February 15, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Don Huffines owns Epstein's Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County

The family of Texas businessman and politician Donald Huffines owns the late Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in southern Santa Fe County, which was purchased in 2023 by a limited liability company created just a month before the purchase. Huffines, a former GOP state senator from Dallas, is now running a high-profile campaign for comptroller — a statewide office in Texas overseeing state financial matters. Records obtained by The New Mexican also show the ranch has been renamed San Rafael Ranch and its address, formerly 49 Zorro Ranch Road, is now 49 Rancho San Rafael Road. The change was made in 2024. The ownership was previously unreported. Epstein died in 2019 in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. The property was listed for sale in July 2021 for $27.5 million; a published report later said the sale price had dropped to $18 million.

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In 2023, San Rafael Ranch LLC bought Epstein’s sprawling property for an undisclosed price. The buyers behind San Rafael Ranch LLC have been private. New Mexico is one of a handful of states allowing anonymous ownership of property through limited liability companies. “Four years after Mr. Epstein’s death, the Huffines family purchased property in New Mexico listed at public auction whose proceeds benefited his victims,” a spokesperson for the family, Allen Blakemore, wrote in an email Friday. “Prior to the auction listing, they had never visited the property,” Blakemore wrote. Huffines’ spokesperson didn’t answer questions about the purpose of the property purchase, and Huffines didn’t respond to calls and emails left Thursday evening and Friday morning. The property was valued for tax purposes for tax year 2023 at $21.1 million, but representatives of the LLC protested, and court records show in December 2024, the Santa Fe County assessor determined the value of the property for tax purposes to be just $13.4 million for tax year 2023. (The LLC argued in part it was the “notoriety” of the property along with the sales price that justified a lower valuation and thus lower taxes.) Public records obtained by The New Mexican tie Huffines, who owns a large real estate company in Texas to that LLC.

Inside the debacle that led to the closure of El Paso’s airspace

Last spring, in the early months of Steve Feinberg’s tenure as deputy defense secretary, Pentagon staff members briefed him on plans to employ new high-energy laser weapons to take out drones being used by Mexican cartels to smuggle drugs across the southern U.S. border. But their use was conditioned on getting a green light from aviation safety officials. The law, the staff members at the Pentagon explained to him, required extensive coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department, which could slow the testing of the system. Transportation officials could even block the system’s use if they determined that it posed risks to aviation safety. Two people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive matters, said they recalled that Mr. Feinberg felt the Pentagon had the authority to proceed anyway. Sean

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Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, denied their account, saying it was “a total fabrication.” The meeting took place at an especially sensitive time for those regulating air safety as well as for the Pentagon. Just months earlier, an Army helicopter collided with a passenger jet near Ronald Reagan National Airport above Washington, killing 67 people and putting the military’s safety protocols under intense scrutiny. Now the question of whether the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security followed proper procedures and the law in deploying the laser weapon has become a flashpoint within the Trump administration. Working alongside military personnel, agents from Customs and Border Protection, which is part of the Homeland Security Department, used the weapon this week not far from El Paso International Airport, prompting fury inside the F.A.A. and a brief shutdown of the airport and airspace in that region. Late Tuesday night, the F.A.A. administrator, Bryan Bedford, caught off guard that the system was being used without authorization and concerned for public safety, believed he had little choice but to close the airspace for 10 days, according to more than a half-dozen people. It was an extraordinary decision that surprised the flying public and local officials.

‘South Texas will never be red again’: Home builders warn GOP over Trump’s immigration raids

Home builders are warning President Donald Trump that his aggressive immigration enforcement efforts are hurting their industry. They’re cautioning that Republican candidates could soon be hurt, too. Construction executives have held multiple meetings over the last month with the White House and Congress to discuss how immigration busts on job sites and in communities are scaring away employees, making it more expensive to build homes in a market desperate for new supply. Beyond the affordability issue, the executives made an electability argument, raising concerns to GOP leaders that support among Hispanic voters is eroding, particularly in regions that swung to Trump in 2024. Hill Republicans have held separate meetings with White House officials to share their own electoral concerns.

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This story is based on eight interviews with home builders, lawmakers and others familiar with the meetings. “I told [lawmakers] straight up: South Texas will never be red again,” said Mario Guerrero, the CEO of the South Texas Builders Association, a Trump voter who traveled to Washington last week. He urged the administration and lawmakers to ease up on enforcement at construction sites, warning that employees are afraid to go to work. The construction industry is one of the latest and clearest examples of how the president’s mass deportation agenda continues to clash with his economic goals of bringing down prices and political aims of keeping control of Congress. Even the president’s allies fear disruptions to labor-heavy industries will undermine the gains with Latino voters Republicans have made in recent years, in large part because of Trump’s economic agenda. These concerns were the central focus of a White House meeting this week between chief of staff Susie Wiles, Speaker Mike Johnson, and a group of Republican lawmakers, according to three people with knowledge of the meeting, granted anonymity to discuss it. The group talked about growing concerns that Hispanic voters are abandoning the Republican Party in droves, as well as the policies driving these losses — immigration and affordability concerns.

Five years since the Texas blackout, anxiety remains and the big test has yet to come

This January, an arctic blast barreled toward Texas with the certainty of an avalanche, and Texans went, once again, into emergency mode. Grocery store shelves were cleared of some essentials even before the temperatures dropped. People shared tips about how to prepare for a blackout: everything from dripping your faucets to pre-grinding your coffee beans. A great number of people, no doubt, secured fuel for generators they had purchased since Feb. 15, 2021. The reason for all this, of course, is what began on that day five years ago: The worst blackout in Texas — and by some measures, U.S. — history. It lasted for four days. Millions lost power. Hundreds died. Some power companies, energy traders and natural gas suppliers got rich off the high cost of energy. Ratepayers got stuck with billions of dollars of debt that they are still paying off. The shared experience of the disaster continues to shape what it means to be a Texan.

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As the anniversary of that catastrophe arrives, people inevitably wonder what has changed with our state power grid, and some point to the performance in this most recent storm as a sign of improvement. But even as they look for progress, grid anxiety remains a fact of life in Texas. It also seems to be growing outside our state borders, as more Americans learn that their own regional energy systems may not be well prepared for the next big storm. Despite days of freezing cold in some parts of the state last month, the Texas grid kept chugging along. If anything, the grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, may have overestimated the impact of the freeze, forecasting a higher energy draw than actually took place during some moments of the long freeze. The relatively smooth ride in Texas was thanks, in part, to changes put in place after 2021’s winter storm Uri overwhelmed the Texas grid. “The big fear on our end was these dropping temperatures and ice forcing generators offline,” said Tim Ennis, an analyst with Grid Status, a platform that tracks the energy system. But, Ennis said, mandates to prepare power plants for cold weather seem to have paid off, keeping more energy flowing when it was needed most. "A lot of the lessons that we've learned in Uri, that in some ways were paid in blood, have [...] been followed," he said. Ennis also credits the proliferation of big grid-scale batteries for improving electric reliability. That’s despite some state lawmakers' attempts to curb battery growth.

Trump vs Bad Bunny: A Super Bowl feud with possible midterm consequences

President Donald Trump's attack on Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show - including a gripe that it was mostly in Spanish - has alarmed some Republican Hispanic strategists, politicians and business leaders who warn it risks further eroding his support among Latino voters ahead of November's congressional elections.Hispanics were central to the coalition that powered Trump's re-election in 2024, even after inflammatory rhetoric on the campaign trail, including a comedian calling the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at one of Trump's rallies. But their support has softened amid continued high prices, discontent over tariffs and his administration's aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. Some of Trump’s staunchest Latino allies called Republican attacks on the global music star — and on a performance widely seen as a rare prime-time celebration of Latino culture — a political misstep as the party fights to hold its razor-thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.Several key House races are unfolding in Hispanic-heavy districts, including in California, Arizona and Colorado."It's going to do us more damage than good," said Vianca Rodriguez, a former Trump administration official who served as deputy Hispanic communications director for the Republican National Committee during the 2024 campaign. "That shouldn't have been a battle to have been picked culturally."

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Rodriguez, who is Puerto Rican, said she remains an avid Trump supporter. Trump slammed Bad Bunny’s February 8 halftime show as “an affront to the Greatness of America” and a "slap in the face” to the country. “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying,” Trump wrote on his social media account, calling the dancing “disgusting” and unsuitable for children.Even long-time Trump critics like Mike Madrid were baffled by the president's outburst."To see them doubling down on alienating the single most critical constituency they need for survival is beyond belief," said Madrid, a Republican strategist who is an expert on Latino voting trends. Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority in the U.S., accounting for about a fifth of the population. Trump received 48% of the Hispanic vote in 2024 - more than any Republican presidential candidate in history - up from the 36% share he garnered in 2020, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.But a November survey of more than 5,000 Latino voters by Pew showed Trump is down 12 percentage points among those who backed him in 2024. At the beginning of his second term in January 2025, 93% of Latinos who voted for him approved of the job he was doing. Ten months later, that had fallen to 81%. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, did not respond to questions about Trump's weakening Latino support.

State Stories

Black voters could decide Crockett-Talarico primary

Just a month into his Democratic campaign for U.S. Senate, a public poll put state Rep. James Talarico ahead among white and Latino voters in a head-to-head matchup against his then-rival, former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. A campaign consultant posted a screenshot of the news on Oct. 9 — but cropped out the results among Black voters, who favored Allred by a more than 2-to-1 margin. State Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, was searing. “It’s disappointing to see a campaign share selective polling that leaves out Black voters entirely. Black voters CANNOT be an afterthought — they’re the foundation of our party,” Jones, who is Black, said on social media. “Leaving them out of your polling story isn’t just misleading — it’s disrespectful.”

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It was an early indication of the tense racial politics that would eventually grip the race, growing only more fraught after U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, launched her bid in December. Her campaign, which is headlined by her political brand as a partisan crusader, set off a firestorm of online commentary from around the country declaring her candidacy a liability for Democrats in a state that elected President Donald Trump by 14 percentage points. For many of her supporters, the scrutiny of Crockett seemed rooted in racism and misogyny, and conspicuously absent in relation to Talarico and other firebrand candidates, like Democrat Graham Platner in Maine, who are white. That tension has continued to frame the contest in the weeks leading up to early voting, with Talarico struggling to break 13% support among Black voters, according to recent polling. Then, a social media influencer alleged last week that the Austin Democrat referred to Allred as a “mediocre Black man,” prompting Allred to issue a scathing response and to endorse Crockett. Talarico called the allegation a “mischaracterization” and said he criticized Allred’s campaigning but would “never attack him on the basis of race.” He has repeatedly affirmed that he is running a positive campaign and urged his supporters to remain respectful of Crockett.

Poll shows Brandon Herrera overtaking Tony Gonzales in key House primary

New polling shows incumbent Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales on defense with challenger Brandon Herrera taking the lead in a key House primary, according to a new Political Intelligence (PI) poll obtained by the Daily Caller. The PI poll, conducted between Dec. 17 and Dec. 22, 2025, asked “likely Republican primary election voters” who they would support if the race in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District were held immediately. Of the 422 likely Republican primary voters surveyed, 29% said they would vote for Gonzales, with 11% indicating they are “leaning” toward the incumbent. Gonzales’ most competitive challenger, Herrera — an entrepreneur and Second Amendment activist — polled at 33%, with 22% saying they would “definitely” vote for him and another 11% leaning in his favor.

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The poll also asked voters how they would respond if only the top two candidates appeared on the primary ballot. In that scenario, 34% said they would vote for Gonzales — including 23% who said they would “definitely” support him — while 43% backed Herrera, with 32% saying they would “definitely” vote for the challenger. Another 23% of respondents said they were “undecided.” “Texas is tired of woke Tony Gonzales. The only thing worse than his voting record is his character. I’m giving Texas 23 what they deserve, a pro-gun, pro-life, pro-Trump congressman,” Herrera told the Caller in a statement. President Donald Trump officially endorsed Gonzales in the race on Dec. 18, declaring in a Truth Social post that Gonzales has his “COMPLETE and Total Endorsement for Re-Election.”

MAGA lawmaker accused of lying on sworn statement as GOP Senate primary gets ugly

The campaign of Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is accusing one of his primary rivals, Wesley Hunt, of committing voter fraud in 2016 by lying to election officials so he could take a provisional ballot he was ineligible for. Hunt, along with Attorney General Ken Paxton, is locked in a close contest with Cornyn for the nomination. Most polls show Paxton at least slightly ahead of Cornyn, and Hunt placing third, with both candidates keen to reduce Hunt's numbers in the hope his voters will go to them. The allegation was laid out on X Friday by Matt Mackowiak, a longtime Austin-based Republican strategist now running communications for Cornyn's campaign.

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"In a bombshell development today in the U.S. Senate primary in Texas, little known 2nd term Congressman Wesley Hunt attempted to show he voted in the 2016 general election, but his provisional ballot was not counted because he was not a registered voter," wrote Mackowiak. "Far more significant is the revelation that he claimed to the Election Judge and in a sworn affidavit that he was discharged in Oct. 2016 (one month before), but his official congressional biography, his campaign biography, and his military discharge document all show he was discharged four years earlier in 2012." According to the allegation, Hunt falsely told an elections judge that he had only just been discharged, as an explanation for why his voter registration wasn't in the system, so that he could take a provisional ballot. “Wesley Hunt has now unwittingly proved he committed voter fraud by lying in a sworn statement to an Election Judge both verbally and on a sworn document,” Mackowiak continued. “His military discharge form, and his official biography prove he was discharged in 2012, not in 2016 as he claimed in an attempt to illegally vote. Corrupt Ken Paxton should investigate Wesley Hunt for voter fraud and Wesley should admit he lied in a sworn document.”

Illness is rampant among children trapped in ICE’s massive jail in Texas

The number of people held at the notorious Dilley immigration jail has nearly tripled since October. Amid growing calls from lawmakers and human rights groups to shut down the sprawling Dilley Immigration Processing Center in southern Texas, an analysis shows the number of people incarcerated at the notorious immigration jail for children and families has nearly tripled in recent months. Texas lawmakers and attorneys for immigrant families say a growing number of children at the facility are suffering in dangerous and inhumane conditions. People incarcerated at Dilley were quarantined after at least two became sick with measles last week.

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In another recent case, an 18-month-old girl was hospitalized with a life-threatening lung infection after spending two months in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the migrant jail. The girl was reportedly returned to Dilley after spending 10 days at the hospital and denied prescribed medication, according to a federal lawsuit. She was only freed after lawyers filed an emergency petition demanding her release. As the nation’s main large immigration jail designed to hold families — though the Trump administration is racing to build more — families are transferred from across the country to a remote part of Texas as they wait weeks or months to see an immigration judge. Recent federal data show that the average daily population exploded from an average of 500 people a day in October to around 1,330 a day in late January, according to Detention Reports, a new tool that maps data on 237 immigration jails nationwide.

Greg Abbott launches rural TV ad targeting Crockett and out-of-state Democrats

Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign is running TV ads in rural markets across the state attacking “radical Democrats” Zohran Mamdani, Kamala Harris and Jasmine Crockett — the first significant ad buy in the Texas Republican’s push for a record fourth term in office. The ad went live Thursday, and his campaign has reserved $1.3 million worth of airtime through the March 3 primary, according to AdImpact, which tracks campaign advertising. Abbott’s campaign says it is aimed at driving turnout in rural parts of the state, while other campaigns blanket the airwaves in major markets. While 10 Republicans are running in the GOP primary against Abbott, the ad is focused on Democrats. The 30-second spot frames Abbott as a bulwark against “radical Democrats,” though he is not facing any of the politicians in the ad.

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It starts with a clip of Mamdani, the newly elected New York City mayor, saying he campaigned as a Democratic socialist and will govern as one. It’s followed by Crockett, a Dallas congresswoman running for U.S. Senate, saying the party needs to learn from Mamdani. In a post on the social media site X about the rural focus, Abbott’s longtime political adviser Dave Carney wrote: “Must be some magic sauce…” The early TV ad buy underscores how much Abbott has to spend this election cycle. The governor had more than $105.7 million in the bank as of the beginning of the year — $40 million more than what he had at the same point in 2022. It also comes as Abbott has political capital riding on other statewide races further down the ballot. The governor has endorsed candidates in both the comptroller and agriculture commissioner races. State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat seen as the frontrunner in the race to challenge Abbott, cast the ad buy as a sign the governor is worried. Hinojosa’s campaign released internal polling Thursday showing her trailing Abbott by 3 percentage points, 43-46, which she argued is a sign the three-term governor is more vulnerable than it might appear. The University of Houston poll released a survey this week that showed a 7 percentage point margin between the two, with 6% undecided. “It looks like a governor who's not very confident with his base,” Hinojosa said about the ad buy.

‘Teen Mom’ star Farrah Abraham site solicits donations above Austin's $500 limit

Reality TV star and newly minted Austin City Council candidate Farrah Abraham is already soliciting campaign donations, but her fundraising website lets supporters give more than the city’s legal limit. The site, which features a photo of Abraham posed in front of an American flag, includes preset donation buttons as high as $1,000 – double Austin’s $500 cap for individual contributions. The $500 button also includes a $20.51 processing fee, which would push the donation over the allowed limit.

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GOP candidate Bo French pulls out of Houston-area meetup at Islamic center

Republican Texas Railroad Commission candidate Bo French announced he would not be attending a Harris County bipartisan political event Friday night because it was being held at an Islamic center. French, former chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, took to X to make the announcement, made just hours before the event was set to begin. "On the advice of my security team, I have to cancel my appearance at the Harris County GOP event tonight," he wrote. "This event is being held in an islamic center." The event was held at Masjid AlSalam in Spring. Chad Khan, the mosque's civic engagement committee chair, said French never RSVPed. "It was a very nice event," Khan said. "A lot of Democrat candidates came, a lot of Republican candidates come and they talk about their platform. It's nothing to do with Muslim, Christian or Judaism. We talk about mainstream politics, that's it."

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In a statement to the Chronicle on Friday, French said, "It is sad to see how much more dangerous the Islamization of Texas has made our state. This is why we need a real leader who will defend Texas oil & gas and shut down the mullahs wherever they are." His reference to "Islamization" reflects the GOP's embracing of anti-Islamic rhetoric, which some Texas Republican Muslims say has deterred them from the party. Religious scholars refute some conservatives' messaging on Islamic Sharia law, stating that it isn't a legal code that competes with the nation's laws and is being misconstrued. French is running against Hawk Dunlap, a veteran oil field worker and well control specialist, and incumbent Chairman Jim Right in the Republican primary for Railroad Commissioner. French stepped down as Tarrant County GOP chairman in November to announce his candidacy. He said running for railroad commissioner was the "best way that I can defend Texas, stop the Islamic invasion, and defeat the left." He drew criticism in June from both Republicans and Democrats after posting a poll to X asking whether Jews or Muslims were "a bigger threat to America." In response, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for French's removal as Tarrant County GOP chairman. "Bo French’s words do not reflect my values nor the values of the Republican Party," Patrick wrote on X. "Antisemitism and religious bigotry have no place in Texas."

Texas man convicted in Jan. 6 attack on Congress wants a new job — in Congress

More than two years after being convicted as part of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a Texas Republican is looking to return to Washington, D.C., but this time as a member of Congress. Lubbock's Ryan Zink is one of seven Republicans in a crowded GOP primary for the 19th Congressional District. Current U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, is not seeking reelection, setting the stage for one of the wildest primary races in Texas.

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Last year, President Donald Trump issued pardons or commutations for an estimated 1,500 people charged with the attack on the Capitol. Zink had been charged with a felony and two misdemeanors and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Zink didn’t respond to a request for an interview on Friday, but told Manny Diaz at KTAB in Abilene early last year that he was wrongly prosecuted. “I never entered the building,” he said. “I never assaulted anyone. I never damaged any property.” Federal agents ultimately used video of him during the attack to prove he was on “restricted grounds” — even if not technically inside the building. In that video, Zink says, “We knocked down the gates! We’re storming the Capitol! You can’t stop us!” Zink has sincesaid the "storming the Capitol" line was just a figure of speech. Zink is certainly a long shot in the race for the district, which stretches from Lubbock to Abilene. All six of the other Republicans in the race have outraised him, according to Federal Election Commission records. Zink isn’t the only one convicted that day who has since tried to run for office. In Longview, Republican Ryan Nichols, also pardoned by Trump, initially filed to run for Congress in the 1st Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Whitehouse, but later dropped out. And in West Virginia, Republican Derrick Evans is running for the U.S. House. Jake Lang, also pardoned, announced he is running for the U.S. Senate in Florida. He told the Miami New Times he expects others arrested that day to run of office too. “The Jan Sixers have risen out and emerged out of these prisons and these gulags, these lions’ dens, and we’re going to slay the giant now, just as David has,” he said.

Hundreds join Walk for Peace homecoming for Buddhist monks in Fort Worth

Hundreds of supporters lined the streets of east Fort Worth on Saturday morning to welcome the Buddhist monks home after their 2,300-mile Walk for Peace. By 7 a.m., a large group had already gathered at Eastover Park, where the monks were due to arrive. Someone scattered red and white rose petals on the road and several people were carrying bouquets of flowers.

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Yvonne Hanson left her home in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, at 6 a.m. Thursday and drove more than 17 hours so she could be on time to walk with the monks on the last leg of their journey from the park to their temple, the Húóng Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center. The monks set off from the Fort Worth temple on Oct. 26. Clad in brown robes and carrying simple packs on their shoulders, they prepared to walk to Washington, D.C., on a mission to promote national healing and unity. The journey spanned nine states in 112 days. Despite a serious accident near Houston that injured two monks, the group persevered and arrived in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. They returned to Fort Worth around 8:40 a.m. Saturday in a charter bus. Cheers erupted from the onlookers as the bus headed down Ramey Avenue toward Eastover Park. One woman held up a hand-lettered sign reading, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” A throng of people gathered around as the monks disembarked. Most joined the men and their dog, Aloka, for the approximately one-mile walk to the temple.

Muslim lawmaker says his community feels targeted by Texas Republicans

If you haven’t noticed lately during the campaigns, Texas Republicans just aren’t talking about the border much anymore, as the policies of the Trump Administration have led to a 55-year low in crossings. They’ve instead turned their attention to Islam, Sharia Law, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), with some Republican campaigns sending near daily texts on the matter. State Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-District 92, is one of two Muslims in the Texas Legislature. He says he gets a call from a Muslim family just about every day. “The Muslim community is devastated. It’s living under sort of a blanket of fear, a blanket of suspicion that, oh, if you’re Muslim, then you must be doing something illegal or these organizations that are fighting for your civil rights are also terrorist organizations,” Rep. Bhojani told us on Inside Texas Politics. “I get calls from Muslim community members that they’re being targeted just for wearing a hijab.”

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Rep. Bhojani thinks it’s all political red meat, a way for Republicans to rally the base. Political consultants agree. But the Democrat says the situation can become dangerous when leaders from the President, down to the Governor, down to local lawmakers specifically target Muslims. “As a Muslim Texan, I feel really strongly that it’s not contrary to say I’m a proud Muslim and I’m a proud Texan,” he added. The lawmaker says Sharia is a framework for Muslims to govern their lives, which every religion has. There are no tribunals, he says, or compounds. Republicans have even targeted some proposed Muslim-centered developments, such as EPIC City in North Texas. “All they’re trying to do is come together, give a particular acreage to the mosque, and then have the community live close by to the mosque when they have older parents that can walk to the mosque. They just want to be able to pray in peace and that’s the right that we all enjoy in the state of Texas, in our country,” Bhojani relayed. The Democrat also expects legal action after reports surfaced that Muslim private schools are being excluded from the state’s new voucher program, which is now open for parents.

How radioactive oil and gas waste could lie beneath a North Texas elementary school

On a cold winter morning in Johnson County, at the southwestern edge of the booming Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, 52-year-old Lee Oldham stands beside the Pleasant View Elementary School and wonders what the drilling waste he helped lay underneath might mean for the children inside. Surrounding the school is the partially complete 2,500-home Silo Mills development that will supply it with children and that is also built atop drilling waste, according to satellite maps and interviews. The first families moved in two years ago. “They weren’t telling anyone this was a radioactive material. They told us it was safe,” said Oldham, who worked as a dozer operator here from 2009 to 2011, laying waste that he said was generally 6 inches to a foot deep, but in spots as much as 2 to 3 feet. In 2015, Oldham returned to the same area doing reclamation work that involved putting 1 to 2 feet of local dirt back over the waste. Hundreds of homes have already been built in this subdivision, and many are occupied, with cars parked in driveways and trampolines in yards.

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Pleasant View Elementary School is part of the Godley Independent School District and already has about 500 students. The elementary school’s website shows photos of smiling children, a list of upcoming and recent events including chess club meetings, an area spelling bee, field trips, and a celebration marking the 100th day of school. School officials say the developer conducted a “Phase 1 Environmental Site” assessment prior to completing the school in 2022. “The assessment indicated that no evidence of recognized environmental conditions was identified in connection with the subject property and that no further action was required,” Superintendent Rich Dear said in a statement provided to Truthdig and the Texas Observer by email. “The Pleasant View Elementary School site was developed following voter approval of Godley ISD’s 2021 bond election and the donation of the property by the developer.” Students began attending the campus in January 2023. Dear identified Terra Manna, LLC, as the site developer and said that the company could provide the assessment. Terra Manna did not reply to questions sent through an online contact form, and phone calls to the company’s main line requesting the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment went unreturned.

Carlos Spector, champion of immigrant rights, facing final days as family seeks help to bring him home to El Paso

Carlos Spector, El Paso’s most prominent immigration attorney and a champion for the right to asylum, is gravely ill with cancer at a Houston hospital, his family said. Spector’s family has started a GoFundMe campaign to bring him home so he can spend his last days in El Paso, said his daughter, Alejandra Spector. Carlos Spector has been treated for three weeks at the MD Anderson Cancer Treatment Center in Houston, where doctors determined that he likely would not survive surgery for the sarcoma in his throat, Alejandra said. “And they said, ‘You need to go home and just spend what time you have left,’” she said.

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The family is looking at using an air ambulance service to bring him to El Paso, which could cost $25,000. The GoFund me campaign, which is seeking to raise $50,000, is meant to cover that and other costs the family has incurred while in Houston for the treatment. Spector, 71, is an El Paso native and Air Force veteran. His paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants who fled Russian pogroms; his mother was from Mexico. He has been an attorney for 40 years, specializing in immigration law. It was Spector’s advocacy that created the opportunity for Mexicans fleeing drug violence to qualify for amnesty in the United States, said Linda Rivas, a senior trial attorney for the El Paso County Attorney’s Office and former executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. “I think some would argue that he really started Mexican asylum. Mexican asylum was unheard of, and he really was able to prove that this issue with narco violence and the threats to people’s lives was something that the (Mexican) government could not control, was not willing to control,” Rivas said. “He was able to show that there were groups of people who were more vulnerable than others and did fit the definitions of asylum and should be eligible for asylum and not be ignored just because they were Mexican.”

HUD investigates EPIC over alleged religious discrimination in upcoming project

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is investigating the East Plano Islamic Center over its upcoming project The Meadow, formally known as EPIC City. The department in a press release Friday accuses EPIC Real Properties, Inc., and Community Capital Partners, LP — the corporate entities for EPIC— of violating the Fair Housing Act over religious and national origin discrimination. "It is deeply concerning the East Plano Islamic Center may have violated the Fair Housing Act and participated in religious discrimination,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement. “As HUD Secretary, I will not stand for illegal religious or national origin discrimination in housing and will ensure that this matter receives a thorough investigation so that this community is open to all Texans.”

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The probe stems from a complaint from the Texas Workforce Commission describing a "large-scale pattern of religious discriminatory conduct" by The Meadow's developers, according to the department. The allegations accuse developers of promoting The Meadow as a Muslim-only community and that it would represent “the epicenter of Islam in America.” Other claims include: Discriminatory financial terms that required lot owners to subsidize a mosque and Islamic educational centers. A bias sales mechanism consisting of a two-tier lottery system for lot sales, which granted lot access to Tier One buyers. The Meadow is planned to be a 402-acre development between unincorporated Collin and Hunt counties, roughly 40 miles northeast of Dallas near the city of Josephine. It would include more than 1,000 homes, a new mosque, a K-12 faith-based school, senior housing, an outreach center, commercial developments, sports facilities, and a community college. Planners from Community Capital Partners, LLC in the past have repeatedly said The Meadow is an open community where everyone is welcome. “CCP does not discriminate,” Emily Black said, a spokesperson for the corporate entity.“They do not seek exclusivity. They support equal housing opportunity and religious freedom, both of which are protected under federal and Texas law.”

National Stories

Trump’s relentless self-promotion fosters an American cult of personality

The racist online video that President Trump recently shared and then deleted generated a bipartisan furor because of its portrayal of Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. What was little remarked on was how it presented Mr. Trump himself — as the “King of the Jungle.” After a year back in the White House, Mr. Trump’s efforts to promote himself as the singularly dominant figure in the world have become so commonplace that they no longer seem surprising. He regularly depicts himself in a heroic, almost godly fashion, as a king, as a Superman, as a Jedi knight, as a military hero, even as a pope in a white cassock. While Mr. Trump has spent a lifetime promoting his personal brand, slapping his name on hotels, casinos, airplanes, even steaks, neckties and bottled water, what he is doing in his second term as president comes closer to building a cult of personality the likes of which has never been seen in American history. Other presidents sought to cultivate their reputations, but none went as far as Mr. Trump has to create a mythologized, superhuman and omnipresent persona leading to idolatry.

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His picture has been splashed all over the White House, on multistory banners on the side of federal buildings, on annual passes to national parks and maybe even soon on a one-dollar coin. His name has been etched on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, on the U.S. Institute of Peace, on federal investment accounts, special visas and a discount drug program and, if he has his way, on Washington Dulles International Airport and Penn Station in New York. His White House is pressuring the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery to display portraits of Mr. Trump by his supporters. A group of cryptocurrency investors has shelled out $300,000 to forge a 15-foot-tall gold-covered bronze statue of Mr. Trump called “Don Colossus” to be installed at his golf complex in Doral, Fla. His administration is considering designating a new class of battleships in Mr. Trump’s name. His allies are pressuring foreign leaders to endorse his bid for the Nobel Peace Prize and threatening consequences for resisting. Some supporters in Congress have even proposed adding his face to Mount Rushmore, an effort that, for the moment, has gained little traction. This spree of self-aggrandizement goes beyond mere vanity, although Mr. Trump suffers from no particular shortage in that department. “I really have a big ego,” he noted at the National Prayer Breakfast this month, an assessment that drew no disagreement. What Mr. Trump is actually doing, though, is making himself the inescapable force in American life.

In first public comments since Trump’s racist video, Obama laments lost decorum

Former President Barack Obama this weekend indirectly addressed a racist video posted earlier this month by President Trump, which depicted Mr. Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, as apes. In a podcast interview published on Saturday, Mr. Obama was asked about the “devolution of the discourse” in American politics, with the host mentioning the video shared by Mr. Trump as one of several examples of inflammatory comments or statements by officials from the current administration. “There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television, and what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office,” Mr. Obama told Brian Tyler Cohen, a YouTuber and podcast host. “That’s been lost,” he added.

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Appearing on Mr. Cohen’s “No Lie” podcast, Mr. Obama did not directly address the video, which was deleted from Mr. Trump’s Truth Social account after it prompted rare, bipartisan outrage. But Mr. Obama stressed that he believed that most Americans found such content abhorrent. “I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,” Mr. Obama said. “It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction. But as I’m traveling around the country, as you’re traveling around the country, you meet people, they still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness.” Mr. Trump has refused to apologize for posting the video, saying he “didn’t make a mistake.” He said that he had not seen the entire clip and that someone else had posted it on his account. In the nearly hourlong appearance with Mr. Cohen, Mr. Obama spoke at length about the Democratic Party, public protest and Mr. Trump’s blunt immigration enforcement, including the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Minneapolis. “The rogue behavior of agents of the federal government is deeply concerning and dangerous,” Mr. Obama said. He added: “It is important for us to recognize the unprecedented nature of what ICE was doing in Minneapolis.” The Trump administration said on Thursday that it was ending its deployment of federal agents to Minnesota after it led to tense protests, thousands of arrests and at least three shootings in the Democratic-led state. Mr. Obama applauded the grass roots organizing that was occurring in places like Minneapolis and community efforts to protect immigrants there. “That kind of heroic, sustained behavior in subzero weather by ordinary people is what should give us hope,” he said.

These young voters are starting to regret their vote for Trump

Week after week, images of Israel’s military pummeling Gaza filled news broadcasts and social media—and President Trump was losing patience. “People are getting sick of turning on the TV and seeing you bombing everything,” Trump said in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The young people don’t like it.” Trump’s private remarks last year, recounted by a person with knowledge of the conversation, came as his standing with young people has plummeted during his first year in office. After Trump nearly won the group in 2024, roughly two-thirds of young voters ages 18-29 now disapprove of the president’s priorities, including his approach to foreign policy and immigration, according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll.

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Young voters are part of Trump’s coalition that is showing signs of fraying ahead of the coming midterm elections, where history is already against the party that controls the White House, and the GOP has the barest of control in Congress. As the president looks to rebuild his standing with the group, he has sought to address economic concerns, including offering plans to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes and cap credit-card interest rates. He has directed the federal government to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug. Emboldened in his second term, Trump has also pursued an aggressive foreign-policy stance, pushed for amped-up deportations and swarmed cities like Minneapolis with immigration agents. Those decisions, and others, have pushed some young Trump supporters away. Trump and team are focused on “making life more affordable for working Americans, and winning the midterms,” said Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 campaign.

Europeans push back at US over claim they face 'civilizational erasure'

A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities. Kallas alluded to criticism in the U.S. national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.”

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It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.” “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU. Related Stories Rubio's speech to European allies takes a softer tone but sticks to Trump's firm stance Europe hopes to repair trans-Atlantic trust as Rubio attends key security conference Europe warily awaits Rubio at Munich Security Conference as Trump roils transatlantic ties

Soaring coffee prices rewrite some Americans' daily routines

For years, it was a daily McDonald’s trip for a cup of coffee with 10 sugars and five creams. Later, it was Starbucks caramel macchiatos with almond milk and two pumps of syrup. Coffee has been a morning ritual for Chandra Donelson since she was old enough to drink it. But, dismayed by rising prices, the 35-year-old from Washington, D.C., did the unthinkable: She gave it up. “I did that daily for years. I loved it. That was just my routine,” she says. “And now it’s not.” Years of steadily climbing coffee prices have some in this country of coffee lovers upending their habits by nixing café visits, switching to cheaper brews or foregoing it altogether. Coffee prices in the U.S. were up 18.3% in January from a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released on Friday. Over five years, the government reported, coffee prices rose 47%.

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That extraordinary rise has brought some to take extraordinary measures. “Before, I thought, ‘There’s no way I could make it through my day without coffee,’” says Liz Sweeney, 50, of Boise, Idaho, a former “coffee addict” who has cut her consumption. “Now my car’s not on automatic pilot.” Sweeney used to have three cups of coffee at home each day and stop at a café whenever she left the house. As prices climbed last year, though, she nixed coffee shop visits and cut her intake to a cup a day at home. To make up for the caffeine, she pops open a can of Diet Coke at home or rolls through McDonald’s for one. Dan DeBaun, 34, of Minnetonka, Minnesota, has likewise trimmed back on coffee shop visits, conscious of the increasing expense as he and his wife save up for a house.

Architect submits most-detailed renderings so far for White House ballroom

The most-detailed renderings yet of President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project were briefly made available Friday, showing the massive scale of the planned 89,000-square-foot space. The renderings from Shalom Baranes Associates — which were posted by the National Capital Planning Commission on its website and then swiftly taken down — show the new East Wing could span approximately one street block, significantly longer than the West Wing. It also appears to be more than half the length of the Treasury Building, which it would be next to. CNN has reached out to the NCPC, the planning agency for federal land that must approve the project; the architecture firm; and the White House regarding why the proposal was removed from the website and for additional comment.

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The project is facing a legal challenge from the nation’s top historical preservation group, with a federal judge expressing deep skepticism last month over Trump’s authority to construct the ballroom without express authorization from Congress. Yet, construction is moving ahead, with Trump claiming earlier this week that the project is ahead of schedule and within budget. The White House has said the ballroom would be privately funded. “When completed, it will be the finest Ballroom ever built anywhere in the World, one that has been sought by Presidents for over 150 years — and now they are getting THE BEST!” Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that future presidential inaugurations — which are traditionally held in the US Capitol — could be held in the ballroom. The National Capital Planning Commission is set to meet next on March 5 to discuss the proposal. Trump has appointed loyalists to the NCPC, as well as to the Commission of Fine Arts, the other organization that must review the ballroom plans.

Several ICE agents were arrested in recent months, showing risk of misconduct

Investigators said one immigration enforcement official got away with physically assaulting his girlfriend for years. Another admitted he repeatedly sexually abused a woman in his custody. A third is charged with taking bribes to remove detention orders on people targeted for deportation. At least two dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees and contractors have been charged with crimes since 2020, and their documented wrongdoing includes patterns of physical and sexual abuse, corruption and other abuses of authority, a review by The Associated Press found. While most of the cases happened before Congress voted last year to give ICE $75 billion to hire more agents and detain more people, experts say these kinds of crimes could accelerate given the sheer volume of new employees and their empowerment to use aggressive tactics to arrest and deport people.

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The Trump administration has emboldened agents by arguing they have “absolute immunity” for their actions on duty and by weakening oversight. One judge recently suggested that ICE was developing a troubling culture of lawlessness, while experts have questioned whether job applicants are getting enough vetting and training. “Once a person is hired, brought on, goes through the training and they are not the right person, it is difficult to get rid of them and there will be a price to be paid later down the road by everyone,” said Gil Kerlikowske, who served as commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 2014 to 2017. Almost every law enforcement agency contends with bad employees and crimes related to domestic violence and substance abuse are long-standing problems in the field. But ICE’s rapid growth and mission to deport millions are unprecedented, and the AP review found that the immense power that officers exercise over vulnerable populations can lead to abuses.

Copyright February 15, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved