August 20, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

'We are not a bunch of woke Marxist liberals here': Rural voters scramble Texas election

Rural voters may not stop the spread of data centers, but they could stop Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The Republican is bleeding support from small towns as he seeks a fourth term because of two late-emerging issues: power-hungry tech campuses and a planned $33 billion electric transmission build-out. Pushback against Abbott points to larger fears about losing rural identities, but also to everyday concerns about construction, pollution and tight supplies of water and electricity. Shawn Nanny, a Republican county commissioner in West Texas, said data centers and power line plans are the “straws that broke the camel’s back” when it comes to Abbott and other Texas GOP leaders. Some longtime conservatives are now considering the unthinkable — voting in November for a Democrat to be Texas’ next governor. And Abbott’s August directive to pause Texas data center grid approvals hasn’t convinced all of them to vote for him.

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“They understand the repercussions of that, but you know what I’m hearing is, ‘Yeah, we’ll have a Democrat in there and grit our teeth and bear it, but hopefully we’ll come out of it the following election,’” said Nanny, who lives in Tom Green County. “They’re so upset; they just want [Abbott] out.” The welcoming approach that Abbott’s Texas has taken toward data centers until now makes the rural pushback — and the governor’s retreat — particularly striking as the industry grapples with resistance nationwide. “Rural people feel like they are the ones seeing the brunt of this, and they don’t like it,” said Jim Henson, executive director of the Texas Politics Project. “These issues are starting to bond together a lot of the people against data centers.” Texas has not elected a Democrat as governor in more than 35 years, but analysts say Abbott can’t afford to lose much of his rural support in November. Recent polls released by Texas A&M University and Fox News showed Abbott with a 1 percentage point lead over Democratic challenger state Rep. Gina Hinojosa. Polling from the nonpartisan Texas Politics Project showed Abbott’s approval rating among rural voters plunged from 2018 to 2026 — going from 63 percent to 48 percent.

Patrick to Texas school districts: 'We're coming for your books'

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued a stark warning for school districts that do not remove books that he believes are offensive. "We're coming for the books. We ask that you do it on your own and remove these books," Patrick said. "Look at what's in your libraries. Don't bury your head in the sand." Patrick, in a news conference Wednesday morning, claimed 80% of school districts in the Lone Star State were not complying with Senate Bill 13. The lieutenant governor suggested that legislation could be filed that would allow for the lowering of a district's accountability score if inappropriate books were allowed to remain on the shelves of school libraries.

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"If these books are not off the shelf, we will pass a law that will knock your grade letter down one," Patrick said. Patrick later said that even a single book could be enough to trigger punishment for the district. "You’re damn right that one book is enough to get you degraded by a letter," he said. State school districts, schools and charter schools are given an A-F rating each year. According to the TEA, each rating uses weighted scores for student achievement, school progress and a measurement called "closing the gaps," which looks at progress to goals among racial and ethnic groups, socioeconomic backgrounds and other factors. The total weighted score is then used to determine the overall score. State funding could also be on the table as a potential punishment for those districts. Patrick said the state spends around $90 billion on public education every year and that lawmakers have a responsibility for how those tax dollars are spent.

After audit scorches TEA, Greg Abbott instead singles out Austin, El Paso ISDs in call for audits into 'administrative bloat'

Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday asked Texas’ new comptroller to examine the spending of up to four school districts to root out “administrative bloat” and said he would introduce a bill requiring districts spend at least 70% of their funds in the classroom. Comptroller Don Huffines, whom Abbott appointed last month, said he would comply with the request and announce the targeted districts in the “coming weeks.” But at a campaign stop in El Paso on Wednesday as part of his reelection bid, Abbott mentioned Austin and El Paso ISDs for growing their budgets while their enrollment is declining. “Texans expect that taxes collected from their hard-earned dollars will be spent in compliance with the law,” Abbott wrote in his request to Huffines.

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The announcement came on the same day that a long-awaited state audit found Abbott’s Texas Education Agency, which oversees districts, had a “management-heavy structure” that was in violation of state law. The audit, which was requested by lawmakers in last year’s budget, found that TEA has one manager for every 3.5 staffers, while state law requires one manager for 11 staffers. The agency could have sought state approval to get around the requirement, but didn’t do so, auditors noted. Spending and hiring on managers was also out of proportion, auditors found. Between 2021 and 2025, the number of managers increased by 38%, while the number of staffers increased 12%. Over that same period, salary and wage costs for management grew 64%, to $48 million, while staffer costs increased 31%, to $79 million. When auditors notified TEA of the findings, the agency filed an appeal with the Legislative Budget Board, asserting that it “requires a lower management-to-staff ratio to ensure effective management and positive programmatic outcomes,” auditors wrote. “The Agency noted that many managers also have substantial individual contributor duties,” auditors added.

Texas-based oil companies among first to sign contracts with Venezuela

Two Texas-based oil companies are among the first to enter agreements with Venezuela, following the United States' capture of President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year. According to Venezuelan state media, SLB and Hunt Oil Company signed contracts with state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) on Tuesday in Houston. SLB is a Houston-based oilfield services company and Hunt Oil Company is an independent exploration and production company based in Dallas.

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"Hunt Oil Company wants to play a constructive role in revitalizing and growing Venezuela's oil and gas production," CEO Hunter L. Hunt said in a statement. "We look forward to doing so with our unwavering commitment to train and advance the local workforce, to protect and preserve our surrounding environment, and to bring long-term benefits to the communities in which we will operate." SLB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Since Maduro's capture in January, U.S. President Donald Trump has encouraged American oil companies to invest in Venezuela's resources and help ramp up production in the Latin American country. Still, many top U.S. energy executives have remained hesitant to get involved in Venezuela, facing uncertainty about the country's political stability. Addressing U.S. energy executives in Houston this week, Venezuela's oil minister, Paula Henao, touted reforms to her country's oil laws following Maduro's removal. She said country's agreements with U.S. companies offer a chance to evaluate opportunities for investment in Venezuela. "The invitation is that we can sit down, we can evaluate, ‘What is the opportunity in Venezuela?'" she said in Spanish during a speech at the Venezuela Energy Week Houston Showcase on Wednesday.

State Stories

Islamophobia’s rise in Texas: ‘I won’t rest until every Muslim is gone’

Ghulam Kehar rose before dawn in early June to attend the day’s first prayer at his local mosque in Irving, Texas, before heading off for a monthslong deployment with the U.S. Coast Guard. He had been deployed before, but this time was different. He felt apprehensive about leaving his wife and four children behind in Texas, even for a short while. Rhetorical attacks on Muslims by top Texas leaders had become more pronounced, and seemed to be trickling down. At his mosque, the Valley Ranch Islamic Center, and others across the state, congregants and religious leaders swapped stories of ugly comments directed at them while praying in public or sitting in public parks. In recent months, a man was arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat at a major new Islamic center in Houston. Not far away, in Conroe, a woman told Muslim shoppers at a grocery store they were “not welcome in this state or this country” — after losing her job, she received nearly $250,000 from supporters after video of her comments circulated widely.

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In McKinney, a Dallas suburb, a woman grabbed a former mayor and stuffed paper with an anti-Muslim message down his shirt during a heated City Council hearing over a mosque expansion. “Leaving them alone in this environment, it would be a little worrisome,” Mr. Kehar said of his family. “It’s just the fear of what’s being spewed out there.” He arranged for his family to join him on his deployment near the Canadian border as soon as they could get there. Mr. Kehar, who grew up in California, is part of a growing number of Muslims who moved to Texas in recent decades in search of good schools, affordable homes and a thriving community of fellow believers. The Dallas-Fort Worth area has been a particularly strong magnet for families like his. Dozens of mosques have opened. Some are expanding. Others, like the glittering DeSoto House of Peace, south of Dallas, aim to provide new anchors for Muslim communities in Texas.

President Trump is returning to Texas for an RNC fundraiser in Houston

President Donald Trump is making a dash for cash in Texas next week, setting up what would be just his third visit to the state since he he returned to the White House. Trump is expected to headline a fundraiser on Aug. 27 in Houston for the Republican National Committee as it builds its financial war chest for the midterm elections. The exact location hasn’t been announced, and neither have any public events. Typically, the White House tries to arrange political events around his fundraising trips. It’s no surprise the RNC and Trump have targeted Texas for a fundraising run. “I come to Texas twice a month, at least, because Texas is a treasure trove of Republican conservative donors,” RNC Chair Joe Gruters told me in an interview on the Texas Take Podcast earlier this year. “I’m always down there trying to shake the trees.”

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That shaking has already included Double Eagle Energy CEO Cody Campbell, real estate developer H. Ross Perot Jr., Midland Energy CEO S. Javaid Anwar, and Tim Dunn, CEO of oil and gas company CrownQuest Operating. They have been the four top Texas donors to the RNC since the start of 2025, giving more than $600,000 each to the national party. Trump’s visit to help raise money in Texas comes as the RNC has already amassed a massive financial advantage over the Democratic National Committee, which was just in Austin last week for its summer meetings. The financial disparity was impossible to miss as DNC Chair Ken Martin told party leaders he wished he had more money to share to boost efforts around the nation. The DNC reported about $16 million in cash on hand in its most recent Federal Election Commission filing, along with more than $18 million in debt. The GOP, meanwhile, reported nearly $129 million cash on hand in its latest FEC filing.

HISD touted gains. Ratings leaned on courses Texas deemed ineffective

Two years into Houston ISD’s state takeover, state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles touted a major achievement: state ratings showed there were no more F-rated schools in the district. Some of that jump, however, had little to do with Miles’ sweeping reforms or gains in student test scores. One key factor was HISD’s use of a new, rapidly expanding option in Texas’ accountability system: college-prep courses. These are not typical courses that can earn students college credit, such as Advanced Placement or dual credit. These are courses, often taken online, that help students catch up on English and math so they don’t have to take remedial classes in college. In the state’s accountability system, schools that enroll students in college-prep courses can earn credit for producing college-ready graduates, which in turn boosts their A-F ratings. Exclusive data from the Texas Education Agency obtained by the Houston Chronicle shows that without students completing those courses, every high school in Miles’ reform model would have dropped by at least one letter grade in 2025.

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The district would have had five D-rated and two F-rated high schools – undercutting Miles’ claim of no F-rated campuses. At schools within Miles’ New Education System – the center of his reforms – students were much more likely to complete college-prep courses. Some students described being enrolled en masse, even when they had already earned college-ready credentials. Several said they rushed through the self-paced coursework, which can take up to a semester, in a few hours. Others said they still had to take remedial classes in college — the very outcome the courses were designed to prevent. In fact, the TEA concluded in 2025 that virtually all college-prep courses failed to prepare students for college-level academics. Most graduates marked college-ready exclusively through college prep still had to take remedial coursework to pass their first year of college, the TEA found. Because of that finding, the state will no longer count most college-prep courses toward school ratings by 2028. The findings cast doubt on the academic progress HISD schools have made under Miles since the Texas Education Commissioner ousted the elected school board in 2023 and installed him to lead the state’s largest school district. The apparent gains from college-prep courses — which the state later deemed ineffective — also raise questions about how the accountability system rewards schools.

Schlueter defends role as city lobbyist, but biggest critic on Killeen council is unconvinced

The Killeen City Council held a special meeting with Stan Schlueter — a former state legislator who is now the city’s paid lobbyist — Tuesday at City Hall, where there was a heated moment between him and one of the council members. Schlueter outlined some of his credentials, saying his family moved to Killeen in 1948 when the population was approximately 4,000 and Fort Hood was known then as Camp Hood. He earned his degree in business from Baylor University. He said he understood the city was going through “tough times.” “I sent you all some clippings here the last couple of days, so you know many Texans … have to fight the same issues as you are,” Schlueter said. “Some are more critical than some of the things you’re dealing with.”

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Several council members brought up issues like data centers — which council members Charles Kimble and Anthony Kendrick said were inevitable in the city — but the main issue was the disabled veterans property tax exemption, which has cost the city millions of dollars in tax revenue since 2007. Councilman David Bass, who has always indicated that he was ideologically opposed to the city having paid lobbyists, told KDH News afterwards that the meeting was a “waste of time.” Bass said he was disappointed that he didn’t see a more concrete strategy being expressed at the meeting. He also said he didn’t think it mattered if they met in a smaller group outside of a public meeting, saying he was “done” with the Schlueter Group. “What I did not just hear is a strategy,” Bass told Schlueter during the meeting. “I heard a lot of words, but I did not hear strategy.” Schlueter responded that reimbursement for the veterans property tax exemption has “a lot of enemies.”

Harris County Treasurer Carla Wyatt requests raise with DWI pending

Harris County Treasurer Carla Wyatt, a Democrat who was arrested three times across two counties in her first term, is seeking a six-figure raise, according to a formal salary grievance she filed with the county. Wyatt requested $250,000 “or more,” which would be a minimum 79% raise over her current salary of $139,547. The treasurer, who is facing a drunken driving charge in Galveston County, requested the raise just months after her office was stripped of a key financial oversight role and amid an ongoing effort to abolish Wyatt’s position entirely. Wyatt did not respond to a request for comment. Wyatt filed her grievance as part of an annual county process that lets elected officials petition a nine-member committee for a raise. The committee will consider her request Thursday.

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Wyatt wrote that she is seeking “an amount that fairly and appropriately reflects the statutory responsibilities, fiduciary obligations, scope of authority, workload, and level of accountability associated with the office of Harris County Treasurer.” Wyatt had a dozen staff members working for her office in 2025, according to county salary data. She was one of just a handful of county elected officials whose salaries commissioners left unchanged in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Commissioners voted last week to raise the pay of all elected officials except themselves, the sheriff and the treasurer to $305,000. The committee that hears salary grievances can include several elected officials, as it did in recent years, but commissioners decided Tuesday to select nine residents from the grand juror pool to consider Wyatt's request. Harris County budget director Daniel Ramos said at Tuesday’s meeting she was the only official to contest her salary in the ongoing budget process.

Protesters oppose border construction at Big Bend Ranch State Park

As a former state senator and commissioner of the General Land Office, Jerry Patterson is no stranger to emotional issues that divide Texans into partisan camps. But sitting outside the Texas Parks and Wildlife headquarters in Austin Wednesday, the former Republican elected official found himself allied with about 200 environmentally conscious liberals and small-government conservatives in protesting plans to construct border barriers through state land near Big Bend National Park. "This is not a red-blue thing at all," Patterson said. "This is a swirl. And the longer it plays, the more swirl you're going to see." The demonstrators, mostly quiet and non-confrontational, assembled to oppose any border construction inside Big Bend Ranch State Park — a wide swath of land to the west of Big Bend National Park.

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The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, whose members are appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, heard public comments from the demonstrators at their meeting Wednesday, but were not expected to take action on the matter. Chairman Paul Foster said he generally agrees with concerns expressed about federal plans for the park. “We're working with with CBP, with the federal government, and our objective is to minimize damage to the to the system out there,” Foster said in response to one of the speakers. In May, the Trump administration awarded a $1.7 billion border security contract to a New Mexico company for the construction of patrol roads and the installation of lighting, monitors and other surveillance equipment across Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not disclosed the extent of construction planned for the state park. But the Trump administration is planning a 30-foot border wall that begins near the Madera Canyon Campgrounds in the state park and extends west more than 60 miles to Ruidosa. That wall will cross a small portion of state park land, according to a federal map outlining the administration's plans.

AT&T, a former top sales partner face off in biz court

In a $50 million dispute between AT&T and a former top sales partner, jurors in the Texas Business Court heard opening statements Tuesday morning that told very different stories, framing the breach of contract case as either a display of “corporate greed” or an unraveling scheme of “bribes and cover-ups.” Judge Andrea Bouressa is presiding over the case. Since the Texas Business Court does not have its own space, the weeklong jury trial is taking place in Dallas County District Court Judge Eric Moyé’s courtroom in the George Allen Courts Building.

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The dispute stems from AT&T’s practice of contracting with third-party representatives and entities to market and sell its services for commissions. Plaintiff Faisal Chaudhry was an AT&T employee for four years until he left in 2008 to operate Spearhead Networks, which entered a service-provider agreement with the telecom giant in 2010. Plaintiff Chris Percy, who was at AT&T for 26 years and served as a vice president in 2018, coordinated and supervised high-value business sales with providers like Spearhead Consulting. Percy left to join Spearhead Consulting in 2019. In 2022, AT&T received grand jury subpoenas from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California requesting information about Spearhead Networks and several former AT&T employees. Spearhead Consulting renamed itself to Fiberwave in 2023 and became one of AT&T’s largest third-party providers. Percy terminated Chaudhry’s employment. The following year, AT&T ended its contract with Fiberwave, claiming it was due to a Department of Justice investigation into the company and an alleged kickback scheme. In its termination letter, AT&T stated it would withhold payments pending further investigation into Spearhead’s alleged misconduct.

Nicole Humlicek: How teaching handwriting supports brain development

(Nicole Humlicek has spent more than 20 years teaching and leading in public and private education. She currently serves as the principal of The Honor Roll School, an independent P-8 school in Sugar Land, Texas.) A 6-year-old grips a pencil, tongue out in concentration, as she carefully forms the letters of her name. Her brain is quietly building connections. I recently watched a 4-year-old do this. It took him four tries to get the “S” facing the right way. When he finally did, he paused, taking pride in his work. He wasn’t just forming a letter; he was building confidence, strengthening his hand, and learning to persevere. With the ubiquity of screens, time for handwriting instruction has gotten squeezed out of many classrooms. Educators increasingly question whether cursive in particular is worth classroom time in a digital age, but children still benefit from learning it. My home state of Texas was an early adopter in bringing back cursive instruction, and now, at least half the nation’s states have adopted similar requirements. Schools like mine never stopped teaching it because we see its value. Handwriting demands fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, both of which help a child master everyday tasks like tying shoes and zipping jackets.

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Over time, that same precision supports more complex skills, from playing instruments to performing surgery. Students will need typing and other digital skills, but that doesn’t mean handwriting should be abandoned. Handwriting, especially in early grades, needs dedicated time. Typing can be introduced later, once students are developmentally ready. We don’t stop teaching reading because of audiobooks; we shouldn’t stop teaching handwriting because of keyboards. Neuroscientists call the brain’s ability to change and adapt neuroplasticity. Experiences shape how the brain develops. When children write by hand, they activate neural networks responsible for language, memory, attention, and learning in ways that typing simply does not replicate. Researchers Karin H. James and Laura Engelhardt at Indiana University put this to the test with young, preliterate children more than a decade ago. Using brain imaging, they found that the neural pathways linked to reading only switched on when children physically formed letters by hand, not when they typed them and not when they simply watched someone else write.

Paxton pulls out of controversial multistate surrogacy case, restrictions remain

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has removed himself from a multistate surrogacy case in which a birth mother fled to Texas after she said the child's biological parents tried to force her to get an abortion — a claim the couple denies. Paxton, who filed a notice of nonsuit Wednesday after intervening in the case, said in a press release his office is withdrawing after achieving his goal of securing an order from the court forcing a Dallas hospital to treat the baby at the center of the controversial case, who was born with a serious birth defect and is currently recovering after open heart surgery. "My office used every legal tool at our disposal to ensure baby Gabriel was able to receive the life-saving care he needed," Paxton said, using the birth mother's name for the baby.

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McKenna West, a surrogate for a California couple, fled from Alaska to Texas this year after she said the couple requested she get an abortion due to the baby developing a congenital heart condition. The biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, have named the baby boy Rumi. An attorney for West said he had no comment at this time. If Paxton's withdrawal is granted, it would drop the order that prevented West from taking the baby out of Texas or the hospital. But another Temporary Restraining Order requested by Ahmed and signed by the judge still stands. That order prevents West from making any medical decisions on behalf of the child, exercising any possession of the child, representing herself as the child's guardian or removing the child from the hospital. A hearing to determine if that order should continue to stand is scheduled for Tuesday. Paxton intervened in the case just days before the West was to give birth. At his request, the judge ordered a Dallas hospital to give live-saving care. He also sent a letter to the hospital saying it had a legal obligation to provide care to the baby. The child was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome — a rare congenital heart defect where the left side of the heart doesn't develop fully about 20 weeks into the pregnancy. The baby's condition after the surgery is unknown.

Houston, Woodlands to consider blocking future annexation in $50M deal

Leaders of The Woodlands Township and the City of Houston next week will consider a $50 million agreement that would end an infrastructure funding pool shared by the two entities and ensure that Houston never annexes The Woodlands. The Houston City Council will consider the amendment to its regional partnership agreement with the township at its meeting on Aug. 26, according to an agenda posted Wednesday. The township’s Board of Directors will consider it during a special meeting later that evening. “The proposed amendment is the result of collaborative discussions between the city of Houston and The Woodlands Township to address the priorities of both organizations,” township officials said in a statement Wednesday. Houston Mayor John Whitmire's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Wednesday.

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According to the proposal, the township would relinquish $22,626,797 to the City of Houston from a regional participation account funded by sales tax revenue, and would pay Houston $9 million in 2027, $9 million in 2028, and a final payment of $9,373,203, in exchange for Houston’s agreement to eliminate the possibility of annexation as long as the terms are met. A regional participation fund is a dedicated pool of money that governments use to co-finance local or cross-border projects. The Woodlands has contributed a portion of its sales tax to the fund since 2007. According to the agreement, those funds could be used for projects that would benefit The Woodlands and Houston, with the city of Houston providing matching funds. The Woodlands is not currently at risk of annexation. The Township Board of Directors originally approved a Regional Participation Agreement with Houston in 2007, preventing Houston from annexing The Woodlands through 2057. The agreement has been amended twice since 2007. In 2017, the Texas Legislature also passed a law that ended forced municipal annexation, requiring an automatic voter referendum before larger cities could annex communities across the state. The new proposal to be considered next week would amend the Regional Participation Agreement again to give it an end date. After 2030, The Woodlands would no longer contribute to the fund and would retain that money. Bailey said there would be no restriction on Houston's use of the $50 million.

Asian-Americans aren't getting a pass from the Trump administration, this Dem leader says

While the federal immigration crackdown has largely targeted the Hispanic community and the recent redistricting rules are threatening to diminish Black voters' power in Congress, don’t think Asian Americans are getting a pass in the current political environment. That was state Rep. Gene Wu’s message at the Democratic National Committee meetings in Austin last week, where he warned Asian American communities that they need to better unite to fight more subtle and pernicious attacks aimed at them. The Houston Democrat said new restrictions on work visas and student visas affecting dozens of countries, attacks on Muslim communities and restrictions on landownership of Chinese immigrants are all examples of laws and policies that target different segments of Asian-Americans that can splinter unified opposition.

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“My fear for all of this stuff is, not only is the Asian American community isolated from other communities, but within our own communities we are isolated from each other,” said Wu, the leader of the Texas House Democrats. “The Indian Americans do not see their fight the same as Muslim Americans, and Muslim Americans don’t see their fight the same as East Asians.” Wu said the attacks are all the same in that they aim to reduce Indian, Muslim and Chinese in American society. “It’s all connected,” Wu said in a speech to dozens of other Asian American Democrats. “While they may use different tools, their rationale and end goals are exactly the same.” The Trump administration and advocates of recent policies like restricting student visas and banning some immigrants from land ownership say the measures are needed to bolster homeland security. Critics say it's part of a broader push by the White House to reduce legal immigration into the U.S. Taken all together, the administration’s policies will reduce legal immigration to the United States by as many as to 2.4 million people by the end of Trump’s term in office, according to a report from the National Foundation for American Policy, which studies immigration policies.

No more Michelin Guide awards ceremony for Texas.

Hope you didn’t want to party with top chefs this fall. The Michelin Guide will cap its third year in Texas by revealing its new awards in an emailed press release. No ceremony, no afterparties, no dressing up, no weirdly bad free canapes, no shameless plugs for sponsor Sysco. In 2024, Michelin arrived in Texas with exuberance, inviting every single restaurant in the new guide to Houston for a huge shindig. In 2025, they scaled down the party, excluding restaurants that are listed in the guide without stars or Bib Gourmands. This year, we’ll be getting an email on the morning of Thursday, October 8. It’s good to be loved, huh?

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Here is the justification in a short news announcement this morning: “As the MICHELIN Guide spans over 60 destinations worldwide, we have evolved our approach and diversified the formats through which we unveil our annual restaurant selection.” Translation: they’re stretched thin and can’t throw parties in every market every year, even with Sysco’s help. Two more Michelin notes. First, a representative for the guide confirmed to me this week that the guide is going behind a registration wall. Users must create free accounts to browse the Michelin Guide website and see which restaurants are recommended or starred. Second, an announcement about future Texas Michelin Guides is expected shortly. Loyal D Magazine readers know that our deal with Michelin will probably be renewed.

National Stories

Flock announces changes amid backlash over license plate reader network

Flock Safety, the surveillance technology company increasingly under scrutiny from lawmakers from both parties, civil liberties advocates and citizens across the U.S., announced last week that it is making changes to its platform intended to quell privacy concerns and address documented abuses of its system by some members of law enforcement. The company operates a vast nationwide network of automated cameras that record the license plate numbers and other characteristics of all passing vehicles every day. Thousands of law enforcement agencies in 49 states can search and share Flock’s data across jurisdictions to aid their investigations. Police have credited the technology as an important crime-fighting innovation that has helped locate missing people and track suspects in violent crimes.

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But some critics say its pervasiveness amounts to unconstitutional warrantless mass surveillance. Dozens of cities and agencies have nixed their relationships with Flock amid concerns that the data can be accessed for immigration enforcement or used in unauthorized tracking, after a flurry of examples surfaced of law enforcement officers misusing the technology for personal searches. In an interview, Flock CEO Garrett Langley said many of the product changes will make what were once optional guardrails mandatory for its users to implement by Jan. 1. Among them: All law enforcement customers will have to implement an audit tool that’s intended to flag abnormal search behavior. When the system detects abnormal behavior, the user would be locked out pending an internal review, the company said in a description of the changes provided ahead of Thursday’s announcement. Flock, which says its customers own the data that the cameras record, is also shortening the standard data retention window from 30 days to seven. It said it will allow data to be preserved for longer when it is evidence tied to a case number. Law enforcement users will now also be required to enter a code from their records management system tying each search to a specific case before it is run, something Langley said civil liberties advocates have long been calling for. Overrides for emergencies would be automatically flagged for review, the company said. Customers will also be allowed to decide which offense types — such as homicide or arson — outside agencies can search their data for, which would allow a customer to block outside searches related to immigration enforcement, the company said. Langley said that change will give individual cities and departments control to use the system in a manner “consistent with community values.” Critics of the company reacted skeptically to the changes, which they said appeared designed to address the growing bipartisan anger about the cameras but could still leave room for police to abuse the system. The American Civil Liberties Union said in a blog post that the shortened evidence retention window could be “a step in the right direction,” but it characterized the other changes as “retreads” of inadequate safety measures.

Rainmakers in talks to leave Weil Gotshal amid poaching frenzy

Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a Wall Street law firm known for shepherding companies through bankruptcies and advising top private-equity firms, is facing a wave of partner defections. Two groups that include star lawyers are in discussions to leave for rivals, according to people familiar with the matter, including some of the firm’s highest revenue producers. One group, which includes Christopher Machera, co-head of Weil’s private-equity group and a member of its management committee, is headed to Paul Weiss, they said. Other lawyers, including Brian Parness, a partner in Weil’s private-equity practice whose clients have included Brookfield and TPG, are exploring a move to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, the people said, with some cautioning the plan isn’t final.

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It is the latest tremor in the world of Big Law, which is being disrupted by aggressive poaching of rainmakers, the pressure of artificial intelligence and less-loyal clients. Earlier this summer, a team of six litigation partners, including a firm leader, left Wachtell in an almost-unheard-of defection from the marquee firm. Hundreds of partners have made lateral moves this year across the industry. Rivals are luring top talent with pay packages that can stretch to $20 million a year or more. Weil, which has 1,200 lawyers, has also hired partners away from its competitors. The firm said it has added more than 50 lateral partners since the start of 2025. “Weil is on track to achieve both record revenue and profitability in 2026 that will result in a very significant increase in profits per equity partner,” the firm said in a statement. “This is a direct result of the firm’s deliberate growth strategy focused on the practices and markets where it has long been a leader.”

Board overseeing Dulles Airport approves $15.5 billion to fund Trump renovation

Weeks after President Donald Trump unveiled a massive plan to renovate Dulles International Airport, the board that oversees the airport on Wednesday approved $15.5 billion to help fund the project. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board of directors voted to approve the proposal, which includes $3.75 billion ?to build new underground tunnels and replace the airport’s long-criticized shuttles, dubbed “people movers,” that transport passengers across the tarmac. “We look forward to the construction,” Jack Potter, the airport authority’s CEO, said at the meeting. “We look forward to continued growth at Dulles Airport, and we think we have a very bright future.”

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The vote comes after Trump last month announced a more than $20 billion plan to remake Dulles, including building new terminals. The project is part of his broader campaign to remake the Washington region, which also includes a new White House ballroom and a 250-foot triumphal arch. The Dulles renovations will be largely funded through municipal bonds. Potter has said the plan would not require federal funds. In addition to the $15.5 billion, projects outlined in Wednesday’s proposal will also be funded by $4.4 billion already authorized by the MWAA board, bringing the estimated total cost for the projects listed in the proposal to $19.9 billion. At a White House briefing last month, Trump said the airport project would add more than 5 million square feet of new or renovated space, including by completely replacing Concourses C and D, “all while preserving the iconic original terminal.” He said the overhaul was needed because Dulles was in such bad shape. “Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, you don’t want to go and be subjected to this airport because this airport is a terrible place to be,” he said.

‘Affordability’ is this year’s buzzword. Just not when Trump’s talking.

President Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of families in late July at a high school in Marietta, Georgia. He talked about Venezuelan oil and the war in Iran. He ticked off investment commitments. And he touted provisions in the Republican tax bill — or tried to. “This past filing season, 130,000 tipped workers right here in Georgia saved an average of more than $7,000 on their taxes. And that’s because of no tax on tips. You know, we’re building a tremendous military facility at the White House,” Trump said. “And they’ve been working hard, a lot of overtime.”

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The speech in a state that will be pivotal in November was one of a handful Trump has delivered this year, part of what White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in January would be weekly trips across the country to talk to voters ahead of the midterms. Last month, the Pew Research Center asked voters what they most wanted to hear about from candidates. The answer was overwhelmingly cost of living, wages and affordability. More than half of voters think the economy is getting worse, according to a July Quinnipiac University poll. And 58% of those polled disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy. A March report found that nearly half of families do not make enough to cover the basic cost of living in their communities. Only 13% of Americans aged 18-29 believe the country is headed in the right direction, according to Harvard’s youth poll that was conducted last November. But despite overwhelming evidence that affordability is defining the current political moment, the president is often reflexively dismissive of the issue.

Florida school board at the center of culture wars loses conservative majority

A Florida school board that was at the epicenter of national debates over covid mask mandates and book bans lost its conservative majority this week, a change that some say signals a priority shift among voters. Two Democrat-backed candidates beat out conservatives in Tuesday’s school board election in Sarasota, Florida, flipping the board’s majority. Helmed for the past year by a co-founder of Moms for Liberty — a conservative group that gained a national following with its parents’ rights messaging — the board is moving in a new direction, the winners said. A third Democrat-backed candidate will head to a runoff election against a contender endorsed by Republicans in November. “I really think at the end of the day, regardless of political affiliation, our community was just tired of the culture wars, the political theater and being the center of national attention for all the wrong reasons,” said Megan Tennimon, a former teacher who won election to the board on Tuesday.

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While Democrats say the flip indicates voters want to move on from fights over social issues, Moms for Liberty points to conservatives’ wins in other parts of Florida. “Every couple of years someone in the media writes our obituary, and every couple of years parents show up and prove them wrong,” said Tina Descovich, Moms for Liberty co-founder and chief executive. “School boards are ground zero in the fight for parental rights, and last night Florida parents made that clear.” The Sarasota County School Board had been controlled by conservatives since 2022, on the heels of the pandemic. As school board meetings and elections, typically quiet and uncontroversial, became partisan battlegrounds, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) got involved around that time by endorsing candidates, something that governors have rarely done. His involvement in the local races came as he pushed an education agenda that included a ban on teaching young students — and later all students — about sexual orientation and gender identity. Among those who won DeSantis’s support was Sarasota County School Board Chair Bridget Ziegler, first elected in 2014.

U.S. national debt just passed $40 trillion: How we got here and why

Gross U.S. debt has surpassed $40 trillion, a new milestone in the country’s struggle to control its finances. The country’s “total public debt outstanding” officially hit $40.047 trillion on Tuesday, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday, ticking up from $39.987 trillion a day earlier. Reaching that threshold carries symbolic weight, but isn’t, by itself, economically significant. Most investors and economists care less about raw figures than other measures, like the ratio of debt to gross domestic product, which provides a better sense of an economy’s borrowing capacity. And economists typically focus more on a different measure of government debt—that held by the public—which doesn’t include debt held within the government in Social Security trust funds. That number was $32.266 trillion on Tuesday.

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Still, $40 trillion is a big number, likely to at least briefly draw attention to what economists broadly agree is an unsustainable fiscal trajectory. In recent days, rising long-term government borrowing costs—and a sudden reversal Wednesday after the Treasury announced plans to buy back more long-term debt—have underscored the stakes. Here is a look at how we got here and what it means: Debt and deficits haven’t always been a problem in the U.S. Publicly held debt—now approaching World War II levels at about 100% of the country’s annual GDP—was just 31.5% of GDP in 2001 after four years in which the government ran budget surpluses. Wars, the bursting of the dot-com bubble and tax cuts sent budgets off course in the early 2000s. The 2007-09 recession supercharged the trend by draining tax revenues and prompting stimulus programs, as did the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, an aging population has led to increased spending on Medicare and Social Security. But revenues haven’t kept pace, with lawmakers repeatedly passing and extending tax cuts.

How Wall St. profits when personal injury lawsuits pay out

Personal injury cases like his can take years to resolve, so to support himself, Mr. Anguisaca-Morales turned to a company known as a consumer legal funder. Such firms float cash advances to plaintiffs to cover expenses like rent, food and medical care while their cases go through court. The advance is similar to a loan, except that if a case fails, the plaintiff doesn’t have to pay it back. But most of the time, insurance companies settle personal injury cases, and the plaintiffs repay their advances — plus fees and interest of 35 to 45 percent a year, on average. One woman in New York who said she turned her ankle on a sidewalk, for example, received $76,500 in advances and ended up owing at least $1.4 million to her funder by the time her case settled, court records show.

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Behind the scenes, The New York Times found, Wall Street has figured out how to profit from it all. Some of the consumer funding industry’s biggest players are bundling thousands of these I.O.U.s together to create asset-backed securities, the financial products that were made infamous during the 2008 mortgage crisis and have come roaring back. Asset-backed securities allow investors to buy a stake in the future payouts from a pool of debts or assets. Auto loans and credit card balances are routinely turned into securities. Others are spun from less traditional collateral: songwriting royalties, data centers, fast-food franchises — and now, cash advances given to personal injury plaintiffs. For the investors who buy in, a security offers a regular cadence of payouts as lawsuits wrap up and advances are repaid, along with fees and interest. And for a funding firm, it offers a fast track to recouping past advances, and cash to parlay into new ones. Funders say they are leveling the playing field by enabling injured people to take on insurers and other powerful adversaries. “Insurance companies are not exactly the archangel,” said Jack Kelly, managing director of the American Legal Finance Association, a trade group. “If you cut off securitization, you cut off the supply of money to victims.”

Copyright August 20, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved