November 9, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Takeaways from Trump's 60 Minutes interview

Days after Republicans faced a series of bruising midterm election losses, President Trump stood by his handling of the economy and the Iran war — but he acknowledged some "bad messaging" on economic issues and said his immigration crackdown was "too tough" at times. In a sitdown with 60 Minutes correspondent Ross Douthat, the president also suggested some top administration officials could be on their way out. One hour later, he announced White House chief of staff Susie Wiles would depart her role and be replaced by Stephen Miller. Here are the biggest takeaways from the interview: Republicans lost more than 40 House seats and at least seven Senate seats on Tuesday, with some races still uncalled, including in places that Mr. Trump won by double-digit margins two years ago. About 63% of midterm voters disapproved of Mr. Trump's job performance, and 44% said one reason for their vote was to express opposition to him, according to CBS News exit polling. Asked for his analysis of the midterm losses, Mr. Trump told 60 Minutes that voters "didn't like the war" with Iran or the soaring gas prices that it triggered. Some of the candidates were picked by the president. He endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Lone Star State's bitter GOP Senate primary, and he endorsed Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to fill her late brother's South Carolina Senate seat — encouraging her to run for a full term.

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Mr. Trump argued that "Cornyn would have lost also." The president defended his stewardship of the economy in his 60 Minutes sitdown, which came hours after a stronger-than-expected jobs report. He said "the numbers are phenomenal." "We're doing numbers that have never been done before. 401(k)s are at their all-time high by a lot. Under other presidents, they were a disaster. 401(k)s have made people rich," the president said. Pressed on the fact that not all Americans have large retirement accounts, Mr. Trump responded: "But a lot of people do." But exit polling shows three-fourths of midterm voters viewed the condition of the economy as either poor or not so good — and 70% of that group voted for Democratic House candidates. Voters were especially concerned about prices of gasoline, food, utilities and healthcare, and two-thirds of voters believed that Mr. Trump's tariff policies hurt the country's economy. The morning after the election, Vice President JD Vance argued on social media "the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone" — the broadly unpopular Iran war." Mr. Trump said Vance told him about his plan to write that post, and he responded: "You write what you want." The president said "I don't disagree" with the vice president's diagnosis for why the Republicans lost the midterms, "other than one thing." "The one thing he left out is — that I would say, and maybe he wouldn't say it, I don't know. I've never asked him really. But, if you had … to do again, would you do it? And that's Iran. Would you go and attack Iran?" he said.

The new political era: Less party loyalty, big election swings

President Trump’s Republicans just found out the hard way what other political parties are seeing across western democracies: Voters are fed up, they have lost trust in political parties and they don’t have much patience when they feel politicians aren’t listening. The massive shift in the midterm elections is a sign of a new political era taking hold from Paris, Texas, to Paris, France. Voters are becoming less attached to the parties their parents voted for and are more likely to try out new parties or new political pitches, on the left and right. And while they are willing to give insurgent parties or populist figures like Trump a shot, they will also lose patience quickly if they don’t deliver. The upshot means greater volatility in elections, and bigger swings from one party to another that leave a sense of political whiplash.

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If the Republicans were to lose the next presidential election, it would be the first time since the late 1800s that four consecutive presidential elections have ousted the incumbent party after just one term. In Europe, the disaffection has overturned politics, causing many traditional parties in places such as France and Italy to fade, and new parties, especially populist nationalist ones, to rise up in both countries as well as Germany and the U.K. France’s far-right National Rally is the clear favorite in French elections next year and, later this month, a nationalist party, Vox, is likely to gain a share of power for the first time in Spain since its return to democracy. Far-right parties are also set to do well in Italy and Poland next year. “Voters are clearly less attached to a party and far more willing to switch,” said Tony Travers, a political scientist at the London School of Economics, who compares it to a retail shopping experience, and attributes part of the change to a fast-paced digital world where people expect fast results and simple explanations for complex problems.

Nvidia opens investigation into Jensen Huang’s relationship with Chinese spy

Nvidia said on Sunday that it was opening an investigation into Jensen Huang, its chief executive and co-founder, after he acknowledged to the company’s board that he had been intimate with a business executive who U.S. intelligence determined was a Chinese spy. Mr. Huang’s relationship with the woman, who goes by Alice Huang, became a U.S. government concern after surveillance revealed that she was feeding information directly to Beijing. The revelation raised troubling possibilities because Mr. Huang is one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump. In a message to the company, Mr. Huang apologized. “I was unfaithful to my wife,” he said. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.” Nvidia’s board said that it had “no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised,” but that “the board’s inquiry will examine all available information.” It said Mr. Huang “fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it.”

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The independent board members will choose an outside counsel to investigate. John Rizzo, a company spokesman, said Mr. Huang wouldn’t be part of the selection process. Mr. Huang, 63, will continue to lead the company during the investigation, the board said. As a co-founder, he has set up a unique structure at Nvidia where he dictates all aspects of its business while overseeing some 60 people who directly report to him. “Today’s news will not slow Nvidia,” Mr. Rizzo said. “Jensen is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as C.E.O. without interruption.” In a brief comment to reporters on Sunday evening as he was about to leave Florida, Mr. Trump defended Mr. Huang. The president said he would “certainly take him” on his upcoming trip to China. “I haven’t heard he’s done anything wrong,” Mr. Trump said. “He dealt with somebody, but you know, so does everybody else.” Mr. Trump said he had not spoken to Mr. Huang about the situation. “I just know he’s a fine person, but you never know what’s going on,” Mr. Trump said. He added that he had no regrets about his own lack of action when he was told about a year ago that the U.S. intelligence community was electronically surveilling Ms. Huang.

Congress returns for crowded lame-duck session as Hegseth impeachment, government funding deadline loom

Following the historic midterm election sweeping Democrats into majority control of the House and Senate, Congress returns Monday for a five-week lame-duck session, with a long to-list to tackle before the end of the year and dozens of lawmakers ending their tenure in the House, and at least 17 senators heading home as well. The lame-duck session kicks off Monday with a two-week legislative period wrapped with freshman orientation for members-elect who will be seated in the 120th Congress on Jan. 3. There are still several races that are too close to call, but as it stands Friday, at least 109 incoming House freshmen will be seated -- the largest pre-convening freshmen class in the lower chamber in almost 100 years -- since the 73rd Congress convened in 1933.

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On the floor, House Speaker Mike Johnson is already hearing it from his own conference after GOP leadership plans to advance just one piece of legislation under a rule next week -- continuing the frustrations voiced by some of his members earlier this fall when the speaker dismissed lawmakers for a six-week campaign blitz rather than put Republican legislative wins on the floor. Johnson's designs for the lame-duck session could be quickly derailed as Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who lost a GOP primary months ago, is expected to reintroduce a privileged resolution to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Massie has a resolution with eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, who is staring down consternation at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in the wake of Tuesday's Democratic victories. President Donald Trump said Thursday he intends to keep Hegseth in his job amid assessments from several Republicans -- including Vice President JD Vance -- that the Iran war led to the party's midterm losses. In a video posted Thursday, Hegseth proclaimed that he will not back down -- doubling down on the Iran war and his cultural agenda at the Pentagon while drawing a parallel to Trump. Massie could move as early as Monday, teeing up a showdown midweek on Hegseth impeachment.

State Stories

Delek CEO downplays White House refinery expansion announcement

Delek US Holdings Inc. won’t add crude oil processing capacity at its Tyler, Texas, refinery despite US Vice President JD Vance’s October announcement that the facility would be expanded using Defense Production Act funds. “We are still talking to the administration, but to make it very, very clear, Tyler is going to stay at 75,000 barrels a day,” Chief Executive Officer Avigal Soreq said on a Friday earnings call, referring to the refinery’s current processing capacity. “There is no material capex that we need to disclose.” The company is discussing “shifting between different kinds of products and that’s it,” Soreq said. “There is not much more to it.”

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The CEO’s tone differed notably from Vance’s Oct. 13 campaign stop in Tyler, where he announced Trump administration plans to work with Delek to expand the refinery using the 1950 Defense Production Act. The disconnect complicates Trump administration efforts to boost US refinery capacity amid high fuel prices, exacerbated by conflicts in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine. White House efforts to show progress on lowering energy prices ultimately proved unsuccessful in swaying voters in Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which Democrats swept to decisive victories across the country. Soreq said during Friday’s call that Delek is “very thankful” to the Trump administration, noting the company’s appreciation for a commitment to helping rural refineries. The Tyler facility is far smaller than some of the large-scale facilities owned by the country’s oil and refining giants. The White House and Delek didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Grand Prairie ISD responds to theater play cancellation lawsuit, says ‘uncertainty’ guided decision

Grand Prairie ISD has responded to a lawsuit filed by a female student who’s casting as a male character in a play led to it being cancelled. The district said an “uncertain legal landscape” and “enforcement environment” played into their decision. 17-year-old Ana Mota was cast last month to play Seymour, the lead male role, in “Little Shop of Horrors” at South Grand Prairie High School, but then district officials told her it might violate state law if she played the character. Mota was told she would have to share the lead female role with another student. When Mota refused, the play was cancelled and replaced with Disney’s “Frozen.” Mota sued in federal court last week, arguing the district violated Title IX — a federal statute that protects students from being discriminated against for their sex. She requested the court reinstate “Little Shop of Horrors” and her lead role.

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Mota’s initial lawsuit stated that SB 12 “contains no text that can reasonably be read to require an actor’s biological sex to match the sex of a fictional scripted character.” The lawsuit also argues that even if SB 12 barred Mota from the role, federal antidiscrimination law supersedes state law. The district’s response, which states AI was used to assist in some portions, said it was complying with Texas Senate Bill 571 – which requires school officials to report ‘educator misconduct’ and lays out penalties if they don’t – and a section of SB 12 that bars schools from providing “instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students.” “While Plaintiff’s role as Seymour was to remain a male character, not a transgender character, and the intent was to portray Plaintiff as a male,” the response states. “The concern was that the audience or other third parties may not view Plaintiff as a male, and that supporting a production featuring two females engaged in a romantic relationship might place the educators involved in the production of the musical in peril of committing ‘educator misconduct’ and cause the District to run afoul of state law.” The district said there’s no guidance from regulators or legal precedent on if SB 12 would bar a girl from playing a male character with a female romantic interest, creating legal uncertainty.

Tom Giovanetti: This election was terrible — and wonderful — for conservatives like me

(Tom Giovanetti is the president of the Institute for Policy Innovation.) It was a terrible, wonderful election for conservatives like me. It was a terrible election for my preferred policy outcomes. The Democratic Party is generally hostile to individual liberty, economic growth, wealth creation, innovation, to families and to the cause of life. Antisemites who refused to denounce the murderous Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel were popularly elected to Congress, including to the formerly august Senate. There are more in Congress than ever who won’t give straight answers to simple questions like “what is a woman?” and “is it okay to surgically sterilize pre-adolescents?” And if we need to replace a sitting Supreme Court justice, it won’t be easy to put another nominee committed to the original meaning and text of the Constitution on the bench. The crew in charge of Congress for the next two years will want to raise taxes, obliterate the senate filibuster, pack the Supreme Court, and maybe even add Democratic-leaning U.S. territories to our list of states. For certain they will prevent the passage of any legislation contributing to freedom, innovation and growth.

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For the next two years, folks like me will be fighting to oppose new regulation on AI, data centers, energy abundance, financial privacy, individual liberty — the list goes on and on. About these things, I am concerned but not worried. It’s harder to make major changes in our system than people think, even when one party holds healthy majorities. There will be a lot of forces pushing back. But if some do happen, that’s the price you pay for political malpractice. Which is what Republicans have been guilty of for the past two years. That’s why it was a wonderful election for our constitutional system, if not for my preferred policy outcomes. In our political system, there are no mandates. The people give you an opportunity to govern the country reasonably and prudently — to steward political power well. If you fail, the people get to throw you out. If you don’t like that, blame the politicians who squandered their duty, not the people who judged them for it. Throwing out people who are abject failures at their jobs is the healthy response of a self-governing people. In 2024, in full knowledge of his many incompetencies, vices and transgressions, voters nonetheless elected Trump and Republicans to return the country to its pre-Covid robust economy. Somewhere in there they assumed that congressional Republicans would deter Trump from his worst impulses, as often happened during Trump’s first term. Instead, congressional Republicans became his catamites — enabling, defending and praising his many abuses. Worst still, the speaker of the House exchanged his role as steward of the constitutional duties of the House for chief catamite, and undertook to protect Trump from any and all attempts at congressional oversight. As one of the worst House speakers in American history, Rep. Mike Johnson rightly finds himself speaker no more.

At the dawn of a new Texas frontier, advocates consider possibilities for abortion rights

When Gina Hinojosa’s victory in the Texas governor’s race was announced at her election night party Tuesday, 21-year-old Ava Marchant dissolved into tears of mascara-smeared happiness, trading embraces with various members of her family. For Marchant, the win provided hope that laws restricting reproductive rights in Texas could change. “I’m feeling just overcome with joy and relief,” she said. “When Abbott’s been governor, you know, I’ve just felt pressure as a woman in Texas, and I felt scared.” Texas has one of the tightest bans on abortion in the country, restricting the practice except in narrow medical circumstances when the mother’s life or a major bodily function is at risk. Over the past five years, the state’s conservative legislature has passed laws that pioneered new methods to crack down on abortion, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton doggedly pursued their enforcement.

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Now, Texas will have its first Democratic governor in more than three decades. The Texas House of Representatives has a blue majority, and Democrats were elected to the influential roles of lieutenant governor and attorney general. For voters like Marchant, it feels like a new frontier. Anti-abortion advocates feel it, too. “I’ve been working on pro-life legislation for the last 22 years, and this is the biggest shift I’ve seen in that amount of time,” said John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life. “We expect that dynamics across the board will be significantly more difficult for the pro-life movement in Texas.” Still, the Texas Senate remains red, with Republicans holding 19 of 31 seats. That means legislators interested in expanding abortion rights in the state will have to seek common ground across the aisle, and that champions of the anti-abortion movement in the Senate still have a strong position to block sweeping changes to Texas’ laws. For Texas abortion rights advocates who are accustomed to navigating a highly unfavorable political environment, the changes to the makeup of the state government feel dramatic and surreal. “I’m pretty sure we’re being punked,” joked Kaitlyn Kash following Tuesday’s election.

Texas women face barriers despite the narrowing wage gap, report finds

A typical Texas woman working full-time made 81 cents for every dollar her male counterpart earned, up from 79 cents in 2014, according to a new statewide index report. While the foundation estimates women could make up the majority of the state’s workforce by 2040, the report, authored by Texas Women’s Foundation, reveals that their economic opportunities aren't keeping pace with their growing population. In October, the foundation worked with data scientists at Every Texan to release the report examining women’s economic security, stability and success in Texas. Every Texan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institute that uses research and data analysis to advocate for policies that support economic opportunity and access to health care.

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In the report, a Texas Women’s Economic Opportunity Index compared conditions for women in more than 200 Texas counties, finding disparities in pay, leadership opportunities, overall well-being and childcare. “Texas women and their families need to not just survive, but to thrive,” foundation president and CEO Karen Hughes White said. “We believe that investing in women and their families will create a strong and vibrant Texas for everyone.” The foundation hopes lawmakers and community leaders will use the index to guide future state investments. Since 1985, the nonprofit foundation has invested millions in grants to eliminate the barriers to women’s economic security, stability and success through advocacy and research. Coda Rayo-Garza, senior director of research and data at Every Texan, said the wage gap may be smaller, but it doesn’t mean change is happening overnight. “In 10 years, the gap has only moved 3 cents,” Rayo-Garza said. “It's not going to take years to close that gap; it's going to take generations to close that gap at that rate.”

Dorazio is the lone GOP survivor in San Antonio’s Texas House delegation

Republican state Rep. Mark Dorazio (R-San Antonio) has long been part of the conservative wing that pushed out then-Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio), wanted only Republicans to chair committees in the Texas House and spent years working to cut Democratic colleagues out of the legislative process. When he returns to the state capitol in January, however, he’ll be on his own in a Texas House dominated by Democrats. Democrats have a majority in the chamber for the first time in many years, Dorazio is the lone Republican left standing in a Bexar County’s 10-member delegation. Suburban Republicans had a tough night on Tuesday, when a blue wave swept out many GOP state lawmakers who didn’t expect to face tough races.

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Even in Dorazio’s Texas House District 122, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Gina Hinojosa carried the district with 52.7%, according to San Antonio political data analyst Bert Santibañez, and a majority of voters even came back to support Democrat Ron Nirenberg in the Bexar County Judge race. When the AP finally called Dorazio’s race this week, he was holding off little-known Democratic challenger Shelly Nickels by about 1,800 votes. San Antonio’s other two Republican state lawmakers, state Reps. Marc LaHood (R-San Antonio) and John Lujan (R-San Antonio), were already long gone. Lujan waged an unsuccessful bid for Congress instead of seeking reelection this year, and the Republican running in his swingy Southside Texas House District 118 was defeated handily by Democrat Kristian Carranza. LaHood conceded on election night to Democratic challenger Zack Dunn — the first Democrat to win his Northside Texas House District 121 since 1981. His 54-46% victory marked a 13-point swing from LaHood’s win there just two years ago.

Cullen Davis, millionaire oilman acquitted in Fort Worth mansion killings, dies

Cullen Davis, who was one of the richest men in America when, in the summer of 1976, he was accused of wearing a black wig as he used a revolver to fire upon four people at a mansion on a remote hilltop in southwest Fort Worth, killing two of them, has died. He was 93. Davis, who was acquitted at his four-month capital murder trial and professed his innocence ever since, died Friday at his home in Colleyville, a stepson, Trey Davis, said on Sunday. The cause was not clear. Slain in one of Fort Worth’s most infamous crimes was Andrea Wilborn, the 12-year-old daughter of Davis’ estranged wife Priscilla. Also killed was Stan Farr, a former TCU basketball player who was Priscilla Davis’ live-in boyfriend.

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Priscilla Davis was shot once in the chest and survived, and Gus “Bubba” Gavrel Jr., a chance visitor to the mansion off South Hulen Street, was left paralyzed by a bullet in his spine. Priscilla Davis insisted from the outset that the gunman was her estranged husband, Cullen Davis, a multimillionaire oil heir. A judge had ordered him that morning to increase Priscilla Davis’ support payments to $5,000 per month and to pay her attorney’s fees. Cullen Davis had earlier been barred by a court order from going onto the property. A man dressed in black broke into the home. Andrea was shot once in the chest and was dragged or chased into the basement, where she bled to death in the utility room. Priscilla Davis, who was locked in a bitter divorce dispute with her husband, arrived home later with Farr. They confronted the killer in the house. Shot in the chest, as she lay wounded, Priscilla saw Farr get gunned down. She fled the house when the killer stepped outside to confront another couple.

The unlikely college football powerhouse fueled by Texas gas money

From the moment James Hurley arrived as president of Tarleton State University in 2019, he made it his mission to spread the word about what he considered the best-kept secret in America. He has driven tens of thousands of miles across Texas, meeting with hundreds of high school administrators and eating more burritos in his car than he would care to remember. There were stops in places without cell service and towns with one stoplight. But nowhere was too small to visit if he could put Tarleton State on the radar of college applicants. Hurley knew that more students could also mean more cash from a $46 billion state endowment flush with Texas oil money that backs certain public universities. And if there was one surefire way to boost the school’s profile—beyond endless drives around the state—it was college sports and the Tarleton State Texans.

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“Athletics will never be the most important endeavor we embark upon,” Hurley says, “but it is the most visible.” As enrollment surges, Tarleton State has committed $1.5 billion to campus infrastructure projects, many of them backed by the Permanent University Fund that generates money from Texas oil fields and distributes money to some public schools. And it’s no coincidence that an athletic program that traditionally prided itself on its national-title winning rodeo team is making waves across college sports. This season, the undefeated Tarleton State football team reached No. 1 in the Football Championship Subdivision for the first time in school history, and it’s planning the leap to the sport’s highest level. Meanwhile, the basketball teams that recently made the move from Division II to Division I are beginning their seasons in a new $130 million arena that would be the envy of many of the richest programs in the country. On the baseball diamond, a program that was also Division II a few years ago has already made the NCAA tournament for the first time and won a game.

Abbott’s defeat is personal for DA José Garza, who may have more room to act

At an Election Day watch party in a crowded East Austin bar, Travis County District Attorney José Garza watched as early results showed Gina Hinojosa pulling ahead of Gov. Greg Abbott. Through his black-rimmed glasses, he squinted at the TV and smiled. For Garza, Abbott’s defeat is personal: It could mean less state intervention in his office. The three-term Republican governor, whose loss to Hinojosa on Tuesday sent shock waves across the nation, had proposed creating a chief state prosecutor who could monitor cases and take them over from local prosecutors. “For the last six years, statewide Republicans have attempted to make me a central theme of their politics,” Garza told the American-Statesman. “I think what we saw on Tuesday is overwhelming evidence that that failed.”

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After years of being in the GOP’s crosshairs for the way he has at times prosecuted cases involving violence — with Republicans often asserting that Garza delivered lenient or questionable sentences — the two-term district attorney may face less resistance from the Capitol as he continues pursuing the progressive agenda voters elected him to carry out: police accountability and criminal justice reform, including less incarceration for people accused of lower-level crimes. Some challenges of his work have cost county taxpayers thousands of dollars to defend. Twice, he overcame attempts to remove him from office under the state’s 2023 “rogue prosecutor” law, which the Texas Legislature passed to remove district attorneys who refuse to prosecute certain crimes, such as abortion-related offenses or low-level marijuana possession. Both complaints, filed by Travis County residents, were dismissed: The first was dismissed because the complainant had an active drug-possession charge; the second was dismissed by a Republican judge, who found no evidence that Garza had broken the law. In one high-profile case, Abbott pardoned a defendant convicted of murder by a Travis County jury. Garza has characterized many of these challenges as political theatrics, which he is eager to leave behind. But not all of his criticism has come from Republicans. Comptroller-elect Sarah Eckhardt and Democratic judges have expressed concerns about missed deadlines for grand jury indictments, an issue that was the focus of ongoing reporting by the Statesman last year. Garza said, “I’m confident that we have addressed it.” County records show that prosecutors are no longer missing deadlines. Soon, Democrats in power and outside groups will be responsible for oversight. Both pledge to provide it, but for different reasons.

Without property taxes, school districts on military bases find ways to survive

Back in 2011, three San Antonio school districts were left without 50% of their funding until two months before the school year ended. They made due by pulling from their fund balance, a rainy-day fund they have grown accustomed to using given their unique funding situations. Randolph Field Independent School District, Fort Sam Houston ISD and Lackland ISD are confined entirely to their respective military bases; only seven districts like this exist in the country. Unlike other public school districts, they receive no money from property taxes. In 1950, President Harry S. Truman established the Impact Aid Program to fund local school districts that lose property tax revenue because they include tax exempt areas, like Indian reservations, national parks or military bases.

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But the last time the Impact Aid Program was fully funded was 1969. Despite being the nation’s oldest K-12 federal education program, it is one of the only major K-12 federal education program that is not funded at the start of each fiscal year. Impact Aid funding contributes to roughly half of these district’s budgets, creating somewhat of a precarious situation as they hope the funds come through each year. “If we didn’t have those funds, we’d have to shut our door,” said Gary Bates, superintendent of Fort Sam Houston ISD. Each year, the superintendents of the three districts find themselves in the same position: begging lawmakers to continue to fund the program they desperately rely on. “There have been presidents and Congresses that have tried to either eliminate Impact Aid altogether or just severely reduce it,” said Burnie Roper, superintendent of Lackland ISD. “That’s one of the reasons why we go to D.C. at least twice a year to advocate for Impact Aid, because without that funding piece, we won’t be able to survive.” Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Donald Trump have all attempted to cut the program in one way or another. It currently has a $1.6 billion price tag. Under Trump administration changes to the Department of Education, it was recently relocated to the Department of Labor.

League City covers more than 50 Flock cameras after election results

League City crews spent the day Thursday covering over 50 Flock Safety cameras with nylon trash bags to block them from taking photos or videos after voters rejected the city's use of them in Tuesday's election. Officials are now required to remove Flock cameras, which are automated license plate readers, within 72 hours of the official canvassing of the election results, which is on Nov. 17, per a resolution city council members approved in October. However, League City Mayor Nick Long asked city staff to cover the cameras immediately. Long said the city plans to physically take down the cameras once officials sort through contractual issues with Flock Safety, the company that provides Flock cameras.

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"We’re moving ahead right now, showing that we are committed to following the will of the voters and removing the cameras starting today," Long said Thursday. Long said that while it's important to listen to the will of the voters, he has safety concerns now that the city's lost the cameras. According to Long, they have helped solve over 300 cases and led to over 120 convictions in the past three years. "I think it’s safe to say that we are less safe without the cameras, but that is what the voters have weighed and they’ve made their decision," Long said. Long said the city spent about $120,000 a year on the cameras out of a $400 million budget. "It’s not a lot of money. One police officer costs more than $120,000 a year. ... Simply reallocating that to one more officer will not produce the same results," Long said. City officials decided to leave the fate of Flock cameras up to citizens after hearing concerns from League City residents about the use of Flock cameras. Fifty-six percent of voters rejected the cameras, while 46% of voters opted to keep the cameras in place.

Central Texas’ only pediatric program ends

Pausing a Taylor Swift concert film, Shannon McLennan sets up a drip stand into the living room. The mom/nurse prepares an IV bag for her daughter, Oliana Gardner, better known as “Oli,” who lays on the couch. The Leander home’s transformed into a makeshift clinic as McLennan helps with Oli’s hospice care. But prior to entering the treatment, the daughter’s faced a life of medical challenges. Born at 35 weeks, Oli had bilateral microphthalmia — a condition where eyes aren’t developed at birth. Then at 4-years-old, doctors diagnosed her with nonverbal autism. “I am her voice. I’ve always been her voice,” McLennan told KXAN. The latest medical fight arrived following complications brought on from toxic megacolon in 2023.

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“We found out her stomach didn’t work at all,” described McLennan of the condition. “It was basically paralyzed.” Since March, Oli’s been in hospice by way of the Dell Children’s Medical Center home hospice program. “I wanted her to stay home,” reasoned McLennan, who said Oli faced enough trauma from hospital visits to put her on high blood pressure medication. “She lived a completely normal life [before toxic megacolon], and then she went from that to being extremely sick, being poked and prodded.” But a call from a Dell doctor three weeks ago informed McLennan their home hospice care would end November 6. “I was shocked,” recalled the mom. “It was the only pediatric program I had ever heard of [in central Texas].”

With Democrats in charge of Texas, what’s next for UT Austin?

Under Texas Republicans’ leadership, UT Austin has been undergoing a sea change. In just the last two years, the school installed new top leadership, slashed numerous majors, launched an overhaul of its core curriculum, and intervened in the governance of KUT Public Media – Austin’s NPR station that the university has housed for decades. What could happen now that Democrats, who have harshly criticized many of those changes, are about to take charge? The state controls Texas’ public universities in two crucial ways. The governor appoints everyone on their oversight boards, including nine voting members of the Board of Regents for the University of Texas System, which includes UT Austin and a dozen other public institutions. And, the Texas Legislature controls their budgets and the policies they operate under. Both levers of control could transform following the midterm elections, though not immediately.

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UT Austin did not respond to a request for comment. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has packed the UT System Board of Regents, who serve six-year staggered terms, with conservative donors and allies. Gina Hinojosa, who defeated Abbott to become the state’s first Democratic governor in more than three decades, will now be in charge of filling those seats. But six of the nine regents are not up for reappointment until 2029 or later, unless they choose to leave sooner. Hinojosa does not have the power to fire them outright. The Texas Senate, which still has a Republican majority, must also confirm Hinojosa’s picks — if she makes them while the Legislature is in session. UT’s former top spokesman Gary Susswein said that could limit Hinojosa’s ability to make sweeping changes right away. Susswein, who now runs a strategic communications firm in Austin, pointed out that former Texas Gov. Rick Perry repeatedly clashed with the regents he had chosen. He wanted them to fire then UT President Bill Powers, and for years, they resisted.

What a Blue Texas could mean for Dallas

Every statewide seat up for grabs on Election Day will be filled by a Democrat come January, and the Texas House will have a Democratic majority for the first time in 24 years. That, of course, means a few things just might change once everyone is sworn in. Bills that would’ve died in committee might make it to the House floor, even if they face an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Senate, where the “Blue Wave” didn’t quite take over. Lawsuits filed by the attorney general’s office could be dropped, and the incoming attorney general has already said he won’t continue suing out-of-state doctors who mail abortion pills to Texas. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa will also have fellow Democrats in two key leadership positions: Vikki Goodwin, who will preside over the Republican-majority Senate as lieutenant governor, and, likely, Houston Democrat Senfronia Thompson as Speaker of the House. Thompson said Friday that she has enough votes for the job, although the House won’t formally elect its speaker until January. Here are a few things that could change in light of Tuesday’s election results.

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The crosswalks might get gay again: After its appeals were denied, the City of Dallas began removing crosswalks that TxDOT and the U.S. Department of Transportation said were “nonstandard.” Included were the city’s Black Lives Matter crosswalks and the rainbow crosswalks in the Oak Lawn neighborhood. Given that some “nonstandard” street markings remain, many said the move by Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Transportation Secretary/former MTV Real World roommate/Airport Sartorial Choice Critic/Human Jock Jams CD/champion lumberjack/speed climber/CNN guy Sean Duffy was more about erasure. With a new slate of leaders, might we also see the return of the crosswalks (which also included Black Lives Matter and other themes related to neighborhood or cultural identity) on Dallas streets? Stay tuned. Court strategy: Democrats won 21 appellate court races on Tuesday. That includes the Texas Supreme Court, where the currently all-GOP bench will become five Republicans and four Democrats, including Maggie Ellis, who will become the first LGBTQ+ person to serve as Chief Justice. Judges are expected to apply the law impartially, but their interpretations of that law can differ, sometimes along ideological lines. Attorneys often factor potential appellate success into their strategy, even before a case goes to trial. Take, for instance, the suit between the Highland Park Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church’s Horizon Texas Conference. In its lawsuit and public statements, Highland Park Methodist Church has repeatedly cited previous Texas Supreme Court rulings as being among the reasons for the moves leading up to the suit. “Would you reconsider your strategy if you were a lawyer for Highland Park?” I asked one attorney, who is not representing the church but is familiar with these types of cases. He responded with a meme of Dwight Schrute saying, “Yes! Agreed! Yes! Absolutely!” More Democratic justices on the Texas Supreme Court don’t necessarily mean the court will be friendlier to the denomination than the church. But it’s hard to imagine lawyers on either side aren’t already considering what the new composition could mean.

National Stories

Trump says he was kidding about hiring Dana White as press secretary

President Trump said Sunday that he was joking about Ultimate Fighting Championship Chief Executive Dana White becoming his next White House press secretary. “You would have thought that people would have said he’s having a good time,” Trump told reporters. “I will tell you I was only kidding.” Trump posted online Saturday that he had asked White to be his White House press secretary, but didn’t indicate whether White had accepted. In the social-media post, Trump said that he requested White bring “assistants,” including mixed martial artists Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje and others, to “defend us against the Lunatic Left.” Trump said Sunday that the list of fighters he mentioned was an indication that he was joking.

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“I was kidding but I think Dana likes the idea and he is a very capable guy,” Trump said. “That was an example of something where I was kidding and then people said ‘you know that’s actually a pretty good idea.’” White said that he would be meeting with Trump in Washington on Monday. Trump confirmed that he and White would meet in person, but said that White was coming “for other reasons.” Trump has approached White before about the job, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Democrats amp up Trump investigation threats, Blanche counters he may probe lawmakers

Top Democrats are ramping up oversight of the Trump administration and businesses it has partnered with, while Attorney General Todd Blanche warned he could counterinvestigate lawmakers conducting probes. Democrats romped to majorities in both the House and the Senate during Tuesday’s midterm elections, putting them in position to seize control of committee gavels and subpoena power in January. The electoral rout leaves Democrats with at least 54 Senate seats and 254 seats in the House of Representatives as votes continue to be counted in several states. Democrats vowed to investigate both President Donald Trump’s White House and businesses that have worked with the administration. CNBC reported on Thursday that Democrats are expected to take an aggressive approach to probing businesses, especially those companies with ties to the Trump family. The technology, cryptocurrency and prediction market industries, among others, could immediately be in the crosshairs.

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“If you’ve been making your profits by cheating American families and scamming your investors, you better get ready for some investigations — serious ones,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the incoming chair of the Senate Banking Committee, on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “The American people are just damn sick of this.” Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, whom the Senate narrowly confirmed as the nation’s top cop earlier this year, took umbrage at the Democrats’ plans for investigations and said he may launch his own investigations against members of Congress. “There could be,” Blanche said Sunday when pressed on CNN’s “State of the Union” about whether the administration will counterinvestigate Democrats. “When the threats become so vile and so dangerous that you are telling people in college that they better be careful if they want to work in the Trump administration because somebody will come after them, at some point you have to draw the line.” Blanche was referring to comments made by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who said during a University of Chicago event that she wants “young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration?’...I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want. And so let me avoid participating in that.’ I want that deterrence message sent.”

Biden says cancer fight means he will scale back book promotion tour

Former president Joe Biden said on Sunday that his battle with an aggressive form of prostate cancer will prevent him from doing as many promotional appearances as he had hoped for his upcoming presidential memoir. “Some days are better than others. It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down,” Biden, 83, said in a statement about the Nov. 17 release of “Promise Me, America.” “What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped. However, I’m hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves.” The book chronicles Biden’s four years in the White House, the challenges his administration confronted and the decisions that shaped his presidency.

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Biden’s publisher, Little Brown, initially announced that he would do a publicity tour accompanying the release of the memoir, something that is common for books written by former presidents. A spokesperson for Biden declined to provide additional details. Biden announced in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. He subsequently underwent radiation and hormone therapy. In August, his son Hunter Biden said the cancer had spread further and was causing significant pain. The illness has sharply curtailed Biden’s post-presidential life, leaving him increasingly reliant on a small circle of family members and longtime aides even as he has sought to shape his political legacy. Questions about Biden’s age, stamina and mental acuity dogged his presidency and ultimately derailed his reelection bid. Those concerns crystallized during his June 27, 2024, debate against Donald Trump, when a weak-voiced Biden repeatedly lost his train of thought, struggled to finish answers and failed to mount a forceful case against his opponent.

'Nerve-wracking' wait in Mississippi for US Senate vote result

Mississippi residents faced a "nerve-wracking" wait to see whether the southern state elects its first Black senator in more than a century as vote-counting dragged on Sunday after this past week's US midterms. Voters who spoke to AFP in the state capital Jackson on Saturday anticipated that history could be in the making in the whisker-close race between Democrat Scott Colom, an African-American man, and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, a white woman. With 97 percent of the vote counted by Sunday afternoon, Colom was 2,574 votes ahead of Hyde-Smith -- a gap of just 0.3 percentage points. Mississippi has not elected a Democratic senator since 1982, and Colom would be its first Black senator in nearly 150 years -- since the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War that ended slavery.

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Gregory Glass, a 47-year-old restaurant owner, himself an African-American, said a victory for Colom would be "historic" but admitted to having "bittersweet" feelings about that. "It should have happened sooner than that, especially in Mississippi, in a state that has so many African-Americans in it," said Glass. According to the US Census Bureau, more than one-third of the state's population, long viewed as a bastion of Republican politics, is Black. A victory for Colom would also put another staunchly Republican state -- including Texas, South Carolina and Kansas -- in the Democrats' column for Senate in Tuesday's election. The midterms were a resounding win for Democrats, who seized control of both houses of Congress as voters nationwide delivered a stinging rebuke to Republican President Donald Trump. But the count is not over yet. The unusually long wait reflects Mississippi's election procedures, which allow officials several days to process mail-in and provisional ballots -- potentially enough to decide the contest. Jermal Clark, election commissioner for Hinds County, which includes the city of Jackson, said that they were still going through so-called "affidavit" provisional ballots.

Rubio sees little hope of diplomatic breakthrough to Mideast deadlock amid 'outrageous' Iranian demands

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused Iran of “outrageous and ridiculous” demands as efforts to reach a lasting resolution in the Middle East war appeared stalled. Speaking with reporters in Florida on Sunday evening before traveling to Paris for the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, Rubio indicated the two sides remain far apart on negotiations, after Tehran proposed shortening the timetable for restarting talks from seven days to two. Rubio said President Donald Trump would prefer to solve “this and every problem diplomatically,” but added that “sometimes that’s not possible, unfortunately.” Energy prices moved lower on Monday morning after President Trump said Sunday that further strikes were “highly unlikely” if negotiations progressed toward a strong agreement. Brent crude, the international price benchmark, was down 0.75% at $97.58 per barrel by 5:25 a.m. ET. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for December delivery were trading 0.42% lower at $90.45.

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Trump said in a CNN interview prior to Rubio’s comments that a resumption of hostilities in the more than eight-month-long conflict was unlikely, provided that talks to constrain Iran’s nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz can progress. “I wouldn’t say we’re on the verge of a breakthrough,” Rubio said. “Right now, it hasn’t been very productive because the Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable but, in some cases, outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that Tehran wants U.S. sanctions lifted and the war ended on all fronts before negotiations begin.

Schools are closing more quickly in US. Research shows it's not enough

Minutes before first bell, Penny Núñez-Brandão scanned the crowd outside Glen Cove Elementary School, looking for familiar faces. “I don’t see any,” the fifth grader told her mom one morning in August. “None of my friends are coming.” The start of a new school year can be nerve-wracking under any circumstances. But for Penny and thousands of students across the U.S., this academic year brought the added difficulty of adjusting to an entirely new school after their previous ones shuttered. As U.S. birth rates continue a multidecade slide and state and federal education funding dries up, an increasing number of cash-strapped school districts around the country have resorted to closing campuses to save money. A total of 1,156 schools closed during the last academic year — the highest number since the pandemic, according to an analysis of federal data by Big Local News at Stanford University. At the same time, new research shows student enrollment has fallen much faster than schools are closing, suggesting more painful financial choices lie ahead.

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The Vallejo City Unified School District, a working-class district near San Francisco, serves half as many students as it did two decades earlier. District leaders have closed five campuses since 2025 — a quarter of its schools. They’ve also placed up to a third of all staff positions on the chopping block to help plug a staggering $36 million deficit. Still, research shows closing schools rarely yields the financial relief districts hope for. Busing students to their reassigned schools, severance for pink-slipped staff and security for empty facilities often eat up any savings. School closures can also set students back academically and make it harder to attract teachers, who may worry the jobs aren’t stable. Closing schools can also trigger a downward spiral, as frustrated families flee to charter or private schools or other districts. In Vallejo, some parents said they chose to homeschool this fall or were planning to sell their homes and move to neighboring districts. “Families are literally packing up their kids and moving away,” said Penny’s mother, Kimberly Núñez-Brandão, who already moved her older son to a competing charter school. She recently attended Glen Cove’s curriculum night for families and shared her shock at learning Penny’s new teacher had 32 students in his first class. “They already overwhelmed teachers with 30-plus students,” she said. “Who’s winning here?”

Mysterious request scrambles major Supreme Court gun case

The Supreme Court received an unusual request late last week in one of its biggest cases this term, a challenge to state and local bans on AR-15s and other semiautomatic weapons. In a one-paragraph filing, the lead plaintiff, Cutberto Viramontes, asked to be dismissed from the case. The 36-year-old Illinois resident had sued officials in Cook County in 2021, arguing that a local ban on semiautomatic rifles violated his Second Amendment rights, a dispute that spiraled into the Supreme Court case the justices have agreed to hear next month. Mr. Viramontes’s court filing offered no explanation for his decision. It is also unlikely to derail the challenge, in which the justices will weigh the constitutionality of such gun bans. That’s because the court agreed to consider two similar cases, Mr. Viramontes’s challenge to Cook County’s restrictions and a parallel case from Connecticut.

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But the last-minute shake-up, less than a month before the Dec. 2 argument, injects questions and chaos into what is shaping up to be a landmark Second Amendment case. In recent years, the court’s conservative majority have announced a series of rulings expanding gun rights, and people on both sides of the debate have long been anticipating the showdown over assault weapons bans. “It’s unprecedented for a gun-rights plaintiff to abruptly pull their name from a major Supreme Court case with zero explanation,” said Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment Litigation at Everytown Law, the legal arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates tighter guns laws. She added that “in a case with stakes this high,” she thought that “the public deserves to know why the lead plaintiff is suddenly walking away.” Reached by phone, Mr. Viramontes declined to say why he wanted to drop out of the case. “I would not like to make a comment,” he said. Mr. Viramontes is represented by Cooper & Kirk, a law firm that has litigated other Second Amendment challenges. The firm declined to comment.

Copyright November 09, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved