June 29, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Inside Republicans’ plan to win the midterms

Donald Trump won the presidency in 2024 by turning out multitudes of people who usually don’t vote, in no small part because his campaign built an entire strategy around aggressively courting their support. Republicans, including some involved in Trump’s campaign, now think they can use the same strategy to save the GOP’s control of Congress. From almost the moment the 2024 campaign ended, Republicans have dedicated themselves to building a turnout operation with the sole focus of identifying, engaging and ultimately persuading “low propensity” voters — those who maybe cast a ballot two years ago but often skip midterm elections. It’s a program aimed at solving a traditional problem for parties in power during midterm elections, when their voters become more complacent and turn out in lower numbers than their opposition’s. And the years of dedicated work is an overlooked reason Republicans think they have a chance to defy widespread predictions of their electoral doom.

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“There has never been an operation like this before,” Theresa Vaccaro, political director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told NOTUS. She, like others interviewed for this story, emphasized that the entire GOP political ecosystem — from political committees like hers to allied super PACs, the Republican National Committee and the White House itself — is working closely together to achieve the same goal. The NRCC has more than 30 so-called “battlestations” in key House districts: offices available to serve as a hub of voter outreach efforts for the whole party. Vaccaro said her committee held its first meeting about the program before Trump was inaugurated and built on efforts that started in 2024. Undergirding the whole operation is a dataset of the voters Republicans are trying to target, one that party strategists say they’ve spent most of this decade building and fine-tuning. That didn’t exist in the failed 2018 midterms campaign, they say, when the notion of a Trump turnout voter was still new. Republicans involved in the turnout effort acknowledge that what they’re trying to do won’t be easy. The political environment is hostile for Republicans this year, with Trump facing a sharp drop in approval and a continued deep and widespread public discontent with the economy.

State commission declines to discipline a top Austin realtor — but expresses 'concerns'

A formal complaint case filed against one of Austin's top-selling Realtors is closed. The Texas Real Estate Commission decided there was not sufficient evidence warranting disciplinary action against Kuper Sotheby's International Realty agent Kumara Wilcoxon. But TREC staff attorney Kenneth Herring said in an advisory letter that the agency is "concerned" by her actions related to the multimillion dollar listing at the center of the complaint. In a Texas Real Estate Commission complaint prepared on Feb. 20, Moreland Properties broker associate Amy Deane claimed Wilcoxon did not present her clients' offers for a Tarrytown-neighboring property, which was listed for $9.45 million, when they indicated interest last September. Based on interactions related to that listing, Deane claimed several violations of the Texas Real Estate License Act and TREC rules like misrepresentation or dishonest conduct as well as failure to disclose a material fact.

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The commission ultimately determined there was "insufficient evidence that Ms. Kumara Wilcoxon intentionally withheld material information or intentionally acted outside the client's best interest," according to the TREC letter. "Moving forward, unless specifically limited by the client, Ms. Kumara Wilcoxon should err on the side of disclosing all and allow the client to decide if the information is material," Herring said in the May 28 letter obtained by the ABJ. "At this time, we anticipate no further action regarding this complaint and expect Ms. Kumara Wilcoxon to take note of our concerns ... Failure to comply with this advisory letter could result in further disciplinary action in the future." Kuper Sotheby's representatives declined to comment for this story when the ABJ reached out to Wilcoxon. Despite repeated outreach to Wilcoxon and other associated agents, Deane said in the complaint that her clients' initial $9.5 million all-cash offer, which was $50,000 higher than the property's list price, and a subsequent $9.45 million offer with a leaseback option did not translate into a transaction. The seller's daughter "verified that neither offer had ever been presented to her or her mother; that they were told by Kumara that an offer was expected but advised to wait; and that they were later told, when they asked about the full-price offer, that it 'never materialized,'" Deane wrote in the February complaint.

Left-wing Democratic primary wins pose a test for a Jeffries speakership

As New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and fellow democratic socialists celebrated a trio of insurgent leftist victories that rocked last week’s House primaries in New York, so did congressional Republicans. In the days since, the GOP has gleefully speculated that a potential Democratic majority next year could be just as unruly and restive as its own has been, with an ideological battle between liberals and moderates undermining a possible speakership of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York). “You can call it the Bolshevik Revolution of 2026,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said following the election results, while the National Republican Congressional Committee facetiously sent Jeffries a sympathy card and flowers. Jeffries and his Democratic allies have downplayed the tensions, noting that their party held together a broad spectrum of members the last time they were in charge of the House, from 2019 to 2023.

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But there are warning signs for Jeffries, who already faces growing frustration from the Democratic base that he is not fighting back hard enough against President Donald Trump. If Democrats win only a narrow majority in the heavily gerrymandered chamber in November, it will give each vote outsize importance and Jeffries critics more opportunities to stir up trouble. Two of the challengers backed by Mamdani, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, defeated Democratic incumbents endorsed by Jeffries; only one of the three, Brad Lander, has committed to vote for him as speaker. Those candidates, all of whom are likely to win their heavily Democratic districts in November, and a handful of others who have prevailed against more moderate Democrats in primaries this year, are expected to push for more liberal policies, particularly regarding Israel and Gaza, immigration enforcement, and universal health care. “What I hope will happen is that Democratic leadership will incorporate the lessons that voters are sending into the agenda that we’re going to be fighting for,” Lander said. Jeffries, for his part, has projected his typical calm and refused to engage with conjecture about how his leadership could be challenged. His office did not respond to an inquiry from The Washington Post, but he congratulated Valdez, Lander and Avila Chevalier on social media Saturday.

Supreme Court’s explosive final week: Here’s the biggest cases

The Supreme Court is expected to wrap up its term this week, with eight cases still awaiting rulings, including some of the most intensely debated of the past year. The court’s next release of decisions will take place this morning at 10 a.m., when rulings in some of the remaining cases will be announced. The next decision day will be revealed after that. Last week saw the court hand the Trump administration major wins, giving a green light to some of its moves on immigration policy. But a ruling on the contentious issue of birthright citizenship is still pending, along with the president’s right to fire federal appointees and the rights of transgender athletes, among other issues. Arguably the most anticipated ruling is on President Trump’s executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, which was one of his first acts after returning as president last year. Justices seemed skeptical of the administration’s arguments defending the order when they heard the case in April. In a sign of how important Trump has viewed the case, he became the first sitting president ever recorded to have attended Supreme Court arguments as a listener.

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A decades-old precedent could be overturned if the court rules in Trump’s favor on his attempts to fire Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member Rebecca Slaughter. Trump decided to remove Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner who was first appointed in 2018, last year because her service was “inconsistent” with the administration’s policies. The act setting up the FTC only permits the president to remove commissioners for cause, and the Supreme Court’s 1935 ruling in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States upheld that barrier. But a majority of the court appeared open to allowing Trump to fire Slaughter without cause during arguments held in December. The ruling could also have wide-ranging implications for other federal agencies, limiting their independence from the president. One federal agency that the high court has seemed more inclined to protect is the Federal Reserve, which could be critical in saving board of governors member Lisa Cook’s job. Trump sought to fire Cook last summer over allegations of mortgage fraud against her, making him the first president to try to remove a sitting Fed governor in its history. Cook has rejected the allegations and argued the Justice Department investigation into her was politically motivated.

State Stories

Maternal health ‘deserts’ endanger some Texas women, babies

Sarah Gipson knew something was wrong when the normally chatty sonogram technician fell silent and called for the doctor. Gipson was in the 32nd week of her high-risk pregnancy, and she felt horrible. She was seeing stars, had constant ringing in her ears, and had been on bed rest for several weeks. Still, she wasn’t alarmed. “It wasn’t anything abnormal for me to feel terrible,” she said. That Halloween Day in 2024, however, was different. The doctor told her she’d lost all amniotic fluid — that the baby was “dry” and had to be delivered immediately, both for the baby’s sake and for her own. But Gipson, who was expecting her first child, was all alone at the doctor’s office in Nacogdoches that day; she’d made the hourlong drive by herself from her home in Hemphill in Sabine County. Her mother arrived just in time for the surgery.

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Gipson is one of thousands of women across Texas living in a maternal healthcare “desert,” with limited access to care during pregnancy, according to an analysis by Public Health Watch of data published in a May 2024 report by the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals (TORCH). Of the more than 200 rural counties in Texas, about 70% have no hospital at all or have hospitals that don’t have facilities for delivering babies. Maternal access is even worse in East Texas, where more than 80% of the nearly 60 counties stretching from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast are considered rural. More than 72% of those counties lack hospitals or labor-and-delivery units. The cash-strapped rural hospitals can’t make enough money from private insurance or Medicaid to cover the costs of providing maternal care, according to John Henderson, TORCH chief executive officer. “The pure economics of it are just problematic,” he said. In the last five years, more than 100 rural hospitals nationwide have stopped delivering babies, leaving fewer than half of rural hospitals across the country with labor-and-delivery services, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform released in January.

Country hit 'Choosin' Texas' has surprising parallels to the Texas Senate race

It’s tough to pinpoint the exact moment when Ella Langley’s hit single “Choosin’ Texas” grew bigger than country music, bigger than the singer’s starriest aspirations, bigger than the state of Texas itself, but like the universe, its expansion continues. It’s a history-making smash about a love triangle that finds the 27-year-old country star losing her man to a woman from the Lone Star State. “She’s from Texas,” Langley sings. “I can tell by the way he’s two-stepping ’round the room.” The mild rasp in her voice sounds defeated, deflated. Her twang suggests the rise and fall of a shrug. Her man hasn’t left her yet, but it’s no use. He’s as good as gone. “And judging by the smile that’s written on his face,” Langley concedes, “there’s nothing I can do.” Since February, “Choosin’ Texas” has been every bit as unstoppable, two-stepping in and out of the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, topping the chart for a total of 10 weeks, making it one of the biggest country crossover hits ever. It’s currently holding steady at No. 2 behind a shiny new Taylor Swift single. “Every day I wake up, it’s like something more insane has happened,” Langley, an Alabama native, told Billboard a few months ago.

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When any song gets that massive, we start peeking behind the breezy rhythms and golden melodies. We start listening more closely for secret meanings, for cosmic coincidences, for thematic subcurrents whispering to the greater American psyche — or at least for some meaningful parallelisms that might help explain a runaway hit’s sudden exceptionality. With “Choosin’ Texas,” we can probably find our answers in the lyrics alone. Langley is narrating her breakup from the position of a helpless outsider, lamenting the far-off place that’s suddenly created a hole in her life. The geography matters here. She isn’t singing about Montana, or New Hampshire, or Ohio. Langley is anxious about Texas. Feel familiar? This summer, plenty of Americans are wondering if the fate of our democracy is riding on a U.S. Senate race that most of us won’t vote in. On one side, there’s the Democrat James Talarico, a Texas lawmaker and Presbyterian seminarian with a soothsaying voice that The New Yorker recently described as “civic A.S.M.R. for anyone sick of Donald Trump.” On the other side is Republican Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general whose endorsement from Trump helped him defeat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a gnarly runoff last month. Come November, the implications will be national and long term. Yes, Talarico is trying to flip a reliably red Senate seat, but he’s ultimately trying to awaken the Democratic Party within Texas writ large. After the 2030 Census, Texas is expected to gain four votes in the Electoral College, making it a necessary win for any candidate hoping to reach the White House in 2032 and beyond. None of the rest of us asked for Texas to hold this kind of power over our lives, but, like in the song, here we are.

Tesla quietly settles lawsuit over deadly crash involving Full Self-Driving system

Tesla Inc. has quietly resolved a lawsuit stemming from a fatal 2023 crash that precipitated a defect investigation into the carmaker’s automated-driving technology. The collision involved 71-year-old Johna Story, who had stepped out of her vehicle on an Arizona highway to help direct traffic around cars that had already crashed due to blinding sun glare. Moments later, she was struck at high speed by a Tesla Model Y SUV using the Austin company’s so-called Full Self-Driving system. Story’s death — one of 40,901 on U.S. roads that year — was the first known pedestrian fatality linked to Tesla’s automation technology. The crash prompted a federal investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and a lawsuit from Story’s daughter against Tesla and the driver.

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Attorney Dustin Birch, who represents Story’s daughter, said in a phone interview that the case recently settled and “my client is happy to put this behind her.” Terms of the settlement were not disclosed and an attorney for Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment. Bloomberg News published an investigation last year that examined whether sun glare can compromise Tesla’s camera-based automated-driving system. The report reconstructed the crash in part through videos and photos obtained via public records requests. CEO Elon Musk has increasingly bet Tesla’s future on driverless-vehicle technology and robotaxis, with Full Self-Driving underpinning those ambitions. The automaker has sought approvals around the world for versions of the technology, even as some auto-safety advocates say that aspects of the system are defective. It is not approved for fully driverless operation in the U.S.

There’s no evidence Plano mosque applies 'Sharia law' in its funeral practices, a federal judge says

An Austin federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit against the state's funeral agency and its former presiding officer that alleges religious discrimination against the East Plano Islamic Center, or EPIC. In a footnote, Ezra also wrote there is no evidence suggesting — and neither party is alleging — that EPIC is applying Sharia law in its practices, despite repeated public statements from Texas Republicans. "In resolving the present Order, and without purporting to be an expert in Islamic teachings," Judge David Alan Ezra wrote, "the Court simply notes the absence of any evidence or allegation that Islamic burial rites qualify as 'Sharia law' of the sort that threaten Texas law,” adding that the agency’s cease-and-desist letter against the mosque fails to identify any specific aspect of its services that violate state law.

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Ezra ruled then-presiding officer Kristin Tips' involvement and conduct in the Texas Funeral Service Commission's investigation into EPIC's funeral practices violated the mosque's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. "The Court finds that targeting an organization’s religious funeral rites for prohibition while allowing similar rites by others and departing from longstanding TFSC practice violates EPIC’s Free Exercise and Equal Protection rights," Ezra wrote in his opinion. KERA News reached out to attorneys for Tips and the Texas Funeral Service Commission and will update this story with any response. The funeral commission sent EPIC a cease-and-desist letter last March alleging the mosque was illegally operating as a funeral home without a license. That prompted EPIC's lawsuit four months later accusing the commission of illegal overreach and violating the mosque's religious rights. The investigation was one of at least five state probes into EPIC prompted by Republican backlash over the mosque's proposed housing development in Collin and Hunt counties, formerly known as EPIC City and now called The Meadow. Opponents of EPIC and the development accuse the Islamic organization of trying to impose Sharia law in Texas.

Texas Rep. Gene Wu says underfunded schools are fueling juvenile justice challenges

State Rep. Gene Wu says Texas must do more to support public education and address the root causes of youth crime, arguing that underfunded schools and a lack of mental health resources are contributing to problems in the state’s juvenile justice system. During a Houston Community Media news briefing focused on challenges facing children and teenagers, Wu said the state’s education system is one of the biggest issues facing young Texans. “I would say one of the biggest issues right now, bar none, is our education system,” Wu said. Wu said Texas schools are not equipped to serve students who come from troubled homes, experience poverty or struggle with mental health and behavioral issues. He also criticized lawmakers for failing to fully fund public education.

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“Every year we defund our schools more and more,” Wu said. According to Wu, lawmakers were told during the 2025 legislative session that Texas public schools faced a $16 billion funding shortfall but only allocated about half that amount. He said the result has been school closures, larger class sizes and increasing pressure on teachers across the state. “Classroom sizes are getting bigger and bigger. Teachers are getting more and more frustrated,” Wu said. Wu also criticized the state’s emphasis on standardized testing, arguing that schools are financially incentivized to move students through the system rather than ensure they are learning. “The system right now is only geared toward testing,” Wu said. “It does not actually care whether students learn or not.” Wu said the lack of educational resources has also changed how schools respond to student behavior, with law enforcement increasingly becoming involved in situations that were once handled by administrators. “Back when I was in school, there were no cops in school,” Wu said. “If you got into a fight, you went to the principal’s office.”

Gary Susswein: A KUT-University of Texas breakup would only deepen our divide

(Gary Susswein is the principal owner of BandOne, an Austin-based communications and strategy firm. He previously served as Chief Communications Officer at UT Austin and Metro Editor at the Austin American-Statesman.) I was the spokesperson for the University of Texas at Austin in 2012, when the Regents considered a proposal to purchase a second FM radio license and launch another public radio station, KUTX, alongside KUT. What was supposed to be a routine vote was delayed when Regents questioned the cost, structure and timeline. Underlying those on-the-record concerns, however, was one concern we kept hearing informally: Should our public university really be in the business of owning public radio stations? Questioning the relationship between UT and public radio felt shocking — even subversive — at the time. But today, it’s at the top of many Austinites’ minds after the university’s and KUT’s clashes over a festival and the firing of general manager Debbie Hiott (who was previously a colleague of mine at the Statesman and is an outstanding journalist).

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It’s tempting to say the answer should be a resounding “no.” But as a crisis communications professional, I know the worst decisions are sometimes made in moments of anger, stress and broken trust, and I believe the right path forward is to recognize that our public university really should be in the business of owning public radio stations. In many ways, the recent blow-up felt inevitable. While KUT’s local reporting is fiercely independent and fair, the station is part of a national network that unquestionably leans left. At the same time, the UT administration is moving away from the politically progressive approaches that have anchored higher education administration. University backers see this as an overdue correction to reflect statewide values and restore public trust. Some faculty members may warn that it is an overreaction that stifles free speech and harms the school, but UT is continuing to climb in national academic rankings, applications and fundraising. Against this backdrop, there have always been uncomfortable questions about whether journalists should be employed by a huge public agency that is part of a state government they must cover objectively and thoroughly. During my years at UT, I sometimes disagreed with university decisions. But my role as a public employee was to get on board and implement them. That’s more challenging for a journalist covering the institution, surrounded by tenured faculty members who enjoy academic freedom.

A case for appreciating city council speakers

As a longtime correspondent (and sometimes even enjoyer) of City Council meetings, I will admit that the public comment portion can be a mixed bag. You might even lean toward being irritated at times because the comments can seem disorganized, even incomprehensible. You might agree with every speaker, but at the end of the day, public comment is one of the most effective ways for citizens to tell their elected officials how they feel. If you sit through a couple of Dallas City Council meetings, you can begin to get a true picture of the city’s needs, if you pay attention. People who feel unheard when they attempt to discuss an issue through other means—emailing or calling a city council member or a city department, for instance—will often avail themselves of their three minutes at the microphone before the 15 people elected to do something about their city. The journey for a visitor to Council Chambers requires them to walk the length of City Hall, enter one door, go through security, and then walk the length of City Hall again once inside until they reach the elevators that will take them to their destination.

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The speaking experience is often even less welcoming. Robert Wilonsky’s latest column in the Dallas Morning News explores how long the Council made people wait to speak about their tennis courts in Oak Cliff. Some were children, many were people getting their first glimpse into how a City Council meeting works. I don’t think they were left with a favorable impression. (At the same meeting, former Councilmember Bob Stimson was rushed away from the microphone by two Dallas police officers after he went a few seconds over his allotted time to wrap up a thought.) And it’s not unusual—citizens ready to speak about issues frequently find themselves waiting for hours to do so. It happened earlier this month, in fact. (Emma Ruby at the Dallas Observer talked to a few of the speakers.) It’s also worth noting that while the Council can duck away for a bite and stay hydrated by drinking at their seat, those in the gallery cannot—food and drink are not allowed, even if you’ve been there since 9 a.m. and the dinner hour is approaching, and you still haven’t had your chance to speak. If you sign up to speak at City Hall, you’re signing up for a long haul that will likely mean that you find yourself in chambers, hungry, and watching council members sing happy birthday to each other while holding a cake, right in front of you, like when you would go to the park with your mom and see some other kids having a birthday party and all you got to do was swing on some stupid swings and drink warm water from a fountain.

Target rolls out THC beverages in Texas as the future for such products remains unclear across U.S.

Target has rolled out THC beverages at nearly every Texas location, according to the company. The retailer confirmed the beverages have been available at Lone Star State stores since May 10. This comes amid a court battle over hemp-THC regulations in Texas and as a federal ban on such products approaches in November. The legal landscape for hemp-THC products is up in the air in Texas and across the country. In Texas, the future of smokable hemp hinges on a legal battle out of Travis County. There, hemp organizations and businesses have filed suit against state officials over new regulations that could ban smokable products and impose higher fees on retailers and manufacturers.

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At the federal level, new rules for hemp products are set to take effect as part of a government funding bill signed by President Donald Trump last year. The rules would impose new THC potency restrictions that would see many products banned. However, according to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a coalition of different hemp companies and organizations across the country, the White House recently sent a funding request to Congress regarding the looming ban. In the request sent to Congress, Russell T. Vought, director of the United States Office of Management and Budget, asks that regulation be changed “to ensure the fair treatment of hemp products.” More specifically, the request seeks to have hemp products regulated in a way consistent with rules proposed by Congressman Andy Barr in the House Rules Committee. Barr’s proposal would protect hemp products that are currently set to be banned come November. At a minimum, Vought’s funding request asks Congress to delay the incoming federal ban. It is still uncertain how Congress will respond to the request.

How a South Texas official preserves public trust in elections

Cameron County sits at the southernmost tip of Texas. Remi Garza, the county’s election administrator, has offices in Brownsville, the county seat. He’s two miles from the Mexican border, but far from the charged political atmosphere in other parts of Texas. The county population is 90 percent Hispanic. Donald Trump won over its voters in 2024, but it’s a consistently blue island in the country’s biggest red state. Despite this, Garza’s office hasn’t been under siege in recent years like other election offices across the country, where some public officials have received threats and been accused of manipulating outcomes. (Investigations have not turned up any evidence of widespread voter fraud anywhere in the country.) “We’ve been very fortunate,” Garza says. “We have good support, good communication with community leaders and the general public. That isn't true for others in the state of Texas.”

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Garza’s first government job was in the county judge’s office, where he worked for 12 years. He came to it through involvement with a community organization helping local longshoremen. (Brownsville is a port town, the only deepwater port on the U.S.-Mexico border.) At the time, the county was growing, becoming less rural and more urban. The judge’s office was dealing with the construction of a new international bridge, a new jail facility and the renovation of a historic courthouse. The latter, an imposing three-story building with an octagonal rotunda and an art-glass dome, sits catty-corner from Garza’s present workplace. Garza liked the feeling of being involved in work that was having a positive impact, developing projects and seeing them move forward to completion. His parents had a history of community involvement; his father, a doctor, had been an elected member of the school board.

Democrat running for Texas railroad commissioner touts his experience

Jon Rosenthal is a four-term Democratic state Representative for District 135. He’s also a career mechanical engineer who’s worked in the oil and gas industry for more than 25 years. If you were to ask the Democrat what makes him different than his opponent for railroad commissioner, Republican Bo French, that is where he starts. “Sometimes my opponents have tried to say that I’m a Democrat that wants to destroy the oil and gas industry. My answer to that is it’s literally how I make my house payments. I’m not looking to cut the legs out from my own household,” Rosenthal told us on Inside Texas Politics. “I’m the expert in this race. My opponent has no experience.”

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The Texas Railroad Commission is the oldest regulatory agency in Texas, celebrating 135 years in 2026. But it has nothing to do with trains anymore. It oversees the energy industry in Texas, from oil and gas, to coal, to pipelines. Rosenthal says the seed for his run for Railroad Commissioner was planted after Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 that caused more than 200 deaths, widespread power outages for days on end, and highlighted the vulnerability of the state’s power grid. “We came back into the legislature and they largely refused to act on the core issues for the problem, which was natural gas delivery. We make more electricity from natural gas in this state than any other form,” he explained. “And this is me coming back to fix our energy grid.” In terms of regulation, Rosenthal says the agency cannot add or remove any of the rules, that’s up to the legislature. But he does argue Texas should enforce the rules already in place. One regulation he says he might advocate changing involves “routine flaring,” or when excess natural gas is burned during oil production. “I do think we should be having stronger efforts to reduce that, capture the gas. It’s an energy source. You know, we burn $1.9 billion worth of natural gas into the air in Texas every year. It would be enough to provide natural gas for free every household in the state that uses it. So, it seems like we should be able to capture that, sell it, use the money from that to pay for the infrastructure,” argued the lawmaker.

National Stories

A 'heat dome' is driving dangerous heat across the U.S. into the July 4 weekend

Extreme heat this week will blanket a majority of American states through the July 4 weekend, according to forecasters. The National Weather Service on Sunday said "dangerous to record setting heat will expand across the eastern two-thirds" of the country. In areas including Ohio, parts of North Carolina and Washington, D.C., the extreme temperatures and humidity will be especially threatening for people with respiratory issues and the elderly. "With the combination of high humidity, heat indices may reach 100-110 Degrees," said the NWS. "Much of the central and eastern U.S. is under a Moderate to Major HeatRisk, which can pose health impacts on those without hydration or cooling."

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Parts of Iowa, Missouri and Kansas are under extreme heat warnings. A heat dome is driving the heatwave. It occurs when a very hot air mass parks itself over a region and gets trapped under a "lid" above the Earth's surface. But the high temperatures are not the only concern, said NWS forecaster Bryan Putnam. "You get temperatures in the 90s to low 100s, that's obviously pretty hot. But you combine that with the humidity, those heat indices will go well into the 100s and that's the temperature that it's going to feel like," Putnam told NPR on Sunday. Risks for extreme heat are also expected to continue after July 4 and in the West. Daytime temperatures could feel like 100 to 105 degrees and the heat could limit overnight relief, the NWS said. Putnam said people gathering outdoors for the July 4 weekend, including at night to see fireworks, should be vigilant. "Your temperatures might stay in the 80s and the 90s in the heat in the evening, as well as the fact is with the humidity, that's going to keep those heat indices high as well," he said. "Just because the sun goes down doesn't mean it still isn't going to be hot."

Millions drop Obamacare health plans after subsidies expire and costs rise

About 3 million fewer people in the United States had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in February compared with the same time last year, according to new federal data. In the report released Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested the 13% drop in enrollment from 22.1 million people in 2025 to 19.2 million this year could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or “phantom” enrollment. But health analysts said it was more likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies, which caused a surge in plan costs that resulted in many people being unable to pay their premiums. “We know that real people lost their health insurance coverage,” said Cynthia Cox, a vice president and director of the ACA program at the healthcare research nonprofit KFF, citing survey findings on people who had left their plans. “This coverage loss happened at the same time millions of people faced double or even triple digit increases in their premium payments.”

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The new data, compiled in April but showing coverage in February, represents the government’s first official look at how people’s inability to pay their first bills this year affected total enrollment. That is because the figures capture the marketplace after a nonpayment grace period expired. A federal estimate in January showed that about 800,000 fewer people had signed up for ACA plans compared with the same time last year, marking the first time in the past four years that enrollment had been down from the previous year at that point in the shopping window. Cox said KFF expects the total number of people in the government healthcare program to continue to decline throughout the year, potentially to a low of about 17.5 million. That would be a significant drop for the government’s flagship subsidized health insurance program for working-age people who do not qualify for Medicaid. In recent years, ACA plans have become a popular choice for gig workers, farmers, ranchers, hairstylists and others without health coverage through an employer. The ACA subsidies that expired this year were at the center of a bitter fight in Congress last fall, with Democrats and some Republicans calling for their renewal. Sharp increases in health costs across ACA and other health insurance programs come as voters in the approaching November elections say affordability is among their top concerns.

How the Reflecting Pool turned green: Missing ‘Bubblers’ and a rush job

The nanobubblers had to go. It was early June, and the Trump administration was planning an event at the Lincoln Memorial on June 12 to promote President Trump’s Ultimate Fighting Championship birthday celebration at the White House. Dotted around the perimeter of the memorial’s Reflecting Pool were the nanobubblers, the temporary water-purification machines meant to keep the pool clear of algae. Encased in black fencing and powered by large generators, the machines were something of an eyesore. Before the event, the National Park Service asked Greenwater Services, which won a $1.7 million no-bid contract to install the nanobubblers, to remove them, according to two people briefed on the decision. The people asked for anonymity because they feared retaliation from the administration. The Park Service did not provide a reason for the removal, but it coincided exactly with the promotional event, which drew crowds to the Reflecting Pool.

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Photos from that evening showed the pool without the hoses or enormous machines working to keep the water clean. The water looked dark blue. But by the time the purification systems were reinstalled 36 hours later, enormous algae blooms were starting to spread unchecked, turning the water green. Once the algae started growing, it proved difficult to eliminate. Even with the nanobubblers back online, Park Service workers tried dumping jugs of hydrogen peroxide into the water to clear the algae more quickly. But the peroxide largely dissolved before it could reach the large clumps in the middle of the basin. The result was a Reflecting Pool that stayed green and murky for about a week because of the residual chlorophyll — a highly visible symbol of one of Mr. Trump’s pet projects gone very wrong. The decision to remove the water-treatment systems, which has not previously been reported, was one of several missteps that have plagued Mr. Trump’s $16.4 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool. There have been no-bid contracts, peeling strips of waterproof coating in Mr. Trump’s handpicked shade of “American flag blue,” and even a dead duck floating in the water (though it is not clear if the renovation had anything to do with the duck’s demise).

Ukraine's drones set another Russian oil refinery ablaze

Ukraine kept up its heavy drone assault on Russia, setting fire to a major oil refinery in the south, as President Vladimir Putin acknowledged for the first time on Sunday that the country was facing a “certain deficit” of fuel and vowed to strengthen protection of oil facilities and boost fuel output. Ukraine has markedly stepped up its long-range attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities in recent months, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for its invasion — now in its fifth year — and make Russians feel the consequences. “Our ‘long-range sanctions’ reached two oil refineries in Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday. “Each (strike) means a reduction in the resources that fuel the Russian war machine, and another step toward peace.”

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The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies, causing widespread shortages and long lines at gas stations across the country and prompting authorities in many regions to introduce fuel rationing. According to Western analysts, it has also slowed Moscow’s efforts on the battlefield, heaping pressure on the Kremlin to come to the negotiating table. Speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, Putin described the Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries as an attempt to “cause a split in Russian society and force Russia to halt, even if only briefly, the advance of our troops along the line of contact, and create conditions for launching a negotiation process on terms advantageous to our adversary.” “We will not give them that chance,” Putin said, adding that “strikes on our infrastructure, wherever they are directed, have absolutely no effect on the situation at the front, on the line of contact.” He said for the first time that Ukraine has proposed a halt on deep strikes, arguing that Kyiv made the offer because Russian strikes deep into Ukrainian territory are more powerful and devastating.

Trump’s takeover of 250th birthday celebrations is bumming out Congress

Congress wanted the nation’s 250th birthday to unite America in celebrating its founding principles, common bonds and democratic institutions that have made the country so unique. It passed bipartisan legislation a decade ago creating a commission to support events in the capital and around the country to mark the occasion. Instead, the semiquincentennial events in Washington, D.C., have become intensely partisan, with President Donald Trump essentially taking over as master of ceremonies. The president and his administration have spurned congressional efforts to celebrate the anniversary in favor of their own high-profile events, such as the UFC match at the White House and campaign-style rallies on the National Mall, culminating with one on July Fourth that Trump has dubbed “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all.”

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“I will be speaking at approximately 9 P.M., preceding the Fireworks which again, like the Airshow, will be approximately ten times larger than any Fireworks in the History of our Country. So, if you like Airplanes and Fireworks and President Trump, be there!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. A handful of Democratic-led states are openly boycotting Trump’s 16-day Great American State Fair, progressive activists are organizing competing events in D.C., and some Washingtonians are skipping the traditionally bipartisan July 4 events on the National Mall altogether. “I think that’s sad,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told NOTUS. “If the celebration of the miracle of democracy that comes from the founding of this nation becomes partisan, shame on us,” lamented Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina). Trump this week kicked off 250th celebrations with a campaign-sounding speech on the National Mall in which he touted anti-transgender policies, praised immigration agents implementing his deportation push, and promoted a tentative peace deal with Iran.

MAHA feels betrayed after Supreme Court ruling on Monsanto, glyphosate

Prominent activists with the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement are raging and saying they feel betrayed after the Supreme Court sided with pesticide maker Monsanto on Thursday and said it did not need to put a warning label about a potential cancer risk associated with its Roundup weedkiller. The backlash could test the movement’s ties with the Republican Party,?especially after the Trump administration backed Monsanto in the case. Several studies have found a link between glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, and cancer, including a major study from last year. Bayer and Monsanto have denied any such connection. But MAHA followers have long been alarmed by the idea, and many have grown impatient with a White House that has largely resisted their calls for tighter regulation of pesticides.

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In April, President Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and high-level administration officials held a private meeting with MAHA activists to hear their complaints and try to smooth over any ill-will. Later that month, a MAHA-led coalition rallied outside the Supreme Court during oral arguments, saying people should be able to hold companies accountable. Inside, the justices heard arguments — including some by the Department of Justice — that companies should be protected. For some MAHA supporters, Thursday’s verdict showed that despite Trump’s alliance with Kennedy, the administration would rather prioritize the interests of pesticide makers. “A lot of MAHA voters are realizing they’ve been snookered, they’ve been had by Republicans that had no intention of protecting their health. It’s just a talking point that they added,” said David Murphy, founder of United We Eat and finance director of Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Murphy said the decision could be a tipping point for MAHA voters, who have historically been a loose collection of groups without a set political party.

The Supreme Court is building its own massive police force

A series of slickly produced videos show agents clad in suits and sunglasses striding confidently in slow motion. They usher VIPs into armored SUVs, as specially trained dogs sniff out explosives and officers toting assault rifles keep watch. The scenes evoke Hollywood films about the Secret Service, but the real-life protectees are not the president or the first family: They’re the justices of the Supreme Court, and these videos are part of an aggressive recruitment pitch for officers to defend them. The staid Supreme Court now has sizzle reels and even a pithy tag line from a dulcet-toned announcer: “The highest court. A higher calling.” It’s often said that the Supreme Court has no army. Yet, with little fanfare, the size of the Supreme Court’s police force has begun mushrooming. For years, the force sat at fewer than 200 officers, but now officials are aiming to more than double the ranks of the agents and officers who protect the justices and the Supreme Court’s building.

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The push for a rapid security buildout stems from the substantial threats to the justices at a moment of growing political violence in the U.S. and the sense that the system has just not been up to the task of keeping them safe. That’s a belief that appears to be shared by at least some of the justices themselves. “The justices are averse to the intrusion into their personal lives that comes with increased security, but they are resigned to the need for it both personally and for the court as an institution,” said one former court staffer, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the court’s security practices. A spokesperson for the Supreme Court declined to comment for this article. The Supreme Court has never been so central to the political system, nor so public in the way it exercises power — be it snarling the pre-election prosecution of Donald Trump, blocking the president’s tariffs or scaling back the Voting Rights Act. Yet even as the court boasts sweeping authority, it remains reflexively opaque to the public. The prospect that Americans grow restless at being ruled by nine robed lawyers they never see doing their jobs has the potential to fuel a crisis of legitimacy. The Supreme Court cloaks its deliberations in secrecy and still banishes cameras from its ornate courtroom. Court officials are loath to discuss the security measures being undertaken to protect the justices.

Copyright June 29, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved