August 27, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

A judge says Texas authorities can release an ICE agent who shot a man

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot a man in Minneapolis could be released from a Texas jail this week despite still being wanted on criminal charges in Minnesota. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ruled against Minnesota’s attempt to force Texas to turn over Christian Castro, 52, concluding that the state’s lawsuit was filed too soon. “Based on the current record, the court concludes that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction because the case is not ripe for adjudication,” Rodriguez, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Donald Trump in 2018, wrote. Minnesota sued when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused to approve what is legally supposed to be “a summary procedure” in which a governor acquiesces to another state’s request to send a defendant to another state to face charges.

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However, the judge said that technically Abbott hasn’t said no — he just hasn’t made a decision yet. “Governor Abbott has not denied the request for a rendition warrant,” Rodriguez wrote. “Minnesota alleges that Governor Abbott has ‘refused to sign’ and has ‘with[eld]’ the rendition warrant. But the record reflects only that Governor Abbott has neither agreed nor refused to sign the rendition warrant as to Castro.” Texas law only allows the state to jail someone for up to 90 days when that person is a fugitive wanted in another state. In court, Minnesota had alternatively asked that Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Treviño not release Castro from jail until the Texas governor signed a rendition warrant. However, Rodriguez wrote that “no grounds support a temporary restraining order requiring Sheriff Trevino to ignore the dictates of Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement that Abbott was “playing with constitutional fire.” “This case should concern officials and citizens of every state. If a governor can delay extraditions and cherry-pick cases according to their political tastes, then no state will be able to hold fugitive criminals accountable,” Ellison said.

Trump toes line on data centers as more Republicans pump the breaks

Republicans’ growing skepticism about data centers is forcing President Trump to balance his steadfast support for the industry with pushback from his party ahead of the midterm elections. While Trump has doubled down on his support of data centers, the president signaled last week he may give GOP candidates room to oppose the facilities as they become a political lightning rod in the midterms. Trump told reporters last week he wants Republican candidates to “do what they want” on data centers, acknowledging “some people feel differently” on the issue after previously criticizing Democrats for pushing back on planned data center projects.

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“If Republicans are against a data center, that’s okay with me,” Trump added. “I’m only saying that if I ran a community … if I was a mayor or if I was a governor in the state, I would want to have the data centers because they bring tremendous income.” Faced with mounting pressure around the risks of AI and data centers, several high-profile Republicans have abruptly shifted their stance with the midterms just months away. Those now advocating for stricter restrictions on data centers include not only state leaders such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) but also Trump-backed Senate candidates like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.). “I’d say [Trump’s] been fairly consistent in his messaging. What’s been more malleable is everybody else’s opinion,” one Republican strategist told The Hill.

Acclaimed Holocaust book part of list Dan Patrick flagged for removal from Texas schools, despite being required reading

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said last week there were more than 2,000 “filthy, dirty, vulgar books” that don’t belong in school classrooms or libraries. Yet one of them is going to be taught in classrooms across Texas. “Night,” the seminal Holocaust autobiography by Auschwitz survivor Elie Wiesel, was approved by the Republican-controlled State Board of Education this summer as required reading for eighth graders starting in 2030. It’s also on the list of 2,198 “inappropriate books” created by Texas advocates that Patrick touted during a Wednesday news conference. He said he wanted to introduce a bill in the upcoming session that would penalize schools a letter grade on their accountability ratings if superintendents didn’t remove problematic books. “Many books are on our library shelves, in all of our schools — over 2,000 titles of filthy, dirty, vulgar books,” Patrick said, adding: “The purpose of this press conference today is to get parents in action to get these books removed.”

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It’s unclear whether Patrick was aware that “Night” was on that list. He did not mention it at the news conference. After this story published, he wrote on X that the book would be rated R if it were made into a movie. “Night, which includes depictions of graphic violence and the machine-gunning of babies, should not be available to sixth graders in middle-school libraries. High school is more age-appropriate," Patrick wrote. Bonnie Wallace, the activist who appeared and spoke beside him last week, stood by her decision that it did not belong in classrooms. Wallace, a member of the Houston-area Christian activist group Recover America, said she included “Night” on the organization’s list because of its graphic violence, including what she described as babies being used as “target practice” by Nazi soldiers and being “thrown into the crematorium.” “There’s nothing wrong with the book,” Wallace told the Chronicle. “The inappropriate thing is, an 8th grade student is 13 years old. Do they need to read about soldiers massacring, throwing up babies, and killing them with machine guns?” She said she “thought long and hard” and prayed on whether to add it to the list. Despite the description of real events, she said young minds couldn’t process it.

Meta to pay 47 states up to $17.1B in landmark child safety settlement

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, on Wednesday agreed to pay 47 states, the District of Columbia, and a handful of U.S. territories, up to $17.1 billion in penalties over claims that its social media platforms are addictive and a danger to children. As part of the settlement, Meta also pledged to make changes to Instagram and Facebook that are designed to reduce young people’s use of the platforms. “Meta intentionally exploited kids for profit and then lied about it, claiming its products were safe when its own internal research confirmed the platforms were addictive and harmful,” said Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, a Democrat, in a statement announcing the settlement.

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“The physical, mental and emotional harms that intentionally addictive social media inflict on youth — and particularly teenage girls — are widespread across the tech industry, and this successful, coordinated multistage litigation has resulted in Meta being the first platform to come to the table and agree to such comprehensive reforms,” he said. “It will not be the last.” The settlement ended a high-stakes, landmark case, filed in 2023, in which states said Meta purposely designed its social media platforms with addictive features, that Meta knew it was exposing children to serious mental harms, and that it intentionally misled the public about the safety of those platforms. Meta has not admitted wrongdoing. The federal trial began last week in Oakland, California, led by a bipartisan group of attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey. State officials are calling the settlement the biggest consumer protection win since the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s. Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, a Republican, said in a statement Wednesday that the lawsuit was “never just about the money.”

State Stories

What we learned at Tuesday’s tense, tearful Dallas hearing over Alaska-California surrogacy battle

A Dallas judge will decide which of the parties in a high-profile, multistate parentage case can make medical decisions for a newborn baby boy with a serious heart defect: his genetic parents, or the surrogate that gave birth to him. Dallas County District Judge Ashley Wysocki heard arguments from attorneys on each side Tuesday, as well as testimony from the child’s genetic mother, Nausheen Gilkar of Los Angeles, and surrogate McKenna West of Anchorage, Alaska. Wysocki then extended for 14 days a temporary restraining order preventing West from seeing or making medical decisions for the child while her ultimate ruling is pending. She’s expected to make her decision within the next two weeks while the TRO remains in place.

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Gilkar, her husband Omar Ahmed and their attorneys say the baby’s legal name is Rumi Ali Ahmed, while West and her legal team call him Baby Gabriel. Tuesday marked the first time Gilkar spoke about the case publicly. Both women’s testimonies filled in the finer details of a complicated narrative playing out in three different states in a test of abortion, surrogacy, parentage and child custody laws. Among the revelations was that West withheld medical records from the couple. Gilkar also said West did not inform them of her move to Texas ahead of time. She called the surrogate “unstable” and said West was trying to take Rumi from them. “She has no right,” Gilkar said through tears. “She’s making us run from doctor to doctor, state to state with our baby. She’s trying to take him.” Meanwhile, after some back and forth between each side’s attorneys and hesitation from West, the surrogate at one point said she would indeed drop her parentage and custody claims — but later said she would continue fighting.

Kendall Scudder: Why did Gov. Abbott set off a scramble over filling Texas House seat?

(Kendall Scudder is chairman of the Texas Democratic Party.) Gov. Greg Abbott suddenly has an affection for special elections. He called two recently that affect residents of Tarrant County, easily the most Republican mega metropolitan county in the state. Both will be held on the same day as the Nov. 3 general election, when federal, statewide and legislative, and local offices will be on the ballot. I don’t have a quibble with special elections, especially those held in conjunction with an already scheduled election to save taxpayer expense. My quandary centers on the mystery of how the governor determines whether filling a vacancy is urgent or easily postponed — and when he thinks it is necessary to tell the public he is doing it. When Houston-area U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner died in March 2025, the governor waited a month to call a special election to replace him, setting it for Nov. 5, eight months after the congressman’s death.

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Residents of the 18th Congressional District, a solidly Democratic area, were left unrepresented all that time. Abbott also has delayed calling a special election for the 23rd Congressional District, a rural district that runs from San Antonio to El Paso and where the population is overwhelmingly Hispanic. Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez resigned in March, and the governor still hasn’t called a special election — perhaps because the district that has been in Republican hands for more than a decade is suddenly in play. On Aug. 18, three months after state Sen. Brian Birdwell resigned to accept a Pentagon post, the governor announced a special election in District 22 to replace him. The deadline for candidates to file to run was a mere two days later. Our Democratic candidate, Amy Salas, met the deadline. Then, on Aug. 20, Abbott apparently called yet another Tarrant County area special election for House District 93. This one will fill the seat vacated in early July by Nate Schatzline, now the governor’s special advisor for election integrity. I say “apparently” because the only place you could find mention of this special election on Thursday was at our website, texasdemocrats.org. Now there is a gubernatorial proclamation on the county website, time-stamped at noon Aug. 20.

State Sen. Tan Parker on Amtrack's Heartland Flyer, his priorities for the next legislative session

Amtrak's Heartland Flyer, the line that runs between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, is here to stay. Texas has provided its portion of the funding, ending what was a time of uncertainty over whether this line would have had to shut down. According to Amtrak, the line opened in 1999 and carried almost 81,000 passengers in the year ending last September. Republican State Sen. Tan Parker from Flower Mound, chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation, helped get this deal across the finish line.

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What is the importance of keeping the Heartland Flyer going? Parker says this rail line is an important economic development tool for Fort Worth and for all the smaller communities in Texas. "I also believe in this environment where Texas is growing so rapidly, particularly in North Texas, that to address the issues of congestion and mobility, we need long-term rail or long-haul rail," he said. "Amtrak Heartland Flyer is a wonderful asset." Funding through next year and beyond Funding for the Heartland Flyer is secured through 2027, and Parker says the funding will need to be continuously approved every legislative cycle. "We're gonna be on that cycle every two years, which is the normal customary role that Texas government funds all our projects," he said. "I'll continue to advocate, because I think it's just so important." One issue Parker said he plans to focus on when the Texas legislature reconvenes in January is safety. "Safety is always number one for me," he said. "How do I get families back home in the evening? I want moms and dads to be able to get to the soccer field and get to ballet and be able enjoy one another. It's very important that we maintain safety." His other concern, he said, is growth. At a recent hearing of the Texas Senate Committee on Transportation, Parker says he highlighted three specific areas of growth in transportation — rail crossings, autonomous vehicles and making sure commercial driver's licenses are being provided legally,

Ross Fire smoke blankets parts of North Texas, prompting air quality warnings

Smoke from the Ross Fire, burning across Palo Pinto and Jack counties roughly 60 miles west of Fort Worth, is drifting into the Dallas-Fort Worth area Wednesday, triggering air quality concerns for several North Texas communities and school districts. The National Weather Service in Fort Worth noted that smoke will gradually spread south and southeast through the evening, with visibilities dropping as low as 1 to 2 miles in areas of dense smoke. The agency is urging drivers to slow down and leave extra distance between vehicles as poor air quality and reduced visibility.

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The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has issued an Ozone Action Day for the Dallas-Fort Worth area for Wednesday, warning that atmospheric conditions are favorable for elevated ozone pollution on top of the wildfire smoke. TCEQ's forecast shows the daily PM 2.5 Air Quality Index reaching the middle of the "Moderate" range across parts of Dallas-Fort Worth, with the potential for occasional spikes into the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" category, particularly in areas closer to the smoke plume. Sensitive groups include children, older adults, people with asthma or other lung conditions, and anyone spending extended time outdoors. TCEQ recommends staying indoors with air conditioning running when possible, and notes that masks suitable for filtering fine particulates can help reduce exposure for those who must be outside.

A Texas austerity crisis is playing out city by city, school by school

Texas is in a state of fiscal crisis. Or, at least many of its school districts and municipalities are. All across Texas, from the biggest urban ISDs and metros to the smallest towns and exurban counties, local governmental bodies are feeling the increasingly painful fiscal pinch—and resorting to rigid austerity measures. The state’s 10 largest school districts, from Houston and Dallas to Austin and El Paso—collectively charged with educating a near-majority of Texas public school students—have all projected or enacted budgets that have them in a fiscal deficit. This is driven (in addition to factors like declining enrollment and property values) by an inadequately significant bump to the basic allotment of school funding last legislative session, as that funding has fast been consumed by inflation-fueled cost increases. Many districts across the state have been forced to close numerous neighborhood schools to alleviate the current strain.

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Austin Independent School District (ISD) had a roughly $181 million deficit projection that it’s trying to close with staff cuts, campus closures, and a litany of other downsizing measures. Dallas ISD has a $108 million budget deficit; Houston ISD $25 million; neighboring Cy-Fair ISD about $80 million. A spring survey by the Texas Association of School Business Officials found that over 70 percent of surveyed districts would need to make budget cuts and that 44 percent would end the year still in a deficit. Some of the largest cities and counties in Texas are also facing dire funding gaps. For instance, the City of Dallas is facing a $30 million budget shortfall and recently furloughed more than 4,000 municipal workers. Harris County, the state’s largest population center, is facing a “structural deficit” of $130 million, which could reach as high as $800 million by decade’s end. Cities and counties are between a rock and a hard place, as they’ve lost the healthy cushion of COVID-era emergency funds, which helped maintain and expand services, at the same time that they’ve become severely limited by the state government in how much revenue they can raise through property taxes. Sales tax revenues, once sky-high during the pandemic era, have also come back down to earth. While population growth continues to surge across Texas, local governments can’t keep up with the growing cost of payroll and supplies. In some cities like Dallas, their revenue bases are also under threat, as major corporate employers threaten to flee downtowns for the surrounding suburbs.

Dallas County health officials confirm measles case, warn other North Texans of possible exposure

Dallas County health officials are warning of possible measles exposure after a resident tested positive for the virus. Dallas County Health and Human Services said Tuesday the individual visited three North Texas locations while infectious on Aug. 14 and Aug. 15. The highly contagious virus can remain infectious in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves the area.

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The number of measles cases is higher than it’s been in 35 years, with more than 2,750 cases reported across the country – already surpassing last year’s total of about 2,300, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. North Texas health officials said they’re concerned about declining vaccination rates, especially as students head back to school. They said falling rates could lead to even more outbreaks, like the historic 2025 measles outbreak in West Texas – which lasted for months and resulted in more than 750 cases across 37 counties. “Measles is one of the most contagious diseases we know, but it is also highly preventable,” said Huang. “Vaccination remains our best protection against measles and the best way to prevent further spread in our community.”

South Texas school district cancels classes after COVID outbreak

Just two weeks into the new school year, a Rio Grande Valley school district is closing all campuses for two days because of what officials described as the "rapid spread of COVID-19." San Perlita Independent School District announced Monday that all school operations will be suspended Tuesday and Wednesday "as a precautionary measure." Classes will resume as scheduled on Thursday.

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The school year began Aug. 10. District officials said they are monitoring the outbreak and will provide updates to parents and caregivers. "Thank you for your understanding, cooperation and continued support as we work together to keep our Trojan community safe," the district said. San Perlita ISD is located in the small rural community of San Perlita, about 55 miles north of Brownsville. The district served 174 students during the 2024-25 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

TCU bans Star-Telegram over coverage of football locker room attack

TCU has rescinded the Star-Telegram’s credentials to cover Horned Frogs athletics over the newspaper’s coverage of an Aug. 13 locker room assault that led to the dismissal of senior safety Jacob Fields from the football team. In a phone conversation Sunday, a TCU athletics spokesman said the Star-Telegram’s credentials were being pulled because the coverage resulted in threats to the victim. The Star-Telegram did not identify the player, junior wide receiver Dozie Ezukanma, until three days after the initial report, when he identified himself in a now-deleted Instagram video. “Our primary focus is the health and wellbeing of our student athlete,” TCU athletic director Mike Buddie said in a statement Tuesday. “Unfortunately, an unnamed source without first-hand knowledge of the incident provided inaccurate information cited in initial reporting by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which we strongly disputed.

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“The inclusion of the misinformation advanced a narrative that endangered a student-athlete and resulted in threats to him and his family. These actions led to the decision to withhold the media credential until additional conversation can be held between athletics and the sports reporting team. We remain dedicated to restoring our student to health as well as focusing on the game that’s ahead.” Teams issue credentials to allow media members access to the press box, locker room, news conferences and media workrooms. TCU officials have not defined what criteria would need to be met to restore the credentials. Fields was dismissed from the team Aug. 18 “due to a violation of team rules,” a TCU spokesman said in a statement. Later that evening, the Star-Telegram reported that the dismissal came after an altercation in the locker room five days earlier. In that article, a source close to Fields said the player "felt targeted by teammates with insults and threats” leading up to the altercation and that TCU coaches made “no attempts to de-escalate the brewing tension.” TCU coach Sonny Dykes declined to comment for that story, as did athletics spokesperson Kyle Neaves. TCU officials disputed the source’s account of what led to the attack in conversations with the Star-Telegram, but they have declined to provide the university’s version of events for publication.

‘Living like vampires’: ICE surge fractures daily life in Deep South Texas

Deep in the Rio Grande Valley, Brenda Dumas and her family are adjusting to a new normal. One family member, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal from the federal government, has a work permit. He has to leave from his home in Olmito, a tiny town off Highway 69 between Harlingen and Brownsville, early in the morning to head east to South Padre Island, where he works. He shows up almost two hours before his shift starts. But to go any later is to risk being pulled over by the unmarked SUVs that drive around the Laguna Madre area—the 15-square-mile coastal mini-region surrounding the eponymous salty lagoon—starting around 7 a.m., pulling over, seemingly at random, other people heading to work. Dumas’ husband, who is close to achieving permanent residency in the United States, starts landscaping for clients once it gets dark, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are less likely to be driving around looking for work trucks.

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Another family member, who also has a work permit and similarly requested anonymity, was detained by ICE in the nearby town of Port Isabel. ICE released him last week with an ankle monitor, one of more than 50,000 people the agency is tracking through the devices. Dumas now uses an app on her phone to track where family members are, and communication among them is constant. Since early July, ICE has arrested people daily in traffic stops throughout the Laguna Madre area—which includes Port Isabel, South Padre Island, Laguna Vista, and Laguna Heights—based on Texas Observer analysis of posts, photos and videos on social media. Like much of the Rio Grande Valley, these communities have a high population of people who were born outside of the United States. Twenty-one percent of those who live there were born in other countries, and more than half of those residents are not U.S. citizens, according to Census data. ICE arrested more than 46,000 people nationwide in July, which is around 3,000 more people than the agency did in June, according to internal data CBS News obtained. On July 14, the agency announced that on just one day in June it had arrested 238 people in the Rio Grande Valley, an apparent record for the Harlingen field office, which oversees the Laguna Madre area. ICE quietly took its statistics dashboard offline in July, after not updating its detention data for months. On July 20, ICE published its most recent data, showing that the agency has deported over 80 percent of the people it’s arrested since September last year. These arrests appear to usually occur in the early mornings or late afternoons, as people are heading to and leaving work.

Gov. Abbott unveils three-year degree program for Texas public universities

Gov. Greg Abbott visited Stephen F. Austin State University Wednesday to discuss a proposal that could offer some Texas students a faster path to a bachelor’s degree. The proposal would create accelerated 90-credit-hour bachelor’s degree programs at public universities across Texas in high-demand fields. A typical four-year bachelor’s degree requires about 120 credit hours. Under the proposal, students in select programs could graduate a year earlier, potentially saving up to $35,000 in college costs, Abbott said. “Every additional year means more in tuition and fees, but also more in housing and living expenses,” Abbott said.

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Fields under consideration include cybersecurity, supply chain management and information technology. Abbott said other high-demand fields could also be included. Abbott said students would likely take fewer elective courses and have more coursework concentrated in their area of study. “There are certain basic classes that would still be required here,” Abbott said. “It would probably take the place of a lot of selective optional classes.” Wednesday, Abbott directed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to develop a framework for the program in collaboration with universities and lawmakers. The board is expected to make recommendations ahead of the next legislative session. Abbott said the program could take effect as early as next school year, depending on when the legislation passes. The proposal could also apply to students who transfer from community colleges. Abbott said the Higher Education Coordinating Board and universities would work to determine how credits earned at another college or university could count toward the 90-credit-hour degree.

Six Flags to bring HQ back to Texas from Charlotte

Two years after a corporate merger that resulted in the moving of its headquarters to North Carolina, Six Flags Entertainment Corp. announced it's coming back to Arlington. Six Flags said Aug. 25 that the amusement park operator will move its corporate headquarters from Charlotte to Arlington's Choctaw Stadium at 1000 Ballpark Way. The relocation will occur by March 2027. Choctaw Stadium has served as a corporate office since 2020, where a portion of corporate leadership still operates. The stadium is in the heart of the city's Entertainment District and a mile away from Six Flags Over Texas, which just opened a record-breaking giga dive coaster called Tormenta: Rampaging Run.

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It's a homecoming of sorts for the company. Six Flags relocated its corporate headquarters from Grand Prairie to Arlington in 2020. The city of Arlington offered $6 million in incentives in 2019 for the company to move and occupy roughly 40,000 square foot space and maintain a minimum of 120 employees. But Six Flags moved its headquarters to Charlotte in 2024 following a merger with Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair LP. The company will still maintain an office in Sandusky. John Reilly, who became CEO of the Fortune 1000 company in December, described Arlington is an "outstanding location for our headquarters that supports our long-term vision for growth." "Its central location and business-friendly environment make it a strong base for our company," he said in a statement. "Bringing our corporate teams together in the office will improve collaboration, strengthen our culture, enhance support for our parks and resorts, and help us continue delivering exceptional experiences for guests across North America." Six Flags reported a net loss of $203 million in the company's second quarter, more than double the loss it reported for the same time the previous year, according to Charlotte Business Journal.

Pflugerville cancels Flock contract, covers and turns off cameras

After the city of Pflugerville voted to turn off all of its Flock License Plate Reader cameras Tuesday night, Pflugerville ISD followed suit. The district notified parents Wednesday morning that its suspending the use of Flock Safety cameras on district property, effective immediately. Pflugerville ISD sent a notice to parents Wednesday morning saying the cameras will be removed today. The district said since hiring its Police Chief Tyler Smith, the department had been reviewing its Flock Camera systems and evaluating whether continued use was appropriate. In its message to parents, PFISD said:

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“We want to be clear about how this system has been used. The Flock Safety system is strictly limited to capturing license plate and vehicle information to support the safety of our students, staff, and families on our campuses. We understand this technology has raised questions and concerns within our community, and we have listened. Thank you for your continued partnership in keeping our schools safe.” It comes after Pflugerville City Council members unanimously voted to terminate their master services agreement with Flock Safety at their Tuesday night meeting, resulting in the city turning off all 28 Flock License Plate Reader cameras leased by the city and covering them with plastic bags. “Public safety and public trust have to go hand in hand, and recent revelations about the Flock system have fueled concerns throughout the community; we can’t engage with organizations we can’t trust,” Pflugerville Mayor Doug Weiss said in an early-morning social media post following the meeting. “Council will continue to explore tools to support law enforcement, but any vendors the City uses would need to have the safeguards in place to earn and keep the community’s confidence.”

County Stories

Harris County Clerk rejects 70% salary increase to $305,000

Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, a Democrat, has rejected a nearly 70% raise, according to a Monday news release. Harris County Commissioners voted Aug. 6 to increase the salaries of all eight constables and most countywide elected officials to $305,000. But commissioners gave officials the option to decline the raises, which must be funded using their existing budgets. Hudspeth is the only official to publicly decline the pay hike. “At this time, I have chosen not to accept the newly approved salary,” Hudspeth said. “My immediate focus remains ensuring the resources available to the County Clerk’s Office are directed toward filling the positions requested during the budget process and maintaining the staffing needed to effectively serve Harris County residents and fulfill our statutory responsibilities.”

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Hudspeth said during a July budget hearing that costs associated with elections have strained her office’s budget. Hudspeth currently makes $179,420 and oversees a staff of roughly 480 employees, according to county salary data. While the raises were initially expected to apply only to the constables, Commissioner Rodney Ellis motioned to extend them to all countywide elected officials except the treasurer, county judge and sheriff, saying it was “only fair” that they also receive pay hikes. But the pay hikes come at a precarious time for county departments, many of which are facing cuts as commissioners work to balance a projected $129 million deficit for the next fiscal year. First elected in a 2020 special election, Hudspeth is seeking reelection this year. She is the first Black woman to serve as Harris County clerk, an office tasked with overseeing election operations and processing certain civil records. Commissioners approved the pay increases Aug. 6, but they don’t take effect until the start of the new fiscal year Oct. 1.

Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy temporarily reassigned after alleged ICE coordination

A Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy has been temporarily reassigned after allegedly detaining a 23-year-old woman during a traffic stop and waiting over an hour for federal immigration officers to respond. Joceline Penaloza Magana was allegedly detained by a sheriff’s office deputy last week when her vehicle partially blocked an intersection at Westheimer Rd. and State Highway 6. During a press conference Wednesday, a family member said the deputy called immigration officials and detained Magana for an hour waiting for their arrival.

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Magana, who has been in the United States for over 20 years, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and is being detained in the Montgomery ICE processing center north of Houston, Kim Bruno, an attorney representing her, said. “Joceline complied with officers and it didn’t get her anywhere,” Bruno said. “Joceline has spent her entire life here mostly and she graduated at the top of her class. It is unfortunate and despicable that our community does not feel safe anymore.” Tess Rowland, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said the office is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the traffic stop to determine whether the deputy complied with policies. She did not say what the office’s guidelines are for coordinating with ICE. “The deputy has been temporarily assigned to non-traffic enforcement duties pending the outcome of the internal review,” Rowland said in a statement to Houston Public Media.

National Stories

3 Secret Service officials placed on leave amid misconduct investigation

Three Secret Service officials, including the agency’s director of communications, have been placed on leave as an investigation into potential misconduct unfolds, a source familiar with the decision told CNN. The nature of the alleged misconduct was not immediately clear. All three officials, including comms chief Anthony Guglielmi, have lost their security clearances and access to their work devices, the source told CNN, adding that such practice is common during internal investigations. They each work in the agency’s communications office, the source said. The Secret Service confirmed to CNN that three people have been put on leave but did not include the names of the individuals. The agency also did not specify the nature of the alleged misconduct.

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“Three non-law enforcement personnel at the U.S. Secret Service have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into potential misconduct,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. “Per policy, this incident is being investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility. We are unable to comment further at this time.” The statement continued: “The U.S. Secret Service is committed to upholding the highest standards of professionalism and integrity in fulfilling our zero-fail mission of protecting the President and other high-level government officials. Our critical work demands that our workforce maintain an unwavering commitment to duty, honesty, and courage in all aspects of their jobs. We will continue to pursue the level of excellence that is worthy of the mission which has been entrusted to us by the American people.” CNN has reached out to Guglielmi for comment but has not heard back. The investigation comes as the agency has been under intense scrutiny over the past several years — as Trump has faced several assassination plots, as well as more recent reports over a secret maneuver to spirit President Donald Trump safely away from Turkey this summer.

Maryland judge strikes down Democratic redistricting ballot measure

A Maryland judge on Wednesday blocked a congressional redistricting amendment from appearing on the ballot this November, after state lawmakers voted to add the referendum during a special legislative session this summer. Maryland joined a wave of Democratic states that launched redistricting efforts in reaction to President Donald Trump’s push for Republicans to flip additional House seats ahead of the midterms. The state’s new map, which would favor Democrats in all eight House districts, would not go into effect until at least 2028. The Oversight Project, a conservative advocacy group, filed a lawsuit opposing the redistricting effort after Democrats in the state legislature passed an amendment this month to get the measure on the ballot.

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Democrats appealed the judge’s decision to the Maryland Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for Gov. Wes Moore confirmed to NOTUS. During a July special legislative session, Maryland lawmakers passed a measure that would allow the state to pursue a new redistricting map, clarify the requirements for congressional district boundaries and give the state Supreme Court the sole authority to hear these cases first before the traditional lower-court appeals process. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Robert J. Thompson concluded that the ballot measure is flawed because it would pose multiple redistricting questions to voters. “The question itself is defective because not only does it ostensibly intend to ‘clarify’ the application of compactness requirements, but it also seeks to confer original jurisdiction over congressional redistricting cases to the Supreme Court of Maryland,” Thompson wrote, adding that the state’s constitution requires a referendum to pose questions about a single issue. Maryland Democrats’ court loss is another example of a court striking down redistricting efforts from blue states this year. In neighboring Virginia, the state Supreme Court invalidated a similar ballot measure, largely on procedural grounds.

Everyone is making a U-turn on data centers as public support craters

The public is turning on data centers. Politicians are trying to keep up. Candidates are fighting to own the messaging as voters increasingly sour on the mass hubs, hammering their foes for backing a controversial industry in interviews and on the debate stage. Republican and Democratic groups have been conducting internal polls to see how the issue will play out, as they grapple for balance of power in Washington. Of the more than 100 campaign ads this cycle that have mentioned data centers, not one of the candidate-run spots presented the infrastructure positively, according to a POLITICO review of AdImpact data. It’s a reckoning that’s happening in real time — and earlier than many expected: A few months ago, data center development was largely a local issue that barely registered among candidates running for higher office.

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Now, it’s roiling some of the most competitive contests, from the Ohio Senate race to Michigan’s battleground 7th District. “The most amazing thing is how data centers have exploded as the hot issue du jour,” said Doug Preisse, an Ohio-based GOP strategist. “And this happens from time to time ... these things rise and fall. Right now baby, it’s data centers, and everyone’s taking note of it.” That dynamic is forcing top Republicans and Democrats who had been pro-data center development earlier this year — including potential 2028 presidential contenders — to redefine their positions, with some pushing for moratoriums and others turning away from tax incentives or other carveouts. And there’s no clean ideological lane. From MAGA Republicans to far-left Democrats, there are strange bedfellows joining forces against data centers, further complicating the narrative with voters. “It’s one of the only cross-partisan issues that we are seeing both in every poll and talking to voters on the ground,” said Ravi Mangla, press secretary of the progressive Working Families Party, which has backed a number of Democratic candidates who have opposed data centers on the campaign trail. “I think that it became readily apparent to both Republican and Democratic candidates that this was not going away, and it was not going to be a fringe issue. It was going to be something that was actually moving and animating voters.”

Public health advocates are so desperate for help against conspiracies they’ve turned to the place you’d least expect

Last month’s Senate grilling of Dr. Anthony Fauci, if viewed by an audience that had not been subjected to years of propaganda, would be staggeringly strange. There were hissing accusations of lies, corruption, and megalomania; comparisons to sadistic Nazi scientists; and statements, as if of undisputed fact, that Fauci killed millions of people. The nation’s most powerful Republicans, without any significant pushback, joined forces to shout down and criminally pursue the face of the COVID pandemic’s health authority based on wild, speculative, and facile conspiracy theories. It all prompted a kind of deeply existential question: If this is how we now treat a onetime pandemic hero, what will happen the next time we face a similar public health crisis?

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Public health officials say with the rise of conspiracy thinking at the highest echelons of our national government, the next pandemic response could be so much worse. But they did have one potentially innovative and surprising, if disconcerting, solution to our national public health information crisis: A.I. has the potential to help stave off a conspiratorial catastrophe during the next pandemic. Given everything that’s happened with our public health leadership since Donald Trump returned to power, most public health professionals Slate spoke with took a dim view of our possible responses to a future crisis. After a summer of foodborne illness crises, it’s clear our public health officials are struggling to handle basic public health. Indeed, they seem to be taking us backward: Just last week, it was reported that school vaccination rates have hit a new record low. But several experts, prodded for any note of optimism they could find, offered hope from artificial intelligence. Admittedly, looking to A.I. for rescue is usually an eye-roll-worthy impulse. And coming from the field of disinformation in particular, A.I. is a Pandora’s box of yet-to-be-imagined evils. Generative A.I. certainly has the potential to worsen pandemic conspiracy theories by equipping them with highly convincing fabricated evidence. But in this case, the desperation of the situation might just call for public health advocates leaning into the dangerous new technology.

Florida's Angie Nixon and the power of pink

In all the postmortems and analyses that have appeared since State Representative Angie Nixon’s decisive win over Alexander Vindman in the Democratic Senate primary in Florida last week — in all the meditations on what this means for progressives and Democratic Socialists and what it may say about the Sunshine State as well as the political state of the country — one factor has rarely come up. The pink. Not just any old pink: a particularly bright shade of pink sometimes referred to as fuchsia and sometimes hot pink but most akin, in fact, to the color Elsa Schiaparelli christened “shocking pink.” (An awfully apropos bit of nomenclature, given the reaction to Nixon’s win.) And while that pink may seem an almost irrelevant detail in a hard-fought political race, it played a very real role in Nixon’s campaign — and possibly her victory. As she gears up for the general election in November, it’s worth considering how.

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Nixon has been wearing pink since she first ran for office in 2020, but the color became synonymous with her, at least in the national consciousness, in late April when she marched down the State Capitol floor in a fuchsia jumpsuit with a hot pink megaphone to protest Florida gerrymandering. Though dismissed by some as a stunt, the picture was so powerful that it became practically shorthand for Nixon’s politics — and willingness to take on the establishment. From then on, it was essentially a pinkathon. Nixon’s campaign bus? Shocking pink. Her lawn signs and bumper stickers? Shocking pink. Her sneakers? Pink Skechers. The jacket and shirt she wore in a “fit check” video after her opponent’s wife, Rachel Vindman, appeared to imply that Nixon’s clothes were not “professional” enough, a comment that invited so much backlash that Vindman eventually deleted it and apologized? Pink and pink. (Each, Nixon noted, from Goodwill and costing $6.99 and $4.99, respectively). Turns out whining about “professional” was missing the point. By wearing pink so consistently throughout the campaign, it became impossible to think about the color without thinking about Nixon.

Tim Curry, who found cult stardom in ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ dies at 80

Tim Curry, a British actor with a raffish swagger and Cheshire cat smile who found his most enduring acclaim in black fishnets and corsets as the gender-blurring mad doctor in a Broadway show that became the cult film musical “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 80. His death was announced by his manager, Marcia Hurwitz, who did not cite a cause. Mr. Curry had a stroke in 2012 that left him with partial paralysis and relying on a wheelchair for mobility. Mr. Curry first made his way to the London stage in the late 1960s with the hippie-culture celebration “Hair” and seemed to cling to the show’s risk-taking spirit over a five-decade career.

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His more than 30 film roles — in addition to the cross-dressing Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter in 1975’s “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” — included the shifty butler in the board game-inspired “Clue” (1985) and a hapless concierge in the slapstick comedy “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992). On Broadway, he received Tony Award nominations for portraying the musical prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in “Amadeus” (1980), a swashbuckling past-his-prime matinee idol in “My Favorite Year” (1992) and King Arthur in the medieval farce “Spamalot” (2005), written by Monty Python alumnus Eric Idle. Mr. Curry was not an actor who dissolved into a part. Instead, his roles most often became filtered through his distinctive mien: an elastic and slightly craggy grin and expressive high-arched eyebrows — “a clown’s face,” he ventured — and variations of English accents from endearing to menacing. He was once described in a film blog as both a performer and a mood. “I play glorious misfits,” he said.

Kalshi and the Weather Co. join forces on climate trades

Kalshi says it is looking to broaden its fast-growing weather-predictions markets with meteorological know-how from the Weather Co., which is now verifying outcomes on climate trades. The companies said they want to explore new weather markets for sporting events, for example, citing local ski conditions and marathon race days. Consumers use Kalshi to trade on predictions ranging from what the highest temperature will be in Los Angeles on a given day to whether 2026 will be the hottest year ever. The platform says it chose the Weather Co. because it is one of the most trusted meteorological brands. Kalshi says its weather vertical is expected to reach $1.1 billion in trading volume this year as users put money on climate trends. The company said its weather markets reached $564 million in volume in 2026 as of July, and surpassed the 2025 total in March. The total volume for weather and climate markets on Kalshi has grown 500% year over year, the company said.

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Weather predictions can also provide useful insights for businesses hedging on weather events, Kalshi said, including logistics firms, farms and ice-cream shops. “Weather is a quintessential prediction-market category,” said Will Brackett, head of partnerships at Kalshi. “It affects people every day, from the decisions you make about your commute to work to businesses and policymakers.” In turn, the Weather Co., which operates weather.com and the Weather Channel app, is now using Kalshi’s probability data where relevant on its app and website, displaying the trades to give its users a snapshot of how markets are pricing weather risk. “Our priority is ensuring Kalshi’s settlements rest on objective, scientifically validated atmospheric data,” said James Belanger, vice president of meteorology at the Weather Co. Kalshi recently announced another partnership with Cantor Fitzgerald. The investment bank said it would arrange block trades on everything from weather forecasts to iPhone sales through the predictions market. Weather trading has drawn attention—both good and bad—as it attracts more users. Prediction markets might actually be the best source to gauge the forecast, Patrick Brown, head of climate analytics at Interactive Brokers, said in a report. Meanwhile, Kalshi competitor Polymarket is being scrutinized for offering bets on disasters such as wildfires. Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has a data partnership with Polymarket.

Copyright August 27, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved