune said in a fundraising email supporting Cornyn. “They know if they can defeat John, they flip the Senate, and stop President Trump’s agenda cold.”
?He followed that with a pair of campaign stops in Dallas and Houston this week in support of Cornyn. ?Cornyn is battling against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt in a tight primary. Some polling shows that if Paxton wins the primary, Democrats will have a better chance of flipping the seat with either former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred or state Rep. James Talarico, who are vying for the Democratic nomination. Many of those same polls also show Paxton leading in the GOP primary. ?Cornyn’s supporters have warned Republicans that if Paxton becomes the nominee, they will have to spend big in Texas to hold the seat against either Talarico or Allred. In a state with 20 media markets, $2 million goes really fast during a campaign. Plus, any money shoveled into Texas to defend the seat is not going to places like Maine and North Carolina, which are in greater danger of flipping to Democrats. "With the stakes as high as they are in the 2026 midterms, President Trump won't need to worry about Texas if John Cornyn is the GOP nominee," said Matt Mackowiak, a senior advisor to Cornyn's campaign.
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Homeland Security missions falter amid focus on deportations
The Department of Homeland Security has diverted thousands of federal agents from their normal duties to focus on arresting undocumented immigrants, undermining a wide range of law enforcement operations in response to mounting pressure from President Trump, a New York Times investigation has found. Homeland security agents investigating sexual crimes against children, for instance, have been redeployed to the immigrant crackdown for weeks at a time, hampering their pursuit of child predators. A national security probe into the black market for Iranian oil sold to finance terrorism has been slowed down for months because of the shift to immigration work, allowing tanker ships and money to disappear. And federal efforts to combat human smuggling and sex trafficking have languished with investigators reassigned to help staff deportation efforts.
The changes have extended deep into D.H.S.’s public-safety mission, as the Coast Guard has diverted aircraft to transport immigrants between detention centers and the department’s law enforcement academy has delayed training for many agencies to prioritize new immigration officers. The Times investigation is based on previously undisclosed internal documents from D.H.S. — including statistical reports about department workloads, search warrants and arrests — obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The Times also spoke with more than 65 officials who have worked in the federal government during the current Trump administration, in addition to local authorities and others who collaborate with the department. Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters and out of fear of retribution. The overhaul represents a striking departure for the behemoth agency that Congress created in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Homeland Security Department was tasked with preventing terrorism, protecting the president, investigating transnational crime and responding to natural disasters, among other duties. Immigration enforcement was one of many responsibilities, but it was not envisioned as D.H.S.’s singular function. Today, the Trump administration has remade the agency into a veritable Department of Deportation.
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State Stories
Texas Senate braces for one of its biggest shake-ups in years
The Texas Senate is in the midst of a major transition. There are currently two vacancies, and by the time the 2026 elections are complete, at least five of the 31 senators who served in this year's legislative session will have gone on to other roles or retirements. Five newcomers are expected to take their places by January 2027. But wait, as they say in the infomercials, there's more. Two senators who aren’t up for election this cycle have announced plans to run for Texas attorney general. Another plans to run for Congress, and can do so without leaving the Senate. If one of the attorney general candidates and the congressional hopeful both win, that would mean seven freshmen senators next session — more if any of the incumbents on next year's ballot lose their bids for reelection. And those freshman would join a body that has welcomed seven new members since 2023. That would mean nearly half of the upper chamber would still be climbing the legislative learning curve.
For the past half-century, the Senate has been a fairly stable institution. Most sessions start with two or three freshmen, but rarely more than that. Who better to offer perspective on how the Texas Senate evolves than Patsy Spaw, who since 2001 has been the secretary of the Senate, which means she's the top of the Senate staff hierarchy. For 20 years before that, she was a management-level employee, a status she reached after a decade as a rank-and-file staffer in the chamber. Spaw, drawing on her half-century of institutional knowledge with help from researchers in the Texas Reference Library on the Capitol's second floor, was nice enough to compile a highlights reel of turnover trends in the Senate. She found that the biggest freshman class in the modern era of Texas politics came in 1973, when 16 of the 31 members were new, driven by a voter “throw the bums out” mood after what became known as the Sharpstown stock fraud scandal — a web of self-dealing and financial misconduct involving several lawmakers and other elected officials. Half of the House membership also consisted of freshmen. Looking back to 1876, when Reconstruction was ending and the current Texas Constitution was ratified, voters sent 27 wet-behind-the-ears senators to Austin.
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Rollins: SNAP participants to reapply for benefits to show "they are vulnerable and they can’t survive without it.”
The Trump administration will require millions of low-income people to reapply for food stamps as part of an effort to crack down on “fraud,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said. Rollins told Newsmax on Thursday that she plans to “have everyone reapply for their benefits, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through ... food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable and they can’t survive without it.” She did not provide further information on when or how people would need to reapply. Her comment comes after funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ran out of federal funding during the government shutdown, leading many conservative pundits and even President Donald Trump to criticize just how much the government spends on food stamps. SNAP, which serves nearly 42 million Americans, cost roughly $100 billion in fiscal year 2024.
SNAP fraud can occur when participants intentionally lie about their qualifications for the program, retailers exchange benefits for cash or criminals skim EBT cards for benefits, per USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. But anti-hunger groups say there’s not nearly as much fraud as the Trump administration alleges and note that SNAP only issues about $6 a day in benefits to the average participant. State SNAP administrators already require participants to recertify their information as often as every six months, and families that receive benefits are expected to keep their work history, income and other personal information up to date. USDA did not immediately respond to a request to clarify a timeline for Rollins’ new plan or how it differs from current state-level requirements for participants to reapply for the program. Rollins has teased an announcement of a new plan to overhaul the program in the coming weeks. She has already directed states to turn in sensitive data on SNAP participants, including their Social Security numbers — though that effort is currently being challenged in court.
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'Antivirus for libraries': How a Texas startup is capitalizing on book bans
As school administrators scramble to comply with a sweeping new state ban on controversial library books, a North Texas startup is selling a solution. The company, Bookmarked, has pitched itself as an “antivirus for libraries,” offering to flag potentially problematic material from thousands of titles and give parents direct insight into their children’s reading choices. “We give your team the data and transparency they need, so librarians, teachers, and board members can act from a place of clarity rather than fear,” reads a marketing email the company sent to Leander Independent School District last month.
Bookmarked’s business model has boomed in the wake of the new law, Senate Bill 13, which Republican advocates pushed as a means to shield students from harmful content, which has included many classic titles and some books with LGBTQ content. At least 130 Texas school districts have hired the company, agreeing to pay more than $600,000 in total for the service, according to records obtained by Hearst Newspapers. The company is among the fastest-growing private vendors to target SB 13 and other book censorship laws, and has been praised by the law’s author, state Sen. Angela Paxton. It has hired the powerful Texas lobbying firm Moak Casey to connect it with potential customers. Bookmarked’s co-founder Steve Wandler, who advocated for SB 13’s passage but now has reservations about the law, described his company as a neutral player in the censorship debate. “A book that might be a problem in another state or another district might not be a problem for you,” Wandler said. “If the school district decides to censor it, that's on them.” Critics of the platform, many of whom also oppose the law, say that it preemptively pushes districts to pull books over fear they could cause problems, even if no one has complained. “We just feel like it's really shady," Laney Hawes, cofounder of the Texas Freedom to Read Project, said of Bookmarked. “We have school districts that are being bullied and pressured into pulling books." Wandler started the company in 2022 as conservative groups like Moms for Liberty were mobilizing across Texas, demanding that schools remove books they viewed as sexually explicit or “woke.”
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Deadly Texas floods prompt calls for review of how rivers are managed
Thirty minutes south of Kerrville, in the “Cowboy Capital of the World,” David Maulk pulled out a map and began tracing his finger along the winding rivers flowing through a region with a more weathered nickname: “Flash Flood Alley.” “The terrain, the geography — it’s steep and it’s rocky,” he said. “And, when it rains here, it can be a contact sport.” On the wall behind him was the painted outline of a cowboy hat over the phrase: “BANDERA RUNS ON WATER.” Maulk is the general manager of the Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater District. The nine-member elected board is in charge of managing the Sabinal and Medina rivers running through Bandera County, which has a population of more than 20,000. Their work includes everything from water quality testing to drought and flood management. Unlike the vast majority of Texas’ river authorities, voters here get a say in its work.
KXAN looked at more than 15 river authorities and found just two — Bandera and San Antonio — whose revenue and accountability stream from the residents who live in the area. Nicole Marshall, a spokeswoman for the San Antonio River Authority, said the board “will decline to participate” in this report. Unlike other river authorities that raise money from selling water or hydroelectric power, Bandera’s board gets its funding from property taxes. “You have the taxpayers funding us who are also potentially the voters in the region,” he said. “And, they can affect change down the road, if they don’t like how things are going.” Originally, Bandera’s river authority — which the Texas Legislature established in 1971 — operated like the rest: the governor appointed the board. Its system switched in 1989 to a ballot box model after it combined with the local groundwater conservation district. For Maulk, this model generates more than just public buy-in.
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ERCOT forecasts stable Texas power grid this January
Texas’ power grid will likely remain stable in December and January, recent reports from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas show. Grid conditions could become tight if a winter storm hits large swaths of Texas, driving up demand for electricity. ERCOT, which operates the electric grid for 90% of Texas, found in a Nov. 7 report that there should be “sufficient generating capacity available” to serve customers throughout January. The grid operator said the same thing in an Oct. 3 report analyzing expected grid conditions for December, Community Impact previously reported. In the winter, demand for electricity spikes when people get up in the morning and return home in the evening. Less solar and wind power are available during these “higher-risk” periods, which can cause tight grid conditions, ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said last year.
ERCOT forecasts that the tightest period in December and January will be from 7-8 a.m. daily, when little to no solar power is being produced. During that time, ERCOT found the chances of a grid emergency are 1.81% in December and 1.4% in January. However, ERCOT’s models indicate that grid conditions could become tight if a winter storm blankets Texas, pushing temperatures down and electric demand up. ERCOT hit a new record for winter demand in February, reaching 80,525 megawatts of demand on the grid in a single day. This winter, if a severe winter storm leads to similar levels of electric demand between 7-8 a.m., the agency’s models show a roughly 35% chance of a grid emergency in December. That risk falls to less than 10% in January. If demand approaches ERCOT’s all-time record of 85,508 megawatts, which was set in August 2023, there is a 62% chance of a grid emergency in December and about a 25% chance in January, according to the reports. “The probability of the hourly load reaching 85,000 MW for [7-8 a.m.] is under one percent,” the December report notes.
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Trial date set for woman who claims marine spiked her drink with abortion pills
A pre-trial hearing was held Thursday morning in a lawsuit filed by a Corpus Christi woman who claims a Marine pilot poisoned her drink with abortion pills to kill their unborn child. Federal Judge David S. Morale presided over the hearing that was held via Zoom. Corpus Christi Woman sues NASCC Marine Pilot claiming he spiked her drink with abortion pills to kill their unborn child On Aug. 11, a local woman, we have decided not to be identify per her attorney's request, filed a lawsuit against a Marine pilot, who is stationed at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, and her company, Aid Access, which manufactured the abortion pill. The woman, a mother of three, was going through a divorce at the time.
During Thursday's hearing, the pilots defense team requested that this case go to trial, and the plaintiff's attorney told the judge they have been unable to contact Aid Access, which are based out of the Netherlands. The judge set Oct. 15, 2026, as the deadline for both sides to gather all their evidence and scheduled the trial for March 29, 2027. This all comes three years after the Supreme Court made a landmark ruling in the case of Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating a woman's constitutional right to abortion. This lawsuit also comes as the use of the abortion pill has increased since the state of Texas passed the "Heartbeat" bill, which banned the majority of abortions in 2021. Now, state lawmakers are going after the companies, like Aid Access, that send abortion pills into Texas, likely creating a precedent for other states to follow. The plaintiff's attorney, Jonathan Mitchell, authored the "Heartbeat" bill, a law that bans abortions past six weeks of pregnancy, a point at which a heartbeat is detected on an ultrasound.
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San Antonio leaders say shutdown is just a preview of cuts to come
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history had an outsized impact on already vulnerable residents in Bexar County. Now that it’s over, local leaders say the panic over delayed food assistance and at-risk health care subsidies should paint a clear picture of what’s coming down the pipeline for a community consistently ranked among the most impoverished large cities. Republicans’ signature economic policy since taking control of the White House in November, signed into law by President Donald Trump in July, makes big cuts to Medicaid, environmental programs and food benefits to help pay for tax cuts, increased defense spending and border security.
“To give you an idea of the need in our community, in Bexar County, $50 million worth of SNAP benefits comes into our community every single month,” Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said on a Texas Tribune Festival panel Friday morning. “It was unprecedented for those benefits not to be forward-paid to those folks that would need it during the shutdown,” Jones said, ” … [and] what it did is give us a really good idea of, unfortunately, what the implementation of that lovely, Big Beautiful Bill is going to look like.” San Antonio famously experienced lines around the block at its food bank when residents were out of work during the COVID-19 shutdown — a situation Jones said could soon repeat if leaders aren’t careful. On Friday, Jones and Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai were joined by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio), who had just returned from Thursday’s government funding vote in Washington. Castro was among the vast majority of Democrats disappointed to see some members of his party break with Republicans on a temporary spending measure that ended the shutdown by punting Congress’s next funding deadline to January — but didn’t make good on the goal of securing health care tax credits set to expire at the end of the year.
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Texas National Guard troops to leave Chicago after federal judge halts deployment
Members of the Texas National Guard are expected to leave Chicago soon and return home. Approximately 200 troops arrived in the city about a month ago following an order from the Trump administration. The troops were sent to assist with immigration enforcement and to protect federal workers. However, a federal judge halted the deployment, and the troops have remained at training bases outside the city for several weeks.
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150 migrants arrested by federal agents in San Antonio raid: FBI
Nearly 150 migrants were arrested in an overnight operation at a makeshift nightclub in San Antonio, the FBI confirmed to NewsNation. Most of the migrants apprehended were from Venezuela and have suspected ties to Tren de Aragua. Tren de Aragua was designated as a foreign terrorist organization under President Trump’s administration. The raid involved multiple federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI. “I can confirm that FBI San Antonio & Homeland Security Investigations San Antonio, along with their local, state, and federal partners are conducting court-authorized activity in the vicinity of the intersection of San Pedro Ave. and Basse Rd. in San Antonio, Texas,” said an FBI San Antonio Spokesperson. The raid comes just hours after immigration officials arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina, as part of what the Department of Homeland Security is dubbing “Operation Charlotte’s Web.”
Charlotte is the latest city to unwillingly receive federal agents in Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown. The federal government hasn’t provided a full explanation for why this began or how many people have been detained, but DHS blamed the operation in Democratic-led Charlotte on state officials, saying illegal immigrants fled there because of sanctuary policies they believed would protect them. A DHS press release included a list of migrants the agency called “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” who they say were released onto North Carolina streets because of those policies.
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Massive fire burns at decommissioned Texas power plant
Firefighters from multiple agencies are battling a massive blaze at a decommissioned power plant near Galveston, Texas, authorities said. A huge black plume of smoke filled the sky over several cities in Galveston County, including San Leon, where the fire engulfed the old power plant alongside Highway 146, authorities said. At one point on Sunday, residents in the area were being asked to take precautions to avoid the heavy smoke, according to police in the Galveston suburb of Kemah. "At this time, two cooling towers and power lines are on fire," the Kemah Police Department said in a social media post, in part. "All residents are advised to avoid the area and take precautions not to expose themselves to the smoke," the post added. No injuries have been reported.
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Could this Houston City Council member be appointed interim county attorney?
Houston City Council Member Abbie Kamin is garnering support to potentially be chosen by Harris County leadership as the new interim county attorney as they contend with a potential opening. Kamin has gathered a list of nearly 60 elected officials, labor organizations, faith leaders and community leaders who are supporting her “appointment … as Interim County Attorney,” according to a document obtained by the Houston Chronicle. Among the officials on the list are U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare and Minority House Leader Gene Wu. Kamin, a civil rights attorney, is currently serving her second term representing the Heights, Montrose and other area neighborhoods on the City Council. Her term is up in 2027, and term limits prohibit her from running for re-election.
The veteran council member’s most recent campaign finance report shows she has nearly $416,000 on hand – an amount one expert says sends a message. “(It) definitely indicates they’re looking toward another office,” said Nancy Sims, a politics lecturer at the University of Houston. Kamin said Friday she was asked to submit a list of supporters in case she was considered for the appointment. "While I continue to focus on the work in front of me, it is an honor to be considered, and I am grateful for the support of so many outstanding leaders," she wrote in a text. Rumors about Kamin’s interest in the position have been swirling since current County Attorney Christian Menefee filed to run to represent Houston’s 18th Congressional District, a seat left vacant following former U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner’s death from health complications in March. Menefee will face former Council Member Amanda Edwards in a runoff that has yet to be set. State resign-to-run rules required Menefee to step back from his role as county attorney to run for Congress. But a provision in that rule allows Menefee to continue serving as county attorney until commissioners vote to replace him. Commissioners opted to keep Menefee on board at a meeting in March. A permanent county attorney will eventually be chosen by the voters in the 2026 election. Kenny Friedman, the former chair of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, is among the names listed on Kamin’s endorsements. Friedman told the Chronicle Friday that he had not seen the endorsement list, but he had given Kamin permission to put his name on it. “She's an incredibly talented person, and she's got the right background to be a great county attorney, and I think she'll do a great job,” Friedman said. Another two people on the list, LULAC President Sergio Lira and Houston Federation of Teachers President Jackie Anderson, had also not seen the document but both said they chatted with Kamin about her interest in the position. Lira’s endorsement came down to Kamin’s support of LULAC in the past and how she has constantly spoken out about the organization’s issues at City Hall. Anderson’s came down to how Kamin has stood up for public education. “I'm quite concerned about how people view education, and if they're willing to stand up and make statements and stands about public education,” Anderson said. “It shows me their commitment to making sure that our future generation is educated. I believe that Abbie would do that.”
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Buddy Holly crosswalk in Texas hometown to be removed following governor's order on road safety
Fans of the Buddy Holly crosswalk in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, with a painted depiction of the rock and roll legend’s iconic glasses, will soon have to say goodbye to it. That’ll be a day that will possibly make them cry. Lubbock City Council members said this week they have no choice but to remove it, to comply with a directive from the Trump administration and Republicans to rid the public roadways of any political messages or artwork. Laredo, in South Texas, removed a mural in October that protested the border wall along the southern border with Mexico. In August, Florida officials removed a rainbow-colored crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub where 49 people were gunned down.
Lubbock’s crosswalk was first installed in 2020 and is near the Buddy Holly Center, a downtown museum with exhibits honoring Lubbock’s most famous native son. “It’s such a tasteful cross section and people like it. But what do you do?” said City Council Member Christy Martinez-Garcia, who was among those questioning why it had to go. Lubbock received a letter from the Texas Department of Transportation with “some harsh wording” that threatened the possible loss of state or federal funding for road projects if such artwork was not removed, David Bragg, Lubbock’s interim division director of public works, told council members on Tuesday. “This was very broad letter. I don’t think it was intended to go after, say, the Buddy Holly glasses. Unfortunately it did,” Bragg said.
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Dallas Morning News Editorial: Tucker Carlson, Bo French and the GOP’s short memory
Is it too much to hope that the GOP won’t succumb to short memories that have become so typical of our politics today? The party that widened its tent in 2024 with a forceful economic message will lose its appeal and tear away at American society by tolerating antisemitism and bigotry from its politicians and thought leaders. Bo French recently announced that he wouldn’t seek reelection as Tarrant County GOP chair. But he didn’t do it for the reasons we’d hoped. It wasn’t because his party finally had enough of the bigoted garbage he spews on the internet. Nope. He’s running for statewide office instead. Earlier this year, French posted a poll to social media platform X asking his audience, “who is a bigger threat to America?” The response options were: Jews or Muslims. Rightfully, the since-deleted post drew calls for his resignation from prominent GOP leaders including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Sen. John Cornyn.
But all the hubbub fizzled out. French never faced any substantial consequences. Now he’s running to become a member of the Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s top oil and gas regulator. He said on social media that “this will be the best way that I can defend Texas, stop the Islamic invasion, and defeat the left.” In August, French launched a bigoted attack against state House Rep. Salman Bhojani, a U.S. citizen born in Pakistan. On social media, he called on the feds “to denaturalize and deport” Bhojani. He accused the Muslim state representative of trying to “further jihad.” Will GOP leaders remember their anger at French? The rebukes of him after his poll came years after French began posting hateful messages into the virtual void. But that wasn’t enough to diminish his presence within the Texas GOP. The current environment of permissiveness has only emboldened people like French. Take Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes. Once a fringe figure in the conservative movement, Fuentes has been getting more attention in recent years. During a friendly interview with Carlson, one of the most prominent faces of the modern Republican Party, Fuentes made statements about “organized Jewry in America” and a need to be “pro-white” on some level.
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Texas Capital needed to transform, and it did. How is simpler than it seems
The words “bank” and “fun” don’t often go in the same sentence — unless you’re Rob Holmes, chairman, president and CEO of Texas Capital. “Bankers here are having fun,” he told The Dallas Morning News in an interview. “Because with wins, you have fun.” And recently, Texas Capital has done a lot of winning. The Dallas-based bank posted its best quarter under Holmes’ leadership yet in its third-quarter report, hitting the quantitative and qualitative goals it set in 2021 as part of its transformation into a full-service financial institution. Texas Capital’s shares, traded on the Nasdaq, are up over 11% year-to-date, outpacing an index of broader regional bank stocks. Bank earnings numbers are complicated, but the trick to hitting them was simple for Texas Capital: people.
“I came here to build something special in a special place with people who care about each other,” Holmes said. “It’s different.” Holmes came to Texas Capital in January 2021, after a 31-year career with J.P. Morgan Chase. With a true Texan sensibility — kudos to Highland Park High School, University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University education — Holmes entered with a vision to dig the firm out of a period of struggle, and transform it into a full-service financial institution. Texas Capital — which now has more that $26 billion in deposits and is the fifth-largest Texas-headquartered bank, per the latest Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data — was founded in 1998, raising a then-record $80 million in startup capital. But leading up to 2020, things started to go awry. Texas Capital primarily dealt in the loan-focused commercial banking sector, but expenses were outpacing growth. After trading at an all-time high of over $100 per share in May 2018, Texas Capital stock had sunk to just $50 in December of the same year. A merger with the McKinney-based Independent Bank Group promised to alleviate some of Texas Capital’s problems, but that imploded in early 2020 and its stock price tanked to just over $20. Both banks blamed the onset of the pandemic for the deal falling through, and then-Texas Capital CEO C. Keith Cargill resigned his post immediately.
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Judge denies Texas bid for bar on Tylenol marketing in state
A judge rejected for now a bid by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to bar Tylenol-maker Kenvue Inc. from marketing its over-the-counter pain medication as being safe for pregnant women within the state. After a hearing Friday, State District Judge LeAnn Rafferty denied Paxton’s request for a temporary restraining order, court records show. The attorney general suedKenvue and its former parent Johnson & Johnson on Oct. 28, claiming they concealed the risks of autism and other disorders for children if mothers take Tylenol during pregnancy.
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City Stories
‘Beginning of the end’: Dallas City Hall’s fate hangs in the balance of relocation study
Some Dallas City Council members fear last week’s vote to explore alternatives for the deteriorating City Hall building sets the stage for its eventual demolition. Council members Paul Ridley and Paula Blackmon, two of the three votes against the plan, told The Dallas Morning News the decision leaves key questions unanswered, particularly why the process is moving so quickly and what’s driving the urgency. “It’s kind of a sad day because it feels like the beginning of the end,” Blackmon said. “I really hope we know what we’re doing.” When asked whether the vote signals a move toward demolishing City Hall, Ridley said, “Oh, absolutely.” He noted that the building is purpose-built for government use and poorly suited for commercial tenants. “If we move out, no one’s going to move in here,” he said.
Both Ridley and Blackmon said they voted against the resolution because they wanted a full assessment of the building’s condition and repair costs before exploring alternatives. They also suspect undeclared developer interest may be driving the push to relocate, though no developer has publicly confirmed interest. “A lot of people are talking about it, but we haven’t seen any evidence that there is such interest,” Ridley said. “I suspect that’s what’s motivating this rush to judgment about the future of City Hall. I can’t think of any other reason why we would have to rush this process like we are.” The council voted 12–3 on Wednesday to direct City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert to evaluate real estate opportunities, including potential relocation sites for Dallas’ municipal government, and report back to the council’s finance committee by February 2026. The resolution also requires a third-party assessment of deferred maintenance costs for City Hall and an exploration of economic development opportunities for the downtown City Hall site.
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National Stories
Trump plans to meet with Mamdani, says he'll 'work something out' with New York City's mayor-elect
President Donald Trump indicated Sunday that he plans to meet with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and said they’ll “work something out,” in what could be a detente for the Republican president and Democratic political star who have cast each other as political foils. Trump has for months slammed Mamdani, falsely labeling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the democratic socialist was elected. He also threatened to deport Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen, and to pull federal money from the city. Mamdani rose from an obscure state lawmaker to become a social media star and symbol of the resistance against Trump during his mayoral campaign. He campaigned on an array of progressive policies and a message that was stark in its opposition to the aggressive, anti-immigrant agenda Trump has rolled out in his second White House term.
The 34-year-old appealed to a broad cross-section of New Yorkers and defeated one of its political heavyweights, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, by nearly 9 percentage points. In his election night victory speech, Mamdani said he wanted New York to show the country how to defeat the president. But the day after, while speaking about his plans for “Trump-proofing” New York once he takes office in January, the incoming mayor also said he was willing to work with anyone, including the president, if it can help New Yorkers. Representatives for Mamdani did not have an immediate comment Sunday night on the president’s remarks, but a spokesperson pointed to the mayor-elect’s remarks last week when he said he planned to reach out to the White House “because this is a relationship that will be critical to the success of the city.” Trump expressed a similar sentiment on Sunday. “The mayor of New York, I will say, would like to meet with us. We’ll work something out,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to fly back to Washington after spending the weekend in Florida. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified shortly after that Trump was referring to Mamdani and said no date had been set for such a meeting. “We want to see everything work out well for New York,” Trump said. Trump’s comments came as he also said the U.S. may hold discussions soon with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, after a military buildup near the South American country: “I’ll talk to anybody,” Trump said.
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Maryland Democrats want to redistrict. Their state’s Senate President isn’t making it easy.
As Democrats push ahead with nationwide redistricting efforts, Maryland has hit a snag. Its state Senate president is refusing to hold a special session on redistricting. Bill Ferguson, the Democratic state Senate president, is resisting calls from local, state and national Democratic leaders to redistrict. Ferguson believes that the move is too risky for Maryland Democrats and that it has the potential to cost them seats. It is some of the last remaining tension within a party that has otherwise largely adopted a redistricting strategy in the face of Republican efforts to redraw maps in their favor. While state Sen. Ferguson has remained steadfast in his stance against mid-decade redistricting in his state, Gov. Wes Moore, along with other state Democrats, have pushed ahead on redistricting in other ways.
“His position is on risk, on whether he thinks the risk is worth taking,” Rep. Steny Hoyer, who long served as part of House Democratic leadership, told NOTUS. “The president of the senate is a very respected individual, he’s an honest individual, I don’t think he’s trying to game anyone. I hope he comes to the conclusion that the risk is worth taking.” Ferguson did little to address his disagreement with other Democrats in a statement to NOTUS. “With this federal administration’s troubling willingness to ignore the law, Marylanders understand our vulnerability. We must act with urgency to confront the real challenges ahead in the upcoming session,” Ferguson said. “Everything else is a distraction from the mission.” In the past few weeks, Ferguson has made the case against redistricting as a member of Moore’s Redistricting Advisory Commission, arguing that it could lead to Democrats losing seats that they already have if a new map is drawn.
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Trump lashes out at Indiana Republicans after redistricting effort stalls
President Donald Trump is not happy with Indiana Republicans after state lawmakers refused to call a special session to redraw congressional maps. “Very disappointed in Indiana State Senate Republicans, led by RINO Senators Rod Bray and Greg Goode, for not wanting to redistrict their State, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats,” Trump said in a Sunday morning post on Truth Social. “Because of these two politically correct type ‘gentlemen,’ and a few others, they could be depriving Republicans of a Majority in the House, A VERY BIG DEAL!” the post continued. Bray, the state Senate president, released a statement Friday saying the party lacked the votes needed to open the redistricting conversation.
“Over the last several months, Senate Republicans have given very serious and thoughtful consideration to the concept of redrawing our state’s congressional maps,” Bray said in a statement to Politico, after conducting a private test vote Friday afternoon with his caucus. “Today, I’m announcing there are not enough votes to move that idea forward, and the Senate will not reconvene in December.” Republicans across the state and country aired their disagreement with Bray’s decision over the weekend. U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz said in a post on Friday that state Republicans “should not be hiding behind closed doors but putting their votes on the board.” “Hoosiers deserve transparency,” Spartz posted on X. “Voters should know whether their senators stand with President Trump or with the NY & CA socialists destroying our country.” Rep. Marlin Stutzman said in a Friday statement that “Senator Bray and anti-Trump Indiana Senate Republicans made it clear today that they would rather protect [Democratic Rep.] André Carson, stand with Pete Buttigieg, and let Gavin Newsom steamroll Hoosier voices than support the conservative America First agenda.”
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Former Fed Gov. Adriana Kugler violated trading rules while at central bank: ethics report
bank’s rules barring trading of individual stocks and executing financial transactions close to meetings where interest rates are set, actions that led up to her abrupt resignation, according to a report by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics released Saturday. The report comes three months after Kugler mysteriously left from the Fed’s Board of Governors without giving a reason. Kugler joined the Fed in September 2023 after being appointed by then-President Joe Biden. Kugler’s resignation came after she requested and was denied a waiver by Chair Jerome Powell on a disclosure form that showed she had impermissible holdings, Fed officials familiar with the matter told CNBC.com. An official said that concerns related to trading activity by Kugler or her husband date to at least September 2024, when she began working with ethics officials to resolve violations of trading policies.
A financial disclosure report that Kugler filed with the OGE this year on Sept. 11 — which contains details of securities transactions by either her or her husband — notes that an Ethics Office official declined to certify the report. In a note on Friday’s disclosure, an Ethics official says, “Matters related to this disclosure were referred earlier this year” by the office to the independent Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. An inspector general is an internal ethics watchdog for federal departments and agencies. Another note on the report says, “Consistent with her September 15, 2024, disclosure, certain trading activity was carried out by Dr. Kugler’s spouse, without Dr. Kugler’s knowledge and she affirms that her spouse did not intend to violate any rules or policies.” Kugler is married to Ignacio Donoso, who is an immigration lawyer. Her disclosure shows two kinds of violations of Fed rules regarding financial transactions by senior officials at the central bank: purchases of stock shares of individual companies, as opposed to mutual funds; and purchases of securities during so-called “blackout periods” leading up to and after meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee.
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Timothy Carney: The Trump era is one of GOP decline
(Timothy P. Carney is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on civil society, family, localism, religion in America, economic competition, and electoral politics. He is concurrently a senior columnist at the Washington Examiner.) President Donald Trump has dominated the Republican Party for a decade, and in many ways, it has been good for the GOP and conservatism. Republicans won two of the three presidential elections (after losing two straight and four of six). Republicans control Congress, and for the first time in forever, the Supreme Court has a conservative majority. It even struck down Roe v. Wade. Trump’s policy accomplishments are also real. Taxes are lower, especially for the middle class. Illegal immigration was controlled for four years, and it’s getting under control again. And for the first time since the Cold War ended, we are avoiding senseless wars of choice. But just as Trump’s policy record is mixed (increased spending, federal support for in vitro fertilization, oodles of corporate welfare), so is the Trump-era political record. If you step back from the current political balance in Washington, D.C., you see a troubling trend, highlighted by the recent blowouts in New Jersey and Virginia: Republicans, in the Trump era, are mostly losing.
Yes, Trump wins. Yes, when Trump is on the ballot, the downballot Republicans get some lift from Trump. But when Trump isn’t on the ballot, the Trump era is a story of GOP loss. This is a big problem for Republicans because Trump will never be on a ballot nationwide again. It’s very possible that after Trump is gone, Republicans will experience their darkest hour and lowest point since the New Deal. Here’s one measure of the partisan shift in the Trump era: In 2016, Republicans controlled 31 governorships and 68 legislative chambers. Come January, the GOP will control only 26 governorships and 57 legislative chambers (more than a 15% reduction on both scores). In the Trump era, here’s the rule: Elections in which Trump is on the ballot, the GOP does fine. In elections in which he is not, the GOP does poorly. This isn’t just about incumbent disadvantage in midterm elections. Even during former President Joe Biden’s presidency, when Trump was the head of the GOP, its most recent nominee, and its next nominee, Democrats historically performed well. For instance, in 2022, they gained trifectas in four states, taking control of the legislatures in Michigan and Minnesota, and winning the governorships of Maryland and Massachusetts — all while their party controlled the White House. The best place to see Trump’s impact on realignment may be in the Great Lakes states. Trump won in 2016 by pulling off upsets in three blue-leaning Rust Belt states — Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. He won those states in large part by pulling in labor union voters and other non-college voters, a demographic that had been used by Democrats but had been politically homeless since the Clinton era.
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Trump defends Tucker Carlson after interview with activist known for his antisemitic views
President Donald Trump on Sunday brushed aside concerns about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with a far-right activist known for his antisemitic views, which has caused a schism within the Republican Party. Trump defended Carlson, saying the former Fox News host has “said good things about me over the years.” He said if Carlson wants to interview Nick Fuentes, whose followers see themselves as working to preserve America’s white, Christian identity, then “people have to decide.” Trump did not criticize Carlson or Fuentes. Fuentes appeared to appreciate Trump’s sentiment, posting “Thank you Mr. President!” along with video of his interaction with reporters.
Carlson had an amiable sit-down on his podcast last month with Fuentes that touched off a controversy among conservatives. It roiled the Heritage Foundation, where the president of the right-wing think tank defended Carlson for his interview, drawing outrage from staffers. Heritage President Kevin Roberts later denounced Fuentes’ views. Trump told reporters as he prepared to fly back to Washington from a weekend in Florida that when it comes to Carlson, “You can’t tell him who to interview.” “If he wants to interview Nick Fuentes, I don’t know much about him, but if he wants to do it, get the word out,” Trump said. “People have to decide.” Trump a few minutes later added, “Meeting people, talking to people for somebody like Tucker — that’s what they do. You know, people are controversial.” The president then said: “I’m not controversial, so I like it that way.”
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Firm tied to Kristi Noem secretly got money from $220 million DHS ad contracts
On Oct. 2, the second day of the government shutdown, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived at Mount Rushmore to shoot a television ad. Sitting on horseback in chaps and a cowboy hat, Noem addressed the camera with a stern message for immigrants: “Break our laws, we’ll punish you.” Noem has hailed the more than $200 million, taxpayer-funded ad campaign as a crucial tool to stem illegal immigration. Her agency invoked the “national emergency” at the border as it awarded contracts for the campaign, bypassing the normal competitive bidding process designed to prevent waste and corruption. The Department of Homeland Security has kept at least one beneficiary of the nine-figure ad deal a secret, records and interviews show: a Republican consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides at DHS. The company running the Mount Rushmore shoot, called the Strategy Group, does not appear on public documents about the contract. The main recipient listed on the contracts is a mysterious Delaware company, which was created days before the deal was finalized.
No firm has closer ties to Noem’s political operation than the Strategy Group. It played a central role in her 2022 South Dakota gubernatorial campaign. Corey Lewandowski, her top adviser at DHS, has worked extensively with the firm. And the company’s CEO is married to Noem’s chief spokesperson at DHS, Tricia McLaughlin. The Strategy Group’s ad work is the first known example of money flowing from Noem’s agency to businesses controlled by her allies and friends. Government contracting experts said the depth of the ties between DHS leadership and the Strategy Group suggested major potential violations of ethics rules. “It’s corrupt, is the word,” said Charles Tiefer, a leading authority on federal contract law and former member of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said that the Strategy Group’s role should prompt investigations by both the DHS inspector general and the House Oversight Committee. “Hiding your friends as subcontractors is like playing hide the salami with the taxpayer,” Tiefer added. Federal regulations forbid conflicts of interest in contracting and require that the process be conducted “with complete impartiality and with preferential treatment for none.”
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Newsclips - November 16, 2025 |
Lead Stories
Joaquin Castro on why a Democratic Senate logjam stopped him from running for AG
As he weighed a bid for the U.S. Senate earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro found himself at an impasse with three other big-name Democrats who also wanted to run for the upper chamber. At the time, Castro met over Zoom with the other then-prospective candidates — former U.S. Reps. Colin Allred and Beto O’Rourke and state Rep. James Talarico — to try to hash out their plans for 2026. Castro eventually offered to run for Texas attorney general if the others could divide up the remaining statewide offices, including governor and lieutenant governor, instead of running against each other for Senate. In the end, Castro said Friday, “we just couldn’t get there.” “All of us initially were interested in the U.S. Senate race,” Castro, a seventh-term congressman from San Antonio, said on a panel at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. “But, you know, it doesn’t really make sense to have four people running for the U.S. Senate, and then nobody’s running for anything else. So at one point, I told a few of those guys … hey, I’ll slot down to the AG race if you guys can figure out the rest.”
About a month after the May 31 Zoom meeting, which was first reported by The Dallas Morning News, Allred announced he was running for the Senate seat held by GOP Sen. John Cornyn. Talarico soon after joined the race, pitting the two Democrats against each other as the party remained without a high-profile candidate to take on Gov. Greg Abbott. Castro said Friday he’s “not blaming them” for seizing what “could be a great opportunity in 2026,” whether the Democratic nominee ends up facing Cornyn or one of his GOP challengers, Attorney General Ken Paxton or U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt. Still, Castro added, he saw the 2018 midterm as a cautionary tale, when O’Rourke ran for Senate and was “carrying the ticket” of other statewide Democrats, none of whom gained the same traction and fundraising support. O’Rourke lost to Sen. Ted Cruz by less than 3 percentage points, the closest a Texas Democrat has come to winning statewide in decades. “Ideally, if you were gonna design the strongest possible chances of winning, you would design it so that you have strong candidates that are well-funded in each of those races,” Castro said. “That was my hope, that we would have a full slate, and we didn’t quite get there.” Castro added that he would do “what I can” to support the Democrats who have announced statewide bids, including Austin state Reps. Gina Hinojosa and Vikki Goodwin, who are running for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. Asked if he had ruled out a statewide run, Castro said he hadn’t made a “final decision” and would announce his plans at some point before the Dec. 8 candidate filing deadline. The San Antonio Democrat has toyed with statewide runs a number of times since he began representing Texas’ 20th Congressional District in 2013. He previously passed up Senate bids in 2018 and 2020.
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New videos, data and reporting give a detailed account of the Camp Mystic disaster
Across Camp Mystic on the night of July 3, 195 campers settled into their bunks. Taps played over a loudspeaker shortly after 10 p.m. Dick Eastland, the 70-year-old patriarch of the family-run all girls camp, was at home in his creek-side house on the camp property, not far from the cabins. So too was Edward Eastland, one of his sons. Edward grew up at Camp Mystic and now directs the camp along with his wife Mary Liz, living in a house even closer to the cabins and the Guadalupe River than his father. Heavy rain was in the forecast, and camp staffers had already pulled from the water the largest boats — 20-foot-long “war canoes” — as they always did before a big rain in the flood-prone area. What follows is the most detailed description to date of the events that took the lives of more than two dozen campers and counselors, and the elder Mr. Eastland, at the 99-year-old summer retreat.
The descriptions and rendering of those events were taken from the first interviews that Camp Mystic’s owners have granted, along with never-before-seen videos and photos taken during flooding at the camp, data from devices such as Apple watches, cell phones and vehicle crash data, and court documents from a lawsuit filed by some of the parents of children who died. The Times visualized the water levels at the camp over the course of the night using videos and photos from the camp and estimates from a flood simulation by First Street, a nonprofit that assesses flood risk in the United States. The moving dots on the diagrams in this story show the simulated flow and depth of water at different times, and the extent of flooding. At 1:14 a.m. on July 4, the National Weather Service warned of potentially life-threatening flooding in the area. By that point, according to data from his phone, Dick Eastland was already up and monitoring the weather. Around 1:45 a.m., he radioed his son, Edward. “His words were that we’ve gotten about two inches of rain in the last hour and that we need to move the waterfront equipment,” Edward Eastland told The New York Times, his first time recounting his story publicly. Members of the grounds crew went to the waterfront and pulled the remaining smaller canoes to higher ground on the hill nearer to the cabins. No one expected the water to rise that high, Edward Eastland said.
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Texas's water wars
In 2019, Corpus Christi, Texas’s eighth-largest city, moved forward with plans to build a desalination plant. The facility, which was expected to be completed by 2023, at a cost of a hundred and forty million dollars, would convert seawater into freshwater to be used by the area’s many refineries and chemical plants. The former mayor called it “a pretty significant day in the life of our city.” In anticipation of the plant’s opening, the city committed to provide tens of millions of gallons of water per day to new industrial operations, including a plastics plant co-owned by ExxonMobil and the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, a lithium refinery for Tesla batteries, and a “specialty chemicals” plant operated by Chemours. The facilities went into operation, but the desalination plant stalled out in the planning process, and its projected costs ballooned to more than a billion dollars. In the meantime, the city suffered through a multiyear drought, and local reservoirs reached alarmingly low levels. Residents were prohibited from watering their lawns or hosing down their cars; industrial operations, largely exempt from drought restrictions, kept drawing the water they had been promised. Officials predicted that Corpus Christi might enter an official water emergency—triggered when water demand is projected to exceed supply within six months—by the end of 2026.
This September, the city council met to vote on whether to proceed with building the desalination plant. The hearing started around noon; by midnight, it was still under way, and three women in the audience, including a former mayoral candidate and a college professor, had been arrested for disorderly conduct. Some opponents of the plan voiced concerns about its costs. Others were worried about environmental ramifications. Desalination results in large amounts of salty sludge that must be disposed of. Dumping it in the nearby bay risks harming the ecosystem and destroying the fragile local fishing industry; injecting it underground risks causing small earthquakes. Supporters argued that, without the desalination plant, the local economy would collapse. Around 1 A.M., the council elected to pull funding for the project; where, exactly, Corpus Christi’s water will come from is currently an open question. One possibility is groundwater pumped from nearby rural areas; another is relying on a private-equity firm that provides “water-as-a-service” to struggling municipalities, essentially by building its own treatment infrastructure and leasing the water to the local utility. But those plans, too, have met with local resistance. Texas’s economy has boomed for so long that it would be easy to imagine that the growth might go on forever. But, across the state, residents are being confronted with the alarming reality of limited water supplies. According to the state government’s 2022 Texas Water Plan, by 2070, the population is projected to increase by more than seventy per cent as water supplies decline by nearly eighteen per cent.
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Thousands protest crime and corruption in Mexico City as 'Gen Z' protests gain momentum
Several thousand people took to the streets of Mexico City on Saturday to protest crime, corruption and impunity in a demonstration organized by members of Generation Z, but which ended with strong backing from older supporters of opposition parties. The demonstration was mostly peaceful but ended with some young people clashing with the police. Protesters attacked police with stones, fireworks, sticks and chains, grabbing police shields and other equipment. The capital's security secretary, Pablo Vázquez, said 120 people were injured, 100 of them police officers. Twenty people were arrested. In several countries this year, members of the demographic group born between the late 1990s and early 2010s have organized protests against inequality, democratic backsliding and corruption.
The largest "Gen Z" protests took place in Nepal in September, following a ban on social media, and led to the resignation of that nation's prime minister. In Mexico, many young people say they are frustrated with systemic problems like corruption and impunity for violent crimes. "We need more security" said Andres Massa, a 29-year-old business consultant who carried the pirate skull flag that has become a global symbol of Gen Z protests. Arizbeth Garcia, a 43-year-old physician who joined the protests said she was marching for more funding for the public health system, and for better security because doctors "are also exposed to the insecurity gripping the country, where you can be murdered and nothing happens." Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum still has high approval ratings despite a recent spate of high profile murders that includes the assassination of a popular mayor in the western state of Michoacan. In the days leading up to Saturday's protest, Sheinbaum accused right-wing parties of trying to infiltrate the Gen Z movement, and of using bots on social media to try to increase attendance. This week some "Gen Z" social media influencers said they no longer backed Saturday's protests. While elderly figures like former President Vicente Fox, and Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego published messages in support of the protests. Saturday's march was attended by people from several age groups, with supporters of the recently killed Michoacan Mayor Carlos Manzo, attending the protest wearing the straw hats that symbolize his political movement. "The state is dying," said Rosa Maria Avila, a 65-year-old real estate agent who traveled from the town of Patzcuaro in Michoacan state. "He was killed because he was a man who was sending officers into the mountains to fight delinquents. He had the guts to confront them," she said of Manzo.
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On Epstein and Venezuela, Trump tries to rebrand
In need of a reset on multiple policy fronts, the Trump administration isn’t afraid of turning to some good old-fashioned rebranding. Tired of hearing about how Epstein emails released by a House Democrats feature President Donald Trump? Trump asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate any Democrats who, like Trump, were Epstein associates and are mentioned in the emails. As the House moves toward a bipartisan demand for the FBI to release its Epstein files, Trump is trying to flip the script on what he’s now calling the “Epstein Hoax.” Need a reset for the unpopular military policy in the Western hemisphere? Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave the operation a new name, “Southern Spear.”
Hoping to make people believe a militaristic deportation strategy is focused on dangerous criminals instead of the preschool teachers and parents who have featured in recent news stories? Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem unveiled “Operation Dirtbag,” in which ICE announces the deportation of previously convicted sex offenders, among mothers, in Florida. That Noem announcement came the same week a judge in Illinois ordered hundreds of detainees rounded up in ICE’s “Operation Midway Blitz” to be released. On affordability — Trump’s most obvious political problem at the moment — he is working hard to reframe his policies around that term to argue that they will drive costs down. In fact, tariffs are likely to drive costs up, and tax cuts passed by Republicans will predominantly benefit the wealthiest Americans. But it is the new name for Trump’s Venezuela policy that has the most obvious feel of a complete relaunch. Though it has not gotten authorization from Congress, the Pentagon has overseen the apparently extrajudicial killings of 80 alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific — and counting. The administration says it is protecting Americans from “narco-terrorists,” although it’s not clear the strikes will do much to stop the flow of drugs into the country, and it is deeply unpopular — less than a third of Americans said they supported it in a Reuters poll released this week.
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State Stories
Texas’s Eagle Pass voters turned to Trump. A year later, some have doubts
Along southern Texas, the Rio Grande forms the US-Mexico border, an arrangement established after the end of the Mexican-American war. Eagle Pass, which had been known as El Paso del Águila, became the first US settlement on the Rio Grande. Swimming across the river has remained treacherous ever since. But migrants never stopped risking their lives to set foot on US soil – and in 2023, those numbers reach record highs as Eagle Pass, the seat of Maverick county, became the epicenter of growing backlash over the Biden administration’s immigration policies. In 2024, for the first time in a century, the Hispanic-majority border county voted for a Republican: Donald Trump. Trump won 14 out of 18 counties along the southern border, gaining the most support there of any Republican in three decades. But he made his biggest gains in Maverick, with 59% of the votes, increasing his support by 14% from 2020.
While many supported Trump’s policies on border security, one year later some residents in Eagle Pass are increasingly uncomfortable with the tactics the administration has used across the country in keeping with its mass deportation agenda. Since Trump’s inauguration, federal agents have disrupted communities as they arrest parents who are with their children, show up at schools or daycare facilities, and accidentally sweep up US citizens. The intensity of the national crackdown is jarring for residents like Manuel Mello III who have been on the frontlines of border issues for decades. The chief of the Eagle Pass fire department, Mello explained that border crossings have always been part of the city’s history. Mello said his grandmother would pack food and water for those migrants that passed by. She would give them las bendiciones, or blessings in Spanish, and send them off. But what he saw at the Rio Grande in the last year of the Biden administration was unlike anything he had witnessed in his 33 years in the fire department. “We would get between 30 to 60 emergency calls a day about migrants crossing the river with a lot of injuries, some with broken femurs or this lady who had an emergency childbirth,” Mello said.
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Tiny GOP counties get big litigation in Paxton’s Texas
Roblox Corp. will face off against Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in King County, Texas — home to about 265 people and the latest unconventional venue choice for the Lone Star state’s top lawyer. The Nov. 6 petition accusing the popular video game of facilitating child sex trafficking joins divorce proceedings and custody battles as one of fewer than 10 active cases in the district court. “We’ve never had anything like this before,” said district clerk Jammye Timmons. But King County, five hours from Paxton’s Austin office, is just the latest tiny Texas location to earn a blockbuster filing from Paxton. Days before the suit, Paxton went to Panola County, with 22,000 residents, and sued Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue for an unproven claim that Tylenol causes autism in children.
Two of his biggest victories—a $1.4 billion settlement from Meta and a $1.375 billion settlement from Google to resolve two cases—were secured in Harrison, Midland, and Victoria counties—all less than 200,000 residents. Paxton has brought 11 cases to Harrison County alone—whose population is less than 2% of Harris County’s, the state’s most populous. Although Paxton has long been accused of judge shopping in single judge divisions in federal courts, little attention has been given to his venue choices in state court. The counties are by-and-large extremely conservative places where Paxton’s politics are popular. Only six of 135 voters in King County went for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the presidential election, presenting a jury pool that’s more likely to have negative feelings toward Big Pharma and Big Tech. “That’s very dangerous if you’re a defendant,” said David Coale, an appellate attorney with Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann. Additionally, the counties Paxton’s turning to typically have only one district court judge, always a Republican who’s guaranteed to get the case—a feature urban courthouse in the state largely can’t provide. Judge LeAnn Rafferty, who touted her membership in the National Rifle Association when running for office in 2016, will oversee the Tylenol case. Of Rafferty, who also hears criminal matters, “I think she was surprised to get the lawsuit,” said her friend, Michelle Slaughter, a Republican former judge on Texas’ high criminal court. Paxton’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment about its strategy in picking counties.
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Judge opens door for Texas AG to argue why Harris County’s misdemeanor bail reform should end
U.S. District Court Judge Lee Rosenthal is giving Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton the opportunity to argue that new state laws could invalidate a first-of-its-kind bail reform in Harris County. In a recent 35-page opinion about Paxton’s August motion to vacate the ODonnell Consent Decree — which since 2019 has given most misdemeanor defendants the opportunity to be released from jail before trial without first paying cash bail — Rosenthal issued a critical review of the county’s bail practices before the consent decree took effect. The decree stems from a 2016 class action lawsuit filed by Maranda Lynn ODonnell, who argued that Houston-area defendants charged with low-level crimes were penalized for being unable to afford cash bail. The case found violations of defendants’ constitutional rights.
On Aug. 26, one day after President Donald Trump issued a federal executive order seeking to end cashless bail for people who are accused of violent offenses or pose threats to public safety, Paxton filed a motion to intervene in the ODonnell case and vacate the consent decree. Following a scheduling conference held Wednesday, the Texas Attorney General’s Office was given a Dec. 11 deadline to file a revised motion seeking to vacate the consent decree. A six-month discovery period is scheduled to take place until June of next year, followed by an Aug. 27, 2026, hearing on the state’s motion to vacate or amend the bail reform practice. In Rosenthal’s Oct. 30 opinion, the district court judge recognized reports about the consent decree that showed no significant increase in recidivism, a multi-million-dollar cost savings to Harris County and much-needed relief on the county’s overcrowded jail. Since the consent decree was issued in 2019, court-appointed monitors have consistently reported successes in reducing the population of misdemeanor defendants in the Harris County Jail, which has been plagued by crowding and staffing issues, costly contracts to outsource jail inmates and a rise of in-custody deaths this year.
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Nirenberg jumps into Bexar County Judge race
Former Mayor Ron Nirenberg is waging a primary challenge against Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai — a fellow Democrat who Nirenberg says doesn’t have the vision to steward a rapidly growing county. “I don’t think that that office is performing the way it should. It’s been reactionary to major issues. And frankly, we need strong leadership,” Nirenberg told the San Antonio Report of his decision this week. In recent years across the state, traditionally bureaucratic county judgeships have seen long-time incumbents replaced with more ambitious, and in some cases more partisan, successors.
Outspoken progressive Lina Hidalgo shocked political watchers by unseating longtime Republican Harris County Judge Ed Emmett in 2018. Then in 2022, voters chose Republican firebrand Tim O’Hare to succeed longtime Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley. Nirenberg went toe-to-toe with GOP state leaders many times as mayor, but suggested that isn’t necessarily his intention in replacing Sakai. “The county judge has the bully pulpit and has the ability to set the tone for this entire community,” Nirenberg said. “It doesn’t mean we’re looking for a fight, but it does mean that sometimes we’ve got to end them.” But he agreed that across Texas, other counties are approaching the role differently. “I think that the kind of energy, innovation and teamwork that are represented by some of these new leaders in counties, is an opportunity to look at Bexar County in a similar way,” he said. A campaign launch party on Saturday exuded energy and enthusiasm as roughly 200 supporters ate pizza while a live band played at Backyard on Broadway.
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Foreign exchange students could be banned from varsity sports in Texas starting next school year
Starting next school year, foreign exchange students could no longer be allowed to participate in varsity athletics in Texas, according to a rule change recently approved by the University Interscholastic League's legislative council. The change, which still needs the approval of state Education Commissioner Mike Morath, would not affect foreign exchange students wanting to participate in sub-varsity athletics or other activities the UIL oversees, like music and academics. The UIL's legislative council — comprised of 32 public school administrators — is its rule-making body. Several members of the council expressed concern about schools getting a possible competitive advantage when foreign exchange students receive a waiver to play at the varsity level.
"Our Texas kids are not allowed to go to a town — a neighboring town, without moving there — and play at the varsity level," said Aaron Hood, superintendent of Robert Lee ISD north of San Angelo. "But [foreign exchange students] are allowed to get on a plane and come across to our state and play immediately, taking the place, many times, of a community kid that has worked hard to get that position on an athletic team." Hood said he's also seen some foreign exchange students use social media to promote themselves to Texas coaches and schools. "They're actually putting height, weight, position," he said. "It is unfair to Texas kids and community kids." Greg Poole, superintendent of Barbers Hill ISD outside Houston, agreed and said he hopes the rule change results in similar changes for schools with open enrollment policies. "You can tell teams that have a higher percentage of foreign exchange. You can also tell teams that have a higher percentage of open enrollment athletes," Poole said. "I understand that's not politically popular, but I throw it out there for the sake of the coaches that I have that feel like it's unfair. I guess I would just say I hope we pass this, and I hope it opens the door for other motions."
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Ex-Catholic Charities Fort Worth CEO asks courts for investigation of his termination
Nearly three months after Catholic Charities Fort Worth and its former president and CEO Michael Iglio parted ways, the former nonprofit leader wants a Tarrant County court to help him get answers to why he was fired. Iglio filed the petition on Nov. 12 asking Tarrant County’s 352nd District Court for permission to take testimony of several leaders at the charity to investigate the “mysterious nature of the termination.” The purpose of the depositions is to assess whether Iglio was defamed by any staff or defamed or defrauded by the nonprofit’s board. Iglio alleges he was “treated differently than other past CEOs of Catholic Charities” and needs to determine whether he was discriminated against, according to the court filing. Iglio did not respond to the Fort Worth Report’s call and text requesting comment.
The depositions are a way to “find out the truth about what happened,” said David Fielding, an attorney representing Iglio. “We’re saying we need more information. Here, it looks like he might have been defamed. It looks like he might have been discriminated against for an unlawful reason, but we want to gather the information first before we make any allegations like that,” Fielding told the Report. “Catholic Charities Fort Worth is confident in our decision regarding the future of this agency and all who are served by it,” a spokesperson said to the Report in a statement. “These claims have no merit, and we welcome the opportunity to address any allegations through the appropriate channels of the judicial system,” the statement said. Catholic Charities Fort Worth officials announced that Iglio was no longer with the nonprofit in mid-August. They named the nonprofit’s board chair Beth Kwasny as the interim leader. Catholic Charities officials did not respond to the Fort Worth Report’s questions at the time about why Iglio was no longer with the nonprofit, whether he resigned or was let go, and other queries related to the leadership change. In October the charity named Heather Reynolds as its next president and CEO. She is expected to formally step into the role in February.
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Google investing $40B into Texas for AI, new data centers
Google will invest $40 billion into Texas to help expand Google Cloud, artificial intelligence and new data centers, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced at a press conference Friday. The money, funded through 2027, would help create three AI data centers in Texas: two in Haskell County and one in Armstrong County. It would also continue investing in the existing 400-acre Midlothian site and its Dallas Cloud region, which businesses and organizations use for their own AI solutions, Pichai said. “Texas has the optimism, the talent, the policy environment, and the innovation needed to lead this new era and create immense benefits for everyone,” Pichai said.
Pichai was joined by Gov. Greg Abbott in Midlothian at Friday’s press conference, who called the funding a “Texas-sized investment.” “Texas will be the centerpiece for AI data centers for Google in the whole world,” Abbott said. Abott said the investment has support from several state leaders, including Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Ted Cruz. Along with the data centers, a solar and battery energy plant with be built alongside one of the Haskell County locations. The company also announced $30 million will go towards the Energy Impact Fund and dispersed to local organizations and community partners focused on energy affordability. The funding comes as part of Google’s ongoing partnerships with state colleges and universities, like Dallas College, offering AI training courses and Google career certificates. The investment comes amid concerns about the impact of data centers on the environment and local communities. Last month, Fort Worth unanimously approved energy giant Black Mountain Power LLC’s request to expand its upcoming 431-acre data center in southeast Fort Worth. Several residents previously voiced their disapproval, saying the project would hurt nearby businesses and natural areas. Some raised concerns over noise, light and air pollution the center would generate – and increased electricity use from a data center could strain local energy infrastructure.Data centers could also have a negative impact on Texas’ electric grid as they’re built faster than traditional transmission planning can manage, according to the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas.
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Tony Quesada: TxDOT plan for statewide transit network is an admirable long shot
(Tony Quesada is the Express-News Deputy Editorial Page Editor.) As someone who has at various times relied on public mass transit for my daily commute, other intracity travel and occasional regional travel, I was pleasantly surprised to learn of and read the draft of a wide-ranging transit plan proposed by the Texas Department of Transportation. Among the most remarkable aspects of the recently released “Texas Statewide Multimodal Transit Plan 2050” is that it’s from TxDOT, the lead transportation agency in a state as partial to personal vehicles and pavement as any in the nation. I nearly fell over when I read TxDOT is advocating for and seeks to lead the development of a statewide transit network and hub plan for providing “an accessible and seamless way to travel across Texas without a car.”
The draft plan envisions such a network to be “safe, universally accessible, and integrated” while asserting that it would improve the quality of life and economy for Texans. It’s hard to refute that the projected increase in people coming to Texas will overwhelm our ability to move around the state in cars, trucks and SUVs alone. According to the plan, it’s projected that roughly 92% of Texas residents will live in an urban area by 2050, up from about 90% in 2020. And the biggest portion of that growth will be in the region known as the Texas Triangle — a contiguous 65-county mass bounded by San Antonio-Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. This megaregion’s population is expected to rise by about 50% by 2050, when it will be home to nearly 80% of the state’s people. And while the number of people living here — and businesses employing them — will increase, the space they will occupy will remain the same.
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Texas AG Paxton sues over rules on religious students
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking the unusual step of suing a state agency, arguing that three state-funded college work-study programs unconstitutionally discriminate against religious students. In a lawsuit filed Friday in a Travis County district court, Paxton’s office says the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board violates the First Amendment by barring work-study participants from engaging in “sectarian activities, including sectarian courses of study,” reports The Texas Tribune. The restrictions apply to the Texas College Work-Study Program, the Working Off-Campus: Reinforcing Knowledge and Skills Internship Program, and the Innovative Adult Career Education Grant Program, which provides financially needy students access to jobs to afford college.
Paxton argues the programs improperly exclude religious organizations whose employment opportunities are solely sectarian, and prevent seminary students from participating altogether. He said this amounts to a “wholesale exclusion” which the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected. “These anti-Christian laws targeting religious students must be completely wiped off the books,” Paxton said in a statement. “Our nation was built by patriotic Americans who had the freedom to express their religious beliefs without fear of being targeted, and we will honor that heritage by upholding the First Amendment in Texas,” he added. The coordinating board allocated more than $8 million for work-study programs in fiscal year 2026.
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Texas Radio Hall-of-Famer, Dallas TV talk show host Suzie Humphreys dies
Suzie Humphreys, Texas Radio Hall-of-Famer and former talk show host, has died, leaving behind a memorable legacy in Texas broadcast journalism. She was 87. Humphreys worked as a secretary in Dallas and performed in a comedy show before breaking into local journalism. In the 1970s, Humphreys anchored WFAA Channel 8’s morning television show News 8 etc… alongside Don Harris and Gene Thomas. The hosts produced the live show five days a week without cue cards or teleprompters, according to an article published by the University of North Texas. The show was known by local audiences for its quirky improvisation, celebrity guests and comedic stunts. The production was met with tragedy. In 1971, Thomas died in a drag-racing crash at the Dallas International Motor Speedway while reporting a story. Harris left the show, and was killed in 1978 while reporting in Guyana.
Humphreys herself narrowly escaped death by avoiding a helicopter crash by minutes at her next gig reporting from the KVIL station traffic helicopter. Humphreys, pregnant at the time, got off the chopper due to nausea just before it took off again and crashed, killing the pilot. The temporary assignment reporting on traffic from the air turned into two decades with the radio station alongside legendary radio host Ron Chapman. Her reports were filled with humor and authenticity, said long-time Dallas-Fort Worth broadcaster Jody Dean. “She’s a broadcast legend,” Dean said. “The contribution she made to the industry and the opportunities she helped create for women in particular because of her extraordinary talent, is just breathtaking.” Humphreys was also an actress, comedian and author. She also had a passion for motivational speaking. She was inducted into the National Speakers Association’s Hall of Fame in 2002. She was born in 1937 and grew up in San Antonio, according to an article published by the University of North Texas.
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How a San Antonio elementary went from failing to 'B' in 1 year
Before walking into Tradition Elementary School, visitors are greeted with a huge banner informing them: “This is a ‘B’ rated campus.” Inside, colorful hallways broadcast student work and a constant buzz of movement blankets the campus. Last year, Principal Karen Kopeck wouldn’t have celebrated her school’s F-rating, which is considered a failing grade by the state of Texas. Tradition, located in a rural town called St. Hedwig on the far East Side, scored a 57 for the 2023-24 school year. For the 2024-25 school year, the campus scored an 85, doing what often takes others years to do. “There were a lot of factors,” Kopeck said when asked why the school had previously struggled so much and what led to the growth.
Part of the East Central Independent School District, Tradition opened its doors in 2018, replacing John Glenn Elementary School, a space that now serves as an annex for East Central High School. Unlike most San Antonio-are school districts, ECISD’s student population has been quickly outgrowing the district’s facilities, increasing demand for new school buildings and teachers. The district had an enrollment of roughly 11,500 for the 2024-25 school year. In August, officials said it had 12,900 students for the current school cycle. By the 2033-34 school year, ECISD expects enrollment to skyrocket to over 25,000 students. Several of its schools are facing overcrowding or will soon be over capacity, including Tradition. Tradition’s current enrollment sits at about 700 students, and the school ended the 2024-25 school year with 600 students. Before that, the school’s enrollment had reached over 1,000. The building’s capacity sits at 901 students without using portable classrooms. The state’s public school accountability system doesn’t kick in until the second year a school campus is open, meaning the public doesn’t know how well Tradition performed during the 2018-19 school year. Because of COVID, schools weren’t rated for 2019-20, and later ratings were caught up in lawsuits after the Texas Education Agency updated the accountability system in 2022. Even though Tradition seemed to be steadily improving after COVID, earning a 72 for 2022-23, Kopeck’s team struggled to keep up with the growth. From 2022-23 to 2023-24, Tradition went from having 993 students to 1,141. That’s when it got an F-rating. “We were surviving, not thriving,” Kopeck recalled. “The teachers were tired. You could see it on their faces.”
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Just when the Texas hemp industry breathed a sigh of relief, it faces another extinction-level event
Here’s the good news: THC is still legal in Texas. Now, the bad news: Some Republicans in Congress still want to ban it — and they might get their wish. Yes, despite attempts by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to rip weed gummies out of the mouths of his constituents, it didn’t happen, and hemp advocates breathed a sigh of relief. Then, while guards were down, the U.S. Senate on Monday agreed to language in a spending bill that would ban almost all THC-containing hemp products nationwide, according to the Houston Chronicle. As for the federal level, “momentum has been gaining for Congress to take action to ban hemp products,” Katharine Neill Harris, the Alfred C. Glassell III Fellow in Drug Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, told The Barbed Wire.
“The ban still has to pass the House, where it could potentially be watered down, but if it does pass, many open questions will remain,” she said. “As written, it wouldn’t take effect for a year. When it does, who handles enforcement? If it’s a mixture of federal and state agencies, who and how will online sales be restricted?” Sen. Rand Paul tried to fight it, proposing an amendment to remove language that he said would “destroy” the hemp industry. Paul and Sen. Ted Cruz (!!!) were the only Republicans to support the measure, which would have stripped a provision tightening restrictions on intoxicating hemp products legalized under the 2018 farm bill. And, yes, you read that right, Ted Cruz might be the only hope for the state’s $8 billion hemp industry. He tweeted on Monday that hemp regulation should be left up to the states. And, he even sided with Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been leaning against banning THC and in favor of regulation. “There is a vital need to protect children by, at a minimum, requiring that purchasers be 21 and prohibiting synthetics and dangerous foreign imports marketed to kids,” Cruz said. “That’s the approach Governor Abbott has taken in Texas, and I urge other states to follow Texas’s example.”
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Mayor talks FWISD takeover, taxes and maintaining Fort Worth’s ‘vibe’ during TribFest
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker sat down with The Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith for a discussion ranging from how one of the nation’s largest cities maintains its signature “vibe” to partisan politics. During the Friday panel at the annual Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Smith noted that Cowtown is about to be one of the largest 10 cities in the country but keeps its authenticity and vibe. Parker attributed that to the city’s focus, pointing to the opening of the highly regarded Bowie House hotel on Camp Bowie Boulevard. “We worked for years with that developer to make sure it fit the fabric of the (Camp Bowie) bricks and the height was the way it needed to be,” Parker said. “These don’t just happen overnight. It takes a tremendous amount of focus. I give credit to our city staff. It’s intentionality.”
Other topics included Texas’ takeover of FWISD; Gov. Greg Abbott’s proposed property tax overhaul and its impact on cities’ ability to finance their growth; and how to improve maternal health, one of the mayor’s interests. Here are takeaways from Parker’s discussion in Austin: Parker continued to advocate that Fort Worth schools Superintendent Karen Molinar should keep her job as the state takes control of the district. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath plans to appoint a new superintendent in the spring along with a board of managers to step in for the district’s elected trustees. “I want to see a superintendent lead this district that cares about our kids in Fort Worth,” Parker said. “Maybe there are other leaders that are capable of that same heart. I just don’t know who those people are. And so as this process continues, I want to see that same level of leadership from our board of managers.” Smith pressed Parker, noting that the decision is solely Morath’s. “He’s listening to my opinions and my feelings about our city (and) the people I put in front of him for different positions,” she said. “That’s all I can ask him to do right now.” Smith asked whether the mayor was “good” with the state taking control of the district because one already-closed campus failed state ratings for five consecutive years.
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National Stories
Right-wing media shrugs off latest Epstein document release
What do thousands of pages of newly released material reveal about the well-documented relationship between convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and President Donald Trump? Not much of anything, according to some of the right-wing influencers who have long been clamoring for the government to release more information about Epstein and his crimes. "To me, these are nothingburgers. If they're even real," pro-Trump podcaster Jon Herold said on his Badlands Media Rumble livestream on Wednesday. Herold gained an audience in the wake of the 2020 election after spreading QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories. His fellow Badlands Media personality, Brian Lupo, took a slightly different view on his own livestream this week. The emails didn't exactly say nothing, he claimed, but they show that Trump was informing on Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison term for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. (Epstein died by suicide while in jail during the first Trump administration.)
"My take on this is Epstein and Maxwell are trying to figure out who's a mole or a rat or an informant in their circle of friends," Lupo said, referring to an email in which Epstein called Trump a "dog that didn't bark." (The White House has denied that Trump was an informant.) Epstein looms large for many conspiracy theorists, including QAnon believers. He's seen as a prime example of the satanic cabal of pedophiles they believe are entrenched among the world's most powerful people. QAnon adherents think Donald Trump is destined to defeat that cabal. Trump has acknowledged he and Epstein were once friendly but fell out decades ago. He's denied any knowledge of Epstein's trafficking of underage girls. While one of the newly released emails suggests Trump did know about Epstein's behavior, some right-wing media figures say the new disclosures prove Trump did nothing wrong. "They're claiming it's a hoax, they're claiming that the Democrats are cherry-picking the things that make Trump look the worst, and that these things prove that he didn't actually do anything wrong and that he's not a criminal and that he was actually gathering information for the FBI on Epstein," said Mike Rothschild, an independent journalist and author who has written extensively about conspiracy theories and QAnon.
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Trump buys at least $82 million in bonds since late August, disclosures show
U.S. President Donald Trump bought at least $82 million in corporate and municipal bonds from late August to early October including new investments in sectors benefiting from his policies, financial disclosures made public on Saturday showed. According to the forms released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Trump carried out more than 175 financial purchases from August 28 through October 2. The disclosures, made under a 1978 transparency law called the Ethics in Government Act, do not list exact amounts for each purchase, only providing a broad range. The maximum total value of the bond purchases exceeded $337 million, according to the filings.
Most of the assets listed in Saturday's disclosures consist of bonds issued by municipalities, states, counties, school districts and other entities with ties to public agencies. Trump's new bond investments span several industries, including sectors that have already benefited, or are benefiting, from his administration's policy changes such as financial deregulation. Corporate bonds acquired by Trump include offerings from chipmakers such as Broadcom and Qualcomm; tech companies such as Meta Platforms; retailers such as Home Depot and CVS Health ; and Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Purchases of the debt of investment banks in late August included bonds of JP Morgan. On Friday, Trump asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate JP Morgan over its ties to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The bank has said it regrets its past ties with Epstein and did not help him commit "heinous acts." Trump also acquired Intel bonds after the U.S. government, under Trump's direction, acquired a stake, opens new tab in the company. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday. The administration has said before that Trump has continued to file mandatory disclosures about his investments but that neither he nor his family has a role in running the portfolio, which is managed by a third-party financial institution. Trump, who became wealthy in the real estate sector before entering politics, has previously said that he placed his companies into a trust overseen by his children. A disclosure filed in August indicated that Trump had purchased more than $100 million in bonds since returning to the presidency on January 20. Trump also submitted his annual disclosure form in June, which indicated that income from his various ventures still ultimately goes to him, raising concerns of potential conflicts of interest.
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Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s had ‘warnings for my safety’ after posts by Trump
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime Republican ally who previously fiercely defended Donald Trump and his Maga movement, said on Saturday she had been contacted by private security firms “with warnings for my safety” after Trump announced on Friday he was withdrawing his support for and endorsement of the Georgia representative. In a post on X, Greene said that “a hot bed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world”, without referring to Trump by name, adding it was “the man I supported and helped get elected”. Greene said that “aggressive rhetoric attacking me has historically led to death threats and multiple convictions of men who were radicalized by the same type rhetoric being directed at me right now. This time by the President of the United States.”
Greene did not specify any threats against her that had been received by security firms, but said that “as a woman I take threats from men seriously. I now have a small understanding of the fear and pressure the women, who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal, must feel.” Greene also said that as a Republican who votes “overwhelmingly” in favor of party legislation, “his aggression against me also fuels the venomous nature of his radical internet trolls (many of whom are paid), this is completely shocking to everyone” . The accusation echoes claims made by Trump and administration officials that Democrats have used “paid actors” at protests. In later posts on X, Greene posted a chart of rising average grocery bills, calling it “the ultimate warning to all of my Republican colleagues” and equating cost-of-living pressures to a vote in Congress over the release of further Epstein files next week.
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Michelle Obama shuts down presidential run: 'You're not ready for a woman'
Michelle Obama has shut down the idea she might one day run for president yet again. While speaking to Tracee Ellis Ross this month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Obama insisted the United States is “not ready for a woman” to lead. “Well, as we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain’t ready,” Obama said in reference to the 2024 election, which Donald Trump won over Kamala Harris. “That’s why I’m like, ‘Don’t even look at me about running, ‘cause you all are lying,’ ” she continued, “You’re not ready for a woman. You are not. So don’t waste my time.”
Obama added: “We got a lot of growing up to do, and there are still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman, and we saw it.” The author and wife of former president Barack Obama has repeatedly shut down requests and rumors about her potential candidacy for years. The topic was broached by Savannah Guthrie in 2018, who asked Michelle during a segment for “Today” if she would consider a career in politics. “Absolutely not. I’ve never wanted to be a politician,” Michelle answered. “Nothing has changed in me. I want to serve. … There are so many ways to make an impact. Politics is not my thing. It’s as simple as that.”
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Border Patrol arrests 81 as 'Charlotte's Web' operation starts
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents fanned out across Charlotte on Saturday, making arrests along Charlotte's immigrant-heavy Central Avenue and South Boulevard corridors. The arrests preceded a protest Saturday afternoon in uptown, where hundreds condemned the crackdown and the deployment of federal immigration agents. On Sunday morning, CBP Commander Greg Bovino said in a social media post that agents had arrested 81 people so far, "many" of whom have criminal histories. He said the agency will release more information about people who were arrested on social media. One arrest that was representative of the day took place in east Charlotte on Saturday morning. Agents wearing green uniforms with Border Patrol identifying patches, masks and sunglasses chased and arrested a man at a shopping center at the corner of Rosehaven Drive and Central Avenue.
The area is known for its large Latino and immigrant population. The circumstances of the arrest were not immediately clear. A WFAE reporter witnessed one arrest, and social media videos posted Saturday showed agents conducting arrests in other parts of the city, appearing to be concentrated in areas including east Charlotte and South Boulevard. Hours later in First Ward Park, hundreds of people gathered by the early afternoon, waving signs and chanting "No justice, no peace, no ICE or police." Many businesses on Central Avenue closed for the day. One restaurant employee declined to give his name, but said the arrests were spreading fear. "A lot of the workers are scared, and this, like - it’s going to be worse here in the east and South Boulevard where there are a lot of Hispanics," he told WFAE. Agents were also filmed questioning nearby landscapers, and smashing the window of a man’s car on South Boulevard and pulling him from his vehicle. Arrests also reportedly took place in Pineville and in Matthews. The Department of Homeland Security said Saturday that it had launched an operation called "Charlotte's Web" because local law enforcement were not detaining people charged with serious crimes.
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How a tech billionaire philanthropist got caught between Trump and San Francisco
While tech moguls like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sat center stage at President Donald Trump’s January inauguration, Marc Benioff, CEO of cloud software company Salesforce, was 4,000 miles away at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Benioff, an influential philanthropist and political voice in San Francisco, appeared set on making clear he wasn’t moving toward Trump. He said at one Davos event that the new administration would not change his or Salesforce’s core values, which include equality and sustainability. “Presidents change. Administrations change. We don’t change,” Benioff said in an onstage interview at a slick event space hosted by Axios, according to video of the event. But last month, many of Benioff’s onetime fans in San Francisco’s liberal community attacked him after he endorsed Trump’s proposal to send the National Guard into San Francisco to fight crime. “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it,” he said in an interview with the New York Times.
Rafael Mandelman, president of the city’s Board of Supervisors, called Benioff’s National Guard comments a “gut punch.” San Francisco’s mayor, sheriff and district attorney all pushed back on the idea that federal troops could help the city. Nearly 200 Salesforce employees reacted with barfing-face emojis in an internal message channel after a worker posted the New York Times article that reported Benioff’s comments, according to screenshots viewed by The Washington Post. “This seems to conflict pretty heavily with our values,” one worker wrote. Tech workers broadly lean Democratic and many CEOs now cultivating friendlier relations with Trump have previously supported liberal causes. But Benioff has made issues such as homelessness relief and LGBTQ+ rights, and the liberal bastion of San Francisco, part of his personal and professional brand. The recent blowback to Benioff shows the challenges corporate leaders face as they wrestle with the political and cultural collisions of this era — when both the White House and local officials are willing to go after, or even punish, companies they don’t agree with. Some tech companies have donated millions to Trump’s new White House ballroom, but Benioff’s roots in liberal San Francisco turned his brief comments into a major controversy that could have enduring consequences. Salesforce did not donate to the ballroom or Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
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On edge in small-town America
CJ’s Coffee n’ Cream was the only coffee shop in town, and Paul Blount sat in the corner of the room, his chair facing the front entrance, his fingers hooked into the sides of a bullet-resistant vest labeled “POLICE,” so that to anyone coming or going, he would be difficult to miss. Paul, 51, believed it was the duty of a police chief in a place as small as Palmyra, population 1,719, to make himself available to the people of the village. And lately in Palmyra, there was a growing sense of unease that he was determined to talk through and, if he could, contain, before it became something dangerous. It was the day before homecoming weekend, which meant that soon there would be toilet paper streamers in the trees, a football game played under the lights and the largest parade the village hosted all year. The parade, which ran half a mile from one end of Main Street to the other, was a concern. “Given the climate and recent media headlines, we are taking the following precautionary measures for this weekend’s event,” Paul had written to members of the village board that governed Palmyra. The precautionary measures included the use of a neighboring county’s drone program, to scan the rooftops for threats. “My team and I are proactively preparing for the worst-case scenarios while continuing to hope for the best.” How had such a feeling reached a place like Palmyra?
A dot on the map between Madison and Milwaukee, the village had two bars, one grocery store, two gas stations and acres of farmland. It was about 20 miles from the interstate, making it a place where people said, “If you’re in Palmyra, you either intended to be here, or you’re lost.” Palmyra was also in debt, and without enough growth in the village to support its costs, the board had been talking about dissolving the police department, which was already understaffed, with just two other full-time officers and no overnight patrol. So when Paul saw a flier advertising extra funding through a partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he applied. The program, which ICE called a 287(g) agreement, was offering big payouts to police departments that train and deputize their officers to enforce immigration law. Paul believed in cooperating with the federal government, and had told people he saw the program as a tool to address “serious criminal threats.” He’d also said he would leave it to the village board to decide whether to move forward with the agreement. But before that could happen, ICE had approved his application, and then came a statement from the ACLU, the TV news crews and emails to Paul saying he’d “sold his soul for money,” and now, so much of what he saw unfolding across the country felt like it was creeping into life in the village he was supposed to keep safe. When Paul had written his email warning the village board about the national “climate,” a gunman had just driven his pickup truck into a Mormon church in Michigan, and, four days before that, a man had opened fire on an ICE facility in Dallas, and two weeks before that, Charlie Kirk had been killed on a college campus in Utah.
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Trump issues new pardons for Jan. 6 rioters
President Trump over the weekend pardoned two individuals charged in connection with the investigation into the 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol. The president issued pardons for Suzanne Ellen Kaye, who served an 18-month sentence for threatening to shoot FBI agents amid an investigation into her involvement in the riots, and Daniel Edwin Wilson, who remained imprisoned, despite Trump’s sweeping pardons of Jan. 6 rioters, due to an unlawful firearms possession conviction. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin posted photos of the pardons to the social platform X on Saturday. Martin said that he specifically advocated for Wilson to receive clemency, and that the Justice Department under former President Biden “targeted” Kaye.
In 2021, the FBI received a tip regarding Kaye and the Jan. 6 riots, according to court records. Agent Arthur Smith interviewed Kaye, a native of Boca Raton, Fla., over the phone, during which she denied being at the Capitol. Kaye, who went by “Angry Patriot Hippie” online, then posted two videos, one to Facebook and another to Instagram. Both videos were titled “F— the FBI,” and featured Kaye, while drinking alcohol from a bottle, saying she would “shoot your f—ing a– if you come” to her house. She posted the latter video to her TikTok account as well. Kaye was found guilty of threatening to shoot FBI agents in June 2022 and sentenced to 18 months in prison in April 2023. She was released last year. A White House official told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister company, Saturday that Kaye “suffers from stress-induced seizures,” which she experienced while the jury read its verdict. “This is clearly a case of disfavored First Amendment political speech being prosecuted and an excessive sentence,” the official added.
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