April 16, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

It's not just Talarico. Democrats are dominating the fundraising race in critical Congressional contests

Even at a time of inflated political-fundraising hauls, the numbers Democrats reported Wednesday stand out. Many of the Democratic Party’s top candidates reported gargantuan fundraising totals for the first three months of the year — figures that reinforce the party’s growing confidence that it is gaining momentum roughly six months before the midterm election. The Democrats’ Senate nominee in Texas, James Talarico, led the way by raising $27 million in the year’s first fundraising quarter, a figure that until recently would have been considered a strong return for a major presidential candidate, let alone a congressional contender. But he wasn’t the only Senate Democratic nominee to post an impressive report to the Federal Election Commission: Roy Cooper, the Democrats’ Senate nominee in North Carolina, raised nearly $14 million, and Mary Peltola, the putative party nominee for Senate in Alaska, raised almost $9 million. Sherrod Brown, the likely nominee in Ohio, raised $12.5 million.

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Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff’s totals might be the most striking: The incumbent raised $14 million last quarter and has $31.7 million on hand, per FEC reports. Ossoff, Talarico, Cooper, Peltola and Brown had, combined, more than $80 million on hand to start April. The Democrats’ financial successes last quarter, however, come with a caveat. At the national level, the party still faces a steep financial disparity against Republicans, when including outside groups like MAGA Inc. and super PACs like the Senate Leadership Fund. And an expected Supreme Court decision this spring could give the GOP another advantage, letting them maximize the political impact of contributions from big donors and the more than $100 million in the Republican National Committee’s own warchest. Like their Senate counterparts, House Democratic candidates challenging Republican incumbents also reported impressive fundraising figures. Democratic candidate Rebecca Cooke ($2.4 million) outraised Rep. Derrick Van Orden ($1.3 million) in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District. Sarah Trone Garriott ($1.7 million) raised more than Republican Rep. Zach Nunn ($1.3 million) in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District. Janelle Stelson ($2.2 million) collected more than Rep. Scott Perry ($1.1 million). JoAnna Mendoza ($2.4 million) hauled in more than Rep. Juan Ciscomani ($1.1 million).

Greg Abbott eyes other Texas cities' ICE policies after threatening Houston

Gov. Greg Abbott’s office is investigating Texas cities that limit law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration officials after the Republican governor threatened to pull $110 million in public safety grants from Houston this week. A spokesman for Abbott did not specify which cities were under investigation, but told Hearst Newspapers the governor’s public safety office is “looking into allegations that other cities may be in violation of their contract with the state.” “Every city in Texas that enters into an agreement with the Governor‘s Public Safety Office must follow the same standards applied to the City of Houston,” Andrew Mahaleris said.

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A state law passed in 2017 bans so-called “sanctuary” policies and requires local police to cooperate with federal immigration officials. Still, some cities across the state have sought to manage how much local police interact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive. The Houston City Council last week voted to scrap a policy that requires officers to wait 30 minutes for ICE officers to pick up someone with a civil immigration warrant. The city’s new policy also requires the department to make reports to the council about its cooperation with ICE. The governor’s office said that policy flouted an agreement to work with federal immigration authorities that the city signed to receive the public safety grants his office oversees. Abbott distributes $580 million in state and federal grants to local law enforcement agencies each year, one of the biggest pots of police grant funding in the state.

Camp Mystic hearing concludes with judge's rebuke, strengthened preservation order and 2027 trial dates

A three-day evidentiary hearing in the Camp Mystic wrongful death litigation concluded Wednesday in Austin with a judge strengthening her preservation order, scrapping a 2028 trial date in favor of 2027, and formally warning both legal teams that the extraordinary acrimony that has defined the proceeding will not be tolerated going forward. The hearing before Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble produced three days of testimony — including nearly five hours from camp director Edward Eastland alone — that laid bare the failures of July 4, 2025, in granular, often agonizing detail. When it was over, the judge made clear she had been paying attention: she added language to her preservation order explicitly stating that the defendants potentially violated the Texas Administrative Code by failing to maintain a written evacuation plan, a legal finding that strengthens the plaintiffs’ negligence case heading into trial.

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For the 22 families suing Camp Mystic, the three days of testimony represented something they have waited nine months for — a public accounting, under oath, of what happened in the early morning hours of July 4 that led to the deaths of their children. For the Eastlands, who have deep roots in Kerr County and enjoy broad support from a loyal base of Camp Mystic alumni and families stretching back generations, the hearing was an equally painful ordeal — one that placed their decisions, their communications and their character under a microscope in open court. The proceeding was, in many ways, an emotional tug of war between two very different versions of the same night, argued by lawyers whose mutual contempt became impossible to ignore. For everyone in that courtroom, Wednesday marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of a long road ahead. There are five separate lawsuits — and the judge has kept them that way. Judge Guerra Gamble is presiding over all five wrongful death cases stemming from the Camp Mystic disaster, but she has explicitly declined to consolidate them. Each case remains legally distinct, brought by different families represented by different attorneys. That is why five separate legal teams were present throughout the hearing, why the trial dates are staggered, and why coordination between those teams — particularly around the depositions of surviving campers — required the judge’s direct intervention. The cases move together in some procedural respects but will ultimately be tried separately.

Pentagon approaches automakers, manufacturers to boost weapons production

The Trump administration wants automakers and other American manufacturers to play a larger role in weapons production, reminiscent of a practice used during World War II. Senior defense officials have held talks about producing weapons and other military supplies with the top executives of several companies, including Mary Barra, chief executive officer of General Motors, and Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motor, according to people familiar with the discussions. The Pentagon is interested in enlisting the companies to use their personnel and factory capacity to increase production of munitions and other equipment as the wars in Ukraine and Iran deplete stocks. The talks were preliminary and wide-ranging, the people said. Defense officials said American manufacturers might be needed to backstop traditional defense companies and asked whether the companies could rapidly shift to defense work.

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The Defense Department “is committed to rapidly expanding the defense industrial base by leveraging all available commercial solutions and technologies to ensure our warfighters maintain a decisive advantage,” a Pentagon official said. The discussions are the latest by the administration to put military manufacturing on what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called a “wartime footing.” Discussions started before the war in Iran, the people said. The conflict’s strain on U.S. munitions stockpiles is further indication that the military needs more commercial partners to scale up supplies of munitions and tactical hardware, such as missiles and counterdrone technology, quickly. During the talks with U.S. manufacturing executives, defense officials framed bolstering weapons production as a matter of national security. The officials asked whether companies could help as the Pentagon seeks to shore up domestic manufacturing capacity, the people said. The officials also asked executives to identify barriers to taking on additional defense work, from contracting requirements to hurdles in the bidding process.

State Stories

Fewer new wells, more oil in West Texas

Texas produced nearly half of all U.S. oil last year despite having drilled fewer new oil wells in 2025, a trend that analysts and industry groups said is possible due to the state’s geological makeup, a network of pipelines and transportation, and the ability to work on multiple production sites in less time. And that West Texas oil has helped keep U.S. supply steady as oil supply across the world has been squeezed during the Iran war, experts said. American oil companies produced 13.6 million barrels of oil daily last year, once again breaking their own record, according to a report by the Energy Information Administration. Almost half — 6.6 million barrels a day — came from the Permian Basin, the vast stretch of oil-rich deposits spanning tens of thousands of square miles between western Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

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Oil companies accomplished the record with a fraction of available drilling rigs, which the industry historically relied on to search for, find and lift fossil fuels from the ground. The EIA, in its report, said fewer rigs could lead to a 2% drop in production in 2027, marking the first time oil could dip since 2021. And in light of the U.S. war on Iran, domestic oil production — particularly in West Texas — has taken on a new meaning. The war pushed gas prices sky high as the global supply of oil has been slashed during the conflict. Texas oil leaders said the situation could have been worse had it not been for their work. “Without the millions of barrels produced a day in the Permian Basin there’s no question we’d be in much more volatile times,” said Ben Shepperd, president of Permian Basin Petroleum Association, the largest regional trade group in the country. “The strong production coming out of the Permian Basin, however, helps provide a stable source of energy for the United States and our allies, which can reduce volatility when conflicts arise in other parts of the world.”

Guard: More could have been saved at Camp Mystic if more adults helped evacuate

A night watchman who assisted with a chaotic, haphazard rescue effort at Camp Mystic during a catastrophic flash flood told a state district court Wednesday that more able-bodied adults could have helped evacuate campers and more children could have been saved. Glenn Juenke, 58, a retired Houston police officer, was initially defensive when questioned about the doomed effort led by Camp Mystic owner and executive director Richard “Dick” Eastland in the early morning hours of July 4. He testified that no evacuation plans would have worked given the scale of the flooding. He insisted that he and camp leaders did everything possible to save children. But by the end of a withering cross-examination, Juenke conceded that camp officials could have rescued more children if anyone had used a functioning loudspeaker or walkie-talkie radio to summon more able-bodied adults on the grounds to direct campers from their cabins to safer buildings.

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Juenke’s testimony gave a more detailed description of a rescue effort that failed to save the lives of 25 children and two counselors at the Texas Hill Country camp on the south fork of the Guadalupe River, about 18 miles southwest of Kerrville. Eastland, 70, was killed while trying to pull victims from the floodwaters when his Chevrolet Tahoe was swept away by high water and crashed into a tree. He and Juenke — along with Eastland’s son, Camp Mystic Guadalupe River director Edward Eastland, 42 — managed to evacuate some campers and counselors before the situation spiraled into disaster. But the three men didn’t reach the victims in the greatest peril in time. Other adults at Camp Mystic didn’t know about or assist with the rescue effort. They included nurses at the camp infirmary, Camp Mystic Guadalupe River director Mary Liz Eastland, Camp Mystic head chef Richard Eastland Jr. and male college students staying on the camp’s grounds.

Allen West — Dallas County's top Republican Party leader — resigns

A month after his reelection, Dallas County Republican Party Chair Allen West has resigned. West notified county election department officials Wednesday afternoon. He called to inform elections administrator Paul Adams. Commissioner Andy Sommerman, who chairs the elections commission committee, confirmed Wednesday that West quit. "Allen West called Paul Adams this afternoon to announce that he was resigning as the Republican chair," he said. The local Republican Party is scheduled to meet Monday and its county executive committee had planned to vote for West's removal. Party members were angry and disappointed that West signed a contract with the county to revert to countywide, joint vote centers for the May primary run off election.

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West made the decision to amend and sign the contract after a disastrous Primary Election Day last month confused and potentially disenfranchised an estimated minimum 30,000 voters. The Republican Party voted at the end of December to hold separate, precinct-based primary elections on Election Day, March 3. Allen had announced earlier this month in his weekly newsletter party members were unhappy that he signed an amended contract with the county election department to hold joint Republican and Democratic voting in May. He had decided to abandon separate, precinct-based voting and return to joint, countywide voting after month's chaotic primary elections — which confused thousands of voters and set off a chain of legal action in local and state courts. He told KERA that holding another election that confuses voters could open the Republican Party up to potential risks, including disenfranchisement accusations. He also alluded to the potential for "serious legal ramifications and litigation."

Judson ISD cuts 536 positions to balance budget next school year, but expects far fewer layoffs

The board of trustees for the Judson Independent school district voted Tuesday to eliminate more than 500 positions next school year. District officials said cutting those positions from the 2026-2027 budget will eliminate Judson’s $35 million deficit and allow Bexar County’s fourth largest school district to begin rebuilding its cash reserves. “Throughout these last (four) years, our money has been telling us what we cannot do. ‘You don't have money for this.’ ‘We don't have money for that.’ With (these) cost reductions, all of a sudden, things have changed,” Interim Superintendent Robert Jaklich told trustees. “Now we get a chance to talk about how we can make our money work for us.” Jaklich said Judson’s cash reserves, called a fund balance, currently has 71 days of operating expenses.

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“We need to be at 75 days of operating expenses,” Jaklich said, adding that the budget plan presented Tuesday would reverse the downward trajectory of the district’s fund balance. Trustees voted Tuesday to follow Jaklich’s recommendation and eliminate a total of 536 positions. However, district administrators said at least 459 of those 536 positions will be covered through attrition and existing vacancies. “Those 459 positions. Those are positions. Those aren't people,” Jaklich said. “That leaves us 77 positions left (with people in them).” Trustees voted earlier this semester to permanently close four campuses at the end of the current school year. District officials said those closures eliminate the need for 284 positions. However, Judson officials expect to place most of the employees affected by the closures in positions at other campuses left open through attrition. Deputy Superintendent Mary Duhart-Toppen said enough teachers quit each year for all of Judson’s certified teachers to be retained even with the recommended reduction of 258 teacher positions across the district.

Brownsville, McAllen deny AG’s claims of ‘illegally raising taxes’

The cities of Brownsville and McAllen are among two of the more than 1,000 cities in Texas under investigation for “illegally raising taxes,” the Texas Attorney General’s office said in a news release. Both cities are compliant in their financial reports, according to respective city managers. McAllen City Manager Isaac J. Tawil noted that the Attorney General’s office was referring to nearly every city in Texas. The state has more than 1,200 incorporated cities, according to the comptroller’s office. McAllen has provided everything to the state lawfully, he said, adding that there is no pending litigation against the city or imminent threat of an audit.

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Tawil also said that the release acts as a reminder for cities across Texas to remain compliant in financial transparency. In May 2025, the state legislature passed a partisan Republican bill requiring cities to publish annual financial audits, but municipalities that fail to meet requirements cannot increase property taxes beyond that of the previous year. The bill became effective at the start of September. Brownsville passes its annual report at the city commissioner’s second March meeting each year, said interim City Manager Alan Guard. The city approved the meeting’s minutes at the start of April. “We take care of our business, most cities do,” he said, adding that the city must get its fiscal documents filed within six months after the end of the fiscal year, as per the city charter. In Brownsville, the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. “So we’ve been in compliance for years and years and years,” Guard said. MyRGV.com reached out to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Office, but received no immediate response. Paxton’s office posted a complaint form for Texans who believe local officials are violating audit transparency requirements and “unlawfully raising taxes,” the release said. “I am demanding that cities prioritize transparency and work to minimize the tax burden of every citizen across the state,” Paxton said in the news release.

‘Jeff Williams syndrome’: Former mayor looms over Arlington race

Arlington Mayor Jim Ross has accused one of his opponents in the May 2 election of being a “puppet” for former Mayor Jeff Williams. During an interview with the Star-Telegram’s editorial board on April 9, Ross said that Williams urged Steve Cavender to run against him. Cavender, a real estate developer, is the president of the River Legacy Foundation’s board. Hunter Crow, a Tarrant County Democratic Party precinct chair, and Shaun Mallory, owner of Daesy’s Tropic Sno, are also on the ballot.

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“I inherited horrible relationships with police and fire because of Jeff Williams, and Mr. Cavender is acting simply as his puppet,” Ross said during the interview during a contentious exchange about Champions Park, a $30 million mixed-use development in north Arlington at the intersection of Interstate 30 and Collins Street that has seen little progress since it was approved by Arlington City Council in 2015 and initially developed in 2016. “He hasn’t been involved in virtually anything in this city, except recently becoming the president of the River Legacy Foundation … and then he has the audacity, without reading a budget, to come in and challenge what we’re doing on these types of things, simply because Jeff Williams is telling him to do so.” Ross was commenting on a question earlier on in the interview, when Cavender — asked where in the city’s budget he would make cuts to avoid further property tax increases — said he did not extensively read the full budget document.

Texas Tech Chancellor defends new course content guidelines as LGBTQ advocates criticize changes

New guidelines for the more than 14,000 courses offered at Texas Tech are getting pushback from several organizations serving as advocates for the LGBTQ community. Texas Tech System leaders are working to be more efficient with these new course guidelines. The driving force behind these changes has been Texas Senate Bill 37, written by Chancellor Brandon Creighton last year, when he was in the Texas Legislature. The law requires state curriculum to serve as the foundation for a student’s future, particularly in the workforce. It states classes may “not endorse specific public policies, ideologies, or legislation.” The Academic, Clinical, and Student Affairs Committee of the Texas Tech Board of Regents identified about 60 courses that needed alteration. Lubbock LGBTQ advocates say the decision targets conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation.

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“Free speech on campus doesn’t quite feel so free at the moment,” said Jay Pettit, a member of the Lubbock chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, also known as PFLAG. Pettit said the recent course changes are creating a climate of fear in faculty and staff at Texas Tech, fear of speaking up about it or fear of misunderstanding the guidelines. “There’s so much like, is this going to be the thing that a student objects to? Am I going to face disciplinary actions for even bringing this up?” Pettit said. Pettit says the changes make him feel like he’s losing his footing with TTU. “It feels very strange to come into work every day or to sit down in a classroom knowing that based on the memo, people like me aren’t supposed to exist,” Pettit said. “It does, even if it’s not said out loud, like if I’m not feeling like I’m allowed to talk about my experience.” Chancellor Creighton says respecting academic freedom has been at the center of the content review. “The process has respected the First Amendment,” Creighton said.

What the NRA is doing to rebuild its membership in Texas and beyond

The National Rifle Association is still in damage control after a financial scandal rocked its leadership structure two years ago and triggered a major decline in memberships. As the NRA returns to Houston for its annual convention this week, top officials are talking up a restructured organization and pleading with former members to rejoin. “We're making major strides,” Justin Davis, the NRA's director of public affairs, said about the reforms. “We're making the NRA back about the members again.” In 2024, longtime NRA leader Wayne LaPierre, a key architect of the nonprofit's hardline gun rights agenda, resigned after he was accused of spending more than $11 million on private flights and approving $135 million in NRA contracts in exchange for yacht access and free trips to the Bahamas, Greece and other vacation hotspots.

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?Ten years ago, the NRA reported raking in $200 million from memberships. That was down to about $61 million in 2023, according to an independent audit of NRA finances made public in December by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a D.C. nonprofit. ?NRA political spending has also dropped. In 2016, the NRA’s political arm spent $54 million to help get President Donald Trump elected. In 2024, that spending was just over $10 million. ?Davis said after years of losses, the membership rolls have “stabilized.” He said they are still expecting about 70,000 people to attend this year’s convention in Houston, even though President Donald Trump will not be the headliner as he has been at past NRA conventions in Texas. Davis said he hopes former members will see an organization going back to its “blue collar” roots and using their membership money more wisely. “I can assure you you're in good hands and we're looking forward to having you come back home,” he said.

Longtime immigration court interpreter arrested by ICE at South Texas airport

Last month, Meenu Batra, 53, who has lived in the South Texas border colonia of Laguna Heights since 2002, was on her way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to work another case. She’s been a court interpreter for over 20 years, the only one licensed in Texas for Hindi, Punjabi, or Urdu. Her language skills are requested nationwide, where she’s contracted to help people making their way through the immigration court system, just as she did for herself 35 years ago when she immigrated from India to New Jersey before settling in Texas. She planned to meet with her adult children in Austin after the Wisconsin trip, the only difference she foresaw in an otherwise typical trip. Her routine for years included flying from either Harlingen or Brownsville to far-flung parts of the country where South Asian immigrants needed language access. For this trip, the flight was out of Harlingen. But, around 5 p.m. on March 17, Batra was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after passing through security at Harlingen International Airport.

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In a sworn deposition that was filed as part of a petition for habeas corpus—a legal request to be released on the grounds that the detention is unlawful—Batra said the people who arrested her did not have visible badges nor were they wearing uniforms. One of those agents had asked Batra if she knew she was in the country illegally and that she had a deportation order. She replied that her work authorization status, which she applied for regularly after being granted a legal status called withholding of removal by a New Jersey immigration judge decades ago, was good for another four years. “That doesn’t mean you can be here forever,” the agent replied. Two more plainclothes agents would join the two that detained her, bringing her down the escalator and to the front of the airport. “Having watched and read enough news, I know that the moment you say something, they accuse you of evading arrest or whatever other things,” Batra told the Texas Observer. “So, being mindful of all that, mindful of the whole line and being embarrassed in front of everybody, I just complied.”

In Dallas County, stalled paperwork keeps teens homeless

On Dallas County’s streets, the government’s failure to deliver public benefits is more than abstract policy debate. It’s life-or-death for kids who age out of foster care every week. Forty-six of these vulnerable young people are homeless right now because they cannot receive the federal housing funds for which they qualify, according to reporting by The Lab Report. Bureaucratic inertia between state and county employees has resulted in this aid being gridlocked in paperwork and communication breakdowns for months. That means the 46 kids are left to sleep in shelters, encampments, or on a friend’s couch instead of living in a safe, stable place paid for by the government. The Foster Youth to Independence, or FYI, vouchers cover at least 70 percent of each month’s rent for kids exiting foster care who, after attaining housing, can focus on college, job training, or steady employment. They can begin to build credit, establish roots, and form connections in their community.

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But without a place to live, their options are limited, and mostly bad. Some resort to returning to a family that the child welfare system previously determined to be unsafe. Others wind up with people who don’t have their best interests at heart. Tonight they might sleep in a co-worker’s car, tomorrow on public transportation, the next—they have no idea. “These kids are at such risk. It’s very easy for them to be human-trafficked or harmed by predatory individuals,” says Nicole Binkley, CEO of the Transition Resource Action Center, which assists young people moving out of foster care. Despite the risks they face, “time and time again, bureaucratically, getting these vouchers into their hands just has fallen through the cracks,” she says. Based on about a dozen interviews and reviews of more than 50 documents and emails, here’s why the housing assistance remains unavailable: Since 2024, the work necessary to put the vouchers in play has lurched along with more stops than starts. Officials, staffers, and lawyers have banged their heads against each other only to fall back into the growing bureaucratic quagmire.

Reliant Stadium is back: Why NRG is returning to its original name

When the Houston Texans begin play in their 25th season, they’ll do so with a familiar name back on their home venue. After 12 years of being called NRG Stadium, the home of the Houston Texans and Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is reverting to its original name: Reliant Stadium. The change was approved Wednesday by the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation. Reliant Energy, the company based in Houston, bought the 30-year naming rights for the stadium and surrounding buildings in 2002 for $300 million. NRG Energy purchased Reliant’s retail electricity business in 2009 and opted to change the name of the stadium in 2014 to reflect the brand of the parent company.

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Although there are no changes with the business — Reliant is still a subsidiary of NRG Energy — the publicly traded energy company now has decided to go back to using the Reliant branding on the stadium. According to NRG, a recent survey revealed that 90% of their Houston-based customers supported the return of the stadium’s original name. NRG Consumer president Brad Bentley said the survey “just dialed in what we knew to be true.” “It’s the brand that they connect with, that they do business with, that they trust to deliver their power and that we have relationships with, so we’re excited to bring it back,” Bentley told the Houston Chronicle. “We think we’ll have a lot of good momentum and excitement among our customers.” Although the decision was made solely by NRG, which owns the naming rights to the stadium through 2032, the timing works out for the Texans, who have events planned to celebrate their 25th season in the NFL. “I don’t think you could have mapped it out better from our perspective,” Houston Texans team president Mike Tomon said. “We’re excited to celebrate 25 seasons of Houston Texans football back where it all began when it was Reliant Stadium. To be in this situation, where you have one of your founding partners that has really been with us from the very beginning back in 2002, to have it rebranded back to Reliant as we celebrate 25 seasons, I think it lines up perfectly.”

NAACP denied use of Arlington subcourthouse after Tarrant commissioners argue politics, raising free speech concerns

Tarrant County commissioners denied the use of a county subcourthouse to the NAACP after disagreeing over the civil rights group’s politics. The Arlington chapter of the NAACP requested to use a community room at their city’s subcourthouse — which is owned and operated by the county — to host monthly public meetings from May to November. The group asked that commissioners waive the estimated $2,600 in fees needed to pay for after-hours personnel and security. Commissioners voted along party lines April 14 to deny the request, with the court’s three Republicans voting no. GOP Commissioner Matt Krause said he couldn’t approve the request out of concern that the events would be perceived as partisan, which free speech experts said could pose First Amendment violations.

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“If you ask people, ‘Does the NAACP identify with one political party over the other and do more politicking and partisanship for one party over the other?’ I think a strong majority would say, ‘Oh, certainly they do,’” Krause told the Fort Worth Report on Wednesday. “Whether that’s a positive or a negative, I’m not saying that one way or the other.” Before casting his vote Tuesday, Krause recalled denying a similar request in his own precinct when a resident asked to use a county subcourthouse to host voter registration training. Although he believes the training could have been helpful, Krause said, he denied the request because of the applicant’s past affiliations with the GOP and concern about the perception of partisanship. Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons, whose precinct includes the Arlington subcourthouse, argued that the NAACP is nonpartisan and should be allowed to use the county building. Simmons is running for the countywide judge seat on the Commissioners Court in the November election. “It is a policy organization with a mission to advance civil rights and human rights — that’s it,” Simmons said at the meeting. Rejecting the NAACP’s application sets a dangerous precedent and raises serious questions about fairness, Simmons added in a statement to the Report. “A community room is not a reward for approved opinions. It is a public space governed by neutral rules,” she wrote. “If this request meets those rules, and it does, it should be approved.” The First Amendment protects most forms of speech and expression in public forums, such as public sidewalks and parks. Government facilities are typically considered public forums. Government bodies may impose reasonable rules to restrict speech, but those rules must be viewpoint-neutral and appropriate to the building’s intended use.

Retired HPD chief Troy Finner hired by Missouri City as police department leader

Two years after abruptly retiring as HPD chief, Troy Finner is back at work. Missouri City announced Tuesday that it has hired Finner as its police chief. He is expected to begin work next week. “Chief Finner brings more than three decades of law enforcement experience,” read a statement released by the City of Missouri City. “Throughout his distinguished career, he advanced through the ranks of one of the nation’s largest police organizations, earning a reputation for professionalism, leadership, and a steadfast commitment to public service.” Finner spent 34 years with HPD, including his first 12 years as a patrol officer before being promoted to sergeant. After serving five years as a sergeant, Finner was promoted to lieutenant, and in 2021, former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner appointed him chief.

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It was a position Finner held until he retired amid controversy in May of 2024, when an investigation revealed that the police department had suspended 260,000 cases under a code due to a lack of personnel. The department, under Finner’s leadership, suspended investigations into 4,000 sexual assault cases and over 264,000 incident reports because it lacked the manpower to investigate. According to reports, the victims were unaware that their cases were no longer being investigated. Finner said at the time that he had stopped the practice after learning of it in 2021. Missouri City, through City Manager Angel Jones’ office, didn’t shy away from the controversy surrounding Finner’s abrupt retirement in a released statement. “The City is aware of the circumstances regarding Chief Finner’s departure from the City of Houston,” the release read. “While Missouri City does not minimize the seriousness of those matters, the City’s decision was based on it’s assessment of his extensive experience and his ability to lead the department forward.” But Missouri City focused on the qualities Finner brings to the table and why he was hired to lead the city’s police department. “Chief Finner brings the leadership experience, judgment, and professionalism needed to lead the Missouri City Police Department and serve this community effectively,” said City Manager Angel Jones.

National Stories

A progressive group rolls out a campus competitor to Turning Point

Democrats desperate to win back young voters who drifted rightward in the 2024 election have rolled out a host of projects since then aimed at appealing to Gen Z. The latest high-profile group to join in: More Perfect Union, the progressive media organization run by a veteran of Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaigns. On Wednesday, More Perfect Union announced an initiative called More Perfect University, a college campus effort pitched as a liberal antidote to Turning Point USA, the conservative activist group that has spread right-wing cultural values at universities and mobilized young voters for President Trump. “They’ve been wildly successful,” Faiz Shakir, the executive director of More Perfect Union and a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders, said of the right. “We’re hoping that an economic populist movement for the next generation will start through More Perfect Union on campuses.”

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The stakes are high on college campuses, where younger voters joined a historic shift of traditionally Democratic groups toward Mr. Trump in 2024. Young voters backed former Vice President Kamala Harris over Mr. Trump, 51 percent to 47 percent. But that result represented a significant shift from the 25-point margin by which they backed former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020, according to an analysis of Associated Press VoteCast data. The world of higher education has long been seen as a bastion of liberalism, and that view helped Turning Point pitch itself as countercultural alternative when it emerged more than a decade ago. But if Turning Point was the right’s answer to the left’s dominance of academia, More Perfect University will frame itself as a progressive champion for the working class, said Elise Joshi, a former executive director of Gen-Z for Change who will lead the push. “The same corporations that are rigging the economy against young people are bankrolling the right’s campus operation,” Ms. Joshi said. The evidence, she added, lies in Turning Point’s “refusal to champion working-class issues.”

How Eric Swalwell rose to the top of Democratic politics as rumors followed him

When Cheyenne Hunt first arrived on Capitol Hill as a staffer in 2020, several other young women working there warned her privately: Stay away from Rep. Eric Swalwell. Swalwell could be “creepy,” Hunt said other women told her, especially over social media. Six years later, Hunt is one of several women who have leveraged their large followings online to go after Swalwell, enlisting women to come forward with their stories and connecting them with reporters at CNN and other outlets. Late last week, allegations that include sexual assault of a former staffer and sending unsolicited explicit messages to young women came to light in investigations published by CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle. On Tuesday, a woman accused Swalwell of raping her in 2018.

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Swalwell’s attorney Sara Azari said Swalwell denies “each and every allegation of sexual misconduct and assault” made against him, calling them “false, fabricated, and deeply offensive.” “This is a ruthless and shameless attempt to smear Congressman Swalwell,” Azari said of the allegations. In recent days, Swalwell (D) exited the California governor’s race and resigned from Congress. He apologized for some “mistakes in judgment” he made while in office in a statement on Monday. The Washington Post has not independently verified the allegations, and Azari and Swalwell’s Capitol Hill staff did not respond to a detailed list of questions for this article. The stunning fall has Hunt and others asking how someone who was dogged by persistent rumors of inappropriate behavior toward women similar to what she heard in 2020 could have risen so high and so fast in a party that says it supports women’s rights. “We do need to take a look inward as a party because it was an open secret,” said Hunt, the executive director of the youth group Gen Z for Change, referring to the Democratic Party. “Not necessarily that he was assaulting people but that he was a creep. That was well known.”

US sanctions 2 casinos, 3 people over alleged links to Mexico’s Northeast cartel

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday issued sanctions against three individuals and two casinos for their alleged links to Mexico’s Northeast cartel, one of several criminal groups designated last year as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration. Washington has intensified its crackdown on the Northeast cartel — heir to the former Zetas — which has been accused of trafficking weapons, drugs and people, and is characterized by its violent practices and extortion. Its base is Nuevo Laredo, the busiest commercial port on the U.S.-Mexico border. Among the entities sanctioned is Casino Centenario, a gambling venue in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, which the U.S. claims functions as a drug storage hub and a mechanism for laundering money through gambling activities.

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The Treasury also sanctioned Diamante Casino, headquartered in the northern city of Tampico — also in Tamaulipas — which operates an online betting site. Sanctions were also leveled against high-profile enablers, including Eduardo Javier Islas Valdez — the alleged “gatekeeper” of the cartel’s human smuggling routes into Texas — and attorney Juan Pablo Penilla Rodríguez, cited for providing illicit support. Notably, the list includes activist Jesús Reymundo Ramos, whom the Treasury Department identified as a paid operative responsible for spreading cartel disinformation under the guise of human rights advocacy. The U.S. sanctions block assets the targeted people have in the United States and prohibit people from doing business with them in the U.S. Ramos did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In March 2023, Ramos alleged that the Mexican Army and government orchestrated accusations linking him to the Northeast cartel, which he denied. An independent investigation later confirmed that his phone had been compromised by Pegasus spyware in 2020.

House Democrats file 5 impeachment articles against Hegseth

House Democrats will introduce five articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing him of war crimes in connection with the Iran war, abuse of power and mishandling of the Department of Defense (DOD). Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), the first Iranian American Democrat in Congress, will introduce the impeachment resolution, Axios reported after it obtained a copy of the resolution. Eight Democrats are co-sponsoring the long-shot resolution: Reps. Steve Cohen (Tenn.), Jasmine Crockett (Texas), Nikema Williams (Ga.), Sarah McBride (Del.), Brittany Pettersen (Colo.), Dina Titus (Nev.), Dave Min (Calif.) and Shri Thanedar (Mich.). Ansari announced last week that she was filing articles of impeachment, which are almost certain to go nowhere in the GOP-controlled House. She accused Hegseth of being “complicit” in President Trump’s “devastating, illegal war” in Iran.

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The first article accuses Hegseth of violating his oath of office in overseeing an “unauthorized war against Iran and reckless endangerment of United States service members.” The resolution goes on to accuse the secretary of war crimes by targeting civilians and breaking the rules of armed conflict, followed by the alleged mishandling of sensitive information. This article refers to the use of the Signal app on his personal cell phone to discuss a pending strike on Houthi targets in Yemen. The incident drew attention after The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to the chat that included Hegseth and other administration officials. The Office of Inspector General determined in a report that Hegseth jeopardized troop safety and violated department policy. The DOD stated the report was a “total exoneration” for Hegseth. Ansari’s resolution also accuses Hegseth of obstructing congressional oversight responsibilities, including the alleged withholding of information regarding military actions in Venezuela and Iran, among other military theaters. It also claims the Defense chief abused his power, “including targeting and launching bogus investigations against specific elected officials for the express purpose of political retribution.”

Trump’s Federal Reserve pick discloses more than $130M in assets ahead of confirmation hearing

Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s pick to be the next Federal Reserve chair, has disclosed more than $130 million in assets ahead of his planned confirmation hearing next week but pledged to divest much of it if he is chosen to lead the central bank. The 69-page financial document submitted to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics shows Warsh’s assets valued between $131 million and $209 million, making him much wealthier than any previous Fed chair, according to the New York Times. The paperwork details two investments worth over $50 million each in the Juggernaut Fund, LP, which Warsh said he would divest from if confirmed. It also indicated that he would resign from several positions, including his work as a financial adviser.

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Warsh collected $10.2 million in consulting fees from the office of Wall Street investor Stanley Druckenmiller, according to the document. CNBC reported that Warsh’s filings outline roughly 1,800 individual assets, many of which were identified as subject to “pre-existing confidentiality obligations” that prevented further details of the underlying items. The disclosure marks the first step in Warsh’s confirmation process, which had reportedly been stalled due to the paperwork delay. Senate Banking Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced during a Tuesday afternoon appearance on Fox Business that Warsh’s hearing would be held next week. Two sources told NewsNation the date is April 21. “We’ll talk through the economy, talk through price stability and inflation. We’ll talk about the independence of the Fed,” Scott told host Maria Bartiromo. Trump nominated Warsh, a former Federal Reserve board member, in January to replace Jerome Powell as chairman of the central bank. Powell’s term ends on May 15, but he said last month he would not step down until his successor was confirmed.

Trump yanks millions from Catholic Charities amid Pope feud

The Trump administration has abruptly canceled a multimillion-dollar contract with a Catholic charity that houses and cares for migrant children amid the president’s feud with Pope Leo XIV. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami has helped provide vital services to unaccompanied minors for more than 60 years, but could now shut down within a matter of months after the administration canceled an $11 million federal contract. The decision comes amid tensions between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo, the leader of the Catholic Church, over issues such as migration and the war in Iran. Trump has launched a series of attacks against the American-born pontiff, including suggesting Leo was “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” The 79-year-old president also received intense criticism after he shared an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ on social media.

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Writing for the Miami Herald, Thomas Wenski, archbishop of Miami, said it is “baffling” that the government would want to shut down a service that has helped thousands of children who entered the U.S. without parents or guardians since the 1960s. “The Archdiocese of Miami’s services for unaccompanied minors have been recognized for their excellence and have served as a model for other agencies throughout the country,” Wenski wrote. “Our track record in serving this vulnerable population is unmatched. Yet, the Archdiocese of Miami’s Catholic Charities’ services for unaccompanied minors has been stripped of funding and will be forced to shut down within three months.” The Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, has had an arrangement for years for Catholic Charities to house immigrant children. The government reached out to the charity in March about the proposed cancellation of funding, the Miami Herald reported. A spokesperson for the department said the decision was because the number of unaccompanied migrant children in the agency’s care was “significantly lower,” at 1,900 under the Trump administration, compared to a peak of around 22,000 under the Biden administration.

‘He’s got a lot of stamina:’ What to watch as the RFK Jr. hearing blitz kicks off

Lawmakers are about to get their shot to weigh in on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first year at the Health Department and his plans for the next. In seven hearings over less than a week, beginning Thursday, Kennedy will show whether all those workouts with Kid Rock and his red meat-heavy diet have him in shape for a Capitol Hill marathon like none in recent memory. Democrats will call out Kennedy’s efforts to downsize his agencies — and the vaccine schedule. Republicans who’ve given their Health secretary a hard time in the past about his vaccine moves, like Senate Health Chair Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, must decide whether to stand down now that it’s an election year.

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The hearings, Kennedy’s first appearances on Capitol Hill in seven months, are the first high-profile public forum of 2026 to test the White House’s theory that Kennedy will help Republicans in the midterms. Kennedy and his GOP allies in Congress will not only make the case before the principal oversight committees for the Department of Health and Human Services, but also before panels where he’s never appeared before, such as Ways and Means, which will kick everything off Thursday morning. The hearings are officially about the Trump administration’s 2027 budget request for HHS, which includes a more-than-12-percent cut to federal health agencies, calling for the elimination of “bloated, woke and inefficient programs that do not advance” Kennedy’s goal to “make America healthy again.” But members of Congress from both parties are expected to question him on his tumultuous year heading the department and make the case to voters that he’s a reason to vote for or against President Donald Trump’s party. The hearings will test Kennedy’s political acumen, as some voters who embraced the GOP because of Trump’s alliance with him in 2024 say they plan to vote for Democrats, dissatisfied with the administration’s pace on improving Americans’ health. Worried about a potential rupture with Kennedy’s MAHA movement over a Trump order in February calling for more glyphosate production — a pesticide vital to U.S. agriculture that a World Health Organization agency has said there’s evidence causes cancer — the White House last week sought to woo supporters back to Trump’s tent at a meeting with the president and top administration officials.

Copyright April 16, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved