August 19, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Texas has now surpassed Virginia for data center construction

Texas has surpassed Virginia as the No. 1 state for data center growth, and the Austin-San Antonio market continues to be a large reason for it, according to newly released data from Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. It comes as local communities in the area, as well as state leadership, are hearing some constituents' concerns and imposing more stringent requirements on developers, including the implementation of new reporting rules, pausing tax abatements and denying some projects. The U.S. artificial intelligence race resulted in 25 gigawatts of absorption in the data center market during the first half of 2026. That number – which measures how much space was leased or absorbed – was double last year's amount, and more than five times the mark it was two years ago, according to JLL data.

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In fact, that amount is showing no signs of slowing down. There are currently 66 gigawatts under construction – enough to power about 50 million homes – around the country, according to the data. Texas leads the way with 26 gigawatts under construction, double that of Virginia, which is widely viewed as the country's largest data center market. That includes 3,476 megawatts in the Austin-San Antonio submarket, which would more than double the current capacity of 3,298 megawatts. All carry a vacancy rate under 1%, data shows. Those projects are ranging from everywhere from Hutto to Taylor to Mustang Ridge, and seemingly everywhere in between. The ABJ has tracked more than 30 projects in the metro, with a primary focus on the north, east and south sides of the Austin area. Curt Holcomb, vice chairman with JLL's global data center solutions practice team, said Northern Virginia has always been the denser market and is continuing to grow. But that area started running into power capacity and grid issues four years ago. That pushed developers and end-users to Texas, which has ample wind, solar and natural gas for power. "The biggest reason why we have so much demand here is that we have the generation capacity to meet demand," Holcomb said. "When I say that, you look at what is being developed on the generation side within ERCOT, and that is in the solar and wind and natural gas side."

Trump's border plans near Big Bend could hinge on Texas land office

The Texas General Land Office controls more land in Texas than the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined – 13 million acres - most of which is in West Texas and leased out for ranching, hunting and oil drilling to help fund the state's public schools. The office doesn't typically get much attention, but that all changed last month when Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced she had sent a cease and desist letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for clearing ranch lands controlled by her office without their permission, as part of the Trump administration's controversial border security work in and around Big Bend National Park.

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Buckingham is a longtime Trump booster who has praised his crackdown on border security. But her letter has drawn attention to the fact that any national border wall would likely traverse GLO land, potentially setting up a standoff with her and President Donald Trump as his immigration efforts extend into one of the most beloved desert expanses in Texas. Earlier this year Buckingham appeared at an event opposing the border wall with one of her political donors, Houston oil magnate JP Bryan. The hotel hosting the event, which Bryan owns, later posted on Instagram thanking Buckingham for "advocating against a physical barrier in the Big Bend region last night." Bryan, who owns ranches inside and outside Big Bend National Park and has ties to Gov. Greg Abbott, said in an interview that Buckingham "has the same concerns I do" about the logic of building a wall through the rugged terrain to the west and east of the park. "I'm all for border security," he said. "It's not about allowing people free access across our borders. It's about not doing something that’s physically insane."

The bond market is sounding an alarm. Here’s what it means

The cost for the U.S. government to borrow money hit its highest level since 2007 on Tuesday, the latest in a worrisome series of developments that have rattled global markets and American consumers alike. The sell-off in U.S. Treasury securities — at $31 trillion the world’s largest financial market — comes amid surging public debt in the United States, Europe, Japan and Canada; renewed conflict in the Middle East; and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve’s intentions. The rise in long-term Treasury yields creates another headwind for the U.S. economy, one that will lift borrowing costs for businesses and consumers as well as official Washington.

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The yield, or return, on the 30-year Treasury topped 5.3 percent in early-morning trading Tuesday, marking a dramatic break from the easy-money conditions of the pre-pandemic years, when it dipped as low as 1 percent. Much of the bond market’s unsettling tumult results from basic supply and demand. As governments and corporations jostle for the pool of available investment capital, they are driving the cost of borrowed money higher. Political leaders in the U.S., Europe and Japan must fund ambitious public spending plans, while hyperscalers such as Alphabet and Microsoft need money to build their artificial intelligence networks. At the same time, the collapse of the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire has reignited fears that an interruption in Persian Gulf oil supplies will keep energy costs and inflation high. On Thursday, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, neared $88 per barrel, up from around $72 during the recent pause in hostilities. “There’s a global competition for capital, which is government and private,” said Priya Misra, a bond fund manager for J.P. Morgan Asset Management in New York. “This is going to be a huge problem for the equity market because I think people are not convinced that the entire economy can handle this level of real rates.”

Google just made it easier for campaigns to send you fund-raising emails

Google quietly rolled out a new program on Monday that will allow candidates, political parties and political action committees to more easily bypass Gmail’s spam filter and send fund-raising appeals to the inboxes of the company’s many millions of email users. The change comes after years of complaints from Republicans that Gmail’s spam algorithm unfairly blocked their committees’ emails more than those of their Democratic counterparts, although those complaints were dismissed in court. For campaigns and PACs that meet the terms of the program, it is expected to route an influx of cash solicitations into Gmail inboxes, helping campaigns raise millions of dollars more in the final sprint to the midterm elections. Google chose not to debut the new program with any fanfare, instead posting an update to its Help Center on Monday.

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The company began to reach out to some political committees in both parties on Monday after publishing the change, according to three people briefed on the outreach who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Political strategists in both parties said the new policy could be deeply consequential for candidates — even if frustrating for users in the United States, who are likely to be bombarded with pleas for donations. “Heading into the 2026 elections, Gmail users are going to be flooded with unwanted political spam because Google decided to create a V.I.P. lane for campaigns,” said Kenneth Pennington, a Democratic digital strategist and veteran online fund-raiser. “This is a bad deal for Gmail users and a gift to bad actors in the political fund-raising space.” José Castañeda, a spokesman for Google, said the new program resulted from an effort to provide long-term clarity for both campaigns and users. “This program is designed to connect people with the emails they want to receive while keeping them fully in control of their inboxes,” he said in a statement. “To participate, bulk senders must meet strict security and compliance requirements, ensuring that messages people receive are relevant, useful and verified.”

State Stories

Congressman Fallon on USS Abraham Lincoln concerns: ‘I don’t make much of it’

Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) said Monday he does not “make much” of reports that allege crew members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are suffering from declining mental health and supply shortages due to its long deployment. In an appearance on Fox Business’s “Mornings with Maria” anchored by Cheryl Casone, Fallon, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, responded to the reports and calls for congressional oversight into the physical and mental state of crew members on the ship. “These reports are just that. I haven’t heard anything personally from our office, and I trust the Navy to do this as well. So, I don’t make much of it, to be honest,” he said.

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Casone confirmed the congressman was not concerned about the reports but cited the aircraft carrier’s deployment, saying “260 days is a long time, you know, for a deployment.” “There’s no doubt about it,” the lawmaker responded. “When I served, I always prefer to be stateside, if possible, but that’s part of the job: to deploy.” “They did an outstanding job and I’m glad they’re coming back,” Fallon concluded. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao announced last week that the USS Abraham Lincoln’s deployment, after departing San Diego in November, will end soon as part of a planned rotation with the USS George Washington. The aircraft carrier set a modern-day record when it went without a port call for more than 200 consecutive days of continuous time at sea. The ship was originally intended to return home in May but was redirected to the Middle East in January ahead of the Iran war. The Lincoln gained public attention following reports from news outlets of sailors attempting to jump off the aircraft carrier, as well as the ship’s poor living conditions — which included moldy showers and rotten food. Cao said that the ship’s deployment was extended because the mission “demanded it.” He acknowledged that deployments are “hard,” combat operations make them “harder” and that war is “hell.” President Trump said Monday concerns over members on the ship were “a CNN fake report.” “The Lincoln has been out there for a period of time, good period of time. But over the years, we’ve had them out there much longer,” he continued.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott calls for a ban on H-1B visas for public school employees

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday called for legislation banning H-1B visas for public school employees. Abbott made the remarks during a news conference in Austin focused on stopping “foreign influence” in K-12 schools. One step towards that goal is barring the federal temporary work visas that are reserved for high-skilled immigrant workers, the governor said. The legislative proposal follows Abbott’s January directive to state agencies and public universities and colleges to halt new H-1B visas. “Exactly zero Texas public school employees should be here on H-1B visas,” Abbott said.

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Additionally, lawmakers should pass legislation that prohibits public schools from taking gifts, money or property from foreign sources, Abbott said. He said schools should also be barred from “entering into partnerships or financial agreements with a foreign source.” “Bottom line is this: Foreign influence of any kind has no place in our classrooms,” Abbott said. The Texas Legislature convenes its next session in January. The proposals are Abbott’s latest policy announcements related to education, as he bids against state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat, for governor in the Nov. 3 general election. Abbott has called for increased criminal penalties for educators and school employees who have improper relationships with students. Another policy proposal would limit screen time for students. Texas already bans cellphone use during class. “The less screen time students have, the more time they have with a great teacher, the better they will be doing in school,” Abbott said.

Minnesota sues Gov. Abbott as ICE agent charged in shooting faces possible release in Texas

Minnesota officials are suing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to force him to approve the extradition of a federal immigration agent arrested in Texas after allegedly shooting a man during a January enforcement operation in Minneapolis and later lying about what happened. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in federal court, accuses Abbott of unlawfully delaying the extradition of Christian Castro, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who has been held in a Cameron County jail since his arrest in late May. "Christian Castro has been charged with breaking the law in Minnesota," Ellison said on Tuesday. "He must face justice in Minnesota."

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Ellison is asking the court to require Abbott to sign the warrant needed for Minnesota authorities to take custody of Castro. In a 1987 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that extradition is a mandatory duty and that federal courts can compel governors to comply with it. Under Texas law, a person arrested on an out-of-state warrant can generally be held for up to 90 days while awaiting a governor's extradition warrant. If Abbott doesn't act, Ellison said Castro could be released from custody in Texas as early as next week. The lawsuit also names Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino as a defendant and seeks to prevent Castro from being freed while the extradition dispute plays out. Abbott's office declined to comment Tuesday on "pending extradition matters." Sheriff Trevino also declined to comment. Castro faces four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime in connection with the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Sid Miller: Enough with the Flock cameras. Gov. Abbott needs to put the brakes on Texas mass surveillance now.

Texans believe in law and order. We support officers who pursue criminals, recover stolen property and bring missing children home. But backing law enforcement does not require surrendering our privacy or giving government and private companies the power to record where innocent people travel. That is why I am deeply concerned about the spread of Flock cameras across the United States, particularly in Texas under Gov. Greg Abbott. Flock cameras are automated license plate readers mounted along roads, near neighborhoods and in parking areas. They photograph passing vehicles and use artificial intelligence to identify license plates, locations, dates and times. The cameras can even turn those images into searchable data, allowing anyone with access to reconstruct a vehicle’s movements. Police use these systems to locate stolen vehicles, identify suspects, investigate crimes and find missing people.

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Those are legitimate purposes. The problem is that Flock cameras do not photograph only criminals. They photograph everybody. They record the rancher driving to the feed store, the mother taking her child to school, the family going to church, the veteran traveling to a medical appointment and the citizen attending a political meeting. Enough cameras can reveal a person’s routines, associations and private activities. That is the foundation of a mass-surveillance network. The dangers aren’t limited to official government use. In Fort Bend County, Pasadena and Baytown, officers have recently faced discipline or investigation over allegations that they used Flock databases for reasons unrelated to legitimate police work. In one case, a lieutenant repeatedly searched two license plates dozens of times, leading a resident to allege that she was being stalked. Internal policies and audit logs are not enough to protect citizens. Once government can reconstruct a citizen’s movements, the damage may be done before anyone discovers the abuse. And the problem with growing surveillance doesn’t stop with Flock cameras. In March 2026, Abbott’s Texas Department of Public Safety approved an emergency purchase totaling nearly $4.5 million for four specially equipped Chevrolet Tahoes and FalcoNet cellular-tracking technology. The vehicles cost $150,000 each. The rest paid for surveillance systems and related equipment.

North Texas county shuts down Flock cameras over privacy concerns

A North Texas county has shut down its network of Flock automated license plate reader cameras, saying the technology amounted to warrantless surveillance of residents going about their daily lives. Hood County Constable John D. Shirley announced Saturday that he had finished unplugging and covering the county’s Flock Safety cameras at the request of county commissioners. “These cameras were constantly scanning and recording regular folks just going about their day,” Shirley said in a Facebook post. “That kind of permanent, warrantless tracking doesn’t belong in a free society.” Shirley said residents should not have to wonder whether their movements are being logged and stored. He directed Flock Safety to retrieve its equipment from the county.

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The move comes amid growing national scrutiny of Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based surveillance technology company that operates a network of nearly 100,000 automated license plate readers nationwide. In recent months, reports have revealed dozens of cases in which law enforcement officers misused the company’s license plate camera network, in some instances to stalk women. The reports prompted Flock CEO Garrett Langley to issue a public apology. “I apologize. It kills me that [the victim] went through that,” Langley told CBS News. He defended the company’s technology but acknowledged that “we could have done more earlier.” Following the backlash, Flock announced several changes to its system, including reducing the default data retention period for license plate information from 30 days to seven days, requiring a case number for all searches and implementing an automated tool to flag suspicious search activity. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called the shortened retention period “a step in the right direction” but warned that the changes could amount to a public-relations move, adding that the true impact would depend on how the company’s long-term storage exceptions are implemented. Critics have also raised concerns about racial and political profiling, non-law enforcement access to cameras and data privacy vulnerabilities. Because most jurisdictions do not require a warrant for police to search a license plate or track someone’s movements over time, some have questioned the constitutional legitimacy of the technology. Flock Safety has not responded to Hood County’s announcement.

Texas real estate 'fin-fluencer' Tie Lasater settles case accusing him of misleading investors

A Texas financial influencer who touted his ties to rapper Vanilla Ice and “multimillionaires and billionaires throughout the world” as he built a real estate empire that then crumbled — in some cases literally injuring tenants — has settled with state regulators who sanctioned him in June. The Texas State Securities Board ordered Tie Lasater, his brother, Shiloh “Boone” Lasater, and their company to immediately stop raising new investor money. By not fully divulging that their properties had been lost to foreclosure, had receivers appointed to manage them or been the subject of bankruptcy proceedings, the Lasaters were “making offers containing statements that are materially misleading or otherwise likely to deceive the public,” the agency asserted. In court filings, the Lasaters disputed the agency’s claims and said they had made proper disclosures of the company’s history.

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In the settlement, they did not admit wrongdoing or pay any penalties. But they agreed to offer a refund to Texas investors in their latest venture. They also agreed to include a detailed summary of their portfolio’s results to any future potential investors in their latest fund. The new disclosure lists nearly a dozen properties in Texas, Florida and Tennessee that have been foreclosed upon. Another half-dozen properties owned by the brothers’ companies have pending foreclosures or forced sales, according to the document. Those include two North Texas multi-family apartment complexes, Villa Gardens in Farmers Branch and The Hive in Dallas, with more than 500 units between them. It also identifies eight multi-family properties for which a receiver had been appointed; four court judgments against the brothers and their companies totaling more than $24 million (some of which they are appealing); and 21 pending lawsuits in which the brothers or their real estate companies are named as defendants.

CPS Energy responds to Abbott's plan to privatize the SA electricity market

San Antonio leaders and CPS Energy are pushing back against Gov. Greg Abbott's proposal to open San Antonio’s electricity market to private, for-profit providers. Abbott is arguing that competition would give customers more choices and lower their monthly bills. San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has said local energy bills would increase under Abbott's plan. Most Texans in deregulated markets can select a retail electricity provider. San Antonio residents instead receive power from CPS Energy, the nation’s largest municipally owned electric and natural gas utility.

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Abbott’s office estimates competition could reduce residential electricity bills in San Antonio by an average of 13% and commercial bills by as much as 20%. However, the governor has not released a detailed analysis supporting those estimates. Abbott has also criticized the city’s use of utility revenue for purposes unrelated to providing electricity. The governor's office has called CPS Energy's contribution to COSA's general revenue fund a "slush fund." CPS Energy transfers 14% of its gross revenue to San Antonio’s general fund. The city budgeted approximately $504 million from CPS Energy for fiscal year 2026 — nearly 30% of general-fund revenue. That money supports police and fire protection, parks, libraries, senior services and other city operations. Jones rejected Abbott’s description of that money as a “slush fund,” saying it pays for services that protect the community’s health and safety. She warned that losing the revenue would leave the city searching for replacement funding while confronting a projected budget shortfall. CPS Energy says its not-for-profit structure keeps combined electric and gas rates among the lowest in Texas. Board Chair Francine Romero has also challenged Abbott’s comparison with Houston retail plans, arguing that advertised prices may be temporary or exclude fees. Under current Texas law, a municipally owned utility’s governing body decides whether to participate in retail competition. Forcing CPS Energy’s market to open would therefore require the Texas Legislature to change state law. Abbott said he plans to pursue legislation during the 2027 session.

Karl Rove says Texas Senate Race may hinge on Trump spending war chest: ‘Could be a really bad night for Republicans’

If President Donald Trump doesn’t open up the political purse strings soon, Republicans could find themselves having a “bad night” come Election Day, Karl Rove predicted. The Senate race between James Talarico (D) and Texas State Attorney Ken Paxton (R) could hinge on Trump’s willingness to spend, Rove declared Tuesday during an appearance on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino. After first discussing the Michigan Senate race between progressive Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers, Perino asked Rove his thoughts on the race in the Lone Star State.

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"The state is Republican in nature. But this is an unusual race. You are right. Talarico I think had over $70 million raised and Paxton had $9 million plus. And you are right. The week before the Fourth of July he was in Iceland with his new girlfriend. On July 4th, a day where he could be campaigning at Fourth of July celebrations all across Texas, he was in London. So he needs to get out on the campaign trail and he is not going to change as a fundraiser. So this is going to be one that will depend mightily upon the decision of President Trump to spend or not spend the half a billion plus dollars that he has in his two super PACS Maga, Inc. And Never Surrender. If he does spend he can even it up. If he doesn’t spend this could be a really bad night for Republicans in Texas," he said.

Bonnie Kristian: Texas should not define religion down

(Bonnie Kristian is staff editor of Christianity Today.) Religious liberty is for everyone. It is for Christians and Muslims, Jews and Mormons, Wiccans and neopagans and observers of whatever other strange rites people are inventing these days. It is for false religion as well as true, so long as its practitioners do not harm their neighbors. This is a fundamental principle of American society and governance: We may worship (or not) however we please so long as we do not infringe on others’ life, liberty, or property. So what’s going on in Texas? An extensive New York Times article this week documents backlash against a growing Muslim population in the state, particularly in the Dallas–Fort Worth metro. The part of the article attracting the most attention is its report that “one avenue being explored in Texas is to try to use state law to ban or regulate some Islamic cultural practices, such tribunals for marriage and other decisions governed by religious rules, often referred to as Shariah law.”

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To be clear: No such law has been passed, and I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think it would survive constitutional challenge. The practices in question operate within these religious communities, have no authority over non-Muslims, and don’t override Texas law. Still, this isn’t just idle talk. Among those advocating for such regulation is state lawmaker Alan Schoolcraft, a Republican from the San Antonio area, who told the Times he aims to restrict Islam in Texas by legally redefining it as something other than a religion and therefore undeserving of standard religious liberty protections. A proposal like this would raise some hackles under any circumstances, but in this case, it comes right after other changes that critics argue unconstitutionally privilege Christianity above other faiths in Texas. The reality here is complicated. The state’s addition of Bible passages to its public-school reading curriculum, for instance, is easily defensible on secular literary grounds. On the other hand, Texas in 2025 passed a bill requiring every public-school classroom to display the Ten Commandments. The law survived initial legal challenge, with an appeals court verdict holding that the requirement is allowed under the establishment clause because it tells no one “what to believe or how to worship,” “punishes no one who rejects the Ten Commandments,” and is otherwise unlike the historic state-affiliated churches the First Amendment rejects.

Texas Tech University is using A.I. to cut left-leaning content

The Texas Tech faculty meeting began amicably this spring, with offers of refreshments. Then administrators handed out reports, created partly by artificial intelligence, listing the lessons professors needed to stop teaching. “What?” one professor asked. “I don’t even teach those things.” “There are factual errors,” added another. “It’s A.I. slop,” a third said. Texas Tech is using A.I. to ferret out books and other materials that touch on topics like sexual orientation and gender identity. Professors describe the effort as a dystopian academic nightmare, in which ideologues are wielding technology to sideline subject-matter experts. Last month, the American Association of University Professors sued the university, saying the course-review effort is viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment. That is not how the Texas Tech system’s leader, Brandon Creighton, sees things.

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Mr. Creighton, a former state lawmaker who has been heading the five-university system since November, is the force behind the effort. He has said there was “quite a bit of garbage in curriculum” at universities. His course-review plan, he said, “will produce the best curriculum in America. I also believe it will be a national model when we’re finished.” Mr. Creighton is tackling two of higher education’s most pressing problems, at least in the eyes of its Republican critics and others who argue universities need to be reformed. Academia needs to rebuild lost public trust as campuses have moved left and to make itself more relevant in the era of artificial intelligence, they say. In an interview, Mr. Creighton fired off a litany of concerns about higher education shared by Republican politicians across the country, saying that diversity, equity and inclusion offices discriminated against Asian students, campus protests often turned antisemitic, and diversity statements — which he has called “leftist loyalty oaths” — sidelined conservatives in faculty hiring. Politics aside, Mr. Creighton has said an A.I.-fueled wave will forever reshape higher education in the years ahead. He said he wanted the campus to be well positioned to take advantage of that paradigm shift by focusing on degrees that employers want and eliminating low-enrollment programs. He touts a partnership with Nvidia to invest in A.I. infrastructure.

To dodge TEA takeover, Everman ISD turns failing campus into public charter school

After Charles Baxter Junior High School received a fourth consecutive F grade in the state’s annual A-F Accountability ratings, Everman ISD will turn the campus into a public charter school that will be operated by an outside organization, district officials said this week. Everman ISD is partnering with Third Future Schools, a nonprofit educational management organization, to turn Charles Baxter into a public charter school. The campus will remain as part of Everman ISD, but Third Future Schools will run the campus and its daily operations. Everman ISD’s Townley Elementary will also be run by Third Future Schools. Townley received a D grade in the Texas Education Agency’s 2026 A-F ratings.

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Third Future Schools was founded by Mike Miles, who served as CEO until 2023, when he was appointed as the superintendent of Houston ISD when the TEA took over that district. The main perk of turning to Third Future Schools is that it temporarily eliminates the threat of Charles Baxter receiving a fifth consecutive F rating, which would trigger a Texas law that allows TEA to either close the campus or takeover Everman ISD by naming a new superintendent and replacing the school board with a state-appointed Board of Managers. That process played out earlier this year at both Fort Worth ISD and Lake Worth ISD. Since Everman ISD has turned to an outside organization and transformed Charles Baxter into a public charter campus, it halts the potential takeover process. If the campus receives a fifth F in next year’s accountability ratings, it still will not be subject to closure or a takeover.

Scott Mitchell: Data centers need water. Texas should draw on this untapped source

(Scott Mitchell is CEO at Deep Blue, a water management company in the Midland Basin that transports, treats and disposes of water from oil and gas production.) Following the recent Texas House Natural Resources Committee hearing on data center water consumption, lawmakers, regulators and industry leaders are searching for practical solutions that protect Texas water supplies while supporting economic growth. The conversation has largely focused on freshwater supplies and large-scale consumers. It’s time to add a key question: Where should that water come from? For decades, produced water — the highly saline water that comes up alongside oil and gas from deep underground — was treated as a nuisance, something to dispose of as cheaply as possible. But produced water is not waste. It is a resource with the potential to become a steady, reliable source fully integrated into Texas’ water ecosystem.

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Unlike almost every other water source, produced water does not come from aquifers, rivers or lakes. It doesn’t start as drinking water, irrigation water or municipal supply. It comes from oil and gas reservoirs — naturally occurring brine trapped in rock formations alongside oil and gas for millions of years. Treating and reusing produced water adds a new source to Texas’ broader water system. It doesn’t reallocate a finite resource from one user to another. That distinction matters. The Permian Basin alone — one of the most arid regions in the country — generates between 840 million and 1 billion gallons of produced water a day. To put that into context: Midland uses about 25 million gallons of municipal water a day to serve roughly 150,000 people. New York City supplies about 1 billion gallons of water a day to serve 9 million people. Using produced water for industrial needs is an opportunity to preserve more freshwater for community needs. That potential is increasingly being recognized outside the oil and gas industry. In its April 2026 report, “Data Centers in Texas: A Review and Call for Innovation and Regulation,” the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance recommends exploring produced water as an alternative to freshwater: “Data centers should connect with the oil and gas industry to examine partnerships for the treatment and beneficial reuse of produced water within data centers.” The report also recommends creating a higher water rate for data centers to encourage the use of alternative water sources, including recycled produced water.

Mayor Watson optimistic about Austin ISD’s future despite potential state intervention

As Austin Independent School District students return to class Tuesday, uncertainty remains over whether the state could step in and take over the district. But Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said recent academic gains should weigh heavily in any decision. Watson spoke Monday during a news conference about school safety near Lamar Middle School and addressed the possibility of state intervention after two AISD campuses received failing accountability ratings for a fifth consecutive year. Under Texas law, the Texas Education Agency can intervene when a campus earns five consecutive F ratings, including potentially replacing an elected school board with a board of state-appointed managers.

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AISD Superintendent Matias Segura previously told KXAN Dobie Middle School improved from an F to a D rating. However, Burnet and Webb middle schools received another F, scoring 58 and 59, respectively. Despite those results, Watson pointed to broader progress across the district. “I think that it is undeniable that AISD is making the kind of improvement that we should all want, and that the state of Texas wants,” Watson said. AISD earned an overall B rating this year, its highest rating since 2022, according to Watson. He also highlighted a 42% increase in the number of campuses earning A and B ratings and a roughly 35% decrease in campuses receiving D and F ratings. Watson said those improvements were especially notable among Title I campuses. “When we look at Title I schools, there was a doubling of the A and B-rated schools and again, I think it was around a 36% decrease in D and F-rated schools,” Watson said. According to AISD, 35 campuses improved by at least one letter grade this year. While Watson acknowledged the district must address the challenges at Burnet and Webb, he said the overall trend shows progress.

City Stories

Why United Methodist Church is suing Highland Park UMC

News that the 110-year-old Highland Park United Methodist Church is being sued by the United Methodist Church’s Horizon Texas Conference has been the talk of several towns this week, but what exactly does it mean? We spoke with Methodist ministers on background, reviewed the suit, examined the denomination’s governing principles known as the Book of Discipline, and read the statements from the Highland Park church to help explain why the suit was filed and what it means. According to the suit, Highland Park UMC changed its bylaws and articles of incorporation in 2022 and again in 2023, removing references to the United Methodist Church, the Horizon Texas Conference, and the Book of Discipline. This was contrary, the suit says, to the procedures outlined in the Book of Discipline.

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The new bylaws, the conference says, removed oversight by the conference. The suit also says that the changes were made without informing church members and that the new bylaws remove the rights of church members to participate in decisions “affecting or involving the Church.” Documents from the Texas Secretary of State’s office indicate that the church filed a restatement of formation in 2022, as well as a change to its name, moving from Highland Park United Methodist Church to Highland Park Methodist Church that same year. In 2024, it filed an identical form to change the name of The Grove, a North Dallas satellite campus formerly known as Schrieber Memorial UMC, to Highland Park Methodist Church. All those documents are signed by former senior minister Paul Rasmussen. Horizon Texas Conference Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. said Tuesday that “in recent months” he had become aware of changes Highland Park UMC made to its bylaws. Those changes, the conference says, remove oversight by the denomination and its own members. “Many faithful members may never have known these changes were made,” he said in a video. The conference says Saenz has attempted to come to a resolution on the issue with the church’s leadership since last October, but those discussions broke down. “This lawsuit is not one the Conference brings lightly,” a webpage devoted to explaining the suit says, adding that it was filed “to preserve the ability of congregants to continue worshipping within the framework they have embraced for over a century.” The conference says it is asking the court to find that the church’s moves were contrary to agreed-upon rules set out in the Book of Discipline that pertain to civil law matters like property deeds and the church’s governing documents, and that the church should bring them back into alignment with the Book of Discipline.

National Stories

Deportations are spiking. Judges say their hands are being forced.

The Trump administration has created a climate of fear among the nation’s immigration judges, firing those who don’t go along with sweeping policy changes meant to boost deportations. The Justice Department, which manages the nation’s immigration court system, is relying on pressure campaigns to bend outcomes to match President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement vision, one current and three recently terminated judges told NOTUS. They also said the department leadership has adopted new strategies to limit their discretion to rule in immigrants’ favor, which has effectively led to more deportations. One current judge, who spoke on condition of anonymity over fear of reprisal, said colleagues were deciding cases with a new understanding that “following the law can risk their job if that law is inconsistent with current policy.”

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“There’s also a lot of fear among the immigration judges. The fact that following the law in a court is bravery is a little concerning,” the current judge said, before correcting themself. “That’s a lot concerning.” The Executive Office of Immigration Review, the Justice agency that houses the courts, has fired around 125 immigration judges since Trump took office. Nearly all of them received only an email with a couple sentences explaining that the president was asserting his authority under the Constitution. The firings have continued in recent weeks. Additionally, around 100 additional judges have left with separation incentives or to retire, meaning more than one-in-four has left government. While staff stressed they seek to implement the law in a neutral manner, the firings have effectively pushed judges to grant relief less often. “For most of my colleagues, they’re going to do what they need to do to keep their job,” said Brea Burgie, a Colorado-based immigration judge who was fired in June. “There is the constant stress of, ‘Is this the thing I’m going to do that gets me fired?’ When you’re living with that, the path of least resistance is, you don’t want to lose your job so you just comply,” Burgie said.

Florida rejects Democratic establishment — and even snubs Trump

Million-dollar fundraising advantages and even endorsements from President Donald Trump did little to sway Florida voters Tuesday as they rattled the state’s parties by opposing candidates backed by the establishment. Newly minted Democratic socialist Angie Nixon scored a massive upset — and notched a win for progressives — by beating retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, who had a huge fundraising edge. And, in another major development, two candidates endorsed by Trump, scandal-plagued Rep. Cory Mills and former administration official Catalina Lauf, lost their bids for Congress. Taken together, the results show Democratic and Republican voters in solidly red Florida are hungry for change amid dissatisfaction with the economy, an ongoing war in Iran and restlessness over the status quo.

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“People are frustrated, frankly, with both parties,” said Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, who is a former legislator and chair of the Republican Party of Florida. “They’re frustrated with people not delivering. … They want people to deliver for Floridians. They want people to deliver for Americans.” National Democrats scrutinized states throughout the country during the primary season, looking for every opportunity they could find to pick up seats and flip the upper chamber come November. The one thing they may not have been betting on: A progressive who sorely lagged in fundraising scoring an upset in Florida. But that’s just what they got with Nixon’s win. A state lawmaker and Jacksonville community organizer who recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America — but notably did not have DSA’s endorsement — Nixon ended up handily winning with more than 55 percent of the vote, surprising the state as she’s now positioned to campaign against GOP Sen. Ashley Moody, the former state attorney general appointed to the Senate by Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Trump’s ICE nominee helped lead one of the nation’s most sweeping crackdowns

A key leader in the enforcement effort has been Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma Highway Patrol major recently tapped by President Donald Trump to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Schroyer helped spearhead the Highway Patrol’s effort to train all of its 700-plus troopers to enforce immigration laws and work with ICE to arrest undocumented people, according to the Department of Homeland Security and state officials. He was deputized to make ICE arrests himself last year after completing the 40-hour online training program — a shortened effort that some say does not adequately prepare officers for the fraught world of immigration enforcement. Oklahoma is so rural that many residents must use highways patrolled by state troopers to get to work or run errands.

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Tim Tipton, commissioner for the state Department of Public Safety, said the highway patrol is therefore a critical partner in the Trump administration’s mass-deportation effort. “The feds can never get this done on their own. They don’t have the capacity and never will — I don’t care how many people they hire,” said Tipton, who oversees the Highway Patrol and has worked closely with Schroyer. Instead, Tipton said, ICE will need to rely on local agencies to carry out the kind of work Schroyer was involved in. “That’s why I feel like Lance is such a perfect fit.” The Senate has not confirmed an ICE director in over a decade. And there are mounting signs Schroyer would face resistance clearing that hurdle. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has yet to schedule Schroyer’s nomination hearing and would not comment on whether Schroyer has his support.

Trump administration moves to allow logging in pristine national forests

The Trump administration on Tuesday advanced a plan to open nearly 45 million acres of wilderness in national forests to road construction and logging, removing protections that had been in place for a quarter century. The proposal by the U.S. Forest Service would repeal the 2001 “roadless rule,” enacted during the Clinton administration to preserve the wild nature of forest land. It comes as President Trump pressures the agency to increase logging and to thin forests to reduce wildfire risk. The repeal would hand a major victory to Republican-led states and industry groups that have argued for years that the prohibitions have hindered economic development. More than a dozen lawsuits have unsuccessfully sought to strike down the rule.

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During his first term, Mr. Trump stripped protections from Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, only for the Biden administration to restore them in 2023. This time, the Forest Service is eliminating protections for the nine million undeveloped acres within the Tongass, as well as millions more acres of pristine wilderness across the rest of the United States. “For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities,” Brooke Rollins, the secretary of the Agriculture Department, which includes the Forest Service, said in a statement. Environmentalists said the plan would destroy untouched landscapes, including crucial habitats for migratory species and headwaters for major municipal water supplies. Multiple advocacy groups are expected to sue to block the repeal.

Democrats declare victory in Pennsylvania seat held by Republicans since 1999

Democrats have declared victory in a razor-sharp special election in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, flipping a state House seat that has been held by the Republicans for almost 30 years. Democrat Brandon Dukes is leading Republican Scott Timko by less than 100 votes in the state House's 12th District special election. Dukes has 8,434 votes (50.26 percent), while Timko received 8,346 (49.74 percent), according to unofficial election night returns. Under Pennsylvania law, a recount is automatically triggered for a statewide race if the margin of victory is within 0.5 percent. Chantell McCurdy, the election bureau's director, said it was not immediately clear whether that applies to the special election and that officials were consulting with their legal team, The Butler Eagle reported.

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The apparent win adds to a series of Democratic overperformances in special elections across the country, buoying the party’s hopes of winning control of Congress in November’s midterm elections. It comes as Trump’s approval rating has fallen to a record low, even among several key blocs that helped propel him back to the White House in 2024. Dukes, who works as a commercial loan administrator at TD Bank, said he was “ecstatic” and “shocked” following the result, the Cranberry Eagle reported. “I’m still processing this. We just flipped a Trump +18 seat, and we flipped a red seat that’s been red for almost 30 years,” he told the newspaper. “We made history.” Timko, in a speech to supporters on Tuesday night, said "special elections sometimes produce special results,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. “This is not the result we wanted, but let’s not lose sight of the goal. That’s November 3.” Newsweek has contacted Dukes' campaign for further comment via email. Timko could not immediately be reached for comment. Newsweek has contacted the Pennsylvania Republican Party for comment via an email sent outside regular business hours.

Megan Degenfelder is 5th Trump-backed governor candidate to lose a primary this cycle

In another setback for President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidates, Megan Degenfelder will lose Wyoming’s Republican gubernatorial election, CNN’s Decision Desk projects. Her defeat comes after Trump’s picks for governor in Georgia, Iowa, and Minnesota also fell short in their primaries earlier this cycle. In South Carolina, the candidate he initially backed for governor lost steam ahead of a runoff, leading the president to also endorse her opponent and the eventual winner. This is the third loss for a Trump-backed candidate tonight, after his picks in two Florida congressional races — Rep. Cory Mills and Catalina Lauf — also lost primaries.

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How Trump’s ever-present executive assistant became the talk of Washington

Sen. Jon Ossoff didn’t even use her full name. But everybody in Washington knew who he was talking about. At a recent campaign event, the Georgia Democrat argued that President Trump would rather “travel with Natalie” on Air Force One than do the hard work that comes with being commander in chief. The Natalie in question is Natalie Harp, a 35-year-old aide to Trump who has become an object of fascination for both the left and the right. Though she rarely speaks, she is an omnipresent figure at Trump’s side, standing just off camera during Oval Office events, traveling with the president around the country and the world, and tapping out his social-media posts. Videos and photos of her interacting with the president have racked up millions of views online, becoming a new form of Trump-era clickbait.

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To Democrats, Harp is one of the president’s chief enablers. For Republicans, she is Trump’s gatekeeper. A well-timed text to Harp can unlock access to Trump, giving well-known lobbyists and fringe figures alike an audience with the most powerful man in the world. Ossoff’s comments about Harp were met with near-unanimous derision by conservatives, a rare moment of comity in a political movement beset by divisions. Some of Ossoff’s critics accused the senator of insinuating that the president and his executive assistant have an inappropriate relationship, a contention that the White House strenuously denies. White House communications director Steven Cheung fired back with a vulgar insult. Scott Jennings, a conservative commentator, accused Ossoff of sexism and called him “a coward,” while Hugh Hewitt, a conservative radio host, attacked Ossoff as “a mean-spirited jerk who traffics in slander.” Trump compared the Georgia senator to Pee-wee Herman. Asked for comment, the Ossoff campaign referred to remarks the senator made in a Monday night interview with MS Now. Harp and other White House aides, Ossoff argued, aren’t telling the president “what he needs to hear.”

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