March 29, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Pentagon prepares for weeks of ground operations in Iran

The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, U.S. officials said, as thousands of American soldiers and Marines arrive in the Middle East for what could become a dangerous new phase of the war should President Donald Trump choose to escalate. Any potential ground operation would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could instead involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops, said the officials. All spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive military plans that have been in development for weeks. Such a mission could expose U.S. personnel to an array of threats, including Iranian drones and missiles, ground fire and improvised explosives. It was unclear Saturday whether Trump would approve all, some or none of the Pentagon’s plans.

click here for more

The Trump administration in recent days has vacillated between declaring that the war is winding down and threatening to amplify it. While the president has signaled a desire to negotiate an end to the conflict, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Tuesday that if the regime in Tehran does not end its nuclear ambitions and cease its threats against the United States and its allies, Trump is “prepared to unleash hell” against them. In a statement responding to questions for this report, Leavitt said: “It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the Commander in Chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the President has made a decision.” Discussions within the administration over the past month have touched upon the possible seizure of Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil export hub in the Persian Gulf, and raids into other coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz to find and destroy weapons that can target commercial and military shipping, officials said. One person said that the objectives under consideration would probably take “weeks, not months” to complete. Another put the potential timeline at “a couple of months.”

Democrats spend big but face tough fight in Virginia gerrymandering battle

The battle over congressional maps in Virginia, the latest in the nationwide clash over mid-decade redistricting in the lead-up to this year’s midterm elections, is intensifying with a statewide referendum only weeks away. Tens of millions of dollars have poured into the state to fund campaigns for and against the referendum, which takes place on April 21 and will decide whether Democrats can redraw the state’s map to flip as many as four U.S. House seats currently held by Republicans. The vast majority of the money has flowed in on the Democratic side. With early voting already underway, the evidence so far points to surprisingly healthy turnout and a relatively close outcome, potentially much closer than the California vote for redistricting was in November.

click here for more

The stakes are significant: If Virginians approve an amendment that would allow redistricting, Democrats could fight their way to a rough draw in the country’s gerrymandering war. The Virginia delegation in the U.S. House is currently made up of six Democrats and five Republicans; the map proposed by Democratic leaders would give Democrats an advantage in 10 of the state’s 11 districts. Coupled with the new maps that voters in California approved in November, the new Virginia seats would cancel out most, if not all, of the Republican redistricting gains made last year in states including North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri and Texas, where President Trump and state Republicans kicked off the mid-decade gerrymandering scramble. Florida Republicans may still redraw their state’s map to give their party more seats, which could lead to a slight Republican advantage heading into the midterms. But the big wild card is that the U.S. Supreme Court could vote to gut a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and if the ruling came in the spring, it would almost certainly set off further rounds of redistricting before November. So far in Virginia, the main Democratic-aligned effort, Virginians for Fair Elections, has heavily out-raised the main Republican-aligned effort, Virginians for Fair Maps. Over $33 million has flowed into Virginians for Fair Elections, mostly from dark-money groups that are not required to disclose their donors.

Nexstar-Tegna deal on ice after judge issues temporary restraining order

A judge late on Friday temporarily paused a planned merger between media companies Nexstar and Tegna, throwing a wrench into plans blessed by President Donald Trump to establish the country’s largest television company. In his 14-day temporary restraining order, U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley, an Obama appointee, sided with DirecTV, which claimed in a lawsuit filed last week that Nexstar’s $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna is an endeavor to “drive up the price it can extract from DIRECTV and other distributors,” enact mass layoffs and reduce competition. “Here, the Court agrees with Plaintiff that Defendants’ integration efforts are exactly those that would make it more difficult to divest TEGNA stations, eliminate competition, and result in newsroom layoffs and shutdowns,” Nunley wrote in his Friday ruling.

click here for more

Eight states — New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia — sued to block the merger in a separate filing on the same day as DirecTV’s. But just hours later, the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger, bypassing a longstanding cap on the number of viewers a broadcaster can reach nationwide and angering some of the president’s conservative media allies. The merger is on pause until April 7, when Nunley scheduled an in-person hearing to divine the future of the potential acquisition. The two companies are barred from further integration until then. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the stalled deal may well draw the ire of the president, who wrote on Truth Social in February that a merger of the two companies would help buttress against “THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks.” “Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar - Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level,” Trump wrote.

Could parts of New Mexico become Texas? Lawmakers are exploring it

The study ordered last week by House Speaker Dustin Burrows to examine whether Texas could actually gobble up some of the counties on the eastern rim of New Mexico has some political figures seeing red. Burrows, R-Lubbock, is following up on a proposal being floated in the New Mexico Legislature that would allow counties in the state that share a border with Texas to, in effect, switch sides. And it just so happens that every one of those counties voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2024, while New Mexico as a whole gave its five electoral votes to Democrat Kamala Harris by a comfortable 52%-46% margin. Let's make clear from the outset that the annexation by Texas of one or more of the five counties looks iffy at best. It would require a vote of the people in the counties affected — and an act of Congress.

click here for more

As might be expected, the Democratic leaders in charge of New Mexico are not about to willingly hand over giants swaths of land in their part of the oil-rich Permian Basin, even if it would mean ridding themselves of some or all of the 36,000 voters in those counties who cast their ballots for Trump. “Let me put this into terms Speaker Burrows might be able to understand: Come and try to take it,” New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martínez said in a Friday report by the Santa Fe New Mexican, invoking one of Texas' many unofficial slogans. “New Mexico isn’t afraid of a fight." Burrows' direction to the committee he charged with exploring the matter stopped well short of fighting words. Actually, they were more on the lawyerly side. The panel, he said, should examine the “constitutional, statutory, fiscal and economic implications” of such an annexation. Admittedly, 36,000 votes — plus the 10,000 that went for Harris — is just a fraction of the 11 million Texans who went to the polls in the last presidential election. But the numbers could make a difference on the margins in state legislative districts, especially around El Paso, where Democrats dominate.

Is Trump losing his grip on the stock market? Sustained declines suggest the president’s influence has waned.

President Donald Trump has a reputation for trying to curry favor with investors. But on Friday, some Wall Street strategists were wondering if he might be losing his grip on the market. U.S. stocks tumbled, with the S&P 500 SPX booking a fifth straight week in the red. The index hadn’t fallen for five straight weeks since May 2022, when it tallied seven in a row, according to FactSet data. Investors’ belief in Trump’s eagerness to de-escalate the Iran conflict has kept the stock market from even larger losses in March, Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, told MarketWatch. Still, as the conflict drags on, some have started to worry there’s no end in sight.

click here for more

“Psychologically, it’s draining,” said Carol Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Wealth Management, in a phone interview Friday. “Markets are grappling with the fact that they expected this to be over on short order.” Recently, some have even begun to wonder whether Trump’s ability to reassure investors by telling them what they want to hear might be starting to wane. Markets this week have been whipsawed by developments surrounding the Iran conflict, with investors at times encouraged by progress toward ending the fighting yet unable to shake off worries about Iran blockading the shipment of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz. “The risk is that constant flip-flopping and headline fatigue is starting to seriously undermine the efficacy of the ‘Trump put,’ ” Barclays analysts said in an equity research note Friday. “The situation remains fluid and rather confusing.”

State Stories

Wait times at IAH dip below an hour Saturday morning

As dozens of ice agents arrived in waves around 7 a.m. Saturday at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, travelers faced shorter wait times as the government shutdown stretched into its 43rd day. According to the airport's website, wait times had dropped below an hour as of 8:45 a.m. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday afternoon to pay Transportation Security Administration employees who haven't been paid for weeks during a partial government shutdown. Many of those unpaid TSA agents have quit or called off, leading to hourslong security wait times at airports, including Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Houston Airport Systems, which manages the two major airports, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

click here for more

Texas' Paxton says Cornyn not doing enough for Save America Act

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday criticized U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for not fighting hard enough to pass the Save America Act, which would mandate proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo identification at polling places. “John doesn’t care about passing it, or he would be insisting that his brothers and sisters in the Senate not be on recess and on vacation for two weeks, when the president is begging them to pass this legislation,” Paxton said Saturday during a breakfast meet and greet he staged at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine. Cornyn’s campaign was quick to react to Paxton, calling him a “liar” and adding that Cornyn is an original co-sponsor of the bill.

click here for more

“Ken Paxton has lied to his staff, to taxpayers, to his colleagues and to his own family, so it should be no surprise he’s lying here too,” said Matt Mackowiak, a spokesman for Cornyn. Passage of the Save America Act has become an issue in the bruising Senate campaign between Cornyn and Paxton. After finishing a close second to Cornyn in the March 3 primary, Paxton said he would consider dropping from the runoff if the Senate approved the legislation, which would be a longshot because opponents could filibuster to block it. Immediately after the March 3 result, President Donald Trump appeared poised to endorse Cornyn, writing in a social media post that the candidate not getting his backing must drop from the race. After Paxton linked passage of the Save America Act as a potential condition for ending his Senate bid, Trump held off on making an endorsement. Earlier this month Cornyn dropped his opposition to getting rid of the filibuster, an action political analysts say was designed to mollify Trump.

A war zone, minus the war: One year into the military buildup of the U.S.-Mexico border

On a warm, winter Sunday, the Playas de Tijuana in Mexico is filled with families picnicking. The beach here presses right up against the border wall with the United States. Music blares, teenagers film TikTok videos next to the 30-foot high fence, which is covered in painted murals on the Mexican side—butterflies, faces, human hands reaching out. Looking through the slotted wall to the American side, the beach is barren. On the other side of the wall is barbed concertina wire, and then another tall fence, also ringed with wire. It’s a scene from a war zone, minus the war. In between the two walls, white Jeep pickup trucks with U.S. Marines in full camouflage and battle helmets circle occasionally, watching the beachgoers; as the sun sets, a single Marine slowly walks toward the ocean and back, holding an M-38. But for the most part, the no-man’s-land between the walls is empty.

click here for more

Days earlier, armed Border Patrol agents in military fatigues unleashed tear gas canisters on protesters in Minneapolis, 2,000 miles northeast from here. Both the Minnesota National Guard and active duty troops were ordered to prepare to deploy to the city in America’s heartland. “We all have been expecting this to happen,” said Jacqueline Cordero, who helps organize humanitarian supply drops in the mountains and desert east of San Diego. “Basically the border spreading to the rest of the country.” It’s been a year since President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border, but amid far-flung domestic deployments, dozens of deadly Caribbean boat strikes, and now a war in Iran, the U.S.-Mexico border has in many ways become a forgotten emergency—a military buildup that persists, as others have before it, long after public attention has turned elsewhere. Trump campaigned on the southern border, painting a picture of a region overrun with violent criminals. On Inauguration Day in January 2025, he declared the magnitude of the crisis required a military response. The resulting deployment—more than 20,000 troops in the past year from the most expensive fighting machine on the planet—has no end in sight. “Our job, our role here on the border, is to gain full operational control,” said Lt. Col. Max Ferguson, who directed Joint Task Force Southern Border’s operations through September of last year. “Detect, respond, interdict, and ensure that nobody is doing illegal crossings from south to north into the United States.”

Travis DA's office accused of withholding key evidence in 2020 protest case

A defense attorney attempting to get a criminal case against an Austin police officer dismissed is now asking a judge to take a step further: examine whether the prosecutors who brought the case violated the law. APD Officer Chance Bretches was indicted in 2022 on charges of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury by a public servant and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by a public servant due to his use of less-lethal “bean bag” ammunition against protesters during the May 31, 2020, demonstrations outside the Austin Police Department headquarters. A subsequent indictment added additional counts, including deadly conduct and assault.

click here for more

Bretches’ attorney Doug O’Connell has filed a motion to dismiss the charges, alleging District Attorney José Garza’s office failed to disclose key information that could have supported his defense. The defense also asks the court to initiate a court of inquiry, a rarely used process that allows a judge to investigate whether a public official may have committed a criminal offense. The defense alleges prosecutors held 2023 meetings with city officials about whether the city of Austin itself could face charges tied to police actions during the 2020 protests. The defense argues that information should have been disclosed because it supports their theory that responsibility for what occurred may extend beyond individual officers to broader decisions about training, supervision, and equipment. Instead, the motion alleges, that information was withheld. “For three years, the District Attorney’s Office has hidden evidence that they intended to indict the City of Austin,” the filing states, alleging prosecutors conducted “secret negotiations with the City” while failing to disclose them to the defense.

As DART struggles, how are other U.S. public transit agencies faring?

Dallas Area Rapid Transit narrowly escaped a slate of six withdrawal elections that could have shrunk the public transportation system significantly this year, exposing challenges the agency faces in providing bus, train and other transit services over a sprawling region. While those struggles were magnified by the consideration of city elections to leave the agency, three of which will go forward May 2, the challenges in funding and governing public transit in North Texas are not unique. “They’re happening everywhere,” said Nadine Lee, DART’s outgoing CEO who has worked for transit agencies in California and Colorado. Transit systems across the country saw a 40% decrease in ridership during the pandemic, said Randy Machemehl, professor of transportation engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Service was reduced and routes were cut in some cases. Ridership has increased since then, but Machemehl said it’s still struggling.

click here for more

“It didn’t come back very quickly because a lot of the people … had to get to work. So they found another way,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to get those guys to come back.” As agencies recover from that recent blow, issues of regional collaboration, local needs and limited funding have come to a head in sprawling, fast-growing metro areas ill-suited for efficient mass transit. From coast to coast, local governments are grappling with the glaring public transportation question. In the Denver area, the Regional Transportation District serves more than 3 million people over 2,345 square miles — for comparison, DART’s service area spans 700 square miles. Created in 1969 by the Colorado Legislature, RTD is governed by a 15-member publicly elected board of directors and is funded mainly by a 1% sales tax on purchases made within the district. Michael Davies, government relations officer at RTD, said he sees similarities between DART’s situation and Denver’s. Just like in Texas, it’s hard for the Colorado agency to balance regional needs with local ones, especially as cities grow and ask for a clearer return on investment for their tax dollars.

Texas on 'different planet' after Sweet 16 blowout win over Kentucky

No. 1 seed Texas advanced Saturday to the women's Elite Eight, about 190 miles from its campus in Austin. But Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks placed the Longhorns in another location. "They were on a different planet today," Brooks said after Texas' 76-54 win at Dickies Arena. "Especially that first quarter. They came out, and they were aggressive. They play right to the rules. The rules allow a certain level of physicality. They play right to it. They don't go over it. They play right to it. "Today, I thought they did a tremendous job of pushing us off of our mark. Their transition was really good. I think it was a combination of their transition offense being really good and our transition defense not being so good. They capitalize on everything."

click here for more

Texas led 29-11 after the first quarter and 48-26 at halftime. There was no coming back for Kentucky, which lost to Texas 64-53 on Feb. 9 in SEC play. This is the fifth time in the past six seasons that Texas has advanced to at least the Elite Eight. Last season, the Longhorns made the Final Four for the first time since 2003. That accomplishment has carried over to this season. "Experience does help a lot ... you know what's at stake," said Texas senior guard Rori Harmon, who had 11 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and six steals. "You know how to control the game. I can't say we've had this type of urgency throughout the whole season, though, because the urgency has to change when it comes to March." But the Longhorns had enough urgency to finish tied for second in the SEC and beat fellow NCAA No. 1 seed South Carolina in the league tournament championship game. As big of an accomplishment as that was, though, Texas coach Vic Schaefer said the level the Longhorns have played at for their three NCAA tournament wins is something greater. "It is our best basketball of the year," Schaefer said.

Austin looks to change zoning rules to allow for smaller, more affordable homes

City of Austin staff will spend the next year exploring how the creation of new zoning districts could add more affordable housing to the market. The resolution approved by Austin City Council on Thursday asks staff to research the zoning districts that would allow for smaller housing options like townhomes, cottage courts and small-scale, multi-unit buildings. This is sometimes referred to as "missing middle housing." The resolution also includes direction to research more mixed-use developments, which combine housing and commercial opportunities.

click here for more

Council Member Paige Ellis, who authored the resolution, said this builds on the city’s past efforts to expand home-building options in ways that create walkable and transit-focused areas. “Over the past 40 years, less than 1% of the housing built in Austin has been 'missing middle,' and I think they are really good uses of property,” Ellis said. “I think they create walkable neighborhoods and are more environmentally sustainable than some of the other options.” Ellis is drawing from a January study that found Austin’s current housing stock is limited outside of single-family homes or large apartment complexes. That is because the city’s 1984 land development code — the rule book for what and where things can be built — largely supports those two housing types.

‘It’s top tier.’ With $260 million in funding, professional volleyball is booming in Texas — and fans are watching.

On a Wednesday night in February at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, purple foam fingers swayed in the air during LOVB Austin’s third home game of the season. As the inaugural-season champions, the pressure was on for Austin to beat LOVB Atlanta. After a long rally, University of Texas alum Madisen Skinner scored a winning kill for Austin. As the ball hit the floor, cheers erupted from the standing crowd. LOVB, pronounced “love,” stands for League One Volleyball — and it’s making a splash in Texas. The league currently has six teams and began having matches in 2025 in Austin and Houston. It’s one of three major volleyball leagues that have launched recently in the U.S. There’s some serious money involved; in 2024, LOVB reported raising a total of $160 million in funding, including donations from prominent athletes such as NBA player Kevin Durant and the WNBA’s Candace Parker.

click here for more

The growing number of volleyball fans is a nationwide trend. ESPN reported “more than 1.3 billion minutes watched across ESPN platforms” for the women’s 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament, the highest to date. The sport is also seeing more young players signing up. According to USA Volleyball, 2024 marked a 40% increase since 2013-14 in the number of girls ages 11-18 registered with clubs. “I think volleyball has just been on the trajectory for a while to have a pro league here in the U.S.,” said Audrey Tuttle, marketing and communications manager for LOVB Austin. Both Austin and Houston made sense to have pro volleyball teams: Austin is home to the Texas Longhorns, who have won two NCAA Championships in the past four years, and Houston hosts the Houston Skyline, named the top club in the nation in 2024 by USClubRankings. “Volleyball is huge here in this state, and both teams are very, very competitive,” Tuttle said. “There’s definitely a little bit of a fun rivalry that is going right now.” LOVB isn’t the only volleyball outlet to stake a claim to Texas. Another pro league, Major League Volleyball, has the Dallas Pulse, which began playing this year.

One detained after 'punches thrown' during Dallas 'No King's' protest, police say

One person has been detained during today's "No Kings" demonstration, according to Dallas Police. Police have not released the name of the individual detained, nor provided details on what led to the arrest. WFAA's helicopter captured video of an incident between demonstrators and counter-protesters during a march in Downtown Dallas. WFAA's Luke Cleary said a witness told him that "punches were thrown" between the two groups. Thousands across the nation participated in the protests, several of which were held here in North Texas.

click here for more

The first official 'No Kings' protests were held Saturday, June 14, and were organized during a military parade in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the Army, which coincides with Trump's birthday, as the Associated Press reported. Since then, several more nationwide protests have been held. Thousands of people showed up to the many protests back in June, WFAA previously reported.

Ted Cruz prepares for midterm as Texas takes center stage at CPAC

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz warned on Saturday that Democrats would dismantle Republican victories and try to impeach President Donald Trump if they win control of Congress in November. Speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, Cruz said Republicans have gained historic victories, from a sweeping crackdown on immigration to changes in the tax policy, since Trump took office in January 2025. Democrats, Cruz said, “want to tear this country down.” Cruz was among a slate of Texas lawmakers and politicians to address CPAC, one of the most influential conservative gatherings in the country, on the final day of the conference. They sought to frame Texas as both the nation’s leader and its ideological brainchild. Cruz portrayed the Republican party as a group of blue-collar workers and populists, blasting Democrats as coastal elites who are out of touch with the average American.

click here for more

The senator did not mention Democrat James Talarico, a Texas state representative who is running to flip the Senate seat currently held by incumbent John Cornyn. Instead, he singled out California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who he joked “should be named Texas realtor of the year.” “Nobody in history has sold more homes in the state of Texas than Gavin Newsom,” Cruz said. Cruz is considered a potential Republican contender to run for president in 2028; Newsom is one of the leading contenders on the Democratic side. In his address Saturday, Cruz repeatedly praised Trump — who skipped CPAC this year for the first time in a decade — on foreign policy, jobs and economic prosperity and national security. “The world is safer when the president is strong and our enemies are afraid,” Cruz said. Republicans could face a difficult landscape in November, with the party in power typically losing seats in the House of Representatives and often the Senate in midterm elections. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in March found Trump’s approval rating fell to 36%, the lowest number since he returned to the White House in January 2025.

TCU women installed as massive underdogs against No. 1 seed

TCU women’s basketball has been favored in every game of the NCAA Tournament so far, but that won’t be the case in the Elite Eight on Monday. Top-seeded South Carolina (34-3) is an early 13.5-point favorite over No. 3 TCU (32-5) in the Sacramento 4 regional final at 8 p.m. Monday in Sacramento, California. South Carolina is -1000 on the money line — a bet on who will win the game regardless of the point spread — which implies a 91% chance of victory. The total — the combined points scored by both teams — is set at 132,5. The Gamecocks crushed No. 4 Oklahoma 94-68 in the Sweet 16 on Saturday, while TCU pulled away for a 79-69 win over No. 10 Virginia. South Carolina has gone to five straight Final Fours, winning two championships during that run, under coach Dawn Staley. The Gamecocks also won the national title under Staley in 2017. TCU has reached its second straight Elite Eight in the two best seasons in program history.

click here for more

Dallas city manager confirms Mavericks meeting after team CEO says City Hall talks started last year

Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert confirmed she met with the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars about the teams' "futures in Dallas" following comments made by Mavericks CEO Rick Welts that the team was approached about the City Hall property more than a year ago. Welts made the comments on Friday during a sports economic panel hosted by the Greater Dallas Planning Council, The Dallas Morning News reported. According to the News, Welts said Tolbert approached the Mavericks “over a year ago” about the possibility of the City Hall site being available for the team’s new arena. The team is expected to leave American Airlines Center after summer of 2031.

click here for more

“Since being named Interim Dallas City Manager and subsequently appointed to the permanent role, I have met with representatives of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars regarding their futures in Dallas," Tolbert said in a statement. "These discussions have included the teams’ need for a modern fan-friendly arena experience." She added, "Regarding discussions about the future of city hall, the Dallas City Council directed me to explore options, including the disposition of the City Hall site. It is our practice not to negotiate in the media.” Residents have speculated that the Dallas Mavericks could be eyeing 1500 Marilla St. as a potential site for its future arena for months. Earlier this month, Welts told the News there was "no project to talk about until the city would signal to us that there’s something to talk about." Assistant City Manager Robin Bentley told council members this month that the Mavericks have been eyeing downtown, but they have not heard anything from the team. City staff are currently looking into options for redevelopment of the City Hall site, real estate options for relocating or leasing, and repair plans for the current City Hall property. Discussions over the future of City Hall started late last year when city staff revealed the building had millions of dollars of deferred maintenance. A study conducted by the Dallas Economic Development Corporation and engineering consultant AECOM estimate it could cost the city up to $1 billion to fully repair and update the building.

National Stories

Frustrated travelers hear a new message from airports: Don’t get here so early

Maybe Dad was right about getting to the airport early. But it turns out there’s still such a thing as TOO early. Travelers panicked by scenes of never-ending lines at U.S. airport security checkpoints and frustrating tales of missed flights over the past few weeks are now showing up way before their departures. Some airports where the wait times have been manageable say those early birds are only adding to the misery — and in some cases causing other passengers to get to their gate too late. In Ohio, John Glenn International Airport in Columbus is warning passengers against arriving hours in advance, even creating a chart showing when to show up: “90 minutes before departure is all you need.”

click here for more

The airport says those premature arrivers — reacting to the funding standoff on Capitol Hill that’s creating crowded security checkpoints — are making things worse by creating bottlenecks during peak times. “Arriving too early can actually create longer lines right when we open,” the airport said in a social media post Thursday. “Spacing out arrival times helps keep things moving smoothly for everyone.” In some ways, the airport chaos is turning into a full circle moment for “Airport Dad” — a humorous TikTok and social media take on the dad who always makes sure the family is out the door, parked, through security and positioned at the correct gate well before anyone else, with paper boarding passes in hand. Airline customers aren’t laughing, at least right now. They’re facing record wait times in a jumbled environment — the modern American airport — that can serve up assorted stresses and snafus on the best of days. Amber Campbell said she missed a morning flight this week despite arriving at Baltimore-Washington International Airport more than three hours ahead of time.

G.O.P. rift leaves Congress with no clear path to end the shutdown

Eight months away from elections that will decide if they keep control of Congress and preserve their governing trifecta, House and Senate Republicans have identified the enemy — and it is one another. A meltdown in relations between the two G.O.P.-led chambers caused the embarrassing collapse on Friday of a Senate-passed proposal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security before lawmakers raced out of town on a two-week recess. It left no clear path for resolving the crisis that has led to airport chaos and workers without paychecks. And with President Trump seemingly cheering on the intraparty squabble from the White House, it also highlighted an undercurrent of tension and division coursing through Republican ranks that has burst to the surface at the least politically opportune time.

click here for more

The breakdown over homeland security funding left hard-right House Republicans castigating their Senate brethren and ripping Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the Republican majority leader, in particular for cutting what they saw as an atrocious deal with Democrats in order to ease a departure for Easter break. “Thune screwed America and left town,” Representative Andy Ogles, Republican of Tennessee, wrote on the social media platform X. He was just one of many Republicans incensed by what they characterized as a Senate G.O.P. sellout approved without so much as a formal vote in the middle of the night. That was just hours after Mr. Trump told Fox News that the Senate deal was “not appropriate.” “At three in the morning, senators just decided, well, throw in the towel and maybe see what they can cobble together to get out of town,” Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, said as the House on Friday approved its own plan to fund the entire agency for eight weeks. “That is not the responsible thing to do for this country.”

Record number of T.S.A. employees called out on Friday

On Friday, more Transportation Security Administration employees called out of work than on any other day of the partial government shutdown. Conditions in airport security lines have deteriorated since Feb. 14, when Congress allowed funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees T.S.A., to lapse during an impasse over reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Since then, T.S.A. employees have been forced to work without pay, leading thousands of workers to call out and hundreds to quit altogether. With staffing slashed, wait times for security have stretched on for hours at some airports. Lines have spilled outside terminals. Desperate travelers have missed flights. And that was before Friday set a new record.

click here for more

More than 3,560 T.S.A. employees — above 12 percent of the agency’s work force — called out on Friday, the highest number since the partial government shutdown began, Lauren Bis, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. Friday’s call outs broke the record of just under 12 percent that had been set the previous day. “During this time, over 500 officers have quit, and thousands more have been forced to call out because they can’t afford basic necessities like gas, child care, food, or rent,” Ms. Bis said. President Trump signed a memo late on Friday ordering D.H.S. to restore pay to T.S.A. employees. On Monday, the Trump administration deployed agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who have not lost pay during the partial shutdown, to help carry out security functions at airports.

Meet the has-beens, never-weres, and felon locked in a Trumpy primary

On a warm January evening in southwest Florida, sitting on a dais with six other candidates in front of a massive American flag, former U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn presented himself to the ladies of the Women’s Republican Club of Naples Federated as the best candidate for Florida’s 19th Congressional District, summoned by the call of one of the greatest political thinkers of the Western world. “The reason I got involved in politics really boils down to a quote by Plato,” Cawthorn explained. “It said that you can either be involved in politics or you’re destined to be ruled by lesser men.” Not Plato verbatim, but close enough for government work. And Cawthorn has worked in government before—representing North Carolina’s 11th District for a single term, from January 2021 to January 2023. It was an eventful but unproductive tenure, befitting a man who boasted to colleagues shortly after he was sworn in, “I have built my staff around comms rather than legislation.” Cawthorn’s congressional service began with a rousing speech to the pro-Trump mob at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021—he praised their willingness to fight, declared the 2020 election fraudulent, and later voted against certification. It ended with a flurry of bizarre and discrediting moments over the weeks leading up to the GOP primary for his reelection campaign.

click here for more

That Cawthorn is a viable candidate—indeed, given his name recognition and MAGAworld celebrity status, he’s considered a real contender—says a lot about the contest in this dark red corner of Florida’s Gulf Coast and about the state of the Republican Party in the Trump era. The GOP primary is August 18, and the campaign—or the online campaign, anyway—is well underway. When Republican voters here describe a politician or activist as “ultra-MAGA,” it’s almost always meant as the highest compliment. A local grocery chain serves MAGA beer on tap, and its aisles were packed shoulder-to-shoulder for the “Seed to Table” inaugural party in January 2025. The district’s waterways held some of the first “Trump Boat Parades.” The main country music station calls itself “Trump Country.” “Obviously, it’s a very pro-Trump, pro-MAGA district,” says former Rep. Francis Rooney, who served as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican under George W. Bush and represented the district during Trump’s first term. The seat is currently held by Rep. Byron Donalds, a conservative and Fox News regular, who is giving it up to run for governor. Republican voters in his district speak of him with reverence—and so does Donald Trump. “Byron Donalds would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida,” Trump posted on social media, offering his “Complete and Total Endorsement.” Each of the seven candidates onstage during the January candidate forum made a claim that is demonstrably, provably false. Six are not from the district they seek to serve. Five have run for office in another state. Three have been endorsed by Trump in a previous race. At least three have spent time in jail. Two served in Congress and left in disgrace after scandals. Two have gotten Trump pardons. And one will be the next member of Congress from southwest Florida.

At 'No Kings' rallies, anti-Trump protesters speak out against ICE 'cruelty,' Iran war

Organizers behind the No Kings protests are forecasting their biggest showing yet on Saturday against the policies of President Trump, energized by issues including the administration's immigration enforcement tactics and the war in Iran. "March 28 will be the biggest protest in US history," the group, which comprises a progressive coalition of activists, wrote on its website. "Find your local No Kings event to make it clear that America rejects the regime's brutality at home and abroad." Organizers have planned more than 3,000 events in cities across the United States, with several more planned abroad, including in Mexico and Canada. This is the third series of nationwide protests organized by the group, which says Trump's actions in office are more akin to those of a monarch than a democratically elected leader.

click here for more

In response to a request for comment about the planned protests, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson dismissed them as "Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions" and listed what she said were some of the campaign's "major leftist" financial backers. "The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them," said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson. The last round of protests, this past October, saw some 5 million attendees spread across about 2,600 demonstrations, according to No Kings. Bill McKibben is the Vermont-based founder of Third Act — a No Kings-affiliated group comprising people who are 60 years old and up. He says intergenerational solidarity is a key part of the movement and that there are many older people willing to take to the streets alongside their younger compatriots. "If you've been to any of the No Kings protests that have happened so far, you'll see a lot of people with hairlines like mine, which is to say, scant," he joked. "People of all kinds are outraged by what's happening in the country right now, but older people have a particular role to play here."

Kash Patel’s push against Democratic lawmaker raises concerns within FBI

FBI Director Kash Patel is pressing to release a decade-old investigative file involving Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California) and a suspected Chinese intelligence operative, recently dispatching agents in the bureau’s San Francisco office to quickly redact the files before they are released publicly despite no evidence of wrongdoing by Swalwell, according to three people familiar with the effort. The potential release is part of the Trump administration’s aggressive push to investigate Swalwell, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and a leading Democratic candidate for California governor, according to the people familiar with the effort. It is highly unusual for the FBI to release case files tied to a probe that did not result in criminal charges. As FBI director, Patel has focused on trying to bring a criminal case against the outspoken Democrat, reassigning multiple agents in San Francisco to work on the matter, the current and former officials said.

click here for more

FBI leaders have even discussed sending agents to China to talk to the suspected intelligence operative, believing she could have damaging information about Swalwell, according to two of the people familiar with the investigation. The people familiar with the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an investigation that has not been made public. The Chinese woman at issue is Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang, who reportedly courted Swalwell and other California politicians in the United States from 2011 to 2015. She helped with fundraising for Swalwell’s 2014 reelection campaign and even helped place an intern in his congressional office. When federal agents conveyed their concerns about Fang to Swalwell around 2015, he reportedly cut off ties with her and said he helped investigators. Swalwell was not accused of any wrongdoing when the FBI investigated his relationship with Fang a decade ago. In 2023, the Republican-led House Ethics Committee closed a two-year investigation into the congressman, deciding to “take no further action.” Despite that, FBI leaders have recently suggested in internal discussions that the government could try to arrange for Fang to get a U.S. visa in exchange for speaking with FBI agents about the Democrat, according to the three people with knowledge of Patel’s efforts. It would be highly unorthodox to grant a visa to a person suspected of being an intelligence agent for a foreign superpower.

Tiger Woods is facing an uncertain future off the golf course after his DUI arrest in Florida

Tiger Woods got out of jail and into the passenger seat of a dark SUV, his face as vacant as his mug shot as he was driven away to a future again filled with so much uncertainty. The next step legally is facing charges of driving while intoxicated, damage to property and refusal to submit to a urine test, which led to him spending eight hours Friday in the Martin County jail some 15 miles from his home on Jupiter Island, Florida. His manager at Excel Sports, Mark Steinberg, did not respond to a request for comment Saturday on Woods' arrest. As for golf, this comes at a bad time for the sport's most influential player. Woods had said earlier in the week he was trying to get in shape for the Masters on April 9-12, though that was looking unlikely. He turned 50 at the end of last year. “This body, it doesn't recover like it did when it was 24, 25,” Woods said earlier this week.

click here for more

He also was days away from a decision on whether to be the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2027 matches in Ireland. Two officials from the PGA of America did not immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment. And on April 5, he is scheduled to be in Augusta, Georgia, with Masters chairman Fred Ridley to celebrate a project at “The Patch,” the nickname of a municipal golf course where Woods' design team created a short course to go along with a major upgrade to the public course. Woods also is the central figure as chairman of the Future Competition Committee that is reshaping the PGA Tour model of tournaments. Tour CEO Brian Rolapp predicted meaningful progress this summer. The PGA Tour declined to comment on Woods' arrest. Now everything is on hold while Woods sorts through his second arrest in the last nine years, and his fourth car crash dating to 2009. Woods waited until the summer of 2024 before deciding against being Ryder Cup captain for the 2025 matches in New York. The Associated Press reported in February the PGA of America had a soft deadline of the end of March for him to decide this time.

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