June 16, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Dangerous flooding unfolds across Texas as heavy rain drenches state

rain drenched communities from the Hill Country to the Gulf Coast, prompting flash flood warnings, water rescues and widespread concerns about additional rainfall through midweek. As of Monday afternoon, flood watches remained in effect across much of the state, including through Monday evening in Dallas-Fort Worth, through Tuesday evening in the Austin–San Antonio corridor and through Thursday morning in the Houston area. Throughout the early Monday morning hours, heavy overnight rain flooded roads and low-lying areas across Central Texas, where some locations received 3 to 4 inches of rain since midnight, according to the Lower Colorado River Authority. In Austin, emergency crews conducted at least one water rescue after a vehicle became stranded in floodwaters. The Texas Department of Public Safety also reported multiple water rescues south of Waco late Sunday.

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Similar rainfall totals were reported in the San Antonio area, where forecasters warned rainfall rates could exceed 2 to 3 inches per hour. The greatest flooding threat may come Monday night into Tuesday as additional storms move through the region, forecasters said. As the week progresses, the storm system is expected to shift toward Southeast Texas, where organizers closed Houston’s FIFA World Cup Fan Festival on Monday because of flood concerns. NWS meteorologist Cody Lindsey said tropical moisture moving north from Mexico is expected to combine with the south-moving storm system over the Houston region, bringing several days of heavy rain and an increased risk of flooding. “We could see rainfall rates in excess of two inches per hour,” Lindsey told Houston Public Media on Monday. Emergency officials throughout the state have urged Texans to closely monitor weather alerts and avoid driving through flooded roads. The National Weather Service continued to emphasize its longstanding warning: “Turn Around, Don’t Drown.”

World’s biggest fortunes soar by record $336 billion in one day

By almost any measure, Monday June 15 was a superlative day for the world's wealthiest. At the close of trading in New York, the 500 richest people on the globe had added $336 billion to their fortunes, the biggest haul ever recorded in a single day, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That brought their collective net worth to a record $13.3 trillion. Elon Musk, the world's first trillionaire, extended his lead over the group with his net worth rising more than 10% to $1.27 trillion. And the dozen people at the bottom of the list — the least wealthy of the world's superrich — each stood at $7.9 billion, the highest-ever bar to enter the index.

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Markets were buoyant going into Monday after the US and Iran reached an interim deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. had just made a blockbuster debut the previous week as a public company. The optimism pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record while the Nasdaq 100 and the MSCI World Index both ended near their all-time highs. SpaceX was the wealth rally's biggest driver as retail traders poured in to snap up shares. Its market value surged 20%. That helped to add $164 billion to Musk's net worth — nearly equal to the combined gain of the other 499 people on Bloomberg's index and one of the biggest one-day increases ever recorded. Musk's fortune has for years illustrated the gaping wealth inequality between the world's rich elite and everyone else. It's now also become an example of a growing gap among ranks of the ultrawealthy. The top 50 now control $6.5 trillion, nearly as much as the $6.8 trillion held by bottom 450, the index shows.

Chair Harris warns against rushing data center legislation, suggests foreign influence in part pushing resistance

State Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, says Texas can support responsible growth while safeguarding natural resources. Harris, chairman of the Texas House Committee on Natural Resources, will hold a hearing June 24 to examine data center water usage. He discussed the issue in an interview with Blake Holland for East Texas Politics on East Texas Now. When asked about possible legislative solutions, Harris said the focus should be on responsible resource use. “I think that’s really where it comes down to making sure that they’re utilizing the natural resources responsibly and not harming their neighbor by pumping too much water, using too much water that is a detriment to the community that they’re surrounding and to other property owners,” Harris said. “I think noise control as well. You know, there have been reports of some data centers being very, very loud. Well, there should be some guardrails around that as well to where you’re not a nuisance to your neighbor down the road.”

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Harris said he believes the country is in a race when it comes to data centers. “If they aren’t built in the United States, then China is 100% going to build them,” Harris said. “Because until you and I and all of our friends and neighbors stop taking pictures on our iPhone and storing that on the cloud or using AI or Googling things on the internet, and watching streaming services, data centers are going to be built either here or there.” When asked by Blake Holland whether the situation warrants a special session being called by the governor to address immediate threats, Harris said only the governor can make that decision. “I do think until we understand fully what’s going on and dive into it. If we get to a special session, let’s say the governor called one next week and we got to Austin, there’d be a whole lot of ideas. It’d be a lot of knee-jerk reactions,” Harris said. “And I don’t think that is the prudent way to go about creating new state law. I think we really need to take the time to dive into it to figure out what’s actually happening.” Harris said opposition to data center development may be influenced by foreign interests. “Let’s keep in mind that if you rewind the clock about 10 or 15 years ago, maybe I have the dates for the time frame wrong, but there was a big push to be in opposition of fracking in the oil and gas industry. And we soon discovered that whole initiative of being against fracking was being pushed by China,” Harris said. “And now there’s evidence and report to suggest that the push to be against data center development in the United States and in Texas is also being funded and pushed by China.”

As screwworm spreads, USDA faces potential sterile fly shortage

After spending the morning testifying before Congress, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins flew to South Texas to assure ranchers and local officials that the government was moving quickly to combat the New World screwworm outbreak. “We’re going to beat this," she said, standing before television cameras on a ranch Friday. "We beat it before, and we’re going to beat it again.” So far, authorities have relied on sterile screwworm flies grown in a Panamaian lab to mate with the wild population to slow the spread. But it will be years before the U.S. Department of Agriculture has the additional capacity it says it needs to fully eradicate the flesh-eating parasite here, leading to a blame game between members of the Trump and Biden administrations, who each say the other has not been quick enough to react.

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The months ahead are likely to prove critical. If the screwworm outbreak in Texas expands rapidly, authorities’ ability to control its spread with sterile flies could soon be overwhelmed, said Phillip Kaufman, an entomologist at Texas A&M University who is working with the U.S.Department of Agriculture. “So long as people keep reporting, we currently have the capacity for fly production to come in and do the sterile releases over their areas, which will knock the population down,” he said. “The risk is that the Texas outbreak reaches a level the USDA simply doesn’t have enough sterile flies.” For decades, a roadless 50-mile wide stretch of jungle connecting Panama to South America, known as the Darien Gap, had been considered the barrier for a parasite that had devastated cattle herds in Texas and the southwestern United States in the 1960s and 70s. U.S. and Panamanian authorities would regularly release sterile screwworm flies into the jungle to keep the wild population at bay. But in 2023, they reported a sudden surge in the screwworm population, and from there, the pest began a steady northward march through Central America and Mexico. The first U.S. case was identified in South Texas earlier this month, and since then, the USDA has confirmed 11 more infections across calves, goats and a dog.

State Stories

New World screwworm infestations rise to 12 as parasite spreads in Texas

The number of confirmed New World screwworm infestations in the United States has risen to 12, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as state and federal officials continue efforts to contain the flesh-eating parasite. Eleven infestations have been confirmed in Texas and one in New Mexico. The latest Texas case was identified in a sheep in Sutton County, about 135 miles northwest of San Antonio. The detection adds to growing concerns that the parasite is spreading beyond South Texas and into other parts of the state. Screwworm was eradicated from the United States in the 1960s before reappearing in Texas this month after spreading north through Mexico from Central America.

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New World screwworm is the larval stage of a parasitic fly that attacks warm-blooded animals, including cattle, sheep, goats, wildlife, pets and, in rare cases, humans. Unlike many fly larvae that feed on dead tissue, screwworm larvae feed on living flesh. The outbreak has raised concerns across Texas’ livestock industry. Texas leads the nation in cattle production, and agricultural officials have warned that a widespread infestation could have significant economic consequences. Adult flies lay eggs in open wounds or body openings of animals. After hatching, the larvae burrow into tissue, creating painful wounds that can become severe or even fatal if left untreated. The parasite poses a potentially significant threat to Texas livestock producers and wildlife populations. State and federal officials have responded with surveillance, testing and the release of millions of sterile male screwworm flies. Because female screwworm flies generally mate only once, breeding with a sterile male prevents reproduction and helps suppress the population. Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a disaster declaration covering all 254 Texas counties as state and federal officials work to contain the outbreak. Livestock owners are being urged to inspect animals regularly and immediately report suspected infestations to veterinarians or animal health authorities. Early detection and treatment are considered critical to preventing further spread. Officials emphasize that properly handled meat remains safe to eat and that screwworm does not spread through meat products.

Gov. Abbott issues disaster declaration for 101 Texas counties, including Travis, Bastrop and Burnet

Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration Monday covering 101 Texas counties as severe storms that began Sunday continue to threaten the state with heavy rainfall, flash flooding, hazardous wind gusts, large hail, and tornado threats. The declaration is designed to give local officials and communities access to the full range of state resources and support. Additional counties may be added as conditions warrant. Abbott addressed the ongoing threat in a statement Monday. "Texas is prepared to respond to the severe weather threats that continue to move across our state," Abbott said.

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"Because of the impact caused by ongoing storms and flood risks, I have issued a disaster declaration for 101 Texas counties to ensure that local officials and communities have access to the full range of state resources and support. Texans should heed the guidance of state and local officials and take all necessary precautions to stay safe during this severe weather." The declaration covers counites including Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Galveston, Brazoria, Chambers, Liberty, Waller, Austin, Colorado, Wharton, Matagorda, Walker, San Jacinto, Polk, Trinity, Grimes, Washington, and Brazos. Earlier Monday, Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to activate additional state emergency response resources and implement 24-hour operations at the Texas State Emergency Operations Center. Last week, the governor had already directed TDEM to activate state emergency response resources ahead of the anticipated flood threat.

UT Austin leadership fires KUT General Manager Debbie Hiott

The University of Texas at Austin fired KUT Public Media General Manager Debbie Hiott on Monday afternoon, following a heated dispute over the public radio station’s inaugural festival. The surprise move marks an unprecedented intervention in the governance of Austin’s NPR station at a time when public radio stations across the country are dealing with mounting financial and political pressures. Congress slashed federal funding to public media last year at the urging of President Donald Trump, and the landscape has also been shifting dramatically at public universities where many of the newsrooms are based. That includes KUT, which has operated out of UT Austin for decades. Texas’ Republican leaders have gotten far more involved in the running of the state’s flagship public university in recent years, most recently by initiating a major academic restructuring effort that targeted various gender and ethnic studies programs.

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In a phone interview shortly after she was fired, Hiott blasted the university for terminating her and called for a change in KUT’s ownership structure. UT Austin holds the broadcast license for KUT and its sister music station, KUTX, and it employs the station’s staff. “It’s a clear sign that a community asset as important as KUT should not be in the hands of an institution that doesn't have any sense of accountability or concern for the community,” Hiott said, referring to the university’s current leadership. “My hope would be that the university would relinquish the licenses to the community.” KUT and KUTX are editorially independent from UT. They are funded by community and business donations, rather than state taxpayer dollars or student tuition. In a text message, UT spokesman Mike Rosen said that “the university does not comment on employment matters.” An email announcing Hiott’s departure from the interim dean of the Moody College of Communication, the university department that houses KUT and KUTX, also did not provide a reason for her termination. “I am writing to inform you that Debbie Hiott is no longer serving as general manager of KUT/KUTX, effective immediately,” the dean, Anita L. Vangelisti, wrote in an email to the station’s staff, adding that an interim successor for Hiott could be named as soon as Tuesday.

After threats, lawsuits and chaos, Brendan Sorsby and Texas Tech going their separate ways

After a seven-day battle that spanned multiple courtrooms, Brendan Sorsby has decided that he will not play college football this season at Texas Tech. The decision comes on the same day that the Big 12 filed a lawsuit in a Texas federal court that was aimed at being provided the power to sanction Texas Tech for playing the quarterback this season, even with the NCAA ruling him ineligible to play. Over the past three months, Sorsby had been embroiled in an NCAA investigation tied to thousands of bets placed during his college career, with a number of them coming while he was on the roster at Indiana. These bets were flagged by law enforcement officials, who then turned them over to the NCAA.

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During these last few weeks, Sorsby filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in Lubbock district court, where an injunction was granted that would have allowed him to suit up this season for the Red Raiders. Then came the backlash from across college athletics, with the Big 12 conference searching for ways in which it could possibly punish Texas Tech. That lawsuit from Sorsby is expected to be dropped on Tuesday morning, sources tell OutKick. The school will also continue to support the quarterback in his battle off the field with an addiction to gambling. Also, Texas Tech officials are not going to be seeking a return of money already paid to Sorsby, with sources noting that the quarterback had already taken home a significant amount of earnings. Board of Regents chair, Cody Campbell, released a statement on Monday night, confirming these details. "Texas Tech will not seek return of any amounts already paid to Brendan through his NIL agreements with the University," Campbell noted.

Trial date scheduled for former Uvalde ISD police chief

A trial date has been set for former Uvalde school district police Chief Pete Arredondo, according to a Uvalde County court official. Arredondo is scheduled to stand trial on Feb. 22, 2027, though it remains unclear where the proceedings will take place. His attorneys have previously argued that he cannot receive a fair trial in Uvalde County. Arredondo led the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department when a gunman entered Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, killing 19 children and two teachers. The gunman remained barricaded inside adjoining classrooms for 77 minutes before officers fatally shot him.

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In the aftermath of the shooting, Arredondo was indicted on 10 counts of abandoning or endangering a child. Prosecutors allege he failed to act as the gunman carried out the attack inside two fourth-grade classrooms. Arredondo faced widespread criticism for not ordering officers to breach the classrooms sooner and confront the gunman, a tactic that is standard in active-shooter responses. In January, a Nueces County jury in Corpus Christi acquitted the only other Uvalde ISD police officer charged in the shooting, Adrian Gonzales, of 29 counts of abandoning or endangering a child. Arredondo and Gonzales were among the first officers to arrive at Robb Elementary School. They are the only two law enforcement officers among the roughly 380 responders to face criminal charges in connection with the shooting.

Body cam shows DPS trooper used encryption app in Austin student’s immigration arrest

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper used an encrypted messaging app to communicate with what appears to be federal immigration agents during a traffic stop that led to the detention of an Austin Independent School District student, body worn camera video shows. The video obtained by KXAN shows the early morning May 1 traffic stop of high school senior Luis Fernando Cabrera Chavarria. The 18-year-old varsity soccer player was pulled over for alleged expired vehicle registration and later detained at the Karnes County Immigration and Processing Center before being released on a federal court order last week. His arrest and detention, just weeks ahead of his high school graduation, prompted U.S. Congressman Greg Casar, D-Austin, to publicly call for his release.

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The body camera video shows the trooper initially informed Cabrera he would receive a ticket for driving without a license. The teen said he only had his school identification card. The trooper is seen minutes later in his vehicle taking a picture of Cabrera’s school ID card and sending it through the encrypted messaging app Signal. The response to the trooper’s message and photo was an image and a message that read “detain.” The trooper responded to the message with his location and within minutes a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent arrived. Signal is an end-to-end encrypted private messaging platform that allows only the sender and the recipient the ability to read messages. The application allows users to set a timer for when to delete new messages, as soon as 30 seconds after they have been seen. Multiple news outlets nationwide have reported in recent years on transparency concerns surrounding government and law enforcement agencies’ and officials’ use of Signal when communicating about matters of public interest. KXAN has requested copies of the Signal communication sent during the traffic stop.

El Paso ISD board votes to lay off 55 employees under financial exigency

Fifty-five El Paso Independent School District employees are losing their jobs after the board of trustees took a series of votes Monday to terminate their contracts for the 2026-27 school year. The vote was the final step needed to lay off dozens of employees, including teachers, instructional coaches and social workers, who received notices last week informing them their positions were identified for elimination as part of a reduction in force. “Today is just one of the most difficult days we’ll ever have as trustees,” board President Leah Hanany said during a news conference after the meeting. “We know that what we’re doing is making a very concerted and valiant, to be frank, effort to align our budget to what needs of kids are in the classrooms. This board has been so committed to doing that work.”

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Hanany said other at-will positions that don’t require contracts may still be cut by the district’s administration without going to the board for a vote, but did not say how many could be impacted or when the decision will be made. Superintendent Brian Lusk said the district has been working to reduce the number of employees affected by the layoff, and will try to find jobs for those who were. “I can tell you without question that the team has worked extremely hard to find the best fit for all team members who may be in this position, as we’ve been going through this financial exigency process,” Lusk said during the meeting. The affected employees include 42 teachers and 13 support staff, ranging from instructional coaches to social workers. District leaders voted to eliminate over 90 employees last week and initially estimated they would need to cut 400 jobs. The votes were grouped by job title and location and were part of a cost-cutting plan approved by the board June 4, which included declaring financial exigency. The declaration allows the district to terminate employee contracts in the middle of their term to reduce payroll expenses by $40 million from 2025-26 levels.

Austin ISD's $181 million budget crisis was years in the making

When Rachel Preston became a teacher more than a decade ago, she fell in love with helping Austin students learn French. “Sometimes, I get to see the kids go from zero to conversant, almost fluent in the language,” said Preston, who teaches at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy, or LASA. “They’re growing the whole time they’re in your class. You just get to see them succeed.” The school district is far from alone in its financial woes. School systems across Texas have laid off staff and scaled back student programming to grapple with multimillion-dollar deficits as the costs grew. However, no other Texas school system faces a deficit of such scale.

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AISD’s shortfall dwarfs those of any other urban-area district in Texas and represents nearly 20% of Austin ISD’s operating budget. Trustees will debate the budget at a meeting Thursday and must approve it by the end of June. The $181 million deficit cannot be explained by state funding issues alone. A Statesman analysis found that district leaders spent years delaying difficult decisions as enrollment plummeted — preserving staffing levels, operating dozens of under-enrolled campuses and maintaining programs that became increasingly expensive to sustain. Over the years, Travis County’s growing property values helped soften the impact of declining enrollment in the short term. But Austin ISD remained vulnerable to financial pressures when inflation, state mandates and student enrollment declines intensified budget issues. Although academic failings at a single campus can trigger a state takeover, Education Commissioner Mike Morath has said he also considers a district’s fiscal health when deciding whether to remove elected trustees from power.

Life on the edge of Musk's Starbase brings fortunes and fractures

The last time SpaceX launched a rocket in South Texas, charter boat captain Eddie Reyes was bobbing in a pontoon boat less than 2 miles from the pad with a group of paying passengers. A blast of flames erupted and shockwaves rattled the boat while the rocket climbed into the sky. The arrival of SpaceX has brought good business to Reyes and his family. Since the establishment of Starbase, Elon Musk's company town, his charter boat business has picked up ?as space fans flock to the area for a glimpse of launches. Reyes' nephew works at SpaceX as a welder, driving a Tesla Cybertruck. But the same rockets Reyes sees lifting his family's fortunes are also shaking his mother's home. Shockwaves from launches are cracking the ceiling, ?loosening window seals and sinking the foundation. She's among dozens of residents now suing Musk's company for damage.

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"You can't stop progress," Reyes said. Many of the people in the Rio Grande Valley region surrounding Starbase – the company town centered around SpaceX's rocket operations – have arrived at a similar conclusion. They're willing to ride the wave of Musk's interplanetary ambitions and accept the consequences that come with ?it. While SpaceX's rapid expansion is bringing jobs, visitors and global attention, it is also fueling lawsuits, environmental concerns and a growing divide among the 1.4 million residents of the Rio Grande Valley. After SpaceX's record-setting $1.75 trillion IPO on Friday – which will raise $75 billion partly to scale Starship from intermittent test launches to potentially weekly flights – the pressures facing residents around Starbase are set to intensify. "This company is literally shaking the earth," said Tino Villarreal, city commissioner of Brownsville, a city of 185,000 people that borders Starbase. "By the amount of workforce it wants to produce, by the actual wavelengths that are shaking our soil." SpaceX declined to comment for this story.

Bexar County elects LGBTQ+ advocate to serve on Texas GOP’s executive committee

At a state GOP convention where the LGBTQ+ community has long been under attack, San Antonians bucked the trend this weekend. Delegates from Texas’ 26th state Senate District, which encompasses much of the blue city’s urban core, elected attorney Justin Nichols to serve as one of their two representatives body that governs the Republican Party of Texas. Nichols filed some of the earliest complaints under the city’s 2013 nondiscrimination ordinance — earning him the designation of one of San Antonio’s most influential gay leaders by Out in SA magazine. In the past, his law firm has advertised services to help transgender clients obtain a legal name change and gender marker correction.

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More recently, Nichols represented The Texas Conservative Liberty Forum — a GOP group that wants the party to be more inclusive of different races, religions and sexuality — on a joint lawsuit with LGBTQ+ advocacy groups suing to stop the removal of a rainbow crosswalk and installation of a rainbow sidewalk without a public vote. The 64-member State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) is tasked with holding elected officials accountable to the party’s policy platform, which includes condemning homosexuality and opposing “all efforts to validate transgender identity and ideology.” Delegates from each of Texas’ 31 state Senate districts get to elect one man and one woman to the SREC. Nichols earned 39 votes — beating out longtime conservative activist and City Hall gadfly Jack M. Finger, who took 17. Asked about the historic nature of his candidacy, Nichols said Monday that he didn’t think his sexuality factored into delegates’ calculus. “I think that they selected me because of what I’ve done, not necessarily some factor of who I am,” he said. He’s been a GOP precinct chair for 16 years, and currently serves as the general counsel and parliamentarian for the Republican Party of Bexar County. At 42-years old, he’s also relatively young compared to the rest of the SREC, if not the youngest. “For me this isn’t a story of ‘a first,'” Nichols told the Report. “I think this is a story about new blood and the new voice coming into a party that I think needs it.”

Galveston runoff elections decided, clearing way for Discovery Sands hearing

The final two members on Galveston's City Council were decided Saturday night in the city's runoff election. Sharon B. Lewis will continue serving as the District 1 council member, and Michael Niebuhr will take over as the District 5 council member. The elected council members now face a looming conversation at the next city council meeting about a proposed development called Discovery Sands that has sparked controversy on the island.

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Lewis received 58.9% of the 338 votes cast, while her opponent, Gerald Wilson, received 41.1% of the votes, according to results released by the Galveston County Clerk's Office. Michael Niebuhr garnered 56.8% of the 803 votes cast against District 5 incumbent and challenger Beau Rawlins, who received 43.2% of the votes. Runoffs for the District 1 and 5 council seats ended up being a deciding factor in the delay of the controversial Discovery Sands development discussion. A Galveston City Council hearing on the proposed development was delayed until the end of June after residents raised concerns about Galveston city council members taking up the item before the entire newly elected city council was seated. Now that runoffs are over, a hearing on the Discovery Sands proposal will come back to the table at the city council’s June 25 meeting, according to Galveston Mayor John Paul Listowski. Niebuhr said he plans to hit the ground running and speak with the developer for Discovery Sands, Jeffory Blackard of Blackard Companies, ahead of the council meeting to get a better sense of how the plan could be a benefit to Galveston.

Corpus Christi community organizers file Fair Water Amendment to be placed on November ballot

A coalition of community organizations has submitted more than 12,000 signatures to the city of Corpus Christi in an effort to place the proposed Fair Water Amendment on the November ballot. Supporters of the amendment say it would require large-volume industrial water users to pay drought surcharges, while city officials say the current system helps fund long-term water supply projects. On Monday, organizers delivered the signatures to the City Secretary's Office, where they will now undergo a verification process. Dr. Isabel Araiza, Founder of For the Greater Good, led the group into City Hall to formally submit the petition.

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"Our city's water policy right now is very imbalanced, and this is an opportunity for us to make our water policy a little bit better by ending industry's drought exemption surcharge fee," Araiza said. The proposal targets the city's Drought Surcharge Exemption Fee program, which was created in 2018. Under the voluntary program, large-volume industrial customers pay 31 cents per 1,000 gallons of water to help fund drought-proof water supply projects. In exchange, participating customers are exempt from certain drought allocation surcharges. "If they actually paid the drought surcharge, they would be paying over a million dollars, in some cases over $2 million every single month," Araiza said. Nick Winkelmann, Chief Operating Officer of Corpus Christi Water, said the program provides a significant source of funding for the city's water supply efforts. "We collect approximately $6 million dollars a year," Winkelmann said. "And it is utilized for our water supply projects." Without the program, Winkelmann said some of those costs would likely fall on ratepayers.

National Stories

Israel is alarmed by Trump’s deal with Iran

President Trump’s deal to wind down the war with Iran set off alarm bells in Israel, where top officials are wrestling with the consequences of easing the pressure on Tehran and the risks of opening a rift with the U.S. over the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. The tension has been heightened by the lack of certainty about what exactly Trump has agreed to in the deal, which is expected to be signed later this week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was urgently trying to set up a meeting with the president to sort out the competing issues, a person familiar with the matter said. An Israeli strike on Beirut over the weekend in response to Hezbollah attacks on Israel almost derailed the agreement and set off a last-minute scramble by the White House and mediators to keep the deal on track.

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Trump criticized the strike in an interview with The Wall Street Journal and said on social media that Israel had to stop its attacks across Lebanon. That was at odds with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement earlier in June that only required Israel to end the fighting if Hezbollah also stopped. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the U.S. was on the hook to end Israel’s attacks and aggression in Lebanon, state media reported. Defying those claims, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military would hold its so-called security zone in Lebanon indefinitely, saying it was needed to protect communities in northern Israel. He also said Israel would act independently to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons if necessary. At a news conference Monday, Netanyahu declined to criticize the emerging U.S.-Iran deal and said his country’s war aims in Iran had largely been achieved. He said Iran’s war-production capacity had been damaged, its economy was in tatters, and its nuclear program set back. “People ask what we have achieved, and the answer is: we have pushed away the immediate threat of annihilation,” Netanyahu said. “The struggle is not over and done. We will need to continue to stand guard and defend ourselves as necessary.”

Senate Republicans won't back Iran deal without details

Senate Republicans were noncommittal on backing President Donald Trump’s emerging deal with Iran, saying they are awaiting more information about the accord that is set to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and extend the ceasefire for 60 days. The president was quick to tout the agreement on Sunday, with administration officials claiming it would force Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. However, details were scarce, with Vice President JD Vance saying in an interview with CNN that the preliminary deal is “a very general document” roughly a page and a half long. The lack of specifics kept many lawmakers from weighing in on Monday. “It’s hard to know based on the media descriptions and social media, so I think I’ll wait to see what it says,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters. “It’d be good to see it, so we’d know what’s in it.” Some Senate Republican defense hawks are already expressing concern about Iran’s truthworthiness and believe Congress needs to weigh in.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) told reporters that the law requires Congress to vote on any deal involving Iran’s nuclear program, adding that he’s doubtful Iran will agree to the terms being touted by the administration. “If you can get what the president and vice president have outlined, that would be a deal we can all live with, that would be a good deal,” Graham said. “Count me skeptical that Iran will ever go there, but time will tell.” Graham added that he would need Iran to be “out of the enrichment business” before he would vote for a final agreement, saying that step would differentiate the compromise from the Obama-era Iran deal. “What I envision is no enrichment,” Graham said. “They destroy their enrichment facilities, and I don’t care if we say 15 years from now we can revisit it, but they need to be out of the enrichment business for 15 years.” Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) told reporters on Monday that he would also like to see Congress vote on the deal. “If it’s a good deal, we want to be able to resolve it,” Lankford said. “We’ve got to have a vote to solidify it long term.” However, that feeling was not universal, with some Republicans indicating that a vote down the road is an open question.

Gavin Newsom says Justice Department is investigating him and his wife

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the Justice Department was investigating him and his wife, accusing President Trump of urging the probe to get back at a political enemy. Newsom, a Democrat, said in a social-media video that federal agents had been questioning family, friends and former aides in recent days, “digging through years and years of random documents.” “Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets,” Newsom said in the video. “He’s coming after me because I’m considering running for president.” Newsom didn’t elaborate further on the nature of the investigation but alleged that Trump was trying to get to him by going after his wife. Siebel Newsom is a documentary filmmaker and founder of The Representation Project, an advocacy group that uses film to challenge gender stereotypes.

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Federal prosecutors in California are conducting several interviews related to the governor, including one examining Siebel Newsom and her taxes and another into his former chief of staff, a person familiar with the matter said. The probes have been going on since at least 2025 and were started by federal law-enforcement officials in California—not political appointees in Washington—after witnesses there came forward with information, the person said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment. The U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service last week began approaching more than a dozen people in the governor’s orbit, aides to Newsom said. They asked about a wide range of topics that dated back five or six years, including the governor’s family and Siebel Newsom’s business interests. Some questions were about specific transactions from bank or credit card statements that would only be accessible through a subpoena of a financial institution, they said. A Newsom aide said the governor’s office wasn’t aware of any subpoenas for records directed to Newsom or his wife, or of any target letter notifying Newsom or Siebel Newsom that they were the subjects of a criminal investigation.

Records reveal $600M estimate for Trump’s ballroom project, with half from taxpayers

Five months after the demolition of the White House’s East Wing, President Donald Trump claimed that the project to construct a massive ballroom and a bunker in its place would cost up to $400 million and that private donors would pay for all of it. “This is taxpayer-free. We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on March 31, describing the project as including bomb shelters and major medical facilities. But a detailed project summary prepared for the White House by the contractor more than three weeks before Trump’s comments estimated the total construction cost at $600 million — with more than half coming from taxpayers, according to a copy of the contractor estimate obtained by The Washington Post.

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By the time Trump made his comments in March, the federal government had already approved more than a dozen payments to the contractor overseeing the work, Clark Construction, totaling tens of millions of dollars in public funds, according to a log of the contractor’s invoices obtained by The Post. Since first announcing the East Wing project last July, Trump has repeatedly said that the price tag would not exceed $400 million and that private donations routed through a nonprofit would cover its entire cost. At other times, he has said that the Secret Service and the military would contribute security enhancements, without elaborating on the price of those upgrades. Multiple project summaries provided to the White House by Clark Construction show that internal cost estimates have been significantly higher than administration officials have acknowledged in public comments or court filings. They also show that the work was projected to rely heavily on taxpayer dollars from the moment it was announced. The White House did not answer questions about the internal cost estimates or taxpayer funding.

Justice Department decision to allow Paramount deal surprised staff investigators

The Justice Department’s senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object, according to people familiar with the matter. A team of career lawyers who had spent months scrutinizing the deal were leaning toward recommending a lawsuit challenging it on the grounds that the combination of the two movie studios would be anticompetitive and violate antitrust law, the people said. The staff investigators hadn’t yet made a final recommendation—a typical step in the deal-review process—and were told Friday that the department would close the investigation, effectively clearing the deal at the federal level, some of the people said.

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The Justice Department’s senior leaders believed that Paramount Chief Executive Officer David Ellison, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison, persuasively addressed many of the staff’s questions about the deal during a two-hour interview last month, according to people familiar with their thinking. Among staffers’ questions was how the combined company could meet its commitment to make 30 theatrical releases a year, given its increased debt load. The senior leaders allowed the inquiries but believed Paramount’s debt wasn’t a reason to challenge the merger, the people familiar with their thinking said. No one on the investigative team spoke up to leadership voicing support for filing a lawsuit, they said. “The Antitrust Division conducted a thorough investigation to assess whether the proposed transaction would harm competition,” a Justice Department spokeswoman said. “The investigatory record indicated that the transaction will increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, benefiting American consumers and workers.” Justice Department decision makers often follow staff recommendations on mergers, but there are times when the two camps disagree.

Only 1 Dan Sullivan will appear on Alaska’s ballot

GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan won’t face a same-name challenger after all. Alaska’s top elections official said Monday that Dan J. Sullivan was ineligible to appear on the August primary ballot for the state’s critical Senate race after determining his candidacy was “not filed in good faith” but instead “with the purpose of confusing or misleading the electorate.” Director of Elections Carol Beecher’s decision is a massive relief for the national GOP apparatus, which had accused Dan J. Sullivan of attempting to deceive voters by appearing on the ballot with the same name and party affiliation as the incumbent — and of working with an operative who previously backed former Rep. Mary Peltola to try to rig the Senate race in the Democrat’s favor.

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Peltola’s campaign had previously denied any involvement with either Sullivans’ bids and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Dan S. Sullivan, the incumbent senator, immediately took a victory lap on Monday. “Every Alaskan has the right to a free and fair election, free from deception and gamesmanship. We thank Lieutenant Governor [Nancy] Dahlstrom for upholding that right and for ensuring Alaskans can choose their next senator without a sham candidate whose primary purpose was to confuse Alaskan voters, treat Alaskans with contempt, and rig the election for Peltola,” Billy Mackey, Sullivan’s campaign manager, said in a statement. Dan J. Sullivan has 30 days to appeal. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, but he posted on social media Sunday that he “met the qualification” and had entered the race “because I am unhappy with the 12 year record of the current Senator and I feel we need a change.” He would have to work fast; Beecher noted in her letter that ballots are printed on June 28 — less than two weeks away.

How Kratom, an addictive gas station drug, found allies in Trump’s Cabinet

For years, federal health officials have warned about the risks associated with a supplement derived from the leaves of kratom trees that adherents say can kill pain or boost energy. Sold in gas stations across America, kratom has been linked to liver toxicity, seizures and thousands of deaths. Powerful figures close to President Trump, including Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, pushed to downplay those concerns. Mr. Mullin, until recently a Republican senator from Oklahoma, played a key role in a sprawling influence campaign spearheaded by the kratom industry that courted Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President JD Vance, among others in the Trump administration, an investigation by The New York Times found. Only when he was nominated by Mr. Trump in March to lead the Homeland Security Department did it become clear that Mr. Mullin had a financial connection to the supplement. In a disclosure statement, he listed an investment worth as much as $1 million in a kratom company, Botanic Tonics, that could benefit from the changes he has sought.

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The company’s founder, Jerry W. Ross — who had been an energy executive in Mr. Mullin’s home state before pleading guilty to a financial crime — is a leading player in the influence campaign that was devised to benefit kratom at the expense of its rivals in the marketplace. The kratom campaign underscores how corporations in the growing wellness industry can gain traction in Mr. Trump’s government by casting risky products as aligned with the administration’s Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, agenda championed by Mr. Kennedy, who has sometimes prioritized unproven remedies over science. In July, while still a senator, Mr. Mullin showed up at a Food and Drug Administration news conference and endorsed proposed federal restrictions on more powerful synthetic supplements that compete with kratom for shelf space. In explaining his position, Mr. Mullin pointed to a history of addiction in his family, though health experts say kratom products have also been shown to be addictive. His disclosure form did not indicate when he acquired his stake in Botanic Tonics, but he has not filed paperwork to indicate that he has divested from it. The Homeland Security Department did not answer questions about the investment. In a statement, the department said that Mr. Mullin “follows all ethics and conflict of interest standards and has not lobbied for any individual or company.” The restrictions that Mr. Mullin supported on the synthetic products would have been a boon to Mr. Ross’s company and others in the kratom industry, which market their supplements as safer and more natural. The kratom companies used donations and lobbyists to push for the crackdown.

Fox is buying Roku. It’s a big bet on making streaming free.

Media giant Fox Corp. on Monday announced a deal to buy streaming and smart-TV company Roku for $22 billion in a cash-and-stock transaction. It’s a deal that will plunge Fox deeper into the streaming wars as a major player in free, ad-supported streaming at a time when large streamers such as Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu have pivoted away from offering only subscription plans and have begun providing ad-supported subscription options. Fox’s move into the streaming era has been slow but deliberate . The company sold its television and film studio, then called 21st Century Fox, to Disney for $71 billion in 2019, and announced a pivot to live news and sports. In 2020, Fox spent $440 million buying Tubi, a free, ad-supported streaming service with a devoted fan base. This new deal would put Tubi and the Roku Channel, Roku’s own free-to-stream, ad-supported offering, under one roof.

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In a statement Monday, Fox’s executive chair and CEO, Lachlan Murdoch, called the deal a “defining moment” for the company and a logical move after a decade of focusing on streaming. “Today, we take the next step,” he wrote, “bringing together the most valuable live content portfolio in video consumption with the preeminent streaming platform through which America watches it.” Roku’s chairman and CEO, Anthony Wood, said that Roku reaches 100 million households around the world and that the sale to Fox will allow the company to “accelerate our vision, scale faster and innovate more aggressively for viewers, partners and advertisers.” The deal would further consolidate the news, entertainment and streaming industries, announced just days after the Justice Department approved Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. That combination will put streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+ under one roof, along with two Hollywood studios, and news networks CBS News and CNN.

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