July 16, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Flooding forces evacuations in parts of South Texas as slow-moving storms swamp the region

Widening evacuation warnings and high-water rescues in Texas mounted Wednesday under relentlessly heavy storms that turned roads into rivers, washed away vehicles and spun up a tornado across a busy interstate in San Antonio. Texas Game Wardens have participated in rescues of more than 40 people so far in the flooding, mostly in the Uvalde County area, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesperson. Forecasters warned that already dangerous conditions were likely to worsen in some hard-hit communities. The deluge dumped nearly a foot of rain in some counties and put people in dozens of counties under flood watches, including parts of the Texas Hill Country where last summer’s devastating floods killed more than 100 people. Some of the flood watches were expected to remain in effect through Friday evening.

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As much as 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain was possible in some places before the storms move out, the weather service said. As of Wednesday evening, just over six million Texas residents in 57 counties were under a National Weather Service flood watch that was scheduled to continue through early Thursday night. Watches for 34 of those counties were scheduled to expire Friday evening. The highest rainfall totals so far — up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) — have been in Uvalde County, where officials tallied 25 rescues as of 9 a.m. Wednesday, and said more people needed help as river levels rose. Highways and roads were closed across the region because of high water. The county normally gets about 23 inches (58 centimeters) of rain a year, according to the Uvalde County Extension Office. The Uvalde Police Department said on Facebook at 1 p.m. that a dam in the northern part of the county was still intact, but the Leona River was still expected to rise another 15 feet (about 4.6 meters). Police warned people along the river to get to higher ground. State Rep. Don McLaughlin said that despite a “little lull,” the rainfall wasn’t done and waterways could become more dangerous. “The rivers and the creeks are going to be coming up, and they’re going to be coming up again with a vengeance,” McLaughlin said.

Trump overturns pause of ICE vehicle stops implemented after Maine, Texas shootings

President Trump overturned a suspension of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement traffic stops that multiple law enforcement sources said had been implemented after fatal shootings in Texas and Maine over the last week. ICE agents had been instructed to immediately suspend most vehicle stops during immigration enforcement operations nationwide, except in cases involving serious criminal targets. In a Truth Social post Wednesday morning, however, Mr. Trump wrote that "we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.'s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP! Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal's hands." But he told ICE to "be judicious, fair and smart."

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The White House confirmed to CBS News that the president's Truth Social post was intended to overturn Tuesday's memo from DHS temporarily suspending vehicle stops by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, or ERO. Later Wednesday, ICE sources confirmed to CBS News the agency's deportation officers can again make vehicle stops. A law enforcement official and a DHS official said that ICE field offices issued verbal clarifications to personnel, and agents were told that traffic stops are "not off the table" and remain "a tool in the toolkit." DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin wrote on X that he and the president are "on the same page." "We want our [ICE] officers to have all options available to keep them safe while executing our mission of deporting as many illegal alien criminals from our country as possible," Mullin said.

Texas Tech chair donated $275K to Ken Paxton day before AG intervened in Brendan Sorsby saga

Last month, Attorney General Ken Paxton waded into the explosive college football saga involving Brendan Sorsby, the Texas Tech University quarterback who had admitted to placing thousands of improper sports bets, including on his own team’s games, resulting in the NCAA declaring him ineligible to play. In a June 11 letter, Paxton’s office warned the Big 12 Conference on behalf of Texas Tech that any move to sanction the university for fielding Sorsby would be “unlawful” and potentially expose it to $200 million in damages. One day before he sent that letter, Texas Tech Board of Regents Chair Cody Campbell, one of Sorsby’s most public defenders, donated $274,300 to a fundraising committee supporting Paxton in his bid for U.S. Senate, according to campaign finance records newly filed with the Federal Election Committee Wednesday.

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Campbell declined to comment on the record for this story. Paxton’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment or to questions about whether Paxton indicated to Campbell that his office would send the letter if he made the donation. Texas Tech also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Campbell, a former Texas Tech lineman who has donated at least $25 million to the school’s athletics program, was appointed to the board of regents in 2021 and became chair in 2025. Throughout Sorsby’s eligibility drama, Campbell and Texas Tech vocally defended his right to play, casting him as a student in recovery from addiction and his situation the “outcome of a broken system.” Campbell is also a major GOP donor. From 2016 onward, he gave $30,000 to Paxton’s state-level campaigns, and in this year’s Republican U.S. Senate primary, he donated to both Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt. His June 10 donation to Paxton Victory, one of Paxton’s joint fundraising committees, appears to be among his largest contributions over the years. Campbell also previously gave almost $700,000 to Trump 47 Committee Inc. and $500,000 to MAGA Inc., President Donald Trump’s principal super PAC.

Dems have a big cash advantage in key Senate races

Democrats continue to rake in cash across some of the nation’s most pivotal Senate races, outpacing their Republican counterparts several times over. In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff has 20 times as much cash on hand as his Republican challenger, Rep. Mike Collins. In North Carolina, perhaps Democrats’ best pickup opportunity, former Gov. Roy Cooper outraised former RNC Chair Michael Whatley $8.2 million to $2.9 million. And in Texas, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico ended June with $21.5 million in the bank compared to $1.8 million for his GOP opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. But Republicans have a leg up in a handful of states that have gotten messy for Democrats, including Michigan and Maine, where the GOP has built up a cash advantage while primaries have prevented Democrats from sending their resources to a single candidate. That could challenge Democrats’ narrow path back to Senate control heading into the fall.

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The Senate battle map is nearly solidified with a handful of critical states left on the primary calendar. Democrats face a steep climb against Republicans, who benefit from a more favorable map and campaign-arm cash advantage. But Democrats’ pipe dream to seize the upper chamber has become more realistic as the party fields a slate of star recruits with proven fundraising prowess — and as Republicans continue to grapple with high costs and an ongoing war in Iran. Democrats’ hopes were further buoyed Wednesday by their candidates’ second-quarter campaign finance reports, filed with the Federal Election Commission. “In key battleground races, Democrats are out-raising and out-polling many of their Republican counterparts,” said Adrienne Elrod, a national Democratic strategist who has advised numerous Senate and presidential campaigns. “All of this bodes well for a strong midterm for Democrats.”

State Stories

In reversal, Mayor Whitmire says ‘HPD is conducting an investigation’ into ICE shooting

According to Mayor John Whitmire, the Houston Police Department is investigating the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by a federal immigration agent last week. "We're doing everything possible at HPD to investigate this tragic death, and anyone that says different is just wrong," Whitmire said. Whitmire's remarks on Wednesday came one week after he and Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz said the department lacked jurisdiction to investigate, a claim disputed by legal experts. Since then, Whitmire said, the city turned over 911 audio and METRO bus video footage to the Harris County District Attorney's Office, which is investigating the shooting in addition to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General. HPD also offered assistance last week to the FBI, which is probing the incident as a potential assault on a law enforcement officer.

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“My police chief, former Texas Ranger, has been conducting investigations, sharing everything we have as an HPD office with this district attorney — METRO tape, 911 video," Whitmire said. "I can't tell you how we continue to dialogue with the district attorney. But the jurisdiction is federal. They control the evidence. We're asking them to release that to the Texas Rangers.” Diaz said last week that HPD officers were not independently gathering evidence, and Whitmire did not clarify on Wednesday whether that has changed. An HPD spokesperson could not immediately say whether officers were seeking evidence. Whitmire said the FBI was slated to execute a search warrant on the van driven by Salgado Araujo at 10 a.m. Wednesday, and the DA's office would be present. In a statement, a spokesperson for the DA's office said it would not discuss details about a pending investigation. The FBI declined to comment, including whether or not this was the first time the agency has looked at the van since the July 7 shooting, referring back to the mayor’s office for clarification. Whitmire announced the new stance under pressure from council member Edward Pollard. "People want answers, people want some type of clarity, and people are frustrated with some of the actions of the city," Pollard told Whitmire. Before the meeting, Whitmire instructed Diaz to request the Texas Rangers conduct their own investigation into the shooting. The Texas Department of Public Safety, which includes the Rangers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FBI obtains warrant to search Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's van for drugs. How it became public is unusual.

A federal search warrant obtained by the FBI shows that investigators are searching the van driven by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo for evidence of drugs after he was fatally shot by a federal immigration agent. An FBI agent requested a warrant from a U.S. magistrate judge on Tuesday, according to court records. The agent sought permission to search a white Ford Transit van, which he said has not been entered or searched since the July 7 shooting. The warrant marks an unusual development in the shooting investigation. Federal search warrants out of the Southern District of Texas are usually unavailable for public viewing so early in an investigation. Court records as of Tuesday label the document as sealed, despite it being available to be downloaded.

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Federal officials didn't immediately explain why the court record was available publicly. Salgado had no criminal history in Harris County, and the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement told U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia that ICE agents had intended to target someone else — not Salgado. Houston defense attorney David Adler, who has practiced for 30 years, said he's never heard of a federal warrant being open to the public so quickly. "I have not seen this before," Adler said. "Typically these things are filed under seal and they remain under seal until there's an order to unseal." The agent, who is assigned to the FBI's Houston field office, wrote that he was investigating a case involving possession of a controlled substance. The warrant briefly describes the chase and Salgado's shooting. The FBI investigator wrote that the ICE agents attempted to pull the van over at 6:45 a.m. and claims that Salgado "refused to stop and instead drove over a median in an apparent attempt to flee." The agent wrote that officers didn't initially pursue the vehicle, but later located the van on Canal Street, where the shooting happened.

Prominent Southeast Texas attorney Buddy Low dies at 93

Gilbert I. "Buddy" Low, a nationally recognized trial lawyer whose legal career spanned decades and earned him recognition as one of Texas' top attorneys, died Tuesday, July 14, 2026. He was 93. Low practiced law in Beaumont with Orgain Bell & Tucker LLP, where he handled major litigation involving a wide range of legal issues throughout his career. While he emphasized personal injury law, his practice also included insurance coverage disputes, antitrust litigation, patents, trademarks, criminal RICO violations, environmental cases, class actions, contract disputes and general business litigation. He represented both plaintiffs and defendants. His work earned numerous honors over the years. Low was listed in The Best Lawyers in America every year beginning in 1993.

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In 1999, Texas Lawyer magazine recognized him as both the best defense lawyer and the best plaintiff's lawyer in Jefferson County. He was also named among the state's top 100 attorneys in the 2003 and 2004 editions of Texas Super Lawyers. Beyond the courtroom, Low played a significant role in shaping the legal profession in Texas. He served as chairman of the Texas Supreme Court Professional Ethics Committee for more than 25 years and later became vice chairman of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee. He also served as president of the Jefferson County Bar Association and was a fellow of the International Society of Barristers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates. A graduate of Stephen F. Austin College, Low earned his bachelor's degree in 1954 and received the university's Hall of Fame Award in 1994. He graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1960, where he served as comment editor of the Texas Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif and Phi Alpha Delta. A gathering of family and friends will begin at 5 p.m. Friday, July 17, at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 4090 Delaware St. in Beaumont, followed by a service of remembrance at 7 p.m. His funeral service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, July 18, at Geneva Methodist Church at Texas 21 and FM 330 in Geneva. Interment will follow at Myrtle Springs Cemetery in Geneva. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Broussard's Mortuary in Beaumont.

Texas Gov. says dozens rescued during floods so far, urges continued diligence

In a news conference Wednesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said dozens of people have been rescued from floodwaters across the state this week. He said there have been no reports of deaths so far. “We are dealing with and responding to a flood that is likely going to break records,” Abbott said in the press conference. “Our primary focus right now is saving lives.” Abbott and state leaders urged Texans to avoid driving if possible, to keep an eye on rivers and creeks and to be ready to act, if necessary. The governor said some parts of the state may get additional rain, something the state is monitoring. Abbott said more than 800 vehicles, 75 boats, 20 aircraft and 30 state agencies have aided in the state’s response to the severe weather, adding that he believes the state is “better prepared than we ever have been.”

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The state said it was in contact with all of the emergency management offices for all of the cities and counties impacted so far and said no needs have gone unmet. The briefing and press conference comes as heavy rain continues to impact parts of Central Texas. Kendall and Medina counties have been heavily affected by the severe weather, with the National Weather Service placing them under a Flash Flood Emergency. A Flash Flood Warning will be in effect for southwest Kendall County until 8:15 p.m. Medina County is under the same bulletin until 8:30 p.m. A Flood Watch remains in effect for most of Central Texas until 7 PM Thursday with the potential for life-threatening flash flooding. Remember, never drive through flooded streets, and make sure you have multiple ways to receive weather alerts. Additionally, many roadways are being affected in the Texas Hill Country due to the heavy rainfall. Many of the affected roads are in Gillespie County.

Blanche faces Cornyn-size hurdle in AG confirmation fight

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche hasn’t yet won over Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), and his confirmation hearing to permanently lead the Justice Department did little to quell concerns about the Trump administration’s “anti-weaponization” fund. Blanche came into his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with a clear objective: win over Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) and lock down the panel’s approval before getting a full vote on the floor. Tillis told reporters afterward that he is “leaning yes” on the nomination. That leaves Cornyn as Blanche’s main obstacle. Cornyn made clear he was still undecided after Blanche gave what he viewed as insufficient assurances that the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund is dead. He was also concerned about a related tax immunity deal struck with President Donald Trump and his family.

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“It seems to me, particularly … on the tax case, he certainly leaned in to help the president more than what was necessary to resolve the case,” Cornyn said. “I’m just listening. I’m a sponge. I’m soaking it all up,” he continued. “I don’t have to decide now. … I’ll make a decision when I need to, but not before.” Cornyn’s questioning focused largely on the twin issues, which have given Senate Republicans a significant amount of consternation in recent months. The Texas Republican, who will leave the Senate at the end of the year after losing his May primary, asked about the acting AG’s decision to green-light a deal that “forever barred” the IRS from auditing Trump’s previous tax returns. “There’s so much that’s unusual about this,” Cornyn told the AG nominee. The deal was born out of the Justice Department’s decision to dismiss the president’s $10 billion suit against the IRS for leaking his tax return — prompting creation of the much-derided “anti-weaponization” fund that has since been scuttled. Members were particularly worried that the fund could be used to pay rioters who were involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Camp Mystic moves flood lawsuit to federal court, citing bankruptcy

Camp Mystic's owners have successfully moved a wrongful death lawsuit filed by six families from Texas state court to federal court, arguing the case is tied to the camp's ongoing bankruptcy. The move adds another layer of uncertainty to five lawsuits filed by families which accuse camp operators of failing to protect their children during last year's catastrophic flooding in the Texas Hill Country. In a notice filed Monday, the camp's owners argued the lawsuit is connected to its ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and should therefore be handled in federal court. The case, originally filed in Travis County state court, centers on the deaths of six girls at Camp Mystic during the July 2025 flood.

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They were among 25 campers and two counselors killed when floodwaters swept through the century-old summer camp for girls near Hunt. Camp owner and executive director Dick Eastland was also killed. More than 130 people died across the Texas Hill Country. The camp's filing came just two days before a status hearing on the case. Wednesday's hearing was canceled after the case was moved to federal court, according to Kyle Findley, an attorney representing the six families. In a statement, Findley accused Camp Mystic's owners of trying to keep the cases out of a public state courtroom. "These families aren't asking for anything extraordinary — they're asking for a public trial, in Texas state court, in front of a jury as is their right in this country," Findley said. Findley pointed to the camp's earlier effort to force some families into private arbitration, which would have moved the disputes out of court and avoided jury trials in five cases scheduled for next year. He also criticized the timing of the camp's bankruptcy filing and its latest move to federal court.

In debate over AI data centers in Texas, it's "rural Texas is dying" vs. "preserve this land"

Opposition seems to be growing - particularly against data centers that will be built to support the increasing demand for artificial intelligence. Gov. Greg Abbott has said he wants to prohibit AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods. State Representative Shelley Luther agrees with the Governor, while Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian disagrees. Rep. Luther lives near Sherman and says that others who live in the area aren't thrilled with the idea of data centers moving in. "I think it's huge for the governor to come out and say that we need to protect, really, the Republicans that live in these rural areas [who] are his voters, and we're pretty easy going," said Luther. "We don't ask for much, but when people try to come into our property rights, it's frustrating."

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"Honestly, a huge eyesore for those of us that live in this rural area because of the beauty. Green land, rolling, rolling hills. I don't think that we should tear that up for data centers," Luther added. "Steaks don't come from H-E-B. It's like what I like to say. They've got to come from somewhere in rural Texas. You've got to preserve this land and not put a big industrial footprint on it. The Texas Legislature is who needs to step in, make the laws. I think Governor Abbott's letter to the PUC chairman was a big move to say, 'Hey, let's take a pause.' And he knows that they shouldn't just come in and take our water, electricity." When asked about the political stakes if the governor didn't do this, Luther responded, "Well, I think that Governor Abbott is very good at reading and polling what's going on in Texas, and he wants to do what conservatives want him to do. And so he wouldn't have put that statement out if he wasn't feeling the pressure. I don't think." Luther told CBS News Texas political reporter Jack Fink about the freedoms of living in rural Texas. For people living in unincorporated counties and unincorporated areas of counties, there is no zoning. "The reason why we moved out here is to have complete liberty of whatever we wanted to do," said Luther. She mentions her ability to have animals, including kangaroos, on her property as an example of this. Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian told Jack Fink he disagrees with the Governor's idea of prohibiting AI data centers in rural Texas. "Rural Texas is dying," said Christian. "In the United States of America, rural America is decaying, going away."

At this Dallas clinic, birth control isn’t a 7-minute conversation

The final day that nurse practitioner Micaela Sanchez worked in a traditional women’s clinic, she was scheduled to see 52 patients. She had woken up before dawn, feeling pretty lousy. Grinding through her morning routine, she dropped her 4-year-old at pre-K and headed from Oak Cliff to the low-cost clinic in Pleasant Grove. By the end of her 20-minute commute, she couldn’t ignore the flu-like symptoms. When Sanchez told her supervisor she was sick, the woman handed her a mask and two Tylenol and assured the 37-year-old she’d be fine. The directive “we can’t manage without you” bounced inside Sanchez’s aching head as she struggled through the day’s wall-to-wall appointments, a workload that limited her to spending no more than seven minutes with each patient.

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Sanchez understood the business model. But even on her best days she yearned for the freedom to devote more time to those who needed it, especially the many women seeking birth control options. A single mother herself, Sanchez had picked women’s health as her specialty to provide others, especially younger patients, the knowledge and options to make better choices than she had. She also knew abortion restrictions made contraception conversations more critical than ever, especially for lower-income women whose futures were already fragile. Every day Sanchez sensed their urgency and worried she was falling short as a provider. Her throat and heart were tight as she walked to her car after finishing her shift that November 2022 evening, symptoms not of her illness, but of suppressing her concerns for so long. Adding to her despair were worries about her two girls, who deserved better than the sunbaked dish rag of a mother she felt herself to be when she got home. Sanchez left the office that day and never returned. A conventional clinic focused on reproductive health — open only from 9-to-5 on weekdays, designed to see as many women as possible — wasn’t what she wanted for herself or her patients. All the way home, and for months afterward, she considered the same question: “How can I create something better?”

National Weather Service confirms 100 mph EF-1 tornado damaged northwest San Antonio; no injuries reported

The National Weather Service's preliminary damage survey found that a tornado with peak winds of 100 mph reached EF-1 strength as it struck northwest San Antonio Wednesday morning. The same storm system also triggered flooding, evacuation orders and water rescues across South Central Texas. Survey crews determined the tornado was on the ground for about eight minutes, from 7:44 a.m. to 7:52 a.m., traveling about 4 miles. It began roughly 2 miles southwest of the Interstate 10 and Loop 1604 interchange before tracking northeast through the city's Northwest Side and dissipating just north of The Rim.

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Despite carving a path through one of San Antonio's busiest commercial corridors, damaging homes and businesses and tearing part of the roof from an apartment building, the tornado caused no reported injuries. The tornado affected areas near the University of Texas at San Antonio, The Rim, Camp Bullis, Crown Ridge and The Dominion. Across the area, crews reported downed trees, damaged roofs and storefronts, damaged signs and scattered debris. The most significant structural damage occurred at the Oasis Apartments, 6023 UTSA Blvd., where a large section of the roof was torn from the building, damaging three fourth-floor apartments. The American Red Cross is assisting displaced residents with immediate needs. UT San Antonio students, shoppers and workers describe taking cover as the 100 mph EF-1 tornado ripped part of the roof from an apartment building and scattered debris across the Northwest Side.

Austin budget reaction: Social service cuts, police spending and taxes draw fire

Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax and his staff will present their $6.6 billion budget proposal to the City Council on Thursday, opening a debate over a spending plan that would cut social service contracts, boost police spending and raise taxes and fees for residents. The plan proposes closing a projected $26 million deficit through spending cuts, reallocations and additional revenue. It also boosts funding for some priority initiatives such as homelessness, parks and employee raises. Residents would pay more through higher utility and drainage fees and a 3.5% tax increase – the maximum allowed under state law without triggering a voter-approval election. Together, the increases are estimated to cost the average Austin homeowner nearly $346 a year, or about $29 a month. But the proposal is a starting point. City Council members can make changes to the spending plan before adopting a final budget Aug. 12. In the days since Broadnax released the plan, the American-Statesman asked community groups, union leaders and City Council members for their thoughts on the proposal.

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Marc Duchen, the most fiscally conservative council member, said he firmly opposes the tax hike and thinks Austinites won’t go for it, either. He cited voters’ overwhelming rejection last November of a city tax hike known as Proposition Q. “I appreciate the effort the city manager’s staff put into their initial proposal, but passing it as-is would require a major tax increase, something I firmly oppose,” he said in a statement. “That’s why my team and I are going through it line by line, looking for ways to reduce unnecessary costs.” Duchen said the council should be able to protect essential services without imposing another increase that struggling residents cannot afford. Mayor Kirk Watson said in an interview that he thinks city officials owe it to the public to look at all aspects of affordability, especially as council weighs whether to have a bond election in the fall. Watson said he started the budget process by asking for a no-new revenue forecast so that he and council could be more transparent.

Texas says foster care is improving. Monitors are still raising alarms over child safety.

Texas may be trying again to end eight years of costly court-ordered oversight of its troubled foster care program. It’s a battle with roots in a federal court decision from 2015 — in a case that was filed in 2011 — when a judge declared children were leaving the state’s child welfare system in worse shape than they entered. Federal oversight began in 2018 and, since then, reports have both shown progress and exposed failures. Now, the state could be seeking relief from the supervision that has cost it $80 million through February. The content of a new motion Texas filed in the case is sealed, but the last time it filed a similar motion, the state was asking U.S. District Court Judge Janis Graham Jack to stop monitoring its progress on a dozen court orders.

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She scoffed at the idea, pointing to the state’s numerous documented failures, for which she had repeatedly found the state to be in contempt and assessed $100,000-a-day fines. “To have the hubris to file a motion for relief is just beyond me,” she said. But Jack is no longer overseeing the case. Texas was able to have her removed with the help of the 5th U.S. Circuit court of Appeals, which also vacated the contempt fines and narrowed the court’s supervision. Since then, the state has been on a campaign to further reduce the court’s role under a different judge. The move to reduce or remove the court from the system comes despite new court monitors’ reports filed last month that highlight some of the state’s continuing failures to keep children safe in its custody — especially in its attempts to privatize its foster care system. Earlier this year, the state was forced to take over one of the nonprofits it had contracted with because of child deaths. “Private providers need to meet the same high standards (as the state), but some are falling short,” said Paul Yetter, an attorney who represents the current and former foster children who sued the state.

The hard ceiling over Texas cities’ climate plans

In 2015, a 25-year-old flooring installer named Roendy Granillo collapsed and died of heat stroke on a construction job in Melissa, a small town northeast of Dallas, after his family said he was denied a water break. They carried his story to Dallas City Hall, and the council passed an ordinance on a 10-5 vote, guaranteeing construction workers a 10-minute rest break every four hours. Austin had passed a similar rule in 2010. The rules stood for more than a decade. Then, in 2023, a single state law erased them both and barred any other Texas city from passing one. Over the past decade, in a state whose leadership has broadly resisted any sort of climate mandates, a string of Texas cities moved the other way. The four largest, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin, each wrote a climate plan and committed to cutting emissions to zero by mid-century. Austin moved its target up to 2040, San Antonio adopted its plan in 2019, Houston pledged a 40 percent cut by 2030, and Dallas wrote money for its plan into the city budget. Smaller places joined in, from San Marcos and Smithville to El Paso, which approved its own plan in early 2026. The cities can still set the goals, but the practical tools to reach them—from building codes to worker protections to transportation funding—have increasingly been relegated to the state level.

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The clearest case is buildings, where moving new construction off gas and onto electricity is one of the most direct ways a city can cut emissions. Austin’s first plan would have nearly eliminated gas hookups in new buildings by 2030. It never happened. The provision was softened after the local gas utility pushed back, and in 2021 the state settled the question for everyone, barring cities from banning natural gas as a fuel source in new construction. Atmos Energy, one of the state’s largest natural-gas distributors and a major operator in the cities where these plans were written, defends the arrangement on grounds of cost. “Affordable energy leads to affordable housing,” the company said in a statement to the Texas Observer, arguing that keeping natural gas in the mix and preserving consumer choice holds down housing costs while still cutting emissions. It backs the case with its own figures: In Texas, the company said, natural gas is “about half the cost of electricity,” and a home with gas “produces 13 percent less carbon emissions than an all-electric home.” That carbon figure is Atmos’s own, and gas-versus-electric comparisons turn heavily on how methane leakage is counted and on what powers the grid. But the consumer-choice argument is real. In 2021, the Legislature made it law, guaranteeing builders the right to choose natural gas.

National Stories

Inside Maine Democrats’ search for a new Senate nominee after Graham Platner’s exit

Standing between a video camera and a crowd of protesters, Troy Jackson, a logger and former Maine state lawmaker, was trying to find his footing in a Senate race he had not planned to run in, and to respond to a tragedy he had not anticipated. Hours earlier on Monday, a federal immigration agent had fatally shot a young Colombian man in Biddeford, a blue-collar town outside Portland. Mr. Jackson was seeking to channel Democratic outrage over the event and hit Senator Susan Collins, the five-term Republican he hopes to challenge, for voting to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Let’s tighten that up,” Aren LeBrun, a videographer working for his campaign, said to Mr. Jackson before coaching him on a more succinct script. “This is the big time now.” Mr. Jackson and several other Maine Democrats are indeed entering the political big time — jockeying to become the party’s new Senate nominee after Graham Platner dropped out last week in the face of a rape allegation he has denied.

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To do so, they have to reinvent themselves at breakneck speed for an unusual campaign that will be decided not by the primary electorate, but by 601 delegates who will vote at a convention in Bangor on July 25. The strange sprint has rendered many traditional campaign tactics, like door-knocking and television advertising, irrelevant. Instead, the candidates must decide whether their time is better spent trying to appeal to voters through public events and videos, or by making their case directly to the small number of delegates who get to choose the next Democratic nominee. To do the necessary outreach, the candidates have hastily revived dormant campaign operations they used this year to run for other offices, calling up former staff members and hiring new hands. “It’s kind of minute by minute,” Dan Kleban, who is running for the nomination, said in an interview on Monday at the brewery he founded with his brother. “It’s just like: ‘All right, there’s this press opportunity. Do we do that or do we call delegates?’ Because we only have so much time.” So far, the only people known to have votes at the convention are 101 members of the Democratic Party’s state committee, while 500 at-large delegates will be chosen this weekend by Democrats in Maine’s 16 counties. Before those meetings, candidates are racing to recruit people who will support them as delegates, and to pack county meetings with their backers.

House GOP’s budget bill to fund Iran war and U.S. farmers could be in trouble

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan for a $95 billion budget bill that would send money to the Pentagon for the Iran war and help for American farmers is in danger of failure amid pushback from Republicans worried about deficits and skepticism in the Senate. Fiscally conservative Republicans have said they wanted any new spending in a third spending package to be offset by budget cuts. But leadership decided not to pursue any cuts. Lawmakers are trying to pass the bill through a process known as reconciliation that allows them to bypass Democratic opposition; they have already used it twice this Congress to pass tax cuts and fund immigration enforcement agencies. But unresolved concerns from House Republicans displeased with the additional spending, as well as weakened components of a bill championed by President Donald Trump that would impose restrictions on voting — plus a lack of buy-in from multiple Senate Republicans — could prevent that from happening.

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Vice President JD Vance met with House Republicans on Wednesday afternoon to rally lawmakers behind the framework. In their slim majority, House leaders need the support of nearly all Republicans to pass. Vance’s visit to the Capitol seemed to do little to sway fiscally conservative Republicans. When Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) emerged from the meeting, he told reporters there were still “concerns and problems” with the plan. “We need more work,” Roy said, adding that he was undecided on whether he would support the resolution. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Georgia) was also noncommittal when asked whether he would support the budget resolution. Roy and Clyde, who both called for new spending to be offset with budget cuts, play a crucial role in the process as members of the House Budget Committee.

How Trump transformed the DOJ’s Civil Rights Office

Julia Haller worked with the since-indicted Sidney Powell to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election in what a federal judge called a “historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.” Now, she’s a staff attorney at the Justice Department. Haller works in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, an office currently threatening top election officials with criminal prosecution if noncitizens vote this November. She’s part of a divisional transformation that current and former staff tell NOTUS is causing deep tension within the office, which was established via the 1957 Civil Rights Act and traditionally tasked with enforcing a wide swath of laws that prohibit various forms of discrimination.

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The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has seen dramatic changes since President Donald Trump came back into office last year and installed Harmeet Dhillon, a former Republican Party operative in California, to lead it. Dhillon has fired employees in droves, pushed out others through separation incentives tied to pressure campaigns, reassigned staff and rewritten the mission statements for each section in the division. She has vastly reshaped the types of cases the office pursues to include constraining voting access, reducing punishments for allegedly abusive police officers and expanding Second Amendment rights. “It’s been a radical shift,” said one civil rights attorney who just recently left the department. Haller’s hiring earlier this year came after a federal judge in Michigan sanctioned her and her colleagues, including Powell, for one of their lawsuits, requiring them to pay attorney fees incurred by the state and the city of Detroit and sending them to 12 hours of continuing legal education courses. An appeals court largely held up the ruling and the Supreme Court subsequently declined to intervene.

Oil companies are making billions. In the U.S., calls to tax their windfall are growing

Oil prices have surged in recent days amidst renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran. Higher oil prices have meant U.S. consumers are paying more for gasoline at the pump. And oil and gas companies are profiting. The world's top 100 oil and gas firms made $30 million every hour in excess profits during the early days of the U.S-Israeli war with Iran. That's according to an analysis by the environmental nonprofit Global Witness and the Guardian. "That's as a direct result of oil prices spiking globally," says Dominic Eagleton, who researches fossil fuels at Global Witness. Yet for many oil companies the cost of actually producing oil hasn't changed that much since the beginning of the war, according to the American Petroleum Institute, a trade organization for the U.S. oil and gas industry. This has led to windfall oil profits — unexpected profits as a result of the war.

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Global Witness found that the top six European oil companies have made at least $22 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2026. That's 43% higher than their profits in the first quarter of 2025, the nonprofit tells NPR. The U.K. and the European Union started taxing windfall oil profits after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That tax continues to this day in the U.K. Now some U.S. lawmakers want to tax excess oil profits here. Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island proposed a windfall oil profit tax earlier this year. "?We're actually somewhat generous about letting [the oil companies] keep half of the excess profits," Whitehouse says, "but we want at least half of it to go back." The U.S. oil industry is largely not a fan of this tax proposal, says Dustin Meyer, senior vice president with API. "For investment in any industry," Meyer says, "you need certainty. And proposals like this erode exactly the sort of certainty that is needed to make the investment that has brought the United States to such an unparalleled position of American energy leadership."

‘I’m staying out of Maine’: Chuck Schumer sidelines himself with the Senate majority on the line

The fate of the Senate majority could lie in the hands of 601 yet-to-be-chosen Maine Democrats. And Chuck Schumer, known for working every possible angle to give his party’s campaigns an edge, is largely helpless to do anything about it. The sidelines are an unusual place for the longtime Senate Democratic leader. Known for his heavy-handed interventions during his successful tenure leading the party’s campaign arm, his well-documented recruiting in key battleground races this year and penchant for near-constant backchanneling via his signature flip phone, Schumer is well aware he is now facing a new political reality. If he were to publicly back a candidate ahead of the party’s nominating convention later this month, it would likely be used against that candidate by his or her opponents. Instead, with a truncated primary timeline, Schumer is keeping his focus on the general election in November — and on defeating a longtime nemesis, veteran Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

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Asked in a brief interview Tuesday if he would endorse a candidate before the July 25 convention, Schumer said, “I’m staying out of Maine.” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democratic leader, said in an interview Schumer’s reticence makes sense: “At this point, there are so many nominees and possibilities, I can see why he’s holding back.” One person with knowledge of Schumer’s thinking said the New York Democrat is leaving the 11-hour primary battle up to Mainers. Two other people close to Schumer, who were also granted anonymity to speak candidly about his approach, said he would stay far away from the race to replace Graham Platner and not pick a favorite — at least not publicly — in part out of concern that if he picks a candidate it could backfire. “He doesn’t want to put his thumb on the scale,” said a fourth person, a Democratic strategist. “Anyone he wants would be toxic.”

More than half of House Democrats vote to cut $3.3 billion in aid to Israel

More than half the House Democrats voted Wednesday to strip $3.3 billion in U.S. aid from Israel, the most substantial signal yet that once rock-solid bipartisan support for the country is disintegrating in the aftermath of its war in Gaza that has killed thousands of Palestinians. The vote tally, 104-314, was not enough to attach the amendment to a broader national security spending bill, but stands as a stark accounting of the shifting attitudes that are dividing the Democratic Party and the nation over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war strategy, now approaching its third year. The House’s Democratic leadership split over the issue in what was largely seen as a test vote ahead of the U.S. midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

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More than 100 Democrats voted for the amendment to strip the foreign military aid money, and almost as many voted against. Most Republicans voted to preserve the Israel aid. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who announced he opposed the measure that would zero out the aid, nevertheless said “that for the good of Israel and the Palestinian people, American policy in the Middle East must change.” Jeffries said in a letter to colleagues, ahead of a private caucus meeting this week where he spoke on the issue, that he believes “there are more decisive ways to achieve the urgent change necessary when it comes to the far-right Netanyahu government.” The deepening divide over Israel threatens to upend the Democratic Party as it faces an energized left flank that is promoting self-proclaimed democratic socialists in a handful of marquee House races, particularly last month in New York. While more traditional Democrats have stood with U.S. support for Israel, a growing number have distanced themselves from Netanyahu’s strategy as the war has dragged on in a prolonged response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe

Chief of staff Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s closest aide, and FBI Director Kash Patel helped personally orchestrate a sprawling investigation last week at the White House aimed at determining who in the government leaked information about the security deficiencies of a Qatari-gifted airplane meant to be used as Air Force One – with some officials being asked to turn over their phones to investigators on White House grounds, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump had fumed over disclosures about the new plane, sources said, and his government quickly stood up an intense leak probe that roiled the government. As the investigation unfolded, at least one federal agency emailed employees warning that if they were contacted by outside agencies requesting information and devices, they needed to immediately contact their own agency’s attorneys, one source told CNN.

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The sources said Patel — who had been preparing to travel to Chicago — was diverted to the White House on Friday to take a hands-on role in running the probe, which became public early the next morning when the New York Times reported that the Justice Department had issued subpoenas to four of its journalists who reported on security concerns surrounding the new plane. Patel posted up in an office next to Wiles’ for roughly seven hours, as the two established what one source referred to as a “war room” in the West Wing. In addition to asking for cell phones, investigators sought information from those who were traveling with Trump or had a role in the trip, including officials across various agencies. Not all officials who were asked to turn over their devices did so, one of the sources told CNN. The effort reflects the extent to which the White House was willing to exert control over a law enforcement investigation — a significant breach of the Justice Department’s historic independence, though one that has become somewhat common in Trump’s administration. CNN has previously reported that Trump also talked with Patel on the phone about the leak investigation. CNN has reached out to the FBI for comment. A White House official said: “Leaks that jeopardize the safety of the President, his staff, and the traveling press pool are dangerous and a threat to national security. The White House takes these leaks seriously and will do everything legally to ensure the individual or individuals are caught and it does not happen again.”

NRCC adds 7 more candidates to MAGA Majority program

The National Republican Congressional Committee on Wednesday named seven new House hopefuls to its program for top candidates seeking to flip seats this fall. The additions to the MAGA Majority program, as Republicans have rebranded what had long been known as its Young Guns effort, include four candidates who recently won primaries in battleground districts and three who must still face GOP primary voters. Republicans are seeking to defend and grow their narrow House majority this fall in the face of historical trends that depict midterm elections as typically challenging for the party in power.

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The new additions include: Barb Regnitz, a Porter County commissioner who is challenging Indiana Rep. Frank J. Mrvan; Former Ohio state Rep. Derek Merrin, who won a Republican primary in May to set up a rematch with longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur; Jeanine Driscoll, the receiver of taxes in Hempstead, N.Y., who is challenging first-term New York Democrat Laura Gillen; Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz, the brother of Texas Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who faces Bexar County sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia in a seat redrawn to favor Republicans; The latest MAGA Majority recruits also include three Republicans who face primaries next month: Navy veteran Amir Hassan, who is seeking to challenge Democratic Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet in Michigan’s 8th District Mike Bouchard Jr., an Army veteran who is running for Michigan’s open 10th District Businessman Anthony DiLorenzo, who is vying for the GOP nomination in New Hampshire’s open 1st District

Copyright July 16, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved