August 4, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Gov. Greg Abbott pauses new data centers until energy, water usage audit is completed

New data centers won’t be able to connect to the Texas power grid until state regulators complete a comprehensive audit of these facilities, following a directive from Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday. In a letter to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Abbott called on the agencies to collect information on water and power usage at these facilities and to pause data centers’ ability to connect to the grid until the audit is complete. “Our top priority is to protect Texans’ safety and quality of life,” Abbott said in the letter. “That includes providing affordable energy, maintaining a reliable electric grid, preserving water for our communities, and championing Texas values. Those priorities can, and must, be achieved while also creating the jobs and providing the economic opportunity that comes with our national leadership in technological innovation and investment.”

click here for more

ERCOT says large energy consumers are requesting 474 gigawatts of power — more than five times the amount of energy used to power the entire state during record-breaking demand. About 90% of those requests are from data centers. It’s the latest correspondence between the governor and the state’s energy agencies, who are grappling with how to regulate the fastest-growing data center market in the country. And it comes as data centers have faced increasing public scrutiny across the political spectrum. Earlier this summer, Abbott directed the commission to take action to ensure that data centers lower residents’ energy bills when facilities connect to the grid and require data centers to pay for the costs of their electric infrastructure. The governor also directed the commission and ERCOT, which operates the state’s electricity grid, to review their authority and “identify actions that can be taken under those authorities to safeguard Texans, their property, and resources.” PUCT Chairman Thomas Gleeson responded to the governor’s letter last month, outlining the steps the two agencies had already taken to prepare for an influx of data centers to the state. Most of the policies began before the governor’s directive and were undertaken in response to a state law passed in the 2025 legislative session.

‘Making too much money’: Trump blasts Exxon Mobil, Chevron profits

President Donald Trump turned up the heat on Exxon Mobil and Chevron over high gasoline prices on Monday, blasting his longtime industry allies for “making too much money” while Americans struggle with higher prices at the pump. Oil majors have reported bumper quarterly earnings, buoyed by higher crude prices caused by the supply disruptions in the Middle East and the soaring profit margins for refineries. That has put targets on the backs of companies as the Trump administration faces mounting pressure to show it is working to bring down high gas prices ahead of the midterm elections. “Based on a shortage, they’re making too much money,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Monday. “I don’t like it, and I should be the last one to say because I’m a big free enterprise guy — nobody bigger.”

click here for more

Trump specifically called out the two biggest U.S. oil producers by name after both reported strong earnings on Friday. “Chevron, too much money. Exxon Mobil, too much, too much money,” Trump said. “They ought to give some of that back to the public, and they better cut the retail price, the consumer price.” The average U.S. retail gasoline price has hovered near $4.10 a gallon for the past week, up from less than $3 before the United States and Israel launched their attacks against Iran in February. In late June, Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate big oil companies for not bringing gasoline prices down fast enough as crude oil prices weakened. Pump prices are generally set by the retailers, often sole proprietors, who own gas stations, rather than major oil producers. Chevron declined to comment on Trump’s remarks, and Exxon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The two companies’ chief executives warned in earnings calls Friday that a shortage of refining capacity could keep gasoline prices high through the fall.

Blanche wins backing from Sens. Cornyn and Tillis after rescinding anti-weaponization fund

In a push to move his confirmation to the role forward, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche late Sunday formally rescinded the Justice Department's controversial $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund." The Trump administration's effort to potentially compensate allies of the president and Jan. 6 rioters was holding up Blanche's confirmation on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Two members of the panel who are both leaving Congress — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — said they wanted written assurances the fund was dead. The announcement appeared to appease their concerns, as the two senators released a statement on Monday saying they "look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon."

click here for more

With the rescindment, Blanche said he was formalizing in writing his testimony before the committee that the fund would not move forward. He said that no members were appointed to direct the fund, no funds were transferred and no claims were paid in connection with the effort tied to the May deal with the Internal Revenue Service. In a second, unsigned statement, the Justice Department clarified the scope of audit protections announced in May that shielded Trump, his family and his companies from any tax audits or enforcement for prior tax returns. The statement said those protections only apply retroactively. "My team and I have met with committee members and Senators over the past several weeks and addressed any concerns or outstanding questions. We have enjoyed good faith discussions, and as a result issue the following order and update with regards to the May IRS settlement," Blanche said in a statement on X. "The Department always welcomes and appreciates productive engagement with all members of Congress."

Manufacturing survey shows inflation worries ‘worse than pandemic era,’ adding to Fed pressure

A burst in factory activity shows the U.S. economy may be escaping the burden of tariffs and gaining manufacturing jobs, while at the same time laboring under the geopolitical uncertainty that some industry leaders say is worse than the Covid pandemic. In its July survey of the manufacturing landscape, the Institute for Supply Manufacturing reported the fastest pace of growth in more than four years — a 55.6 reading that was the best since May 2022 and above Wall Street expectations for 54.0. The index measures the percentage of companies reporting growth, so anything above 50 represents expansion. Leading the way were strong gains in new export orders, backlogs and a 6.3-point spike in production.

click here for more

At the same time, the employment gauge hit its highest since August 2022 and marked an expansion for the first time in 33 months, ISM officials said. But concerns lurked beneath the surface of an otherwise positive report. The prices index edged lower, but only to 71.1, indicating that nearly three-quarters of all respondents reported that prices were heading still higher, the 22nd straight month that has happened. Moreover, the commentary pointed to a highly volatile environment in which purchasing managers were struggling to stay ahead of events like the Iran war and tariffs. “No normalcy in sight in the world of metals,” an executive in the primary metals sector said. “It makes me yearn for the coronavirus pandemic chaos, which was more manageable than whatever this is that we are in.” A manager in the electrical equipment, appliances and components industry voiced similar concerns. “The pricing volatility and lead-time extensions in this market are arguably worse than the pandemic era,” the respondent said. “During Covid-19, we saw a surge of price hikes and inventory buy-ups, which caused constraints that eventually leveled out.” This time around, “We are seeing nothing but consistent upward trends for both pricing and lead times that show no signs of slowing down,” the manager said.

State Stories

Federal relief for Kerrville's second round of flooding slowed

July 16 flooding damage to Kerrville has hit $55 million, but federal disaster relief is not triggered until that figure reaches $60 million, according to a high-ranking city official. Assistant Kerrville City Manager Michael Hornes recently briefed the Kerrville City Council on damage and recovery efforts following the flood, the second in a year to hit the city. He said he believed damage may reach $60 million dollars from this year's flood, but urged residents to be patient this go-around, reminding them of the much heavier devastation in the July 4, 2025, flooding, especially the associated 117 deaths within the county. Due to the terrible scale of the first flood, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump were able to move fast on disaster declarations, he said.

click here for more

"Last year, it went so fast. I think the expectation from folks is ... why isn't it going to go this fast again," he told the city council. "Because it doesn't go this fast. There're sad, sad reasons why it was that fast last year. So, I know ... no one wants to hear it, but please be patient." The July flood this year claimed the lift of 65-year-old John Steward when his mobile home was swept away. Hornes told the council more than 800 homes within the city were reported damaged, destroyed, or affected by flood survivors. He said some of those reports appear inflated due to duplicated storm reporting. The Texas Department of Emergency Management and Federal Emergency Management Agency have been able to validate or certify more than 600 of those reports. Hornes said the second flood hit some homes already being repaired from last year's Fourth of July flooding. He said much flood debris has been removed, and dumpsters are being set up across the city for residents to help speed up that effort.

Apollo Global Management confirms plans for HQ2 in Austin

Private capital firm Apollo Global Management has confirmed it's heading to downtown Austin, and there are indications its workforce here will be in the hundreds if not thousands. The New York-based financial giant on Aug. 3 announced the move, weeks after the Financial Times reported that the company chose Austin for the HQ2 over two Florida locations. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office issued an announcement calling Apollo's new Austin location a "strategic hub." Absent from the announcement was a location. But Apollo has tapped brokers from Newmark Group Inc. to lead its search, several sources told the Austin Business Journal. Apollo (NYSE: APO) is said to be looking downtown, and at least initially was looking for 250,000 square feet of office space.

click here for more

A representative for Apollo on Aug. 3 said the company aims to finalize a long-term location in downtown Austin "in the next few months." In the meantime, Apollo has already set up an initial short-term office at the 300 Colorado tower. The representative also added that future growth for the company will be in Austin but will not materially impact New York operations. Representatives for Newmark said on July 31 they can't discuss anything related to Apollo "at this time," citing a matter of company policy. Apollo setting up locally is a major economic win for the Texas capital and its office market. The firm is a high-growth global asset manager that had about $1.03 trillion of assets under management as of March 31. “Austin lets us build the next generation of Apollo ... including challenger models for parts of our own business, with the talent, technology, and business environment already in place," Apollo CEO Marc Rowan said in the announcement. "That's why we chose Austin and Texas.” Other factors cited by the company include the presence of Fortune 500 companies in Texas, primarily in the hard-tech, chipmaking and defense technology sectors, along with the state's plethora of energy and infrastructure companies – all factors that "align with our thesis for the ongoing global industrial renaissance," Apollo officials said. Wherever Apollo lands, the bulk of the firm’s new hires will be housed in the new office, FT previously reported. Exact job creation numbers for the project were not initially announced.

Dallas Morning News Editorial: Texas, keep politics out of college admissions tests

Texas’ higher education board is considering expanding the use of an alternative to the SAT and ACT, the Classic Learning Test, in public university admissions. The “traditional” admissions test has been labeled as being favored by conservatives and is accepted at the U.S. military academies, the Florida public school system and a handful of other schools, largely private religious universities. While it’s worth studying the test and evaluating alternatives to the College Board and ACT duopoly that has its grip on college admissions, the political framing attached to the CLT is exactly what Texas should avoid.

click here for more

College campuses have become increasingly polarized and hostile toward students and faculty who present viewpoints inconsistent with what has been accepted in higher education spaces, but college admissions tests should be about predicting students’ success, not politics. The test uses reading passages from classical and historical texts. In contrast, the SAT and ACT typically use shorter, more contemporary reading passages. In a letter, Texas’ higher education commissioner wrote that the SAT, ACT and CLT “are of sufficient rigor and reliability” to be used in college admissions. This isn’t the complete picture. An independent study from the Texas A&M Public Policy Research Institute found all three tests met the threshold for continued consideration, but the CLT is “less mature than SAT and ACT for statewide high-stakes Texas admissions use." That’s not to say the CLT couldn’t evaluate students just as well as the SAT or ACT, but it’s too early to tell, and the potential for the test to be used in admissions by 2028 is presumptuous.

A Texas-led federal lawsuit could affect disability rights. Here's why advocates are concerned

Disability rights advocates are urging Texas to withdraw from a federal lawsuit they say could weaken the protections that allow disabled people to live in their communities instead of institutions. The Texas-led lawsuit is questioning the constitutionality of the integration mandate — a requirement in the Americans with Disabilities Act that generally requires public entities to provide services to people with disabilities in the way least disruptive to their lives, according to Sabrina Gonzalez Saucedo, director of public policy and advocacy at The Arc of Texas, a disability rights advocacy group. “[The integration mandate] means that people with disabilities should have the opportunity to live in the community and receive services in the community when appropriate, and not be unnecessarily separated or forced into institutions,” Gonzalez Saucedo said. “This is all about being in the least segregated environment.”

click here for more

Disability rights advocates and politicians gathered at the Texas Capitol in July to denounce the state’s involvement in the lawsuit. ADAPT of Texas, a grassroots disability rights group, hosted the rally. Attendees were encouraged to call Attorney General Ken Paxton's office to urge Texas to withdraw from the lawsuit. Paxton, who is the lead plaintiff in the case, did not respond to requests for comment. Ron Cranston, a longtime ADAPT volunteer, became quadriplegic at 19 after a spinal cord injury. Now 70, he said he has watched disability rights ebb and flow over the decades and believes Texas v. Kennedy poses a serious threat to disabled people's ability to remain in their homes and communities. “Sometimes we are building the rights and the mechanisms through statute, through programs to make sure that we have our access, we have our support,” Cranston said. “Other times we're just fighting to keep them, and we need to continue to be vigilant. ... Things can change at a moment's notice.” Cranston said that living in his home allows him to maintain independence and family connections, something that would be difficult to preserve if he were placed in an institution. Being able to see his grandchildren regularly is one of the everyday freedoms he worries could be at risk, he said.

Lawyer for 2 witnesses in Houston ICE shooting faces malpractice suit over man’s deportation

A Houston-area attorney representing two of the witnesses to the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by a federal immigration officer is facing a malpractice lawsuit recently filed by a man who was allegedly deported to Mexico. The lawsuit, which was filed in Somervell County in North Texas in June, claims Hugo Balderas-Ibarra, the attorney, represented Carlos Perez in his "asylum and immigration case," which resulted in Perez's deportation. An attorney for Carlos and Adriena Perez, the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which was first reported by KPRC.

click here for more

Balderas-Ibarra is also representing Daniel Tirada Pantoja and Jose Trinidad Pliego, two of the men who were in a van driven by Salgado Araujo when he was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on July 7 in Houston. Pliego was released from federal custody last week, while Pantoja and the third witness, Salgado Araujo’s brother Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, have filed similar petitions for their release from detention. All three of the witnesses are immigrants and have disputed ICE’s claims that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo tried to run over federal agents and was shot in self-defense. The Perezes' lawsuit does not share details of the alleged malpractice in the filing, but asserts "loss of income and earning capacity, suffering, mental anguish, loss of consortium, and household services" as damages. In a court filing, Balderas-Ibarra's attorney argued as such that the lawsuit is insufficient, urging the judge to order the Perezes iterate their complaints or dismiss the lawsuit. Balderas-Ibarra's attorney did not immediately return a request for comment. He is also moving to move the lawsuit out of Somervell County to Harris County.

‘Tough but fair’ and focused on Fort Worth: Peers recall Kay Granger’s service

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker used to tease her former boss, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, that the movie “The Devil Wears Prada” was about the congresswoman. Like Meryl Streep’s character, Miranda Priestly, Granger was hard to work for and wanted to be excellent at all times, said Parker, who was the congresswoman’s campaign manager and district director. Granger was incredibly caring, smart and focused, but tough, Parker said. “I used to joke with Kay, ‘They finally made a movie about you,’ and she’d just [be] like, ‘Hahaha, so funny, so funny,’” Parker recalled Monday. Granger both loved and hated the bit, Parker said. “She kept a really high standard for the people that worked in her office, mostly because — in my opinion — she had come up in politics when it was hard, especially as a woman in Fort Worth and in Texas and then in Washington,” Parker said. “She felt like she had very little room for error and held herself to a very high standard.”

click here for more

Granger died Sunday at the age of 83, after a trailblazing career that was marked by a flurry of firsts. In 1991, having worked as a teacher and opening an insurance agency, Granger became the first woman to serve as Fort Worth mayor. Before that she served on the zoning commission and on the Fort Worth City Council. Granger won her 12th Congressional District seat in 1996 to become the first Republican woman to represent Texas in the U.S. House. She would go on to lead the Appropriations Committee, a powerful position where she had sway over defense projects — an issue vital to the economy of North Texas, with Lockheed Martin, Bell and the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth. Granger was the first Republican woman to hold the leadership role. Those who knew Granger remember her as a champion of Fort Worth and a hard-working, no-nonsense, consensus builder in Washington who wasn’t afraid to work across the aisle. “She was truly an old-style public servant, and I admired … that about her,” said former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.

About 1K students living in Austin ISD to use private school vouchers

More than 1,000 students who live in Austin Independent School District boundaries will use the state’s new private school voucher program this year, according to data released by the Texas Comptroller on Monday. These students are among the 85,344 students statewide who will participate in the new $1 billion Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, which uses public funds to pay for private education costs, such as tuition or tutoring. The vast majority of the Texas students in the program — 68,000 — are from households that make less than 200% of the federal poverty line, about $66,000 for a family of four.

click here for more

About 20,700 of the students have a disability and are from families living at or below 500% of the federal poverty line — about $165,000 for a family of four. Close to 13,000 students participating in the voucher program are these students’ siblings. The vouchers provide up to $10,500 for private school tuition annually. Students who receive special education services can receive up to $30,000 per year, while homeschooled students are eligible for up to $2,000 to cover tutoring, course materials or other costs. The comptroller’s data does not track where the TEFA recipients previously went to school, so a student living in Austin ISD boundaries may have been enrolled in a non-district school previously. As of June 10, 57% of the students who were awarded scholarships had previously been enrolled in a private school or homeschooled, not including students in prekindergarten, kindergarten or first grade. A little more than one-third of the 248,712 eligible students who applied for the program won vouchers. About 40.8% of participating students are white, 13.6% are Black and 28.2% are Hispanic, according to comptroller data. On Monday, Comptroller Don Huffines said the program was the third-largest of its kind in the country and had the largest beginning participation. Huffines was sworn in as comptroller on Aug. 1 after Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock, who previously oversaw the program, stepped down. Lawmakers approved the controversial program in 2025 after years of unsuccessful attempts to pass a similar initiative. Some teachers and Democrats have criticized the voucher program over concerns that the TEFA diverts funds from public schools and strains traditional districts, many of which are already facing budgetary challenges.

How North Texas campaign stops reveal key differences in Talarico and Paxton bids for U.S. Senate

On a recent stop in North Texas, James Talarico stood on a shallow stage in the center of the crowded auditorium at Disciple Central Community Church in DeSoto, a city with a Black population of around 68%. It was his second stop in his race for U.S. Senate focused on reaching the state's Black voters — a group that has expressed lingering hesitation toward the 37-year-old state representative from Austin. For nearly an hour and a half, he answered questions from voters in an effort to connect with a demographic that will play a key role in November's midterm election. Left unmentioned: his opponent, state Attorney General Ken Paxton. "I don't want any Texan to vote for me because they don't want Ken Paxton as their next U.S. senator," Talarico told the press after the event. "I was here making my case. I'm not here talking about Ken Paxton."

click here for more

Less than a day later, just 35 miles away, Paxton took a different approach. At the Texas Sheriffs Association annual conference in Fort Worth, the Republican was flanked by 22 sheriffs in front of a podium plastered with a mock-up mugshot of his Democratic opponent, who he said has "one of the most anti-law enforcement records in the history of Texas." "He's trying to distance himself from positions he's previously embraced," he said. "He's going to say he supports law enforcement. But what he won't tell you is the rest of the story." As November's midterm election draws closer, the race to be Texas' next U.S. senator is heating up — and though Talarico and Paxton vie for same seat, their campaigns fight different battles. While Talarico courts Black voters, a group that largely supported U.S. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in the primaries, Paxton looks to the moderate conservatives who preferred sitting U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in May's runoff election. While Talarico claims he’s moving away from negative campaigning, Paxton has embraced it. And while Talarico travels the state making stop after stop, Paxton's appearances have been rare and brief.

Texas Republicans campaign with unusual urgency despite decades of dominance

For a party that hasn't lost a statewide race in Texas in more than three decades, the urgency was striking. Top GOP leaders descended last week on one of their strongholds to warn supporters that victory in November wasn't guaranteed. Their message reflected growing concern about turnout and a competitive Senate race between Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico. “God is on our side,” said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is seeking reelection against state Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin. “If Texas fails, if we turn blue, America’s through.” Dubbed the Red River Roll Call, the Sherman fundraiser featured Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, House Speaker Dustin Burrows and several other statewide and congressional candidates.

click here for more

Organized by state Rep. Shelley Luther of Tom Bean, it was billed as the largest Republican rally ever in Grayson County. A day later, statewide candidates met at the Governor's Mansion to coordinate strategy ahead of the fall campaign. Paxton begins a statewide campaign swing this week with stops in Allen, Houston, McAllen and San Antonio. Republicans have controlled statewide elections since 1994, thanks to their strength in suburbs, small towns and rural areas. By running up vote totals there, Republicans have offset Democrats’ advantage in the larger urban areas. Grayson County overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024. “If we lose Texas, I have no doubt that the U.S. Senate turns to the Democrats,” Paxton said at the event before calling Talarico a “deceiver” who is trying to hide his record. “We need rural counties to deliver and not be apathetic, because we can lose Texas.” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said Republican rallies will not stop his party's momentum. “They suddenly realized what we’ve known and been saying – Democrats are putting together a serious operation to turn out votes and are seriously contending in parts of the state that have been traditionally ignored,” he said. "Frankly, no one wants to vote for their slate because it’s a terrible lineup of self-servers.”

Scholars say risks outweigh benefits of Texas' new Bible curriculum

As the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) debated this summer whether or not to add the Bible to the state's required reading list, critics argued that asking students to read Bible passages would infuse public schools with Christianity. Supporters, in turn, contended that knowledge of the Bible was key to understanding literature and U.S. history. "When we teach classical literature and social studies with biblical foundations, we are not simply preserving great books," one Lubbock resident told the SBOE as the body approved the changes. "We're helping raise young men and women who love truth, pursue wisdom and recognize God's hand throughout history and human experience Texas Republicans in support of requiring students to read Bible passages have made similar arguments, as well as said that it is important to emphasize America's founding as a "Christian nation."

click here for more

That echoes similar pushes such as the effort to put the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. But after the SBOE approved adding passages like Matthew 6:25-34 or the parable of Jonah and the Whale, the argument that teaching the Bible wasn't such a bad idea found purchase outside of Texas Republican spheres. A Houston Chronicle op-ed argued that "Teaching the Bible in Texas schools is good, actually." A piece in The Atlantic magazine by Adam Kirsch declared that "The Bible Belongs in the Classroom." "Texas' decision to start teaching Bible stories—like its requirement to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, which the state legislature approved last year—is clearly meant to send a political message," Kirsch writes. "But regardless of your political or religious beliefs, there are good reasons to agree that the Bible should be part of young people's education." It's a thought-provoking question argument. After all, as Kirsch points out, countless classics of American literature contain references to the Bible, and Biblical context is helpful when understanding historical documents written during our nation's founding.

Federal HIV funding changes threaten services in San Antonio and Texas

HIV prevention and treatment organizations in San Antonio and across Texas face uncertainty as the Trump administration redirects federal grants and proposes significant reductions in public-health spending. The administration recently decided not to renew approximately $46 million in direct Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants to 96 community organizations. The money supports HIV testing, outreach, connections to treatment and referrals for PrEP and PEP—medications that prevent infection. Federal officials plan to route funding through state and local health departments, arguing that local agencies can better determine community needs.

click here for more

Advocates warn that states are not required to continue supporting existing organizations, which often have trusted relationships with people who might not visit government clinics. The potential consequences have already surfaced in San Antonio. In 2025, the San Antonio AIDS Foundation temporarily suspended free HIV and sexually transmitted infection testing after Texas officials told contractors to pause federally funded work while awaiting CDC guidance. Testing resumed, but the disruption demonstrated how funding delays can quickly affect patients. BEAT AIDS, the Alamo Area Resource Center, Metro Health and other local providers also offer testing, outreach, housing assistance and connections to care. Congress rejected most of the administration’s proposed fiscal 2026 HIV reductions, preserving major CDC and Ryan White HIV/AIDS programs. However, the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund was cut by $4 million. The White House’s fiscal 2027 proposal would eliminate roughly $800 million in core CDC HIV-prevention funding, although Congress will determine final spending. Health advocates warn that reduced testing and outreach could leave infections undiagnosed. Effective treatment can suppress HIV to an undetectable level, protecting patients’ health and preventing sexual transmission.

National Stories

25 states sue over Trump’s new tariffs, calling them ‘pretext’ to replace his old ones

Twenty-five states sued the Trump administration Monday over its latest tariffs, calling them a pretext for replacing import taxes the Supreme Court struck down in February. The United States last month imposed double-digit tariffs on 59 countries and the European Union, charging that they had not done enough to crack down on imports produced by forced labor. The new tariffs took effect just as the clock ran out on temporary tariffs President Donald Trump had turned to after the Supreme Court defeat. “After losing at the Supreme Court, the administration is once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

click here for more

Joining New York in the lawsuit announced Monday are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. Trump, who argues that high tariffs will revive American manufacturing, last year overturned decades of U.S. policy that favored lower tariffs and ever-freer trade. Invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, he imposed double-digit tariffs on imports from almost every country, saying America’s longstanding trade deficit amounted to a national emergency. But the Supreme Court ruled that IEEPA did not authorize tariffs. The decision forced the administration to send refunds to importers that had paid the tariffs. Eager to make up the lost revenue, Trump turned to temporary 10% worldwide tariffs. But they expired at midnight July 24. Now he’s tapping more durable tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which permits the president to impose import taxes and other sanctions against countries found to engage in unfair trade practices. Trump used Section 301 to impose big tariffs on China in his first term, and they survived court challenges.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco reports 33% profit surge, despite Iran War disruptions

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, on Tuesday reported a 33 percent increase in profit despite severe disruptions to its supply routes caused by the war in the Middle East. The company said it earned $33.4 billion in adjusted net income in April through June, versus $25.2 billion in the same quarter last year. Oil companies have reported multibillion-dollar windfalls for the second quarter because the war has driven energy prices higher. By some measures, Aramco’s quarterly profit was the biggest since 2022. The performance underscores the strength of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned energy giant, which has scrambled to find new export paths for its oil. The United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on Feb. 28. Since then Tehran has effectively paralyzed vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil and gas shipments from the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia quickly redirected more than 70 percent of its oil through a pipeline from its eastern fields to western port terminals on the Red Sea.

click here for more

That allowed Aramco to continue to export millions of barrels per day. The company produced the equivalent of 9.5 million barrels of oil per day in the second quarter, down sharply from 12.6 million barrels in the previous quarter. But it sold that oil for an average of $108 per barrel, a big jump from about $77 per barrel in the first quarter of the year. Amin H. Nasser, the company’s chief executive, called the past months “one of the most challenging ever in the history of Saudi Aramco.” On a call with investors he credited the pipeline in part with allowing Aramco to limit supply losses. But now that alternative route, through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, has also become dangerous. On July 20, the Houthis, an Iran-aligned militia in Yemen, declared a blockade on Saudi vessels transiting the Red Sea. The Houthis have claimed attacks on several ships since then. Much of Saudi Arabi’s oil exports have now rerouted through Egypt, though tankers there have been vulnerable to drone strikes. The Saudi defense ministry said last week the country is forming a military coalition to protect Red Sea shipping from further attacks.

Pirro meets with Trump at the White House after he said she ‘choked’ in reflecting pool case

President Trump met with Jeanine Pirro at the White House on Monday, hours after saying that she had “choked” when she concluded that the damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was not the work of vandals, as the president has claimed. Ms. Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., arrived at the White House on Monday afternoon and was taken to meet with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting. She was not fired by Mr. Trump, nor did she offer her resignation in that meeting, according to two people briefed on the outcome. Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, was also at the White House when she arrived. Mr. Burgum has in recent days joined Mr. Trump in railing against Ms. Pirro’s decision to drop charges against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist who was accused of pulling up a two-square-foot piece of the pool’s lining.

click here for more

Both men assert that the damage to the pool has been the work of vandals and not “the result of a botched installation and not vandalism,” as Ms. Pirro indicated in a Friday court filing. The decision to drop the charges set Ms. Pirro — a longtime ally and loyal appointee of a president — on a collision course with Mr. Trump, who has made sure to inflict consequences on people within his orbit who contradict his claims. In her filing, Ms. Pirro openly undermined Mr. Trump’s narrative that the Reflecting Pool’s peeling liner was caused by people slashing its coating with knives. Speaking earlier Monday in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump grew angry when asked whether he had spoken with Ms. Pirro about her decision. He went on to say that he believed that Ms. Pirro was intimidated by an “unfriendly” and “vicious” judge while pursuing a vandalism charge, and he lashed out at a reporter when asked whether he was reconsidering her role. He later ignored a question directly asking whether he was considering firing her.

Author of Democrats’ 2024 autopsy releases ‘missing’ chapter

The author of the Democratic National Committee’s widely panned 2024 postelection autopsy report released what he said is an unpublished chapter on Monday, breathing new life into a scandal that threatens to distract the party as it prepares for the closing stretch of the 2026 midterms. Paul Rivera, a longtime Democratic consultant, shared the 28-page installment with The New York Times, claiming that the missing document includes questions about President Joe Biden’s decision to run for reelection and addresses frustration that high-earning Democratic elites “drive too much of the decision-making within the ecosystem.” The consequences of Biden’s decision to run again were not discussed at length in the original 192-page document released in May. In the newly released chapter, Rivera addresses the former president’s decision.

click here for more

“Is there a single point of failure for 2024? Perhaps it is a decision of the President to seek re-election instead of passing the torch, but Democrats do not have a time machine to go back and change his decision,” Rivera wrote. Rivera told the Times he personally delivered the chapter in a binder to Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin in January. But Martin and other representatives for the DNC disputed that they had ever seen the chapter in question, and that the “missing” chapter could not be located in an extensive search of the committee’s files. “That is false,” Martin wrote in a statement. “The only binder I was working with Paul on was for lessons learned materials. This alleged report section was not in any binder I reviewed.” If the DNC had received the chapter in question from Rivera, it “would have released it with the rest of the report,” Martin said. Neither NOTUS nor The New York Times could independently verify either account.

How Democratic Socialists are wrestling with their next moves

When a leader of the Democratic Socialists of America recently appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and enthusiastically affirmed the group’s platform — including goals such as eliminating the U.S. Senate and working toward abolishing prisons — Democratic strategists wrung their hands and Republicans licked their lips. Acknowledging such aims, both parties predicted, could hinder progressive candidates and other Democrats painted with an extremist brush in the midterm elections. At the D.S.A.’s national summit in Chicago over the weekend, many democratic socialists who had seen the Fox interview felt something different: pride. “You’re going to have to constantly push and advocate for things that people don’t think, until they think it,” said Chanpreet Singh, a D.S.A. leader from Seattle.

click here for more

Hundreds of members of the group, the country’s largest socialist organization, gathered here at a moment of surging political influence, some wearing bright red shirts, swapping labor-strike tips with their “comrades,” sharing voter turnout strategies and admiring far-left merchandise (guillotine earrings, “Land Lords Suck” pins and red roses, a symbol of the group). Many dismissed the notion that their positions could be a political problem and said they felt no need to moderate them. Electoral wins were proof, they reasoned, that Democratic voters were moving closer to them. As an ardent socialist movement has encroached more deeply into the Democratic Party, with D.S.A.-backed candidates ousting incumbent Democrats from New York to Colorado and notching other victories this year, the challenges associated with that often-fraught cohabitation are coming into sharper focus. Those include questions on each side about the utility of working with the other. “Toxic to a broad majority of the country” was how Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank, described aspirations such as prison abolition and doing away with the Senate. She predicted that Republicans would make socialist policies “one of their main attack lines.” Already, President Trump and other Republican leaders are going further, seeking to brand recent Democratic nominees, falsely, as “communists.” The next big tests for democratic socialists will begin on Tuesday in Democratic primaries in Michigan and Missouri for the U.S. House. And Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive doctor who is not a democratic socialist but shares many of D.S.A.’s priorities, is running for the Senate in Michigan, a major battleground.

‘He should quit’: Republican senators sound alarms about Max Miller accusations

Multiple Senate Republicans joined Sen. Bernie Moreno in calling for Rep. Max Miller to step down from office Monday amid domestic abuse allegations from the Ohio senator’s daughter. Bernie Moreno — father of Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno — said in a statement Sunday that Miller should not serve in the House soon after the House Republican did a livestream video attempting to defend himself from abuse accusations. Multiple Senate Republicans joined Sen. Bernie Moreno in calling for Rep. Max Miller to step down from office Monday amid domestic abuse allegations from the Ohio senator’s daughter. Bernie Moreno — father of Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno — said in a statement Sunday that Miller should not serve in the House soon after the House Republican did a livestream video attempting to defend himself from abuse accusations. Many of Bernie Moreno’s GOP colleagues were quick to back him following the statement. “I don’t know [Miller]. I haven’t read a whole lot about him, but if [Moreno] thinks he ought to resign, I’m supportive of that,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said in an interview.

click here for more

Miller has denied the allegations, which include pouring hot water on his ex-wife and holding a gun to her head. He has also denied accusations from his ex-wife that he broke his daughter’s collarbone. Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas condemned Miller, adding, “He should resign. He should quit.” “I don’t know Mr. Miller’s story, but I trust Bernie so much as a good friend, and his family has such high values,” Marshall said in an interview. “I couldn’t imagine them wanting this out in public. So to go through with this, it makes me think that they’re telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” The surge of support from Bernie Moreno’s Senate colleagues marks the first significant crack in a wall of GOP silence regarding the allegations against Miller. The skepticism from Miller’s own party will almost certainly weigh down the congressman’s already floundering campaign as he battles Democratic candidate Brian Poindexter to keep his Cleveland-area House seat.

This GOP lawmaker has defied Trump 3 times — but the president doesn’t seem to mind

GOP Rep. Tom Barrett voted for the third time to limit President Donald Trump’s Iran war powers in late July — attempting to help drive a stinging rebuke of the commander-in-chief that can only pass if members of his own party sign on. But just four days later, Barrett stood at Trump’s side during a rally in his own Michigan battleground district, basking in the president’s endorsement and sending back kind words of his own. “He’s going to have a tough race. You got to help him,” Trump said as he called the Republican lawmaker onto the stage. “I’m proud to stand with you today,” Barrett responded.

click here for more

Republican operatives describe Barrett and Trump’s alliance as a marriage of political convenience: Trump, who rarely gives ground to anyone who defies him, has granted Barrett unusual latitude to chart his own course — even as he seeks to thwart the president’s war with Iran. Trump recognizes that maintaining the GOP’s House majority depends on suburban districts like Barrett’s. As he works to defend one of the most competitive seats in the country, Barrett is leaning into his military service, even if his position puts him at odds with the president and much of his party. The race will likely come down to how Barrett is able to walk that tightrope between drawing contrasts with the president without alienating his support; a lonely road in Trump’s Republican Party. Barrett flipped the seat from Democratic control in 2024 Trump carried the district in the election. Barrett, who served 22 years in the Army and deployed to Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, was one of only four Republicans to vote against the Trump administration’s authorization of military operations in Iran. After the conflict crossed the 60-day threshold requiring congressional approval under the War Powers Resolution, Barrett became the only Republican to introduce a measure authorizing the use of military force in Iran while limiting the scope of military action and setting a firm deadline for ending the conflict.

Copyright August 04, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved