November 12, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

‘They would have never done it’: Musk-backed business court lands in Hinojosa’s hands

Long before Elon Musk tried to buy a U.S. Senate seat or a Texas State Park, big business shelled out money to create its own court system in Texas. Texas lawmakers approved a new business court to take complex, high-dollar legal disputes out of the hands of locally elected judges — often Democrats in the major urban centers — during the 2023 legislative session. To handle challenges to its rulings, they also created a new statewide appellate court, which they gave immediate appellate jurisdiction over cases involving state officials, as well. After last week’s blue wave, however, legal experts and business leaders are scrambling to size up a new landscape that put both courts under Democrats’ control. Power to appoint business court judges will soon be in the hands of incoming Democratic Governor Gina Hinojosa, who campaigned vowing to reclaim power from big business in Texas.

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Meanwhile, inaugural justices to the new 15th Court of Appeals, who were also appointed by Abbott, appeared on the ballot for the first time this November. All three lost to Democratic challengers in a statewide sweep — upending Texas GOP leaders’ efforts to reshape the state’s judiciary. “They would have never done it if they had had a crystal ball and seen this election,” said Dallas County Commissioner Andy Sommerman, a Democratic attorney who challenged the new court’s authority. San Antonio is home to one of the five business court divisions, where judges Marialyn Barnard and Stacy Sharp just recently finished setting up shop in a building off North St. Mary’s Street several months ago. Barnard said Monday that they’ve been incredibly busy, working on cases involving Valero, NuStar Energy, the Kampmann family’s automobile groups and others handed off by divisions in other parts of the state. “Our cases have just skyrocketed,” Barnard said. “With all the companies that are coming to Texas and reincorporating … Houston and Dallas have been exploding, and so Austin, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, we have been taking some of the overflow to help out.”

Democrat Scott Colom defeats Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi

Democratic nominee Scott Colom defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith on Wednesday in Mississippi’s closely contested U.S. Senate race after a prolonged ballot counting process, giving the state its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction. Colom’s narrow victory is a seismic shift in Mississippi, which has been controlled mostly by white conservatives for generations despite having the largest share of Black residents of any U.S. state. The outcome adds to a decisive midterm rebuke of President Donald Trump, whose party suffered defeats in several Republican-controlled states, and it will bolster some Democrats’ argument that their future runs through the American South. “All I did was have the courage to imagine a night like this,” Colom told a crowd of hundreds who gathered at Tougaloo College for his victory party. “I had the courage to believe in Mississippi. I had the courage to understand that we can show the country that Mississippi matters.”

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The Associated Press called the race in Colom’s favor after local officials spent several days processing absentee and provisional ballots, called affidavit ballots in Mississippi. The last time Mississippi chose a new Democratic senator was 1947; the winner was a staunch segregationist. Colom, a 43-year-old local prosecutor, capitalized on the state’s large Black population, discontent with the economy and Hyde-Smith’s missteps as she sought a second full term. “They actually deserve a senator that will listen to them, that actually cares about what they think, actually cares about what they’re going through,” Colom said in the campaign’s closing stretch. Hyde-Smith, 67, called Colom late Wednesday afternoon to concede and released a concession speech online shortly afterward. “While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters,” Hyde-Smith said. “I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.”

A Texas grid operator wants the power to make data centers cut usage before grid emergencies

Pablo Vegas, chief executive of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, will seek lawmakers' approval to compel data centers to scale back their electricity consumption ahead of any declared emergency, according to Bloomberg. Under current rules, the grid must reach level two of a three-level power emergency before data centers can be asked to cut demand. Vegas wants curtailment required at level one or even earlier, according to Bloomberg. "The practical realities of curtailing large amounts of customers like data centers and managing that from an operational point of view really requires us to think about pulling that up a little bit earlier into the process," Vegas said Wednesday at the BloombergNEF Summit in Houston, according to Bloomberg. "We really don't want to impact residential and everyday businesses if we get into a scarcity event in the state."

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Texas enacted Senate Bill 6 in 2025, a law that obliges big electricity users, data centers especially, to cut back their consumption when given a day's warning, according to Bloomberg. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, known as ERCOT, has so far not directed any data center to scale back operations under the law. Responding to a question about whether data centers support the proposal, Vegas said that everyone in his conversations shares an interest in a functioning power grid. "The hyperscalers are on board with integrating into the system and into the community in a way that works for all of the communities and all the participants in the system," he said, according to Bloomberg. "If the legislature agrees and thinks it makes sense to modify those requirements, then we can work with them on that as well." Vegas said data centers cut their electricity consumption on their own initiative when severe weather struck last winter. He said that for the coming winter, data centers can draw on a supply of power measured in the low single-digit gigawatts, according to Bloomberg. The proposal follows a series of state actions on the industry. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in September directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing permits for data center projects until ERCOT and the Texas Water Development Board complete audits of the industry's grid and water use. That directive broadened an August moratorium that froze new data center grid connections. Abbott had also ordered ERCOT to audit data centers waiting to connect to the grid.

Democratic lawmakers apologize after absences on Hegseth vote

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) has repeatedly said Democrats will “run Pete Hegseth out of town.” But in their first opportunity to impeach the defense secretary on Tuesday, 11 Democrats missed a key procedural vote — and Hegseth was spared, at least for now. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Massachusetts) addressed the absences during a meeting with Democrats on Wednesday, as the lawmakers who missed the vote faced backlash. Democrats had disappointed the American people by not having all their members present to vote for the impeachment effort, she said. The effort was led by outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky). Clark’s comments were shared by a House Democrat and a House Democratic aide, speaking under condition of anonymity to freely discuss the Wednesday meeting.

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Even so, if all Democrats in Washington had been present in the House chamber, the party still would not have been able to beat Republicans’ effort to sideline the impeachment, Clark reasoned. As whip, Clark is in charge of counting votes for the Democratic caucus. She is poised to become the majority leader in the next Congress. Clark’s defense came as Democrats faced accusations that the outcome might have been different had some of them not been held up while returning to the Capitol from an off-campus fundraiser. By a 211-204 vote, Republican lawmakers banded together Tuesday to block a vote on Massie’s impeachment articles, instead referring them to committee for further study. Massie was the only Republican to vote with Democrats. Eleven Democrats missed the vote, with at least two lawmakers — Reps. Laura Gillen (New York) and Melanie Stansbury (New Mexico) — blaming their absences in part on a “traffic incident” in Washington. Stansbury, who co-sponsored a previous effort to impeach Hegseth, posted a four-minute apology video. “I am so sorry,” she said, with emotion. “There is no one who is more disappointed in myself than me that I was not here the moment that gavel dropped.” But she also pointed out that Democrats would not have had the numbers, and she said that they would impeach Hegseth once they hold the majority.

State Stories

Austin's relationship with the state has been strained for decades. Now, city leaders are optimistic

For decades, Austin's power to govern its people and city has been an easy target for the state's Republican lawmakers. The traditionally liberal City Council has faced pushback from GOP leaders as the city tried to enact its own rules. Municipal entities adopt their own policies that allow them to respond to the specific needs and values of their residents. That includes rules on how and where homes and businesses can be built; how police interact with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents; and even worker protections, like water and rest breaks for construction workers. Mayor Kirk Watson, who had his first stint as mayor in the late 1990s, remembers the fight back then over land use, when the city and the state were at odds over the development around Barton Springs.

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“The city of Austin was very appropriately protective of its environment, and a lot of folks that were developing land wanted to stop some of those environmental regulations,” he said. As time has gone on, things have gotten more divisive, he said. “I think one of the things that happened is it got even more partisan,” Watson said. “Austin's referred to many times as the blueberry in the tomato soup, and that hyper-partisanship led to things where cities — and not just Austin, but Austin in particular — became the partisan targets.” Things could soon change, as new statewide leadership takes office. After the so-called blue tsunami last Tuesday that flipped most of the statewide leadership, including governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, some local policymakers, including Watson, are optimistic about what the shift could mean for the city. “If you take out just the partisanship, there's so much good that can be done,” Watson said. “I'm very happy to hear our governor-elect talk about getting real results. I'm very happy to hear her talk about issues that make a real difference in real people's lives on a daily basis, things like affordability, taking out that rhetoric and focusing on the reality of living in this state.”

State Rep. Paul Dyson concedes House District 14 race to Janet Dudding

Republican state Rep. Paul Dyson conceded the race for Texas House District 14 to Democrat Janet Dudding in a social media post, saying he will not return to the Texas House next year. “The final results are in, a plurality has spoken, and it is now clear that I will not be returning to the People’s House next year,” Dyson said in the post. “Unfortunately, I caught a wave I couldn’t ride,” he said. Dyson congratulated Dudding and said he wishes her the best as she prepares to serve House District 14. Dyson accompanied his concession with an AI-generated video of himself surfing a blue wave before falling, after which his Texas-themed surfboard morphs into a campaign sign that reads, “Paul Dyson for Texas concedes.”

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San Antonio takes another look at police’s ICE policy, following Austin and Houston

Three San Antonio City Council members want to restrict when local police contact federal immigration authorities, joining a push by leaders in Houston and Austin to reconsider those policies after Democrats swept statewide elections in Texas. Council members Teri Castillo (D5), Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) and Ric Galvan (D6) submitted a memo Nov. 6 requesting a special meeting to consider an ordinance limiting San Antonio Police Department cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They want the meeting convened no later than 2 p.m. Nov. 17. Under their proposal, SAPD officers would contact ICE about someone only if that person is already going to jail on new charges or other warrants and a national law enforcement database shows an ICE administrative warrant.

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An ICE administrative warrant is issued by immigration officials for civil immigration enforcement, rather than by a judge in a criminal case. It does not, by itself, mean someone faces criminal charges. The proposed ordinance says being subject to immigration enforcement — or being suspected of it — would not alone justify contacting ICE, extending a detention or taking someone into custody. Officers would also be prohibited from holding someone in the field solely for ICE to pick them up. “We’re asking that our city manager have a conversation and direct our police chief to essentially deprioritize detaining and contacting ICE for individuals that may be stopped by PD for a low-level crime that typically does not result in an arrest,” Castillo said. She said the proposal is intended to ease fears that a routine encounter — like a traffic stop — with local police could lead to immigration detention. “Many of our families do fear that they will be pulled over for something minor that could result in detainment and the contact of ICE,” Castillo said.

‘Praying for the best outcome’: Texans who live near data centers hope for change following election

The Burnetts live next to a data center in Brazoria County that creates a constant hum they've compared to a crawfish boiler or a jet about to take off. They told Houston Public Media in June that the noise had taken a toll on their quality of life. "It’s a huge concern no matter how you dice it, whether it’s our property or health," Melissa Burnett said. "I mean, there wasn’t enough safeguards put in place prior to this coming in." In August, Gov. Greg Abbott paused permits for some new data centers until an audit could be completed. But since then, Melissa Burnett said she hasn't really seen any changes. The pause only applied to certain new data centers. Now, as new state leaders prepare to take office, she's hoping for positive change — though she does have mixed feelings about the election results. "I didn't really want to have to start over with a new governor," she said. "But at the same time, I am ... just praying for the best outcome with this change."

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She's not the only one hoping for changes under new leadership. Megan Atchison lives in rural north Texas, near Wichita Falls. She's been speaking out against a proposed data center near her home. Atchison, who leans conservative, said she would have liked to see Governor Abbott call a special legislative session to pass new regulations for data centers. "But hindsight's 20/20," she added. "It's November, so what I really care more about now is what's going to happen at [the] legislative session in 2027." Atchison hopes state legislators will pass new zoning restrictions for data centers next year. "They are not quiet," she said. "They are a massive industrial building. They belong with other industrial buildings." Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said there's a good chance the Texas legislature could be open to passing restrictions for data centers. He said unlike more partisan issues — like abortion or gun control — data centers have faced backlash from across the aisle. That matters in a state legislature where Republicans will control the senate, and Democrats will have the majority in the House.

Texas gambling expansion possible, but blue wave doesn’t guarantee it: analysis

Texas has long been coveted. By Democrats who hoped to rupture the Republican Party’s political dominance over the state of nearly 32 million. By casino and sports betting company executives who envisioned so many potential customers in a place with scant legal forms of gambling. The midterm elections last Tuesday offered both — more immediately the Democratic Party — encouragement that their dreams were realistic. While the election of Democrat James Talarico to the United States Senate was emblematic of the so-called "Blue Wave," other down-ballot outcomes could eventually prove lucrative to the gambling industry. If there’s political will, and if Texans actually care enough about it, gambling industry and Texas political observers told TheLines. And even if so, it’s going to be a while. With Vikki Goodwin ousting anti-gambling crusader Dan Patrick as lieutenant governor and gatekeeper of the Texas legislature, an obvious obstacle was removed, and a path toward legalization has potentially been charted. The election of pro-gambling-legalization Democrat Nathan Johnson as attorney general can only be taken by the industry as a positive development, too.

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Still, this is no sure thing for the likes of Caesars Entertainment owner and Texan Tilman Fertitta or Las Vegas Sands majority shareholder Miriam Adelson, who, with Dallas Mavericks co-owner Mark Cuban, have envisioned resort casinos to complement the American Airlines Center where their NBA team plays. The current stance of incoming Gov. Gina Hinojosa remains undefined in real time despite one clue from her past career in the state legislature. She twice voted against gambling-expansion bills as a state representative in 2023. But ultimately, newly minted Democratic officeholders might not be willing to spend powder on an issue neither they nor their constituents care very much about right now, said Joshua M. Blank, the Director of Research for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. “The challenge for gambling interests is that Texas voters tend to be reasonably ambivalent towards gambling,” Blank told TheLines, citing a 2025 Texas Project poll that found that 38% supported the expansion of casino gambling, but 42% opposed. “Similarly, 31% supported legalizing online gambling [and] 45% opposed that. "In both cases, the differences between Democrats and Republicans were not stark. And the patterns remain the same with slightly higher opposition and slightly less support for online betting versus a full casino gambling expansion.” California and Texas remain the largest untapped legal sports betting markets in the United States. The uncomfortable question for the industry remains whether the residents of the nation’s two most-populated states are motivated enough to open the taps. Several states bordering Texas have some form of gambling, and to the consternation of policing legal authorities, unsanctioned online gambling via prediction markets or offshore casinos remains an option. California voted down commercial- and tribal-backed sports betting initiatives in a costly and ground-scorching 2022 campaign that left the industry retrenching, and Native political power surging. Tribes already own a monopoly on casino gambling in the state through tribal compacts.

SpaceX planning $24 billion data center on property disannexed by Brownsville

SpaceX has plans to build a $24 billion data center on property that it asked Brownsville to disannex at breakneck speed earlier this year, confirming suspicions that local environmental activists expressed over the summer. The city of Starbase on Monday posted a public hearing notice on a proposed tax abatement for the project during its regular Dec. 9 meeting. The notice states the property consists of an approximately 444-acre tract that Starbase annexed after it was released from Brownsville’s city limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction in August. SpaceX plans to build a gas-fired power plant alongside the “super-compute facility.” It’s not clear how the development will interact with Gov. Greg Abbott’s moratorium on data centers.

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The South Texas Environmental Justice Network held a protest against the Starbase data center Tuesday outside the Cameron County Courthouse on Monroe Street. Speakers demanded county commissioners and Brownsville city commissioners speak out against the project. “It just proves everything we’ve been saying, which is that SpaceX can’t be trusted,” Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the organization, told The Herald. “We don’t want our low-income Brownsville community to breathe in pollution from their gas facility.” Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. was not immediately available for comment. Brownsville commissioners last week completed the months-long process of establishing a moratorium on data centers, and they have plans to extend the pause to the full 180 days permissible under Texas law. Brownsville also reactivated its Environmental and Conservation Task Force to study the potential effects of data centers on the environment, residents’ health and local economy. City commissioners will use its recommendations to inform potential data center regulations.

Becca Edwards: COP31: Getting ahead of the storm

(Becca Edwards is the Climate Action Fellow at Texas Impact.) The UN climate negotiations opened this week with sessions dedicated to a topic familiar to most Texans, improved monitoring of weather and climate conditions as a way of preparing for future hazards. Monitoring is increasingly necessary for understanding the impacts of climate change on various parts of the earth system, like the cryosphere and oceans. But its most important function is to support decision-makers in giving the public advance warning about imminent climate hazards. The connection between meteorological monitoring and risk communication is familiar to us in the United States. At the beginning of the current presidential administration, the president signed executive orders and took other measures to reduce the monitoring capabilities of scientific organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), believing that those data only mattered for climate change research. Pushback from meteorologists across the country was fierce, pointing out that those high-quality data networks feed the computer models we need to predict everything from whether it will rain on your daughter’s soccer game to whether drought will continue to affect the agricultural productivity of an entire region.

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The question of data networks came up again during the deliberations of the Special Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding after the July 4, 2025, floods in the Texas Hill Country. Committee members grilled the director of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority for hours about the organization’s decision to forgo additional monitoring equipment due to funding constraints. The state then granted tens of millions of dollars to the project of improving monitoring systems and forecasting capability in the state in hopes of giving residents timely and actionable warnings for dangerous conditions in the future. Scientific researchers and meteorologists around the world are bumping up against the same problems as the Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding did. Money. Who pays for better monitoring? Who maintains the infrastructure? And how do we connect that data to warnings that help people take action to protect themselves from hazards? As climate impacts worsen, it is more important to monitor the earth system than ever before. The scientific community, through institutions like universities and research centers and government agencies, maintains instruments around the world that provide more than 800 million pieces of data per day. These measurements come from remote sensing systems like satellites and radar, and from in-situ measurements, like thermometers, anemometers, and soil moisture sensors.

Houston, Austin lawmakers file different Texas marijuana bills. Here's how they compare.

Democratic lawmakers from Houston and Austin filed bills this week related to the legalization of marijuana in Texas. State Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston and State Rep. John Bucy III of Austin each proposed legislation that, while similar, present different paths forward in the push to legalize marijuana. Texas State Senator Carol Alvarado of Houston has proposed Senate Bill 237, which would legalize recreational marijuana for Texans 21 and older. The bill was pre-filed on Nov. 9 for the 90th Texas Legislature on the heels of the midterm elections, which shifted control of the Texas House of Representatives to Democrats.

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Alvarado’s bill would legalize and regulate the use of marijuana for adults 21 and older. It would allow for possession of up to 2.5 ounces and up to 15 grams of concentrates (THC). The bill also proposes to make it legal to grow up to 12 marijuana plants on private property that is closed to the public with locks and security devices restricting public visibility and access. Alvarado’s bill would hand over control to counties, allowing voters to decide whether marijuana-related businesses are allowed to operate. A county can order an election to approve the operation of growers, establishments, or testing facilities. State Rep. John Bucy III of Austin filed House Bill 362 on Nov. 10 which, if passed, would make it legal for adults over 21 years to possess and transport up to 2 ounces of marijuana, as reported by the Austin-American Statesman. HB 362 would also allow the transfer of that amount to another adult with the provision that that no payment is exchanged and that it is not “advertised or promoted to the public.” Similar to SB 237, adults would be able cultivate a limit of 12 plants at an enclosed private residence equipped with locks or other security devices that restrict it from the public and ensure it's "not visible without the use of aircraft or optical aids." Retail shops selling marijuana would be allowed to operate from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. but would be prohibited from allowing access to anyone under the age of 21, according to Austin-American Statesman. Hours, locations and the quantity of businesses would be regulated under local jurisdiction but it differs from Alvarado's bill in that those counties cannot ban or “unreasonably” restrict businesses from operating.

Foster care in North Texas has entered a new era

Four days after a new company began managing roughly 2,000 foster care cases in Dallas, it was, for better or for worse, business as usual in Judge Delia Gonzales’ downtown courtroom. In the Dallas County Child Protection and Permanency Court, Gonzales reviews and approves long-term arrangements for kids who have been removed from their parents. During the first hearing that came before her bench on Nov. 4, Gonzales asked the caseworker why, despite it being required for the case, a kinship worker was not present in court. One hadn’t been assigned due to a paperwork issue, the caseworker said. “I don’t care that you’re a new company,” Gonzales told the caseworker and the case supervisor. “You all know my rules. And so I don’t know why, for the second day in a row now, people are not showing up … You need to talk to your leadership about this.” In the next case, Gonzales made a determination of “no reasonable effort” after finding that needed therapies had not been provided to the child and adequate attempts had not been made to place the child with a family member.

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A “no reasonable effort” ruling means federal funding for the case stops until the court finds the agency has done enough to establish a permanent living arrangement for a child. “How do you expect me to agree to your permanency plan when you’re not taking care of the medical needs of the child?” she asked the caseworker. “And you didn’t go make any contact with mom whatsoever.” Such courtroom scenes were quotidian under Empower, the company that was in charge of managing foster care in Dallas and eight surrounding counties until its contract was revoked in July after the deaths of two children in its care. As of Nov. 1, Nederland-based Texas Family Care Network is managing all foster cases in Dallas County, while Fort Worth-based Our Community Our Kids is responsible for cases in eight surrounding counties, including Collin and Ellis. Both nonprofits have managed foster cases elsewhere in the state for several years; TFCN in 15 East Texas counties and OCOK in 10 counties in the Fort Worth area. The two contractors were brought in after the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services found that under Empower, kids were not being checked on, court files often had missing or incomplete documents, and employees were not adequately trained to do their jobs.

Justin Miller: Gina Hinojosa won’t be able to govern like Greg Abbott. Should she try?

(Justin Miller is the news and politics editor for the Texas Observer.) Over the course of 12 years at the helm of Texas state government, Greg Abbott became arguably the most powerful governor—de jure and de facto—in the history of Texas. His rule grew progressively unbalanced and unchecked by the GOP-run Legislature which increasingly followed his lead, through fear or favor, or the GOP-run judiciary, which was increasingly stocked with Abbott apparatchiks. Much of his power accumulated through longevity and hegemony, which also allowed for an aggressive and unprecedented use of the Texas governor’s executive powers—governing via disaster proclamations that granted him unilateral executive authority over a large swath of state policy over a long period of time. This became most pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic and continued through his border disaster proclamations, the basis on which he built his Operation Lone Star state immigration dragnet.

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In total, his actions amounted to a transformation of the historically weak Texas governorship, which through intentional constitutional design is less empowered than in many other states. Those constraints are achieved through, among other mechanisms, staggered appointment terms, an independent lieutenant governor (long considered, though the sentiment is now outmoded, the actual most powerful statewide official), and a decentralized executive branch with a number of other elected statewide positions. Abbott used a variety of methods, including his simple staying power, to break out of his constitutional cage—and his Democratic successor now inherits an office whose overreach she’s harshly criticized but whose power, to the extent it remains tappable, may be politically irresistible. “Not only is this the most extensive [use of executive authority], it’s also the most unchecked. He’s used these powers in a very aggressive way,” Randall Erben, a governmental law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who closely follows state executive powers and who once served as Abbott’s legislative director, told me for an in-depth profile I did on Abbott’s executive power grabs in 2021.

Texas gas prices move lower after affordability played a major role in elections

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Dallas was $3.25 on Wednesday, down roughly $0.22 cents compared to a week ago and more than $0.50 compared to a month ago, according to AAA. The local price dips are part of a broader trend: In Texas, the Wednesday average for a gallon of regular was $3.42, down from $3.60 a week ago and $3.82 a month ago. Nationally, the average price for regular was $3.94, down from $4.12 a week earlier and $4.36 one month earlier. Prices for mid-grade and premium have also been dropping. While Texas’ gas prices have been dropping in recent weeks, they’re still significantly higher than a year ago, when the statewide average for a gallon of regular was $2.61. In Dallas, the average price last November was $2.60, and nationally it was $3.07. Diesel prices, which have also dropped somewhat in recent weeks, have shot up even faster over the past year, rising from $3.75 to $6.13 nationally and $3.24 to $5.54 in Texas.

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The falling prices amount to a slight reprieve for Texans days after residents voted to transfer power to a new slate of Democratic leaders in a midterm election that hinged largely on affordability issues. “Groceries and gas, all that,” said one Dallas voter, Nate Humes, describing his concerns. Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa also campaigned heavily on the issue, including with a proposal to tap into the state’s Rainy Day Fund to give every Texan household a one-time $1,500 payment. Sen.-elect James Talarico has proposed a “cost-of-living tax cut for the middle class” and raising the federal minimum wage to $15, or more than double the current rate, which also applies in Texas. The rise in prices came largely as a result of the Iran war, which began in late February. In response to attacks from the U.S. and Israel, Iran refused to let maritime traffic pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route, which has led to severe global fuel shortages and sent prices soaring. Nearly nine months into the war, the U.S. and Iran continue to battle for control over the Strait, with both sides recently launching strikes in the area. “This is a man-made elevation of gas prices,” Jake Sullivan, a former national security advisor to President Joe Biden and now a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, said earlier this year, “made by the decision to start this war with Iran.” More recently, though, analysts say gasoline prices have been inching down in part because more supply did come through the Strait in the past couple months, and because gas stations have recently switched to selling winter-blend fuel, which is cheaper to produce. Analysts say the end of summer road traffic also leads to lower prices because demand is lower. In August, the Trump administration also authorized an earlier-than-usual transition to winter blend in an effort to bring down prices, moving up the usual transition date to Sept. 1 from mid-September.

New World screwworm cases climb to 128, with new detections in Arizona and New Mexico

Two additional New World screwworm infestations have been confirmed in horses in Arizona and New Mexico, bringing the total number of U.S. animal cases to 128 as the outbreak continues to spread across the Southwest. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the latest cases Wednesday in Cochise County, Arizona, and Otero County, New Mexico. The total has risen from 79 on Nov. 1, an increase of 62% in just 10 days. Of the 128 confirmed animal infestations, 65 remain active and 63 are classified as inactive. The latest detections follow the confirmation of a horse infestation in Bandera County, northwest of San Antonio, along with cases involving cattle in Reagan County and a sheep in Val Verde County, Texas. A dog in El Paso County was also among the recent confirmed infestations.

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Of the 128 confirmed infestations, 126 have involved domestic animals, including livestock and pets. The remaining two cases involved elk in Pecos and Jeff Davis counties, Texas. Both are now classified as inactive. USDA surveillance has also detected wild screwworm flies in six traps, including four detections in October and one in November. Those findings are tracked separately from animal infestations but provide further evidence of the parasite's presence in the Southwest. New World screwworm flies lay eggs in open wounds, where larvae hatch and burrow into living tissue. Infestations can cause severe injuries and can be fatal if left untreated. Animal health officials urge livestock and pet owners to regularly check their animals for unusual wounds, visible larvae or changes in behavior and to promptly report suspected infestations. An inactive designation does not mean the surrounding area is free of the parasite. Animal movement restrictions remain in effect in parts of 21 Texas counties: Brewster, Crockett, Culberson, Edwards, El Paso, Fisher, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Jim Hogg, Mitchell, Nolan, Pecos, Presidio, Reeves, Schleicher, Scurry, Starr, Sutton, Terrell, Val Verde and Zapata. Restrictions are also in place in affected areas of New Mexico and Arizona.

Fort Worth committee presents recommendations on how city can best regulate data centers

After spending three months developing recommendations on how Fort Worth can best regulate data centers, the Data Center & Infrastructure Commission unveiled its findings to city leaders Tuesday. The 11-member commission developed 19 recommendations across water and natural resources, land use, economic impact and electricity — all of which are detailed in a 156-page report. The committee’s findings, some of which build on existing ordinances, were presented to city council members by Michael Slattery, environmental director at Texas Christian University and director of its Institute for Environmental Studies, who was tapped by the city to lead the advisory group. In a meeting following the presentation, council members also held the city’s first public hearing on Fort Worth’s adoption of the 90-day moratorium, as required by state law.

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The committee was formed after zoning commissioners in July voted down proposed regulations on zoning requirements for data centers, recommending Fort Worth staffers create stricter ordinances. That vote prompted city officials to make three votes related to data centers on Aug. 11, including the inception of the advisory group and the moratorium process. Slattery prefaced his presentation to council members by saying data center development is the most contested land-use issue in Fort Worth, adding the commission’s goal was to produce an evaluation of data center development based on fact, not advocacy. “Skepticism is healthy and it’s exactly why getting the science right in this commission absolutely mattered,” Slattery said. The report was developed by the advisory group’s 11 members. The formation of the group was approved by the city in early August and consists of representatives with backgrounds in economic development, data centers and related infrastructure, natural resource management and environmental advocacy.

Bobby Pulido’s first D.C. culture shock: Everyone in Congress runs late

Tejano music star Bobby Pulido hasn't even been sworn into Congress, but he's already suffering culture shock. At the Capitol this week for meetings, the Democrat told reporters what has surprised him so far: how hard it is to be on time. "You have to leave at a certain time, but everyone shows up late to something else and you got to get to the next place," he said on Wednesday. "I don't like that. It's just not in my DNA. I've always been on time with everything." In Washington D.C., members of Congress are always running late. Hearings and meetings run long, news breaks and they're often fielding calls from reporters or key constituents. And Pulido, who defeated Republican Monica De La Cruz in last week's midterm election, campaigned as an everyman who gives free performances at quinceañeras and talks about the value of high-horsepower pickup trucks at campaign stops.

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The son of farmworker-turned-Tejano star Robert Pulido, Bobby Pulido was raised in Edinburg in the Rio Grande Valley, a place he still lives with his wife and four sons. At a press conference with other Texas Democrats Wednesday calling for immigration reform, Pulido described how when he decided to run for Congress he didn't want to campaign like a typical politician. "When I first got into this race I really wanted to get down on the ground and talk to regular folk," he said. "I didn't want to run a campaign based on commercials." However, that goal turned out to be more aspirational than pragmatic. Pulido's campaign and the Democratic Super PACs supporting him spent more than $12 million on television ads, according to research firm AdImpact.

National Stories

Haley Stevens hid in Republican cloakroom when she returned to Congress after disastrous endorsement: report

As House lawmakers returned to Congress Monday, Michigan Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens was “hiding” out in a Republican cloakroom after endorsing a GOP candidate over her own party in the midterms, according to a report. Many in the Democratic Party consider Stevens persona non grata after she endorsed Republican Mike Rogers at the eleventh hour instead of Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate race. Stevens showed up to work but lay low as lawmakers cast votes Monday night, according to the Washington Sun. The congresswoman voted “yes” on two bills, according to the House clerk’s office, but was situated in the Republican cloakroom just off the House floor, out of sight of reporters, according to the outlet. The Democrat has maintained a low profile since the bombshell endorsement of Rogers, a move that blindsided some of her closest friends and rocked her party two days out from Election Day.

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The Independent has contacted Stevens’ office for comment. Tension had been simmering between El-Sayed and Stevens over their stances on Israel, and the congresswoman complained of being shut out of El-Sayed’s campaign after he narrowly defeated her in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary. Stevens was swiftly kicked out of the Michigan Democratic Party after endorsing Rogers over El-Sayed, and some members of the Democratic House caucus are giving serious thought to banishing her over the “betrayal.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries previously said the party needed to have “a discussion about appropriate steps” after the election. “Haley Stevens made a terrible decision, blindsided everyone and isolated herself from the House Democratic caucus,” he told Politico. Others were more forthcoming and called for her removal from the caucus. “Deplorable and embarrassing. Capitulating to fascism, Islamophobia, racism and the policies hurting everyday Americans makes you unfit to serve with the Democratic caucus,” said Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois. “Shame on Haley Stevens.”

Video shows soldier reprimanding Hegseth and advisers at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

A US Army sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier reprimanded Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a group of his senior advisers Wednesday after some in the group laughed and talked near the solemn memorial following a Veterans Day ceremony. “All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times,” the sentinel called out, stopping his patrol to face the group as they departed. Hegseth was standing and taking photos in front of the tomb with his wife, Jennifer, chief of staff Ricky Buria, deputy chief of staff Patrick Weaver and senior adviser and deputy assistant Tami Radabaugh after the ceremony held at Arlington National Cemetery for Veterans Day. Some in the group were laughing and chatting after taking photos, prompting the soldier patrolling in front of the Tomb to yell out and correct them.

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When asked for comment, Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the “soldier correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum.” “The Secretary and the entire Department have always honored—and will always honor—the sacrifices our military men and women have made to keep America safe. While commemorating this solemn day, a soldier correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum,” Parnell said. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is one of the most sacred war memorials in the US, marking the final resting place of an unknown soldier who was killed in World War I. A soldier assigned to The Old Guard, or 3rd Infantry Regiment, has been guarding the tomb around the clock, rain or shine, since 1948. Foreign dignitaries, presidents, public figures and politicians frequently visit the Tomb to pay their respects to American service members. Hegseth and his team were at Arlington National Cemetery for a ceremony that was also attended by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Bessent relocates from D.C.-area home to military base following Iran threats

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has relocated from his home in the Washington, D.C., area to a military base following a series of Iranian threats against his life. "The secretary will not be deterred by the Iranian regime's threats and remains committed to executing Operation Economic Outcast and maintaining the blockade, which together are collapsing Iran's economy," a Treasury Department spokesperson said. The decision comes as Bessent has led a U.S. push to cripple Iran's economy, vowing an "economic onslaught" against Tehran through a web of sanctions. The New York Times first reported Bessent's relocation. A source familiar with the situation pointed to a Wall Street Journal story as the impetus for the move.

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"After The Wall Street Journal published an article featuring an online photo that allowed the location of the secretary's Georgetown home to be geo-located, security concerns began to increase which have now forced the secretary to relocate to a military base for his safety," the person told CBS News. CBS News has also reached out to the White House for comment. Last month, U.S. national intelligence chief Jay Clayton warned that Iran has "substantially increased" its efforts to target Americans in the Middle East and beyond. Clayton's warning, contained in an unclassified memo that was sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by CBS News, came as the State Department adjusted staffing at diplomatic posts across the Middle East.

A diminished Justice Dept. braces for fresh fights after midterm loss

A top Justice Department official delivered a gung-ho message to Trump-appointed federal prosecutors around the country on Monday, as they reckoned with the Republican drubbing in the midterm elections: We are now a wartime department, he declared. The official, Aakash Singh, the principal associate deputy attorney general, exhorted dozens of U.S. attorneys during a teleconference call to step up their pressure on emboldened local officials in Democratic-controlled localities, like Houston, to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, according to three people briefed on the exchange. But it is hard to double down when you are running low on chips. The department, which has already seen the exodus of hundreds of career officials who were forced out or left because they disagreed with President Trump’s priorities, faces a daunting new staffing dilemma spurred by the election.

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Many career officials who hung on until now, including some who broadly support the department’s current mission, are eyeing the exits to avoid two grim years of partisan combat. They are joined by a second, higher-profile group: senior department officials who have submitted resignations, some after a discreet shove, in a leadership reshuffle over the past week. Among the departures: Brett Shumate, the head of the department’s civil division; Harmeet Dhillon, the chief of the civil rights unit; and Jason Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney in Miami who oversaw a sprawling inquiry examining the various investigations into Mr. Trump. T. Elliot Gaiser, the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, and Jesus A. Osete, a Dhillon aide, have been nominated for federal judgeships. Patrick Davis, the former head of the department’s legislative affairs office, left before the election — averting the possibility that he would have to confront a torrent of congressional action. The upheaval is hardly a surprise. Democrats will soon have the power to try to constrain Mr. Trump’s authority to directly control the department for the first time since his victory two years ago. Representative Robert Garcia, the California Democrat who is the top member of the House Oversight Committee, has taunted administration officials to “lawyer up,” promising wide-ranging investigations into Mr. Trump and those in his orbit.

Activists, some colleagues aim to block Schumer, Jeffries from leading Democrats

After winning commanding majorities in Congress in last week’s midterm elections, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) might have expected little opposition to their efforts to continue guiding their party on Capitol Hill. Instead, the two Democratic congressional leaders are beating back campaigns by progressive activists — and some of their colleagues — to oust them. For now, neither effort appears likely to succeed, given the inherent challenges of persuading a majority of the Democratic caucuses to change direction on short notice following major political victories. Many members have already expressed their support for Schumer and Jeffries. But liberal advocacy groups, boosted by high-profile figures like actor Mark Ruffalo, are organizing against the two men, and some congressional offices say they have received hundreds of phone calls from constituents demanding new Democratic leaders.

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Their message is now reverberating through the Capitol, where on Tuesday, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), a progressive who caucuses with the Democrats, and Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) held a joint news conference to declare they would not support Schumer for majority leader. Both said the party should have an open debate about how best to lead the country in a new direction. “This idea that it’s progressive vs. moderate is just very 2019. It’s team fight vs. team flight,” Slotkin said. “Do you actually want to fight hard for the things that are going to help people or do you kind of want to just sit there and look like you’re doing something?” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), a progressive favorite, has signaled he is open to challenging Schumer but has not yet declared he is running. In the House, a handful of incoming lawmakers have refused to commit to voting for Jeffries as speaker, though no alternative candidates have emerged. Critics argue Schumer and Jeffries are the wrong leaders for the moment. The two have been lambasted by progressives activists as ideologically out of step with their own party: too closely aligned with corporate donors as populism is on the rise, too supportive of Israel and too weak to effectively oppose President Donald Trump in his final two years in office.

COP31 leaders try out new sales pitch for climate action: do it for the economy

Leaders at the COP31 summit in Turkey are trying out a new sales pitch for climate action that is tailored to the times: do ?it to bolster the economy and bring down the cost of living. The message, being repeated in the ?hallways and on the plenary stage of the annual UN conference, reflects efforts by organizers to capture the attention of governments wrestling with crises that have pushed global warming down the list of priorities. Among those is rampant inflation driven in part by disruptions to Middle East crude oil shipments since the ?onset of the Iran war. Consumer price pressures from fuel to food were a major driver in the US midterm elections ?that handed control of Congress to Democrats, and are an important vulnerability for leaders across Europe, ?Asia and elsewhere.

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"Three-quarters of humanity live in countries that import fossil fuels, hostage to price shocks they did not create and ?cannot control," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told world leaders attending the summit on Wednesday. "Recent conflicts make clear that this is a ?recipe for chronic insecurity and a cost-of-living meltdown," he added, saying the clear solution is a shift to renewable energy. Simon Stiell, head of the UN's climate office, made the same point. "Today, chaos in global energy markets and climate disasters are supercharging inflation, slamming government budgets, pushing household bills up ?and living standards down," he told the conference. "The political costs of fossil fuel dependency are unforgiving. Climate action can help relieve ?the pressures." John Kerry, a former US secretary of state who has been advocating for climate action for decades, said he liked the reframing of ?the issue.

Ben Shapiro’s screenwriting debut stars a surprising number of recognizable names.

The funniest thing about the Daily Wire’s grim Islamophobic fantasy Run Hide Fight: Infidels, which premiered on the website’s streaming service earlier this fall, was that the character played by the disgraced Jonathan Majors, the sole big name in the cast, was absent throughout most of the movie, leaving a cast of unknown zoomer actors to try—and mostly fail—to keep the viewer’s attention. It was another bleak entry in the ongoing foray of the Daily Wire and producer Ben Shapiro into feature filmmaking. But the conservative media company’s new movie, Confession, now streaming on the Daily Wire’s website, does not have this problem. The list of stars who signed on for this is long, and they’re not all #MeToo’d actors thirsting for the spotlight, either. Surprisingly, Confession actually feels passably like a real movie—if not one I could recommend most people see. Here’s who agreed to be in the first feature film written by Shapiro, about a professor brought to Lubyanka Prison in Moscow in 1938 for interrogation by agents of the Stalinist state: Rob Lowe, who plays the professor, Alexei, a broken-down, shivering alcoholic with yellow teeth and a face full of spider veins; James Franco, who plays his main interrogator, Alexei’s former student Vladimir, a once promising young man turned into a vicious instrument of state violence; Jennifer Jason Leigh, Alexei’s ex-wife Anya, brought in to put pressure on Alexei to betray the priest the state seeks to imprison for distributing religious pamphlets.

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Brad Dourif plays the priest, and Nick Nolte an unnamed Jewish inmate, one of three sharing a cell with Alexei, a person besieged by guilt who participated in the brutal process of dekulakization—a campaign that aimed to “liquidate” wealthy peasant farmers—in Ukraine. Even the smaller roles with less airtime in this movie have recognizable names filling them: the Oscar-nominated Kodi Smit-McPhee as Alexei’s estranged son, and Emile Hirsch as a concert pianist whose fame hasn’t kept him from incarceration. You might be wondering: Why did all these real actors say yes when the Daily Wire came knocking? Because Confession was wrapped in just a few months, filmed in a studio in Los Angeles, and, apparently, let you choose whether or not your character would speak English with a Russian accent? Because, if you’re James Franco, you have had some trouble getting mainstream Hollywood work in recent years, after a string of sexual misconduct allegations? Because, if you’re Rob Lowe, you’re kinda sorta a libertarian, on the record defending Ayn Rand, and maybe don’t have that much of a problem with the rest of what the Daily Wire does? Or is it simply because actors like and/or need to work, and don’t care what we think of their politics? Whatever the reasons may be, it’s a real tribute to the craft of the professional actor that such a darkly lit, visually boring movie could be at all watchable.

Copyright November 12, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved