December 18, 2025: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

U.S. crude oil closes at lowest level since early 2021 as looming surplus weighs on market

U.S. crude oil prices fell nearly 3% on Tuesday to close at the lowest level since early 2021, as a looming surplus and possible peace agreement in Ukraine weigh on the market. West Texas Intermediate fell 2.73%, or $1.55, to close at $55.27 per barrel, the lowest since February 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Global benchmark Brent lost 2.71%, or $1.64, to settle at $58.92. U.S. crude has shed about 23% this year in its worst performance since 2018, while Brent is down about 21% for its worst year since 2020. U.S. gasoline prices have fallen below $3 per gallon to the lowest level in four years in a boost to consumers ahead of the holidays, according to the drivers' association AAA. Falling oil prices could signal a slowing economy. U.S. job growth totalled 64,000 in November but declined by 105,000 in October. The unemployment rate hit a four-year high of 4.6%.

click here for more

The oil market is under pressure this year as OPEC+ members have rapidly ramped up production after years of output cuts. Investors are also pricing in the possibility of lower geopolitical risk as President Donald Trump pressures Ukraine to accept a peace agreement with Russia. The threat of supply disruptions has loomed over the oil market since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Kyiv has launched repeated drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure this year. The U.S. and its European allies, meanwhile, have targeted Russia's crude industry with sanctions. Ukraine's attacks on oil infrastructure and U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies would likely be lifted relatively quickly in the event of an agreement, said Jorge Leon, Rystad Energy's head of geopolitical analysis, in a note to clients. "This would significantly reduce the risk of near-term Russian supply disruptions and allow a sizeable volume of Russian oil currently stored on water to return to the market," Leon said. Russian oil stored on water is currently estimated at around 170 million barrels, according to Rystad. The end of U.S. sanctions on Russia would also change the incentives for OPEC+, Leon said. The group would likely resume a strategy to retake market share through higher production after recently pressing pause on that approach, he said.

Trump gives a partisan prime-time address insisting the economy is stronger than many voters feel

President Donald Trump delivered a politically charged speech Wednesday carried live in prime time on network television, seeking to pin the blame for economic challenges on Democrats while announcing he is sending a $1,776 bonus check to U.S. troops for Christmas. The remarks came as the nation is preparing to settle down to celebrate the holidays, yet Trump was focused more on divisions within the country than a sense of unity. His speech was a rehash of his recent messaging that has so far been unable to calm public anxiety about the cost of groceries, housing, utilities and other basic goods. Trump has promised an economic boom, yet inflation has stayed elevated and the job market has weakened sharply in the wake of his import taxes. Trump suggested that his tariffs — which are partly responsible for boosting consumer prices — would fund a new “warrior dividend” for 1.45 million military members, a payment that could ease some of the financial strains for many households.

click here for more

The amount of $1,776 was a reference to next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “The checks are already on the way,” he said of the expenditure, which would total roughly $2.6 billion. Related Stories Trump's speech on combating inflation turns to grievances about immigrants from 'filthy' countries Trump to visit Pennsylvania to highlight efforts to curb inflation as high prices squeeze Americans Trump, like Biden before him, finds there's no quick fix on inflation Presidential addresses to the nation carried on network television are traditionally less partisan than rally speeches, but Trump gave a condensed version of his usual political remarks. Flanked by two Christmas trees with a portrait of George Washington behind him in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room, Trump sought to pin any worries about the economy on his predecessor, Joe Biden. “Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” Trump said. “We’re poised for an economic boom, the likes of which the world has never seen.”

Ted Cruz questions ‘mafioso’ FCC chief Brendan Carr

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr faced tough questioning Wednesday in his first Senate testimony since suggesting ABC’s network licenses could be pulled after late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Sen. Ted Cruz, who called the hearing as chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, joined Democrats in criticizing Carr’s “dangerous” comments at the time, saying the federal regulator sounded like a “mafioso.” On Wednesday, Cruz pushed Carr on the agency’s obligation to respect Americans’ free-speech rights, saying government can’t be in the business of arbitrating truth and opinion. He paired his questions with criticism of Democrats, saying they have previously targeted Fox News and attempted to censor social media content that Cruz described as accurate about COVID-19 and election fraud.

click here for more

Broadcasting stations that transmit over public airwaves have licenses requiring them to operate in the “public interest, convenience and necessity,” which was the basis for Carr’s saber-rattling over Kimmel’s monologue. “So long as there is a public interest standard, shouldn’t it be understood to encompass robust First Amendment protections to ensure that the FCC cannot use it to chill speech?” Cruz asked Carr. The FCC chief agreed with Cruz before pivoting to echo the criticisms of Democrats pressuring Fox News. Cruz moved on to other topics, but Democrats on the panel were far from done with the issue. One after another quoted Cruz’s “mafioso” comments to bolster their own scathing criticism of Carr’s comments on Kimmel and ABC. “You are not reinvigorating the public interest standard, you are weaponizing the public interest standard,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told Carr as he asked repeatedly whether the FCC chief regrets his statements.

Hidalgo, critical of top Democratic county judge candidate, undecided on endorsement

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s admonishment of a top candidate vying for her seat could reflect a contentious shift in the county’s Democratic Party. Her comments opposing former Houston Mayor Annise Parker’s bid for county judge come on the heels of top Texas Republicans vowing to turn the state’s largest county red, and after Hidalgo said in a series of press conferences she would refrain from endorsing a candidate for her job. Hidalgo, a Democrat, announced in September that she wouldn’t seek reelection next year, and her two-term stint as the county's top elected official will end in December 2026. Parker, who was favored in a recent survey for the position in next year’s Democratic primary election, was the subject of a social media post by Hidalgo on Tuesday in which she was referred to as “Kim Ogg 2.0.”

click here for more

Kim Ogg previously served as the district attorney and has openly called for more GOP leadership in Harris County. Sign up for the Hello, Houston! daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox. Hidalgo overall received the lowest net-approval rating based on job performance of any elected Harris County official included in the survey — including all county commissioners, District Attorney Sean Teare, and acting County Attorney Christian Menefee. In an interview with Hello Houston on Wednesday, Hidalgo elevated her condemnation of Parker by suggesting her political beliefs fail to align with the Democratic Party. She said Parker supported the state takeover of the Houston Independent School District and endorsed Ogg. Ogg pushed back in a statement of her own, calling Hidalgo’s remarks reflective of her tumultuous tenure as county judge.

State Stories

Texas environmental agency struggles with backlogs after years of budget cuts, study finds

The Texas Commission for Environmental Quality has struggled to keep up with enforcement claims amid years of cuts to the state environmental agency's budget,according to a recent study. When adjusted for inflation, TCEQ’s budget was cut by roughly one-third between 2010 and 2024, even as the number of regulated industrial facilities in the state increased, according to an analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project. The agency in 2010 had a budget of $539 million. The agency most recently worked on a $407 million budget in 2024. That reduction coincides with a case backlog TCEQ faces. As of August, the agency reported a backlog of 1,480 enforcement cases.

click here for more

In some cases, claims remain untouched for several years, said Kathryn Guerra, a former TCEQ employee who now works as an agency watchdog with the nonprofit group Public Citizen. “Historically, the agency's own enforcement policy was to hold enforcement cases for several years,” said Guerra, who also worked with EIP for their Texas analysis. “And that unfortunately created for the TCEQ a really extensive backlog of pretty complex cases. In one instance, very recently, we saw an enforcement case go before the commissioners for approval, that was 10 years of enforcement action.” According to the TCEQ, of the 9,198 complaints filed in 2025, just 6% of claims were investigated within five days. Nearly 55% of claims took a month or more to address. That could leave some communities without recourse, said Andrew Quicksall with SMU’s environmental health and compliance quality program. “It's like any other sort of enforcement or investigation that you may do,” Quicksall said. “Eventually things get backlogged to a point where you can't address them. And we have those problems where we have environmental claims that go without investigation because the backlog is so large.”

Texas Secretary of State office's tech woes muddle candidate lists

Weeks after an untimely technology upgrade at the Secretary of State’s office sent counties into a panic over backlogged voter registrations, local party leaders and elections officials say the same update has muddled the state’s candidate-tracking portal as well, leaving them with incomplete lists as they start to assemble the March 3 primary ballot. Republicans and Democrats run their own primaries in Texas, but lean on the Secretary of State’s office as a centralized source of candidate information. Thanks to a series of hangups this year, including a drawn-out legal fight over the congressional maps and a new reporting system at the Secretary of State’s office, local party officials say the state’s candidate portal has been experiencing delays, and complete candidate lists still aren’t finalized.

click here for more

A Secretary of State spokeswoman said Monday candidates for the primary file with the parties, whose officials enter their information directly to the portal. Between the state and local parties, she said, they should have complete lists to work with for their party primary elections in March. County-level candidates file at their county party office, meaning local party chairs have those full records in-house. But candidates for multi-county districts or statewide races file with the state parties, which saw a rush of last-minute filings and shuffles between races as the Supreme Court ruled on the congressional districts just days before the deadline. On Monday, Bexar County Democratic Party Chair Michelle Lowe Solis and Republican Party of Bexar County Chair Kris Coons met with the Bexar County Elections Department to review a sample ballot based on records from the Secretary of State’s candidate portal. But many candidates believed to have filed for office, particularly congressional candidates on the Republican side, were still missing from the list.

Texas State canceled Black history exhibit, citing anti-DEI climate

(Update: Shortly after this report published, university spokesperson Jayme Blaschke told the American-Statesman that Texas State University will consider bringing the Black History 101 Mobile Museum to campus for future Black History Month programming.” He declined to specify when and how the university will consider the museum. Khalid el-Hakim, the founder of the museum, said he has not heard from Texas State University.) Texas State University officials may be reversing course after previously uninviting a Black history exhibition from campus, citing the state’s anti-DEI law, Texas' climate and topics covered by the museum. Civil rights organizations called the move viewpoint discrimination and urging the university to bring the mobile museum to campus.

click here for more

Khalid el-Hakim, the founder and curator of Black History 101 Mobile Museum, a 30-year travelling exhibit of lesser-taught Black history from ancient Egypt to present day, said a Texas State University official approached him October 14 about bringing his exhibition to campus for Black History Month. But on October 28, the official reversed course, saying supervisors did not approve the museum to be on campus. In the second email, a director of campus activities informed el-Hakim that “after reviewing this with supervisors and the leadership team, the Black History 101 Mobile Museum was not approved to be on campus … due to SB -17, the current climate of our State, and certain topics covered as part of the museum,” according to a screenshot of the email. In a letter sent Tuesday to Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse, the Texas chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund and San Antonio-based nonprofit Intercultural Development Research Association argue that the cancellation wrongly cites state law, which does not bar diversity in teaching. The groups contend that the university’s decision contributes to a “broader pattern” of suppression of race in education.

Austin United PAC sues city over review of petition

The Austin United PAC is suing the city after a petition to block the expansion of the convention center was rejected. According to KVUE, the political action committee claims Erika Brady, the Austin city clerk, unlawfully rejected the group’s petition. The petition needed at least 20,000 signatures to leave the decision to expand the Austin Convention Center up to voters next May. It allegedly received about 1,000 more than what was needed, but Brady said the city was confident it received less than that. Brady was tasked with validating the signatures. Austin United PAC told KVUE that the city violated state law by not disclosing how the petition was reviewed. The group argues that the funds put toward the convention center’s expansion should instead be used for the city’s culture, arts and parks.

click here for more

A Democrat is running in every state and federal race on Texas' 2026 ballot, a first for either party

A Democrat is running in every state and federal race on the Texas ballot next year, the first time in modern state history that either party has fielded a full slate of candidates, according to the Texas Democratic Party. The complete field is the result of a recruitment campaign run by a network of the state’s top Democratic groups and politicians, including Texas Majority PAC, the Texas Democratic Party, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke and former state Sen. Wendy Davis. Together, the groups recruited 104 candidates to fill every congressional, state House and state Senate seat up for election in 2026. The effort also ensured that a Democrat is running in every statewide judicial and State Board of Education race. “No Republican gets a free ride in Texas,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said in an interview. “If you are a Republican and you want to hold public office in this state, you’re going to have to fight us for it.”

click here for more

The push to run a candidate for every seat — no matter how red-leaning — comes as Texas Democrats look to capitalize on turnout and backlash to the Trump administration. The theory, Democratic organizers said, is that running candidates everywhere will not only maximize the party’s chances of flipping down-ballot seats, but also increase Democratic turnout and engagement in areas that top-of-the-ticket candidates may not be able to reach — potentially creating an upstream effect to boost statewide Democrats. “Even the most relentless statewide candidate is never going to talk to every voter that they need to,” Texas Majority PAC Director Katherine Fischer said. “We need a network of talented, compelling Democratic communicators across the state to clearly communicate the message that Republican leadership has failed us, and that Texans should consider voting differently this cycle and in the future.” Of Texas’ 38 congressional districts, Republicans currently hold 25, with a new gerrymandered map engineered to hand them an additional three to five seats. The GOP also dominates the state Legislature, controlling 88 out of 150 Texas House seats and an 18-to-11 majority in the state Senate (where two red-leaning districts currently sit vacant). All statewide offices, including both U.S. Senate seats, are held by Republicans.

"Traveling" housing finance corporations were banned. One Dallas neighborhood wonders what's next.

The Dallas Central Appraisal District made a decision earlier this month that sent a lot of people scrambling. It quietly added nearly $3 billion worth of value back to the county’s tax rolls by denying 120 requests for tax exemptions. This is a wonky matter with significant financial implications. The problem started with a loophole in state law that allowed obscure public housing entities to forgo paying taxes on apartment buildings they acquire in other cities, sometimes hundreds of miles away, so long as they priced some units at rates affordable to lower-income tenants. The cities losing the taxes had no say in these decisions; oftentimes, they didn’t even know the deals were happening. The properties were removed from the rolls with no public discussion as to whether the affordable units provided were worth such significant tax breaks.

click here for more

This practice began in 2021 and has picked up considerably in recent years. In May, the Texas Legislature passed a bill making this illegal and Dallas’ chief appraiser proceeded to blast away the exemptions. The appraisal district’s review board upheld the decision during a hearing early in December. DCAD clawed back an impressive amount of money; it equals a little under 2 percent of the county’s total taxable commercial value, and about three-quarters—$2.2 billion—of this haul is in the city of Dallas, in every Council district, spread across 75 complexes. (The other properties are in Carrollton, DeSoto, Duncanville, Farmers Branch, Garland, Grand Prairie, Irving, Mesquite, and Rowlett.) In Dallas proper, their tax bills will total about $50 million annually after the appraiser’s decision, according to an analysis by the board of the Dallas Housing Finance Corporation. This should be great news for city coffers. More money for police and fire and schools and Parkland Hospital and Dallas College, just after City Hall navigated a nearly $37 million shortfall in its last budget. But there will be unintended consequences. State lawmakers also left a mess for local officials like Council member Kathy Stewart, whose Lake Highlands district has far more of these properties than any of her colleagues. She worries that a wave of foreclosures and defaults could destabilize one of the city’s densest geographies, where aging apartments may sink into disrepair and quality of life concerns begin to spread as they did following the 2008 recession.

Historic downtown Houston building newly renamed in honor of Sylvester Turner

Harris County officials and family members of Sylvester Turner, the late former Houston mayor and congressman, gathered at a 20-story building in downtown Houston on a foggy Wednesday morning for a renaming ceremony. Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, a fellow Democrat and political ally of Turner’s, opened the ceremony by discussing the building's history and how that history exemplifies the changes Houston has undergone over the last three-quarters of a century. Ellis said the structure at 1010 Lamar St. used to serve as the Sackowitz building — a high-end clothing store — in the 1950s. "This building has such a rich history — opened, as I mentioned, in 1950," Ellis said. "Early on, until the mid-’60s, African Americans and Hispanics could buy clothes from Sackowitz, but you couldn't come in and try them on. ... So I was thinking, shortly after Sylvester passed, what would be the appropriate honor? This building just made sense. It's important."

click here for more

The building will now be known as the Harris County Sylvester Turner Administration Building and will soon be the new offices of the county attorney's office, auditor’s office and department of equity. Turner died March 5 at the age of 70. A native Houstonian, Turner was born in 1954 and grew up in Acres Homes, a predominantly Black suburb. His death came just a couple months into his term as the representative of Texas' 18th Congressional District, which has since remained vacant as a runoff election to determine his successor is scheduled for Jan. 31. He was the mayor of Houston from 2016 to 2024. Harris County Engineer Milton Rahman also spoke at Wednesday’s event and said the building will serve a fitting purpose in honor of Turner. "That tells you this represents the value[s] justice, equity and fairness," Rahman said. "Those are going to be the departments that Harris County holds very close to [its] chest — the values we carry. That's going to be this building." Ashley Turner-Captain, Turner's daughter, shared an anecdote from her father about how the skyscrapers of downtown Houston inspired him as a young man. "I get to tell my son the story of his pop-pop getting on that bus, coming into downtown from Acres Homes, dreaming and being inspired [by] these big buildings and now this building — one of the tall buildings — is dedicated [to] his pop-pop," Turner-Captain said. "I think that's just an amazing way to honor him."

Bexar County joins other municipalities to self-fund flood systems

While state dollars for flood safety still have yet to be dispersed, Bexar County is joining other Texas counties that experienced deadly flooding this summer in forging ahead with its own self-funded plans. The San Antonio River Authority is working on a regional network of sensors that it believes will bring Bexar County residents some of the most advanced flood detection technology in the country, eventually allowing them to automatically close vehicle crossings before cars can get into dangerous situations. Bexar County Commissioners budgeted $20 million for the so-called NextGen flood warning system in August, and approved the release of the first $2.4 million of that money Tuesday.

click here for more

“We surveyed all of the roughly 200 gauges within Bexar County to make sure that elevations are accurate, and we’ll have that data final roughly by the end of December,” River Authority General Manager Derek Boese said Tuesday. “That information is really important, making sure the model is as accurate as possible.” The move comes as the state has set aside $50 million to help flood-prone counties fund flood warning systems in the wake of an unusually deadly summer for both San Antonio and the Hill Country. Bexar County was named one of the qualifying counties for such funding, but the money has been slow to come and is aimed primarily at flood sirens, which Boese said typically aren’t effective in urban centers. “We think that there are better solutions to warn people, which would be a combination of emergency alerts via text message, getting emergency managers out as early as possible so they can block roads, the gate systems, the warning lights, all of those things,” said Boese, who noted he’s still hopeful the state funds can be used to support their other initiatives.

Robert Roberson ‘is still in peril,’ death row opponents say. But there is hope.

Last year, Robert Roberson came within hours of dying before a legislative subpoena forestalled his execution date. This year, he was a week away from execution when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay in October. Whether 2026 will arrive with better news is still very much up in the air. The same month that the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled, Roberson’s lawyer, Gretchen Sween, set the wheels in motion for a potential hearing to go over evidence she’d like to introduce should her client get a new trial. The Texas Attorney General’s office responded as well, arguing that Sween’s request for a status hearing was unnecessary and that its attorneys wouldn’t be available for much of December and January.

click here for more

Roberson was convicted in the 2002 death of his toddler daughter, Nikki, with evidence that relied heavily on a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis. For some time, his lawyers and the Innocence Project have argued that he deserves a new trial for a variety of reasons, with the biggest being that most experts now believe that shaken baby diagnoses are based on “junk science.” His attorneys argue that this is the case; Roberson’s conviction runs afoul of a 2013 Texas state law addressing convictions based on disputed or disproven science. In November, the New Jersey Supreme Court became the first state to prohibit prosecutors from introducing evidence suggesting a shaken baby diagnosis. Earlier this month, a large group of anti-death penalty advocates and faith leaders announced the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Roberson’s case was on their minds, with Innocence Project founder and attorney Barry Scheck commenting on the bipartisan effort to save Roberson, along with the attention of the faith community (including the detective who arrested Roberson, Brian Wharton, who is now a Methodist minister in Onalaska). ”It was quite moving and extraordinary to see these Republican legislators go to prison and pray with Robert,” Scheck said before acknowledging that “Robert is still in peril because he has become a political football in Texas.”

Lockheed Martin rolls out the red carpet for Finland’s first F-35 jet

Government officials and military leaders from all over the world gathered on Tuesday at a hangar inside the Lockheed Martin’s F-35 production facility in Fort Worth to roll out the first in a series of F-35A Lightning II jets for Finland’s military. In 2021, the Finnish government ordered 64 of the jets from Lockheed Martin in a nearly $10 billion deal. The order will be distributed over several years, with the first jets being delivered in 2026. Finnish pilots will be trained in Arkansas. An individual F-35A costs roughly $80 million to produce. In 2025, Lockheed Martin will deliver between 170 and 190 of them. The fifth generation fighter jet, sleek and enormously expensive, was a target of billionaire Elon Musk in 2024 when he advocated to cut the program’s federal spending as part of his role in the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency. The jet has been assembled in Fort Worth by Lockheed Martin since 2004.

click here for more

Lockheed Martin has a $17.7 billion payroll in Texas, and the F-35 production facility in Fort Worth employs roughly 19,200 people, according to the company. The program has contributed $7 billion in local economic benefits, according to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, and supported over 30,000 jobs in the greater Fort Worth economy. “Today, we celebrate Finland’s first F-35, an aircraft that represents the cutting edge of technology, advanced mission capability and complete air dominance,” said Chauncey McIntosh, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 Lightning II program in remarks to the audience. “In an increasingly contested world, this aircraft strengthens national defense, deepens NATO integration and enhances allied readiness across all domains.” The F-35 program includes roughly 20 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, and the Netherlands. Finland fully joined NATO in 2023, motivated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after decades of political neutrality. This year, Russia has slowly expanded its military presence along Finland’s border.

SEC steps in after California blocks Sable Offshore's pipeline permit

Just a day after a California board dealt Sable Offshore a serious blow when it blocked a permit for Sable’s pipeline, the federal government stepped in with a Hail Mary for the embattled Houston oil company. According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing made public Wednesday evening, Sable Offshore’s contested pipeline connecting its Santa Ynez Unit to an onshore facility in California has been reclassified as an interstate pipeline. The move seemingly revokes the state and Santa Barbara’s authority over the pipeline and permitting process and instead gives it to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, an arm of the Trump administration.

click here for more

Sable previously asked the administration for its support in its fight with California regulators. Energy Sec. Chris Wright signaled support for the project in October, criticizing the state in a post on X for “blocking oil production off California’s coast.” But the administration has yet to publicly comment on the Wednesday move. The company spent the better part of a year working to fully restore operations off the coast of California at a cluster of offshore oil fields known as the Santa Ynez Unit. Its efforts have been gridlocked in state courts, culminating with the 3-1 vote Tuesday from the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors that rejected Sable’s permit. The cluster of oil fields in question was the site of a nearly 140,000-gallon oil spill in 2015 that killed marine wildlife and caused millions in damages to the local environment and fishing industry. State officials and environmentalists have said the company and the pipeline could cause massive environmental damage if allowed to come back online. Sable acquired the unit from Exxon Mobil last year and restarted oil production in May — almost a decade after the oil spill. It bought the assets knowing the network of pipelines that feeds the crude to California refineries had not been permitted to open.

National Stories

House GOP passes narrow health care package, with key Obamacare subsidies set to expire

House Republicans on Wednesday approved a narrow package designed to lower health care costs for some Americans in the coming years – marking a win for leadership even as some of their own members complain it falls woefully short of tackling rising prices in 2026. Speaker Mike Johnson and his team were aggressive in pushing their health care plan to the floor this week, vowing it will be the first step of a major GOP agenda on lowering costs next year. They are specifically ignoring, however, the issue of the expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies that were passed during the pandemic to help people afford premium costs. Those tax credits will expire at the end of the month, spiking premiums for tens of millions of Americans next year.

click here for more

The House GOP package, instead, would allow small businesses — as well as self-employed people — to band together across industries to buy coverage through association health plans in an effort to lower premiums. It would also, once again, provide federal funding for the cost-sharing subsidies that lower-income Obamacare enrollees receive to reduce their deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for care. House Republicans would also require pharmacy benefit managers, which act as middlemen between drugmakers and insurers or employers, to provide employers with data on the price of drugs, the rebates they receive from manufacturers and other operations. The House voted 216-211 to send the measure to the Senate, which is not expected to vote on it before lawmakers leave town for the holiday recess. The last-minute health care push from GOP leaders comes at a fraught moment for the party: President Donald Trump is striving to show he is making progress to lower costs for everyday Americans. But his own members are attacking Johnson and other GOP leaders for ignoring the looming Obamacare subsidies cliff, which would raise costs for tens of millions of Americans starting in January.

Trump administration prepares sweeping crackdown on leftist networks

The Trump administration is embarking on an expansive effort to root out what it sees as rampant left-wing domestic terrorism, raising concerns among some security experts and lawmakers that broad categories of Americans’ political speech could come under surveillance. Thursday marks a first deadline, set earlier this month in a memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, for all federal law-enforcement agencies to “coordinate delivery” of their intelligence files on “Antifa” and “Antifa-related” activities to the FBI. Bondi has tasked the agency with using those files to draw up lists of Americans and foreigners to investigate as part of a campaign directed by President Donald Trump against what his administration views as a growing threat of political violence by the American left. “Left-wing organizations have fueled violent riots, organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated illegal doxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and riot materials, and more,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “The Trump Administration will get to the bottom of this vast network inciting violence in American communities.”

click here for more

Critics warn that the plan signals an impending crackdown on political dissent under the banner of counterterrorism — one that could land large numbers of liberal activists on government watch lists and chill Americans’ First Amendment right to protest the administration’s policies. Bondi’s Dec. 4 memorandum, which was first reported by journalist Ken Klippenstein and later confirmed by the Justice Department to The Washington Post, listed “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Christianity,” “opposition to law and immigration enforcement,” “radical gender ideology,” and “hostility towards traditional views on family, religion, and morality” as some of the political agendas espoused by the individuals who might merit investigation. The memo says the government will pursue people “with a willingness to use violence against law-abiding citizenry to serve those beliefs,” making no mention of violent extremism animated by right-wing or other viewpoints. Citing the phrase “Hey Fascist! Catch!” inscribed on a bullet casing of Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, Bondi wrote: “Violence against what extremists claim to be fascism is the clarion call of recent domestic terrorism.” On Monday, the lead federal prosecutor in Los Angeles credited the administration’s new focus on left-wing crime for the arrest and charging of four alleged members of the leftist Turtle Island Liberation Front, who prosecutors say were plotting to bomb multiple L.A. locations on New Year’s Eve.

Dan Bongino confirms he’s quitting as FBI Deputy Director

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is leaving the bureau and appears to be headed back to his old right-wing podcast. On Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump confirmed rumors that Bongino was clearing out his desk at FBI headquarters in Washington. Asked by a journalist why Bongino is leaving the bureau, the president responded, “Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show.” Bongino confirmed the news shortly after in a post on X, writing: “I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January. I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose.” Earlier in the day, a person close to Bongino told NOTUS that the law enforcement official had always intended to leave after a year on the job — particularly after addressing some personal fixations.

click here for more

For example, Bongino had long used his popular conservative political show to question mainstream media narratives and complain about the lack of government transparency over the jail cell death of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the unsolved case of the D.C. pipe bomber. The Department of Justice is now days away from releasing the Epstein files. And the FBI recently arrested a man it accused of planting those bombs that didn’t go off — thanks, in part, to a team effort led by Bongino. Another source familiar with Bongino told NOTUSthis week that his media company, Silverloch Studios, has told at least one person that the current FBI employee would be returning to the company in the new year. Though he saw personal accomplishments, Bongino’s exit comes after a tumultuous time at the agency. It was initially rocked during the height of the Epstein files saga and at times pitted against the DOJ as Americans, including Trump’s own base (and some of Bongino’s old audience) searched for whom to blame over the lack of perceived transparency. Over the summer, there were questions about whether he — clearly frustrated — would stay in his role.

Measles outbreaks won't end in 2025 as cases mount in Utah, Arizona and South Carolina

As measles continues to spread in the United States, it’s likely that the outbreaks that broke records in 2025 will continue into the new year. In South Carolina, 168 people, mostly schoolchildren, are in quarantine. Most of the state's 138 cases confirmed since September, nearly all in unvaccinated people, have been centered in Spartanburg County in the northwestern part of the state. “As we identify new cases, and if those cases have susceptible contacts, that’s a new 21-day quarantine period,” Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist for the state Department of Public Health, said Wednesday at what has become a weekly news briefing.

click here for more

That is, anyone who is unvaccinated and therefore vulnerable to measles exposures occurring now will be in quarantine through the holidays. According to NBC News data, the K-12 vaccination rate for measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) in Spartanburg County was 90% for the 2024-25 school year, below the 95% level doctors say is needed to protect against an outbreak. Bell said the vaccination rate has been falling for several years, similar to other areas in the United States. Based on NBC News' investigation, The Vaccine Divide, in the states collecting data for the MMR vaccine, 67% of counties and jurisdictions have immunization rates below 95%. Bell said at the briefing that there was no indication the South Carolina outbreak was spreading yet to nearby states, such as North Carolina. Since the latest surge in cases, which began in late summer in the bordering areas of southwestern Utah and Arizona and, more recently, in South Carolina, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has taken a low profile, with nearly all public outreach about the nationwide outbreaks coming from local and state health departments.

Hegseth overhauling chaplain corps, targeting ‘new age’ concepts

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday he is overhauling the military’s chaplain corps, which provide religious and spiritual support to members of the armed forces and their families, saying he intended to target “new age” concepts. “In an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism, chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers. Faith and virtue were traded for self-help and self-care,” Hegseth said in a post on the social platform X. “If you need proof, just look at the current Army Spiritual Fitness Guide. In well over 100 pages, it mentions God one time. That’s it. It mentions ‘feelings’ 11 times. It even mentions ‘playfulness,’ whatever that is, nine times. There’s zero mention of virtue. The guide relies on new age notions,” he added.

click here for more

Hegseth later added that he had “a directive right here that I will sign today to eliminate the use of the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide, effective immediately.” “These types of training materials have no place in the War Department. Our chaplains are chaplains, not emotional support officers, and we’re going to treat them as such,” he added, using the Trump Administration’s preferred name for the Department of Defense. Hegseth, no stranger to pushing for change at the Pentagon, told the military’s top officers earlier this year that he did not want to see “fat generals and admirals” or overweight troops anymore. “Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” Hegseth said. “Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country and the world.” “It’s a bad look. It is bad, and it’s not who we are,” he continued.

16 states sue Trump administration again over billions in withheld electric vehicle charging funds

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia are suing the Trump administration for what they say is the unlawful withholding of over $2 billion in funding for two electric vehicle charging programs. A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Seattle is the latest legal battle that Democratic-led states are pursuing over funding for EV charging infrastructure that they say was obligated to them by Congress under former President Joe Biden, but that the Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration are “impounding.” “The Trump administration’s illegal attempt to stop funding for electric vehicle infrastructure must come to an end,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a release. “This is just another reckless attempt that will stall the fight against air pollution and climate change, slow innovation, thwart green job creation, and leave communities without access to clean, affordable transportation.”

click here for more

President Donald Trump’s administration has been hostile to EVs and has dismantled several Biden-era policies friendly to cleaner cars and trucks in favor of policies that align with Trump’s oil and gas industry agenda. Transportation Department officials did not immediately respond to request for comment. The Trump administration in February ordered states to halt spending money for EV charging that was allocated in the bipartisan infrastructure law passed under the previous administration. Several states filed a lawsuit in May against the administration for withholding the funding from the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program for a nationwide charging buildout. A federal judge later ordered the administration to release much of the funding for chargers in more than a dozen states. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later issued revised guidance intended to streamline funding applications for states and make charger deployment more efficient. At least four states — Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, and Wisconsin — have announced awards under the vehicle infrastructure program, according to Loren McDonald, chief analyst at EV data firm Chargeonomics, who tracks the state awards.

How a top-tier surrogacy agency became an FBI target

The FBI is investigating a prominent surrogacy agency that shuttered abruptly earlier this month, leaving desperate parents-to-be out of tens of thousands of dollars and surrogates missing payments as their pregnancies progressed. The agency’s owner, Megan Hall-Greenberg, 49, effectively disappeared — she deleted her social media accounts, and clients and employees say she hasn’t replied to their messages since Dec. 3. Last week, FBI agents descended on Hall-Greenberg’s home and the Camas, Washington, headquarters of Surro Connections, which was founded in 2010 and billed itself as a top-tier surrogacy agency with clients around the world. A neighbor said he saw FBI agents escort someone from the home into a car but wasn’t sure of the person’s identity. Agents have also interviewed Surro Connections’ former employees, who abruptly lost access to their company email and records systems a day before it shut down.

click here for more

One of them, Sarah Shaffer, was the agency’s marketing manager and lead surrogate coordinator. She estimates that some 150 families may have had money in the company’s in-house escrow system, totaling between $2 million and $5 million. “Some intended parents had just funded a night before this happened,” Shaffer said, adding: “A lot of them have taken out savings to be able to afford this journey.” In interviews, three intended parents and six current and former surrogates — two of whom are pregnant — described a sense of total shock after Surro Connections unexpectedly collapsed. Mariana Klaveno, 46, had transferred more than $66,000 to the agency’s in-house escrow for an embryo transfer, which was planned for next month. But then, her surrogate (also known as a gestational carrier) told her that something was wrong. “‘Other surrogates aren’t getting paid. Everyone’s freaking out. Everyone says to get a lawyer,’” Klaveno recalled her saying. “And then come to find out that no one can get a hold of Megan … and none of the intended parents can access the supposed escrow account that we were assured was safe.”

Copyright December 18, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved