February 26, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Abbott's school voucher ally pulls in big money for HD118 race

A deluge of spending and attack ads are suddenly raining down on two San Antonio-area state legislative races that previously weren’t getting much attention. Campaign finance reports covering Jan. 23 through Feb. 21 were due Monday, detailing money raised and spent by campaigns and outside groups in the month leading up to early voting. They showed state and national PACs pouring money into a GOP primary on the South Side, where Republicans are choosing between a school voucher architect and a trial lawyer as their nominee to replace state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio). Meanwhile in another district, longtime Democratic state Rep. Liz Campos (D-San Antonio is spending big to fend off a 25-year-old challenger whose family has deep political connections, and could benefit from the surge of new Democratic primary voters turning out to vote.

click here for more

In the Republican primary, the most recent reports showed a surprise uptick in spending for Jorge Borrego, a 30-year-old former think tank scholar who helped craft Gov. Greg Abbott’s landmark Education Savings Account program in the last legislative session. Borrego worked on education policy at the Austin-based think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation, and is now one of three Republicans seeking their party’s nomination in House District 118. That race once seemed all but sewn up for attorney Desi Martinez, who Lujan recruited to run for his old seat, but who now faces a barrage of attack from Borrego’s deep-pocketed supporters. A national school choice group, AFC Victory Fund, is on TV with ads depicting Martinez on an Obama-era hope poster, and criticizing him for having run as a Democrat in the past. Martinez’s campaign said he does support school vouchers — a defining issue in last cycle’s GOP primaries — but one that’s hardly been discussed this cycle since they were approved in the last session. Similar attacks are flying from the statewide group Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR), which accounted for the vast majority of Borrego’s surprising $360,000 haul on the latest campaign finance reports. TLR is spending big to elect candidates who support tort reform, and opposing trial lawyer candidates from within the Republican Party. Now Borrego is getting help from Abbott, who will campaign alongside him at Texas Pride Barbecue on Thursday morning.

Crockett up by double digits in Texas Senate Democratic primary poll

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) holds a double-digit lead over her opponent in a hypothetical Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Texas, according to a survey released this week. The two-week University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll, which concluded Feb. 16, shows the congresswoman leading Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D), 56 percent to 44 percent, among likely Democratic primary voters in Texas. The poll was conducted just before the start of early voting, which began on Feb. 17 and lasts through Feb. 27. The primary will be held on March 3. The survey also took place before Talarico got a boost of momentum last week from the national controversy surrounding his appearance on CBS’s “Late Show” with Stephen Colbert. The talk show host said CBS told him not to broadcast Talarico’s appearance, citing pressure from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), though the network denied the accusation.

click here for more

Colbert pushed back, releasing the interview on YouTube, where it garnered millions of views and helped the campaign raise millions of dollars. Some political observers say the surprise development has the potential to be a last-minute game changer in the closely watched primary. Talarico’s standing in the survey may reflect, in part, his relatively low name recognition, though that may shift after the CBS controversy. While the congresswoman outpaces Talarico on favorability — with 71 percent of Democratic voters viewing Crockett favorably and 59 percent viewing Talarico favorably — more than a third of Democratic respondents say they don’t know of or have strong feelings about Talarico. In the survey, 21 percent of Democrats say they don’t know or have no opinion of the Texas State representative, while 15 percent say they hold neither favorable nor unfavorable views of him. By contrast, 12 percent of the same group say they don’t know or have no opinion of Crockett, and 9 percent say they’re neutral on their feelings about her.

Hillary Clinton set for deposition with House Oversight Committee in Jeffrey Epstein probe

Members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee are scheduled to question former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday as part of their investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The closed-door interview, which will be videotaped, is set to take place in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons have a house. The committee will meet with former President Bill Clinton the next day for a similar deposition. The in-person interviews come after months of bitter back-and-forth between the former first couple and the committee, which at one point threatened to hold the Clintons in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena it issued in August.

click here for more

The committee initially scheduled their depositions for October. Committee chair James Comer, R-Ky., has accused them of having given the panel the runaround since then. The Clintons had volunteered to testify at a public hearing, but Comer said the committee's practice is to conduct closed-door interviews with witnesses before it holds hearings. The Clintons have repeatedly denied wrongdoing related to Epstein and have not been accused of any crimes in connection with him. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee who lost the presidential election to Donald Trump in 2016, has said they have little information to offer the panel about Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 as he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. She has accused the committee of using her and her husband to try to distract from Trump's ties to Epstein. "Other witnesses were asked to testify. They gave written statements under oath. We offered that," she told the BBC in an interview last week. "Why do they want to pull us into this? To divert attention from President Trump. This is not complicated."

From Jalisco to Texas: El Mencho’s death triggers violence across the borderlands

The detention and killing of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, sparked a wave of violence in over 20 states with 252 violent events. But one of the first sparks, happened in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Around 8:00 am on Sunday, several cars were set on fire, blocking highways. At first, there was no clear explanation because there was no visible local security operation that would justify this type of blockade. It wasn’t until around 10 a.m. that questions began to arise about the leader’s death. The presence of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in Tamaulipas has been confirmed since 2023. At the time, the U.S. government declared that they had formed an alliance with the “Metros” faction of the Gulf Cartel to gain control of customs trafficking and fuel theft operations (or huachicoleo), and to maintain control over this part of Tamaulipas.

click here for more

Cecilia Farfan, head of the North American Observatory at The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) explains that “border towns like Reynosa are important because the border is a region where added value is created.” When substances move north, that triggers an increase in their price once they cross the border with the U.S. The value of trafficked firearms and ammunition goes up when they enter Mexico. Although Tamaulipas is geographically far from Jalisco and Michoacán — the CJNG’s main centers of operation — organized crime dynamics closely connect these regions. “El Primito,” identified as originally being from Colima, went to Tamaulipas to take charge of the “Metros” faction. In Reynosa, he reportedly oversaw the structure for fuel trafficking through the bridges connecting Reynosa with the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. The U.S. government has considerable information about operators involved in this logistics network, including environmental logistics and fuel smuggling operations carried out through fiscal mechanisms. James and Maxwell Jensen — whose extradition has been requested by the Mexican government for alleged links to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Veracruz and Tamaulipas — are both linked to “El Primito.”

State Stories

Texas is correcting thousands of errors in controversial Bluebonnet curriculum

Texas will correct more than 4,200 errors in the controversial, state-written Bluebonnet curriculum, which was rolled out in public schools this year, the state board of education ruled on Wednesday. The fixes, which range from missing commas and improperly licensed images to incorrect answer keys and factual errors, were submitted by the Texas Education Agency, which wrote and published the curriculum as part of Texas’ push for state-issued “high-quality” instructional materials. Board members approved the changes, but not before expressing frustration about the “unprecedented” number of errors. Several raised concerns that they hadn’t been caught in the initial approval process and that taxpayers would be on the hook for the costs of reprinting the updated material.

click here for more

“I’m very concerned about our review process,” said Will Hickman, Republican of Houston. “It feels like we’ve done something wrong, that we have high-quality instructional materials that were approved by us, but then they are coming back with 4,200-plus corrections.” The Republican-led board voted 8-6 to approve the changes, with support from most of the board’s conservatives. Republican Evelyn Brooks of Frisco joined Democrats to oppose them, and Hickman did not take a vote. Bluebonnet has been highly controversial since its adoption two years ago. Portions of the materials integrate Biblical teachings and are viewed by some critics as part of a national effort to return Christianity and prayer into public schools. Texas is also one of the only states in the country to write and print its own textbooks in addition to setting guidelines for private publishers to follow. The Texas Education Agency gained that power through a new law approved by the state Legislature in 2023 that aimed to increase rigor in classrooms and give teachers more ready-made lesson plans. The state-issued materials are optional, but public school districts receive a financial incentive if they adopt them, which critics say represents an effort to increase top-down control of classroom instruction. Just under one-third of the roughly 1,200 districts statewide voted to adopt Bluebonnet this school year.

Texas Republican warns Trump of Iran regime change: 'You break it, you own it'

U.S. Rep Michael McCaul is speaking out on the risks posed by a U.S. invasion of Iran, an idea reportedly under consideration by President Donald Trump. Ahead of the president's State of the Union speech Tuesday night, McCaul, an Austin Republican who is not seeking reelection this year, warned that were the United States to attempt to remove Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the administration did to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last month, it is unclear who would take his place. "The problem is you don't have a clear leader. (The opposition) don't have weapons, and they don't have communications," he said. "I think it's going to be more complicated than Maduro. That was an extraction. I think regime change in Iran will be... you know when you break it you own it. We've done that a couple times in the Middle East, and I'd be very careful."

click here for more

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Trump has told advisers that if diplomacy or any initial targeted U.S. attack does not lead Iran to give up its nuclear program, he would consider a larger-scale attack towards driving that country’s leaders from power. During the State of the Union, Trump accused Iran of actively developing nuclear weapons, despite a U.S. strike on nuclear facilities there last year. "They're starting it all over. We wiped it out and they want to start it all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions," he said. Iran's Foreign Ministry denied that claim Wednesday, writing on social media: "Professional liars are masters at creating the illusion of truth." The former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, McCaul has a history of questioning Trump administration policy. Last year, he warned Trump's global tariffs could potentially drive U.S. allies in Asia and South America to make deals with China. And earlier this month he criticized criticized former Border Patrol commander at-large Greg Bovino for escalating the standoff between Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and protestors in Minneapolis, resulting in at least two deaths. "Agent Bovino came into the situation, and I'd say in fairness he escalated the situation by the way that was handled," McCaul said at a hearing with two of Trump's top border and immigration officials.

Hood County rejects second data center moratorium, seeks attorney general's opinion on authority

Commissioners in Hood County voted down a proposed moratorium on large-scale data center development Tuesday for the second time this month — instead choosing to seek an opinion from the Texas Attorney General on whether the county even has the authority to enact one. The proposed pause, which failed in a 3-2 vote, would have temporarily halted new large-scale development while county leaders studied potential impacts on water, infrastructure and public health. Commissioners Kevin Andrews and Jack Wilson along with County Judge Ron Massingill opposed the moratorium, with Commissioners Nannette Samuelson and Dave Eagle voting in favor. It follows a similar vote earlier in February.

click here for more

Commissioners have faced mounting pressure from residents concerned about water usage, noise and long-term environmental effects tied to artificial intelligence-related data centers and power generation projects proposed in the area. During Monday's meeting, dozens of residents spoke during public comment, many urging commissioners to approve a moratorium under Chapter 231, Subchapter K of the Texas Local Government Code, a provision unique to Hood County that allows certain regulations on development. Enacted in 1999, Subchapter K specifically gave the county more regulatory authority in order to better preserve and protect nearby bodies of water including Lake Granbury and the Brazos River. But commissioners said their legal counsel, including County Attorney Matthew Mills, advised them that a moratorium may not be permitted under state law. “We hired the most qualified attorney for development regulations that we've hired to guide us through the development process and what we can do and can't do with Subchapter K," Andrews said. "The short answer: no. The commissioners court of Hood County is not authorized to institute a moratorium on development in the county, as the Texas Legislature has not granted such authority."

Suzanne Bellsnyder: Rural Texas needs champions, not loyalty tests

(Suzanne Bellsnyder is editor of the Texas Rural Reporter.) A few years back, I left my life in Austin to move back home to the Texas Panhandle to raise my family, help my aging dad and build a business in the community where I grew up. As a girl who was raised in a rural community and an agricultural family, I always felt a void in my city life. Not everyone understands this feeling, and not everyone values the life we live in rural Texas, but a few of us do. Generally, we’re conservative, we are present in our faith, we work hard, and we are often unheard. There is a small but mighty group of us working to advocate for rural Texas in state government, and to bring a better understanding of issues that impact our communities. So when I heard recently that one of those champions for rural Texas, former Texas Rep. Glenn Rogers, had been stripped of an administrative appointment by Texas A&M University, I felt a strong calling to speak up about the situation.

click here for more

In 2021 and 2023, the Legislature created the Rural Veterinary Incentive Program (RVIP) to encourage the recruitment of young veterinarians into rural communities. Rural places experience shortages of veterinarians – just like we do with nurses, doctors and teachers – mostly because the pay in rural communities is lower, making it harder for students to pay back their education expenses and creating a financial disincentive to return home or move to a community like the one I live in. RVIP helps us build our rural workforce. It’s a critical public health investment. And with threats facing Texas, such as the new world screwworm, it also becomes a matter of national security. As a former policy director in the Texas Senate, I also know that the long-term viability of programs like these depends on good people who understand the fabric of rural Texas communities. Folks like Rogers, with his experience and expertise, are critical in a program like the RVIP. Texas A&M recognized Rogers’ value last fall when it recruited him to begin reviewing applications for the program. And rightly so. Rogers was a joint author of the legislation that created RVIP. He has served as president of the board of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners. He’s a Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine Outstanding Alumnus. And he is a rural practitioner and animal health expert. If those qualifications are insufficient for an advisory role on rural veterinary policy, it is fair to ask what qualifications would be?

Hutto city officials subject of lawsuit over Cottonwood development

Over two years after development talks began, the city of Hutto and a Houston-based development firm are now at odds in a legal dispute. Hutto Mayor Mike Snyder and the Hutto Economic Development Corp. were among the defendants in a lawsuit filed by attorneys for Midway Development Group LLC on Feb. 19. The filing calls for over $301 million worth of damages – $50 million of which would make up for Midway's estimated loss of profits and $250 million of which are being sought for the benefit of the city's residents. The petition comes nearly five months after the city's board voted to cease negotiations on the buildout of the 250-acre Cottonwood Tract – a move Midway executives called "disappointing." Midway is alleging breach of contract, tortious interference with a contract, bribery and civil conspiracy in its suit, which was filed in the Harris County District Court.

click here for more

Snyder, who is a member of the EDC board, announced the termination of Midway's plans on social media in October. He reiterated comments in an interview with the ABJ, in which he primarily pointed to the development's "lack of progress" for pushing the vote. Reached by phone on Feb. 19, Snyder said he had not seen the lawsuit and declined to comment. In a Feb. 20 Facebook post, Snyder said in response to the lawsuit that the city got few concepts of what the development would look like. "What we did get was a lot of excuses," he said. "And, as anyone who knows me knows, excuses are worthless and results are priceless." Representatives for the Hutto EDC did not respond to a request for comment. Midway was selected to build out the site in December 2023. Company representatives had said they hoped to create a cohesive space for the community, similar to Hutto's Co-Op District, all while increasing commercial and retail offerings and spurring economic growth. Concept plans for the six-phase project included apartments and townhomes, big retailers, restaurants, parks and trails, a potential school site and sports facilities.

Appeals court strikes down AG’s effort to halt Harris County’s immigrant legal services fund

The Fifteenth Court of Appeals on Tuesday struck down Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to halt Harris County’s legal fund to defend undocumented immigrants in court. While the ruling appears to be a legal win for Harris County, justices concluded that it won’t prevent the state from continuing to argue that the county’s Immigrant Legal Services Fund is a violation of the state’s constitution. The state in December appealed a Harris County judge’s ruling that rejected Paxton’s attempt to shutter the program. In its appeal, the state argued the legal defense fund constitutes unconstitutional grants of public funds to private entities and serves no public purpose.

click here for more

Harris County attorneys fought that notion and argued that the program — which was approved by the Harris County Commissioners Court in 2021 on a party-line vote — strengthens the economy and keeps families together. The justices’ ruling on Tuesday asserts the program has operated for nearly five years with no apparent objection or controversy. “The state has yet to produce proof that, despite several years in operation, the program has resulted in any actual harm to residents of Harris County or the state," according to the ruling. Harris County Attorney Jonathan Fombonne on Tuesday said the county has a clear authority to continue operating the program. “This is an important win for Harris County and the families who rely on this program,” Fombonne said. “The court recognized that the attorney general’s claims don’t match the facts. This program has operated responsibly for years and continues to serve a legitimate public purpose.”

George P. Bush: With smart planning, data centers can strengthen Texas communities

(George P. Bush is an American attorney, U.S. Navy Reserve veteran, and Republican politician who served as the 28th Texas Land Commissioner (2015–2023).) 1930s. By Amanda McCoy Texas sits right at the heart of a generational investment, the data center boom. The Lone Star State is on track to have more data center capacity than any other state. This ongoing expansion means an extensive new pool of job opportunities and long-term economic advantages across Texas. Although this ?sort of innovative landscape ?is worth embracing, Texas needs to home in on these benefits while working with local communities to address their concerns around this new era of infrastructure buildout. Data center development involves long-term water planning, land-use coordination and infrastructure upgrades that can shape a community for decades. Texans living in these communities deserve both the economic tailwinds from these investments and a comprehensive strategy to ensure construction headlines are accompanied by responsible resource management.

click here for more

The good news is we don’t have to choose between the false narrative of growth and responsibility — we just need the right partners. Texas must put a framework in place to make sure data center development strengthens the fabric of local communities. When it comes to energy, large load customers, such as data centers, should help cover the cost of keeping the grid strong and reliable. That could include investing in their own on-site backup power, supporting new generation or crafting thoughtful ways to respond to high power demand. States such as Indiana and Missouri have enacted capacity commitment frameworks that balance growth and consumer protections by requiring large industrial electricity customers to pay for the costs associated with serving their operations and prevent cost shifting to other ratepayers. Some tech companies operating in Texas have gone further, establishing dedicated energy impact funds to support grid reliability and affordability for the communities around them — a model worth encouraging industrywide. Long-term water planning must also be part of this conversation, especially in drought-prone regions across Texas

Texas man who saved lives at Camp Mystic honored at Trump's State of the Union

The Coast Guard swimmer who saved 165 lives during the deadly flooding at Camp Mystic last year received an award for "extraordinary heroism" during the State of the Union Tuesday night. President Donald Trump awarded the Legion of Merit award to Scott Ruskan, who was seated in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber with one of the girls he rescued from Camp Mystic, 11-year-old Milly Cate McClymond. Trump said it was the first time the two had reunited since the July 4 flooding that killed more than 130 people in the Texas Hill Country, including 28 at the Christian girls' camp that McClymond attended. Trump called the flooding "one of the worst things I've ever seen."

click here for more

The rescue mission to Camp Mystic had been Ruskan's first after finishing his training with the U.S. Coast Guard roughly six months earlier, according to the military branch. He traveled there on a four-person flight crew but was reportedly the only first responder rescuing campers on the ground at the time. Ruskan received a roughly 30-second standing ovation before a military aide arrived to decorate him with the Legion of Merit medal.

Texas child care centers get business support

The Texas Workforce Commission is launching a new Child Care Business Support initiative to uplift child care providers as a key part of the state’s workforce infrastructure. Licensed and registered child care programs across Texas will have access to free business coaching, training and tools meant to help them stabilize their operations, manage finances and retain staff, according to the commission’s announcement on Monday. To obtain the support, providers must register, complete a business health assessment, receive a personalized learning plan, and connect with one-on-one and group coaches, along with self-paced learning modules and training events in English and Spanish. Joe Esparza, the Texas Workforce Commission chair, said in a statement that the initiative demonstrates his agency’s commitment to helping child care providers manage their business needs.

click here for more

“Texas child care businesses are a critical link in the workforce system, providing children with safe, nurturing environments while their families contribute to a strong Texas economy,” his statement said. The initiative offers two main types of support. Business coaching is aimed at improving day-to-day operations such as budgeting, marketing and supervising staff. The initiative also connects providers with experts in early childhood and adult learning for training in financial planning and risk management, among other topics. Alberto Treviño III, the Texas Workforce commissioner representing labor, called the initiative a direct investment into the workforce. He said in a statement that the initiative will strengthen the foundation for working families to thrive across Texas. That matters, because inadequate access to child care already costs Texas an estimated $11.4 billion each year in lost productivity and revenue for parents, businesses and taxpayers, according to the University of Texas at Austin. Advocates warn those losses will only increase as more parents scramble for limited care. State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, told The Dallas Morning News last year that more than 5,000 child care centers have closed in Texas since the pandemic. The state lost nearly 75,000 child care seats in 2024 alone, according to the advocacy nonprofit Children at Risk.

AG Ken Paxton sues more out-of-state providers for allegedly shipping abortion pills to Texas

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing more providers for allegedly shipping abortion medication into Texas. Paxton's office announced a new suit Tuesday against Aid Access, a nonprofit based in Austria, as well as two medical providers. The office asked a Galveston County judge for a temporary injunction that would prevent the defendants from providing medicine to Texas residents and practicing in the state without a license. The suit alleges Aid Access's founder, Dutch physician Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, and California physician Dr. Remy Coeytaux violated Texas' abortion law by prescribing "abortion-inducing drugs" to Texans and shipping the medications into the state. KERA reached out to Aid Access for comment and did not receive a response.

click here for more

Gomperts founded the organization in 2018 to "create social justice and improve the health status and human rights of women who do not have the possibility of accessing local abortion services." The "abortion pill" refers to two medications — mifepristone and misoprostol — used to end an early pregnancy. Both are part of the most common type of "medication induced" abortion. In the U.S., 9 in 10 abortions occur within the first trimester, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The World Health Organization said in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, abortions can be safely self-managed outside of a health care facility "in whole or in part." However, the Food and Drug Administration has only approved mifepristone for people less than 10 weeks pregnant. Texas law requires abortions permitted by narrow exceptions to be performed by a physician licensed in the state. Paxton's complaint said by providing abortion medication to Texas residents through a telehealth structure, Aid Access also violates the state law, which says people may not "mail, transport, deliver, prescribe, or provide an abortion-inducing drug in any manner to or from any person or location" in Texas.

Redistricting pits Democratic colleagues and allies against each other in Texas

The new Texas congressional map that kicked off a nationwide redistricting fight last year was designed to boost Republicans in the midterm elections. First, in the primaries, the map is pitting the newest Democrat in Congress against one of his longest-serving colleagues in a primary. Rep. Christian Menefee took office this month after he won a late January special election to fill the Houston-based seat of Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died last year. But because of the new congressional maps, Menefee is running for a full term in a district composed of a mostly new group of voters. Meanwhile, Rep. Al Green is running in the same district after the Legislature redrew his longtime seat to lean more Republican. It's not the only awkward primary matchup forged in part by redistricting.

click here for more

Democratic former Rep. Colin Allred, who endorsed current Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson to succeed him in a Dallas-based district in 2024, is now challenging Johnson after a redistricting shuffle that led two other Democrats from the metro area to leave their seats and Allred to leave the Senate race to seek election to the House once again. The race between Johnson and Allred has heated up over stock trading and immigration enforcement, while Menefee and Green's has been fueled by calls for generational change. The primaries Tuesday highlight some of the issues that will echo through Democratic primaries around the country all year. But the matchups have their roots in redistricting, which occasionally pits incumbents against each other — though usually only once every 10 years, after a census. Early voting in Texas has already begun as voters decide which members of Congress they want to keep. “I think that we should always acknowledge and start from the premise that this is what the Trump administration wanted,” Allred said. “They wanted to draw districts together to force Democrats to run against each other. They wanted to sow division and reduce representation, and that’s what their aim was.”

New details have emerged on the sale to ICE of a New Jersey warehouse with a Dallas connection.

Monday morning, we published a story about a Dallas connection to the sale of a warehouse in New Jersey to ICE. We updated that story twice since, as new details emerged, including who owned the warehouse exactly, and a couple of clues as to why the sale probably went through. Monday night, CoStar News, which covers real estate specifically, was able to confirm with ICE that the agency did purchase the building. It also confirmed that it was owned by DG Roxbury Property Owner, an entity that includes a Goldman Sachs asset management fund as a majority owner and Dalfen Industrial (which is headquartered in Dallas) as a minority owner.

click here for more

Goldman Sachs says that the company had a “fiduciary obligation” to sell the property when an offer was made, especially since the building had been vacant for two years. In a comment to the Dallas Morning News, Dalfen provided another clue: They sold the property because “of the potential of eminent domain.” Even before this story was published, we had been trying to get a better sense of how these deals are done. We had some of the likely components when we explained why cities are often caught unaware that ICE is looking at a warehouse in their boundaries here. We ended up finding someone familiar with these deals who would speak on background. From the story: In most cases, the warehouse owners—whether it be a real estate development company or an investment firm—are approached by a third-party government contractor, a person with knowledge of such deals but who is not authorized to speak to the press told D Magazine. The risk, the source says, is if the seller rebuffs the government’s offer, the government could attempt to take the property through eminent domain. If successful, the price would be set by the courts and could be lower than what was originally offered. Should that happen, it introduces another issue: If the seller has investors or is part of an asset fund, for instance, its required to protect investors. Turning down the offer and risking seizure at a lower value—along with the attendant legal costs—doesn’t do that. Even if the seller is opposed or uncomfortable with the deal, that risk doesn’t leave them with any good choices, the source said.

National Stories

Takeaways from surgeon general nominee Casey Means’ Senate confirmation hearing

Dr. Casey Means, the president’s nominee for surgeon general, believes the US is a “nation with a broken heart” reckoning with unprecedented amounts of chronic illness and mental illness. But during a lengthy confirmation hearing on Wednesday, she said vaccine policy would not be her priority. At one point, she sparred with a senator over the benefits of flu vaccination, dodging repeated questions on whether she thinks it’s effective against hospitalization and death. Means was interrogated by senators from both sides of the dais about her positions on vaccines, abortion and contraception and pesticides. She also fielded questions about her qualifications, conflicts and even her personal use of psychedelic mushrooms.

click here for more

In her opening remarks Wednesday, Means described the “unraveling” of mental and physical health” in the United States and “a society losing its mind” to dementia and depression. “As a physician, I have always been inspired that the root of the word healing means to return to wholeness,” she told senators. “Nothing is more urgent than restoring wholeness for Americans, physically, mentally and societally.” Means said she would push to address root causes of chronic illness through nutrition, steering away from “frankenfoods made in factories,” and said she wants to focus the health care system on understanding “why we are sick and not just reactive sick care.” Advocates and some former officials have criticized Means’ nomination because the surgeon general is typically a physician with clinical experience; Means dropped out of her medical residency program, and her Oregon medical license is inactive. Means acknowledged on Wednesday that her license is not active and she cannot write a prescription. She said she has no plans to reactivate her license. Here are highlights from the roughly two-and-a-half hour hearing. Means’ vaccine views were a common theme throughout the hearing, with both Democrats and Republicans questioning her stance on the childhood vaccine schedule and certain immunizations under new scrutiny by Kennedy appointees, such as the hepatitis B vaccine.

Washington Post losses topped $100 million in 2025

The Washington Post lost more than $100 million last year, according to people familiar with the matter, financial troubles that contributed to the company’s decision to cut its staff by 30% earlier this month. The Post lost roughly $100 million in 2024 and $77 million in 2023. The paper, known in part for its coverage of the Watergate scandal and the Pentagon Papers, has struggled to find a sustainable business model in the face of waning web traffic and changes to the way consumers access news and information online. In their first major presentation since the layoffs, acting Chief Executive and Publisher Jeff D’Onofrio and Executive Editor Matt Murray held a staff meeting Wednesday in which they described years of overspending and declining productivity.

click here for more

D’Onofrio told newsroom staff that expenses surpassed revenue between 2022 and 2025 because the company had hired hundreds of staffers in the years prior, according to people in attendance. He didn’t detail the depth of the losses at the meeting. The number of news stories published by the Post has fallen by 42% since 2020, while newsroom costs were 16% higher in 2025 compared with 2020, D’Onofrio said. Murray acknowledged the “painfulness of the moment” in light of the recent cuts. The former Wall Street Journal editor in chief, who took the top spot at the Post in June 2024, tried to reset expectations for newsroom staff. “We don’t want or need to do every story or jump on everything that happens,” Murray said. “We’re not a paper of record; there’s no such thing anymore in today’s world.” Still, he said, “We want to be distinctive, urgent, must-read with every chance we have.” D’Onofrio, who was named to his post earlier this month after the departure of publisher and CEO Will Lewis, said he is looking toward a larger strategic plan. “Bear with me, because that will take some time and obvious care, but I’m keen to get going on it,” he said. “And we are going to go after it, and we’re going to go after it hard, because we owe it to this place to do that.”

U.S. brings tough demands to Iran nuclear talks

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are entering a crucial round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program Thursday with tough demands, under pressure from hawks in the administration and Republicans in Congress not to agree to a deal that could be criticized as soft. In the talks, now under way in Geneva, the U.S. negotiators were expected to make clear Iran must dismantle its three main nuclear sites—at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan—and deliver all of its remaining enriched uranium to the U.S., officials said. They were also expected to insist that any nuclear deal must last forever and not sunset—the way restrictions rolled off over time under a nuclear pact negotiated under the Obama administration that Republicans have long said was too weak. Trump pulled out of that deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in his first term, reimposing tough sanctions on Iran.

click here for more

The U.S. demands come after Trump warned in his State of the Union speech Tuesday that Iran continues to pursue a nuclear weapon and ballistic missiles that could hit the U.S., charges Iran denies. The demands could be tough for Tehran to swallow as both sides look for a diplomatic alternative to a U.S. strike. Trump has threatened to take military action if a deal isn’t reached and has massed a force near the country that includes two aircraft carriers and a host of advanced warplanes, destroyers and missile defense. Iran has warned it would treat any attack, however limited, as a trigger for an all-out response. “This may be the last chance to clinch a deal,” said Saeid Golkar, associate professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and an expert on Iran’s military. “Failing that, the U.S. will next sort out by military means what it can’t resolve through diplomacy.” Iran insists on its right to enrich uranium but is floating proposals to placate the U.S. They include reducing enrichment to as low as 1.5% from up to 60% currently, pausing enrichment for a number of years, or processing it through an Arab-Iranian consortium based in Iran.

FBI raids home and offices of major Los Angeles school district superintendent

Federal officers conducted a search Wednesday related to the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), federal officials told Fox News Digital. Investigators reportedly targeted Alberto Carvalho’s home in San Pedro and the school district’s downtown headquarters, LAUSD said. FBI agents also raided a Miami property linked to the school executive, according to Fox 11 Los Angeles. Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California, confirmed that search warrants were judicially approved but declined to provide additional details on the nature of the investigation, noting that the warrants remain under seal. Carvalho has led LAUSD, the nation’s second-largest school system, since early 2022. He was also recently unanimously reappointed to the position in September 2025.

click here for more

LAUSD released a statement saying the district is fully cooperating with federal officials. "We have been informed of law enforcement activity at Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters and at the home of the Superintendent," it said. "The District is cooperating with the investigation." The home of Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is located in San Pedro, Calif. (KTTV) Early Wednesday morning, staff members at the LAUSD headquarters were reportedly evacuated as federal agents arrived to conduct the search, Fox 11 said. Footage captured multiple investigators, appearing to be FBI agents, going in and out of Carvalho’s home carrying various items, including a small suitcase and several cardboard boxes. Additionally, FBI Miami told the local outlet that a home in Southwest Ranches linked to Carvalho was also searched. The property has since been cleared, the station reported.

Larry Summers to resign from Harvard over Epstein ties

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers on Wednesday said he will resign from teaching at Harvard University at the end of the academic year, amid the continuing fallout from his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein."I have made the difficult decision to retire from my Harvard professorship at the end of this academic year," Summers said in a statement. Summers, also a former president of Harvard, has been under fire since the U.S. House Oversight Committee released documents detailing an ongoing personal correspondence between Summers and Epstein.

click here for more

Summers discontinued teaching roles at Harvard and went on leave as a director of a business and government school at the university in November after the university said it would conduct a review of people named in the Epstein files. “In connection with the ongoing review by the University of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were recently released by the government, Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein has accepted Professor Lawrence H. Summers’ resignation from his leadership position as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government," Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton said in a statement. Newton said Summers would remain on leave until he retires from his academic and faculty positions at Harvard at the end of the school year.Summers also resigned in November from the board of OpenAI, the developer of the ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool, after Harvard announced its review.Summers said then he was "deeply ashamed" of his actions and said he would step back from public commitments to "repair relationships with the people closest to me."

Hegseth warns Anthropic to let the military use the company’s AI tech as it sees fit, AP sources say

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic’s CEO a Friday deadline to open the company’s artificial intelligence technology for unrestricted military use or risk losing its government contract, according to a person familiar with their meeting Tuesday. Anthropic makes the chatbot Claude and is the last of its peers to not supply its technology to a new U.S. military internal network. CEO Dario Amodei repeatedly has made clear his ethical concerns about unchecked government use of AI, including the dangers of fully autonomous armed drones and of AI-assisted mass surveillance that could track dissent.

click here for more

Defense officials warned they could designate Anthropic a supply chain risk or use the Defense Production Act to essentially give the military more authority to use its products even if it doesn’t approve of how they are used, according to the person familiar with the meeting and a senior Pentagon official, who both were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The development, which was reported earlier by Axios, underscores the debate over AI’s role in national security and concerns about how the technology could be used in high-stakes situations involving lethal force, sensitive information or government surveillance. It also comes as Hegseth has vowed to root out what he calls a “woke culture” in the armed forces. “A powerful AI looking across billions of conversations from millions of people could gauge public sentiment, detect pockets of disloyalty forming, and stamp them out before they grow,” Amodei wrote in an essay last month. The person familiar called the tone of the meeting cordial but said Amodei didn’t budge on two areas he has established as lines Anthropic won’t cross — fully autonomous military targeting operations and domestic surveillance of U.S. citizens. The Pentagon objects to Anthropic’s ethical restrictions because military operations need tools that don’t come with built-in limitations, the senior Pentagon official said. The official argued that the Pentagon has only issued lawful orders and stressed that using Anthropic’s tools legally would be the military’s responsibility.

Epstein files are missing records about woman who made claim against Trump

The vast trove of documents released by the Justice Department from its investigations into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein failed to include some key materials related to a woman who made an accusation against President Trump, according to a review by The New York Times. The materials are F.B.I. memos summarizing interviews the bureau did in connection to claims made in 2019 by a woman who came forward after Mr. Epstein’s arrest to say she had been sexually assaulted by both Mr. Trump and the financier decades earlier, when she was a minor. The existence of the memos was revealed in an index listing the investigative materials related to her account, which was publicly released. According to that index, the F.B.I. conducted four interviews in connection with her claims and wrote summaries about each one. But only one of the summaries, which describes her accusations against Mr. Epstein, was released by the Justice Department. The other three are missing.

click here for more

The public files also do not include the underlying interview notes, which the index also indicates are part of the file. The Justice Department released similar interview notes in connection to F.B.I. interviews with other potential witnesses and victims. It is unclear why the materials are missing. The Justice Department said in a statement to The Times on Monday that “the only materials that have been withheld were either privileged or duplicates.” In a new statement on Tuesday, the department also noted that documents could have been withheld because of “an ongoing federal investigation.” Officials did not directly address why the memos related to the woman’s claim were not released. On Wednesday afternoon, the Justice Department said in a new statement that it was reviewing which documents were released in connection to the index. The department said it would publish any documents “found to have been improperly tagged in the review process” that are legally required to be made public. The woman’s description of being assaulted by Mr. Trump in the 1980s is among a number of uncorroborated accusations against well-known men, including the president, that are contained in the millions of documents released by the Justice Department.

Copyright February 26, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved