May 3, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Texas Supreme Court greenlights ban on Delta-8 THC in new ruling

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that state regulators may criminalize Delta-8 THC, the intoxicating compound found in some hemp products — a significant blow to an industry fighting for its survival. The ruling, which reverses a lower court decision, says the Department of State Health Services can enforce rules it set in 2021 that classified Delta-8 as an illegal substance. The change primarily affects products containing Delta-8, a milder form of THC found in many gummy, candy and vape products, including at gas stations and hemp-focused retailers. But the court’s finding that the Department of State Health Services has broad authority to regulate controlled substances could have wider implications for the industry. DSHS said it was reviewing the ruling and didn't have an immediate comment.

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In a separate, smaller win for hemp businesses on Friday, a Travis County judge granted a temporary injunction against newer restrictions from DSHS that would hike fees on retail stores and limit the sale of THC-A, which would effectively ban smokeable hemp. But the decision is likely to be appealed and could be complicated by the Supreme Court’s ruling. The 2021 rules on Delta-8, meanwhile, had long been on hold after a group of hemp business owners, led by Austin-based Hometown Hero, sued to block them. The plaintiffs argued that officials overstepped their authority by banning a substance that had not been explicitly outlawed by legislators and said the decision would make it difficult for retailers to operate. A lower state court sided with the business groups and put the rules on hold as the case played out. But the state Supreme Court overturned the decision, finding that a state law known as the Texas Controlled Substances Act gives the DSHS commissioner “primary responsibility for overseeing the civil schedules of controlled substances.”

Texas rejected Corpus Christi water project amid looming crisis

Months after Gov. Greg Abbott blasted local leaders for backing out of a plan to build a desalination plant on the Corpus Christi ship channel, the state declined to help finance another, larger desalination facility that could similarly ease the region’s growing water crisis. Early this year, the Nueces River Authority applied for a $140 million low-interest loan from the Texas Water Development Board to jumpstart planning and design for the larger project, which would be located on Harbor Island but intake water and discharge brine via a pipeline extending two miles offshore. That distance would help minimize the project’s impact on marine life and ecology, according to research.

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The water board, whose members are appointed by Abbott, said the project was one of several it was unable to fund this year because its main lending program reached capacity and it had to prioritize other, higher-scoring projects. John Chisholm, the deputy executive director of the Nueces River Authority, said the decision was “very surprising.” “Our project is going to bring much-needed water to an area that is really suffering right now,” Chisholm said. The river authority is now working to find other funding sources to move the project forward. The move comes as Corpus Christi is experiencing historic water shortages amid rising demand from industry and a record drought. The city is likely to begin forcing residents and businesses to curtail their water use by 25% starting in September. Neither of the two proposed plants would help the immediate crisis, but seawater desalination has been pitched as essential to the region’s longterm future, including its ability to continue serving and attracting petrochemical plants.

Supreme Court asked to restore access to abortion pill by mail

Two manufacturers of the abortion pill mifepristone asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to immediately restore full access to the medication, putting the contentious issue of abortion back before the justices in a midterm election year. The requests came after a lower court on Friday temporarily restricted abortion providers nationwide from prescribing the pills by telemedicine and sending them to patients by mail. That process is one of the main ways women seeking abortions have obtained the medication in recent years. If the order on Friday by a federal appeals court is upheld, it could sow confusion and upend a major avenue for abortion access across the country — not just in states with abortion bans. About one-fourth of abortions in the United States are now provided through telemedicine.

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Louisiana officials had sued the Food and Drug Administration to restrict access to mifepristone, saying the availability of the medication by mail had allowed abortions to continue in the state despite its near-total ban on abortion. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Friday sided with Louisiana and essentially reimposed an F.D.A. requirement that health care providers prescribe mifepristone only after seeing patients in person. That rule was first lifted in 2021. The Fifth Circuit ordered that in-person dispensing of mifepristone be reinstated until the Louisiana lawsuit made its way through the courts. The manufacturers, Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, are also defendants in the Louisiana lawsuit. On Saturday afternoon, Danco filed an emergency request asking the Supreme Court to lift the lower court’s order, which applied to patients across the country. GenBioPro filed a similar request Saturday evening.

As Clarence Thomas hits a milestone, his conservative stamp on US Supreme Court endures

Clarence Thomas this week will reach a major milestone on the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the second-longest-serving justice in American history. Along the way, the stalwart conservative has played an important role in guiding the court on a rightward course, even if he has not gotten everything he has advocated. Thomas, who is 77, has served since October 1991, having been appointed at age 43 by Republican ?President George H.W. Bush to replace liberal luminary and civil-rights pioneer Thurgood Marshall on the top U.S. judicial body. Marshall was the first Black member of the court. Thomas, after a contentious Senate confirmation battle, became the second. Thomas on Monday will overtake Justice Stephen J. ?Field, who served from 1863 to 1897, for the court's third-longest tenure, according to the Supreme Court Historical Society.

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Thomas on Thursday will leapfrog his late former colleague Justice John Paul Stevens, who served from 1975 to 2010, for the second-longest tenure, the society said. If Thomas remains until May 20, 2028, he would set the court's longevity record, passing Justice William O. Douglas, who served from 1939 to 1975, the society said. Thomas has left his mark on the Supreme Court, even as his role has evolved over the years. "He began his time on the court often in dissent, and he stood his ground," said Haley Proctor, a University of Notre Dame law professor who previously served as a clerk for Thomas. "The justice's influence on the law has been profound," ?Proctor said. "And that is a consequence, not only of his many years on the court, but also of his persistence." Thomas has helped the court's 6-3 conservative majority, in place since 2020, to act assertively. On back-to-back days in June 2022, he was the author of a landmark ruling expanding ?gun rights protected by the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment and joined other conservative justices in overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion nationwide. Thomas also has championed an expansive view of religious liberty, opposed gay marriage, fought ?affirmative action preferences for minorities in university admissions and hiring, supported the death penalty and broad presidential powers, and curbed campaign-finance restrictions.

'Godspeed my friend': Inside the final hours of Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines was hours away from its final flights Friday afternoon. Jeremiah Burton was hours away from his first. “It’s my first time flying,” Burton, a 45-year-old air conditioning and heating technician, told CNBC at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on Friday, shortly before he was scheduled to depart for New Orleans to visit his daughter and her newborn twins. “To tell you the truth, I just went online and Googled the cheapest airline ticket,” he said, adding that he paid about $500 for the trip late last month. He was scheduled to return on May 6. While Burton waited for his flight, Spirit was making final preparations to shut down overnight, ending a three-decade run that brought discount air travel to millions across the United States and as far away as Peru.

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Spirit canceled international flights on Thursday, to start, so travelers, planes, and flight crews wouldn’t be stranded. The airline said it flew more than 50,000 people the day leading up to its collapse. Spirit bondholders rejected an 11th-hour bailout proposal from the Trump administration that could have included up to $500 million to keep the ailing airline afloat. The deal would have put the government ahead of other bondholders’ claims and given it an up to 90% stake in the airline. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Spirit CEO Dave Davis to tell him there was no deal and that bondholders and the government were far from an agreement, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bondholders sent a letter to Spirit’s board, confirming that the end was near. Before dawn on Saturday, Spirit’s website and app were papered over with the message that operations had ended. “To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available,” it read. By noon, LaGuardia’s Marine Air Terminal, an Art Deco facility that opened in 1940 and was home to Pan Am’s Clippers — and, most recently, home to Spirit at the New York airport — was nearly silent.

State Stories

He was one of the Texas GOP’s biggest donors. Where did he go?

These were once the months of Farris Wilks, the time when the far-right billionaire’s fortune would shape Texas GOP primaries. Since 2015, when Wilks, his brother, and their wives made a record-breaking $15 million donation to a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, the fracking tycoon has injected a mountain of cash into Republican groups and primary candidates, working with Midland oil billionaire Tim Dunn to steadily pull the state and national GOP toward their hard-line religious and political views. But this cycle, Wilks has been all but missing. The longtime Republican kingmaker appears to have given just one large donation. And while it is possible that he has continued to cut checks to untraceable, dark-money groups, numerous sources have said that Wilks has largely pulled back from politics following a private break with Dunn. Why might one of the state’s most prolific donors have stepped away from his movement at the ostensible height of its power? Neither Dunn nor Wilks have responded to interview requests or publicly discussed the status of their relationship. But those close to them point to fallout from a white supremacist–related scandal from 2024 that they say frayed the billionaires’ already distant relationship, and may have added to mounting familial pressure on Wilks to curtail his political activity. Regardless of the cause, the result is a seismic shift for a state that he once bent to his will.

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Even among Texas’s eccentric billionaire class, Wilks is a singular figure. He has eleven children, is one of the largest private landowners in the country, and has said that when he was growing up, his family was so poor that he sometimes slept in a goat shed at their ranch in Cisco, a roughly 3,800-person town in Eastland County where he is now a major public benefactor. Most of what’s known about the intensely private 74-year-old has come from a handful of brief interviews he’s done over the years or from audio recordings of sermons he’s delivered at the Assembly of Yahweh, a county-road church just outside Cisco that was founded by his father and mixes elements of Judaism, biblical literalism, and Seventh-Day Adventism. (The church, for instance, celebrates Sabbath on Saturday and eschews “religious holidays of the Gentiles,” including Christmas and Easter.) Beginning around 2014, the Wilks brothers also increasingly focused on the Texas Legislature, joining Dunn and a small group of other megadonors in their yearslong campaign to oust then–House Speaker Joe Straus and other GOP lawmakers who they claimed had betrayed conservative voters and values. Through a well-funded network of political groups, media websites, and nonprofits—namely, Empower Texans, an influential advocacy group founded by Dunn—the billionaires threatened incumbents with expensive, bruising primary challenges. Though lawmakers usually retained their seats, the Dunn-Wilks strategy forced them to campaign and legislate further to the right, which steadily pulled the whole statehouse with them.

Newly-elected Robstown water board director: “The city of Corpus Christi does not care about our community”

Voters in Robstown made their voices heard Saturday in a closely watched election tied to ongoing water concerns, selecting three members to serve on the board of Nueces County Water Conservation and Improvement District #3. Twelve candidates appeared on the ballot, with the top three vote-getters — Myra Alaniz, current director Ramiro Alejandro Jr. and Belinda “Shorty” Valadez — earning seats on the board. Alaniz, who received the most votes, will serve as the district’s new director.

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The race drew heightened attention as drought conditions continue to strain water resources across the Coastal Bend. Alaniz, who has been outspoken about water management in the area, said she believes the community has been overlooked. “The city of Corpus Christi does not care about our community,” Alaniz said. The district covers areas north of Robstown toward the banks of the Nueces River, near several of Corpus Christi’s groundwater wells — a key point of concern for residents. Alaniz criticized how untreated groundwater has been handled, saying it has impacted water quality. “If they cared about our community, they wouldn’t be dumping that untreated well water into the river that we pull,” she said. “Now we can’t pull that water because it has high TDS, arsenic and whatever else is in there. So now the water is compromised.” Which is why Alaniz says the district had to turn to the interconnection deal with Corpus Christi Water.

Republican Brett Ligon, former Montgomery County DA, wins special election for open Texas Senate seat

Texas Republicans have held onto the State Senate District 4 seat with candidate Brett Ligon, unofficial election night results show. Texas held a special election Saturday, May 2, to fill a vacant seat in the Texas Senate whose term would expire in January 2027. The seat became vacant in October 2025 when the former holder, former Republican State Sen. Brandon Creighton, resigned to become the chancellor of the Texas Tech University System. On the ballot were only two candidates: Ligon and Democratic candidate Ron Angeletti. Once the results are made official, Ligon will represent Texans from Montgomery, Harris, Chambers, Jefferson and Galveston counties in the Texas Senate.

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“The voters of SD4 have delivered a clear message tonight. Conservative values and Republican dominance in Texas are alive and well,” he said in a statement declaring victory 25 minutes after polls closed. “Democrats from Texas and all over the country threw everything they had at us. Democrat politicians were here today in full force, campaigning hard for my opponent. As if we had been flying the ‘Come and Take It’ flag – they tried – and they failed.” Senate District 4 — which spans across Chambers, Harris, Jefferson and Montgomery counties — voted for President Donald Trump by a 34-point margin in 2024, making it one of the reddest seats in the upper chamber. It is considered a virtual lock for Republicans in November, even with midterm political headwinds that have left Democrats optimistic about flipping GOP legislative seats. Although the district has not had representation since Creighton’s departure in October, the Legislature has not been in session during that period and is not scheduled to reconvene until January for the next regular session.

Amtrak will discontinue Texas-Oklahoma route this summer

The Heartland Flyer, a 206-mile route connecting Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, is set to be discontinued in 90 days after Texas and Oklahoma lawmakers failed to include the route in their respective budgets. The Texas Legislature did not include funding for the 206-mile train route in the 2026 and 2027 budget, according to the notice sent to Amtrak, which operates the train. Texas' portion of the route's budget was $3.5 million. The current agreement expires on Aug. 31. The train is only still running this year due emergency funding from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, according to Texas Rail Advocates. The council, which is currently undergoing a leadership change, also had to help out the route in 2024 with $100,000 in assistance, according to TRA.

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But TxDOT said in its notice this month: "At this time, another suitable funding source has not been identified." Peter LeCody, president of TRA, said in a statement 80,000 people take the route and could be back on the highway if the train shuts down. "You can't say that nobody rides this train," LeCody said. As Oklahoma’s sole Amtrak connection, the train has provided daily service between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth since June 1999, though it has faced a series of funding challenges. The Oklahoma Legislature is currently in session until May 29th, but shut down a proposal earlier this month to add funding to the route. While Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt noted the state was considering its options, the project has ultimately come up short. The Kansas Department of Transportation’s plans to extend the route to Newton now face instability caused by the lack of funding and shifting federal priorities under the Trump administration. TxDOT's letter ended on a farewell, signaling it may not expect new funding. "We appreciate the partnership of the State of Texas has had with the National Railroad Passenger Corporation over the years and thank Amtrak for its dedication to improving and supporting passenger rail in the region," the notice read.

What a new Supreme Court decision means for Spring Branch voters

A federal court ruled last year that Spring Branch ISD violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the Hispanic vote — but that decision could be reversed after a recent Supreme Court decision. In the past few years, the district's at-large trustee system has come under scrutiny after a lawsuit claimed it racially discriminated against the area's Hispanic community by diluting minority voting power. The district has nearly twice as many Hispanic students as white students. The district appealed the initial ruling that sided with the plaintiff. The case was put on hold to see how the Supreme Court would handle a similar case, Louisiana v. Callais, a lawsuit over possible discrimination in how the state draws its voting districts.

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On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority issued a ruling that weakened minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act. Under the court's updated view, states no longer need to draw districts based on racial considerations. If a state dismantles districts that favor Black or Hispanic candidates, challengers would have to provide evidence showing states “intentionally drew its districts to afford minority voters less opportunity because of their race.” The new ruling from the country's highest court frustrates some community members in the Spring Branch area who had pinned their hopes on the voting-rights lawsuit against the school district. "We have seen (the Supreme Court) continuously over the past decade, really erode the rights of minorities and groups of people that have historically needed actions in the law," said David Lopez, executive director of civic nonprofit Somos Spring Branch. "It is deeply frustrating, and it should be for everyone, no matter what community you identify with. I think voting rights protections protect every single person in this country." SBISD relies on an at-large system of voting where residents in the entire school district cast ballots for every candidate and ballot measure. Critics say the practice can weaken the voice of people of color who are drowned out by white voters. They say school board candidates should be elected by voters in distinct districts.

Caldwell County residents holding Data Center talk

Data centers continue to be a hot topic for many people across the nation. According to Pew Research more than 1,500 new data centers are in various stages of development nationwide. Some of those data centers are right here in Central Texas. In Caldwell County, people will be gathering to discuss the topic on Sunday.

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“The temperatures are really high so we want people to be able to, let’s not yell and blame who didn’t have any part in it, but let’s figure out what is the next step we can do to empower people to make a call to their legislators,” said Pat Stroka who is helping put on the event. Stroka says he hopes to educate people who are stopping by about data centers. Multiple speakers will be addressing the topic including Caldwell County Judge Hoppy Haden. A Caldwell County Spokesperson says the judge was invited to speak as a special guest, but the county was not putting on the event. “At this time, county commissioners have approved development agreements for two data center campuses in Caldwell County. The agreements were approved at the April 9 and April 23 meetings,” said a Caldwell County spokesperson.

KUT relocates festival as UT points fingers

The surprise decision to relocate this weekend’s inaugural KUT Festival out of its long-planned home on the University of Texas campus and to two venues in East Austin has left the Austin NPR affiliate struggling on two fronts: first, in trying to rebuild their entire event with almost no notice, and secondly, in a war of words with the UT administration. The event, combining music, community, and conversations with public figures about issues facing Central Texas, was first announced last November. The initial plan was for two days of events at both indoor and outdoor venues around the college campus. Instead, the schedule has been largely reduced to one full day, May 2, at the Eastside Ballroom and Central Machine Works.

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So what happened? On April 28, Anita L. Vangelisti, interim dean of the Moody College of Communication, wrote to festival speakers that “our analysis has identified key areas where KUT provided insufficient planning for safety measures, including security, health, fire, and emergency services.” She added that, with the agreement of KUT and the UT administration, the community elements were being moved off-campus. KUT Director and General Manager Debbie Hiott sent her own follow-up email that stressed that the station had worked closely with UT on all issues since the beginning of planning, and had only been told of the university’s concerns on April 22. Moreover, they said they had not been provided the list of supposed deficiencies, nor been allowed to meet with the relevant administrators to discuss if the issue was fixable. Instead, Hiott wrote that UT “ordered KUT to cancel the outdoor portions of the events” on April 24, before agreeing to the relocation.

How Texas Republicans turned on George W. Bush

In their primary runoff for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, John Cornyn can say that Ken Paxton is divorcing his wife, that he’s alleged to have had multiple mistresses, that his own senior staff has accused him of corruption. All that is damning and true. But Paxton can make one charge that is more powerful than anything Cornyn can pin on Ken, and which may well push the attorney general over the line on May 26: John Cornyn was in office twenty years ago. There’s really no getting around that. It’s on his Wikipedia page. To put a finer point on it, Cornyn has the stink of George W. Bush about him. The problem with the senior senator, as one representative online poster put it this week, is that he’s “a corporate hack who was an instrumental member of the Bush/Rove machine” and “the last vestige of those hacks other than [Greg] Abbott.” The problem for Cornyn is that the sentiment above wasn’t shared by a bleeding-heart Austin liberal with a long memory of the Bush years and a Coexist bumper-sticker, but by someone who identifies as a Texas conservative.

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The expectation might be that the Texas GOP has golden statues to Bush in every place it meets. It does not. A substantial portion of Republicans in the state are out to seek and destroy any last trace of the party left over from the Bush era—between 1994 and 2004 or so. When it was reported on April 15 that Bush had donated $5,000 to Cornyn’s campaign, the signal fires went up through the right-wing movement. (Even though it was a minor sum from a private citizen in a very expensive race—pro-Cornyn organizations, along with his campaign, spent $17 million in the first quarter of 2026.) “[The] old guard is all over Texas trying to claw back control and push out America First candidates,” wrote Kambree Nelson, a pro-Paxton influencer. “Bring it.” Another MAGA influencer posted a picture of an aged Bush and wrote that “voting for this RINO twice and defending him for 10 years after he left office was the worst political decision I’ve ever made.” That this is now the mood in a large faction of the GOP is a bit strange, because Bush’s party was one of the most savagely dominant political forces the state had ever seen. This is not properly appreciated today in part because Bush was the “compassionate conservative.” But the Bush-era GOP consumed the once-dominant Texas Democratic Party like locusts eat a field of wheat and made possible everything that came after.

KENS 5 honored with Governor’s Volunteer Award for decade of mentorship and community service

KENS 5 has been named as a Corporate Champion Award recipient in the 42nd Annual Governor’s Volunteer Awards, the highest recognition for volunteerism in Texas, according to the OneStar Foundation, which administers the awards. The station was recognized during National Volunteer Month at a ceremony held Wednesday evening at the Texas Governor’s Mansion in Austin. First Lady Cecilia Abbott, honorary chair of the Governor’s Volunteer Awards, announced the recipients in a statement released by her office, praising Texans whose service is “making a lasting difference” across the state.

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“I am honored to recognize this year’s Governor’s Volunteer Awards recipients as Texans whose commitment to service is making a lasting difference,” she said in the release. “Their dedication reminds us that service has the power to unite communities, uplift neighbors, and inspire others to step forward.” KENS 5 was selected for its sustained commitment to mentorship and community service in San Antonio. For more than a decade, station employees have partnered with Communities In Schools of San Antonio to mentor high school students through the InspireU Workplace Mentors program, helping students build confidence and communication skills and identify career goals. The station also was recognized for its role in the annual Stuff The Bus School Supply Drive, which uses KENS 5’s broadcast and digital platforms to encourage community donations. In 2024, coverage of the drive generated more than 5.9 million impressions and helped provide school supplies to students in 140 schools. KENS 5 News Director Jack Acosta said the recognition reflects the station’s long-standing focus on service to South Texas. “On behalf of everyone at KENS 5, we’re proud to shine a light on the people and students building a better future,” Acosta said. “We’re grateful for our partnership with Communities In Schools and the opportunity to give back to South Texas.” The Governor’s Volunteer Awards recognize individuals, families, organizations and corporations whose service over the past year has strengthened communities and inspired others across Texas.

As license plate readers expand in Texas, privacy advocates are fighting back

Last week the City of Kyle, a fast-growing Austin suburb, interrupted a string of recent victories won by local activists to thwart the further expansion of police surveillance technology across Central Texas. On April 21, council members overwhelmingly voted 6-1 to authorize the Kyle Police Department to apply for another state grant—worth up to $381,200—to continue funding at least 38 preexisting Flock Safety automated license plate readers (ALPRs). Most of the local residents in attendance who spoke on the issue opposed the city’s move to obtain further funding for the artificial intelligence-powered network of surveillance cameras. “There’s one cell-phone tower within a mile of my house, and there’s four Flock cameras. You need a warrant to check my cell site records, but you have more granular data from the cameras than you do from [the cell tower],” David Moss, a Kyle resident, told the city council at the meeting.

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Flock has sold nearly 92,000 such cameras to local police departments across the nation—including more than 10,000 in Texas, according to an open source map of the cameras compiled by DeFlock. The City of Kyle has had them since 2024. The cameras record the license plate numbers of trafficking motorists going about their daily routines and store immense logs of surveillance data that can be queried by participating law enforcement agencies across the nation. The records are stored for at least 30 days before being deleted, except in cases in which the data is pulled from the system for investigative purposes. Flock has come under fire from privacy advocates as well as local activists concerned about surveillance technology for allowing law enforcement agencies to conduct unrestricted searches of its data—including for the purposes of immigration enforcement and, in at least one instance, an abortion investigation. Flock Media Relations Manager Evan White told the Texas Observer that while the company doesn’t work directly with U.S. Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), “Agencies choose with whom to share data and can change or revoke their sharing settings at any point.”

Ross clinches final term in Arlington mayor’s office, narrowly avoiding runoff

Incumbent Mayor Jim Ross has been reelected to a third and final term with 50.04% of the vote, narrowly avoiding a runoff election, according to unofficial results. Steve Cavender trailed with 39.4% of the vote, roughly 2,800 fewer votes than Ross. Cavender and his campaign team did not respond to multiple requests for a comment Saturday night. As soon as election data from Tarrant County showed 100% of votes counted, Ross took the stage to cheers and applause that shook the dishes on tables at J. Gilligan’s Bar and Grill, where he was hosting a watch party to which he invited every other candidate running for any office in Arlington.

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His message after inviting other winners to the stage was of grace in victory. “Going forward, as much as some of us really want to get in somebody’s face and say, ‘We told you we won’t put up with this [expletive],’ we’re not gonna do it,” Ross told his supporters. “We’re gonna move forward, we’re gonna be better than the other side was.” Shaun Mallory and Hunter Crow, who are also running for the office, saw 4.9% and 5.5% ballots cast in their favor, respectively. The contest for Arlington mayor has been contentious, with many voters describing it as divisive and messy. Ross focused his campaigning, and especially on social media, on sharing his achievements, the reasons he’s proud of his city and the endorsements he’s received. Cavender’s strategy relied heavily on criticizing Ross, with special attention on his personal taxes, travel expenses and a video from a panel discussion on housing policy. He’s also placed the blame for increased property taxes, approved by council in a 7-2 vote last year, squarely on Ross’ shoulders.

5 from Amarillo dead following Thursday plane crash in Hays County

The five who were killed in the plane crash Thursday night have been identified: Seren Wilson, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick, Glen Appling, and Hayden Dillard.

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Locally, the Amarillo Pickleball Club released the following statement: Today, the Club has received terrible news that we all must mourn in the loss of five members of our Amarillo pickleball family: Seren Wilson, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick, Glen Appling, and Hayden Dillard. Please keep their precious families in your thoughts and prayers. All five were killed last night in a private airplane crash near Austin, TX, while en route to a pickleball tournament. Although many were friends to players, the loss is most horrible to their close family. And those families may need our help in these times.

JR Trevino: Texas future depends on career pathways and civic trust

(JR Trevino is the mayor of Castle Hills, chief operating officer of Treco Enterprises Inc. and president of the 2026 Texas Lyceum.) Texas has long been regarded as a place of opportunity, with a strong economy and a thriving career market. Here, everything is bigger and anything is possible. But according to a 2026 Texas Lyceum poll, only a quarter of Texans believe they are in a long-term career, and some are losing faith in democracy. Texans are questioning the very systems that are designed to support and represent our best interests. And this disconnect should serve as a warning, not just for today but for the future of our state and the generations that come after us. As president of the Texas Lyceum, I have the privilege of hearing directly from residents. Each year, the Lyceum conducts a comprehensive poll to gauge Texans’ perspectives on issues shaping our state. Our purpose is not to advocate for specific positions but to raise awareness and foster informed dialogue so leaders are better equipped to serve their communities.

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This year’s poll reveals a troubling reality: 75% of Texans believe they have a job, not a career. In a state with the eighth-largest economy in the world, this should raise serious concern. Texas is an economic powerhouse, but that success must translate into meaningful, long-term opportunities for its workforce. If Texans see only a paycheck and not a pathway to careers, something fundamental is missing. Equally worrisome, only 27% of Texans believe their children will have a more prosperous future than their own current economic situation. Addressing that gap starts with education. Career pathways are shaped early, through the combined influence of families, educators and public systems. Preparing students not just for employment but for long-term success — through skills training, career exposure and real-world learning — should be a central priority. State and local leaders play a critical role in ensuring those opportunities exist. That sense of uncertainty extends beyond the workplace. The poll also found that 1 in 4 Texans are unsure whether democracy is the best form of government, pointing to a deeper disconnect from civic life and a lack of confidence in public institutions. A healthy democracy depends on informed, engaged citizens who believe their participation matters.

National Stories

Golden Tempo takes Kentucky Derby as Cherie DeVaux becomes 1st woman to train winner

After being asked all week about the possibility of becoming the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner, Cherie DeVaux was nearly speechless when Golden Tempo charged from the back of the pack Saturday to make history for her. “I’m just glad I don’t have to answer that question anymore,” DeVaux said to a rousing round of applause. DeVaux joined Jena Antonucci, with Arcangelo in the 2023 Belmont, as the only women to train the winner of a Triple Crown race. She was just the 18th woman to saddle a horse in the Derby in its 152-year history, and the gravity of the situation came into focus for her days earlier when she saw a young girl on the backstretch and realized the impact she is making.

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“It really is an honor to be able to be that person for other women or other little girls to look up to,” DeVaux said. “You can dream big, and you can pivot. You can come from one place and make yourself a part of history.” DeVaux credits growing up with seven brothers and two sisters for her toughness. After winning the Derby on her first try eight years after starting her own stable, she thanked her husband for inspiring her to give it a chance. “I didn’t believe,” DeVaux said. “I started my career here 22 years ago as a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed exercise rider. And I would not believe that I would be sitting up here today. Never in my life did I think I would.” It came with a lot of hard work. DeVaux fielded questions this week about Golden Tempo’s cracked heels, and she downplayed concerns. She put a lot of time into getting the colt into form, trying blinkers and other things to get the son of Curlin to focus.

Trump’s new conditions on DEI, immigration could cut off states’ wildfire funding

A new effort to force states to affirm the Trump administration’s views on DEI, transgender athletes and immigration when signing contracts with the U.S. Forest Service is threatening millions of dollars in wildfire grant funding and fire reduction projects on federal lands. Some liberal states can’t sign the documents because the policies clash with state law, forestry experts say. Already, at least one state is reporting that the new rules have stalled work to reduce wildfire risk and assist with projects on national forest lands. Other states say the requirements are so vague that they don’t know how to follow them. And some timber industry leaders believe the standoff could cut into their revenues.

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“We’re kind of at an impasse,” said Washington State Forester George Geissler. “It’s already starting to slow down or shut down work.” The update to the requirements governing federal partnerships comes even as many Western states brace for a brutal wildfire season, following a winter that brought record high temperatures and a paltry snowpack. On Dec. 31, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins with little fanfare issued new general terms and conditions governing partnerships for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Spelled out in dozens of pages of fine print are new restrictions that require partner organizations to pledge compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders. The new conditions apply to all USDA agencies, but the department hasn’t yet said whether it will enforce them for food assistance programs.

Alabama is latest state to try to halt its election to pass new gerrymander

Alabama may suspend its May 19 congressional primary elections to pass a new gerrymandered map in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act (VRA) — even though absentee mail ballots have already been sent to voters and some ballots have already been cast. It would follow Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s (R) unprecedented decision Thursday to halt his state’s May 16 congressional primary in order to gerrymander the map, a move that has already drawn legal challenges. Mail voting in that election is also already underway. On Thursday, Alabama asked the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to expedite a case* brought by Black voters challenging the state’s congressional map under Section 2 of the VRA. Alabama also asked SCOTUS to vacate an order requiring it to draw a map with two majority Black electoral districts.

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Black voters challenging the Alabama maps quickly filed responses Friday morning asking the court to deny Alabama’s motion, arguing some absentee votes had already been cast in the May 19 primary. They are asking SCOTUS to either resolve the lawsuit through its normal review process or to order the parties to fully brief and argue the merits of the case. The Black voters also referenced the Supreme Court majority’s findings just a few months earlier in Texas’ redistricting case, when the majority wrote that the Texas district court had “improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion.” In that case, no mail ballots had even been sent out at the time. Alabama has already entered into an agreement to use its current map until 2030 — but the state has repeatedly ignored court orders demanding it implement legally compliant maps in the past. While Alabama’s leadership has not openly declared its intention to ram through a gerrymander, Black voters have reason to worry.

Minnesota passes the nation’s first ban on ‘nudification’ apps

The Minnesota Senate on Wednesday passed the country’s first ban on “nudification” apps 65-0, addressing one of the main sources of nonconsensual deepfakes. The bill was passed by the state House last week and now just needs the governor’s signature to become law. Advocates are optimistic Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, will sign legislation soon. This bill was the first attempt in the country to ban websites or apps that promote digital undressing, where photographs of fully clothed people can be uploaded and manipulated with generative AI to appear nude. These services power nonconsensual intimate imagery and don’t require any technical expertise to use. Google and Apple ban nudification apps from their respective web stores, but research by the Tech Transparency Project showed they remain easily accessible.

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Investigations from multiple news organizations have found that Meta continues to allow these apps to advertise on their social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. This blend means the tools are easy for kids to use; the independent media organization Indicator has tracked 23 cases of deepfake abuse targeting school communities in the United States since 2023. Federal attempts to create a civil right of action for survivors of nonconsensual deepfakes have stalled in Congress. The DEFIANCE Act has yet to make it to the House floor, though it has been passed by the Senate twice. Last year’s Take It Down Act made it a federal crime to disseminate nonconsensual intimate images, regardless of provenance, but does not allow survivors to sue for damages. Minnesota House File 1606 would allow survivors to sue the owners of nudification apps for damages and empower the state attorney general to collect fines of $500,000 per violation. The number of nonconsensual deepfakes has risen over the past few years. A mass episode of digital sexual violence kicked off in December when the social media platform X enabled its integrated chatbot Grok to generate images for free. Reporting from The New York Times and the Center for Countering Digital Hate estimates Grok created and posted over 1.8 million sexualized images of women over nine days.

60 Minutes journalist decries ‘spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear’ at CBS News

The veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi expressed concern about “the spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear” at CBS News and her uncertainty about whether she will keep her job after she pushed back on a directive to change her December segment on Venezuelans who were sent to the Cecot prison in El Salvador. Alfonsi spoke about the incident for the first time on Thursday evening after receiving the Ridenhour prize for courage at the National Press Club in Washington. Her comments come as the Trump administration has piled pressure on US media and follow CBS News editor Bari Weiss’s decision to shelve the segment on the flagship news program. Alfonsi had alleged at the time that Weiss had “spiked” the story for political purposes, a significant accusation of journalistic impropriety. Weiss argued that the segment was delayed because it did not sufficiently include the perspective of the Trump administration.

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The segment was originally supposed to air on the 21 December edition of the show. It ultimately aired about a month later, on the 18 January edition, but was not meaningfully different from the original report and lacked an on-air interview with a Trump administration official. “I will not linger on the internal mechanics of the dust-up at CBS that led to our Cecot story being pulled, but we have to be honest about what it represents,” she said on Thursday. “It wasn’t an isolated editorial argument. In my view, it was the result of a more aggressive contagion: the spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear. It’s hard to watch.” She joked that her view was “for the attorneys”. CBS has been approached for comment. Alfonsi’s future at the network is said to be in jeopardy; it is unclear whether she will return for the show’s 59th season, which begins in September. She acknowledged that uncertainty in her remarks. “Thank you for this award. I didn’t know that the theme was hope. My hope recently has been that I still have a job,” she said. “And every morning I wake up to another headline that says I’ve been fired.” But, recalling an early job as a waitress that she lost, she said: “If I am fired, it will not be the first time.”

A California dream? Some Democrats fear Harris picked the wrong race.

The current political math in California goes like this: There are eight candidates running for governor. Only four of them are breaking double digits in polling. And there’s a chance that Democrats could be shut out of the general election entirely in November. To many Democrats in the reliably liberal state, the calculus seems rather grim. Some can’t help but wonder about a never-was-but-what-if variable: Kamala Harris. Maybe, they say, she should have run for governor instead of publicly pondering a third run for president. Sunny Hostin, a co-host of “The View,” recently urged Ms. Harris, the former vice president, to reconsider. “California, it’s like running a country,” she said on the morning show. “I know that she’s talked about being president — I don’t know if that’s the right position for her — but my goodness, she certainly knows California.”

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After Ms. Harris lost her bid for president in 2024, many believed that she would try to become the next governor of California. The state has a tradition of larger-than-life governors — Ronald Reagan, Jerry Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gavin Newsom — who have happily used the statewide office as a megaphone to speak to a worldwide audience. But after months of speculation, Ms. Harris ruled out the possibility last July. Instead, she has been roaming the country on a book tour, saying recently that she “might” run for president again in 2028. It’s enough to give some party loyalists heartburn. The governor’s race, they say, would have been a better bet. “She would have been good at it, and it would have been a good job for her,” said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank based in Washington. “It would have been good for Democrats everywhere.” On the other hand, Mr. Bennett said, she would enter the presidential race “with a real burden” of defending the past.

Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern refile rail-merger application

The proposed $71.5 billion merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern to form a coast-to-coast railroad run by a single operator will have a projected 39% of the market share of rail freight in the U.S., the two railroads said. The companies on Thursday resubmitted their merger application to U.S. regulators, this time including a description of conditions that would compel Union Pacific to walk away from the merger. Such conditions typically include requirements that the buyers cede control of certain parts of the combined railroad and concessions that allow other rail carriers access to its rail lines and facilities. In January, the Surface Transportation Board rejected the railroads’ initial application, saying that it was incomplete, and invited the railroads to revise their application.

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Market-share projections and a list of conditions that would cause Union Pacific to walk away were among the items that the regulator had asked for when it asked the two companies to reapply. Some of the information is confidential and redacted in the public filing. The Surface Transportation Board is overseeing the lengthy merger-review process and will decide to approve or reject the merger. If the board accepts the latest application, it will review public comment and rebuttals in the coming months before making a decision sometime in 2027. The proposed deal already has drawn skepticism from several lawmakers, state attorneys general and rail customers. They have asked the regulator to scrutinize the transaction, asserting that the combined company could concentrate too much market power, stifle competition and lead to higher prices and poorer service. Other railroads have lined up against it, saying that the rail industry is consolidated enough.

Copyright May 03, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved