June 25, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Will Texas' new top voting official be a 'disruptor'? Locals are preparing for it

Just months ahead of closely contested midterm elections, Texas is about to get a new top voting official. Many locals there fear the frontrunner is a 34-year-old conservative state lawmaker and pastor with no election administration experience. In Texas, the governor picks the secretary of state, and it's unclear when Republican Gov. Greg Abbott will make a formal announcement. The current top elections official, Secretary of State Jane Nelson — who announced her resignation earlier this month — is expected to stay in office until July 17. For weeks though, signs have pointed to Nelson's successor being state Rep. Nate Schatzline, a pastor at a Fort Worth megachurch with ties to Christian nationalism, who has repeated baseless claims about widespread fraud in American elections.

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"I personally have not heard of another name floated," said Chris McGinn, executive director of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, the professional organization for the state's hundreds of local voting officials. In preparation for the announcement, McGinn drafted an analysis report for his members on how Schatzline could affect elections this year as secretary of state. It noted that previous secretaries of state, including Nelson, have been institutionalists who "prioritized stabilizing relationships with county officials, providing bipartisan-friendly training resources, and shielding local administrators from overt partisan warfare." Schatzline, however, would seem to present a change. "It is believed that Schatzline would represent a disruptor model of [secretary of state] leadership: highly ideological, responsive to grassroots activist demands, and comfortable using the office as an active enforcement agency," McGinn's report said. Schatzline, who is not running for reelection for his statehouse seat, did not respond to an NPR request for an interview or comment. An Abbott spokesperson did not respond to questions about Schatzline, saying only that "an announcement on an appointment will be made at a later date."

Texas Democrats to showcase the generational divide in their state convention

Texas Democrats will open their convention Thursday in Corpus Christi, buoyed by what they foresee as a hostile midterm election cycle for Republicans and by the opportunity to present themselves as a generational alternative to the GOP's decades-long dominance that has lost touch with the needs of a youthful state. Leading their ticket heading toward the Nov. 3 election is 37-year-old James Talarico, who, if elected, would be the youngest member of the U.S. Senate. And the Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are about a decade-and-a-half younger than the incumbent Republicans who are each seeking a fourth term in office. "It's time for these Republicans to get out of the way and make way for our younger folks," said longtime activist Donna Beth McCormick, the state Democratic Party's sergeant at arms who is approaching 90 years old.

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The three-day Democratic state convention's chief purpose is to craft a platform laying out the party's guiding principles and providing something of an issues-based blueprint for candidates up and down the ballot to present to the voters. It's also an opportunity to cement party unity in a year where Republicans are tethered to President Donald Trump as his approval ratings in Texas and across the nation have fallen amid raising inflation and growing unease with the administration's foreign policy. But the convention will not just be about Texas, or about the candidacies of Talarico and those of gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa, lieutenant governor hopeful Vikki Goodwin and the others on the statewide ballot. Several national Democrats who might be looking ahead to the 2028 presidential race have also been given featured speaking slots. Among them are U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Illinois Gov. JB Prtizker and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who identifies himself as a democratic socialist and has twice sought the Democratic nomination for president, will deliver the keynote address to close the convention on Saturday. Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Casar of Austin, who at 37 is among about a dozen members of the House born after 1988, said the convention presents an opportunity to show how Texas is overdue for an upending of the GOP's status quo. “While Democrats look to the future, Texas Republicans are running the same candidates whose corruption and bad policies have failed to bring down prices for decades,” said Casar, who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus and is seeking a third term representing a safe Democratic district.

Trump asks Congress for billions for Iran war, after tension with Republicans, canceling signing of housing bill

The White House has asked lawmakers to approve $87.6bn (£66.5bn), mostly for "urgent needs" connected with the US war on Iran, a day after Congress passed a resolution rebuking the military action. The bulk of the funding - $67bn - is for the US Department of Defence, the White House said. But the proposal faces an uphill battle in Congress. The Iran conflict is unpopular with voters ahead of the US midterm elections in November, though a ceasefire is currently in effect. US President Donald Trump has also found himself at odds with some members of his Republican Party over the issue of Iran, and is alleged to have ended up in an angry exchange with one senator on Wednesday.

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That senator, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, was one of a handful of Republicans who defied the president on Tuesday by voting to pass a measure demanding that he halt the war or seek congressional approval before continuing military action. Cassidy fell back in line after his alleged sparring with the president, and after receiving assurances from members of Trump's administration. He and others went on to vote down another similar measure in the Senate late on Wednesday. The White House Office of Management and Budget sent the formal request for the funds on Wednesday in a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson. "Most of this request will address urgent needs related to Operation Epic Fury (OEF)," says the letter, referring to the Iran war. The request includes $21bn for munitions, $17.3bn for operational costs and $12.1bn for classified programmes. It also asks for about $300m to bolster security at US embassies and diplomatic outposts in the Middle East and South Asia after some of them came under attack earlier in the war.

Trump signals he may pull out of trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, which could impact Texas businesses

The Trump administration is pushing up against a July 1 deadline to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). President Donald Trump's public remarks are leading to fears among some Texas businesses that he could pull the U.S. out of the agreement. When Trump negotiated the USMCA during his first term as president, to serve as a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), he called it the “fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law.” But last week, he said he'd rather see it terminated than renew it. "I would rather not have the agreement," Trump told reporters. "I may sign it, but we do better as a country if we don't have an agreement."

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Michelle Schulz, a Dallas-based trade attorney, said she believes U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is less eager to withdraw from the USMCA than the president. But the decision is ultimately Trump's. "I wouldn’t be surprised if the president did something dramatic and decided to terminate the agreement. I’m ready for anything, but it would not be helpful for our U.S. importers," Schulz said. "In fact, it would cause a great deal more disruption than the tariffs have already caused, in my opinion as a trade lawyer." Schulz anticipates trade negotiations will continue past the July 1 deadline. If the deadline passes without a new agreement, the existing pact will expire in 10 years. "Any of the three parties can withdraw at any time with notice," Schulz said. "So, if the president decides that he does want to withdraw entirely, he can give prior notice, and we may see within the year that we give notice of withdrawal. Hopefully, that’s not the case." Trade, particularly trade with Mexico, is a major driver of the Texas economy. Texas has been the United States’ top exporting state for 22 consecutive years, and Mexico has been the state's leading trade partner for at least the past 17 years.

State Stories

Camp Mystic files for bankruptcy after months of investigations, lawsuits on flood deaths

Camp Mystic has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief, according to court records. The case was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Texas on Wednesday by an attorney on behalf of Camp Mystic. The move follows multiple lawsuits by families alleging that the camp failed to protect campers and counselors. Twenty-five campers, two counselors, and Dick Eastland, camp owner and executive director, died when the Guadalupe River flooded nearly a year ago. The bankruptcy complicates the fate of these lawsuits and may delay resolution, experts said.

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While the filing itself does not address the litigation, Chapter 11 bankruptcy generally triggers an automatic stay that can temporarily pause lawsuits while the bankruptcy case proceeds. A bankruptcy judge can modify or lift that stay under certain circumstances. But Angela Littwin, a bankruptcy law professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, said the more likely outcome is that the claims are ultimately resolved through the bankruptcy process itself. "The most common outcome of a bankruptcy like this is that the lawsuits would not pick up, that they would be settled in the bankruptcy," Littwin said. Littwin said the process involves creating a trust funded by insurance proceeds and company assets, with plaintiffs pursuing compensation through the trust rather than through individual lawsuits. Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who has been following the wrongful death lawsuits from families, said the bankruptcy filing implies that the owners of Camp Mystic believe they don't have the resources to cover the outcome of the litigation. "It's going to be more difficult for the families to recover compensation because of this," Tobias said.

Musk on fatal Tesla crash in Texas: ‘This makes no sense’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is pushing back on allegations the company’s full self-driving software was involved in a recent crash that killed a Texas woman. Martha Avila, 76, died after a Tesla drove through the front of her home in Katy, Texas, last Friday. Both police and the driver have indicated that Tesla’s automated driving assistance system was in use at the time of the accident, according to a lawsuit filed by Avila’s daughter. “[T]his makes no sense,” Musk wrote in an X post Monday. “FSD [full self-driving] drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!” Tesla’s vice president of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, similarly argued that the driver “manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area.”

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Jennifer Barbour, Avila’s daughter, and her husband Justin Barbour are suing both Tesla and the driver, Michael Butler, over the crash. The lawsuit alleges the accident was “caused by the concurrent negligence of Defendant Butler and the defective condition of the Vehicle and its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems as designed, manufactured, and marketed by Defendant Tesla.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it has launched a special crash investigation into the incident. The federal regulator previously opened a probe into Tesla’s full-self driving software, which escalated in March from a preliminary evaluation to an engineering analysis. It is investigating nine other crashes, including one fatal, in which the system failed to detect poor driving conditions and alert drivers quickly enough.

Fort Bend County Interim Judge Daniel Wong fights back against claims he is no longer county judge

Fort Bend County Interim Judge Daniel Wong is no longer legally the county judge, according to Commissioner Dexter McCoy. Wong was appointed to the role after Judge KP George was suspended in connection with a civil lawsuit alleging First Amendment violations. ABC13 has learned that the woman who filed the lawsuit has now chosen not to move forward, effectively ending Wong's appointment as interim county judge.

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On Wednesday, Fort Bend County Attorney Bridgette Smith Lawson issued a statement stating that the case has concluded and that Wong no longer has the legal authority to act as County Judge. Smith Lawson added, "The guidance from this office is based entirely on Texas law, free from partisan politics. It would be irresponsible for the County to ignore the existence of the non-suit, which could expose the County to unnecessary risk." Smith Lawson also said in the statement that the court will continue business without a presiding judge, and Wong cannot participate unless he secures a and presents a new, active court order that has yet to be delivered to the court. A spokesperson on behalf of Wong says the County Attorney did not properly attribute to Texas laws in the matter. Their statement reads, "The County Attorney's opinion cites no section of Texas law and carries no weight whatsoever. County Judge Daniel Wong is the County Judge. In accordance with the Texas Constitution and state laws, Judge Wong will continue to execute his lawful duties and faithfully represent the people of Fort Bend County. The only "unnecessary risk" we are seeing is from the actions of the County Attorney and her meritless and partisan press release. The County Attorney provided the public with the order which put Judge Wong into office, and she cites no document that removes him."

Disinvited elsewhere, Kanye West found a city that couldn’t say no

In the midst of major budget discussions, economic development deals and utility rate hikes, this week San Antonio city leaders once again found themselves scrambling to react to a broader cultural debate that landed squarely at their feet. The last-minute scheduling of a Ye, or Kanye West, concert caught the attention of an outspoken mayor and rankled Jewish leaders who consider his track record of antisemitic comments dangerous. Now four days later, the San Antonio City Council has been tested by debates weighing morals vs. money, a hard-to-pass-up-on lucrative Alamodome contract, a last-minute ban on swastika merch and a mortifying moment for one of its most spotlight-averse members. Before this week, some of the council’s 10 members said they weren’t even up-to-speed on West’s history of public comments.

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Conservative Councilwoman Misty Spears (D9) had already accepted free tickets to the show before issuing a mortified apology from her trip to Israel days later. “Anyone who knows Councilwoman Spears would be able to guess she’s not a Kanye fan,” spokeswoman Megan Coleman said Wednesday. By the time the dust seemingly settled, most of the city leaders had denounced West’s speech — but a majority had signaled they wouldn’t seek to cancel a show with high earning potential for the city. Now the mayor wants more say over how such events are scheduled in the first place, while others fear a censorship fight with wide-ranging implications. “When the government begins making decisions about which artists, speakers or events are acceptable based on ideology or viewpoint, those tools can later be used in ways that harm other communities and causes,” progressive Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) wrote on social media.

Former Hidalgo County district clerk wanted since 2013 arrested in Mexico

A former Hidalgo County district clerk is in U.S. custody after being arrested in Mexico. Omar Guerrero, who had previously served as the Hidalgo County district clerk, had been on the run for over 10 years. He was wanted in connection with a sexual assault of a child, a second degree felony, as well as other outstanding warrants. Guerrero had previously been arrested on a felony charge of cocaine possession and a misdemeanor charge of tampering with the identification of an assault rifle. At the time, a justice of the peace set his bond at $1.05 million — $1 million on the felony and $50,000 on the misdemeanor.

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At the time, he had a history of fleeing to Mexico to avoid criminal charges. He failed to appear for any court hearings after he posted bond in May 2013. “On April 26, 2013, Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a report in which a child disclosed an outcry of sexual assault,” Wednesday’s news release read. “The victim reported that she left her workplace with a man known to her as Omar. According to the victim, she was taken to a residence located in the 6300 block of Western Road in rural Mission, Texas, where the assault occurred.” Guerrero was identified by the victim through a photographic lineup. Investigators with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office found probable cause that Guerrero did indeed assault the victim. “At the time of his arrest, he was also wanted on additional outstanding warrants unrelated to this case,” the news release read. “Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office will be coordinating with federal authorities to transport Guerrero to Hidalgo County where he will face charges. The investigation is ongoing.”

Houston Methodist announces $110 million gift, largest in its history

Houston Methodist announced on Wednesday a $110-million gift, the largest single donation in the health system’s more than 100-year history. Funds will advance research and care related to neurological diseases, neuroscience and women’s health. The record commitment was made by the Brockman family through their eponymous Brockman Medical Research Foundation. The foundation’s areas of focus include education and research in the fields of science, medicine and healthcare. In recognition of the historic gift, Houston Methodist’s newest hospital facility will be named the Brockman Centennial Tower, with the tower’s entrance named the Anna Margaret Bellows Centennial Hall in honor of the 8-year-old who died at Camp Mystic in the July 4 flooding.

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“The Brockman family is a longtime supporter of Houston Methodist,” said Dr. Marc L. Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist. “We hope this gift will serve as rocket fuel to drive research and education.” Brockman Centennial Tower is expected to open in 2027 at an estimated cost of $1.4 billion. With building plans exceeding 1 million square feet, the 26-story hospital facility will add nearly 400 new patient beds to Houston Methodist’s flagship campus in the Texas Medical Center, in addition to an expanded emergency department that will connect to the Paula and Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III Tower. The Walters and their Houston-based company Walter Oil & Gas Corporation, previously donated $101 million in 2017 to accelerate Methodist’s neuroscience research efforts.

Texas’ refusal to plan for climate change created a crisis in Corpus Christi

A decade ago, Corpus Christi’s regional water plan projected shortages as soon as 2050. The next plan, released five years later, shortened that timeline to 2030. The next plan, released this year, said shortages were imminent, putting city leaders in a desperate scramble to avoid an emergency. Something’s not right with the calculations that underpin these plans, said John Michael, an engineering executive who has worked on local water infrastructure for 44 years. “Whether it’s climate change or something else, our reservoir system is not as dependable as we once thought,” he said at his office in May. He pointed to the regional water plans on his office table—700 pages in four-inch binders—which are prepared every five years by local committees using methodology provided by the State of Texas. These plans never factored in climate science or considered the projections that a warming planet could contribute to a drought as extreme as the one Corpus Christi now faces.

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In fact, as climate models predicted, every drought for the last 30 years in Corpus Christi, has exceeded the parameters contemplated in local plans, thanks to fatal delusions, deep in the heart of Texas’ methodology: Texas doesn’t plan for droughts to get worse. “The droughts keep getting worse,” said Michael, vice president of Hanson Professional Services in Corpus Christi. Four droughts have punctuated his career, each hotter and drier than the last. Each one left the city scrambling to build out its water plans ahead of schedule. For decades, intensifying droughts consistently outpaced planning efforts until, by the start of this drought, the region ran out of plans. The problem is that methods developed by the Texas Water Development Board, an agency headed by appointees of the governor, use the worst drought conditions on record as a worst-case scenario for the future. “Drought-of-record planning is a foundational element of Texas water planning,” said a TWDB spokesperson, Kaci Woodrome. “It provides a consistent, statewide minimum baseline for evaluating water supply reliability.”

No Big Bend Wall continues fight against border wall, citing environmental and archaeological threats

In recent years, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) archaeologists have uncovered a pit house near the Rio Grande in Far West Texas inside Big Bend Ranch State Park (BBRSP). It’s believed to be the first such site to be excavated since the 1940s, when the archaeologist J. Charles Kelley uncovered other pit houses in the La Junta village in nearby Redford. Pit houses are housing structures dug into the earth, typically used for shelter or storage. There are some variations to the uncovered pit houses in the region, but the similarities in the architecture reveal that other communities formed downstream. David Keller, a local archeologist and historian, helped the TPWD team with the new site when he could, but he stopped once he learned about the impending construction of a border wall planned for the Big Bend region; if built, it would threaten this site. He felt that he was being called to duty, so he joined the fight against it.

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“The work that Kelley did was significant, but there’s just so much more that we need to do to even begin to understand what was going on here,” Keller told AN. “For [the border wall] to be happening without oversight, it makes archeologists want to pull their hair out, because it’s like we don’t even know what’s there, and you’re going to destroy it before we even have a chance to document it.” He is now part of No Big Bend Wall (NBBW), a group of residents who are organizing against the wall. A resident of Redford, Keller helps as a landowner coordinator. The projected 30-foot-high steel border wall is part of President Donald Trump’s 2025 Executive Order and funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It also includes detection technology, cameras, and lighting. The wall is planned to run for 150 miles along the Rio Grande in Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, and Presidio counties. Big Bend National Park (BBNP), in neighboring Brewster County, and BBRSP, which traverses Brewster and Presidio counties, are also slated for new border security infrastructure. In March, then–Secretary of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kristi Noem waived 28 environmental laws that protected historic and archeological sites and resources to expedite the construction, claiming that the Big Bend Sector had a high level of illegal entry with over 89,000 crossings between 2021 through 2025. But CBP recently reported that crossings drastically reduced by 74 percent in the last fiscal year.

Houston rodeo will build a new $300M arena south of Reliant Park

The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo will spend roughly $300 million to build a new arena and agricultural complex a few miles south of Reliant Park (formerly NRG Park), the largest investment of the nonprofit’s history and one that cements its future in that part of Houston. The rodeo announced Wednesday it will expand with a 5,000-seat arena to replace the aging one at Reliant Park, along with two large barns and an administrative building that amount to more than 1 million square feet in new space. The new complex will be on land the rodeo owns west of Texas 288 between Reed Road and Airport Boulevard. It is expected to be ready by the 2029 Rodeo.

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The rodeo’s annual event then will be split between Reliant Park and this complex, with the latter hosting horse shows, auctions and agricultural events. The bulk of programming, including concerts and the carnival, will remain at Reliant Park, though the new arena could host concerts, comedy shows and other events in the offseason. Chris Boleman, the rodeo’s president and CEO, said the organization started discussing this project before the COVID-19 pandemic. He described it as an expansion – not a relocation – that will allow the rodeo to program year round in addition to its marquee annual event in March. The rodeo’s headquarters will remain at Reliant Center. “Home for us is still Reliant Park, and specifically the center… Our commitment is to be at Reliant Park long term,” Boleman said. “It’s really about creating the best environment possible for our horse and livestock exhibitors. This is the next chapter in our evolution.” Replacing the arena was one key tenet of ongoing lease negotiations between Harris County, the Houston Texans and the rodeo for the future of Reliant Park. Reliant Arena has long been considered past its life span, and the rodeo has been mulling its options for a replacement. The Texans also are considering a new football stadium, and there remains an open question about what to do with the vacant Astrodome in the middle of the campus.

New drone method could boost oyster restoration along Texas Coast

A new drone-centric method could lead to quicker and easier oyster restoration on the Texas Coast amid a growing need across the Texas Coast. On June 12, oyster harvesting company Jeri's Seafood worked alongside Palacios Marine Agriculture Research to release one million baby oysters into East Galveston Bay on privately leased areas using an agricultural drone. The tiny oysters were spread across five acres in a matter of 20 minutes. The hope is that, given four to six months, the oysters will grow big enough to harvest. If it works, Justin Woody, vice president of Jeri's Seafood, said using the drone to drop oyster seeds could be a game changer for oyster restoration.

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"We’re hopeful that it’s successful and that it works and it adds another tool in the toolbox to help oyster restoration efforts in Texas, whether it’s through a harvestable commercial setting or a non-harvestable reef," Woody said. Woody said the entire Texas coast has seen a decline in oyster populations for a multitude of reasons, including Mother Nature, harvesting, or man-made diversions such as damming up a river, which he said can change the habitat and be deadly for oysters. "Now there’s a big push to ‘How do we mitigate that problem, how do we get our populations back up?' And this isn’t the cure-all, but if it works and it’s effective, it’s another tool in the toolbox to help with [restoration]," Woody said. According to Woody, there's a possibility this was the first time hatchery-grown oyster seeds were deployed by drone at this scale for commercial oyster production. He said deploying hatchery-raised seed on the bay bottom wasn't allowed for approved leases in Texas until 2025.

Texas is set to require Bible reading in public schools

Texas would make Bible stories required reading for more than 5 million public school students under a proposal that has reignited debate over widening efforts in the U.S. to put more religion in classrooms. A final vote by the Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education on whether to approve the plan is set for Friday. Last year Texas became the largest state to require every classroom to display the Ten Commandments. The proposed list has drawn fierce opposition. Critics argue that it violates the constitutional separation of church, lacks diversity and favors Christianity over other religions. Supporters say Judeo-Christian traditions were fundamental to the nation’s founding and that should be reflected in the public school curriculum.

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President Donald Trump has pledged to protect and expand religious expression in public schools nationwide, and Texas — a red state that is home to about one in 10 of all U.S. public school students — often sets the agenda. In 2023, Texas became the first state to allow the hiring of chaplains to counsel students, and the following year, the board narrowly approved an optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools. Last year, Republican lawmakers required public schools to display the Ten Commandments, a measure recently upheld by a federal appeals court. Texas has about 5.5 million public school students from kindergarten through high school. If approved by the board, the required reading list would take effect in 2030. “We need to focus on what our nation was founded on and not apologize for that,” Susan Perez, founder of Citizens for Education Reform, told the education board during testimony this week. “It is the truth and we should not be afraid.”

County judge GOP nominee says local officials should have done more to oppose emissions testing

With $18.50 vehicle emissions testing set to begin in Bexar County on Nov. 1, Republican county judge nominee Patrick Von Dohlen is blaming local officials for not doing more to oppose the federal designation that triggered the requirement. The new requirement applies to most gasoline-powered vehicles between 2 and 24 years old. At a news conference Tuesday, Von Dohlen said local officials failed to adequately oppose the designation and warned that working families could face costly repairs if their vehicles fail the emissions test. "The city and the county could have spoken at numerous, different public hearings to say, 'this is not going to help Bexar County residents.' But nobody did. As far as to my knowledge, I am the only one that has."

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Von Dohlen estimated drivers could pay at least $38 million a year in testing fees alone and said tens of thousands of vehicles are expected to fail emissions tests each year. According to Von Dohlen, repair costs could average about $1,500 for cars and $2,500 for trucks, with some owners of older vehicles facing repair bills that exceed the value of their cars. The designation, however, was ultimately made by the Environmental Protection Agency. Emissions-testing requirements are already in place in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and El Paso areas after those regions failed to meet federal ozone standards. Democratic nominee Ron Nirenberg's campaign disputes Von Dohlen's criticism and provided Texas Public Radio with a letter the then-mayor sent to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on April 30, 2018. In the letter, Nirenberg urged the EPA to maintain Bexar County's attainment status and argued that local governments, nonprofit organizations and private industry had spent more than 15 years working to reduce emissions. The letter also cited state data showing that roughly 32% of the region's ozone pollution originated outside the San Antonio area and noted that air-quality improvements had been achieved even as the metropolitan area added more than 568,000 residents. Some local officials and air-quality planners have debated emissions testing for decades. In the early 2000s, leaders in the Austin area adopted a voluntary emissions-testing program as part of their clean-air strategy, while San Antonio pursued other approaches. Today, Travis and Williamson counties remain in attainment, while Bexar County was ultimately downgraded to nonattainment status, bringing additional federal requirements, including emissions testing.

‘This is injustice’: how leftist zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison

It’s the day after Mother’s Day, the first one Elizabeth Soto has spent apart from her three children. Sitting in jail in Wichita Falls, Texas, her face is washed out by the overhead fluorescent lighting, and her dingy jumpsuit blends into the cinder block walls surrounding her. Speaking through a glass separator, she tells me she celebrated the holiday with her children over the jail’s video-call system while they had dinner at their grandmother’s. “I’ve been a full-time mother all of their lives,” she said. “I’ve never been away from them.” Soto’s children have not visited her in jail, which lies on Texas’s northern border near Oklahoma, hours from their home in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Elizabeth Soto has only seen her husband, Ines Soto, once over the past year, the longest they’ve spent apart since they first started dating more than 20 years ago. He is being held in a federal prison more than 100 miles away.

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On Tuesday, Elizabeth was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison; Ines’s sentencing is set for 1 July. All because, as she put it: “They didn’t like my book club.” Her laugh doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Last year on the Fourth of July, a small group from Dallas-Fort Worth held a night-time noise demonstration, setting off fireworks outside the Prairieland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility south of the cities, in solidarity with the detainees. A few protesters broke away and spray-painted graffiti on employees’ cars and a security post, slashed the tires on a government van, and broke a security camera. The facility’s guards ordered the protesters to disperse, and most of them did. When a police officer arrived at the scene, drawing his gun, an armed protester shot her rifle, hitting the officer in the shoulder. The officer survived. After a three-week trial, a jury found eight of nine protesters guilty of “providing material support to terrorists”, among other crimes. For the Sotos, this “material support” included owning a “printing press” used to print anarchist zines and being part of a leftist book club, the federal government argued. The couple had already left the scene by the time guns were drawn. All eight of the defendants sentenced so far have received unusually harsh sentences – 30 to 100 years – essentially life in prison.

National Stories

How a $45 million donation brought Larry Ellison deeper into Trump’s circle

Larry Ellison didn’t join the gaggle of CEOs that traveled with President Trump on his state visit to China. He wasn’t among the guests at a White House dinner Trump hosted with tech titans. He also skipped the UFC event on Trump’s 80th birthday. The Oracle billionaire didn’t need to be at these public events. Ellison, 81 years old, has developed a more private friendship with Trump that has helped his tech company’s business as well as his son’s effort to assemble a media conglomerate. Key to the relationship: Ellison’s money. Ellison gave roughly $45 million to a political nonprofit group supporting Trump’s election efforts in 2024, according to people familiar with the fundraising. Such funding isn’t subject to disclosure rules and hasn’t been previously reported.

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More recently, Ellison has given millions of dollars more to groups that support Trump since the election, the people said, with some of the funds going to Trump’s legacy initiatives in Washington, D.C. Oracle is among the corporate sponsors listed by Freedom 250, a Trump-aligned group hosting celebrations for the country’s 250th birthday. Trump’s investment accounts were actively trading Oracle shares earlier this year, including a sale worth at least $1 million in January and a purchase worth at least $1 million in March, federal disclosure filings show. In a statement, the Trump Organization has said that the president’s investments are independently managed and that he isn’t involved in selecting or approving investments. Trump is “committed to working with every American business and business leader,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai. Oracle declined to comment. While Larry Ellison wasn’t at the Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House this month, his son, David Ellison, was among the VIPs there. It took place days after a decision by the Justice Department to clear the $81 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery by his company, Paramount Skydance. The spectacle was streamed by Paramount, which under David Ellison’s leadership paid billions of dollars for the rights to UFC events.

‘They like a good batting average’: Crypto racks up primary wins

Almost four months into the 2026 congressional primary season, the cryptocurrency industry’s leading super PAC has racked up a winning percentage that could make the Harlem Globetrotters blush. Fairshake, the deep-pocketed PAC group funded by leading crypto firms, has gone 38-2 across the first 40 congressional races it has spent on this year. Though many of those bets were placed in safe races, the spending has helped take down critics and pave the way for a new wave of industry-friendly lawmakers to come to Washington. The group notched four more wins in Tuesday’s primaries, as Fairshake-backed candidates prevailed in races across Maryland, Utah and New York.

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Most prominently, Maryland state Del. Adrian Boafo won a hotly contested Democratic primary to replace Rep. Steny Hoyer with the help of more than $5.5 million in spending from a Fairshake-affiliated PAC. The spending spree comes at a pivotal time for the crypto sector in Washington. The industry’s longtime top priority — a sweeping bill that would bless digital assets with a new sheen of regulatory legitimacy — is pending in the Senate, with Republicans hoping for a floor vote next month. The campaign money injects midterm politics into the debate over an issue that is otherwise reserved for financial policy wonks: It offers to help vulnerable lawmakers in both parties who support the effort — and threatens to punish those who don’t. The victories in Alabama and Maryland represent two of crypto’s most audacious plays this year. But Fairshake’s overall record reflects a cautious approach of wading into many races where the candidate it supports is the favorite — and spending early and big when it does enter a competitive contest. Notably, many of the primaries the group has played in so far are for seats considered safe in November.

Judge bars Trump administration from enacting proof of citizenship requirement to vote

A federal judge on Wednesday permanently barred President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing most of his first executive order on elections, part of which sought to require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in Boston effectively converts a preliminary injunction she issued a year ago, in which she temporarily blocked many of Trump’s efforts to overhaul elections, into a permanent ban. Casper rejected the administration’s argument that the lawsuit to block the changes brought by Democratic state attorneys general was premature because the rules had yet to be implemented.

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Instead, she agreed that the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to regulate elections, and that Trump’s requirements violated the separation of powers. The Constitution "does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” she wrote. Among other proposed changes, Trump’s order would have required people to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote, prevented mail ballots from being counted if they arrive after Election Day, even if they were postmarked by then, and punished states that failed to comply by withholding certain federal money. In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was grateful the court had blocked Trump's "unconstitutional attempt to seize control of our elections" and would continue to defend voting rights in this year's midterm elections. “Generations of Americans fought tirelessly for the right to vote, and we honor their legacy by protecting that right against anyone who tries to undermine it," she said. Requests for comment sent to the White House and Department of Justice were not immediately returned.

Venezuela acting president says at least 164 dead and 971 injured in powerful quakes

At least 164 people have died and 971 were injured after a pair of powerful quakes rocked Venezuela, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Thursday, adding that rescue teams are rushing to the hardest-hit areas to free people trapped under rubble. Wednesday evening’s 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century and could be felt throughout the region. The country’s main airport was damaged and closed, while buildings were evacuated in places as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. Television broadcasts Thursday showed rescue workers using power tools to work their way into piles of rubble where buildings once stood.

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Panicked residents of the capital were sent pouring into the streets, and after the quakes many people walked among the debris searching for the missing among collapsed buildings and toppled electric poles. Footage on state TV showed three children, covered in dust but alive, pulled from the rubble in La Guaira state, which Rodríguez described as a “disaster zone” and one of the areas hardest hit by the quakes because of the large number of collapsed buildings. Rodríguez said authorities were shifting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which sits north of Caracas on the coast. She said officials were trying to make the most of the daylight hours to speed up efforts to rescue people believed to remain trapped under the rubble. “Dozens of buildings have collapsed there ... and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodríguez said. Video shared online appeared to show dozens of people, some lying on the ground and others on hospital beds, being treated outside a hospital in La Guaira. While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America. Rodríguez appealed to businesses to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, adding that search and rescue teams certified by the United Nations were on their way to Venezuela to assist.

Gay marriage is dividing Republicans, again

In early June, Representative Andy Ogles, a Republican firebrand from Tennessee, did something he often does: Post a message on X that was sure to shock. “Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month.” But unlike some of his other recent virulent posts — for example, about Muslim Americans — this one drew condemnation from many members of his own party, including Mike Johnson, the House speaker. Mr. Ogles deleted the post on X, which he said was sent by a staffer, and called it “stupid” and “hurtful.” The post’s brief life spoke to the divisions within the Republican Party on same-sex marriage. Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court decision protecting gay marriage, turns 11 this year, and there is little indication that establishment Republicans are questioning it.

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In early June, Representative Andy Ogles, a Republican firebrand from Tennessee, did something he often does: Post a message on X that was sure to shock. “Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month.” But unlike some of his other recent virulent posts — for example, about Muslim Americans — this one drew condemnation from many members of his own party, including Mike Johnson, the House speaker. Mr. Ogles deleted the post on X, which he said was sent by a staffer, and called it “stupid” and “hurtful.” The post’s brief life spoke to the divisions within the Republican Party on same-sex marriage. Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court decision protecting gay marriage, turns 11 this year, and there is little indication that establishment Republicans are questioning it. Republican states have even started to rebrand Pride Month, the June commemoration of the Stonewall uprising and the signature moment for the gay liberation movement, calling it Fidelity Month or Nuclear Family Month. Mr. Ogles’s now-deleted post referred to the rebranding in Tennessee, where this year the legislature passed a resolution that defined a family as including “one husband and one wife.” “There is a resurgence in the evangelical wing of the party,” said Austin Gilpin, a gay political consultant in Washington who works for Republicans and Democrats. “They are flexing their muscles because they feel like they can get away with it.”

The new power broker: How Zohran Mamdani muscled NYC’s Democratic establishment

Outside Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s primary night party, four men on the sidewalk were dressed in full neon sequins, trying to get the party started. Inside, the bar had barely opened. Espaillat spent 20 years trying to get to Washington and another 10 years in Congress. He arrived to give his concession speech and left in under 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the real party was going on about three miles away. That’s where Zohran Mamdani was completing his victory lap of three celebrations with candidates who likely would not have gotten near Congress without his endorsements, just a year after he stunned the political world by beating Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary. “We are showing that last June, a year ago tomorrow, was not an anomaly,” Mamdani said. “It was not the end. It was the beginning.”

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The wins signify how New York politics and the Democratic Party have a new power broker. Hakeem Jeffries, the Brooklyn-based House Democratic leader, is losing two incumbent members and facing an ascendant band of agitators. And the people long in charge in Democratic politics, including the ones who for decades thought of themselves as the insurgents, aren’t happy about it. They say they feel betrayed, left with a mayor they cannot trust. Around the city council, people who considered themselves his allies are sharing a line, according to one member who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity: Mamdani is only interested in allyship on his terms. Council members are talking about ways to give Mamdani his comeuppance, whether holding up funding for parts of his agenda or smaller ways of needling him. Mamdani and those closest to him say: This is what a revolution looks like, on his terms. He elevated a former campaign volunteer in Darializa Avila Chevalier, with a long record of inflammatory tweets and attendance at a widely decried rally the day after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks, and propelled her toward Congress over the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

US lawmakers introduce bipartisan bill to shield ratepayers from data center energy costs

A new bill has been proposed in the US House of Representatives that would require data centers to cover the full cost of grid and generation upgrades needed to serve their facilities, rather than passing those costs to regular ratepayers. The Ratepayer Protection Act, introduced by Kathy Castor (Democrat-Florida) and Gabe Evans (Republican-Colorado), would direct state utility regulators to establish rules ensuring large-load customers, those with a capacity of 100MW or more, pay for any generation, transmission, or other infrastructure required to connect to the grid. The bill would also require financial assurances from large-load customers to cover upgrade costs even if they later reduce operations or exit the grid entirely, shielding utilities and ratepayers from being left with stranded costs.

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"My neighbors across Florida are grappling with skyrocketing electric bills. Ratepayers should not have to subsidize wealthy corporations' growing energy demands, especially from AI data centers," said Castor. "The Ratepayer Protection Act safeguards consumers by ensuring these data centers pay for the energy and grid upgrades they need so hardworking families and local businesses are not stuck paying more." "Colorado families, farmers, and small businesses should not be forced to cover the costs of new power generation driven by these developments," said Evans. "The Ratepayer Protection Act is a bipartisan, commonsense solution that protects everyday Americans and ensures our nation can continue to win the AI race." The bill is scheduled for markup in the House Energy and Commerce Energy Subcommittee this week, and has drawn support from Google.

A new ABC campaign urges viewers to push back against FCC pressure

ABC viewers across the country are getting a message from the network: If you like your local stations, or “The View,” help us get the government off our back. ABC on Monday launched an on-air campaign asking viewers to send comments to the Federal Communications Commission’s website pushing back on the agency and its chairman, Brendan Carr. Since February, the FCC has been investigating whether ABC’s “The View” violated the commission’s equal-time rule, which guarantees equal airtime to all candidates running for the same public office. ABC has maintained that “The View” qualifies as what the commission calls a “bona fide” news program and is exempt from the rule, accusing the FCC of violating the First Amendment in a legal filing.

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In April, the FCC also ordered an early review of ABC’s eight local stations over its diversity, equity and inclusion practices. The review was announced just days after President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump intensely criticized ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, though the FCC maintained that the timing was purely coincidental. Intensifying its response, ABC began airing two television spots directing viewers to submit public comments on the FCC’s website. “The View has hosted your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years,” one commercial reads. “Now the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show. Viewers, use your voice. Scan this QR code. You have until July 6.” The other announcement, airing in various local markets, says, “Now, the FCC is questioning our commitment to the community,” and asks viewers to show their support by chiming in online. “Disney wants the FCC to classify ‘The View’ as a ‘bona fide news program.’ And it has chosen to run a campaign of misinformation to make its case — misleading viewers about the law,” a spokesperson for the FCC said in a statement. “That is a choice.”

Copyright June 25, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved