March 22, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

The new weapons of global power are oil, rare earths and microchips

Iran’s move to choke off the Strait of Hormuz and turn crude oil into a weapon of war marks a new phase in the 21st-century competition for global power—one that will be defined by the control of critical raw materials and energy. In the face of a withering campaign of airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel, Tehran has launched an asymmetric counterattack, using energy supplies as a cudgel on a scale unseen in decades. Iran has effectively paralyzed the Strait of Hormuz, a passageway where a fifth of global oil supplies usually transits. On Wednesday, it struck Qatar’s Ras Laffan, the site of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas plant, in retaliation for a strike on an Iranian gas field. The war has unleashed havoc in global markets, pushing up oil prices by around 50% since the start of the conflict. European natural gas prices have roughly doubled. The strike on Ras Laffan led President Trump to call for a de-escalation.

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It is a stunning reminder of the centrality of energy to the global economy, and further evidence that the roots of military and economic power are shifting from software and information back to hard, physical resources—from oil to rare-earth metals and industrial capacity. The risk for nations that don’t have them span from soaring inflation and economic downturns to hampering the build-out of artificial intelligence and the militaries of the future. Last year, China used its control of roughly 90% of the world’s supplies of rare-earth magnets to checkmate the U.S. in trade negotiations. By cutting off access to metals used in cars, weapons and electronics, Beijing forced U.S. factories to idle and Washington to soften its demands. “Great-power competition has returned to basics: who controls the physical resources that modern economies and militaries run on,” said Alice Gower, a partner at Azure Strategy, a political-risk advisory firm in London. “Energy, critical minerals and industrial capacity are leverage, not just economic assets.” For decades, Western consensus held that geography was fading as destiny. In this view, the winners of the 21st century would be defined less by control of territory and raw materials than by command of capital, technology and global networks. Yet the recent weaponization of supply chains has offered a stark reminder that rather than erasing physical geography, the era of hyperconnectivity has turned it into a possibly more potent weapon.

As Big Bend area border walls move forward, local landowners gear up for a fight

As the Trump administration's plans for border walls in the rugged Big Bend region of West Texas advance, landowners in the path are struggling to understand how the plan could impact their homes and livelihoods. Amid a lack of details from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), advocates are rushing to help landowners with legal aid in sparsely-populated rural areas along the Rio Grande, where local residents have started receiving government letters threatening the seizure of land for the project. David Keller, with the newly formed advocacy group No Big Bend Wall, led a landowner meeting earlier this month in Redford, a small community outside of Presidio on the Texas-Mexico border.

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Border wall plans have never progressed this far here before. In recent weeks, locals opposing the wall have rushed to form a landowner coalition, coordinate legal access and educate landowners on their rights. Keller, who lives in Redford, said letters seeking landowner authorization for border wall construction are stoking fear and anger. "?Most of them don't have attorneys on file," he said. "Most of them…English is not their first language, and this is written in coercive language." He's been urging his neighbors not to sign anything and to lawyer up. "We're all in this fight together and we gotta have each other's backs, man," Keller said at the recent landowner meeting. "And if you know people that you feel are gonna sign, you know, talk to 'em and try to get 'em not to." Local farmer Esteban Mesa has a property in Redford that backs up to the Rio Grande. Mesa and other farmers pump water directly from the river to their fields. He said a border wall would cut off access to his pump, making it impossible to irrigate. "?I know that they're not gonna – with the way this valley is – they're not going to be putting a gate at every property owner's property," Mesa said.

US and Iran trade threats of expanding war after strikes near sites tied to nuclear programs

Iran and its ally, the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, stepped up pressure on Israel on Sunday, with intense attacks on the country’s north and south after the United States and Iran threatened to widen their targets in the war in the Middle East, now in its fourth week. As Israel came under renewed fire, top Israeli leaders traveled to the Negev Desert, home to the country’s main nuclear research center and the site where Iran’s barrages struck two towns on Saturday, shattering apartment buildings and injuring scores of people in Arad and Dimona. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured Arad and said it was a “miracle” no one was killed there. He claimed Israel and the U.S. were well on their way to achieving the war’s goals and implored the international community for support.

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Earlier, President Donald Trump warned the United States will destroy Iran’s power plants if Tehran fails to fully open the Strait of Hormuz in 48 hours. Iran’s parliament speaker said if the U.S. follows through on its threat, Tehran would retaliate against American and Israeli energy and wider infrastructure in the region. The developments signaled the Iran war, which the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28, was moving in a dangerous new direction, despite Trump’s mention last week he was considering “winding down” operations. The war that has killed hundreds of people, rattled the global economy and sent oil prices surging. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an airstrike Sunday that killed a man in northern Israel while Gulf Arab states — including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — said they were working to intercept new Iranian strikes. Iran has practically closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint connecting the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s supply passes. Attacks on commercial ships and threats of further strikes have stopped nearly all tankers from navigating the strait, compelling some of the world’s largest oil producers to make cuts because their crude has nowhere to go.

Corpus Christi’s water shortage threatens billions in investment, city leaders say

Corpus Christi’s water crisis is no longer just about drought restrictions or conservation, city leaders have said it is now threatening the region’s economic future and is costing the Coastal Bend billions of dollars in lost investment. Major companies that once showed interest in building in Corpus Christi are now putting projects on hold or walking away because the city cannot guarantee a long term water supply. City officials said the economic impact is enormous. Corpus Christi City Councilman Roland Barrera said the city has already missed out on massive projects tied to industries that require large volumes of water. “I have heard numbers as high as $20 billion,” Barrera said.

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Many of the successful projects secured by the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation were landed before 2020 when the city still had excess water capacity to offer new industry. That advantage has largely disappeared said the councilman. Barrera said one example involved interest from Google, which explored building operations in the region but required about three million gallons of water per day. “That’s the type of project we’re talking about,” said Barrera. To try to boost supply, the city has drilled new wells along the Nueces River. Even with those wells, officials said it may not be enough to meet long term demand. Some projections show local reservoirs could approach critically low levels as soon as next year if drought conditions continue. City leaders are also pushing forward with plans to build a seawater desalination plant, which could provide a more reliable water source in the future. However, until a long term supply is guaranteed, companies remain cautious about making large investments in the area.

Robert Mueller, former FBI director and special counsel in Trump-Russia probe, dies

Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who led the historic probe into alleged collusion between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government, has died. He was 81. “With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away last night,” his family said in a statement Saturday. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.” His family announced last August that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2021. For years, Mueller was highly trusted on both sides of the aisle: When he was selected as FBI director by President George W. Bush just days before September 11, 2001, he was unanimously approved, and earned full support again when he was asked to stay past his 10-year tenure by President Barack Obama. He served in the role for 12 years, becoming the longest-serving FBI director since J. Edgar Hoover.

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His reputation for integrity was a key factor in his selection to handle the politically sensitive investigation into Trump. But by the time the investigation concluded in the middle of Trump’s first presidency, views of Mueller, as was the case with so much else in the American political landscape, were largely divided along party lines. Ultimately, the investigation into Trump produced mixed results. Investigators uncovered dozens of secret and often high-level contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, despite both sides denying there were any. The probe also highlighted how Trump eagerly capitalized on the Kremlin’s election-meddling and that his campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.” However, Mueller did not establish that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia. He also made the controversial decision not to charge Trump with obstruction even though he had the evidence he needed, saying he was prohibited from even considering it because Trump was the sitting president at the time.

State Stories

Texas school district bans books by US presidents

Aschool district in Texas has banned approximately 1,500 books from its libraries, including titles by former U.S. presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, the literary nonprofit group PEN America reports. The book removals took place in New Braunfels, a fast-growing city of about 100,000 people located 30 miles northeast of San Antonio. The city’s school district has banned or restricted hundreds of titles, including Obama’s A Promised Land, Clinton’s My Life, and Bush’s 41: A Portrait of My Father. Other memoirs or biographies banned by the district include former first lady Michelle Obama’s Becoming and The Light We Carry; Malala Yousafzai’s I Am Malala; Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton; Matthew Perry’s Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing; Britney Spears’ The Woman in Me; Cicely Tyson’s Just as I Am; and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey.

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The bans also targeted novels including Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, and Tommy Orange’s There There. The books were banned in accordance with the Senate Bill 13, which requires school libraries to remove titles deemed “indecent” or “profane.” Laney Hawes, a co-founder of the Texas Freedom to Read Project, said in a statement, “The latest slate of book bans from SB13 confirms what many Texas parents have been saying for years: The culture wars are ruining our kids’ education. Texas has produced world class authors, scientists, leaders; it’s as though our state legislators want to put that in jeopardy.”

John Moritz: Texas GOP base is aging fast — and still calling the shots

Old people rule! That could be the slogan of both political parties in Texas, based on an Austin political researcher's deep dive into the data on which voters powered the record-breaking turnout in the March 3 primaries. But the slogan would be a lot more true, and potentially a lot more worrisome, for one of the two major parties. The numbers crunched by Derek Ryan, founder of Ryan Data and Research, show that nearly 55% of the ballots cast early and on the same day in the recent Democratic primary came from voters 50 and older. By contrast, voters 30 and under accounted for just 14% of the turnout in a primary that nominated 36-year-old James Talarico, who would become the youngest U.S. senator if he wins in November.

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But the age gap is even more yawning on the Republican side, according to Ryan's analysis, which uses data from the Texas Secretary of State's Office, the Texas Legislative Council and other sources. Voters 50 and older made up 78% of GOP primary turnout, and those over 70 accounted for one-third of the total. That means just 22% of the Republican vote came from people 49 and younger. And if you just look at the under-30 subset, it comprised just 4% of the party's total vote. That would appear to be a shaky foundation for building a Texas Republican Party of the future. Republican turnout was also anchored by voters who show up for the primary cycle after cycle. More than three of every four GOP voters had never wandered over to the Democratic side during the nominating process. A tiny sliver of the turnout — around 3% —had at least some history of going back and forth from primary to primary, but the large majority of that group has tended to side more often with Republicans than with Democrats.

How these Texas influencers are trying to turn viral fame into votes

At the Williamson County Republican Party’s annual fundraising gala in January, congressional candidate Valentina Gomez approached U.S. Rep. John Carter, shook his hand and thanked him for his service. A video Gomez posted on X shows her accusing the congressman she was challenging in the GOP primary of allowing Texas to become “like Minnesota.” She demanded to know why 200 mosques had been built during his 22 years in office. After Round Rock police told her to leave, Gomez claimed she was “almost arrested” for asking questions. (Party officials said her brother, who manages her campaign, shoved a member of Carter’s security detail.) For most candidates, being ejected from a party gala — and subsequently banned from future county GOP events — would be a disaster.

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For Gomez, a far-right influencer with a massive online following, it was the intent: a made-for-social-media confrontation that generated attention and algorithmic reach. The video was viewed more than 180,000 times on the social media platform X, where Gomez has hundreds of thousands of followers. Gomez lost to Carter in the primary, drawing just 10% of the vote. But Gomez still raked in ad revenue from her posts on X, where she has earned tens of thousands of dollars. In federal disclosures, she listed “triggering liberals on X” as her only source of income aside from rental revenue on a home she owns in St. Louis. Gomez says her approach represents the future of politics. “I get attacked because I have the largest platform in American politics and I don’t rely on fake news media like yours to get my message in front of voters,” she said in an email to Hearst Newspapers. “I changed the game of politics by speaking the truth, saving children, and catching pedophiles.” She is part of a wave of influencers who have gone from using their platforms to push those already in office to running for office themselves. They include Republican congressional nominee Brandon Herrera, a YouTuber with 4.2 million followers, and Austin City Council candidate Farrah Abraham, the former “Teen Mom” star who went viral after learning in a live TMZ interview that she was ineligible to run for mayor until 2028.

Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico courts Jasmine Crockett voters in Dallas

Texas Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate James Talarico made an appeal to voters of Rep. Jasmine Crockett at a Dallas County Democratic Party convention in Southern Dallas. Talarico’s speech comes as Democrats try to build up their coalition after a fierce Texas Senate primary election that was the most expensive primary in American history and drove record turnout. “I did not generate this historic turnout on my own. I did it with my friend and your champion, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett,” Talarico told the crowd at the Inspiring Body of Christ Church. “To the congresswoman's supporters: I know I wasn't your first choice, but I hope to earn your trust and earn your support.” His comments came after Eve Williams, a local business owner, told attendees to vote for Talarico if they voted for Crockett in the primary.

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“Some stood with Jasmine, others stood with Talarico, and that's exactly how democracy is supposed to work,” Williams said. “Primaries are where we compete, but November is where we decide. And if you don't make that shift from competition to coalition, we lose more than an election. We lose momentum. We lose representation.” The convention was the first ever countywide Dallas County Democratic Party inaugural convention follows massive statewide Democratic turnout. A March 19 internal poll for Talarico’s campaign shows him narrowly beating either of his potential Republican candidates, Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who will face off in a May 26 runoff election. Dallas County's Republican Party does not have plans to host a similar local convention, but encourages its members to participate in local events and the Texas GOP Convention in Houston June 11-13.

Ami Mizell-Flint: Lawmakers must put children, parents before Big Tech

(Ami Mizell-Flint is an affiliate leader with the National Alliance of Mental Illness in San Angelo.) More than 4 million U.S. children suffer from a serious mental disorder. Given the prevalence of those disorders, we need fundamental changes to our systems to improve outcomes for our children. Most importantly, we must ensure parents are equipped with tools and resources to keep their children safe and healthy. One area where parents are lacking safeguards is the digital world. Children and teenagers are experiencing more negative encounters online than ever before. A 2024 Heat Initiative study discovered 200 apps in a 24-hour period with inappropriate content — ranging from dieting apps, violent, or sexual games, beauty filters and anonymous chat forums — that were rated suitable for children on the app store.

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Even when the content isn't suitable for vulnerable age groups, the “age-appropriate” ratings tell parents otherwise. Legislative action is necessary to provide parents with proper guardrails over their children’s access to the digital world. The federal App Store Accountability Act, which recently advanced out of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, would do that. Now's the time for Texas’ congressional delegation to stand with Texas parents, fight for a safer online future for children and support the App Store Accountability Act. The act tackles online dangers at the source: app marketplaces that sell unsuitable content and bind minors to contracts without parental oversight. Today, every dangerous application is only a few taps away, making harmful content far too accessible to minors. This legislation places power back in parents’ hands. The act would require app stores to obtain verifiable parental consent before minors can download apps or make in-app purchases. It would also ensure app age ratings accurately reflect in-app experiences. The act also encourages meaningful conversations between parents and teens about the content they consume and the apps they use.

Texas had one of its warmest, driest winters ever — raising concerns about climate trends

Texas is emerging from a winter that stood out for its heat and lack of rain, ranking as the warmest and driest on record for several parts of the state. While the season included brief arctic outbreaks, it was dominated by temperatures that frequently climbed 10 degrees above normal. Statewide, this season was among the top two warmest ever recorded across the United States. According to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, the winter of December 2025 through February 2026 was also the 11th driest and third warmest on record for the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with climate records dating back to 1898. While the season was defined by heat, it was also marked by intense volatility.

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Dr. Yunyao Li, an assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at UT Arlington, said the winter saw "sharper swings between mild conditions and extreme events." Temperatures were consistently above average in December and February, while January provided a brief, intense dip in overnight lows. Miles Langfeld, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, said a strong La Niña season was the primary atmospheric factor driving the heat. A La Niña occurs when sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific, off the coast of South America, are cooler. "Cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific often shift the jet stream northward, allowing for more mild conditions over Texas," Langfeld said. Despite the general warmth, Langfeld said these patterns do not offer total immunity from the cold. Even during La Niña years, the state can see significant arctic outbreaks, such as the winter storm in January, or the historic February 2021 freeze.

Honorary Texan Chuck Norris dies at 86

Martial arts star Chuck Norris, who fought his way to fame in such 1980s action movies as The Delta Force, Code of Silence, and a trilogy of Missing in Action films, has died. He was 86. In a fight, Norris tended to lead with his right…foot. He all but trademarked a roundhouse kick that villains never seemed to see coming. He'd plant a heel in someone's gut, spin once to knock him off balance with a boot to the chest, spin again to catch the guy's shoulder with his instep, maybe throw in a punch just to vary the rhythm, and finish him off with a high kick to the head. It was art, and widely imitated, but it did not kick off his career at first.

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He was knocking around martial arts competitions and teaching celebrity clients in Hollywood, including Priscilla Presley, Bob Barker, and Donny and Marie Osmond, when his pal Bruce Lee gave him his break in films by inviting him to play one of many villains in 1972's The Way of the Dragon. The film fetishized Norris' hairy chest opposite Lee's smooth one, and he gave a little smirk when he flattened Lee with a roundhouse kick early on. But it was Lee's film, and by scene's end, Norris was toast. That could've been it, if one of Norris' celebrity students, Steve McQueen, hadn't suggested he take acting lessons. Norris did, and scored the leading role of a put-upon trucker in Breaker! Breaker!, an action flick shot in just 11 days. It made money, and in a string of indie hits that followed, Norris established himself as America's first homegrown martial arts movie star. At which point, Hollywood studios came calling with bigger budgets, and titles like Forced Vengeance, Silent Rage, Lone Wolf McQuade, and Invasion U.S.A. In that one, Norris played a mercenary combatting a Soviet-led terrorist army that lands in Florida at Christmastime, taunting foes with lines like, "If you come back in here, I'm gonna hit you with so many rights, you're gonna beg for a left."

Texas A&M eliminated by Houston in the second round of March Madness

After defeating Saint Mary's in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Texas A&M was eliminated by Houston in the round of 32, as the Cougars notched a dominant 88-57 win over the Aggies on Saturday night in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Texas A&M kept the game within reach through the first few minutes of the contest, but Houston's physicality was a major mismatch and proved too much for the Aggies to stop. The Cougars ended the first half of play on a 24-2 run for an 18-point lead. From that point forward, it was all Coogs. Emmanuel Sharp led the way for Houston with 18 points, followed by Chris Cenac Jr. with 17. Kelvin Sampson had four players record double-digit points, while shooting 44% from the field as a team in their win over the Aggies.

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Meanwhile, Texas A&M guard Josh Holloway had a team-best 12 points, going 4-of-6 from the field and going a perfect 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. Houston's 19 offensive rebounds and 18 second-chance points led to the rout of Texas A&M at the Paycom Center, as the Cougars advance to the Sweet 16 to play the winner of Illinois-VCU. It was a season to remember for first-year head coach Bucky McMillan, who had just one scholarship player on the roster when he was named the new head coach for the Aggies in April of 2025. McMillan renovated and recruited to build a team full of transfers, committed to representing Texas A&M and running one of the most explosive styles of basketball in the country. After being picked to finish 13th in the SEC during the preseason, the Aggies performed outstandingly through conference play to finish tied for fourth in the league standings and earn the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Tournament.

Gatesville City Manager says major fire originated at the Gatesville Messenger, ruled out criminal activity

Dozens of fire crews battled a major fire on the west side of the Square in downtown Gatesville on Monday night, according to the Gatesville Police Department. On Wednesday March, 18, 2026, the Gatesville City Manager Brad Hunt told KWTX the fire originated at the Gatesville Messenger on Monday night and that they have ruled out criminal activity as a cause. As of Tuesday evening, U.S. Highway 84 was reopened and traffic returned to normal. Three minor injuries have been reported in firefighters due to smoke inhalation, according to Gatesville City Manager Brad Hunt.

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Hunt confirmed officials received the call at 6:50 p.m. on Monday. The Gatesville Volunteer Fire Department responded immediately and called for additional assistance after the fire broke out, Hunt said. “They’ve done an amazing job to keep people safe,” Hunt said. Gatesville Police Chief Jeff Clark said U.S. Route 84, also known as Main Street, would be closed through downtown and had been expected to remain closed overnight Monday and potentially into the following day due to the instability of buildings along the route. Clark said the road would reopen once the buildings are safe enough for traffic to pass through. Traffic was being diverted at Lutterloh on the east side and Levita Road on the west side, according to the Gatesville Police Department. Drivers and residents were urged to avoid the downtown area. Four businesses have allegedly been affected: Gatesville Messenger, Freedom Bail Bonds, Davidson Chiropractic and Leaird’s Furniture. The structures involved are believed to date to around 1900.

City of Austin says new $1.48 million website will make services easier to use

The city of Austin launched a new website that city leaders hope will make it easier for people to use. The updated site went live Thursday morning. City officials said users will be able to more easily access information, including links to pay utility bills and citations, adopt a pet and submit 3-1-1 requests. In total, the city has budgeted $2.52 million to the website overhaul, with $1.48 million for the initial redesign and another $1.04 million for refining updates or addressing issues that arise over the next two years. Yasmin Wagner with the city’s communication and engagement department said the city has known for a while that an update was needed, but it took time to get the funding and resources in place.

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“The look and feel and functionality have become outdated, inconsistencies appear throughout the site, and it's weakening our brand recognition, usability of the site and user’s trust in the site as well,” Wagner said. The website's architects removed about 16,000 pages, taking the total number down to 1,300. By streamlining the content available and improving the search function, the city said users will be able to more easily find information about city news, council meetings and recycling and trash schedules that were previously hard to find. Updated ADA accessibility, translation features and city forms are also included on the new site. Wagner said visitors to the website will be able to provide feedback and inform updates. Roxanna Meneses, IT manager for Austin’s Technology Services Department, said the new website comes with data analytics to show staff what pages people visit and where issues might be occurring. City officials said Thursday's launch has gone smoothly, although staff are still working out kinks. This is the first major overhaul of the city’s website since 2012, but not the first step in refreshing the city's image. Last fall, the city unveiled a new $1 million logo and rebrand initiative that was met with community backlash from residents and city leaders who questioned the city's spending habits as it continues to struggle with budget constraints. Many residents were also critical of the logo.

TCU’s Sweet dream is over as it falls to No. 1 Duke in NCAA tourney

TCU men’s basketball’s quest for the program’s first Sweet 16 trip came to end Saturday, as the No. 9-seeded Horned Frogs fell 81-58 to overall No. 1 seed Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. “I’m certainly proud of our team, proud of how we handled some adversity today and still had the lead with 16 minutes left,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “We certainly had a lot of adversity early on in the game and into the second half, but just proud of how they battled.” After trailing by four at halftime, TCU (23-12) started the second half hot, briefly taking a 40-38 lead thanks to a 6-0 run. The teams exchanged blows, and the game was tied at 44 with 13:56 remaining. But that’s when the game turned. Duke (34-2) went on a 24-6 run over the next seven minutes as fouls quickly began to stack up on the Horned Frogs.

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TCU went over four minutes without scoring at one point. It didn’t help that third-team All-Big 12 forward Xavier Edmonds played just two minutes in the second half due to foul trouble. The junior center fouled out with six minutes remaining. “Obviously we had some challenges,” Dixon said. “Guys had foul trouble. Our rotation wasn’t what we wanted it to be. I think our defense wasn’t the way we wanted it to be. But the rebounding sticks out. I think we were not physical enough to come up with the rebounds. Having guys not available was a big factor. We had the lead, but things didn’t seem to go our way after that.” Sophomore forward Micah Robinson led TCU with 18 points. Duke advances to face the winner of Sunday’s game between No. 4 seed Kansas and No. 5 St. John’s in the Sweet 16.

Inside the charter network that may take over San Antonio campuses

During a schoolboard meeting earlier this week, Hirsch Elementary School parentsconfronted San Antonio Independent School District leaders and trustees about the possibility of handing day-to-day operations at their children’s campus to a charter network with no campuses in town. “As a parent, you worry about whether your child will be understood, included, and supported in this classroom; the teachers at Hirsch didn’t just do the bare minimum. They went above and beyond,” Savannah Longoria, a mother of two Hirsch students, said. “They showed compassion, patience and understanding during a very difficult time for our family.” But to stave off a potential state takeover of the district and improve poor academic results that could trigger the elimination of local control, SAISD’s board could vote Monday for charter network Third Future Schools to run Hirsch and two other SAISD campuses starting next year.

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In the past three years, Hirsch scored two Fs and a D on the state letter grade system. Third Future has a track record of quickly improving academic improvement — something that is especially important when repeat years of academic struggles can mean a campus closure or district takeover. But critics worry that a narrow focus on test scores and academic rigor will replace a more holistic approach to students' classroom time. “Our children are not experiments, and our school is not a project to hand over to an outside organization,” Longoria said. “My children are supported. They are learning, and they are happy, and I ask that you listen to the parents who trust in the teachers and staff already serving our children.” The San Antonio Independent School District and Edgewood ISD boards will vote next week on handing over control of four campuses to Colorado-based charter school operator Third Future. Both districts face an end-of-month deadline to pick a charter school provider if they want to forge such an agreement and buy their struggling schools more time before facing state consequences.

East Texas vape shop sues DSHS to block new hemp rules scheduled to take effect March 31

An East Texas vape shop is suing the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), challenging new rules for hemp retailers that are set to take effect on March 31. That lawsuit echoes what many local hemp retailers have felt in recent weeks: that these new rules and fees could devastate the Texas hemp industry. This stems from new regulations DSHS adopted earlier this month that revise testing and packaging requirements, amend record-keeping standards and tack on much heavier licensing fees.

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DSHS implemented these new rules and fees in response to an executive order from Gov. Greg Abbott last year. After bills to ban or regulate hemp products containing THC failed to become law, he directed state agencies to come up with new rules to regulate them to address concerns that some of those products are dangerous and marketed to children. So DSHS increased licensing fees to $10,000 per year for product manufacturers and $5,000 per year to retailers starting on March 31. The retailer that filed the lawsuit claims it'll make it harder for small businesses to stay open. In their lawsuit, the retailer "Boomtown Vapor" claims that the new rules contradict a state law passed in 2019 that allowed for hemp containing a low amount of THC to be grown in Texas. That law specifically mentioned testing for Delta 9 THC, and the retailers argue that DSHS's new rule about testing for Total THC defies that. The retailers also say the licensing fees will be double from what they were before and are arbitrary.

National Stories

‘Good, I’m glad he’s dead’: Trump’s insensitive comments about the dead hit a new level

For years, President Donald Trump has offered crass and insensitive comments about people who died — especially his foes. But on Saturday, he explicitly celebrated the death of former FBI Director Robert Mueller, writing, “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” As a special counsel, Mueller probed Trump and his 2016 campaign as the leader of the Russia investigation during the president’s first term. “Robert Mueller just died,” Trump posted on social media shortly after the death was first reported. “Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” While it was the culmination of a yearslong series of such comments by Trump, it was hardly an isolated incident.

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In 2017, one of the first big controversies of Trump’s first term was his insensitive alleged comments to the widow of a soldier who had just died. Trump was accused of telling the widow that her husband “knew what he signed up for.” And while Trump claimed it had been a “very respectful conversation,” the White House eventually?seemed to tacitly confirm the comments. After John McCain died in August 2018, Trump in early 2019 resumed his yearslong attacks on the former Arizona senator. He criticized the Republican for killing Trump’s health care law, saying, “I never was a fan of John McCain, and I never will be.” Trump also falsely claimed the recently deceased had graduated “last in his class” and falsely accused him of sharing the “Steele dossier” with the FBI before the 2016 election. In late 2019, Trump attacked another legislative foe who died that year — longtime Rep. John Dingell — by suggesting the Michigan Democrat was “looking up” from hell. Dingell’s widow, Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan, responded: “I’m preparing for the first holiday season without the man I love. You brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder.”

Immigration agents deploying to airports under border czar as TSA staffing falls short

President Donald Trump said Sunday border czar Tom Homan will be in charge of deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports on Monday, with Homan telling CNN the agents will assist with security at entrances and exits to ease TSA workload amid a partial government shutdown. “This is about going to helping TSA do their mission and get the American public through that airport as quick as they can while adhering to all the security guidelines and the protocols,” Homan said on CNN’s “State of the Union with Dana Bash.” Long security lines have been seen at airports around the country as TSA officers have quit their jobs or called out sick as they continue to work without pay.

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“We’re simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise, such as screening through the X-ray machine. Not training that, we won’t do that,” Homan said. “But there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the non-significant roles, such as guarding an exit so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker, and we’re just simply helping our fellow officers at TSA.” Asked about logistics and numbers regarding deployment of ICE officers, Homan said planning discussions are happening Sunday in coordination with the heads of ICE and the TSA. “I’m currently working on the plan now of execution, working with the Director of ICE and the administrator of TSA, the acting administrator. So we’ll put together a plan today, and we’ll execute tomorrow,” Homan said. Homan added that details can be expected later Monday. “Hopefully we’ll have all those answers here by this afternoon, but we’re working on it when we when we deploy tomorrow, we’ll have a well thought out plan to execute,” Homan said.

‘Tax resistance’ gains attention amid ICE protests, Iran war — and IRS penalties could follow

Chicago attorney Rachel Cohen owes more than $8,000 in federal income taxes — but has intentionally left that balance unpaid. "I'm not paying my federal income tax this year," Cohen said in a widely viewed TikTok video from March 2 about her decision. The 31-year-old community organizer filed her federal tax return, which shows a balance due of $8,830, according to a tax document reviewed by CNBC.But Cohen said she deliberately chose to withhold payment of that bill as a protest against immigration detention, including ICE facilities, and U.S. strikes on Iran launched without congressional approval. While voicing resistance to taxes is legal, refusing to pay taxes owed can violate federal law and lead to serious penalties.

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"It's completely OK to be unhappy and be dissatisfied with our government," said Josh Youngblood, owner of The Youngblood Group, a Dallas-based tax firm. "But not paying taxes, or engaging in tax fraud or evasion, is not the answer." In addition to penalties and interest that start accruing immediately on their past-due balances, tax protesters can face "long-term consequences," such as wage garnishment, a tax lien on property or even jail time, according to Michele Frank, associate professor of accountancy at Miami University. Federal courts have a long track record of siding with the Internal Revenue Service in cases involving tax resistance, routinely dismissing these claims as frivolous and, in some instances, imposing additional penalties. Cohen told CNBC she is fully aware of the potential risks and that speaking openly about the decision could attract additional scrutiny from federal authorities. Her protest is directed at federal spending priorities, not taxation itself, Cohen said. She paid about $3,000 in Illinois state taxes, according to a tax document reviewed by CNBC, and said she sees value in how those dollars support state and local services. Cohen said her decision is personal and not something she is encouraging others to do, but hopes it pushes people to reflect on whether their actions match their beliefs.

How Amazon is bringing fast delivery to rural America

A little past noon, Amazon.com driver Matthew Norton pulled his Ford F-250 pickup up alongside the Bitterroot River. He removed a small package and stashed it in a drop-box at the foot of a crude bridge with a sign: Private Bridge, No Trespassing. Norton and his pickup are part of a $4 billion investment by Amazon to push its signature speedy delivery further into the rural recesses of the U.S. In dozens of thinly populated regions across the country, Amazon is building new delivery hubs to deliver packages in around two days. That might not seem especially rapid at a time when the e-commerce giant is introducing one-hour delivery in some areas, but residents of some far-flung Montana hamlets were used to waiting up to a week for their orders.

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The effort helps Amazon reduce its reliance on the U.S. Postal Service, a relationship that has become rocky following a dispute over contract terms. Amazon says it aims ultimately to have 200 rural delivery hubs serving around 13,000 ZIP Codes covering around 1.2 million square miles of America—an area the size of Texas, California and Alaska combined. Delivering packages within Amazon’s signature two-day frame means drivers contend with backcountry challenges such as bighorn sheep on the road, dangerously high winds in mountain passes and roads that are impassable during parts of the year. Norton says many of his customers are regulars. “They order online, because they don’t have many stores and their closest grocery store is an hour away.” Amazon currently operates around 560 delivery stations across the country, of which around 160 are in rural areas, said Marc Wulfraat, president of MWPVL International, a supply-chain consultancy that monitors the e-commerce company’s logistics network. At its current pace of constructing around 40 to 50 new delivery hubs a year, Wulfraat estimates that Amazon will be able to ship packages to every U.S. ZIP Code in four years.

Paul Farhi: How Will Lewis lost the Washington Post

( (Paul Farhi is a prominent American freelance journalist and media analyst specializing in news media, journalism ethics, and political coverage, based in Washington, D.C.. Formerly a longtime media reporter at The Washington Post (1988–2023), he now contributes to outlets like The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, and the Columbia Journalism Review.) When the bad news broke, Will Lewis wasn’t around for it. As hundreds of Washington Post employees gathered in front of phones and laptops for a Zoom meeting in early February to learn their fates, the Post’s chief executive and publisher didn’t appear on their screens. Instead, the announcement that more than 350 journalists would lose their jobs was left to executive editor Matt Murray. Afterward, Lewis made no statements and granted no interviews. Murray said later that Lewis “had a lot of things to tend to today.” The mass layoff—amounting to nearly half of the Post’s vaunted newsroom—translated into a broad disfiguring of the publication. The paper vaporized its sports and book sections, halved its network of foreign bureaus, and reduced its Metro section—where its history-making Watergate coverage had begun—to a skeleton. Every staff photographer was laid off. Among the casualties was Martin Weil, a beloved Metro reporter who’d worked at the paper since Lyndon Johnson was President. Weil was notified in a form letter delivered via email. Past and present Post employees trained their anger and disappointment on the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s multi­billionaire founder.

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Former executive editor Martin Baron blasted the world’s fifth-­richest man for neglect, abandonment, and worse. Some of Bezos’s decisions, Baron wrote, were “gutless” and reflected “moral infirmity.” The paper had been losing money for several years, yes, but critics argued that Bezos could afford to lose money—literally for centuries—to maintain the paper’s newsgathering. He was now worth around $250 billion, ten times as much as he was when he bought the Post in 2013. Back then, he promised to provide “runway” (read: hard cash) for growth and experimentation. The new cuts would instead make the paper’s newsroom smaller than when Bezos first stepped in—smaller even than Politico, cofounded in 2007 by two former Post reporters. Lewis received his share of the rage and blame, too. Hired by Bezos in early 2024 to reverse declining readership and revenues, the 56-year-old newsman turned media executive had plainly failed. The Post lost a reported $100 million in 2024, Lewis’s first year, and even more in 2025. Lewis was unable to stanch the bleeding, despite previous buyouts and layoffs. Dozens more star journalists had left on their own, disappointed and disgusted by what they saw as his fecklessness. Only a few months into his tenure, Lewis had retreated into a kind of sullen isolation. When Post reporters landed important scoops—such as the revelation in late November 2025 of the Pentagon’s “double tap” strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat—he couldn’t muster up an attaboy or use it as a peg for collective encouragement, a tradition for the paper’s publishers. For a brief period, Lewis had even stopped talking to Murray, whom he’d handpicked to lead the news operation. “As far as the newsroom is concerned, he’s a nonentity,” a veteran reporter said in early January. “We haven’t seen him in months. He’s a ghost.” Lewis, who hasn’t given an on-the-record interview in more than two years, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment on this article. Nor did Murray or three of Lewis’s top business deputies. A Post spokesperson offered limited information in response to submitted questions.

Cuba's deputy foreign minister says its military is preparing for possible 'military aggression' from the U.S.

Cuba’s deputy foreign minister on Saturday said that the nation’s military is involved in ongoing preparations for “the possibility of military aggression” from the U.S., adding that it would be “naive” for Cuba’s leaders to ignore the possibility of conflict with the U.S. “Our military is always prepared, and in fact, it is preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression,” Carlos Fernández de Cossío told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in an interview that aired Sunday. He added, “we would be naive,” not to consider the possibility of conflict “looking at what’s happening around the world.”

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Fernández de Cossío said the country’s leaders “truly hope that it doesn’t occur. We don’t see why it would have to occur, and we find no justification whatsoever.” His comments come amid an escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Cuba following the U.S. military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of that nation’s president, Nicolas Maduro, who had a close relationship with Cuba’s leadership. During a press conference following the operation, U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that military intervention in Cuba could be next, with Rubio saying at the time, “If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned.” In January, the president signed an executive order threatening to impose tariffs on goods from countries that sold or provided oil to the country. Residents of the island have suffered daily power outages amid the U.S. blockade. Power grids in the country collapsed Saturday, leaving the country without electricity for a third time in March. On Saturday, Fernández de Cossío said the oil blockade is the result of the U.S.’ aggression against Cuba and it “cannot be sustained forever.”

U.S. judge rules against Pentagon restrictions on press coverage

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has blocked a Pentagon policy that sought to limit what journalists are able to report about the U.S. military, ruling in favor of The New York Times in a case that raised fundamental questions about the freedom of the press. The Pentagon policy, unveiled last September, required media organizations to pledge not to gather information unless officials from the Department of Defense formally authorized its release. The policy extended beyond classified information, and included a prohibition on reporting even unclassified material without the approval of Pentagon officials. The policy prompted widespread condemnation from press freedom groups, and led multiple news organizations to forfeit their Pentagon press passes, rather than comply. NPR is among the organizations that turned in its press passes, but has continued vigorous reporting on the Pentagon.

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The rules also spurred a lawsuit from the Times, which filed suit in December against the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. In its suit, the Times said the Pentagon policy violated the First Amendment and would "deprive the public of vital information about the United States military and its leadership." In the ruling late Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman sided with the Times, writing that the First Amendment was designed to empower the press to publish information in the public interest "free of any official proscription." "Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation's security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech," Friedman wrote. "That principle has preserved the nation's security for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now." In a statement, a Times spokesperson said the ruling marked a welcome enforcement of the free press' constitutionally protected rights. "Americans deserve visibility into how their government is being run, and the actions the military is taking in their name and with their tax dollars. Today's ruling reaffirms the right of The Times and other independent media to continue to ask questions on the public's behalf," said the statement from spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander. Parnell, the Pentagon spokesman, responded to the ruling in a statement posted to social media, saying the department planned to challenge the order. "We disagree with the decision and are pursuing an immediate appeal," he said.

Copyright March 22, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved