December 15, 2025: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Jasmine Crockett created deadline day drama that reshaped Texas politics

In the days before she launched her Senate campaign, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett tried to develop a slate of Democratic candidates to run with her in the 2026 midterm elections. Crockett and other Democrats theorize running their best candidates in races up and down the ballot — particularly in statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller — improves their chances to break through. Crockett’s challenge was convincing fellow Democrats to put aside campaigns already in motion as the deadline to file candidacies for the March 3 primaries fast approached. Her effort failed. “We were almost there,” Crockett told me last week after her campaign kickoff speech. “That’s all I can say.”

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The Dallas Democrat acknowledged the delicacy of the negotiations and the effect the final, frenzied hours of the filing period had on various elected leaders. Crockett is in a high-profile primary Senate race against state Rep. James Talarico of Austin. “You’re trying to be spicy,” she said after being asked about her efforts to put together a candidate slate. Crockett’s political moves, most notably her eleventh-hour entry into the Senate race, highlighted a dramatic, chaotic day that changed the course of Democratic politics. The run-up to the filing deadline will have ramifications on the 2026 midterm elections, as Democrats try to wrest power from Republicans nationally and inside Texas. The drama was most pronounced in North Texas, where the Republicans’ mid-decade redrawing of congressional boundaries led to the decisions made by Crockett and Democrats.

Rick Perry helps lead $40M pro-Cornyn push in Texas Senate race

A coalition of Republican donors organized by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell and the wife of a close associate to Austin-based tech-billionaire Joe Lonsdale have pumped nearly $18 million into helping reelect U.S. Sen. John Cornyn as he faces his toughest primary in years. The group, Lone Star Freedom Project, is by far the largest spender in the race, according to data from the campaign spending group Ad Impact. The $17.8 million it has put in over the past five months dwarfs what has been spent against Cornyn in the March GOP primary. The fourth-term senatoris facing off against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, of Houston.

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Groups supporting Paxton, including his campaign fund, have spent virtually nothing on advertising, while Hunt's campaign and the pro-Hunt group Standing for Texas have spent approximately $5 million. Another group named Texas Conservatives Fund LLC, which is based in Delaware and has no website or public profile, spent $3.5 million in October and November running an attack ad focused on Cornyn's breaks with President Donald Trump on immigration and the border wall. Other groups are pitching in for Cornyn, including $12.9 million in ad buys by the pro-Cornyn super PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority, and $10.9 million from One Nation, a dark money group tied to Republican leadership in the Senate. That brings the total to $40 million. Recent polling has Paxton leading in the race,with 32% support, and Cornyn and Hunt drawing 27% and 23%, respectively, according to analysis by research firm Decision Desk HQ. "The only thing keeping John Cornyn's campaign alive is John Cornyn's money," Hunt said. "Strip that away and the entire operation collapses under its own weight." The Cornyn campaign declined to comment for this story. Cornyn continues to rely on support from establishment Republicans who have long clashed with Paxton.

Inside the Clintons’ fight to avoid testifying in the House Epstein inquiry

A quiet, monthslong battle between Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, the Republican chairman of the Oversight Committee, and Bill and Hillary Clinton over the panel’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation could come to a head this week. Mr. Comer has threatened to begin contempt of Congress proceedings against them if they fail to appear in person for depositions. The threat is the starkest example yet of the attempt by House Republicans to shift the focus of the Epstein affair away from President Trump and his administration and onto prominent Democrats who once associated with the convicted sex offender and his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell. After Democrats on his panel effectively forced him to subpoena the Justice Department for its files, Mr. Comer also issued subpoenas in August to the Clintons, as well as to eight former top law enforcement officials.

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Since then, the chairman has withdrawn the subpoenas for five former attorneys general who wrote in statements to the panel that they had no knowledge relevant to the investigation. The committee also excused former F.B.I. directors James B. Comey and Robert S. Mueller III from giving live depositions. Only one person, former Attorney General William P. Barr, has appeared to testify. But Mr. Comer has refused to excuse the Clintons, even though they have repeatedly offered to provide the same kind of sworn statement to the committee. Instead, Mr. Comer has falsely accused them of ignoring his subpoenas and continued to demand that they appear for live depositions or face the possibility of being held in contempt, typically a first step in referring someone to the Justice Department for prosecution. For months, the Clintons have been engaging with Mr. Comer far more than was previously known to respond to his requests and avoid having to appear on Capitol Hill. Their longtime attorney, David Kendall, has sent three letters explaining in detail his argument that the Clintons should be required to provide only sworn statements to the committee. On Sept. 30, Mr. Kendall met in person with Mr. Comer’s staff to discuss the requests.

Why everyone got Trump’s tariffs wrong

In the days following “Liberation Day,” the contrast between Trump’s optimism and more dire predictions from trade experts and economists was stark. As businesses and consumers tried to make sense of the mixed messages, the president doubled down on promises he’d made during his 2024 presidential campaign. “The markets are going to boom, the stock [market] is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” he said on April 3. Economists and business leaders dialed up predictions of a fallout. BlackRock’s Larry Fink said “most CEOs I talk to would say we are probably in a recession right now.” JPMorgan Chase said a global recession was even likely. An economic collapse hasn’t materialized. Neither has an economic revival. A lot of federal data is delayed, but the numbers so far show the U.S. economy has held up. The odds of a recession in the coming year have fallen below 25%. While Trump’s promise on tariff revenues happened to a degree, most of his others have fallen flat.

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The U.S. has seen little evidence of large-scale reshoring. Cheaper labor abroad continues to give foreign manufacturers an edge, while uncertainty at home over the tariffs has kept many companies from making major investments or bringing manufacturing home. We look at six bold predictions Trump, the White House, economists and business leaders made about the economy, what’s happened and what might come next. Eight months into the tariff regime, Trump’s policies haven’t done much to boost employment. In fact, a host of large layoff announcements and other troubling labor data signal difficult times for workers. The U.S. added 119,000 jobs in September, far more than economists had expected. But the figure was an outlier from previous months, in which job growth had lagged. As of September, the unemployment rate reached 4.4%, the highest in four years. Economists don’t rule out tariffs leading to more hiring down the road, but the picture is complex.

State Stories

Camp Mystic to get new flood warning system ahead of summer

Camp Mystic officials said they are in the process of installing a new flood warning system ahead of the all-girls Christian camp reopening its Cypress Lake location this summer. Mystic has allowed Cedar Park company River Sentry to install 8-foot aluminum towers designed to detect rising water upstream and downstream along the banks of the Cypress Lake campsite, which is uphill from Mystic’s Guadalupe site, where 27 campers and counselors lost their lives in the flooding. Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 1, the Youth CAMPER Act, after the families of the campers and counselors who lost their lives in the floods joined together to push for changes to safety requirements for Texas camps.

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The bill now requires camps to install and maintain an emergency system capable of alerting all campers and occupants of an emergency — one that “includes a public address system operable without reliance on internet connection.” River Sentry Founder Ian Cunningham, a commercial pilot, said he began developing the technology for what he says is a “catastrophic flood alarm system” after the deadly floods in the Hill Country. The company said it originally offered the system to camps as a donation. “I thought to myself, this has to be solvable. Why are we still tolerating this in Texas, with all the tech and all the imagination and creative ability we have just in this region?” Cunningham said. Cunningham demonstrated that when the towers detect flood water, they activate warning lights and sirens that can produce up to 75 decibels to wake people. According to the company’s website, each tower is autonomous but will be paired so that any detecting unit can activate the entire system. “We intend to daisy-chain these towers from different placements down the bank as we head down the river,” Cunningham said. “The entire River Sentry philosophy is built upon waking you up and providing a lighted egress and make(s) that basic promise to anyone who’s going to use our equipment.”

Travis County district attorney moves to exonerate wrongfully accused yogurt shop murder suspects

Travis County will formally undo charges leveled against four young men for Austin's infamous yogurt shop murders after police found the man they believe responsible for the 1991 case earlier this year. Travis County District Attorney José Garza said he has filed the paperwork to exonerate the four men initially accused of the murders of Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, and Jennifer and Sarah Harbison at an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop in December 1991. Michael Scott, Robert Springsteen, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn were all tied to the murders in 1991 and charged in 1999. Austin Police said in September they believe Robert Eugene Brashers was responsible for the murders, ending a decades-long search for answers in the case that shocked Austin, drew national headlines and was the subject of an HBO docuseries.

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Garza said his office filed paperwork Thursday for the surviving men to formally clear their records. "Thirty-four years is too long for anyone to have to wait for the criminal legal process to be over," Garza said. "And it is our hope that [this filing] ... will be the first step in finally closing this case so that all involved can move forward." While the charges were previously dropped against the former suspects, they were still on the record. Garza said the filing will allow their records to be formally cleared in Travis County. Springsteen and Scott were convicted in 1999. Springsteen was sentenced to death, while Scott was given a life sentence. Both of those cases were tossed out in 2006 by the state's highest criminal court. Pierce spent more than three years in a Travis County jail awaiting trial until the case was dismissed in 2003. Pierce later stabbed an Austin police officer and was fatally shot in 2010. Wellborn's charges were dropped in 2000. Both Springsteen and Scott maintained for decades that their confessions were coerced by police.

Red-hot Texas is getting so many data center requests that experts see a bubble

Everything is bigger in Texas. That's also true for data center demand in the Lone Star State, where project developers are rushing to cash in on the artificial intelligence boom. Cheap land and cheap energy are combining to attract a flood of data center developers to the state. The potential demand is so vast that it will be impossible to meet by the end of the decade, energy experts say. Speculative projects are clogging up the pipeline to connect to the electric grid, making it difficult to see how much demand will actually materialize, they say. But investors will be left on the hook if inflated demand forecasts lead to more infrastructure being built than is actually needed. "It definitely looks, smells, feels — is acting like a bubble," said Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin and a founder of energy consulting firm IdeaSmiths.

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"The top line numbers are almost laughable," Rhodes said. More than 220 gigawatts of big projects have asked to connect to the Texas electric grid by 2030, according to December data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. More than 70% of those projects are data centers, according to ERCOT, which manages the Texas power grid. That's more than twice the Lone Star State's record peak summer demand this year of around 85 gigawatts, and its total available power generation for the season of around 103 gigawatts. Those figures are "crazy big," said Beth Garza, a former ERCOT watchdog. "There's not enough stuff to serve that much load on the equipment side or the consumption side," said Garza, director of ERCOT's independent market monitor from 2014 to 2019. Rhodes agreed. "There's just no way we can physically put this much steel in the ground to match those numbers. I don't even know if China could do it that fast," he said.

Travis County judge makes San Antonio-Austin rail among top priorities

As Travis County Judge Andy Brown runs for reelection, one of his top campaign priorities is building a train between Austin and San Antonio. “You want trains; I want to give ‘em to you,” Brown wrote in a Threads post on Monday. The judge continued: “A top priority for my office is building a passenger railway between Austin and San Antonio to free up transit on I-35, help thousands of between-county commuters and change the way we travel for the better.” Even so, may not want to get their hopes up. The Austin-San Antonio train idea has been around for decades, and it’s appeared to pick up steam in recent years. Last year, the Texas Passenger Rail Advisory Committee, launched by Brown and Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, began holding monthly meetings.

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However, it remains to be seen how the new committee differs from the Lone Star Rail District, an earlier committee that sought to connect San Antonio and Austin. Despite paying out millions in consultant fees, the District never laid down a single foot of rail track. And the primary obstacle that killed the Lone Star Rail District still remains. Union Pacific still owns the primary rail line between San Antonio and Austin, and the company is likely still unwilling to expand passenger rail service on existing tracks unless a new freight bypass is built, as the Current has reported. What’s more, it’s unclear whether the notoriously fiscally conservative Texas Legislature has any appetite for funding a high-speed rail project. Sakai, who’s also running for reelection and faces a Democratic primary challenge from former Mayor Ron Nirenberg, has notably left a possible rail line to Austin out of his campaign platform.

Houston’s historic Ismaili Center opening its doors to the public

After nearly 20 years in the making, Houston's historic Ismaili Center — the first in the United States — is opening its doors to the greater Houston community. Ismaili Center Houston will host a free opening event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, when Houstonians can tour the massive cultural center and see dance performances, live music and art installations. Guests can also walk around the center's 9 acres of gardens and courtyards. The center will have food trucks and a hot chocolate bar.

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"Our longstanding partnership with the Ismaili community has always been rooted in a shared belief in the power of landscape to foster understanding," said Thomas Woltz, Senior Principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, one of the designers of the center. "In designing the Ismaili Center, Houston, we drew on centuries-old landscape principles and the ecological richness of Texas to create a campus that invites connection, curiosity, and a sense of shared purpose." The five-story center is 150,000 square feet and sits on 11 acres of land at the southeast corner of Allen Parkway and Montrose Boulevard, near Buffalo Bayou Park. Ismailis are a branch of Shia Muslims who advocate for pluralism, social progress and service to societies. Ismailis are led by Aga Khan V, who took over as leader after the death of his father in February. City officials and prominent Ismaili Muslim leaders held an opening ceremony in November. Houston Mayor John Whitmire praised the center as a "beacon of light surrounded by some of our most treasured neighborhoods and cultural institutions." His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V stood next to Whitmire in the opening ceremony. "This building may be called an Ismaili Center," he said at the time, "but it is not here for Ismailis only. It is for all Houstonians to use; a place open to all who seek knowledge, reflection, and dialogue.”

Pentagon in talks to move major agency to San Antonio. What it could mean.

The bureaucracy in charge of the military’s healthcare system could be headed to San Antonio. The move could bring as many 3,300 people and their families to the city if the entire headquarters of the Defense Health Agency relocates, but it remains unclear exactly how many workers or which portions of the organization might move. Recent moves at City Hall and a letter from area congressmen to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, though, suggest ongoing talks over uprooting the agency from Falls Church, Va.

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City officials and the military have been mum, but sources suggest an announcement may be coming as soon as this week. The renewed talks come two years after unit officials and city leaders denied the idea was under consideration and with San Antonio fighting to hang on to military personnel. Hegseth’s Pentagon has already yanked two military headquarters, and most of their 1,100 workers, from the city. It’s also stalled the Air Force’s plans to raise the status of its cyber hub at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. For years, the city and county have been wooing the Pentagon to bring more of its health care system to San Antonio, which already is considered the home of military medicine. And they’re ready to spend to make it happen. Both San Antonio and Bexar County have budgeted $10 million to refurbish an old building on Fort Sam Houston for the unit and, in October, each approved a request for $5 million in state Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grants.

Hanukkah terror attack: College Station man volunteering in Sydney among those hurt in deadly attack

At least 15 people are dead and 40 others hurt in a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday. Among those hurt was a 20-year-old College Station man, Houston Rabbi Chaim Lazaroff told KHOU 11's Michelle Choi. "Please say Tehillim, Kapitel 21, for my nephew Yehudah Leib ben Manya Lazaroff of College Station, Texas, who was among the injured in the attack," Rabbi Chaim Lazaroff of Chabad of Houston said in a statement. Rabbi Lazaroff said his brother runs a Chabad branch in College Station, primarily serving Texas A&M students. "It's a very bustling and hustling Chabad house," Rabbi Lazaroff said. "He grew up there giving to the community and being a, definitely being a central part of all the work they do there."

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He described his nephew as "bustling with energy" and "always looking for ways to help." Rabbi Lazaroff said his nephew had gone to Sydney to volunteer the Chabad of Bondi. "He was there for the year to volunteer and to give up his time, because it's a part of a, a central part of our ideology," the rabbi said. "You're not here on this world just to live for yourself, you're here to live to give to someone else. And so he was there to strengthen the communities." Rabbi Lazaroff said he learned of his nephew's injuries when they woke up to the news. "We saw that they were having a hard time reaching my nephew, and then they confirmed that, they got word that he was critically injured, in ICU," he said. Rabbi Lazaroff said that among the dead was Chabad of Bondi Rabbi Eli Schlanger. "It's very hard for the family, but I think it's also, it's hard for the Jewish community everywhere," he said. "Leaders have been tepid in their response to antisemitism that's growing across America and around the world." "It's up to the leaders to speak up and to say that we will not tolerate antisemitism of any form. It doesn't make a difference what your motives are, on what's going on overseas, what your political interests are. Terrorism is definitely not an option and not something that can be accepted by anyone."

Human Rights groups warn immigration detention camp at Fort Bliss reaching "breaking point"

Human Rights groups warn an immigration detention camp at Fort Bliss has reached a "breaking point" Human rights experts are sounding the alarm about living conditions at the immigration detention camp that houses hundreds of people. "Fort Bliss is a human and civil rights disaster," said Eunice Cho Senior Counsel for the American Civil Liberty Union's prison program. The ACLU and other organizations allege physical abuse, unsanitary conditions and medical neglect at the massive tent facility operated by a private contractor on military property. The amount of violence we have heard about officers using against detained people is creating a crisis situation, ACLU Texas attorney Savannah Kumar said. People at the tent facility have given sworn declarations detailing alleged abusive treatment, according to the ACLU.

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"Officers have crushed detained people's testicles, slammed people to the ground, stomped on them and punched their faces. Officers have beaten people even when they are already restrained and handcuffed," Kumar said. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said allegations of inhumane conditions are "categorically false" in an emailed statement. Nearly 3000 people from across the country are held in the camp. Future plans are to increase capacity to 5,000. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, pushed back against the allegations, saying: "No detainees are being beaten or abused. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, access to showers, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members." ICE opened the tent facility named Camp East Montana in mid-August to provide extra detention space as the Trump administration works to carry out mass deportations. The federal government awarded the Virginia-based company Acquisitions Logics LLC $1.2 billion to operate the sprawling camp. The ACLU, in a letter, urged the federal government to shut it down.

After devastating flood, can Guadalupe River ever fully recover?

Anna Neale and Lois Fields walked slowly through Flatrock Park, tossing handfuls of seed on the ground along the Guadalupe River. At their feet, the flood-ravaged soil was mostly bare. Above their heads, there was little evidence of the thick canopy of trees that guarded the river’s banks just a few months ago. Neale paused to examine a small mountain laurel that was determinedly rising from the ground. “He’s beat up, but he’s trying to survive,” Neale said. “This is nature doing nature.” Before July 4, when the Guadalupe River turned into a raging, deadly torrent, this section of the riverbank was shaded by trees, with so much dense vegetation that you couldn’t leave the paved walking path, Neale said. The flood was catastrophic to Kerr County’s human population — killing 119 people and sweeping away homes, RVs, cars and anything else in its path — but it was also devastating to the environment.

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The floodwaters damaged or destroyed thousands of trees and wiped away acres of vegetation, altering the river and its surrounding ecosystems. An analysis found that more than half the vegetation along the river’s floodway was lost, based on aerial images from before and after the flood. Those scars are easily visible along the Guadalupe. In some areas, trees are bent at 45-degree angles. In others, nothing is left behind but stumps and bare ground. The river banks were scoured clean in some spots, while mounds of gravel and other debris were deposited elsewhere. It’s also not yet fully clear how much of an effect the flooding had on fish, mussels and other creatures that live in and around the river. But the river — and the wildlife that depends on it — will recover, experts said, given time, patience and intentional restoration efforts. Floods “are part of the natural climate, part of the natural hydrology,” said Steve Nelle, a retired natural resource specialist and wildlife biologist with the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service. “It won’t look exactly like it did before; it’s going to look a little different,” he told Kerr County landowners at a recent recovery workshop. “But this river will heal.”

North Texas ‘Cowboy Capitalism’ carving niche in venture capital

There was a 283-day period when it would have been impossible to have any productive ideas at a Dallas Mavericks game. How could one think over chants of “Fire Nico”? Luckily for Alex Treece and Nick Elledge, two of the founders of Stablecore, they reconnected at the American Airlines Center in November 2024, one of the last times Luka Doncic played in a Mavericks jersey before being infamously traded to the Lakers. A leading venture capitalist invited the pair to the game as part of a group outing with several of the city’s most promising entrepreneurs, and by early 2025, their fintech startup was born. Like a true Dallas guy, Elledge highlighted the conspicuous presence of Doncic in Stablecore’s origin story in a joint interview with The News, but the tale is emblematic of something else big that is happening in North Texas: the glimmerings of a venture capital boom.

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Stablecore, which provides community and regional banks and credit unions with the tools to offer digital assets, announced a $20 million fundraising round in September. In October, Stablecore was anointed Startup of the Year at the annual Venture Dallas conference, and Treece said in November they already have agreements with several banks and streams of revenue. “These are the types of companies that are deciding to start their business here and not in the Bay Area,” said Aaron Pierce, partner at Perot Jain — an investor in Stablecore — and the organizer of Venture Dallas. “Because you can.” According to Pierce, North Texas is on track for $2.5 billion invested in early-stage companies in 2025. Last year, that number was $1.4 billion. In 2019, $500 million. “Which felt like a big number at the time,” Pierce said. The growth is due to the symbiotic ecosystem of startups and venture capital, as talent like Treece and Elledge deploy capital from firms like Perot Jain. Each provides proof to prospective founders and investors that the whole startup thing is possible in North Texas. Still, the region stands just on the precipice of a true venture capital explosion, and headwinds like concentration and limited exit opportunities may affect whether it actually takes the plunge.

Who’s running? Republicans look to challenge El Paso Democratic stronghold in 2026 elections

El Paso Republicans – who have failed to find candidates for most partisan races in recent years – will have contested primaries in March for Congress and county judge, and will have candidates in November for county commissioner and state legislative races. Meanwhile, the region’s Democratic incumbents face lesser-known challengers in the 2026 primaries. “We’re breathing life back into the local Republican party,” said Michael Aboud, chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party, which drew more than a dozen candidates in local races. “Republican candidates on the ballot make Republican voters find out who they are and increase their chances of coming out to vote.”

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The candidate filing deadline for the March 3 primary was Monday. In all, more than 30 candidates filed for12 key local, state and federal elected positions in El Paso, along with a slew of candidates who filed for judgeships and justice of the peace seats. “We’re going to get behind all our nominees and make sure we bring out the votes because it’s so critical this year in 2026,” said Michael Apodaca, chair of the El Paso County Democratic Party, who is unopposed in seeking his second term in the position. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar will face a graduate physics student in the Democratic primary for District 16. Six Republicans will face off for the party’s nomination to attempt to unseat the four-term incumbent in the November midterm. No Republican has represented El Paso’s main congressional district since 1964. District 23 Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales will face three opponents in the primary, while four candidates will compete for the Democratic nomination for the seat.

Ex-con Congressman attempts a Texas comeback

Former Congressman and felon Steve Stockman, a Friendswood-area conservative who was convicted of 23 federal corruption charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison back in 2018, has declared himself rehabilitated and fit to run again for the U.S. House of Representatives. Stockman, once dubbed Texas’ “weirdest lawmaker”, entered a crowded field of candidates running to fill the recently redrawn 9th Congressional District, FEC records show. The district, served for two decades by Congressman Al Green, a Black Houston Democrat, was gerrymandered and relocated from its diverse neighborhoods and suburbs to encompass conservative turf that extends from eastern Harris County out to Liberty County. Even before his convictions, Stockman was never politically popular or effective as a congressman who previously represented other swaths of southeast Texas.

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Texas Monthly once described him as “one of those kind of creepy politicians that other politicians try to keep at a distance just in case it might rub off on them.” In his latest comeback attempt, Stockman joins a dubious though growing American political tradition of disgraced politicos who have attempted to recast themselves as martyrs after being tarnished or convicted of crimes, according to Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor whose most recent book is Scandal: Why Politicians Survive Controversy in a Partisan Era. “We’re seeing that in politics a lot now because polarization is such an important force,” Rottinghaus told the Texas Observer. “It gives them an opportunity to use that scandal as evidence in an ideological war.” Stockman left Congress in 2015 under a cloud of corruption allegations, including a House ethics probe into a congressional junket to Azerbaijan and questions about allegedly illegal campaign contributions. In 2018, Stockman was convicted with two former aides of carrying out a multi-year scheme to bilk conservative foundations and donors of about $1.2 million in funds that were then diverted for his personal and political use via a network of paper companies and fake charities, federal court records show. The two former staffers, Jason Posey and Thomas Dodd, went to prison for 18 months for their role in what the the U.S. Department of Justice at the time called an “Extensive Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme.”

National Stories

Rob Reiner and wife, Michele, founded dead.

Rob Reiner, a writer, director, producer, actor and political activist whose career in Hollywood spanned more than six decades and included some of the most iconic titles in movie history, was found dead Sunday with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, at the home they shared in Brentwood. He was 78. “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,” a spokesperson for the family said in a statement Sunday. “We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.” Reiner will be remembered as the director of the seminal 1980s rom-com “When Harry Met Sally...,” the actor whose character “Meathead” faced off regularly against Archie Bunker, and the political activist who backed early childhood programs in California and railed loudly for years against President Trump.

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The oldest child of comedian Carl Reiner and singer Estelle Reiner, Robert Reiner was born March 6, 1947, in the Bronx, N.Y. Raised by a father who won 11 Primetime Emmys and a Grammy in addition to the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Rob Reiner attended Beverly Hills High School and studied film at UCLA. He then went to work in Hollywood as an actor and writer before moving on to directing and producing. Reiner’s writing credits in the 1960s included “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” “The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour” and the TV movie “Where the Girls Are.” In the 1970s, he wrote several episodes of “All in the Family” as well as the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast in 1978 and episodes of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” Reiner married Penny Marshall, star of TV’s “Laverne & Shirley,” in 1971 and adopted Tracy, the daughter Marshall had from a previous marriage. Reiner and Marshall divorced in 1981. He wrote for the first “Comic Relief,” hosted by Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg. That and the dozen “Comic Relief” telethons that followed raised awareness and money to fight poverty in the U.S. and elsewhere. “This Is Spinal Tap” in 1984 further established Reiner’s comedic sensibilities in the American milieu. His work took a dramatic turn when he directed the 1986 adaptation of Stephen King’s novella “Stand by Me,” which starred Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell, but he returned to comedy with 1987’s “The Princess Bride” starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright and Mandy Patinkin. Also in 1987, he co-founded production company Castle Rock Entertainment.

Big advertisers appear wary of CBS News’ Bari Weiss town hall format

During a Saturday-night town hall led by Bari Weiss, the recently named editor in chief of CBS News, most of Madison Avenue sought an off-ramp. The program featured an in-depth interview with Erika Kirk, the CEO of the conservative advocacy organization Turning Point USA and the widow of Charlie Kirk, the group’s former leader. He was assassinated during one of the organization’s events at Utah Valley University, throwing a harsh spotlight on the political and cultural divides present in the U.S. The event marked a new offering from CBS News. The organization does not typically host town halls or debates on trending issues or with newsmakers.

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And the choice of Weiss as moderator also raised eyebrows, because in most modern TV-news organizations, senior editorial executives remain off camera, rather than appearing in front of it. More may be on the way. During the program, Weiss told viewers that “CBS is going to have many more conversations like this in the weeks and months ahead, so stay tuned. More town halls. More debates. More talking about the things that matter.” That would suggest CBS is planning to devote more hours to the programs. The news special aired at 8 p.m. on Saturday, one of the least-watched hours in broadcast TV. And that may have contributed to a relative dearth of top advertisers appearing to support the show. During the hour, commercial breaks were largely filled with spots from direct-response advertisers, including the dietary supplement SuperBeets; the home-repair service HomeServe.com; and CarFax, a supplier of auto ownership data. Viewers of the telecast on WCBS, CBS’ flagship station in New York, even saw a commercial for Chia Pet, the terra-cotta figure that sprouts plant life after a few weeks. Direct-response advertisers typically pay lower prices in exchange for allowing TV networks to put their commercials on air when convenience allows. A flurry of the ads appearing in one program usually offers a signal that the network could not line up more mainstream support for the content it chose to air.

Trump gets reality check in bid to retain loyalist U.S. attorneys

President Trump’s efforts to keep his loyalist U.S. attorneys in their roles hit a dead end this week, as two top federal prosecutors stepped down over piling complications from their leadership. Julianne Murray, Delaware’s GOP chair-turned-top federal prosecutor, announced her resignation Friday, just days after Alina Habba said she was leaving her position atop New Jersey’s federal prosecuting office. They both pinned the blame on a long-standing Senate practice that cut their confirmation ambitions short, and Habba assigned additional fault to the judges whose dockets were upended as the legality of her tenure was questioned. It appeared to mark a rare reality check for the administration, which has taken extensive steps to keep its embattled U.S. attorneys in their posts, even as courts have ruled they are serving unlawfully.

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“There’s a lot of hills that they’re willing to die on, and clearly this isn’t one of them,” said Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University. The resignations follow a ruling by a panel of federal appeals court judges affirming Habba’s disqualification, at the heart of it a rejection of the maneuvers the administration took to keep her and other U.S. attorneys in the positions after their interim terms expired. When Habba’s temporary tenure ended in July, New Jersey federal judges declined to extend the clock, instead invoking a seldom-used power to appoint her next-in-command to the position. However, so Habba could remain atop the office, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the judges’ selected successor and Trump withdrew Habba’s formal nomination. She was given the title of acting U.S. attorney, alongside all the powers that come with it. The administration made similar moves in Nevada, California, New York, New Mexico and Delaware, where the prosecutors were turned from interim to acting U.S. attorneys when judges did not greenlight their continued leadership without Senate approval.

Brown University person of interest to be released from police custody, officials say

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said late Sunday night the person of interest is being released from police custody as he is no longer considered a person of interest, as the evidence is pointing in another direction. A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded nine others at Brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, and that person appears to still be at large as police are releasing a person of interest, who was detained Sunday amid their active investigation. University President Christina Paxson said she was told that 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting, but it was not clear if that victim was a student, she said.

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Officers scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighborhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, backyards and porches late into the night after the shooting erupted in the afternoon. The suspect was a man in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of Providence police. Security footage showed the suspect walking away from the building, but his face was not visible. Some witnesses reported that the man, who could be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, O’Hara said. Authorities said Sunday morning that they had a person of interest in custody, before announcing around 11 p.m. they would soon be releasing that person as evidence is now pointing in a different direction.

DNC rolls out pair of programs to staff down ballot campaigns

Democrats think the political environment is turning against Republicans ahead of next year’s midterm elections, and they’re taking steps to make sure their campaigns are ready to take full advantage. The Democratic National Committee on Monday announced the creation of a pair of novel programs meant to help candidates find qualified people to run their campaigns, part of what officials with the group said is a two-pronged approach to help the party win as many races as it can in 2026. One effort, called the Battleground Leadership Project, will recruit and train men and women to be organizing directors and run the party’s coordinated campaigns in battleground states, an effort that would benefit Democrats up and down the ballot.

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The DNC is also planning to create a program in January called BlueMatch that will help match potential campaign staffers with Democratic candidates and state parties nationwide. Officials said they hope that the dual effort, backed by an initial six-figure investment from the DNC, will help resolve a longstanding problem of campaigns struggling to find qualified staff. The issue is especially acute for candidates running in more remote areas of the country, they said. “As we head into the midterms, Democrats must seize this moment and ensure that our coordinated campaigns are staffed early with the strongest talent,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “There are thousands of people who want to join our movement, and the DNC will get them on the ground across the country through the Battleground Leadership Project and BlueMatch — two critical programs to ensure our coordinated campaigns and state parties have the high-quality staff they need to win in 2026.”

Everyone wants to change infrastructure permitting. Nobody knows how to pass it.

Democrats and Republicans alike are calling for an overhaul of the way infrastructure is approved and built in the United States. They’re just moving further and further apart on how to actually do it. Partisan fighting and intraparty tensions over a slate of permitting reform bills are signaling that the once bipartisan policy goal may once again stall in Congress, even as lawmakers emphasize the need for more energy infrastructure and housing to tackle the growing cost-of-living crisis. “Polarization is part of everything, so I’m sure it has a role here at some level,” Marc Boom, a former senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration, told NOTUS. “The best solution is going to be one that leaves everyone happy, and the path that I’m seeing doesn’t seem like that.”

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A group of conservative Republican lawmakers is threatening to withhold support from a bipartisan bill that would overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act, a key permitting statute. Why? It has a measure that would provide wins for renewable energy developers who want to insulate their projects from a Trump administration crackdown. Progressive Democrats and environmentalists, meanwhile, are upset that the bill would weaken community input and environmental review on proposed projects. The impending vote on the SPEED Act comes after lawmakers got into a fiery debate on the House floor last Thursday over a bill that would weaken the scope of reviews under the Clean Water Act. Republicans said that bill would speed up infrastructure, but most Democrats criticized it on environmental grounds. “You will hear no argument from me about the need for permitting reform,” Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten said on the floor ahead of a vote on the bill. “We do need reform, but this bill is not what we need. It doesn’t just cut red tape, it cuts all the tape that has protected our clean water for 50 years.” The bill passed, with a handful of moderate Democrats joining most Republicans in voting “yes.” So did a different bill that would speed up permitting for natural gas pipelines. But both came with some mudslinging.

Nobel laureate María Corina Machado: ‘I absolutely support President Trump’s strategy’ in Venezuela

Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado said she supports President Trump’s aggressive approach in dealing with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and said she thinks the Venezuelan government’s days are “numbered.” In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” the Venezuelan opposition leader was asked if she supports the U.S. increasing sanctions on Venezuelan individuals and the U.S. potentially conducting more seizures of vessels, like the oil tanker last week. “Look, I absolutely support President Trump’s strategy, and we, the Venezuelan people, are very grateful to him and to his administration, because I believe he is a champion of freedom in this hemisphere,” Machado told host Margaret Brennan.

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Speaking from Oslo, where she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year, Machado noted that she previously dedicated, in part, the award to Trump “because I think that he finally has put Venezuela in where it should be, in terms of a priority for the United States national security.” “And we do support these actions, because, Margaret, we are facing, not a conventional dictatorship. This is a very complex criminal structure that has turned Venezuela into a safe haven of international crime and terrorist activities, starting with Russia, Iran, Cuba, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Colombian guerrilla, the drug cartels operating freely and directed in partnership with Maduro and his regime,” she continued. Machado has been living in hiding in her own country for nearly a year and was seen in public for the first time this past week in Oslo, where her daughter accepted her peace prize on her behalf. After winning the opposition primary, Machado was barred from running against Maduro last year and endorsed a lesser-known candidate widely seen as her stand-in. Maduro claimed victory and refused to leave power, but experts broadly dismissed the government’s election data purporting to show Maduro as the winner as “mathematically and statistically” impossible.

Copyright December 15, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved