November 13, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Widespread Microsoft outage continues, taking down Outlook and other 365 services

Microsoft suffered a widespread outage on Thursday and Friday, as engineers scrambled to fix server issues that caused disruption to millions of its customers. Connectivity issues began shortly before 1 p.m. ET on Thursday and continued into Friday, with Outlook and Teams, along with multiple Microsoft 365 services such as Sharepoint and Copilot, affected. Numerous external services that connect with Microsoft products such as Outlook Calendar were also hit. Microsoft said it was not aware of any malicious activity causing the outage, which it initially blamed on a traffic surge in part of its infrastructure and issues with a component responsible for processing server health. Email and related tools were unavailable for Microsoft users throughout the Asian business day on Friday and across the European and early U.S. morning.

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In an update at around 5 a.m. ET, Microsoft said users may still be unable to connect to multiple Microsoft 365 products — including Outlook on either web or desktop and any services that interact with email — and did not give a timeline for restoring full service. Most access to Teams was available. The company said recovery actions were progressing in phases across affected infrastructure and it was seeing “incremental improvement in several workloads.” But it added that service was variable and full capacity was not restored. Around 45 minutes earlier, it said it was seeing “early signs of stabilization.” Engineering teams are taking affected systems offline for fixes and bringing them back online in stages while looking at additional options, Microsoft said, adding that it was prioritizing efforts to preserve emails delayed during the recovery process. It is extending the timeout window, whereby delayed emails continue to attempt delivery, for up to 48 hours to help protect messages. Microsoft said in its initial updates on Thursday that the connectivity problems related to infrastructure “elevated load across multiple regions,” caused by a “number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable; straining the remaining infrastructure.” Some servers were failing automated health checks, it said.

A Tarrant Dem exited a Texas House race, then won. Now she plans to take office.

A North Texas Democrat who won the race for House District 93 despite suspending her campaign amid eligibility questions related to a conviction says she is qualified for office and plans to assume the elected position. Ericka Lomick won Nov. 3 elections for the Fort Worth area district, defeating Republican Alan Blaylock, a former Fort Worth City Council member. She left the race in the weeks before Election Day for a full term beginning in January and a partial term to fill the remainder of former Rep. Nate Schatzline’s current term, after he left the office early and didn’t seek reelection. He went on to work as a senior advisor for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

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Lomick’s campaign cited “questions” around her eligibility as the reason for the campaign’s suspension. Specific circumstances that would disqualify her from serving weren’t mentioned, but the announcement followed a news release from a political action committee claiming Lomick has a felony record. Given the timing of her exit, Lomick’s name remained on the ballot for the midterm election and special election. She won more votes than Blaylock in both instances. Federal court records out of North Carolina show that an Ericka Lomick was convicted in 2011 of mortgage fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of a plea deal. Court records show she was sentenced to 63 months in prison. In a Thursday statement, Lomick confirmed that she does have a criminal history, but said she’s qualified to serve in the Texas House of Representatives. “I am fully qualified to take the office to which I was elected,” Lomick said in a written statement shared with the Star-Telegram. “Although I was convicted of a felony in North Carolina many years ago, I was fully released from the resulting disabilities. I am preparing to represent the residents of my district.” Lomick said the information shared was reviewed by legal counsel. The statement does not explain the means by which she was released from the “resulting disabilities” related her felony history.

State Stories

Houston Chronicle Editorial: Dan Patrick lost. Texas Republicans don’t have to listen to him anymore.

Congratulations and well-wishes are owed to the soon-to-be former Texas lieutenant governor as he enters the next phase in his life: Being a political consultant at Patrick Strategies. You can tell Patrick is excited about this change because he hasn’t even left office yet and already his new business website is up and operating. Ethical concerns aside — we’ll let the prosecutors decide whether Patrick is violating the state’s requirement that politicians wait two years before serving as lobbyists — the website itself is worthy of some praise. Particularly the part that quotes a 2021 Houston Chronicle editorial. “Patrick’s predecessors — Ben Ramsey, Bob Bullock, Ben Barnes, Bill Hobby, Rick Perry — have taken up the gavel … but arguably none have used it more efficiently … than Patrick. His predecessors, in the words of the aforementioned insider, ‘are not in the same league, the same universe, the same galaxy.’” That’s quite the high compliment coming from us, but the well-placed ellipses leave out critical language that Patrick’s web designer must have accidentally skipped. Here’s the full quote, with our emphasis added.

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“Patrick’s predecessors — Ben Ramsey, Bob Bullock, Ben Barnes, Bill Hobby, Rick Perry — have taken up the gavel and used the power of the office for good or ill, but arguably none have used it more efficiently or more ruthlessly than Patrick.” It’s hard to imagine why Patrick would want to leave out the reference to his ruthlessness. After all, ruthlessness has been critical to his political success. When future clients write a big fat check to Patrick Strategies, they’re going to expect some ruthlessness. Voters have come to expect it, too. Over the past 12 years, the Lone Star State has watched helplessly as Patrick gutted bipartisan cooperation in the Senate, killed the two-thirds rule that gave the minority party — whomever it may be — some power on the floor, and waged war on fellow Republicans who refused to acquiesce to his concentrating power in himself at the expense of senators and in Austin at the expense of local governments. Which is why nobody should be surprised that Patrick has been caught trying to meddle with the Texas Senate rules on his way out the door to disempower his Democratic successor, Vikki Goodwin. Besides, Patrick Strategies wouldn’t be all that lucrative if a bipartisan-minded Democrat like Goodwin returned power to individual senators and let them work for their constituents rather than just voters in Republican primaries. No, Patrick has been openly urging the Republican majority in the Texas Senate to transfer the lieutenant governor’s traditional powers — like appointing committee chairs and controlling the flow of legislation to the chamber floor — to a Senate majority leader position appointed by the 19 Republican members. This political scheme would set up a Senate where the Republicans maintain total control, shutting out Democratic influence — and essentially telling Texas voters to shut up after they spoke so clearly on Election Day. “If you lose the statewide offices and you still have the majority in the Senate, which we do, you shouldn't give up your majority because the governor lost or the lieutenant governor lost,” Patrick told conservative radio host Mark Davis this week. Again, that’s exactly what voters have come to expect from Patrick: Prioritizing partisan power grabs over the wants and needs of everyday Texans. Other states have endured similar antics where outgoing politicians undercut their successors — like in Wisconsin and North Carolina — but Patrick’s plan feels more at home in, say, Arizona or Georgia.

Harris County seeks another extension for Harvey flood control funds

Harris County officials said Thursday they will lobby newly-elected Democrats at the state and federal level to once again extend a spending deadline on hundreds of millions in federal Hurricane Harvey aid for flood control projects. Nearly all of the county’s 28 projects now appear on schedule for completion following a recent one-year extension the county received from federal officials and Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, Harris County Flood Control District Executive Director Marcus Stuckett said in a progress update. But with Buckingham, a Republican, now leaving office next year following Democrats’ sweep of statewide offices last week, commissioners are now eyeing yet another reprieve. That could help the county better spend roughly $320 million in funding that remains uncommitted and expand projects that had been reduced in scope for the sake of speed.

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Ben Flores, the Democrat who defeated Buckingham on Nov. 3, will take office in January. He does not appear to have taken a public stance on Harris County’s flood control funding, but Democrats on Commissioners Court said they hope he will take a different stance than Buckingham, who had criticized the county’s “incompetence” and said she would grant no more extensions. “All of us are reaching out to her successor to make that case,” said Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis. The court also unanimously greenlit a letter to U.S. Sen.-elect James Talarico and members of Houston’s congressional delegation, asking for help to ensure the congressionally approved Harvey aid remains available. All 28 projects combined account for more than $860 million in federal funding. Missing spending deadlines could force the county to repay funds and cancel projects. Several of the projects were reduced in scope to make them easier and faster to complete, Stuckett said. Partly for that reason and partly because several contractors’ bids came in cheaper than expected, he said, roughly $320 million remains uncommitted to projects. An extension by one or two years could help restore some of the original designs, he added. Commissioners also directed Stuckett to commit leftover funds to new projects and report back by February. It’s unclear if the county will be allowed to do so. Buckingham rejected one such request from Stuckett related to a portion of the unspent funds last month.

Copyright November 13, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved