September 27, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

School choice fight enters new phase as Texas lawmakers debate future of program

The years-long fight over whether Texas should use taxpayer dollars to help families pay for private school appeared settled when Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 2 into law. But some Texas Democrats say they’re already looking for ways to reverse it. “When we talk about education, we have to talk about what a disaster this program has become,” State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, said on Thursday. The program, officially named the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA), started this fall. For the first school year, the Texas Legislature earmarked $1 billion. Now, according to the Texas Tribune, Texas Comptroller Don Huffines has asked the legislature to double the program’s funding — at minimum. “It is a scam that’s going to affect you and your state budget from here on out,” State Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, said on Friday. “That should be the call to eliminate the vouchers.”

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Republicans argue repealing the program would take away options from families already using it. “I think that the good families of this state that have applied for those… and now have their kids in an environment of choice, I think they would disagree strongly with repealing that program,” said State Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton. “If it’s working, we should expand it,” State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-McKinney, said. Leach was concerned with how many parents were approved for the program who later decided to return the money. “[While] I constantly hear from parents in my district who are not able to get it… we’ve got to be willing to, session after session, look at it, figure out what’s working, and invest in those areas.” So far, states that have implemented some form of school choice have not gone back on their decision. And of the three states that have walked back some form of school choice, only Illinois did it through their state legislature (through inaction, not an active repeal). Repealing TEFA in 2027 would take a Herculean effort. Texas has had a Republican trifecta for almost the entire century, and even Alvarado admits there’s little chance Democrats could take the Texas Senate this November.

Vance woos skeptical conservatives with his own take on Trump’s messaging

The midterms are approaching and the vice president is Vance-splaining. JD Vance is smoothing the harder edges of President Trump’s words, or expanding on them, as he reaches out to dissatisfied conservatives and urges them to stick with Republicans in the midterms. Asked about Trump saying last week he was “proudly banning” CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House, Vance on Monday replied: “I take some issue with the premise, he’s not banning media outlets,” and said it was a reasonable step to withhold access for some outlets. Earlier this month, shortly after Trump promised every American adult $5,000 if they keep Republicans in power—prompting accusations from Democrats that the president was trying to buy votes—Vance went on Fox News to explain. “What the president is just saying is…if you keep us in power and allow us to continue to do these things, then you’re going to share in some of the benefits,” he said.

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As Americans’ concern with the Iran war grows and gas prices increase, Vance frequently appears on Fox News to defend the prolonged conflict that he initially said would be over quickly. “Trump brings the clarity, and JD provides authentic reinforcement,” said John Ashbrook, Republican strategist and co-host of the Ruthless podcast. “It’s a political ham-and-egg routine that works very well together.” The move may help Vance should he run for the Republican presidential nomination. Vice presidents who run frequently position themselves as a successor to their president, to inherit the coalition that sent their predecessor to the White House. The coalition that elected Trump in 2024 has fractured, however, and Vance is working to rebuild it for the midterms and beyond. Though no Republican has launched a presidential run, the jockeying is expected to start shortly after the midterms. Vance leads Republicans in all early polls that often include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Donald Trump Jr. When Vance spoke at the Dallas midterm GOP convention earlier this month, some people in the crowd chanted “48! 48!” Trump is the 47th U.S. president. “He can distill things down in a way that people can understand,” said Iowa-based radio host Steve Deace, who had Vance on his show this month.

Corpus Christi could owe Texas $235 million for failed desalination plant

Heading into election season, leaders in Corpus Christi face a puzzling question: what to do with $235 million from the state of Texas for a seawater desalination plant that was never built. This month, officials in the Gulf Coast city declined to pursue the flagship water supply project for the second time in a year over cost concerns. Now Corpus Christi may have to return the money, including $50 million it already spent, plus $72 million in interest. “That’s going to be a painful experience if the State of Texas calls our notes due,” said City Council member Mark Scott at the Sept. 1 meeting before the vote that rejected the desalination project. “I think we are dangerously close.” Returning the money would “seriously damage our relationship with state leadership, negatively impact any future loan applications and continue to put downward pressure on our credit ratings,” Scott said in a follow-up statement.

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For almost a decade, city officials in Corpus Christi have debated the desalination project’s location, cost, development model, benefits to residents and potential environmental impacts, even as a regional water shortage grew increasingly likely. State officials in Texas have also pushed to develop seawater desalination plants for nearly 25 years with little to show for their efforts. Corpus Christi should return the state’s money and lay the project to rest, said City Council member Sylvia Campos, an opponent of the desalination project. “That is the only way we can finally finish this,” she said. “We need to once and for all kill it and move on.” Other city leaders say that won’t happen, even if it means reviving the controversial desalination project for another political cycle. The city has requested an extension of its funding agreement with the state, but state leaders haven’t publicly addressed the question, leaving Corpus Christi an uncertain path forward. “This is very much the first time this has ever happened,” said Perry Fowler, executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network, a construction and engineering trade coalition. “They’re having to figure out how to unravel what they’re in right now.”

A ‘big problem’: Trump’s war with Iran drags down Republicans in midterms

As President Trump warned in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in recent days that he might “annihilate” Iran, a growing number of Republicans were scrambling to find distance from a costly war that has swelled into a midterm crisis for the party. The split screen showed how Mr. Trump and his party’s battleground candidates are increasingly at odds as the November elections approach. With no clear resolution in sight, the war has sent the prices of gasoline, diesel and heating oil upward, and cost increases have spilled across the economy. Mortgage rates have also climbed to seven percent, squeezing prospective homeowners already struggling with inflation. While Mr. Trump is talking about escalating the war if he cannot strike a deal with Iran, Republicans in competitive races are losing patience with the fighting. Representative Ashley Hinson, the party’s Senate nominee in Iowa, called at a news conference Friday for an “immediate” end to the war, saying she was “incredibly frustrated” by rising costs.

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Former Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee in the Senate race in Michigan and an early cheerleader for the war, released an advertisement on Monday in which he declared that it “needs to end.” Brinker Harding, a Republican trying to win a swing Nebraska congressional district that has been in his party’s hands for nearly a decade, said in an interview Friday that “we need to bring the war in Iran to a close as quickly as possible.” And Senator Jon Husted, who is working to fend off the Democratic former senator Sherrod Brown, told reporters on Friday that “we got to bring the war to a close” — even as he added that any resolution should be on “acceptable” terms. Still, many Republicans have been cautious about crossing Mr. Trump, fearing a backlash that could alienate Republican voters they need in November. Despite Ms. Hinson’s and Mr. Husted’s calls for an end to the war, they recently voted against resolutions to rein in Mr. Trump’s ability to carry on the conflict. On Saturday, Mr. Trump said he rejected Iran’s latest cease-fire proposal, another signal that Republicans’ calls for an end to the war would not be swiftly answered. The proposal would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz — a vital oil-shipping corridor before the war — and restarted negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. Much of the conflict has played out as Mr. Trump conducted a primary season retribution campaign against Republicans he deemed disloyal.

Texas Republicans have weathered blue waves before. Is 2026 different?

For the past 20 years, Republicans running statewide in Texas could wake up on Election Day reasonably confident they were going to return to bed that night in a happy mood. Even in 2018, when Democrats Beto O'Rourke and Justin Nelson came within a few scant percentage points of scoring upsets in the races for U.S. Senate and Texas attorney general, respectively, none of the pre-election polling suggested the Republicans would lose. For sure, millions of Texas Democrats went to bed disappointed after all of the votes were tallied in that election eight years ago, but hardly any of them went to bed surprised by the outcome in those races. But this cycle, a measure of apprehension among Republicans is beginning to show through. The Quorum Report, an online newsletter for political insiders in Austin, reported recently that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told donors and lobbyists at a private fundraiser that the Republican winning streak in statewide elections that began in 1998 might not be a slam dunk come Nov. 3.

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And even some GOP-held state Senate seats that earlier this year appeared to be as safe as a baby in its mother's arms could be in jeopardy in an election year roiled by economic uncertainty, war and a mercurial Republican president who has said that the spiraling cost of gasoline is no cause for alarm. Patrick, according to the report, which relied on unnamed sources, acknowledged that Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton was in trouble in the race against Democrat James Talarico. The lieutenant governor said that he and Gov. Greg Abbott, who are both seeking fourth terms, should be all right, but only “as long as everything goes right.” Heading into the final five weeks of the 2026 campaign, Democrats have been talking about a Democratic wave in terms suggesting it's a foregone conclusion. They cite many of the same factors that are likely worrying Patrick. But Democratic waves are nothing new — neither are Republican waves, for that matter. At least in statewide elections, Texas has been all but immune to the tsunamis that have washed away political careers elsewhere. Let's look at 2006. Republican President George W. Bush was entering the final two years of his second term. The war in Iraq, which was sold as a cakewalk a few years earlier, was dragging on and casualties were mounting. The stumbling federal response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina the year before was still fresh in voters' minds. And Bush's party paid dearly. Democrats took control of both houses of Congress and captured a majority of the governorships. But in Texas, every Republican on the statewide ballot sailed to victory. Even though Gov. Rick Perry got just 39% of the total vote, he still beat his Democratic rival by 10 points. Two independent candidates split the rest.

State Stories

Texas Democrats push party to invest more in Texas governors race

Despite being outspent on the airwaves 12 to 1 over the last four weeks, Democrat Gina Hinojosa remains within striking distance of pulling off what would be one of the greatest political upsets in Texas history. Most polling shows Hinojosa within a few percentage points of Gov. Greg Abbott, who is seeking a record-setting 4th term. If those polls are accurate, Abbott could be sweating out Election Day for the first time in decades. Since his 2002 race for Texas Attorney General, no Democrat has come within 10 points of defeating him. The closeness of the contest has Hispanic leaders within the Democratic Party in Texas warning key national party leaders that failing to invest in the race could cause lasting damage to the party and the nation.

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“The party can’t afford to continue to make the same mistakes of the past and not invest in our Latino candidates and Latino voters,” said a letter signed by dozens of Democratic leaders to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who is the leader of the Democratic Governors Association. “Governor Beshear, this responsibility falls in your hands and we ask that you make this significant investment to make Gina Hinojosa the first Latina Governor of the Great State of Texas and help save our democracy.” Six members of the U.S. House from Texas, including the state’s first two Latinas elected to Congress in 2018, U.S. Reps Sylvia Garcia of Houston and Veronica Escobar of El Paso, are among the signatories asking for $10 million of help. They said the Democratic Governors Association is spending at least that much on races in Virginia, New Jersey and Arizona. “Now we are asking to be part of that offense,” the letter states. Beshear, who just published a new book and is widely considered a potential White House contender in 2026, has praised Hinojosa’s campaign, but isn’t quite reaching for the checkbook. “Gina Hinojosa is a great candidate and running a great campaign,” Beshear told Politico in a statement earlier this month when pressed on whether there will be support for Hinojosa. “We are currently investing by paying expenses and recently providing staff. My goal as chair of the DGA this year is to win as many races as we can, and that’s exactly what we’re doing by going on offense and expanding the map.” Earlier this week, Hinojosa said her own fundraising has improved, and she will report having raised $20 million for the race. Still, that’s a far cry from catching Abbott, who has spent nearly $48 million on campaign ads since the start of September compared to just $4 million for Hinojosa.

‘Make Quinceañeras Great Again’: A Texan singer puts the G.O.P. on defense

No one had announced that he would show up at the Friday night high school football game in South Texas. But as he ascended the bleachers, a line quickly formed of fans old and young. Two retirees posed for photos with him, while shy-looking teenagers rehearsed what they would say on their turn. Most U.S. House candidates do not receive such an enthusiastic reception. But for Bobby Pulido, a Tejano singer running as a Democrat, it is commonplace. Mr. Pulido — a standard-bearer of the Tejano genre, which fuses the traditional Tex-Mex music of accordion and bajo sexto with modern country or pop — is running in a district anchored in the Rio Grande Valley, where entire families grew up listening to his music. Many voters know him, or at least feel as if they do.

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That feeling was summed up by the mother of a high school dance coach: “We know him personally,” Yolanda Ozuna, 69, said of Mr. Pulido, before correcting herself. “We’ve not known the family personally — but the family’s been around him.” At 53, with two Latin Grammy Awards under his belt, Mr. Pulido is bringing the glam and allure of pop music to a new kind of performance: a high-stakes political campaign. Like other entertainers turned politicians before him — including a certain reality TV star who became president — he is wielding his celebrity and keen sense of spectacle on another stage where attention is a crucial currency. His prominence and his moderate platform have created an unusual challenge for his Republican opponent, Representative Monica De La Cruz. Even though President Trump won the district by 18 percentage points in 2024, limited polling of the race points to a tight contest that Ms. De La Cruz admits is “very competitive.” Mr. Pulido has tried to expand his popularity by performing for free at more than 70 quinceañeras, weddings and other events in his district, a tactic he adopted in response to a dig from his opponent. (“This election isn’t about who you want performing at your niece’s quinceañera,” Ms. De La Cruz had said in March.) At each party, his campaign team collects attendees’ contact info, helping to build a database of potential voters. He sings for 10 minutes, then gives a simple pitch in English or Spanish. Before he leaves, he hands the birthday girl a “Make Quinceañeras Great Again” baseball cap and accommodates guests’ requests for photos. Ms. De La Cruz and her allies have sought to undercut Mr. Pulido’s family-friendly image. She has attacked him for his ties to Frankie Caballero, a former bandmate who is a registered sex offender, and for past offensive comments denigrating the bodies of postpartum women. “I have been a leader that has brought results home to this community,” Ms. De La Cruz said in an interview at a park in Edinburg, where she and Mr. Pulido both live, “while my opponent has brought scandals to this community.” Mr. Pulido maintains that voters have “never” asked him about Mr. Caballero or his past controversial comments, and that they are “distractions” from voters’ concerns about affordability and health care. Mr. Pulido has mostly managed to dodge Republican attacks on policy. Running as a conservative Democrat, he has avoided partisan positions on transgender athletes, immigration and gun control that are unpopular in the district while embracing Democratic calls for government-funded health care and safety net programs.

Growers wrestle with labor as RGV farmworkers struggle to find jobs

A South Texas agricultural employer is in its fourth year of hiring foreign workers for its farming and packing operations under the H-2A visa program. This year, they’re planning to expand their H-2A workforce by over 40%. “We don’t have enough local workers to do the work on the farm that we need,” the employer, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said. However, Elizabeth Rodriguez, a South Texas farmworker advocate, expressed concern with the regional agricultural industry’s increased reliance on the program in July, fearing the recent changes to how H-2A wages are calculated could make the program more attractive to employers and displace local workers. “Those farmworkers have worked here for 30 years in the agricultural industry,” she said. “They’re finding it harder to find work to make ends meet.”

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In 2025, a housing adjustment lowered required pay for many H-2A workers. The new methodology was later challenged in federal court. In August, a federal judge ruled it unlawful and ordered the U.S. Department of Labor to develop a replacement. But for now, the existing H-2A wage rate remains in effect. Employers have been warned they could eventually owe additional wages if the replacement methodology produces higher rates. Meanwhile, the Texas International Produce Association (TIPA) says there’s simply not enough domestic workers available. Jed Murray, the director of government relations for TIPA, argues that wages aren’t the problem. Rather, he points to the availability as well as consistency of domestic workers. He attributes the shortage to longtime agricultural workers aging out. Younger workers, Murray says, are increasingly choosing other industries, such as construction. When asked what determines whether growers employ H-2A or domestic labor, Murray pointed to supply, adding that growers can usually maintain a core group of longtime local workers, but have trouble expanding that base when they need to scale up. He argues that additional local groups of workers who don’t have that longtime experience are consequently less consistent.

'We need to be heard': Family of most recent person to die in Tarrant Jail custody wants answers

Catherine Cano and Ruth Hernandez looked through old family photos in their living room, pointing to their brother in each one. “He wasn’t a serious person, he was more funny and outgoing and kind and [caring],” Cano said. “He always cared for his family. If he needed help, he'll be there to help us.” It had been about a week since Cano and Hernandez last spoke to their brother. Then Cano got a phone call Tuesday from Tarrant County that her brother has died while in custody at Tarrant County Jail. "I'm broken," Cano said. "I'm heartbroken that it had to happen this way. It shouldn't have happened this way." Jose Orozco, 37, died Tuesday at John Peter Smith Hospital after a day of being in custody. In an interview Thursday, Cano and Hernandez told KERA News they want answers on what happened to Orozco before he died. Hernandez said he may have had drugs in his system when he was booked into jail and was going through withdrawal symptoms. She believes authorities neglected medical care.

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“He could have gotten some type of help before he died and just seeing him in person with my mom, it was hard to see him lifeless because he was trying,” Hernandez said through tears. “He had struggles, but he was trying to be better than before, and I don't feel like he was given enough time.” Orozco’s death marks the sixth death at Tarrant County Jail this year, raising concerns from the community and one county commissioner how the jail is run. Laurie Passman, a spokesperson for Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, told KERA News Friday she cannot further comment on the family's claims as the case remains under active investigation by multiple agencies. "We believe the most responsible course is to allow the investigative process to run its course and for all relevant facts to come forward before reaching any conclusions or offering further comment," Passman said. In a press release shared after Orozco's death, the sheriff's office said he was found unresponsive in his cell around 11 a.m. Tuesday. A detention officer in Orozco's housing unit began life-saving measures before he was transported to JPS. He was pronounced dead Tuesday at 12:11 p.m., according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office website. Court records show Orozco was arrested and booked into Tarrant County Jail early Monday morning on a burglary of a building charge.

Judge dissolves Westlake data center restraining order, but fight continues

A district judge in Fort Worth dissolved a temporary restraining order Friday, Sept. 25, that kept Westlake from voting to approve a data center near homes in Keller, but the court battle isn’t over. Judge Kimberly Fitzpatrick dissolved the temporary restraining order after chastising attorneys representing both sides for submitting around 1,000 pages of documents Thursday night, Sept. 24. Fitzpatrick told attorneys that there was no way that she could adequately prepare to issue a ruling because she did not have adequate time to study the documents. Fitzpatrick ended the temporary restraining order and set a hearing for Oct. 23 to consider the lawsuit that the Lakes at Marshall Ridge Homeowners Association filed against the town of Westlake. The city of Keller is an intervener in the suit.

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When asked about the judge’s decision to dissolve the TRO, Keller mayor Ross McMullin, who attended the hearing, said the decision didn’t change Keller’s case. “We are going to keep moving forward and advocate for all of our residents and look forward to presenting our arguments on the 23rd,” he said. McMullin said that both Keller and Westlake are asking similar questions concerning how close data centers should be to neighborhoods, adding that the state needs to provide guidance to cities. Westlake spokesperson Jon Sasser said in an email that Westlake was pleased with the judge’s ruling to dissolve the temporary restaining order. “Westlake is pleased the judge decided to dissolve the temporary restraining order filed by the city of Keller. We are confident the entire dispute will be fully resolved during the upcoming October 23rd hearing. In the meantime, Westlake will continue to follow the directives laid out by Governor Abbott regarding the development of data centers.”

Despite no planned data centers, Edinburg to consider zoning recommendations

Edinburg leadership will soon be making a decision on the regulation of potential data centers within the city, though none have been proposed, thus far. On Friday, Mayor Omar Ochoa said the city’s planning and zoning department had approved a recommendation to the city commission to make an amendment to the unified development code (UDC) that would require data center facilities to acquire a special use permit (SUP) in order to develop within city limits. “The idea would be to have some mechanism to regulate data centers, if any were ever proposed in the city limits. Because right now there is none,” said Ochoa.

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The change would not prohibit data centers in Edinburg. Rather, it would give city officials an additional opportunity to review a proposed facility before it could proceed. The mayor called it “forward thinking” and asserted that the city is unaware of any data center seeking to locate in Edinburg. As the leader considers this move toward data center regulation, he confirmed his understanding of the significant resource demanded by these facilities. “I mean even the governor has now gone out and done a moratorium on any permits for data centers,” Ochoa said, referencing Gov, Greg Abbot’s recent direction of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to halt permits sought by data centers while state agencies complete audits concerning electricity and water demands. According to Ochoa, the SUP requirement would create an additional process a proposed facility would have to go through, “because otherwise it would just be subject to the normal requirements as long as it was built on land that was properly zoned,” he said. He added that currently, as long as a data center meets existing zoning, building and state regulations, there’s not much else a city would have the power to do to stop a facility from locating there.

The Austin ICE shooting has raised questions about medical standards for detainees

The recent shooting of a man by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Austin has led to questions about hospitals’ legal obligations when treating ICE detainees with traumatic injuries. 28-year-old Wilber Garces Perez was shot in the back by an ICE officer Sunday. Video shared by the Austin Police Department suggests the shooting followed a car pursuit. Garces Perez and his lawyer have described an unprovoked encounter with authorities, but the Department of Homeland Security said he was the subject of a “targeted vehicle stop” and attempted to evade arrest. After the incident, Garces Perez was taken to Austin’s Dell Seton Medical Center for treatment — but he and his lawyer have said they do not believe he was given appropriate care at the hospital, and remains in poor condition at a detention center in South Texas with a bullet still lodged in his back.

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Representatives for the hospital and for ICE have disputed the claim that Garces Perez has not received adequate care. But community members and elected officials are still pushing for answers on whether Garces Perez is getting what he needs. “I am making it very clear to every part of the federal government that ICE needs to take the medical care of Wilber Garces Perez extremely seriously,” Texas Congressman Greg Casar said at a news conference Wednesday. Garces Perez’s lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said he was discharged from Dell Seton on Sunday after about four hours there. Lincoln-Goldfinch and Garces Perez’s wife asked for information about his condition at the hospital that afternoon, but they were told by a security guard that he was not there. Later, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson arrived and told the women they would hear from a hospital attorney. They learned from the attorney that Garces Perez had already been discharged to an ICE detention center. “I'm very displeased and disappointed in the way that the hospital treated him and the way that they treated me and his wife,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said in an interview with KUT. “I don't think in any circumstance is it adequate care to discharge someone from a hospital four hours after they've been shot while they have the bullet still lodged in their body.”

How Mayor Jones’ approach to San Antonio budget left her without votes

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones immediately went on the offensive after voting against next year’s city budget. She blamed her City Council colleagues for adopting a $4.4 billion budget that in her view was beyond city government’s means — and for approving a 3.9% property tax rate hike to help pay for it. She also criticized City Manager Erik Walsh and his staff for not offering up a more fiscally responsible spending plan. “Ultimately, there wasn’t a big enough appetite to do things differently,” Jones said at the Metro SA Chamber’s City Vision event Monday, which five of City Council’s 10 members attended. City budget writers, with direction from council, had to close a $158 million gap between revenue and expenses over the next two years.

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As Jones puts it, few council members were willing to consider her spate of proposals to tap sales and hotel tax dollars to pay for a handful of programs and grants for San Antonio nonprofits. The idea was to stop paying for them out of the city’s $1.76 billion general fund, which funds street repairs, fire and police protection, and other basic services. But she didn’t try to rally a majority of council members to support her vision for city spending — which is a basic move for a mayor. Instead, she largely laid out her ideas in memos, brief conversations with a few members and news conferences. Her approach to City Council boiled down to “take it or leave it.” Jones told the San Antonio Express-News that if council had been focused on not raising taxes, rethinking general-fund expenses and helping as many residents as possible, “then we can have some substantive conversations about paths forward.” “That’s my going-in position,” she added. “At the end of the day, I can only control myself.” Councilwoman Teri Castillo said Jones’ conversations with her largely amounted to the mayor telling her about a budget proposal instead of asking for her feedback.

AI garbage trucks flag 20,000 homes in Texas city

Artificial Intelligence cameras mounted on Dallas garbage trucks have flagged about 20,000 homes for potential code violations in just four months. The cameras, made by Alabama-based City Detect, use artificial intelligence to analyze images captured by sanitation trucks and generate "blight scores" for homes and buildings. Dallas approved a contract for 100 cameras to be installed on nearly 50 sanitation trucks in December. Installation began in April. According to City Detect, the system can identify more than 100 signs of property deterioration, including storm damage, overgrown lots, illegal dumping and graffiti. Since the cameras were installed, thousands of Dallas homeowners have received courtesy notices about issues such as driveway debris and overgrown weeds. According to the city, 57 properties have received citations after an in-person inspection by a code compliance officer.

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A city memo says the cameras will not be used to issue citations automatically. The technology has also prompted questions about privacy and the expanding use of artificial intelligence by local governments. "The staff's desire is to be able to have a cleaner, more tidy, orderly city, right? My concern is, as we're learning more about AI and the lack of privacy and lack of protections, does the city have those protections in place to make sure my home, your home, our residents' homes, and our privacy are protected," Dallas City Council Member Chad West told Fox 4. Unlike Flock, City Detect says it does not share its data with state or federal law enforcement agencies. The company also says its cameras automatically blur faces and license plates and cannot zoom in on specific people or objects. "We focus on the built environment and assess structural issues that pose health and safety risks for residents," City Detect CEO and co-founder Gavin Baum-Blake said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle. Founded in 2021, City Detect has at least seven verified contracts in Texas, Georgia, California, Arizona, Florida and South Carolina. Dallas is the company's largest municipal customer in Texas. Coppell and Little Elm also use City Detect's technology.

After floods, a new vision emerges for healing the Guadalupe River

As she surveyed the bank of the Guadalupe River, Carole Griffin spotted something unexpected: a small buttonbush plant, growing unnoticed not far from the water's edge. For months, she and fellow volunteers from the local Texas Master Naturalist chapter had been tending to this section on the Kerrville River Trail, planting new trees, shrubs and grasses. It was part of the Kerr County River Foundation's efforts to shore up the riverbanks and help the river recover after the July 4, 2025 flood. When the Guadalupe rose again this July, they feared that work might have been undone. That wasn't the case: While the second flood caused major damage, more than half of the new plantings survived. Weeks later, Griffin and her fellow volunteers were finding more plants they figured had been washed away, growing back after all. They used branches and sticks left behind from the flood to form a fence around the buttonbush, to protect it from ravenous deer.

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They'd done the same around a other trees nearby that also survived the second flood. In the face of the flood's devastation, the scrawny trees can seem insignificant. But for those who spent the past year trying to help the Guadalupe recover from the flood damage, it’s a story of hope – and evidence that there is a path that leads to a better future for the river. Securing the long-term health of the river – which is crucial not only for the area’s ecosystem, but also for Kerr County’s economy and quality of life – won’t be as simple as picking up trash, hauling away debris or dredging out the gravel the floods piled into the riverbed. What’s needed, experts and advocates say, is a new vision for the people who manage and use the waterway, one that understands how the Guadalupe functions and reimagines what is needed to protect and preserve it. “We have to change our perspective and begin to think about how can the river use this experience, this next flood that it experiences, to actually heal itself,” said Ryan McGillicuddy, a biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “Because that’s what rivers do.”

Wayne Christian: Don’t slam the door on data centers

Growing up in East Texas, I watched small towns thrive because local businesses kept the lights on. Every courthouse square had stores, restaurants, and families building a future together. Today, too many of those storefronts sit empty. Rural Texas populations in the past few decades have either declined or remained stagnant. Our young people graduate, pack up, and leave for big cities because that’s where the jobs are. Put simply, rural Texas is dying. That’s why I believe we should take a hard look at the opportunities data centers bring, not slam the door before the conversation even starts. Now let me be clear. I don’t support data centers that drain a community’s water supply. I don’t support any that drive up electric bills for hardworking families who are already struggling to put food on the table. And I certainly don’t support projects that just aren’t the right fit for the community where they’re proposed. But that’s exactly why local communities should evaluate individual projects on a case-by-case basis, rather than uniformly banning them statewide.

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In East Texas, after careful evaluation and conversations with local stakeholders, Diode Ventures withdrew its proposal for a data center because the project wasn’t the right fit. That’s exactly how the process should work. Contrast that with blanket bans that tell companies not to bother proposing a project at all. That’s shortsighted. Not every proposed data center should be built in Texas. Not every project is a good fit for every town. That’s the beauty of the free market. Communities have a voice. Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent audit directive temporarily pausing certain grid connections while state agencies complete a comprehensive review is a prudent approach. Transparency matters. Texans deserve confidence that our electric grid, water resources, and local infrastructure can support these investments before projects move forward. It’s the start of something we sorely need: a Texas plan for data centers. Instead of asking how to stop them, let’s ask how to make them better. Can they build or pay for their own water infrastructure? Great. Can they generate their own electricity or invest in new power generation? Even better. Can they reduce noise, improve cooling technology, and become better neighbors? That’s exactly the kind of innovation and approach we should welcome.

Texas Senate race puts North Texas suburbs in focus ahead of early voting

The North Texas suburbs are emerging as a crucial battleground in the Texas Senate race, with early voting for the midterm elections less than 30 days away and signs of cracks among some traditionally Republican voters. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest media market in Texas, putting added attention on suburban voters in Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties as Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat state lawmaker James Talarico compete for support. Republicans have maintained their governing coalition for a generation in part by attracting a large share of conservative-leaning independents. This year, however, some former Republican leaders in North Texas are publicly breaking with the party's Senate candidate. The Texas Tribune published an article Thursday featuring roughly a dozen former local Republican leaders who said on the record that they would vote for Talarico — their first time voting for a Democrat — or leave the Senate race blank.

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Among them is former Southlake Mayor John Huffman, who told NBC 5 that he could not get past concerns about Paxton's character, including his highly publicized divorce and past corruption allegations that Paxton has largely defeated. Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report Capitol newsletter, said the suburbs have previously shown their ability to shift even when Republicans remain competitive statewide. “In 2018, you had Senator Cruz in this race, and Democrats still picked up 12 seats in the Texas House, two seats in the Texas Senate and two seats in the Congressional delegation," said Scott Braddock with Quorum Report. Braddock said business and industry groups are circulating polling showing Democrats outperforming Republicans in the suburbs. Collin County has also seen major corporate relocations bring an influx of new and more diverse workers to Texas. Braddock said changing populations are creating opportunities for both parties across North Texas. "The Northeast part of Tarrant where Southlake is. The populations are just completely different year after year, you know, in election after election. And there are real opportunities for Republicans and Democrats," Braddock said. Paxton's campaign has publicly focused its efforts on defending the suburbs, including an appeal to Republican-leaning women. “Suburban moms want someone who will actually fight the people putting their kids in harm’s way: Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Tech,” a Paxton campaign spokesperson said. Outside groups are spending more than $100 million in Texas to help Paxton fend off Talarico. That effort includes thousands of mailers supporting Paxton and attacking Talarico.

James Dickey: What Texans should know about data centers and property values

(Fort Worth-raised James R. Dickey is the Founder & Principal of JD Key Consulting. He is a former chairman of the Republican Party of Texas and the founder of the Dallas Tea Party.) I've heard the same concern at county meetings, city council hearings and community forums across Texas. "Data centers are going to kill my property values." I understand why people say it. For most Texans, their home is their biggest investment, and nobody wants to see it lose value because of a new development nearby. But before we accept that claim as fact, we ought to ask a simple question: Is there any evidence that it's actually true? I wanted an answer based on Texas, not assumptions or studies from somewhere else. So I decided to test the claim myself. I analyzed 45 Texas ZIP codes that gained their first data center and compared them with similar ZIP codes in the same metropolitan areas that didn't. After testing the data across multiple statistical models, I found no measurable evidence that data centers caused nearby home values to decline.

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That doesn't mean every data center belongs everywhere. Communities should absolutely ask questions about infrastructure, water, electricity, noise and where projects are located. Those are legitimate issues that deserve thoughtful discussion. But that's a different conversation than claiming data centers automatically hurt property values. Based on the evidence we have in Texas, they don't. In fact, today's data centers are generally quieter, more energy efficient and more water conscious than many of the facilities included in the analysis, making the claim even harder to support. Too often, these debates are driven by social media posts, headlines from other states or speculation that gets repeated often enough to sound true. Before long, perception starts replacing facts. Meanwhile, we lose sight of what data centers actually bring to a community. These facilities support the digital infrastructure our economy depends on, from banking and healthcare to advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence. They also represent hundreds of millions, and often billions, of dollars in private investment, create high-paying construction and skilled technical jobs, support local contractors and suppliers, and expand the commercial tax base in ways that benefit local communities over the long term.

National Stories

One dead as powerful nor’easter causes flooding and knocks out power to parts of East Coast

A powerful, slow-moving storm creeping along the coast of the Northeast brought high winds that have caused power outages, while whipping up big waves and heavy rains. The New York City Housing Authority said one of its employees was killed by a fallen tree in Brooklyn, as the storm pelted the city with rain and strong winds on Saturday. Emergency crews in mid-Atlantic and New England states raced to restore power after downed trees contributed to outages for about 100,000 customers. Also in New York, four people were hospitalized with minor injuries after they were struck by a falling tree in Brooklyn’s Kelly Park section, the city’s fire department said. Tens of millions of people remained in the path of the nor’easter Sunday, with major flooding forecast for some coastal areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said response coordination centers in affected regions were operating at an “enhanced posture,” and teams were on standby in New England in case of widespread outages.

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The forecast showed no immediate reprieve. There will be “a lot of high winds, a lot of high tides and heavy rain possibility over the next few days for the northeastern U.S.,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. “Anyone who goes in or near the water this weekend is literally gambling with their life,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said. The highest tides were likely to occur north of Atlantic City, New Jersey, from Saturday night into Sunday, creating the potential for widespread road flooding in coastal and bayside communities, the National Weather Service said. In the coastal New Jersey borough of Surf City, water flooded the streets and inundated some homes. Kenny Formica, owner of Surf City Marina on the Jersey Shore, was trying to keep busy Saturday as he sat at home watching water rise inside his marina through surveillance cameras. Water getting inside the building is rare, Formica said. The last time he remembers it happening was during Hurricane Sandy, which he said caused more than $4 million in damage to his business. Ahead of the storm, Formica said workers secured dock lines, moved loose items and equipment out of harm’s way and parked the marina’s trucks and forklifts at the highest point of the property. By Saturday morning, even those were nearly surrounded by water.

New Boeing 737 MAX software glitch could disrupt navigation feature

Boeing has identified a 737 MAX software glitch that could cause an automated navigation feature to fail, prompting concerns about a potential safety risk while planes are landing. The glitch, which Boeing acknowledged, hasn’t been publicly disclosed. It emerged from a cockpit software update and can occur when flight crews alter their planned flight path following a missed approach. In a certain scenario, pilots may have to fly manually without some autopilot functions. That, some industry officials said, could overwork pilots while they are already busy, at low altitude and possibly dealing with situations like bad weather.

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The aerospace giant, airlines and regulators have been assessing the glitch and whether it poses a flight safety issue. Boeing notified 737 MAX operators in late August about the glitch, saying that it didn’t pose a safety risk, according to a company document viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The company said it was working with airlines on a procedure to allow pilots to re-enable the automated navigation feature if needed, and also devising a software fix. “We shared information with operators that reinforced existing pilot procedures for safely handling such cases,” Boeing said. “Our engineers are working on a software update to permanently address the issue.” Southwest Airlines and United Airlines have told Boeing that they don’t want to receive new 737 MAX planes equipped with the flawed software, and instead requested an earlier version of it, according to industry officials. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the new 737 MAX issue and will take action if needed, a senior agency official said. The stakes are high for the American plane maker because its 737 MAX has a checkered safety record and it has been working to restore trust with regulators, airline customers and the flying public.

Iran insists on diplomatic solution after Trump rejects peace plan

Iran insisted ?on Sunday that only diplomacy can solve its conflict with the United States and Israel after US President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait ?of Hormuz and end fighting. "Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted on social media. "Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock." Iran announced a peace proposal last week at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators. Trump said on Saturday he rejected the plan and argued that desperation was driving ?the Iranians’ push for an agreement on the key waterway. "They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately because they're losing so badly," Trump told reporters at the ?White House.

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Despite Trump's public statements, mediators facilitating Tehran's talks with Washington have not officially relayed a US rejection of the plan, Araqchi said. "We are waiting for ?the mediators to convey the definitive views to us, and we will make a decision based on them," Araqchi posted. The US has imposed an economic blockade on Iran to put pressure on Tehran to ?stop Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which have drastically reduced shipping through the area even as Trump repeatedly asserts that the US controls the waterway. The Wall Street Journal first reported that ?Trump had rejected the Iranian proposal, citing unnamed US officials. It said Trump was privately sceptical that Iran would meet his demands and had told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely after the November US midterm elections. A US official had said earlier that discussions with Iran through mediators were "positive and constructive".

CNN says it was left off Air Force One for Trump's Saturday trip

The White House left CNN off Air Force One for President Donald Trump’s trip Saturday to a college football game in Tennessee, marking the latest media restriction from the administration in an ongoing dispute with First Amendment implications. CNN, a member of the U.S. network video pool that rotates duties shooting and sharing video coverage of the president, reported it had been scheduled to fly aboard the president’s plane Saturday for a visit to a midday game between the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and the University of Texas. But White House guidance issued Friday night instead included Real America’s Voice, a conservative outlet. The White House guidance was issued after journalists from CNN, along with MS NOW and Politico, which Trump banned last week from the White House grounds, returned to the executive complex with TV cameras in hand after a judge handed the organizations a reprieve.

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U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily struck down the president’s ban in an overnight ruling early Thursday, but his decision dealt with “hard passes” to the White House grounds and didn’t directly address pool duties. The judge’s temporary order also said nothing directly about Air Force One. The spot meant for CNN on the flight has long been saved for a member of the U.S. network video pool; Real America’s Voice is not a part of that group. The White House did not respond to emails from The Associated Press requesting comment about the decision. CNN declined to comment. A written pool report Saturday morning confirmed there was “no TV pool” for the travel, though Real America’s Voice celebrated its inclusion in the trip and said it would make feeds available to other news outlets. “CNN is not here; we have taken over that responsibility. We are so excited to be here,” correspondent Taylor Mitchell said in a video that the outlet posted on social media.

Trump administration considers building baseball park in Grand Teton National Park

Major League Baseball has approached the Trump administration about hosting a game at a national park, officials from the White House and MLB confirmed Saturday. The administration has scouted locations in Grand Teton National Park to build a baseball park to host an MLB game, according to two other people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Grand Teton is the country’s eighth-most visited national park and is famous for its breathtaking views of the Teton Range of the Rocky Mountains. National parks are among the country’s most protected federal lands, and constructing a sports facility at Grand Teton could set a new precedent for the use of vast national park land in the Western United States.

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An MLB official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the league approached the administration after the success of MLB’s other stand-alone events, such as the recurring Field of Dreams game in Iowa. The idea of playing a game in a national park is one of several that MLB is exploring. The White House said in a statement that MLB asked the administration “if it was possible to host a game at a national park, similar to the Field of Dreams game.” “This is not a Presidential directive, nor is it being directed by the White House. It’s also not being driven by the Department of Interior,” the statement said. “Therefore, this is not a White House or Administration priority.” The White House said MLB has not made any decisions and the Park Service has not granted any permits. “If the MLB wants to go on site visits of national parks, that is their prerogative,” the statement said.

She helped lead a far-right internet movement. Then it turned on her.

She’d done everything she thought men expected of women on the far right, so when the hatred came for Amy Dangerfield she felt so depressed she could barely stand. She’d moved from Australia to the United States in 2017 with a dream of spreading her internet-inspired beliefs: that women had driven men to madness through rejection and disrespect; that society needed strong men to survive. She’d worked to distinguish herself from the glut of women she thought had been conned by the poisonous promises of feminism, recording dozens of videos on their and her biological inferiorities as she fought to build a 100,000-subscriber YouTube page and a self-made career. She’d even met a nice Christian man and after a few months of dating had gotten married, hosting a “spiritual ceremony,” as she called it, in a small chapel on the Las Vegas Strip. Within a few weeks, at age 30, she’d gotten pregnant, believing she could grow both a baby and a lifestyle brand simultaneously, two beautiful creations intertwined.

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The long hours on camera had earned her and her husband the provisional low-six-figure income of a middle-class content creator. But it was the wedding that had made her go viral: In photos, she wore a white dress she bought from Macy’s for $80 and a blue “America First” hat, the emblem from the online show of Nick Fuentes, a far-right video streamer who has said that the Holocaust is “fake,” that most “Blacks need to be imprisoned” and that “women are made to be f---ed.” It was a signal of her commitment to Fuentes’s digital fan base, the “groypers,” so named for the chubby, smug-faced cartoon frog and alt-right meme they use as avatars. It was a sign, also, of her new lifestyle as one of Fuentes’s most loyal female acolytes, known as the “groypettes.” In the first days of her marriage, she said, “Time to make some mini groyps,” in an X post viewed 1.8 million times. When the groypers posted on X and Telegram that women belonged in breeding gulags or were too stupid to vote, she’d defended them, telling her own audience that the edgy jokes made “inconvenient truths more digestible” for a new generation of conservative men. When Fuentes said women made men “want to cut their heads off,” she’d defended that, too, calling it a natural reaction to the modern thinking that taught women to push men away.

Lead prosecutor in ‘Broadview Six’ case resigns in fiery letter to U.S. attorney

The prosecutor tasked with overseeing the Trump administration’s failed prosecutions of six anti-ICE protesters resigned this week and accused the U.S. attorney in Chicago of interfering in the case and blaming her for its collapse, according to reports. In a three-page letter obtained by the Chicago Tribune and other news outlets, Sheri Mecklenburg said she was “retiring under protest” after U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros in the Northern District of Illinois “personally directed” the pursuit of felony charges in the “Broadview Six” case, in which a half-dozen protesters were prosecuted for protesting outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Ill. All charges were dropped against the protesters earlier this year after federal prosecutors admitted to errors in the case. Mecklenburg said in the letter that Boutros pursued felony charges “over my objection that the case was better suited to misdemeanor charges.”

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The strongly-worded letter is the latest controversy for Boutros, a Trump appointee. He attracted criticism for his handling of the Broadview case, which began with the arrests of the half-dozen protesters — including then-congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh — in September 2025. Prosecutors were accused of improperly redacting grand jury transcripts and dismissing jurors who disagreed with the government’s case. The federal judge presiding over the case upbraided Boutros in court, telling him, “I do believe deeply in the presumption of regularity and that most government attorneys are doing the best they can to do the right thing. That trust has been broken.” Mecklenburg’s letter, which is dated Thursday and was first reported on Friday, is titled “my forced retirement.” It alleges that Boutros is trying to blame the failed “Broadview Six” prosecution on her. “You sent an office-wide email laying responsibility at my feet for a felony prosecution that you personally directed over my objection that the case was better suited to misdemeanor charges,” she wrote. “You then publicly announced an investigation of my conduct spanning twenty years.”

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