July 19, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Greg Abbott's donors profit from data center boom he 'pushing back' on

The backlash to the Texas data center boom has Gov. Greg Abbott caught between some of his most dependable donors and his most reliable voters. Several of the Republican governor’s most generous financial backers are increasingly investing in the boom that has voters in deep-red rural parts of the state up in arms, according to a Hearst Newspapers analysis. They include real estate titan Ed Roski, Jr., who gave $1 million in April, and energy executive Kelcy Warren, who gave $500,000 in June. Both of their companies recently announced data center-related business deals. The governor also took $500,000 donations this year from Rhett Bennett of Black Mountain, an energy company building data centers across Texas, and Elon Musk, the tech titan and AI developer who is pushing to send data centers to space.

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The donations, shown in the governor’s latest campaign finance report filed this week, underscore how data centers are becoming lucrative business opportunities for an array of Texas industries, beyond just tech and AI companies using their servers. Abbott has gone from touting Texas as the “epicenter of AI development” to vowing to push back against “AI data centers” in just a matter of months, as he came under mounting pressure from rural voters who polling shows are widely opposed to data center development near them. “It’s pretty clear that for Republicans in the state in general — and the governor in particular — the backlash to this really creates conflict with what has been a traditional Republican strength and talking point, and that's an emphasis on economic development,” said James Henson, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. Abbott has sought to find a middle ground while also kicking the issue past this year’s high-stakes midterms to next year’s legislative session. Last month, the governor ordered state regulators to ensure data centers do not pass on costs for new electrical infrastructure to ratepayers. And he urged lawmakers to repeal the centers’ lucrative sales tax exemptions and set up rules on where they can be built.

Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell addresses Ken Paxton Senate donation

Texas Tech’s Board of Regents Chairman Cody Campbell says there was nothing nefarious about a June donation to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign. The $274,300 donation to one of Paxton’s fundraising committees has drawn headlines because of its proximity to a letter Paxton’s office sent to the Big 12 Conference amid the debate over former Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s eligibility after he was found to be placing sports bets as a college player, including on his own team, in violation of NCAA rules. Campbell, who lives in Fort Worth and is a former Tech offensive lineman, made the contribution on June 10. The next day, Paxton’s office wrote to the conference warning that sanctioning Tech for supporting Sorsby was against the law and would carry consequences.

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“If I wanted to make a nefarious deal, there are plenty of places and ways to do so,” Campbell said in a Friday evening interview with the Star-Telegram. “That was not at all what happened. I contributed because I wanted to support the race.” Paxton faces State Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat, in the Nov. 3 general election. Campbell emphasized that he’s a longtime Republican donor. Federal and state election records show him contributing to statewide candidates Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. John Cornyn, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, as well as Tarrant County congressional candidates and state legislative candidates. He has also donated to Paxton in past elections. Campbell, the co-founder and co-CEO of Fort Worth-based Double Eagle Energy Holdings, has donated at least $25 million toward Tech’s athletic program. The university named the Jones AT&T Stadium playing field Cody Campbell Field to recognize what was the largest one-time contribution ever made to the athletics department. He’s a board member of Tech’s NIL collective, which has paid more $60 million to Tech athletes since 2022.

Republican campaigns see immigration as a winning issue for midterms

Republicans are leaning into immigration enforcement as one of their top campaign issues this midterm cycle — despite a rocky start to the year for messaging on the president's top policy. An NPR analysis of advertisement data from the firm AdImpact shows that when it comes to immigration, Republicans are spending more money and running more ads than Democrats are. The data set includes ads purchased from January through June, before immigration enforcement officers shot and killed people in Maine and Texas this month. These political ads offer one indication of where each party sees its momentum going with voters, as candidates across the country gear up for the general election in November. The data suggests Republicans see immigration as a winning issue:

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Since the start of the year, Republicans and their supporting organizations have run nearly 300 ads nationwide that either include a mention of immigration or are solely about immigration. This compares to 62 ads from Democrats and their supporting organizations. "Republicans stood up for Americans. Democrats sat down for illegals. Thomas Massie sides with these radical-left lunatics," reads one ad funded by the MAGA KY PAC, a political action committee that was set up to defeat Republican Rep. Thomas Massie in the primary. The ad cost over $831,000; Massie, a frequent critic of President Trump, went on to lose his race to Trump-endorsed candidate Ed Gallrein. Among the most expensive was a $928,000 ad buy in the Michigan governor's race. "No greater example of waste, fraud, and abuse in Michigan than using our tax dollars to give benefits to illegal immigrants. As governor, I'll be incredibly supportive of ICE coming here and removing these fraudsters," says Republican candidate Perry Johnson, who calls himself a "MAGA Conservative" and has pitched his business approach to running a state.

Death of American troops raises fears of a wider war as US launches more strikes on Iran

Latest strikes: The US military launched another round of strikes after vowing to “swiftly punish” Iran for an attack on Jordan that left two US service members dead and one missing in action. Explosions were heard in the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas and on Qeshm Island, state media reported. Widening conflict: There’s been another wave of Iranian fire on US allies in the region, including in Kuwait, where officials said a power and desalination plant was attacked for a second consecutive day. Bahrain also said it intercepted strikes. In Jordan: Air defenses intercepted three Iranian missiles and another fell in a remote area, the Jordanian military said, after sirens sounded and blasts were heard Sunday in the port city of Aqaba.

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Jordanian air defenses intercepted three Iranian missiles on Sunday afternoon local time while a fourth landed in a remote area, the country’s military said in a statement. No casualties or material damage were reported in the attack, the statement added. Sirens had earlier sounded over Jordan, as the Israeli military reported Iran had launched missiles toward the Jordanian port city of Aqaba. Eyewitness in Aqaba reported hearing several blasts, which were likely the sound of missile interceptions. Given Aqaba’s close proximity to the Israeli border, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned that s?irens could sound in southern Israel too. They later confirmed that Israeli air defenses had taken part in intercepting the missiles. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said the US struck an Iranian nuclear power plant currently under construction in the early hours of this morning. The strikes hit the construction site at the Darkhovin Power Plant, which is located in southern Iran, near the Iraqi border, the organization said.

FDA says sample of iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms tested positive for US parasite outbreak

The Food and Drug Administration said on Saturday ?a sample of shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by ?Taylor Farms has tested positive for a parasitic illness that has sickened thousands of people in the U.S. Taylor Farms has confirmed ?that this product is not part of ?its current recall, the FDA said in the statement ?as it seeks to curtail the largest foodborne illness ?outbreak in the United States in recent years. The California-based ?lettuce supplier is working to identify whether any part of the sample that tested positive is available in commerce or ?in consumers' homes, the FDA said in its most ?recent update.

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Earlier in the day, the supplier posted a list of ?lettuce ?products that had been recalled following investigations that it was a potential source of contamination. Taylor Farms was not immediately available for comment. The FDA said the sample ?was collected during ?targeted surveillance ?while investigating the ongoing outbreak and that the positive lot has been detained. Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia has so far resulted in ?around ?100 hospitalizations and no deaths, ?according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

State Stories

Ambassador Tilman Fertitta’s faces protests during Italy luxury yacht diplomacy tour

Several hundred protesters marched Friday against the arrival in Venice of the billionaire American ambassador’s luxury yacht, briefly clashing with riot police as they neared the vessel. Activists described hospitality mogul Tilman Fertitta’s arrival as an unwelcome display of American wealth and influence at a time when many Italians see the Trump administration upending the post-World War II international order. They marched carrying inflatable water toys and beach balls behind a sign reading: “Venezia non si USA,” a play on words meaning “Venice is not to be used,” with the USA acronym capitalized.

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Protesters raised their arms to show they were peaceful as they reached a double line of riot police blocking access to the super yacht, but police pushed back with their shields when the demonstrators refused to stop. Inflatable toys flew through the air. After the clash, protesters yelled “Shame!” at the ambassador, the mayor and the police. Fertitta arrived in Venice earlier Friday, mooring in St. Mark’s Basin as part of a coastal diplomacy tour marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. Police boats were stationed around his yacht, which dwarfed buildings along the banks of the lagoon, and a heavy police presence accompanied the demonstrators, who carried signs reading “Make America Read Again” and “Oligarch in saor,” a reference to a Venetian specialty with sardines. The so-called Coastal Diplomacy 250 tour of 13 Italian coastal regions on a super yacht is intended to celebrate “our shared history, our economic partnership, and the cultural bonds that make the U.S.-Italy relationship so special,” Fertitta said in a social media post. Fertitta declined a request for an interview to discuss the tour and the planned protest, but he issued a short statement supporting the right to protest.

More than 100 federal border buoys break loose in flooded Rio Grande

More than 100 federal border-security buoys broke free Thursday in the flooded Rio Grande and floated toward Eagle Pass, prompting officials to temporarily close the city’s two international bridges to Mexico. The Texas Division of Emergency Management and Eagle Pass Police Chief Amy Gonzalez confirmed to Texas Rep. Eddie Morales Jr. that the buoys were carried downstream from the Quemado area. Morales said his office asked TDEM Chief Nim Kidd to provide state equipment and personnel to help federal officials and contractors retrieve the barriers. No injuries or structural damage to the bridges have been reported. The closures were ordered as a precaution while the large barriers and other flood debris moved through the port of entry.

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Farther downstream, Laredo activated its emergency operations center and warned that the buoys could eventually threaten its four international bridges. Officials authorized police, firefighters and emergency personnel to monitor and remove the barriers. Officials are using drones to track the buoys and say one or more of Laredo’s four international bridges could be closed if the debris poses a danger. Residents have been told not to approach or touch any of the barriers. The incident renews questions about the Department of Homeland Security’s “Operation River Wall,” a plan to install more than 500 miles of connected buoy barriers along the Texas-Mexico border. DHS says the barriers are intended to deter unlawful crossings. Customs and Border Protection previously said the system was engineered to withstand a 100-year flood. But river experts and environmental advocates warned that sections could detach during extreme flooding and become trapped against bridges or other infrastructure.

Houston ISD accepted $12M in donations without approval

Houston ISD departments and schools received nearly $12 million in outside donations without board approval, even though the board is supposed to approve many of these donations first, according to district policy. The purposes for the donations range widely and include staffing salaries, Chromebooks, and field trips. School principals can also use donations at their discretion. This is not the first time the state-appointed board has not followed policy meant to give oversight to the administration's financial decisions. In January 2025, the appointed board approved up to $870 million in purchasing agreements after district leadership acknowledged it had violated board policy for about 16 months.

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The state-appointed board of managers in June approved quarterly reports listing donations since August 2023, including many donations that under current policy required board approval. That policy says that the board must approve any donation made with "a specified purpose," except gifts from parent groups, like booster clubs and parent-teacher organizations. The board, however, could change that policy so that they only approve certain gifts — like property or naming rights. They gave initial approval, but will need to take a second and final vote before the change takes effect. Some elected HISD trustees, who have no decision-making power under a state-appointed board, said they are okay with changes to the donation policy — as long as the administration vets contributions and students receive the funding intended for them. It could mean that students and schools get financial support faster, reducing bureaucracy for "routine, beneficial donations," elected Trustee Bridget Wade said in a statement. "In a large district like HISD, board review maintains public accountability, especially with external funds," she said. "Any shift should include clear thresholds, administrative safeguards, reporting requirements back to the board, and protections against inequity or misuse."

A Texas law was supposed to help food trucks. Now some may lose their business

A Texas law that went into effect July 1 was supposed to give food truck owners a break by eliminating city permits in favor of one that allows them to operate anywhere in the state. But for operators who stay in only one city, the new permit from the Department of State Health Services costs far more than the one from the city. Angel Garza organized a meeting Monday night at Marine Park north of downtown to speak with over a dozen food truck business owners about the law and its implications. “In Austin, they want to change the law, but triple the money, that’s ridiculous,” Garza, who runs a commissary, and wanted to help out the Hispanic food truck owners who attended.

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The new state law, House Bill 2844, also known as the “Food Truck Freedom Bill,” requires the Department of State Health Services to issue a permit for all licensed mobile food trucks. Before, food truck owners paid fees at local health departments in every city and county where they sold their food. The change was intended to save food truck owners money, but for some, it’s a far more expensive option. The state permit is based on tiers, ranging from $300 to $876 in application fees and $400 to $500 in pre-licensing inspection fees. Some owners could also pay up to $500 in routine or compliance inspections. The licenses require a yearly renewal. Cities can still regulate zoning, parking, noise, fire safety and local taxes. In Fort Worth, the annual health permit fee for mobile food vendors was $258. A request for a new permit included a $165 plan review fee.

Nearly 800 Fort Worth ISD teachers resign after state takeover

Nearly 800 teachers in Fort Worth ISD submitted their resignations in the three months after the arrival of the district’s state-appointed leadership — more than in the entire previous school year. The second-largest district in North Texas is under a state takeover after more than a decade of stagnant academic progress. When incoming Superintendent Peter Licata arrived in the district in March, he pledged that the takeover would mean good things for “excellent teachers,” including better pay, dynamic leadership and the opportunity to be a part of meaningful efforts to turn struggling schools around.

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But since then, Fort Worth ISD has seen a sharp surge in the number of teachers leaving the district, records show. Departing teachers cited chaotic leadership, intense micromanagement and difficult working conditions as factors in their decision to leave. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced a takeover of Fort Worth ISD last year after one campus received five consecutive F ratings. By the end of the school year, the district had seen a marked uptick in teacher departures. Fort Worth ISD received 1,026 resignations from teachers by June 28, which was the district’s deadline for employees to resign, according to district data released in response to a Dallas Morning News public records request. That’s up from 648 teacher resignations by last year’s deadline, an increase of roughly 58%. But the surge in teacher resignations didn’t begin in earnest until after TEA officials announced the district’s new board and superintendent, data suggest. Before March 24, when Licata and the district’s state-appointed board took control, Fort Worth ISD had received just 7% more teacher resignations than the previous year.

In Laredo’s last stand against Trump’s border wall, are city leaders making a deal with the Devil?

Early this year, a delegation of officials from the City of Laredo traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with federal representatives about the Trump administration’s plans to completely wall off the Texans’ border community from the Rio Grande. The Laredoans returned using language that dismayed opponents of the president’s beloved border barrier. When City Manager Joseph Neeb briefed local elected officials after the Washington meetings, he cautioned them that opposing the wall altogether was “not the argument that we’re going to actually win with this administration.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says it plans to build “panels,” a term that could mean the 30-foot-tall steel fencing seen elsewhere on the U.S.-Mexico border, along all of the 40-mile stretch of the Rio Grande that passes through Laredo, one of the state’s major border cities and often the busiest commercial port in the country. This is a fate that Laredo has faced—and escaped—before. In total, the federal government has built about 140 miles of border wall in Texas over the past two decades, most of it in the Rio Grande Valley or out near El Paso.

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During the Biden administration, the State of Texas tried its hand at wall-building and added around 80 more miles, some of this being in rural Webb County around Laredo. But in Laredo itself, local officials and activists have fended off essentially all border barrier, save for a stretch of less-obtrusive wrought-iron fencing around a Laredo College campus. Now, the border town of 250,000 has its back against the wall like never before, and some think it’s already too late. Last year, the Trump administration got $46.5 billion from Congress to build hundreds of miles of “smart wall” along the state’s 1,200-mile border, including 100 miles through CBP’s Laredo Sector, which includes Webb and Zapata counties. Smart wall is a vague term that means some combination of physical barriers, surveillance equipment, lighting, and roadways. In much of the Laredo Sector, the barrier’s full footprint will be 250 feet wide, including maintenance and access roads on both sides of the bollard panels. According to an online map published by CBP, only a short stretch of this sector, along Falcon Lake, will be spared the steel wall. Raising the stakes even higher is CBP’s plan to string dangerous river buoys the length of the Rio Grande. Laredo, a historic town founded in 1755 that boasts a picturesque central plaza, draws all its drinking water from the river, and officials are concerned the buoys could cause silt to build up in front of the city’s intakes.

Houston police report reveals extent of HPD cooperation with ICE

Houston police encountered 103 people with civil immigration warrants from April through June, releasing most of them and handing 19 people to federal agents, according to the first report police leaders released under a new requirement passed by city council. The report’s release comes as local advocates are pushing the council and the Houston Police Department to revisit how they cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after last week’s fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Magnolia Park thrust Houston into the national spotlight. Many have argued the council should renew a fight from earlier this year over a briefly-lived ordinance that restricted how police interact with ICE agents.

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Friday’s report is the lone surviving requirement from that ordinance, which passed in a 12-5 vote and then was largely reversed two weeks later, after Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to pull $114 million in grant funding from the city over the issue. The ordinance prohibited officers from extending traffic stops beyond their initial purpose while waiting for ICE agents to reach the scene. Still intact is a requirement that HPD release quarterly reports to city council on officers’ interactions with ICE agents. The one-page report covering April 1 to June 30 shows 57% of the people HPD encountered with civil immigration warrants were released. Another 18% were handed to ICE, and 14% were charged with new crimes and booked into jail. Some warrants could not be confirmed, and two people were transported to a hospital. The people were detained for 39 minutes, on average, during those 103 calls, the report shows. Councilmember Alejandra Salinas said the report's findings concerned her, and she has asked Chief Noe Diaz to come before council to explain the data. "HPD's average rate of monthly calls to ICE doubled, with more than 100 calls in three months, some detentions lasting nearly two hours and 19 Houstonians turned over to ICE custody," she said. Diaz needs to explain the upticks, along with any changes HPD has planned in response, Salinas said.

Texas county sues to close WM landfill; Amarillo investigates landfill fire

Two landfills in Texas have been under scrutiny in recent months for their impact on residents. One is the publicly run Amarillo Landfill, which sparked outrage after a fire jumped from the facility’s working face to a surrounding neighborhood, displacing residents. Meanwhile, officials in the Houston area are taking action to shut down a WM-run landfill that has been mostly inactive in recent years. The site has operated for decades near a historically Black neighborhood. When WM subsidiary USA Waste briefly pursued an expansion beginning in 2021, it drew a swift rebuke from residents and Houston Mayor John Whitmire. Robert Bullard, a Houstonian who helped kickstart the environmental justice movement after studying the placement of waste facilities in and around minority communities in the city, is among the critics of the site.

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Texas communities, as in other states, continue to feel pressure to add disposal capacity. Last year, Waco became the latest municipality in the state to open a new landfill. Others around the country continue to debate the same step. Local and state officials are continuing to investigate whether a municipally owned landfill was operating with proper procedures prior to a fire that eventually spread off the property and burned dozens of homes. In a statement released last week, the city revealed investigations into the initial surface fire and the response remain ongoing. An inspection conducted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in May did not identify elevated levels of pollutants following the incident, and said staff followed proper fire response procedure. Those conclusions were published in a report in May. Amarillo operates its own municipal solid waste landfill. The facility accepts more than 280,000 tons of waste last year, and has enough remaining capacity to continue operations roughly 100 years, according to state solid waste data. On May 17, a fire broke out in an area of exposed waste in one of the landfill’s active cells. Firefighters arrived on the scene and were initially able to control the fire, but it eventually crossed the fenceline and evolved into a grass fire across 2,000 acres. The fire destroyed 52 homes and impacted 77 homes overall, the Amarillo Tribune reported. The incident led to an outcry from the public and review of practices at the landfill.

San Antonio council members’ fundraising has dried up — now some want to change the rules

Fundraising for most of San Antonio’s City Council members has slowed to a trickle, with many donors already maxed out and unable to give again until June 2028. That could soon change, however, as the city’s Ethics Review Board faces pressure to increase their contribution cycles leading into the next municipal election. San Antonio currently holds its candidates to far stricter donor limits than those running for county, state and federal offices, capping the amount City Council hopefuls can collect from a single donor at $500 per election cycle, or $1,000 per cycle for mayoral candidates. While there’s long been grumbling about whether such limits truly level the playing field, complaints appeared to reach a boiling point when the council and mayor moved to four-year terms last year — and many donors were suddenly maxed out still years away from the next election.

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Most weeks at City Hall, jockeying for a 2029 mayoral race appears well underway already, with constant clashes between progressive Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and her more business-centric colleagues. But semi-annual campaign finance reports due this week showed relatively little money raised for such a contest during the first half of 2026, at a time when some council members are eager to start building up their war chests. Most of the 10-member council raised less than $15,000 between Jan. 1 and June 30. Councilman Marc Whyte (D10), who uses a professional fundraiser to help him raise money, was a major outlier, raising about $68,000. But he said the changes have made it tougher for everyone, and caused concern among some members who want to revisit the issue before they’re on the ballot again.

Kerrville families confront wrecked homes, big expenses after the flood

George Garcia ran along his Kerrville street at 3 a.m. Thursday, pounding on his neighbor’s doors to warn them of the approaching flood. Then Garcia saw it was time to get his family out of there. With water reaching his calves in their driveway, Garcia corralled his wife Carlie, her grandmother, their two small children, and their cat and dog into the Buick Enclave. But they made it only to the end of the block before surging floodwaters cut them off. The family and several neighbors parked at the highest point they could find — a parking lot of an auto shop on the corner — to wait out the flood. The Garcias watched some of their belongings, including a plastic slide from a backyard play set, race by. Garcia, a 29-year-old UPS driver, lives on Mimosa Street alongside Town Creek, which feeds into the Guadalupe River.

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When they finally returned home just before sunrise on Thursday, they found that at least two feet of grimy floodwater had inundated their single-story house and destroyed many of the family’s belongings. Carlie Garcia, 29, said the water had moved so fast that it toppled a washing machine and freezer in the garage. The couple spent Friday mopping mud out of their house and hauling ruined furniture to the curb, with the help of 10 of George’s co-workers. The couple isn’t sure yet how they will pay to repair the damage and replace the household items they lost. They don’t have flood insurance. The flood took the Garcias by surprise. The creek running behind their neighborhood is usually dry, and during last year’s deadly July 4 flood, the water never reached the Garcia’s house. They plan to stay with family while they clear out the home. But they're worried about mold damage — and the possibility of more floods. “I was telling him earlier, 'We should move. We should move farther away from the water,'” Carlie said, looking at her husband. “Unfortunately, I think part of the problem is no matter where you go, there’s going to be some kind of risk. Tornadoes, fires, whatever.”

'Lost a legend': Kerrville man dies in home swept away by flooding, family says

A Kerrville man was killed early Thursday morning after flood waters swept away his home, his family confirmed. John Mark Steward was inside his home when it was overtaken by water Thursday, his wife Jennie Steward posted to social media. She had asked for help finding her husband in a Facebook post at 9 a.m. on Thursday. She was in Dallas during the flooding, she said. Hours later, she announced he had been found dead. “Mark, my love, I will forever be grateful for the beautiful years we shared together,” she wrote. “You made me be a better person. I love you all.” Jennie Steward's mother, with whom she's staying in Dallas, declined to comment to KERA Thursday on her daughter's behalf.

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Other family and friends remembered John Mark Steward as a loving husband and expressed gratitude to those who supported the family in the hours he was missing. "He was a good man and he loved Jennie so," Steward's brother, Stephen, wrote on Facebook. "These types of tragedys are unexplainable yet they happened." Steward graduated high school from Westlake High School in Austin in 1979. He played football, ran track and sang with his school choir — the Madrigals — according to a Facebook post by the Westlake athletics department. Dozens of former classmates expressed their sadness and shared memories of Steward. "Westlake Nation lost a legend to the flood waters near Kerrville this morning," the post read. Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday at least one person died overnight after being swept away in an RV in Comfort, a city southeast of Kerrville. It wasn’t clear if that person was Mark. KERA could not confirm Steward's identity or cause of death with law enforcement or the medical examiner Friday.

As historic floodwaters recede, Uvalde residents assess the damage

Levi Gutierrez stood in the parking lot of The Light of The World church in Uvalde Saturday, handing out free clothes to people displaced by the record-breaking floodwaters that inundated the town. As the water recedes, Gutierrez said many in the community of around 15,000 are now looking for help. “We have a lot coming, and usually it's with children and with babies,” said Gutierrez. A little girl wandered behind him, picking out clothes from a rack. Volunteers were also distributing other essentials to residents, like cups, pots and pans. Gutierrez said his own home on the west side of the city was flooded. He was forced to evacuate with his grandmother, who uses a wheelchair.

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Gutierrez said there’s been flooding in the past, but nothing like this. “The scope of the communities that were affected, and how bad they were affected — yeah, this is very unique,” he said. As of 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the Texas Department of Transportation reported multiple roadways across the region were closed due to damage and flooding. The Uvalde Police Department is asking residents to "please drive with caution and respect all barricades you encounter." "They are in place for your protection, and going around them puts you and others at risk," wrote the department in a Saturday social media post. The historic storm wreaked havoc across the Hill Country and South Central Texas last week, killing two people, displacing countless others and destroying property across a huge swath of the state. Some of the worst-hit areas include Uvalde and Zavala counties, where more than 125 people were displaced as of Friday afternoon, according to Gov. Greg. Abbott. While the storm has passed and rain isn’t in the forecast for the area, officials say rivers around Uvalde remain a threat.

National Stories

Trump says 278,000 noncitizens are on voting rolls. Experts say that’s wrong.

President Donald Trump used his prime-time address Thursday to amplify an exaggerated claim that noncitizens are registering to vote en masse, threatening to undermine the nation’s secure elections. Doubling down on these dubious assertions, the Trump administration then threatened to punish states by withholding funding and arresting election officials if noncitizens vote in states that don’t participate in federal programs purporting to secure elections. “We are not going to spend taxpayer dollars reimbursing a state that is refusing to secure our elections,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a news conference Friday morning, the day after Trump’s address on election security.

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According to Trump and Mullin, about 278,000 noncitizens are unlawfully registered to vote in federal elections in a number of states where they said the rolls were reviewed. They said 250,000 of those people were in just four states: Nevada, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Their assessment did not include all states. The president’s claim suggests that noncitizens who cast ballots could unlawfully swing election results in a particularly tight federal race. But a review of public documents and interviews with government officials and election experts shows that the figure is significantly overstated and that officials have struggled to find instances of voter fraud by noncitizens to back the president’s assertions. Assessments by government officials and outside election experts have repeatedly concluded that noncitizens represent a miniscule number of voters.

In Maine, Troy Jackson gains momentum in bid to replace Platner

Democrats in Maine took a step on Saturday toward finding a Senate nominee to replace Graham Platner, choosing hundreds of delegates for a party convention next week and delivering a jolt of momentum to one candidate: Troy Jackson. After Democrats held a day of meetings in stuffy college lecture halls, middle-school gymnasiums, barns, civic centers and virtual gatherings, Mr. Jackson, a progressive former State Senate president, claimed to have secured a significant advantage in eight counties that voted Saturday on their delegates. A review of the county results, along with campaign delegate slates, and interviews with Democratic operatives, voters and candidates pointed to a very successful showing for him, even as some variables — including a high-profile debate next week — could still shift the race.

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“I’ve been getting text messages all day about, you know, what a great job I did,” Mr. Jackson, a logger by trade, said in a video his campaign posted on Facebook, adding, “All of you just smoked it.” Eight other counties in the state had yet to pick their delegates, and the full scope of the advantage Mr. Jackson might take into the July 25 convention was still unclear. And while some delegates described their preferences in their nominating documents and in forms they submitted to campaigns, they could still change their minds before the convention. But it was clear by Saturday night that Mr. Jackson had built an imposing head start in a crowded race. The candidate chosen at the convention will take on Senator Susan Collins, who is seen as one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the midterms but has defied political gravity for decades in her Democratic-leaning state. In many ways, the day appeared to be less an exercise in small-town democracy and more about the political operations that candidates could build in the 10 days since Mr. Platner announced he would withdraw from the race.

‘Cancer doesn't care what party you belong to’: Poisoned water is turning this rural state Bluer

Chris Jones, the 65-year-old Democratic nominee for Iowa secretary of agriculture, stands at the edge of a pond on a 72-acre farm in eastern Iowa. “What you see here is how fertile Iowa is,” he says, looking intently into the water. Massive bluegills dart about in the clear depths. “When we go up to a corn or soy field, we don’t see this anymore.” Jones isn’t just talking about the fish. He means the water’s clarity. Iowa’s lakes and ponds are often murky and fetid from algae blooms fed by fertilizer runoff, a byproduct of the state’s vast agricultural industry’s reliance on farming chemicals. Jones spent about a decade as a research engineer, monitoring the state’s rivers and streams. What he learned in that role about Iowa’s water is what spurred his run for office. Iowa has a long-simmering water problem that has finally begun to boil over — and it’s changing Iowa politics. People are angry and worried about the quality of the state’s water, the health risks it poses and its increasingly undeniable tie to the state’s signature industry: agriculture.

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In recent years, Iowa’s cancer rate has climbed significantly above the U.S. average. It now stands as the nation’s second highest, and Iowa is one of only three states where the rate is rising. The situation has put a spotlight on nitrates, which are linked to a growing body of science to kidney, brain and ovarian cancer. Nitrates are a key component in the deluge of chemical pesticides and fertilizers used by the state’s farmers, some of which washes off farm fields and into waterways. A second culprit is glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, the world’s most common weedkiller, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared “probably carcinogenic” in 2015, an assessment rejected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Historically, candidates for state-wide office in Iowa, from governor to agriculture secretary, Republican or Democrat, have avoided criticizing the agriculture industry, opting instead for platitudes about how Iowa’s farms “feed the world.” This year is different. Voters are steaming mad, and candidates on both sides of the political aisle are pointing fingers at Big Ag — and winning. And in a change that has drawn national attention, some of those winning candidates are Democrats. The water crisis and the shifting views of agriculture are scrambling Iowa’s politics, including its traditional partisan divides. In last month’s primary, voters delivered surprises to candidates on both the Republican and Democratic sides of the ballot.

They were charged with assaulting ICE agents. The cases are crumbling.

In its nationwide immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has charged hundreds of people with assaulting or impeding federal agents. President Trump has branded them “insurrectionists,” “animals” and “thugs,” part of a broader effort by his administration to cast protesters and immigrants as violent criminals. But a close examination of those cases reveals that in its rush to meet White House demands for deportations, federal law enforcement has engaged in extensive misconduct — ranging from attacking protesters to destroying evidence and misrepresenting facts in court. The New York Times found that the Trump administration has filed assault charges against more than 550 people who were caught in its immigration dragnet — far more than previously known.

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Of the more than 400 cases resolved so far, nearly half have unraveled: Juries acquitted defendants, judges threw out charges, or prosecutors withdrew them. The record is abysmal by the typical standards of federal prosecutions: The Justice Department seldom loses criminal cases, with more than 90 percent of defendants pleading guilty or being convicted at trial. The Times obtained court filings for every assault case and reviewed hearing transcripts, interviewed witnesses and federal officials and watched videos of dozens of encounters that led to criminal charges. The review, the most comprehensive to date, suggests that the administration’s use of the law has often been less about protecting federal agents than about providing legal cover to cow protesters and immigrants into submission. “There seems to be a pattern of charges being filed without any merit,” said Jimmy L. Arce, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago who served on a commission that investigated immigration raids in the city last year. He added that some defendants were “having their speech criminalized by the U.S. attorney’s office.”

The Justice Department is pulling back on prosecuting corporate crime

The Trump administration has moved sharply away from charging companies over the wrongdoing of employees, recently closing a string of criminal investigations with lenient resolutions or no charges at all. In matters involving Alibaba, EagleBank and Abbott Laboratories, the department declined to charge companies even when prosecutors thought executives or managers were involved in the wrongdoing. In those cases, the department didn’t charge any individuals. Corporate investigations and prosecutions that were happening a few years ago “have pretty much been dialed way back,” said Evan T. Barr, a former federal prosecutor now with the law firm Reed Smith. “So if you’re in the world of financial services or a large public company, you can breathe a lot easier.” Charging companies is the strongest weapon in the Justice Department’s arsenal for punishing businesses that violate the law.

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Convictions can send a strong message that wrongdoing carries public consequences. But businesses say they can also hobble a firm’s ability to get financing or compete for federal contracts, and other critics say that tends to hurt shareholders and employees more than executives. In some cases, prosecutors have spared big companies from that risk by putting them on a form of corporate probation known as a deferred prosecution agreement. If the company avoids trouble over a period of several years, the Justice Department dismisses its charges. Companies typically admit to their violations, pay fines and undertake compliance and leadership changes to deter future wrongdoing. The Justice Department says companies aren’t being let off easy. “All corporate cases that the department resolved this year were done so in a public fashion and were driven by the facts, the evidence, and the law—not a preference for any particular outcome,” Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva said.

DOGE was supposed to be dead. Its remnants are everywhere.

When Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were initially tapped to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency at the end of 2024, the billionaire duo promised DOGE’s last act would be to delete itself by a mandated end date: July 4, 2026. Numerous lawsuits filed by federal workers, states and activists attempted to halt DOGE’s radical cost cutting effort, arguing Musk’s allies operated with little transparency and targeted agencies, grants and programs enshrined by law. Now, DOGE’s website, built to house “receipts” documenting its attempt to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, lies dormant, while posts from the DOGE X account have slowed to a trickle. But weeks after its 18-month end date has elapsed, DOGE has proved remarkably hard to kill. Instead, DOGE has evolved from its radical cost-cutting mission, with some of its members and agenda embedded across the government, continuing to reshape the federal bureaucracy behind the scenes.

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“DOGE is a way of life. … It never terminates,” former DOGE staffer Katie Miller said on X on July 4, the day of its supposed expiration. Nearly two dozen people hired or vetted through DOGE remain in government, including an influential diaspora filtered throughout the executive branch, according to a Washington Post analysis of court records and government documents. This includes Gavin Kliger, chief data officer at the Pentagon, and Jeremy Lewin, a senior adviser to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Lewin, who oversaw much of the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, now directs the State Department’s foreign assistance programs. Meanwhile, the National Design Studio, which is run by former DOGE lieutenant Joe Gebbia, is seen by many of its members as the spiritual successor to DOGE, according to two people familiar with the organization, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Its chief engineer is Edward Coristine, the staffer known as “Big Balls,” who as a 19-year-old DOGE employee gained access to agencies including the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrested in Miami, US Marshals Service tells AP

Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, whose social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities, were arrested Saturday in Miami as British authorities sought their extradition on rape and sex trafficking charges. The brothers were taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on a sealed warrant, agency spokesperson Brady McCarron told The Associated Press, placing the United States at the center of an international legal saga that has stretched from Romania to Britain. British prosecutors announced Saturday that they were seeking the brothers’ extradition on charges alleging they raped and trafficked women between 2010 and 2017.

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The dual U.S. and British citizens moved to Romania in 2016. They were arrested there in 2022, accused of participating in schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. They denied those allegations and the Romanian case hasn’t gone forward because of legal and procedural problems. Last year, they were allowed to leave Romania and flew to Florida on a private jet. The brothers are expected to appear in Miami’s federal court early next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations. The pending charges in the United Kingdom accused the brothers of abusing women in an area north of London, where they grew up. Their lawyers had said they denied the allegations.

Copyright July 19, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved